Welcome to the new story about Amberfeather and Winddancer! If you had wished them to get together in my last story (Amberfeather's Bad Day, to which this story is a sequel, and starts immediately where it leaves off), then you've come to the right place!
As always, quick warning: Mercedes Lackey owns Valdemar, Tayledras, and all the rest. Since I am not Mercedes Lackey, this means I do not own them. I am not pretending to be her. Thank you.
Hope you enjoy, and please review so I know how it's going!
Amberfeather left the pond and returned to his ekele feeling much happier than he had felt when he entered the pond. Somehow, hearing about other's problems made him feel happier. He wondered idly, as he pulled off the wet robe he was wearing and exchanged it for a sleeping robe, if that was a sign of a mentally disturbed person. With a mental shrug, he gave up the thought, knowing that if he was mentally disturbed, he would not likely agree with himself that he was, so he didn't need to waste time on worrying about it.
The next day dawned bright and clear, which Amberfeather discovered as soon as he left the Vale after eating a quick breakfast. What a great day!he exulted to himself.
His good mood lasted only until he got as far as about 3 steps outside of the Vale. He promptly tripped over a branch and fell down. Not again, he thought feeling a trifle panicked. As good a mood as he was in after hearing the other's stories of pain and suffering, he knew that if he had to spend the rest of his life with his terrible luck, that good mood would quickly become just a memory.
"Good morning, Amberfeather!" called Winddancer cheerfully.
Amberfeather started, from his position on the ground. Why does she appear every time I do something stupid?
"Hey, Winddancer," he called, a lot less cheerfully. "What are you up to?"
"I am just heading out on patrol. I saw you sitting there and I was wondering what you were up to." Her voice was still really cheerful. Amberfeather wondered if she was always so perky when he was feeling stupid. It was a bad combination. It just made him annoyed.
He had a sudden thought, though, that made him feel slightly more cheerful. Maybe I'm clumsy when she's around because she's around, he thought. That would explain a lot. After all, I do find her quite attractive. I wouldn't mind exchanging feathers with her…
Realizing that Winddancer was staring at him, still waiting for a response, he quickly put his head down and pretended to stare at something on the ground.
"What are you looking at?" Winddancer asked, sounding curious. She walked closer, and tried to find what he was looking at. She glanced at his face and tried to gauge where to look.
Amberfeather pretended to be so caught up in staring at the ground. He started to answer, but let his voice trail off distractedly. "I am looking at this here…"
Winddancer sighed in an annoyed way, then marched all the way over to where Amberfeather was sitting and plopped down next to him. She glanced sideways at his face, and then down at the area where he was staring. She wasn't sure what he saw, but she saw nothing. She gave up looking, then decided to stare at him for awhile. He might get nervous and finally explain if I stare at him, Winddancer thought, and even if he doesn't, I get to look at him for a while! She grinned inwardly at the thought of being allowed to examine his face, which she had found herself wanting to do the night before, with no consequences.
Amberfeather quickly noticed that while staring at the ground had gotten him what he had wanted (Winddancer to come closer), it was now backfiring as the girl tired of staring at the ground and moved on to staring him down. This made him feel decidedly uncomfortable, but he didn't to lose in some sort of staring contest. After all, he was a man!
Amberfeather decided he didn't care if he lost the staring contest, as long as she stopped staring at him. He debated how to end this strange situation he had gotten himself into, and finally decided to do something impetuous.
"Do you see it?" Amberfeather asked her.
"See what?" she asked, transferring her gaze back to the ground. As soon as she did so, he said, "This!" and pounced on her, pinning her to the ground and laughing at the stunned look on her face.
"I pinned you! I am the strongest!" he laughed at her. Winddancer laughed with him, relaxing, since she had tensed up when he had pounced.
"Of course, you do realize that wasn't a very fair fight, right?" she asked him, calmly. She didn't want him to suspect what she was planning. He was holding her shoulders loosely to the ground, and not really paying much attention to her little movements.
"It was very fair," he protested hotly. "I used the element of surprise, which is a very fair and time-honored battle tactic."
"You didn't tell me we were having some sort of battle, though, Amberfeather. I believe that might have caused your strategy to fail," she said, reasonably.
"Ahh, but that's precisely why I didn't warn you," he responded. "I didn't want my manly honor to be in jeopardy if I lost."
She laughed at him, and then prepared to show him he had not won quite as easily as he had thought. With a quick twist, she flipped him over and plopped herself down on his chest.
"Now, see, you had every chance to see what I was planning to do before I did it," she told him as he spluttered underneath her. "You were holding my shoulders, so you could feel how I tensed up, getting ready for the counterattack, and you could see in my eyes that I was not yet finished fighting!"
"But I didn't think I'd be overwhelmed with so little effort," he told her. "There goes my manly reputation. At least it wasn't that impressive to begin with."
The both laughed again, then they realized how exactly they were situated. The both froze, and looked at each other in the face, trying to see how the other was feeling.
I can't believe the girl I was just considering exchanging feathers with is sitting on my chest, holding me down, thought Amberfeather. I admit I had some thoughts of this situation, but we were not in the middle of the forest during the day, and we were definitely not wearing this many clothes…
Winddancer was having similar thoughts, but hers were of a much more embarrassed type. What on earth was I thinking? Now how is he going to take me seriously, and see I want to start a relationship with him if I am trying to best him in wrestling? He's going to think I'm one of the guys, and treat me that way!
They were unsure of what to do next, and stayed there frozen for long seconds. Amberfeather decided to risk seeing if Winddancer was amiable to a more intimate embrace. He reached up and pulled her down on top of him, arranging her quickly so she was stretched out the entire length of his body, with himself serving as a barrier to the hard ground. He reached both hands up to her head and brought her face towards his, making a move toward kissing her...
Well, here you go! If you haven't read the first story about Amberfeather and Winddancer, please look it up so you'll have how this story began. Please read and review so I know that the story is proceeding nicely, and what you'd like to see happen, etc. Thanks for reading!
