Disclaimer: I own nothing. Atlantis is owned by Disney.
A/N: The idea for this story came from a prompt provided by Leona.
A/N 2: Reviews are Good. This has been a subtle hint from the author - Please return to your regularly scheduled reading.
It is late that first night, after the other's leave. And Kida is able to suggest sleep after Ireos moves the rest of the items from their camp into the cave (and she is sure it only feels like retreat in her own mind). But in the morning, the situation is still the same - and Helga is still so close.
She keeps herself busy - making them both food and bringing them water from the river. They each clean separately and Kida nearly breaks this enforced separation and offers her assistance when she hears the woman give out a hiss of pain - where she had been so consistently silent in her pain so far. But Helga says nothing else (makes not other sound) and Kida does not know what way to approach a woman such as her without causing offense, injuring pride as well as body.
Soon Helga is washed and dressed again, blonde hair darker then before (still slightly damp). The only show of her weakened sate is how she limps slightly, but even that shows little of how much injury Kida now knows her body to hold. To sit again she simply holds onto the wall and levers herself back down to the floor and Kida is surprised with the thought that this is a person used to being injured - and used to hiding her injuries.
Then she feels silly for her surprise but is simultaneously proud and embarrassed that her people are so naive in this matter - she would not wish them experience. But Kida has heard what kind of civilization Helga's people have lived, knew - even the first time they met - from the way she me moved, the way she observed the world, that she had fought before.
Once the blonde is seated (carefully and casually curled, ever so slightly, off her left side), a smile curves her lips when she notices Kida's eyes upon her. And Kida feels a stab of envy for this women - because looking at her in this moment she is both wonderfully and dreadfully human. No one would mistake her for a Goddess. It is not only the obvious wounds, it is the way in which she smirks, leaning against the wall, all pride, challenge and sated vengeance - no altruism would ever dare come near her.
Truly she makes Kida think of a warrior from the battle of old, from before the Great Flood. Kida has always felt guilty over the fact that a dark part of her wished she had gotten to fight during those times of terrible (and triumphant) war - to rule then.
This woman, Helga, would have been a perfect opponent to clash against, to fight in single combat or all out on a crowded battlefield. Because it is obvious from the way she has survived this long, against such odds, from the way she breathes deep through her nose and refuse to show any sign of pain (although she must be in agony, her spine against the rock of the cave), that Helga would fight tooth and nail to the very end. Would fight rough and dirty - making her work for every hit.
Or….and it is perhaps even more startling to consider (and even more surprising how appealing the idea is once it comes)... they could have fought together .
It is an utterly random thought but her imagination latches onto it instantly. Seeing two women in the leathers and armor (like in the stories and old war tapestries). One with hair of gold, one with hair of ivory (both with eyes so very blue) fighting side by side. Two Warrior Queens, using each other's bodies almost as extensions of their own - cutting a swath through their enemy.
….and after, after when they are alone together the woman with hair of gold would remove her helmet and smile in that pleased way, and her ivory haired companion would have no choice but to pull her close and kiss those lips until they were pleased for a different reason...
Kida swallowed hard, blinking rapidly as if that would banish her previous thoughts. She glanced over at Helga guiltily, hoping she was resting, only to find those blue eyes still staring at her steadily. She blushed deeply and was rewarded with a smirk that ghosted over her face ever so slightly and raised an eyebrow in question.
"Problem-," Helga coughed, a rough sound that went on for too long, then continued as if nothing amiss happened, "problems, Princess?"
"I am Queen now," she corrected, latching on to the change in topic this almost desperately, with a bit of guilt. But it took her only a moment to remember that they had said these things before.
Kida looked at her in concern now and scrambled the few feet that had separated them in the cave. She held onto the woman's wrist loosely, trying to stay calm and remember how to check the small things she was supposed to keep track of like her temperature and heartbeat. Mentally she urged the others to hurry along as well, apart from the obvious - Helga's injuries and illness - this woman's very presence was fraying her nerves for all the wrong reasons. Not because she had been their enemy, not because Helga's former leader had try to sell her, but because just one look from those ice eyes made her burn.