A bath was what he needed. Wash all the blood off and he'll be fine. Chel rubbed his hands together in an uncharicteristic burst of fear, then he growled. He was being ridiculous. Still...

He'd seen the looks on their faces when he stood there, covered in his own blood, his skin still not quite fully healed. He ran a finger down his arm, feeling the many ridges where the knives had cut through the skin.

What he feared most was her reaction. He recalled their conversations and the smile that had graced her features when he told her that he'd stopped this, that she had helped him stop this. How could he explain away this... this...

"Relapse?"

The dragon jumped at the soft voice coming from the doorway of his private bath.

Vale stood there, still in her formal robes, her hands clasped as if in prayer,

"Your thoughts are all over the place. I could hear them..." she moved across the floor, walking towards him as if he were a wounded animal, slowly, her voice and words calming. Still the immortal regarded her with wide, frightened eyes, his muscles tense, ready to run if he needed to "I'm not going to hurt you Chel," then realising the source of his fear she added, "I'm not angry at you, seme."

He relaxed then, allowing her to kneel and wrap her arms around him. She wanted to talk to him, telling him how worried she'd been and of all that had happened, but it was not the time for that. Instead she looked about her surroundings,

"You want a bath, seme?"

In way of an answer he gestured with a blood-covered hand and the bath was suddenly filled with warm water. His gently sat up again, his fingers working at the silver clasps of his robes. They seemed strangly nerveless, almost if they were numb, far from the normal graceful motions.

Vale undid the clasps instead, her fingers working quickly and nimbly.

"...I am sorry, Vale-uke for what I have done."

"Hmm?" the young cleric looked up, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

"For... relapsing. For wasting all of your hard work."

"Seme... it was not a burden to help you. Besides," she took both of his hands in hers, "you have an illness and you can't expect it to just vanish. Like a wound it'll take time to heal."

Chel laid his head on her shoulder, saying nothing. The young cleric merely stroked the long strands of his hair, hoping that the message had sunk in.

It was early in the morning when Chel was roused by a soft knocking on the door. His eyes snapped open, his slit pupils opening wide in the darkness of his room. Only his keen hearing picked up the sound, Vale didn't stir.

The elven princess was using him as a pillow, her head resting on his shoulder and one arm draped loosely over his chest, her golden skin contrasting with his pale flesh. His hand rested on the small of her back, keeping her close.

Ignoring the repeated knocking he gently ran a finger over her delicate features. Elves... they were so soft and fragile, compared to his own species and when he'd first seen them he hadn't known whether to laugh or pity these strange little creatures. Yet time and time again they still managed to amaze him, achieving amazing things despite being dwarfed by the world around them.

He wished only to remain here with Vale, to watch her sleep, but the knocking continued unabated.

Sighing he slid out of bed, lowering his lover carefully down onto the matteress. He pulled the quilts up over her bare shoulders and summoned a piece of parchment. As he clothed his own unclad body in black robes he composed a quick note in his head, transferring it to the parchment sheet with a spell.

Teleporting across the Heir's Palace he pulled open the door before the Armsman on the other side could embark on another volley of knocking.

"Yes?" he asked as the elf bowed deeply.

"Imperial Guardian, sir, we have a problem."

The problem was, again, the undead. This time, however, they were massing at the western edge of the forest but appeared to be unable to enter. Still, the king ordered patrols to be reinforced across the forest.

Now Chel sat alone in the War Room, his attention drawn away from the large map that was spread out on the table. His head was resting in one hand while the other idly traced the black ink lines on the map.

A small knock sounded at the door and he looked up to see Vale enter the room. He waited until she'd shut the door behind her before teleporting to her and picking her up,

"Vale-uke."

Her smile was brillant and she held him close with one hand while the other rid him of his black headscarf.

"'Morning seme! I got your note, how is your planning going?" she said, reffering to the battle plans her guardian was supposed to be drawing up.

"Alas, not very well,"he carried her to his place at the table, sitting her down next to him.

"Poor Chel," a mock sorrowful expression crossed her face and she ruffled his hair affectionately, "Do you mind if I stay with you? It must be lonely here," she had some of her work with her, a book on dragonolgy she was supposed to be studying, but she's already cast it aside, turning to face her dragon.

"Sometimes it is..." Chel trailed off, a slight silver blush on his cheekbones.

Vale reached out and trailed a delicate finger along his jaw, up to the sensative ear tips. The dragon twitched, a tiny gasp escaping him. The young cleric's grin only widened when he reached out for her.

Kerova, king of the forest, smiled as he entered the Temple. He was indeed glad that Chel had come back and so it seemed was Vale. He'd seen his daughter earlier, in her usual tomboyish attire but with the addition of a long, white scarf covered with delicate patterns of leaves in pale green. She had definitely cheered up.

The elven king's plan was to see how the battle plans were progressing and see his daughter and her guardian too. All too often his duties as ruler took him away from them both, no matter how many times he didn't show up to his court, like today.

Since he was avoiding his advisors, who still considered him an elfling, even though he was in his fourth century now, he stealthily made his way to the War Room. Grinning, he opened the doors...

He stopped, stunned at the sight that was been played out before him.

The black-clad elf was staddling the waist of the slender elf beneath him, her scarf in one hand. His robes were undone, falling from his shoulders. One slender long-fingered hand had vanished underneath Vale's shirt. Currently his eyes were closed and he was running his tongue along the female's neck.

The princess's scarf turned out to be hiding a purpling love bite on her neck (a souvenir of the night before, though Kerova, of course, did not know that). Chel's arm was pillowing her head and her hands were tangled in his long hair. Her mouth was moving though Kerova could not hear what she was saying. Chel evidentially did because he smiled, moving to look her in the eyes, words already on his lips.

He froze and turned to look at Kerova, his eyes wide and his face blazing with silver. Vale frowned, wondering what was wrong before an identical expression of shock made its way onto her face.

Kerova then finally managed to speak,

"W-what, what...?" then his face hardened and Chel and Vale flinched, "How dare you!"

Jessi: Whenever I try to study I get distracted too... though I can safely say never in that way.