Chapter Thirty–four
Elladan blinked. Nothing had changed. He saw Tae, he saw Glorfindel, both in the same positions they'd been in seconds ago. Then a sudden buzzing sound assaulted his ears and he felt the world lurch as if he was on a boat which was hit by a sudden swell. As soon as the feeling began it ceased. Glorfindel was still stood looking at Tae and she was slowly swaying; her eyes still blackened.
As he stumbled sluggishly towards the magic user her eyes cleared and focused upon him. He reached out to her as she fell into his arms.
"It worked" he whispered, as she went limp and he laid her gently onto her bed.
Glorfindel had forewarned him that Tae would be exhausted from completing such a powerful enchantment, so he was not overly worried and she was breathing deeply but regularly in his embrace.
He pulled Tae closer, knowing without needing to be modest that his presence brought her comfort. Ever since she had come to him from Lorien when he was wounded he had felt an intangible bond between them. He knew beyond doubt that Tae Epsom was his soul mate, as insane as it may sound considering she had been 'imported' from a foreign world not six months ago. She fit perfectly to him, both mentally and physically; they contrasted and complimented each other in equal measure.
Elladan settled down to his role as pillow and safety blanket, he would hold her until she awoke which would also give him some time to think.
A couple of hours later Tae awoke with a start. Her eyes were back to their normal hue and she rose from the bed and went to the balcony to look out at the Elven refuge.
"It worked?" she whispered rhetorically, she knew by the complete silence that something had happened.
"It's just me and you now" answered Elladan from the bed, complete with a feral smile.
"How could I forget" Tae could feel the hairs on the back of her neck bristle as if he stood behind her. She was right.
"What's first then?" she said as she turned around and leaned back on the balcony rail. He handed her a beaker of water which she accepted with thanks.
"I would be tempted to say sex, but the intellectual in me demands we put our 'energies' into working out how we are going to tell the time" he peered at the static blue sky while she nearly spat out her drink "Probably best that we use some type of water powered device" he surmised.
"Oh yeah, I suppose we could get jet-lag or something. At least its decent weather" supplied Tae, saying nothing in reference to the mention of sex and instead wiping the drink from her chin.
Elladan nodded and smiled, as ever imagining her naked against the rail she was languidly leaning upon. The sunlight shone through the lightweight fabric of the elven robes she had become accustomed to wearing, and her form was outlined tantalisingly. Yet again Tae's nerves bristled at the scrutiny. This was going to prove excruciatingly difficult if the tension between them would remain. Although they were free to come and go as they pleased Tae thought that they might as well be trapped in a lift for weeks on end.
"Ok well, why don't you make your clock and I'll go down to the river and bathe" she figured a cold shower at the waterfall would at least cool her burning skin…the tingling anticipation of what the next few weeks would bring. "And don't bother coming after me on the pretence of collecting water, there'll be plenty at the kitchens" she added swiftly with a raised eyebrow, at which Elladan feigned insult.
"I don't quite know what you are trying to infer Lady Epsom; I am here simply to train you…in combat. I would never take advantage of my position, or of you" he would have sounded offended but the faint smile and sparkling grey eyes alerted Tae that Dan hadn't yet changed his feelings for her, at least not on a purely lust based level, something she knew she shouldn't find so reassuringly exciting.
Some time later when Tae had finished combing her hair out, she lay half in and half out of the pool which the natural waterfall had created. The motion of the water lapping her bare skin was pleasantly sensual and she couldn't help thinking of Elladan.
The restraint they both showed reflected the fact that there was no time for relationships when war was upon them. Tae had no illusions about her ability; she was almost convinced she would not return from her confrontation with Serbitar. Certainly not if the offer to sacrifice herself to prevent an all out war proved to be true. As close to the elves as she had become, she knew it wouldn't go down well if they found out what had been offered. Elladan would definitely try and stop her, but then it was sheer hypocrisy; any of them would do the same, she felt. The price of her trying and failing was too great for her to pass on the opportunity to save a civilisation with her one life.
Would he feel betrayed if they were a couple? Probably. But then she guessed he'd feel betrayed regardless of whether they kept holding back.
The faint glow of the ring Talen had given to her brought Tae out of her circling thoughts. The jewel set into the silver band had flickered when she was mid-cast of the time-stop spell, something she'd not noticed it do before. In fact Talen had led her to believe that the ring was purely ornamental, which she now began to doubt. There was no way of knowing what if any purpose the ring had so she figured she might as well leave it on her finger. Perhaps it would come in useful sometime.
Further examination of the ring was interrupted when she heard a voice hailing her from not nearly far away enough.
"Tae" called a sing song voice, "Do you want to see my clock?"
She tried to scowl but it came out as more a girlish grin, she had half a mind to go and find him whilst she was dripping wet and naked, just to see his reaction. But she wasn't that über confident with her body, and besides, there'd probably be no going back from that situation. She slapped herself on the forehead, she was fantasising too much about a situation that she knew would cause too much pain.
'Whatever happened to good old carpe diem?' a voice said inside her head. Things were way too serious to continue this charade, to keep thoughts of Serbitar and the future in check whilst imagining him making love to her over and over again.
"But oh how I want it" she mouthed at her reflection in the water, blushing as she admitted it.
"Tae!" called Elladan again, his voice sounding nearer again.
"Yeah OK, Dan! Just give me a minute to get dressed…in fact I'll meet you back at the house" she shouted back, anticipating the way his mind was working, especially if it was anything like her own at the moment. The school girl infatuation, the flirting and blushing and innuendo would have to stop now if she was going to concentrate as a student under him. But regardless of the threat to the elven race, of Serbitar and his armies; nothing could quench the fire that coursed through her skin when she found him as she walked back to the house.
He was stripped to the waist in the gardens outside the main entrance, she saw him as though she was reading their fanfic on screen; he was a mass of hot elf stereotypes and yet they were truly valid. His long dark silken hair lay loose down a smooth and powerful back which he held towards her and she had a perfect view of his legs and backside in the tight leather breeches he wore.
Tae was feeling uncomfortably hot and pulled at the shirt around her neck to loosen it; he seemed not to notice her so intent he was on sawing wood on a low trestle table in front of him. Elladan's every move made her stomach flip and ache, and Tae was finding it increasingly hard to draw breath, her mind could not concentrate on anything but Him. A small part of it was screaming in outrage at what the majority of her brain was thinking, and even planning!
He must have known she was there all along, because he slowly turned, flipped his hair out of his face and smiled the most seductive smile known to womankind. This was the kind of smile which had broken millions of hearts since the dawn of time. 'It' said: imagine your darkest, most secret fantasy, and promised to fulfil it. Boudicca would have stayed at home to raise the Iceni children if anyone had dared flashed this smile. If more men knew the secret of it there would have been no feminist movement and no cause for equal pay disputes.
This smile penetrated.
As it was, Tae fainted clean away.
Shocked at the outcome of his 'cunning plan', Elladan scooped her up and ran off to the Healing rooms, frantically trying to remember if he had misread anything on the packet of tablets with which he had secretly dosed Tae. He still had a few of the small triangular blue pills in his pockets, and he quickly tossed them into the nearest bin. Moistening a cloth with water he softly cooled Tae's hot brow and she thankfully began to stir.
"What happened?" she asked when she was more fully conscious
"Must have been the sun…" answered Elladan dismissively
"Oh…thanks then" Tae was suspicious of his demeanour but she couldn't even hazard a guess as to why the elf would be to blame for her sudden collapse. If anything it was her hormones getting the better of her, and so because she was too embarrassed to talk about the way she had been fixated on his ass one minute and on the floor the next, she said nothing.
"Hungry?" asked Elladan, gently helping Tae out of the bed
"Yeah, I think" she answered, not quite sure how she felt at all. She let him lead her down to the kitchens where they put together a lunch of bread, fruit and cheeses washed down with a sweet cordial.
"Perhaps we should leave the training stuff until tomorrow…or at least until you're feeling up to it" offered Elladan
Tae looked at him and took in his expression and body language, she was getting used to reading these elves.
"What did you do to me?" she asked with a stern glare in his direction.
Elladan was a battle hardened warrior, used to hacking down snarling wargs and orcs. But he quailed when faced with confessing that he'd spiked Tae's drink with what he thought was an aphrodisiac tablet. He swiftly stood from their table and ran off. Tae was dumbfounded but at least she knew he was guilty, and before she could stop herself she was smiling….smiling whilst plotting her revenge.