Moving On

One week passed by since Octavia decided to give Ilian a chance at being together and she was enjoying it. She had stopped comparing him with Lincoln because it wasn't fair to either one of them but instead, she decided to let the farmer win whatever part of her heart he could, and he took on the challenge head on. After they kissed, they stayed watching the night fall and the stars fill in the sky and she enjoyed being in his company and with his arms around her and when it got too cold, he offered her to go inside and she accepted.

He made them some tea and went to sit by the couch and started talking, he told her more about his parents and how their lives had been and she could see the similarities in both of their story and was very intrigued about it. Apparently, his mother never truly forgot her first love but decided to move on and keep going and to let herself fall in love again and she did with his father and they were quite happy. They raised two boys in a loving home, they never hid the truth from Ilian about who his biological father was or the story.

He told her that his parents didn't believe in lies, that they much rather work with the truth even if it was hurtful but it was always better than a lie so his mother never hid her love for the man she had lost but she also made sure to let them know that she loved her husband very much and the boys were always able to understand it and that was exactly what she wanted for her daughter if she turned out to love Ilian. That just because her true love was another and would always be, it didn't mean she loved Ilian any less.

However, she was not at that stage yet. She didn't love him but she was starting to fall in love with him which was more than she expected she would ever feel for anyone else. Although they would sleep in the same bed, they haven't done anything more than that, she was not ready for sex and Ilian, that for his part was behaving like a gentleman, had not even mentioned it, very much content on only having her by his side and that was how they have started their relationship slowly, without any need to rush.

And that was how another two weeks passed by with them living together. She didn't move all her things completely to his house but she would spend every night there and so there was a few things inside that were already hers. The two of them were currently in bed, fully clothed and she was curled up to his side, with her head and left arm lying on his chest as with his left arm wrapped around her shoulders, he hugged her closer as the one arm went underneath his head. "Can you ask you something?" She said to him and he nodded.

"Anything." He said and she took a deep breath.

"Don't you miss having sex? I know for a fact that since I arrived here you haven't got any in that subject." She said to him and he chuckled.

"Is that really your question?" He asked still smiling and she nodded.

"Yes, now answer it." She demanded it and he sighed still chuckling at little.

"Do I miss it? A little bit. I didn't have as much sex as to be bothered by its absence but since you're the only one I want to have sex with and you're not ready, I'm more than happy than to just hold you like this and wait. It takes as long as it takes." He said to her as he kissed the top of her head.

"Do you have to be so romantic?" She said to him with a small smile on her face.

"Well, yes, I must or else I will be losing my head since clearly you're the most temperamental one between us so if it helps me keeping my head attached to my shoulder I am more than happy to be so romantic." He said to her jokingly and she chuckled.

"I really could take your head off." She said to him and he nodded.

"I know and that is what I fear so forgive me for trying to stay on your good side. It is for my safety entirely." He said to her and she chuckled.

"Do you still think about your family?" She asked him and he sighed sobering up since the topic turned to a more serious and painful one.

"Yeah, I do. All the time but I don't think of their deaths because then I would be reducing everything they were to me to that one memory. Instead I think about how my father loved the work of planting new crops or how my brother used to play with the goats or how my mother loved teaching how to cook. I think of the best memories of them I had every day. Do I miss them? Yes, terribly so but they are at peace." He said to her and she nodded.

"It's not easy losing someone you love." She said and he nodded caressing her hair.

"No, it is one of the hardest pain you can go through but what most people forget is that we can also draw strength from those we lost. We can continue on living and honoring those who sacrificed their lives for us to be here. In our lives, we honor their deaths. We celebrate who they were and how they impacted our lives and in that we keep their flame burning inside of us until the day we die and someone do the same thing for us." Ilian said to her.

"Lincoln died and it destroyed you but you kept pushing because the threats were bigger than that but once it was gone you dint know what to do with the pain so you turned into rage and coldness, as if you were trying to feel it but there is great healing to be done when you let go and cry for those you have lost. Now, you have another motive to keep going and within her and you, he will never be gone even if he is not physically here, he will be in your heart and there is no better place to make sure that he will never truly be gone." Ilian said as he touched her belly and she took a deep breath.

"You're right." She said to him and she believed in what he had said. When she arrived here, being in the quiet and without anything threatening her life, she finally had time to grief on the first three nights, she cried herself to sleep but when the next day would come she would feel a little bit better and perhaps that along with learning about her daughter had allowed her to heal more than if she had delved right into whatever darkness was awaiting for her is she didn't have this baby in her belly and if she hadn't accepted Ilian's offer to come here.

She pulled back a little and looked up at him as he looked down at her and she moved forward until she connected their lips together in what started as a slow kiss but quickly turned out to be more passionate. So passionate that she move up and swung her leg over his hips, straddling him without breaking the kiss before Ilian move to sit up pulling her along with him as his arms wrapped around her back and hers around his neck before she moved them down until her hands reached the hem of his shirt and tugged it up, pulling it over his head.

He looked at her and she looked back at him. "Are you sure about this? I don't want to pressure you or anything." He asked her and made sure she knew he wasn't expecting her to do anything she didn't want to and she nodded.

"I am. I want you and I won't regret it tomorrow, don't worry." She said to him and he nodded seeing she was sure about the decision so he just captured her lips and pulled her shirt over her head leaving her chest bare before turning their positions over and putting her down on her back as he stared at her before he moved to kiss her neck and made his way down her body.

Next thing they knew, he was moving away from her as he lay down beside her on the bed panting and sweaty as was she. They had made love three times already and were feeling quite spent and even after it was over, Octavia didn't regret it. He had been a gentler lover than Lincoln, who had been more rough, not that she ever complained since she liked it but Ilian was equally as good in that department. He certainly knew what he was doing and she enjoyed herself quite a lot as she resumed her previous position laying her head on his chest.

They were ready to go to sleep after the sweet moment they had just shared when they heard a scream coming from outside and it had to be pretty loud for them to hear since his part of the land was quite away from the center of the village so both of them shot straight up on the bed. "Was that a…" Octavia said but just before she could finish her phrase they heard another scream. Ilian got the sheets off of him and jumped out of bed, hastily putting his pants back before giving her her clothes.

"What is going on?" She asked him and he shook his head.

"I don't know but if we are being attacked, we need to get out here. We can't let anything happen to the baby." He said to her knowing the warrior in here would want to stay and fight but his reminder got her back to the reality she wasn't only watching over herself but her daughter as well so she nodded and finished putting on her clothes and before he grabbed himself a shirt, he heard the door of the house being kicked open. He moved towards the cupboard and got a sword and tossed it to her.

He then grabbed himself a spear before the door to the room was thrown open and Ilian used his strength to push the guy out. Octavia dropped into stance waiting for anyone else to jump inside the room and someone did so she prepared to fight him whoever it was. She noticed that their clothes was black with the symbol of Azgeda on their chest except there was a red x across it so she didn't know who these people were but they would not harm her child or Ilian so she started fighting with the guy, the sound of the clashing swords filling in the house.

She could faintly hear of the fight happening outside but she had her hands full. Whoever this was, he was good with the sword so she was having a little bit more difficulty in getting the upper hand but once he missed a step, she readily slit his throat letting him fall to the ground before she heard movement coming towards the door and didn't relax until she saw it was Ilian who had blood on his face and a few bruises. "Come on. We have to go." He said to her and she nodded as held the hand he offered her and they got out of the house.

They both went towards the horses but just before they got there. 5 more people appeared and both of them knew they would have to kill them to get to the horses so with a cry from Ilian, the couple moved towards the people and started fighting with them. Octavia handled two of them while Ilian took on the other three. The fighting was rough and she barely managed to dodge a sword aimed at her stomach but she was able to kill the two men and helped Ilian kill the last one before they finally got to the horse and mounted it before taking off from there and when they were away, they turned back to look at the village and the bodies falling to the ground and the blood that was being spilled.

Octavia looked at Ilian and saw the pain in his face as he watched his village being attacked. She couldn't understand what he was feeling but she could try and comfort him so she reached her hand and touched his face before pulling it back to look at her. "I'm sorry." She said to him and he nodded before he swallowed the pain back down.

"I can mourn them later. Right now, we need to go to your people. The doctor, she will make sure you're both okay." He said to her and she nodded and they started their horses in the direction of Arkadia.