Sneaking into the castle had been easy, as Vaan noted, but he now knew that sneaking to his destination was going to be tough. At least without being seen. Being a wanted sky pirate and all he was at the top of the list of fugitives.

Still, he wanted to see her, and he also wanted to surprise her.

By 'her' he meant the Queen of Dalmasca Ashelia or Ashe as everyone else called her. He preferred to call her by her actual name. Seemed to be personal when he did so. Vaan had left Arcadia with the authorities in pursuit earlier and had taken to the city of Rabanastre to hide out. He hadn't originally planned to see Ashe if he was being chased. Now that they were gone, however, he saw the chance to see her and was determined to do so.

Having snuck into the castle a dozen times at least he knew the best route to the Queen's bed chamber. She was protected at all costs by rings of guards captained by Basch and would protect Her Majesty with his life. What many did not know was that the captain knew of Vaan and Ashe's feelings for one another and more often than not looked in the other direction whenever he suspected the sky pirate was around.

That still didn't mean he left the path open to Ashe for him, however. And that meant Vaan had to prove his worth and get to her by himself. That was easy.

So was the way of getting to the Queen's balcony. By pure coincidence her balcony was pointing to the north and there weren't any others visible to where anyone could see hers. That made the chances of him being seen almost nonexistent. Climbing to it was a challenge but thanks to a small device Penelo had given him he made it up in one single stroke. 'Never thought the grapple gun would be used like this,' he thought with a smirk.

With it he made it up to Ashe's balcony in no time and went inside. She didn't have doors to the outside which could also be seen as a flaw but she had never said anything about it. Possibly because she knew a certain sky pirate would continually use it to see her whenever he could.

Going into her chamber Vaan expected to see Ashe resting on her bed after a day of being Queen of Dalmasca, but instead her room was empty. It was lit up and signs of recent activity was obvious to him. That, and her door to her bath was closed with light being seen under the door. He smirked, 'That's where she is...better surprise her.'

He took a sharp look around to see where would be the best place to hide but he simply chose to stand near the door itself. That was the last place she would expect anyone to be waiting for her. He was just out of the way to where unless she turned in his direction she wouldn't see him.

He didn't have to wait long as the door opened and in a cloud of steam came the Queen of Dalmasca. As he had suspected Vaan saw her in nothing but a white bathrobe, and the scent of herbal water followed her out. She didn't notice him at all and walked across the room to her bed where a night dress was laid out. Her hair hadn't been dried and after she dropped her robe to the floor Vaan noticed she wasn't dry at all, and her skin was glistening. He hesitated moving forward, fearful of scaring her but at the same time admiring the view.

His feet decided for him and he snuck up behind her. She didn't notice him until he forced her to turn around. She yelped but before she could scream Vaan silenced her with a kiss, with one hand on the back of her head to steady her. His other hand was in the small of her back and pinned her to him. At first Ashe had her nails dig into Vaan's arm as an act of self-defense, but relaxed when she realized who had caught her off guard. Her body relaxed and her arms fell to her sides, giving into the bliss she was experiencing.

Vaan pulled back from her and let go of her hair, "Hello Ashelia."

Opening her eyes Ashe glared at him, "You scared me."

He could feel her heart beating in her chest, proving her words true. Vaan shrugged his shoulders, "Figured you'd like to see me."

"I didn't want to see you. I needed to see you," she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong? Have a rough day?"

"Being a queen is always rough. You know that."

"My apologies."

"But today was a bit rougher than I would have liked. Yet...now that you're here it's not as bad anymore."

"Same with me, I just ditched the border patrol on my way here."

Raising her head off his shoulder Ashe gave him a questionable look, "What'd you do this time?"

"Just a sky pirate doing sky pirate things. You know, the usual."

"Hm, wish they would give you a break."

"You and me both."

Ashe felt a chill go up her back, her skin still wet from her bath and she shivered against Vaan. "Excuse me."

He let her go, knowing she was cold, but before she could get out of reach he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back. Her naked chest collided with his with a smack.

"Vaan-!"

"I'll keep you warm, Ashelia." He said with a devious smile.

"I know but I would like to be wearing something in case someone were to interrupt us." While that had been true a small part of Ashe's mind was arguing that this predicament was much more preferable. The tips of her breasts were hard and her skin, where it was dry enough was showing goose flesh. she was cold and wanted something to wear.

As for Vaan he preferred it this way. "I don't think so."

Before she could argue with him Ashe found herself being lifted off the floor and carried around her bed. Vaan set her down but within seconds of her being free Vaan was on top of her again. His lips attacked the side of her neck and the fact that she had wrapped her arms around his neck meant that Ashe had stopped resisting. She had also wrapped her legs around Vaan's hips to emphasize her surrender.

Vaan smiled against her skin, "That's better." He moved up to her ear and nibbled on her ear lobe eliciting a gasp from the queen. That racy action was soon followed by a tender whisper, "I missed you."

Ashe ran her hands up his back until they were on the back of his head, and she looked into his eyes with an equally tender gaze, "And I missed you..."

To show how much he loved her Vaan kissed Ashe again, and she refused to let him go.

Forbidden and taboo, the queen, and the sky pirate, never to be together because of their lifestyles, took whatever time they could together and made it memorable. They never knew when their time together could be their last.