"Yes?" he responded, obviously grudging her the interruption.
"I wanted to apologize. I'm sorry." She waited for his reply, feeling wretched.
Nodding shortly, he resumed walking down the Hall.
"Rayek, please!" She was hurt by his snub.
"What?" he tossed over his shoulder indifferently.
"I'm serious. I shouldn't have thrown that water on you."
Rayek's face was a cool mask. "No you shouldn't have."
She flinched. The silence stretched as they continued walking. Rayek clearly had no intention of conversing. Finally, hurt more than she could say by his apparent lack of concern over her apology, she muttered, "Not that you would care that I'm sorry. We're not even friends, after all."
Her only sign that he had heard was a slight lifting of one eyebrow. Her head hanging, she turned away. **I AM sorry.** With that, she walked off.
Muttering dark imprecations to himself, Rayek let her go.
Ebony grinned. "Rayek?!" She tapped his shoulder. He was so cute when he was asleep.
Rolling over, he propped himself up on one arm and glared at her. "What do you want?"
"I need your help."
"Doing what?" he asked testily.
"Well, Savah asked me to find you so that you could answer a question about the Scrolls. I need your help to find you." She smiled gently at him. "Will you get up and help me find you?"
"What?" His negative attitude momentarily dropped, he regarded her quizzically. The change in facial expression, body language and other subtle things was total.
She laughed slightly. "Savah wants your help with the Scrolls. Is it just me that you are this much of a jerk around?"
Instantly Rayek's guard was back up. "I am as I am," he retorted. "If that bothers you, then it is your problem."
"You've been nothing but cold to me since we talked over the tea. I was wondering why?" She handed him one of his tunics as she asked.
Taking the tunic with no word of thanks, he pulled it over his head.
"I thought you said we could be friends...."
"You said Savah needed me," he interupted.
"Fine." She shivered as she walked out of his room. "Find her yourself." If Ebony had turned in time, she might have seen the regret that briefly glinted in his eyes.
Rayek lay stretched full-length on the rock promintory the bounded one side of the lake. His hair was still damp, but the long time he had spent in the sun had thoroughly dried the rest of him.
Ebony grinned. She felt hot and sticky after her hunt this morning, and a nice bath was just what the Healer ordered. Leetah, to be specific. Not noticing Rayek's dark form stretched out on the rocks, she quickly stripped off her leathers, slipping into the water with a happy sigh. Sliding under the water, she broke the surface with a larger splash than she had expected. Much of the water landed on Rayek's bare back.
Cold water on sun-warmed skin. The effect was immediate. In one massive flinch, Rayek jerked up. "Watch what you're doing!" he snarled. Ebony jerked around at the sound of his voice. Her jaw dropped when she saw that he was there, and had obviously been there for some time.
"I . . . didn't realize you were here."
Glaring, he snapped, "Obviously not."
"I'm sorry." Her pro-offered apology was apparently uneffective.
"That doesn't make me any drier," he growled. Pausing only to snatch his clothes, he stalked back to the Palace. He didn't look back, so he didn't see the tear that slipped down Ebony's cheek.
"I just wish I understood, Dart." Ebony shook her head. "All I want is to be his friend, and he's making things so hard." She grinned at her one-time student, but the grin was tired and sad.
"From what I know of him, that's what he does," Dart shrugged.
"Just like me, right?" Ebony glared at the wall. "I know most of the others think the same about me."
He shook his head. "Not as they think of Rayek."
"I don't understand what the difference is.
"You have never been as arrogant as he. Never so sure that you know what to do."
"Arrogant...." she whispered sadly. "Yes.... It's not fair to him, you know. He's just hurting right now."
Dart put a hand on her shoulder. "You've never thought that most people were beneath you." His brow furrowed, he added, "But I thought he had grown out of that."
She covered his hand with her own before standing and giving him a soft hug. "Thanks, Dart. But I don't really feel like talking anymore." She wandered off, lost in thought over Rayek's odd behaviour.
Ebony grinned. It was the best chance she was going to have to talk to Rayek, and she was anxious to see his reaction. Glad that Ahnshah had donated her bubble-pies, Ebony set up the last of the items before nodding to herself. **Rayek?**
His send came back with ill-grace that he didn't bother to conceal. **Now what?**
**I was wondering if you'd like to join me for tea again.**
**No,** he sent brutally.
A little frustrated, but expecting such a reaction, she pulled out her secret weapon. **Such a shame. Ahnshah said you love her bubblepies. She gave me four. Said that wouldn't be enough, but it was all she had.**
**I do not want any now.** Despite the abruptness of his tone, she thought she felt him waver for a moment.
**Perhaps later, then?** She tried to conceal the hope in her voice, but failed.
**I do not think so.** It was the kindest tone he had used with her for some time, and it still left a chill in her heart.
More than a little angry by this point, for she had noticed he was only really doing this to her, she grabbed a bubblepie. She didn't notice how the heat from the pie burned her hand as she carried it through the Palace. When she reached Rayek's door, she didn't bother asking permission. The door swirled open, and she stormed in, finding him curled up in a chair made from the wall of the Palace.
For the briefest of moments his face was bleak, but he quickly scowled at her. "I am sick and tired of you acting like a jerk every time I try to be nice to you! Ahnshah said you loved these pies, so here's one for you to enjoy!" With that said, she shoved the steaming pie into his lap. The top burst, allowing the scalding contents to run down his legs. "Get Leetah to help you, if you can be nice enough for five minutes."
"Why you little--!" he gasped.
"That's right, Rayek! Little, the way nature made me, instead of shaped to look like a screwed up High One!"
Launching himself from the chair, he shoved her out of his way and grabbed an old tattered cloak. This he used to get as much of the steaming liquid off of himself as possible. "You think I -asked- Winnowill to do this?!" he snapped. It was the most honest reaction she had gotten from him in a moon.
Ebony nodded in satisfaction, turning slowly to leave. Once she wasn't facing him, she allowed her true feelings, the hurt and pain from having hurt him, to shine through on her face. "I think you liked the idea. You thought it would make the others like you more. Instead, everyone thinks you look like a freak. Myself included."
She couldn't help herself. Her mouth ran without thinking.
With a great deal of effort, he managed to bring himself back under some semblance of control.
"You assume that I care what the rest of you think," he said coldly.
"And Rayek? One more thing before I leave.... If you're going to break someone's heart, try to be a bit more straightforward. You might end up on better terms with the elf. Not that you care what terms you end up with me. But now, you've only inspired me to keep annoying you, sheerly because it makes you so angry." She stepped quickly out of the room, trying to hide the tears that threatened to spill down her face.
"To the human's Doom Pit with it all!" Rayek swore as he collapsed back into his chair. He threw the cloak and pants against the wall as hard as he could. They slid down, leaving a trail of bubble-pie juice.
Taal had always been one of Ebony's favourite games. It had such potential for teaching cubs how to hunt, and for reminding their elders of forgotten skills. She loved the game, loved playing it though she almost never won.
Curled up in the branches of a tree, watching for unsuspecting prey from the ground, she didn't glance behind her at the small crack of a branch. It was probably just a squirrel. But the squirrel turned out to be the prey Ebony was waiting for. Only the prey was hunting her. Dart howled as he leapt on her, tagging her with his taal stick. Jumping from surprise, she tried to grab the branch above her and swing on it down to the safety of the ground. But her hand landed squarely on a broken branch stump. The pain of the branch's sharp edges cutting into her flesh was surprising enough that she missed her handhold, landing on the ground right in front of Rayek.
Rayek moved silently through the underbrush, intent on his prey. It wasn't often he came upon boar tracks in this area, and he was determined to catch this one. Rayek blinked at her, for a moment only able to think, "That's not a boar."
Though she missed Rayek by a good foot, she didn't miss the ground. In fact, it took one of her good feet, twisting it at an angle painful to see, let alone bear. And surprisingly enough, a small stretch of the bone actually jutted out of her skin, the cut bleeding. Ebony, stunned, flinched in pain. But her eyes were, for the moment, dry. She was in too much shock to cry. Staring in wonder at her leg, unable to believe what just happened, she slowly tried to stand . . . a VERY foolish gesture. Instead of making it to her feet, she fell back on her haunches, this time cursing roundly. So intent was she on the pain in her leg that she never even noticed the blood streaming down her palm from the cut of the branch.
But Rayek did. Frowning, he knelt beside her and bound his headband over the gash on her hand. Rayek sent, **Leetah. You are needed.**
For the first time she really saw Rayek, and looked at him with wide eyes which were more than a little shocky. She brushed her hair out of her forehead with one hand, leaving a trail of unnoticed blood along her forehead. "Why are you helping me?" she whispered. "You don't like me, don't care about what happens. Why help me?"
"I don't leave someone to bleed no matter how stupid they've been," he said curtly.
**Rayek?** she sent softly.
His eyes flicked to her once, in response, then returned to examining what was left of her ankle. It did not look good. He didn't even dare to bandage it.
**Thank you.** She reached out, brushing her good hand across his cheek with incredible gentleness and tenderness.
One shoulder hunched and he pulled away from her, but he did not snap at her as she expected.
Suddenly stiffening as he probed at her ankle a bit, she bit back a cry of pain. And tears slipped out of her eyes, despite how desperately she tried to hold them back. **I can bear this.** Rayek couldn't tell if she was telling him, or herself. Her breathing changed to a deep, even pant, as though she were trying to control the pain.
Dart, who had disappeared to find Leetah, suddenly appeared. "Rayek?" He sounded very worried. "Let me take her. You're in no shape to deal with this." Pushing Rayek aside, Dart carefully gathered Ebony up in his arms.
"Where is Leetah--" Rayek started to demand. "What do you mean 'I'm in no shape?' I can carry her better than you!"
"It's okay, Ebony. I just need to take you to Leetah. She's a bit... tied up at the moment." Dart spoke directly to Ebony, ignoring Rayek's indignant glare.
Ebony, for her part, had gone completely white. Her lip bled slightly where she bit it to keep the screams at bay. She hid her face in Dart's shoulder, but the knuckles of her clenched fist were more than white enough to give her away.
"You idiot Wolfriders are all alike," Rayek snapped. Dart felt Ebony lifted from his arms.
The WolfRider glared up at Rayek. "Give her back! All you'll do is hurt her more!"
His brow knit with concentration, Rayek gently extricated Ebony from Dart's grip. He had to be careful... take as much of Ebony's weight as he could without shifting the position of her broken ankle any further.
Ebony shivered as she heard Dart's words. They were painfully accurate. "Perhaps," she ground out from between clenched teeth. "I should go to Leetah by myself. It would save the trouble of the two of you fighting." Even as caught up in her own misery as she was, though, Ebony was amazed to see the care that Rayek was taking with her ankle.
"And how do you intend to get there? By crawling?" Fortunately, he was too occupied to be truly sneering.
Of course, she thought, remembering all the times he had been gentle with her. The snake. The gut-wound from the Troll. The death of her wolf-friend. Now this. He didn't care about her. . . . He cared about elves who were in trouble or pain. "If that's what it takes." The words were bitten out, but she gently and carefully wound her arms around his neck, striving to make herself feel a bit more secure.
Dart, left behind in his own rage, ran ahead of the two of them to tell Leetah the news.
His right arm shifting to hold Ebony better as she re-adjusted herself, Rayek wound his left hand through the air, as though wrapping an imaginagry bandange around it. As he did so, glowing bands of power wrapped around Ebony's ankle, bands that held it in place without actually touching it.
Now flush against him, Ebony ducked her head into the hollow created by his throat, once more allowing hot tears to scald her cheeks. And even through the pain, she couldn't help but notice his scent. Like sand on a hot summer day in the desert.
He could feel her breath on his neck and chest, a breath that caused chills to go down his body. He hadn't had someone this close to him in ages. Involuntary shivers twitched his shoulders, and his breathing quickened. Blast it! he scowled at himself. This was NOT the time for this!
Hearing the change in his breathing and feeling the tremors of his body, Ebony glanced up at his face. She withdrew a bit from the scowl, but something within her tightened her grip on his neck, until it felt much more like a passionate embrace than a stability hold. Her soft skin against his neck and chest did much to distract Rayek, just as the feel of him next to her went a long way to takeing Ebony's mind off of the pain.
Out of instinct, she pressed herself a little closer to him, in that motion moving her leg slightly. Her face pressed into his neck, and she yelped softly. Instantly, he adjusted his hold over her leg. "Is that better?" he asked gruffly.
She nodded, the silk of her hair teasing his neck. His shoulders twitched again. High Ones it had been so very long...
"Rayek...." she whispered softly. Reluctantly his eyes met hers. For a few moments, her eyes were clear of tears, though still shadowed by pain. "Thank you."
He turned his attention back to the trail, ostensibly concentrating on that. "You are welcome."
Acting out of instinct and gratitude, she pressed her lips very briefly against his neck before snuggling back into her most comfortable position. She felt safe with him.
He swallowed heavily and his arms tightened around her.
They finally reached Leetah, both surprised to find her well-encased in Redlance's Shaped vines. When the Healer saw Ebony's leg, she struggled even harder against the vines.
"So this is what kept you," Rayek said with a raised eyebrow. Ebony, despite her pain, giggled softly, her breath once more tickling Rayek's neck. One shoulder hunched in a futile attempt to proteck his neck.
Finally managing to get her arms out of the vine at least, she moved them over Ebony's leg. Moments later, Ebony's leg healed and she flexed her foot slowly. Staring up at Rayek with wide eyes, she waited for his grip on her to loosen.
Setting Ebony on her feet, Rayek beat a hasty retreat to his room. Her eyes were solemn as she watched him leave. Dart moved to her side, touching her shoulder gently.
That night, all his attempts to sleep were futile. He kept remembering the feel of Ebony in his arms, and the nagging sense that there was supposed to be someone next to him returned with all its old intensity.