The palace was silent when Dusty arrived home in a flare of soft golden light. The usual raucous chatter and footfalls of the children were absent, and he guessed that it must have been pretty early. He slid a heavy pack off his shoulder with a sigh, set it carefully on the floor, then stepped out onto the terrace, gazing out over the city.
The city, too, was silent. The streets weren't empty, but were not yet busy enough for noise to drift up to the higher levels of his home. Yawning, he stretched, and then eased out of the heavy surface clothing his travels forced him to wear. He was barely awake, but he wanted to feel the cool underground air through his fur before he went in to bed. "Slax," he swore, "It's earlier and earlier anymore. I wonder if anyone's up."
Even as he spoke, he heard soft, padded footsteps from the other end of the terrace. A lithe black Bast-cat woman in a linen skirt was gliding toward him with a smile, her tail swaying. When she noticed his gaze upon her, she stopeed, bowed, and smiled. "You've come home earlier than expected," she purred. "Welcome!"
Dusty smiled as he noticed her. "Sul'mah, nefermau." he said, offering a hand outstretched, fingers spread. "Never known my Shabti to miss a morning chime. How does Bast bless this day?" He chuckled a little, waiting for the feline's forehead to press into his palm. "I guess everyone's still asleep, huh?"
Shabti nudged her head into the palm of his hand and purred quietly, tail curling lazily around her ankle. "Today promises to be..." She paused, grinned a feline-fanged grin as she thought about it, then finished, "...a most eventful day." She kept her tone carefully neutral. It would be an eventful day indeed, she thought. She nodded, then, and rumbled quietly. "Indeed. Even the small ones have yet to wake. They will be happy to see you home. They miss you so."
Curling his fingers tightly to rub his palm from her brow to her ears, Dusty said with a grin, "Wonderful. Hopefully not too eventful 'til I wake up again?" He smiled hopefully. It had been a long, long trip, and he wasn't prepared to deal with anything more eventful than a nap. "I'd ask you to stay with me, but the little ones would miss you terribly. Tali'll be waking up anytime now, I was hoping to check in with her before I drop for the count..."
Shabti's breath caught for a single heartbeat. Her tail flicked back and forth once, as she struggled to find a way to inform him of the Lady's visitor. Head still bowed, she smiled a cryptic little smile and murmured, "Yes, I'm sure the Lady will awake soon. She was... awake... quite late herself, last evening."
Dusty was worried by the sudden change in her tone. He blinked, and slipped his arm around her slender waist, turning to walk back through the suspended causeway to the bedroom terraces. "Is everything all right?" he asked. "Not another riot, was it?"
Shabti walked with him, tail swaying with her step, ears tall and proud. "No," she said at last. "I understand that she attended to some difficulty outside the city early in the evening." How, precisely to tactfully tell the Queen's husband that this 'difficulty' had resulted in her bathing and clothing a strange Drow, or where that Drow was at the moment, was proving problematic.
Nodding thoughtfully, Duty asked carefully, "It's taken care of, then? Everything all right now?" He smiled. "No droopy whiskers and ears on my favorite mau?" As if to rpove his point, he ruffled her ears fondly before returning his arm to her waist and leading her up the winding stairs.
Purring, she smiled contentedly up at him. "Yes, I believe she has..." She quirked an eyebrow, bit the inside of her cheek, and cleared her throat a little. "...taken care of things quite well." Her voice was amused, if guarded, and she wore a cryptic feline grin. She even chuckled, perked an ear, and feigned offense as she commented, "I would not be seen with droopy ears or whiskers. It would not present a fitting picture of the house, or of my family."
Dusty chuckled softly, and leaned in to rub his cheek against her forehead. "How I love you, Shabti. How we all love you." He smiled. "All right, then. I'm turning in. If Tali asks, let her know things in Evermeet went quite well, but we have tons to talk about when my brain works again?" He paused outside the arch to the master quarters, and bent down, touching his nose to hers. "Goodnight kiss? I've been a good wolf..."
Shabti nudged her nose under his chin fondly and murmured, "And I love you..." She looked up at the door, and her eyes went wide for a second before she recovered. Her tone was once more cryptically neutral as she said, "I believe that the two of you will have a great deal to discuss..."
She smiled brightly at his second request and purred, "Of course..." She stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him softly and warmly, then licked his nose with a sandpaper tongue. Before he could reach to open the door she raised a finger and started to speak, then stopped herself, then finally simply said, "Do not be too startled if the Lady is... not alone..."
Dusty rumbled into the kiss, grinning. He was hungry, as he often was after trips, but too well-mannered to appropriate Shabti when her morning routine called. Nose wrinkling at the touch of her tongue, he grinned and whispered, "Later in the evening, kitten, I'll see you and raise you that."
He blinked, curiously, at her next comment, and tilted his head to one side to regard her curiously. "Er...okay, I'll grab a robe..." He smiled. "See you later, sweetie. It's good to be home." A fond roll of his fingertips through her headfur, then he turned and passed under the archway into the common room of the quarters.
Shabti just smiled cryptically, bowed a little again, and glided off down the stairs with that soft, swaying walk. She was deeply curious, but too well-mannered to remain at the door and eavesdrop... at least, in an obvious way. A few stairs down from the door, she stopped and waited.
As Dusty glanced around, he saw no one in the common room. Not terribly unusual, considering that Tali wasn't awake yet. What was unusual was a pile of tattered clothes and an even more tattered pack on a chair. A book and a pen had been carefully laid on a table beside the chair.
He blinked, pausing to regard to clothes, and winced. "Jesus, somebody got pretty badly cut up." He blinked, lifting the shirt, and regarded it thoughtfully. "Shabti, would you ask Mina...." He shook his head. "Never mind. This thing wouldn't survive a washing." He opened the bath closet and gathered a robe around his shoulders, then opened the bedroom door.
The bed was untouched. Most of the candles had burned out overnight, as no one had dared to disturb Tali and her guest by coming in to replace them. Only a couple of larger candles still lit the room. In the near-darkness, he could make out clothes that had been flung haphazardly on the floor.
He stared for a moment. The disarray, the quiet of the bed, left him to wonder if there'd been trouble...and then, his nose told him what his eyes were still asking. He turned his gaze to the corner, eyebrows raised, to the pile of beanbags Tali favored so… and found her sleeping there. She lay undressed, draped half on top of a Drow he'd never seen around the city, with one thigh tucked between his, one arm across his chest, and her head on his shoulder as the strange Drow, equally unclothed, had one arm around her waist.
He stared for a moment longer. He had no idea who this man was, or what he was doing here, but he looked comfortable enough. So did she. "Oh." he whispered. "Well, then." Carefully, he turned and slipped back out again, into the common room. "Well then." he echoed. "I guess I better find someplace else, hadn't I?" He chuckled once, shaking his head slowly. "I wonder if there's a couch free on the back terrace."
Shabti had come back up the stairs and was waiting for him in the common room when he came back out. Half contrite, and half grinning, she bowed her head and murmured, "Forgive me. I was not certain how to tell you that the Lady had..." She quirked an eyebrow. "...company. This has never come up before."
Dusty blinked, and chuckled quietly. "No, it certainly hasn't. I guess I've missed a lot, haven't I?" He sighed, surveying the room. "Oh, hell with it. I'm too tired to find a proper bed. If anyone needs me, I'll be on the couch here..." He brushed fond but exhausted fingertips down the mau's back, and curled onto his side. "Stay here a little while? Sit with me?" He smiled, pinkening a little. "Don't wanna...." A yawn cut off his words."...fall asleep alone tonight." He yawned again. "Today. Whatever."
Dutifully, Shabti knelt beside him and stroked his hair, resting her head against his side. "Of course. I am never too busy to make you more comfortable." Ears perked, she turned her head toward the bedroom door, listened for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Ah, she wakes..."
Even as the cat-woman spoke, a familiar soft, sleepy voice whispered into Dusty's mind, "Hello, beloved…"
Dusty touched his forehead to hers, and sighed, a loose arm draping more than tightening around her shoulders. "Thank you." he whispered into her ear. "I'll be asleep soon. Already getting there..." He smiled, then, at the touch of Tali's mind, and silently thought, "Hello love. I guess I've missed a lot these last few days, haven't I?"
Shabti fell silent. She'd learned to recognize when they were 'talking', and she simply stroked his hair and said nothing.
In Dusty's mind, he could feel the faint blush... as well as the warm, quiet contentedness still there from the night before. "You could say that, love. It's... a long story." He felt a pair of light mental 'arms' squeezing him gently for a moment, then letting go.
Dusty would have chuckled, but his muscles were already flowing lax around him. "I'd guessed." he whispered into her mind. "Well...ah, Mina's making breakfast, give your guest there my seat and we'll catch up as soon as I'm coherent. It went well. Looks like things here did too, huh?"
He could hear Tali laugh softly as she lay half-awake in the next room. "Well enough..." he heard her think to him, "… but I've missed you. I love you, my angel. Sleep well."
He smiled quietly, already beginning to snore. "Love you too, hon. Missed you. We'll catch up soon..."
[The End… but only for now.]
The city, too, was silent. The streets weren't empty, but were not yet busy enough for noise to drift up to the higher levels of his home. Yawning, he stretched, and then eased out of the heavy surface clothing his travels forced him to wear. He was barely awake, but he wanted to feel the cool underground air through his fur before he went in to bed. "Slax," he swore, "It's earlier and earlier anymore. I wonder if anyone's up."
Even as he spoke, he heard soft, padded footsteps from the other end of the terrace. A lithe black Bast-cat woman in a linen skirt was gliding toward him with a smile, her tail swaying. When she noticed his gaze upon her, she stopeed, bowed, and smiled. "You've come home earlier than expected," she purred. "Welcome!"
Dusty smiled as he noticed her. "Sul'mah, nefermau." he said, offering a hand outstretched, fingers spread. "Never known my Shabti to miss a morning chime. How does Bast bless this day?" He chuckled a little, waiting for the feline's forehead to press into his palm. "I guess everyone's still asleep, huh?"
Shabti nudged her head into the palm of his hand and purred quietly, tail curling lazily around her ankle. "Today promises to be..." She paused, grinned a feline-fanged grin as she thought about it, then finished, "...a most eventful day." She kept her tone carefully neutral. It would be an eventful day indeed, she thought. She nodded, then, and rumbled quietly. "Indeed. Even the small ones have yet to wake. They will be happy to see you home. They miss you so."
Curling his fingers tightly to rub his palm from her brow to her ears, Dusty said with a grin, "Wonderful. Hopefully not too eventful 'til I wake up again?" He smiled hopefully. It had been a long, long trip, and he wasn't prepared to deal with anything more eventful than a nap. "I'd ask you to stay with me, but the little ones would miss you terribly. Tali'll be waking up anytime now, I was hoping to check in with her before I drop for the count..."
Shabti's breath caught for a single heartbeat. Her tail flicked back and forth once, as she struggled to find a way to inform him of the Lady's visitor. Head still bowed, she smiled a cryptic little smile and murmured, "Yes, I'm sure the Lady will awake soon. She was... awake... quite late herself, last evening."
Dusty was worried by the sudden change in her tone. He blinked, and slipped his arm around her slender waist, turning to walk back through the suspended causeway to the bedroom terraces. "Is everything all right?" he asked. "Not another riot, was it?"
Shabti walked with him, tail swaying with her step, ears tall and proud. "No," she said at last. "I understand that she attended to some difficulty outside the city early in the evening." How, precisely to tactfully tell the Queen's husband that this 'difficulty' had resulted in her bathing and clothing a strange Drow, or where that Drow was at the moment, was proving problematic.
Nodding thoughtfully, Duty asked carefully, "It's taken care of, then? Everything all right now?" He smiled. "No droopy whiskers and ears on my favorite mau?" As if to rpove his point, he ruffled her ears fondly before returning his arm to her waist and leading her up the winding stairs.
Purring, she smiled contentedly up at him. "Yes, I believe she has..." She quirked an eyebrow, bit the inside of her cheek, and cleared her throat a little. "...taken care of things quite well." Her voice was amused, if guarded, and she wore a cryptic feline grin. She even chuckled, perked an ear, and feigned offense as she commented, "I would not be seen with droopy ears or whiskers. It would not present a fitting picture of the house, or of my family."
Dusty chuckled softly, and leaned in to rub his cheek against her forehead. "How I love you, Shabti. How we all love you." He smiled. "All right, then. I'm turning in. If Tali asks, let her know things in Evermeet went quite well, but we have tons to talk about when my brain works again?" He paused outside the arch to the master quarters, and bent down, touching his nose to hers. "Goodnight kiss? I've been a good wolf..."
Shabti nudged her nose under his chin fondly and murmured, "And I love you..." She looked up at the door, and her eyes went wide for a second before she recovered. Her tone was once more cryptically neutral as she said, "I believe that the two of you will have a great deal to discuss..."
She smiled brightly at his second request and purred, "Of course..." She stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him softly and warmly, then licked his nose with a sandpaper tongue. Before he could reach to open the door she raised a finger and started to speak, then stopped herself, then finally simply said, "Do not be too startled if the Lady is... not alone..."
Dusty rumbled into the kiss, grinning. He was hungry, as he often was after trips, but too well-mannered to appropriate Shabti when her morning routine called. Nose wrinkling at the touch of her tongue, he grinned and whispered, "Later in the evening, kitten, I'll see you and raise you that."
He blinked, curiously, at her next comment, and tilted his head to one side to regard her curiously. "Er...okay, I'll grab a robe..." He smiled. "See you later, sweetie. It's good to be home." A fond roll of his fingertips through her headfur, then he turned and passed under the archway into the common room of the quarters.
Shabti just smiled cryptically, bowed a little again, and glided off down the stairs with that soft, swaying walk. She was deeply curious, but too well-mannered to remain at the door and eavesdrop... at least, in an obvious way. A few stairs down from the door, she stopped and waited.
As Dusty glanced around, he saw no one in the common room. Not terribly unusual, considering that Tali wasn't awake yet. What was unusual was a pile of tattered clothes and an even more tattered pack on a chair. A book and a pen had been carefully laid on a table beside the chair.
He blinked, pausing to regard to clothes, and winced. "Jesus, somebody got pretty badly cut up." He blinked, lifting the shirt, and regarded it thoughtfully. "Shabti, would you ask Mina...." He shook his head. "Never mind. This thing wouldn't survive a washing." He opened the bath closet and gathered a robe around his shoulders, then opened the bedroom door.
The bed was untouched. Most of the candles had burned out overnight, as no one had dared to disturb Tali and her guest by coming in to replace them. Only a couple of larger candles still lit the room. In the near-darkness, he could make out clothes that had been flung haphazardly on the floor.
He stared for a moment. The disarray, the quiet of the bed, left him to wonder if there'd been trouble...and then, his nose told him what his eyes were still asking. He turned his gaze to the corner, eyebrows raised, to the pile of beanbags Tali favored so… and found her sleeping there. She lay undressed, draped half on top of a Drow he'd never seen around the city, with one thigh tucked between his, one arm across his chest, and her head on his shoulder as the strange Drow, equally unclothed, had one arm around her waist.
He stared for a moment longer. He had no idea who this man was, or what he was doing here, but he looked comfortable enough. So did she. "Oh." he whispered. "Well, then." Carefully, he turned and slipped back out again, into the common room. "Well then." he echoed. "I guess I better find someplace else, hadn't I?" He chuckled once, shaking his head slowly. "I wonder if there's a couch free on the back terrace."
Shabti had come back up the stairs and was waiting for him in the common room when he came back out. Half contrite, and half grinning, she bowed her head and murmured, "Forgive me. I was not certain how to tell you that the Lady had..." She quirked an eyebrow. "...company. This has never come up before."
Dusty blinked, and chuckled quietly. "No, it certainly hasn't. I guess I've missed a lot, haven't I?" He sighed, surveying the room. "Oh, hell with it. I'm too tired to find a proper bed. If anyone needs me, I'll be on the couch here..." He brushed fond but exhausted fingertips down the mau's back, and curled onto his side. "Stay here a little while? Sit with me?" He smiled, pinkening a little. "Don't wanna...." A yawn cut off his words."...fall asleep alone tonight." He yawned again. "Today. Whatever."
Dutifully, Shabti knelt beside him and stroked his hair, resting her head against his side. "Of course. I am never too busy to make you more comfortable." Ears perked, she turned her head toward the bedroom door, listened for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Ah, she wakes..."
Even as the cat-woman spoke, a familiar soft, sleepy voice whispered into Dusty's mind, "Hello, beloved…"
Dusty touched his forehead to hers, and sighed, a loose arm draping more than tightening around her shoulders. "Thank you." he whispered into her ear. "I'll be asleep soon. Already getting there..." He smiled, then, at the touch of Tali's mind, and silently thought, "Hello love. I guess I've missed a lot these last few days, haven't I?"
Shabti fell silent. She'd learned to recognize when they were 'talking', and she simply stroked his hair and said nothing.
In Dusty's mind, he could feel the faint blush... as well as the warm, quiet contentedness still there from the night before. "You could say that, love. It's... a long story." He felt a pair of light mental 'arms' squeezing him gently for a moment, then letting go.
Dusty would have chuckled, but his muscles were already flowing lax around him. "I'd guessed." he whispered into her mind. "Well...ah, Mina's making breakfast, give your guest there my seat and we'll catch up as soon as I'm coherent. It went well. Looks like things here did too, huh?"
He could hear Tali laugh softly as she lay half-awake in the next room. "Well enough..." he heard her think to him, "… but I've missed you. I love you, my angel. Sleep well."
He smiled quietly, already beginning to snore. "Love you too, hon. Missed you. We'll catch up soon..."
[The End… but only for now.]