Disclaimer: I don't own squat, not a damn thing. Well, I own a rather nice pair of red Converse high-tops, but that's it. As far as Ardeth, Evy, or Rick, no, sorry, not mine. The OC, however, is mine. Flames will be used to light my backyard barbecue pit. Please R&R, I'm desperate.
-Belle
It took a great deal of fortitude for Ardeth to hide his shock at what he'd just heard. The great cruelty of life is that no matter how much one anticipates an inevitability, when the time comes they're no more prepared than had they been oblivious all along. He knew she'd be leaving, it's all his thoughts had centered on, but the imminent reality of her departure felt eerily similar to falling out of the sky strapped to the wing of a biplane. Still, he steeled himself from showing any emotion and instead offered a vague nod to no one in particular.
"You're awfully quiet," she commented, "I thought you'd have something to say." Lira was regarding him with intense scrutiny, and though he wasn't facing her, he swore he could feel her gaze burning holes through his head. Luckily a cascade of dark curls allowed him to mask his face.
"There is nothing to comment. I am happy for you to be going home, but that only concerns me as far as the docks." he said airily, "The sooner I buy those supplies and return to my people the better." She glared a little at that last comment. After the story he'd told her, after that moment out in the desert, after what she'd revealed to him in the letter this was all he had to say. She was an inch away from knocking his head off. She wasn't sure what she had expected exactly, maybe that familiar over-protective insistence that she reconsider, but not this cold, composed dismissal.
"I see." was all she managed to say. For lack of a solution to a dead conversation, she turned and took a few steps toward the door and stopped. Ardeth's back muscles tightened, expecting the woman to lecture or chastise him, perhaps even to shout. He was surprised to feel a gentle tapping on his shoulder and with blind curiosity he relaxed and turned to face her.
He had only a moment to see that the veil had been lowered and was now hanging to the side, for before he could speak she'd stepped right up to him, reached a hand up to his neck, and pulled his lips down to hers. The sheer shock of the moment paralyzed him, and it was a moment before any instincts took over. His mind, however, wasn't particularly pleased with the instinct his body had chosen to obey. He somehow found his arms wrapped desperately around the woman's slim waist. Her right arm was now wrapped around his neck and her left around his broad shoulders. Lira herself hadn't anticipated this strong of a reaction and she reveled as he pulled her closer and returned the kiss with far more voracity than she'd expected. It had been anger that had driven her, but that had quickly vanished. Her heart felt like it was swelling to fill her entire body.
Thus the protests began. That nagging in the back of Ardeth's mind, reminding him of the promise he'd made himself and soon after the abject humiliation of losing his self control yet again burned in his mind. Something deep inside was screaming at him to ignore it, and the voice was more insistent than it had been that night by the campfire. Still, the protests grew stronger and stronger until, abruptly, he broke the kiss and pushed the woman away. She was immediately stunned, her green eyes fiery and deeply confused at once. It was in that moment that he felt a fissure open deep inside his chest and he cursed that pain for allowing him to be carried away. At least that's what he told himself was the cause of this sudden empty feeling, and he clung to that belief even as the confusion on her face turned to disbelief and then anger.
"Well," she said in a tone that chilled him to the core, "That solves that I suppose." And before he could explain himself she turned and walked back toward the door, disappearing in a flash of brilliant yellow light and leaving him alone on the rooftop.
Evy had just finished getting ready to go down and see what her husband and dear brother were up to when she heard a door slam from what sounded to be across the hall. In all honesty she'd gotten a little distracted by some books she'd picked up while shopping or else she'd have been downstairs by that point. Now, though her natural curiosity was piqued and in a moment she'd guessed that Lira had gone on to the rooftop after Evy had left Ardeth there. Why the woman seemed to be angry now was of great interest. Not a half hour before she had been distraught over the state Ardeth had been in, and now the tables had turned. 'Well,' Evy figured, 'Rick and Jonathan are big boys, they can wait a little longer.'
Evy opened the door a crack to ensure Ardeth was nowhere in sight before jetting across the hall to Lira's door. She couldn't hear a sound through the heavy wood, and so she hesitantly brought a hand up and lightly knocked on the door. A woman in silent rage is, after all, more dangerous than a woman yelling and throwing things about. Evy was about to knock again when nothing seemed to happen, but just as her knuckles came close to the wood she heard footsteps and stood back a little so as not to look like she was eavesdropping. In a flash the door swung open, startling Evy. Lira was clearly upset, her mouth half open like she was about to spit venom until she saw Evy there. She closed her mouth and gave a half-hearted smile.
"Sorry to bother you. I just heard a loud noise and I wanted to make sure you were alright." Evy offered.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine, just a little…" she let the sentence drop, "I'm sorry would you like to come in?"
"Certainly." Evy chimed in, and Lira held the door open wider allowing the other woman entry. Compared to Evy and Rick's room in which toys and clothes were strewn everywhere, this room looked pristinely untouched. She couldn't even see any luggage save a tied up bundle lying at the foot of the lone bed. There was a table over by the window and the two women sat down.
"Sorry to worry you, " Lira commented, trying to sound light and jovial, "It's nothing really. Just a little stressed I suppose."
"Did you get a chance to speak with Ardeth? He's calmed down significantly." Evy offered subtly, and as Lira's face turned several shades rosier than normal, Evy got her answer.
"Just for a little bit." Lira responded distantly. She became suddenly and deeply interested in some dirt trapped stubbornly beneath a fingernail. The brilliant red flush only burned deeper and even her ears were succumbing to a brilliant red hue. There was no getting around it now. There was something going on and Evy had known it deep down, but now she finally had some proof.
"You know, if there's anything I've learned from being Jonathan's sister and Rick's wife, it's that nothing quite puts the rage of centuries into a woman like a man," she mused. Lira didn't respond, instead attacking the fingernail dirt with greater resolve. When the quick under her nails began to bleed, Evy reached out a hand to stay Lira's. The woman before her sighed and leaned back against the chair, finally giving her nails a rest. "Lira, what's going on? I know something's up and I've known since you got here. Ardeth is my friend, and to be frank I'm concerned for you both. Now, please, just tell me honestly what's going on." There was a moment of silence as Lira just stared out the window. Evy was about to speak up when Lira finally turned her head back to the front.
"Nothing," she finally said, rising from her chair, "Absolutely nothing. I thought maybe there was something there, and heaven knows I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some small part of me desperately wishing we had something. I was wrong, though. He's pushed me away twice now, and by no means in hell am I going to put myself through that humiliation again."
"What do you mean he's pushed you away?" Evy asked; standing and approaching the woman who was now carefully folding her scarf and veil to pack them into the bundle at the foot of the bed.
"I spent a lot of time in that camp, Evy. I don't know how long, I lost count, but it was wonderful. Then when Ardeth returned from Cairo… he began teaching me these little sword techniques. We began talking more and more. Then he said it was time to bring me here and I was so torn up about leaving that camp. It took three days to get here and every night we'd talk by the campfire until we couldn't possibly keep our eyes open any longer. Then, on the last night…" Lira let the sentence drop. She had been about to talk about that story Ardeth had told her, but decided against it, "We kissed. Well, he kissed me, and I responded, but then he pulled away. Then tonight we were on the roof and I told him I was going to be leaving tomorrow and he barely reacted. So I kissed him. I was so angry with him and I didn't know what else to do, and I kissed him."
"And?"
"And he pushed me away." Lira concluded, "So that's it. That's all in a nutshell. I'm getting on the boat tomorrow and leaving this silly little… whatever, behind me.
A/N: Oooo, spit rage, I know it's coming. Relax. Trust in the story. Trust in the characters. My gracious thanks to chocolatejet for returning (YAY!), NewsieGoil1899, RampantLioness, Pirate Gyrl (YAY!), Shorty McGee (LOVE the name), Paper Umbrella, and FawkesFire. Keep it up! You guys are the reason I posted this before it had gotten beta'd. And honestly, I'll try to post more frequently now, as I'm not sure how long the beta'ing will take. Ta ta for now. Let me know what you think.
