Volume 2, Part XVI: Bad Wine and Good Company

Torio didn't realize she had dozed off until her eyes suddenly snapped open. She had no idea how long she had been sleeping; the candles and lanterns still burned brightly in the room.

Air. She needed air.

She peeled herself from the bed, and slipped towards the small staircase leading to the door. Only a few minutes… Her throat constricted painfully, threatening to choke her, as she thought that only a short time ago they were playfully betting their time spent breathing at the doorway...

She pressed against the wall, at the top of the stairs, sitting on the top step, and gently pulled the door open a crack. The faint, afternoon sun spilled against her face, and she drew in a ragged breath as fresh air caressed her skin momentarily.

A minute passed.

It was just a card game, anyway. But it was more than that, wasn't it? He still didn't realize the imminent death he was setting himself up for, and even if he did realize it, she knew he didn't have a brazenly heroic bone in his body. She didn't understand why he was doing this; of course, someone had to.

Why him?

He had been pulled into the Knight Captains' circle due to them needing someone to go against her. She felt a wash of that original loathing that had wracked her when facing him in the courtroom; he was stubborn, and smug, and arrogant, and he had no idea how to survive in a world that would cut you open as soon as look at you; he ran when he should stay and he stayed when he sure at the hells should run away...

Another minute.

She rubbed her eyes. She should be running away. She should be taking the umpteen chances she was getting and slip away, disappear; she could survive somewhere else, she knew she could. She stayed...because why?

He makes you want to stay.

She swore softly under her breath, and carefully, tentatively, reached out with her mind.Sand?

Sand had tried to sleep but the alcohol was making the storage room spin very slowly. Instead he continued staring at the ceiling and listening to the dripping water until he was certain he would go mad. But getting up just caused the spinning to worsen, so he admitted defeat and stretched out again.

He felt small, halting tendrils in his mind... Torio. I'm here. In the storage closet. I'm drunk I think.

She paused, frowning, and shut the door. Drunk? The instant shift from cool, breezy air to underground warmth hit her hard. She sat for a moment, unsure. Her eyes darted down to where the steps opened up into the small main room; she could barely see the bottom edge of the storage room door.Are you okay?

She resisted the urge to think, Do you need me?

Sand was suddenly impossibly happy that she was talking to him. Well not exactly talking but thinking at him. The thoughts spilled out before he could stop them, the alcohol making his mind loose and uninhibited.

No I can't sit up but I'm ok.

The room is spinning.

Come drink with me.

The wine is awful.

But the company is good.

There may be rats in here as well if you are partial to rodents.

She could sense the warm envelope clouding his mind. Definitely drunk. Torio stood and slipped back down the stairs. A few cards scattered as she swept through them. She paused at the storage room door, her mind churning unhappily. You're angry with him.

Just as long as we have that part clear.

After a moment she pushed open the door slowly; Sand was sprawled out on the ground over the bedroll, an empty bottle next to him. She knelt next to him, eyeing the bottle; the label was a generic brand of tablewine, and she curled her lip distastefully. She bent over him, touching his cheek lightly. "Sand?"

He looked at her a long time. She spun less than the room and so he focused on her face, her eyes, her nose... "Torio. You came. Wine?" His hand fumbled on the shelf behind him looking for the nearest bottle. "The host would be terribly remiss if he didn't offer the Ambassador some wine." The words slurred together slightly. He looked at her again. "Did I ever tell you, dear girl, that I love your nose?"

His fingers finally curled around the neck of some bottle. He propped himself up on an elbow and pulled the cork out with his teeth. He offered it to her

She took it, her eyes narrowed at his face.

You're mad...

His pupils were slightly dilated and slightly glazed; he was swaying slightly on his elbow, watching her.

...at him...

She stretched out next to him on the bedroll, which was almost impossible, and took a long, deep drink from the bottle. It was absolutely terrible wine, and it had definitely been in the storage room for far too long.

She came up for air, her head swimming. "My nose?" She asked, wiping a trace of wine from her mouth. "No, you've never mentioned my nose, Bodaes." She rolled onto her stomach, holding the bottle between both hands, eyeing him suspiciously. Was this a tactic? A way to keep her from being absolutely furious at him? Maybe he was merely pretending to be drunk...

Sand gave her a wide smile as she lay out besides him and drank the wine. "Oh yes, your nose. It's like..." he struggled to find the proper words to describe it, the wine making his tongue loose but inaccurate. "Like...ahhh...like... Like a bump that works very well on your face." He leaned over and nipped it gently. He nuzzled into her shoulder a moment, inhaling her familiar scent, before rolling back onto his back. It was so warm here, the floor so hard and uncomfortable. Why was he here again?

The fight.

He looked at her again. "Are you here to kill me?" He reached for the bottle.

She smothered a snicker, holding the wine bottle out of his reach. "No," She said absently. "Not here to kill you." Her heart really wasn't in her stifled thought of Not yet, anyway. She took another drink, her face grimacing as the slightly sour liquid rolled down her throat. "Gods, but this is awful...you've had an entire bottle already?" She looked over at his slightly flushed face; it was awful but potent, and she felt her skin heating up slowly as her blood rushed through it.

"Yes dear girl, a whole bottle. You know, we really first met over wine." He made another half-hearted swipe at the alcohol and then gave up. "If you're not here to kill me, why are you here? Why don't you kill me, already? You want me dead, don't you? The suspense is...well...not killing me." He flopped around on the bedroll a bit and then rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm not making any sense."

"The wine was a lot better, last time." Her last drink nearly drained the entire bottle, and she finally relented, pressing it into his hands. "Here, have the rest." She groaned, dropping her head forward onto the crooks of her elbows. "I just wanted to taste wine, you know, that night in the Library. I hadn't had wine in ages, that stupid cook hardly slipped me more than water." Her head was pounding. "But then I got the wine, and then we were talking, and then I wanted you..." She was making less sense that he was. She pushed herself up, reaching for another bottle.

She fell silent for a moment. Her voice came as she pulled the cork off of the bottle. "I don't want you dead, Sand." After a moment, she added, "Not really."

He polished off the bottle and watched enviously as she went for the new bottle. "Why did you want me that night? I never understood it. It was a mystery and if there's on thing I can't stand, it's questions without answers..." He arm was moving of its own volition, resting itself lightly on her waist. The cloudiness in his head was incredible and the room had stopped spinning and was now tipping from side to side. His hand tightened on her body, his only anchor in the swaying. "I'm glad you don't really want me dead. Let me know if that ever changes though so I don't invite you back into my room."

Torio nearly choked in the midst of swallowing as she tilted the bottle back. "I'll let you know," She said, laughing as she pulled the bottle away from her mouth; her head suddenly swam. "I'll invite you back to mine instead." She set the bottle down and suddenly slid her arms around him, pressing her face into his robes. "You smell like magic, you know." She inhaled dizzily, her fingers plucking at his robes. "I love that smell. I could smell it on you in the Library." She twisted slightly so that she was propped over his waist, and took another drink.

"I was teasing you, at first; I wanted to crack your...your...exterior," she slurred the last word, and then hiccupped without the slightest shred of dignity. She covered her mouth for a moment in mild surprise, and then coughed, clearing her throat. "But it just...escalated...you were so intriguing...and your eyes..." She scooted forward, bending down over his face and began kissing his eyes...or attempting to, as her mouth haphazardly pressed against his face.

Sand laughed when she began kissing him. She landed a kiss on his eyebrow, then another on his cheek. He held her tightly to him. "I like your room. I would go back to your room. Ah dear girl, you've cracked me all the way through."

He pressed his mouth to the nearest part of her, which happened to be her chin. "You fascinated me, Torio. I didn't understand how someone could do what you did. And..." he gave her a lazy smile. "You're so bad. A bad girl. It was attractive."

His eyes half-closed. "Are you drunk too?"

"No!" She said indignantly, pulling back for a moment. Then..."Maybe. A little." She pushed his shoulder lightly. "Not as drunk as you, viper. This wine is terrible, have I said that?" She took another long drink, before setting the bottle aside.

She laughed. "A bad girl? I thought you ran away from Luskan, Sand...trying to get it back into bed, where you?" She stared archly down at him, and then bent her head, nipping at his neck lightly. "If you only knew. A very bad girl."

By the gods, had she actually said that?

"I did run away from Luskan." His hands began stroking her hair. "I don't know if she has forgiven me yet. And...more over...I don't know if I have forgiven the very bad Luskan either." His eyelids were getting heavy from the alcohol and he smiled contentedly. He loved her weight on top of him; it was utterly comforting. "I'm very drunk. Take advantage of me while you still can!"

She shifted completely on top of his body, setting the bottle aside. It was slightly more comfortable to straddle his body with trousers on, and she giggled senselessly as she cuddled down against him, her face burrowing against his neck. "I don't need you drunk to take advantage of you," she said smugly, her arms sliding around him. She shut her eyes. "You had to pick the storage room...you're incorrigible! And you didn't even get to open the door outside..."

A few moments later, she let out a delicate, soft snore; she was completely and utterly unconscious.

Sand lay there a moment, listening to her breathing. He couldn't even remember why they had fought. Over some rules of some card game? He sighed, the alcohol lulling him into sleep. He would just close his eyes for a bit... His head dropped and rolled lightly towards Torio. He fell asleep, his nose pressed against her cheek.