Topic: Beloved

Natalya Bristol

Date: 2012-10-22 05:23 EST
The shadows of early afternoon were reaching across the green grass and waving foliage when Rhys emerged from the Temple and his meeting with the Lady herself. His guide, the girl-child Helene, led him once more through the simple beauty of the wider Temple gardens, back to the thick brush and treeline that surrounded the small hillock in which his guest room awaited. She smiled to him, touching her clasped hands to her breast as she bowed, and turned to retrace her steps, leaving him to wend his way up through the thick greenery to the open-air bedroom set into the upper curve of the hill where Natalya waited.

Though the time to him must have felt less than an hour, it had been several since he had left the little hilltop room. Nat had known it would be a while, and had spent the first hour or two in a brief visit with the Handmaidens and their knights, finding out through talk and exchange what had been happening on the Isle since her last visit here. When the third hour had come by, she had retreated back to the room they had been assigned, and there she had stayed, finally drifting into a patient sleep curled on her side on the bed, her face turned toward the path that would bring Rhys back to her.

Rhys didn't even bother trying to make conversation with the girl who had come to lead him from the Temple, not only because he was lost in thought, but because he simply didn't know what to say. What did you say to a girl who looked half your age but was probably old enough to be your grandmother" It wasn't like he'd never encountered immortals before. Gods, angels, demons, beings of myth and legend - he'd run into a smattering of them all over the course of his life, but never anything quite like this. Usually, they came to him, not the other way around, and to be told he was not only chosen, but precious, was more than he'd ever expected.

He made his way back up the hill to the room he and Natalya had been given, almost unaware of how long he'd been away, too lost in contemplation. He had to smile a little at what the Lady had told him, as confusing and astonishing as it all was. Under any other circumstances, he might have made a pass at her. As lovely as she was, there was a certain sadness about her, a loneliness, a feeling of isolation. He knew what it was like to feel different - he'd felt different most of his life - and though his heart belonged to Natalya, he hoped perhaps he could ease some of the Lady's loneliness by befriending her. Perhaps it was the angel in him to think first of her loneliness, but he knew what that felt like firsthand and felt a swell of sympathy, along with respect and reverence and even burgeoning loyalty and love. More than anyone he'd ever met before, she was one to be revered, and he felt honored to have been chosen.

When he finally found himself back at the room at the top of the hill, he found Natalya resting peacefully, awaiting his arrival. He paused at the opening to the small open-aired room, watching her quietly, his heart swelling with love and hope, overcome with emotion for a moment at all that the Lady had told him. He had seen the future with his own eyes - they would have a family together, and from their union would emerge the next Lady of Avalon. It was almost too much to absorb all at once.

Under his gaze, she stirred lightly, aware even in her sleep of his presence. The tension of her body relaxed fully, rolling her onto her back with a soft sighing breath. She was innocent of everything that stirred in his mind, of the promise that had been made, the hopes for the future, but even had she known it all in that instant, nothing could have prevented the true delight in her smile as her eyes opened to find him looking at her. "Rhys ..." His name was always soft and loving on her lips, and this time was no different, her hand reaching toward him as she sat up.

"Nat..." he returned, her name on his lips as soft and loving as his was on hers, that same look of loving adoration softening his features, a hint of tears glittering in his eyes. Suddenly overwhelmed with the tumult of burgeoning emotions that were welling up inside him, he closed the distance between them, dropping once again to his knees, but this time not in worship or reverence but in loving affection. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, needing to feel her near him, teetering on the brink of tears now that he was with her again.

Any other time, his greeting might have alarmed her, unnerving in the sheer force of vulnerability that flowed from him as he drew her down onto the floor with him. But Nat had met the Lady herself; she knew how deeply just one encounter could touch a heart. She had no idea what he had been shown or told, but she had expected her strong, brave lover to come apart just a little at the seams in the face of the Lady's wisdom and love. Wrapping her own arms around him, Natalya let her lips brush his jaw before laying her cheek to his, nestling close. "Easy, dusha moya," she whispered to him tenderly. "We are together."

He breathed a soft sigh both of relief and of contentment as he folded her and was enfolded in her embrace. This place, he realized, served as more than just a place to keep magical artifacts out of the hands of those who would use them for their own devices, but as a safe refuge for those who served both the Knights and the Lady. He knew in his heart that here they were safe from any who might do them harm, here they could truly be at peace, but it was dangerous to remain here too long. Too much time spent here, and one might never wish to go back to the world of from whence they came. Tears broke free once again at the flood of emotions that followed his visit with the Lady, but this time, there was no sorrow in those tears, only happiness.

After a while, he found his voice and lifted his head from her shoulder, tears shining in his eyes, but a smile on his face. There was so much he wanted to tell her, he wasn't even sure where to begin. "Oh, Nat....She's so beautiful....Sad but beautiful."

There was no jealousy in the eyes that met his as she, too, leaned back, cupping her palm to his cheek, chasing away the salt of his tears with kisses until finally she sat with him in quiet stillness, gathered close in tender affection. "Nothing could ever compare with her," Natalya agreed, proud of him for seeing more than the woman who had welcomed him. She held his gaze for a long moment, needing just a little reassurance from him before he went on. "Was I right, to bring you to her" Has she set your heart at ease?"

"Unless she's lying, and I don't think she's capable," he replied, wiping what remained of the tears from his face with the palm of a hand, unashamed of his tears, but needing to regain control of his emotions so that he could share with her what had been foretold to him. He knew he could easily fall in love with the Lady, but not in the same way that he had fallen in love with Natalya. It was more like the kind of love one bestowed on a god or goddess, and he understood now why men and women chose to devote their lives in her service. He had been profoundly touched by the experience, in such a way that it had changed the very foundation of his own beliefs and understanding of the world around him.

"She would not be the Lady if lies and untruth were her currency," Nat agreed softly, impatient to know what has passed while he was out of her sight but understanding enough of what he might be feeling not to push too hard. She knew he would tell her, eventually. A gentle chime rang through the small space around them; a moment later, the table nearby was suddenly filled, bearing a silver tureen of creamy soup that smelled deliciously of chicken and mushroom, a small loaf of warm, crusty bread, a beautiful glass jug of cool spring water, and the implements they would need to partake of the meal.

Nat's smile warmed as she recognised the simple fare, looking back to Rhys with a faintly amused gaze. "It would seem that the Handmaidens are concerned that we missed the noon meal."

Natalya Bristol

Date: 2012-10-22 05:29 EST
His thoughts broken by the chime of the bell and the arrival and aroma of nourishment in the form of a sensible meal, rather than his usual fare, his stomach growled in anticipation, reminding him that while might be a place of immortals and magic, he was human now and as such, possessed of a human need for sustenance. He smiled at both the arrival of food and of Nat's remark. "It would seem they know we're hungry before we even know ourselves." He climbed to his feet, pulling her up along with him. "There's so much I need to tell you, I don't even know where to begin." He laughed in almost childlike glee, so different from the worry and gloom he'd been feeling when he'd left her company only a few short hours before.

She laughed softly as he drew her up with him, bare toes curling against the warm stone as she moved toward the table, her hand still in his, her own stomach growling in anticipation of the simple but lovingly-produced meal. She had eaten the Handmaidens' fare before now, and though it was never anything elaborate, she had always enjoyed it. "Begin at the beginning, dusha moya," she told him with a smile. "What did you think of her?"

He pulled out a chair for her as they neared the table and the simple meal that had been prepared and laid out for them. He'd have eaten a horse if that was what had been offered. Once she was settled, he took the chair opposite, broke off a hunk of bread and handed it to her. It was unclear what exactly had happened to him while he was gone, but he had apparently returned a perfect gentleman, at least for the time being. "She was beautiful," he repeated his earlier assessment, "But in an otherworldly sort of way. Like a goddess to be worshiped."

Sat down, Nat's focus split for a few moments as she ladled soup into a bowl for him, trading the bowl for the bread he handed her before doing the same for herself. Her smile as he spoke told him she knew exactly what he meant. "I find it hard to comprehend how very ancient she is," she confessed softly. "She is so wise, so fair in her mind, so youthful ....She has to be far older than any other I could mention, and yet at the same time I cannot quite believe that it was her decision to set Avalon apart from the world. That was such a long time ago."

He smiled a little, knowing precisely how old the Lady was, or close to it. A little research would confirm her exact age. He wasn't sure it was necessary, but he'd been given a name and knew all it would take was a little digging to confirm the Lady had been telling him the truth. It amused him a little to know that she'd chosen to share this bit of information with him, when she had shared it with so few, and he knew it was both an honor and a privilege. "Oh, she's old, but not as old as you might think." He swapped the bread for the bowl of soup and set it down in front of him, steepling his hands in front of him as he looked across the table at Nat, realizing she knew things he didn't about the Lady and vice versa. Perhaps she had shared what she deemed necessary with each of them individually. "I can't even imagine how she accomplished that," he remarked in obvious awe.

Nat paused in the act of pouring water from the beautiful jug into the cups set for them, her own gaze more than a little distant in her own sense of wonder at the feat. "She told me that all she had to do was ask, and the powers that hold Avalon drew the mists down around them," she said, her voice low in quiet astonishment. "I think, even if she did perform the magic herself, she will never say it was her. Her devotion to the powers that chose her is deeper, more pure, than anything I have ever seen or would wish to see. It is so humbling to be in her presence when she bows to them ..." She trailed off, her smile deepening again as she finished pouring the water. "I believe you will see that for yourself soon."

His expression turned contemplative again, and he realized he still knew very little about this place or the powers behind it. "What kind of powers" Are we talking ancient gods and goddesses or what?" His wonder of the place was slowly turning more to curiousity, an inate thirst for knowledge that was part of his nature. He plucked up the cup, taking a slow sip before draining it in its entirety, only realizing how thirsty and hungry he was once he gave in to the physical needs of the body he wore.

"I do not truly know," Natalya admitted. "I asked her, when I met her, if she was the high priestess of the Goddess that many of the new orders of witches and magic users in the world often speak of." She paused, breaking the crust of her bread over her soup to catch each crumb in the steaming bowl. "She told me that the Christian God is the youngest power in the world, that before him were the pantheons of gods, before them the Goddess, before her the elements and spirits of the world, and before all of that, the eternal power from which they all came. She did not say she worships them, or that faith has any part of her ministry, but I believe that she is the chosen representative of everything that came before and still holds some interest in the Earth and its people. I believe, that is. She did not deny or confirm my suspicions, and I have not had opportunity to ask again since."

He reached for the jug to refill his cup as he listened to her explain what she knew, taking another sip before setting the cup on the table, his thirst satisfied for the time being. Taking up the hunk of bread, he dipped it in the soup and took a bite, while he absorbed and considered what she was telling him. "I knew a goddess once," he remarked, as casually as if he was talking about a neighbor or person on the street. "Well, not a goddess exactly. I found out later she was one of the Fates." He frowned a little, as if she was someone he'd once been close to and even cared for.

Gentle fingers touched his cheek, softly supportive without words to intrude or press him into offering anything more from this wandering into the past he had barely ever spoken of to her. "Then ....is the Lady a goddess herself, do you think?" Natalya asked him, deeply curious and yet uncertain she really wanted to know the truth.

"I don't know. She was chosen. I know that much. She..." He broke off, uncertain if what he'd been told was to be shared, and yet, he thought the Lady seemed to know him well enough to know that anything she told him he would eventually share with his chosen beloved. "She told me who she was when she was mortal," he said with a thoughtful frown on his face.

Nat's eyes grew very wide as he offered her this little bit of information, no sense of envy rising from her in the wake of the intense interest she felt. Who wouldn't want to know almost anything about the Lady, after all" She paused, chewing a mouthful of bread carefully before speaking again. "You do not need to tell me, dusha moya," she said, but it was obvious that she was dying to know, however much she tried to behave herself and not press for the information. "Then she was mortal once?" she asked in quiet astonishment. "She is not immortal, she will end?" For some reason, this thought saddened her, unable to imagine an Avalon without the Lady.

"Nat, she told me things..." He broke off again, lowering the bread as he debated how much to tell her, knowing the telling of it would be emotional for them both. "She showed me the future and told me a little of the past." He waited to see what she'd say to that, how much she might want to know. Their physical needs superceded their yearning for knowledge, but once their physical needs were satisfied, the hunger for knowledge would become all too hard to resist.

"Dusha moya ..." She reached out, curling her fingers about his wrist as her eyes found their place locked with his gaze. "I do not deny that I am intensely curious to know what you have learned," she assured him through a self-deprecating smile. "But the last time we shared such information over a meal, we did not eat, and you have not eaten since yesterday. So I can be patient." Her smile warmed, lips blowing him an encouraging kiss as she released his wrist, raising her spoon to her mouth to eat.

Natalya Bristol

Date: 2012-10-22 05:34 EST
He smiled back at her, more than a little amused at her concern for him. "You ate last when I ate last, dusha moya," he reminded her, turning both her concern and her petname for him back on her, the Russian clumsy on his American tongue, but slowly improving. Given time, he might even learn to speak the language fluently. "I will tell you this much," he continued, dipping that hunk of bread into the soup once again. "We are more dear to her than I would have ever imagined."

"But I am used to being hungry, and you are not," she countered his reminder laughingly, sweet color touching her cheeks as he turned the endearment back upon her. At his mention of the Lady's attachment to them, she laughed again, shaking her head as she dipped her spoon into the soup before her. "You are, perhaps, and rightly so. I have not so much as seen her, even from a distance, in eight years ....not since that first meeting when she oversaw my drinking from the Grail."

He smiled, a teasing hint of amusement gleaming in his eyes of emerald green. "Oh, I think she's more interested in you than you give her credit for." It amused him to no end that for once he knew something she didn't; it was usually the other way around most of the time, it seemed. He bit off a hunk of bread, playfully smiling around the mouthful as he chewed, baiting or teasing her with his knowledge.

Her brow rose as she watched this performance, unable to keep a straight face when presented with Rhys at his playful best. "Oh, do you now?" was her smiling answer as she wiped her lips dry, taking up her own bread to begin the task of wiping her bowl clean with the intention of eating every last scrap. "And when do you propose to explain that, master?"

He smirked at her reaction to his teasing, remembering the wager and the fact that she'd lost and owed him a day of complete servitude. "Oh, no, we are not doing that today. I am saving that for a very special occasion when I have you all to myself. Twenty-four hours of complete servitude." He added with a teasing grin, "Wench."

Surprisingly, her cheeks flushed a brilliant shade of red when she recognised just what it was lurking in his gaze along with his teasing amusement. Her laugh was more of a giggle, a girlish sound that made her seem younger than she was as she lifted her hands to her cheeks to cool and hide the enflamed blush. "You are incorrigible."

His usual response to such a comment was normally, "I've been called worse," but this time, he found himself saying something else, something closer to the truth. "You wouldn't have me any other way." The playful grin turned to a smile of fond affection and he reached across the table to stroke his fingers lovingly against her cheek. "I love you, you know."

"I would have you any way you chose to give me, and you know it," she chuckled softly, curling her fingers to his. Her cheek turned against his palm, her lips seeking to touch a kiss there that was as much a sign of her love as anything else she could have done for him. Releasing his hand, her smile darkened with playful mischief. "I am inclined to challenge you to remind me just how much you love me, but I will behave myself until you have satisfied my curiosity."

"Should I put a red ribbon around my neck and give myself to you for Christmas?" he teased, eyes glinting with humor, obviously in high spirits, despite the task that loomed ahead of him come dawn. He finished off the bread, soaking up most of what remained of his soup, slightly surprised that he'd found the meal as satisfying as a double bacon cheeseburger.

"Just your neck, my love?" Suggestive was putting that particular glint in her eyes mildly, but he knew that look only too well. At this rate, they weren't going to end up talking until well into the evening. Setting her spoon down, she lifted her napkin to wipe her smiling lips once again, leaning back in her chair as she took up her cup to drink.

"Depends on which neck I'm talking about," he smirked, as shameless in his teasing of her as she was of him. He knew if they kept on this way, there would be little time for talk, all their energy going into other, just as cherished activities, but there were a few things he needed her to know before she found out from someone else. He took a swallow of water from the cup, once again surprised that he found it as sweet and cool and satisfying as a cold beer, but without the obvious side effect. Turning serious now that their stomachs were no longer grumbling, his gaze shifted to the cup in quiet contemplation. There was no easy way to tell her what was about to take place, though there was no fear in him, only excitement and anticipation. "I'm to drink from the Grail at dawn," he told her as gently as he could, hoping she would not worry too deeply for his safety.

To her credit, Natalya did not react with any wildness of emotion or shock. She simply nodded, the levity on her face fading for a moment as she absorbed the small, but very real, possibility that this could be his last night, however confident she was of his being accepted. "Which order has she asked you to enter?" she asked quietly, her curiosity piqued once more, grateful for his care in telling her just when they would be called to the Grail.

"She didn't," he replied, not having been asked at all, but told who he would serve and in what capacity, but only after he'd volunteered his service to her. He lifted his gaze to meet hers across the short distance that separated them. This was not just a matter of his fate, but hers and perhaps, more importantly, the children that would eventually come of their union. "I'm to become a Guardian of the Temple and serve the Lady herself." He paused a moment to let her absorb this before he continued. "And so are you."

His revelation that the Lady wanted him in her service was not such a surprise to Nat. She smiled, inordinately proud that he was to be taken into such an elite group. It was unfortunate that she was in the midst of sipping her water when he added that little bit about her, that was all. "Me?" The word was spluttered as she choked and coughed, sitting upright with a thump to her own chest to clear her lungs.

He smiled a little at her reaction, having known it would most likely come as something of a shock. He'd tried to gently pass on the news, but it was easier said than done. "There's more," he warned her, reaching across the table for her hand, waiting patiently until she seemed ready to hear it in its entirety.

Swallowing to soothe the burning in her throat, Natalya took a moment to compose herself as her hand slid into his, a faint touch of wildness about her gaze as she took in the understanding that the Lady's prediction made all those years ago was about to come true. She, Natalya, was to become one of the Lady's own, with Rhys at her side. "More?" she ventured warily, wondering just what else he had to tell her. "She has assigned you some task already, before the Grail has bound you?"

Natalya Bristol

Date: 2012-10-22 05:37 EST
"Not a task exactly, but a hint at what the future may hold," he replied, knowing it was more than a hint really. If they both continued to follow this path, what the Lady saw before them would become more than a possibility, but a certainty, so long as he was strong enough and vigilant enough to protect them.

"Tell me, Rhys." It was not a request, and yet not an order. There was something in the way he spoke that warned her of something momentous that had to be shared, something in the way he seemed so careful to prepare her for it that suggested she might well be central to it. That this something he had yet to speak of was the reason for the Lady's interest in her all those years before, and the clear devotion he now felt for the mystical ruler of Avalon. "I think I need to know this."

"I'm not sure how much she's told you, Nat..." he started, a thumb rubbing affectionately at the back of the hand he held clasped in his own. "We don't need the approval of the Grand Master to be married. We have the Lady's blessing." He paused a moment again before continuing, allowing her time for this bit of information to sink in before he told her the rest. "She showed me the future, Nat." His eyes filled with tears once again at the memory of that particular vision - not demon-born, but a gift from the Lady.

The joy that swept through her was palpable, throbbing from her heart as her face relaxed into a delighted smile. There was no way the Grand Master could deny them; he did not have the authority to counter the Lady. No one in Avalon did. "Thank God," she breathed with relief - though she had not been sure, she had been afraid that she would have to give up Avalon to be with Rhys, and though it would have hurt her deeply, she would have done it. When he spoke of the future, her gaze sharpened, focusing on him with acute interest as she leaned forward, seeing the tears with concern. "What is it?"

The tears were not of the sorrowful kind, but more those of wonder and an aching desire for what he'd seen to become a reality. He shook his head, silently asking her to give him a moment, unable to continue until he regained control of his composure. He wiped a hand across his face to dispel the tears and drew a slow breath to steady his voice. "I saw us," he continued, obviously touched to the core of his being by this vision of a possible future. "Years from now, I think. I know it's just a possibility, but it seemed to so real."

"Rhys." Nat rose from her seat, moving to crouch beside him, holding his hand between both her own as she looked up at him. "If the Lady showed you, then it is more than a possibility. Didn't I tell you, she told me when I first met her that some day I would be hers" By what you know and what you have been told, that day is tomorrow, and yet she could not have known then that there would come a time she could take me from the Templars without repercussions." One hand left his to lay against his thigh, squeezing gently. "She is rarely wrong, dusha moya. Now tell me what you saw."

He turned to face her, unable to take his eyes from her as he set about relaying what he'd seen and been told during his visit with the Lady. "I saw us," he reiterated. "You and me and a little girl. The same girl I saw in my dream. Anya, I think. You were poring over some blueprints, planning a heist, telling me I'd have to do most of the work this time, like it was an ordinary thing. Because..." He paused again, as his emotions rose to the surface, his chin trembling a little. "You were going to have another baby."

Nat stared into his eyes, absorbing as much what he said as what she saw in him as he related what the power of the Lady had shown him. The same future Heaven had shown her, had finally been given to Rhys in a manner he could not talk himself out of believing in. They were going to marry; to have children; to settle into a life serving Avalon in the best way they could, together. And very slowly, the sheer amazement and wonderous delight began to make itself known on her face, her eyes lighting up with joy as her lips curved into a smile almost innocent with the promise of what was to come. Without the need for words to share her wonder, she rose from her crouch to throw her arms around him, her sudden happiness bubbling over into laughter that spilled easily from her lips.

He smiled up at her in amazement and shared joy, laughing with her, tears of happiness brimming in his eyes as he caught her in his embrace and drew her onto his lap. "I'm not done yet," he told her. Though most of what the lady had told him had been shared, there was one final piece of the puzzle he had yet to tell her, one final promise.

"There's more?" she asked incredulously, curling her arms about his shoulders as she settled on his lap, bare feet dangling off the ground. Her smile was a beaming declaration that nothing could possibly upset her any further - Rhys had been promised a future by the Lady herself; that meant he was guaranteed to survive his encounter with the Grail the next day. "Surely the promise of a family is enough reward?"

The Grail didn't concern him in the slightest. He knew he was worthy, and he knew he'd survive it, though he didn't know exactly what would happen when he drank from that holy cup. The very thought of it gave him chills, so he'd chosen to push thoughts of that aside for the moment and focus on giving Nat hope. "It is, but there's a very good reason the Lady has taken us under her wing. She's seen the future, Nat, and we are the future." He knew that was a bit cryptic, but what he was about to tell her was almost too much to grasp, much less believe.

His Russian thief was very ready to believe anything he told her. She was not, however, very prepared for what was coming. "We are?" she repeated in confusion, leaning back to look him comfortably in the eye with a small frown creasing her brows. "I do not understand. How can we be the future, when our future has already been told" Whose future?"

He knew he could keep the rest of the prophecy from her no longer. She had a right to know that the future Lady of Avalon would come from their shared bloodline, but he wanted to tell her the story in its entirety, not in bits and pieces. He smiled warmly as he attempted to explain. "Her name was Elaine. She was the daughter of a duke." The place was not important right now, only the fact that all this implied she had once been human, as much flesh and blood as were they. "I'm not sure how it came to pass that she became the Lady, but she told me that the next Lady of Avalon will come from our line, at some point in the future. A child or grandchild or great grandchild of ours. Yours and mine. My task is not only to protect Avalon and all that goes with it, but to protect you and the children that are to come of our union." There, he'd said it, and the words had come easier than he'd thought.

Shock and awe mingled in the eyes of the woman he loved as she stared at him, struggling to absorb this terrifying, wonderful glimpse into a future that could come to pass many years after they had moved on. "We ....Our child?" she stammered, clinging to him as she stared into his eyes, needing to see the warm sincerity there. "Some daughter of ours, or grand-daughter ....we will give Avalon her next Lady?" In a sudden flash of understanding, she felt the loneliness of the Lady, the long wait for a successor that might never come, and in that understanding was the knowledge that every generation that was to come from them would be watched over with the greatest of care by the one being she would be happy to sell her soul to. "But Rhys, that makes us ....we'll be ....You're sure?"

Natalya Bristol

Date: 2012-10-22 05:44 EST
He arched a brow at her, unsure what the implications of all this were exactly, except that it would allow the Lady peace, and ensure protection for them and generations of children yet to be born. He frowned a moment at the realization that it also meant one of their bloodline would be fated to a life of loneliness and servitude just like the Lady's, but he assumed this was a fate that would not be forced on one of their line, but given freely of their own will. "Makes us what?" he asked, suddenly concerned that he'd missed something important.

She drew in a slow breath, wrestling with the implications herself even as she laid out the whole truth for him. "It makes us the blood of Avalon," she said softly. "A bloodline created by Avalon. We were born for this, and ....We will not be Guardians of the Isle. We will not serve Avalon, but the Lady herself." The wonder took over her expression once again, tears touching her shining eyes as the last piece fell into place. "We are as much a reward for her as anything else," she told him softly. "The powers have given the Lady a family, when long ago she sacrificed all hope of such a simple joy to be what she is."

"Yes," he agreed, as this much seemed obvious to him; the Lady had nearly told him such herself, in not so many words. His expression changed as he tried to soak up exactly what it was she was trying to tell him. "Wait, you mean..." He broke off, thinking back on what the Lady had told him just a short time ago. "She said we are more precious to her than anyone else and more important to Avalon than even the Grand Master can comprehend." They were the Lady's words, nearly word for word, as he remembered it. She had told him a lot in a short period of time, but he remembered it all. "She hugged me, Nat. I mean..." He broke off again, as he tried to put into words what he was feeling at that moment, and he felt the tumult of emotions bubbling up again.

"And she told you her name," Nat added in a voice that trembled just a little. "Her origin. Bozhe moi ..." This last was a whispered exclamation of incredulity. She leaned forward, closer into the circle of his arms, her head coming to rest against his as slowly she began to absorb the very basis of what had been done and promised. Somehow they, with their separate pasts and broken homes, had become the closest the Lady would ever come to having a true family. They would provide, from the familial line created by their marriage, the child who would one day choose to take this Lady's place, and allow her to move on from her cares duties. It was an amazing, humbling thought, and one that brought empathetic sadness and joy with it. "She is our mother, our sister, and our daughter, all at once."

"Yes," he agreed again, suddenly once again nearly overcome with emotion, remembering his own mother, so many years gone. He knew that Natalya, too, had no family left that was of her own bloodline - no mother, no father, no brother - and that though their histories differed, they were both essentially orphans. And as he mulled this over, another thought came to mind, another question stirred that he'd been in too much awe to ask the Lady of when he'd had the chance. "Why us, Nat' What's so special about us" And please, don't bring up the angel card. I'm nothing special."

"I do not know," she smiled faintly, smoothing her fingers against his cheek in a tender caress as she looked into his eyes. "I do not think anyone may answer that. Perhaps it is because we need her as much as she needs us." She shrugged one shoulder, leaning close to touch a kiss to his mouth. "I don't suppose she gave you any firm dates on when we're supposed to get married, did she?"

Pulled away from his thoughts by the kiss she set upon his lips, his gaze shifted her way, and he mirrored her shrug. "No, I wasn't given a time-table. I don't think it matters, only that we have her blessing. She told me..." He licked his lips again, not wanting to share the darker part of what the Lady had told him, and yet wanting her to know that they had been offered more than just what amounted to honor and privilege. "I got the feeling we're welcome to visit her whenever we wish and that she'll do her best to answer our questions." He remembered what she'd said about Lailah, his supposed guardian angel, and wondered if he'd ignored her for too long, if it was time to introduce her to Natalya, but how" If he had a guardian, did that mean Natalya did, too' Or did Lailah watch over them both, now that their lives were linked"

"Hmm ..." It was a sound more accepting than questioning, an indication that her mind was turning over thoughts that were not yet formed enough to make sense of as her head lowered to his shoulder, her body nestling with trusting affection as close into his as she could manage. "She will be there, at dawn," she said softly. "Perhaps we can ask her then."

"Why?" he asked, suddenly concerned, arching a brow at her sharply, his heart suddenly thudding in his chest. "You aren't..." He dared not say the word, though his meaning was obvious. Pregnant. "Are you?" he asked, slanting a pointed and curious look at her as she settled herself against him.

She glanced up at him, hoping the disappointment at her own answer did not show too openly. She, like him, was eager for the family they had been promised, having lost any semblence of her own too soon in life to recall it with any clarity. "No," she said softly, lowering her gaze. "I do not think I will become pregnant until I am meant to."

He blew out a breath, laughing with relief. As much as he longed for a family, he wanted the time to be right, and he wanted to do things in the proper order. "You scared me for a minute there." He smiled as he swept her hair back from her face, eyes shining happily. "We have a little time to kill before dawn. We could practice making a baby, if you want." He waggled his brows at her playfully, no big surprise that the conversation eventually circled around to the desires of the flesh now that their stomachs were satisfied and he'd shared his experience with the Lady of Avalon.

She laughed softly, relieved at his response, glad he hadn't seen the disappointment she felt in herself for not yet having his child in her womb. She knew it was only a matter of time, but during the dark days when she had thought him dead, it would have been her one ray of light to have had a little piece of him with her still. "Since when, my love, have I ever said no to such a gallant offer?" she chuckled, tipping her head back to look up at him with easier eyes.

He had no reason to worry, having seen a glimpse of their future and knowing without doubt that they'd have their reward, that they'd have their family when the time was right. "I'm not getting any younger, you know," he remarked with a grin, as he moved to his feet, sweeping her up with him and carrying her over to the small but sufficiently comfortable bed that had been prepared for them. "You don't think any of her Handmaidens will poke about to see if we need anything, do you?" he asked as he laid her back.

She giggled as he lifted her up, looping her arms about his neck once again as her toes pointed, suddenly brimming with anticipation of something she knew very well to be truly wonderful. "I do not think anyone will disturb us here," she murmured, letting her fingertips play over his shoulders, down his arms, as she settled back against the bed. "Unless you believe Avalon to be filled with Peeping Toms?"

He laughed as he settled her back on the bed, kissing her briefly before pulling away to untie his boots and slid them from his feet. "Peeping Handmaidens, more like. I wonder if they're all virgins," he mulled aloud. "Poor girls. I could teach them a thing or two," he smirked, teasingly. In another time and another place, he might have made good on that, but though he wasn't blind, his heart was already promised and he belonged to Natalya in his entirety.

His speculation on the purity of Avalon's Handmaidens brought a rich laugh from Nat's throat, her body arching up from the bed as she gave into the mirthful response to his wondering. "You might be very surprised, dusha moya," she teased him right back again, shifting up to kneel on the bed as she reached to draw him close once again. "I should bring you here for the Beltane rites. I am sure a good Catholic boy like yourself would be shocked by what goes on here under the Beltane moon."

"You think I can't handle a bunch of naked women fraternizing beneath a full moon?" he asked, with an undertone of amusement, eyes laughing as his boots thumped against the stone floor. He pulled a handgun from beneath his flannel shirt and set it on the floor beneath the bed, as she pulled him back down beside her. "I'll have you know I was an altar boy once upon a time," he further teased with a smirk as his lips found that soft, vulnerable place beneath her ear and plied her flesh with kisses.

"You're a Lady boy now." Yes, somehow in the midst of his teasing tenderness and her shuddering eagerness to respond, she had managed to tease back with something not entirely appropriate to the moment that reduced her to giggles even as her arms wound about him.

"Lady's man," he corrected as he pulled away to look down at her with a teasing grin. "Now, hush and take your punishment like a good little knight." And with that bit of teasing out of the way, he pressed a kiss against her lips, effectively shushing her, as he went about peeling the layers away that covered her and kept her from both sight and touch. It felt a bit strange to make love to her not only in the light of day but in the open aired room that they shared above the Temple, but it also felt somehow both exhilarating and liberating, and his heart soared with happiness and a sense of freedom he'd never known before.

Would it be this day that would see the conception of a bloodline so precious not only to the parents, but to Avalon itself" Or would that moment be kept at bay, until lore and light and loving vows bound them more closely than any law could break" It truly did not seem to matter in the ebb and flow of loving sensation. The future was set, and a destiny not truly their own was theirs to guard and guide in the years to come. Who could have imagined, barely a year before, when a man and a woman met on a plane bound for the renown of the most romantic city on Earth, that chance and fate and destiny would come together so completely"

It seemed in those few precious hours that had been given them before the inevitable approach of dawn and the fateful turn that both their lives would take, that their lives, their hearts, their souls were tangled together in a web of fate as intricate and as deep as the love they shared together in those few short hours. What had begun as mere flirtation and distraction in an airport far away had become something so deep that neither of them could imagine life without the other any longer, and no matter what fate awaited them, whatever the coming dawn might bring, they were in it together, their lives forever linked together in both this life and beyond.

((And for our next trick ....:grin: I'm loving this story, does it show? Marvellously excitable thankie poos to Rhys' player, as always!))