When daylight finally broke, it was to a gloomy and overcast day that promised to be cold and damp and rainy, just the kind of day made for staying in bed and snuggling to keep warm, but Jensen had other plans. He'd kept his promise to himself, staying awake and watching over Leia while she slept, holding her close in his protective embrace, reluctant to let go. But there were things that needing doing, important things. As soon as the first light of day peeked in through the window, he climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb her, a soft kiss pressed against her cheek before he pulled the blankets up over her to keep her warm.

He shivered in the morning chill, dressing as quickly and quietly as he could in the clothing he'd stolen from the prison storeroom. He found his glasses on the bedside table and wiped a smudge or two from the lenses before putting them on, glancing over at the sleeping elf before tiptoeing over to her pack in his stocking feet to search for his laptop.

Leia just barely stirred as he left her in the bed, just the barest suggestion of a purr in her soft breath when he tucked the blankets close to keep her warm. But they were not alone this morning - Sloti had returned, curled up on the windowsill as though he had never left. The ferret opened first one eye, and then the other, as Jensen moved across the room, lifting his head to chitter enquiringly at the hands reaching for Leia's magical bag. He wasn't going to shop the man for rummaging, so long as Jensen told him what he was doing. If he didn't, Leia was going to get a sharp wake up call.

Jensen frowned when he heard the chittering sound from the ferret, having almost forgotten all about him, wondering where he'd gotten to all night. "Shh," he warned, lifting his head to look at the ferret. "You'll wake her." He turned to look back at the bed and the sleeping elf, not wanting to disturb her sleep, though he hadn't slept a wink. "I'm looking for my laptop," he whispered an explanation, though he felt a bit silly doing it. I've really lost my marbles, he thought. I'm talking to a ferret.

The explanation seemed to do the trick, though. Sloti appeared to nod, slithering down off the windowsill to lope over to the man rifling through his friend's belongings. Evidently, the creature was going to supervise, since Leia was being allowed to sleep soundly for the first time in a long time. The bag itself weighed almost nothing, and appeared to be empty when Jensen first looked into it. But slowly, objects began to appear in view, seemingly cycling through some pre-ordained list, showing off the contents of the bag one by one.

"What the hell..." he muttered to himself in amazement as he watched the bag's contents flip by like a slideshow on a computer. He was mainly looking for his laptop, but his curiousity was piqued not only by the other objects in the bag, but by how the bag worked. It was magic of some sort, but he wasn't sure what. Some people though magic was just science that wasn't fully understood yet, but he wasn't too sure about that.

He saw potion bottles slip by; the hilt of the sword he had seen her put in the bag only the day before; a quarrel of small crossbow bolts; a wrap of scrolls; spare boots; a loaf of bread; a flask of wine; all this, and much, much more. Everything she could possibly need to survive alone for several days at a time. When his laptop finally came around, he had seen the entire contents of the bag of holding, enough equipment to fill a moderately sized suitcase, not a bag small enough to rest comfortably on a half-elf's hip without hindering her movement.

"That's amazing!" he exclaimed, mostly to himself, a little louder than a whisper, but not loud enough to wake her, he hoped. He reached inside the bag for his laptop, wishing she had some clean clothing he could change into. Or maybe something for breakfast. A cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin would do nicely, but he had a feeling he was no longer in the land of Egg McMuffins any longer. That thought brought a frown to his face and a growl from his stomach. He knew he needed to eat and catch a few z's, but first things first. He tucked his computer beneath an arm and closed the bag before tiptoeing over to a small table to set his laptop down. He opened the computer and hit the start button, letting it boot up, while he tiptoed his way to the bathroom to relieve himself.

Quiet though he was, Leia was slowly becoming aware that she was alone in the bed, his surprise and amazement filtering through the link binding itself from her to him enough to begin the slow process of gently waking her. She rolled onto her back as Jensen slipped into the bathroom, stretching out only to slide back into a comfortable doze with a soft yawn. On the back of the chair, Sloti glanced from the bed to the bathroom, and jumped bodily into the bag, a ferret on a mission.

Unfortunately for Jensen, or maybe for Leia and Sloti, he'd forgotten that his computer booted up to the sound of Freddie Mercury singing the praises of Fat Bottomed Girls. An exclamation of, "Oh, sh*t!" was heard echoing from the bathroom and he hurried back, fumbling with the zipper on his jeans.

So much for not startling her awake. Shocked by a full, unnatural sound that was so far beyond her sphere of understanding as to be magic of itself, Leia lurched up out of the bed with a gasp, rolling to her feet. She fell into a crouch, defensive and genuinely fearful, her daggers caught up from the ground in her hands. Naked and deadly, her eyes focused on the laptop, narrowing in a manner that suggested it should either stop making noise or face the consequences of having an elven dagger hurled through the screen.

"No, no, no!" he screeched, seeing her ready to do battle with his computer, and he put himself between it and her, shielding the thing with his body and lifting his hands, palms forward to try and calm her down. "Relax! It's just my computer. I forgot to mute it." From the looks of things, he was willing to brave a dagger to save his beloved electronic device from destruction. And it was only a machine. It might make one wonder what he'd do if it were her who was in danger.

Wary and not entirely convinced everything was safe, Leia stayed tense, one finger uncurling from her grip on the leather wrapped hilt in her palm to point at the thing that had woken her. "What is it?" she demanded. "Why is it making that horrible noise?"

"Horrible?" He snorted. "I'll have you know that's quite possibly the greatest rock singer that's ever lived," he said, bristling a little, feeling just a little insulted. "Just....put the dagger down and I'll show you." He still had his hands up, like he was being held up, appealing to her to put her weapons down.

Of course, he hadn't quite taken into account her ears - what sounded only a little distorted through laptop speakers to him sounded like something being tortured to her. She eyed him for a long moment, wincing faintly at the torture on her eardrums, but did slowly set the daggers down on the bedside table once more, straightening out of her crouch. Shamelessly free in her entirely natural state, she dared to creep a step or two closer, peering around him at the device. "Make it stop," she said quietly. "It hurts my ears."

Now that it was daylight and he had his glasses on, he could clearly see what he couldn't the night before. "Oh, my God..." he muttered as she stepped closer, not moving a muscle to turn off the music, as painful as it was to her sensitive hearing, too enraptured with the look of her. He'd actually slept with that' How had he gotten so lucky' "You....you're..." He appeared to be tongue-tied again. Maybe it was something about the daylight.

Her eyes, soft violet in the morning sunlight, rose to meet his enamored gaze with a tender expression a romantic would call love, her lips curving a gentle smile for his sudden inability to speak a full sentence. She rose up onto her toes, small hands fisting in his shirt, to brush her lips over his in a morning greeting. "Yes, I am," she agreed, assuming he was trying to point out her lack of clothing. "But I really will kill your pet thing if it doesn't shut up."

Thankfully, the computer was done loading and had finally gone quiet. He smiled, as if the thing had shut off as if by magic. "You just don't know good music when you hear it," he said, smiling down at her, leaning down to meet her morning greeting with one of his own. He still wasn't sure if she was a dream, since he hadn't fallen asleep yet or woken to break the spell. His eyes fell shut at her kiss, savoring the moment for however long it would last.

It would last as long as he allowed it to. The small feminine form pressing close to his was in no hurry to let go, soft lips coaxing his to part as her hands traveled up his chest, over his shoulders, looping about his neck with familiar confidence. Leia's dreams had been full of him all night; she wasn't going to pass up any opportunity to enjoy the real thing.

He would have allowed it to last all morning, but there were things that needed to be done now that daylight had arrived. He needed to figure out where he was, how he got here, and how to get home, even though the thought of leaving her made him ache with loneliness. Maybe if he could figure out a way home, he could figure out a way back. "Leia," he said, as he broke her kiss, disentangling himself from her embrace. "We're not going to get anything done this way."

Guilt flared in her gaze as she realised what she had done, that she had allowed the bond to rule her for just long enough that her will to let him go his own way had been overcome by the desire to keep him here, to haze his mind and keep him distracted until he couldn't think of being anywhere without her. "Of course," she said awkwardly, managing to raise a smile for her overzealous hello. "There is food in my bag, I'll find something to eat." Inwardly, she cursed herself as her gaze lingered on his, not wanting to look away but needing to, for her own sanity. He was going to think she was the worst kind of clingy lover at this rate.

As for himself, he was feeling about the same, but for different reasons, not wanting her to think he didn't want her, didn't find her desirable. How could he not with her traipsing around naked and kissing him all the time" She was distracting, but it was a good kind of distraction. Still, he felt a pang of guilt for being the practical one. He had the feeling he'd disappointed her again. "I'm sorry," he said, taking a seat at the table in front of his computer. "You should get dressed."

Only part of her was disappointed; another part was relieved, and impressed that he had so much control over himself. Her fingers trailed over the line of his shoulders as she passed behind him. "Do not apologise," she told him with a faint smirk. "I let my desires overwhelm my senses. You're right to stop me, or you will not get out of bed all day and all night." She chuckled, twitching a blanket from the bed to cover herself with, more for his sake than her own. "I need to wash," she mused, more to fill the silence than out of a need to inform him of her plans as she looked into her bag. "But I do not see a fire, nor a bath. Perhaps I will have to find a bath-house."

Pouting, playful and impatient, she did as she was told, slipping back from him and folding her hands demurely behind her back, inwardly informing the part of her that wanted him bound to her forever that if it had any chance of getting what it wanted, it was going to have to start exercising some restraint. If only he had not laughed at her shy attempt to explain bonding; if only he hadn't rejected the idea as preposterous, he would not be plagued with those doubts. He would know, the way she did, that only he would do for her for the rest of her life. However long that might be.

He wouldn't have resisted if she'd undressed him herself, but he was in a hurry to get his pants off and get into the shower before the water turned cold. Hastily unzipping and stepping out of his jeans and shorts, he tossed them aside to hang on the doorknob, not bothering to pick them up when they landed on the floor. He hopped on one foot at a time as he tugged off his socks and tossed them aside, as well. Once his pants were off, his desire for her was unmistakable.

Violet eyes watched him as he undressed, only a little amused by the awkward hop as he removed that last pair of clothing from his body. Only a little; what was clear on her face was admiration, appreciation, tenderness, desire. All the softness of a bonding with the harsh demand that it be made whole, conflicted in a face that seemed almost unnaturally beautiful. When, at last, he was bare to her gaze, her hands twitched out from behind her back, a hopeful smile touching her lips. "May I touch you now, Jake?"

"No," he replied with a teasing grin of his own, reaching for her hand and stepping into the shower, tugging her along behind him. "Come here," he said, stepping back into the cascade of water, letting it slide down over his chest and back.

Her face lit up in a grin to match his, a quiet giggle describing her movement as he took her hand and tugged her into the smooth curve of the bathtub. She hesitated just once, glancing to the shower above his head as he stepped backward, before the temptation of his body slick with water became too much for even the most rational fear to overcome. A soft gasp broke from her lips a second time as the water spray found her skin, as she stepped up close to him beneath the gentle artificial rainfall, trembling just a little at the erotic innocence of bodies touching without purpose, even for a moment. "I do not know which amazes me more," she murmured, daring to ease her arms about him as the water slicked her hair down her back, revealing the delicate points on the ears that marked her out so plainly as non-human. "That the water is warm ....or that you are so wonderful."

He reached around her to pull the shower curtain closed, sealing them inside the steamy shower. He tilted his head back a moment, pushing a hand through his hair as the water soaked him, before looking back at her with a small, sad frown on his face. There she was telling him how wonderful he was again, and yet, she hardly knew him. "You're the one that's wonderful," he told her, one arm snaking around her to pull her close and press a watery kiss against her lips.

There was something softer in the way she came to him, wanting to soothe the frown from his face, to reassure him that there were no lies in her as she spoke to him. She had not lied to him once, and yet he seemed so unwilling to believe her. But still the little half-elf was happy, eager, to be drawn up against his chest, to offer her lips to his kiss and pour her increasingly willing heart into a sharing of something that was steadily becoming more than mere physical satiation on her part, at least.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was slowly losing his heart to her, or maybe it was quickly. Though they'd only been together a few hours, it seemed so much longer, almost as if they belonged together, as if they'd been waiting all their lives for each other. He wasn't sure he believed in love at first sight or in true love, but there was definitely something going on between him that he couldn't quite explain. But this was not the time for talk; there would presumably be time for that later. "Leia," he whispered, taking a soft breath, almost pleading with her as his heart pounded faster. He was supposed to be showing her what the shower was for, but instead, they'd become distracted yet again. She was going to be the death of him or something....or maybe he'd be the death of her. The hell with the showering. He wanted her yet again, unable to get enough.

Her hand crept from his back, rising through the steamy fall of water to curl to his cheek as he whispered to her, feeling his intake of breath cooling her lips as she breathed him into herself in return. She felt small, vulnerable, in his arms, but some part of her reveled in it, in the knowledge that here was the wish she had made all those years ago. The bond would become unbreakable within days, she knew, unless she stepped back from this precipice. But she couldn't stop herself. Her lips brushed against his as she answered him in the longing purr that he seemed to thrill to so easily, nudging the tip of her nose to his as she felt herself tremble against him. "Touch me, Jake."

He was touching her, holding her close, but somehow he knew that wasn't what she meant. She wanted him to touch her in other ways, ways that would make her tremble and moan and he was only too happy to comply. He was slowly becoming putty in her hands, wanting to please her in every way. He was close to losing his heart, and he knew if he stayed with her much longer, he would never want to leave. He wasn't the most skilled of lovers, but what he lacked in skill he more than made up for in effort. He reached for the bar of soap the motel had so kindly left for its guests, working up a lather in his hands before sliding his soapy hands over her body. Slick with soap and water, his hands slid easily over her, following the soft curves of her body, fingers plying her flesh in all the right places, studying her reactions and committing them to memory.

For once, she let him touch without touching back, savoring the warm slide of his hands over her slick skin, giving him everything he sought for and more. Purring moans spilled from her lips, gasps that told him where to linger, unexpected laughter when he found where her body was sensitive to the ticklish pass of his fingers. She gave him kisses in return each time he came within her reach, fully intending to return this tactile, earthy worship when her time came, but content to let him explore her once again in this sterile room of aquatic marvels he had shown her.

He would have been perfectly happy to touch and be touched, but something inside him dared to see just how far she'd let him go, and his fingers found not only the soft dips and curves of her body, but the places where he knew she was most sensitive, where he knew from past experience that a woman - elf or not - would be unable to resist. He found the sensitive tips of her breasts, his fingers teasing and nudging with eager interest, before moving on to an even more daring place. His touch was awkward, nervous even, trembling with desire as he tried to contain himself long enough to light her fire to a bursting flame of delighted pleasure before he thought of himself.

That patience, that startling self-control, was rewarded as she clutched at him, forcing her eyes to remain open, staring into his own; to show him not only the pure physicality of the pleasure he'd so unselfishly given her, but also the tenderness that rode it, daring to risk her heart in a glance as she shuddered and cried out for him and no one else. How could she ever prove to him that he was truth, and hope, and future to her, even if all that future held was a painful death in his absence" He would never believe her, too caught up in the now of his brief lifetime to understand the consuming connection that was forging itself as the hours went by.

If only he knew the depth of what she was feeling....but in a way he did. His soul cried out for hers, his heart aching to make a connection, his body already belonging to her. He knew no one would ever understand how he could possibly fall in love with someone he'd known for less than a day, but he knew that was exactly what was happening. There was simply no other explanation for it. He plied her flesh until he couldn't stand the torment any longer, pressing her body against the shower wall as he took her for the fourth time since they'd met. He tried to take it slow, but he could barely contain himself, nearly ready to burst before he'd hardly gotten started.

Small enough to be easily swept up and pinned back, Leia barely had breath to squeak a protest at the sudden chill against her spine, caught up in him all over again as he denied her the opportunity to return that soapy exploration of hands over flesh. Instead, she wrapped herself around him, lips finding his to demand kisses that burned as her hands clutched at his neck and shoulder, urging him on to the precipice and peak with every sound she could possible shower over him, anything to encourage and coax him to bliss in her arms.

As it happened, he needed very little coaxing, quickly rising to that peak and falling over the precipice, moaning beneath her kisses as his body trembled against her, heart pounding, feeling as though he was dying of ecstasy, but if he was dying, then at least, he was going to die happy. He broke her kisses to gasp for breath, blue eyes gazing into hers as if he was searching for something, some hint of what she was feeling, an answer to a question that was only asked with his eyes. Do you love me" He felt his chest constrict, even as the bliss pleasure of their lovemaking ebbed and flowed, pain mixed with pleasure in some sweet agony. How could he ever let her go now" How could he ever live without her"

Love was not a strong enough word for the thread that bound her to him now. It was more than love, more than a meeting of minds and hearts. It was a merging of souls, an inexorable bond that she could not prevent and would never willingly break. And it was something she could never hope to make him understand. The eyes he gazed into were soft and sad, pierced with affection deeper than love, struggling to hide the pain of despair. Her lips found his, her eyes closing, not wanting to torment him with the knowledge of her soul's growing unhappiness. He had to return to his people, he had made that very clear, and in his world, there was no place for her.

He saw the sadness in her eyes and assumed it was akin to his. Their love was doomed before it even had a chance to begin, it seemed. They were from two different worlds; she wasn't even human. How could it ever work" The only way it would work was if he was to stay here, wherever here was, but he wasn't sure he could. There were too many ifs, too many unanswered questions, and while he wanted to enjoy the time he had with her while he had the chance, he couldn't help dreading the thought of leaving her. He turned quiet again, as he had before, pulling her against him, just wanting to hold her close as the water tumbled over them both. He'd never felt like this before in all his life, and he didn't want the feeling to end.

Drawn into his arms once again, she nestled close, pillowing her cheek against his chest, drawing her arms about his waist as she breathed with him beneath the flow of water that was slowly growing cooler as the time passed them by. And finally, a thought occurred to her, the events of the past day ticking back to one pivotal moment that had sealed her fate. "How did you end up in that cell?"

"I could never be angry with you," he said as she drew him from the room, torn between wanting to keep her all to himself and the need for basic sustenance. One cannot live on love alone, after all. Not humans, anyway. He wanted to pull her to him, kiss her, taste her again, but he resisted, knowing if he did, they'd never leave that room. He might die of starvation, but God, he'd die happy. He dared to touch her cheek, smiling warmly, though there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

She couldn't help the soft, sweet smile that rose on her face as he touched her, as he reassured her of something he really couldn't promise, laughing quietly at the warmth that bled from him to her. "A lofty ambition, to never be angry with me," she warned him, pulling the door closed and locking it, tucking the key snugly into the open top of her bodice. "I can be absolutely infuriating, you know."

He was unable to stop his gaze from following the tucking of that key away in what she must have deemed a safe place, though not from him. "That makes two of us then," he replied with a softer smile. He knew he wasn't the easier person to get along with, infuriating people with his inability to remain serious for long. It seemed he was setting a new record for seriousness since he'd met her, and he wondered what the hell was the matter with him. Was this what it felt like to fall in love" "I'm always pissing people off, it seems."

"You haven't pissed me off." It seemed superfluous to point it out, but she did so anyway, feeling that perhaps he needed to be reassured the way she did. Her hand, so small in his, brushed her thumb over his palm as she tugged gently, drawing him along the gallery toward the stairs. "You make me comfortable. That's rare, by the way," she added with a confidential chuckle, pulling his hand to rest against her shoulder as she led the way down the stairs, holding on even as her cheek rested against his fingers.

He snorted at the reassurance from her, knowing it was only a matter of time. "Give it time," he said, confident he'd do something to push her away from him or to make her angry at some point. He always did. He knew he'd disappointed her somehow, at the very least, but he was trying harder than he ever had before. He furrowed his brows at her as she led him along the gallery and down the stairs. The place looked different by daylight, brighter, not as gloomy, less dangerous, but that wasn't what had put a confused look on his face. "Why?" he asked, not specifying exactly which statement he was questioning.

"Why what?" she asked curiously, glancing back at him. She wasn't sure it was quite the time to explain why she was comfortable with him, or why he hadn't pissed her off. They needed to be away from the prospect of imminent privacy before she would get into that, knowing that even talking about the bond forming would raise her need for him until she could barely stand it.

"What's so different about me" I mean, I know I'm not....like you....But..." He trailed off as they reached the bottom of the stairs. This wasn't the time or the place for his questions, not until they were alone, but not too alone. They needed time to talk, to get to know each other better. They didn't even know the most basic things about each other, and yet, somehow, none of that seemed to matter. Still, she needed to know some things about him. He owed her that much. "Do you know where we're going?" he asked, not having the slightest clue where they were or where they were going.

She paused thoughtfully, eyeing him speculatively and quite deliberately not answering his first question. "I saw a place not far from here that purports to sell food," she told him, drawing on her own admittedly meager knowledge of the city to explain. "It looked like the sort of place that maybe you would know. It looked a bit like the kind of place that would have a magic water room." Yes, it was going to take a while for her to get used to the concept of a fully plumbed bathroom, but that was the joy of Rhy'Din, apparently. So many races, so many cultures, so much to do and see and learn. She drew him out onto the waterfront, into the spring sunshine, refusing to relinquish his hand even here in public.

Now that it was daylight, there were even more marvels for him to see and hear and explore. All kinds of people - human and inhuman - all the sights and sounds of a city that was a cross-section of a multitude of cultures and races. It was that mix of things modern and ancient that struck him as they emerged into the light of day. "Are you sure I'm not dreaming?" he asked as he took in the wonder of his surroundings. "It's like....I don't know....Like ComicCon crossed with a Renfaire."

Leia looked up at him, once again utterly bemused by something he'd said, violet eyes wide as she tried to comprehend it. "A what crossed with a what?" she asked, a glimmer of amusement shining through for a moment. "Is that like a cockatrice" Because those are really scary. I've only ever seen one from a distance. Well, obviously from a distance; if it had seen me, I'd be dead, but still ....Scary. This place isn't scary. Is it?" She frowned, wondering if there was something here that he had seen and she hadn't.

"A what?" he asked, furrowing his brows at her, not quite comprehending what she was talking about either. He knew what a cockatrice was, sort of, from his gamer days. They were just a myth, a story, but then, he'd never believed elves were real either. "Where are we?" he asked, not for the first time. She'd told him the name of the place, but that had told him nothing. Hadn't she said something about it being a crossroads between universes or some such thing" "Scary' No, not scary," he replied, scanning their surroundings with a confused look on his face that branded him as a newcomer. "Just....different."

"They call it Rhy'Din," Leia shrugged, knowing only a little more than he did. "I had thought it was a myth in Allansia, but it truly does exist. The old men of my father's people call it the Hub of Creation." She barely knew any more than that, setting her feet to follow the path along the waterfront toward an area that was somewhat cleaner, definitely less populated with ships' crews and their dastardly ways. If anything, it looked like a tourist trap.

"Are those pirates?" he asked, lowering his voice as he leaned toward her, glancing over at a group of unsavory-looking characters. Hey, he'd seen Pirates of the Caribbean. He knew what pirates looked like, and he knew they were dangerous, but they weren't all bad. Jack Sparrow hadn't been all bad, had he" He was a good guy deep down. "Avast ye, mateys!" he called over to the scurvy-looking fellows with a wave and a grin that marked him either crazy or naive.

Leia had been hoping they could pass the group without drawing attention to themselves, but apparently Jensen had other plans. She groaned as he called out what was possibly the worst greeting to a pirate she had ever heard, unsurprised when it was greeted with varying degrees of unsettling hostility. "What are you doing?" she hissed to her companion, slipping to stand between him and the pair who had moved away from their group to confront the naive man who'd greeted them. "Who're you tellin' to avast?"

"You!" he said, thinking he'd been offering the pirates a friendly greeting. He noted the hostility with a frown. "I was saying hello in Piratespeak. Oh, wait....I meant ahoy. Yeah, that's it. Ahoy, not avast. I got my ahoy mixed up with my avast. Sorry about that!" He smiled, hoping they'd accept his apology, but sliding a hand into his jacket to his Colt, just in case. They were pirates, after all. "You know Jack Sparrow" I'm a friend. He sends his regards and all that."

"Piratespeak?" There was a ripple of laughter from the group nearby, but the faces of the pair now looming over Jensen and Leia were stony cold. "You better be touched in the head, or you're gonna be lookin' for it in the gutter." Leia leaned back against Jensen, deliberately stepping on his foot, hoping he could at least sense quite how dangerous this little encounter was. She didn't like the way the smaller one was looking at her, either.

His reaction to her stepping on his foot was a yelp of pain and a narrowing of his eyes, but he got the message. These were real pirates, not the renfaire variety, and they'd rip his entrails out and hang them from the mainmast just for fun, or something like that. "Okay, well, nice meeting you boys. Great work you're doing. Hey..." He pointed at the ship they'd been hovering in front of. "I think your friends are taking off without you!" They weren't really, but it might give them the split second they needed to make a run for it.

The larger of the two pirates glanced over to the group that had not moved, and Leia's hands lashed out. The smaller went down from a jab of the hilt of one of her daggers to his throat; the larger let out a beautifully girlish screech as the blade of her other dagger sliced through his belt, dropping his noisome britches to his ankles. Their companions erupted in a gale of loud laughter to see their shipmates bested by an idiot and his girl, and Leia took the opportunity. She grasped Jensen by the elbow and walked him firmly away. "Don't run," she warned. "They'll chase us if we run. What were you doing, talking to pirates" They're more likely to gut you just for the hell of it than anyone else I know!"

Jensen's eyes widened as she lashed out with her daggers, downing one pirate and humiliating the other, but his amazement didn't last long before it turned to indignation as the pirate broke into laughter and she led him away, questioning him as if he was some kind of idiot, which he sort of was. He was out of his element, anyway. "I was just saying hello. I never saw a real pirate before." He scowled, looking a little like a boy who'd just been scolded by his mother. "I had it under control, you know. I could have taken them." He was a trained soldier, after all, even if he was most at home behind a keyboard.

"How was that having it under control?" she asked, genuinely unable to understand what he thought he'd been doing. Her hand released his arm as they slowed to a more comfortable pace, and only then did she sheath the daggers once more, fairly sure they weren't being followed. "You drew their attention to us without knowing anything about them; which ship they are part of, how well armed they are, anything. And who is Jack Sparrow?"

He shrugged his shoulders, having no good answer for her. He'd warned her that he'd make her angry sooner or later and it seemed it had happened much sooner than expected. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm an idiot," he said, frowning, feeling stupid.

She wasn't angry, though. She was just a little flabbergasted. As he apologised, her lips curved in a soft smile. "You scared me," she told him gently, pausing in the street to look up at him, meeting his eyes with warm concern. "They could so easily have hurt you." And her, for that matter, but a pirate's designs on a female were usually pretty predictable. What a pirate might do to a man who had sassed him and then objected to the designs on his woman ....they didn't bear thinking about.

"Nothing could be better than sex with you." And there was an endearingly embarrassing trait he was just going to have to get used to. Leia was completely shameless, and she didn't really care who overheard her complimenting him so bluntly. She was still at a loss, however, when he drew her to the counter, peering curiously at the wares on display with only a shaky idea that they might mostly be bread-based. "Um ..." She offered the woman behind the counter a confident smile, and tightened her hand in Jensen's. He was going to have to order for them.

He had no idea what she was accustomed to eating, and it hadn't occurred to him that her diet might be restrictive in any way. He wasn't a vegetarian or a vegan and ate what he wanted whenever he wanted it. "Um, I'll take the Eggs Benedict with an cheese danish on the side, and coffee black." The woman jotted down his order, and looked to Leia, since Jensen had assumed she was ordering for herself. Paying for the meal might be a problem, but that thought hadn't occurred to him yet.

Violet eyes blinked back at the enquiring gaze, acquiring something of a deer in headlights look under the weight of expectation. She was going to have to say something. She struck out for something that she knew bakeries sold, knowing it was likely to sound ridiculous, given the order he had just made. "Uh ....bread and butter?" she asked uncertainly. "And water?"

Jensen's mouth fell open. "Bread and butter" No, no, no." He held up a finger to the woman behind the counter to give them a moment. "Leia, this is a bakery. You order food here. Bread and water is what they serve inmates in prison." He sighed and glanced at the glass case that held all the goodies. "What looks good to you?" he asked, looking over the baked goods, which in his opinion all looked good.

"Bread is what they sell in bakeries," she pointed out a little defensively, blushing at her perception that she had made herself look simple in front of a complete stranger. She lowered her voice, knowing that despite her best efforts, the woman was going to hear what she was about to say to her companion anyway. "I don't know what any of these things are."

"They're baked goods!" he exclaimed, not really explaining at all, looking a little perplexed, not knowing what she might like. "May I make a suggestion?" the woman behind the counter interjected, having met a lot of bakery newbies over the years and recognizing a newcomer to Rhy'Din when she saw one. "The maple pecan danish is always a good choice," she suggested. "And coffee, with cream and sugar." He glanced at Leia and then nodded his head. Bread and butter was simply not breakfast, unless it was toasted. Then maybe. "That sounds good, thanks," he said, reaching into his jacket for his wallet and frowning as he came up empty. "Shit."

The relief that poured from Leia at the helpful suggestion was palpable, recognising a professional who knew her town very well. She smiled, relaxing from her tense sense of embarrassment, and glanced up at Jensen swore. "What is it?"

"I-I left my wallet back home. I don't have any money," he said with a frown, trying to think what he had that was of enough value that he could barter it for breakfast, but all he had was the clothes on his back and a gun in his pocket. "Maybe I could do the dishes or mop the floor or something," he suggested, pushing the bridge of his glasses back onto his nose.

For some reason, this brought the confidence back into Leia. The thief was quite happy to be able to solve his problem for him with a smile as she reached into the little bag on her hip and brought out a moleskin money pouch. "I do not have your currency, but I can provide the right weight in silver," she told the woman behind the counter, opening the pouch to reveal not coins, but small ingots of pure silver.

The woman smiled back. She'd encountered this problem, too, many times in the past. "One silver will do, dear," she said, holding out a hand for the coin. Jensen frowned, a little relieved but annoyed that he couldn't do this one thing right. If he was stuck here, he was going to have to find some sort of way of supporting himself. How did one go about that in a place like this" Place an ad in the paper" He didn't want to rely solely on Leia, especially considering her line of work.

Slender fingertips lifted an ingot of silver from the pouch and placed it into the woman's hand, the pouch swiftly closed and hidden back in the mysterious bag on Leia's hip. Of course it hadn't been honestly earned, but the way she looked at life, that really didn't matter. If Jensen didn't keep an eye on her, she was going to lift any number of things as they walked through the streets, just for the sheer fun of it. She looked up at him, her smile fading in the face of his frown. "Did I do something wrong?"

To be fair, he didn't walk the straight and narrow path either, and he wasn't above pilfering a thing or two, but he didn't want her to chance getting arrested when he'd only just busted her out of prison a few hours ago. "No, I just don't like you paying for everything." The woman tilled the coin and went about filling their order. He surveyed the place again before taking her elbow and leading her toward a table in a somewhat quiet corner.

"I could give you some silver," the half-elf woman offered as she was led away, beginning to think that she was always going to be confused by this man, how he slipped from silly to serious so easily with seemingly little provocation. "It goes against my better nature, of course," she teased, trying to bring the smile to his face again, "but I would make that sacrifice for you."

"You would sacrifice some silver that wasn't even yours to begin with?" he asked, not understanding the logic in that, but maybe she really thought of her what she did as a job and what she stole the reward. "You never did tell me how you got arrested. I mean, I know you were....you know..." He darted a glance around, hoping no one was listening. He was paranoid enough and this place just made him all the more so. He pulled out a chair for her and claimed a seat for himself, sighing and leaning back. "Maybe we should start at the beginning."

Shaking her head at his lack of understanding, she lowered herself down into the chair he offered her, leaving her cloak draped over the back as she leaned forward onto the table comfortably. She could sense his confusion, and his alarm at the consideration that anyone might overhear them, wishing he could calm himself a little. It was becoming more and more difficult to concentrate on listening and talking, the stronger his presence grew in her heart and mind. She was almost too aware of him because of it. "Where is the beginning?"

"The beginning. You know....My name is and so on. Like this..." He cleared his throat, as if he was taking this all very seriously. "My name is Jake Jensen. Captain Jake Jensen, to be exact. I'm twenty-seven years old and was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I have a sister, Jessica, and a niece, Jamie. I'm single, never been married, no kids." He didn't go into what he did for a living as it was a little complicated, especially right now while he was in between jobs, so to speak.

She listened, taking all this in with minimal confusion, though naturally his birthplace was something of an enigma for her. And when he paused, she knew it was her turn to reply in kind, able to do so with little concern for prying ears. "My name is Leia Camden. I am twenty-six years old, and I was born in Fang, a village in the north of Allansia, my home country. After my father went to Arvanaith, my mother moved us to Port Blacksand, which is where I grew up. I have no family that I know of. I ..." Here she stumbled. Single wasn't a word she thought she could use to describe herself any longer, and yet the way he used it suggested that it was important he know she wasn't beholden to anyone. "I am single, never married, and I have no children." She eyed him thoughtfully, wondering just how much of this they were likely to do.

She hadn't really told him anything he didn't know already, except maybe for the part about her parents. The places she mentioned were as foreign sounding to him as Boston was to her, but the rest of it made sense. It was, as introductions go, fairly basic. He wasn't normally one to pry. If he really wanted to know something about someone, there were other ways of obtaining information, but if they really wanted to get to know each other better, one of them was going to have to get over their fears and ask questions. "Your father....What happened to him?" he asked, folding his hands on the table as he waited for her explanation, his attention all on her.

She smiled sadly, knowing that this was likely an explanation he would not wholly understand. "He was very old," she began, fondness for her elven father thick in her voice and expression as she spoke. "He had been feeling the call to go for almost two years before I was born, but he did not have the heart to leave my mother. It was only when he told her that by staying, he was risking never being able to reach Arvanaith that she insisted he leave and follow the call to his last days. It was his time." She shrugged lightly. "My mother raised me as best she could, but in the City of Thieves, there really was only one thing I could become. I was lucky enough to be apprenticed to one of the Guild Masters, though. It was a good time." Her gaze flickered over his face, a question on her own tongue that she held in check for now, knowing he was bound to have further questions to ask her.

Thankfully for him, he'd seen Lord of the Rings and understood the concept of the Western Lands, but he wasn't sure if that equated with this Arvanaith she was talking about. "Your mother....She was human?" he asked, remembering that she'd told him she was only half-elven, assuming her other half was human, though she hadn't said so. "Do all....elves go there when they're old?" he asked, his fingers twitching, wanting to reach for her hand, but holding himself back for some reason.

"If they answer the call in time, yes," she nodded, glancing down at his twitching fingers with a half smile. "If they do not, they are denied entry. It is thought that to ignore the call is to deny your right to an immortal soul. Only the old go of their own volition, clothed in their mortal body. Those elves who die a violent or unexpected death ....their bodies do not decay as human bodies do, but their spirits go to Arvanaith, to await a time for rebirth." From the expression on her face, that to her sounded rather strange and unpleasant to consider. "But yes, my mother was human. My father saved her life, and in return, she went somewhat goblin on him and locked him in her home until he admitted that he loved her." She laughed at this anecdote, understanding a little now of why her father had resisted so long.

He arched a brow, curiousity piqued, wondering what would happen if he did that very same thing to her, not missing in the irony in their stories. Though he was no elf, he had helped her escape from prison and taken a bullet wound in the process, which she had somehow healed. "Will you go there someday?" he asked, linking his fingers together just to give his hands something to do that didn't involve reaching for hers.

"No." She shook her head. It wasn't such a wrench for her not to go to her father's afterlife; she had no understanding of how deeply the longing for it affected elven folk, after all. "Though my father's blood lengthens my lifespan and gives me certain traits that are elvish, my soul isn't an elven one. I will never see Arvanaith, and ....well, I do not think I deserve to, in any case." She chuckled a little. "What of you? Your family, your sister? She must be very close to your heart."

"I can't answer those questions. No one knows how a bond is formed, or why it forms between the people it does. I don't know." She shook her head, dipping her head, fighting not to feel too hurt, too upset, by the horror in his reaction. "I can't stop it. I'm sorry, Jake, I have no control over it. It will happen, it will complete itself sooner or later, and when it does ....you'll be able to feel me, and know that it's my emotion you're feeling, not your own. That's why you're so confused about your mood now. It's my confusion, my uncertainty, that's influencing the way you feel."

"No, it's not, Leia!" Suddenly, he wasn't very hungry anymore. He pushed away from the table and got to his feet. "I need some air." Before she could stop him, he was heading for the door, though, in truth, they'd probably have less privacy on the street than they had in the little bakery. He didn't notice the look he was getting from the store's owner, a worried frown on her face at the young lovers' spat as she followed the drama unfolding inside her little domain.

As he stormed from the table, Leia sat perfectly still, her face pale as she felt herself buffeted by the sudden strength of feeling surging from him. Had he not listened to a word she had said" Didn't he realise that she could feel how he was feeling, the connection growing stronger no matter what she chose to do' She swallowed hard, and surged up suddenly from the chair, abandoning her cloak with an apology to the lady behind the counter, following Jensen toward the street. "You can't walk away from this," she told him, her voice pinched and tight with the unpleasantness seething in her soul. "I didn't do it on purpose. I know it's a violation of your privacy, your choices, your life, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I can't change it!"

He was pacing in front of the bakery, his fingers buried in his hair, looking like he was on the verge of panic. "Why?" he asked, as he turned to face her. "Why did this happen" How did I get here" Did you bring me here" Why me" Why me, Leia" Are you....Are you playing with me?" he asked, his face as pale as hers. If she could feel anything from him, it wasn't anger, but fear. The truth was that he felt some kind of connection, too, but the connection he felt was different from hers. He was falling in love with her, and he knew it. No matter what happened now - whether he stayed or he left - she'd imprinted herself on his heart and his soul, and he'd never be the same again.

"I don't know!" She shouted it at him, stamping one foot, ignoring the curious glances of the passers' by as her distress turned to a flare of anger at his seeming inability to understand that though it might be a shock for him, it was no less a shock for her. "I ....I think a spell I cast trying to get out was twisted by the magical field of the - that place," - she remembered just in time not to say "prison", " - and pulled you in rather than me out. But I don't know why it picked you, and I didn't cast it to lure you here and trap you, if that's what you're thinking! Why would I make this up?" she demanded, hands landing hard on her hips as she glared up at him, breathless with her outburst. "My life is tied to yours now. You can walk away without a second thought, you need never think of me again, but I will have you in my heart and my mind and my soul until the day you die. Because the day you die, I die too!"

"You just don't get it, do you?" he shouted back at her, turning to face her, forgetting his promise never to get angry at her, though it wasn't really anger he was feeling, but something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. "I never asked for this. I never asked to come here, to be part of this. I wanted to help you. I did help you. And then you....I don't know what happened. I know we just met and I know it sounds crazy, but I love you, and I thought maybe..."

His voice broke and he clenched his jaw to try and get his emotions under control, his face paling further as she cast the final blow, telling him the whole truth of it. He shook his head and backed away from her, tears stinging his eyes that he didn't want her to see. "I can't. I don't want that for you. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me. I thought maybe you....maybe you felt the same. And now, you tell me that it wasn't your fault' That you don't even know how it happened. What's all this about then, Leia" What do you want from me?"

She might have been able to keep control over her own tears, if he had not suddenly been caught with the same rise in emotion, feeding into hers, forcing the drip of moisture from her eyes despite her best efforts to keep them dry. "I don't want anything from you," she cried. "I want you, you stupid man! You want to hear me say I love you, when I've already said it in a way few non-elves ever hear. I am bonding to you." She fell silent for a moment, her tearful eyes staring into his, willing him to look past the shock and upset and anger and see the warmth, the longing, the affection deeper than any love. All for him. "I am so far past love, it isn't relevant. Every breath I take, I take because I am yours, whether you want me or not. And you think that isn't good enough. I didn't realise that humans were so arrogant as to truly believe that their concept of love, of a life built on trust, was the only one that meant anything."

He was doing his best to hold the tears back, but just barely, his chest aching with the effort. Maybe it was the connection between them that softened his mood, or maybe it was her explanation. She really was like Arwen to his Aragorn, in a way, giving up so much so that she could be part of him, so that she could be with him forever, even if he was far away. How could he ever go home now when his heart would be forever here with her" "Would it....Would it be so hard to say it?" he asked, eyes shining with unshed tears looking back into hers, needing to still hear those three little words, even if she'd said it already in her own way. As soft as it was, there was a tremor in his voice, close to breaking. "Please....I need to hear it."

She stared up at him, violet eyes shining like dew on primroses as her hands fell from her hips, hanging loose, weak, at her sides. She felt drained, and still that raging knot of emotion bound itself tighter to her, growing with clarity the more they shared. When she finally spoke, it was as heartfelt as he could possibly have wished for, if a little more forceful than most men would expect. But she was not a woman who did anything by halves, it seemed. "I love you, Jake."

That was all he needed to hear, for some reason. Three little words that meant more than anything else she could have said. Three little words he'd been waiting his whole life to hear. "I love you, too, Leia," he replied, tears spilling over onto his face, droplets of liquid splashing onto his glasses. He closed the distance between them, taking her in his arms to seal those heartfelt words with a kiss that felt deeper and more impassioned than any kiss he'd ever shared with any woman before or ever would again. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. He knew there were a lot of things they needed to talk about and sort out between them, but she loved him, and at that moment, that was all that mattered. Everything else would work itself out.

((Another really long scene. Kudos to anyone who read all that. Lots of fun and many thanks to Leia's awesomefantabulous player for this scene and for encouraging me to bring Jensen to Rhy'Din. More to come. :grin:))