Gavilean had left the Inn and traveled home to obtain what he needed to rescue Inara. A baldric crossed his broad shoulders and held the sheathed broadsword against his back. His black, knee-high riding boots were well worn and covered in the dust of the road. A hooded cloak covered his shoulders but allowed free access to the wire-wound hilt. The black, water-resistant cloak was long enough to come over the tops of his boots when he walked, and thus provided excellent protection from the rain or snow whether riding or on foot. He had a short sword at his belt and two knives in his boots. Thus fully prepared, the one-time Warlord and Knight Captain road off on Nasrullah to get his wife back.

Night had descended when he arrived at the road that led up to the castle. Gavilean cantered Nasrullah as far as the bridge that led to the castle drive up to the front door (see http://www.geocities.com/rcwolpert/Talomar.html ), and there he dismounted, grabbed the rope he had on his saddle, and continued on foot. He passed torch after torch that lit up the snow covered drive, until he came to the front door. The front doors were well-locked and he assumed they were guarded on the inside, so he tied the rope onto the left side of bridge and lowered himself to the ground.

He hoped the little used castle chapel would give him access. The chapel had stained glass windows that were most accessible where the chapel attached to the main part of the castle. Gav climbed up the wall and reached the ledge of one window. He took the handle of a knife and broke one on the panes of glass; then reached inside and unlocked the window. Soon he was on the floor of the dark chapel.

No sooner did his feet hit the floor than the hairs on the back of his neck rose. There was a presence ? an incredible evil was lurking about. Gavilean wasted no time making his way to the inner doors that led to the castle proper. Just before he got to the doors he heard a lock latch and a wind whistle through the pews. Something was coming.

?Why are you disturbing me?? whispered a female voice.

Gav tried the door. It was locked. He removed his short sword from its sheath and slipped the blade into the crack where the lock was located. There were noises, sounds of something approaching. Gavilean worked frantically at the lock and heard a click. The door opened, and he sprang out of the chapel, closing the door behind him.

(to be continued. . .)

Gavilean hurried to the next cell in the line, one that seemed even darker and more cruel than the rest. He held the torch to the small barred window but couldn't see anything inside. Perhaps he was wrong. Maybe she wasn't down here at all. He only assumed that when the kitchen staff mentioned a prisoner that they were referring to Inara. An evil one like Talomar might have many prisoners. Perhaps he even had her up in his room. Gavilean winced and pounded the door of the cell in frustration. He decided to give it one more try. He put his face to the door window and whispered, "Inara, are you in there?"

Inara shifted from where she was curled into a trembling ball, tears in her eyes, trying to see through the dark, this had to become sort of cruel joke, another way of Talomar hurting her, "Gavilean?" She whispered, too scared to hope it was him.

"Inara!!" He heard her voice. "Inara, it's me!" He put his face right to the bars.

Her eyes reflected the light of the torch slowly shakily moving to her feet and stumbling towards the door. "Gavilean?" She sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

"Dear God, what has he done to you?" Gavilean didn't know if he wanted to break down and weep for her or run up the stairs to run his sword through Talomar's heart, but he did know that he had to get her out of there before he lost the opportunity. "My love, I'll get you out!" He put his fingers through the window, not even knowing if she could see him or come to him.

Inara stumbled to the door, her hand moving to his, hesitating at touching as if afraid he would disappear into some kind of dream or come to find out it was Tal, but as her fingers touched his she broke down, sobbing loudly, "Oh gods Gavilean, Gavilean," she kept whispering his name over and over as she rested her cheek to his fingers, tears wetting against his touch.

"It's alright, my love. Everything's going to be alright now. I'm getting you out of here." He slowly removed his fingers and tested the door. It was locked and you needed the key to open it. He looked to the hinges and they were so rusted he'd never get them off. He would not panic. There must be a way. There was a small gap between the door and the door jam. The castle was old and had experienced some settling over the years. He removed his small sword, but the blade was still too thick to slip between the door and the jam.

Inara sobbed as he slipped away from her and she slumped back into the shadows, tears streaming down her face as she hid beside the door, her head resting on her upturned knees.

He slid the sword back and reached into his boot and pulled out a small double-bladed throwing knife. "I'm working on it, Inara. Soon, my love." He wanted to encourage her, but he had his doubts that this would work. He slipped the knife into the space but it wouldn't go in far enough. "Damn," he said in frustration, and pounded the door. He saw the door move slightly inward in its frame. He had an idea. He leaned his shoulder against the door and felt it move in about 5 millimeters. He tried the blade of the knife again and this time it just fit through the opening. These old doors simply have a steel bolt that fell down into a slot and a key would lift it back up again into a vertical position. Gav's knife slid beneath that metal and he then slid the knife up, pushing up the metal bolt with it. Holding the bolt out of the way, he yanked on the door. It broke the blade of his knife, but the door opened.

Inara was curled terrified in the corner still, arms wrapped around her knees, the white robe barely covering her as she cried softly.

Gav entered the filthy cell with his touch in hand and saw Inara balled up in the corner. "Inara!" He leaned the torch against the wall and took Inara into his arms and held her. "You'll be alright now. I'll soon have you home."

Inara sunk into his arms, shaking nervously, "Your really here," she whispered, tears dampening his jacket.

"Yes, love...yes, I'm here." He slipped off the heavy, back, oil-cloth riding cloak and put it around her. "Put this on. We're getting out of here."

Inara moved slowly, slipping into the cloak, tugging it around her tightly.

He picked up the torch and asked her to hold it, then bent down and picked his wife up into his arms. He saw that she had no clothes other then the small white robe that did little to cover her body. In moments they were out of the cell and he was carrying her down the hallway.

Inara clutched the torch as if it was life itself, her small fingers white from the tightness of her hold as she pressed tightly against Gav, so afraid still that this was some sort of crule dream.

He came to the narrow stone stairway and he stopped only long enough to kiss her cheek. "We'll be out of here soon. I promise." He carried her up the three flights of stairs, and arrived at the door breathing heavily. He tried the door. "It's locked."

-= to be continued =-

Inara trembled at the thought of him leaving her there but nodded, "Please hurry," she whispered fearfully.

He hurried, running in the shadows at the rear of the castle toward the stables, wherein he disappeared. Several minutes later he came out with her horse fully tacked and a pair of riding boots. He walked the horse to the solarium and signalled for Inara to come out. He held out the boots so she could put them on before exiting.

Inara switched her footwear before moving to the horse, shivering in the cold, tugging her cloak tighter around her as she looked up at saddle and shivered again.

Gavilean helped Inara up into her saddle and walked ahead of his, his boots cracking the frozen snow.

Inara stayed low over Nick's neck shivering both in fear and cold, they couldn't get away fast enough in her mind, she kept thinking the count would appear at any moment to stop them as she curled her fingers into the stallion's coat and watched Gav as he lead the horse away from the place that had been a constant torture to her.

Then came to the gate that was in the underpass between the back of the castle where the stables were, and the front walkway. It was locked but could be opened from the inside, which Gavilean did. Once on the walkway he whistled and Nasrullah came running over the bridge.

Inara looked up at the dark horse as it joined them before she looked down at Gavilean, still very quiet and very scared. "Don't leave me," she whispered softly to him, her voice sounding loud in her ears in the quiet of the night.

"Never, my love. Never again will you be away from me." He ground mounted Nasrullah and pulled up next to her. "Until we get on the other side of the bridge, we'll go slowly."

She nodded, fighting the urge to kick her horse to a fast escape, "Okay," she answered softly, nervously.

Once they were away from the bridge that led to the castle Gavilean signaled and they galloped down the road. After ten minutes of riding Gavilean signaled for them to stop. He pulled Nasrullah over to Inara. "Slide here in front of me. I don't want to get you out of the cell just to have you freeze."

Inara quickly scrambled across the to his curling back into his arms, her fingers curling into Nasrullah's mane, "I was scared you'd never come," she whispered softly.

He tied Inara's horse to the saddle and put a heavy wool blanket around Inara, covering her from head to foot. "I only just heard where you were a few hours ago. A woman named Maria kindly helped me, letting me know that you were likely here at Talomar's castle."

Inara shivered at the name and sunk down into his arms sobbing softly, "There is no kindness in that person," she whispered softly.

He signaled Nasrullah with his legs and the war horse immediately broke into a slow canter. "No kindness? But if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have know where to find you."

Inara shivered as she tugged the blanket closer to her, "Because he wanted you dead, and she would do anything he would ask," she answered softly. keeping her fingers tight in the stallion's mane

One arm was around Inara, the other held the reins, "You mean, Maria was using her knowledge of you to set me up?"

"I mean Maria works for Talomar," she whispered softly.

Something didn't make sense to him. If Maria worked for Talomar, they should have been ready for him to try to rescue his wife. Either Talomar was far too overconfident or Maria far to incompetent, or there was something going on that he wasn't seeing. Talomar wouldn't allow Gav to come in and rescue Inara unless he had something far worse planned. Gav didn't say much else on their ride back to Inara's home. He brought the horses right up to the front porch, dismounted and reached for Inara, taking her into his arms.

Inara slipped down into his arms, too tired and relieved to be home to be worrying about anything, just thankful to be home.

Alatarial was no longer with them, but they had hired two servants to replace her, and he gave one instructions to draw a hot bath and the other to have the horses taken care of. He carried Inara up to their bedroom and set her down on their bed as the bath was being prepared. It was only then, it the light of their room, that he saw the bruises to Inara's face. "My God, what did they do to you?"

Inara shivered as she curled deeper into the blankets, looking away from him, tears in her eyes, "Too much," she answered painfully.

He sat on the bed and held her, fearing to ask more at this time. "You're safe now, sweetheart. They'll never hurt you again." He had plans to go back there and kill the Count and his slut, or die trying.

Inara sunk into his arms shaking slightly still, her fingers curling into his shirt, she didn't want to ever let him go as she felt tears streak her face once more and started sobbing once more.

His hand stroked her hair and he just held her, feeling her body shake with sobs. The maid informed him that the bath was ready and he nodded and she left and shut the bedroom door. "You have a bath ready. Do you want me to be with you, or do you want to be alone?"

Inara looked up at him through the tears, reaching to wipe them away, "I don't want you ever out of sight again," she whispered nervously.

He smiled and helped her stand; then took the blanket and riding cloak off of her and led her into the bathroom with her wearing that small white robe which he now could see was dirty and blood stained. He could see marks on her legs, and he wince. They approached the tub and he pulled over a chair, letting Inara climb into the sudsy water with some privacy.

Inara slipped out of the robe throwing it with a vengeance in the corner before she slipped down into the hot water, wincing at the first real heat she had felt in days and the way it almost felt too hot on her feet as they slowly adjusted to the heat as she sunk fully into the water, letting out a soft tired sigh.

Gavilean pulled up a chair behind her. "Would you allow me to wash your hair?" He was being so careful with what he asked to do, fearing that the simple things they had taken for granted could now be something that might bring bad memories.

Inara shifted in the water and looked up at him, "I would like that," she nodded moving to give him room, pushing her hair from her shoulders, revealing the bruise from where Tal had bit her.

He saw the bruise on her shoulder and bit his lip. He would not let on how this was really affecting him. He took a cup and poured the water over her hair, over and over, letting it get thoroughly soaked. Then he took scented shampoo and put plenty upon her hair. She had picked up the scent of the cell and the sweat and filth, and she needed to be rid of that.

Inara slowly settled, finally seeming to start to relax, slowly, Gav's love and touch was slowly beginning to calm her tired frightened mind, as she reached for the soap while he tended her hair, beginning the slow long job of cleaning her body.

He spent a long time with her hair, so thankful to just have her back home with him, and safe.; thankful that she was even alive, and shuddering at the thought of nearly losing her. He rinsed the soap out of her hair and helped her wash her back.

Inara finished cleaning up and soaked for a few more minutes before she slowly started to slip out of the tub, looking at Gavilean with dark tired eyes.

He held up a large, soft towel and wrapped her body in it. "Let's go to bed, my love," he said looking into her eyes. "I just want to hold you all night."

Inara nodded, "I'm sorry this happened my love," she whispered softly curling into his arms to head for the bedroom.

"It's not your fault, Inara. There are evil people in this world and Talomar is the worst." He pulled back the blankets for Inara to slip into bed. He added wood to the fireplace, then undressed; and when he was naked he turned down the lamp and climbed in beside her, snuggling close.

Inara turned to press against him, burying her face against his shoulder and into his dark hair, inhaling his scent, thankful he was there, "Just don't let go," she whispered softly as she closed her eyes to invite sleep, hoping that the nightmares of the last couple days would leave her to sleep just this once.

Inara had spent most of the day in the kitchen cooking and fiddling, preparing for this, she needed to talk to Gav and had sent the help out of the day. She was still trying to figure out how to tell him everything that had happened. She had set the table with fine china and lit a couple of candles in the middle, had brought out a bottle of white wine, then set the table with mango stuffed chicken, chicken rice, and a green salad. She was just setting out the last when she noticed the time and quickly slipped out of the apron and straighten the skirts of her dress, a long skirted green velvet gown with a v-cut over her chest and a silver embroidery along the cuffs, hem, and collar. She poured two glasses of the wine as she waited for her husband to get home.

Gavilean had established an office for himself in their home, but this day he spent his time working outside on Inara's ranch. He didn't want to be far from her, yet there was just too much going on inside his head to work inside. He needed some good, manual labor. So he spent the day tending to the horses in the morning and cutting and chopping more wood in the afternoon. He loved to chop oak for the fire in the winter, when the air was crisp and you'd see your breath condense in front of you. He had heavy work gloves as he brought the great hammer down on the steel wedges to split the logs, imaging the wedge to be Count Talomar's head. After he has smashed the Count's head several hundred times, he then stacked the wood in the back of the house and came in to clean up before dinner. Clean and feeling tired from the day, he came down the stairs and saw the beautiful spread of food on the table in the dining room, and his even more beautiful wife dressed in the green velvet gown that he liked so much. "You look beautiful, darling...and what smells so good?"

She looked up at her husband as he came down to join her and smiled softly, "Supper," she answered simply with a smile and offered him one of the wine glasses.

He took the glass and clinked it with hers. He wore a deep gray sweater over a red flannel shirt, lighter gray pants and house slippers. "You call it 'supper' but I would say it's a feast!"

She smiled softly, "Well it did take the better part of the day to cook," she answered with a slight nod and sipped her own drink, "but we have all night to enjoy it, and you haven
't seen the bedroom yet."

"What did you do to the bedroom," my love? You certainly have been busy today." He sipped his drink, then placed his wine-flavored lips upon hers in a soft kiss.

She returned the kiss slowly, still a bit hesitant, but determined to get through this night to get her life back on track. She broke the kiss slowly and looked up at him, "You'll have to wait a see," she answered and motioned him to the table, "I assume your hungry."

"I'm starving!" he replied with a smile. "Everything looks so good." He pulled out her chair for her then went to sliced the mango stuffed chicken and put a helping upon their plates before he also sat. He didn't mention her abduction, he wanted things to get back to normal for her as soon as possible.

She watched him as he served them both and smiled softly setting her wine glass on the table beside her plate, "Have I told you yet today how much I love you?" She asked softly as she moved to pick up the rice bowl and dish a small amount onto her plate before she offered it to him.

He took the rice bowl and stopped to put on an expression of deep thought. "Perhaps the first thing in the morning, but it could be just wishful thinking," he replied with a wink of his cobalt blue eyes.

She smiled, "Well either way, that is certainly not enough, I don't think I could ever express how much I love," she stated softly as she added salad to the plate and again offered him the bowl before picking up her fork.

He took the salad and placed a helping on his plate and set the bowl down. "My dearest, however much you love me, I love you the samest. I would say 'more' but then we're sure to get into and argument, so the 'more' word is not to be used in any sentence with love." He grinned, picked up his knife and fork, and began to eat the delicious meal Inara had prepared.

She smiled softly at his words, "So very true," she nodded her agreement as she took a delicate bite off her fork, watching him with dark calm eyes. "We should start on the baby room tomorrow," she pointed out, where the room had been left due to her abduction.

He smiled at the thought of their child, and then a sick feeling came over him as he wondered if Talomar had done anything to harm the child. "Tomorrow would be perfect. I'm taking the next few days off to be with you."

She nodded, "Maybe we should go for a sleigh ride, as long as I'm the one driving," she added with a soft smile.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm never going to be able to live that down, am I?" He stabbed the last piece of meat. "Okay, a sleigh ride and you can handle the reins."

She grinned, "I need something to tease you about, your too prefect in every other way," she answered as she finished off the last of her salad and picked up her wine glass sipping the drink.

Nightmares and Trials

He was there, just out of sight, she couldn't move, as hard as she fought the chains at her wrists the hard cold cuffs refused to budge. She was trapped, she could see the blade above her and feel the cold of the room, it surrounded her, filled her to her soul as tears streamed down her face. She turned her head to try and find some sort of escape and her eyes locked on her lover, like so many other times, there he was, Gavilean, beat till he was a bleeding mess, his cobalt blue eyes meeting her, she didn't want to look away but she felt more then heard the movement and turned to see Talomar stalk around her approaching that woman, Maria was standing proudly to the side holding that knife for him, that black blade.

There was another in the room, another woman, this one she did not know but had been conjured by her sleeping mind to appear as she believed this Tara woman should. Both women proceeded to Talomar's side, kissing him and relieving him of his shirt as he reveled in there attention, returning their every affect as they saw to his needs as she tried harder to escape, anything to get away, she knew what was coming, but try as she might she could not escape, she could not get free, and soon she felt his hand on her leg, so real drawing her attention to him.

He was no longer dressed, his black mane of hair partially obscuring his face as he moved between her spread legs, fully ready to finish what he had not while she had been with him the first time. She tried to scream to get away, but she was held fast and his hand was suddenly at her throat as he entered her in one painful thrust, his teeth sinking into her chest and she cried out in pain, looking towards her husband with desperate tears and he looked away from her, disappointment and disgust written on his face. She felt Talomar's strong hand curl into her hair, yanking back her head, that knife in his hand.

Inara sat bolt upright in bed, her mouth wide in a silent scream, her hands clutching the sheets to her chest as tears streamed down her cheeks. It had happened again, another nightmare, another night of feeling as if she had truly betrayed her husband. She looked down at Gavilean, her fingers brushing his cheek softly as she felt more tears streak her face. Silently she threw off the blankets and rose from their marriage bed, tugging on her robe as she moved to the fire place and added another log for heat before she tucked her feet into her slippers and slipped out of the bedroom.

She had dismissed the couple of servants a few days ago with the excuse that she was home all the time and didn't really need the help anymore, in truth she did not feel safe with them there. She headed through the main hall and down the stairs to the main living room, checking to make sure the doors were securely locked and peering nervously into the night outside. She shivered fearfully as she turned away and headed for the kitchen, lighting the lamps within as she added wood to the fire there as well and moved to boil herself some water.

She hated this, this constant fear of being hurt, of disappointing her husband. She sat at the counter as she waited for the water, running her hands through her dark hair and pushed it from her face. In the morning she would feel a little better, at least then she would be able to see outside, she hated this cold darkness that surrounded the house these last few days as the snow had started to melt away. There was no moon tonight either, which made it darker still.

She shuddered then jumped as the pot whistled at her and she stood moving to the kettle, tugging it off the burner and pouring herself a mug of mint tea before she took the cup back to the living room and sunk down onto the couch tugging the blanket from the couch back and wrapping herself in it as she stared into the drink cup. She had to escape this pain, some how, she had to stop these dreams and get back to her life, instead of hiding in this house all the time.

Inara smiled softly at him at his words of love, the look slipping as she stifled a tired yawn, setting her mug aside so she could slip wholly into his arms, "You will of course have to help me remember how to use that sword," she muttered softly as she nuzzled in under his chin.

"I will start your lessons in the morning, but for now. . ." he hand slipped down to her leg and found its way between the folds of her robe, feeling the soft flesh of her inner thigh, moving his fingers lightly over her skin.

Inara shivered slightly at his touch, licking her lips and drawing a little closer to him, "I love you Gavilean Wakefield, I hope you don't ever doubt that."

"I've never doubted that, my dearest woman," his fingers lightly traced a path up and down from her knee all the way up between her legs until he just lightly touched her private area. "And I hope you never doubt my love, Inara, Wakefield."

She smiled softly at the sound of her own name, her legs shifting just slightly to give him more room, "Never," she whispered softly, her lips caressing his neck softly in a gentle sweet kiss.

He moved his head to give her better access to his neck, his long dark hair falling against her face like a veil. His fingers began to play lightly her, exploring her body as the fingers of a blind man might try to feel a message in Braille.

Inara moaned softly, thankful for his gentleness and his love, she needed that. She smiled just slightly as she licked her lips looking up at him as she played her fingers through his hair, brushing it behind his ear and meeting his deep dark gaze, "I wanted to wait for your birthday, but I have something for you," she whispered softly, moving slowly in case he wanted to stop her from pulling away from his touch.

He didn't want her to go, but he removed his hand from between her legs. "What do you have for me, my love?"

She smiled softly, knowing he didn't want her to move, but she wanted to give him this as she slipped away from him and to one of the cabinets opening it to retrieve the wrapped gift returning to her lover pausing in front of him to slip free the robe, letting it slid to the floor before crawling back into his lap naked and offered up the box, about two feet long and one wide and five thick. The wrapping was a deep burgundy with yellow glittery fabric ribbion.

His eyes widened, first at the size of the box, then at the beauty of her body as she let the robe fall. He opened his own robe so that her naked body would be against his as she sat upon his lap. "What is this?" he asked as he took the burgundy wrapped box and began to work on the yellow ribbon.

Inara smiled softly, "Just a small gift I promised you once before," she answered with a soft smile. Within the box was a jacket, black and brown leather and suede, with a winter lining that can be removed for spring wear folded into a neat square on top of it was a journal of softened leather and on top of it laying diagonally in the tie of the journal a pen of white and yellow gold. Her eyes remained on his face to see his reaction, wanting to see what he truly thought by seeing his first reaction.

His first reaction was a slight opening of his mouth in surprise. "Oh darling..." He could smell the delicious leather scent and opened the tie of the journal and took the pen in hand before moving to the jacket. "This is just so beautiful. You know, I've been thinking about keeping a journal, but have been putting it off. Now I have no excuse."

Inara smiled softly and smirked, "I've had one since I was a child, it didn?t' occur to me that you would not keep one as well," she answered softly. Then the smile spread a little, "I told you I was going to replace that jacket," she added her fingers slipping under the box and reaching to brush lightly over him.

The feeling of her hand on him was wonderful. "You are distracting me from my examination of this beautiful jacket, my love," he said as he pulled the jacket out of the box and held it up. "It's magnificent. I love it!"

Inara smiled softly at his words, her dark eyes peering over the top of the jacket as he held it up, "I seem to recall someone distracting me from the examination of my own Christmas day," she purred, remembering how he had insisted she put it on while she was still naked in bed that morning.

He grinned, "Did I do that? Couldn't be. Never would I do such a thing." He put the coat against his face and "Mmmmmm'd". "This is so nice. You're too good to me." He set the gifts back into the box and put the box on the floor. "I love them...and I love you."

Inara woke slowly still wrapped in her lovers arms, still wrapped in his robe for warmth. The fire had long gone out and she couldn't help but shiver at the chill in the air. Spring was here, but the mornings were still cold. The house itself was surrounded by a deep fog that seemed to enclose her and him in a world of their very own, and for a minute she fancied herself back home in the house she had grown up in, far from the small village, protected from all dangers in the world by her own childhood innocents and her fathers strength. But no longer, no, now she was in her own home, surrounded by woods, a large pond and gazebo out front, currently swallowed by those mists and her lover at her side, his strong arms wrapped around her, keeping her even more safe then her father could have ever been. She smiled softly and finally moved to slowly slip from her grasp, careful not to wake him as she tugged on her robe and covered him with a blanket from the couch before slipping away to put on some breakfast and retrieve them both some clothes and their weapons. She had every intention on brushing up on what she had learned in her life on protecting herself. She returned to the living room to lay out the clothing before slipping to the kitchen to finish the cooking before bringing out their plates, laying them on the coffee table and reaching out to kiss her lover softly, lovingly wanting to wake him slowly and with much passion.

A soft moan escaped from lips that were curving into a smile. "It's too early to get up," he said with eyes still closed. "It must be the middle of the night." He knew it wasn't because it was already past the middle of the night when he discovered Inara down in the living room. He slowly stretched his arms over his head and opened one eye. "How do you look so good so early in the morning? What secret do you have?"

She smiled softly at him, "When I fall asleep, little angles sweep into the room and play with my hair all night," she lied and sat on the floor beside him picking up a piece of pastry, peach wrapped in pastry lined with still warm vanilla frosting and offered it to his lips, "Breakfast?"

He leaned over and took a bite of the pastry. "Mmmm...that's good." He licked some of the vanilla frosting from his lips. "Any chance of me hiring some of those little angels for my hair?"

She grins, "No, but I might be persuaded, as long as I can put a french braid in," she joked, moving to kiss him softly, lingering on his upper lip before whispering softly, "You missed some and moving to take her own bite of the sweet pastry.

He laughed, "Forget the angels. I don't want a French braid in my hair. I'll just look messy in the morning." He swung his feet around and proceeded to put on the clothes that Inara had brought down from their room. "So, you want a sword lesson today?"

She smiled softly as she watched him dress, slinking over to him to lay tinny kisses on the insides of his legs while she had the chance, "A refresher would be good," she muttered her breath warm against his skin as she looked up at him before moving out of his way to let him finish dressing as she took another bite of the pastry.

He was nearly going to forget the dueling refresher and make love with her once more when she nibbled on his leg, but the day was getting on and things needed to be done. He went and washed up and came back to her in the kitchen and poured some coffee. He had carried practice swords with him and set them in a corner of the kitchen. He sipped his coffee and looked at her.

Inara glanced at the swords a bit nervously, she had never dueled with her husband and she was well aware of his past as she was slowly tying back her hair away from her face to keep it from getting in the way. She licked her lips and finally met his gaze as she reached for the last of her own breakfast finishing it off and smiling at him just slightly.

When they were finished he picked up the swords and motioned to her. "Let's go out back. I want to have plenty of room." The 'swords' were really rapiers that had blunted tips and edges. Out in the yard he gave Inara her sword and stood back. "Okay, let me see you attack."

Inara hefted the weight of the sword in her hand before looking up at her husband and gripping the weapon a bit tighter she took a practice swing towards his stomach, nothing with flare just a swing that if it had been her real sword would have been meant to gut him.

A parry followed by a riposte negated the attack, but he was impressed with style. "Not bad...not bad at all. Let me point out a few things." He showed her a slightly different stance, "Footwork is very important. You need to always be balanced and ready for engagement, defense and remise." He took her hand and adjusted the grip just slightly. "Okay, let's try again."

Inara smiled softly, glad she had asked him to do this, not for defense, but for the closeness it provided to him. She adjusted her stance and grip as he had asked and before once more taking a well aimed swing at her husband, the soft smile never leaving her lips.

He barely parried her strike in time, watching her blade slip past his side. "I do believe you are trying to wound your poor husband!" he said with a grin, then made a feint, a lunge that she parried and a recover. "I must say, you are fully able to handle yourself most effectively, my love."

Inara grinned, "I have had a little training," she purred, feinting her husband to give him a resounding little snack on his backside and quickly bounced back a few feet to avoid any retaliation on his part.

A brow raised in astonishment. "Ah ha! So I see. My wife is not one to be trifled with!" He came at her again and they enjoyed a series of attacks and defensive maneuvers that had them moving over the yard. If anyone had come upon them at that point they would have felt certain that the man and woman were indeed trying to kill each other.

Inara had the tip of her tongue between her teeth in concentration as she met Gav, attack for attack, all but dancing with him, feeling the heat of the sun starting to warm above them as the day lengthened. She was sure he wasn't fully trying, that had he wanted to he could have disarmed her many times, but she was doing all she could to keep up with his skill and speed.

He was not trying his hardest, but he was not being lax either. He knew that any loss of concentration on his part would result in a welt or bruise on his body from her sword. He was sure she could do well in defending herself against any opponent. As they dueled he spoke of parry and counter-parry techniques, the fleche (a running attack), the second intention which is a tactic where you execute a convincing yet false action to draw a committed reaction from the opponent, the stop hit and stop cut, the riposte (an offensive action immediately after parrying an opponent's attack), and various thrust techniques. She was a quick learner and was applying them well.

Inara's attention was so fully on her husband and their sparing, somehow managing not to get hit by her husband's weapon and thankful for it, sure that if he did hit her it would hurt. She kept just far enough to stay out of his reach her breathing growing hard, her shirt clinging to her with the sweat of the workout as her reactions started to slow, his attacks starting to wear her out.

Finally he lowered his sword. "I think that's enough for this morning. You have worn me out and I submit! I think we need shower." Actually, he thought she looked mighty sexy with her skirt clinging to her.

Inara struggled to get her breathing under control and nodded, "Yes...shower," she gasped and instead sat down in the damp grass letting the sword drop at her side and looked up at him, "Your...to...good at...that," she gasped between heavy breaths.

He knelt down beside her. "You're not so bad yourself. You've had some excellent training."

She looked up at him and gave him a tired seductive grin "I know," she raised her brows with the words and licked her lips, "but you are definitely the better of us at this." She run her hands through her hair and reached out to him, tugging him to her and kissed him softly, "Thank you," she whispered softly.

He loved the kiss, "My pleasure. We should make a point of doing this often. It's good for the both of us to stay proficient." He stood and reached his hands down to her. "Let's go shower."

She groaned softly as she took his hand letting him pull her to her feet and sighing, "I think I'm going to ache all over tomorrow," she muttered as she stooped to pick up the weapon and straightened laying a hand in the hollow of her back, "Yep, definitely going to be hurting," she muttered and smiled at him.

He smiled and took her sword from her as he picked up his own, "We need to get back in shape, darlin'. There's a duel coming up in the Inn tomorrow night. I was thinking about seeing if I could still win a match."

She smiled softly as she leaned on her husband slightly, "I would love to watch you in a real competition my love with someone worth fighting, instead of me," she pointed out with a playful grin as they started back towards the house, she glanced out at the three horses out in the field happily munching away and looked up at Gav once more. "And if you lose I can nurse you back to health, if you win we can celebrate," she purred.

He smiled lovingly at her, "It sounds like I win both ways, sweetheart."

"That's the point," she purred as they headed inside, and she immediately started to slip out of her shirt as she set the sword down on the counter.

He opened his shirt in front but kept it on, watching his gorgeous wife slip out of her shirt. "Practicing swordsmanship seems to have a lot of benefits."

Inara looked back at him and smirked as she saw him watching her and smiled brightly at him "I have to pay you back some how," she purred as she sauntered over to him, swinging her hips as she approached him, and reached back releasing her bra and letting it slip to the kitchen floor as she looked up at him, glad no one lived near by otherwise she would be showing off everything to anyone looking through the porch door