"A Kiss Within the Shadows" Log Date: 1/11/01 Log Cast: Kaiulani, Benja Log Intro: It's been positively maddening, the way her uncle Sarojin has placed another guardsman on her to watch over her movements--and it hasn't helped that the third young warrior to be given the task of acting as her guardian, Sangwyn, is disconcertingly taken with her. For Pandion Kaiulani, there is only one individual she wishes to guard her: the nameless one who has watched over her for as long as she can remember, who has slain a shark on her behalf and carried her away from the snowy garden in the lander city of Haven where she and her guardsmen were attacked by dogs. The more she sees of her secret guardian, the more Kaiulani is determined to see--and never mind her uncle's vehement insistence that any man who refuses to honorably reveal himself must therefore lack honor. To Kaiulani's heart, her protector is honor itself. And the desire to prove to others that he is as worthy as she has always known is part of what drives her to seize every opportunity she can to track down her mysterious guardian. The rest of it? Mounting attraction and passion, stoked by the tantalizing glimpses she has had of him. Today, though, she will reach him only with voice and hand and kiss.... *===========================< In Character Time >===========================* Time of day: Late Morning Date on Aether: Thursday, September 8, 3907. Year on Earth: 1507 A.D. Phase of the Moon: Waxing Crescent Season: Late Summer Weather: Partly Cloudy Temperature: Warm *==========================================================================* The summer has come... and gone. And over the passing over the last several weeks, Kaiulani has continued to behave as best she can, going where she is permitted, being civil to her guardsmen, attempting to contribute to the overall welfare of the Pandion Decemvirate and its representatives in Haven. But she _is_ Pandion Kaiulani, her heart full of restlessness, and with the coming of her nineteenth birthday it seems to her that she simply Just. Cannot. Take. Any. More. There are things that she _must_ know, and she cannot learn them with Akane, Ronan, and Sangwyn shadowing her every move. And so, in the middle of the early autumn night, the maiden steals as quietly as she can out of the room she shares with her sister. Out of the Korallion, unseen -- or at least so she hopes. She cuts a pale graceful swath out into the dark ocean, setting herself a path that's emblazoned into her memory for all that she's followed it but a single time: the path to the cave where she heard _him_. Benja is an ever watchful, ever present guardian, and though he has not neglected the requirements of his day to day life, his liesure time, as always, has been spent in the recesses of shadow outside the Korallion. Finding himself a nice enough place to perch where he can keep an eye on the exits of the Korallion without worrying about detection, he commences with his work with the small bag of shells and jewels and sharks teeth. It is a benefit of having no telepathy that he can sit so close without anyone suspecting his presence. It is this that also allows him to spy his love as she escapes the Korallion without the benefit of her guards and that man that has been accompanying her everywhere. A grin curls Benja's lips as he sees her. That's his girl. Defying the rules and striking out on her own. As always. It was almost unnerving for him to watch her being so 'good', he was beginning to become worried. Pushing his things into their pouches quickly, he dashes off after her, swimming just far enough behind that she can't spy him, but keeping her always in view. She hasn't a moment to lose, she's certain. Every so often Kaiulani whips her head around in the water, pushing the white cloud of her hair out of her way so that she might shoot a glance behind her just to make certain that her guards are not yet following her... especially Sangwyn. She does not yet see the one who _does_ follow her, and distant enough from him is she that perhaps he might not yet see her expression of profound consternation. Soon enough the maiden surfaces, looking about to get her bearings and then striking out determinedly again for the dark maw of the cave into which she had ventured before. The waves grow shallower and shallower about her until at last she must stand to wade into the shadowed tunnel, her fine pale brow furrowed as she peers into the gloom. The cave! She went to the cave in which they last spoke! Coincidence? Benja follows behind and then watches as she brings herself into the cave. Swimming around to another entrace beneath the water that he knows of, he brings himself into the same cave, but down a different stretch from the one she entered. There is no light within these caves, especially when there is no light outside either, so there is little she will be able to do besides feel her way along, and even when she comes closer, she will not be able to see him. He is safe. Within the echoing walls of the cave begins a tune. The deep baritone voice humming in perfect pitch and sending its caressing tones throughout the caverns and toward the ears he knows are near. Swallowing hard, gills flexing and then settling down again, Kai treads cautiously into the murk. She cannot suppress a shiver of dread as she does indeed have to throw out a hand to try to feel her way... but then, when she is ten feet in, she begins to hear the voice arising out of the darkness to meet her. Her head shoots up, a little gasp bursting out of her, and then all at once the darkness seems utterly irrelevant. Kaiulani's thoughts roil up and out in a surge of giddy relief and delight -- she can't stop them. But she does swiftly recollect that she got much better results with another form of communication... and so her voice rises up as well, striking a third in pitch above the baritone and sending harmony echoing through the tunnel. Her note is soft, though. _Waters, blessed Waters, and Pasiphae if you care about such things please oh please do not let them hear me but let _him_ hear me..._ are the thoughts that crash through her, but really, they can be summarized much more succintly as _He is -here-!_ Yes, he is here, as if waiting for her all along to return. His rich, bass voice resounds through the hollow caverns, to mingle with her own, beckoning her onward, forward, guiding her with his song to the tunnel in which he waits. There is a trembling within his belly. He is rather shocked at his own boldness in this. He knows he is not worthy of the lady, and knows that the hopes that have risen in his mind for this encounter will only cause him more pain when she is wed to an acceptable man, but there is no knowing when that will be. He has no idea if her family will have her wed to some one else soon or not, and he will risk whatever has to be risked for time alone with her, no matter how brief. Memories of the feel of her hair within his fingers, and the touch of her lips upon his when he stole the kiss before calling the guards for her flit through his mind and cause a touch more emotion to be filtered through the music he hopes to enchant her with. The sound of that voice washing over her is enough to send shivers that have nothing to do with temperature shooting through Kaiulani's system -- and it prompts an enormous giddy grin to blossom like a burst of sunshine across her face in defiance of the darkness. Dark is irrelevant. So are the small rocks that stub her toes here and there upon the tunnel floor, felt as she hastens herself along in search of the source of that voice. *You're here...! * And her song falters a time or two, as her hands find turns in the walls. She stumbles along, growing a little confused by the way sound echoes through the air in this little underground maze and finally slipping once as her wet feet find a spot of too-slick stone upon the stone beneath them. *Where are you?! * The tunnels all echo the song, and so the sound comes from every direction and no direction at all. He is listening for her footsteps, monitoring her progress as he calls to her with his wordless voice. He cannot hear the thoughts she sends out, but he can determine her place within the maze of tunnels. And he no longer leaves the pursuit completely up to her. She has come far enough in now, turned enough corners to keep the guards searching for a while should they come looking for her, and he is still close enough to the other entrance to make a fast enough escape. As she stumbles, a strong hand reaches out in the darkness to grasp her elbow and steady her. The darkness is all encompassing. There is no light, not even the smallest amount, it is as if they are both blind. Sight denied them completely. "Pandion Kaiulani..." Comes the smooth, rich voice in a soft whisper ever so close to her. He stands just before her, and the unevenness of his breath can be heard as nervousness eminates from him combined with a subtle strength. Between the breath and the touch, Kaiulani's own breath stops completely in her throat and her gills must flare again to try to make up for it. So startled is she that for a fraction of an instant she freezes -- but she does not flinch or jerk away. Indeed, when the maiden remembers to react, it is to try to turn and try to reach for the arm that belongs to that hand that's caught her. Dainty finned fingers find a well-muscled forearm, and the sheer prosaic reality of its presence keeps her voice breathless as she squeaks, "You're here..." His swallow is echoed much as his song was, against the hollow walls. He does not move away from the touch upon his arm, though the muscle does flex beneath her fingers. He's a man, after all, and he wants her to know he is strong despite his handicap. Strong and dependable. He will catch her if she falls. Always. The stirring of air and the faint shifting of weight gives the impression of a small nod before his voice whispers again. "I am here. For you, Pandion Kaiulani." Firm. Straight forward. He is here in this place, only for her. The name rolls from his tongue as if it were the sweetest of berries, savored as it is spoken. Kai's heart is already racing, and now she struggles to speak clearly over what seems to her to be the thunderous beat of her own pulse. There is a bizarre kind of intimacy to whispering aloud, for one accustomed to baring her thoughts to others -- and so at least for the time being she does not question why the shadow before her in the darkness does not open _his_ thoughts to _her_. "I-I-I had to come find you," she blurts, her free hand questing a fraction of an inch at a time in search of further evidence that the guardian who has followed her out of her childhood is in fact real. "Had, I-I needed, I had to know you were still, you are still here..." Strange how her words become garbled, but they spill forth from her so quickly that the maiden can barely remember how to keep them in order. Benja's hand reaches out for her other hand as well, almost as if he sensed it was lifting for him. It does not come in contact right away, but eventually strong fingers grasp her own delicate ones lightly. There is a sense of his body leaning forward, his head bending down toward hers, his eyes are closed, though that can not be determined right now, and in his disbelief that he actually has her here, is able to touch her without her pulling away, he sighs tremblingly. His breath is warm as it brushes against her forehead, "I am here." He murmurs, but he pulls back quickly, not wishing to offend her, just in case this is not a dream as it always has turned out to be before. So... _close_! Kai's eyes go wide, straining to see in the unrelenting darkness that surrounds her and her shadow, to no avail. But there are two hands enfolding her own, and she can feel the size and strength of those hands and the fins between their fingers. She feels, too, the breath upon her brow. _Big,_ she realizes dizzily, _he's big..._ "Tell me your name," she begs then, tightening her grip upon the strong hands that have taken hers. "You know my name, but I-I-I don't know who you are, don't know your name or anything and I had to come look for you I don't have much time the guards'll come and I've been going mad trying to get a chance to come look for you please tell me--" Another frantic burst of words, these, the tiny voice in which they're delivered doing nothing to lessen either their speed or their emotion. Nor do the young woman's hands stay still for long. Though they still cling to the fingers they hold, her right one ventures forward again. She's found hands. Therefore there are arms, and there must be a body to which they are attached! Benja allows the fingers to travel up his arms and feel the taut muscles beneath his skin. The hands, though they are not exactly rough, are covered with minute scars, if she feels over them. Gentle, yet contradicted by the raised flesh that speaks of past battles. His head bends down again, as if he cannot help himself, cannot stop himself, his forehead connects with hers and then his cheek with her own. "I will not let them hurt you." He promises in a husky whisper, "... If you know ... name, they find me... I canna let them kee me fron keeing you safe..." He is normally a bit better with speech now, but in light of his currently heightened emotional state, he cannot concentrate on it. Her guardian's own awkward speech makes absolutely no impact upon Kaiulani -- if she is so agitated that she must struggle to remember how to put thoughts into words as the landers do, it makes perfect sense that _he_ is having the same problem. Furthermore, her heart pounds all the faster at the implication that he feels what she does. As his cheek finds her own in the darkness she succumbs to the impulse to throw her arms about the neck instinct tells her _must_ be there -- and so, she manages to embrace him, though she has to stand on her toes to pull it off. "But I have to know who you are, I must, need something to call you I can't stop thinking about you tell me please oh please--!" Benja loses his breath in the intensity of that moment, freezing only for the briefest of moments before he responds to the feeling of this impossibility come to life. His arms encircle her immediately after, pulling her tight against his taut, muscled chest. He must be wearing a cloak, for the fabric of it seems to engulf her sides as he hugs her. His lips brush warmly against those delicate gills and his breath betrays how rapidly his heart pounds within his chest. A low rumble of pleasure vibrates through his chest. "What call ... in... thinkings?" He whispers, almost challenging her for the truth of her statement, testing to see if she really does think of him when he is not there. How could he know if it is the truth? It seems so very hard to believe! He is safe now, since she cannot see him... And she hasn't pulled away, so she must not have sensed his crippleness yet... she will when she realizes it. He knows she will. And then she will have his name and all will be over. Up until this moment there had been a fractional amount of doubt lingering in Kaiulani -- a glimmer of disbelief that this is actually the one who has been watching over her for so long. But as soon as she finds the dampened warmth of his chest in the darkness, as soon as his arms come around her, that last wisp of doubt washes away entirely. Memory surges up, identifying these arms, proclaiming that she does indeed know them for they have held her before. Overcome, she buries her face against the broad chest. "Really here," she babbles in that high excited whisper, elated and nervous and shy and feeling safer than she has in months, and wanting to burst into tears in the midst of it all. "Really real, yes, won't you tell me your name? I-I-I think of you all the time, don't even know your name--!" Benja brushes his cheek against her face and neck, breathing in her scent, fresh as the sea, and breathing it out in a warm rush against her ear. "I am here." He whispers in agreement. "And you are here." He swallows and it can be heard. He can't believe she is actually here, with him, letting him hold her like this! A moment later, with his lips brushing against the gentle shell of her ear he murmur, "Call me... yours." He begins as if about to confess his name, but ends with a pleading dip of his voice, deeper, more sultry, an unintended answer that seems to have slipped out mid thought. Sweet Mother Waters, that _voice_. It hits her hearing and shoots right down to the soles of her feet, aided by the vibration of it she can feel in the sturdy form she's embracing. Oh yes indeed, she's here, and her thoughts churn wildly as she squeezes her eyes shut, shivering not only in reaction to the voice but also to the mouth producing it, making such delicate contact with her ear. She's here to look for _him_, to ask him the questions that have been unceasingly demanding an outlet -- but with the first question denied, her senses turned into a jumble, she has absolutely no control over the next question that pops out of her. "Did you really kiss me? I-I-I dream about it, I dream about you too--" Benja does not answer this question either, not with words, at least. Instead, he slips his cheek against hers once more as he pulls back just far enough to capture her lips with his own. He does not know if he will ever have this chance again, ever be able to feel her in his arms, clinging to him as he always wished she would. He does not know if she will suddenly try to reach his mind and pull away, or if those men will suddenly keep her from seeing him again, try to lock her up some where.. And so he allows his bold nature to surge forth and claim what it desires most. His lips are firm yet soft, and gentle despite their honest desire. He will not press her if she pulls away, but he has to try. Kaiulani, pull back from this? Her savior might as well expect the sun to rise in the west. Feeling herself moved, she has just enough time to issue a breathless gasp before her lips are claimed -- and then for a few long moments, breathing seems just as irrelevant as darkness. _Oh Waters--_ And then her thoughts do roll forth, a clarion burst of interwoven emotions that she can no more contain than she can keep herself from burying a hand in her protector's wet hair, or from melting against his chest in reply. She has never before been kissed -- but that doesn't stand in the way of her trying to figure out how to answer it. Holding her close, tightly wrapped within his arms, his lips tasting hers and for the first time able to feel them respond, Benja lets out a low rumbling breath from deep within his chest. His lips part, tongue entreating her lips to do the same with less hesitance than he ever expected to use with her. He cannot help his desire to be near her, to feel her like this forever, and he knows that it will be short lived, even now the guards are reaching the mouth of the cave, anticipating the direction their ornery charge disappeared in. He can hear them. Slowly, slowly he pulls back, loosening his grip about her. "Must go..." He murmurs reluctantly. Utterly, profoundly shaken, Kaiulani lets out a miniscule whimper. Go? Now? Protest surges up out of her thoughts, along with alarm -- both at the niggling reminder that she can't have too much more time and at the intensity of the newborn desire that's set itself off within her breast. _She_ squeezes Benja as tightly as she can, pleading, "Don't want to go I just found you I want you to, t-to -- do that again -- don't want to leave you!" Benja grins, though she cannot see it, too bad, it is certain that smile would live long within her dreams. Leaning in once more he gives her another full, lingering kiss, soft, yet insistant. Still, he pulls away after only a few moments, and lets his hands drift over her hips as he withdraws. "They come." The pattering of feet can be heard within the tunnels, it will take some time before they find which one, but if they do, they will always know where to find them. Grabbing her hand firmly within his own, he tugs her forward, toward the hole he used a few moments before. He will urge her downward with one more kiss, and then hide in the shadows as they search the caves. They'll find nothing and this place will be secure a while longer. "Come now." Even Kaiulani must needs hear those footsteps now, and she bites back a cry both vocal and mental as her head whips about in the darkness. Sangwyn? Abruptly determined that he must not under any circumstances find her here, she lets her protector pull her through the gloom -- but before she makes her escape into the water, she blurts, "I'm going to come again! And find you!" Benja catches her lips one last time before chuckling out his response, "I know." And then gently he eases her down into the water, the way is narrow, but if he can fit with his broad shoulders she will have no problem. Once she is safely away, he hides himself and remains quiet until the guards have exhausted their search. They have torches -- but _he_ has a way of blending with the shadows. [End log.]