Log Date:
	8/22/99

Log Cast:
	Tance, Kesya

Log Intro:
	At last, Tance and Kesya have been released from their long stays
in the Infirmary, now that Tance has recovered from his last serious injury
and Kesya has built up enough strength that the medics are willing to let
her out into the Ranges. Determined to take care of this new fragile version
of the woman he loves, Tance has been striving to keep his own admittedly
scattered memories in place... and has successfully flown himself and Kesya
out to a new claim in the Ranges. It's not black -- but it _is_ deep yellow,
and a more than respectable color for their first find on this, their first
trip back into the Ranges since Kesya's awakening. In his gladly self-assumed
role as Kesya's shepherd -- a somewhat ironic position, given that it was
her shepherding of _him_ that originally led to them falling in love -- Tance
has let her sleep on the vein site, holding her close to him all night long.
Soon enough, though, the morning comes...

----------
He's certainly slept in worse places -- though at the moment, as something 
  coaxes Tance up and out of slumber, he can't really be called upon to 
  remember one. His neck hurts and so does his back, turned stiff from the 
  position into which he'd set himself to sleep during the night... and his 
  shoulder is asleep under the frail form he still clasps to him. His first 
  thought is _Out here with Jade... remember, gotta teach her... out here with 
  Jade, gotta remember, gotta remember..._ "Jade," he rasps then, hoarsely. 
  His second thought is the improved light level down in this cave... though 
  that doesn't appear to be meaning much, not yet, save for a glimmer 
  somewhere out away from the rock at his back. What time is it?

The sleeping form lying against Tance doesn't stir, even when her nickname is 
  rasped in her ear. Her back is pressed against the crystal face, seeming to 
  meld with the crevices and crannies as though they were a part of herself. 
  It's done her some good... she hasn't slept this soundly since... well, 
  since Tance was reunited with her.

Okay, Vokrim. Reorient. You know where you are, right? You know what you're 
  doing? Drowsily, Tance squints out into the slightly lessened gloom, 
  striving to kick his reluctant short term memory into life. Took the 
  _Meguey_ into the Ranges. Got it. On a claim now, got it. Jade in his 
  arms... Jade. He can feel her against him, warm and small and resting 
  peacefully, and he can't help but cradle her closer, can't help but press a 
  kiss to her green-skinned brow. He remembers now, and a surge of relief and 
  a little bit of sheepish pride kindles in him that the memory comes through 
  clearly. But his gaze flickers around again, and it seems to him that the 
  cave in which he's nestled is growing ever so slightly lighter. Morning 
  coming? "Jade," he whispers huskily.

"Mmrrmmm...?" Kesya stirs slightly, pressing her face against Tance's chest... 
  a vain attempt to shield her eyes from the early morning light. "Tance," she 
  murmurs, the sound of her voice muffled and quiet. Her back is in a weird 
  position, and she vaguely registers that she's lying between Tance and 
  something rough, but beyond that she doesn't care. "Don't wanna get up." At 
  this time of the morning, it's the petulant child in her that answers.

That small motion against his chest is enough to tighten Tance's throat and 
  chest... and it occurs to him that if that dim light out there is going to 
  reach in here as far as the vein against which they now recline, other parts 
  of him are due to be responding any time now to the warm form in his arms. 
  "Y'okay, honey?" he whispers. "Gettin' lighter..."

The slight form in Tance's arms stirs further, nodding against his chest. "I'm 
  okay," she murmurs reassuringly. What was that he said about it getting 
  lighter? Of course it's getting lighter, she can feel the light pressing 
  against her eyelids. But the crystal feels oh, so good against her back, 
  even with all the crags in it. She's reluctant to move, but she does lift 
  her head, her cheek lined with sleep-marks from his shirt. "You okay?"

"Sure," Tance rumbles stoically. Stiff muscles are inconsequential. Lifting a 
  hand to smooth green hair back from blue eyes, he adds in hoarse tones, 
  "Mornin', honey... mornin's comin'..."

"Morning...?" Wasn't it night just... gods, it feels like only minutes ago. 
  "How long'd we sleep?" It's been four years since she's been in the ranges, 
  and it's all a little disorienting. What 'morning' means hasn't occurred to 
  her yet. Raising a hand to brush some hair behind an ear, she makes a good 
  attempt at sitting up. "Ouch. Stiff."

Tance encourages softly, "Take it easy, sweetheart... easy... there you go." 
  He helps his beloved to sit up a bit better, then pauses and murmurs, 
  "Honey, if we don't get back to the sled soon we're gonna be a bit more'n 
  stiff..."

Kesya casts Tance a wry grin, and struggles to her feet. Ooph, but she isn't 
  used to this anymore. "I remember, now." Well, she can't be too stiff if 
  she's willing to toss Tance a saucy wink. Apparently the crystal has done 
  much to rejuvinate her. "Shall we?"

Hauling himself up as well, supporting himself with one hand against the 
  crystal while using the other to help the younger Singer, Tance pauses. For 
  just a moment, he's uncertain, a reminder of the Tance Kesya once knew. "If 
  that means move, honey... 'sprobably best..."

Kesya accepts the help gladly, leaning against her beloved when the 
  opportunity comes. As Tance pauses, she gives him a mild, questioning look, 
  then nods as he speaks again. "Ready?" Taking his hand, she begins leading 
  them out of the vein.

[And soon, after the two Singers make their way out of the vein...]

Well, that answers that. Not sure whether he's relieved or disappointed to 
  have gotten out of the way of the vein, Tance has followed Kesya out... and 
  caught his breath as he's emerged into the growing sunshine. The resonance 
  in the air isn't exactly the stuff of which black crystal morning song is 
  made, but it is enough to percolate his blood, enough to bring a rush of 
  color to his cheeks and a glitter to his eyes that knocks significant years 
  off his age. In this, too, perhaps he is different. He certainly has more 
  than enough energy to keep up with his fiancee... who is now, too, his 
  self-chosen charge.

The fact that the couple hasn't had a chance to be truely alone together in 
  the months since Kesya's awakening does a lot to warm the blood, too. 
  Chances are, even if there were no crystal here they'd feel it anyway. Kesya 
  has to catch her breath as she climbs along the gully, more evidence that 
  she hasn't fully regained her strength... but it's coming, and she's here, 
  alive. And she keeps giving Tance a look that says she's more and more 
  surprised -- and pleased -- at this man she's getting to know all over again.

Kesya does not need to lead him long; soon enough, Tance is striding 
  confidently alongside her, taking the time to help her along the rocks when 
  need be. Every so often, though, a stray wisp of subliminal sound in the 
  air, palpable through his feet and beginning to rouse his symbiont even as 
  Scoria climbs higher into the skiy, makes him pause. And not long before the 
  two Singers reach the sled, Tance stops again, gazing skyward. "Sun's comin' 
  up," he whispers, the baritone coming out soft and clear and low.

Kesya is stopped by the tug on her hand, and that on her symbiont. "Sure 
  you're ready for it?" she teases. This isn't the same distracted woman he 
  flew here with the evening before.

In answer to _that_, Tance flashes the woman at his side a sudden heated look. 
  His brown eyes spark a little in the increasing light, and a smile tugs one 
  corner of his mouth upward. When, exactly, did Tance start smiling like 
  that? His voice drops even lower as he rumbles, "I been ready for this for 
  weeks." And slowly, steadily, he draws your hand towards his.

"Maybe this is why Quinn demanded I have my strength up before coming out 
  here," Kesya drawls out slowly, letting herself be pulled toward him. 
  "How're the beds in these new sleds, hmm?"

"I ain't tested 'em for _that_ yet," Tance murmurs. Once his fiancee is within 
  range he curls an arm around her, taking a moment to drink in the sight of 
  her features under the ever-increasing sunshine brightening the sky. Never 
  mind the desolate landscape; never mind, even, the hues of sunrise on the 
  horizon. All that is important to Tance is now here within his arms, and he 
  adds huskily, "But I'm game for tryin' 'em out," before he abruptly begins 
  kissing his beloved. This, too, is different than what memory might provide: 
  unhesitant, slow, tender, full of a tangle of emotions that amount to one 
  basic overall thing. The unexpected renewal of love.

"I'm glad to hear it!" Kesya says with a bubbling of laughter, her tiny white 
  teeth flashing as she smiles brightly. Whether that's to his first comment 
  or his last is lost in his kisses. It's dizzying, all these renewed 
  emotions, all these new experiences. It's like learning to live again. And 
  live she does, caught in his embrace, lost in the tenderness of his 
  attentions. After several minutes... hours -- it felt like it could be days 
  -- she pulls back enough to gaze at him, a slow smile on her lips. Her words 
  are breathless. "Where'd you learn -that-?"

That prompts another crooked little grin out of him. "What, kissing? Don't 
  tell me you forgot that!" Tance's eyes take on a shine, and it might 
  perchance again seem that he is younger somehow... or perhaps it's simply a 
  younger energy animating him, for all that he hasn't physically changed? 
  "I'll have to refresh your memory s'more..."

"Careful," Kesya murmurs, amusement filling her voice. "I'm still an invalid, 
  you know." What with the gauntness of her frame, it might be a convincing 
  argument... except that a moment later, she's kissing him as fervently as 
  her symbiont and three lost years are urging.

Around the two reunited lovers, the air grows steadily lighter. And although 
  the yellow they'd found deep in a cave is rather far underground, somewhere 
  nearby perhaps a spar of that vein made it up to the surface... for there's 
  a building and unmistakable energy to the air, a subliminal song on the 
  wind. When Tance comes up for breath again, he gazes heatedly over into 
  Kesya's eyes and murmurs, "You feel it?"

"Into my bones," Kesya breathes, clutching her hands to his shoulders. "I'd... 
  I'd almost forgotten."

"Crystal song.... tells us we're alive!" Tance, with this unfamiliar vigor 
  that's energized him, all at once stoops and sweeps an arm down to lift his
  love off her feet. That's an undeniable gleam of playfulness in his eyes -- 
  and something else, something warmer and deeper to go with it. "I think we 
  better go test one of those beds, sweetheart...!"

Kesya lets out a whoop of laughter as she's scooped off her feet, her arms 
  hugging Tance's shoulders. She's surprised by this youthful Tance, but she 
  loves the change the crystal has made in him... and she answers his words 
  with an equally youthful kiss, almost halting his progress to the sled. 
  "We'll have to test them well," she taunts him teasingly, trailing one 
  finger down the side of his face from temple to chin. With her doing it, 
  it's a very erotic gesture. "To be sure the bed is good enough, I mean. Work 
  it through it's paces."

That lopsided grin Tance appears to have acquired from... _somewhere_; someone 
  else's example? An old habit dredged up out of the back corners of his own 
  memory?... fires up across his face again. An ardent kiss is his first 
  answer to that arousing touch along his face... and his second, as he turns 
  to stride steadily for his sled, is to declare with feeling, "If it ain't, 
  I'm gonna hafta have a word with Supply...!"

[End log.]