A Reluctant Alliance

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She understands his words, but not why his touch is so gentle, why she leans into it. Its warm and something draws her to relax into the caresses he offers and when he speaks of the flames, her eyes leave his to look instead at his hand and arm, seeing the faint glow there, fire about to erupt, though it does, only providing the warmth she feels and the dragon inside her is slowly taking more interest, still distrusting and angry, but the man speaks about the flames never betraying her again and words finally bring some reaction.

Her eyes move back up to his amber, finding that he's moved and the barest hints of gold fleck in her hazel hues and her fingers move slowly along his arm, tracing the glow there. The creature inside her is slowly uncurling, almost grudgingly but it's starting to hear something familiar, an echo of a noise....a song that she can barely catch, but it's growing louder and more gold appearing in Ana's eyes as the first tendril of true flame wraps around her pointer finger and her body seems to absorb it, drawing it to itself. She watches it, feels the small flare of heat that seeps through her veins and the song spills over.

Hearing it makes her shiver, eyes closing and the Draykoni part of her finally relents and a faint, but building purring sound starts to fill the room as Ana feels herself released. She is no longer confined to the shadows, but she hesitates, unsure of her new-found and sudden freedom. When her eyes open, they are clear and their shade of gold-hazel. They are herself and she looks at Oran with something both shy and tentative, as if she is unsure she actually wants to come back fully, unsure what awaits her as memories, such horrible memories lurk beneath her eyes.

And it's not even the memory of his actions that make her unsure, but his words at the very beginning, the ones that made the Draykoni so enraged.

Her eyes search his and when she finally speaks, its only a whisper. "Hi, Oran."
 
"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're a waste of space. Come on, get up. Look at you! You're a pile of dirt, how could I love something like you? Huh? You and your stupid DRAGON! You can't do anything right, can you? Just changing into a dragon one moment and then things should just be all dandy? Do you really think I could ever accept you? And not to mention that damn tail of yours! How could I love something that has a tail?" - are the words that he had screamed at her, angry fists grabbing her and shaking her until the Draykoni inside couldn't take it any longer.

Yes. Oran remembers that part as if it were a freshly polished platter. The reflection of his memories causing him to relive every single moment he tries desperately to forget. He had been told as a child not to let people and their spiteful words get under his skin. But if he were in Ana's position, he too would have collapsed underneath the weight of his words. They were partly true and that is what gives it the genuine blow. Oran, despite accepting Ana into his life, doesn't understand her connection to the Draykoni. A dragon living within her - with a tail. There is the other part. Her tail bothers him, irritates him, angers him to no ends. Still, he forces himself to see past it.

"Ana, you marvelous woman you. Please, please, accept my apologies. I cannot even begin to make this right when it's this far down the drain. You're angry, unsure of why I did what I did. But just know that it wasn't me. I never want to hurt you. Remember? Even when Ceverno attacked you the first time and we weren't quite as close as we are now... I still hurried to find you and make sure you were alright. Please understand that anything I did, what I have done, I'm not proud of. It stabs me every single time I think of it, twisting the knife deep into my heart. But... Jamekon said it was the only way to save you. I needed you to change into your Draykoni. To save you. Understand?"

Feeling her reach out and stroke his arm, Oran twists on the bed so that he can safely lay down next to her. His eyes don't move from hers for there is a comfort there he is only beginning to understand. Perhaps even one day, he will hear the song Ana hears and in perfect silence, they can both be at peace with one another. A loving peace. But for now, Oran lets her stroke his arm, his face resting next to hers on the pillow.
 
His words come over her, some of them soothing and others snagging on the doubt and jaded parts of her mind. She watches him as he lays down beside her and she shifts her body just a little so she is facing him more fully and her fingers continue to trace his skin because it comforts her to do so and on some level, she wants him to understand that she will forgive him, it's just going to take some time....or perhaps some clearing up of the things that were said, done.

She knows she's not innocent. She wanted to kill him and part of her still wants to lash out at him because he hurt her. She looks down at her hands and claws slowly grow from her fingernails and she runs them delicately down Oran's arm, not enough to cut, but enough to sting before she retracts them again and shakes her head, looking back up at him, voice soft. "I understand and if my brother said it was necessary, then it was. I am equally as sorry for my desire to kill you, that I hurt you. It was not something the...intelligent part of me wanted. And I am not...angry about why you did it....or even what you said...except I know there was truth in it, Oran."

Ana's eyes search his and her own are both saddened and yet hold a touch of accusation. "Am I always to be someone you must tolerate? I am what I am, Oran. I can not change it. I accept everything about you, flaws, perfections, even the things I don't understand because they are YOU and I care for you. What harm or slight has my tail done you that you hate it so? Should I never transform again? Will that make you happy, help you forget what I am?"

She has released his arm now, drawing back away from him. She doesn't understand how his mind works. He seems to be so open one moment, so accepting and understanding and then he pulls crap like this and she just wants to shove him away and tell him to leave her alone, to stop messing with her head because she's screwed up enough as it is. And honestly, Ana is unsure if this reaction is just because she is in some kind of shock, because the dragon part of her is still upset or because she has genuine reason to be irritated with him.

She doesn't much care right now either as this talk has been a long time in coming.
 
"I don't remember what you have done to me," Oran whispers, "but I don't really want to know. The markings on my skin are enough and I'm sure you're riddled with scars of your own from me. We're both animals, Ana. Fight or flight. For when I came at you, you defended yourself I am sure of it. I would have done the same thing if they put the device on your back and had you running around after me in an incomplete rage." When she runs her claws over his arm, his entire body tenses, the markings from earlier shouting out in protect for even seeing the white lines she leaves across his skin.

Oran tries to look at her but doesn't find the strength to maintain their eye contact. He knows she is hurt by his, still, rejection of her tail. It's natural to her body but to him, it's strange. Discomforting to know that his own tailbone, a long, long time ago, had probably been a tail too. Shouldn't he be reveling in the thought that she is closer to his own kind than he originally thought? They've come so far but now she is slipping through his fingers. He really hurt her in a way he can never, never, take back. Their cuts will heal but the markings will stay for eternity.

"But you're not someone I just tolerate," she moves away from him and his arm immediately shoots out to grab her wrist but freezes, knowing his answers cannot and will not be solved by forcing his wife. Sitting back up on the bed once Ana recoils, Oran really considers getting off but when he looks down to the floor, he knows this is his only chance to talk to her. She is angry, yes, but she needs to know the truth. He is prepared for what may happen, her pushing him off the bed or shoving his chest away, causing him to flinch in pain from the wrappings there. So, he turns back to Ana, pressing his hand to her shoulder.

"Its hard for me to accept a tail but I respect it greatly. Seeing you lash it around as if it were your own sword is warming to my heart. I know that its a part of you and I should love it but we've barely been married for a year, Ana. These things take time. I am learning. Before I wanted to chop the whole damn thing off," he chuckles a bit at the memory, "But now I know that its as sensitive as any other part of your body and like my flames are an extension of me - your tail is a literal extension of you. Please, just give me time, Ana. I promise you I'm getting better. I'll learn to lov-- care for your tail as I care for you. Ana, please look at me."
 
His words are not really what she wants to hear, but if Ana is honest with herself, she would not have trusted him if he'd said that he was perfectly fine with everything about her, that he accepted everything without reservation. She knows that would have been a lie so if she is fair - and her base nature is - Ana knows that his answer is justified and that he is trying. She knows this even if she doesn't think it in such detail and the redhead finally sighs and she sits up slowly. Her body protests quietly to the movement, but it's not the first time she's sat up since being here and she manages.

Her gold-hazel eyes meet Oran's neutrally and she has to wonder why he has said the word 'love' so many times. Her heart wants to leap to hear it, but she restrains it. He's not hers, not in that sense and she must always remember that no matter how much she now knows she longs for it to be otherwise. Despite all his faults and his confusing ways, she wants to call Oran hers in every sense of the word, but fate is a cruel mistress and what she at first never wanted in the first place can now never be hers anyway.

Her hand reaches out and this time she palms his face. "I am looking at you." she says softly and then moves. Her arms come around his neck and she pulls herself to him gently. She doesn't wish to fight, doesn't know why she thought they had to. Her mind is still trying to cope with everything that has happened and her emotions have come full circle again it seems. Now she just wants to comfort him, to be comforted, to know that he is really here, whole, with her, alive.

"I know. I know you are trying. I am sorry. I don't.... I'm sorry. I am glad you here. So very glad, Oran. I never want to lose you."
 
When Ana wraps her arms around his neck, she will feel the lack of cold steel clamped onto his spine. When they fought, rolled on the ground and wanted to flesh out every piece of meat from one another, his spine had been a prominent reminder of why he was doing what he was doing. But Ana, no doubt at the time, thought he had gone mad, her Draykoni angry, very angry, that he betrayed her. It would be the first time Oran has ever raised his fist's to her and it will, undoubtedly, be the last if they both can have the control they had before. In the earlier months, Oran wanted to just turn around and choke her and she wanted the same but they both made it work for their families.

Now they're making it work so that they can have one another. Oran's arm wraps around her waist, the other diagonally sprawled across her bandages. He is thankful, so very thankful, that she is the one to hug him for the Kel'korian wouldn't leave until they've settled this matter. It's best to be truthful with Ana, he has learned long ago, for she can smell a lie as if it were rotting meat in a refrigerator. At least her eyes now, her entire being, understands his side of the story. He'll accept her for he loves her and love may take time on its bumpy road, but they'll get there soon enough.

"Ana..." Oran breathes, squeezing her ever so slightly so she knows he isn't hugging her out of pity. His arms want to be around her, the flames growing by the second, even going so far as to dance along the skin of her arms to her own chest. "I'll always be here for you," for he has revealed his feelings on accident when he screamed at her. How could I love someone who... oh yes, if she remembers correctly, he is simply going around the fact now, unsure of her feelings in return. "Because I... well I would be devastated if anything happened to you. I need you in my life for it would be a mess without you now that you've grown on me. A lot." he smiles, pulling back from her embrace enough so that he can smooth his fingers through her hair.
 
Ana relaxes into him, curling into his strong body and the warmth it provides and she silently has to marvel at how reassuring his arms feel when just months ago she would have recoiled at such a thing, had backed away from it. Now she wants nothing more than to just stay here and feel the fire that dances over her skin, her own body absorbing it happily, the flames and the heat soothing the Draykoni inside as the fire sings to her, makes its own amends.

She smiles at his words and sighs into his collarbone, inhaling his scent, not to test him but to merely breathe him in and the redhead shifted her body more to the side, almost sitting in his lap now as he threads his rough fingers against her scalp and the purr starts up in her throat again, a deep and constant sound now as she merely curls into him and lets the silence hand comfortably between them for a long few minutes.

After a time, though, Ana looks up at him and she smiles softly, fingers reaching up and brushing over his lips as he'd done to her, not even really thinking about it as she speaks, caught up in the moment. There is nothing here but them. No danger, no threat, no complications. It's their two beating hearts, just the relief that the other is alive and the peace that has settled over them. "Oran...I never expected that you would mean so much to me, that I would be so lost without you."

She catches his eyes and holds them and Ana feels a moment of fear. What she is going to say might change everything for the worse. It could ruin what they have - and what DO they have? - but she knows she can't stay silent much longer, not when it feels like they are tiptoeing around something neither of them will admit. Or maybe that is just her. Either way, she must find out, even knowing the risk.

"Oran, I didn't mean to, didn't try to, but I've fallen in love with you. And I know I will always love you, no matter if I can call you mine or not."
 
Her words make him smile until he feels the muscles of his face tighten up from the strain. Returning his mouth to a small smirk, giving her his full attention now that she is about to release the turmoil within her very soul. Love, being locked up for months on end, can take quite the toll on ones spirit. Oran finally is able to understand his wife a bit better - her meaning when she looks away and also looks at him. The pieces click together all at once and he releases a loud chuckle. It seems the sickness that has plagued each other's hearts have now become a cure to their depressed hearts. All they need is one another and they'll heal up right away.

"You what, Anahsi?" Oran adds sarcastically, his temperament calm and his eyes thankful that she has uttered such lifting words. Thinking back to the ship, he remembers staying up for most of the night and rummaging through his own feelings. It had been before that moment, he realized he loved her back, tripped over his own two feet and fell right into a grace he never wants to leave. "Are you saying that you have fallen in love with the Kel'korian? Well, I'll be dammed." his fingers are still moving through her hair, letting her words really rock him to the ground before he can collectively respond to all his buzzing thoughts.

But before Ana can respond, Oran leans his head forward until his forehead touches hers. Staying there for a moment, his hand sliding down to her collarbone, he runs his thumb over her strong bone before thinking. Now is not the time for his rationalness. She has told him her feelings so he ought to share his. No matter what, he won't bring up her tail anymore. It would completely bombshell their whole moment and Oran doesn't want to risk it. He knows she understands now. With time comes acceptance.

"I think I have known for a while, Ana," he strokes her chin, his palm pressing beneath her ear so that he may still feel her hair but more importantly, pull her face closer to his. "I just didn't want to listen to any of it. Every time I called us friends, colleagues who happen to be married, I was cheating myself. My own beating heart. The very thing inside my chest that wishes to be closer to you every moment of every day," sucking in a deep breath, Oran whispers his last words across her lips before bringing them against his, "Because I return your love. All your love."
 
He's smiling at her. Grinning, smirking....and now he's being a brat, teasing and all she can do is grin back, smacking him lightly even as his forehead touches her own. She stills then, her heart beating wildly within her chest because although he's not pushed her away or rejected her, he also hasn't confirmed anything. She shivers lightly at his touch, sparks igniting where his fingers brush and Ana forces herself to breathe because she feels like she could forget to. The silence is not uncomfortable, but she is glad when it is over, when he starts to speak his own heart, trusting her with it.

His hand is warmth and comfort and safety on her cheek and she leans into him, letting him draw her closer without any protest whatsoever. For once, she doesn't mind being manhandled because he is completely sweet and gentle about it and his words fill her ears like a melodious buzz. He feels the same way she does and her heart wants to soar like the dragon she is, her body caught on fire as his lips brush her own and his words cement into her heart, never to be wrenched away.

Ana smiles against his mouth. "Good." It's all she whispers back before her arm comes around his neck and her fingers delve into his hair at the nape of his neck. Her lips caress his with both love and longing and Ana feels like she's come home.
 
Oran thinks about all the snarky comments he could say to her through the time their lips part and collide. Yet, he doesn't wish to ruin the moment, his mind only wanting to engrave her taste, her lip shape, to his own. She is going to be his, a true wife from now on so he better get used to kissing her. Despite the pain in his chest, his fire soon numbs every bit of his body - and no doubt soothes Ana's pain. His flames still belong to him, yes, but now they have another who they might listen to in time. Ana has her dragon breath, large sprays of fire that, Oran is sure, will now be able to assist him more than he ever thought possible.

Pulling away from her lips, his heartbeat banging against the drums of his ears, Oran keeps his eyes closed. For this moment, and many more afterwards, the man just wishes to let the feeling of her lips fade from his own. The goofy smile sprays across his lips, shaking at the tickle she gives the nape of his neck. "You're so good to me," he whispers once more, feeling as though his own voice's volume will ruin such a moment as this. "And I promise you that for as long as I shall live, I'll be yours. All of me. Flames and flaws. As you will be mine. Dragon and tail alike." Opening the amber hues, he looks right to her, flames dancing as high as ever beneath his eyelids.

"I'm just a bit slow, what can I say?" Oran laughs, his lips craving hers once more. Now that he can, he leans in, kissing Ana again and again until she pushes the eager man away. He is a good sport about it, knowing its perhaps too much right now. Still, he isn't apologetic for what he has done. Her taste will last with him for what feels like eons, his hands wrapping around her back to pull her close. Pressing his cheek against hers, he just waits patiently until she speaks or acts. "It feels so electric... finally saying it. I love you Ana. I love you. Your smell, taste, knowledge, intelligence... just everything. Our parents really made a good match."
 
His words send a flood of joy and warmth rushing through her and Ana knows that this is what love should feel like. This if what she should have felt on her wedding day, seeing her groom standing at the end of that long room. It is late, very late into the game for her heart to finally find its resting place, but Ana would rather it be later than never and chuckles, giving him a teasing smirk. "Just a bit, yes. But you're my slow." she whispers back before he's kissing her again, making her dizzy with the simple pleasure it brings to finally have his lips on her own and when she pushes him away, it's only because she needs to catch her breath, lightheaded, but not upset in the least.

Ana comes closer to him still when he urges it and she is careful of his injuries, her fingers wanting to dance across his skin and simply take the pain away, to sooth every hurt inflicted by both enemies and herself. And it is the latter that pains her the more.

Still, he is here in her arms and she in his, they are both alive and well, and that should be all that matters. That's all Ana lets matter to her as she breathes him in and smiles, pulling back just a little so she can see his eyes again because there is nothing she loves more than seeing the fire in his gaze, seeing the storm lurking in those amber hues, a window to the soul that lies beneath. It has always drawn her, even when she did not know why and such a thing still mesmerizes Ana, makes her feel safe and alive all at once.

Her fingers brush his face, trailing down the rocky terrain that is his scarring and she speaks softly. "And I will love you. Every flaw." She places a kiss to his good cheek. "Every perfection." Her lips gently caress the scars, lingering there before she pulls back, gold-hazel eyes connecting with his amber once more, dancing with love and fire all their own. They have said words such as this before, at their own wedding, but somehow it feels more binding now. "All of you until the day I die." She grazes his lips, no more than a teasing touch before pulling back with a grin of mischief.

"Our parents had very little to do with it unless it be in the technical and legal sense and you know it."
 
"They did enough, putting us together for long periods of time. If we hadn't gotten along, I seriously doubt that this treaty of ours would have lasted until this point. One of us," Oran points at himself, "would be dead because he, and I'm not naming names here, was a complete and utter a** from the moment I," Oran immediately corrects himself, "ackem, I mean, he pulled you unwillingly by the waist into a kiss all but passionate. I remember considering an alternative which would have been a kiss on the cheek." wiggling his brows, Oran continues, "But! That wouldn't have been fun." Opening his mouth to comment about their wedding night, Oran tries to pull it off as an intake of air and nothing more.

Fire now jumps from his fingers as he encircles her back gingerly, not wanting to disturb the battlefield that lies there. "My dear, I'm sure you ought to know that the wall separating our rooms, well, naturally, I think we should take that down, don't you? Perhaps get rid of a bed while we're at it so that we may sleep peacefully with one another? Waking up, together, for the sunrise." Oran beams, unable to stop talking, "And, we'll have to, maybe, if you want, get a bigger bed. Unless you think we can both fit comfortably on either yours or mine? I just, now that we know of this big step. Maybe it's too soon and I understand if it is, but I just know what I want. Remember our time on Telliari? We had to share that bed?" His words trail off, a small and subtle groan escaping his throat before he is acting again.

Flame leans in and kisses her neck, sucking gently until he leaves a token of love red on her skin. "What was I saying?" He asks next, blinking and chewing gently on his lip until he remembers. With a gentle snap of his fingers he signals he remembers, "Oh, oh, yes! I got it!" the man happily chirps. "Remember that time on Telliari? We had to share that bed and every single night for the whole night, I had to literally stop myself from reaching out towards you. Being so close and not knowing what you feel like in my arms... Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?"
 
Ana has to laugh at his rendition of their first few days - weeks - together and she merely watches him, a brow arched, nodding in agreement to what he says as her fingers trace random patterns at the back of his neck, twirling small, dark strands around her fingertips while her other hand rests on his chest, feeling the beat of his strong heart there. She tugs his hair lightly about his comment of fun, giving him a mock-fierce look. "I was about ready to run you through, alliance or no, for that." she remarks with a chuckle because it is long in the past and they have come so far since then.

Now it will simply be an entertaining story to tell their children.

The thought makes her still, her mind finally allowed to wander down that road and it would seen Oran's thoughts are in the same place....in a way. He's more focused on the present, but Ana doesn't mind because it will take the present to create a future and it's a very nice future, one she'd given up dreaming of having. She listens to his words now, gold eyes meeting his amber, with both a smile twitching at her lips and warmth curling through her body. It spikes into heat that shoots down to her lower stomach at the sound that leaves his throat and Ana can't help but gasp as his lips latch on sensitive skin and tingles erupt and spread from where he sucks, fire that sings a happy song in her blood. Her fingers curl in his hair and she tilts her head instinctively to give him an easier time.

Ana feels a purr spring to her throat and she blinks open her eyes to a half-lidded state as he pulls back. Somehow, she manages to understand his words despite the lovely fog in her mind. She's not innocent, knows very well what goes on in the marriage bed, knows things to expect, there are even things she is eager to try, having heard stories whispered to her from friends, but Ana IS a virgin and these sensations are new...and she quite likes them already.

She smiles and there is a clear seductive edge to it, to her voice as she looks at her husband. "Oh, yes, that will have to change and I think the sooner the better." She kisses him then, and this time her tongue dances with his in a passionate tango that leaves her nearly breathless and her tail curling near her as pleasure ripples in gentle waves through her body before she pulls back perhaps just as fast as he did to her. She gives him a another raised brow, placing a finger on his lips to still any advances or speech.

"However, I do want a bigger bed...even if I'm not going to be far from you the entire time we're in it."

She grins again and moves to kiss him, but a clearing of a throat stops Ana and she blushes just a little as she turns her head to see who it is. Finding Jamekon's face grinning back at her, his expression as cheeky as can be, she groaned and rested her forehead on Oran's shoulder.

"Go away." It's nearly a whine and her brother laughs as he walks in, tail swinging. "If you two are done making out, there's something I need to tell you."
 
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After their final lengthy embrace, both his and Ana's lips sore and tingling, Oran hears a very soft sound buzzing in his ears. It feels as if he has just sat down from running to the moon and back. A light hum that he just figures is a loose light fixture above the newly found lovers. it simply fades into the background like music during dialogue in a film. Every muscle of his is tight and needy for more of Ana's smoky breath, the Draykoni inside not letting Oran forget about her contributions as well. His flames jump in gratitude, his gaze locked with Ana's.

Digging himself into her golden pools, Oran's body hardly pays attention to the new presence in the room of Jame. When Ana leans in for another kiss, Oran leans in, not wanting to let Ana be until both their lips are swollen and chapped. Such thoughts that once were chained down deep beneath his subconscious now overwhelming his body. In an odd sort of way, Oran quickly doubts their ability to be drawn so close together in both proximity and thought if they never fought. Frowning, Oran soon pushes such thoughts away as quickly as he can. This Kel'korian knows that he will never lay an ill finger on Ana ever again. Mind control permitting, of course.

"What do you want, Jamekon? I thought I asked for some peace and quiet. You know very well what's going on here, Seer knowledge or not," heaving in a great sigh, Oran's gaze signals to Ana that what's beginning here has yet to start, "what is this news?"
 
Ana feels a thrill run through her at that gaze and she finds color comes to her cheeks once more, but she's not shy and thought she shifts in Oran's hold, she doesn't leave it, her back now back against his chest, both of them still moving and putting pressure gingerly on their newly healed injuries. She doesn't wanted to be parted from him, liking very much this new-found closeness. She's grown used to his touch, to hugs and hand on her shoulder, fingers brushing over her face, a kiss to knuckles and to the temple, but this...this is so much more and she's not willing to give it up. And what Ana wants, she usually gets even if if she has to fight tooth and claw for it.

She links her hand with one of Oran's and settles it on her stomach as her other palm covers both and she raises a brow at her brother, slightly impatient, but long-suffering to his ways. And grateful he's here because she's missed him greatly, worried for him constantly.

Jamekon chuckles as he comes to the end of the bed and sits there. He bounces once before stilling and it's like a switch has instantly flipped as his face sobers. Ana tenses, understanding why he looks that way, why his gold eyes are slightly cloudy and her red tail moves to link, to twirl around his orange in a gesture of comfort that makes the young boy smile a little. He sighs then and speaks, looking from Oran to Ana. "It's about Ceverno."

If anything, Ana stiffens even further and her hand tightens on Oran's, but she forces herself to breathe and remember that her husband has beat the evil snake back once and he can do it again. Jamekon nods as if he's heard that. "He has a plan to kill you, Ana, so he can take your life-force, but if everything goes right, he won't succeed and Oran will kill him." He doesn't elaborate on the future and Ana doesn't ask because she knows better.

She is puzzled, however. "It is good to know this, Jame, but what's the point?"

"Well..." The Seer hesitates and looks to Oran. "The problem is that he's gotten Divi on his side. She thinks Ana has an enchantment over you Oran and she wants Ana dead as well. She's already laid plan for it with Ceverno's guidance." There. It's out there and blunt and Jamekon prepares himself for either one of two futures; anger and acceptance or anger and denial. Either way, he's pretty sure he might get yelled at.
 
Oran doesn't want to hear those words coming from the young Seer's mouth. His gaze turns away, the temperature rising in his body just by the name of their rival. Ceverno. The man who will make his own fatal mistake the next time he dares show his face in front of Ana. He'll try to be sneaky but no matter what tricks he has up his sleeves, Oran is confident that he will have the help of his flames and Jamekon's young voice rattling around in his skull. That manipulative man will not last a minute. Oran's flames have crippled him once and he will gladly do it again. It's his calling, his mission, his purpose. The man even smiles until her name is mentioned.

His heart drops into his stomach, the acid eating away at his smiling pride. She too has been corrupted by that monster. Oran's head shakes from left to right, unbelieving for the first few moments that Divi has the strength to turn on him in such a way. Yet, Ceverno is a very tricky card. He knows how to play on one's emotions. Time and time again, he has tried to coax Ana or Oran down into the deep holes of his bidding. They have the flames though and thus will not be swallowed by absolute darkness. Divi, poor Divi, does not have that luxury. She is stuck on the hope, the fragmental notion, that Oran still loves her. He still does, in his way, but in his arms is the woman he is happily bound to. The Prince won't give Ana up so easily.

"I see," Oran breathes, the fire around him alive and active at one moment and somber in a blink of an eye. He should have seen this coming. All the times that the two have talked over Com or Holo, he should have noticed her defense of what they had, what they can still have. Perhaps he could have seen this coming and could have stopped her from sinking into the sand. She believes that Oran will come for her, he will open his eyes and realize that Ana is really tricking him. But when he looks to her fiery red hair, he seriously doubts it all. The Draykoni wouldn't lie. It's told her the truth from the beginning.

"I can't kill Divi but I will kill Ceverno. I'm the only one who can. My flames will protect me from him, I know they will. Divi doesn't have to die, Jamekon. She just has to be separated from the filthy thoughts tainted with Ceverno's tongue. She won't ... she can't..." he sighs, not knowing what in the world he can say. Divi and him loved one another but she had always been accepting of his fruitful glances elsewhere, even joking about them with him from time to time. As long as he didn't act on them - she was satisfied. "She won't be killed. Her mind is not one to waste. She is an extraordinary woman, a Kel'korian just like me and I won't turn on her. We can help her see all that she once was. I know we can."
 
Ana doesn't know how long she's held her breath in the silence that came from Jamekon's words. All she knows is that her heart beats like a galloping horse and she doesn't dare move, scared that the man behind her will come to his senses and shove her away. He was Divi's first. They all know that and while Ana has learned that love can change and shift and find new resting ground and new life, she is not sure how Oran now feels about Divi and therefore she feels those cold fingers of dread creep over her while the silence lasts.

They abate slightly when Oran keeps his hold on her while mentioning Divi in the same breath and she breathes out slowly, trying not to shake and give indication of the thoughts that have gone through her head. She looks down at her fingers and his, entwined together and prays with everything in her that they might remain that way for a very long time yet. One in will, one in mind, one in heart, one in spirit, one in love.

For Oran's sake, Ana looks up at her brother and she requests something of him she doesn't often do. "Jame, what do you see for Divi's futures?"

Her brother gives her a look, a deciphering, calculating one far beyond his age and finally he frowns and rubs his face before giving a sigh. "I see three distinct futures for Divi. One is death. One is great corruption and then your death, Ana, and the other is life, full and happy if a bit nostalgic." He lifts his hands a bit helplessly. "Unfortunately there are a lot of branching future that lead to each of these ones. You have to choose which limb on the tree you go out on before you can start choosing the smaller branches. Not all roads lead the same way and not all decisions result in the same future."

"But there IS hope for Divi?"

The young Seer smiles a bit and looks at Oran. "Yeah. And a husband and children, grandchildren, a good career, a full life until she dies, happy in her bed with her family around her. It's a possible future, but it's going to have to be fought for and it starts with Ceverno's death."
 
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((Might be short - on my phone - be home soon))

"If I can defend Ana from Ceverno, I think I can handle my ex. As I stated before, I won't kill Divi. I can't," Oran admits, perhaps being one of the hardest decisions to phase him yet but to lie to then would be foolish. His heart won't allow him to pull the trigger, something he shouldn't have a problem with but the thought of killing her disturbs the man greatly. His flames have bonded with Divi and they tell him that she can and will recover. As Jamekon said, she can find a husband who loves her with all his heart. That's all Oran could ever want.

But then he realizes the price of his words. It could cost Ana her life, the thought causing him to rest his chin against her shoulder, eyes closing so that he may concentrate. "I know it's risky but let's just worry about Ceverno first, alright?" Oran's voice rises, not wanting to be asked such wrenching questions on his heart. "I love you Ana but everyone should have the chance to be redeemed. Understand? Divi should have that chance just as I have. You could have easily killed me with that device stuck in my spine, leaving me behind to be the Hive's servant but you took the risk of having me on board and flown to safety. Please tell me you two understand..." Oran swallows, feeling his voice crack, a headache plaguing his mind.
 
Jamekon doesn't answer. He leaves that up to Ana, but she can see in his face the expression of 'duh' there and it makes her smile slightly before she turns her head just a little and brings her hand up to her shoulder, touch his face with gentle fingers. "Of course we understand. Oran, I do not, nor have I ever hated Divi or wished her death. Harm perhaps, in my weaker and angry moments, but I have wished the same on your in such a state as well." She smiles, clearly teasing at that point and Ana leans just a bit so that she can turn her head and meet his conflicted amber eyes with her own steady gold-hazel.

"I believe Divi deserves a chance. The chance I gave you and the same chance you have given me. Ceverno corrupts and if we can free Divi from his web, then I will help you in whatever way you deem necessary, my husband. Just as you helped me get my brother back, I will help you get your friend back. I promise."

Jamekon grins, bouncing just slightly as he moves from the bed. "See? Everyone's in agreement. Now, you two go back to...well, I'm not gonna think about that,"

"Jamekon!" Ana's protest and blush falls on deaf ears as the younger Saliphian laughs and darts out of the room, finishing his sentence as he goes. "and I'll be with Rakio if you need me! Though, I don't suspect you will!"

The Princess looks after her brother with a combination of the urge to chase him down and strangle him...and to laugh at his ability to be completely annoying despite the burden on his shoulders. In the end she simply shakes her head with a smile and looks back at Oran, expression soft and her fingers brush against his cheek again. "You all right?"
 
Oran's tight shoulders relax for they're not keen to kill Divi. They're taking it all quite well, the thoughts causing Oran to smile. "She has a strong heartbeat and although Ceverno will try and seduce her with this thought and that, I know that she will be brought back. I can feel it. Thank you, the both of you for being so understanding. Especially you, Ana," Oran's gaze easily finding hers, "because you and your Draykoni must have wanted to rip me away from her." The man is confident that all will be well. Divi must become a wife to that man who loves her, that future being a bright and endearing one. Oran will make sure that she is happy if she cannot have him.

It will be hard at first, having to express his feelings for Ana, and watch as the world crumbles around her. But they were friends before they were lovers. A road, many say, cannot be taken back once certain ties have been made. But his flames, inside Divi, will understand and be there to warm her when she feels the chill of his abandonment. He gave his flame willingly, the scar riddling the right side of his face. It was the only way she could have stayed alive and there isn't a moment in Oran's mind when he will take his decision back.

"I'm just thinking..." his breath comes out quick, much like a bull does before charging, "of..." his fingers move to his scars, touching them as if they were a fragile porcelain. "my past. My decisions." Oran knows that he cannot lie to Ana, she will smell it on him. So the truth is revealed. "I gave Divi my flame - a connection between us formed like rocks in molten lava. When I say I can't kill Divi, I truly mean it. A part of me, a hindrance in my flame, will occur. For however long, I'm not sure."

Taking Ana's hands in his, he flattens her palms against his cheeks, closing his eyes. "It's not the end of the world. Not at all. But it will be discomforting," smiling, another weight cut from his shoulders, "But all I want is for us to be free of Ceverno. If we take out him, we can deal with Divi when that time comes. Now, let's plan and strategize for that snake's downfall. Perhaps cut off his head but we still have to be weary of the venom that lies there. Who knows," he jokes, "his ghost may come back to haunt us."

Leaning up to kiss her, Oran smiles quite superbly, his happiness for their newfound love burning deep within his eyes, "But there is nothing we can't handle, hm?" he breathes, settling his lips upon hers for a long while. "Now I feel we're truly married - the way love should be felt between a husband and a wife. I'd never take a moment back. It's only bright skies from here, my dear for I promise you I'll push the rainclouds away."
 
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