Games in the wood

[Lovely]

December 14, 2009
3pm
The grounds of a Devhano Keep near the Onmadian border


Octavia had lived in this place for so long that she barely remembered the palace and the resons why she'd been sent here were forgotten by nearly everyone. It didn't matter, she was content to remain here for as long she had to, here she didn't have to be so proper - she could just be a girl. Now was one of the times she appreciated most, a pleasant afternoon frolic with the few ladies who attended her, playing a game of hiding and finding each other in the woods that bordered the lawn - a place where they thought it was safe. Octavia was always the more brave one and she wandered off farther from the others, going deeper into the shadows of the trees where she'd be harder to find. Her blonde hair was pulled away from her face in the front and left tumbling free and wild from the pins and ribbons which held it high. Her mossy green eyes sparkled with amusement and delight, her hands lifting the edges of her dress to keep from tripping as she hurried along. Octavia's petite form shone with an inner light and fire, the path in front of her was clear and she took the chance to glance over her shoulder to see if the other girls were in sight, they weren't.

She wasn't the only watching where she was going as she flitted between trees and left the safety of her lady friends. A shadow, much like those spoken of in old children's tales, followed her silently, stopping only as she turned away. When she turned back, she would find the shadow's solid form suddenly before her, smiling gently. It wasn't a lurid grin of someone wishing her harm, but of someone enjoying their game almost as much as she had been. His eyes shone a bright and playful green beneath the edge of a hood that revealed most of the kind and whisker-dappled face of a young man, enough to barely see a few whisps of his untamed, dark hair. His hand rose quickly not to strike, but to press a finger to his lips, begging her silence and a bit more fun to her game. A second later he was curling that finger for her to follow him, silently of course, if she would. He glanced toward the bevy of giggling girls flitting around and looking for their friend, though they were out of sight still, but heard nearby. He glanced back to her and took a step backward. Would she follow?

Octavia very nearly ran into the 'shadow' as he appeared so suddenly in front of her, she barely managed to avoid the collision. She was winded from running combined with the startle to keep her silent for a few moments. She didn't recognise the man beneath the hood though she found him to be handsome and wondered where he'd come from. He put his finger to his lips and then beckoned her to follow him as he moved away, the soft sound she made was somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh as her head shook 'no'. She was not foolish enough to follow a stranger deeper into the woods, no matter how pleasant he was to look upon. Her ladies were not close enough to be seen by or to see her, though thier voices could be heard in the distance. She had no idea that this stranger's senses were keen enough to see and hear beyond what she could. Her fingers curled a bit more tightly into the fabric of her dress as she slowly started to back in the opposite direction that the man started in.

Of course she wouldn't follow willingly and he'd expected as much. She began backing away and he skirted around her at first. He put his hand out, saying nothing still. It was clear that he could hear and was not ill or palsied in his movements, though he did not speak. His movements were fluid and strangely graceful as if he moved over water and nearly as silently despite the crisp ground beneath them. He only wished her to stop. Again he beckoned that she follow him with a little more emphasis and worry that she might call out to the others. He pointed toward the thicker woods where she could certainly hide with ease... perhaps hide too well. The direction was further from the Devhanan wall which might have made her hesitate. He took a step toward her and his eyes seemed more fiercely lit with boyish delight.

[Lovely]

She watched him warily, as he all but danced around her like he walked on the air and not the ground, this is what made her stop backing away though she did not follow him as he asked again. Her head tilted slightly to one side, she regarded him with a curious gaze. "Who are you?" She asked him, her voice low but clear, loud enough for him to hear but nowhere near a level to call out to her ladies. She was almost afraid to look away from him but chanced another glance back over her shoulder, the girls were still not close enough for her to see them as she'd come over a small hill to get where she was now and they might not have realized she went deeper into the woods.

In the blink of her looking away, she'd find him upon her, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath as he stood nearly toe to toe with her. "A friend," he whispered with the same smile as before, barely showing the hint of teeth in his smile, but enough to show he wasn't a borne member of the royal house. "Come quietly," he said, reaching his hand toward her mouth if she had any intention to scream. His other hand reached around her waist, checking for daggers first.

As her head snapped forward, he would see her eyes a had widened slightly in surprise to find him so close. "A friend of.." The words trailed off after barely being spoken when she felt his hand at her waist and heard his demand. "I will not! Unhand me or I will scream!" She threatened, her voice showing signs of a slight panic.

"No... you won't," he muttered, almost laughing. "Do you want to win your game or don't you?" His hand at her waist held gently, but not enough to let her slip away. He threatened again to clamp her mouth, but did not... yet.

The girl who was held gently but securely, did not fully believe his intention was to merely help her win the game she played with the other girls but that left her wondering what his intentions were. She tested his hold on her by pressing her weight back as if about to take a step away from him. If the girls were close enough for her to hear them, they would hear her if she screamed. Octavia licked at her lips, her eyes searching his face for clues as to what he wanted from her and what he might do to get it. "And.. why won't I scream?" She asked, perhaps his answer would reveal what his intent was.

"Because it hurts my ears," he frowned slightly. "They're coming closer. It's a perfect spot, just over there. Look, if I was going to do something to you... something like this..," he reasoned, pinching her teasingly, but gently. "I'd have already done it, hm? I've been behind you almost a half hour and you didn't even notice. That almost hurts my feelings, too."

"Ah!" It wasn't a scream but more of a startled sigh from the pinch, a moment later her nose crinkled and she reached to pinch his arm. "I suppose you think I care if it hurts your ears? Maybe I should scream.. " She threatened him with a flash of her green eyes, in the gaze that fixed on him now. "I demand you tell me who you are and why you are following me. You better do it quickly!" She took in a deep breath in preparation for the very loud scream she intended to let out.

"Taidgh," he said as if she'd insulted him by not knowing it from the start. "Quick enough for you, m'lady?" If that answer wasn't quick enough, he darted to take her breath away with a quick and gentle kiss to startle and confuse her. "Now then. No screaming, alright?"'

[Lovely]

She almost expected he wouldn't answer her at all and thus was surprised when he gave her his name, she let out the breath and poise of a scream only to be kissed! Surprised again, but secretly delighted as it was such a sweet gentle kiss, she stared at him silently for a moment. Was this why he'd been following her? His attire and manner said he wasn't of the royal house and there was a good chance he might not even know she was more than the ward of this family. She smiled faintly and slowly nodded her head, he was brave enough to steal a kiss but didn't handle her roughly, perhaps he meant no ill will at all.

"Better," he nodded with a relieved smile and a giddy totter before he was distracted again by the movement of her friends coming closer. His shoulders slumped a little and he seemed to apologize with the collapse before lunging forward to tip her over his shoulder, intent to carry her off. "Or will be shortly. Sorry... out of time! Don't scream or anyone who follows me is as good as dead, I promise you," he explained plainly, truthfully, moving with a strength and speed that she might feel could snap her like kindling.

Her first instinct was to scream as she was suddenly scoop and he started off with her, the sound never made it out as his words silenced it in a softly choked gasp, a tiny squeak that would only be heard by him was all that came of the mighty scream. Octavia could feel Taidgh's strength as he held and carried her, she believed he could easily break her or any of her ladies with little effort. Screaming would only put the other girls in danger and they were too far from the keep and the guards for any of them to come to the girls' aid in time. So she didn't scream, even though she wanted to and even clamped her hand over her mouth for a moment to make sure no such sound was going to errupt. Her other hand clawed into his cloak, holding tightly to try to make herself feel more steady, though he held her well and easily on his shoulder despite the speed he seemed to be moving with.

Taidgh was as fast on his feet as he was quiet, darting away into the thicker trees and further still from the other girls. He was relieved when she didn't scream though he could sense the tension and worry more than fear, a proud anger in her scent as he carried her. She was small and light, easy to carry in his haste and within a minute they were far enough from the others that he could no longer hear or smell them himself. She would see a road she might recognize as Onmadian, but he crossed over it back into the woods out of sight of it. Once at the clearing, the entrance of the cave was visible and here he stopped, setting her down so she could catch her breath. He was hardly winded at all and turned to steady her as he laughed. "See? You win."

He may have been quick enough to catch her wrist and prevent the stinging slap that was intended as her arm and hand struck out at his face in her outrage, fear, and a little panic too. She was fairly sure she recognised the road and the slight differences in the land as she'd lived so dangerously close to the border for so long. "How dare you pretend that this has anything to do with a girlish game! How dare you laugh! Have you any idea what you've done?" The panic a fear rose in her scent as she looked more in the direction of the road they had crossed, than at the cave or the clearing he'd brought her to.

He'd been expecting the slap and turned under it's force only a little. He turned back with the same smug grin as before, working his tongue under the painful mark. "How dare I? Easily, apparently. It has everything to do with it, you hiding and them seeking you out. You're just further hidden now and the game lasts a little longer is all. And you won't be bored now waiting for them to find you as you pull apples down from the branches, or whatever you might find sweet and entertaining. Always found that tree was a little sour, myself. So... What is it I've done, exactly, hm? Demanded anything more than your time, m'lady? Stole a kiss, is that it?"

The heat rose in her cheeks with the furious blush and her green eyes sparked with that anger as well, suddenly she was a flurry of swinging arms and kicking legs that launched at Taidgh. "You arrogant fool!" She spat the words as she lunged with the intent to knock him to the ground and pummel him for recklessly taking her and then acting as if it were all nothing and amusing. "You have crossed me into Onmadian territory!" She told him as if he wasn't well aware of that fact, though for all she knew he might not be.

[Lovely]

He backed away, letting her swing and connect the kicks and punches, one after another, tumbling back purposely and only then reaching out to catch her and help her as she stumbled with him. "Arrogant, yes, and foolish, perhaps, but not a fool. I know exactly where you are."

"If you know exactly where I am, then why would you purposely bring me here?" She demanded, pushing at him a bit though the flailing attack stopped, her voice lowered and become soft, showing how vunerable she was. "I have to get back before I am discovered.. please.. you must bring me back.." A thought halted her plea and her eyes searched his face. "Unless you've brought me here to be killed?"

"No," he defended, chuckling a little. "I'm not going to kill you. I will personally tear apart anyone who so much as pulls a hair on your head, though... unless it was me. Sorry. I hadn't meant to. Who do you think will discover you here? The king? Please, he no more sets foot outside his grand hall than out here at the edge of his domain. His sons? Not if you want me to laugh loud and long. No, not to be killed and not to be discovered."

"Just because one of them married my sisters doesn't mean that they wouldn't try to kill me or any of us." She somewhat folded her arms, huffing slightly and shaking her head. "Not that I'm supposed to know anything about that, being banished and all but now and then I do get news and letters from them." Octavia pouted a bit, she didn't like being punished or left to rot, forgotten by her family. She enjoyed the freedom the situation allowed her, to simply be a girl like the others but even that was somewhat limited, she had to remember her place and that she was still a daughter of Devhano. "Are you sure I won't be discovered?" Her voice was soft again, her expression more gentle and curious now.

He shook his head a little. "Not by anyone meaning you harm, no. See? You win. I told you," he teased, reaching up to move some of her hair from her face where it had pulled loose in her fight. "Not sure I want you to be discovered by anyone but me," he said in a pensive manner, sounding almost protective of her.

Her pout disappeared and was replaced by a shy, sweet smile as Taidgh brushed her hair from her face. "I'm going to be in alot of trouble when I get back." She sighed softly, watching his face and wondering more about him, like where he'd come from and why he'd followed her.. what would draw him to her so much that he'd snatch her away like this? He seemed ... well, protective and not at all angry with her for her outburst. She reached to push his hood away so she could get a better look at him as well as brush a light kiss to the cheek she'd slapped, that is if he let her. "I'm sorry I struck you."

"Why? You felt you needed to, so I let you. As long as you feel better now, then we can get on with the rest of my discovery," he suggested, his eyebrow flashing upward briefly as she pushed his hood back. His hair was very thick, but short, only slightly covering the tops of his ears and certainly not kept to the standards of the king's guard. He lay still, letting her observe what she was after. "Hopefully met with your approval.. m'lady," he said, nearly possessively if not entirely politely. He couldn't bow properly like this.

Octavia was only after a better look at him and she was pleased with what she found, she hadn't thought him to be of the king's guard but seeing how he kept his hair pushed that idea even further away. She reached to lightly catch a curl and wrap it around her fingers as she brought them down and traced gently over his cheek and jaw. He was quite handsome and she smiled softly, giving him her answer in the form of a tender kiss, it was a bit shy but quite sweet.

[Lovely]

"Very well met," he sighed, his eyes closed with the pleasure of the soft kiss lingering for a moment. Upon opening his eyes, there was a silvery shimmer that caught the light of the moons swimming within his gaze. The pale green shone still once the silvery whisper faded and he smiled gently. "Still want to fight me or can I take you inside, now?" He nodded a little toward the cave then winced at the tug where his hair was held in her fingers.

"I sort of like where we are right now." The smile was still and bit shy and definitely sweet but there was a playfulness to it and the sparkle in her eyes as she gazed into his. The silvery shimmer had not been missed and seemed to entrance her for a moment, of course staring into his eyes, she also couldn't miss the wince and let go of the lock of hair.

"Mind of its own," he sighed about the hairs that had stayed curled around her fingers. Her touch on his cheek had held him enthralled for the moment only to be distracted further by the hint of her challenging nature shining out through her own gaze. "Wh-... here? In the open? She who would hide from all her friends and fear the king's soldiers?" He grinned and almost laughed. He would gladly take the credit for distracting her from such worry if she was now suddenly brave, though he suspected the bravery was already there. He sighed a little. "Here is fine, but in there... it's a little softer."

Octavia laughed very softly and her fingers motioned between them in a gesture meant to indicate thier closeness. "I meant 'here'... not here." She then let her hand sweep wide to show the land and open that he'd mentioned, and yes - she had been quite distracted by him to forget all that for a moment. "We can go inside. I'll already be in plenty of trouble for.. being carried off by you. I might as well enjoy it awhile."

"I think you might," he suggested, trying to get up and help her up with him. "Enjoy, I mean... not the... well, trouble I suppose is a given if you're with me. Didn't think I needed to tell you that... you're a smart girl. I smell that about you."

She let him help rather than insisting she could get up and pushing him away - which is what she usually did with the guards and other men at home, but not him, he was different. Her hands stayed in his once she was standing and she smiled gently, one eyebrow arching up inquisitively. "You can smell that I'm smart?"

"Did I say smell? I meant.. you know... you seem smart. Getting away from those cackling hens... probably the smartest thing you could do, hm?" He hadn't meant to say that or tell her too much too soon. Once she was inside the cave with the others, though, how much could he then hide? He sighed and nodded toward the cave again. "Can't leave a lady of the court out here in the cold. Come on, then."

"Mmmhmmm.." She sighed softly under her breath at his quick change of wording, she didn't know what but suspected there was more to him and something he was hiding. The shimmer of his eyes, smelling her.. but her was so warm, he couldn't be blessed. "Banished from court.. I don't know if the same rules apply." She smiled again, not pressing the issue about what he didn't want to tell her.

"Banished? Well there is something I did not know," he said, truly surprised to hear such a thing and nearly laughing again. He seemed to find this news delightful. "You must have done something deliciously horrible to be banished from the peacemonger, hm?"

"He may want peace with Onmadia, but that does not mean he is a peaceful man." She sighed softly and looked saddly in the direction of the palace that had so long ago been her home. It was too far away to be seen with trees and mountains and many many miles between them, but still for a moment she gazed as if she could see it in it's glory. "There was a lord that my father did not like much and he plotted to do away with him, only he didn't realize I was under the table playing with my doll as he spoke to his co-conspirator. I was just a little girl.. and I turned what I heard into a little song.. and well, long story short father's plan was found out and it was all my fault.. so he sent me away after mother begged him not to kill me. I've never been allowed back."

[Lovely]

Taidgh listened not only to her words but the breath beneath them and how it carried her words nearly like a song to him now. "Gracious mother, foolish father. Never have liked the man. Can't say Alos is much better. Fools the both of them. You see those?" He looked up toward the moons overhead, leaning close as if telling her secrets he didn't want them to hear. "My kings... or queens... take your pick, they don't seem to mind either way. They're my sovereign, not them. Those moons have seen all the kings before them and all those to come. More powerful in my eyes than a sack of sagging bones barking orders from his velvet pillows."

Octavia was held for a moment by his expression, watching him as he looked up before her gaze slowly drew from his face and drifted up to the moons he spoke of. "They're beautiful." She whispered, drawn to stand closer to him as they looked up to his kings and queens, one of her hands gently reached to his waist and her head tipped to his shoulder. ".. but he is my father.. my flesh and blood.. as much as I pretend I don't care, it still hurts to be so alone and to be hated by him."

He turned suddenly, shocked she'd say either and shocked a bit by her rapid acceptance, staying cautious of blades and bites. "Alone? That's the very first I've heard that anyone in a castle so stuffed with arrogance and petulance could possibly find themselves a space to think and breathe clearly nevermind consider themselves apart from it enough to ever be 'alone'. I'd wish for it, myself in your position and consider the greatest gift given to you... more like freedom, not being alone, actually. I sincerely doubt that he hates you, either. A man who truly hates, a man like him, would not have found the mercy to spare you."

She pulled away from him with a huff and the flash of a glare as her head shook and her hands fanned out to the sides, she turned and fought the tears with everything she had. "You'd wish to be hated by your own father? I don't live in the palace or anywhere near it! I am not surrounded by people or anything but this. The trees don't talk back or comfort you when your scared or hurt. I've been sent to the farthest end of his kingdom so I can be forgotten. I live as a ward of the nobleman and his wife.. I am not even allowed to admit who I really am. My sisters and brothers are forbidden to speak of me.. to have contact with me. Now and then a letter is snuck by messenger to give me news.. I was not even allowed to attend my mother's funeral. It took weeks for them to even be able to get word to me that she'd died... and you say you would wish for this freedom? I have often wished that he'd killed me! I am not allowed to be courted.. I will never marry.. It was not mercy.. it was cruel. He decided not to kill me and it appeased my mother for a time but he did not show mercy. Death would have been swift.. he wanted me to suffer and hoped that being so close to the Onmadian border one of them might kill me for him.. save him the trouble. You don't him.. you weren't there.. so don't you make such an assumption about him. His heart is nearly as black as Alos, only he hides it better."

[Lovely]

He shook his head with the same quirked grin. "I know him better than you might care to think, though I won't say more just yet. That there is my home, or part of it, not some part of his palace, or Alos'. These trees, that cave, those moons... are the comfort I crave save for the one they can't offer as you've said just now," he said, reaching out to her, offering the comfort of his embrace if it would soothe her tears and fury. He sighed and his hand lowered, though he would curl around her if she wished for him to. "I did not know my own father. He was killed by skilled hunters who were challenged by the king to bring back his head as a trophy. They did when I was no more than a pup... small, you know," he said, holding his hand low to the ground.

She felt the warmth of his hand as he reached out, before he lowered it and she turned to try to catch it and pull herself to him again. It was not his fault that she was so angry and had been hurt by her father, she was trembling with both her fury and the effort to keep her tears from falling. "I'm sorry." She apologised for her outburst (again) and for the cruelty that had been inflicted upon his own family.

Beneath the grin there was a tremble of sadness of his own. His fingers slid around hers, noting that they were cooler as well as slender and graceful against his rough but warm touch. "You weren't there either, but thank you. I do know he has not always preached peace. I should offer you the apologies. Instead, we should speak of comforts. The moons pull on my soul and tell me to run, but I won't unless you want to run with me. We better get inside."

"Run.. why?" She asked him softly, a look of concern crossing her features as she watched Taidgh, his hand was warm as was the rest of him. It was a comforting warmth, sort of like sitting near a fire and it made her want to curl against him. If he wanted to go inside, she'd go with him.. a voice in the back of her mind told her that if he wanted to run, she'd follow.

"To hunt, though I'm not hungry... not for that," he shrugged a little. Noticing the flash of concern in her eyes, he tugged gently to pull her closer and console her. "No, not to run away... just to run and bask in their light. Freedom, remember?"

She knew that he didn't mean to upset her but the tears shimmered in her eyes as she nodded her head and she blinked, letting a few free to slip down her cheeks. "You make it so I don't want to go back." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper as she admitted to the longing he stirred within her, for freedom and to be with him.

"Well met indeed," he said again, the grin showing more of the soul within him he'd tried to hide. Something wild within him stirred quietly behind the gaze as he reached up to brush the tears away. "I would like it very much if you didn't go. You mention you can't be courted.. though I beg to differ, m'lady. By one of the king's court, no, but... by one who is not?"

The longing was clear in her eyes as he spoke of his desire for her not to go and tenderly brushed her tears away. "Not anyone.. according to my father's rule." She whispered in reply to his inquiry and then voiced her own. "What would would happen.. if I didn't go back? Where would I stay.. what would I do?" She licked at her lips, starting to alarm herself somewhat with even thinking of such things. "They'd search for me.."

[Lovely]

"I know of a place you could stay," he said, glancing to the cave. "If you didn't go back and they knew you to be alive, yes they would come to find you. What you would do? Pick apples if you wish, or run, or do anything you've ever been told you couldn't, or learn it if you hadn't before. According to your father's rule, you've been banished. Kick the old buzzard and his rules right in his velvet pillows and choose for yourself, Octavia. Stay where your heart tells you you should. It's really only that simple, but I'm a fool, remember?" He chuckled and glanced to the sky again, turning to listen to the sounds of the woods and the road they'd crossed. No one was coming yet, but it wasn't likely to be long.

Octavia did know enough of the running of the household she lived in and her father's instructions that they would look for her but she'd been taken across the lines of Devhano into Omadia and a search party would not follow unless there were a clear trail. There was no blood or torn garments, so she didn't believe those looking for her would come this far, not until their searches elsewhere turned up nothing. Her pout fixed on her face and she sighed, shaking her head slightly, he'd given her no answers and only suggested possibilities which she could not depend upon. She wasn't just a common girl taken to a flight of fancy, she was of royal blood, though banished and her father would want a body even if it was broken. "I know what I could do.. I've only day dreamed about what might and what could since being sent here. That is not the question.. the question is where would I go and what would I do? I'm a princess, there are very serious consequences for.. everything.. I can't simply stay without some sort of plan.. without knowing where I'll live.. without being prepared.. even if the others think I'm dead, my father will want some proof of it."

"Then we give him proof enough to believe it even if you're still alive, and the power to destroy any who challenge the evidence, your father included. Yeesss... I know, he's still your father, so I'll try not to let anything untoward happen to his royal velvetness. I think I need to show you something first before I can tell you the rest, though. Will you come in there with me and let me tell you a story?" He nodded toward the cave again and its welcoming glow.

Her lips pursed and then she puffed out a deliberate sigh which then melted her worried expression into a shy smile. She wasn't against discussing the idea or making a plan and if he'd rather do so in the cave as opposed to standing out here in the open, she could hardly object. "Alright.. but.. one more little kiss, first?" The pout now was half smile as she held her fingers up about an inch apart and rested her other hand against his arm.

"Only a little one? I think my feelings might be hurt again," he teased, allowing the kiss, but this time lingering a moment longer to reassure her while he basked in her scent and the sweetly dangerous flavor of her pout. "It's not a long story," he whispered as he pulled away to lead her inside. "Just a very detailed one. You'll see."

She took the kiss and her eyes lit with her delight, her scent laced with the awakening desire that stirred for him. "I only felt that I could ask for a little one.. it's not proper of me to ask for one at all, though I long for another each second our lips are apart." She confessed her far from proper feeling with only a light barely there blush and then turned to walk toward the cave with him, her head resting gently against his arm and her hand sliding down to clasp his.

The fire was low and Mitch dozed quietly, narrowly opening an eye as the two approached. There was little here to call a threat. He grinned a little and slipped back into his shallow nap. The two told him plenty in their scents to answer any questions he had.

Taidgh paused to look at the man who had nothing to say. He was amazed and thankful, shrugging off the concern and leading her in to sit on the other side of the fire. "See? Softer in here," he said, noting the bits of rabbit-fur that padded the mat he offered her a seat on beside him. "Take a look around, sit here, be warm and cozy."

It was far from the palace or even the noble home she resided in but there was something comforting about it, the same sort that she felt while close to Taidgh. Octavia smiled, her expression one of wonder and curiosity as she folded herself down gracefully to sit beside him, her gaze skittered around and to the man on the other side of the fire. She was too polite to ask about him and turned her attention to Taidgh again.