"How did you know him?"

 

"He was my first teacher... the very building blocks of my education. He spent more time with me than my own father had in years and I only knew him a single year." The smile on Sandre's face was one of pride though he still looked in the fire. Fond memories. He didnt have many of those. He did realize he had drawn her entire arm towards him. "He pinned corporal marks on me. Most importantly he taught me how to manage an army. I havent found a book yet that explains that in detail.... I have the marks still. They are yours if you want them."

 

He looked at Edana as though he were studying her. "He was a hard man but that made you try that much more to impress him. Reminds me of someone." He raised an eyebrow and looked her in the eyes. He was half aware of how close they were together but it felt... natural.

 

Once he did become aware of it he was wondering if his soap would bother her. It was pine based to kill infection. Useful on the yards. He also had an extensive kit for his mouth. Flouride powder, salt, soda, pine sap, and mint leaf extract for scent. She probably thought he had been rolling in the bushes around here. Her own scent was intoxicating though he did not let on to that. He just really couldnt stop looking into those deep pools that were her eyes. (It is good to be close to someone again)

Edana watched his face in profile while he spoke of her father. She saw the respect and was it fondness? Until he turned towards her, she hadn't realized he'd been drawing her closer. It was too late by then. The scent of pine tickled her nose and the faint hint of mint on his breath lingered in her thoughts.

 

"He was a hard man but that made you try that much more to impress him. Reminds me of someone." She nodded, feeling as if she were entranced by his eyes. They really were beautiful. Did his enemies get lost them this easily? How many deaths could be attributed to such a stunning set of eyes? She blinked, then, clearing her throat and pulling back a little. He still had her arm, so she couldn't get far. Not that she wanted to. Confusion wrinkled her brow as she turned her eyes back to the leaping flames and cleared her throat.

 

"The marks are yours, Sandre, you earned them. My father never gave anyone anything, so pinning them on you must've meant he was proud of your accomplishments." She smiled, fighting to lift this heavy weight that seemed to be settling on her thoughts. "My father didn't make the marks, after all. He made the soldiers wearing them. I've heard my brothers complaining about his determination over the years. If he was hard on you, he was harder on them. There wasn't a chore that needed doing that one of them wasn't involved in. To hear them tell it, he had it out for them."

Sandre nodded. "No nothing special. I wasnt really a corporal but I had learned all the duties of one and it is a Captain's job to be the one who pins the new ranks on a soldier"(Good or bad) She had tried to pull away so he reluctantly released her arm. "Im sorry... I didnt mean to make you uncomfortable. I wasnt even aware I was pulling you in so close... it felt natural, like I have been doing it for years." If saying that didnt make him blush then the fact that when he said the last part he had been staring at her lips surely did. To make matters worse he had been drawing in close to her. She would know he was about to kiss her, she wasnt a fool. Fear of rejection from someone he had just met made him turn back towards the fire. Maybe she would think the heat from it was the reason he was red... but he had his doubts.

 

"Sooo this pine wood burns pretty hot doesnt it? You can probably smell it everywhere."(Geez Sandre it doesnt take a genius to figure out what you were about to do! Your might have hurt her feelings for crying out loud!) "Again I am sorry. I told you I wouldnt try anything and I was barely able to stop from kissing you. So we should probably get you back to the yards because I still want to." There was a kind of grin on his face. It wasnt as though that feeling made him sad or upset or anything. Just that it was a rather funny situation. They had gone through the morning and nearly the afternoon here. He could get her back at dusk and grab his gear to come back and camp out a couple days. (Survival training. I wont take food so it could be considered survival training.)

 

 

With her arm suddenly free, she felt like she'd lost something. She stared at the fire, warring with her thoughts. His attention had been on her lips, even she couldn't miss that. Natural, he'd said. She could agree with that. It felt quite natural to be so close. She'd shirked everything today and hadn't thought of it one time until now. She watched the flames dance, turning only when he apologized again.

 

It was wrong, but the firelight dancing off his hair, his perfect smile lighting up his face again... and the apology rolling off his lips took the last of her resistance. "I'm uncomfortable because I just met you a few hours ago." She leaned closer, her eyes not leaving his. "I'm uncomfortable because your eyes do strange things to my willpower." She leaned a little closer. "And I'm uncomfortable because everything in my head is screaming that I shouldn't do this, but everything else in me is screaming that it wants nothing more." Their lips were close enough that they brushed as she finished that sentence. Her eyes dropped to them, then back up. "Please tell me you have more willpower than I seem to..."

 

~Edana, getting in lots of trouble

His answer was a simple "Nope." The time for words had passed. Nor was he sure how long that first kiss had lasted. Minutes? Seconds? He wasnt sure. It just wasnt long enough. He had not realized how small she was until his arms had her trapped. A voice in his head still tugged at him that he should have restraint, should wait on this. (How far will she let this go Sandre? How far will you?) He wasnt nervous any more though... (Until she says stop).

 

Regardless though. She was smiling.

 

He felt good. It was the only thought that managed to get into her head as he wrapped her up in his arms. She'd never let a man get this close, much less this overpowering, before. It felt good not to be the one in control, if only for a little while. When the kiss ended, she couldn't stop the silly smile from plastering across her face. "I know we have to be breaking some rule," she murmured, not wanting to step away. Sanity was starting to return, though, and disbelief at what she was doing was slowly leaking into her thoughts. She'd met this man a matter of hours ago and here she was, cuddled in his arms like long-lost lovers.

 

She traced his lips with her fingertip, trying to cling to the carefree flight of her senses. "I know so little about you. Why does it feel like I've known you forever?"

"The wheel weaves as it will... perhaps our threads have been intertwined before, or perhaps... it was just like a black smith's puzzle, the pieces fit together just right. Everything had to have been perfect today. Had anything been changed at all we would not be here."

 

She was warm... and soft, and it took effort to hide how crazy he was going. Against all logic this had happened. (How in this world did this woman lay siege to the walls you had up?)

 

"Do you like it here now?"

 

 

"Yes," Edana whispered, leaning close for another, much lighter, kiss. Reality wasn't letting her get away with it, though, and self-recriminating accusations accosted her thoughts. You're no better than your brothers said, she thought, closing her eyes tightly to ward it off. You've only known this man a few hours and you're already wishing you could...

 

She gasped and pulled away from the kiss, pulled away from him, and pulled away from her rampaging thoughts. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I can't do this. I can be many things, but right now, I can't be..." She shook, her hands shaking so violently that she clenched them and tucked them under her arms. "I would love nothing more than to stay and..." she looked away, seeing her sword laying by the fireplace. She snatched it off the ground, her mind immediately turning to curiosity about whether his hands had helped forge this blade. Had their threads been tied together, then?

 

She shuddered, sliding the blade into the scabbard at her hip. She looked up at him again and felt her heart leap in her chest. His smile was gone, now. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn't dare let them fall. "I would love nothing more than to stay and continue this path to it's end. I wasn't lying when I said I'd never betray you. I just need time. You understand, right? Tell me you understand..." Her eyes searched his face, scouring his expression for some hint of what he was thinking. Had she already done her worst here? Light, I pray not...

She had asked for time. Disbelief painted his face. Lightly and unknowingly his hand went to his heart. His hand balled a fist full of his shirt over it up. He never left eye contact. (Time? Time for what?)A part of himself came back for a moment and he realized her shifting her weight back and forth on her feet... she was ready to run he knew. (Was this her intention? That we be drawn in like this and she would flee? I had thought she was trying to kill me this morning... no, she wouldnt. Can I believe her that she wants this?)

 

His inexperience in this was weighing in on him.  "Time." All pain fades in time. "Yes of course."

 

(Never again Edana. I cant let you in again... Im sorry.)

 

He lowered his head without another word. He didnt see her go or hear her if she said anything further. Slumped against a portion of crumbled wall he felt very much like this house. He wasnt aware the fire had gone out or that night fall had come. The day had been cold indeed.

 

End for Sandre

 

 

Edana watched his body language, watched him slump and turn away. Her hand reached for him, but she knew it was too late. The tears slipped, unchecked, down her face, for she didn't bother to hide them. Perhaps the wheel's will was for her to be alone, for that's what she'd been since leaving Caemlyn. She turned and moved, her feet soundless on the soft ground as she made her way back towards the Tower.

 

He'd never understand why she couldn't do this. He'd never see why it hurt her more to walk away than it would have to stay in that warmth. She came to the edge of the bank where she'd come upon him this morning, had it really only been this morning? and paused. She pulled her knife free of her vambrace, remembering the irritation that had driven her from the Yards to begin with. It seemed paltry next to the frustration she'd just left, though. With tears streaking down her cheeks, she pushed all that raw emotion through her hands and buried the knife deep in the tree. When the blade stopped moving, she leaned on the tree and cried until she was exhausted.

 

Only then did she straighten, the chill night air finishing the chill that had seeped into her bones. Maybe luck would be on her side and she'd die of some strange disease from this chill. She sighed, using the night and her hair to cover the puffiness around her eyes. She hadn't cried this hard since her father had died. Not even her brother's betrayal had cut her this deeply. The oddity of that thought haunted her as she sank into her bunk in the barracks. If she still wasn't over her pain caused by her own brothers, how long would it take to get over the pain inflicted by a man she'd only just met?

 

~Edana,