Falls

Now it was his turn for silence. As one whispered sweet nothings to him the other watched from the shore, and admittedly, something inside the man stirred. For one who had been so devoid of intense feelings for so long, a man who kept his distance from anything too moving and kept physicality at an arm's length in order to protect his fragile heart from having too much to deal with. He'd been a creature of habit, dealing only with others with tolerable, formal politeness. This moment of closeness with someone he had only just met had every nerve in his body screaming, and the feeling was some sort of uncontrollable high.

Asche had been alone for so long - an absentee mother who cared more for traumatising and teaching her son the ways of the harsh world they lived in that loving him, and a father who had thrown himself from a cliff for the love of a dark woman, a woman who was not his mother, or was not the mother of the many illegitimate half siblings that Asche knew he would most likely never encounter again. What were their names, the brothers he had actually met? The sisters? Anawar, Asra, Arris - there had been more, the capped boy knew, but he found his body rejecting the memory with a violent shiver. The cove had been his home, the home of many children of the once king of Tinuvel. The bond these sisters before him had was more than a mere blood tie. What would it be like if he returned there, to the cove? Would he find his sisters, brothers, kin? Speculation was pointless, he reminded himself, as he lifted his now drowsy eyes to the girl who stood beside him in the fall's pool.

The dark one gave herself to him with her words - self sacrificially kind, offering his happiness above her own without a second thought or the bat of an eyelid. "You should want it for yourself." he prompted, voice tinged with awe. "I want you to want it - not just for me. For you." Her selflessness was more than endearing, the way she spoke poetic to the point of a riddle: from any other mouth it would leave a sting of pomposity, but from one so fair, so wise beyond her years, Asche thought it perfect. She deserved such a marvellous way with words. Anything entitled or ugly would seem alien in her gentle tone.

Sinopa called out, interrupting his daze-like state and calling him back into his busy mind. Suddenly he was aware of his lack of manners, and with the obvious edge to her tone and emphasis on the visitation of his land rather than residence, he couldn't help but find his optimism suddenly shot. He nodded to her politely, not sure of what to say. The word she called out like a battle cry was foreign to his ears, and he found himself retreating from Tolinka a by a few strides, not wanting to come between sisters - physically, or in a way that ran deeper. He feared that he had unknowingly committed both crimes.

Before he knew what had happened, Tolinka had dismissed the bay and pressed her lithe body to his side, the man still staring where Sinopa had disappeared, dumbfounded.

"Ask me," she pleaded in his ear, breath warm on his flesh, comforting and sensual. The phrase was spoken so desperately that the stallion dared not disappoint her, and while quietly pressing his lips in tender kisses along her spine he spoke to her. "Who are you?" It was a simple question, but one he realised needed to be asked. Sinopa had introduced herself with commonplace courtesy, but this girl spoke only in dreamy lyrics that called him to press himself to her more closely and never leave her side. Ironically, the boy had condemned himself when he had decided he was not a romantic - returning to the lost islands seemed to be reviving the spirit inside of him - the spirit of his father. His newfound muse asked him to feel, not think, and he felt himself chuckle as he rotated, the water rippling and intertwining their two reflections. "You're asking me to deny my nature." he grinned, giddy, surprising himself: "but tonight, for you my dear, anything."He sighed against her skin once move, positioning himself so he could trace another line with his lips along the nape of her neck. "Just give me something to call you."