Common

From the moment that her eyes fell closed, Kvothe drifted as if borne by the tides once again, slipping the shackles of her consciousness. In the manner of her kind, she remained dimly aware of her surroundings through the senses of smell, sound, and even touch - feeling the soft breaths of wind wash over her in an irregular rhythm. Still damp from her swim, the chestnut Firesian felt cold fingers creep down to her very bones, and shuddered. It was then that she heard Ironclad’s approach, though in its dormant state the mare’s mind didn’t process the input of her senses quite the same way. She was aware of his presence nearby, but only in a dim and imprecise way.

On the other hand, her subconscious was aware of the pale stallion in ways that required neither sight nor thought - and at the first warm caress of his breath on her skin, she leaned toward him, yearned toward him. Ironclad was warm in every sense of the word, a sun - no, a fire to heat Kvothe from within. The tendrils of desire curled around her consciousness and began to reel it back towards the surface, and she stirred and sighed a barely-audible response to his words. “I would stay… forever…” The red mare murmured, lips curling vaguely upwards and eyelids fluttering but remaining closed. And those words - prised from the closed casket of her heart in the absence of her thoughts’ inhibitions - were more true than any she had ever spoken. Whether it was love or weakness or chains that held her, she would stay. Kvothe’s tender heart would permit nothing else.

The sudden weight of Ironclad’s body on hers startled the slender chestnut awake. Heart hammering, she lurched forward, aiding gravity in reclaiming the front half of the young stallion’s body. With brown eyes that were gently perplexed, she glanced back over her shoulder at the smokey cream, blowing a couple harsh breaths through her nostrils. What was going on? One instant, it seemed as if Ironclad was pleased with her - or at least, content enough to allow her a moment of respite before their journey led them home - and the next… She wasn’t sure what Ironclad had been doing, having no experience outside the constant rejection of her old herrd. Was he trying to fight her? Drive her away?

Kvothe’s eyes brimmed with tears at the thought, though she held them in check with a great effort of will. “I - Ironclad?” She prompted gently, seeing now that his gaze was distant; as if following the play of things that only he could see. “Did you want to go now? I don’t need to rest. We can go now, if - if you still want to bring me home.” Her eyes continued to say the words her voice caught on; unable to speak them for fear that they would be answered truthfully. For fear that she would be rebuffed or rejected. Don’t you want me? And her body spoke further still, sharing a truth that neither Kvothe’s mind or heart could - in her innocence - know. The errant strands of her tail twitching to one side of her croup, and the arch of her neck lowering in deference. I want you. And I am yours.

Waiting for Ironclad’s response, Kvothe reflected on how strange it was that - despite the fact that the cold wind still howled softly at them both - she should still feel as if she were burning slowly, from within.