On the Beach of Dreams

[MadEmperor]

Grav cleared his throat in an attempt to feel less awkward. "Right. Her question just got in our heads. We're perfectly capable of sharing a bed platonically."

"Just because we kissed is no reason to overthink things," he assured himself

[DragonSong]

"Exactly," Kiara replied with a firm nod. "We're adults. We can handle this reasonably."

Just make sure somebody warns me if I need to get out of hearing range, Kit put in dryly, very pointedly making the comment audible to them both.

Kiara glared out the window. "You're an ass."

The dragon flicked his tail contentedly, unbearably smug.

[MadEmperor]

Grav groaned and led her to his room. Once inside, he turned to her with a smirk. "He's really milking this for all it's worth, isn't he? He'll never let us live it down if we can't keep our hands to ourselves."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, he'll never let us live this down at all," Kiara said with a small chuckle and a shake of her head. "Gods, now we'll have to go find him some nice drake or dragoness to settle down with just to get the teasing to stop."

She looked around his room curiously, mildly fascinated. She'd been living on the road with Kit since she was fourteen--the idea of a place to go back to, a space that was solely one's own, was almost foreign to her.

[MadEmperor]

Grav's room was much the same as the rest of the cozy, rustic house, though his decor was decidedly less... nautical. Instead, it was sparsely decorated with items won from friendly duels. It had a dresser, a modest bed, a small desk, and an even smaller bookshelf with only three lonely volumes of adventure stories. Above his bed, a child's wooden sword has been hung on a plaque.

"Gods... it feels so weird being in my room. Or, maybe that's because it was literally never this, um, clean," he chuckled.

[DragonSong]

"Hey, I can't judge," Kiara said with a shrug and another little chuckle. "From what I remember of my room as a kid, there were always clothes on the floor. Used to drive Mum absolutely batty."

She drew her fingertips lightly over his bookshelf, smiling to herself as she recognized one of the few titles. "It's nice," she murmured, glancing back at him with a half smile.

[MadEmperor]

"I'm glad you approve." He smiled. Turning to the bed, he asked thoughtfully, "Bigger issue is: is my bed big enough for two people? Now that I see it, I'm not so sure."

[DragonSong]

Kiara tilted her head as she eyed the space. "I mean...it might be a tight fit, but it's certainly better than camping on the ground," she said after a moment with a small shrug. "We'll just have to squeeze in close."

The implications of that didn't hit her until the words had already left her mouth. She flushed a bit and glanced away, clearing her throat. "Or, y'know, I-I really don't mind taking the couch, if you'd rather..."

[MadEmperor]

Grav looked away as the cause of her embarrassment struck him. Chuckling nervously, he said, "Ahem. Yeah... my mother would never forgive me if I let you do that."

"Let's just try it first, okay?" he asked uncertainly.

[DragonSong]

"Okay." She nodded, hoping she seemed less awkward than she felt, and started stripping out of her outer layers. After washing up, she'd at least been able to put on a clean change of clothes, but they were still her typical travel attire--and as such she usually slept in her thin undershirt and soft breeches.

Actually, well, not usually the breeches, but they seemed like a good idea to leave on just then.

Back to Grav, she studiously folded up her clothes. "Well. I dunno about you, but I'm wiped," she said with a little chuckle.

[MadEmperor]

Grav went to his dresser and hid behind its large door as he changed into something else. "Don't laugh, okay?"

He closed the door to reveal he had put on a set of striped, blue pajamas. He looked adorable in them.

[DragonSong]

Kiara grinned and pressed a hand over her mouth. "I'm not laughing," she said quickly. "I'm absolutely not laughing."

Without really thinking about what she was doing, she crossed the space between them and stretched up onto her toes to peck his cheek. "C'mon, let's go to bed."

[MadEmperor]

Grav smiled and nodded. He climbed in first, getting as close to the side against the wall as he could and still be comfortable. Holding the covers open, he said, "It'll be a little cramped, but it should be doable."

[DragonSong]

"Right. Okay then." Rather cautiously, she climbed into the bed after him. It was a fairly tight squeeze, but certainly not the worst sleeping arrangements she'd ever had.

"Well..g'night," she mumbled once she was settled in under the covers, abruptly very aware of all the ways they were pressed together but trying her damnedest not to be.

[MadEmperor]

Grav very deliberately thought of anything other than the way her body pressed against his. Pulling the covers over them, he yawned. "Goodnight."

As he drifted off, he couldn't help wondering again if they would have met at all if his life had been different...


Grav, though a different Grav, hated guard duty. Why was a dusty old mummified hand so important that the family guardsmen weren't enough to protect it? Why did he, Gravaudan Vannier the third, have to sit outside a gloomy tomb with the help when he could be wooing the ladies or even just training for the upcoming tourney?

He blew his long, golden lock out of his face, muttering to himself, "This is soo boooriiing."

[DragonSong]

Kit hadn't been happy about it, but then he was never happy about taking jobs in Connlaoth. Neither was Kiara, if she was perfectly honest about it. But she couldn't take on those manticores at that Arcan estate with just her and Kit; best to leave that to the professionals.

Well, technically she was a professional. But she was also one that worked alone, and tried not to take suicidal jobs out of principle. So, massive, hyper-intelligent manticores? No, the fancy mage-guard that Ponca nobleman had called as backup could handle those, thank you. But stealing an artifact for the mage underground in Connlaoth? That she could do.

As it was something of a stealth mission, she'd left Kit hidden in a grove by a bend in the river not too far from the estate—close enough that escape was in easy reach, should she need it.

She'd managed to get close to the mausoleum without drawing attention to herself, but there was an extra guard on the place. She needed to readjusted her plan.

Great.

[MadEmperor]

The young noble glanced over at the House Vannier guardsman closest to him. "Renauld, right?"

The guardsman seemed surprised to be addressed so casually by his betters. "Y-yes, Master Gravaudan."

"No need to be quite so formal," Grav scoffed. "This task is dull enough without empty honorifics."

"I suppose it is, at that," the guard answered uncertainly.

Grav wondered if Renauld thought he was being tested, so the noble dropped the subject rather than torment the man with conversion that strained the bounds of his training. 

So... boring.. .

[DragonSong]

Okay. Okay, two guards she could dispatch easily enough, but three was pushing her ability to keep things stealthy. She needed a distraction of some sort.

Well. When in doubt: set it on fire.

Ignoring the voice in the back of her head telling her to be mindful of her magic use—which sounded an awful lot like Kit—she called a small ball of flame to her palm, made sure she was angled out of sight behind some painstakingly sculpted topiaries, then through the fire as far as she could away from the mausoleum, a bright, burning streak across the sky.

There. That should get their attention, at least.

[MadEmperor]

Grav followed it with his eyes, getting excited by something actually happening. He was just about to investigate when...

"You protect the young master; I'll check it out," the other guardsman said to Renauld before heading away.

Grav frowned; he had been so close. That is, unless that was a distraction.

[DragonSong]

Damnit. She was going the fireball would be interesting enough to get at least two of the guards' attention. Ah, well, that still left her with two at the gate, which had been her original plan.

Moving carefully, she crept around behind the sculpted hedges to get around to the edge of the mausoleum, still keeping to the shadows.

Alright. She needed them away from the gate—preferably unconscious, but away would do. Despite how winded her previous spell had left her, she summoned another flicker of flame to her hand, then flicked it away with a whispered command.

The tongue of flame caught on the grass just in front of the closest guard's boots and started spreading.