One Long Night by the Niafi [M]

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She held onto the silver chain tight, until the pendant bit into her flesh and her knuckles grew white. She had thought she lost it- because it had been from him. From a love who she lost sometime ago. Somehow she had managed to recover the pendant he had gifted her- the first gift he had ever given..

They had been so young. And so very, very foolish. And she had carelessly given away her heart, shown herself in true form and vulnerability.

But his family announced his engagement to another.  To another. Another woman would have him, go to his bed... share his sweet kisses.

It wasn't fair.  The world was twisted and cruel. And he could never know the other truth behind her disappearance.  Most would presume it was because she was irate.

And they wouldn't be wrong. Her heart had been shattered since the announcement- and she refused to talk or see him ever again.

All he'd have from her was a penned letter with a cold congratulations scripted throughout the ink. Then she was gone.

Most presumed she'd gone to Serendipity.  And most were surprised just how long she was gone from the desert. So upon her recent return, naturally she would become the talk of the city- where she returned and was throwing together an adventuring party into the deserts. Apparently she had done some work during her time abroad- and it seemed nothing- not even a broken, tattered heart could keep her from her true love of exploration of the ruins of the desert.

Of course she avoided him.and his family like the plague upon her return. And an extra slap to the face was immediately upon her return she was invited to their pre-wedding party.

What asshole thought that was a good idea?

So naturally she hadn't gone to it.. heavens no! She wasn't that much of a fool. However, she wanted to make stupid choices that night to help her forget- to continue to take those steps forward in mending her heart.

So she drank.. and far too many wine skins, while riding her beautiful serenian horse along the palmed forests along the Niafi. She felt confident in her abilities to ride- inebriated or not- and paused just outside the manor home where the party had been going on.

Why had she come so close to here? Her horse swished his tail as they stood there- and she?- knocking back the remainder of her third wine skin before she carelessly tossed it aside 

It was then she realized she had been giving her pendant a death grip and released it, sloppily hiding it away in the folds of the front of her robes.

She turned her back towards the manor home before her, her horse itching between the shadows of the palm forests and the open yards that' stretched towards the rowdy party.

The sun had nearly sunk behind the horizon and the stars were glittering across the deep violetting skies. She needed more to drink, and she was certainly not going to the party.

She cursed as she dropped a bottle of wine from her saddle bag and with some reluctance, she dismounted and followed the rolling bottle to where it stopped, resting in a nest of reeds.

[Goldie]

The party was not Faraji's idea. In fact, his mother and the whole house went completely against everything he'd ever said by throwing it. It was extravagant, lavish, everything one would expect from the marriage of one of Essryn's highest ranking families - especially the heir to the entire fortune.

People wondered, often, why Faraji wasn't married yet and why, after 5 years, he still pushed off his wedding. Saanvi was a lovely girl from a rising family without a single stain on her character. They were bethrothed when she was just 16 which had been Faraji's excuse for a long time but now?

He didn't have an excuse. It didn't matter he was almost a decade older. It didn't matter he felt nothing for her. She was nice. She was polite. He wished her the best.

He just didn't wish her for him.

"Faraji..." blast it all, his mother, Havalia, had found him hiding in his office buried in ledgers. Avoiding the festivities. His highly decorated garments didn't fit with the plain aesthetic of his work space, and his head coverings were certainly not a normal day-to-day look. He was a future groom.

"Mother." He responded curtly.

"This is a party for you. You disrespect Saanvi by being in here. You disrespect this family."

"There is a lot of work that needs to be finished. I'll return when it's done." He tried to brush her off.

She wasn't having it and plucked the quill from his hand and pointed towards the door, "You have a duty to that girl." she hissed.

Faraji stood quickly and towered over her, "A duty you forced." He shot back before slamming the drawer closed and storming from the room. He had never forgiven her for this engagement...for the letter he'd received from the woman he actually intended to marry congratulating him and then disappearing from his life.

It was over. He knew it was. Saanvi was his future, but he couldn't bring himself to treat her any differently than one of his sisters and...if they wed...

He would be forced to truly betray her.

"Faraji..." a voice whispered from around the corner. His manservant.

"Faraji, she's here. Just outside the gates."

His breath caught and his heart practically stopped. She was here...? Outside? After all of these years they were in the same place at the same time and he was cursed to be at this God forsaken party!

It didn't matter.

He turned down another hallway, down a flight of stairs away from the festivities, and slipped out into the twilight and walked as quickly as he could. Side gate. He couldn't be seen. He had to be discrete.

He had to see her.

And then...

"Ibra..." he practically choked, staring at her back as she turned to walk away from the estate.

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She snatched the bottle and yanked off the cork, about ready to down some more wine when the voice hit her-

And she froze.

That voice. 

No...

The wine missed her lips and began to dribble down her face and dress- slapping her (temporarily) out of her drunken stupor. 

"Yes," She went, throwing her shoulders back straight as she brushed off the wine- back still to him. She didn't want to look. She wouldn't  look.

"And I'm leaving. Goodnight, Faraji." She went on, stiffly, and reached for her horses reigns.

[Goldie]

"No." He rushed forward, "Stop. Please stop." he begged, reaching up to grab her reins before she could move on. After all this time...after all these years...she was right here in front of him.

And she refused to look at him. He stared up at her profile and was taken aback by how beautiful she was. How beautiful she still was. He could smell the wine, but none of that mattered.

"Ibra, please." He begged again,"Stay. Just for a moment. Please."

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She nearly jumped clean out of her skin when his hands touched hers. He was holding her hands.. holding her...
Her eyes welled with tears for a moment before she was able to deduce..

He just didn't want her to get on the horse. He didn't want to hold her hand.

She jerked her hands away, repulsed at the very idea he was touching her again.. except..


It had the opposite effect as she intended, and she ended up stumbling backwards- clean into his arms.

[Goldie]

He caught her deftly, not about to let her fall and embarrass herself, and held her just long enough that she was steady before letting go. At least mostly. He kept one hand on hers in a desperate attempt to keep her from running, but he also didn't want to scare her. He'd chase after her if he had to, jump on a horse and run away from this party...

No...he knew he couldn't do that. Even now, out in public, he was risking scandal. He didn't want to marry Saanvi, but he didn't want to shame her either.

"Please just give me five minutes. If not now than tomorrow when I'm not in this ridiculous costume for this ridiculous show my mother forced me to attend. Please. For...for what we had...please..."

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Stumbled though she did, she held on fiercely to her wine bottle, even as it splashed her as she was caught. For a brief moment she just wanted to shout and throw out all that rage and anger and sadness she carried over what happened...
To just act like a ridiculous and wreckless child.

But then she finally saw his face...
Got to look into those eyes again.. 
To fall into them...

No. No. No.

She would not be drunk enough to fall back into those feelings, the ones that ached to be in his arms- to smell and feel him all around her.

No. No. No. No!

So she did the only thing she could think of in her drunken state, as her eyes flared for a moment with wild eyed passion- and attempted to deck him clean across the nose. 

[Goldie]

He knew she would struggle - after all she had avoided him for the past five years and there had to have been a good reason for it. No...there was a good reason for it and he had never had the chance to explain, the chance to make her understand. He hadn't wanted this life! Not as it was. Not without her.

And then she swung and he was so shocked by the sudden aggression that he didn't react until it was too late and her fist crash across his face. His vision flared and his hand immediately let her go to cover his nose. The hit hadn't been at a good angle for strength, but it has been hard enough that his eyes watered and he expected he'd have a headache for the rest of the night.

"Ibra!" He cried out a few seconds later once he'd mentally recovered from the shock.

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The triumphant lasted a few seconds before she lost her footing and began to crash into him, too drunk to keep her balance and suddenly she was laying in a heap atop of him in the reeds.

[Goldie]

Gods, they were falling. He barely had time for his senses to return before he was on the ground and his intricately designed wedding attire scraped against stone and soil on one side, and Ibra on the other.

Instinctually his arms wrapped around her protectively as they tumbled and all of his focus was on keeping her unharmed. So, naturally, his hip took the brunt of the fall with a painful smack.

"Ibra, oh Gods, Ibra are you alright?" He asked, one arm still protectively around her while the other reached up to brush her hair from her face and search for injuries.

How much had she had to drink??

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The world was spinning around as she lay there- familiar hands upon her form, rekindling feelings long since buried. She wanted to fall back into that sensation, that familiarity, that feeling where they just fit together...

But instead, she found herself suddenly choking on a sob and shrieking, "I hate you, Faraji! You terrible, awful wretch of a man! I hate you and your touch and our memories and everything we've ever done!"

[Goldie]

Faraji felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over him when he words reached his ears. His blood pounded in his ears and cold dread washed down his spine. She hated him.

She hated him.

He had known she must be angry...be upset...but the way she spoke, the way his very existence seemed to bring out this almost feral, visceral side of her...

He stood, his face becoming a mask of stone. The face of a business man who needed to deal with a situation he would rather hide from. The face of someone who had lost.

"I'm sorry." He said with a small bow before assisting her to her feet. "I have forced myself where I am not wanted."

It took every second of training to keep his mask in place while, in truth, his heart was breaking all over again. All this time he had thought...had hoped...if he had just had the chance to explain about the engagement...

But no. Of course it was too late and the world didn't work like fairytales.

"Lady Koh'lesh do you need assistance finding your way home? I can send a servant to guide you and keep you safe."

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She didn't want his assistance. She didn't even want him to touch her. And once she had realized he was helping her, she let out a defiant cry before dropping back drunkenly to her knees.

"I knew I  shouldn't have come!" She growled at herself and glared at her horse. "You did this! You betrayed me! I thought we were on the same side!" She shouted at her horse.

The woman was clearly too far gone on her alcohol... which was unlike Ibra- who, in times before- rarely drank and always kept a level head.

Then she waved off any motion from Faraji as she attempted to stand again. She was fine on it on her own! Except the floor mistepped and was in the reeds again. 

[Goldie]

Faraji didn't know what to do. He loved this woman once, maybe still did. They had spent uncountable hours together years ago and he felt he knew everything about her but this? This drunk before him was not the Ibra he remembered and he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

He did this. His mother did this by announcing an engagement he did not agree to. And then he hadn't fought hard enough to find her and explain...

"Gods, Ibra..." he took a step forward.

"Faraji!!!" oh Gods, no.

His mother was beside him in an instant with a hand wrapped painfully around his arm. She was a short woman, but that didn't keep her from being terrifying and overbearing. She sneered down at Ibra, realizing who she was and...was that a sinister smile on her face?!

"Oh, Ibra, my dear. I didn't send you that invitation for you to actually come. Faraji is to be married and you need to stay away."

Faraji blanched and pulled his arm from her grasp, "You sent her an invitation? Why?" He almost whispered, disbelief dripping from every word.

"Information." Came her curt reply, "A warning to stay away. And rightly so, just look at her! Come. Inside. Saanvi is waiting."

Faraji shook his head, "No. Someone needs to walk her home."

"Inside. You have shamed this family enough by ignoring your betrothed all these years."

"I will not." He stood firm and took off his headdress at handed it to her, "Make my apologies. Make up whatever excuse you need to save face, but I will be taking her home."

She opened her mouth to argue and Faraji took a step forward, anger he hadn't felt before shuddering through him, "Go." he snapped, "You've already done enough damage tonight. Go fix it."

And he turned to once again assist Ibra. He didn't care if she didn't want it, the last tumble proved she needed it and he would take the abuse.

He deserved it.

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That voice..
That terrible, wretched woman's voice...

Why had she showed up? No...no she was supposed to be there.  It was her son's pre-wedding party.

But even still..
She wanted to give that woman a piece of her mind.

And this time she actually used Faraji's assistance- which was basically her using his body as a ladder to hoist herself back to her feet.

But she barely got half way up, and cursed at herself for having gotten so sillily drunk. Why weren't her legs just listening to her?

"Where is she? I want to yank her damn wig off and shove it up her-"

[Goldie]

"Ibra. Ibra, please." He held her shoulders and forcefully turned her away from where his mother was sulking back into the house with his wedding hat tucked under her arm. A quick glance told him she had clearly heard Ibra's curses, but she was too prideful to retaliate. Ibra was beneath her. Every shout just solidified that fact in her hateful mind.

Faraji walked her to the horse and placed her hand up on the reins. He would get her on the horse and then walk her back to wherever she actually was staying. Of course, that was assuming she was lucid enough to even remember.

"Up you go, yeah?" He kept his voice calm and level with a similar cadence he'd use on his nephews when they got too out of sorts and needed to be calmed down.

He stopped down to help lift her foot onto the stirrup and prepared to lift her the rest of the way up on the beast.

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At first she allowed him to assist her. She wasn't fully cognizant of what was going on, and was barely draped across the saddle and hanging off the other side before she clung to the poor beasts' mane and righted herself.

Then she realized just who was touching her.. guiding her safely onto her horse and she let out a yell- arms flailing to push him away, which only made the exceedingly long sleeves of her sleeves smack across his form and begin to tangle upon him. 

"Why are you touching me!? I thought I told you to stay away!" She warned, grabbing the reins- her horse jolting to attention. 

[Goldie]

"Just...Just stop!" he cried, doing his best to untangle her clothing from his arms and shoulders as she continued to flail.

"I know you don't want me here but I doubt you want to get attacked and left for dead in an alley. I'm taking you home and you don't have a choice."

And Gods he didn't have a choice either and just hoped, no, prayed it was dark enough that he wouldn't be recognized as they made their way through the city.

He hooked his own foot in the stirrup and nimbly swung up on the horse behind her. He positioned himself around her to pin her arms with his own and, hopefully keep her from punching him again or just falling off the horse and cracking her skull on the street.

"Stop fighting and tell me where you're staying." He told her firmly.

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She tensed the moment their bodies touched- the strength and warmth and familiarity of his body pressed against her owns sent shivers down her spine, a fluttering in her heart and zings throughout her blood.

Oh, Hakeshna's name- how she has missed him. And despite herself, she released a soft breath- then began to brush at the pesky tears that began to fall, as if they were gnats. 

Most of what he said was lost unto her- she- feeling to proud to reply while she was on the verge of tears...
But also not trusting herself in her swirling state of drunk.

"Just.. just leave me at the delta." She managed to growl out. She was desperately trying to sober herself but...

Hakeshna name.. as her horse guided them forward down the reed trodened path... to just feel his body pressed so close and them both.. moving together to the rhythm of the horse's gently trot...

Her body ached to be his again. 

[Goldie]

Faraji did everything he could to not focus on her, to not remember their last meeting, their final parting. He didn't want to remember when remembering only reminded him of her words that evening.

She hated him.

He would take her home, make sure she was safe, and then...then he supposed he would marry Saanvi and have a brood of children like a good eldest son. He'd run the empire, be the head of his family.

And despair for the rest of his miserable life.

I hate you.

"I'll not leave you at the delta." He told her, arms still pressing firmly against her shoulders in case she changed her mind and started fighting again. "I'm taking you home. Where is it?"