A Face From the Past (Mdu and Lion)

[Anonymous]

Celine had decided to take a walk on the shore while the ship was docked. She loved being on the ship, but although she had not yet gotten sick, the rocking did make her dizzy sometimes. She enjoyed breathing the fresh air, too.

It was a relatively calm day, good for a walk as well as a sea voyage. For once, she was actually starting to feel good...like the world was at peace. Celine hadn't felt that way for a long time. What she didn't know was that there was someone there on that day whom she wouldn't have expected to see.

[Anonymous]

Randver and a troupe of other soldiers had been sent to find out about suspected mage actities. All mages were meant to be enlisted in the army so any time rumours of mages got to the capital, a small squad of enlisted mages and soldiers would be sent out to investigate. This time it was Randver's turn, just as it was his turn to scout through the town with the water goblin that plodded alongside him.

They made their way towards the docks. Randver sensing for any strange fire activity and the gremlin, Cerarrgah Gron, scouting for anything visible or water related. So far nothing interesting had been detected. The mages had probably moved on.

[Anonymous]

As Celine got a little further away from the docks and came up onto the beach, she smiled at the feel of the sand on her feet. It wasn't like a lot of sand she had felt, which still had chunks of rocks in it. This sand was soft and smooth and just perfect. If she had been a child, she would have sat down right where she was walking and made a castle. But she wasn't a child, and so she continued walking.

She didn't see him at first. Actually, it was the sight of the gremlin that made her heart leap into her throat. She hoped it wouldn't hurt her, but it just kept coming closer and closer. Then she noticed another figure beside it, and just for a fraction of a second, she stopped breathing completely. It couldn't be...could it?

It could.

Randver was there. She hadn't seen him in over a year, and she had no idea how she was going to react. She knew now that the gremlin wouldn't hurt her, because Randver most likely wouldn't allow it to. But this thought didn't stop all color from draining from Celine's face.

[Anonymous]

'There'sss a girl on the beachessss,' said the gremlin.
'I know,' said Randver.
'She looks scared.'
'I'm blind, not stupid. I can sense the heat in her and the heat of her blood flowing around her body. I don't need to be told how she's acting,' he snapped. 'I can also tell that she's human, about five-and-a-half feet tall and she's about 600 yards away.'
'Are you ssssure you isss blindesss?'

Randver turned to the smaller creature and the lights on his eyes turned off, showing charred, empty eyesockets. He felt the creature shudder under Randver's irritated gaze then looked back towards the girl. In his irritation he singed the grass in front of him and snorted fire out his nose. He didn't like his companion much. He kept behaving as though he thought Randver needed everything described to him.

'Do you think ssshe isss sscared becaussse ssshe iss a mage?' hissed the water gremlin.
'Why don't you ask her?' said Randver, lifting his staff to point at the girl. If the girl ran, he'd be ready.

'GIRL! COME CLOSSSER TO USSSS, WE ARE SSSOLDIERSSS AND NEED TO SSSPEAK TO YOU!'

[Anonymous]

Celine began trembling violently, her heart pounding so fast that it hurt. Even if she had not been trembling, she was still in such shock that running away would have been impossible.

"I'm *gasp* not *gasp* dangerous! Randver! This is Celine... Tell the gremlin I'm not a mage! I've never had  *gasp* a magical ability in my life. You of all beings know that!"

She started hyperventilating, trying vainly to get enough air into her lungs. But between the shock of seeing Randver again and the shock of being accused of being a mage, her body was just under too much stress. Her legs gave way beneath her, and then she remembered nothing.

[Anonymous]

Randver was so shocked to hear Celine's voice he didn't even react. He just stood there dumbstuck while she panicked. She'd left him with no word, no message of why or what had happened. He'd assumed that her family had moved away so that they couldn't be together. He didn't know that the house he'd burnt down last year had been her family's.

Randver sensed the girl teeter and fall towards the sand. He cursed and galloped out to her in a vain attempt to try to catch her before she hit the ground. He also sensed the water gremlin running behind him. Fire lashed out towards the creature and created a line between them.

'Stay back or I'll burn you gremlin! She is telling the truth.'

Randver tried to ignore the protests of the water gremlin behind him and tapped the woman with his staff to see if she'd wake. When she didn't he bent his legs to the ground and scooped her in his arms. On second thought, he put her on his back and wraped her arms around his chest so she wouldn't fall off.

'Don't get any ideas gremlin, she's the only one I would carry,' he said. The gremlin hissed, threw a blast of water at Randver and Celine then headed back to the barracks.

[Anonymous]

Once Celine was on Randver's back and the water hit her, she opened her eyes wearily.

"Randver...I'm sorry...for everything..." Even to Celine, her voice sounded weak and far away. "But the house...the house...it was mine."

Somehow, she had a feeling he would know what house she was talking about.

"I had to leave. I lost everything."

She buried her face in his back and wept. In a way, she was relieved to be with him, relieved that he had put her on his back when she fainted. If he would only know what she was talking about, everything would be all right...sort of. It wouldn't bring her family back to her, but they would patch things up between them, and after that...who knew?

Unless he denied any involvement whatsoever. She hoped that wouldn't happen. But she was confident he wouldn't deny it if he had been involved. Just because Randver had no eyes didn't technically mean he was blind. He had other ways of seeing. So she was pretty sure he had seen the house he'd hit.

[Anonymous]

Randver snorted  and the fireballs that guided him sparked but he held his anger in. She was too weak to deal with anything, and possibly delusional. He hadn't been to her house before and had assumed that her family had convinced her to leave him. 'I have no idea what you're talking about Celine. If you're family wanted to leave, you could have at least left a message,' he said in an icy voice.

Then she started crying. Why would she do that? It made him feel uncomfortable (though he'd never admit it). Other women ued crying to try to manipulate him but that was not like Celine. Celine was a quiet, honest sort of girl.

He put a hand over hers and said, 'stop that. If I am so upsetting I'll drop you at your house and you can forget you saw me.'

He wasn't sure where he was walking to, he just walked. 'Where are you staying? If your family is with you I'd prefer to leave you before they start talking about beastiality.'

[Anonymous]

"No chance of my parents hating you now. Or liking you, either. Don't you remember?" she sobbed desperately. "We had a fight last year. We had a fight because I wasn't sure I wanted to be with you if you weren't going to stick up for yourself in front of my parents. After that I remember going for a walk, and when I came back, the house was  burning. Everyone died except me. So you can't drop me off at my house because I don't have one anymore. "

Gods, he was making this difficult. She couldn't stop the tears, although she was trying with her very being. She felt him put a hand over hers and heard him beg her to stop.  But this was just too much. How could he not remember? "Think, Randver. Think hard. Did you burn down a house last year or not? If you did, then it was mine."

Finally, the horrible sobs which hurt her chest seemed to be receding, and she could only look at him, her breathing heavy from crying. "I swear by all that is honest and good...I didn't want to leave. But I had to. The memory of my family's screams was paralyzing me, making it difficult to think. The only reason I didn't leave you a message was because I wasn't sure you still wanted to be together. We did not part on the best of terms, after all. But if I'd known that you still loved me even after our fight...then I would have sent you something. Please believe me. You didn't give me any indication that you still wanted to be with me; I guess I thought you were too angry to want to be with me."

[Anonymous]

Randver's tail flicked as he held in the urge to shout: shout at her, shout at himself, shout at the world. He maintained his composure though, if Celine fainted again she'd be on the ground before he could catch her. He held tighter to her hands at the thought.

'How was I supposed to tell you? You left right after we fought. I thought you'd wanted to leave. I got sent for a holiday to calm down, a holiday!' Randver shouted. Nearby a tree exploded into fire when a year's worth of anger he'd refused to act on was came to the surface. He'd been furious when she'd left and being sent away on his only ever holiday had not made him any happier.

'Do you seriously believe I'd stop loving you because we had a fight? You think I would burn your house down?! I haven't even been to your house!' He drew a deep breath and channeled his energy out, so that it didn't burn anything else. He could feel the fire in his eyesockets starting to heat up and drew another breath so they didn't flare. The exploded tree flickered and the fire engulfing it died.

'I did set a house alight but there were others behind me that I thought would have put it out. I'm sorry if it was yours. I would never do anything to harm you,' he said in a calmer, however strained voice.

[Anonymous]

(OOC: OK I know I said she would get mad, but the truth is, she's too drained to be mad at him.)

Celine saw Randver burn the tree and went dead white. She gave a little scream and clutched him tighter, making it clear that it wasn't his anger she was so frightened of. The fire...the fire...it could have spread.

"I know...I know you wouldn't hurt me intentionally...but we had a fight, so I thought..." But she couldn't bring herself to say that if he had known it was her house he might have set it on fire anyway. Randver was kind to her, mostly, but she thought that sometimes he could be a little over-zealous.

"Do you remember what you were doing...you know, before? Why were you using the fire? If you didn't mean to hit my house, what did you mean to aim at?"

Celine wanted to know everything. He owed her that much.

[Anonymous]

All the fires around Randver went out, even the little fireballs that he used to guide his way and the orbs in his eyes. He was walking without any guidence now, he was completely blind. 'You're... serious? If I'd have known. There were men there! I'm so sorry Celine. I didn't know. If I had, I would have stayed. I would have put it out,' he said.

Randver stood still, he had no idea where he was without his fireballs and after Celine clung to him, he didn't have the heart to even relight his eyes. The poor woman was terrified of fire because of what he'd done. It shocked him to know he'd burnt her house down.

'As you wish,' he said. Though he had no idea why she'd want to know how he'd burnt her house down. 'There was a gang, headed by an earth mage. I was the most adept mage in the area so I was ordered to capture him. I missed, he ran, I followed. I didn't take notice if their were people in the house.'

[Anonymous]

"You may relight your eyes, Randver," she said gently. "That is different. It is only uncontrolled fire I have a fear of...like the tree..."

Her voice had softened considerably, and there was no longer the horrible anger tearing at her insides. What there was, was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Celine was numb.

"You really didn't mean it then," she realized, and then she could only feel sad because he hadn't meant it, but it had happened anyway.

"I missed you," she admitted. "I was angry, too...but I missed you, underneath it all. But the irony is, now that they're gone, we can be together. I- I'd like that."

And she would have. She really did love him. In fact, she found the fact that he was a centaur fascinating, in more ways than one....

But then she remembered that the Captain needed her. Where was he, anyway?

[Anonymous]

Randver had been about to ask her for a cloth to tie around his eyes but Celine said he could relight them. He didn't need the orbs in his eyes to guide his way, he only needed the fireballs that usually floated ahead of him. With a shrug he lit both sets of fires again.

'You think I'd do it on purpose? Curses woman! I loved you more than I hated your parents.' He raised his voice more than he had meant to. He was still angry at her for leaving. They could have patched things up a year ago if she'd trusted him.

It took a while for Randver to respond, he wasn't very good at controlling his emotions. Everything about him was fiery; one spark of emotion could burn and consume everything around him. Celine was more than a spark to him and he had trouble dealing with it.

'I'd like that too.'

[Anonymous]

As if she needed to prove how much she missed him...not that she felt she did need to prove it... she climbed down from his back, slowly. Once she was standing in front of him, she kissed him on the lips. It was a gentle kiss, but the passion in it could not be denied.

There was only one thing that frightened her about being with Randver, and that was the prospect of bearing his children. Wouldn't it hurt...well...more than usual to pass something that wasn't entirely human? Not that she wouldn't have liked children, but she was concerned about the pain. But she supposed that could be dealt with when they came to it. For now, she was just happy to be with him.

"I really did miss you," she whispered. "Where would you like to live now?"

[Anonymous]

Randver bent his knees so that his body touched the ground. He wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and kissed her, holding her tightly lest she slip away again. Unbound hair brushed across her face as he placed his forehead against hers.

'Don't leave me again,' he whispered. It'd taken him too long to calm down last time, he didn't want it to happen again. Even after a year without her, he still loved her too much to be parted again.

Where would he like to live...

That was not good. He was a soldier, a mage. He couldn't go where he pleased and he hated deserters too much to become one. He wanted to stay in Ketra with Celine but she couldn't do that. She wasn't strong enough. He didn't answer.

[Anonymous]

"Never," she murmured, kissing him again. She couldn't help it. She forgot completely everything else around them. It was as if they were the only two in the world.

"I'd go anywhere with you," she whispered. "It doesn't matter where we live, as long as we're together."

Little did she know, she might change her mind about that.

"Randver? Didn't you hear me? Where do you want to live?"

[Anonymous]

Randver held her tightly, knowing that the next thing he said might make her push him away again. 'Celine. I am a soldier, just as I was last year. I will go where I am ordered. When we have found the mage, I will have to return to Ketra,' he said.

He waited for a few moments for her to respond, silently willing her not to push him away again. He focused on his energy, knowing that this could turn rotten very quickly.

[Anonymous]

"I'm not sure I can do that," she whispered, a lump coming into her throat. "I want to be with you, but I'm not sure I'm strong enough to return to Adela." It was almost enough to make her weep again, and she turned her face into him, not crying, but fighting it.

It was the truth. But she was well aware that if she didn't at least try, she might never see him again. She would have to try, if not for herself, then for him.

"As I said, I'm not sure I'm strong enough. What if it's too soon and I can't handle being back where I once lived? But I'd be willing to try. I really would. Only...when it gets difficult...I may need your help to breathe." She knew it would be difficult to live near where her family had been, but if he was there, holding her and consoling her, she wouldn't mind so much.

If she was feeling all this pain, though, what must he feel, as her love, knowing he had caused her greatest sorrow? For Celine, it was unimaginable. She wondered if there was anything she could do to help him in return.

[Anonymous]

Randver was grateful she hadn't backed away, hadn't said no. It also meant that he couldn't bare to bring her back to Ketra. 'I will apply to go to an outpost,' he said. It was all he could think of. He would never abandon his nation just as he could never abandon Celine.

'Curses, girl. I know you're not strong enough. The sight of that tree made you cower! I can't take you bak to the city.'