Belated Bdayfic for satine86
More of the weird ficverse. R/J. Rated PG13.
The air is colder now, and the nights span longer, with a hint of frost and inky, cloudless skies. The aspens and willows rustle with the night wind, and their leaves are now the stark yellow of Venusian sunsets rather than their vibrant summery green. Fifteen days ago was the brightest, biggest full moon, dusky gold and pendulous, of the current Earthen orbit, and in the last two weeks, Kali has traveled nearly three hundred leagues on quick feet and temper.
The land, perhaps due to its weather changes, perhaps due to the utter finality of her last audience with the High Queen, seems so much more savage and untamed now. The fragile butterflies that used to flit colourfully from flower to flower have all but vanished. Kali spends her days running through villages and towns, mountains and forests, without the heart to stop to see them. And at night, after the sun sets, woe betide any brigands who cross her path under the moonlight.
Now, the moon is invisible in the sky, and it seems bleakly fitting that in front of her eyes, tall and proud, are the carved stone walls of the villa of Yu-Ling Jun Zi. She cannot return to the moon, not tonight.
Not ever.
The autumn wind blows her raven hair away from her neck, and Kali suddenly feels tired, leeched of all anger and fury. She still has enough energy to vault over that wall-- it's practically habitual, after all the expeditions of the past when everything was still simply duty and nothing was complicated-- but when she finds herself in the garden, with its tranquil lotus pond now rife with seedpods rather than flowers and its pavilion adorned with chrysanthemums rather than peonies, she sighs.
The sound of footsteps has her head jerking up, and violet eyes meet blue ones. Yu-Ling must notice that she's unveiled, with her hair unbound and uncrowned, her armour sans any insignia of rank. But he says nothing, and as always, waits for her to speak. Kali did not mean to end up here, not really, but now that she's facing him and he still meets her gaze with nothing but calm, unfaltering acceptance in his own, she can't find it in herself to continue her fruitless travels.
"I've been on your world since the harvest moon," she blurts out without preamble. Her voice is steady and her eyes are brave, but her tightly-clasped hands are white at the knuckles. "I am tired from my journey. Can I rest here a while?"
He takes the first step towards her, then another, then another. With infinite care, he reaches out, touches her cheek with a rough, warm hand, then brushes her unbound hair away from her face.
"Come in."
***
The room he takes her to is adjacent to his own, large and opulently appointed with intricately carved rosewood furniture and varnished floors. A ceramic vase rests by the window, milk-white and dark blue flowers patterned across its graceful surface, and inside flares a riot of late-blooming red roses. The rosewood bed is inlaid with gold lacquer and dressed with cushions and sheets of vividly embroidered yellow silk. A silent handmaid draws her a warm bath scented with cassia flowers and rosemary sprigs, and leaves her a damask robe to wear to bed. Kali sinks into the fragrant water, letting its warmth soothe her weary limbs, and scrubs the grime and dirt off of her skin. Back on the moon, with its magically enhanced environment and the full range of spells and technology at her disposal, she'd never known exhaustion.
She'd also never questioned her faith.
Yu-Ling's kindness towards her is the height of irony, considering the final, disregarded orders from the High Queen.
It does not bear thinking about, not here, not now. And Kali, in her silk robe, sleeps curled up underneath the covers just like any human woman in need of rest. If she is at all aware of Yu-Ling's eyes upon her as he walks in through the open door between their rooms, as he keeps vigil, seated by the desk, she doesn't give any indication. He stays awake, though, unable to keep his eyes off of her.
Kali, his Lady of War. In rest, even without the moonlight, she seems to glow with some inner fire.
***
"There are no artifacts. I have searched everywhere, Your Majesty. Riches and treasures, certainly, but none that hold any magical power." Kali's voice is steady, but she can't bring herself to look into the High Queen's eyes.
The silence in the Throne Room is deafening. Metis' presence at her side is comforting, but Kali knows better than to think that any of her sisters would be able to stand up with her against the Queen's orders. Up by the throne, Isis stands sentinel, sword in one hand and chain in the other. Most executions took place elsewhere, but this floor has been stained with blood before. Isis would, at least, be quick and merciful.
If the Queen allowed for mercy.
"The Sibyl is never wrong." The High Queen's voice is cool and melodious like frosty moonlight and flute song. "It must stand that the Keeper of the Kingdom retains the artifact on his person at all times. Perhaps it is something almost too small to notice, like a key or a locket. You must check him as well."
"And what if I cannot find it?" Kali blurts out.
"Then you have him tell you where it is, by any means necessary." The Queen's voice is gentle, in stark contrast to her directive. "My Warrior Princess," she addresses Kali with the fondness of a mother. "I don't doubt that you'll succeed."
The images that fill her mind are horrifying, and Kali flinches-- she who has never once before feared the carnage of battle and war. His blood, spurting red onto her hands. The handsome, gentle face battered beyond recognition. She knew, beyond any doubt, that he would never surrender. And when it was over, when she hewed his head from his body with her blade, his blue eyes would remain eternally open, forgiving and tranquil and inexorable as a windless ocean. He wouldn't beg for mercy or scream out his pain.
She would be the one to go mad from it in the end.
"I..." Kali can't find the breath for her words, but she shakes her head. With a clatter, she drops her daggers to the floor. When she finally looks up, she can barely see the High Queen's beautiful face through her tears. "I can't."
"I can see that you need some assistance with your task," the Queen says kindly, then gestures with her hand. From the left entrance to the throne room, Rhiannon strides in, long legs eating up the length of marble floor. With one muscled arm, she drags along a prisoner wrapped up in a length of rope. The man is bound and gagged and blindfolded, but Kali recognizes all too well the bright golden hair on his head. At a nod from the High Queen, Rhiannon reaches down, grasping the prisoner's right hand, and the snap of breaking bone echoes like a detonated bomb. Yu-Ling Jun Zi doesn't utter a sound, but Kali's screams rip through the air like heartbreak.
***
"Hey, hey, wake up, my love. It's just a dream," Strong, warm arms around her shoulders, fingers stroking through her sweaty hair. Kali recognizes his scent before she can open her eyes, and slumps against him, the tears coming too fast for her to stop them. But he is whole and solid, and when she clutches his hand, his fingers are rough and warm and whole entwined with hers. "I've got you. I've got you."
She feels a gentle kiss pressed to her temple, and finally finds her voice after a few ragged sobs. "I was dreaming that she ordered one of my sisters to torture you, to kill you because I couldn't. You didn't even wince at the pain, but I couldn't bear it. Oh, Goddess..."
His hands are on her face now, wiping away the tears, cupping her chin so that his eyes meet her own. "I'm here, and so are you." He kisses a stray tear off her cheek. "Did she send you to kill me, then?"
"No," Kali swallows hard, digs her fingers into his hair so that her cheek is pressed to his, seeking comfort like a child. "She let me go. I'm lost to her, to my princess and sisters."
"No," Yu-Ling murmurs, as his lips home in on hers. "You're free."
***
This time, it's slower, gentler. What do they have but time, anyway? She does not have to leave by daybreak; she has nowhere else to go. He traces every inch of her skin with his fingertips, worships her with his eyes and his lips and his soul, and kisses her fingers, one by one-- the hands that have wrought so much destruction in the past. She runs her own lips over the scar she'd left in his shoulder, still visible but not quite as livid, and gasps when he enters her. When she peaks and clenches around him, he muffles her cries with his kiss. When he follows a moment later, he murmurs something against her neck, but she's too gone to hear.
"What did you say?" she whispers afterwards. Her head fits against the crook of his neck like a puzzle piece. She's once again fighting exhaustion, but it's a pleasant drowsiness, a languid, liquid satisfaction.
"Love," he answers. "It is the key that you sought. The key to the kingdom."
In the east, the sun begins to rise. Instead of getting up to leave, Kali smiles a secret smile, and lets the steady beat of his heart lull her back to sleep.
The air is colder now, and the nights span longer, with a hint of frost and inky, cloudless skies. The aspens and willows rustle with the night wind, and their leaves are now the stark yellow of Venusian sunsets rather than their vibrant summery green. Fifteen days ago was the brightest, biggest full moon, dusky gold and pendulous, of the current Earthen orbit, and in the last two weeks, Kali has traveled nearly three hundred leagues on quick feet and temper.
The land, perhaps due to its weather changes, perhaps due to the utter finality of her last audience with the High Queen, seems so much more savage and untamed now. The fragile butterflies that used to flit colourfully from flower to flower have all but vanished. Kali spends her days running through villages and towns, mountains and forests, without the heart to stop to see them. And at night, after the sun sets, woe betide any brigands who cross her path under the moonlight.
Now, the moon is invisible in the sky, and it seems bleakly fitting that in front of her eyes, tall and proud, are the carved stone walls of the villa of Yu-Ling Jun Zi. She cannot return to the moon, not tonight.
Not ever.
The autumn wind blows her raven hair away from her neck, and Kali suddenly feels tired, leeched of all anger and fury. She still has enough energy to vault over that wall-- it's practically habitual, after all the expeditions of the past when everything was still simply duty and nothing was complicated-- but when she finds herself in the garden, with its tranquil lotus pond now rife with seedpods rather than flowers and its pavilion adorned with chrysanthemums rather than peonies, she sighs.
The sound of footsteps has her head jerking up, and violet eyes meet blue ones. Yu-Ling must notice that she's unveiled, with her hair unbound and uncrowned, her armour sans any insignia of rank. But he says nothing, and as always, waits for her to speak. Kali did not mean to end up here, not really, but now that she's facing him and he still meets her gaze with nothing but calm, unfaltering acceptance in his own, she can't find it in herself to continue her fruitless travels.
"I've been on your world since the harvest moon," she blurts out without preamble. Her voice is steady and her eyes are brave, but her tightly-clasped hands are white at the knuckles. "I am tired from my journey. Can I rest here a while?"
He takes the first step towards her, then another, then another. With infinite care, he reaches out, touches her cheek with a rough, warm hand, then brushes her unbound hair away from her face.
"Come in."
***
The room he takes her to is adjacent to his own, large and opulently appointed with intricately carved rosewood furniture and varnished floors. A ceramic vase rests by the window, milk-white and dark blue flowers patterned across its graceful surface, and inside flares a riot of late-blooming red roses. The rosewood bed is inlaid with gold lacquer and dressed with cushions and sheets of vividly embroidered yellow silk. A silent handmaid draws her a warm bath scented with cassia flowers and rosemary sprigs, and leaves her a damask robe to wear to bed. Kali sinks into the fragrant water, letting its warmth soothe her weary limbs, and scrubs the grime and dirt off of her skin. Back on the moon, with its magically enhanced environment and the full range of spells and technology at her disposal, she'd never known exhaustion.
She'd also never questioned her faith.
Yu-Ling's kindness towards her is the height of irony, considering the final, disregarded orders from the High Queen.
It does not bear thinking about, not here, not now. And Kali, in her silk robe, sleeps curled up underneath the covers just like any human woman in need of rest. If she is at all aware of Yu-Ling's eyes upon her as he walks in through the open door between their rooms, as he keeps vigil, seated by the desk, she doesn't give any indication. He stays awake, though, unable to keep his eyes off of her.
Kali, his Lady of War. In rest, even without the moonlight, she seems to glow with some inner fire.
***
"There are no artifacts. I have searched everywhere, Your Majesty. Riches and treasures, certainly, but none that hold any magical power." Kali's voice is steady, but she can't bring herself to look into the High Queen's eyes.
The silence in the Throne Room is deafening. Metis' presence at her side is comforting, but Kali knows better than to think that any of her sisters would be able to stand up with her against the Queen's orders. Up by the throne, Isis stands sentinel, sword in one hand and chain in the other. Most executions took place elsewhere, but this floor has been stained with blood before. Isis would, at least, be quick and merciful.
If the Queen allowed for mercy.
"The Sibyl is never wrong." The High Queen's voice is cool and melodious like frosty moonlight and flute song. "It must stand that the Keeper of the Kingdom retains the artifact on his person at all times. Perhaps it is something almost too small to notice, like a key or a locket. You must check him as well."
"And what if I cannot find it?" Kali blurts out.
"Then you have him tell you where it is, by any means necessary." The Queen's voice is gentle, in stark contrast to her directive. "My Warrior Princess," she addresses Kali with the fondness of a mother. "I don't doubt that you'll succeed."
The images that fill her mind are horrifying, and Kali flinches-- she who has never once before feared the carnage of battle and war. His blood, spurting red onto her hands. The handsome, gentle face battered beyond recognition. She knew, beyond any doubt, that he would never surrender. And when it was over, when she hewed his head from his body with her blade, his blue eyes would remain eternally open, forgiving and tranquil and inexorable as a windless ocean. He wouldn't beg for mercy or scream out his pain.
She would be the one to go mad from it in the end.
"I..." Kali can't find the breath for her words, but she shakes her head. With a clatter, she drops her daggers to the floor. When she finally looks up, she can barely see the High Queen's beautiful face through her tears. "I can't."
"I can see that you need some assistance with your task," the Queen says kindly, then gestures with her hand. From the left entrance to the throne room, Rhiannon strides in, long legs eating up the length of marble floor. With one muscled arm, she drags along a prisoner wrapped up in a length of rope. The man is bound and gagged and blindfolded, but Kali recognizes all too well the bright golden hair on his head. At a nod from the High Queen, Rhiannon reaches down, grasping the prisoner's right hand, and the snap of breaking bone echoes like a detonated bomb. Yu-Ling Jun Zi doesn't utter a sound, but Kali's screams rip through the air like heartbreak.
***
"Hey, hey, wake up, my love. It's just a dream," Strong, warm arms around her shoulders, fingers stroking through her sweaty hair. Kali recognizes his scent before she can open her eyes, and slumps against him, the tears coming too fast for her to stop them. But he is whole and solid, and when she clutches his hand, his fingers are rough and warm and whole entwined with hers. "I've got you. I've got you."
She feels a gentle kiss pressed to her temple, and finally finds her voice after a few ragged sobs. "I was dreaming that she ordered one of my sisters to torture you, to kill you because I couldn't. You didn't even wince at the pain, but I couldn't bear it. Oh, Goddess..."
His hands are on her face now, wiping away the tears, cupping her chin so that his eyes meet her own. "I'm here, and so are you." He kisses a stray tear off her cheek. "Did she send you to kill me, then?"
"No," Kali swallows hard, digs her fingers into his hair so that her cheek is pressed to his, seeking comfort like a child. "She let me go. I'm lost to her, to my princess and sisters."
"No," Yu-Ling murmurs, as his lips home in on hers. "You're free."
***
This time, it's slower, gentler. What do they have but time, anyway? She does not have to leave by daybreak; she has nowhere else to go. He traces every inch of her skin with his fingertips, worships her with his eyes and his lips and his soul, and kisses her fingers, one by one-- the hands that have wrought so much destruction in the past. She runs her own lips over the scar she'd left in his shoulder, still visible but not quite as livid, and gasps when he enters her. When she peaks and clenches around him, he muffles her cries with his kiss. When he follows a moment later, he murmurs something against her neck, but she's too gone to hear.
"What did you say?" she whispers afterwards. Her head fits against the crook of his neck like a puzzle piece. She's once again fighting exhaustion, but it's a pleasant drowsiness, a languid, liquid satisfaction.
"Love," he answers. "It is the key that you sought. The key to the kingdom."
In the east, the sun begins to rise. Instead of getting up to leave, Kali smiles a secret smile, and lets the steady beat of his heart lull her back to sleep.