Welcome to Gaia! ::

He smirks softly and looks back to his sister, holding it up to her so she can get a close look at it. "This is a very special shell," he says as he turns it over in his hand, then looking at it as if inspecting it. "This one, specific shell is the legendary Matchu Shell. It looks like other shells, which is why no one has found one yet. This shell is said happiness to whoever wears it and believes in it..."

((Is ok, Jayney. I understand ^.^))

He smiles brightly at her enthusiasm and pulls a piece of string from his pocket. He ties it tightly around the little shell and dangles it in front of Juunikyuu. "Here you go, sis. It's all yours now."

For the last two weeks Enki has been on his island, practically held up there and basically refusing to leave for a while. One of the leviathans beneath the island laid an egg in the birthing chamber a while back and it decided to hatch while Enki was back, which always brought the blue-haired man join to watch the small, snake-like creatures birth. He had spent a good few days down in the water-filled cavern, watching over the young creature and playing with it while it's parents went out to get food. Seeing the birth of one leviathan made Enki happy after bearing the death of another.

When he wasn't down in the caverns beneath the island, he spent a good amount of time in his library, pining over old Atlantean books, brushing up on their history and reconnecting himself with his past, as if it somehow helps him. In between pining and reading, he would occasionally go back up to his main chambers to tidy up. Only once, though, did he pull out an old, leather-bound book, opening in it to write a basic summary of what had happened over the past year before placing it back into his wooden desk.

He had a bad habit of either looking out his large, open window or standing on the beach and gazing out at the ocean, as if resenting what had been done. He didn't have a choice in the matter, it HAD to be done or something really terrible may have happened. Either way, he doesn't exactly feel good about killing one of the ancients of a species he's spent most of his human life protecting.

On one particular day, he decides to clean the entrance of the temple, his home, years of not taking care of it having caused it to become ridden with sand and dirt and other little things creatures have left behind. He brushes the sand from the smooth, rock floor, having particular trouble cleaning off the smooth carpet down the middle, the small bits rather enjoying sticking to it.

He stops as he cleans and looks up at the carvings and portraits on the walls, smiling a bit as he remembers the old days when things were a bit more... simple. He shrugs and continues to clean the main hall before feeling satisfied at it's cleanliness and stands at the main entryway, looking out along the small beach as the wind rustles his hair and sash a bit behind him.

Enki looks away from the ocean for a moment as he hears a sound, a barely audible but constant sound, almost like a humming or the kind of sound you would expect something that glows to make. Moments later, the sound stops. There was no mistake about it, someone had activated one of the portals, but whoever it was is not Alexander. He knows the feeling of his own son, and this was not it, yet it was still all-together comforting and familiar.

He turns and looks toward the door as it opens and closes, his eyes widening a bit as he sees Asherah standing at the doorway staring at him, almost looking as helpless as like a newborn fawn. A breeze from the ocean wafts through the door, causing a bit of his azure hair to flit into his face, reaching up to move it aside as he utters one word.

"Asherah..."

Many questions race through his mind, but the biggest one at the moment happens to be Why is she here...

The deep pools of water that are his eyes watch her form as she walks over to him after her simple and straight forward greeting. Part of him is afraid she'll slap him again... but her body says quite the opposite. Her arms glide slowly up the light-blue, silk shirt he has on and he can feel a soft, gentle tingle gliding up his body, following her touch. They slip up and over his shoulders before gliding back down his arms before she presses his form against her small, comforting body, feeling a light blush trickle onto his cheeks.

His arms slip gently around Asherahs waist, holding her against him as she drapes her arms around her neck and leans up to kiss him. He meets her half-way, wanting nothing more then to feel her lips upon his again and returns the kiss, deepening it in passion as he holds her form against him. The tough of her lips and the feel of her body sends a spark through him and goose bumps rise about his soft flesh, a shiver following the spark through his entire body.

When she pulls away, he gazes into her eyes. The pools of water lighten a bit as if the sun just crept through the clouds to shine upon the water, his "irises" growing smaller as small waves flit about within the blue hue.

"I love you too, Asherah," he says softly as one of his hands creeps slowly up her back to rest lightly upon her cheek, "with all of my being."

He gazes deeply into her eyes as she places his hand upon her chest, feeling her heart thump like a mallet against canvas. He holds her gently and lovingly against him as he leans down and lightly kisses the tears from her cheeks before lightly kissing her lips. Moments later, he breaks the kiss, leaving his lips tenderly against hers as he speaks.

"My dearest Asherah, I will never leave you again," he says, keeping his hand over her heart.

"I will keep you by my side at all times as my lover, my mate... as the woman I give my all to, to be with you until the end of our days."

"I promise..."

Enki's arms gently slip around her shoulders and down around her back, keeping her gently against him as she nuzzles his chest through his silk shirt. He presses soft, gentle kisses to the top of her head, lightly taking in her sweet scent as he lets out a content sigh.

"By the name of Gaea herself, I promise."

Keeping one arm around her waist, he gently leads her out onto the beach, the gentle waft of the cool ocean breeze flitting through the air as it wraps around them. His eyes scan out to the ocean and the small rocky peaks of the coral reef as it caps through the water a bit.

"Everything you see here, everything that belongs to me," he says as he then turns her back to face the temple, his home, "is yours to share, my sweet Asherah."