Two paths met in a wood... (Yazmina and Nikolas)

[Kesmi]

"Eh, depends on how things are looked at. Kris can be a pain in my backside sometimes. I just wouldn't really want to get rid of him completely. He's gotten me out of many scrapes in our life time." Nikolas chuckled lightly, "Who knows how many times I have gotten him out of his own trouble."

Shrugging a little he walked back toward Yazmina and nuzzled against her, not really know why, but somewhere in that black heart there was a bit of longing. Perhaps a longing that he never really known about, pulling away a little he didn't know exactly what he was doing and surely the both of them were as red as the blood that pulsed through their bodies. Ears perking up, the bay of a wolf in the far mountains. Shaking his head some, it seemed that more were coming into the mountains after he destroyed the other pack.

"The cave of voices is best seen in the daylight. When you can actually see where your going." Nikolas nodded some. "The path weaves around some of the rock structures inside the cave. My brother and I can move through it in the dark, traveled it too much to no know where everything is. Also the sun brings out more things then one can think of within the cave."

Yes, there were other secrets to the cave, it not only whispered, but it sparkled with the right direction of the sun. He had seen it just when the sun rose at dawn when he was heading to bed. He didn't really notice in the evening, it could have then as well he supposed, but the sun was always down below the mountain ridge of his home. Oh there was much more to the place then a cave that was just the entrance to the small secluded valley. He would show her everything when the time was right.

"The cave also leads to where my brother and I reside. A cave the entrance makes others think is all. But there's more beyond the rocks." He added. "One of the little ones my brother and I had taken in was the first to see it. I'm sure you'd like the place, if you like waterfalls and crystal ponds." Not that it was much of a secret now, but supposed it would have to be said at some point and not by his brother.  

[Samuel Carlin]

"You see? Having help to get out of trouble is better than being alone." And she was happy she'd been right, even if that wasn't exactly what she was thinking.

Then he was close again and nuzzling against her and yes, she blushed predictably, and if he could hear it, he'd hear her heart kick up a notch, but she didn't shift away or pull back. If anything, she seemed almost to lean a little, into him, rather than away. Which only made her blush harder when she realized that she'd done it. She didn't know what it was about him that had convinced her that, no matter his mood, she wasn't in any real danger.

More, that she was safer with him than not, as the sound of the wolf calls reminded her. He'd moved off again, but she followed, reassured by his size and his presence, without even thinking about it.

Then he surprised her so much that she forgot the wolves and looked at him, wide-eyed. "Waterfalls and crystal ponds? Where you live?"  

[Kesmi]

Nikolas looked at Yazmina as she followed him. If he had a means of embracing her besides his head, he would have, but he was devoid of wings of any kind, not that he would have needed them to be whom he was. He had barely noticed her blush as he looked away from her a moment. There wasn't any danger around them, but he just wanted to make sure. Nothing, the wolves were a distance away and that was good enough for him. Keeping Yazmina close to him, he looked back at her, his ears twitching as he did hear her heart going a bit faster from his nuzzle against her.

"Yes, my brother and I live in a small secluded valley in the mountains. The only way to get to it is to either fly, or through the Cave of Voices." He added in as he turned and pulled a couple strands of hair carefully away from her face. "The mountains are tall and in the spring season they are loaded with flowers. Around the edges a thick grove of trees and bushes. Good shelter against storms, off to one side there's a steep cliff where a waterfall plunges into a crystal clear pool. Around that open space, enough for a good sized herd if someone else were to find it."

Pausing some, he would wait until the information he had given to sink in, it was a bit much in on good come to think of it. But it was too late, it was already said it wasn't like he could take it back now. He knew that if most could get past the cave of voices, then they could very well get into the valley, but most that chased the brothers stopped at the entrance. From the crash of their hooves it would sounds like there were a herd in the caves instead of just the one. Shaking his mane out a little, he nuzzled Yazmina again. There was something else he wanted to tell her, something more personal, but he wasn't sure he could say it just yet. The time didn't feel right as something dragged his mind backwards. A memory perhaps of something he had done or hadn't done... He would sort that out later.  

[Samuel Carlin]

If he'd had wings, she would probably have stepped underneath one gladly. As it was, her heart was in no danger of slowing down soon, not with him still close and rearranging her mane and all.

She listened and imagined what the cave might look like. She knew she was probably embellishing his words and making it brighter and more sunlight-filled than it really was. After all, he'd been so eager and so quick to leave the sunlight when it crept across the land, she couldn't imagine that either brother wanted much to do with sunshine and blue skies and open air. Things that she loved, that she'd always enjoyed, and things that now, somehow, didn't seem as important as they had mere moments ago.

She'd closed her eyes, but she opened them when he stopped speaking. "It sounds wonderful," she told him earnestly. "I didn't expect it of you, it surprises me, but it sounds beautiful. One day." He'd said as much and she'd hold him to it.

When he nuzzled her again, her eyes once again drifted shut. "You're very warm," she told him. Maybe she was the one who was warm. She wasn't blushing anymore. She was just... warm.  

[Kesmi]

Nikolas glanced side long at Yazmina with a small smile. That was one thing that damned him in another time, his family had been known for art, specially someone whom he refused to remember. So it would surprise anyone who might hear it from him for the first time and that was just about everyone besides his brother. But he sure could paint a picture in the minds of others if he wanted to. Or in this instance, to show the one he cared about just about what his home was like.

"Perhaps in the spring." He whispered laying his head atop her gently. "Kris and I will be moving the young fledgelings to our winter home, less romantic at best. It's more brier bush and thick trees, then the open valley."

Brier bushes and a thick clump of trees, the center barely big enough for a few soquili to get into and rest if the winds were bad enough that it wasn't safe. It really wasn't that romantic... His thoughts were halted as Yazmina's voice broke them and he's eyes came less distant. Warm? Him? Well in this new form he might have been warm to the touch, he'd just never had anyone tell him.

"I could say the same, Yazmina. Warm like the sun I have long forgotten." He commented as he remained close to her, not really wanting to pull away, too afraid that he might lose that warmth that was growing between them.  

[Samuel Carlin]

She wasn't entirely sure how they'd ended up this close, but she couldn't bring herself to mind. She didn't want to hurt him and wished, for a moment, that she didn't have the horn so she needn't worry. But then she had her nose tucked lightly against his neck and she was sure she couldn't hurt him at all.

"In the spring," she agreed. "When it's warmer and the breezes are sweet and the land isn't sleeping. I'd like to see it then." She kept her eyes closed. "I'd take you to my home as well, if I could. If you'd go. Spring was always good there. Beautiful and peaceful and happy." She didn't think he'd want to go, but the offer was heartfelt.

Now she lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm not the sun," she insisted quietly with a little smile. "But I wish I could give it back to you."  

[Kesmi]

Nikolas shifted his stance a little to look down at her a bit, his head ruffling her mane some as he did. Tail flicking some behind him, Nikolas really didn't want to move, but it was kind of hard to look into her eyes from where he was standing. Was it fate that had drawn the most unlikely two together? Or was something more then that? He didn't know as Yazmina agreed that the spring would be best to head to his home, it would be more pretty then and full of life that was now very little.

"Yea, the spring is always bringing out a lot of life in the smallest of places," He had to agree on that point. "I would like to see your home, see those that you live with. And hope that I don't offend anyone while I'm there." He chuckled as most didn't much care for him after learning what he was.

Her last comments made his frown some, she was the sun to him and that was all that mattered. But she wanted to give it back to him? Stepping back a moment to let the cool night air fill the small space between them, he had a strange look on his face. One of not really understanding, one he hadn't worn in a long time.

"You are the sun to me Yazmina. True there is always the bright sun that looms over the earth in the day light hours. But you..." He paused a moment to collect himself. "But you are my sun in the night hours." He concluded.

Did he feel foolish, well of course, he hadn't felt this way about anyone one before. Not since a long time ago that is, but she was less then worthy of his time, the way she hovered around him like a fly around a pool of blood. No, Yazmina was different, he might not have known it then, but since the wolves, he had felt a need to protect her. To be with her, others might have called a foolish love, but now... It felt deeper. Much deeper.  

[Samuel Carlin]

She almost stepped in close again, reluctant to lose his warmth. Then again, she couldn't stay pressed against him forever. They'd have to be apart sometimes, so this little distance wouldn't be that bad. It would only get greater and stretch for longer periods. She could manage a few moments, at the very least, so she stood her ground and looked up at him.

And smiled, so very pleased, she felt full of it. "I should be golden," she argued, halfway teasing. "Or fire-colored at least. I'm a very pale sun." And it was true, she was. "You're welcome to see our little home," she told him. "You won't offend them. They'll like you." Well. Dia might give him a hard time, but she was only one out of three.

She'd also made up her mind. She'd already been leaning toward saying yes. Now? Now there wasn't really any other answer she could give. So she did step close to him again now, and said, "And when you're ready, if you and Kristopher agree, I will come to stay with you. If that's still what you want. If the invitation still stands." Oh how she hoped.  

[Kesmi]

Nikolas gave a laugh at her tease to him about her color. Shaking his head some he grinned at her, a fangy grin he couldn't help it. Being with her seemed to brighten his spirits no matter how dark they seem to turn before coming to be with her. He willed, inside, that his beast would vanish completely so that he could be normal like his brother and the little ones he looked after.

"You aren't as pale as I am. And you have more color to you then you take credit for." He stopped off to the side a little and nipped gently at her wings, where they were flaked with a pinkish purple.

When things came around to his offer to stay with him and his brother, he hadn't taken the offer back. That was still open to her, he smiled again at the mention that those she lived with wouldn't be offended by what he was. For that he was glad, it was hard for him to be accepted by most of those in this world. Stepping close to her again he nuzzled his head into her wing, before her mane. Nostrils flaring taking in her scent, never wanting to forget it.

"The offer still stands to you Yazmina. It will never waver or close." He stated after pulling his head away from her. "The offer is yours and yours alone, none other will get the same offer for the same reasons."

Reasons, that was a curious word. Nikolas knew it was a curious word and also felt that it might have been the wrong word for how he felt. A deeper warmth was blossoming within him and sooner or later he was going to have to say something. The sooner the better, as his brother had told him, the sooner, the better. The same phrase ran through his head and before long he lips were moving and words were flowing off his tongue. Long before his mind could catch up to what was being said.

"Yazmina? What would you say if I told you that I..." He paused, "That I loved you?" Heaven help him if the moment was wrong.  

[Samuel Carlin]

She spread her feathers a little apart, not quite an intentional reaction to having the tips nibbled, and she laughed as they twitched. "Color, yes, but not a sun's color. Well. Maybe a very early sunrise on the right sort of day." It counted, she supposed.

She leaned against him again as he nuzzled into her wing, completely--and surprisingly--but utterly content and happy to do so. And when he told her the offer stood, she blurted almost, "I'm glad it does. And more glad that it's only for me." She'd never before had a greedy bone in her body, but now she felt like she wanted something that was just hers. Something with Nikolas. She'd never been possessive, but now, yes, she thought she was.

So when he spoke again, asking his question, she didn't startle or flinch or shy away. She blushed, but then she was always doing that, and she turned around to face him completely, stepping so close that their noses almost touched. "I think," she answered, "that love might explain why I feel the way I do. Why you make me feel like there are butterflies in my stomach and why I think about you all the time. Why I worry for you and about you and why I wanted so much to come out into the night to see you. Nikolas, I think I love you, too."  

[Kesmi]

"They are the sun's colored to my eyes." He says remaining close to Yazmina. "I have shied so far away from it, that I have almost completely forgotten about it."

He wanted to hold her close, to always be there at her side. he smiled as she told him that she was glad that his offer was still there for her and only her. He didn't think he could find another that he would care this much for like Yazmina. Really he didn't think that there was any other out there like her. It surprised him that there was an almost possessive tone to her voice, well perhaps wasn't the right word for it, but she did seem to want to keep it for herself and he was all too happy to keep it that way.

He watched as her face lit up in blush of his question, kinda scared inside of what would be said. He blinked a couple times as she turned to face him, her nose just about touching his own. Ears perching themselves forward and his own, once cold, heart drummed against his ribcage. Then she started speaking of how she felt when around him and how she was always worried for and about him when she was away. He had always worried about her too, afraid that something would happen and he couldn't reach her on time. The list went on, normally his 'kind' didn't dream, but he did and frequently.

Stepping that one needed step forward closing that last small gap between them, his eyes closed as he nuzzled against her head, brushing his nose against hers as he came back to look into her eyes. He hadn't forgotten about the horn on her head, nor would he forget how sharp it was. But he would forget about it this time around as he was too tranced by the beauty of her vibrant eyes.

"I've always worried about you Yazmina." He whispered as he remained where he stood. "Ever since the wolf attack, I had always worried that something would happen and I wasn't able to get there fast enough." Nikolas was confessing things that he hadn't even told his brother. "Some fears I have had, I didn't even tell my brother." He didn't really move, though did move back a little to breath some, he sudden;y felt like he couldn't hold himself up, too many thoughts and feeling were over loading his senses.  

[Samuel Carlin]

She exhaled and breathed deep, sharing breath with him, her eyes sliding happily shut again. She bumped her against his and her ears tipped forward happily. Her tail swung and her heart thumped away, not racing, but light and fast and pleased.

"Nothing will happen to me," she promised. "Never, when I'm with you. Not even when we're apart. I'll be careful. And you should as well. Always careful," she insisted. "Because. Because now that I know you, and now that I know how I feel, I... I need you."

And there was the blush. It embarrassed her to need him, when she'd been taught to be independent. She tried to be, at least. If she hadn't found the others, she would have survived on her own. Lonely, perhaps, but she would have survived.  

[Kesmi]

"I know nothing will happen if you stay with me. We both will be careful when our paths part and someone calls. But we will always come back to each other safely." He agreed. "It has been a long time since I've felt this way toward anyone besides my brother. But, I find that I can't get too far now. In the long run, I think we need each other."

Nikolas stepped forward once more and nuzzling against her, before nipping at her wing playfully. Stepping away and off to one side, he waited to see if she would catch his idea and follow. His ankles felt numb from standing there too long and almost felt like he was going to freeze in that spot, he had to move. Tilting his head away from Yazmina in a gesture that he was moving on, he still waited for her. He wasn't about to leave her behind, not now, not ever.

"Catch me if you can. And no flying." He called before turning and kicking up snow behind him and heading into the trees and out on to the open plain that was past them. Ears perching backwards listening.  

[Samuel Carlin]

It was nice -- no, better than nice; it was wonderful-- to be needed. Wasn't that what she'd wanted all along? Someone to need her, just her, for whatever she was and whatever should could offer? Nikolas and her feelings for him were entirely unexpected, but she felt better than she could remember having felt before.

So when he moved away and then dared her to follow, she laughed and first ducked her head away from flying snow, then ran after him, wings flaring open briefly, but folding again. "It's not fair to get a head start and then tell me I can't fly," she challenged, but she played along.

She chased him, laughing brightly, and sending up little puffs of snow herself. "What happens if I catch you?" she called out to him.  

[Kesmi]

Nikolas turned his head to look back toward Yamina as she chased after him. He hadn't really thought of what she would get if she did catch him, or what would happen, just have to come up with something. Spinning himself around to run back toward her and come up beside her for a moment. He wasn't going to let her lag behind, minding to keep just out of reach, he smiled toward her.

"We'll have to see what happens. But for now, you can't get me." He teased turning a little and headed toward more trees, it was there he was going to let her get him.

When he reached the trees, he came to a sliding halt and looked back toward Yazmina, not that he thought he had left her that far behind. It was a short run, but enough to get the blood flowing through his legs to get them warmed up once more. Inside, all the emotions were making him tired and the run only helped the idea of resting. Even if it were still the middle of the night, he just wanted to rest with her. To hold her close as long as he could before she had to return to those she lived with.