"Mmm, I noticed that much, that she likes citrus fruits a lot I mean. And yes, she does like the rain, I do too though of course, so it's a match made in heaven, hmhm," Giselle said with a giggle.
Giselle listened as Terra spoke of Kylie, fascinated and eager to learn as much as she could about her beloved fiancee. "Ah... I didn't know blue was her favorite color honestly. Now that I know, I can get her more blue colored things," Giselle said after Terra was done, nodding and smiling. "Thank you for telling me all this. I appreciate any knowledge you can give me about my fiancee," she added before looking around at her handiwork again.
She didn't get all secretive until later. So a lot of the work is up to you isn't it, Soon to be Mrs Vilanstross. You're going to be minor nobility aren't you. Interesting. Terra said, bringing the gate into their air pocket while Giselle looked around at the growth she'd caused.
The plants all swayed with the currents, fish playing about the fresh plantlife interestedly. We should head back. I'm busy with a great many things I'm decidedly procrastinating about. And you're about to marry Kylie, the missing and dethroned duchess of the 14th Block centerpiece. It's all over-run now, but in it's time it was a thriving and beautiful part of the city. 1 monarch, 18 centerpiece block nobles, 36 merchant princes, and a pirate king. That is how Garellia is structured. 6 of the block nobles no longer have land, 1 is missing, the Vilanstross family name is important even in obscurity. Terra said, bringing the gate over both of them, and setting them floating gently in the water alongside the still moving ship, Terra reforming their boards to catch up.
She'd say no more on Kylie's past, instead guiding her to the ship's ladder, and urging her up with a smile and a wave, before surging off on her board, creating her own wave to ride.
Kylie was still in the rigging, everyone was moving about as normal, her place with bel was waiting if she chose, or perhaps another part of the ship deserved her wanderings.
"Mmm, indeed it is. She's still kinda secretive about some stuff, even to me. But that's just how she is I guess, likely not wanting to get me hurt by knowing a secret that I don't need to or something. It annoys me, but I love her for it," Giselle said, looking curiously at Terra. "And... I'm going to be minor nobility? This is news to me," Giselle asked, looking a little dumbfounded about that.
Hearing Terra explain, Giselle's eyes lit up a bit. Nobility... she and Kylie would be nobility. Even if it was in a land that hated the very thought of her existence, being fey and non human and whatnot, the thought still filled Giselle with a sense of pride. With that, she smiled and rose up to the surface again, taking a deep breath beforehand, until she broke the surface and was riding her board again. When Terra urged her to the ladder, Giselle looked a little saddened, that she wouldn't be able to keep surfing, as she liked impressing Kylie, but she did climb back on board. "Be careful, miss Terra," Giselle said, waving to the priestess as she headed down to Bel to help in the kitchen now, a little spring in her step that she'd learned a little more about Kylie.
Kylie had seen her, had watched her, Giselle had felt her eyes, and Bel brightened when he saw her ushering her in to help. It was a real meal this time, not something light, and there was a bowl of Tir eggs for her and Bel and very finely sliced cutlets of the fish to serve in alongside their bread, oranges, sausage, and a tomato. True to form of all men, they were turned into sandwiches the moment they left Bel's hands by the men and Giselle was free to lose herself in her cooking. Except that Bel was clicking again.
What did you think of lady tides?
Kylie came down at the end of 2nd shift, having worked through two, and slid into the kitchen, looking like she'd actually managed to exhaust herself for now, kissing Giselle on the lips as she grabbed an extra orange for her plate, Bel snorting and shaking his head before bonking her on the head with her own tray, sending her out of his kitchen.
Giselle helped Bel fix up everything, and simply enjoyed those Tir eggs, devouring the ones meant for her. Giselle did get lost in her cooking for the most part, though she was aware of her surroundings, and smiled when she heard Bel clicking. "Oh she's wonderful. A very nice lady, and very powerful," Giselle replied after reading what he'd wrote. "And she's very beautiful too, though, not as beautiful as my Kylie," she added, just as Kylie came into the kitchen, where she returned the kiss.
"Now Bel, if you don't mind, I'm going to take myself a break, so I can be with my fiancee," Giselle told Bel with a wink, as she moved to join Kylie for the meal.
Kylie was not in the dining area with everyone else, and Giselle had to rush away from Bel to keep up with her as she took her meal, as well as several other stolen oranges from other crew members down deeper into the ship. It was like trying to follow a ghost and Giselle almost lost her lady love twice, having to use her ring to keep track.
You'd think in somewhere as limited as a ship on the ocean, it wouldn't be that hard, but as it turned out there were several off beat ways through the deck and Kylie knew them all.
Giselle caught up to spot her on the bottom deck, sitting in between all the magic lines, a trail of orange peels showing the safest route to join her and she waved, pointing at the peels so giselle could shimmy her way over. She'd planned this, if the catlike grin smacked all over her face was any indication.
Chasing off after Kylie, Giselle moved as quickly as she could, nearly losing Kylie somehow, which was odd considering the fact that they were on a very confined space. When she finally caught up to her in the bottom decks, Giselle grinned at the orange peels left as a trail for her. "Oh you, just have to make me chase after you don't you, hmhm," Giselle giggled, moving swiftly over to Kylie and sitting down next to her. "So why'd you lead me in here, hmm?" she then asked curiously.
"Aye, that was amazing, and quite fun to say the least. I didn't realize that Terra would have quite... so much power," Giselle replied with a smile, leaning over to kiss Kylie on the cheek as she sat there with her.
No one expects the water wizard! Kylie cried, flopping back onto the wood floor with her arms raised, continuing to nibble on her lunch.
Yeah, she's cool. Don't ask her for super wizard things, like turning lead into gold or I dunno, other weird ass stuff, but she's tough. She'd definitely tough. Kylie said from her place on the floor.
I talked to Cosimo, should be about 2 weeks before we get there, maybe a little less, maybe a little more. And we're out of fun spots to see along the way, just a lot more water. she mused quietly. Suppose we could shoot me out of a cannon if we get bored...
"Oh I figured that much. She's a priestess, not a wizard, certain amgics are out of her league really. But she asked me to sing for her is where we went," Giselle replied, laying back with Kylie, and thinking to herself that she'd definitely get Kylie either a black pearl ring, or maybe a necklace or something with the thing. "And that sounds nice. Not the shooting you out of a cannon of course, but the fact we'll be there in only a couple of weeks. Also, Terra said she so wanted to watch you do that dance, and that we had to do some sort of weird dance to even get in, or something like that," she went on to say.
Kinda? There's two ways through the sea barrier there. You'll see. One way is a talisman, which only the current king has, so ships have to go by their ship to get in, or their fleet, and the other is The Dance of Tide and Thunder. Which is a ritual dance. She'd better be excited, making me practice for a year Kylie said, making a face and finishing her lunch, yanking Giselle down to cuddle with her.
You'll find a rhythm though and the time will be over before you know it. she said, stroking Giselle's hair as she sighed.
"Aye, she was saying something about that. Although, I've never been before, so I don't know exactly for certain how it works, only what she was telling me," Giselle said before being yanked down to cuddle, which she did enthusiastically. "And... I really want to see you dance this dance. I can't wait, hmhm, and I'm not worried about how long the trip will take. I'm sure it'll pass before I know it. And, well... I've got you with me, so it couldn't be any better than it is, because it's just us. Gods I love you so much Kylie," she went on to say, giggling as she snuggled against Kylie, wrapping a leg around Kylie's and pulling her into a deep kiss.
Kylie returned the kiss and wriggled a bit in the snuggles. I love you to Giselle.
The rest of their journey seemed to be a bit of a blur of activity. Giselle spending most of her time on the ship either watching Kylie work, or even train with Gestalt at times, in which she also joined as the old man was quite good with a spear, teaching her as thoroughly as he would anyone else. And considering he didn't talk much at all, it was refreshing to learn more about him, if only through their short time sparring. He was solid, steadfast, skilled, and humble. His bladework spoke of loyalty that transcended right and wrong, he had his own code, and it sang in his weapon mastery as they trained.
Bel and Giselle got along very well and the rest of the crew would take the time to occassionally thank her for her help in the kitchen as they taught eachother different meals to make with the ships stock for everyone else.
Giselle and Kylie made love several more times, but not as often and it was made up for with the passion Kylie showed during that week, as if each moment they spent together as one would be their last, and worry started to gnaw at Giselle's heart. She still could not remember her dream in full, but something deep in her soul warned her that a storm was coming.
2 weeks drifted by, Kylie happy on the sea, as happy as Giselle had ever seen her, and soon enough it was Kylie bellowing to the crew below from the nest.
Wall lads! and everyone cheered, Bel rushing Giselle up to the surface as the word spread. They were home. It was Twilight, and the crew was rushing about to set up torches of all things on the deck as they approached something shimmering in the air. Giselle could spot Terra off the ship, sitting on the water, with 2 other priestesses, all garbed the same, but with much smaller markings across their body, and only a single anklet in their cases shining gold around their ankles. One was a redhead, her hair cut very short with a tattoo of an eel across her body, from her left ankle to her right shoulder that curled over her heart, and the other was a dark haired woman, both a little shorter then Terra, but hard, muscled, well trained, and a Tir Fish curled over her chest in twisting ink. The ship was slowing and everyone was rushing about while Kylie had swung down to stand beside Giselle.
I suppose you finally get to see me dance... she said, a little nervous as she looked out across the deck.
"You'd better love me. Now, let's eat and stuff. I'm hungry," Giselle said after a few moments.
After that, Giselle fell into a groove as her next shift came up, and the next days passed by seemingly fairly quickly. When she wasn't helping Bel in the kitchen, Giselle watched Kylie as much as she could, or trained with Gestalt, learning new spear techniques from him, that she didn't quite know before. "Gestalt, you're really good with a spear. I'm glad I got to meet you and everything, because, I wouldn't have learned more and gotten better," Giselle said, smiling to Gestalt as they finished one of their sessions after a few days into the training sessions. "And I want to learn as much as possible, so that I can better protect Kylie," she added to him.
At the end of each day that they got to have sex, Giselle made love to Kylie as passionately as they ever had. Giselle was also feeling more and more worried as each day passed by, and she didn't know why, but she knew that whatever it was worried her, and it had to be that dream which she'd had the first night on the ship.
...
When they finally came within sight of land again, and Kylie cried out to everyone, Giselle looked out and around, and spotted Terra and a couple of other priestesses like her, though obviously lesser ones. Giselle waved to her, and smiled. "Yeah, the moment I've been waiting eagerly for. I want to see you dance dammit. I wonder if I can sing while you dance," Giselle said, pondering whether or not she'd be able to sing while Kylie danced.
As much as I'd love that, not for this dance. The sun dance surely. but this. we both need to be able to focus. Kylie lamented, hugging Giselle firmly she stepped away and started to strip.
No one said a word, not a single soul dared to comment on Kylie's nudity and the lines on her flesh flared with her excitement when she saw Terra sliding up onto the ship with her acolytes. Suppose I'll be able to do this properly now Terra, did you bring them? Kylie asked her, Terra laughing and tossing a pair of heavy silver rings at Kylie.
Catching them, Kylie let her gauntlets fall into her clothing and slid one around her right wrist, and the other around her left ankle. She turned back and winked to Giselle before stepping forward and following Terra out into the water, both women striding on the waves easily. The acolytes stayed on the ship and stood to either side of Giselle at the front to watch.
This should be interesting. the redhead muttered, tilting her head a little. Very, Terra spoke highly of her. She looks nothing like the Kylie we knew. A lot has changed apparently. the brunnette said, sighing. Shame to, I wanted to dance this time. Captain! Do you have the drums? she said, turning to Cosimo, where yes, she'd see them rolling out large drums from below deck, several of the men moving to start a low rolling beat while Giselle and Terra started to move.
Terra stood in the center, the water around her rippling away from her now in small waves, while Kylie stepped back and started to walk around her. So she shall take the male role and dance the air. You are her lover yes? can she do it do you think? Call the thunder? the redhead asked Giselle, her eyes shining a bright green.
The dance continued as the beat of the drums rose into the air.
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Now Kylie was slamming her heel into the water every couple beats solidly, something Giselle wasn't entirely sure she Could do. But the water remained solid for her and a pulse of light surged into the water below her, sliding through the ripples as she walked. Terra in the center was starting to sway, 8 curling tendrils of water rising a little higher with the pulses Kylie gave as she continued to circle. The priestesses to either side of Giselle had fallen silent while Kylie continued to glow, a little brighter with each step, pulsing with her steps, the pair of them below indeed seeming to mirror or even create a small storm. Terra was gyrating now to keep the tendrils up and moving, the water swaying and twisting with her while Kylie's steps were getting more and more complex. What had been a simple heel stomp was turning into a complex series of heel and ankle twists and taps that were making the water glow steadily. while the music changed.
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Kylie surged towards Terra with the change in pace, leaping fully over the priestess and through her tendrils, turning in the air to land and sweep low through them again, a trace of lightning now following wherever she went like a serpent. Terra would answer, following the serpent of light and Kylie with the water as the sea continued to sway and the storm shifted through around and over it.
Turning after a 4th pass, Kylie clapped her hands first low, and then high, a true boom of thunder ricocheting through the dance with each as she leapt and turned, having to dodge and acrobatically turn around and passed the water that Terra put in her way, the lightning and the water twisting closer together until it was impossible to tell where one started, and the other began.
It all ended abruptly as Kylie slid in behind Terra and put her back firmly to the Priestesses, both women raising their hands to clap now, a surging wave filled with brilliant white light raising all around them, before it shimmered and spiraled away from the dancers, another clap of thunder breaking it apart into spray, the water completely still now around them both. The wall shimmered, and then opened, and the ship burst into applause for both Kylie and Terra, who walked away from eachother in measured steps with their hands raised, widening the gap in the wall for the ship to pass.
Very well done.I don't regret missing my own chance, had only the tides turned differently we would be sisters. Such is the way of things. the two said, one praising, the other lamenting Kylie's missed chance to become a priestess with them, while the ship started to slide through the breach.
"Alright, I'd still like to, but if you say I shouldn't, then I won't," Giselle said, kissing Kylie on the cheek.
Giselle watched Kylie undressing, and took her clothes to neatly fold them up on and hold onto them for now. Giselle smiled at Kylie and mouthed "good luck" to her as she prepared to do whatever this dance was. Standing on the prow of the ship, Giselle watched as the other two priestesses took spots to either side of her, where she smiled and nodded to the two. "So... how long does this dance usually take?" Giselle asked softly as the drum was brought out. "I've watched her call lightning, and where there's lightning, there's thunder. Though, without having seen the dance before myself, I can't be completely certain one way or the other. But I believe in Kylie, completely. If anyone can do it, she can," she added when asked by the redhead about Kylie's ability to perform the dance.
Giselle watched as Kylie began, and while it was weird to watch her slamming her heel into the water every couple of beats of the drums or so, Giselle had seen her walking and running on water, so it wasn't that odd to her, at this point. As she watched Kylie's dance carrying on, she watched closely, finding the whole thing quite beautiful to behold in its own way. It was hard at some points, to follow their motions, and steps, but Giselle had eyes only for Kylie, and refused to miss a beat for anything in the world. It didn't matter if she was spoken to, tapped on the shoulder, or even if someone tried to shove her over the side, Giselle would not budge, and would not look at anything but her beloved.
When the climax of the dance came finally and the two clapped above their heads, Giselle watched the wave open up as she followed in clapping and cheering for them both, smiling happily as the ship passed through. "Honestly... I'm glad she never became a priestess. No offense intended miss. Because if she had, then it's very likely that I would never have met her, and wouldn't be here today," Giselle told the two acolytes, as she waited for Kylie to come back to the ship, where she would be waiting and offering a hand up. "Kylie, that was so beautiful," Giselle would say in a giddy squeal as she scooped Kylie up once she was back on board.
Kylie wriggled back onto the ship once it was through and Terra and the acolytes headed over to talk with Cosimo. There was another ship a little further in meandering their way.
Kylie returned the hug, a little wet, and laughed, kissing Giselle on the cheek. I didn't fuck it up! woo! she said, giggling as they stood together, taking off the rings and getting redressed, wriggling back into her clothes and her gauntlets.
They were moving into the bay now, the coast visible on either side at quite a distance, with several towers that had been hidden before by the wall, as well as the port city itself and Kylie was standing at the prow with Giselle. A light twinkle flashed, just a bright little spark on the horizon from the top of a tower near the harbor miles off, before a bullet struck the deck of the ship behind them both with a crack. Kylie gasped softly, looking down at the hole in her chest where her heart should be, before turning to smile at Giselle in shock and confusion, as she collapsed...
Silence reigned, the world stood still as Giselle saw Kylie go limp and crumble to the deck.
"I wouldn't have known if you did to be perfectly honest sweetie, hmhm," Giselle said with a giggle, kissing Kylie again.
Giselle helped Kylie get dried off so she didn't get her clothes wet too before she put them back on, and once she was redressed, Giselle hugged her again. As they moved into the bay, Giselle looked out over the city ahead, and was filled with wonder as she held Kylie's hand while they watched it closing in. She noticed the twinkling light on the tower by the harbor, and was curious what it was, until she heard the thunk behind her, and turned to see what it was, just as Kylie gasped.
Looking back to Kylie, Giselle's eyes went wide as she looked down at the hole in Kylie's chest, and she screamed out as she threw her arms out to catch Kylie before she crumpled to the deck. "COSIMO! TERRA! K-KYLIE'S BEEN... S-SHOT! HELP ME!" Giselle screamed out, to Cosimo, Terra, the crew, anyone that would help her as she grabbed Kylie's shirt and ripped it open to look at her wound.
Giselle hadn't seen the other flashes as she turned to catch Kylie, Cosimo launching forward to draw that blade, the sword twisting violently like a fluid to snap two more shots out of the air, both nearly taking Giselle's and Kylie's heads clean off, the bullets smashing into the deck. TERRA! he roared, slamming his sword into the prow as mist boiled out of the blade, terra charging forward and seizing the blade, raising that mist into a fog that rolled across the entire harbor while Giselle looked at the wound.
The hole was clean, punched through her chest, blood seeping into the wood and Giselle's clothes. She was still, completely still in her arms, the light in her body bleeding into the air, but most of it was rushing down towards her abdomen. Her power had given up on keeping herself alive, it was all becoming centered over her navel, twisting and curling. She was giving up everything to save the unborn children. Her hair turned back to it's mousy brown while Giselle heard the notes of Cosimo's violin as several more shots cracked around the ship now hidden in the fog as it roared towards the temples, not the harbor, the nearest tower approaching quickly while Giselle held the broken Kylie in her arms. Terra was crying softly as she stood over them. She can't be... No no no... Lyndsey! Carra! but her acolytes didn't answer.
The fog cleared on the deck to reveal several crew members dead, throats slit, as well as he two priestesses, 4 men in black cloaks, with red masks in the face of different demons stood on the deck, following the mist as it retreated, crimson dripping knives held in their hands. Cosimo was by the wheel playing furiously and roared in anger when he saw the figures, Gestalt throwing Giselle's naginata at her to thunk into the wood beside her Through the chest of one of the men who had turned towards her. They were cut down however in short order as the crew surged back onto the deck at Cosimo's cry. 4 against a hundred ended quickly, violently, and without any mercy shown as the ship crashed into a dock, smashing through the wood to run aground at the foot of one of the temples, several men thrown to their deaths as Cosimo stopped playing and drew his sword. Terra was now kneeling over Kylie, pawing at her chest, trying to see the wound which had stopped bleeding, Kylie deathly pale, the wound itself hardening into a smooth stone before light exploded from her body. Green, Yellow, Black, Aquamarine, Giselle seeing familiar faces in those lights as they fled their dying home. Pieces, fragments of her lover, lost and confused surging into the air towards the city, and in hues Giselle had never seen before, some sickly, dark, and twisted. Only 2 lights stayed in her body, both still clinging desperately to the moon mark on her abdomen, circling slowly. Blue, and White.
The ship was hung up on the dock and shore. What is this.... Terra breathed, shaking her head. Giselle. Giselle! Get it together! We need to get her inside! Terra yelled, having to erect a barrier in front of them and to their left as another bullet smashed through it, barely missing Giselle, while Cosimo and the rest of the crew were trying to save the ship as several small craft, light, fast, were coming up along side them, more of those cloaked figures leaping onto the ship, or the shore, weapons drawn, crossbow bolts flashing as the crew answered with sword and fire, Gestalt and Cosimo in the thick of it now, caught up in their anger while Terra urged Giselle to get up.
