Aelwynn's Forest Sanctuary

The cliff ledge overlooking Arcem where Aelwynn had built a shrine to Albiorix. The area is blessed, and cannot be entered by creatures of evil alignment.

Aelwynn climbed to the sanctuary, peeling off her breastplate as she entered the circle. She needed to distract herself. Her head throbbed from the surge of emotions, and her stomach felt like it was being wrung out. She knew he had to grieve. It was important to him, and it may ease his trouble with the voices, but it made her ache to see him hurting. She was angry that he had closed himself off again, and just the tiniest bit jealous of the time Radelia had with him, and the pain he felt loosing her. She had wondered many times as to if she had perished in battle, who would mourn her passing. Or the name that would be on her grave. A nameless elf had never been buried. That was part of what came when their name was taken. They lost their burial rights. But, she had committed no crime. She was the only nameless elf who had never lost her burial rights. But she had no family to make the arrangements. It had always been her. Alone.

Radelia had never been alone. She had family, and she had Lathai. Now, for the first time, Aelwynn wasn't alone. And she was terrified of being alone once more. There was a certain type of loneliness that feeling the gods didn't fill. And Lathai filled that gap.

But for now, her anger reigned. She pulled her sword from its sheath, screaming rage, digging the blade into the closest tree. It was the subject of her wrath for now. She screamed again, hacking into the bark, her eyes taking on the glow of the other as her rage took hold, going through a seres of powerful swings on the tree, which would have cut it down had age not hardened it so.

It did not matter how many years, how many centuries it had been since he had last been to Arcem, let alone the forest sanctuary above it. He knew every foot- and hand hold perfectly, memorized as clearly as he had memorized his own spells and tomes. At the top, he tossed his things to the side, running up behind her despite the danger. His hand reached for her wrist, fighting against her own strength to hold her steady, his voice in her ear.

"A'maelamin, my beautiful, perfect love, it is alright." He murmured, heart aching with her fury and pain, "All is well, I am here. It is done. Put down your sword,"

At first, Aelwynn didn't seem to hear him, swinging her blade into the side of the tree opposite Lathai, her eyes glowing. The blade embedded in the trunk, and she released it, the glow dissipating as she collapsed, still conscious, but weak, and weeping. Her skin blazed heat.

He hummed to her soothingly between hushes and soft murmurs. Carefully, he conjured up a ball of water, controlling it expertly before allowing it to fall slowly across her body, cooler her skin and armor. "A'maelamin," he murmured, nuzzling her cheek. "You should not work yourself so hard, my Aelwynn."

Aelwynn couldn't form words between sobs, her arms shaking as the tears of the last century pooled in her eyes and ran like streams down her cheeks. Her skin cooled, but it seemed to do little to calm her, as she wept freely into his shoulder, the words stolen from her lips by her sadness.

"Hush, my darling," he whispered, smoothing down her hair. "I will be here when the tears stop, even if they begin again. I will be here when the sun rises and every time it sets. I will be here, my love, forever and for always. Do not fret. I have loved you since we first met, and I have always needed you." He kissed the top of her head, trying to sooth her.

The flow of tears slowly faded, and weakness overtook her. She rested her head on his chest, the combination of crying and beating the bark off of a tree leaving her little more than a husk of her former strength. Her bloody breastplate lay on the stonework before the shrine, though her wound seemed to be little more than small cuts.

He smiled as he held her, his stilled warrior with the strength and spirit of a god and yet the fragility and heart of an innocent child. "Everything will be fine," he murmured, holding her close. It was not wise to stay here overnight, he knew, but he was unsure if he could get her back down to the horse.

She offered a weak smile, now too weary to move her lips enough for words, her limbs limp and weak, and even her eyelids beginning to grow too burdensome for her to lift. The sanctuary somehow felt rejuvenated by her presence, as though the life surrounding it wished to protect them. This place was safe, and the hearts of both understood it. The sun had set, and the gentle twinkling of stars shone clear through the sky, whisps of far-off galaxies streaming purple and pink above them, painting pictures that the hand of mankind could only envision with divine inspiration.

He swallowed hard. He would have to send the wolves and horse back, a comical sight he very much wished to see. It was rare for his pack to be treated like sheepdogs, but he had done so before and would do so again. He howled to them, sending them off to round up the horse and lead it back to Vaillhen, where they would return in the morning. Now that he knew they had Skalanis, he knew they had another medium with which to speak, for he understood the wolves as clearly as Lathai did.

Carefully, he removed the rest of her armor, setting it aside before removing his tunic and buttoning it up around her. He held her close as he laid on the grass, nuzzling her neck and shoulder and humming her to sleep, at peace and at rest in time.

Aelwynn's eyes drifted close, her body cool from the water against his skin. Despite her hard, muscled physique, her skin was somehow softer to the touch, almost silken, raising only slightly with her scars. Her long legs stretched behind her, and her fingers wrapped around his arm like the gentle touch of a butterfly.

He smiled, still murmuring to her even in her sleep, snuggling close and sighing under her touch. Even now, he was wolf: possessive, protective, loving, and curled around his lover with ease. There was nowhere he would rather be, even with Redalia. She was his life now, this fallen star from the gods, his little angel from above. There was nowhere he would go without her, nowhere he would rather be.

There was a sound like clanging metal boots from down in the city, and voices speaking common.

His ears caught the sound as though it was right beside him and he growled, eyes narrowing. Slowly, he released her, setting her down gently on the grass before making his way to the ledge, eyes narrowed, ready to morph into a wolf sould the need arise.

Aelwynn rested peacefully. There were two of the voices below them.

"Ugh. This place reeks of elf."

"You'd think we'd be able to smell out the fresher ones, but they all have the same stink. It never goes away."

"You heard the king. Someone saw two elves heading this way this morning. One swimming, one on a horse."

"Think there are more of them?"

"Maybe. They were obviously meeting here. That's never a good sign."

"Heh, remember that skinny one we found in the woods by Arlund's place?"

"They're all skinny, stupid. That one just screamed a lot more. I usually like to mess with them first, but the screaming made my ears hurt."

His eyes narrowed. At this point, he would gain nothing from killing them just yet. He needed information. He needed to know who they were, /what/ they were.

"Hey, I think I got one's sent."

"You'll be able to follow it better if you change."

Both men were exceptionally tall, but one suddenly grew massive in size, hair covering his entire body, and his nose elongating. He was a huge wolf, an alpha. He pressed his nose to the ground, sniffing.

He cursed in his mind, knowing far better than to do anything audible. Carefully, he pulled his tomes from his bag, silent as ever as he spread them out around him. He could not react now, not when they could track him. He could, however, mask himself, and her. He turned to her, silent chanting an invisibily spell over her before turning himself to a wolf and returning to the edge, watching them, ready to take to his books.

They climbed up the cliff side, following the scent of the two. They approached the sanctuary. "Look, one of em set up a little shrine!"

The wolf snorted, approaching the stone. As soon as it's paw started to lift to the stone, it lept back, yelping, as though there was a wall around the sanctuary that burned it's skin.

Lathai crouched, low and silent, hidden in the veil of the trees, knowing that the gods protected them, even now. His scent was not his own though Aelwynn-

He should not have removed her armor. Without a word, he snuck over and pulled the pieces away before bring her with him, towards the sea yet within the trees. He called for fog to rise from the ocean, stretching across the city and up to the sanctuary before gathering his things, changing shape to normal, turning invisible, and setting the bags high in a tree before reverting back to a visible wolf. He was back by the ledge, though still in the trees.

The wolf lifted his head at the sound of armor scraping the stone, "Someone's there, but the ground's been blessed. I can't cross it."

He smirked, a strange expression on the muzzle of a wolf, and turned back to normal, scaling a nearby tree and leaping to where his books were. Lathai memorized as many as he could before leaping down, turning invisible, doubling his size, retrieving the blade his lover had stuck in a tree, and praying. He was admittedly terrified, but would not allow them to harm another soul either again. For them, the way of the beast was a choice, and they had chosen wrong. Justice would be swift and steady, as would he.

The wolf growled, "I smell him. Change quickly.

The man shifted, inhaling deeply, "He reeks of magic. He could be anywhere. Quick, let's kill him so we can kill the woman."

He growled loudly, a deep rumble from his core before using another spell, calling forth a naesuos gas to scramble their senses of smell. Their noses would be rendered useless. Aside from his normal attacks that he always had memorized, he was down to two, and he would make them count.