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The Divide: Reunited

By Ta'kom Ironhoof and Calima

The city was no better than the seaside with the way the wind whipped through buildings and alleyways, swirling in icy vortices that carried everything from snow to bits of discarded rubbish to forgotten dreams. It left Calima thankful for the warmth of the camel-colored fur-trimmed cape she wore over her traditional robes, and the promise of safety from the coming winter gales just as soon as her retinue made their way into the waiting inn.

Krigsgaldr, iron-clad as always, seemed almost unnerved by the hustle and bustle of the crowds along the square. The many merchants peddling their wares and goodies made for a raucous occasion, as they called out, hoping to garner enough attention to make their next sale. His ears lay half flattened against the noise and his nostrils wrinkled in distaste for the overwhelming blend of odors coming from the market; Incense and food, perfumes and the poor. All of it swirled along each frigid gust, and none of it pleased him. "It would do us well to go inside, Your Majesty. Your safety is a priority." He grumbled close to his queen's ears.

"My daughter, your Princess, is somewhere out there, Krigsgaldr," she replied with no shortage of irritation alight in her voice. Her eyes never bothered to make their way in his direction, instead they continued to peer out into the wild of the city's bazaar, "If she can safely navigate life through this, then so too can y-" Her voice halted quickly, dropping sharply off into the next biting breeze and her ears pricked sharply forward as her head rose about as high as she could hold it.

Krigsgaldr followed the line of her sight, trying to understand what had set the mare on alert and couldn't find a single thing out of place. His weight shifted unevenly, his head cocking to the side in mild confusion while Calima remained perfectly statuette still.

Out in the crowd, a cloaked figure moved like a ghost through the masses. His build was one that promised great strength and dexterity, at least from what she could see with the way the fabric of a dark cloak hugged his body each time the wind gusted against him - and when it billowed, it revealed something which made her breath catch, heart race, and hands begin to shake. The tail was one she'd know anywhere. Black as pitch fading to white as snow at the tips. Only one horse had ever carried such a tail. "Ta'kom?" She whispered into the wind, narrowing her eyes in sheer disbelief.

It couldn't be.

He'd have died several hundred years ago by old age, even if he had managed to survive the war! Logic, nor Krigsgaldr, could stop her as the allure of that dark stranger drew Calima off the stone step and into the flow of traffic in the street. She could hear Krigsgaldr calling for her as she slipped between people that were walking and shopping, doing everything she could to keep sight of and follow the cloaked stallion. It was a far more arduous task than she'd bargained for. No one cared about a little mare trying to make haste through the crowd - everyone had their own agendas and emergencies, and hers didn't take priority - but she refused to relent.

A heifer's hip checked hers, sending her skittering sideways in a crude attempt to stay on her feet and avoid patches of slush. The latter proved entirely fruitless, as one of her striped hooves landed fetlock deep in a particularly murky patch of icy slurry. A hiss rose from Calima's suddenly tightened nostrils and her ears sank into the carefully braided and pinned a bit of mane at her poll. There was little doubt that the mare's face openly depicted her extreme distaste for the situation, but that expression soon changed as she realized she'd lost sight of her target. Her ears came up, her eyes widened, and all at once Calima was back in motion, shaking her foot off as she dodged a pushcart full of pottery, shouting her apologies as she spun and whirled to keep from being run over by a trolley.

And then providence smiled upon her. The cloaked stallion paused at a food vendor, giving her the opportunity to not only catch up to him, but to observe him from a far closer vantage point.

She'd been right about her initial assessment of his physique - broad shoulders gave way to a wide sprung chest and narrow waist set atop powerful legs covered with the promise of thick feathering judging by the dingy white hair hanging from under the cuff of his pants. His face, however, remained obscured - and it would take some careful tact on her part to obtain a look at what lay carefully concealed within that dark hood.

"My treat." Calima interjected as the stranger went to pay, one of her hands brushing past his to place payment in the merchant's waiting paw, "You remind me of someone I used to know." She explained, meeting the questioning gaze of the merchant while speaking to the stranger. He towered over her. Ta'kom had towered over her. It was so hard to mentally correct herself, to remind herself that this wasn't Ta'kom. Just a stranger that had several similar attributes - but nothing finite that linked the two... Not yet. "Consider it a gift in his memory. He..." She paused, gathering herself and tugging her warm, woolen cape closer to her at its clasp as she tried to find a way to describe Ta'kom without going into details no one else deserved to know, "He was very special to me," was what she settled on. It was for the best.

A silence hung in the air beyond the cold winter breeze blowing through the crowded market and Calima felt the bubble of her world shrink down to only encompass the stranger and herself. The cold bite of a drifting snow flake landing on Calima's hand caused reality to lurch forward, and she now held the stranger's visage as he stared directly down into her eyes.

This...stranger...

It couldn't be him.

Her eyes had to be deceiving her - or perhaps she'd begun to suffer from hypothermia and was blinded and dulled by some sort of delirium - but in that moment, in the infinite fathoms of her mind filled with nearly three centuries of experience, knowledge, and wisdom, everything screamed he was Ta'kom Ironhoof.

The stranger cleared his throat and spoke calmly. "Thank you, my lady."

The sound of the stranger clearing his throat, and the calmness of his voice as he spoke; "Thank you, my lady," stole from her the very breath in her lungs. Had he not, she'd have been so very certain that it was mere coincidence. After all, it would have been impossible for him, a Dauðlegir fated by the hands of time, to be alive after several hundred years - but his voice was unmistakable.

This... Strangers'... deep timbre was as smooth as an aged whiskey. Warm, inviting, intoxicating... Comforting. His eyes were a piercing sky blue, their irises rimmed with a delicate ring of fine silver. His scent... Her nostrils quivered imperceptibly as every breath brought it deeper into her system; rich like amber, smooth and musky like vanilla, soft like lavender, strong and sultry as smoke on an autumn eve.

It was him. It had to be him. She'd know him anywhere.

"You... Also remind me of someone I once knew," he spoke again.

"Do I?" The sea-queen queried as she boldly attempted to take the stranger's hand, "Perhaps we should sit and talk..." But no sooner did her fingers brush his did the stranger jerk her hand from her touch and turn to flee.

Startled by his sudden flurry of motion and the flood of tumultuous emotions that filled her gut, panic quickly set in as she wordlessly mouthed for him to wait - the same hand that had reached for him now hung out stretched in the bitter air, begging for his return.

The bubble shattered and the sounds of the bustling market surged back into her now ringing ears. Krigsgaldr arrived at her side a fraction of a second later, puffing with the exertion of having to dodge, duck, and weave through the crowds to find her.

"Your Grace, I cannot do my job if you run off into the crowd. You could have been taken or struck by one of these... These..."

"Merchants. People?" Calima dropped her outstretched hand as she turned to face her bodyguard. "I saw him, Krigsgaldr."

"Who? Did someone threaten you?"

"No," Her head shook, "I saw Ta'lia's father."

Krigsgaldr ejaculated, "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Vexation was an additional element for the day, but it wormed its way into the river of emotions rushing along within her being. Her head lowered, as did her ears, as she dove deep into her thoughts and tried her damnedest not to snap beneath the pressure of the moment. "I saw him." She insisted, "I followed him through the crowd and caught up to him here, at this stall," She gestured to the bewildered weasel behind the counter, "I paid for his food, tried to speak with him, but when I tried to get him to sit with me and talk he bolted down that alleyway." Her gesture shifted, her hand rolling on its wrist in the direction the stranger had fled.

Krigsgaldr's bright aqua eyes squinted off in the direction his Queen pointed to glean any smidgen of evidence that would have backed up her claim. Instead, the massive creature saw...nothing.

"The years and stress of looking for Ta'lia must be weighing on your mind, Your Grace. I see nothing but a dead end. Ta'kom Ironhoof is long gone, stolen by time, as are all Dauðlegir."

The sentinel's words struck a nerve, leaving behind a wound where once a thin scab had formed over that part of her heart. Calima's piercing eyes rose to find his, narrowed and bitter as the cold they stood in. "Do not make me regret sparing your life, Krigsgaldr. Do not gaslight or patronize me."

"My lady, I meant no offense, but only the facts at hand. Besides no regular equine being able to live that long, I'll repeat that the alley is a dead end with no turn offs. Ta'kom or no, it would be impossible for anyone to escape and I'd be able to see them."

Calima, as much as she wanted to fight the truth, knew Krigsgaldr was right. Upon inspection, the alley was indeed a dead end and there was no sight of the stranger anywhere to be seen. How had he vanished so quickly? Even the quickest of her kind couldn't escape her vision, but somehow 'he' had managed to. A gust of wind blew, toying with the loose ends Calima's perfectly pinned up mane as she gazed down the corridor; with all her might, she stared. Just as she was going to turn her gaze, a cloak flipped into her line of sight, glimpsing a figure rounding the corner and into the crowd.

"THERE! Krigsgaldr!"

Needing no further order, Krigsgaldr's Stygian frame launched into motion, a hoof sliding across the slick cobble stone as he struggled, briefly, for traction. It took no time at all for him to disappear into the crowd, closely tailing the cloaked stranger - and just as quickly, Calima whirled off to cut across the market to intercept their path.

As she dodged around a rather plump Hippo woman, trying desperately to gain both territory and speed in an environment that refused to grant her either, it became apparent that the stranger was racing headlong for the end of the promenade. An ornate iron railing was all that stood between them and a twenty-foot drop to the wharf below - and with it a clear cut, though dicey, path across the docks and pilings to freedom within the village's residential streets and alleys. 'He's going to jump. Stars alive, he's going to jump!' her mind screamed at her and in her frustration she growled, forcing aside a loud spotted Appaloosa equine chocolatier handing out samples in her haste to make up for time and space.

Out of her periphery, she could see Krigsgaldr gaining ground, but not nearly fast enough. While she'd made it a point to never communicate with the sentinel telepathically, having long ago denied him access to such a bond, the situation warranted action, if only out of necessity.

"Do not lose him, Krigsgaldr! You must catch him! You will catch him!".

The sentinel's stride faltered out of sheer confusion, never having heard Calima's voice infiltrate his mind space. It was a momentary pause before his efforts redoubled as they neared the edge of the plaza - but the stranger was quickly gaining ground, rushing headlong for the railing and the sanctuary offered by the wharf below.

She was just behind them when Krigsgaldr sprung from the sodden, snowy street and took to the air to tackle and ground the cloaked figure. His arms were outstretched in pursuit of the stranger's waist, his ears flattened tightly against his skull. Inch by inch, the massive Kelpie gained ground and was nearly upon him, fingertips just beginning to grace the fabric of the cloak billowing in the breeze, when time seemed to slow.

The stranger paused at the railing and pivoted to face his would-be captors, his eyes wide and chest heaving as he looked between them both.

And then... Within the blink of her eyes, he was gone. The stranger had vanished again, this time right in front of Calima and Krigsgaldr both.

The second of which crashed savagely into the iron railing head long, crumpling into a limp pile of armor and flesh against the snowy cobblestone ground, leaving her startled and confused. She stopped short, her hands falling to her sides as she panted and stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the spectacle mere feet in front of her.

It would have been impossible for Krigsgaldr to miss him, and equally impossible for Calima to have lost sight of him. Twice now, she had lost focus on her target; something that shouldn't have been possible, given her predatory nature.

A chill ran through Calima's spine as a voice spoke directly from behind her; an eerie melody that, while disconcerting, left her oddly comforted.

"You're mine, mare."

Memories flooded back into her mind from hundreds of years ago, back when she had enlisted with the Ta'alian Empire as a recruit and of her sparring partner, Ta'kom. He had spoken those words to her, whispered them as he'd taken her to the mat and left her breathless and dazed in all the right - and wrong - ways. Her chin lifted and her eyes half-closed as a familiar wash of heat settled into the pit of her belly mere seconds before two powerful arms wrapped around her midsection. The world fell forward as she fell backwards, as if truly reliving that memory held in time.

With a thud, her fall was broken by a muscular body and more words were whispered into her ears.

"Am I still yours?"

For a moment, time slowed nearly to a standstill. Where seconds before Calima had been rushing to the side of her fallen guard, pausing only in confusion when their mark had vanished, she now had a vision of only the sky. Heavy, fat flakes of snow swirled on invisible zephyrs, dancing a ballet very few stopped to watch. Beneath her, behind her, she could feel the stallion's chest expanding and contracting as he drew breath. She could feel that breath rushing against her neck and jaw, adding fervor to the feeling spreading throughout her core.

You're mine, mare.

It echoed in her mind. The first time and this last utterance overlaid one another, echoing in synchronicity as she lay there, allowing herself to be held fast in his arms. Everything, all of it, began to sink in as his voice reprised its role, beckoning one of her delicate, flute-like ears to flick back in his direction.

Calima's eyes closed, her breath caught in her throat, and she felt the warmth of her own tongue wet her lips as she sought her own voice. "You are." She finally managed to answer, "You always have been."

And then, before Ta'kom could have responded, the world broke free and time regained itself.

The sound of Calima's retinue shouting for her release and people talking in hushed tones all around them flooded into her head. She knew she needed to stop it before her men reached them, before they took everything into their own hands and stripped her from Ta'kom's arms. A hand lifted, her fingers splayed wide as she directed them to stop and carefully managed to twist herself to where she lay draped across the stallion's chest belly to belly, "It's alright!" She called to them, a lock of her perfectly pinned mane falling from its place and falling over her shoulder and neck, pooling onto Ta'kom's chest beneath her, "He's..." She paused, trying to meet their confused gazes with her usual power and grace.

It was near impossible in the compromising situation she found herself in.

"He's not to be harmed. You are not to touch him. He is my... Guest." It would have to do. A quick glance down towards his face revealed a face radiating with the same quagmire of emotions that ran rampant through her own being. Amusement. Amazement. Confusion. Elation. "Tend to Krigsgaldr." She ordered her men, her eyes never leaving Ta'kom's and his arms never loosened their grip on her waist, now having settled over the small of her back.

"Your Grace, if I may," A rather large dappled gray Kelpie guard stood back as his four brethren did exactly as they were ordered, "If I may," He repeated, his discomfort thinly hidden within his voice as he gazed upon his Queen in such a compromising position within a very public setting, "The temperatures are falling and this... Guest... Is in the slush. Perhaps we should make our way back to the inn and find him some dry clothes and get the both of you warm?"

She nodded in agreement, though hesitated before moving to stand. Ta'kom's arms released her, and all at once she mourned the loss of his touch. The gray stepped in to shield his Queen from prying eyes and found himself, out of obligation to her, reaching to offer the downed stallion a hand to help him to his feet. "Take Krigsgaldr to his room and tend to him." He ordered the rest of the band of guards.

"Yes. See that he is restored." Calima added, doing her best to pin her mane back into place, suddenly filled with nervous energy. Stealing glances at the ghost before her left her feeling nearly painfully shy and yet bursting with the desire to openly stare at him. To touch him. The walk to the inn was going to be the longest walk she had ever taken, even if it was only a few hundred feet away.

__________________________________________

Ta'kom sat in silence, staring at the thin stream of water that flowed into a small puddle in the room's corner. The worn table and chair creaked loudly as he shifted his weight to become more comfortable.

His efforts were in vain.

Beyond the heavy oak door of his 'chambers', he could hear a flurry of activity from the retinue of guards, apparently in service to... Her. It couldn't be her. Before he went into those ruins, before being chased by Ta'jiro's men, he had inquired about her.

Missing in action.

The words still tore at him to think about, their memory reprising a fresh roil of unbidden pain. It stabbed at his heart and prickled at his nose, threatening to call forth fresh, hot tears. So many of them had already been shed.

Ta'kom knew that she'd been meant to be on the front; foot soldier... Cannon fodder. There had always been the risk that either of them would have died in the war - but to hear that she had perished in her first battle... The guilt was insurmountable. But he knew what he saw. He knew what he heard. It was her; he had no doubts, but the question of how persisted.

All Ta'kom knew for certain was that when he entered the ruins, there was nothing but rubble and the old and decaying inn that stole space in the center of a field. Upon re-emergence, an entire township flourished. Nothing fit, nothing made sense. Even the currency he'd held was no longer accepted. None of the vendors took it. Some even laughed when he presented his coins. One had claimed they were counterfeit. Another had finally purchased them off him as relics of a long since bygone era of history.

Beyond that, everyone's dress was strange and nothing like he remembered. Even the common language sounded different; mostly the same with a lilt of difference - a dialect change at the very least.

A multitude of questions echoed and reverberated loudly in the Equine's mind, but were quickly dashed and hidden beneath the proverbial floorboards when there came a rapping at the door. It effectively broke his studied concentration and pondering on the how's and why's of his situation.

Again, his chair creaked under his weight as he shifted and turned toward the door, anticipating whatever might happen now.

"Come in," he called.

The old wooden door slowly creaked open and one guard, a younger looking mare, stepped in. Dressed in the same forest green tunic and khaki-colored trousers as the rest of Calima's retinue - minus the cape and black leather gloves. She was the picture of a perfect soldier. Over her heart set a rather ornate and peculiar insignia. It was a gold pin of two rearing feral horses facing away from each other, their bodies disappearing midway into the flourish of what appeared to be coral, or kelp separated by a conch shell, and their manes fanned out above and around them. Ta'kom searched quickly through his mind and studies, feeling that he had seen it before but couldn't quite place a name.

With a minor bit of trepidation, the guard finally spoke, "Sir, since you are our queen's guest, I wanted to verify that you've made yourself decent."

"I have. Why would you need to check?" Ta'kom retorted.

Huffing, the guard continued, "I'll be blunt and to the point. Being that we do not know you, you are a threat and we will make sure that no harm comes to our queen."

A chuckle left Ta'kom's lips, now having precisely measured up the inexperienced recruit. "Harm? What harm could I possibly do? I have no weapons and I'm stuck in a basement with whom knows how many of you are out there."

"Then you know that you'd do well to answer my questions," the mare replied, a grin spreading across her dark umber face.

The trap was set, and she'd taken the bait. "Go on then. Ask your questions."

"Let's start off with who you are and why the Queen didn't kill you immediately after laying your disgusting hands on her unsoiled body?!" the mare's voice shouted with anger, violently echoing down the hallway behind the open door.

Ta'kom now sported his own grin, replying, "She was a beautiful woman. How could I resist?"

"She is not a common street whore. One does not touch her in such ways!" The guard's anger further boiled into her expression as she continued shouting. "You will not speak about her majesty in such a disgraceful manner!"

Out of sheer defiance and amusement, Ta'kom left the feeble confines of his chair and put his hands on his hips like a child defying its mother. "Well, I am her guest and she didn't kill me, so I don't see the problem."

It was then that the guard brandished a small dagger from her belt and pointed it toward Ta'kom. "One more word from you and I will strike you down where you stand."

From the doorway came another voice, this one familiar to Ta'kom. It interjected loudly, shattering the guard's intense gaze and replacing its depiction of ire with one of cold, unadulterated fear. It was Calima.

"You will do no such thing. You will sheath your blade and go fetch your entire command chain. They will report to me in this room in five minutes. Do I make myself clear?" She neither shouted nor bellowed. Standing as tall as the diminutive coral-hued creature could be at all of five feet and five inches tall, Calima's voice boomed with power while remaining perfectly soft and calm.

Ta'kom's ears and eyes found her, watching her essence shine in the darkness as the guard turned and dropped into a bow, "Y... Yes, your Grace. At once."

"Make haste and go."

"Yes, your Majesty."

The Queen's eyes squeezed shut in irritation and distaste as the young sentinel took to the halls at a hastened pace, escaping from the embarrassment of being caught overstepping her bounds, and by the Queen herself, no less. They reopened as soon as the other mare was out of ear and eyesight, and came to focus on him.

It was her. He was absolutely certain of it. A touch older, more mature, elegant and poised even in such a convoluted situation, she was the picture of grace and hardly the wild maned young upstart that he'd grown up with.

But she was there. She was real. She was so close he could have reached out and stroked the round of her cheek - but he didn't dare take such liberties. Instead, he found himself nervous, anxious, and lost under her gaze.

"Your Grace..." An arm crossed over his waist, the other draped across the small of his back, and Ta'kom bowed deeply to the regent be beheld.

"Don't..." Her voice rose through the musty air, toying with his ears, and he straightened himself up. "Don't do that. You don't need to do that." She nodded, stepping further into the room and pressing the door softly shut behind her.

He recognized it as a show of faith and trust, leaving her vulnerable to an attack with no simple escape given the weight of the door and their proximity to one another. She'd never have time to flee if he attacked. However, he wouldn't dream of harming her. Not now. Not ever.

"Is the King on his way?" Ta'kom heard himself asking, though cold tingles of fear and pain bubbled in his guts as he cushioned himself for the blow of her answer. How cruel would it be to have found her, only to have lost her? Then again, who was he to expect her to have waited for him? He hadn't... Jade... Ezra...

The shake of her head in the negative left a whole different pang of pain in his chest. "No." She smiled faintly, the mild amusement lit her eyes even brighter, "There is no King. Never has been." Guilt... It should have been a curse for the way it cut so deeply.

Besides guilt, a mix of relief and curiosity doused Ta'kom; relief that she'd not taken a spouse, but the twist of curiosity couldn't be ignored. However, he felt, Ta'kom also knew that there were a myriad of questions that still needed to be answered, his heart's desires the least of them. Between the town suddenly springing up, the currency being different, and Calima suddenly appearing, nothing made sense anymore. The people outside of the four damp walls all seemed to live in peace together. There was no more fighting between the species, as far as he could tell. In the market, he saw Ta'alians, Canids, and Felids all together, at last.

Ta'kom forced his mind back to the moment, finally answering Calima's response. "What happened Calima? And what's with the whole royalty façade?" His face slightly crumpled into confused concern. "Where did you go?"

"I...," Calima began, the smirk on her face disappearing. A palpable silence hung in the air before she made her way over to the table, pulling a chair out to sit down. "I think we should start with you. I have a feeling your version of things might help me piece together some of my own questions."

Not wanting to delay the inevitable any further, that is exactly what Ta'kom did. He started with his mission with Ta'jiro, the fight between them, and his rescue. He followed this up with his time at the farm with Jade, Ezra, and Urza, deciding not to hide his escapades but not going into great detail. Following this, his fight with Urza and the burning of the farmhouse. Then his journey back to civilization, being hunted by the Felids, and being reunited with Jade, injured almost to the point of death. He covered being captured by the Felids, the torture, the depraved things they made him do, and his eventual rescue by none other than Ta'jiro. Ta'kom then outlined how Ta'jiro brought him back to Ta'alia just to gloat about how he had 'united' the herds. It was then that Ta'jiro attempted to kill him for a second time, chasing Ta'kom to the ruins in which he hid, subsequently falling asleep, and waking up to everything being different.

Calima sat and listened to the entire epic with great interest. Ta'koms story certainly did answer many, many questions. 805 years to finally get the answers she had desired. For the moment, Calima could only focus on one question. "You said you jumped inside of an open coffin inside the tomb to hide. Elaborate. Tell me exactly what happened once you closed the lid."

"There were...a lot of lights," Ta'kom began. "Green lights and orange symbols that I couldn't recognize. They floated in front of my face and kept changing. Once the symbols vanished, a mist came from somewhere and I got really sleepy. Next thing I know, I woke up to darkness besides a tiny green light. I thought I was dreaming, to be honest. I tried to touch the light, but it vanished and the lid opened and it was then I knew I was awake. When you found me at the market, I'd only been awake for a day," Ta'kom began to visibly tear up, wiping his cheek before continuing. "Spent yesterday wondering around the town, trying to get my bearings. Ended up sleeping in one alleyway cause nobody would take what little coin I still have." Ta'kom's confusion was written all over his face now. To him, the entire world had changed with no explanation.

The mare's eyes closed as she listened to him, allowing him his emotions and feelings while processing her own. Her fingers fished a linen handkerchief from within her left sleeve. It had been tucked up there out of habit and tradition, no less, waiting for when it may be of service to its holder. She offered it to him in her outstretched hand, having noticed the tears wetting his cheeks and rimming his eyes. He took it from her, choosing to study it and the embroidered crest he found on one of its corners, rather than use it. His thumb soothed over it as he listened to draw breath to speak.

"Fyrirgef mik..." Calima paused and shook her head at the genuine display of deepening confusion written across his face, "I'm sorry." She corrected herself, swallowing the knot that had formed in her throat. "It seems you found some sort of enchantment or another and the fates decided, for one reason or another, that you belonged in this lifetime instead of the one you were born into." Pausing, she drew a deeper breath and held it for a short time before releasing it. Steadying herself. "It's not up to us to question the Gods and what they have reserved for our paths. That much you can take comfort in, Ta'kom."

Her words, even to her, sounded so sterile and lacking the warmth he was due. It seemed like such a generic answer, something she would have offered one of her people - barring emotion from the equation as fact was removed from folly. "You won't need to worry about sleeping on the streets any longer." She offered him a whisper of a smile. "You'll be taken care of."

"I'll be taken care of..." He echoed, finally looking back up at her. Hurt had chosen to set in. The Calima he had remembered hadn't been made of stone. She was warm and free and lit by life. The woman in front of him, though radiant, was cold and so very reserved. "Who are you now? I've told you my story." His head shook as he gestured to her. "It's your turn. Who are you? Why are you..."

"Alive?" she finished for him, feeling the chill of being put on the spot begin to tingle through her veins. "I am Calima."

"Don't... Please don't toy with me." He glowered softly.

This time her ears sank loosely against her braided mane, irritation having risen to meet the cold discomfort and the hurt that welled and bubbled within. "Calima, Sjóhald kván." She spoke proudly in her native tongue, taking time to realize there wasn't a chance in Hell that he'd understand the old language, "Queen of Sjóhald." The translation was not complete, the flash of realization - and more questions - lit the fathoms of the stallion's eyes. He didn't ask them, instead gestured gently for her to continue, showing that he was listening.

"I was born to rule. When I was found as an aetheling and taken in by the Empire as an orphan, I was already over a hundred-fifty years old," Calima chuckled at the irony, her eyebrows raising and knitting at the same time as she spoke. He could see the way she toyed with her fingers, knotting them as she fidgeted in a clear sign of discomfort. It wasn't easy for her, either. The revelation of her age gave him pause, though. Over a hundred-fifty years old. "Kelpies... We take a bit to mature." She explained, as if hearing the questions mobbing his mind, "Immortality affords that to you, I suppose. Anyway... I found..." His own brow knit in question when she paused, biting her own tongue. "Excuse me..." she breathed, coughing softly as if to clear her throat after having words catch within it, "I left to return to Sjóhald when I had the chance. The war was not my war and you... You had been the only thing that kept me from leaving the Empire sooner, and you were off on your own missions, leading your own life. I... Was never meant to be just another number on a casualty list. So I left."

"You left..." Ta'kom repeated, trying to make heads and tails of the entire encounter and the words she was speaking. Kelpie... Stars alive. She'd told him she was a Kelpie that last night they'd spent together. Even with the revelation of her teeth and her words on the matter, he hadn't quite known what to think of the revelation at that point - and with the way things were, he'd never really given it much thought again... Until now. "You stayed for me, but you left the war to go home... To... Be Queen..."

"Yes." she replied, "I reclaimed my birthright just as you followed yours." Her words were pointed, almost defensive.

"Why didn't you try to find me?" He asked, trying to catch her eyes with his.

She stopped evading his gaze, her hands dropping to her side as she considered the question and her answer. "Would it have mattered?"

Again, the pang of guilt struck him in the pit of his gut. The look on her face, the hurt in her eyes. The existence of it couldn't and wouldn't be denied. He wanted to reach out and touch her, draw her in close and ask forgiveness - but touching her seemed like such a poor idea given her body language. "It would have."

Her eyes closed and her head tilted and tipped away from him, showing him more of the side of her cheek. He could see her elevated pulse throbbing against the champagne silk of her throat. "You asked me in the market if you were still mine. Why?" Emotion had finally overridden duty, coming free despite how she tried so very hard to keep herself collected and her emotions in check. He could see, and hear, that careful presentation begin to unravel itself. "You knew you weren't."

Ta'kom's eyebrow shot up and his body, as if of its own volition, began to close the gap between them with slow, careful steps. "To be fair, Calima, you were written off as dead. Missing in action. I mourned you."

To his relief, her face turned back in his direction. He could see her looking at him, considering him and his words. She wasn't sizing him up for a fight. The tension simply wasn't there across her shoulders or in her jaw - the usual tells of her more aggressive side. Instead, she almost seemed defeated. Ta'kom watched her shoulders fall and her chin dip low by a small margin.

"I imagine I would have been." The mare more or less whispered in response, "I hadn't taken into consideration the possibility that we would ever see one another again." She sniffed softly, shaking her head at the entire display. "I came here to find my daughter and I find her father. Imagine my surprise... But I suppose it goes to show that I never forgot you, and I was right for it."

Wordlessly, Ta'kom pushed his chair back, stood, and walked around to the other side of the table. He kneeled next to the woman he fell in love with so many years ago, slipping his arm around her back, before placing a kiss on her tear stained cheek.

The silence was finally broken. "It's going to be alright Calima. You'll find your daughter and her father. You must be just as shocked finding me as I am finding you. Everything is so different now, but together, we'll find them."

Calima chuckled lightly, another tear rolling down her muzzle and causing another wave of confusion to hit Ta'kom. "You're just as dense as you always were..."

"I don't understand, Calima."

"Ta'kom, I've already found one of the two people I came here to find."

"But you just said..."

"It's you, Ta'kom. You are the father of my daughter. That night on the grassy knoll overlooking the camp..."

Ta'kom slouched back at this revelation, eyes wide in astonishment. Hot air snorted out of his nostrils in sheer disbelief, his mind swirling with another maelstrom of questions.

"Then...she's five now? Six? And she's lost in this...place?! How did this happen?"

Calima belted out with laughter, almost nickering, as even more tears streamed from her eyes. Ta'kom now stood, pulling his arm away from his beloved as anger began to rise in his gut. How could she mock him at a time like this?

Allowing her laughter to subside, Calima responded, "Not five years old, Ta'kom. It's been eight hundred five years and her name is Ta'lia." She spoke the child's name slowly and with purpose. "That's the real reason I didn't try to find you. With the war going on, I had to protect Ta'lia and what better way to do that than to become queen of my people?"

Ta'kom's breathing quickened and his mind reeled, as if he'd been physically attacked by Calima. He'd have almost preferred that because he could at least understand it. This revelation was beyond his comprehension. "What..." slipped past his lips as his head began to feel light. "Calima...how..." was muttered softly as Ta'kom stumbled back, one knee now meeting the ground. His heart pounded in his chest and the world began to feel smaller. "Ta'lia? Eight hundred five..." was the last emanations from his throat before he promptly collapsed to the floor, the world now black.

Calima stood, promptly running to him while shouting, "Guards! Come quickly and help."

As if they had been standing just on the other side, the door burst open and six of her retinue entered, quickly coming to Calima's aide. With no commands given, they picked Ta'kom from the ground and began escorting the pair of star-crossed lovers to Calima's chamber on the upper floor of the Inn. This room was no place for royalty, disgraced or otherwise.

Sometime later, Ta'kom awoke, finding himself surrounded by the kinds of finery that he had been used to in his childhood. Just another curiosity to add to his already addled mind. He found himself laying on a wonderfully plush and large four post bed, complete with semi-sheer fabrics for the canopy and drapes. Peering around, the room was immaculately adorned with paintings, art, well finished walls, and a fireplace one would only find in the noblest of houses. Was this a dream? It was as if he had been transported back...home; a home that no longer existed. It came back to him the words Calima spoke; eight hundred five years had passed since their last meeting on the grassy knoll. On top of that, he was a father. He had helped bring life to this world and, by pure happenstance, he mated with a Kelpie.

The crackle of the fireplace and the now setting sun captured Ta'kom's attention as he sat up. Reality was setting back in as he sat up, continuing to take in his surroundings. His mind still couldn't wrap itself around it. How could he have been asleep for so long and not withered into dust? His limited understanding of powers beyond himself left him just as confused as ever. It was then that his musing was interrupted as the door to the chamber opened. A guard stepped in, Calima flowing in shortly behind.

"Leave us. Do not interrupt unless absolutely necessary. Am I clear?" Calima commanded toward the guard. With a simple bow, the guard exited, shutting the door as gently as possible.

Calima turned to face Ta'kom, the braids on either side of her neck framing her visage perfectly. She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered, but also different. The vestiges of royalty eclipsed the Calima he remembered from so long ago.

Calima finally spoke. "How are you feeling?"

"If I'm honest, pretty drained. Head's pounding, but otherwise, I don't think I could be any better," Ta'kom replied.

Ta'kom noticed a slight blush come over Calima's face. Even at her most powerful, this confirmed he still had the power to bring her to her knees, at least metaphorically.

Calima took a second, breathing in deeply, before sighing. "Just as smooth as ever, my dear mortal." She finished her sentence with a chuckle as she made her way over to the table in the center of the room. Ta'kom had not noticed, until now, that there was a spread of various fruits, meats, and cheeses surrounding a vase of fresh flowers. "Come, join me, will you?"

Food.

His stomach rumbled at the sight of it, reminding him he hadn't had much luck in the way of feeding himself for the better part of a couple of days. "I would love to." He nodded, somehow managing to pry himself from the warm sanctuary of her bed. As lovely as it was, the concept seemed - like everything else - downright alien. But who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

During the time it took him to free himself from the blanket she'd draped over him, Calima had already poured him a cup of tea and stood near the table, cradling the fine porcelain cup and its saucer. "If there's anything else you'd like, don't hesitate to ask." Her teeth worried her lower lip for a moment before she handed him his tea.

Ta'kom managed to mumble his appreciation of the gesture before taking a sip of the warming, sweet amber liquid. His eyes closed as it soothed his nerves with its liquid heat, and the aroma of chamomile and jasmine tickled his nostrils. When he reopened them, Calima wasn't nearly as close to him as she had been. Instead, she'd made her way along the table, forsaking the great majority of the spread aside from a peach. The fingers of the hand not carrying it smoothed over its surface absently, giving away the secret of her remaining levels of discomfort.

Something else was on the mare's mind.

"You took the news a little roughly..." she spoke, no doubt feeling his gaze upon her. It was hard not to look at her, with the way the last vestiges of sunlight set her ablaze.

One of the stallion's ears twitched, and he nodded slowly, "About Ta'lia." It was his turn to smile and sigh, finally seeing the abject humor in the situation, "It was a slight shock to the system."

"I apologize for that." The fingers on the unbitten fruit stilled.

"I..." A piece of cheese found its way into Ta'kom's mouth, giving him the chance to mull over his words and choose them carefully by the time he'd swallowed it, "I apologize for not being there for you, for both of you." He watched Calima's lips as they offered a soft sort of smile. She nodded in what he believed was acceptance and understanding, though she wasn't given the chance to voice it before he spoke again. "But I'm here now. I'm not sure how or why, but I'm here now and I promise you, we'll find her."

The mare allowed herself to look at and consider him in earnest, and Ta'kom knew at once that he was being measured by whatever litmus she'd chosen. The peach found itself set back on the table, ignored and discarded for something else... Him. While her fingers lingered on it a second or so after she'd rested it, her eyes never left him. They weren't predatory, dark, or cruel - they were intelligent and deep and filled, still, with barbs of hurt that he knew he'd caused her. However, the hurt was fading away, albeit slowly, yielding to hope, understanding, admiration, and something else that had darkened them just a touch. "I believe you, Ta'kom." she nodded, "And for what it's worth, I've never held any ill will against you for not being with us. Circumstances were..."

"Bullshit." He interjected, and her brows furrowed. "Circumstances were bullshit. I should have done something and kept you off the lines. I should have known."

Calima's eyebrows raised in mild surprise and her head shook as she crossed the floor to stand in front of him. "You had no way of knowing and nothing you could have done. There's nothing to blame but circumstance and there's no fairness in war."

Peering down at her, Ta'kom wanted to argue but felt himself unable to do much more than draw breath. The tea in his hand wanted to be anywhere but there. It wanted to vacate and free up the real estate for something better. Something, or rather someone... Like her. "I know you're right," He said, leaning to the side to set the cup and its saucer down, "Logic says you're right, but guilt tells me otherwise." Straightened back up, he lifted his hand and hesitantly reached to cup her face.

To his great relief, Calima captured the hand and held it to her cheek, closing her eyes, and settled into his touch. "Logic should also tell you that you shouldn't be afraid to touch me." She hummed, stroking her thumb along his knuckles.

Ta'kom needed no further invitation. The hand on her cheek beckoned her towards him, holding her as he dipped his head and brought his lips to hers in a feather soft kiss. It was as much a question as it was a statement, and Calima's body went rigid with momentary surprise, taken aback by the sudden motion. That rigidity was nothing more than a fleeting moment, soon replaced with an overwhelming swell of understanding, happiness, and desire that left her rising on tip-toe and looping her arms around the stallion's neck.

That first feather-soft whisper of a kiss was returned with an answer that stole from him his breath and left him deepening their contact, desperate for more... Desperate for more of her.

Fingers were soon added to the equation. They too were questioning at first as they toyed with buttons and ties, but soon grew bold enough to remove entire articles of clothing, sending the bits of fabric to the far reaches of the suite.

By the time the pair reached her bed, only trace elements of clothing remained. He'd long since freed her from the confines of her corset, taking the time to admire her breasts with his hands before sliding them south along the contours of her body. With a firm hold on her hips, he toppled backwards onto the mattress, tugging her along with him - and she followed ever so willingly. Skirting up over his body, Calima came to rest over his hips, straddling him as she settled against him.

Visions of the last time they made love, the last time they were truly happy, played within both of their minds. Visions of the night they'd unwittingly created new life, preserving their legacy and steeping it firmly in a fine brew of immortality.

Stroking her hip, Ta'kom reached up, pulling at the ribbon that held the braids of her hair in place. His smile broadened widely as his fingers worked through and loosened the braids, tousling her mane until it hung freely in ringlets across her shoulders and down her back. Wild. Free.

"There you are. There's the mare that I remember so vividly," Ta'kom teased.

"I was always here." Her voice was breathy, husky, even in response. Calima could feel the growing bulge of his arousal pressing against her lace clad womanhood. Needy and sensitive, her sex ached for him, begging for the fabric of their underpinnings to be removed and for him to be allowed to finally be home where he belonged.

Removing them was far less of a sensual process than one could have imagined. Sliding back down his body for the sake of leverage, her panties and Ta'kom's underwear were quickly whisked away, drug off their hips with a low, frustrated and determined growl rumbling deep in the sea Queen's throat.

The stallion's eyes widened in momentary concern, the briefest reminder of who and what he was dealing with, flashing red lights of warning across portions of his mind. All of it was eased when she dropped the last bit of fabric from her fingertips and leaned forward to press a kiss against the head of his straining cock.

His breath released in a heavy puff of air. His eyes locked onto hers as her lips were replaced by the long sweep of her tongue from the root of his member back to the head before she took him into her mouth. She savored the familiar taste of him as she gripped his cock with one hand and bobbed her head over as much of the exposed flesh as she could, enveloping it in her hot little mouth.

It was almost more than Ta'kom could handle. The sight of those bright, beautiful blue eyes gazing up at him as she pleasured him, combined with the sensation of her talented tongue swirling across his sensitive bell, was nearly his instant undoing. Reaching for her, he moaned, "Not like this, Calima..."

She instantly understood, releasing him after a final long stroke of her hand along his girthy length. Crawling back up over his body, she allowed him to guide her mouth to his and for him to tug her tightly to him, her pert nipples pressing into the solid wall of muscle that was his chest. Laying there in that embrace, she let him explore her body as they traded passionate kisses.

His fingers remembered everything about her in perfect detail.

The flexing of his cock against her inner thigh only heightened her arousal. Her hips rolled against him, grinding her needy sex against him. Ta'kom, finally got the upper hand in their little war of attrition, drawing his muzzle down the side of her silky neck while tangling one of his massive hands in her mane, forcing her head off to one side and pressing his teeth against the pulse running beside her champagne-hued throat.

The sharp gasp of pain tainted the pleasure that came from the mare, absolutely intoxicated him.

Keen to regain some semblance of control, the little mare forced herself backwards, reaching blindly to take hold of his manhood just long enough to tease it along her sopping entrance. His hips bucked against her, forcing the head of his cock just inside the vice-like confines of her body.

Calima's body went rigid at the sensation of his intrusion, moaning as she willed herself to continue taking him within her - and he did his part, slowly rolling his hips up against her, guiding her body up into a more upright position as she continued to sheath him, inch by inch, until he was completely hilted. Her breasts muffled his heady moan as he found distraction in the form of one of her nipples, drawing it into his mouth, suckling it as her body quivered around him, adjusting to him once again.

He'd taken the high ground. He was sure of it.

Had any of them paid attention to anything else than quenching their desires, Calima may have remembered that she was in season - or maybe he'd have taken notice of her scent or noticed how swollen her slit was - but by the time that her body fully engulfed him, that ship had long since sailed.

Finally feeling emboldened, Calima had begun to ride him. It hurt. She'd likely be bruised after nearly millennia of celibacy. But stars alive, it felt so good. So superb. So incredibly right.

"I've missed you so much," she panted in a strangled, gravelly whimper.

"I've missed you too, Calima. I've needed you for so long."

"Remind me I'm yours." She breathed, "That I've always been yours."

Rational speech had flown out the window the moment she more or less started begging for him. It was wanton. Needy. It absolutely begged for a certain type of treatment, and to his mind, challenged him to deliver what he'd promised long ago.

So he did.

The bed creaked in protest as he plowed his cock up into her. Taking full advantage of gravity and her wetness alike, he was faintly aware of the grunt of effort that escaped around his lips or the way his breath came harder with every thrust.

Again. Again. Again, his hips slapped against hers. Each time harder than the last. Each time bringing with it a familiar burn of effort from a hunched back and hips that powered against her, leaving her leaning over him as she returned each thrust in earnest.

Her mouth found Ta'kom in a heated kiss until yet another savage roll of his hips had her crying out against his lips. She welcomed him. There was no finesse to this, no gentle coaxing, just an undeniable expression of power as he drove himself home deep within her. Completing her. Leaving her scrambling for some hold on any form of control she could find...

... Until she discovered she didn't want it.

She wanted him to do exactly as he was, bucking up against her with short, hard, brutal strokes that sent shockwaves through her entire body each and every time his groin met hers. If it hadn't been for the weight of his hands holding her hips firmly in place, she'd have been driven higher and higher up his body with every powerful thrust. Instead, there was no mercy to be found from the onslaught of his rather pointed display of control.

However, Ta'kom seemed to have other plans.

There would be no denying the look of confusion and surprise on Calima's face as he wrapped his arms around his lover, rolled to the left, and pinned her to the sheets beneath him. She struggled for a second, displeased by the sudden disconnection from him and seeking to draw him back to her - though her efforts would be thwarted. Those other plans, he decided, were far better plans.

The painted grulla warrior's arms hooked themselves underneath Calima's thighs, dragging her closer and tighter to him before he bent over her, folding her until her knees were nearly framing her hyper-focused ears. As he sunk himself back into her heated core, one thing was abundantly clear; Ta'kom was now fully in control.

Calima gasped, sharp and deep - her hips managing to buck up against him, as if taunting him and demanding more of him. Demanding that he retake what was rightfully his. Another long, guttural moan left her as her head threw itself back and exposed her throat to him, yielding to him.

The very notion that the man was fucking her with intent turned the burners on high. It was so very wrong, but felt so very right. So torturously divine. She could feel the beginning tremors, the flood of liquid heat pooling deep within her and spreading throughout her body, while the sheer joy of his return left her elated and high. It was more than fantasy fodder. It was reality. Each thrust rocking her body, every plunge of his perfect cock, the cool air against sweated skin, only served as a reminder that he was real. He was there. He was hers.

It was a deep, plunging shudder that ran through her, erasing Calima's vision as that familiar, scalding, white hot sensation continued to rise higher from within her, consuming her as it crashed violently along every single one of her nerves. It forced her body to tighten around him. Her voice caught in her throat as it became a soundless, breathless cry of carnal pleasure as her release overtook her, prying from her the last vestiges of any attempt made by her to hold on to any form of control.

Though frozen in the throes of such intense passion, she was hyperaware of the way her body clenched and pulsated around his cock, his every movement setting off another volley of fresh electricity through her. The same way she was also hyper aware of how her thighs and back flexed, tipping and lifting her pelvis to him in offering as her fingers clung desperately to him. It was as if she'd taken a direct hit by a hurricane and the stallion was her anchor in the storm.

Oddly enough... He'd created the maelstrom.

And she loved every damn second of it.

His own release wasn't far behind. Maybe it was her cries. Maybe it was the tilted pelvis that let him bury himself even deeper, taking the ravaging of her body to a new level. The sudden, overwhelming, carnal desire to spend himself within her. The trembling. The fingers that raked his back.

His teeth fell on her unprotected throat, lips and tongue flashing as he marked her in a way that would probably take several days to 'buff out'. He didn't care, so caught up in the moment was he. Rational thought simply didn't enter into a moment like this. Not when his muscles were screaming against the onslaught he put them though, rippling in his back and hips and ass, helping drive him into her repeatedly, shoving her shoulders against the sheets over and over and over again.

Until he was caught by the insatiable desire to positively lunge forward against her lithe little body.

Breathing hard and sweating and groaning in a most undignified way, he drove that cock deep and hilted himself. Even then he kept the pressure against her, hips and back straining to bury himself even deeper as the head of his cock flared to its full size - as if deeper were even possible - while he tensed under the ministrations of that familiar electric feeling and tension. Followed by a gasp of air as he blew his load deep within her.

The longer he held himself, the more Ta'kom could feel the pressure of his own seed pressing back against the tight seal he had made inside her. The feeling of him pulsing within her, straining as he was to keep the head of his cock rooted firmly against the mouth of her womb, was enough to send a fresh volley of pleasure ripping through her body. His ears twitched as the sound of her whimper caught his attention and he became acutely aware of her inability to do much of anything but ride it out, cling to him, and try her damnedest to breathe. It was a glorious reminder that he was indeed so very much alive... And so was she.

Ta'kom could feel her sweat slicked body trembling beneath him, singing the telltale song of sensory overload and exhaustion. He could also feel the steady wash of satisfaction trickling along his nerves, quieting them and quelling any form of protest as serotonin did its wonderful thing. Every little movement of him within her won a hiss of pleasure and a new involuntary quiver of her body, milking every last drop of seed from him.

Finally, feeling his own body beginning to threaten collapse after such exertion, Ta'kom released her legs, allowing his body to lower down to her chest and officially ending the last phase of their long fought battle; afterglow. Taking further liberties, he slipped an arm under her and gently rolled them to the sides. The pair, still joined at the hip, had finally arrived at the destination they both sought so desperately; peace and sanctuary within in each other's arms.

"Calima, please, promise me something." His voice rumbled in his chest, rich and thick with satisfaction and adoration.

"What's that?"

"Don't let me go again. I promise you the same, for now until eternity."

For a moment, perhaps no longer than a second or two, there was silence between them as she absorbed the levity of what he'd said to her. The weight of it - warm and tender though it was - rested heavily over her, threatening to crush her beneath the onslaught of emotions stuffed within those loaded words.

Her eyes, previously closed as she basked in the afterglow of their passionate lovemaking, reopened to study the lines of his face, only to find his peering back at her. The sincerity of his vulnerability brought the familiar prickle of tears.

A little wiggle brought her closer to him, allowing her to press to his chest as she pressed a kiss to each of his eyebrows, then to the velvety space between his nostrils, and finally his lips.

"I'll never let you go." She whispered against his mouth, the fingers of one of her hands having come to rest against her chin, "For as long as I draw breath, I'll never let you go."

Sealed with the softest of kisses, her words were finite. Fireproof.

"I love you, Ta'kom Ironhoof... I always have." Calima smiled almost shyly as she spoke. "Always will."