One Flesh, One Soul. Part I by FellFireFan  

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Embers Of Desire

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The crickets chirped as the owls hooted in the trees around the makeshift camp. The darkness of the forest at night still terrified Andreth as she sat alone. The soft, warm glow of the fire highlighted her fair, solemn face. The traumatic ordeal was still fresh in her mind. She slowly traced her hand over the red painful cut on her cheek just to feel what she had lived through was real. As she sat alone on the large fallen tree branch, her long unbound hair cascading down to her hands placed neatly on her lap, she heard the snap of a twig behind her. 

She whipped her head around and listened quietly. Another snap alerted her, and she leapt to her feet to face the threat. Her panic soon washed into relief as she saw Aegnor approaching from the darkness carrying his saddle.

"Did you find her?" She asked worriedly

Aegnor stopped and darted his gaze toward her, his eyes sore and red from an obvious episode of angry weeping,

"Only what the wolves did not eat," 

He dropped the mangled and shredded saddle soaked in blood on the ground with a loud thump. She covered her mouth in horror as she realised the terrible fate that came to Aegnors beloved companion. Loud huffs of pent up rage surfaced from him. He grabbed the saddle and violently hurled it into the darkness, roaring furiously into the void, his voice broken with agony. He stuck his blade into a log of wood and flopped down. His head sunk between his knees. Andreth sighed heavily and sank back down on the log beside him.

"What now?" She whispered, gazing vacantly at the fire. Aegnor sighed deeply and lifted his head.

"We wait for daybreak, then, I will decide our course of action," 

A tense silence enveloped them, both hesitant to break the stillness that hung heavy in the air. Her pain gnawed at her, and the persistent itch on her leg grew increasingly unbearable. Yielding to the discomfort, she quickly lifted her dirty dress and petticoats. 

The sudden, full display of her bare leg caught him off guard. His eyes lingered on her fingertips as she gently caressed her wound. Slipping them delicately over the long cut in her sleek flesh, attempting to stop the small trickles of blood that trickled down the curve of  her smooth thigh. He silently watched her futile attempts to tear fabric from her petticoat to fashion a makeshift bandage. Seeing her struggle, he plucked his knife from the log beside him and offered it to her. Her eyes lingered on the hilt of his knife that awaited her hand. She nervously lifted he gaze to to meet his. There was no anger in his eyes, only softness.

With hesitant hands, she gently took the blade. The blade glided through the fabric of her dress, smooth and effortless. The tense silence hung like lead between them. Aegnor finally turned to her again and witnessed the sparkle of a single tear fall from her eye.

A heavy, sorrowful sigh escaped him. Aegnor, the weight of his words etched upon his fair countenance. "I am sorry, Andreth," his soft murmur fluttered from his lips, his voice thick with the burden of emotion. "Truly, I am." A profound understanding passed between them, their eyes meeting in a silent exchange.

"A fire rages within me, as fierce as a dragon's ire," he confessed, his tone laced with a tinge of shame. "A force of destruction I battle to keep in. I am sorry you had to witness that."

Andreth's silence then broke, her sorrow echoing out in soft, tremulous weeping. Guilt and regret consumed Aegnor as he observed her distress. 

"It is my fault," she whimpered, the painful lump in her throat betraying her anguish "my silence in not seeing Hagrath put to justice is what led to this. You were dragged into this awful business Aegnor... and you almost lost your life for my foolishness." Andreth's face turned from him in shame, unable to meet his gaze, her voice and body trembling with lingering fear, "know this," she continued, "what that snake said about me... I did not bargain with him out of shaken faith in you. Losing you... to a monster like him... was a prospect I simply could not accept Aegnor. You are too precious to me," 

Andreth felt the warmth of his comforting hand upon her shoulder. 

"The desire to safeguard your friends, even at the cost of your own peril, is a noble and brave quality," he said softly, a gentle smile gracing his lips. "I understand this desire more than you will ever know, Andreth. Your courage bought me a moment - it was the moment I was waiting on. Once again, you have proved yourself a worthy companion to me, and I owe you thanks,"

Hee tears melted into a grateful smile and she rubbed her weepy, swollen eyes and sighed heavily, releasing the tension in her body.

"Do you have many friends, Aegnor? Among your own kind I mean.."

There was a long pause as he contemplated her question. 

"No," came his simple reply "I prefer it that way," he sighed, releasing a long breath "a very long time ago, I came to learn a very importan lesson. Even those that have your trust will betray you in the end. So I chose the path I would take. Free of those who may hurt me. "

"That is a very lonely path." she murmured "to live is to be vulnerable. To love... and be loved in return, even if the cost is high. Is that not the meaning of life?"

"No, my lady," he replied grimly "when the cost of love is my doom, my total and complete desolation, there is no choice. Not for I"

"I may be a hopeless dreamer, but I am no fool Aegnor. There must be a hundred beautiful maidens who would come at your every beck and call. With your beauty alone, you could enchant even the proudest of hearts and they will fall like putty in your very hand. You may have any maiden you desire. Which is why I know your words to be folly," she said quietly. There was a hint hopelessness in her voice, a deep sadness she could not hide.

Aegnor remained silent, his thoughts far-wandering. She silently soaked in every corner of his elven face, its beauty unparalleled and mysterious, but it was the sadness in his eyes that captured her the most. So much pain concealed in a single gaze.

"Beauty is meaningless... when it conceals a monster buried deep within," he whispered

Andreth blinked slowly. She witnessed his hands tighten into a ball. His eyes swelled with sorrowful tears. With careful movements, she etched closer. The sound of the fire spit between them. Amplifyied only by the tension between them.

"At times our hearts speak when our lips cannot be commanded, and there is much in your heart, my love," She whispered.

His eyes, red with unshed tears, turned to her gaze, a lifetime a pain in one look, he blinked and a tear spilled. She took in every detail of his face. A thin scar scored through his ear, a childhood wound, long healed with time. His fragile, teary gaze bore right through her. Her breath caught in her throat, her voice, low and soft continued, "even you are not made of stone, Aegnor. There are desires that compel even you, do not fight them."

His gaze fell to the soft curves of her red, velvet lips as if drawn by a force he could not resist. Then, as if pulling himself from a spell, he looked back to the comfort of the wild flame.

"You profess to know me, yet you do not Andreth. Not truly. I am more dangerous than your mind can fathom. Desire for me- is a torrent flood held back by sheer will, that is why I connet give it reign over my heart. Who would covet a spirit as tormented as mine?" he whispered dismissively.

"No, I believe you are a force of good, there are many who love you," she replied softly, "when you saved me from the troll... all those long years ago, you did so not out of duty, this I know now. Beneath the guarded walls you keep, shutting everyone out, deep inside you, you were once a child, just as lost and afraid as I...and there was no one who saved you."

In that moment, he bared before her his true soul in its raw form manifested in a single, glistening tear. She uttered her breath as soft as dove feathers, "do not fear the shadows of your being, for they are part of who you are... and a source of great strength,"

The soft breeze kissed his golden shimmering strands, drawing her eyes to a treasure she had long desired to touch. Her heart thundering in her chest, with trembling fingers, she slowly reached out, patiantly waiting for an invitation. Understanding her silent request, his eyes lingered, then he gently closed them, granting her desire.

With fingertips entwined in the strands of his hair, she clasped a lock as though it were a possession long lost to her. The velvety touch welcomed her hold as she gently slipped down its entire length. The shimmering waves curl unwinding as her delicate fingers passed over. Reaching the end she lingered for a moment before releasing it with a heavy sigh and it sprang back into its natural form. His eyes fluttered open, with soft, controlled breaths, his gaze turned to hers.

Fixed on him, her senses drunk in his nervous scent. He swallowed. Andreth, her heart thundering in her ears, drew closer, her eyes and lax lips inviting him to taste them. His heavy lidded gaze fixed upon her offering, he was completely under her spell. She felt the rhythmic graze of his warm breath upon her flushed cheek, he offered no resistance to her pull. Andreth gasped softly. Her sences ignited and her body burning as the sweet carress of soft elven lips teased against hers. Their quickened breaths melded between their mouths as both hung between a moment of final hesitation. Only for the moment to be cruelly snatched away by a sudden sharp hiss from Aegnor as he abruptly disengaged and shot to his feet.

"Aegnor!" She cried, jolting to her feet also, realising her grave error. "Forgive me, Aegnor... Please! It was wrong of me to be so bold! I truly thought that... that..." her heavy breaths filled the stillness. When he ignored her cries for forgiveness, her desperation only grew to new hieghts, completely abandoning her self restraint. "I am lead by my hearts desire to lay a stolen kiss upon your lips. I am but a helpless moth, drawn to your naked flame... and burnt."

His cruel silence lingered still. He stood, before her, His back turned, unmoving as a mountain in a storm. She stepped closer, finding a ray of encouragement.

"Know, that from the moment I first saw your face, when you wrapped me in your own mantle and carried me to safety, I have wanted you. My feelings for you only going stronger with time." She could no longer take his cruelty. Gently, she reached out, stepping even closer. Desperate to rekindle her precious connection to him.

"If there is... but a small hope..." her fragile voice trembled, her fingers outstretched, they slightly graze his palm. Her touch suddenly animated him and he whipped around, angrily wrenching his hand free from her gentle hold. Her face strained against the sobs that begged to be released, her arms instinctively closing into her chest.

"Do not touch me! Do not ever put your hands on me again mortal!" He roared, harsher than he realised. His eyes boiling with an unleashed fury and he pointed his finger directly in her face, "consider this your only warning, stay your distance!"

Without another word, he stormed off, his shadowy form disappearing into the darkness of the night. Alone in the camp, Andreths heart shattered into pieces, her frail and broken cries melding with the owls in the trees.

She sank back down upon the log. Her breath hitched as she struggled for air against her tears and the shock of hus harsh words. A small glimmer caught her eye, offering a small dustraction from her anguish — in his haste to depart, he had left his precious blade behind. A cherished possession of immense significance. Though hesitation gripped her, she mustered the strength to pick it up, clutching it tightly as a symbol of their fractured bond. Knowing what comfort his blade was to him, she breathed, hesitating before rising to her feet again. Determined, she set forth into the night, driven by an unwavering need to find him, to bring him his possession in the hopes of mending what had been broken between them.

Some distance away, Aegnor approached a rocky clearing at the pinnacle of a cliff, his body sank gracefully to the ground, bringing his knees to his chest. He paused silently in the solitude of the night. Deep within the chasms of his mind, a calm voice emerged, replaying the haunted words burried deep in his memory.

"Are these the youths who attacked you?" The ghostly voice of his father echoed in his mind. "What punishment shall they suffer for their unjust cruelty upon you?"

The voice of a much younger Aegnor replied, "Please entreat the king to show compassion... and let them go. Bring no harm upon them,"

"I am proud of you... my son," the voice echoed back. The lonely sound fading into the air.

Aegnor sank his head into his knees, curling into a ball of gentle sobs. As he wept into the velvet darkness, he remained oblivious to Andreth's presence, the knife held firmly in her hand. She paused, his soft cries carried upon the wind. Her anguish was replaced with compassion as she listened to the painful cries of an elf, utterly broken. She understood now. She understood what he needed. Silently, she turned away and retraced her steps. Leaving him the space to grapple with his demons alone.

By the time Aegnor had returned, he saw her curled in a ball by the fire, fast asleep. His knife hugged closely into her chest, its hilt glistening beautifully in the flickering fire. He felt a delightful flutter from within his body as he watched her sleep so peacefully, his fëa stirring deep within. Gently, he crouched over her and gently plucked the knife she held against her chest and covered her. With a tender stroke to her dark head.

"Sleep, sweet child," he whispered.