Kire’s eyes widened at the thought of her citizens suddenly gaining the ability to fly, her mind conjuring the image of people suddenly tossed to the sky at random. “Oh gods,” she said, slightly horrified. “Though, fair enough, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I suppose it would be like when I had first gotten the Ring.” She paused. “Wonder if we get someone who wakes up one day and shits gold. That’d be useful. Then everyone else will stop looking to me for that, hah.”

She leaned her cheek on her hand for a moment, smiling as she looked at him. “Progress, yes. I usually have a problem sitting still and quietly. But this, I don’t mind.” She went back to her meal, sinking back into her previous train of thought about people suddenly gaining powers. “Uh…I have a rather cheeky question. Which you do not have to answer at all, in which case I’ll pretend I never asked it.” She went a little red as she spoke. “Have you ever used that Touch of yours in bed….in the middle of…you know.” She went beet red then. “Okay, I heard myself asking that and I’ll promptly forget I did now.”

Wrinkled his nose at the gold comment, he chuckled and resumed his meal. "You do strike me as type who can't sit still. And that's even been discussed among your family, so I know I'm spot on."
Another sip, then a bite of his pork, and her question nearly murdered him. With a sharp inhale, Ruli coughed, his meat breading going down the wrong tube. Eyes watering, he grabbed his drink to wash it down, still coughing.

"Why," he began, then coughed again. His voice was a little strained. "Your mind really wanders during meetings, doesn't it?" He asked, pounding on his chest.
Nervous about another bite so soon, Ruli nursed his wine, spying on her. "Do you want the answer, then, or are you serious about forgetting it?"

"Fuck sorry," Kire said, cringing as he nearly choked in reaction. She was about to get up to get him water, but when it looked like he would be alright, she stayed where she was. "Uh. If you're willing to give it, then yes-- the answer, I mean," she clarified, rubbing her nape. "And this is just pure curiousity. Again, just to be clear." She took a gulp of wine to distract herself.

Clearing his throat again, Ruli watched her react, smirking. "No." he answered simply. "I've never tried." He set his glass down and turned the glass by the stem slowly. "However, I wouldn't mind giving it a try. Now, you have to answer something in return." Ruli said, watching her again. "Why the curiosity? You were wary over my ability at first, understandably, and then you mention some strange side effect you get whenever I do use it on you." His eyes narrowed slightly, thinking. "Is this something you saw in one of your strange hallucinations?"

She sank down a little on her chair, holding the wine glass close as she fidgeted with it. "Well. It's-- we were on the subject of what one can or can't do with magic. So it's largely really curiosity. And ever since the hallucinations, I have wondered about your ability, the way it works. Like the first time you used it, how vivid everything was, like I was there, experiencing it. It seems...intriguing."

She frowned slightly. "The hallucinations, they almost feel as real as the memories, but don't last very long, like waking from a vivid dream. I haven't seen this in the visions, but-- there's something about your Touch that connects them. I've only ever had visions a couple of times: when my heart stopped, and one other time, my first time meeting the Seer." She took another sip. "And then of course, because I'm apparently a degenerate, my mind just eventually went to the gutter with my speculations."

Ruli shook his head in response. "Im genuinely curious about these hallucinations." He voiced. "I want to learn more about them, and why they happen. Only way I can think to do that is to connect our minds via magic, which you said is when you had them before?" He waited for her confirmation. "So I'll suppose we'll just have to do that again. And, if we just happen to be in bed at the time, we can call it research." Ruli smirked cheekily.

“Research,” Kire repeated, grinning through her blush. “This is probably the most excited I’ve ever been when it comes to ‘research’.” She set the glass down and continued with her meal, both embarrassed and grateful that she had asked it at all. After she finished, she eagerly cut herself and Ruli a slice of cake after refilling the glasses.
“Think I’ll stay the night. I don’t have to be back early tomorrow.” She peered at him over her glass. “Here, or your place?”

Ruli was amused when she said she was excited, and went back to finishing his meal at last. Waving his hand in dismissal when she offered him a slice of cake, he sipped a second glass of wine as she ate, watching the dessert all but fly into her mouth by some unexplained power. "How convenient." Ruli smirked once she said she could stay. "You sure? I mean, if we get around to any research, I would hate for you to be tired tomorrow."

He gestured. "We're already here. Plus, you bed may be larger than mine, anyway. Not that size is an issue." He froze, hoping she didn't take that comment the wrong way. Clearing his throat, he took another sip. "May as well stay here. No reason to keep going back and forth."

“Eh. All I have lined up for tomorrow is more paperwork. I can shove all that at Ed if I’m too tired to sign things,” she said with a grin. She nodded when he agreed to stay in the house for the night. “Oh, we have no problems with size,” she commented cheekily, draining her second glass. Once they were both done with drinking and dessert, she put everything away to clean, hurrying a bit and making a mental note to just clean it again tomorrow if needed.
Once inside her room, she turned her back to Ruli, gesturing at the clasp before taking off her earrings. “Could you?” she asked, her eyes on the bed. The last time she was here was after their failed first attempt at dinner, she realized. Funny how things turned out.

Gods above, Ruli tried real hard not to preen.

When she finished her dessert, he rose with her to tidy homes cooking supplies, popping another mushroom in his mouth. Working the spiced wine bottle, he set it aside, reminding himself to take it home tomorrow, or he'd never see it again. Automatically, he followed her to her room, stopping short when she asked for help with her dress.
"Uh." He said dumbly. "I have no clothing here for you." Ruli pointed you, gently undoing the clasp. "Unless, you know, you want mine." He added with a grin, stepping back once more. "I liked seeing you in my clothes. Almost as good as the dress."

“Ah.” Kire blinked, realizing that, too. She smiled, looking over her shoulder at him. “Really? Huh.” She loosened her dress from her shoulders. “They are quite comfortable. I suppose I could borrow a shirt.” She finished undressing in front of him, letting the dress fall to her feet as she waited to be handed the shirt. When she pulled in on, the shirt covered her up to mid-thigh. "So. Do I need to wear the pants, or do you fancy this one just the same?" she teased.

As her dress fell, he was tempted, oh so very tempted, to close the space between them, to trace his fingers long her neck, her bare shoulders, to trace the long scars that fell along the length of her back to to curve of her backside. He nearly forgot he had offered her his shirt, nearly looked lost when she turned around expectantly. When he pulled the article over his head, Ruli stepped forward to set it in her hand, and he watched her pull it on, the fabric settling in just the right spot.

Ruli shivered, then grinned. "Get into bed." He said, putting his hands on her waist to direct her onto her bed, crawling onto it behind. "Clothes are coming off soon, anyway, it hardly matters." Ruli said suggestively, felling over her to claim her mouth.

~

For once, in the morning, he didn't wake first. Ruli was sprawled out on his stomach, one arm reaching over Kire, the other bent beneath his pillow. His face was nestled against her shoulder, his breath caressing her collarbone as he slumbered on.

Kire lay awake early in the morning, but she didn’t move, content with the feeling of Ruli’s warm breath against her collarbone, feeling his steady breathing, his arm around her. Her scarred hand rested on his hair, softly caressing it. Though their first two times laying with each other had been pleasing, last night was something else: for once, she didn’t feel the need to muffle herself, and they took and gave pleasure without hurry, without simply filling a need, enjoying each other thoroughly. Kire closed her eyes, a smile playing at her lips as she recalled every sensation, and this time, neither of them had to hurry away from each other’s embrace after they were done.

And the Touch. Kire still had no adequate words for it. She didn’t know it was possible to feel such shared, intense pleasure. “Gods,” she breathed out loud, almost shuddering at the memory. What was even stranger, though, was what had happened afterward. She waited for the visions, or hallucinations, or whatever they were, and they came in an onslaught. She and Ruli, intertwined just as they were last night, in different places. A manor, the Palace, hot springs, a cabin. But the last two in the series of images were the strangest of all, if only because they broke the pattern of the other visions: him holding onto her tight as they stood on a beach, then, lastly, sitting nestled against him, his hands shaking as he held hers tight, while tears streamed down her face. Some part of her started to understand what these could possibly be, but it was just so strange to consider that she was almost ready to dismiss the thought.

She glanced down at Ruli, his face nestled against her shoulder. Another life, another time? she wondered. What did it mean? Sighing, she bent her head just enough to nuzzle and kiss his.

--
Back at the gate, the runes lit up as Ed crossed over, already dressed smartly for the day. Partly, he wished Ysaryn would be the one to welcome him, but also he wished he didn’t have to interrupt his cousin’s morning.

At her swear, Ruli inhaled, one leg stretching, revealing a knot in his thigh from one position or another last night. Worth it, but he groaned all the same, opening his eyes just enough to see Kire still laying beside him before he closed his eyes once more. Sleep. Sleep was good.

And then she kissed him, and he was roused again. Without opening his eyes, he tightened his arm around her, drawing her close, his lips responding. "Mmmm. Morning." He greeted between kisses, hand wandering her curves.

~

"Oh. Ed."
It was Zeke who spotted him first, the man wandering through the caves with a sparring sword. He looked Ed over, wondering for a moment why he was here. "Ysaryn's in her house. I could take you, if you'd like." He offered, pointing. "I'm on my way. She's about to kick my ass." He sighed, raising the weapon.

Kire grinned against his lips. "Morning," she greeted back, kissing him a little longer before breaking it. "Slept well, I take it?" She rolled onto her side so she was facing him. She ran her fingers through his hair softly, draping a leg over his, torn between just letting him sleep and wanting to talk to him. You are so horribly smitten, Kay. Kire stopped herself from rolling her eyes at herself.

"So. In the interest of research, I'd say the experiment went very well," she murmured, smirking for a moment. She paused for a while to just enjoy the embrace, though her mind wondered how much she should explain about the visions, or what she thought about them. "I had them again. The images." She explained what she saw, particularly the last two. "The first ones, could explain that away because we were, you know, in the middle of it. The last two are just peculiar. I don't know why. Only-- they were accompanied by strong feeling."

--

"Morning, Zeke." Ed glanced at the training sword and smirked when he mentioned Ysaryn. "Should be interesting to see. I owe her a match, myself, so I need to know how much pain I should be ready for," he said with a chuckle, following the ex-captain. "I'm actually here for Kire, but think I'll stop by Ysaryn's place first."

"Mmmmhm." Ruli hummed, sleepily relentless in his attentions to her lips, even as she rolled and toyed with his hair. When she began to speak, he lowered his head to her jaw, her throat, enjoying himself until her comment made him laugh. "I would have to agree." Ruli muttered against her warm skin. When she continued and mentioned she'd had more visions, Ruli wasn't surprised, but felt himself raising his head anyway, looking curiously at her. "A strong feeling?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like ... one of the many feelings I gave you last night, or ... not dread or anything, right?"

~

"Kire?" Zeke asked, continued on his route as Ed fell into step beside him. "I didn't even know she was h-oh, that -actually explains quite a few things." He voiced, shaking his head.
"Anyway, you're in for pain, she's cruel, but she states that she drew with Kire, so depends on how you are again her, I guess."

They wandered along the pathway to the large house Ysaryn had claimed for herself and her family, only to be greeted by the horrible smell of Ysaryn's tea. Zeke fanned his hand before his face, then called. "Ysaryn? You're late!"
A hiss answered them, followed by the dark and angled face not of Ysaryn, but her father. His deep red eyes leered at Zeke, aggressively snarling at him, before he looked to Ed.
And blinked.

Ysaryn appeared a moment later, mid sentence on telling Zeke to shut it when she froze, spotting Ed beside Zeke. Then her eyes darted to her father, who was glaring at her. "This is the man!?" Scindere demanded.
"Out. Now." Ysaryn snarled at Zeke and Ed before rounding on her father. "So what if it is?"
"I won't allow my daughter to bed some pale skinned man! After all the things his kind have put us thr-"
And Zeke shoved Ed back outside, eyes wide in alarm. "Fuck." He muttered, clapping his hand over his mouth a moment later, forgetting they would have heard him swear. "Oh, fuck she's going to slay me now."

Kire shook her head. “For a few moments, yes, it was like that, but after that was…” Her voice trailed off as she frowned, trying to put a finger on what she had felt. “Just—closeness? It’s—it’s hard to describe, especially the last. The last vision had a lot of conflicting things I can’t quite parse through. But, thing is, I think the feelings weren’t coming from either of us at all,” she said. “This might sound crazy. But…do you think we’re seeing some other version of the future?” She paused, then stifled a giggle. “Okay. Yeah. I admit, that’s crazy even for me. I sound like Elva or Daryll when they get into the herbs too much.”
She shook her head, then pushed him onto his back, leaning in for a deep kiss. “Too early for theories, I admit. Exercise first,” she said with a hungry grin.

--

“Ahhh.” Ed smirked. “Fought Kire to a draw? Hm. Interesting. Well. I taught Kire swordsmanship, so that must mean my chances are decent.” He followed along, then wondered for a moment if Ysaryn would be alright with him showing up unannounced. Then again, he might just as likely catch her ire if he had fetched Kire without showing his face at all. He almost chuckled aloud as Zeke yelled for Ysaryn, amused.

Until he saw another elf. Ed froze, and when Ysaryn appeared and their argument began, it became clear who this man was. Oh, fuck. He raised his hands and backed out of the house as Zeke pushed him. “To be fair,” he muttered back, “between you and I, I’m probably the one who should be concerned more.” He’d faced his fair share of furtive affairs and angry fathers—and one or two irate lovers—many years ago, before he grew up and out of that stage in his life.

"I'm not seeing anything, you're the one with all the hallucinations." Ruli reminded her. "But, I hate to admit, but it does sound far fetched. How can you see into the futu-oh." Ruli grinned, forgetting his train of thought as she pushed him onto his back. His smile widened, and he brushed his hands up along her back as he pulled her against him. "More research, or no?" He asked teasingly.

~

Zeke pursed his lips, then beckoned Ed to move away from the house, wandering up the steps a bit. "Truthfully, I'm not sure you should be worried. Scindere is ... he's not friendly. Not even to Envy. So, congrats, I suppose you're no different than the rest of us." He sighed, looking up toward the tops of the cliffs. "I'm meeting Ysaryn up there, if you want to meet us after finding Kire. Ruli's house is the one on the end there." Zeke turned and pointed with his sparring sword hilt. "The one with the shutters closed."

“Mmm, I wouldn’t mind another one of those,” she said, grinning, as he pulled her against him. Some time later, however, Kire heard a loud knock from the front door of the house, and she groaned, collapsing onto him but unwilling to get off him. “Ysaryn,” she growled, forgetting the absence of the elf’s signature on the other side. “Maybe if we keep quiet she’ll go away,” she whispered. But when the knock game again, Kire sighed heavily. “Stay there. I’ll be back,” she said, grinning as she climbed off and quickly put on his shirt and pants, hurrying to the door.

“What the fu—oh.” Kire blushed crimson as she saw Ed on the other side. He had walked from Ruli’s house after quickly realizing it was empty. His brows were raised, his gaze momentarily noting her outfit before he cleared his throat.

“I won’t come in, don’t worry. I wouldn’t be bothering you unless it’s important.” He fished a letter from his coat pocket, handing it to her. “Remember when you told us oh so very vaguely to keep you posted about ‘anything strange’, which, given the high concentration of weirdness that’s happened to us so far, doesn’t exactly narrow the field of ‘strange phenomenon’ we should be on the lookout for?”

“Uh-huh,” Kire said, narrowing her eyes at him as she took the letter.
“We might have a lead on that. We can discuss it upon your return.” He glanced ever so slightly over Kire’s shoulder. “Say…in a half hour?” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m going to the top of the cliffs to watch Ysaryn and Zeke spar for a bit—and possibly get chewed out to kingdom come—so I’ll wait for you there.”
“Fine. Wait. Why are you going to be chewed out?” Kire asked, and Ed waved it off.
“I’ll explain later,” he said, already on his way to the top of the cliffs.

Kire went back to her room and pouted at Ruli, shaking the letter in her hand. “Duty calls,” she said, not bothering to hide her disappointment at that. “Do we have any coffee in here? And breakfast food?” she asked as she pulled off his clothes to put on hers. “Though I suppose I can have more cake, instead.”

She wandered into the kitchen once dressed, going over the letter. “Well. It’s not people flying,” she said aloud, after her second read. “But a forest had apparently grown overnight at some town, and people behaving strangely within its vicinity. Nobody’s gone in yet to inspect it.” She sighed. “I’m going to have go in to inspect it, I suppose.”

She glanced at the letter again. "By the way, I was meaning to ask...the wards you and Gavin devised for the Palace. I was wondering if you could help do it again, only this time for protection. Like the wards Envy puts up."

Ruli groaned at the sound. "Its worrisome that you'd think she'd knock." Ruli commented ebfore rolling onto his belly. The sheets were damp thanks to their quick workout, glad she was the one going to answer. Not that Ysaryn wouldn't figure out precisely what she was interrupting once Kire was within range of her nose.
But, when he heard a male voice, Ruli straightened, propping himself up on his elbows.

"No, not in here." Ruli answered about coffee. "I can heat up a bit of what we had last night. No, Kire, you're not eating cake for breakfast." He said, scrambling out of bed. He gathered his clothes, half hurrying to the kitchen to ward her off the cake before he gathered a bit of the meat from last night to heat again.
"A forest?" Ruli asked, cutting the pork into strips to toss into a pan. "Assuming people have seen a forest ebfore, what sort of strange? Any details?" He wondered. "Do you want an extra pair of eyes? You know Ysaryn makes a good scout. And I'm a fairly decent back up to have." He grinned, moving the pan over the flames and listening to the meat sizzle.

As she asked about the wards, Ruli nodded, licking his finger. "Yeah. We can make wards that glow, so even those who can't sense them will be aware if anything magic crosses them. Ours glow for Aeron and Zeke." He added. "But, Envy and or Risa will scold me if I don't ask for some sort of compensation. Which, to me, access to random wares is enough. Having rare fabrics will make even Risa shut up."

~

Up in the hilltop, Zeke was standing idly, staring down the southern side to watch the people wander up and down the steps. And Ed, as he climbed up.
"Find her?" He asked, rolling his shoulders in a stretch.

"You!" Ysaryn's voice called across the grass as she approached. She leered angrily at the two of them, rounding on Ed first. "You had to pick now to randomly show up? And you had to bring him to my home? Where Father live?"
Zeke blanked, lips parting. "Uh, well, I uh..."
"Close it!" She snapped, raising the sparring sword she held to point it at him. "You are to eat dirt. You are next." She threatened Ed, before launching without warning into an attack on Zeke, who scrambled to block.