• Mature • Past is Past [Malcolm]

[Elyna]

35th Ymiden 716

It was a large private party. It wasn’t a ball, but the entertainment was split through a suite of rooms and space had been cleared for music and dancing. The rooms were decorated with bright colours and garlands. The music was loud and the rooms were crowded and the sound of people talking, laughing was louder. Elyna wouldn’t admit that she was hiding beside the tall statue of a Jacadon. Between the statue and a corner of the room, the wings blocked her from vision. Her heart hit too hard in her chest, maybe it was the tight bodice, but it was hard to breathe. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. It was beautiful, tiny embellished paintings of winged horses circling in a blue sky.
Two servants bustled past and she took the opportunity to collect a drink, she clutched it against the deep blue of her dress. Her hair had been pinned back in an elaborate style, she’d quite liked the tiny gem stones inserted in it. The girl who had dressed it said that they looked like stars in the night sky. It had been hard to ignore such a freely given compliment and the young knight had been pleased. Blinking she drew her gaze away from the ceiling, feeling calmer, less likely to panic and run away.
Elyna inhaled slowly and lent forward peering around the statue. The throng of people was endless. She emerged from her place of safety and advanced towards the nearest group. Halfway across the floorboards though, anxiety overcame her and she changed direction, instead heading for the door out into the cooler air of the night. Glass in hand she retreated out to the terrace. Mist spread over the grass below.
‘I am not hiding,’ she muttered to herself as the night air hit her skin. She felt relieved as it washed over her though and sighed ‘I am not running away,’ she gave the room a backward glance and set her arms against the low stone wall that looked down over the next terrace. Maybe she was.
Movement caught her eye to the side, and a tall man returned to the terrace wine in hand, “do you need to be rescued?” he offered. Blue eyes bright, playful and yet there was still something stern in the expression. It was a jest, but it was also a serious offer. Yoreth. The unsteady rhythm of her heart jolted. Elyna turned to peer back into the party and all the ladies in their blue dresses. Sapphire, turquoise, ocean blues all twirling and spinning. Everyone with their secrets hidden behind smiles. Looking back to Yoreth she hesitated. It had started here. Where were they? Andaris? Beyond the noble gardens of the house, the city streets were hushed. She felt vulnerable in her dress with her hair decorated and made to look like the night-time sky with tiny gems.
“I thought you’d gone back to Burhan,” she spoke without thinking, “but I am glad you have not,” she rushed to correct herself. It was a play, rehearsed in life and ready to repeat itself in her dreams. It wasn’t right though. “If anyone hears you, Yoreth – they’ll think you’re in earnest. Trying to steal me from the party,” she had been brave and she had teased him. The words though, fell heavy from her tongue. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to sneak away from the party with him.
He tilted his head to the side and studied her, just as he had. Elyna had asked him a question, what had it been? She wet dry lips and took a step back and he looked surprised, “if you’ll excuse me…”
A nest of dancing vipers inside and Yoreth standing before her. Where could she run?
“You’re sure?” The tall man stepped forward and offered a hand to her.
She was tempted but she knew how this story went. She knew the taste of his kiss and the agony of his loss. She examined her hands, the skin unblemished by years of hard training. Muscles that responded a little faster and a mind that was clear. The woman trailed fingertips down the bridge of her nose and nodded, “I’m sure.”
Face pulled with confusion as he stared down at her, “what’s wrong?”
“Go screw yourself, Yoreth,” She grinned and spun, making a dash back through the open door and into the throng of the crowd. He followed close at her heels and suddenly she realised, she didn’t know how this went any more. She didn’t know what happened next. Fingers curled around her wrist and she was spun back to face the man, only to break his hold with a calm and deliberate sweep of her hand. The dancing slowed down around them as curious gazes turned their way.
Elyna retreated, gripped her skirts and fled determined through the crowd and into the next room. Stumbling over her feet as she went, soft shoes slipped on the vanished floor and she skidded into a couple, knocking them off balance. Embarrassment turned her cheeks read and she made her hasty apology, ducking her head and trying to slip away.

[Malcolm]

"The wine," Benjamin smiled, "and the women, oh my, my, the women," he let loose a dreamy sigh and stuffed another strawberry into his mouth before winking at a girl across the room, one he had been making eyes at all night.
"Just ask her to dance already, she's been staring at you for the last break."
"Look at the girl, Mal, just look at her, she's way out of my league."
Malcolm smirked slowly and gave the woman a sidelong glance. She was pretty all right, not very tall, but slim with beautiful mousey brown hair fashioned into long, loose curls. "Not to my tastes," he teased.
Benjamin scoffed. "So you keep saying, and I've still not met this so called wife of yours. Are you into the short, plump ones? You're a strange man, Malcolm."
The knight laughed. "If you don't go and talk to that girl right now, I'll walk over there and tell her you like the look of her brother."
"That's her brother?" Ben looked taken aback. "All this time I thought he was her boyfriend. Hold my drink, I'm going over there!" He beamed and passed Malcolm his glass of wine.
Malcolm watched as his comrade marched across the room, off to make a fool of himself no doubt. For a time he stood watching the exchange, quietly surprised as the young woman then shadowed Benjamin to the centre of the room and proceeded to dance with him. Malcolm laughed to himself and looked away, pretending to be content with his wine though he now felt somewhat abandoned and did his best not to appear awkward and lonely.

The run in had been sudden and Benjamin was jolted forwards into his dance partner as Elyna bumped into him. "Oh," he spun about to see that she was all right, and only after making sure that his newfound friend wasn't hurt when he knocked into her. "Watch where you're going, lass," he smiled warmly and noticed the man hot on Elyna's heels, fighting his way through the crowd of dancers in the main room in order to try and catch up to her. "You see my friend over there?" Ben pointed to Malcolm, who was busy topping up his glass for a third time that night. "The one with the white sleeves, black leather jerkin and blue sash wrapped about his waist. He's looking for a dance partner, maybe you can make it up to me by doing me this favour? Go on," Ben encouraged. "Just one dance, I promise he won't bite."

[Elyna]

Caught mid-slink the woman halted in her departure and apologised once more. Smoothing hands down the midnight blue satin of her skirts. Fingers curling in the fabric as she resisted the urge to shuffle in her anxiety to depart and get out of Yoreth’s way. She looked back the way she’d come and saw his approach equal in her determination to leave.
His friend? Her gaze slid over his shoulder to the young woman who stood behind him. More than a little perturbed at having their dance interrupted. Heat continued rising in her cheeks and Elyna wished that the floor would open up beneath her feet. Never, she was never going to be one of those elegant ladies. What on Idalos did her Mother think would happen at a party like this? She’d had no choice but to accept the invitation, but it was a living nightmare. No, Ben corrected her quickly and gestured to the side.
She saw the tall man and picked him out without trying. The blue sash had helped, but then everyone was wearing blue. Oh no…no he was too handsome. Elyna swallowed, “I’m afraid not-” she edged backwards, forcing a smile as she curtseyed again, “I – I can only apologise, I’m so sorry to interrupt your dance,” she rambled as she retreated. Yoreth was gaining ground and her heart sank. Swearing beneath her breath the woman collected her skirts once more and turned on her heel. What would be worse? Being embarrassed by Yoreth, or being embarrassed by a stranger?
Quick strides carried her away from the couple and they were eager to resume their dance. However as she approached the man her step slowed and she hesitated. She knew him. Had they met before? Another party? Recognising the man as though from a dream she paused.
“Excuse me,” she cleared her throat and forced herself to look up into his face, “I owe your friend a favour,” this was going horribly wrong, “he said…he said you wanted to dance?” Distracted her gaze slid back down the hall to where Yoreth had slowed his steps. He hadn’t expected her to seek out the company of another man. Elyna turned back to Malcolm, “I- I would appreciate…I just…I mean I’m not very good but…I just…I don’t like to leave a debt unpaid.” A logical request surely? Not the most romantic but she hoped that might take pity. Cheeks burnt red but she tried holding his gaze. She was going to be a Skyrider for the sake of the Seven. She was going to have to learn how to be braver then this.

[Malcolm]

The unexpected approach saw Malcolm jump and twist to find himself faced with a stranger, and a beautiful one at that. He looked the woman up and down, admiring the way her dress fell down from her narrow waist like an upturned tulip, the dark fabric sweeping down away from her hips. Her hair was a mirror for the night's sky and in her eyes there was a calm, familiar warmth. "A dance?" Malcolm looked up over the woman's shoulder to his friend and caught the end of a cheeky smirk before Ben turned into another move with his newfound dance partner.
Movement, slow and calculated, from the edge of the room drew his eye then, and Malcolm noticed the rough looking man with his gaze fixed on the stranger in front of him. The knight drank his wine back quickly, not intent on wasting it, and set down the empty glass before he held out his hand to Elyna and moved towards the dance floor. "I'd enjoy a dance, my lady."
Tentative and almost shy, the man waited for Elyna to take up his hand once they were in position and let his freehand fall against her side lightly, the satin of her dress smooth and inviting, the kind of material that begged to be admired and touched. Malcolm took a step backwards before moving into step with the steady tempo of the music that played in the grand hall. His foot knocked Elyna's and his hip bumped hers as they got off to a rather awkward start. "I'm sorry," he whispered, the smell of white wine heavy on his breath. "I'm not much of a dancer, and even less so after a drink," he admitted honestly, "but I've always enjoyed it."
His hair was longer than usual, slick with some sort of product that made his curls appear a lot dark. He found it unusually easy to look into the woman's eyes, and due to this, forced himself to look away as not to stare too long and come across the wrong way. It didn't seem to matter though, for each time the knight glanced anyway from the woman's face, he found himself drawn back to her warm, chocolate coloured eyes, and full lips. It was the familiar dip in Elyna's top lip that sparked some form of recognition, a physical trait he had always admired about her. "I know you from somewhere," he fought the smile that followed and lost the battle. No, surely not, she was a lot younger than any of the woman he or his wife knew.
Embarrassed by his quick assumption, Malcolm made a more conscious effort to dance better, which seemed to mess up their rhythm completely. "Starting to think I put my boots on the wrong feet," he laughed, trying to break the ice, it wasn't like him to talk this much, especially to a stranger. The music slowed as the song came to an end and a misstep from Malcolm saw Elyna stumbled, causing him to quickly reach out and catch her. That was when the trouble started.
"Hey!" Benjamin called out as Yoreth landed a blow to Malcolm's face, sending the knight backwards into another couple who had been dancing behind them. As Malcolm was helped up back to his feet by the man he had fallen back against, Yoreth took Elyna by the hand firmly and tugged her aside. "You're dancing with me," he insisted, "don't be a dirty tease."

[Elyna]

He said yes. Elyna blinked, pausing as the information sank in. Oh…oh no. Heat continued rising along the back of her neck and trickled down her spine. The corset was pulled to tight, that was it. That was the reason she couldn’t breathe. He was waiting for her. Tripping over her feet she lifted the skirts as she walked hoping to hide the movement before she turned. Shoulders down and head up. Somewhere an etiquette teacher was cheering that the young woman had remembered to remember anything from her lessons. It was the scent from his neck that was familiar above all else. It teased her senses and had tingles racing down her spine. Her body knew what her mind had forgotten. Though she considered refusing his hand, even at this stage, when her fingers found his there was something so familiar that the gesture was almost comfortable. Apart from the fizzing sensation that trailed down her arm.
The movement started and his foot bumped against hers and her knee nudged against his in turn. More than a little self-conscious the woman lost any natural grace. She was good at remembering by body memory and repetition was how she was learning how to fight. She’d been taught how to dance by the same method, but nerves turned her legs to jelly and caused her to shuffle.
“I have to admit,” she tried breaking the silence, “I’ve never…I wouldn’t usually chose to dance,” a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before she set her gaze on his shoulder. Looking up into green eyes was having a dangerous effect on her heartrate and didn’t make it any easier to breathe. How did she know him? Had he been at another dance? Elyna looked down as he mentioned the strange sense of familiarity they shared, nodding in silent agreement. She tried to gauge his age and failed, somewhere near her own surely? But he could easily had double her arcs. The young woman, not yet escaped her teens held her hand carefully over his arm and forgot, briefly the reason they were dancing in the first place. The determined man in his early thirties who had dogged her steps from the terrace.
“Maybe we both wore the wrong shoes,” she returned his comment with another cautious smile, which was when she slipped. The soft sole of her slipper giving way. Caught, she gripped strong arms for balance before righting herself. It was then the blow landed. Mouth ajar in horror, Elyna moved to follow her partner as he fell. Until rough hands curled around her wrist and she was pulled aside. The band either hadn’t noticed or they didn’t care because they carried on playing. A livelier tune started despite the commotion as Malcolm was helped back to his feet.

Yoreth took Elyna by the hand firmly and tugged her aside. "You're dancing with me," he insisted, "don't be a dirty tease.”
This was not the man she’d met at the training grounds. Shocked, the woman hesitated as his fingers closed tight around her waist, pinching the fabric against her skin. The touch too familiar for a man she didn’t know intimately. The moment of surprise faded and her angry hands landed on his chest and she pushed him away.
“Who do you think you are?!” Elyna demanded and no longer cared about the people who turned to stare, “you should be ashamed of your behavior, Blackwood!” There... she had defamed him in front of the crowd. How dare he lay hands on another man in a pique of jealousy? There was nothing to be jealous about, they weren’t lovers and he had no claim to her. Now though, now everyone would make the crass assumptions that there was more to the Burhan daughter then met the eye. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For the second time that night, the young woman wanted the ground to open up beneath her feet and swallow her whole. Yoreth recovered from her shove face twisted with fury and older, suddenly older than she remembered him. He took hold of both wrists and held her tight.
“You know me better then you know yourself, Elyna,” his voice dropped to a leer, “don’t pretend you can’t remember all the trials you've spent in my bed, by the docks or in my cabin,” he pressed lips to her jaw below her ear and lowered his voice again, but not enough, “and I know you, Love.”
She didn’t, she didn’t remember and she didn’t understand why he was saying such horrible things, in public – for everyone to hear, “let me go Yoreth,” she hissed in return, “let me go before I have to hurt you.”

[Malcolm]

On his feet again, Malcolm touched his hand to the left side of his face where he had been struck and stared right at his attacker, a man now trying to back out of the room with Elyna in tow. Benjamin grabbed the man by the scruff and the yanked him away from the noble woman he seemed so intent on publicly shaming. The two of them wrestled for a spell before Malcolm intervened, breaking them up. "Yoreth Blackwater," he warned, "if you do not leave Andaris House immediately you will be spending the night in the dungeons for disturbing the peace."
Yoreth shrugged his shoulders forwards to break Benjamin's hold and fixed he collar, angry and red in the face. "She's my woman!" The sailor bellowed. "You can't have her, knight," Yoreth spat at Malcolm's feet, and like a dog off his chain, Benjamin lunged at him again, this time taking Yoreth to the ground.
"Unless you're going to get down and lick your filthy slime off my captain's boots, I suggest you apologise for insulting an officer far above your station."
"Take your hands off of me," Yoreth growled. "I am!---"
"Enough!" Malcolm raised he voice, "get him out of here."
Benjamin and another man dragged Yoreth from the room towards one of the slave entrances where he would be thrown out onto the street, or taken to the dungeons as threatened. Ever defiant, the man did not go quietly and hissed and growled all sorts of nasty remarks at the woman in the midnight dress.
Malcolm took Elyna's hand gently and led her through the crowd in the opposite direction to take her outside so the two of them could get some air. The temperature outside was refreshing and crisp, the mark of a cloudless night where all the stars up above were out on display, a million tiny candle lighting the sky on fire. Pressed to break the palpable silence, Malcolm looked over at Elyna and reached out before taking the two silent steps needed to close the distance between them. He set his hand down on her right shoulder. "Are you all right?"

[Elyna]

Ready to launch after Yoreth and Ben, Elyna was stilled by the gentle touch on her arm. Insistent cool fingers curled bade her to stay and the woman resisted her instinct to flinch the grip away. From the corner of her eye she could make up the familiar form of her Grandmother, the Burhan Duchess. As furious as Eyna was she wouldn’t defy the silent order to stay. Chin up and shoulders down she repeated again and held her breath counting to a hundred. Restricted by decorum she wasn’t allowed to dive into the fight and defend her own tattered honour. The effort of remaining still sent tension coiling through her body from the neck down. She felt slowly encased in metal and wished for armour and any kind of weapon to put Yoreth in his place.
Having scraped together a modicum of calm, the young woman turned to speak to her Grandmother only to find that the woman had left without a word. It was then that a warm hand sought hers and led her, without protest away from the fracas. Elyna turned to watch as they led Yoreth away. Why would he say such awful things? Why was he so intent on ruining her reputation? In the back of her mind she knew that what he’d said was true. In another dream they had escaped the party together and wandered into the gardens in search of fireflies. A childish endeavour but he’d been happy to indulge her bid for freedom. In the shadows, he’d stepped close enough to catch her face and turn her gaze to the hedgerow where slowly, as if by magic, lights appeared one by one and danced like a million lights out at sea. Her breath had caught and she’d watched in wonder. His breath had landed on her cheek- scented with spice and red wine. A lock of hair pushed gently back behind her ear, and pressed so close together he’d bent and pressed a kiss to her lips. A leaf landing on a pond before he withdrew…and she had fled. Never...in all their arcs together had Yoreth embarrassed her like this.
The shock of cool air settled over her skin like a coat and she moved forward, pressing her hands against the intricate stone wall. Crickets sang from the gardens below and the fountain before them sang with the constant murmur of falling water. Elyna looked up at the tall man as he shadowed her, before her gaze landed on her shoulder. First Yoreth shouting and now she’d been pulled into the gardens by another man. The woman let out a slow sigh and searched his expression. She was missing something and it was important.
“No,” she answered honestly and lent to peer behind him. His touch remained a trigger to her actions and she spun to face him, skirts fanning as she moved. The crowd was excited and she could see the whispers flying without much secrecy from couple to couple, “I don’t understand how people do this,” she gestured to the elaborate dress, gaze fixed bitterly on the party behind. Her Mother had assured her that the dress would entice desire and interest. A market cow with a bow tied around it’s ear.
“I don’t understand why we pretend it’s anything other than a nest of vipers,” Hands clenched she forced herself to return his gaze, realised she spoke too candidly and hurriedly dropped her gaze to her toes.
“He’s a sneaky bastard to attack you without warning. I’m sorry, Captain…I would have preferred that he tried such…crass behaviour on the training courts,” she would have fought him, practise sword or not. She would have lost, but she would have preferred bruises to public humiliation.

[Malcolm]

The garden hummed, its tune different by night, not like the choir of birds and bees that brought the place to life of a daytime, but soft, fleeting sounds, a secret song, intimate and lifted in unison, rather than shouted in disarray. Out here it was just the two of them, lounging in the moonlight and looking out over the city from the kingdom’s crown, charting the distant rolling valleys with a glance, where beyond, the dark waters of the shore called.
“Don’t worry about him,” Malcolm let his hand fall away from the woman’s shoulder to touch the small of her back briefly before he drew it to his side. “Or the snakes inside, my being caught unaware, or the dress which… by the way, you wear very well,” he offered casually. “You don’t have anything to prove.”
Malcolm took a couple of steps down the stairwell towards the garden and leaned against the polished stone rail as he looked back at Elyna. “We can only lead our own lives, sure we may guide one another from time to time, but every choice we make was right in the exact moment that we chose to make it. They aren’t mistakes, just lessons. Who’s to say there is a wrong or right way to live, as long as we live within the law?”
A group wandered outside and saw the pair talking, causing them to pass by silently and continue on down the stairs towards the entranceway at the end of the path. Malcolm had fallen silent while the group moved by them, offering a warm smile before he returned his attention to Elyna. “No one’s perfect, my lady, but you, tonight, standing there in that dress under the moonlight,” he pinched his fingers together and held them up as if to say she came as close as anyone could to being such. The knight turned on the stairs then, intent on making his way home with no reason left to remain at the party.

[Elyna]

Don’t worry? Eyes narrowed in confusion. Why shouldn’t she worry? Her life was not her own. It would be dictated by her family, and the decisions they made on her behalf would be based on her reputation. Her standing with the social houses. In all her arcs she had tried to be nothing more than a dutiful daughter, respectful of the leniency she had been granted to become a Skyrider. Yet, with foul words and lies Yoreth had tarnished her. There would be arguments, and more party’s to attend and whispers to avoid in an attempt to undo the stain on her character. Not yet in her twentieth year and Elyna was already weary of the farce. She knew herself well enough to realise, that this was never going to be her place to shine or give the best account of herself.
But she smiled, watching the man retreated and overtaken by the urge to follow at his heels. The compliment caused a flush of pleasure and she found it difficult to hold his gaze. The crowd jostled past and she bowed away, hoping to slide back into the shadows, unnoticed. No such luck. His gesture shocked her, almost as much as Yoreths crude behaviour. Such a delicate motion yet so sincere.
“Ser,” Elyna followed him without thinking down the few steps he’d taken. Fingers brushing over the rail, “Captain…I don’t know your name? Y-You spoke…of feeling familiar and I agree. I just…” She pulled her bottom lip and held it with her teeth as she thought quickly. She was almost at eye level to the man, standing a few steps above him, “I feel as though I’ve forgotten something important,” she admitted.

[Malcolm]

The smile she wore invoked an echo, it's mirrored form reflected by features as he took pause and looked back at her, a step lower and yet they would see eye to eye. Malcolm took the noble woman's hand and lifted delicate fingers to his lips where upon her knuckles he bestowed the whisper of a kiss. His gaze was lifted to meet her's before he straightened up out of the slight bow and as his hand found the cool stone, he grinned. "It's not like me to forget a courtesy so common, forgive me. Captain Malcolm Krome," the man finally disclosed.
Mortalborn or not, the man knew it was rude to stare but couldn't help it, and subconsciously he reminded himself that there was a woman waiting for him at home, one who hadn't wanted to attend the party on account of her 'tired old bones' as she liked referred to them. It felt as if it had been an age since this more flirtatious side of him had been awoken, and inwardly he cringed at how rusty he was. Still, Benjamin would have a good laugh at the tale tomorrow while they were on duty outside the city walls, and perhaps, if he was lucky enough, he would dream of the girl in the dark blue dress, with stars in hair and the world at her feet.
"Elyna," an older woman called from the door and Malcolm put a polite distance between them quickly. Elyna, he thought upon his retreat, what a beautiful name.
"Your mother would like a word when you're done," the stranger eyed Malcolm as if to suggest he was something to be done with, pressuring the two of them to wrap it up, whatever it was they had left to speak about. She disappeared then back inside. Malcolm took another slow step backwards, ready to be on his way as no one liked to be kept waiting, especially those who had lived long enough to command a bit more respect.
"Come dance with me," he said and blinked as if he had been zapped from behind, where had that request come from, and so suddenly? The man stood with his mouth ajar, fighting for something to redeem himself and follow up the outrageous request with, and found nothing to offer up but a slow, apologetic smile.