Nightshade: Chapter XXI
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XXI–The Lovers and The Long Goodbye
Noë opened the door, surprised to see Orion instead of his mother once again. She seemed to knock once an hour on the hour, eager to speak to her about the secrets she withheld from her after Noë’s arrival.
She was not ready to face her.
She eyed his red belted tunic, his hair lengthening after the short shear it was given for the solstice. “I’m okay. You don’t have to check on me anymore, I’m not going anywhere.”
Orion touched her flustered red cheek as she stood holding the door in her white linen dress, bows of braided silver holding it up on her brown shoulders. “Good. I thought I’d have to tie you down.” he shared her smile and pecked her full lips. “I’m going to harvest a few things at the greenhouse. Come with me?”
She nodded and shut the door behind herself, taking his hand as he led her through the castle. She felt herself blush as he did not let go, allowing servants and nobility to see as they bowed with their passing.
He slowed his strides for her as they left through the eastern exit past the library wing and wound through a cut through the mountain lit with torches with stairs leading downward to a flooded street below.
Noë looked both ways before following him into the flooded waters, lifting her dress as the cold water circled around her ankles. She looked into the abandoned shop windows they passed, darkened and broken from the weather’s wear, long forgotten books and fixtures inside as they stabbed along the cobbled road.
“This was a merchant street–books and finery mostly.” He led her to the dead end where the road bulged against the mountain, a tall white botanical hall before them built into the mountain with rivets of water running purposely through it so the plants in the floating planters could self water.
Noë entered the gold doors behind him, awed by the natural light pouring through the roof and every wall. It was bright, filled with life as plants of every colour lined the planters on the edges, overgrown and wild. Leaves sprung from the flood waters covering the stone floor, clear water running through the floating roots as leaves larger than her head bristled in the wind passing through the open door. “This place…our garden was nothing in comparison.”
“I would have liked to see more of it.” He eyed the hanging plants, reaching up to snag a red flower from its low hanging brush.
He took her palm and placed it within it. “This is wiltflower. Good for tonics and headaches, and in the sun–” he lifted their palms together into a stream of direct sunlight. In their hands it turned to black, wilting immediately in the sun’s face.
He watched with pleasure as her mouth fell open in awe. She lowered the flower from the sun as it stayed shrivelled. He took her to an alchemy set underneath a window, clouds of purple emitting from it as water bubbled in a low bronze cauldron. “It’s more potent this way. Drop it in.”
She did as he asked, watching the flower as it immediately dissolved in blue luminescence. She spotted several other stations of rigged machinery, some dwarven in nature, similar to the scrap metals she saw in Marrowvault. “Are you preparing for your journey?”
“Yes.” he answered honestly, stirring the pot until the mixture turned brown. “I’ll be gone by morning.”
Noë felt her heart pang with pain as he spoke. She had known it was coming, but she had expected to have more time with him. “The Elven Rogue is needed elsewhere, I suppose.” she smiled at his light laughter. “Will you write?”
Orion stood unsure. “I seldom do in the field, but perhaps I could find time.”
The feeling in his belly was unfamiliar to him. He had stopped missing home long ago when he learned they would not ever care for him the way he deserved, but now…now he wished his return to come as quickly as it could, not able to bear the pulse of longing being apart inspired within.
Noë looked further into the botanical hall where a bed sat elevated on a stone pedestal, water trickling from pipes into carved caverns on either side of it against the stone mountain. She moved closer to it, looking out of the window in its view and sat on the cushion in the sunlight.
She pushed open the window and called Huginn.
She focused, reaching out into the void calling for him as she meditated on his spirit. She opened her eyes as wing beating could be heard on the wind.
She smiled as she saw him, his black wings looking wet. “Huginn, how nice to see you. Did you get a little wet in the rains?”
Orion looked to the window where she began speaking to a black raven, its wings fluttering in as it landed on the windowsill in front of her, turning its head this way and that as it looked at her.
He came closer as Noë pointed to him. “This is Orion. Orion, this is Huginn. He belonged to my Grandfather, Odin.”
Orion nodded slightly, not surprised when the bird did the same. “You can hear him speak to you?”
She smiled up at him, “Yes. Some animals I form bonds with and I can feel their answers in their spirit. Huginn used to be under Hel’s control, but when he got caught in a trap spying for her I found him and cleared her shadows from his body.” she returned back to Huginn as he asked her who Orion was. “This is a friend, Huginn. He’s going away for awhile, do you think you could carry our messages to each other?”
As they spoke silently Orion looked at the bird suspiciously. “And you’re sure you can trust him? Didn’t he have a brother?”
“Munnin is still afflicted, but they do not speak anymore. I can tell them apart.” Noë listened to Huginn’s words and laughed. “Huginn!”
“What?” Orion asked as he came closer to the window.
Noë gave him a mischievous glance. “He says you can tell them apart if you tickle him.”
Orion stood in silence as the girl and her bird looked at him in wait. “I’m definitely not doing that.”
“Come on. Trust me, you’ll see exactly why.” Noë laughed.
Orion hesitated, but reached out to Huginn’s breast of black feathers, tickling his bird belly and causing him to flutter his wings as he chirped. There underneath his wing Orion could see a blend of white feathers from a birthmark. He supposed Munnin did not have it.
Noë and Huginn laughed raucously as Orion turned pink. “I can’t believe it. You actually did it!” she said, holding back tears of laughter as Huginn squawked.
“You little–” he said in half a laugh as Huginn took off out of reach of his anger. Orion took her shoulders instead, playfully shaking her near her collarbone as she laughed breathlessly. “Aren?” he whistled as she calmed, bringing the blue eagle to the windowsill where he took up the entirety of the space.
Noë gasped in wonder as he appeared and held her hand up to his yellow beak. “Aren. A lovely name.” She complimented the proud eagle as he ruffled his feathers, accepting her touch. “I know Orion will be safe with you caring for him, won’t he?” she sensed their bond was a long established one. “I can feel your spirit within him.” she said to Orion's blue eyes as he too pet his eagle.
“We are bonded. I go nowhere without him. He can carry messages to you too if I can spare him.”
They let silence fall between them as Aren took off once more, allowing Orion to sit beside her on the window sill. He watched the sunlight in her iris, compelled by the complexities of the grey white bands that were so unaltered with troubles.
She looked lighter than she had in days.
The journal sat heavy on Noë’s mind.
She read them over and over again, learning of the wells and the fate the Norns had planned for her, finally understanding her father and mother’s sacrifice for her–for the world.
Aztrit gave up her life shielding the worlds from Surtr’s flames, her father gave his freedom to allow Noë to keep her own, fulfilling a pact Hel had made with her human grandfather Lord Birau. Now it was her turn to use that freedom–use her gifts to usher the world tree into its next life phase.
Such was the cycle of life that Orion described, over and over again, minute details changing through the ages as life was born, thrived, conquered in Ragnarök, and died in Fimbulwinter. Then the slate was wiped clean and they would begin again.
With Hel’s plotting the ending of the last cycle had failed, stalling the worlds in their Fimbulwinter state as everyone in them died off slowly due to starvation and perhaps worse. Then the void–loose and uncontrolled–would swallow them all, untamed and overgrown.
Its nearness was what allowed so many restless shadow spirits to wander in search of live vessels that dwindled with each passing day.
And Noë had been born to correct it, to right the void seeking a master and guide them to their new age. She had only to visit each well, seal the void within them and retract Hel’s misuse of their cursed power. To do this she needed Orion's visions, to be her guide instead of searching endlessly through each world, hoping to find it. As the only Nornorë remaining, she needed him to lead her in saving their realms.
“Baldur’s journal…it says that I’m to do things that I don’t know if I’m capable of.” she looked to him, his face clear in his effort of relief at her knowing finally the gravity of what had been laid before her. “I’ll follow you wherever it is we’re meant to go if it means saving everyone we care about.”
Orion felt his chest shake with the weight of his shortcomings. “Take the time I’m away to think on it. This journey may not be what you believe it to be.”
“But it is mine to take. My mother, my father–even Thor stepped up in their final hours. I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I know I will, if only to let my mind rest in comparing my life to their sacrifice.”
He closed his eyes briefly with an exhale. Her not knowing how would get her killed. “I will not agree to this journey until I feel the time is right. Until you’re properly prepared–”
“And what can I do to be prepared?” She interrupted him, sure that no matter what his answer would not be ‘yes’ any time soon.
He took her hand, reminding her that they were in it together. “Focus on your power while I am away, gain mastery over it and then we can discuss what action to take. I promise.”
Noë held his hand in return, her mind settled as she agreed with a nod. How could he leave her now when so much had only been discovered?
But she would stow her fear. She was born the void’s master, she would not fall prey to it. “I’ll miss you… A lot.”
He smirked as he leaned his head on the window. “I’ll miss you too… A lot.”
She felt his hold on her head tighten, feeling as though they had become good friends without the pressure of their passion for one another.
She came closer to him just as his lips made the same journey to her, falling on her softly as he stroked her cheek in his large palm. She would miss kissing too. She could only hope that his time away would not be long, and that when he returned, she could prove she was worthy of her fate.
Later, back in her own chambers, Noë could not sleep.
She turned in her bed, facing the open terraces as the white curtains blew inside, the moon covered valley within her view.
She closed her eyes to savour what it felt like to have Orion near. Soon, he would be too far to touch, to smell, to hear his voice.
She left her bed, the cold floor leading her to the balcony as she sought comfort in the night. Wings beating joined her as she looked over the sparkling waters, already daydreaming of being with him again.
She felt no fear as Aren slowly flew upwards, landing on the terrace railing with a letter in his yellow beak. She smiled, taking it from him gently with a pat. Were they testing their letter system already? She opened the yellowing parchment and saw Orion’s handwriting thin and curving in dark red ink:
Still awake?
Orion spotted Aren descending and opened the window further for him, disappointed that he returned empty handed. Was he the only one who could not sleep?
He pet Aren and gave him the lamb shank as promised, allowing him to stalk the valley as he wished before they departed in the early hours.
Noë lifted her shift as she waded through the waters of the dark shop alley, approaching the greenhouse, its glass windows blackened in the night.
As she drew nearer, lifting the lantern, she saw small fires dancing on the water's surface, tea light candles orange and red drifting as she approached the stone doorway close to the mountain.
She came closer, looking within the building as she turned its corner to see Orion standing before an open window, the moon bathing him and the water around his feet, candles lining the hall with floating flowers and tea lights leading her past the potted plants and brewing pots.
Orion turned over his shoulder, his heart skipping as he heard water moving with her steps.
Her smile spread with his own as he saw her in her nightgown, clutching a lantern to guide her way. She placed it down as she saw him turn, a battered red tunic and black pants on his tall form as he stood before the bed, purple belled deadly nightshade plucked and vased beside the candles surrounding the bed.
She slid a hand against his open palm, slowly drifting her fingers over his arms to savour the soft skin, and the hills his veins made in his white wrist stark and blue in the moonlight.
She felt him touch her too, moving her hair from her shoulder, releasing it from its binds. Her eyes met his as he grazed her shoulder with his finger tips, combing through her dark curly hair as she slipped a hand underneath his tunic sleeve, touching his bare bicep.
She closed her eyes, her breath hitching as he kissed her shoulder slowly, pulling her shift straps down as he held her waist. She put her hands underneath his tunic, touching his stomach above his pants and feeling his sharp inhale.
As he calmed she continued, her palms searching, moving up his chest and skimming his nipples as she explored, his own hands drifting the shift down her arms, allowing her to pull them through one by one as he held the material, lowering it down her rear and allowing it to fall on the raised platform they stood on by the bed.
Noë felt her heart racing naked before him, strangely comforted though vulnerable and revealed to him. She lifted his tunic, helping him bring it over his head as he pulled it further upwards than her own arms could go. She moved to his pants, pulling them beneath his chiselled hips and met his reddened bush, his manhood half flaxen yet still far too much for her to take.
He touched her face, promising not to hurt her as they kissed slow and unhurried standing together, their true selves on display before one another without fear. Trust ironclad between them.
Noë broke from his kiss and sat on the bed beside him. They lied down together, their gaze saying more than their words could speak. He leaned over her, her silver eyes lit like stars in the night, desire clear within them. He felt her hands welcome him, passing over his shoulder and drifting along his neck and into his hair. She brought his face to hers, wanting his warm kiss as their presences mixed.
Noë moaned, the warmth in her belly lit a flame by his touch as their connection intensified, making her body sensitive to his touch. He caught her gasp with his lips, his thumb turning over her brown nipple as her tongue quivered against his own. He had wanted her just this way since he met her only six months past, standing there in the forest with her clothes in disarray.
He moved his hand further southward, skimming her jerking belly as she panted in eagerness beneath him. He would memorise each gasp–each cry for his own taking if he was to survive the distance from her.
Noë felt his rough archer fingers gently trail through her slickened lips, pressing her in loose lazy circles as she widened her legs for his own touch. It was not long before he ventured southward, kissing her quaking chest as she came to him on his fingers, his tongue taking over as she gasped out promises of affection.
He weaved his hands through hers on either side of her hips as she turned them on his face, her sweet taste coating his tongue as she called out his name, her swollen sex coming to him again and once more as he refused to part from her fountain.
Noë thanked the Gods for his hands holding hers, his heartbeat pulsing with her own as she fell to shambles above him, her breath stolen as he fed his hunger. She felt his mouth suckling, encouraging her to fall apart as she cried out into the night, warm loving fire passing between them as he kissed up her belly and pushed within her.
Orion felt her hands dig into his back as he broke her maiden head, their gasps lingering over one another open mouthed as they suffered silence at the hands of their joining. Tight heat met pulsing length as he brought his hips forward within her with slow strokes, her body burgeoning beneath him at only half his length.
Noë felt tears slipping from her eyes as pain and pleasure mixed, his inhuman size filling her so deeply she could not move. She took his kisses along her neck, her eyes squeezed shut as he encouraged her to breathe.
“Just like that.” she heard him whisper as her chest fell with a stutter from releasing the breath she held.
His whispers of her beauty against her ear, his tongue tasting her collarbone as he held the back of her neck, guiding her body to comfort beneath him as he lifted her hips onto his thighs, meeting her core faster as he used the power in his legs to make love to her.
He heard his own whimpering moans as her sweet heat covered his cock, tightening with pulses as he gave her more of himself this way, her body within his control as his hand tightened behind her neck, her lips gaping at her soundless mewling beneath him.
He called her name, tossing his head back as his pelvis met her own. “That’s it. You feel so good–” he gasped as he took her hip and ankle within his hands.
Opened further now to his length, Noë heard herself squeal, his cockhead bringing her closer to release as his large hands held her to his whims. “Right there…” she whispered repeatedly, looking between them to see for herself his length disappearing within her body as she felt her heart soar, beating in her ears as she whined.
He obeyed, lifting her leg to kiss down her calf, his lips trailing along her soft skin as he kissed and bit her flesh. At the meeting of his sharp teeth against her Noë felt herself tense, her belly fluttering with release as she cried his name into the night long and low, his hips gaining speed only marginally as he gave her well loved strokes.
He groaned, his brows pressing together as he tried not to melt with her, her dark hair fanned beneath him in beautiful rings, her blush descended down her neck onto her faltering breasts.
“Vala…come to me.” he panted as she grew limp in his arms and removed himself from her.
Noë felt his hand lead her to turn over, revealing her elegant brown back to him, the curve of her body clear against the white sheets as he kissed up her thighs, over her rear flesh, pausing over the dips of her hips and travelling further to her shoulder.
She moaned deep and troubled as he slipped within her in a single push.
“I long for you… and I have not yet left.” Orion whispered in her ear as he wrapped her waist with his arms, her hand tangling in his hair as she gripped it in need. “I’ve needed you–wanted for you since our meeting in the wilds.”
Noë could only whimper as his length entered her again and again with his words, his mind sharing a vision of her in his arms fainted, a bare breast for him to see.
She heard his thoughts as he trusted her lead within Marrowvault, fantasised about her back beside the mountain on the solstice, and shared their first kiss, wanting more of her but being afraid of harming her with his love.
“I want you… I want you.” she confirmed, kissing him roughly as their hips met.
It had been long since he allowed anyone this near him, and it took risk he could not fathom.
What would he do if he lost her?
His lips pressed against her shoulder and neck as he held her hips and came within her, his chest red and his breath shaking as he groaned. Noë moaned with him, arching her back as his hands greedily clung to her throat and hip, his seed releasing deep in her belly as she felt it fill her.
She released his hair with a firm tug as they panted into the dark, the candles flickering as he laid on her back, smelling the bitter orange of her hair as they caught their breath. They savoured the silence between them as they stayed this way, their sweat misted skin stuck together on the early winter wind blowing through the greenhouse.
Noë felt his breathing on her back, her heart filled as he kissed the top of her head, his deep breaths lulling her to peaceful sleep.
For tomorrow he would be gone, and the preparation for her journey would begin.