Chapter 46 - Kitaraiya's Fear

Kitaraiya stirred in her sleep, nuzzling further in and against Rhyker. She dazedly slipped an arm over his broad chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breath. The metallic scent of blood was in her nose and on her tongue, strong in taste and memory. Her ear twitched, flicking as she came closer to being fully awake. Unconsciously wetting her nose, she stretched her legs out and yawned, her mouth wide while a small whine escaped her. She scratched at her neck absently, suddenly frowning while she felt the flick of her tail. Lazily opening her eyes, Kitaraiya glanced at her brother. Almost immediately her gaze slipped to his neck, the gentle kick of his resting pulse assuring her and calming fear that rose every time she woke before him, the fear of having taken his life. The surging display of power had calmed and his skin was once again its natural shade.

Her frown grew deeper, feeling the long row of teeth in her mouth against her tongue. She slowly focused on her hand as it rested on his chest, realisation growing by the second until she took in a deep steadying breath of surprise. Fur. Soft downy fur on the inside of her arm. Kitaraiya stayed still, fighting the panic as her breath starting to come in sharp bursts. Anxiety welled within her, stealing her breath, her eyes darted from Rhyker to her arm. She slowly lifted her hand and felt her face with fear surging through her, her heart hammering in her ears as she felt her snout and elongated features. She looked past her hand to Rhyker, her voice caught while she struggled to make more than a strangled whimper.

Panting, her throat closed on her, the panic robbing her of air and the strength from her limbs. Her vision started to dim and narrow, her hearing nothing more that the crazed thundering of her heart. The sudden sensation of wet warmth, spoken words and a deep burning in her chest came to the fore as sharp pinpricks of dazzling light swam across her vision. Disoriented, she felt the world sway and shift, the sudden grasp of her thick mane of fur being grabbed at the nape of her neck and firm pressure wrapping around her. There was a voice, faint and distant, calling for her. She tried to respond to the call, but no words would come.

“Kit!?” she heard the rugged whisper right in her ear, “Kit, I have you.”

The distant and disembodied sensation of hands running through the fur on her head and running down her back, immediately brought a sense of ease and calm as she skirted the edge of consciousness. The sudden sensation of his hand rubbing around her ear making her relax by reflex.

Rhyker held her to himself tightly. He was kneeling on the bed with Kitaraiya’s head over his shoulder, quietly whispering in her ear. He carefully stroked through the fur that ran down her back, feeling the panicked shaking that was running through her body start to calm.

“You are safe, Tiff.” he whispered, gently rocking back and forth stroking her fur tracking the unseen scars of the past on her back, “I told you, I will always fight for you.”

A sharp tremor ran through her as she finally drew breath. Her eyes closed, half-choked sobs started to wrack her body. She brought her hands up and hugged him desperately as he continued to comfort her. Tears soaked the fur of her face and left trails of dampness on his neck as she rubbed her lupine head against him.

“Ven, brother… Why?” she said, her voice a faint growl as she fought the urge to howl brokenly, “When?”

Rhyker nodded slowly, a look of deep contemplation on his face, “We are now as intended, our inherited blood renewed and refreshed in this generation.”

“But I am a wolf? Ven, I have not been a wolf in years, not since the,” she choked on her words, “And now I am a-a beast? Some half-cast beast-kin?”

“Tiff.” he said quietly, his voice quiet but commanding.

“Don’t Ven. You know how it affects me, don’t, please…” she whimpered, “I’ll calm down.”

“Listen…” he said in the same tone, his voice in her head, immediately making her compliant.

“I found something in Knocht, it confirmed what I found in Scarosant.” he said before releasing her.

She glared at him but did not pull back, instead keeping herself tight against him, sharing his warmth, “Don’t use your command over the wolf in me then leave me wanting.” she whispered aggressively.

“How many twins were there among our kind? It is rare in any race.” he suggested.

She pulled back slightly, an eye meeting his, “We could not possibly know this. Stop teasing out the details and just tell me.”

“It is our origin. The story we know of and the truth are two different things.” he said calmly.

Her eyes narrowed, “The Aletere were Wilderelves blessed by the dragons, gifted power and strength. But we know that they became dragon-kin, not blessed, but with actual dragon blood in their veins.” she growled, “They were made into our kind. Silvast’s parents, their power transformed the first of us.”

“What if it were not just the dragons? And why was it the Ebony and Alabaster but not others except the Copper?” he said.

She rested her chin on his shoulder, “The records at Scarosant do not mention…” she pondered, before staring at him, “They do not mention any others.”

“Tiff, why were the Rakshasa serving the Copper? Then all this time hidden in the den of the Ebony and Alabaster, protected. Such a prize to be safe, while the world was destroyed.”

Kitaraiya’s eye met his, “Luck?”

“You read the same tomes as I did. What is missing and not mentioned in the histories that remain in the libraries of Scarosant? We knew the details of Escorath, but we were blind.” he said asked quietly, not rushing her conclusion.

With her lupine eyes on his, she spoke, “The Rakshasa.”

He nodded slowly, “The Rakshasa, demons of Azzar Kah'Sharn’s, though unbound and free to walk the Eld, the mortal realm.”

“Demons.” she said slowly, letting the word slowly roll off her tongue, “There are worse that walk the Eld than demons.”

She went quiet for a moment, her ears flicking slightly, “There is something you are not telling me, Ven.”

“Just give me a little more time, Tiff. That is all I ask. We must speak with Mother. I do not want to give you false hope over a suspicion.”

“You can tell me exactly what you are thinking.”

“What if I am wrong, Tiff? Just a little more time.”

She nuzzled against his neck, reacting instinctively to his serious tone.

“Mother came and spoke to me after you slept.”

Kitariaya stiffened slightly with the change of topic, “She saw me? What did she say?” she said as she felt his embrace become gentle.

“She said you were beautiful.” Rhyker said softly, “That maybe now you have a greater chance.”

She frowned, her breath catching at his words. Relaxing her head on his bare shoulder she ran one of her hands down his back, feeling the ridges of scars that she had inflicted on him when she had lost herself.

“What do you think, Ven?"

Rhyker smiled slightly, “You are beautiful.”

Kitaraiya looked at him, the faint tickle of voices in the back of her mind and the heat in her chest. She swallowed quickly, her breath quickening as faint confusion played with her thoughts. She glanced at him in a daze and distracted, seeing his lips moving but his voice distant.

“Tiff?”

Kitaraiya suddenly focused, feeling his hand squeezing her shoulder, “Sorry?”

He smiled softly, “I think you should see.”

“See?”

“Gods, Tiff. Come, stand. The mirror.”

Rhyker noticed her puzzled expression and raised an eyebrow, hooking an arm around her narrow waist, grabbing her leg and lifting her easily while sliding from the bed. With ease, he carried her over to the mirror that stood in the corner of their room and waited. Kitaraiya hid her face in his shoulder for a moment before curiosity got the best of her. Slowly, her toes touched the floor and her eyes picked out the reflection of her body pressed against his to the waist, as she was half carried.

She twisted in his grasp, her eyes looking back at herself in the mirror.

“Is that?” she said softly, noting how her form had changed, her tail full, long and curving.

She watched as she dropped her other leg down from Rhyker’s grasp, her other foot meeting the floor, an interesting mix of paw and tapered elven foot took up her weight.

“Ven?” she said, quickly looking at him and seeing his nod.

She turned, her narrow tapered waist sinuous and tight as it flared out to powerful and broad hips. Her belly and inside of her legs were covered in a soft, downy-white fur that she ran her clawed hands through, feeling the muscles moving under her skin she watched her own movements in fascination. She did not take notice of Rhyker as he shifted aside, instead she watched her hands as she let them run back up her body over her stomach before cupping her breasts and watching the movement in her fur. She turned and looked over her shoulder at her broad shoulders, tapered back and sculpted thighs. Finally, she moved close, stepping right up to the mirror and looking into her own large eyes, the white glow under her natural sky-blue rimmed with a heavy grey. Her features were that of a wolf, though her snout was slightly blunted and more feminine in appearance, with fur of greys with a faint mix of black and sables and a heavier mane of fur running down her neck and meeting her shoulders.

“Ven, I…”

Rhyker came up behind her, holding out one of her silken gowns and helping her into it. She watched her own movements, fluid and sensual no matter how she shifted. As she slowly drew the robe together and tied it off, she met his eyes in the mirror.

“Ven, I am like the Rakshasa, but…” she glanced at herself admiringly, “A wolf?”

She watched his nod, her eyes lingering on his, holding back her questions, “Ven, I remember a blackness, darkness that swirled and surrounded us,” her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember, “and wings of flame.”

He nodded slowly, his hands on her shoulders.

“Ven?” she said, a look of concern in her eyes as she turned and faced him, “Ven, what is it?”

He chuckled quietly under his breath, “You have found that your body has changed, maybe irreversibly and you are concerned about me.”

“After everything that has happened? The past has proven that my other self is within reach, brother.” she stared at him expectantly, her eye catching the movement of his pulse in his neck, the shadow jumping in steady rhythm.

She slowly met his eyes again, conflict in her own, “Without you, I-I am nothing. A monster that will kill or be killed.” she closed her eyes and frowned slightly, “I saw the track of tears on your cheek, I tasted the salt from their path on your neck. I feel the pain in your heart when I drink your life to sustain my own, the pain of fear for me, not of me.”

Kitaraiya pressed herself against him, her large eyes on his again and glowing gently, “You have always given everything to keep me safe.”

She carefully touched his chest, the mark of destiny faintly glowing gold under the skin, the faint remembered heat mirroring in her own, “I will always be sorry that it took me so long to see what we are, two parts of a whole. Dependant on each other to survive.” she smiled, her lupine teeth exposed, “Let me be concerned for the one I can not be without.”

The sands shifted under her feet, the soft yet pervasive flow of the grains entering her boots no matter how she laced and bound them. She sighed to herself, glancing up at the stars and the endless black that surrounded them. The faintest of breezes stirred the cooling air, testing the loose hairs that escaped her braid and teasing her with the salty scent of the distant sea. Silvast smiled to herself as she walked further from their camp and the edge of the sanctum. She glanced to the dunes that surrounded her, noting the shimmer in the night, the edge of the veil that Antrandis had set to conceal the Sanctum almost complete. Taking a quick look back at the tents, she changed her direction subtly, arcing to the right a little further and climbing a low dune.

The sounds of the discussion between the Valkyries, Rakshasa and Dwarf reached her, occasional words caught on the breeze. She smiled gently, she had spent time sitting on the edge of the twin’s bed as they both slept, Kitaraiya’s body as Winter had explained. But to her dragon eyes, the girl seemed as she should, a natural progression not the perversion of the monster. Silvast had not mentioned what she saw in Rhyker, the swirl and shift in his power and form. The tumultuous flames roiling through that inky blackness that filled the room to her knees and drew up like a blanket around them as they slept. There was something that had caught her by surprise as their respective power had pulsed in unison.

She looked around again, taking note of her position and stopped, the shimmer of the veil only moments from reaching the sands. She let her thoughts slip, returning to the moment as she watched the twins, as she waded through those midnight waves and sat, the bed and sheets shifting under her weight. She had left both Sian and Antrandis with Ja’Sessh in the map room of the bare library and made her way back later in the afternoon, refreshing herself and speaking with Winter as she bathed. Once finished, she had taken it upon herself to watch over the twins for a time, the talk of their changes intriguing her. While sitting beside them, she had observed them in mute amazement. The violent glowing pulse under Rhyker’s skin, the throb of white through Kitaraiya’s fur. Her fur of whites, silvers and greys with a hint of black and sable. She couldn’t help herself and had ran her fingers though the fur of Kitaraiya’s exposed shoulder.

Silvast smiled quietly, Kitaraiya in that form was beautiful; her face not entirely strong featured of the wolf, but softened somehow. Silvast could feel that the power surging through her body was still under her control instead of the wild abandon of the monster. The girl was curled up against her brother, his arm protectively around her. A small chuckle escaped her as she remembered watching them sleep together as children. When she had been caught as a wolf on nights of the exposed moon, curled up tight against him. Even now, Kitaraiya found it difficult to sleep without Rhyker, and at the very least, nearby. She had a claim over him, and at the same time relied on him in more ways than one. Despite what they showed others, they shared an equilibrium that could not be denied.

Before she came out into the growing chill of night, she had checked on them again to find them awake. Kitaraiya seemed shaken, her eyes constantly straying to Rhyker in almost equal measures of fear and desire. The latter, Rhyker always seemed respectfully immune to. But the sight of Kitaraiya standing, clothed and ready set Silvast’s mind ablaze, reminding herself that the remarkable creature that Kitaraiya was, was already a part of her unique treasures. Despite the challenges of the afternoon, both of them were ready to assist with this evening’s work after a brief discussion.

Silvast drew in a deep breath, her eyes flashing as the shimmer of the veil glowed a faint gold in the distance, the dome stretching out overhead and creating an illusionary continuation of the desert from outside as it reached the sands and become complete. The light died away, leaving a faint reflective wall that could only be seen from certain angles. Silvast looked at her available room again, concentrating until silver light blazed from her eyes, smoky tendrils seeping from their edges. Her scales replaced her skin, every exposed area covered in their fine shine and glimmer. Eyes flaring, she looked back to the camp, crouching and taking a handful of sand before letting the grains slip through her fingers slowly.

Sighing gently, she once again looked to the sky and the deepening of night; it was almost time, just a few moments more.