Among Friends

Nestled between Arete and Kalai, Iovene dozed in the soft afterglow of their loving. Her consciousness had not quite succumbed to sleep, but neither was it fully aware. She was keenly aware of the pang that tugged at her heart, the regret that they would have only this one night and no more. Not that she could not be content with this; she certainly wasn't that greedy or lacking for companions. But to know one's soulmate for a single night, and then watch them leave into the arm's of others...

Iovene felt her arms unconsciously tighten about the giant tracker, the arms of both tracker and scout tighten around her in response. She snuggled deeper into their entwined embrace, savoring the contact as long as her exhausted mind would allow.

Their loving had been too much for even her well-exercised stamina, and consciousness slipped from her grasp as quicksilver. 'Too soon,' Iovene might have protested, had she voice to. But exhaustion allowed no such protest, and she slipped beneath the dark waves.

******

She awoke in a warm mist, recognizing this not-place immediately. That she was nude was no shock. This was a dreamscape, after all, and it was something of an unwritten rule that one walk in such places unadorned. Iovene was not so practiced that she would say she knew all about this.

What proved a shock was the manacles, collar, and heavy chains she found herself locked in. The length wasn't sufficient to let her stand straight nor was it angled so that sitting down was all that comfortable or practical. The best that could be managed was a kneeling crouch, the ethereal ground not feeling the least bit soft.

This made the dowser feel something like a supplicant before an as-yet unglimpsed power. She refused to quake or even flinch before...whatever was out there. It could do what it liked; she was at peace with herself now and could cross the river Styx without complaint. Or so she told herself, catching sight of the indistinct form making its way forward. Towards her.

Iovene felt her resolve collapse, a straw wall against Zeus' wrath, when she saw exactly who had marched out of the mist and now towered over her. She squeezed her eyes shut against this, as though it might banish the sight as well as hold back the tears welling there, her lips trembling with equal force from the cries torn from a still-mourning heart.

She sensed the apparition's final approach, her unmistakable scent and presence filling all awareness. Iovene ached to reach out and touch the dusky skin lost to her two summers past. The chains, however, held fast. Which likely was the point, she concluded. Betrayal of joining vows must be a most severe transgression to warrant so elaborate a reprisal. Nemisis had truly outdone herself here...

These thoughts were interrupted by a soft chuckle from the figure before her. Iovene opened her eyes in shock, disbelieving of the sight greeting her. The warrior was...smiling. Not with malice or cruel satisfaction. Was that humor in those pale blue eyes she had once made smokey with love? Never had her warrior-hunter laughed aloud so, though her silent smiles had often lit the dance floor for all to see. She laughed now, its music caressing the air, as though amused by the thoughts running through her mind. Iovene was left doubting her very sanity at what happened next.

"Oh, dear Iovene," her warrior said, voice husky and loving, "Always so willing to shoulder responsibility for all things."

All Iovene could do was blink in shock. So rare had it been for the warrior's voice to touch the air, so long had it been, she'd quite forgotten the power it could have. She couldn't help but close her eyes as its rhythm washed over her.

"Please look at me." The command behind that soft tone was as unmistakable as it was irresistible, though Iovene was utterly beyond any rebellion now.

She did as bade, drawing a uncharacteristic sigh of relief from the warrior, who seemed so...ill at ease...Iovene could not help but wonder whether she was deceived here.

Her warrior shook her head sharply and decisively at these thoughts. "No, love. No deception." She grinned again. "Its simply my turn to do the telling, my wise little chatterbox." Iovene blood ran cold at hearing this, the thought that she had given her no opportunity to...

Again, the warrior cut off such thought with amused laughter. "No, no, no," she insisted. "Nothing like that. You read the air too well, my love. I never needed to say that much. You denied me nothing." Though her eyes lost none of their sparkle, her expression darkened ever so slightly. "And I? I fear I have denied you far too much."

This left Iovene as confused as ever. Her warrior, who had never asked the smallest thing from another, actually deny another something? Madness. The dowser found it easier to believe the ground was nothing but dirt and rocks and weeds than...this. She opened her mouth to say as much, only to have two very solid, steady fingers pressing against them, quieting her instantly.

"You know what I'm talking about, woman." She grabbed one of the chains in a strong hand, knuckles white with the anger of her grip. "These are my doing. It might as well have been me who forged those chains and locked you in..." Her head bowed almost of its own accord, shoulders shaking.

The next words were whispered, thought they might as well have been screamed from the highest peaks of Olympus. "I was...jealous...of them, Iovene. They ruled your heart from the start. I could see it from the first moment." The fierceness in those eyes as she looked up, terrifying enough in its intensity, was a hundred times as heart-rending, focused entirely against herself. "That was why I demanded that stupid vow at our joining. 'To hold no other in this life, until the next.'" She quoted the line with a snort of disgust, shaking her head as though trying to avoid a bad smell. "I wanted you so desperately, Iovene, I tried to snap the cord of Fate. Worse, I tried to trick you into cutting the cord! Oh, gods, and look where its brought us!"

The chains made sense now, in a sad sort of irony. Truth be told, she hadn't really ever thought about those vows, so enamored as she'd been with her dark and silent partner. And now, hearing this? Iovene wasn't sure whether to feel pity for such desperation, or disgust at what it had driven her to. Nor was she given the chance to ponder this conundrum very far, her warrior having yet another surprise for her.

She reached, literally, into her own breast and pulled a simple-looking key from there. There was no blood, nor any sound accompanying the action; she might as well have reached through the air to pluck a dust-mote for all the difficulty she encountered. Iovene knew, intellectually, that literally anything might be done within a dreamscape. It nevertheless was a shock to see.

Her warrior, reverent in actions, leaned forward and took one of her wrists in her large hand, cradling it as she might a wounded hatchling. She inserted the key into an unseen lock along the manacle's smooth surface and turned it. The still air was momentarily filled with a dull mechanical CLICK-CLANK of a lock being undone, though the chains appeared to remain attached. The action was repeated with the second manacle, and again the silence was momentarily broken. Iovene expected her to move to the collar (which had proven so surprisingly comfortable she'd all-but forgotten about the bloody thing), and blinked her surprise when her dead partner moved away. Surprise, and suspicion, for she couldn't help but wonder now if her warrior's regret was an honest thing...or if she merely reinforcing her claim.

The apparition stopped short and met her eyes once again, the bleakness there leaving Iovene ashamed of her thoughts, whatever their justification. "I release you from your vows, my love. Vows I had no right to demand." She leaned forward, bringing her lips to Iovene's in a kiss as gentle as it was final. No passion, but regret, longing, and apology in abundance. Tears shone in those pale eyes as she reached toward's dowser's breast, into her breast (though Iovene felt nothing from the intrusion, all sensation still centered on her lips), and extracted a second key. This one was slightly more elaborate, and was quickly pressed into her hand. Iovene looked up, first in confusion, then in shocked realization at the implication.

"Now," her warrior said simply, "Now, you must release yourself." She rose and prepared to turn away, only to stop short and look back. "Forgive me, Iovene, and forget me. Live, as you were meant to, with those you were meant for."

The mist quickly claimed her, leaving dowser alone once more with only her tears and chains for company. How long she crouched there she could not measure, her heart and thoughts in turmoil. How could she hate the one she loved so? It would be so easy, was so tempting to fling the key away and never risk her heart again. She might well have, were it simply herself at stake.

But it wasn't. There were others now, and she was left with no other choice.

Nor did she wish one.

She brought the key to the collar, chains falling away as she did, and released herself amid the clatter and noise of a past no longer binding her.

******

Iovene awoke to her tears, fearful of finding herself alone, only to discover strong arms entwining her. Their grip spoke of no plans of abandonment, or even release.

She made no effort to stop or even quiet her half-strangled cry of joy at this, and let the tears come and wash away the past.

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These pages were last updated: August 29, 1998

ŠAugust 1998