The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Tenara did as he instructed, allowing him to help her out of the garment and clean her up. "Don't feel bad," she eventually said, watching him hold her hand. She curled her fingers over his. "I wanted it and... usually it takes a while to feel this way afterward." She bit her lip, drawing hand from his grip to slip her arms through the robe's sleeves. When finished, she reached out and pulled him down into bed with her, curling around him and tucking the cloth to her nose to stifle any more bleeding.

For a long time, she lay like that with him, the candles growing dimmer. Her head panged, an ache behind her eyes, so she closed them to the dim light. "What did he say? Elias... what did he say that made you so angry?" She sat up slowly to look down at him, feeling silly with the cloth tucked under her nose. "You're good at staying placid under pressure... It must have been really irritating."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's muscles stiffened under her soft gaze. "I do not wish to repeat such a thing to my Yurivis." The words weren't a refusal, but his sour tone made it clear that the only way he intended to repeat Elias's words was if she ordered him to.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara brushed his face softly. She wanted to know what could have bothered him so much, but she wouldn't push him. Instead, she nodded. "Alright," she said. "Well, he'll be gone soon..." She slipped down next to him again, resting her head on him. She wasn't certain how much truth was in that. Elias wanted the sword. He knew she had it, and from what she'd gathered, he was willing to do almost anything to get it.

Tenara didn't mean to fall asleep, but the exhaustion pulled her down anyway, and within a few minutes, she was breathing evenly against him.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi lay quiet as she fell asleep beside him. She felt warm, and secure, and right.

"If that day comes, and I bring danger into her life, I will be the one to make that choice."

A throb went through him. The promise he'd made echoed in his memory like a land mine. Tenele had predicted all of this, but he hadn't thought it would happen this soon. He touched her cheek lightly, and couldn't quite make himself breathe.

----------

It was still several hours before dawn when a knock came firmly at Lelana's door. Havi leaned his forehead against the doorframe while he waited for Tenara's aunt to answer. He was used to foregoing sleep, but his thoughts had not been his allies that night, and he was mentally exhausted.

[Emora Deen]

It took a few minutes, but eventually Lelana's door cracked open. She looked drowsy, and half awake, with her black hair messed around her head and her gown hanging off one shoulder. She stared at Havitharon and then rubbed a hand over her face before looking at him again. "Oh... Not a dream." Lelana leaned against her door frame. "Well, my horny friend, you're too late tonight." She kicked her door in a little, revealing two men tangled and sleeping in her sheets. "My bed's full. But, if you come around tomorrow..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's tired expression went tense as he caught sight of the men in her bed. It was a familiar thing on his world, but it threw off what he thought he had learned about the women on this one. He retreated from the door until his back nearly hit the opposite wall of the corridor. He considered walking away, but he didn't have many options. "I...came to request something different," he frowned.

[Emora Deen]

Lelana sighed heavily. "Don't look so panicked, Havitharon. I'm joking. I know where your interests lie," she said, closing her bedroom door. "What could you need from me in the middle of the night, though?"

[Soran Nightblade]

The alien collected himself, radiating displeasure at being teased. "When I first arrived, Vladimir suggested you are skilled with enchantments. He thought you might have ideas to separate Tenara from the sword. Other than killing or torturing Tenara... was there anything else?"

[Emora Deen]

Lelana appraised him quietly before looking up and down the hall to see if anyone was listening. "The sword appears damaged. If it could be repaired, the magical current it possesses might stabilize. There isn't any guarantee that would separate you, but it is the only other idea I have besides the aforementioned ones. Tenara was a sacrifice to your blade that wasn't completed. Killing her would complete the loop, and if she were resurrected afterward, the loop would still remain closed. But, if the sword were repaired with Tenara's connection to it in mind, there might be a way to remove her from the equation. Though, you'd need the appropriate materials, steel, and someone with the knowledge of how it was forged to begin with, and my niece melted his face off."

Lelana frowned. "How separate do you want to be, Havitharon?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi scrubbed a hand over his face. "Enough to ensure she'd be safe if the sword were destroyed."

[Emora Deen]

"Physically," Lelana said softly. "She'd survive, I'm sure. But, Havitharon... even if you manage to magically separate Tenara from the sword, she's still connected to it. You bind her to it. She cares for you... Even if she could throw it away or give it to someone else or have it destroyed, she won't. If you're going to truly separate her from it to protect her, you might have to consider separating yourself from her..." Lelana grimaced. "I don't know what has you spooked, my horny friend, but don't do anything that breaks her heart. Understand?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi winced as each word she spoke drove home what he'd been agonizing over all night. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't. But the sword was endangering her. "Then," he whispered, his composure faltering at the sheer lack of hope for his next wish, "Is there a way to destroy the sword and still remain at her side?"

[Emora Deen]

Lelana's eyes brightened at the idea. "I haven't the faintest clue, but that is a curious idea. Technically you're a soul bound to a sword. If you could pull your soul from it and place it in something else... Maybe even a living thing, like a person or animal. Again, we'd need the spells or the very sorcerer that forged the sword to begin with. Only they will have such knowledge, though I don't think they'd be keen to help you shift from one object to another. They forged the sword for a reason, Havitharon. I don't know what it's capable of or what they intended for it, but they made it for a reason. Anyone with knowledge on how to make it would know its intended purpose, and unlikely to willingly part you from it."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon nodded slowly. It was rare to hear Lelana use his real name, or give such a serious answer. It made him think of the other Ivis he'd seen last night, and the red-haired man who claimed to have summoned him. "That...gives me a place to start looking. Thank you," he said sincerely, bowing to her. "I apologize for interrupting you and your Ivie."

[Emora Deen]

Lelana chuckled. "Ivie," she repeated, testing the word on her tongue. "Don't worry, my horny friend. I've already worn them out. Not interrupting anything but my sleep..." She went back to her door. "Feel free to stop by again for more late-night, hypothetical conversations around your little sword." She let herself back into the room, leaving Havi in the dark quiet of the hall.