Ria gives her oath.
Chapter 8 - Part 3 (Voyage of the Dawn Breaker)
Previously, Rhyslin gathered the ladies together and set forth the expectations for each of them. Keisha is ecstatic that Flur has consummated her bond with Rhyslin but warns him that he’ll be in trouble when he gets back home. Rhyslin explains to Flur, Ria, and Rana who Rowena is and says that he’ll no longer be able to refuse her what she wants. He asks Ria why she wants to join his house, and after she explains, he asks her if she remembers the oath.
Does he mean it? She leaned back and looked up into his eyes. Please let him mean it. Hope blossomed in her heart as she saw the look in his eyes.
He means it. Ria thought happily as she slipped out of his lap and knelt at his feet, her knees apart and the back of her palms resting on her thighs. After breathing deeply, she crossed her wrists and raised them to Rhyslin. “I, Ilyriatri Oran Rionnag wish to be your Ria. To you will I give my heart and soul and my body. I will serve you in all ways, denying you nothing. All I ask is that you treat me as I wish to be treated. I swear this in Ananke's name.”
Rhyslin waited for Ria's bond to settle next to Flur's, and when it did, he reached out and cupped her crossed wrists.
“I, Rhyslin Darkblade, do accept your bond. I will protect you and give you purpose. I will treat you as you need to be treated. This I promise by the Lady of Chains.” He gently tugged on her wrists. “Come to me, my Ria.” He smiled as she crawled into his lap and nestled into his shoulder, thanking the goddess for granting her deepest wish.
Rhyslin gave her a few minutes to get comfortable, then inquired, “Do you wish Flur to be present when we consummate our bond, or do you want me to send her to her cabin?”
“If it's okay with you, Maighstir, she can stay.” Ria replied, then grinned, “Your naughty caileag thràilleil needs to learn how to satisfy her maighstir completely.”
I really should read beyond the thousand or so words I put in each section of the chapter scenes. As you can tell, I did it again. There were only two hundred words here.
That just means it’s bonus material time.
This is the first scene in Law & Order, the second tale of Balgair the Reve.
Balgair Moeldr, the former captain of the Black Hills Company, Chain-Maker of Ananke, and the new Reeve of Eola, was hard at work in his office when his scribe pounded on the door.
Why does someone always knock on my door when I’m in the middle of something? “I’ll be through in a few minutes,” he called out as he continued to read the report from one of Parcival’s agents.
When the scribe continued to knock on the door, Balgair sighed softly and slid the report into a black folder before putting the folder into his desk drawer. “What is it, Delilah?”
“Sir,” the brunette offered, pushing the door open and peeking inside. “I have a message from the lookouts on the Northern Wall.”
That caught his attention, and he looked down at the calendar on his desk. “What day is it?”
“Dihaoine, sir.” She affirmed as he watched the slow smile that crossed his lips. It was the look of a man about to rejoin with his other half, or in Balgair’s case, his bannaichian.
A smile shone in his eyes when he looked up from the calendar. “What’s the report from the Northern Wall?”
Why am I so nervous about this? The scribe wondered as she crumpled her skirt between her fingers. “There is a transport approaching in a direct line with the quartermaster's drydock. The lookouts report that it’s flying a craobh na Cruinne banner on the mainmast.” Balgair grinned at the mention of the World Tree. “It’s about time,” he whispered with profound feeling. I’ve missed them more than I thought possible. Balgair closed his eyes and felt the long-dormant bond between himself, Amelia, and Nell reawakened. His mind was flooded with the sensations of bitter berries and sweet lilacs.
“Delilah. Is Heather going to be there when the transport lands?” I know she wants to be there to meet them, and if she isn’t, Amelia and Nell might do something drastic.
The scribe nodded tersely. “I’ve sent Samson to get her. We can take the office buggy and meet her at the quartermaster's.”
The Reeve pushed his chair away from the desk and stood up. After taking a few minutes to stretch, he pulled the navy cloak from where he had draped it over his chair and wrapped it around his shoulders before shrugging it so it fell down his back.
When he was ready, he moved toward the door. “Shall we go then? If we aren’t there when that transport lands, I fear my bannaichean will tear this town apart until they find me.” If they do that, it won’t be pretty.
Delilah cautiously asked as they walked out the door, “Would they tear the town apart to find you?”
Maybe not, Balgair thought. “It’s been about six months since I’ve seen them, so yes, they might tear the town apart.” Has it been six months? Sometimes, it didn’t feel like it, and sometimes, it felt longer.
“In that case, we had better go,” Delilah teased as she climbed into the buggy and waited for Balgair to join her.
While he still wasn’t completely comfortable with carriages, Balgair had to admit that he enjoyed letting someone else drive—in this case, one of the new deputies.
“Ready when you are, sir,” the deputy said as he glanced back over his shoulder at Balgair. Snapping the reins at the Reeve’s nod, he started the horses cantering down the road.
Balgair and Delilah watched as the transport cleared the outer wall and slowly descended. The scribe looked in awe as the ship slowly headed toward the ground. “They are going so slow.”
Balgair nodded. “They have to. They must be dead center on the landing dock, or they’ll snap the keel.” He watched as the transport hovered for a handful of seconds before starting to descend again.
The buggy arrived just as the transport ship slipped into the dock and slowly settled into place. The transport sat there, the only motion being the sailors securing the sails. When the deck was cleared, a plank was set up between the ship and the dock, and two women stepped onto the dock.
Delilah heard a gasp from Balgair and glanced at him, only to see the look of a man who had found water in the desert. She turned her attention back to the two women, closely examining them. One was roughly five and a half feet tall with fiery red hair. She wore a green skirt that barely fell to her knees, which complimented a lighter green blouse. When she leaned over and whispered something to the other woman, Delilah could see the delicate tips of her ears poking out from under her hair. The other woman listened, then began a slow search of the dockyard, searching for something or someone. The second woman was a head taller than the first, topping at just under six feet tall. She was dressed like the first woman, except the white blouse complimented the blue skirt. She looked right at Balgair, and a slow smile crossed her lips. When she dipped her raven locks to the redhead, both eyes fell on Balgair.
There’ll be more of this story coming up next week.
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