[Gil'dae Cheb] Under the cover of darkness (Pre-Veil & GF'd)

[Larien Gil'dae]

10th brightening of the month Imperos, in the Season of Autumn
Era II of the Celestine Mandate, Era XIV Post Fractum.

OOC: This is really just an "I'm back" post, but if any other Gil'daes would like to jump in, that's cool with me ^_^

IC: "We're finally back, Fionn," a soft voice lilted from the deepening twilight as a horse and rider pair came to a halt before the iron gates marked with the words Gil'dae Cheb and the crest of House Gil'dae. Her family. Yes, Larien Gil'dae had returned to Silrosia once more... and probably for the last time for a very long time. She had no intentions to travel elsewhere in the Empire. What was the point? Both Venn and Motito were lost to her - the two men she had loved the most in her life. All she had left was her family in the Tawnleaf.

Slumping wearily in the saddle, Larien shrunk farther into her dark green cloak as another cool autumn breeze teased about her loose auburn locks. A shiver danced down across her neck in response, raising goosebumps along her pale flesh. The sound of Fionn's clacking steps on the cobblestone path resounded through the dimness, drawing a figure to the opening of the stables. Larien saw him framed in the warm light as she drew closer to the small building held close to the side of the keep. She knew him immediately: K'suil T'mian the stablehand, a mere twig of a boy with a shy manner and an over-eagerness that was positively enthralling. "K'suil," she called to him softly by name - an informality she had never touched on before. Though she could not see him clearly in the dim light as he drew near to her, she could imagine the dark flush that would be blooming across his angular features. He did not speak (he never did), but instead just took a hold of her reins, holding her weary mount as she swung from the back of the white Sandbred.

"Thank you," she breathed, her weariness creeping into her melodious voice despite her best efforts. Stifling a yawn, she followed the lad into the stables, walking at Fionn's left flank as her slender hand stroked over the mare's sleek pelt. She was already growing a thicker coat for winter. As K'suil set about to unsaddling Fionn and settling her in for the night, Larien leaned against a nearby wall, watching him work as she breathed deeply. The smells of leather, horse sweat, and hay flooded her senses, reminding her of earlier times - much simpler times when she had been a naive girl in love with a handsome aspiring paladin. A sad smile crept across her features as she fell into her memories, her eerily light green eyes glazing even as she stared in the direction of shy K'suil. The poor boy, feeling her eyes on him, moved jerkily, dropping his brushes here and there, and then picking them up again only to drop them once more.

"Will you be taking your morning ride?"

It took a few moments for the fact that K'suil had just spoken to register in Larien's mind. Coming back to the present, her brow furrowed as she regarded the boy as though seeing him for the first time. He had never spoken to her before. "I beg your pardon?" In the warm light of the stables, she could see his blush this time - the intensity of it brought a small smile to her lips, her own expression one of mixed embarrassment and delight. K'suil made her feel like a girl again... a simple girl, and not a young woman who has known sorrow, who lives and breathes it every brightening. Who cannot escape it.

"Your morning ride... I recall Miss Gil'dae taking a ride every morning during her visits..."

Gracing the boy with a bright smile - though edged with a hint of exhaustion - which he missed due to the fact he refused to meet her startling green gaze again, Larien shook her head slowly. "No, no ride for me." Did his face just fall? Yes, Larien clearly saw a look of disappointment briefly flash across the stableboy's features. Slightly touched, she stifled another yawn, covering it behind her pale hand before jumping quickly to bring that shy smile to his face again. "I will, however, take a ride later in the brightening." Ah, there was that smile she enjoyed so much again.

After spending a few more minutes harassing the poor boy, Larien then found herself wandering wearily back towards Starshadow Keep. She wouldn't even bother with a bath before collapsing into her bed. Oh, it would be so good to lie in a bed again instead of camping out on the hard ground. Tilting back her head, her auburn locks cascading down her back, Larien took in the entirety of the Cheb in all its aching familiarity before finally passing through the doors and into the place that would never feel the same again. Not without Motito.

Home sweet home.

[Fenn Gil'dae]

A passing form, like a familiar memory passing through the cheb, alerted Fenn out of his sleepiness. He had walked right past a doorway leading to the main foyer, but doubled back instantly with a curious glance. One eyebrow raised above the other, he poked his head back through the door frame to see his cousin, Larien, walking into the keep. It took him a moment to realize who it was exactly, but he knew that face anywhere.

He hurried through the doorway and made his way down to her. "Cousin?" he said with a grin. Fenn stood taller than she, his platinum hair much like his late brother's. It was a characteristic of the Gil'dae men, their silver hair, and one could pick a Gil'dae out of a crowd because they looked so much alike. He gave her a handsome wink and moved to hug her tightly.

"It has been some time cousin. I know I'm not the only thing to miss you around here. I'm fairly sure these very walls miss you, and you them, yes?" Then he looked her over from toe to head, noticing just how attractive she's grown, "Splendid," he said with a grin.

[Larien Gil'dae]

With a soft sigh, Larien passed into the foyer of Starshadow, shutting the doors behind her with a soft thud. It was just as beautiful as she had remembered it to be. Tilting back her head, the young woman followed the line of the pillars upwards - those creations of stone and wood mingled harmoniously - farther and farther, pushing up towards the high, arching ceiling. The wonderful contrast of the hard, cold stone and the thriving wood always managed to take her breath away and this time was no exception. Her slender fingers worked at the clasp of her riding cloak even as she stared, her eerily light green eyes flashing in the dimmed light - the eyes of Quinnor. The eyes of her father, a Gil'dae bastard like herself. And yet, despite her less than full-blooded status, the Gil'daes had never treated her as anything less than family.

As was demonstrated when a melodiously male voice called out to her questioningly: "Cousin?"

Her eyebrows arching in surprise, Larien turned her head to gaze upwards along the stairway, taking in the form of a platinum-haired man coming down towards her. At the sight of his hair, her fingers loosened upon her riding cloak, causing the beaten wool garment to fall to the floor in a heap of cloth. But as he drew nearer, she felt her heart fall to join her cloak as she recognized him not for Motito, but for Motito's younger brother. Motito is dead, she reminded herself silently, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat at even the thought of her deceased cousin. "Fenn," she murmured quietly, grateful for his hug so that he could not see the slight hint of disappointment shining in her startling eyes. Pressing her face into his shoulder, she allowed the warmth of his tight hold seep into her very bones even as she breathed deeply, taking in his scent. It had been quite some time since last she had been held in such a way... even if it was just her cousin that was doing the holding.

His words, so flattering, brought the hint of a blush to her cheeks, though it was nothing in comparison to the flush that painted itself there when his eyes scanned across her body before he stated the single word, "Splendid." Was he saying that she, herself, was splendid? Or that it was splendid to see her again? "It... it has been too long," she stammered, trying to regain her bearings. She did not know much about her cousin Fenn, except that he was the father of Katerynn - her little cousin that she used to ride with so long ago. "I hope you have been well...?"

[Fenn Gil'dae]

"Yes," he said, remember his own time away from the Cheb. "Since I returned home, I've been well." He himself had only been home for a season and now with Larien standing in front of him he felt as if he had been there all along, no longer the family member wandering in from outside of Silrosia.

He and Larien had never been close, in fact he had scarcely said three sentences to her in the last four eras, but he would remedy that. No longer would he treat family as if they would always be around when in fact they wouldn't. It had been a cold, hard lesson he had learned when his brother had passed. He took a breath, swallowing the pain that seemed to rise all too often.

"I would like to catch up with you, perhaps in the morning after you've had a good darkening's rest. Does that sound good to you?" Fenn smiled, finding himself oddly attracted to the beautiful elf before him. She seemed to glimmer in such a way that Fenn couldn't figure out if her glimmering was only in his head or in actuality. It intrigued him.

[Larien Gil'dae]

As she continued to stand there in the presence of her cousin, Larien began to become more and more self-conscious. She couldn't help but be painfully aware of the state of her white riding gown - no longer pristine as the dirt from the road clung to its surface, dulling its silver elvish embroidery, and a thick layer of mud about two inches high bordering the hem. Her boots were little better, though thankfully they were her old pair and not one of her soft doeskins. Oh gods, please let me not be tracking dried mud across the floor, she prayed feebly. Surely she would die of embarrassment if it was so, especially with her cousin watching her so intently. Her auburn locks, sleek and wispy when properly cared for, hung limp about her angular face, tangled from the autumn wind. And, of course, she just knew she smelled of horse.

"I am glad to hear it," she responded politely, though the drab politeness of the response didn't make it any less true. In fact, she was being quite sincere, since the ability to lie or stretch the truth was quite beyond her. Gracing the other with a small smile that gently quirked the edges of her full lips upwards, Larien took a slight half-step closer to him, her face tilted upwards so she could gaze into his eyes, her own pale peridots twinkling.

"I would like that very much," her melodious voice lilted from her parted lips, her words little more than a soft whisper. It would be nice to have someone to talk to after being alone for the past few months. "But now, if you'll excuse me," coming to herself, she suddenly seemed to realize just how close to Fenn she was standing. Blushing once more, she took a quick step backwards, her eerie light green eyes alighting on her cloak where it still lay crumpled on the floor. Snatching for it, she threw the heavy woolen garment over her arm before hurrying towards the stairs, trying to escape as quickly as possible before she embarrassed herself further without it seeming like she was trying to escape. Pausing at the top of the stairs, Larien glanced over her shoulder towards her cousin, giving him another small smile.

"Sleep well," she called softly to him before hurrying off down the hall and towards her room, smiling to herself as she went.