GoldenCat/Heads02
- - Back to Eighth Movement
- - Back to A Dance of Angels
Sun's Fire
Not so long after the fight for the life of Spire...
The city is calm now. All spells and Windians assured no more problems were around....
And Alexander opens the door to Kanti's room, like the sun walking into it...
"Kanti? Do you have a moment for me?"
Kanti: The first sight that Alexander sees as he walks into the room is that of a long leg stretched out upon the bed, smooth and gracefully curved. The second leg too, has the knee raised, the musculature beneath the surface arcing to a most pleasing effect. Her stomach continues smooth and broken only by the gently glowing fire lotus set into her belly, a black silk robe pooled on the bed around her. The look on her face too is one that Alex could find no fault with, a look of doe-eyed devotion.
Except for that which soon becomes apparent. The look is for the kitten, curled up on her chest.
Alexander: He says nothing, then. He just stands on the doorway, smiling at the Fire Aspect and her kitten. He tries to make it so his own breathing makes no sound, then, and simply admires that sight... and wishes it would be painted, immortalized in a picture on his room. The sight deserved it. It was so perfect.
So... cute
Kanti: Kanti noticed him after a while, the words he spoke filtering down through her conciousness, and she turns her head to him, her eyes loosing some of that doe-eyed devotion, replaced by something similar, but not quiet the same.
"Yes, my prince?"
Alexander: "O... oh, sorry, Kanti... I... I did not meant to disturb you. I... I just wanted..." Embarassed. He wished that moment to last forever. He wished he had never disturbed it... of course, it could not last. But still... it had been so.... and still was, in a sense. The kitten moved about a bit, pawing at its own face. "I just wanted to talk to you a little bit..."
Kanti: Kanti giggled and offered it a finger to curl it's paws around.
"Of course, my prince."
She closes her hands around the kitten and carefully cups it as she swings around and upright.
Alexander: The Kitten looks up at her, confused, pawing at its face and trying to wake up... as the Prince watches Kanti, walking up to her, caressing her hair. "You decided to keep it with Aryan's blessing, right? Did you decide on a name for her yet?"
Kanti: Kanti giggles amusedly down at the kitten, just holding it and watching it slowly wake up, before she looks up at Alex as he strokes her hair, leaning towards him somewhat, her hair completely loose today, cascading down her back in a black wave.
"I did yes, my prince." She says softly. "She is called Xue." She holds up the black kitten. "It means snow," she adds helpfully.
"How does the day find you, my prince?" She asks.
Alexander: He smiles, and an aura of harmless confidence emanated from him as he sat by Kanti... and as his hand touched Xue, it purred on the spot, without moving away or being in the very least suspicious. Its paws and claws touched over the prince's skin, and he just giggled. "Pleased to meet you, Xue. I am Alexander..."
"I am... well, happy. For what we did yesterday, for you and Xue, for my sister..."
"And glad. I have come to talk to you about your fear and sorrow as of late... but Xue seems to have you in high spirits. Good Xue." He says, picking the black kitten in his white hands, petting it like he was a servant, and kitty, the royal one there.
Kanti: Kanti watches her prince and the kitten in concern, though it is hard to tell who she is more concerned for ... She seems to relax once more as he and xue relax with each other, making only a small noise of protest as the prince takes her, settling once more as he starts to pet her.
his sister...she is so ... wrong.
"That is good to hear, my Prince." She smiles up at him.
I...he noticed...
he cares...
I was worrying my prince.
he cares!
I shouldn't do that...
"I am sorry for worrying you, my prince," she speaks in a soft voice.
Alexander: He lets go of the kitten, and Xue paws at his hand, and begins to climb his shirt, hanging from it in such a cute, almost comic fashion as she walks up to his shoulder... looks at Kanti, and mews. Before turning to the prince's ear and beggining to lick.. he giggles holding Xue, while his now free hand touches Kanti's jaw, softly... "Do not be... it is just natural that I worry about you. I want you to be happy... heh. Heeeh..." He giggles, then picks Xue down, bringing it to his lap, and it mews again. "Why are you so worried, Kanti?"
Kanti: Kanti is reduced to giggling too at Xue's antices, whating her bravely surmounting the Prince ... and then lick his ear. She calms though as he touches his hand to her chin, the touch and the gesture quietening her giggles.
"I ... it was...."
I'm worried about Her ... I want to see Her.
I'm worried about Him ... I want to see Him.
I'm worried about you ... You seem so vulnerable sometimes...
I'm worried about Moon ... he doesn't talk to me any more...
I'm worried about Fiona ... how she will cope.
I'm worried about Ryshassa ... she's been so kinda to me.
I'm worried about Elizabeth ... I .. don't know what to do.
"I ... it is complicated, my Prince."
Alexander: Xue jumps off Alexander's lap, looking up from the floor... and once again, she mews. And stretches. And then, she begins to leap on the ground, like a proud horse gallopping... and the prince's attention fixates on Kanti. On his eyes, she sees his worry, his love, cast in amethyst...
"It has to do with her, does it not? Your Mistress before the Dark Angel?" His hand caresses her face, touching the red face, the scars... she looked only a little older than him. She could even be his age, if she had a fast growth spurt... she looked so innocent, so beautiful... "Kanti... I accept, you, remember. All of you."
"There is nothing to be ashamed of..."
Kanti: Kanti flicks her eyes to watch Xue run off, then turns back to her prince. There was nothing to harm the young kitten here. She leaned into his hand and his carresses, trying to let them relax her.
She looks down, and then nods.
"...I miss Her still.... and the Dark Angel..."
Alexander: His hand retreats a bit, holding a wisp of her hair... as he looks her in her eyes, to whisper words with a smile. "Come closer. Come here..." He says, wings spreading a little bit, his right wing closing around her, so even the light int he window ceases to come to her... keeping her sheltered, keeping it secret, so she can say and feel whatever she wishes... "And you love them too, do you not?"
Kanti: Kanti curls up in the warm, dark coccoon of his wings, pressing herself close to him, as he likes her too and listens to his whispers in her ear, and thinks
...and then, after a moment, nods guiltily
Alexander: She nods, and he answers only with a smile. A smile that comes closer to her and kisses her lips, as lovingly as possible, with a tenderness of one caressing the most delicate of flowers. And when they part, he whispers. "I know. Do not be ashamed of it, I know..." He says, his hand cascading down her hair, feeling it... and the shine of an idea appeared in his eyes, in his smile "Hmmm, I think I know how to cheer you up... I think you need to dress something more fit for dancing, though. You want to?"
Kanti: Kanti is surprised by his kiss, expecting a disapproving look or a sigh that would signify his true feelings, and so it takes her a few moments to respond, though she does, accepting it and returning it with every bit of tenderness offered.
"...You know?"
"You..."
"....Dancing? Of ... of course I would like to dance for you, my prince."
Alexander: He presses her to him, and Kanti can feel sunlight pouring from him, snaking up her legs, touching her body, soaking into the darkness of her robe and focusing on her... and he kisses her ear, whispering. "No, not for me, Kanti. With me. I want you to dance with me. We have not danced together since we first met..."
Kanti: Kanti shivered as the golden glow washed over her, burning at the edges of the scars and then there was only the warmth and the light and love and she relaxed in it and kisses at his neck as she whispers in his ear.
"With you ... ?" Her voice filled with a strange hope and happiness.
"... I do not have the right dresses to dance with royalty, my prince...." She finishes, with a tone of regret
Alexander: His hands work on her back, touching her hair... marveling with how well-tended it is, how beautiful those raven tresses are... tinges of regret stinging his eyes as he remembers how he had mistreated it before... which he tries to hide as he nuzzles her face, loving being so close. "With me... and you would be perfect for it even if your body was bare, Kanti... you are beautiful, regal as a Garda Bird..."
Kanti: Kanti kisses him back, each small kiss conveying her affection for him, letting her hair play over his skin, her hands moving in soft, subtle, calming carresses, ones the prince would hardly feel as they took some of his stress away.
"...You wish for me to be bare, my prince?" She asks, no protesting tones in her voice, mere curiousity.
Alexander: That almost took him back. And made his face burn the slightest shade of red, imagining "N... no, that is not it! It was just a metaphor, I was just, I was just saying..." He tries to cover it, tries to explain... and then, realises how he must be opressing her... ".. but, if you wish... all I am saying is that you would be just as regal, just as beautiful, if you were bare. And you do have a beautiful dancer's body..."
Kanti: "...I...I will find a dress to wear," she says softly, kissing his cheeks.
"You would blush too much."
And then she slowly extracts herself from his lap, letting the robe slip from her, pooling onto the bed into a nice, comfortable and warm place for Xue to nap while she was away, walking over to the wardrobe and looking inside.
Alexander: Alexander scratches the back of his neck, chuckling as he sees her let go of her silken robe... her bare body, he would never get used to it. So different, otherworldly, so sexy... he always feels like he is looking at that for the first time. And he smiles, as he sees Xue appear on the bed, and begin to paw at the silk... and then, to roll within it. So cute the prince thinks, reaching out to pet the kitten... once again, caresses received with a trust the little kitten would give no other.
Kanti: Kanti selects the only dress suitable for such a dance that she has, the red and gold thing that was the first thing he had seen her in. It was by no means perfect for dancing with a solar and with royalty but it was the best she had and so it would have to do.
She vanishes behind the screen to change, emerging a few moments later clad in gold, long gloves pulled up her arms , the scars not visible on her legs, clad as they are in black silk stockings.
She curtseys.
"Does my prince approve?"
Alexander: He gets up, accepting her courtsy, offering her his hand as he would any high-born lady.
"Yes, I do. You look beautiful, Kanti. Perfect to dance..."
"Remember that first night? I was such a strange night..."
Kanti: Kanti rises and takes his hand with a smile, standing beside him, the perfect companion.
"Thank you, my prince."
"It...it was, such a strange ... very strange night."
Alexander: The prince takes a few steps to the bed, bending a bit to pet Xue, moving his hand over her, pushing her black fur up, making her eyes close as she purrs... "We will be right back, Xue. Behave here, alright?" He says before walking towards the door with Kanti... with the one that is his lady, for now.
"Now, to try to cheer you up a bit, Lady of Fire!"
Kanti: "Yes, be good Xue. Or have a nap ... I'll play with you when I get back!" Kanti nods to the kitten on the bed, reassuring her though not really worried about the kitten, not here.
"As you wish, my prince. Please, lead on."
Alexander: And so he does, opening the door and walking out... until they get to a balcony, and he holds her tightly before his wings beat and he takes off, flying away with her, enjoying the sky, enjoying the world around them... "I wonder... do you mind if I talk about the Pale Angel? About the Silver Angel? About Tasya? I feel bad... so many feelings... you and Cael, you tell me you can love more than one, but I still feel guilty about it... and I do not want to hurt you."
Kanti: Kanti curls herself elegantly in his arms, making herself easy to hold, pressing up to his chest, looking up at him and the stars beyond him.
"Of course not, my prince. If you want to talk, please talk." She leans up and kisses his chest. "I am here to listen."
Alexander: He makes a pleased sound, almost ecstasy as she kisses his chest, without a need for him to ask, just as a caress, so spontaneous and tender... she can feel his light become more warm, she can feel him become more pleased with her... as his wings continue to beat, pas the clouds, and into a great circle, a great balcony-hall close to the tip of Spire, with a floor of marble that was so smooth they could see their reflections as Alexander begun to lower them... and where the sun touched prisms to form kaleidoscopic images in the walls and the floor... "Good... it is so good, to be able to say all to you, Kanti..." He says as he touches down, and kisses her head, her hair... "Now... hear the wind, all about us. That is our melody..."
Kanti: Kanti smiles up at him demurely as he kisses her head, kisses her hair, slipping from his arms as he sets her down on the near reflective floor, looking about her as she does.
"This place ... it is beautiful! Thank you, my Prince," she says enthusiastically before she calms, feeling the wind as it brushed past her cheek, taking her tempo from the subtle carresses, waiting for her prince to start his dance.
Alexander: He looked at her, his face taken by... indecision, for a moment. So much to say... wanting to talk about her loves, about his loves, about... this maze of feelings that takes his life. He only wanted to be happy, to make those around him happy... but he had failed on Tasya, he seemed to fail on Kanti...
He sighed, and shook his head. She is smiling at him...
She seems to be happy. It is something... something he has to hold on to.
Something to nurture.
And then, his left arm encircles her waist, pulling her closer, but not too close. He was glad Kanti was so young, looking little older than himself... he would not... look very well, dancing this with the Pale or Silver Angels. Right hand took in her left hand with the utmost care, as gentle as possible, his lips touching her cheek to give a soft kiss of good luck for both.
And then, he begun to step, towards the center as if in a courtly ball, sunlight pouring from him, illuminating the ground, seeming to seep into the marble... and the whole hall seemed to light up, absorbing the light and reflect it in seven crystal chandeliers about them.
His caste mark burned in his forehead with white fire.
"I will make you forget heaven..." He whispers, softly, doing his best in this dance...
Kanti: Kanti watches her prince as he suffers from his indescision, though she doesn't let her smile falter, just stands and watches as she thinks herself.
What will he speak of with me?
What will he ask of me?
What will happen to me?
Then he sighs and she almost speaks, almost breaks her silence and then she feels his arm on her back and she gracefully steps closer to him, but not too close, staying at the distance her pulls her to, letting him take her hand and extend it elegantly, blushing just a little as he kisses her cheek.
She follows him as he starts to move towards the centre of the hall, gasping as he fires his anima, at the brilliant and beautiful light it evokes in the ancient crystal surrounding them, closing her eyes as she follows him in the dance he moves through, each motion chosen to complement his, each flourish to extend his own.
But I don't want to forget Heaven...
Alexander: She is so good...
He had never seen better.
Around them in the distance, on the periphery of their vision, clouds twist around themselves, and through the clouds as they are, form endless fields of cotton, and great palaces of air reaching so far up... all around them, as the world seems to spin... and then, there is no word, because the Prince focuses on Kanti, and the whole world seems to vanish on the periphery of his vision, that supreme beauty a mere backdrop to what is in front of him...
His anima covers Kanti, the white fire that had always been his'. It laps at Kanti like real fire, with the same warmth, caressing her... as he steps, his hand so soft over hers', then tightening just a bit as the Prince gains confidence...and dances with her...
"We will do great balls when this is over, Kanti... and we will dance, like this, in each and every one. They will all see us... they will all see you..." He smiles to her, the flames seeming to close about her, making her feel so constricted, as if she was dancing on an enclosed space... "... you are the best dancer I have ever met..."
And his stepsbecome more confident, flowing more... past lives, memories of other balls, memories of dances on the dawn of time... that mingling with his own, with his own skill, with his own desires... to dance as well as he can, to be good enough for her... to make her enjoy being with him...
Kanti: Kanti feels his anima pressing around her, carressing her, the heat replacing the wind, the warmth making her scars tingle below her dress even as it burns away the blackness clouding at the edge of her mind, banishing the shadows to the smallest corners.
She steps closer as he gains confidence, as his anima pulls her in, her eyes only for him now, murmuring in reply to his words
"You ... you will dance with me at a great ball?"
I am not worthy
"People will watch me?"
I am not worthy
"Thank you my prince .. you too are a most courteous and graceful dancer."
he says I'm worthy!
Alexander: "I will." He says with confidence, with love.
"All will watch. And all the ladies in Whiteshield will be in awe of your steps."
And then, the best dancer he had ever met, the best dancer he had ever seen, complimented him.
And his face tinted with a slight blush. "Thank you..."
His steps continued, his light covering the hall... and he pulled her slightly closer. "Be all you can be, Kanti... I want to see you in your all. I want to see the Garda Bird's wings spread. The lotus open in glory. You can call your power, you can burn... I have been touching the White Fire. And you will not burn me if you do not want to." He says, stopping to lower her, holding her body and making her fall, the very tip of her black hair gently touching the ground... "Let go. Fly free. Show me your all."
Kanti: Kanti leaned back, arcing her body with perfection, each muscle that should be strained just so.
And then he spoke those words and she whispered.
"As you wish, my prince."
And then the tempo of the wind, tracing out it's rhythm on her cheeks and she rose with a wash of true fire falling from her back and skittering out across the pure marble floor and she truely began to dance, the tempo dictating that she took the lead and so lead she did, with perfect steps that split her dress, with gestures firm and commanding, directing her prince this way and that, with a gathering heat that left glowing footprints in their wake, Kanti danced.
Danced for herself.
Danced for her prince.
Danced for the garda bird that spread it's wings above her.
Danced for the heaven that taught her.
Danced for the hell that marked her.
but above all...
she danced for the dance itself.
Alexander: The Garda Bird reached upwards... and the Knight was there, face covered by its mask, eyes shining on the purest golden, the golden on the edges of the white fire all over her... the fire that mingled with her own. Golden and Red, White with the burning yellows and oranges... all fire, together, mingling in their dance... it touched Alex's coat, and begun to burn it... but the clothes beneath were untouched.
He smiled, untouched by her flames.
He smiled, enjoying their warmth, the essence of Kanti's soul washing over him.
He smiled, and it appeared to Kanti that he felt the same oneness with the flames as she did, for a moment.
And so she led, and he followed her lead. Not once did he miss a step, and as they danced, he felt their flames become one... he felt his soul touch hers'. He kissed her during the dance, and his breath touched hers'. She could feel it, the fire of the purest sun, the light of the Zenith within her after the kiss, growing within her like a flower under the sunlight...
His coat is gone, but the rest of his clothes are unchanged, untouched, warmed by her flames. "I feel your flames... Kanti, it is so good. It is so pure. It is so... you. You are so pure, so warm, so alive. And I can feel it... in your flames... your compassion, your..." He smiles, taking the lead once again... "... your love. Can you feel how pure it is, even before the flame of Zenith? Can you feel how we are one...?"
Kanti: He smiles at me
Kanti smiled back.
He smiles at me
Kanti watched him as she smiled.
He smiles at me
Kanti flowed through the motions of the dance ahead of him, twisting and twirling as the breeze dictated, guiding Alex through the motions.
She felt the flames as they coiled around her.
She felt the flames as they seeped into her.
She felt the flames as they filled her with a fire infinitely hotter than her own.
She felt the flames as they seared the shadows on her skin and it was incrediable and terrible and glorious and it hurt, oh how it hurt ...
And she smiled and whispered back to her prince, the one who warmed her, the one who hurt her.
"Yes ... yes my prince, I can."
"I can feel it in the flames, feel it on my skin."
Alexander: The fires burn bright, and fill the world around them. They touch the glass, they touch the ground, and even their clothes, the ones so close to their bodies, begin to burn under the brightness of their mingling flames... and Kanti leads, and the prince follows, never ceasing to smile...
And Alex, the beautific dancer, looks into Kanti's eyes, on her soul, with eyes older than mountains.
And speaks with a voice older than rivers...
"Feel it. Dance with it..."
And then, he begins to show her the path. To show her movements that would call for the light. To be the light. Movements that were as if she was stepping through his anima, and into his soul...
"Then feel how it beats together with your flames, Saint of Flames."
"Then feel how it crackles, and make your flames follow the same, Lady of Embers and Light."
"Then feel how your flames channel its purity, Flame of the Sun."
She steps through, and dances with his soul in a White-Hot room of his Virtue, of his Devotion, of the pure light of the Zenith... she dances with many of him, with many faces he wore... and with the power, she dances with the light of the Zenith itself. And then she is out of the anima, held by him, as close as she can be, and he kisses her lips again, and speaks, with his own voice, and not the timeless one, with words that become increasingly more his'...
"Feel it... dance with it... you are the Sun's Fire. You are my fire."
Kanti: Kanti feels the flames curling up her dress, more carresses, so tender when compared to the prince, the golden fabric unwinding into the golden light that surrounds them, and then she saw her prince's eyes and she fell right into them, fell into his voice and then right down into his soul.
And strangly she was not afraid.
And strangly she was not worried.
And so she danced there, in the White-Hot Room, with a thousand suns as partners and a thousand more to watch her and it was all she could do to keep dancing...
Reality reasserts itself, his lips on hers, in that instant a taste so pure it was greater than ambrosia and he spoke to her, and she whispered her reply
"I am your fire, your Lady of Embers and Light."
And then she held him, and was held by him, the flames wrapping around their bare skin.
And there was peace at the heart of the inferno.
- - Back to Eighth Movement
- - Back to A Dance of Angels
