Xilanada - Descending Dark Of Past And Future/Part 1

The 24th Day of Resplendent Wood, 766 in the Year of Our Empress.

"I'm not comfortable with her." Piiro shook his head and sighed. "She's...it's not just her being a servant you know. Something's not right about her. You've seen it yourself."

Rainblown Joybringer smiled softly and kissed Piiro behind the ear. The bed cradled them both, even as they cradled each other. Rainblown was content. With the room left deliberately cool, it encouraged them both to snuggle under the blankets and that was just the way he liked it.

At the moment, though, they lay bare next to each other. Rainblown pulled his fingers through his hair, combing it after a fashion. The sweat on their skin was cooling now but the lulled heat in them gave them this long moment of perfect repose.

For a God-Blooded like Rainblown Joybringer, this was a celestial gift. To lie in the arms of the one you loved was a blessing from Heaven and one he offered daily prayers for. He didn't really love Piiro, of course. The handsome teacher was too moody for genuine devotion. But other times, when he looked at him and when he spoke his words of fondness and affection, Rainblown didn't know what else that feeling was but love.

Rainblown stirred against his lover and brushed his fingers lightly over Piiro's stomach.

"Do you know what I mean, Rainblown? I don't trust this Xilanada. You don't just go from being some...servant to being a Professor like that. And I know she hardly has the Essence to light a candle yet she knows fluent Old Realm? Who learns that except for a Sorcerer?"

He watched goosebumps ripple across Piiro's skin as his fingers grazed the skin. It was fascinating and he couldn't resist letting his fingers wander lower. He felt himself responding, even as he drew nearer to his goal.

"I wonder that someone with that kind of knowledge would be here, either. Essence or not, she has the intellect to serve at the greatest libraries in Nexus, apprentice under the best Thaumaturgists here. She could be serving those who would make her rich and powerful. Instead, she's joined a school that teaches children to use magic. Is that really what someone who learns that much does with that knowledge? I know they're good motives, and I trust mine, but I'm mistrustful that they are really hers."

Rainblown's fingers slipped into Piiro's hair and made small tangles of it. It was amazing that his blue hair was his natural color, unless he dyed it all the way down there too. Unlikely, and probably unnecessary since he knew Piiro was from the West. All sorts of oddities out there, from what he'd heard of the stories, both physically and culturally. Maybe that was why Piiro was so reclusive, why he vanished for days at a time, why the Headmaster excused it.

"Am I being too hard on her?"

The question took Rainblown directly and he couldn't ignore the force of Piiro's concern now. He sighed as he saw the complete lack of response in his lover's body. It seemed he would have to talk after all.

"She's a novelty," Rainblown said with an indifferent shrug, annoyed that he'd been rebuffed. "She knows what she knows and she can teach. What is it to you?"

"I worry about the children, damnit. I worry that she's up to no good. It's all of our futures, you know." Piiro's lean body was tense again and Rainblown sighed again. After all the work he'd spent making it relax too.

"'The leaf that dashes itself against the house again and again will crumble. The leaf that follows the wind finds the way.'" Rainblown lay back in bed as Piiro grumbled. His lover bounced out of the bed with far more energy than he should have. Then he would have, if he'd stayed and Rainblown had gotten his wish.

"That sounds nice, Rainblown. But I need to get back to work. I still have a lot of papers to grade, and I've half a dozen students needing tutoring before the next class."

"If you must," Rainblown said, bowing his head. Piiro hesitated at last and lingered for a deep, promising kiss. His hands cradled Rainblown's face and the God-Blooded smiled up at his departing lover. Piiro looked in his eyes and the sea-blue color seemed to swirl with deep power. What kind of power was it, really? Rainblown didn't know but savored the mystery.

"I'll be back later. And you've got class in an hour anyway. I'll see you at lunch?"

"'When the veil is parted, many spectacles can be seen but who can say by who?'" Rainblown shrugged again and nodded at last when Piiro waited, expectantly. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Okay, bye!" Piiro kissed him again, briefly, and fled out the door full of determination. Rainblown fell backwards on his bed, suddenly feeling cross and tired. He lay for a full four minutes, reciting the proper mantras to rechannel pranic flows bound with negativity. Lately, Piiro seemed to be the source of a lot of that.

Rainblown sat up at last and dressed for the day, musing on his relationship. Relationships between teachers were never encouraged and so they'd both remained discreet. And yet their relationship existed perhaps as much from that need for discretion as for any other reason. Piiro was handsome, yes. He was enthusiastic in bed and even tender when he thought of it and there was no doubt that he loved Rainblown completely. Yet he was so obsessive. His passion could carry away Rainblown's reason but, when he was gone, his head cleared and he realized how aggravating the man could be. Rainblown knew how to handle aggravation but he was beginning to feel that he was working harder at that then he was getting back in love.

Perhaps the time had come to put a stop to this. He didn't have another lover to consider but that didn't bother him much. For Rainblown Joybringer, the arts of magic were his one true love. The fleshly physical distractions were most pleasant but transitory. Magic was his conduit to understanding and interacting with the world of his Mother. He hoped to join Her some distant day and the thought helped him keep his priorities clear. Piiro, regrettably, did not end up very high on that list.

At least, not when he was gone and Rainblown had a clear head.

Perhaps it was time to use his Memory Mirror Technique after all. As a rule, Rainblown didn’t employ the Charm against anyone he would have great interaction with for reasons as philosophical as they were practical. When he was somewhat younger, it had been great fun to know everything about a lover, exactly what they liked and how honest they would be. In the end, the charm had ruined more relationships than his lover’s had, contributing to his refusal to use it on an intimate acquaintance now. Love couldn’t grow if the soil was surgically pulled away.

Enough of this. He would meditate on the proper way to handle Piiro a while longer. Then, he would use the Charm and decide if Piiro warranted prolonged intimacy or not.

Tugging at his collar, Rainblown looked critically at himself in a mirror. He didn't bother looking at his face, knowing people would find him handsome regardless. His clothes, though, needed a little straightening. There was decorum to observe, after all, and it would not do for a Professor to be ill-adorned.

He would have to do something about Xilanada, at least. Perhaps Piiro would be calmer if the servant-turned-Professor was gone. The idea seemed alluring and Rainblown smiled as he suddenly decided to support any effort to drive her away.

The last pin spun to its proper angle, Rainblown looked once more to make sure he hadn't missed anything. That was when he saw the visitor.

Stretched out across his bed was the most lovely woman he'd ever seen. That she was as white as the pages of his books only made her more striking. Sweetly curved in hip and breast, her face was worthy of a painting and her hair the envy of a river. Green slits were her eyes and whatever she was, she was inhumanly pretty. So much so that he found himself almost responding, despite his utter lack of interest in the opposite sex.

Inhumanly pretty...a Faerie?

Rainblown gestured, forming the 8th Sigil of Expulsion, glad he knew so much of handling the Fair Folk. His gladness dispelled at once when she simply leaned up a little and smiled seductively at him. She shook her head, ever so slowly and, sighed.

"What's your name?" she asked. Her voice was as lovely as the rest of her. She had to be a Faerie. Or a Goddess. A good thing he'd taken precautions long ago to keep his wits about him no matter what influences were directed his way.

"Rainblown Joybringer," he said, having no fear she could steal his name. "I'm a Professor here. But you...no, you're certainly not a student. What are you here for? Are you from Mother?"

"An unusual man, to the point never mind the distraction," she mused aloud. Her eyes were contemplative, thoughtful and so Rainblown felt safe enough to take a nearby chair to converse with her. Whoever she was, she wasn't planning on killing him.

She inhaled deeply, held the breath and seemed to think as she looked at him. "From the Daimyo of Faces? No. My business here is certainly not...matronly." A quick glance down his body told him what game she was playing.

"'The receptacle can bear, no matter its markings,'" he answered, smirking at her presumption of male interest. "'But though the measure be full, it is not meant for all lips.'"

"From the Thirteen Great Sutras of Hollow's Height," she said, nodding. "Very obscure these days, especially since its Early Post-Contagion work." She sat up on the bed, sliding her legs off the bed and folding her hands on her lap. Her clothes were nondescript, comprised of a simple pair of black breeches and boots with a tan shirt covered by a dark green vest, and the contrast only made her seem that much more remarkable. "So, you don't like women, do you?"

Rainblown could only stare in shock that someone even knew of the books' existence. Slowly he nodded and a slow smile came to his face. "It's not often I get a chance to talk to someone who knows the Sutras," he said conversationally. "And no, my tastes run to men." The look of distaste on her face almost ended the conversation but she shook it off at once.

"Composed by Shalrina, the Daimyo of Faces and your mother, if memory serves. The Thirteen Sutras and their expanded commentary faced every issue of identity and what it meant to exist. With special emphasis on what it was to change, to grow as a person or to become something different." She smiled a little.

"I'm surprised one of Hers would show themselves so indiscreetly," he said. Rainblown brushed his long bangs out of his face and gave her a little smile in return. Whether she came on Mother’s business or not, she must be one of Her agents. "What does She wish of Her son?"

"I'm not from your Mother," the pale woman said. She rose to her feet and walked a slow stately gait toward him. Her clothing was as unevocative as could be but her beauty shone past it, made that much more obvious by its paltry trappings. "Do you think your only value lies in your heritage?"

"'From beginnings comes the path and the destination,'" he observed. Rainblown shifted back in his chair uncomfortably as she didn't stop before him, instead spreading her legs and sitting directly on his lap.

This close, her alienness was even more intoxicating. The long silvery hair brushed his arms and hands like a playful wind, as playful as that smile on her face. Her eyes were like a snake's, or maybe those of a dragon. An Elemental Dragon perhaps? Only he had looked without sight and knew she wasn't a God.

The sloping hips and full bosom were only part of what made her woman but it all made her different and strange to him. For a moment, as she pressed herself down on him, he wondered what it would be like to be with her. To embrace that softness and connect with her in the one way he couldn't with another man.

The temptation passed as quickly as it came and Rainblown chided himself for confusing exoticness with attractiveness. She looked into his eyes the way he looked at a book, trying to pull its mysteries out. He shook his head slightly and leaned back in the chair, showing his indifference to her seduction with a shrug.

"'When roads join, so travelers may meet and join their journey together. The two may part one.'" The quote made him chuckle, despite his own pretense. The pale woman leaned forward, her lips almost brushing his mouth as if to challenge his lack of ardor. "'As the snake sheds its skin, so one may shed themselves and find someone new beneath.'"

"A curious coupling," he whispered against her lips. And it was. Suddenly he didn't know where she was going with this. Was this even a seduction? Would he who had never known a woman's lust notice a lie?

"'In the pool may oblivion be found and the self submerge to come forth fresh.'"

The last quote opened his eyes wide. While it spoke of renewal, it also obliquely referred to death, particularly that caused by murder and suicide. Her reference to the snake caught at his mind now and her slitted eyes made the final connection.

"You're an Anthem...aaaaargh!"

His shout of alarm turned into a scream as her body tensed against him, locking his arms and legs in place with inhuman strength. The Lunar, for she could be nothing else, kissed him passionately, her tongue forcing itself into his mouth.

Rainblown struggled even as he grimaced in disgust. He had no time for Sorcery, nor ability to under the circumstances. Instead, he opted for a quick Paralyze to lockdown the Anathema before she completed whatever insidious mischief she was up to. The Godly power welled from his finger tips like a lantern’s hood being pulled away to show the light. Yet when the light flowed up his wrists and into her arms, she only shuddered once.

And then he spasmed, almost lifting the whole chair off the ground, as her tongue stabbed him in the back of the throat. A biting burn raked through his neck and followed the pranic flows of his body, sweeping through him. Her kiss deepened and he felt the fangs pressing against his lips but all he could feel was that sharp fire and the tongue that stabbed into him again and again.

The Charms of his Mother rose up within him as he sought a way to escape but already he felt his grasp of them falter. His mind was drifting away from the fiery poison in him and he knew it wasn't sleep that awaited him. Rainblown fought to stay conscious with every bit of power he had.

Minutes later, he regretted it.

The Lunar broke the kiss and pushed his helpless, shivering body back against the chair. Long curving scimitar-like claws flexed out of her fingertips, matching the wickedness of her teeth. She shed her clothes without thought and stood naked before him, spectacular and monstrous both.

Rainblown tried to work his mouth enough to utter a plea that his Mother might hear, a prayer that would wing its way to Her ear so She might at least avenge him. Incredibly, the Lunar waited, giving him the chance. After a minute, he realized why she'd bothered. Speech was beyond him now and he barely held onto his life thanks to her venom.

"So Night wants to be a woman," she remarked conversationally, as if he had the slightest idea what she meant or why. "Well, he's not the only one who can play this game. I'll turn his...her ear to me, turn his eyes, turn his heart and make...her mine again." She shook her head, having obvious difficulty composing her words. "She won't be able to resist me, you know. She can't deny the connection between us, anymore than I can. If I'm to be love's slave, than she will endure it with me."

The Lunar straddled him again and rubbed herself against his trembling body. He was growing numb and it was harder to stay alert. His constitution should have been enough to overcome something as easy as poison but what was burning inside clearly was of a higher order. That she seemed to be trying to arouse him was only distracting and he focused blearily on her.

Then, she reached back and slammed her fingers into his chest. The talons punched through flesh and bone and the shocking pain doubled when she tightened her fingers and pulled splintered bone out. The last thing Rainblown saw was her rapturous smile. Then she buried her face in his chest, biting into him.

Solitary Coil rose from the savaged corpse and frowned at its wrecked remains. He would have been a fine meal once. By Luna, who was she fooling? He still would be. It was tempting to sate her hunger on the body but she turned away. If asked, she wouldn't have been able to explain.

But then, no one questioned the No-Moon Solitary Coil, not in these civilized lands. No one could. No outsider had the right. It was just as well none of the Dune People were here, though. She wouldn’t have an answer for them either.

"Help yourself to what's left of his blood," she whispered to the Blood Apes who waited outside of the window. It was easy enough to flex her Essence and push the power of the wards away to let her Demons in. Invisible, they circled the body as she walked across the room to Rainblown Joybringer's closet. "Just get rid of the corpse. I don't want any trace of what happened found. When you're done with that, you will wait for me at the docks and you will come when I call for you. Until then, don't cause trouble."

A stray towel, no doubt brought here from the bathhouse of the School, served to clean her face and hands. Coil tossed it behind her onto the body, trusting the Demons to dispose of it. They knew what would happen if they did not obey, nay, anticipate her every whim.

She considered what Rainblown had been wearing and selected an outfit. It was garish but what city-dwellers clothes weren't? It would fit and it would do for a Professor of this School. And if the children's Professor seemed a little strange...well, when wasn't he? Yes, she'd picked well.

Solitary Coil's skin crawled as she shed the woman she was and took on the man Rainblown had been. The God-Blooded's flesh lacked his power, of course, but it fit her just fine and hers was greater. It was a little disturbing, how so many parts felt wrong, but she would endure.

For Final Starry Night, for her mate, she would endure and seduce. Until there was no weak thought left in her wife's head but for her love. Maybe then Coil could see to her resolve. Maybe then they could get back to their destiny.