Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Jungle Sanctuary [Fin]

[z023]

Several days after Wild Things.

Sakura was exhausted, a state she had never really experienced in her life before. Exhausted and terrified. She'd been running for almost a month now, always just one narrow step ahead of the hunters intent on killing her for the children she carried and the children she had help create over the past six years of her life. She'd thought at first that she could talk with them, reason with them and win them over to her as she had done with other detractors.

They were emphatically uninterested in talking. Being shot had also been a new experience and was just as unwelcome as the exhaustion and the terror.

She'd managed to lose them for a little while at the New York coastline; she'd taken to the skies and left them in a torrential downpour. It would take them time get to a plane, get out of the storm cell, and pick up her trail again. They would pick up her trail again; she'd learned three weeks ago that an ocean or a continent wasn't enough distance to lose them. So, she wasn't just headed away from them anymore, now she was headed hopefully somewhere safe. A sanctuary, if there was one to be found in the world.

The African coastline loomed darkly into sight quicker than she'd expected and she realized with some chagrin that she'd placed herself in a bubble of quicktime in her panic to escape. That would explain some of the exhaustion - and the fact that it was still night. She pulled tentatively at the last of her reserves to slow her back to normal time, knowing she needed to keep enough energy to maintain her flight and get herself safely inside the country before she was tapped out. She also knew that talking faster than someone could understand wasn't going to help anyone, let alone a frightened and out of her depth young nova mother.

She crossed the border of land and sea in a blink, banking over the jungle and shooting past several small villages as she made her way to Kinshasa. She could see the lights from the "Jewel of Africa" blinking in the night and gave a prayer to whatever divine beings that might exist that her plan would work, that what she'd heard about the Congo, about its King, were true. It had to be true: she didn't have any other options. She blinked deeply and dipped towards the jungle canopy before catching herself and pulling the last bit of reserved energy from her eufiber-like silk to keep herself aloft and awake. Only a few more miles....kilometers.....whatever.

A figure dropped out the night sky a few feet from the doors to the Royal Palace, which was not necessarily unusual in the "Nova Nation". Said nova then stumbling and near-collapsing to the ground was a bit more unusual, but the Palace Guard had seen stranger; the closest guard, a young man only six months into his first tour with the Guard, quickly caught the young woman before she hit the stone walkway. As he helped her stand up several things beyond "she's obviously a flying/crashing nova" became apparent to him and the three other guards stationed at the doors: her lips were bright green, her eyes too when then dazedly opened; her hair had flower blossom in it - no, it was growing flower blossoms and petals were scattered all around, some still falling from the sky. Unable to exert herself for the baselines' benefit, they were hit with the full power of her being: she was overwhelmingly beautiful - a mix of girl-next-door innocence, undeniable feminine appeal, and the subtle hint that while she'll be the perfect wife or lover in public she could (and would) satisfy any desire in the bedroom. She also smelled wonderful, like every spring day you'd ever spent with your lover; but she was also terrified, and that made its way to the primal instincts of the guards along with her attractive vulnerability.

The guard propping her up, Germain Sestan when he was off-duty, swallowed heavily and squashed down his baser instincts with a silent repetition of the oaths he'd taken joining the Army and the Guard. It helped that the longer he has holding her up, the more terrified he became. Something was wrong, and it was well above his pay grade to be the one figuring out what. He motioned to the guards to open the door while he shifted her from a helping shoulder to carrying her in his arms. He stepped inside the first antechamber and laid the young nova down on one of the decorate divans in the room.

He knocked on the inner door, which was pulled open by another guard. "There's a nova here that just dropped down from the sky," he said in hurried French. "She seems unharmed, but she's barely conscious. Call for the healer and the seneschal."

The other guard peeked a look into the room, his body reacting before his brain as he tried to step past Sestan. "Guard!" Sestan snapped loudly, pushing the man back. "Healer and seneschal, now!"

The inner guard blinked and then stepped back, his face paling at Seston's sharp words and mumbled an apology before beating a hasty retreat to his duties. Several minutes later both the Palace healer and Seneschal Esperance were both woken by Palace Guards. Kinshasa had an uninvited guest.

[Eingar]

"Y'know, this never fails to make me giggle." Bombshell said as she stretched out on her side on the thick rug, freshly bathed, delightfully nude and quite unselfconsciously so. A strong, calloused hand was idly stroking her side, trailing down the curvature of her waist to the swell of her hips before roaming upwards again and over her ribs, teasing and distracting. "Stop that. I'm trying to concentrate." the most beautiful woman in the world ™ told the blond giant she was resting her perfect body against. She emphasised her point by wriggling the Butt That Could Launch a Thousand Fleets against him, sensual lips curving in a grin as she felt his reaction. Once upon a time, she'd not wanted an aroused male anywhere near her. Once upon a time, and a lifetime ago. She still preferred female company... but the man she was with was one of her exceptions. There were better-looking nova males who'd paid court to Jason. Guys who'd oozed sex appeal and androgynous beauty, novas who could take her breath away with a quantum-infused touch, but there were few indeed that she liked as much as Einherjar. She looked fondly over one shoulder at him. "People probably imagine all sorts of things about what we do during these visits, and they're right about some of it, but I don't think they imagine us playing chess." Ein chuckled, sitting up slightly and leaning over her to refill her wineglass. Jason went back to considering the board.

She wondered if it was just their common ground that made his company so pleasant - both having suffered loss, both being larger-than-life figures to millions. Or maybe it was the elemental force of his personality, his lust for life combined with his fierce intelligence. Or was it his unpretentiousness, she mused as she considered the problem before her heartbreaking indigo eyes. He was the king of a country on the verge of superpower status, yet he was still Ein as well. She had a presentiment of Einherjar in five hundred years time... or five hundred thousand years time: old, but unaging, unchanging, still the same person even though everything he knew was dust, still an honorable warrior looking for the next good fight as he drifted through time with no anchor. The melancholy thought made her shiver a little. It wasn't that bad. Ein had friends, like Jason. And he had Morri, who he doted on every bit as much as Jason doted on Danica. That thought made her smile over her shoulder at him again before making a move on the board.

"Not bad." Einherjar told her as he reached over her waist and made his own move - click, clack, and done. Jason's brow furrowed a little as she considered the new wrinkles in the fabric of the game - She loved playing chess against Ein, and always learned from every game. When they'd first started, it'd been before they'd been bedmates, and the games had been casual teaching over drinks. Now, though, there was an edge of seriousness to the past-time. Einherjar was arguably one of the finest strategists in the world, both political and military. He maneuvered through a dangerous realpolitik minefield of powerful enemies just waiting for a sign of weakness every day, and he not only survived, he prospered. Jason, with her family to protect and her own goals to change the world for the better, recognised that the philosophical principles and thought-exercises she learned by playing against him - not just chess but go, mahjong, poker and others - would serve her well.

Also, smart guys who were also strong and handsome were fun. She rolled onto her back and smiled up at him, looping long, strong arms around his neck and shoulders. Good conversation, good food and drink, chess and great sex. Not to mention he was one of the few men in the world that wasn't intimidated by her.

"Okay, I'm going to need a break to think that over..." she purred in her impossibly sexy contralto as she pulled him down for a kiss-

There was a knock on the outer door that both novas, with their heightened perceptions, heard immediately. Ein sighed, then shrugged at Jason as he rose, pulling on his eufiber that configured itself into loose linen pants. Bombshell pouted, but knew that they wouldn't have been disturbed if it wasn't important. "Hurry back." she grinned sexily as she arched her back a little on the rug. Ein stared for a moment, then shook his head to clear it and padded out of the bedroom, closing the door and moving to the royal apartment's main door.

"What is it?" he said as he opened the door to find Esperance there. The seneschal bowed her head respectfully.

"Apologies, my king." the woman said sincerely. "But we have a visitor."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sakura felt warm hands caressing her face, reassuringly, like a mother might touch her child. They were good hands, gentle and healing, and strength flowed from them into her, taking away the feeling of terrified fatigue and leaving pleasant lassitude.

"She's exhausted." a young tenor voice said, accented with something that sounded exotic. "She must have flown a long way, and exerted herself almost to death. She needs rest and food, and safety. She's scared, and that will only inhibit the recovery process." The speaker hesitated, then went on in a more subdued tone. "Majesty, she is also with child."

"She's fleeing motherhunters. Bet on it." said a low, rumbling voice coolly. A voice used to authority and command. "Esperance, I want this locked down. Nobody is to talk, even to the other guests for now. Have the guest bedroom in my apartments made ready immediately. Let Jason know that I have a guest coming, so she's not taken flatfooted."

"Yes sire." a woman's voice, calm and efficient, replied. "I shall send for a litter-"

"That's not necessary." The large man's voice said. Sakura dimly felt someone approach, then herself lifted in arms that felt as though they were made of warm steel, and a chest that was reassuringly solid. "I'll carry her. Doctor Rene, I'd appreciate it if you came to visit in the morning. For now, get some sleep young man."

"Yes, majesty." Then there was a sense of movement, of being carried in easy, flowing strides that didn't jar or punish exhausted limbs.

"My king." Esperance's voice, quicker, shorter footsteps as she kept up. "Do you know her?"

"Yes. By reputation." the king said, his booming voice quiet. "She goes by the name of Sakura, I believe. Or Konohanasakuyahime, the Blossom Princess. She's a fertility nova who helps others. I'm surprised it took the motherhunters this long to come after her."

Sakura opened her eyes and looked up at the leonine man who was carrying her, his pale blond hair like a mane save for a braid at the left temple. His eyes glowed softly, a pale icy blue colour that would be daunting if it weren't for the gentleness of his arms and voice. He had a handsome face, strongly masculine without appearing brutish - a face that was famous around the world. Warlord, peacemaker, itinerant, king, Elite, unquestioned ruler, servant of his country, hero, murderer, devoted widower, womaniser, gentleman... Einherjar had been, or was all of these things. He was also, Sakura tiredly mused, utterly fascinating in person, as though his strength wasn't contained by the muscles and bone of his body and projected out onto the world through his personality.

Ein looked down at the lovely, lithe and petite beauty in his arms and smiled a little when he saw her vivid green eyes regarding him half-liddedly. She seemed very young, though for novas that could mean nothing at all, and something about her roused his protective instincts much as Morri did. Though the similarity ended there - Sakura roused other instincts as well, but Ein set those aside for now.

"Don't be afraid." he told her in a quiet, deep voice. "You're safe now, Sakura."

[z023]

The use of her name caused a spike of fear in the dazed young nova; her mind had quite caught up to the fact that she'd actually made it to Kinshasa, but his smell, a mix of ozone and male and desire, reminded her that she'd been seeking the Storm King of the Congo. Unless the motherhunters had gained some impressive new abilities over the past few hours, this was him. She tried to pull herself more awake, fighting the comforting feel of being carried by someone strong and gentle. It reminded her of how her adoptive father would carry her into his and his wife's bed in the middle of the night when she'd first been left with them; she had nightmares for most of that first year, running through endless corridors of the Imiperial Palace, her grandmother and the palace servants always chasing behind her with broom handles and sacks filled with apples or rocks. She would cry herself awake, not from fear but from a child's confusion of why she was so hated when she did everything she was told and never complained about anything. She pushed away the memories, both horrible and pleasant, and tried to focus on the present.

"Ein...Einherjar? ...S-sakura My-Miyazu...need help. Hun-hunted. San-Sanctuary. P-please!" she stuttered through her exhaustion; the last was a whispered, desperate plea. Tears seeped out of her tightly shut eyes as she clung to him; the smell of cherry blossoms was nearly overpowering but marred by her fear, making the smell cloying and decayed. She couldn't look up at him, too afraid that he would say no, that he would send her away to keep his own family and nation safe from the murderers pursuing her.

[Eingar]

"It's alright." Einherjar told her, his nose wrinkling at the smell of decomposition, though his voice was kind. "You're not the first to come here for safety. Consider the sanctuary granted." In retrospect, he should have expected the reaction.

Sakura began crying in deep gulping sobs, pressing her face and hands against his shirt as tremors racked her small frame. Relief as the fear that had plagued her for so long was banished swept through the fertility goddess. He'd said yes! He was going to take care of her! Overwhelming gratitude followed hard on the heels of the relief as her hormones whipsawed her emotional state, and the air was filled with the scent of fresh cherry blossoms on a warm spring day, sweet and light. Ein couldn't help smiling a little at her as he carried her into the royal apartments, and when the still crying Blossom Princess looked up, leaf-green eyes shining with tears and unexpressed emotion, and saw him smile she acted on impulse, sitting up a little in his arms. Ein felt lithe, uncommonly strong arms snake around his neck before soft lips were pressed to his and the world was filled with shining green eyes and the scent of flowers.

Luckily, he was possessed of his usual uncanny presence of mind enough that he didn't walk into a couch or table, but he did stop dead in the middle of the atrium, the flowering plants floating on the water in the pool suddenly unfurling a little from their night-time posture as Konohanasakuyahime's emotional state touched them... and others. Esperance stopped in the doorway and stared, her own deep love for her king heightened under the brush of incredibly strong pheromones, even as Jason came out of the bedchamber, dressed in comfortably shapeless silk pyjamas that still managed to hug her curves, just in time to see a weeping Green Woman lay one hell of a kiss on her 'date'.

As for Ein... well, he was only flesh and blood, even if that flesh and blood was infused with more energy that the average nuclear reactor. When surprise-kissed by an overpoweringly beautiful woman there were only two real ways to react. In the case of Narcosis a couple of years ago, his reaction had been to toss her into an ornamental pool... but then, he didn't like Narcosis, who used sex as a tool or weapon and, in Ein's opinion, took all the fun out of it. Sakura, on the other hand, tasted as sweet as she looked and acted, her pheromonal abilities causing his body to produce hormones of its own in nova-sized quantities, and before he really knew it he was kissing her back with tender enthusiasm.

A long moment passed before he collected his wits, realising that he had an audience, and broke the kiss as gently as he could. Sakura blinked through teary eyes at him and smiled, and Ein managed to look a little abashed (which was virtually unheard of in Jason's experience) as he glanced around at Esperance and Jason.

"Thank you." Sakura whispered, laying her head against his shoulder, her arms still around his neck.

"You're welcome." Ein said, blinking a little as his formidable mental control tried to yank the steering wheel back from his emotions and body. He looked over at Bombshell. "This is Konohanasakuyahime, whom you might have heard of. She's made a practice of helping infertile novas conceive, and now she's being hunted. Sakura, this is Jason, who I'm sure you know of." He looked at Esperance. "Make sure the guest room is ready, please?"

[Bombshell]

"Konohanasakuyahime, a pleasure to finally meet you," Jason said flawlessly in a lilting tone, inclining her head in greeting to the Goddess of Spring and a half-smile playing on her lips. "You name has come up more than once when I've spoken about raising a nova daughter in the public eye."

But her glorious indigo eyes flashed with a fierce light and patted Sakura's shoulder in sympathy, knowing what it was like, being pursued by motherhunters. Sakura's complexion was wan and even in the comfort of Ein's strong arms, she trembled slightly - this was obviously a woman who had run for her life... and maybe for the lives of others. She hadn't heard much about the Goddess of Spring, but from what she had heard from various sources, she was doing what Coraline wanted to do... and for the most part, successfully. Subconsciously, a long fingered hand reached to caress the pair of solid, blue diamond rings nestling between her breasts. "And coming to the Congo to escape being hunted is a very good idea."

Her lips quirked with teasing wryness, and eyebrow arched just so in an eminently feminine expression as she looked up at Einherjar. "Einherjar here always manages to dredge up some chivalry for a pretty face."

Sakura turned from gazing at her savior to the woman he had been sharing the evening with, her eyes going wide at the sight of the sublime beauty, pheromones flooding from her in a virtual haze.

She noted the shaken look on Ein's face and though she might have felt a faint undercurrent of pique with him kissing another woman when she was right there, she certainly didn't blame him. If she wasn't careful, she herself could have much the same effect on... well, pretty much anyone and that was without instigating anything. Indeed, the subliminal demand of the pheromones in the air was affecting her as well, body responding instinctively before she could restrain it. Through the thin silk, the shape of her immaculate and ravishing figure was easily made out and the front was tented by to distinct points, radiating a palpable aura of bewitching sensuality, her peerless pulchritude blazing like a thousand suns.

Subconscious Enhancements

She normally restrains her use of Beguiling, but for now, it is active, as well as Objet d'Art (which says permanent, but doesn't mention if she can turn it off and on)

Wanting to alleviate the tension building - though Sakura was obvious relieved to have found sanctuary, her features were still stained by a patina of her trials and abashed just didn't work on Ein - Jason decided on some playful shenanigans. With deliberate grace, she pursed her fulls lips, a delicate foot began tapping, each tap a sonorous gong, and she shifted her arms, folding them beneath the dramatic swell of her remarkable bust. the silk tight against her sublime curves.

"I may have expanded my horizons a great deal over the years, Ein, but there are still some things I'm not willing to consider..." Jason said in a cool tone with a pointed look at the woman in his strong arms, "... yet."

From such a beautiful and charismatic woman, it would have been a withering glower of womanly condemnation... if it hadn't been so obviously a faux attempt. Jason tossed her head back and chuckled, laughter like a multitude of silvery chimes. "It's all good, Ein. Just don't go make a habit of kissin' other women in front of me, eh? You'll start me thinkin' I'm doing this 'girl' thing all wrong."

Though her dimpled smile was full of mirth, the level look in her indigo eyes didn't make light of the situation around Sakura. "Perhaps you tell us what has happened to land you in such dire straits?" Jason urged, dulcet and empathetic, but taut. "I may not have all the resources of a country on hand like Einherjar, but perhaps I can help in some small way. "

There was still a masculine part of her demanding she come to the aid of a damsel in distress, especially when she was right before her, vulnerable and exquisite, cherry blossoms in her hair, the scent permeating the room in a heady caress.

[z023]

The young nova blinked at Jason from the comfort of Ein's arms, taking a few seconds to put the partial name to the overwhelmingly beautiful face. She had heard of Bombshell in her travels, but her general avoidance of population centers and media meant that she'd never actually seen a picture or video her. A part of her mind noted another new experience for the month: meeting someone more attractive than herself, and she smiled shyly at the other woman. Another part of mind noted that Jason and Ein were obviously entangled to some degree and pulling herself out of the Nordic nova's arms would probably be polite. It was ignored in favor of feeling safe and warm.

"I..uh...um...nice to meet you, Jason. P-please, call me Sakura....it's much shorter and easier to say." Her voice was as quietly shy as her smile, though it didn't escape either of the other novas attention that her eyes wandered much less shyly over Jason's ample curves. Jason's question ended the once-over in closed eyes and a shudder, leaving her trembling even more. "I...I'd just left Andre, maybe two weeks before the attacks started. I was in South America, helping restore some of the rain forest there that had been cut down for cattle pastures and making the plants harder to cut or remove."

She took a deep breath, feeling a little better and more stable now that she'd found safety and had a good cry. Slowly she pulled herself and her powers under control and continued on, a tremble still in her voice, but resolve as well. "They set the camp of the environmentalists I had been working with a little on fire. I guess they hoped I'd be in one of the tents, or at least that they wouldn't be able to help me then. I was able to put most of the fire out before it caught the trees, but they started shooting, then. At me, thankfully." She blinked, "I mean, thankfully not at the workers. They weren't novas and would have been seriously hurt. Once I realized that they were just after me, I ran into the forest hoping to lose them there. And I did. After that, I flew to Siberia. I thought that I could spend time out there in the deep wilderness and the people after me wouldn't be able to find me." She shuddered again, but kept going. "They did, less than a week later. I don't know how. I tried to talk to them, to find out why they were trying to hurt me, why they were hunting me. They just shot me." She looked up at the two older novas, naive shock written clearly across her face. "Why would they do that?"

She was quiet for minute, her eyes tracing out patterns in the carpet as she struggled to keep herself calm before she continued. "I...I kept running after that, but they would always find me. I'm-I'm pregnant. I could keep running if were just me, but the children can't. Not once they're born. And children shouldn't have to grow up afraid all the time." The last was said from obvious personal experience, though she didn't elaborate. She looked back up to Ein. "I remembered a conversation I'd had years ago when I passed through Africa, Sudan and Mali mostly. I remembered hearing that the Congo was a good place, that you kept it safe for the people and that your daughter kept the jungle safe from poachers and despoilers. That's why I didn't come here then. No one needed my help here, and so many other places and people did. But...but when I realized that I couldn't just keep running, I remembered and I came here to be safe. For my children to be safe."

She leaned into Einherjar's chest, placing her trust and the safety of her nascent family completely in his hands. "Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't...if I couldn't stay. I don't have anywhere else to go."

[Eingar]

"It's alright." Einherjar said gently, which had Jason's perfectly shaped eyebrows nearly touching her hairline. He only usually used that tone of voice on Morri... and once with Jason, soon after Danielle had died. It was like a gentle rumble of surf rather than thunder, and as knee-meltingly reassuring as it was odd coming from the Storm King. Einherjar was not anyone's definition of a 'gentle giant', but he was capable of gentleness, which was as surprising as it was gratifying to those that found themselves on the receiving end. "I'll look after you, and your children, for as long as you care to stay. In the Congo, I meant." he added without noticeable loss of aplomb and affecting not to notice Jason's half-grin.

He carried Sakura into the guest bedroom, a high-ceilinged chamber with a large bed, dressing area complete with painted screen and vanity, a bathroom through one door and a large patio door that led out into the tropical night. Scents of night-blooming plants and the noises of insects came through the open windows from the royal garden, a large open area within Einherjar's section of the palace that only he and the Morrigan, and their guests, had regular access to.

"For the record, Jason, there's nothing wrong with how you do the girl thing." Ein said good-humoredly over one shoulder as he went to lay Sakura down on the bed. Her arms tightened around his neck once more and he looked at her askance, one eyebrow crooking upwards. "What's the matter? It's safe, you can relax here."

"I... Would you stay? For a little while only?" she looked up at him, then down at his chest. "I'm afraid, and... I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this. It's just... tiredness. I don't want to be alone." She felt a little embarassed, but of more immediate import was that she feel safe, and right now, she felt about as safe as one could get. She glanced towards the open patio doors, a mildly longing expression on her face that Ein and Jason didn't miss.

"Why don't we sit outside for a bit?" Jason suggested. The royal garden was a little slice of paradise, with flowering trees and bushes, a small orchard, and a zen rock garden in one corner. There were three pools, one for swimming and lounging in, one for the ornamental carp, and one beside the zen garden with a small waterfall, creating an oasis of peace in the riot of colours and scents. Apart from Ein, the royal garden was one of her favorite reasons to visit the palace. She smiled at Ein and his 'passenger'. "We can just relax until you feel more settled."

"Not a bad idea." Ein nodded, carrying Sakura outside and down the steps to the lawn beyond. The Blossom Princess was surrounded by the familiar feel and scents of plants - happy and well-cared for plants - and the soft noises of the night. Ein sat down on a plainly, but finely carved marble bench, smiling wryly down at Sakura with a glint of good humor in his eyes. "It appears I'm at your service for awhile longer yet." he teased. "Comfortable?"

[z023]

She blushed again, as much in embarrassment as anything else, but she didn't move from her warm and comfortable 'perch'. "Y-yes. Thank you."

She expanded her senses out into the garden, listening to the plants and insects murmur to each other in the cooling breezes of the night. This was a good place, well cared for and well loved. Not entirely natural, but some delicate balance between the will of nature and the will of Einherjar and the Morrigan; Sakura found it fascinating and enchanting. Mostly she found it comforting enough that after only a few minutes the young nova mother was sleeping soundly in the King's arms.

[Bombshell]

Sitting on a bench opposite Einherjar, Jason leaned back on her hands, legs crossed as she smiled sadly at the young woman in Ein's arms, slumbering and at ease. Poor woman, only wanting to help and being hunted for it. And not even with a clue as to why... Was I that innocent the day before Danielle died? The garden of the palace's private residences was a soothing place, but so were Ein's immensely strong arms, as she well knew. It was a sad thing that they were the only place the young mother felt a moment's peace.

"Comfortable, indeed," Jason mused with a faint grin as she studied Ein from under long, sable lashes. Ein was looking down at the young woman in his arms, glowing eyes tender, though his jaw was firm and impassive, at least one part of his formidable mind working through the permutations of dealing with Sakura's hunters, both reactively and proactively. When Ein looked up at her, her smile broadened for a brief moment. "Been an interestin' month, eh, Ein? Mothers and children poppin' out of the woodwork, comin' to see Big Daddy in the Congo."

Almost, almost, she got him to blush before his discipline asserted itself. A half-grin tugged at his lips. "I have no regrets."

Jason chuckled mellifluously as she stood up and glided over to Ein and Sakura with a delectably supple stride. "Not yet, perhaps, but you were lucky enough to find out about your children only after they were pass the terrible twos." Her full lips tightened in a smirk and she nodded, conceding the point. "On the other hand, you did have Morri, so maybe you didn't luck out anyway."

Despite her words, Ein could tell Jason regretted not a moment raising Danica, though not without experiencing a fair bit of exasperation and not a little fear. Jason ran her slim fingers through Sakura's fine hair, caressing the blossoms, Sakura pressing against her gentle touch.

"How 'bout we tuck her into bed, and while we finish our game, we brainstorm about what we can do about her hunters?" Jason arched a wry brow at Ein as he effortlessly stood up with Sakura in his arms and the both of them started towards the guess chambers prepared for her. Ein caught "Y'know, much more of this, and you'll have to choose between rulin' the Congo or being a full-time father and damsel rescuer."

The faintest furrow etched her smooth brow as she wondered if that was a possible strategy the hunters and those who sent them would use. Ein caught his long-time friend and some-time lover's head tilt, her gaze focusing on another part of the palace and he knew she was considering checking on her daughter, even though her keen instincts told her Danica was in no danger.

[Eingar]

"Go and check on her." Ein advised his friend and sometime bedmate with a faint smile. "All the trained personnel, protective blacktech and even quantum senses in the world don't satisfy a parent so much as seeing with their own eyes. I'll put Sakura to bed and order a snack from the kitchens for when you get back." Jason shot him a half-wry, half-grateful smile that would have melted a less-sturdy heart and swiftly departed, moving with her timeless, sensual grace from the royal apartments. The staff and guards abroad at this hour knew that Bombshell was one of the few individuals to have near-complete access to the palace, and didn't hinder her as she moved down the corridors. They did stare, but some things training and the king's orders couldn't change even if he wanted to.

Ein, cradling the green-haired young woman in one arm, carried her to the prepared bed and laid her down before gently tucking the sheets up around her. That simple action, so normal and human, reminded him somewhat of his time with Morri when she'd been younger, and before Morri of another woman, one dearer to him than his own life. He looked at the hand resting on the sheet covering Sakura's shoulder, at the gold band encircling one finger, and averted his eyes so as to cut off the flicker of emotion the sight stirred in his frozen-over heart. It must be some pheromonal thing, or a function of her beauty and vulnerability, that caused him to feel this way. Perhaps a combination of his innate chivalry and weakness for a pretty face - Einherjar was fairly brutally honest with himself about his weaknesses. Right now in his life there were many people he liked, but only one he loved, and that person was as a daughter to him, because if she wasn't, he wouldn't be able to love her without...

He let that train of thought die, stamped on the embers of it to make sure they were out, and turned, leaving the guest bedroom in darkness as he exited the room. There was chess to play, strategy and countermeasures against motherhunters to discuss, and quite possibly some excellent sex with the most beautiful woman in the world.

Who needed love, anyway?

[Quantum Fire]

End of Thread...

Good Roleplaying

XP: 2 Standard, 2 Baseline, 2 Nova