The Riders' Rebellion (Scarsmate and DH)

[Scars Mate]

Rivera jumped when she felt arms close around her, fear rising up until she realised it was only Zaq. Only Zaq. Yeah, right.

"Nothing much," she mumbled, which was an outright lie. She was still upset over the elves- tired from their agonisingly long journey- nervous, and possibly even scared of the townsfolk- and still trying to figure out what the hell was going in her head - no, heart- about Zaq. "Just, y'know, rider stuff." After a pause, she said, "Yeah, that's a lie. Just trying to figure some stuff out, I guess." She strategically avoided saying what the stuff was, but a small part of her brain told her Zaq had some idea.

May all the Gods that exist bless female hormones! She thought sourly. She briefly closed her eyes, leaning back into Zaq before her her flew open and she sat upright again after realising what she'd done. After an awkward silence, on impulse, she swung around on the fence to face Zaq, who was considerably closer than she had assumed. Embarrassed at the intimacy of the situation (although there was actually little, she had been raised in modesty), her eyes looked over Zaq's shoulder to the house. No windows from the bedrooms overlooked them, so no peeping eyes could spot her and Zaq so close together.

Thank the dragons, she thought. She was relatively safe. She swallowed, turning her gold and blue eyes onto the man standing before her.

"So, um, is there a reason you came out? To ask me about why I'm grumpy? Cause I can tell you that, easily." She was quiet for a while, revelling in the silence, before a thought suddenly came to her. "What's the date? I think- I think it was my birthday yesterday!" She stared at Zaq, shocked she could have forgotten. "I'm seventeen now." She frowned, then grinned. "And the only present I got was a sore backside from flying!"

[Dark Huntress]

[sorry, took me a while, but... ]

A small smile teased his lips as he eased forward, one hand on each side of her hips. "Just thought I might get a laugh from your modesty." He winked at her. "Anyway, should I flatter myself that any of this 'stuff' is about me?" He knew it was, but the tension in her still out trumped any other emotions.

He cupped her cheek with his hand, brushing his thumb along the corner of her eye. "It's okay, Rivera. You don't have to be nervous about anything, Nellas will be fine-" he knew that was forefront in her mind. Whenever you were the eldest, it always was. "And Gweir won't let anything happen to Lyrea and I won't let anything happen to you." His voice had lowered to a gruff tone as his breath ruffled her hair. His hand slipped gently behind her neck, tilting her head backward as he kissed her gently. Slowly and softly first, then with more feeling.

He brought his hand up to her chest, feeling the accelerated beat. "Mine," he grinned wolfishly against her lips before quickly pecking her cheek and folding her to his chest.

[Scars Mate]

Rivera was stunned. Her heart was still thumping against her ribcage; her breathing was erratic; and she was leaning heavily on Zaq's chest.

He had kissed her. After all the jealousy, the uncertainty, the affection, she had been kissed. For the first time, nonetheless.

And she had completely seized up, not that Zaq had noticed. She hadn't stopped him, at least, but she hadn't exactly responded. She was flushed, albeit pleasantly, but still confused.

Thank god Lyrea wasn't here, she thought aimlessly. The dragons were no where to be seen, most likely off hunting. She wouldn't be too pleased.

"I am not yours," she said after a while, though her voice, too, was much lower than usual, and seemed to hitch in her throat. She drew back, finding courage in herself to look Zaq in the eye. "I am my own person." Despite this, she leant forward (lifting herself up so she could reach him) and pressed her lips against Zaq's for a moment. "I take it that was my birthday present?" She muttered, mere inches from his lips.

[Dark Huntress]

"You had a birthday? I was completely unaware." He tapped his chin as if in thought. "What do you want? My soul?" He grinned and settled a little closer, something that was nearly impossible.

"You can have it. And you are mine. I have staked my claim on you and I dare the King himself to mess with that. And you know you are, your heart whispers my name," he teased.

*£*

Rhinnëa glared at Eyulf, who was lounging comfortably. "What do you think Rivera and Zaq are up to?"

"I have some guesses, but they're all pretty scary."

She shared a look with him, then giggled. "You're terrible."

"That's what normal people do when they're in love."

"They're not normal."

"Normal enough."

"And they aren't in love."

"How do you know?"

She paused, then shrugged. "It doesn't feel that way when you're in love, the way they feel."

"Sure."

[Scars Mate]

Rivera scowled at Zaq, but couldn't stay mad at him long. Her supposed anger melted away, leaving her smiling and awfully close to him.

What am I doing? She thought desperately. This is not me!

Ah, another voice in her head said. Maybe it's the human come out in you. It's very common, you know.

She sighed, in a quite contented way.

"Sure. I'll have your soul. But if you want mine, Lyrea comes joint. Do you think you can put up with a huge dragon?" She laughed, shaking her hair out of her face, feeling truly care free.

----

Nellas sat on the bed across from Eldárwen, brow furrowed in concentration.

"I have no idea what they're doing!" She announced, but in a whisper. They could both hear the murmur of Rhinnëa and Eyulf, and decided to leave them be.

"I almost don't want to know," Eldárwen replied. "Who cares, anyway?"

"I do," the younger girl replied immediately.

"So do I," the other admitted. "I just feel like we're invading their privacy."

"No such thing," Nellas dismissed. "Okay, maybe we should leave them be. But I don't want to go to sleep?"

"Do you want to check out the pantry?"

"Yeah." They crept out of their room silently, padding down the stairs until Eldárwen tripped, and landed (luckily only three stairs down) on her face with an alarmingly loud crash. Nellas couldn't suppress her giggles, but ran over to help her friend. She silently pointed upstairs, where they could hear no more voices.

"Do you think we disturbed them?"

[Dark Huntress]

"Only if I'm not really connected to Gweir. That could get ugly." He smiled and leaned his forehead against hers. "I've been thinking," he said as he wound his fingers through her raven hair. "Do you think we could talk Eyulf and Rhinnëa into sharing a bed, I missed out last night."

*£*

Rhinnëa was out of the bed, Ignasia in hand, in a mere few seconds and Eyulf followed, her bow in hand. She cast him a little bit of a disapproving look, but continued to silently pad down the hall. "It's just Nellas and Eldárwen," she whispered.

"Oh. Good. Not some big rats."

"They are big rats, sometimes." She crossed her arms subconsciencely over her chest and started back towards her room. She sighed as she carefully laid Ignasia down and crawled under the covers, carefully drawing them up to chin. "Well. What now?"

[Scars Mate]

"Uh, I think not. As if I would leave Rhinnëa to that peril! And we're already settled down, it's too much fuss to move all the trunks and clothes..." Rivera could tell she was convincing no one. "Besides," she said, pushing back her shoulders to give her voice a convictive feel, "when I was sick was a one-off. I am not sleeping with you." She didn't add Nellas would never let her hear the end of it, making god only knows how many jokes, and Lyrea would (mentally) raise her eyebrow at her. "Call me a prude, but isn't kissing me enough?"

Obviously not, but it was worth a shot.

Already she could feel her confident self- the one that had kissed Zaq- curling up into a ball, abandoning her at her most needy moment. She focused on the cool night air caressing her face, the smell of Zaq standing close to her, the flap of wings from some unsuspecting birds, and the rustle of grass in the fields. The lack of talking didn't seem forced; she was still waiting for his next argument to get her to stay with him, but she was certain of her choice. Kissing him today was more than enough, and even though she had enjoyed it, what if he got bored? What if it was her who got bored? Or it got awkward? Doubts clouded her thoughts, ruining the moment.

"If I asked you to kiss me again, would you?" She asked suddenly, bravery rearing up again.

[Dark Huntress]

"I'm talking about snuggling, Rivera. Not-" he made a vague gesture "-well, you know. Besides..." He rubbed his cheek against the hollow of her neck, stubble colliding with her smooth skin. He grinned at her question. "Of course, I'll kiss you here-" a kiss landed on her temple "-and here-" another on her cheek "-and here-" her nose "-and here and here-" each corner of her lips. "And, finally," he kissed her.

[Scars Mate]

Rivera kissed him back this time, or at least she thought she did. She attempted mimicking what he was doing (to no avail), so simply let him kiss her. She enjoyed it considerably more this time; now she realised why people did in fact kiss. Her arms slipped around his neck, one hand curling into his hair, pulling her closer to him. After some time- it could have we been seconds, minutes, hours- she pulled away, a smile playing on her lips.

"I know what you meant," she breathed. "But I don't know how well Rhinnëa and Eyulf are getting along. Wouldn't it be mean?" She gazed at Zaq. "Besides, I've got to tell my best friend when I've had my first kiss, haven't I?" She grinned, slowly pulling away. "As much as I'm enjoying this-" she twisted gently in his arms- "I really do need sleep. And I really do need Rhinnëa."

I'll be coming up in ten minutes max, so if you're doing something, with, ah, someone, you may want to be done with it, she told Rhinnëa, who seemed curiously distracted.

[Dark Huntress]

Rhinnëa sat back on her legs as she blushed, earning her a sound, yet soft pillowy slap on the face. Ignoring Eyulf's strangled smirk she sighed, Okay. And we weren't doing anything likethat-you know, like somebody. Her implication was barely an implication at all.

"Okay, Rivera's coming up. Get out." She slammed her own pillow onto his chest as he reclined and tilted his head up towards hers in an angelic manner. She blinked, trying to ignore how full his lips were and how pretty his brown eyes were. She'd never had problems with thoughts like this...

Rhinnëa shook herself mentally and beckoned towards the door. "Scram."

He swung his long legs over the edge of the bed before kissing her on the cheek and lighting a rampant red fire fire across her delicate high cheekbones. "Eyulf!" She hissed and shoved him towards the door before turning to address the tangle of comforter and sheets that was the aftermath of the pillow war.