The Unexpected Visitor: Feb 8, 2007

[The Librarian]

Wiping down the last of the stools, Phaen finished cleaning the Rose from the nights frivolity, though she hoped James would forgive her the mess she left for him on the floor. Phaen smiled brightly at the paste of flour, water, honey and mashed ginger smeared on the stone tiles, filling the cracks and crevices. Any mess was worth the swelling or mirth and glamour that filled the Rose tonight. Collecting the left over ingredients and tools, Phaen moved to the stairs to take them to the main kitchen below. The food barrels of the Rose swelled with excesses of flour and jars of honey bought for tonight’s lesson on baking cookies. As each item was put in its place Phaen’s ears caught the sound of footsteps in the snow and moved to the window to see who was out about the Inn at this hour. Not seeing anyone, she left her burden on the kitchen floor and moved to the door to see whom if anyone was outside. Nothing was illuminated in the lamplight on the snow, and only a passing snow panther moved within vision. Phaen shrugged it off and went to finish putting things away, leaving the door to close of its own accord.

Phaen leaned on the food barrel stretching her back once all was in order, still smiling to herself at the success of the evening. In her heart though an ache that Ismene was not here to see her idea blossom, and the uncertainty as to the woman’s fate. A gentle touch on her shoulder brought Phaen out of her thoughts causing her to jump at the knowledge she was not alone. Phaen spun to see him standing beside her, she was used to people appearing from the shadows but few visited the Rose this late in the evening; he had caught her off guard. Phaen’s first thought was that if he were caught here there might be trouble, but something in his eyes as he looked at her captured her attention.

“I have been thinking about you… and that kiss”, the words seemed to caress her ears. “I know I am not your type, but that kiss”.

He was right, alcohol didn’t create emotion, didn’t implant foreign feelings. Alcohol released inhibitions. His logic saw through to what Phaen would never allow, she did desire him, found him arousing and dangerous; but he did not fit into the life she built for herself. Phaen would never allow herself to have him. Stumbling over the words again she tried to apologize for they way she had explained her rejection of him; but he cut her short,

“You are a beautiful woman you know”, the words again stroking something inside her, pulling her thoughts to exclude all but him. There conversation becomes disjointed; only his words echoing in her ears remained.

“ I would never leave you alone”

“Don’t you miss the intimacy”?

Then the touch of his hand on her cheek, the hunger in his eyes the last thing she saw before closing hers and leaning into his kiss. In the back of her mind the impulse to push him way overtaken by the desire to stay in his embrace and his will that she remain there.

Time stopped as they kissed, and warmth swelled within Phaen. The sound out the window as someone passed distracted her for only a second before he drew her mind back to him. His lips feathered her lips, moved across her cheek as she tilted her head anticipating him reaching her neck. A shiver pulsed through her as his lips brushed her ear sending a tingling wave down to her toes. Phaen rested her cheek against his, enveloped in his embrace, the entire world shut out of the moment when it all came crashing down.

A sliver, a wasp sting, the penetration of his fangs on her neck riveted her feet to the floor and froze her in place. Wide eyed as her mind raced trying to grasp hold of where she was and what was happening, Phaen felt the heat swell at her neck. Confused she felt a breath on her skin before his lips pressed against her and she felt the slow sucking begin. Phaen managed to pull her arms up to his chest to push him away, but his words soothed her and filled her mind with a request that she not be afraid. As he fed at the flow of blood from her neck she pitted her will against his to escape his hold. Phaen felt the pressure ease from her neck, and his tongue run across the wound; summoning all her strength she pushed him way and backed against the storage crates and a giant mushroom. A mix of fear and betrayal showing on her face Phaen braced herself on the crates, desperately seeking her voice.

Phaen could only nod when he asked if she wanted him to leave. Slipping to the floor of the kitchen after he had passed back into the shadows, grasping her neck with one hand and her stomach with the other she broke down in silent tears as a release of the restriction on her emotions over took her. Reaching up to cover her mouth so to not wake the Inn’s guests or draw further attention to her in the shadows, Phaen was over come with guilt at the advances she had made, and what she allowed this one time friend feel he was free to do.

[The Librarian]

The candle in the kitchen had burned low before Phaen swam to the surface of her thoughts and filled her lungs with air. Not ready to be alone Phaen washed her face in the water trough, gathered some of the nights baking and headed to Elisandra’s home in the hopes someone was still up; she breathed a sigh of relief to find Alyssia, her daughter Fiona and Eli in the living room. Aly’s clothes were drying, while Fiona was still pasted with smatterings of dough. Noticing Eli led Fiona up to the bath, while Phaen joined Aly by the hearth. It had been an awful long time since the woman sat up late chattering. Phaen let herself be lost in the chatter till Eli mentioned to Fiona that it was wise for her and her new boyfriend to take things slow… the thought brought Phaen out of her reverie as she instinctively reached for her neck. Eli questioned the reaction but Phaen feigned fatigue and being overwhelmed by all the visitors they had at the Rose during the evening. Aly and Fiona gathered up their belongings and shared hugs, kisses and well wishes before they headed home. Hearing Ian stir downstairs Eli and Phaen spent a few moments teasing him before they all parted and headed home for the night.

Walking towards the Rose Phaen’s steps slowed as she contemplated the empty building. Guests slept on the first floor but the great hall separated them from her chambers on the third. The gentle hum of conversation in her ears lulled her mind back to earlier events back past the fear to the desire she allowed to swell inside her… could she hide from it alone in the darkness of her room?
Entering the great hall, Phaen took the time to check the candles were out, that everything was in order before mounting the stairs to her rooms. Closing the sliding door behind her for the first time since she took possession of the Rose Phaen latched the inner lock and set the bell on the door.

Alone in her room with the hour this late there was no where to go, no one to see, no task to complete, only her thoughts and feelings to share the space. Phaen slipped out of her dress, underskirts and garments allowing the cold stone floor to chill her feet, she walked to the washbasin filling it with hot water from the kettle she brought from the oven down stairs. In her mind as she washed her body she wiped away the fear, putting it in a safe place in her mind to be sorted and dealt with later. Phaen found a compartment for the betrayal; she would in time confront it and its owner when she felt strong enough to do so.

Phaen was left with her own desire, the arousal the thought of him stirred; as heat swelled in her abdomen Phaen moved to the window next to her bed opening it wide to let in the cold winter wind off the snow covered cliffs of their mountain. If heat were what she felt, Phaen would freeze it out of herself. Moving to her bed she knelt in front of the window, feeling her skin tighten as the cold licked across it. Yet as the cold air filled the room, she shivered not at the drop in temperature but at the thought of his hand on her cheek, his hold as he kissed her lips. Slowly embracing herself Phaen rocked against her hold giving release to the pent up arousal the thought of him stirred inside her.

As the fever broke guilt, rushed in to fill its place. How could Phaen face Gavin, knowing she had allowed another man to stir such feelings within her? Out loud Phaen whispered, “he will never understand”. The window closed and as a quilt was fitted around her shoulders Phaen froze only turning her head to look into Gavin’s face. “Try me”, he whispered back wrapping her in his arms and rocking her against his chest. A single candle to hold back the night, Gavin soothed her soul as Phaen unburdened her heart to him. Her last safe haven, in a world where black and white were muddied to differing shades of grey, friends became lovers or enemies and loyalty was repaid most often with pain and suffering; Gavin loved her unconditionally. Though he could not always protect her from the whims of fate or destiny, he promised to share her burden and travel beside her though the journey ahead, an honest man could not offer more…