Healing Kyliska

(Written by Biara)

Kyliska limped her way down the long corridor, a frown on her face as she passed through the empty passageway. The rooms around her were silent, Biara's floor of their tower seeming to almost be abandoned. She'd checked Astariel's room first, only to find the little girl and many of her toys gone. A quick peek in Biara's sanctum showed it to be cold and unused; her sister had not been researching or casting spells recently.

Her frown deepening and the pain in her wounded ankle growing, Kyliska finally pushed open the door to Biara's private chambers. The room beyond was dark and the lingering scent of burnt ozone could be detected on the air; a telltale sign that Biara had recently used a portal spell in her chambers.

Kyliska moved slowly into the middle of the room, sighing to herself and shaking her head. She'd wanted to catch her sister before she departed, but it seemed she'd been too late. Biara's four-post bed was empty, the see-through silken curtains around it drawn open and showing the neatly arranged, plush pillows that her sister preferred. It looked soft and inviting, and Kyliska decided she needed to sit for a few minutes before she began her own preparations to depart.

Just as she was about to start forward, another door opened in the small space, a bit of steam drifting from the opening to the room that contained Biara's private bathing pool. From the steam emerged a masculine shape, the form solidifying as he drew nearer into none other than Braeth'el. Kyliska's eyes widened as she saw him, beads of water glistening on his bare chest and arms, a simple towel wrapped around his waist covering very little and leaving very little to the imagination.

"B-braeth'el? What are you doing here?" Kyliska stammered, utterly shocked.

The spymaster grinned, holding up a placating hand and shaking his head, "It is not what you think, Kyliska. I was not entertaining your sister, merely finishing some exercise and a bath now that she's departed."

"Ah, I see..." Kyliska said, her eyes roaming despite the aches and pains she still felt. "Well, she left me a note before she left and said she'd pardoned you. I never believed you were a traitor anyway, so you're welcome to do whatever you'd like in our estate my friend."

Braeth'el gave Kyliska a classic bow, or did so as much as one could when clad in only a towel, "I thank you, Lady Sunfire. May I ask though, are you quite alright? You look a bit...disheveled. Usually when you are in such a state you are also covered in the blood of your enemies."

Kyliska sighed and shook her head, "I've had a rough time, I will admit. Actually, I think I need to sit down before I fall down."

She began to shuffle across the room towards Biara's bed, the pain in her ankle shooting up her leg. She hissed in pain as her knee buckled and she began to tumble towards the floor. Before she got anywhere near to falling, Braeth'el was at her side, he strong arms wrapped around her and holding her up. Kyliska sighed, breathing in the scent of the cologne he'd put on, feeling much better suddenly. "Sorry...it's just my leg....I was taken prisoner and-"

"It's fine, Kyli, really. Here, let me help you," Braeth'el said softly. With his support she was able to stand upright, and the two moved slowly to Biara's bed before he turned Kyliska around and gently lowered her onto the soft bedspread. "There you are. No more falling down, hmm?"

Kyliska looked up at him gratefully, her lip quivering for a moment as a rush of emotions passed through her again at everything that had happened. Although it had been a little thing, almost falling had drained the last little spark from her, leaving her utterly defeated. She couldn't even walk right. Everything was a disaster! Tears began to form in the corners of her fel-green eyes.

Braeth'el sat down on the edge of the bed beside Kyliska, an arm around her and his voice comforting, "Kyli...out of all who have lived in or served with House Dayfire and later House Sunfire, you have always been the strongest. I have seen you defeat a hundred foes unscathed. I've seen you come through fire and death, through the greatest hardships and be triumphant. You're the rock of this place, the foundation that all of the others lean on. You don't always have to be though. It is okay to sometimes need another to lean on, to need your friends and allies. You are not alone."

Kyliska broke, the tears flowing forth in an instant. She leaned against Braeth'el, crying softly against hardened pectoral muscles that would have made her woozy in another time or situation. Braeth'el sat beside her, his arm wrapped around her as wracking sobs escaped her, not saying anything but simply soothing her with his presence. When she finally could speak again, Kyliska's voice was quiet and broken, "I've lost Andi. H-he...he was with another, and I had to leave him. I have to leave this place for a while. I need time away, time to just be who I am without having to think of all of this. I don't want to be the Lady Sunfire. I don't want to have to decide, to have to protect everything my sister built. It's not fair...I'm just Kyliska...I'm just me. I can't do all of this alone."

"And you won't, Kyli," Braeth'el said softly. "We are all here to support you. It is good I lingered here, for you dearly need to hear that right now. Maybe you're right and you do need time to figure things out, but we'll be here to support you when you come back. I've always looked after you, ever since you were adopted into this household, and I always will. It is what I do, what we who serve the House do."

Kyliska sighed and shuddered, the angry hurt feelings finally draining out of her now that she'd given them release. She sat up a bit, shaking her head, "I can't thank you enough for that, Braeth'el. I just wish that I didn't hurt anymore. And I'm not even talking about my emotions; I've been stabbed, gouged, my arm was broken, and now my light-forsaken leg is screwed up because I was chained up. I'm so tired of aching and hurting."

Braeth'el smiled and rose, standing over Kyliska. He pointed towards the bed and spoke with authority, "Lay down then and let me see it. If you're about to go on an adventure you'd best be in good health, and I know you're not going to wait around for it to get better."

Kyliska nodded, looking up at the spymaster before complying with his request. She laid back on Biara's soft bed, sighing as she felt the comfort all around her. Braeth'el climbed onto the bed beside her, kneeling next to her, his strong hands coming down to remove her boots so he could examine her more closely. She winced, realizing she was still filthy from captivity, but Braeth'el said nothing about it, and gave no indication that it bothered him. Instead, his hands began to kneed the flesh at her ankle, rubbing and gently releasing the pressure there.

The pain lessened almost immediately as he skillfully worked at pressure points in her foot and ankle, his hands running up her calf. He spoke softly as he worked, not looking over at her, "It was just a pulled ligament I think. It should feel better in a day or two, and I can prepare you some herbs to dull the ache in the meanwhile. I know a thing or two about these types of injuries; in my line of work you tend to pull things when you're climbing rooftops or sneaking through places you don't belong."

Kyliska nodded, her eyes closing as she felt his hands at work. He continued up her leg, the massage soothing the pain that the cramped condition of her cell had left her in. She bit her lip, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her, her thoughts drifting away from her problems and on to other, more enjoyable topics.

The massage lasted for what seemed like hours, and was likely at least an hour long. By the time he'd finished with her legs, Kyliska's aches and pains were just a memory. As he rubbed the knots out of the muscles in her arms, she lazily opened her eyes, staring into his as he looked down at her. She could feel her heart racing as he touched her, his perfect body looming close over her as he rubbed tension out of her shoulders. He leaned forward, his face a foot from her own as he worked on her right shoulder.

Impulsively she leaned up, her mouth meeting his, her eyes slipping closed as she kissed him. The spymaster responded, the kiss passionate and sending a thrill through her; it was wrong to do this, especially after she had just ended things with Andi. Especially on her sister's bed.

She didn't care.

Her arms came up and wrapped around him, and she felt his own come down to hold her, their passion-fueled kiss seemingly never-ending. She ran her hands over his bare flesh, enjoying the feel of his muscles as they tensed when he scooped her up and onto his lap, all thoughts fleeing her mind as she was finally getting something she'd secretly desired for all these years.

After a time, he broke the kiss off, holding her in his arms and staring into her eyes. He didn't ask her, seeing what she wanted in the lust written plainly over her face, knowing that a part of her wanted to just forget it all for a moment in time. He obliged her, rising up and scooping her up into his arms, and she leaned back, enjoying the feeling of letting him take her where he would.

He rose from the bed, her weight a nothing to him as he whisked her from Biara's bed, a delightfully evil grin on his face as he carried her away. Kyliska laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he carried her, her eyes getting one last glimpse of Biara's bedroom before the steam of the bathing room overtook them both, noting that he'd left his towel behind on her sister's bed.

And then the steam was all around them, the hot water of the bath flowing over Kyliska as he carried her away to her fantasies.