A Dream of Empire Ch. 007

"Why did we stop doing that, Cass?" Alanna asked with a tilt of her head. "I miss... that."

"Because. We learned that I do not fancy girls," Casiama declared, as if it were an obvious statement. Alanna knew she was lying without having to read her, only because she could clearly recall several dozen events that proved otherwise. Her rebuttal came out far more confrontational than she had anticipated.

"Really now? So what we do in bed is...?"

"It's just for his sake. And only that," Casiama replied seriously, with a blush. "And for you to insinuate otherwise-"

Alanna's hands shot up instantly as if innocent, and her head bobbed and weaved as she spoke. "I'm not insinuatin' anything! I'm just saying, the looks you give me, the compliments, the laughs, I figured-"

"Get out of my thoughts, Alanna," Casiama snarled. Alanna couldn't believe it. She had only reached out with a simple reminiscence, only to be pushed away so hastily.

"I'm not in your thoughts. Would I find that you're lying if I was?"

Casiama glared at her, placing a hand on her hip. "Enter me and discover," she challenged once more. Alanna didn't. She also failed to drop the subject.

"Look, it's embarrassing to admit to it, believe me I know, but if you do think that way of me it might just solve our-"

"I do not. You frighten me, Alanna," Casiama declared with a pointed finger. "And... and I shame myself in your presence! You bring out the worst in me!"

Alanna's arms fell to her sides, and she shouted in return. "Oh sure, blame me!" she cried.

"I do! I will! Before you, Talos did not think so poorly of me! He did not think I was some... some... slut!" she gasped with reddened cheeks. Alanna's brows shot up in misunderstanding, and she frowned.

"When did I tell him you were a slut, Cass?" the enchantress asked with incredulosity.

"In... in... bed. Just two suns ago," she pouted. Casiama turned away, failing to hide her shame. She started walking away, but Alanna paced after her.

"Cass..." Alanna frowned, "that's all... that's all just bedroom talk. He knows it isn't true."

Casiama shook her head before spinning on her heel. Alanna stopped in place, seeing her tears before she heard them. "How am I supposed to know that?" she whimpered. "Every time I look at him now, I have to wonder if he's thinking of it. And I say such shameful things!"

"Okay. Cass, relax. I can just stop saying those things if they make you uncomfortable. The only reason I said them in the first place is because I thought you wanted me to. I... thought you enjoyed it. You told me as much."

Casiama sniffled, looking away from the enchantress. "I did. I... don't any more," she huffed, speaking of the present moment.

Alanna stepped closer and offered her outstreched arms. "I'm sorry?" she said, asking if the princess wanted a hug. Casiama looked around for a moment's hesitation, pursing her lips, before falling atop the enchantress soon after. She cried for the better part of two minutes as Alanna held her tightly, pressing her cheek against the elf's breasts.

"And I'm the one who's sorry," Casiama sniffled. "I didn't mean to lash out at you, Alanna. You are too... too nice for that."

"We're both sorry."

"Okay," the elf murmured. She removed herself from Alanna's grasp, almost calming down entirely within her arms in just two minutes. "But... but what was that, about solving our problem?"

Alanna smiled sweetly, clasping her now-freed hands at her side. She had a new plan of attack, one which had worked well for her in the past. "Forget about it," she said warmly. "Say something nice about me, Cass."

Why?" Casiama squinted.

"Just do it, I promise it will make sense in a minute. First thing that comes to mind."

"Uh... okay. You're really... kind, Alanna. A really kind person."

"Thank you, Casiama," the enchantress cooed. "And you're really genuine. You rarely lie, and if you do you usually have good reason to. You never fake being someone you're not."

"Um..." Casiama blushed, "thank you. But why would I do that?"

Alanna giggled. "I don't know. A lot of people do it. I did it in the College many times. Blonde hair, Cass." The elf smiled, clearly enjoying Alanna's enthusiasm. "Say something else about me."

"Okay... well, you're really thoughtful," she complimented in turn. "Like... Whenever we're in bed, you always ensure I... well, you know," her cheeks reddening at the thought, "and when you go out to market, you always ask Talos and I if we need anything."

"Thanks, Cass," Alanna giggled sweetly as she absentmindedly twirled a loose tress of her hair in one of her fingers. "And you're really... passionate. When you believe something, you'll do whatever it takes to get your way, or, or, please that person you care for. Real passion, Casiama."

The princess smiled brightly. "And you, Alanna, are brave. You saved my life back in Imperia, even at great peril to your own safety."

"Aw... Cass... thank you. I think you're one of the bravest souls in the world. And... and you're really smart. You're a fast learner, and you're always so quick to come up with solutions to problems. You've learned so much in the past year, but you're so hard on yourself you don't even know it."

"Thanks! You're really intelligent, too. Your new magics always impress me. I'm always amazed how fast you learn them," Casiama complimented with a bright smile, getting a giggle from the enchantress. "And your laughs are so cute, Alanna."

"Not nearly as cute as yours, Cass," Alanna replied huskily. "And the way you puff out your cheeks when you're excited about something is just adorable."

"Thank you! I... didn't know I did that," the elf giggled. "But I doubt it is as adorable as when you play with your hair."

"Aw!" Alanna exclaimed, glancing at her finger still wrapped in an auburn lock.

"And your squeaky voice, it's just..." Casiama trailed off, her smile waning just imperceptably as she gazed at her. "Alanna... hold on. What are we doing? What am I doing?"

Alanna raised her brows. "See?"

"See what?"

"We care for eachother, Cass! We're almost as far away as could be from despising one another. Our jealousy, our fears, it's just... it's all Talos' fault, I think. He always runs away whenever we fight, rather than stay and help us work through our problems."

"Do not blame him, Alanna," Casiama retorted with an instant gravity. "We forced him into this. You and I share this blame alone."

Alanna groaned. Blaming Talos had always worked for her in the past, but that method wouldn't get through to the elf this time. "Okay... well, forget about him for a minute. How would we have gotten along, had I washed up alone on that Borderland shore?" she asked, referring to the first day they met. "Assuming we didn't kill one another," she added after a pause.

Casiama frowned. "Well... you were very nice to me, and very excited when I revealed my gift. So... perhaps it would have worked out," she answered, pausing before adding, "if we didn't kill one another."

"Uh huh," Alanna nodded with a smile. Casiama didn't return it.

"You still cannot blame him."

"Okay, okay," Alanna agreed softly. "But we're in agreement that we would have, at the very least, still been friends. Right?"

"I cannot say that either. I despised humans that day. I only stayed as I had no other choice."

"Cass! Forget about racism for just a moment and speak of me. Speak of us," Alanna said with wide eyes. "I'm only trying to... find that initial connection again."

Casiama remained silent for a half-minute, and glanced skyward as if in deep thought. Alanna let the elf have those thoughts to herself, not out of politeness, but only as she was somewhat worried of her ideations. Casiama spun on her heel and began walking back to camp before she spoke again, forcing Alanna to skip every now and then to keep up with the elf's strides.

"I don't know what you are so worried of. We are friends," Casiama muttered as they walked. Alanna kept quiet for half a minute.

"Just friends?" Alanna shrugged cutely, deciding on another tactic altogether.

Casiama tilted her head towards the enchantress, squinting once more. "I do not fancy girls," she declared softly once again, picking up her pace as she flung her gaze away.

"Yes you do," Alanna giggled as she skipped.

"No I don't," Casiama murmured. Alanna gave her another thirty seconds of serenity.

"I think you dooo," the enchantress exaggerated cutely.

"Noo, I do nooot," an elf mimicked.

"But I'm in your miiind," Alanna continued adorably, albeit lying.

Casiama only huffed, decidedly remaining silent for another three minutes as they sauntered through the forest undergrowth. Alanna refused to allow it to persist, demanding her attention with a tug of her sleeve.

"Caaass...?" Alanna whined. Casiama smiled, turning her gaze towards her once more.

"What?"

Alanna grinned when their eyes met, and the princess stopped walking. "Say something else nice about me," Alanna cooed.

"Alanna..."

Alanna pursed her lips, extending a palm into the air between them. "Okay... nevermind. But, I have a theory. A theory which will solve everything," she declared with a swish of her hand.

Casiama pointed to her pointed ear. Alanna assumed that meant she would hear her out. Her gaze bounced around the forest floor, soon locating a stick she could use to demonstrate her idea. She picked it up, and drew two sides of a triangle in the dirt.

"Talos, you, me," she explained, pointing at the three points of the triangle. "Now, between you and him, and me and him, there's a strong bond there. An unbreakable bond. But if this were a house-"

"A house?"

"Stay with me for a moment. If this were a house, the wind and the cold would still get inside, as only two of the walls - you know, our bonds - are built. It's the same as our... thing. Since that third wall isn't there," she explained, drawing a line in the dirt to complete the triangle, "we still feel that discomfort. But if we, Cass, worked on our wall, which doesn't touch Talos, then the house would be stable. And warm."

"A wall," Casiama repeated with a raised brow. Alanna nodded, looking upon the elf's face with a pout. "But Alanna, I'm not-"

"Caaass," Alanna whined. "Please don't lie to me. Not now."

Casiama groaned as she shrugged. "Alanna, I cannot fake... building a wall with you."

Alanna skipped towards her, dropping her stick. "I know. And that just further proves how genuine you are, Cass. All I'm asking is that you try, like we did on the south shore before everything fell apart."

Casiama pondered on it for a moment as the girls meandered towards camp once again. She opened up to Alanna after a quarter-hour, knowing the enchantress was already deep within her thoughts.

"How would you build it, Alanna?" the elf muttered under her breath. Alanna skipped in front of her, twirling about with her hands behind her back.

"Say something nice about me," the enchantress beamed. "And don't think about it."

-=-=-

Alanna and Casiama had, miraculously, spent the better part of an hour complimenting one another as they made their way back to their campsite. As predicted by one happy enchantress, the exercise made both souls giddy with glee. What girl doesn't like hearing compliment after compliment of themselves, after all?

"I especially admire how positively chilling you can be when you want to," Casiama said delightedly as they neared camp. "Like in the easterlands, telling Talos you would hunt him down to the ends of the world?"

"You heard that?!" Alanna exclaimed through her giggles.

"Oh, Alanna, I was frightened for him. It was that good," she nodded.

"Aw, Cass... it couldn't have been that frightening."

Casiama smirked, remembering their man from four seasons ago. "It was. Talos was shaken for days. If I needed to get that reaction out of him, I would need to hold a blade to his throat."

Alanna pushed her playfully as they neared their extinguished campfire. "Then I shall offer you my services, if you have need of scaring him in the future."

The girls shared a quick chortle of laughter as they looked into one another's eyes with what could only be described as genuine happiness. Casiama had the idea to make a fire just after, and summoned a new stack of logs for the campfire without looking at it. Alanna lit the stack with a sudden jet of flame from her palm, her eyes cast away as well.

Their shared grin grew wider at the practical exercise of their combined sorcery. "So, what's for supper, Cass?" the enchantress asked with eyes locked.

"Same as yesterday," the princess answered with a shrug, referring to a hot vegetable stew. "Unless you want me to hunt. I saw plenty of deer earlier."

"Spare the deer. I'll just take more wine, methinks," Alanna bounced cutely.

"Would not have guessed it," Casiama replied with an open palm, a shimmering light accompanying a new bottle of wine in her hand. Alanna looked at the label; Heurbon 1268 - Blanc.

"Cass, you dolt," Alanna chided her, getting a shrug from the elf, "this isn't from Imperia! It's from Santaria; that's why it's so good."

"I bought it in Imperia," she replied as she handed the bottle to her, "I thought that was what you meant."

Alanna squinted at her playfully as she accepted the bottle. "Who... who asks if...?" she asked thinly, then moaned. "Nevermind, Cass. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Casiama beamed.

Just as they did on the previous night, the pair shared dinner and wine around a roaring campfire as day turned to dusk around them. They laughed, they reminisced, and they even shared more secrets with one another when they were feeling particularly daring. Alanna didn't dare advance on Casiama when they were having such a wondrous time together; she was just excited for the chance to get to know her, without their man to get in the way. And just as Alanna felt the night was going somewhere, Casiama retired early for bed once she had consumed her third glass of wine.

And so, Casiama was now snuggling into her large, warm bedroll as Alanna did the same in hers, wearing her thick sleeping furs. The enchantress noticed the glimmer of light from under Casiama's roll, signaling she'd changed into her nightgown away from her voyeuristic gaze once again, just as she'd done the night before. Alanna sighed, but settled into her own sleeping bag all the same. That is, until Casiama reached out to her.

"Hey, Alanna. Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Casiama asked nervously, just as Alanna had settled in. Alanna suddenly found herself frozen in place, her heart thumping at the sudden invitation. She found the courage to nod after one long moment, and she nodded enthusiastically.

Casiama lifted the corner of her bedroll. "Then come here," she offered softly with reddened cheeks.

"Thank you. That's so-"

"And do stop talking," Casiama smiled nervously. "There's always tomorrow for that."

Alanna didn't say another word, pleased all the same that Casiama had reached out on her own. She wiggled her way out of her own bedroll, then stepped over to the elf's large white one to slide in beside her. It was a snug fit, and their bodies pressed closely together; Alanna wrapped one leg over hers on instinct, a move which wasn't rebuked. The pair did their best to drift off in one another's arms, but Casiama grumbled in displeasure after two minutes of failed sleep.

"Alanna... you're really hot," Casiama murmured into the enchantress's hair. She giggled, blushing at the compliment.

"Um, thanks. I think you're really-"

"No," Casiama interjected with a nervous whisper, "I mean, you're warm."

"Oh," the enchantress muttered, her smile vanishing. Casiama squirmed about in her arms.

"It's the furs, I think. Do you mind if-"

"No," Alanna quickly whispered into the elf's soft chest. "No, change me how you'd like."

"You're sure?"

Alanna nodded. She soon felt the princess place a hand on her thigh under the furs of their shared bedroll, producing a glimmer of light that disrobed her entirely. The enchantress waited patiently for her replacement clothes only to soon feel Casiama's hand slip away, and a gentle smile grew on two sets of lips. Alanna didn't complain of her nudity as she nestled into the elf's chest, drifting off to sleep after only a couple minutes of thumping silence.

-=-=-

A gentle rain fell over the forests of Falinor the following morning, a common occurrence for the valley. The forests here received a constant rainfall throughout the year, although this was most certainly its driest season. The fog rolled in hard that day, shrouding the rivers and trees in a wondrous mystery.

The rain transformed that morning into one of stark dichotomies. At first, Alanna had been saddened that the skies had opened up in the dead of night; she felt Casiama could use another day in these serene forests before they returned to Catriona, and all the displeasure that she knew the elf felt living there surrounded by thousands of humans.

And yet, as if in defiance of the weather, the girls had an unexpectedly-pleasant morning in their tent. They were sealed off just enough from the gentle rain outside to appreciate its splendor without being dampened by it, and they laid nestled together within their shared furs while only clothed by a thin nightgown each. Alanna learned that morning how lazy Casiama truly was. The princess was entirely content to lay in that cozy bedroll for hours after waking, only rising once to free her bladder before returning once more to its warmth.

This propensity for sloth, seen as a sin by the eyes of many, meshed with Alanna's own personality perfectly. She learned over the last few months that a night in bed with her man Talos would always be capped by a minor disappointment in the morning. Talos was typically haste to remove himself from the comforts of a warm bed, as if spending any unnecessary time in repose made him a lesser man.

By contrast, it seemed she and Casiama could lie together for half the day without a care in the world. And they did, too; arms were wrapped around arms, legs around legs. Cheeks nuzzled against cheeks when they weren't resting on pillows instead, and a flurry of giggles and sighs were uttered by both souls.

Furthermore, those two girls barely spoke of the reasons why they had come here to Falinor in the first place. Rather than speak of jealousy and sadness they spoke instead of simpler matters. They spoke of their early lives, of their families. They shared their dreams, their hopes and aspirations. They discussed their thoughts and their theories of the mundane and of the aetherial, being the intelligent sorceresses that they were. Casiama even sang a beautiful elven song for that beaming enchantress, before scaring herself with her anxiety and stopping abruptly.

They spoke of almost everything that morning, for once just enjoying one another's presence without a man to get between them. It seemed the forests of Falinor were, indeed, magical; but not for the trees of a thousand and two.

The only topic which wasn't discussed between those beating hearts was that of love; that is, until the sun peaked high in the sky that day over a dense fog...

"So... did you... give my silly analogy any further thought?" Alanna asked hesistantly, but with a smile. "Of the three-sided house?"