Akila and Leya: Ch. 02

"I feel the same way!" Leya responds excitedly, clearly misunderstanding the path this conversation is leading down. Akila winces slightly before continuing.

"But... it has to end here." She feels that she owes him the truth.

"What? End? What do you mean?"

"I mean we can't see each other anymore, Leya."

Leyas face is wrought with confusion.

"W-why?... did I do something wrong? I'm sorry!" His apology is offered promptly and sincerely.

"No..." Akila reaches out to touch Leya but pulls her hand back at the last second. She wants to comfort him but decides to maintain an emotional distance to protect herself. Shes going to pull the bandage off in one swift motion. She won't let this suffering linger.

"The fact is Leya, I'm going to become the empress of Sumanita soon. There are things I must consider, appearances to maintain and you're... well, you're a Caelyrion."

Hurt and betrayal flood across Leyas face before it sinks into a defeated expression.

"... Oh." His shoulders slump and he stares into the infinite emptiness reflected in the floor, which in turn, is reflected back in his eyes.

"... I understand."

He's not sad. He's not angry. He's not Sumanitian. Leya knows his place in the world again. This earth is not his mother and these skies are not his father. He was born a stranger in a land that doesn't want him, and that has not changed. Akila can see how deeply she has damaged him with what she said. She regrets not finding a different approach. She wants to tell him to stay, to say that nothing she said was true but knows she cannot, she has the stability of empire to think of.

"That man will set you up with a room somewhere in the city and find you a place to work."

"Okay...." Leyas eyes are stuck downcast once more. The brightness they had in them after their night together in the tent has dimmed. He walks over towards the man. Akila looks at him regretfully.

"Wait!" She cries as Leya and the valet are leaving the palace. Leya turns around to see her running after them.

"Take these before you go." She hands him a few large, heavy coins. Leya inspects them in his palm. They are an immaculately polished pink gold. When light moves across them they shimmer in shades of cyan and magenta. They are stamped with the royal insignia of Sumanita and the words 'Regiis Mynt'.

Regiis Mynts are coins renowned the world over and produced soley by the Sumanitian empire. It is stamped using a highly protected and proprietary process of enchantment, when smelted down the enchantment is broken and it melts into more than its own weight in gold. Making it an extremely valuable currency.

She closes them in his palm.

"Keep them somewhere safe. They are very valuable. If you are ever in any trouble or need anything take one to a bank. Any bank in Sumanita will gladly exchange it for a large sum of Din."

"I-I can't...this is too much..." He holds the heavy coins out towards her and she pushes them back into his chest.

"Its a gift, Leya. These coins will go a long way."

"Thank you, Akila. I-... I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I'm... Caelyrion..."

Emotion swirls in Akila as she looks down at him. Her mouth opens to speak but she finds nothing to say. She looks up at A'peris' valet and nods at him before turning around and walking back into the Palace.

The valet escorts Leya out of the Silver Palace, down the steps and into the city. He sets Leya up in a large workhouse. It's nothing like the one he was at in Til'Amin, the beds are warm and comfortable, the food is plentiful and nutritious and the work is reliable. While he still gets the occasional stink eye and rude comment from his workmates, for the most part people are friendly and helpful.

Akila stays in the palace and begins immersing herself in her duties. Learning the Caelyrion tongue so she can be an ambassador for her people, lessons on the economics of the empire and so on.

Days go by. Akila still hasn't been able to see Asair. The doctors are working day and night to try and heal him, or at least to stabilize his condition. She has three incredible burdens weighing on her mind. The looming death of her friend, mentor and Emperor, Asair Mumahete. The huge responsibility of becoming the empress of the Sumanitian Empire. And the one that lingers in her loins at night, when she is alone in her bed... Those doleful sapphire eyes. That lithesome, slender body. That pale, silken skin. That compassionate, thoughtful mind. The longer she goes without him the more she thinks of him. Akila is by no means a puritan, she would often celebrate a victorious battle with orgies of wine and sex. She knows her way around a brothel or two, or six.

But it feels wrong to satisfy this desire with some barmaid or comfort girl. She wants him and only him. She wants his body under hers, restrained securely in her arms until her wanton lust renders it limp and defeated. She wants to hear his voice cry out her name in pleasure and pain. She wants to kiss his skin and bite his neck. She wants him to become her possession. As completely as the rings on her finger are as she slides herself into them. As the wine in her glass is when she drinks it in. She writhes with lust throughout the night until she bursts in orgasm, spilling steaming ejaculate across her stomach and breasts, then falling asleep in the warm mess. Then she wakes up in the morning, showers and goes back to her duties learning the inner workings of the empire and how to manage them.

This continues on until one day the routine is broken by A'peris interrupting one of her lessons and quite tersley asking to speak with her in private.

"What's wrong now, A'peris?" Akila asks, annoyed. Aperis produces a Regiis Mynt from his breast pocket.

"A concerned citizen informed one of the Valkyries that he saw a Caelyrion in a workhouse uniform give this to a beggar woman in the stone district. Of course that seemed suspicious, how would a workhouse Caelyrion get his hands on a Regiis Mynt? So they went to the woman, retrieved it and brought it to me. What I am wondering is, how did a workhouse Caelyrion get his hands on the empires most priceless currency?"

"I gave it to him." Akila responds, annoyed.

"Akila, this is not a trinket to be handed out like souvenirs!"

"I don't see the problem, A'peris. Or the need to interrupt my lesson and pester me with another one of your tired lectures."

"This is not Din or Caelyrion Lyra, Akila. This is a currency used to buy Empires! To purchase armies and to influence sovereigns! Not to pay for a sack of kaal roots in the morning market! Or, for K'elyas sake, to be passed between beggars and peasents like it was rusted Din!" A'peris calms himself and continues.

"Akila, our great city is now host to Caelyrion dignitaries, royalty and even tourists. Do you know how embarrassing and damaging to our reputation it would be if they saw beggars with Regiis Mynts in their bowls or marketmen with them in their coin boxes? How badly that would damage its value? It would make us look weak."

Akila is always frustrated by A'peris' constant sermons but she can't deny they usually have a practical, if not cold, wisdom to them. It's no wonder Asair chose him to be his advisor, they are stark opposites. And as Asair used to tell Akila, opposition is the root of progress.

"Do you remember what Emperor Asair said to you before he signed the treaty? Why he wanted you, The Slayer of Kaeden Ylian, to be standing next to him when he signed it?"

Akila remembers almost everything the old man ever said to her. Although she doesn't understand much of it, this she understood clear as the waters of lake Tikal.

"... When you shake hands with a new friend you do it with a firm grip, not a limp wrist." She recites from memory.

"This is not a time for weakness Akila. How many did you give him? I will have to send a Valkyrie to collect them."

"I will do it myself."

"Absolutely not. It is a waste of your time. Moreover-"

"- A'peris, I am about to become the empress of Sumanita. Do you know what that means?"

A'peris waits silently for the answer to her rhetorical question.

"It means when I say I'm going to do something you say 'Yes, my Patra'."

A'peris inhales deeply through his nose.

"... Yes, my Patra." and bows.

Akila throws on a cloak and hood and walks out Into the palace court, takiy a royal carriage to the stone district where Leya has been living at the workhouse. Once she arrives she instructs the valkyrie gaurd that escorted her to retrieve the Caelyrion working there and bring him to her.

The valkyrie obliges, Akila waits until the carriage door opens and she hears Leyas voice for the first time in weeks.

"What's going on? Have I done something wrong? Where are you taking me?"

"Just step inside please, Sir."

Leya steps into the carriage, his slender frame is backlit by the light pouring in from the open door. He's just as tender and lovely as she remembered. He turns and sees her sitting in the opulent carriage and he is stopped dead. His golden hair is glowing, backlit from the light beaming into the otherwise dim interior. His elegant face is cast in hard shadow and soft light like some romantic portrait. His azure eyes pierce the gloom of the carriage and focus on Akila. Then the door is swung shut and they are both left in pale silence.

"... Akila..." He says softly in near disbelief.

"Hello, Leya. It's good to see you."

"I thought- but you said that-..." Leya lets out a contented sigh "It's good to see you too."

"Have a seat." Akila motions to the cushioned, plush and purple bench behind him. Leya sits down quietly, wondering what this visit is about.

"I'm sorry to say this isn't a social visit, Leya."

Leya sighs in disappointment and his posture slumps. Akila produces a coin from her pocket, it shines magically in the thin sunbeams peaking through the intricately latticed shutters. It's unmistakable as a Regiis Mynt.

"Oh. That's one of those coins you gave me, a Regal Mynt?"

"Regiis." Akila corrects. "You should recognize this one especially, it's one I gave you."

"I don't understand." Leya says.

"You gave this to a beggar woman you met out on the streets, didn't you?"

"What? how did you?..." Leya trails off in confusion and Akila continues before he can regain his train of thought.

"Leya, these are extremely valuable. You realize this right? I gave them to you so that I had peace of mind knowing you weren't going to end up like I found you outside of Til'amin."

"Did you take that from that kind old woman?" Leya asks, his demeanor becoming slightly confrontational.

"Leya, you can't just give these out! They were for you, not some sickly old beggar to buy liquor and spirit smoke with."

"What?" Leya is affronted by the comment. "Why can't I give them to her? You gave them to me, you said it was a gift. They're mine."

"Leya these coins are the central currency of Sumanita. They are prized in every nation and they bolster our economy, they can't be passed around by the common folk, it's embarrassing to the empire."

"I... I embarrassed you?" Leyas expression is pained.

"No. Not me-"

"-Just the empire." Leya interrupts. "I embarrass the empire by being a Caelyrion, so you can't be seen with me anymore." Leyas voice is shakey and angry, he seems to be teetering on the brink of either breaking into tears or into a rage.

"That night was special to me... You were special to me. You were my first... anything! You came into my life and took me out of my small, dark world and brought me into the light of yours."

Leya begins to cry lightly.

"You were so special to me... and then you said you didn't want to see me anymore."

"No, Leya! I did want to see you, I just-"

"-You just couldn't. And I understood why... But still, it hurt, it hurt so much. And it didn't stop hurting. When I saw that old woman in her rags, begging on the street. She was so frail and skinny and dirty. It made me think of how I must have seemed to you when you first saw me. I thought of how you changed my life, what you did for me and I wanted to be that for this woman. I could use the gift that you gave me to change her world like you changed mine. And for the first time since I left the palace, it hurt a little less to be away from you..."

She sees him cast in the soft glow of light peering in through the shuttered windows. The fractured image of intricate lattice patterns projected over him in light and shadow, prismatic motes of dust floating in beams of luminance.

Tears drip from his downturned face into his lap. They shine prismatically, catching the light as they fall. She sees him in this moment as if he was frozen in time, his tears shimmer, seemingly motionless in the air. She finds him to be an absolutely flawless image of delicate beauty. She stares into his helpless, glistening eyes. The tears making them larger and more doe-eyed from the refraction.

Akila's stomach knots as she listens to him and watches the tears roll down his cheeks, glistening againt his snow white skin like somber pearls. Leya raises his sullen face to Akila, slowly his expression changes, his brows furrow, his lips sneer and his eyes narrow.

"And it embarrassed you?!" He shouts. "So you stole it from that poor woman and came here scold me for giving it to somebody who needed it more?!"

"Leya..." Akilas stands up and reaches out towards him, the Regiis Mynt in her hand.

"No!" Leya shouts as he too stands up, shuffling away from Akila.

"You gave them to me! I can do what I want with them! You don't get to send me away, pay me off and then come back and dictate how I choose to spend your... bribe!"

Leya snatches the coin from her hand and turns away, storming out the carriage as quickly as he can. Akila can't help but grin in surprise, she never expected him to have such fire in his belly. She's almost proud of him for sticking up for himself like that.

"Leya wait!" She shouts at him, throwing on her hood and following behind as he exits the carriage.

She chases after him as he scampers down the street and grabs him by the wrist, spinning him around and pulling him close to her.

"Leya stop!" She says as she pulls his arm up in the air, the Regiis Mynt clasp tightly in his fist.

"I care about you Leya, and I don't want things to end like this between us."

His eyes swell with liquid. "Let me go!" he yelps loudly and a panic suddenly breaks across his face. His eyes dart around at the bystanders surrounding them. Many are staring, some have even stopped to witness the domestic outburst. In his years in the orphanage Leya learned to become wary of attention, even frightened of it. Attention was something to be avoided at all cost. To survive you must go unnoticed, unseen and unheard. He looks at his feet and concedes.

"You can have it." he says tersely and opens his palm. "Please let me go now, I want to leave." His tone is almost pleading.

As anxiety builds in his chest he presses his eyes shut tightly. Akila can feel his pulse quicken in his wrist and she senses his anxiety, his fear. It's not fun or playful this time, not like at the river, when she was in control. He feels endangered and she is inexplicably compelled to alleviate that feeling. She takes the Regiis Mynt from his hand and loosens her grip on his wrist. He yanks his arm away from her but before he can run away she snatches him by the shoulder. Pulling him in tight against her abdomen and throwing her cloak over him to shield him from the glaring eyes causing his distress.

Despite all his passion and furore the instant he finds himself in her embrace that fire in his belly is smothered and he is reduced to jelly. He feels completely helpless to Akila when he is in her arms.

"Okay. Tell me where she is and we will give it back."

It takes him a second to recognize the kindness she is doing but once he does he directs her to the street the old lady was on when he gave her the Regiis Mynt. Akila looks behind at the royal carriage waiting in the street for her return. She considers taking it but there is a small crowd gathering around it and considering her companions fragile state she thinks the better of it. At least, that's what she tells herself. The reality is she doesn't want the valkyrie asking her what she is doing helping this Caelyrion peasant, or why. She doesn't know how she could answer. This endeavour is private, this is something between her and him, it feels intimate. Involving anybody else would be... uncomfortable.

"Keep up."

She says stringently, sliding her hand from his shoulder down to the small of his back and walking briskly away from the carriage, gently pushing him along to keep pace with her. After a few blocks Leya stumbles trying to keep pace and wraps his arms tightly around Akilas waist to keep from falling over. She intuitively moves her hand from the small of his back to the side of his ribs and pulls him in firmly against her body. There is something about his cheek pressed warmly against her ribs and the vulnerability he reveals as he clings tightly around her waist that she greatly enjoys.

As they walk down the streets she begins to feel a growing pressure in her pants. It builds and builds, until her sizable member is fully awoken and straining against her trousers like a caged beast. The bulge is so obvious and distinct that men and women alike gasp scandalously as they walk past it. Leya, the only one who doesn't see the outline of Akilas womanhood, wonders what could be causing such a commotion and assumes that somehow it must be him. He squeezes himself even tighter against her side. The tent pole in her pants extends in front of the pair as they walk down the street, splitting the crowds in front of them in twain. When Akila extends her leg out in stride she can hear the stitching in her pants start to tear so he slows her gait enough to prevent her from literally bursting out of her trousers.

Not bothered by the indecency of the situation (She would proudly walk down the street bottomless and erect if it were acceptable for her to do so) She is never the less troubled by the lack of agency she has over her body at this moment. Avoiding attention was the major priority when she set about this task yet here she is, walking down the busy streets of Armath, all eyes on her, her companion and her brazen erection. Even still, there is nothing she wants more than to continue being the wing that Leya is sheltering under. She relishes in it.

"There." Leyas arm extends out from under the cloak pointing down the road and across the street.

"That's where the old woman was when I gave her the coin."

Akila crosses the road, weaving between the horses and carriages, nearly being hit by one, and continues down the street. The preoccupation of their nearing goal causes her erection to finally subside.

once they are in sight of the woman Akila offers up the coin to Leya between two fingers. "Here." She says and he looks up at her, making eye contact for longer than he is usually capable of.

"Go on." She persists, shaking the coin in front of his face. Leya looks down at the offering and moves his hand towards Akilas, curling her fingers back into her palm and leaving the Regiis Mynt clasp in her fist.

"You do it." He says and Akila looks down at him confused.

"Why? Like you said; It's yours."

"So you can understand why I gave it to her. It feels good to do good, and... I want you to feel good..." He says earnestly, biting his lip and looking away.

She shakes her head and huffs in irritation but relents to the request.

"If you want me to feel good you should stick your hand down my pants." She mutters under her breath.

"Hmm?" Leya asks to no response.

The elderly woman is knelt down onto an old folded blanket in front of an alleyway, just off the street. There is a wooden box in front of her with varying coins of varying sizes and varying nations. There are even small scraps of metal; broken nails, twisted hinges and the like that hold some minor value in the peasant markets. Standing close to her Akila can see that the woman is blind, her eyes are white as milk. She has a genial smile on her face that seems at odds with her clearly wretched situation.