A Place Of Ones Own (closed)

[heartofcourage]

Annie sat in the middle of the boat, looking down at David's strong hands as he gently held her own. She sighed, her eyes moving to look into her husband's handsome gaze. Her fingers gripped him tightly.

"I'm afraid that one of us will die in this battle, love." She murmured softly, letting him know what was weighing so heavily on her mind.

 

[KieranSoares]

"So am I..." he whispered and sighed, looking down at their hands. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you... and I don't know what to say if you were to lose me... I don't know what we'd do if we lost anyone."

 

[heartofcourage]

"It seems silly now to think we were fighting over whether you would go to sea or not." Annie murmured, giving him a small grin.

"I love you, David. With all of my heart and soul. I want you to know that." She said softly, pulling her hand from his to reach out and touch his face.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Fighting? You call that fighting?" He chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her. As she spoke again to him, he set his forehead to her own. "You tell me that everyday, love... and I only wish I could find the right words to tell you how much I love you too..." With another kiss, he closed his eyes and let his head rest against hers.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Well, as close as we get to fighting." She murmured with a sheepish grin on her lips as he pressed their foreheads together. "I want you to promise that if something happens to me, you'll at least look for someone else that makes you just as happy. I don't think I can bare the thought of you being alone for the rest of your life."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Only if you promise me the same," David answered quietly, though clearly the idea of one or the other dying and leaving the other to fare the way alone hurt him deeply. "I'm not sure it'd be possible, but I'd try."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I can try." Annie said softly, not liking the idea of having to find someone else in her life after David. "My Da did it with Julia after my Ma died. I know it's possible, but I don't know if I could ever feel that ache in my heart."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I know, love. That's why I don't intend to make you go through that. And I want to have a family, a proper family of children, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren if I make it that far, and a full life with you. I'll do my damnedest to make it though this battle with you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I promise you that I'll try my hardest to give you all of that and more." Annie murmured, leaning forward to kiss her handsome husband again. "I wish it would have happened by now, but like Julia tells me, everything has a time and a place."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wouldn't be surprised if we'll be expecting soon though," David offered her a smile. "And that'll be even more incentive to get this fighting over and done with. I think it may still be possible to make peace... and even if it's not, we'll make it."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You can't rush a war, love." Annie said with a smile on her lips. "But I know that if you thought you had the power to, you'd at least try."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I think I could at least help it along," he smiled with a shrug. They drifted for near two hours before David brought them to shore and they walked home hand-in-hand. The battle could flare at any moment, so it was best to get plenty of sleep while they still could. For now, the Erygonians were biding their time.

 

[heartofcourage]

Annie leaned against her husband's broad shoulder as they walked towards their little home hand in hand. As it came into sight, she noticed smoke lazily curling from the chimney and she frowned slightly. She hadn't left the fire burning when she left.

Entering the house, the smells of a delightful and exotic meal filled the air. Ria was working hard over the hearth and Annie smiled warmly as her mother-in-law looked towards the two of them.

"Ria, you didn't have to cook for us." Annie murmured softly.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wanted to spend an evening with you two, to talk about the both of you and Inverness," Ria answered as her eyes remained on the odd flat bread that was baking on a stone slab situated above the fire. She was calling upon her knowledge from Greek cooking that she hadn't used in a very long time, but it seemed she was still a master of the art.

 

[heartofcourage]

Annie quickly hurried to Ria's side, wishing to help her cook in any way possible. She found that she enjoyed her mother-in-law, but the woman was a little odd. She was quiet, but she was incredibly loyal and interested in her son's life.

 

[KieranSoares]

Ria indeed was quiet, offering bits to conversation every so often. When she did speak, her voice was strong and resolute, the voice of a seasoned Captain who defied the odds of not only being a pirate, but a woman in a man's world.

"Annie love," she spoke up, not realizing that this was also what Julia called her, "Pull the bread out and let it rest, would you?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Annie paused briefly as Ria called her Annie love. There was no way that she would have known that was what her step-mother called her from the very first day that she'd met her as a little girl. She smiled slowly, looking over at David as she moved to do as she had been asked.

"Of course, Ria." She pulled the bread from the stone and placed it on their dining table. "David, go and get a bottle of wine to go with dinner."

 

[KieranSoares]

David simply smiled and made his way to the small cellar they had, and when he returned with the bottle, Ria brought everything to the table and they all sat down. Ria didn't stop them from eating, but she drew out a pendant of some sort and muttered a Lunar prayer before beginning to eat too.

 

[heartofcourage]

They ate in silence for a while before Annie finally looked at her mother-in-law. "Ria, have you considered perhaps finding a small place here in Inverness? David and I can look after if when you go back out to sea and we would love to have you near when we start having children."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I was talking to Brogan about that a bit ago," Ria nodded. "He welcomed me, said that there was a bit of land that I could use... I'm still thinking about it."

"We'd be more than happy to have you," David reached out to touch his mother's hand, and she leaned over to kiss his forehead.

 

[heartofcourage]

"We would be over the moon." Annie murmured, smiling as she leaned in to kiss her cheek. "We would love to help you build a little place. Well, maybe not so little if that's what you wish."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I think we'll look into that once everything is settled down." Ria nodded and gave the two a smile, "But the way I see it... I think my crew and I may well have found a new and proper home. I'll return those to Greece who wish it once we have peace."

 

[heartofcourage]

"And we would be very happy to have you here." Annie said, looking at David with a large smile.

It seemed that everything that Annie could have ever wanted was falling into place. Despite the threat of war hanging over them, she felt at peace for perhaps the first time in her life.

 

[KieranSoares]

It was finally after another two days that the dreaded moment came when the Erygonians came back with a vengeance and far more to throw at the walls of Inverness. The first alarm, late that warm night, was raised by the mysterious former assassin Kell, who rang the town bell awakening everyone. Thankfully everyone was prepared and there were fresh men who'd taken to sleeping int he day to be ready at night. In only minutes, half the warriors were up and ready, and the rest were waiting, getting what rest they could until they were needed. Their comrades among the Mav Ro were ready first and on the walls with their longbows and javelins, silent as they watched for their enemy. When the humans reached the wall, many muttered about how there was no one there, not even fires in the distance of the Erygonians' camps. But the Lunars shushed them, whispering that they were most certainly there.

It was when the new leaders, Annie and her brother and sister and cousins, came to the wall that the Erygonians made themselves known. A small torch lit in the darkness, and dropped. Suddenly the flames shot in both directions in a long blazing line. It was an old Erygonian tradition, Ruben muttered to his fellows. A war line, and the Erygonians would leap through the flames to symbolically heat their blood and singe their fur to get them worked up and berserker-like for the fight so that they wouldn't stop until they were dead, and even then their spirits would attempt to foil their enemies' plans and kill the weak-spirited among them.

 

[heartofcourage]

Annie watched the show beyond the keep's walls, knowing that they were a formidable foe. She had Ferrous saddled and ready to go, the rest of her horses in the hands of the best riders that Inverness had to offer. Beyond that, she knew that her cousins were ready for a fight as well.

"They will not scare us in this fight. We fight for what is good and rightfully ours." Annie murmured softly, feeling David's hand close around hers. She didn't look at her husband, simply squeezing it gently.