Beyond Time (closed)

[heartofcourage]

Dylan laughed softly as John resolved that he was going to work hard for Elizabeth's hand. She was happy that her dear friend had found someone to make him happy and she was impressed that he was willing to work so hard to get her. She took Ashien's hand as they started their way back to Darkwood, both talking to John as he spoke like a man who was smitten with the very idea of Elizabeth.

When they reached their home, Dylan left Ashien and John to talk as she found Ballas and made her way to the studio to paint. The great tiger rubbed against her legs, twitching his tail as she got the paints together and the easel set up.

"Will you let me paint you?" She asked Ballas as she scratched behind his ears.

 

[KieranSoares]

Ballas rumbled happily when Dylandra scratched his ears and he flopped over, showing her his belly with his paws curled in tight and his tail fanning lazily across the floor. With another low rumble, he let his head rest against the cool stone floor and he stretched out before settling on his side.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You are as lazy as a house cat." Dylandra said with a smile as she watched him roll on the ground before he flopped onto his side and purred loudly. "Content as could be and in charge of the manor. We won't tell Ashien who the real boss is around here."

She pulled out her charcoal pencils and started to sketch Ballas, starting with the basic outline of the tiger and filling in more and more details as she went until she was ready to to start applying paint to the canvas.

 

[KieranSoares]

When she began laying down the first layers of paint and Ballas had quite happily fallen asleep without moving from his original position, Ashien stepped in and chuckled at seeing them. "I knew you'd be off painting again." Coming to her side, he watched her work with keen interest.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm always painting, love. Ever since I was 4 years old and my grandfather bought me my first oil paint set." Dylan murmured as Ashien took up a position behind her, watching her motions and choices with interest. "He always encouraged me in whatever I wanted to do. I think he felt guilty that my parents had abandoned me when I was so little."

 

[KieranSoares]

"My mother gave me my first charcoal set and paper when I was just starting to walk. I've been drawing as long as I can remember, but I didn't start painting until my Da- Vincenzo, I mean- sent me paint from Italy where some of the best oil paint is made when I was eight. I think I went through all of it in less then a year and I'd learned to build my own canvases and brushes in another year. The only thing I can't make is the paint itself, but he sent more to me every year. I'd have unfinished pieces all over my room waiting for a certain color when I ran out before the end of the year. He sent all of us special things. Especially Ma. He sent her journals from his travels, and jars of olives. Usually the journals came once or twice a year, but the olives came every month without fail, along with a letter."

Ashien smiled to himself, a bit bitterly, "I think those letters were all that really kept her going after Tamblin forced her to give Valentina to her best friend and Tamblin would never let Ma see her. She still managed to visit in secret, but none of us actually knew Val was our sister til after Brogan defeated Tamblin. She still tried to keep it a secret for a while. I think she was afraid what people might think of Val if they knew. But nobody cared whose child she was when she turned out to be the best human healer beside her father in all the isles."

Ashien chuckled at himself, "Sorry, I got off-topic. I only just realized you rest don't know anything about my family."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Why couldn't your mother leave your father? It sounds like she loved someone else and your father wasn't that nice of a person." Dylan asked him as she stopped her painting and turned to look at Ashien. "You said that your mother and Vincenzo are married now? Are they happy together?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"They just married last time I was home, just before you came, and they're happy as can be. But... Ma couldn't leave Tamblin for two particular reasons... She always wanted to see him overcome the... The depression and the fear that made him the way he was... Apparently he was a good man. A little cold, but good. After Selena was born, something snapped and he killed our best friends' father, making our friends Ciaran and Cole orphans. Ma took care of them until eventually our nursemaid Ashelin who I'm named after took them with her husband Warwick. But when Brogan was born and nearly died, he turned soft. By the time Boar came along, he was mad again. We all know why now, but until the day of his death, Tamblin never told any of us he cared at all, or that he loved us or was proud. Anyway... That madness was what Ma was trying to save him from, and what made him try to lock her away and keep her to himself. He did love her, I know that now that I'm older. But Oliver... Oliver destroyed him."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Your Ma sounds like a saint for putting up with all of that for so long." Dylan said softly as Ashien told her the painful story of his childhood. "At least now you have a man that you can be proud to call your father, though. And she got her happy ending after so many years of heartache and pain."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I just hope she lives long enough to enjoy it. She's been sick since before I was born, that's why she was sent to Vincenzo in the first place. With him around, I really hope she becomes as vibrant as she was the last time she went to Italy. They took so long to marry because Vincenzo didn't have the heart to leave Venice without someone in his place, so he asked her for ten years. Ten years to train an apprentice into a master healer and then he'd come to her. He visited in that time, but he only just came to stay and he doesn't do a lot of traveling anymore if he can help it."

 

[heartofcourage]

"He wants to be with her all the time. I think that's romantic." Dylan said with a gentle smile. "And you know when we finally go to Scotland, she'll be as healthy as you've ever seen her. She'll surprise you when you least expect it."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I hope so. For the longest time while I was in training and at court, I was expecting everyday to get a letter about her death. But thankfully Brogan, despite losing his first wife, kept taking care of Ma even when he shut the rest of the world out. I wouldn't say he's her favorite because I know she doesn't pick favorites. But they're incredibly close. He would've stayed in Inverness even if he wasn't king, just for her. He's always had the same pull to stay, just like our father and grandfather, but his pull isn't because of the power or paranoia. It's his love of the people, especially Ma. He nearly died when he was born and she managed to keep him alive, and supported him even though he was once so small. When he finally became a giant, he freed Ma from Tamblin even if she wished there was a better way, and now he takes care of her. His new wife helps him do that, and now Ma has her love. Even if it's more than thirty years late, she's finally got her fairytale end."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You sound like a hopeless romantic, Ash." Dylan teased her husband as he continued to tell her about his family and their connection to Inverness and their mother. "Now I have a lot to live up to. Our love story has to live up to all of that which you've seen in the past."

 

[KieranSoares]

"We're already doing pretty well. One major disaster averted despite impossible odds." Ashien wrapped his arms about her waist. "And we managed to follow suit with Durban and Boar and get married without telling Ma. We're doing well."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I still can't believe sometimes that you're all mine." Dylan said as she pressed her cheek against his warm chest, a smile on her lips. "And I'm glad that we followed our hearts and did what we felt was right. It might have been sudden, but I have no regrets."

 

[KieranSoares]

The coming days saw Ashien's time split between John and Dylandra, wanting to spend plenty of time with his wife but also help his friend pursue his own love. The journey to the coast was beautiful and relaxing but fairly uneventful. John trained like a madman, driving himself to exhaustion constantly and nearly Ashien too. Come autumn, John had bulked up and was absolutely flooring Ashien in swordfighting. Ashien was a lighter sort, quick and using quite a bit of fencing, whereas John was living up to the use of the longsword and had shattered a few of Ashien's bucklers. He had become a confident rider and a fair shot with a longbow, and Henry had taken notice. John was driven to train harder every time a new suit came for Elizabeth. Late that autumn, a suit came all the way from the Holy Roman Empire. Dylandra only knew about it when John came back from the castle looking absolutely destroyed

 

[heartofcourage]

"Bad news?" Dylan asked as John entered her dining room as she snacked on a scone and a cup of tea. "You look like you've just got the worst news in the world, John. What happened?"

 

[KieranSoares]

John sat down quietly across from her, unable to even look up. "It's all for nothing now..." He murmured.

"What's all for nothing?" Ashien asked when he walked in, laying his cloak across a chair.

"Elizabeth is getting married this winter," John barely managed to whisper.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Married? Who is she marrying?" Dylan asked as she put aside her meal and turned towards a forlorn John. "She has never taken a suit seriously. Why has that changed now?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"There's a huge rebellion going on in the Holy Roman Empire, and King Heinrich the Fifth of Germany is in line to take over the throne of the Empire now that his father was forced to give it up and died. He'll be Emperor of half of Europe in less than two years, and he's making friends," John murmured.

Then Ashien came in, knowing all about the situation. "So to get England on his side, he's marrying off his possible successors because he has no children of his own and he probably never will. Henry has said the Archbishop of Mainz chose the Duke of Saxony in Germany as the best possible successor. And now hearing this... it seems Heinrich chose England, and therefore Elizabeth. England is still a young country, forged by the wars waged by King William. Normandy is a proud and stubborn neighbor of the Empire, and has always had their respect. So Heinrich must think it's in his best interest to join the family of the Conqueror into the line of his successors. After Heinrich, the Salian dynasty is over. So he must consider this successor Lothair the Third to be his son for all intents and purposes..."

"Who can say no to a suit from a future Emperor?" John nearly whispered. "Henry won't. I'd think he'd lost his mind if he did. Even if it only came down to blood and battle, this Lothair guy comes from a long line of nobles and he's been born and raised to be a warrior. I'm just some nineties London kid who made pizza and worked in business for a while..."

"Did Henry say he'd accept?"

"Not in those words, no. But he told me how Elizabeth would never want for anything, and she'd be even safer as an Empress with men from the Empire and England protecting her. How the hell can I compete with that?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"John, I can't believe that you would give up so easily. Just because there is a suit doesn't mean that she'll accept it. If you really want the girl so much, go after her!" Dylan said as she looked towards her husband and then at John. "You should be at the palace instead of sulking here at Darkwood. Go talk to Henry about what you want."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Dylan, it's not that simple. Elizabeth doesn't get to pick who she marries, and Henry knows he'd be absolutely stupid to deny a future emperor. He said it himself. I'm a commoner. Just because I suddenly learned how to ride and fight in one season doesn't make me the better choice."

"John," Ashien said softly. "I'm fairly certain that if you can bring yourself to leave your world behind and dive blindly nine-hundred years into the past, you can win Elizabeth. Henry wants what's best for her. Yes, he'd be daft to turn down Lothair, but he did much crazier things for his wife, like stealing her heart and asking her to call off her wedding to the King of France the day she arrived in Marseilles. He's defied Emperors before when they threatened harm to his family or his people. If you prove you're what Elizabeth needs, Henry will show you just how wonderfully crazy he is. After all... he took in a Scot. A Ghis, no less. He can be all sorts of strange and fantastic."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Henry values Elizabeth's opinion above anything else in the world, John. If she doesn't want to marry this man, she will say no and he will take that to heart. If you already have a promise from her to pursue something in the future then you need to trust that everything will turn out." Dylan said softly, hoping that John didn't give up completely on his goal of winning Elizabeth's heart.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You know I don't trust to luck or fate, Dylan," John told her softly. He'd once had an entire conversation about it with her, how he didn't ever trust anything to the future until it came to pass. It had to do with how he'd ended up working at a pizza shop, but he had only talked about it once.

John rose from his seat and looked to Ashien, "He's coming here to offer Elizabeth his suit in person, whether Henry wants it or not."

"I know what you're thinking, and I can guarantee it's a bad idea," Ashien warned, his brows stitching in concern.

"I'm not gonna be a punk and intimidate him. I'm a grown man, for God's sake."

"But I know what you will do. You're taking a page right out of my family's book, I know the look on your face."

 

[heartofcourage]

"John, I'm begging you to stop being a stubborn fool and simply go talk to Henry." Dylan murmured, looking at her dear friend with true concern. "If you won't, I will. Don't think that I won't do it either."