Exuberance. Desire. Love. These are all words that describe the quality of his presence with you, in your bed and in your arms. Even in the language of the Angels, one of the more florid tongues capable of great expression and infused with deep contemplation, falls short of expressing the love he has for you, the pleasure he gives and he takes with you, and what this moment, however brief, has meant to him.
     It is a rare thing to make Galadriel, the Sentinel of Aspirations, speechless...
     With the waning of Time, the drawing near of the end of this moment, his kisses still come. Soft now, gentle now, and with the touch of a tremble of delight yet echoing through him. He is in your arms, protected, secure, adored. Safe. Desired.
     Galadriel opens his galactic eyes, staring at you between lashes, holding this moment in the cups of his gaze until it overfills. He will be able to sip at such thoughts later, and it will sustain him.
     His mouth brushes yours as his hands slowly lighten their grasp. But his thighs, strong as they are beautiful, still surround you tightly. You are protected, secure, adored. Safe. Desired. Galadriel closes his eyes and breathes out. And from ethereal eyes drips an ethereal tear, sparkling silver stardust against his Brilliance-touched cheek.
     For your effects on him are without limit: physical, emotional, spiritual. And a corona, as if he is backed now by a constant star, shines against his skin, casting half of his ethereal beauty into a perpetual twilight.

     Outside, the rain continues. A storm over this part of the island, falling almost inconsequentially upon the ocean. Another billion droplets for infinity. Only when lightning claps nearby does Soldekai lift his head from your ear, your throat, to turn his face to his window to the world. Only then does his body cease its gentle undulations, like his dear waves, falling away at low tide. It was so close, he should wonder if that is not the mistaken hand of one Lightning's servants, nosing outside. He grins, gaze skimming your profile to see what's going on out there. But your nose is in the way. Soldekai does not lift himself too much higher. It is not so important. Instead, he turns his face downward again, to bury within the dark locks and to forget the noise outside.
     Golden wings rest open across the pair of you, keeping coolness at bay. He's been like this the last minutes. One hand still reaches behind himself, to hold your leg's weight. The other, beneath the pillow that holds your head. Certainly there is no risk of the legs embracing him falling away soon. It is just...where else shall he focus the energy that strums through him but at the thigh that drives him forward, ever forward.
     "We shouldn't have come here," Soldekai whispers, a droplet from his face joining your tear. But no such crying he does. He does not have tears as you do. Instead, there is the dew that laces his feathers, that covers his skin. It is what the soldier brings to this - the very energy that compels him. For you, that energy is spent in constant motion and delight, never letting you tire or rest. Not one moment is lost. It is filled with a kiss, a roll, the twining of legs and arms, a lift and sigh upon eyes closing in unbelievable delectation. Reclining becomes floating, then turns to tangling. The Archangel of Brilliance wants you to remember him, Galadriel, when he is gone.
     "We shouldn't have come," Soldekai whispers honestly, his breath warming your hair. We shall miss it too much. The thought is never finished, and Soldekai sighs where the words should have been. It is a gentle lament for the ache he knows he shall feel. I should not have come...

     He will never forget it. When there are moments when his missing you is too dear, he will think of this, think of you here, how you tangled, how wings clasp even now as a second set of myriad-fingered hands, both guiding and delighting. If this is to be the final moment, for either of you, for both of you, it would not have wanted any other expression.
     "It is not for that," the parted lips breathe forth at your own, even as they clasp and tug, savor and delight. Galactic eyes open again, stardust and comets lingering on his lashes as he looks to you. His thigh tightens its clasp around you, pulling you to him again, the fulcrum never ceasing. No, you should not forget him either. The Sentinel of Aspirations wishes you to remember him, too, while you are parted.
     "I love you with all that I Am," his voice is a quiet song between you, his wings pulsing in the energy you give him and in his own pleasure, "... I do not wish to be anywhere but here. No matter how much I shall miss you, more than that... more than that... I am so happy, my love, that I am here with you... now... please...do not wish it away..."
     "I have needed you... with me... " So much, he cannot say. The tear best expresses the depth of that desire. Galadriel gives his mouth to you, the full delight that comes from tasting tantalizing secrets. His wings cascade their pinioned light against you, the light ... in actuality... the Brilliance gained from your love, cast upon his myriad feathers. They move over you, each one, swirling and flapping. Such a lover's encouragement.
     Galadriel's arms surround your shoulders, one hand lifting to lie at the nape of your neck, to hold you to him as surely as you hold him to you.

     You're right, Soldekai thinks. His touched nape causes his head to bend lower, to cause him to yield further to the moment. "I would never wish this away," he gives in, knowing it is true. He's penitent in the thought. Soldekai cannot show you what is written in his Essence, scrawled by the Almighty. It is written for only Him to know, but for Soldekai to Be. With vows of not letting evil pass him by, a vow of perfect luminescence, is a vow of devotion, made to an angel of dreams...
     I shall be with you Forever.
     It only took his uttering it once. A promise made another night, when you shared a bed. And now? It is as inviolable as the other laws written through him.
     Soldekai's dark hair mixes with yours. Green eyes look over to you, to see whether you still cry. He smiles a little, and makes no rush to change the instant.

     There are no creatures in heaven or on earth who dedicate themselves so fiercely as cherubim and malakim. One has such devotion scrawled into his very Being. The other has it within his heart, underlying all purpose, showing in every facet with unquestioned loyalty. None perhaps love as intensely as cherubim or malakim. Or, at least, not this cherub or this malakim.
     The chimes are missing, the little anklets he has worn, treasures from his adventures in Arabia and India, in his times with you, your sensual cherub. Though he wears no adornments now. Only you. And what better adornment than Brilliance?
     Galadriel turns this face to you, the trail of his tears showing as two comet streaks suspended in the midair of his cheeks. But no others fall, like falling stars or meteorites from his eyes. His cherub smile curves, lips parting for a singing sigh of your name in the lifting and rolling of his form in your hold.
     "I had my own dream," your cherub sings. "My own wish. I answered yours once, and you have answered mine..." Yes, he has his own dreams. He does not get to tend them but there are angels who perhaps now tend the dreams of other angels. Or perhaps that is Blandine's favorite pastime.

     That brings a quirk of Soldekai's head upwards. He grins and shakes his head slightly. "And will you tell me your wish?" he asks softly. He can imagine, even if you do not.

     Galadriel smiles, his smile turning to laughter as his hands slide along your outspread wings, sliding between golden feathers. Lifting, both thighs wrap around your waist, toes tickling outer pinions. His dusky, midnight blue complexion is dyed with lotus essence around his feet with the designs scene in Chennai or Morocco. Decorated, they slide against you.
     "You are it, incarnate," Galadriel says against your mouth. "Us... here... in our home of homes," even as heaven and the marches are not and can never be. "In your bed... a dream of dreams," he delights in that, his eyes closing. "Wish of wishes..."

     Soldekai's grin causes lines at his eyes. It widens as you laugh. "You wished to be in a dark cave on a hard bed of stone while it rained?" He smirks, lifting his head once your hand has left the nape of his neck. "With nothing but a footsoldier?" Come now. You must have had better aspirations too, his look circumspect.

     "No other but this. As I lay on the carpets, I thought I should rather be in Iceland, in my lover's bed and in his arms. To cup Brilliance," the look goes ribald, eyes sparkling silver stardust as his hands reach back, grabbing you, and ...yes... cupping you... as he speaks it. "... in the palm of my hands, even if just for a little while..."
     Galadriel cannot help the laugh that follows, though, and he rolls his hips, his mouth parting at your chin. "You may be a footsoldier, my archangel, but you are an exceptional soldier. I am happy to be your prize, your reward in the pause of battle..." Yes, that does please him...
     Immensely...

     He blushes in the way farmboys can. A grin that he should hide behind. Soldekai tries to stop the smirking, but finds that he cannot. "A prize..." he thinks, trying to regain himself. "I never think of you as a prize," he thinks to correct. Something so selfish, it seems. "We deserve to be together, yes?" Soldekai wonders, still becoming used to the notion.

     "If we did not, my love, we would not Be," Galadriel murmurs in reply. "That is God's answer. We love, so here we are." He smiles again, kissing again, his wings spreading against your own and against your back. "And if it is good enough for God," he chuckles. "We should not wonder..."
     Ah, that logic of his...
     "I will never forget this rainy night in the dark cave, my Soldekai," Galadriel speaks against your smile. "I will be smiling when I return to the Tower. And no one will have to wonder why..."

     "You can tell them why," Soldekai says with pride. "For I will do the same," he whispers in your ear, bending his head low once more. "I'll leave no reason to wonder. I am well-loved...in every way they can imagine." With that, he kisses your ear.
     Then, he sighs. "We have to go," Soldekai admits with a very heavy heart. His wingspan opens for a stretch, then relaxes again as a blanket. He'll not rush to lift. Fingers slowly release your skin and he slides away in a golden hue.

     I remember when it was such a secret. We could not speak it...
     But now...
     Galadriel closes his eyes, his arms, his legs, his wings clasping. "I will tell them," he chuckles softly. "I will sing about it, even. My love's pleasure is so ... amazing, he deserves songs of praise for how I feel..."
     You slide away and the reality of the moment begins to fold around you. As you slide away in a golden hue, Galadriel stretches, rolling over onto his stomach briefly. But then he sits up on his knees. "Before we go," he murmurs, "...there is something I want to give you. Something... I wish you to have..."
     His hands go to his neck, lifting a stardust chain. It holds a chime, the sound of his own note within the Symphony, and it bears his sigil etched upon its surface. "You are my dream," Galadriel whispers. "I want you to wear this replica of my heart around your neck. Where you go, Soldekai, I shall always be..."

     Ah, but he was stretching. On his knees in the middle of the bed, Soldekai's arms lifted to the sky and he allowed his head to drop back. Wings expanded in the cave - that explains the shape and size - until you spoke. Then, they retracted, folding back into a tousled semblance of still.
     "What is that..." Soldekai wonders, grinning. He bends his head to allow you to put on the necklace. "Dust?" he wonders aloud. Such a delicate thing.

     Galadriel smiles as he rests the pendant heart replica around your head. "Of a type," he murmurs. "It is stronger than metal. It is the stuff of dreams itself, as could only hold my heart. Until hands of fire first touched it." If you hold the sphere in your hand, it shall chime with the motion. In your Brilliance, his sigil gleams.
     "It holds it more secure than any chain. Do not worry, you will never lose it. Just as you will never lose me." That is his own vow, confirmed with a kiss. "I know we must go," he says. "I wish you the best on the field. My every thought is with you. I have been making Ishrael bring me updates," he grins. "I will ask about you... more than frequently."

     Soldekai touches the pendant in his hand for a moment, staring at it. He grins at you, nodding, "Ishrael is an amazing leader. He shall keep us honest until we have time again. I hope for that to be sooner than this last time, Sentinel."
     Ah. The title of business. Soldekai looks around the space, already regretting the departure. "I shall take you back to your Tower, then..." He shall go under cover of the Tower's influence within the Marches.
     Soldekai reluctantly draws himself from the mussed bedding. He stands nude, still, but it shall not matter in a moment, when you both become Ethereal. He extends his hand to you, and then his other. He shall carry you back as he brought you here.

     He regrets it, too. But he will not cry now. He will not shed tears to make you worry for him while you are on the field of battle. Galadriel takes your hands in his, then comes into your hold, his wings stretching and then folding in illumination against his back. He worries not for nakedness, and for a last moment he enjoys your own.
     "I hope so, too. I will miss you. Please be as safe as battle allows," his mouth twists a smile at that. "Too bad there are no tanks on the far marches, perhaps I could help then..."

     Soldekai grins and scoops you up. "We shall save tanks for another day," he whispers, kissing you again. Another exhale, and beneath Soldekai's feet, his sigil gleams brightly for an instant then dims, revealing a chamber with floating carpets once more.
     Whenever did the Marches become the mundane world...

Posted by rowan at May 31, 2005 02:01 PM