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C14 - July /

{Straight on til…} (The King And The Queen, Once More)

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There's a fine line between 'good enough!' and 'what the fuck were you thinking?'.

Many moons have blessed the sky. Many miles have passed beneath these wheels. And still, even more miles lay before us.

But our destination, this day, was just a few yards away.

-

A Rogue Ranger and a Brownvest Priestess sit atop a Warforged-horse, making their way through Cataclysm Forest. Smooth stones and uneven earth, pass beneath their feet in a blur. This horse is at a pace. Lush trees and gently sloping hills fill their periphery, in muted tones of greens and browns and yellows. But the closing horizon reveals, something, much different, lies ahead.

A towering wall of jagged earth and stone, rises ominously over the vibrant green wood. A plume of light grey beckons beyond the treeline. They force their eyes to stay focused on the curving road ahead and the shadowed blinds on either side. They know the pull of this place. They've felt it's draw, it's promise. And they know the fate of all that have chanced their way to it.

They feel an anxious twist just under their breast.

They've been long gone, and their family is waiting.

-

We rode out through the trees into a clearing alongside a stream. The first thing we saw was a multicolored mist at the cascades feet, then the tendrils of vapor rising up from the creek. A solid mass of earth thirty feet tall, and hundreds of feet wide, pushed up to the sky by a force more powerful than our own. A billow of smoke from a bonfire. A caravan of steel, tents of leather and cloth, and horses of the same metal as the loyal steed that carried us aloft.

"I love this, My King."

"So do I, My Queen. So do I."

-

The Priestess hugged the Ranger to her breast, honed her focus, and smiled at the vision before them. She brushed her head alongside his chiseled cheek. He could feel the warmth of her skin against his and the way their energies traveled between. He couldn't remember a moment of time that she wasn't there.

-

I felt her arms around me.

In a cross over my chest.

Her chin, on my right shoulder.

Funny, the things you remember.

Like how, even with a helmet on, she is soft and warm and here.

It was as if we were together for the first time, and all times. Just different rooms within ourselves, among the pictures on the walls.

-

There's a flash of white, among the black waving strands. A reminder of the years and the journeys they've have shared. It makes the Ranger smile, when it enchants into his view. He's watched it dance, while she's donned her armor. He's seen it sway, when she lustfully saunters towards him. He's seen it wave, when she turns around, to catch his eye.

The Priestess still blushes when she catches him beaming.

It's a flirtation that thaws the ache of an age and tempers the flow of the blood in his veins.

-

Her hair has gotten lighter. In a strip, along one side. It only enhances her mystique, framing the whispers of her eyes. A complement, to her brown, leather vest, faded chaps, and the backpack, that carries her world. She is weathered and warm, much like the man she holds on to.

How could he not be, with that light beside him.

The sunrise is alighting on the falls. Creating rainbows, in a dazzling display.

Clouds are resting, along the rolling hills. With a wide open sky, in a band above. Then more clouds in an inverse gradient. It looked like snow, peaked every crest along the horizon. Then mirrored itself back, as if the heavens were a calm, clear sea.

Nature, in all her waking glory. With a very unique twist, to how it usually displays.

She ponders in my ear.

"I wonder if God and Goddess are amused or insulted, when someone looks at a beautiful landscape and says, 'That looks just like a Bob Ross painting'."

The trees looked happy.

It hasn't always been easy, but it isn't meant to be.

And even if we're miles away, or many months apart, I know she's here. And I know she found me.

We rode out to the edge and stopped. Breathed deep and took it all in.

"Em… Have I ever told you, how much I love you."

"From the moment you held out your hand and offered me a key. And you remind me, everywhere we go."

She rubbed her chin into my shoulder.

"Joe."

"Em."

"Once more?"

"Together."

"Always."

-

That's the dream isn't it?

"Mmmhmmm."