Dreams and Nightmares

[Adara Snow]

Adara made no pretense of calm as she swept through the doors of the Jewellery Shop. "Emilian," she called, her normally soft voice audibly tense. Her hands clutched at her skirt, wrinkling the fine linen without mercy. She had come here directly from Diagon Alley, giving herself no time to think or plan. In truth, she was not certain she could think right now.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian came out from the stairway to see a very tense, disheveled Adara standing in the shop. He set down the small stack of papers he had went up to retrieve and went straight to her, reaching out and pulling her hands from her skirt. "Adara, what's wrong?" he asked, searching her face before staring into her eyes. He reached up and brushed her hair from her face, his own full of concern.

[Adara Snow]

Adara slipped her hands free only to frame Emilian's face, to draw him close enough for a kiss filled with all the desperation and longing she'd been holding in. She pressed her body to his, needing the solid feel of him as she worked out just enough tension so that she might be able to speak. Her mind would not slow, even through the kiss, and though she wanted it, though she wanted to forget with Emilian, she knew that she could not, not until she had told him.

She broke the kiss, but did not look up at Emilian as she forced herself to speak. "My father is in Diagon Alley," she said, that on its own enough to send her into near panic. But it only got worse. "He wants to arrange for me to marry an associate of his, and I asked him to speak with you. I am sorry, Emilian, I could not tell him, he does not know, but he will, he always knows!"

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian's arms had automatically went around Adara's waist, but they fell away in confusion as he looked down at her. It took a few long seconds for her words to penetrate his mind, and when they did his eyes narrowed. "He what?," he said, practically a growl. He had done so much to keep Adara and now her father thought he could take her away? "I'll try my hardest," he said. He would talk to her father, attempt to keep his temper in check, "You will not marry whoever the hell your father has picked out."

[Adara Snow]

Adara's lip found its way between her teeth, and she wrapped her arms around herself at the loss of Emilian's touch. She shook her head adamantly, refusing to allow herself to look up at him. "I will not," she said. "But he will force it, Emilian, he will try, and I cannot stop him once he begins!" It was what she was most terrified of; finally having the strength to fight and only finding her punishment worse as a result. She would not think of what that punishment might be. The present was terrifying enough.

[Emilian Sota]

"Yes you can, you can fight against it," Emilian said, thinking hard as he tried to fight back the blind anger running through him. He was silently planning out what he would do when he met her father, he would dress his best and try to hold onto his temper, he would have to. "You don't have to go with what he says." Though he knew how those high society people could be, he knew it could be a hard battle.

[Adara Snow]

Adara's arms tightened around herself, and she shifted, turning half away from Emilian. "You do not know my father," she said softly, closing her eyes, trying to distance herself. "If he chose to sign a contract in my name, it would be legally binding because none with the power to dispute his claims would do so. Why would they? He has money enough and connections enough..." Enough to destroy, even from London, even from Germany. If he signed a marriage contract in her name, the German authorities would sign it off as legally binding without question.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian wanted to hold her and whisper that everything would be alright, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not when he was so tense with anger. "I'll fight for you," he promised, "I'll talk to him, and if it doesn't work, then we'll figure something out." He started chewing on his lip and ran a hand through his hair, he was running through people in his mind, wondering if he knew someone with enough power to do anything. But no, though his and Michael's families were high up, they didn't have the power to influence someone with apparently higher connections.

[Adara Snow]

Adara nodded, taking Emilian's words and clinging to them. If he would fight for her, then she would carry her hopes and refuse to let go. She did not have the strength or courage to fight alone, but with Emilian, she would try. "We must go to Diagon Alley tomorrow," she said, before she lost herself completely. "He has purchased a shop there, and will be waiting immediately after classes end."

[Emilian Sota]

That didn't give Emilian much time to think up arguments and explanations. He had a feeling that bad memories would be brought up that he would need to try and explain away. He took a few seconds to try to calm himself down, taking deep breaths and swallowing. Then he took a step towards her, wrapping his arms around her, "I'll be ready," he murmured into her hair. Or as ready as he could be.

[Adara Snow]

Adara said nothing, made no sound, but laid her head lightly against Emilian's chest. She did not move her arms, wrapped around herself between them, hardly aware of the awkwardness. She was trying to forget, working to retreat, and letting her mind slip away. Her body began to relax as she did so, a slight ease of her muscles as all thoughts of her father, of Ingwaz Warin and the danger she courted by refusing him, faded, leaving her in her tower, watching the wildflower-dotted hills through her window.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian felt the tension leaving her body, but he also sensed that she was leaving, as well. He breathed out hard through his nose, debating just going after her father. He forced the thought down and gently rubbed her back, resting his cheek on her head. "I won't let you go," he said, he had worked too hard to let her father take her away.

[Adara Snow]

Somewhere, Adara still heard the words, and in her tower, she could see the distant form of her Warrior heading for the black desert. She knew that he would fight for her, and though she was trapped, unable to leave and go with him, she would wait, and her candle would burn through every night until he returned. It was safer here. Adara's breathing slowed, and she relaxed in Emilian's arms, safe at last.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian didn't like Adara's silence, her unresponsiveness. He wished she would do something, though he wouldn't force her. A confession danced on the tip of his tongue, the very thing he had begged her not to say at the Masquerade, but he bit it back, still unwilling to admit it out loud. His arms tightened around her, surely she knew, the fact that he would fight for her should have told her.

[Adara Snow]

Deep in the shadows of her unconscious, Adara was sorting through the day's events, trying to piece them together so that she could cope. Being reunited with her father, the most powerful figure of her past, being threatened with an end to the dream she'd been living in, was too much. Her conscious mind refused to deal with it anymore, could not risk the overwhelming fears, and so she saw only the vivid colors of her dream world. She would wake when her fears were under control, when they were deeply buried and she would not have to think of them.