The dark forest

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Layla gave a small smile as he kissed her forehead and closed her eyes, keeping hold of his hand like a lifeline as she let herself relax and finally fall asleep. As she did so, her face seemed to lose something, like a weight lifted from her that softened her face and showed him how beautiful she could be when she wasn't fighting the direction her life had taken.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

((don't worry I will post with Borias soon. I'm just working on more story with Ravor and Zuko))  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

As he watched her sleep he couldn't understand why life had dealt her such a hand. The beautiful elf did not deserve what had been done to her by her ex husband.

In fact, no one deserved that kind of treatment.

He would choke the life out of that Zuko if it was the last thing he would do. Oh yes, Layla would have first dibs, but Borias would be the one to kill the a**. Vengence for what he had done to Layla and payback for torturing him nearly to death.

"......."

Borias crossed his arms and closed his eyes going to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Borias was up early before Layla had even stirred. He yawned and carefully and quietly let himself out of her room. He went outside and found that the chief was already up and washing. The elder male waved him over to share the water in the huge bowl to wash up with.

Borias trotted over and thanked him.

".....Thank you....."  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

He waved away the thanks, "No thanks necessary, Borias, but you're welcome anyway. My daughter is preparing a meal for us as well. Your tasks today will be seeing to it that Layla doesn't do too much. I about got my ears chewed off this morning when the stallion in charge of the scouts saw all the arrows in the targets. He knew who had done it, of course, but blamed me for not keeping her in bed until she finished healing," he said with a shrug, his voice carrying a hint of pride at the elf's prowess with her bow.

He was right to be proud of his adopted daughter's skill, she was the best archer in the forest, possibly the entire realm. So skilled that it had taken a god to save Zuko from her last encounter with him.

He went quiet then, concentrating on cleaning himself up before the morning meal, "She's had a hard road, I know, and it's made her stronger but reluctant to let anyone else in... She dreads the next death at Zuko's hands, blames herself for each one... She won't ask for help, Borias... So you'll have to give it to her anyway no matter how much she protests it..." he advised softly then went quiet again, not wanting to overstep.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Borias splashed water on his face and enjoyed the crisp coolness it had. As he cleaned up properly, he wiped the water from his face and used some of the excess to smooth his hair back.

"I know how closed off she can be...."

He smiled some.

"She was quite loud about how I shouldn't patronize her when we were spending time back on the island. Trying to help her do things....or offer any sort of assistance got me a tongue lashing that my neighbors sometimes heard."

He rubbed the last bit of water off his face away.
"I know she takes blame for Zuko's machinations, but she can't keep carrying his sins on her shoulders...but everytime I try to explain how it isn't her fault I get something thrown at me."

Borias looked at her father.

"But no matter what, I will be there giving her my continued support and help."  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

The older centaur nodded to him simply then grinned, "At least she yells and throws things at you. She just goes silent with me then does what she pleases. You get a real reaction. Enjoy the fire in her and keep it going. Trust me on that one. My last wife was like that and she wound up giving me ten foals..." he told him with a wink then headed over to enjoy the meal his daughter had prepared for them.

The younger female set a small tray beside Borias, "After you eat, maybe you can try to get Layla to eat something. Whenever I bring her food, she just glares at it and ignores it," she said with a soft sigh and moved back into the house.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Borias said nothing about the foal comment as that was just crazy. He knew Layla couldn't give him children and he was fine with that. Even though he couldn't have foals with her, he was fine with just loving her and that was all he really needed.

Borias looked at the delicious food.
"She won't eat this delectable smelling feast? Perhaps she needs incentive....."

He thought some as he got an idea.

"Thank you for the food. I will be sure she gets to eat."

Borias took the small tray and went to Layla's room and knocked before he entered.

"You awake?"  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Layla pushed herself up in the bed as Borias entered, rubbing at her eyes and proving that she'd just woken up at his knock. When she saw the food tray, though, she proved Zeena's words as she glared at it, "I'm awake, yes..." she said simply.

She found herself a bit confused, though. She could have sworn she'd gone to sleep holding his hand but she'd woken up without him here, making her wonder if she'd just dreamed about last night.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

"Why do you make such a face? It is good to eat just a little bit of something."
He went and sat by her and took her hand in his.
"Besides....you can get the strength you will need from food as I plan to take you out for a bit. I know we cannot go far, but an outing is still an outing. How about it?"  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Layla gave him a considering look before saying anything. Of course, she didn't know that she looked nearly edible herself when she first woke up: with her hair rumpled, her eyes still carrying that bit of sleepiness in them still with their pure golden color a darker shade, the blanket barely covering her as she sat up. So her glare and considering look were totally out of place with the way she looked when she woke up like this.

"That's bribery..." she said softly, her voice still carrying that slightly husky quality to it that proved that she'd slept much more fully with him nearby than she had without him, "But I'll take the bribe..." she added as he put the tray on her lap and revealed the basic barley soup her sister was known for as well as freshly-baked yeast rolls. Okay, that was tempting to her. She loved her sister's barley soup...

She ate it all, discovering somewhere along the way that she was actually starving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been hungry. She'd been pushing things like that back, concentrating on the things she had to do...  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Borias loved how she looked when she first woke up. All rumpled and sleepy looking....as if she had a night of romping. He felt the urge to touch her intimately, but kept his hands to himself as she begrudgingly set about eating her meal.

"Bribery yes, but a good bribery."

He watched as she ate with more zeal as the woman discovered she had been starving.

As she licked her lips, he could well imagine those lips pressed against his flesh . He inwardly shivered and let his mind drift, ignoring how he felt his loins tingling.  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Layla finished the meal and let him set the tray on the floor beside the bed, getting herself to the edge of the bed on her own while he was busy and reached for her clothes to get dressed. She did so without bothering to hide from him and finally slid on the brace for her other leg, hating the cast on the other one but knowing that the leg would, at least, heal. Unlike the one that required the leather brace.

She ran her fingers through her hair in an effort to tame it, largely unsuccessfully, and finally stood looking at him, "Alright then. I've eaten, now for your part of the deal," she told him simply, part of her wondering what he had planned.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Borias smiled as she had eaten everything and now was ready to go out for a bit.
"I am a man of my word and I will uphold my end of the deal. Follow me outside. You can mount me out there more easily."

Borias went outside and lowered his front end by curling his front forelegs under him.

"Climb up. Before we leave we will stop by and pick up your bow and arrows."  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Layla limped out behind him and slid herself onto his back, her hands going to his waist. She'd 'ridden' like this before and knew he'd be able to keep her steady even at a dead run.

As he moved over to the archery area, another older centaur simply trotted over to give her bow to her and a quiver of arrows that would sit at her waist. She thanked him and secured her bow at her back in the special 'sling' attached to the back of her top, making it look as if she had very strange wings, then attached the quiver at her waist.

With that, she was ready. Until Zeena came galloping up with a small set of 'saddlebags' that would sit over his withers in front of Layla that had some special pies in it that she'd made for trips like they were about to make.

She thanked Zeena for the food then waved briefly before putting her hands at Borias' waist for the ride.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Once she was situated, Borias took off on a trot, but once they were out of the village, Borias went into a full gallop before he went into a run.

He felt like running just to run and he figured, it had been some time since Layla had a good ride. He stayed within the territory where help could come quickly in case they needed it, but kept Layla alert as he would jump over fallen trees and would dodge as if imaginary arrows were flying at them.

As they ran he ran by a tree and smacked a lever there and a bunch of targets dropped down.

"I know its been some time since you last did training like this, but its time to refresh! Do your best and shoot as if your shooting that b*****d!"

Borias picked up the pace as he ran.