Seeking rescue

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I dashed, with somewhat of a sneaking edge, out the front door of Orchis. I skidded to a halt at the edge of the front walk and looked around, searching for someone. Anyone not an adept.

Ah, there. A beacon of a girl with hair that must draw butterflies away from the flowers.

Grinning, I rushed up and slipped my arm through hers.

"Good day," I said. "I am throwing myself on your obvious good nature and kind heart. They are rounding us up to help scrub down the kitchen and it is far too lovely a day to spend covered in stove grease. If they see me obviously occupied with a lovely lady such as yourself my skin with be spared the blisters and chaffing sure to ensue."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

It was a good thing that nothing suprised me anymore- having sisters who were as rambunctious as myself and as prone to trickery ensured that. Still, I laughed and my eyes flashed with mirth. "You happen to have run across a lady who has a habit of rescuing, so I guess this can only improve my good karma. My name is Jess- what's yours?"

He was funny and made me grin and laugh- there were worse things that I could be doing. Besides, as an Orchis he may actually appreciate my history of practical joking.

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Keegan nớ Orchis," I said, bowing dramatically. "I am in your debt my sweet Jess. I do not have a history of shirking chores, but there is just something overly burdensome of cleaning a chimney flue."

I took her arm again.

"How shall I repay you for saving me? A meal? A tour? Conversation? I am told I have a pleasing singing voice, I could serenade you through the afternoon."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

Laughing again at his antics- how could someone actually manage to have more energy than I did?- I said, "I see the things I have learned about Orchis are true; I thought I had an exuberance to me. Conversation sounds nice, unless you have another idea, like joining the Tsingani circus."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"I have no skill at tumbling, and the one time I tried to juggle I ended up with a lump the size of an egg on my forehead. It was not attractive. I looked like some sort of mutant frog," I told her. "We can stick with the conversation."

I steered us to a bench planter around a large tree outside Orchis. I dusted off a spot for her and then sat next to her.

"So, my new not as exuberant as me friend, what has brought you to the Night Court today? Is there some lucky adept in one of the Houses trying to recover from time spent in your arms? Or am I being far too forward and you were just out walking?"

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"Not today," I said bythely, grinning and showing dimples as well as making my eyes flash in merriment. "Just out walking, thinking about visiting some friends, but the person I really want to gossip with isn't home at the moment. She's on an extended vacation with a patron and I have a feeling they're the ones having to recover." There was no jealousy in my tone- Caraf was like a sister to me and I usually forgot it was strange for a noble to be only friends with an adept.

"I've always been a moderately good tumbler- climbing trees and running through the countryside with my sisters, swimming and roughhousing and playing. I'm less like a noble and more like a wild foundling."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"A noble? Ah, here I am carrying on like a street urchin and asking after your bed partners while in the presence of a lady. Perhaps I was blinded by your charming smile or shining good nature, either way, forgive me my rudeness. I really do usually have some sort of manners, the good sort usually, though I must have left them in my other pants," I said, making as if I was searching my pockets. "I need to tie a bell on them so I won't keep forgetting them."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"I don't think of myself as a noble, I shouldn't have let that slip, and I don't think you're rude," I said quickly, smiling in sympathy. "Like I said, I don't act like a noble, which I find a little bit good because that means I can at least take care of myself and not sit around waiting to be waited on. But since I slipped, my full name is Jessamine de Mornay, but if you call me by anything other then Jess or Jessa I will drop you back off at Orchis and ask them to give you the dirtiest jobs they have." The last part was said in mirth and teasing- I didn't think I'd be able to take him back early if he was annoying and very rude. After the fete, I would think I was becoming slightly more immune to handsome faces..

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I fell to my knees in front of her, clutching dramatically at her skirts.

"Oh please Jess, anything but that. I can tell by the light in your eyes and sweet curve of your smile you don't have such malice in your heart. I promise to call you only what you tell me to," I looked up at her, with wide, trying for innocent, eyes.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"Flatterer," I said with a wide grin and a rolling laugh. "I'm not a Mandrake or a Kusheline, so get back up here, silly." Placing my hands on his arms I urged him up and back onto the bench- his skin was warm and made my hands tingle slightly. "Besides," I added with mock haughtiness and flashing eyes, "You'll wrinkle my skirts and give me a crink in my neck from looking down."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Yes, my la… Jess," I said with a grin and wink.

"So, what shall we converse about? The sky? The flowers? The price of tea? Your truly enchanting smile? The best way to remove neck crinks?" I asked.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"Well, I was always taught that conversation should be about mutual interests, but as I don't know what yours are, why don't you start with telling me you like to do?" I said, head cocked sideways with curiousity. Remembering his comment about my smile, I grinned and said, "And you're still a flatterer; maybe you can teach me how to do that, for I have no talent for it. To be honest, I'm a little unused to being tactful as well."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"I think I have proven in this short time I am the wrong person to look to for lessons in tact," I said with a laugh.

I leaned back, resting against the trunk of the tree.

"Hmm, my interests.. I like history, that's always a good topic, everyone has experienced it," I remarked, looking over at her.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

Smiling, I said, "I like history as well; it's something that my family has a great deal of success with. Still, I must confess to the shameful habit of skipping some of the more boring parts of those books, unless I need the research for one of my stories, of course. Lately I've been mostly researching foreign lands for when I visit Eire in the spring."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"History has always been my favorite subject. History of anything and anywhere, I can never get enough."

I reached over and gently pushed a lock of hair back over her shoulder, the wind had blown it where I couldn't see her face anymore.

"Eire in the spring, eh? For a visit or a permanent move?" I asked her.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"Visiting," I said, twisting my hair into a coil over one shoulder so it wouldn't blow everywhere and distract from the conversation, though I would have liked it to have him keep touching my locks. "I have cousins there that I've never met and my Granny always told me such wonderful stories of the place that I have wanted to go since I was a little girl. Something about the history of the place calls to my Eiran blood- the battles and songs and passionate nature of the people. I guess that's why my writings have so much of that in them."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"My father was from Alba, I am told that's where my… um… more exuberant side comes from," I said with a laugh.

"Do you let anyone else read your stories or are they for personal consumption alone?" I asked as I reached over and uncoiled her hair. "It looks better like this, it suits you all free and untamed."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"I let anyone who wants to read my stories and, so I wasn't running back and forth delivering the manuscript to people and then moving on to the next I'm having them published- only to save on walking though," I said in jest, my eyes smiling. "My first one is currently being sold and I think they'll ask me for a second edition soon, and my second is with a friend who's reading it for me to make sure it isn't completely awful. After that it goes to the publisher, then it will be available to the public. I'll have to bring you by a copy."

I let him play with my hair, running my fingers through it to discourage tangles and accidentally brushing his hand on occassion, though it didn't bother me. "Have you ever wanted to visit Alba?"

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"No," I said, removing my hand from her hair and taking her hand instead. I turned it over, examining the evidence of her writing career. "I have never wanted to be anywhere but at Orchis. I was raised here and will never live anywhere else."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"I guess, along with the need to rescue, my Eisandine blood gave me the wanderlust of a Mendecant," I said with a smile. "I love Terre d'Ange, but there must be other places in the world with wonders just as great- besides, being away from home can only make one appreciate it more. My great-aunt shared your outlook on travel, but I guess my Granny's Eiran blood gives me a different nature. I think most people are suprised to find that, just because I also write, I'm not more like her."

Noticing him looking at the ink stains on my hands I grinned. "I told you I finished my second book very recently. It takes ink stains forever to come out of my skin, I think it's the book's way of reminding me to write more often."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

Not letting go of her hand, I turned so that I was facing her, this way I could look without ripping her arm out of the socket.

I took both her hands, holding them next to each other and leaning over them.

"I like the stains," I said, looking up at her and smiling. "They are a bit like my marque, they show you for who you are."

I leaned in and lightly kissed her fingertips.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

I returned his smile, my eyes going half-lidded as he kissed my fingertips, returning to completely open just as he looked back up at me. "You can tell a lot about a person by their hands," I said as I took one of his, "And I don't mean by reading the lines like a Tsingani or Gentian. Adepts's hands have certain traits, even those that scrub a stove on occasion," I said with a wink.

"Adept's hands are softer and have callouses in different places." Turning the hand over I traced the line of fingernails. "Their nails are trimmed just so. Also, their hands are strong in a different way and much more sensitive," I added as I brushed a fingertip barely over the tips of his fingers below the cut line of the nails.

"So, how much of your marque is done? I'm betting all of it," I said with a wide grin. "The Eiran's do small marques of their own, but they mean something much different than the D'Angeline ones."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I smiled, though softer than before, enjoying her touch and the flow of her voice as she talked.

"You are right, I finished my marque a little more than a year ago," I said. I met her eyes, my smile becoming a wicked grin.

"Would you like to see?" I wondered if she would blush or jump at the unspoken dare.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

My eyes blazed at the challenge, but I smiled sweetly, showing dimples. "That would depend," I said brightly, "On whether or not you wanted to show it to me." Cocking an eyebrow I looked into his eyes, trying to discern what lay underneath the obvious. Most people had secret needs and I seemed to be good at guessing them; I wondered if that would work on him.

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"It's a source of pride, so I show it off as often as possible," I told her, grinning. "I wouldn't want to offend your noble sensibilities though."

I turned so my back was to her, lifting up the hem of my shirt.

"I could just show you a little, let you decide on seeing it all…" I said, looking over my shoulder.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

Most people were pinned by my gaze, but he wasn't- maybe he had no overwhelming need. How strange. Still, I didn't let my thoughts dwell on it. Laughing at the idea of delicate sensibilities, I said, "Show as much as you dare, I have no shame- I am the eldest of five sisters, and my closest sister in age, Joie, is an herbalist and studying to be a chirurgeon."

Catching his eye I helped him lift up the hem slightly until skin and ink was just visible and ran my hand across it. "Did it hurt? Everyone has a different answer."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

A pleasurable shiver ran through me at the touch of her hand.

"Yes," I said, pulling my shirt all the way off. "It hurt quite a lot, but I didn't mind, I knew it would have an end."

[Jessamine de Mornay]

Looking over the marque I noticed his flesh shudder slightly and, smiling teasingly, decided to see how far I could press him. After all, it was only in fun. Lightly I traced my fingers over the lines. "It's lovely, but I have to agree the technique sounds painful. Luckily, those given to the Dalriada are much smaller. I don't think I could sit though being inked so much unless I was drugged into unconsciousness."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I wondered if the flesh that held the ink would ever become less sensitive. I knew that there were some adepts who said they had less feeling where their marques were, but not me. Chill bumps rose on my arms as she moved her hands over my marque.

"Luckily it wasn't done all at once, it took me three years to finish it. There are some adepts who need the help of relaxants to get them through it though," I told her.

I looked back over my shoulder and caught her eyes.

"And just where are you planning on having your marque put?" I asked her, grinning.

[Jessamine de Mornay]

"Well, as I'll be taking over the barony one day, I can't get it in the usual places like my arm or the back of the neck, or even my shoulder blades- it has to be somewhere more discreet. I was thinking of my hip," I said, smiling and placing a quick kiss at the top of his back. "Put your shirt back on silly, it's cold out here. I'd hate for you to get ill out here and be unable to scrub the next time your house has a cleaning party."