If someone had asked the Guard Captain what day it was, he would not have been able to come up with the correct answer.  Days melded together with the all the work that kept him busy about the temple.  There were new recruits to train, veterans to keep sharp, and a temple to keep in order.  The work never stopped, and Damon would not have it any other way.  Years had flown by from when he first came to Lady Rhylana in order to pledge himself to her.  The phoenix never once regretted bonding his life to her.  She was a severe sort of creature on the outside in order to keep appearances, but to those she cared for there was a soft side that melted his heart every time. 
 
A small smile came to his stubble face as he worked on restringing his bow.  His shift for guard duty had ended hours ago, and on his time off Damon liked to relax in the courtyard.  It was there that he could take refuge among the lush greenery and not be bothered.  Some of the off duty servants played in the large hot spring pool.  Blue eyes lifted every once and a while as he watched them splash one another in play.  The Oasis was a place that was full of power, but also full of life.  It was a place that he had finally been able to call home.
 
Damon laughed again as he went back to his bow.  ”You did not startle me, cat, so nice try,” he said to a dark shadow that was creeping towards him.  A low grunt growl came from the nearby fern as a large white feline stood up and padded over to lay on the grass not too far from the phoenix.  When Damon had first entered the temple, the legendary bird and cat had not gotten along in the least.  As time went by, animosity turned into small pranks, which turned into a tentative friendship.  They shared a distant friendship that normally just meant that they kept a distance while still sharing the same space.  Their loyalty was completely to the Mistress; that was their commonality.
 

The afternoon sun beat down on the Oasis, and as the shade from the tree he leaned against moved away to let him be exposed to the heat his blue eyes closed.  Damon smiled as he felt the heat on his tan skin.  He could feel it rejuvenate him and the weariness from the previous shift seemed to lift.  Head leaned back against the tree as he laid the finished bow across his lap.  One leg was propped up while the other lay straight on the comfortable grass.  ”This is perfect,” he murmured to the already sleeping feline.

The transition had been odd, and for a time It had been only Rhylana and Nikolai, her husband lost to the times. The compound had seemed empty, echoing as Rhylana struggled to conjure and create while managing this new power, fielding Nikolai’s questions and concerns regarding the whole affair. It had seemed to take Damon and Alairia some time to arrive, some time to come to her and to assist. Eventually, The Ivory Court felt like home, filled with her pride to call such a place home. Without her Phoenix, she had felt lost, raw, and unprotected as she had built her new home- thus it was much more fortified than her previous temple. No, this place would protect her, even when Damon could not, for as the times proved- no one was dependable except yourself.

That had all changed, and it had been some time that they had been together, both now and prior to the great shift. Rhylana walked now out into the expansive gardens, admiring the topiaries and budding flora. She had put months of work into this place, preferring to garden mostly by hand, working intimately with each plant to cultivate it in ways that magic just did not manage. It had assisted in her worry, her worry over the clergy, her family, Damon, she had worried for all of them until Damon had come, bringing Alairia with him. Damon had said that the force had come to him as well, revealing a portal that had seemingly led to nowhere. Upon stepping through, he and the young girl had found themselves in a city not too far from here, a city that had come to know the Lady through her power and while some revered her, others reviled.

Thus was the nature of power.

Rhylana’s hand reached out and touched a flowering plant that she had yet to know its name, it was red and black and suited her just fine, bringing stark contrast against the white wall upon which it climbed in intricate vines and petals. Rhylana had dressed well, as she always did, the dark blue silk gown etched in black lace and cut-outs about her shoulders, long bell sleeves revealing her long smooth arms. She had become thinner now, the loss of her mate apparent, though she soldiered on for her son, for those that needed her all the while maintaining her search for those of her blood and her prior life. She missed them so and worried that they had been left to have a mewling death, as Dimitre had so eloquently put it at their last meeting of the conclave. It was a thought that plagued her nightmares, for she had yet to hear whispers of  The Hunter, or any other name he so fancied.

Had she lost him too?

Walking down to the pool, watching those that had come to this place playing in the springs, she saw Damon lounging and laughed gently. “Damon, you look so somber even in rest, what has you plagued so?” The young goddess took her seat next to him, looking to her beast, smiling “MY liger and my Phoenix, finally getting on well then?” she asked petting the large beat’s head. “Where is Alairia, surely she can make your mood brighter,” She had seen them interacting for some time, and while nothing had come of it, she was certain that the young sibling of Air had a great deal of admiration for the Captain.

Damon dozed against his new favorite tree in the courtyard.  With the liger not far away, the phoenix felt a sort of comfort knowing that he did not have to be ‘on’ the whole time.  Though the duo did not always get along, they managed to cover the other one’s back.  Carefully, he readjusted himself on the soft grass with the bow over his lap.  As he relaxed, the Captain thought about the transition to follow his Mistress.  Damon was unsure of what had happened even as he looked back on it.  Rhylana had disappeared and to him the world was falling apart.  After some digging, the answers began to come to the surface.  With a leap of faith and a lot of praying, Damon crossed the path with Alairia to follow the goddess.  To him, there were no other options.
 
The phoenix sighed heavily as he listened to the servants play in the pool.  It had taken a little time to adjust to the new surroundings, but all was well now that things had fallen back into place…for the most part.  There was the issue with that Rhylana was now a widow.  It broke Damon’s heart that he could not do anything for his mistress in that regard.  There were many that seemed to have lost something in the odd transference.  He was just glad that you could stay by his Lady’s side as well as have Alairia.  A light smile came to his lips as he thought about the girl that had grown into a woman before his eyes.  She was a good soul that had needed support during difficult times.  He was glad to have her around.
 
Blue eyes opened slowly as the goddess approached.  “I am merely deep in relaxation.  The new recruits are tiring to say the least.  I was hoping to not have to break in anyone new for quite some time.”  Damon laughed as he shifted over to make room for the woman.  The pair had become much closer than when they had first met.  In this world, they were almost all that the other had.  “As for the liger….we tolerate one another.  Make the best of what we can.”  Damon closed his eyes again, though his heart felt fuller with Rhylana beside him.  They were a part of each other and that feeling was something that could not fully be described. 
 

“Alairia?  I do not know where she is right now.  I am sure that she is busy with some task in order to keep the temple in order.  She takes responsibility seriously, if you have not noticed.  Especially, if it comes from you my Lady.”  He opened one eye with a glint of humor shining in the sapphire.  “You have done well with helping her along her path.  A mother you always will be.”  Damon did his best to side track the comment of Alairia brightening his mood.  It was a true statement.  The raven haired girl always had the ability to bring out the lighter side of the phoenix.  In a way it worried him since he did not have the capability to stand against it.  With time passing and her maturing, the guard Captain felt his thinking change towards her.  “What brings you out to the courtyard?  I was sure you were taking the afternoon to be with your son.”

Rhylana trusted Damon with her life, with the life of her son and expected the same of him. Seeing him relax more with her presence nearby only seeming to allow him to relax more. The man’s blue eyes smiling for her as she shook her head. “Damon, you need to relax more often, you need to sooth your inner fire now and again lest you burn up our charges.” She laughed, half in good jest, half in seeing her most trusted take on too much and threaten to burn himself out. “tell me, if you die of exhaustion, will you come back as you are now, or as a child I must rear up?” Again, in jest, but another legitimate question that begged to be answered.

She sighed, lounging in the grass and enjoying the fresh green light upon her skin and the humidity in the air. Rhylana missed the coast, the Keep, the life she had left behind but this life held promise as well. “Nikolai is resting just now, we spent the morning reading stories from my father’s homeland. I only have a few, most rewritten from memory, but they are the beginnings of the language, and they help him. He went to bed crying again, missing his father, it is still a good deal of…change for him to address. It is hard on him yet,” that said nothing for her own pain, while the sun was up, or she was in the presence of others. Rhylana was a fortress, her feelings secured and under key until she could best address them.

Not even Damon would see her cry.

She smiled, his comments on Alairia derisive and sweet, saying more than she was sure he meant them to. “She is a sweet thing, dutiful and willing to learn. Her magic is coming on nicely though I am no master sorceress myself, it is good to see her harnessing her powers of wind. The powers seem to be limited thus far, perhaps they will grow while, in this land, she is a young thing yet.” Mages were odd, relying on the study as opposed to natural talent. Rhylana studied because she liked it, she enjoyed the written word of magic and embraced it with a passion as well as study.

“Damon, I will be well for a few days, Nikolai is doing better than I had hoped, you should take the time to yourself for a while. Alairia has ventured into town to get sweets to spoil my son with earlier this morning, take the full of the day and enjoy it. Perhaps Alairia will go swimming later.” Rhylana teased not hardly so dumb as the bird thought she was, Alairia swam nude, and everyone here had noticed the pale, lithe body as she took to the hot springs.

”Constant vigilance is what you deserve, but also my cross to bear.  I accepted my position knowing full well the necessities for it.”  Damon opened one eye with a smile on his stubble face.  The day he signed his life to her was still fresh in his mind.  Not one day did he regret pledging his eternity to her.  She was someone worth following, and having that direction to his multiple lives was what he had been craving.  ”And if they cannot handle the flame, than they can hide with another outside the Oasis.  Wimps are not who we need!  Only the best for milady!”  A joking hand thrust into the air, but the weariness was weighing in his voice.  She was right; Damon had to step back a little since now things were falling into place. 
 
Brows lifted as the question left Rhylana’s lips.  The talk of his passing, well that was one he had hoped to avoid for a long while.  Damon readjusted and closed his eyes again.  ”I will be my adult self as long as nothing hinders my rebirth.  If it goes as it must, than I will be my true self….I would reject my rebirth if I had to continuously do puberty over and over again.  Once was enough,” he laughed.  What he spoke of had happened once before if his memory served.  It had not been an ideal passing years; it had been beyond frustrating.  A slow shudder went down his spine.
 
”I am sorry, Rhylana.  Tell me if there is anything I can do…truly.” There was nothing else that he could say in regards to it.  This transfer to new lands set much on edge.  Families were torn in pieces.  Damon and Alairia were lucky to be able to follow Rhylana the way they had.  If he had not been able to cross, Damon was unsure if he would have been able to go back to his empty wanderings and random missions to fill the time.  The only thing that would have helped would have been Alairia’s presence.
 
Lips pressed tightly together as he listened to Rhylana speak of the young woman.  ”With your tutelage I am sure she will be a great presence.  We do have a lot of growth to obtain in this land, but I am sure that it will not take us long to grow even more.  A good set of roots have been set.  Alairia has set even stronger ones here than at our last home.”  The comments were made to be as generic as possible, but the tone in his voice when her name left his lips had something else in it. 
 
Muscles tensed at the mention of Alairia bathing in the springs.  Not far away the maids still swam in little to no clothing, and that did nothing for the phoenix.  True, flirting on occasion did him sport, but there was nothing more to it.  A light heat rose at the back of his neck at the thought, which eventually led to him clearing his throat.  ”She should relax from her studies.  The hot spring is a relaxing spot of the Oasis.  Well placed, my Lady.  Yes….”
 

Good gods.

Alairia was older now, healthier, while still thin she had filled into her body and now looked more like an adult than she had upon first finding the dark goddess. She had spent the morning in town purchasing sweets for the youngest member of their house, the sweetest boy she had ever met. Nikolai had proper manners, sweetness, and was ever concerned for his mother. Outside of that, he read veraciously and seemed to enjoy this pastime more than his mother did. Though he had been oddly stoic the past few days, the young guard hoped that these sweets would assist in his mood.  As she returned tot he Temple, she found Nikolai asleep and for what all the world seemed, the house at play.

Alairia couldn’t wait of rate day to play.

She descended the stairs near taking two at a time as she went to the hot springs at the centre of the court. There she saw the blessed lady and the captain of the guard, she smiling “Come on Damon, have some fun” The young woman chided as she stripped from her flaxen gown and dove head long into the deep spring as nude as the day she had been born. She had a young, hard body that was built for dancing and running, and as she swam through the water, she noticed the sacred lady of fire laughing gently before getting up to go inside.

Rhylana had much sorrow to address, and such frivolity was not her style in her coming years. Alairia had heard more than once that her lady of destruction had cried herself to sleep, as her handmaiden and lady in waiting, she knew first hand the ravages of such sleep. More often than not, she had had to wake with Nikolai to give Rhylana time to compose herself and face the world bravely. Though, no one had ever seen these tears, or any sign of true grief, she wondered why the lady was so guarded.

Such heavy thoughts seemed to plague the young woman as she swam to the edge of the pool, breasts bobbing just bellow the surface of the water. “Damon, swim with me, you seem so uptight and lost in thought. Her ladyship has returned to her chambers, let us finally relax.” It was a near beg followed by a pout of her bottom lip, large blue eyes near wattering.

Time had passed since the phoenix had met the goddess, and their relationship had certainly changed.  She teased him and it was not in a mocking fashion that it would have been at the beginning.  Now she saw deep into him and played with him for both of their amusement.  Rhylana knew him best, and Damon was grateful for that.  He had never had that sort of connection before…at least that he could remember.  Though they were not in DaeLuin any longer nothing seemed to change.

Time had changed the relationship he had with the goddess, but that was not the only relationship it seemed to change.  Alairia had come to the temple of Rhylana in the past and he helped protect her; watched her grow.  Now, within this new land she was coming into herself even more.  It was good to see her become someone that could protect herself and hopefully find a sense of identity.  Power radiated from the now mature woman.  

Too mature.

Eyes opened at the sound of the hand maiden's voice.  That voice and slightly deepened with age, and yet had that soft lilt of a woman's instead of a girl's.  Jaw flexed slightly as he watched Alairia strip herself of clothing and jump into the spring.  The other maidens of the temple laughed as she joined them.  He glared at Rhylana as she laughed with a laugh.  "You are cruel, my lady.  And not funny at all," he hissed at her retreating back.  She found much too much amusement with his anxiety.  

Fake tears and pleading came forth from the spring as Alairia attempted to get him to join.  Hands clenched a little tighter on the restrung bow across his lap.  "She is trying to be the end of me," he whispered to himself.  Damon ran his hand through his short hair a few times as he tried to think of how to handle the situation.  The phoenix was unsure how he felt about the maid, but it was not what he used to.

"Just so you know, that pout is pathetic.  It is also not the reason why I am coming over.  I need to clean off from training."  As he spoke, the Captain he stood up and leaned the bow up against his tree.  Deep down he missed his old bow that had been left behind in DaeLuin, but what he had would have to do.  As he made is way over, he took off his shirt to exposed well sculpted muscles.  He also exposed the many scars that riddled his body from multiple battle and wars.  Though he had the ability to be reborn from death, but not the ability to change the injuries.  

Damon kept his pants on, not completely comfortable as Alairia was.  "Shouldn't you be off studying somewhere instead of showing off your form to the entire temple.  You know I have my men stationed everywhere, even in the shadows."  Truthfully, he did not like the idea of anyone seeing her in the nude.  "You should be more modest, and take care of yourself."  It came off as a lecture, but it was his way of worrying.  

Slowly he slipped into the water and his eyes closed as he felt the heat seep into his muscles the further he went in.  Each muscle group moaned in delight at being allowed to rest and be pampered for once.  The Captain would not have allowed himself to settle before.  He was almost constantly manipulated by the wind sorceress.  "I am here.  Are you happy?"

Alairia knew that her Captain would overreact, it was in his nature, to be so over protective of her that she sighed as he chided her. “Damon, please, we are home and in a well protected area. What charms do I have to hide, you hardly chastise Mistress like this, and nude is a choice in her wardrobe.” She pouted once more, sighing as she swam back in the water, letting the bubbles of the spring play against her skin, shoulder length hair forming an ebony halo around her head. “Damon, you are too consumed with your work, I heard her ladyship give you the order to stand down, please, take a day of rest.” She was half pleading, the lilt in her voice stumbling as she floated, breasts peeking just above the water, arms pushing the water down along her form as she kicked gently.

“I do not think Mistress is doing well, there are times she sends me away, or spends the whole of the day in her suite. Nikolai is taking to his studies with passion, and is learning languages beautifully. “ she purred, smiling as she glowed. The sun was starting to set and the air was cooling, leaving her body to react as she swam to Damon. She gave the man a hug, a common affection between the pair of them, though hardly ever nude.

She smiled looking to him in his trousers. “Damon, come now, swimming is hardly done in ones clothes, atlas get down to your small clothes lest you be injured in these trousers.” She pulled lightly at the tie at his waist, all in playful innocence as the girl had never known the touch of a man and had never looked a ta man in such a way. That was, until this moment. She noted the scars and well developed muscles on the man. So well defined was he, so sculpted, arms defined by the frequent use of his bow. She had never seen him this way, and found that her eyes wandered too long on his well sculpted stomach.

oh god.

She looked down and smiled “Will mistress be ok?” she asked softly, not knowing the story of her mistress, nor the full detail not having been permitted to the manner as Damon had been. Damon was most trusted, and while Alairia helped the goddess dress and they spoke, this was a new dynamic, and a trust she was still building with her patron.

“You know it is a safe place because I keep it so.  There are those that visit to the temple, and they would like nothing else but to see a beautiful young woman in the springs.  I do not like the idea of the thoughts that could be running through their minds, and possible actions they may take.”  Damon stood ridged, not wanting to show any signs of softness on the topic.  “Besides, the Queen is a grown woman who makes her decisions from experience.  You, Alairia, are a sweet innocent that has not yet been tainted by the world.  I will not chance it while under my watch.”  Blue eyes watched as the young sorceress played in the water with a pout playing upon her lips.  Which each plea his resolve was beginning to be chipped away; Damon wouldn’t let her notice. 
 
He sighed heavily as the words were finally said aloud.  It was something that the ones closest to Rhylana could feel, though she was too strong to show it.  Damon also knew that she would not want to burden her supporters in such a way.  Listening to Alairia speak so proudly of the young Master, well that made the phoenix smile.  As the sun set, he watched her swim towards him.  She hugged him before Damon could react.  A lump was swallowed roughly down his throat before he returned the affection, but almost reluctantly. 
 
The Captain was brought back to his senses and into alert as she pulled at the tie strings of his trousers.  Swiftly he grabbed both of her wrists and pulled them away.  The grasp was firm, but still gentle so she would not be injured.  Crystalline orbs stared at the top of her head as he did not want to look at her in the eye. 
 
“Our mistress will be fine.  She is strong and focused.  Time will heal her wounds.”  The phoenix released Aliaira and stepped back against the strength of hot springs.  Moving away from the young woman he dove into the deeper end of the spring in attempt to clear his head.  The heat seeped into his muscles as he remained beneath the surface.  Images flashed through his mind of the weariness of Rhylana’s back when she walked away from him.  Images of Alairia and her growing up over the years into the woman she was today. 
 

Finally, he surfaced and took in a large breath of air to refill his exhausted lungs.  There was now a physical distance between the grown man and woman.

Damon was attractive, and she had grown to notice over their time together. Alairia having seen him as a dear friend at first, she used to slip next to him at the fire and they would talk about the oddest of topics for hours on end. At some point, the young mage had started to see Damon differently, and seeing him now, like this, his hands at her wrist making the breath catch in her throat. Biting her lip, Alairia met his eyes, and sighed “I know you make it safe, but mistress will not let anything come to harm us, if you let your guard down and something happened, she would stop it…” Her voice was breathy, she blushing slightly as he let her go, swimming back into the pool, unashamed of what she was.

Though Damon seemed very concerned about her nudity, speaking to the intentions of others. “Damon, not one of your men would act against me in such a way, not with knowing your motives. And if all the shadows are populated by guards, they have seen far worse than just my nudity.” She knew her mistress kept private hours, bass that left the queen flushed and dreamy for some times afterwards; Alairia somehow doubted that that was only from strong elven wines and prayers.

As Damon dove under the waters, Alairia giggled softly, shaking her head at the legendary bird and sighing as he came up from eh depths. The light played over his muscles, highlighting his strength, muscles and scars. He was a stunning creature, so handsome was he that she looked away to collect herself. “I hope you are right, Mistress went out for some time, as you recall. When she returned, she was cursing something fiercely, so what ever visitation she made, made her worse than she had been prior.” Right now, she’d discuss the weather if it kept her from licking the warm water from his well defined abdominals. Never before had such thoughts polluted her mind, and yet she felt a tightness low in her belly that was unrivalled.

What feeling was this?

“It seems mistress is working you too hard, you are so…so thin…” she said meaning that he was covered in his rippling muscles, her eyes looking at his glorious stomach and not his striking eyes. Rhylana had been laughing when she had left, saddened, but laughing…it was confusing, though now she suspected she knew why. Did the mistress have an affair going with her captain?

The thought all of a sudden made Alairia’s heart ache, she was far from a pure woman. Hell, she had known more men in her time prior to adulthood than was deemed proper by any means. It was often viewed as a tragedy, and she had been told more than once no man would want her for a wife because of her past. But this feeling of…jealousy, and near lust, it made her curious. For at no point in her prior life had she lusted, she had merely survived…but the overwhelming desire to pick a fight with a goddess over a giggle?

’Oh my gods, I fancy the guard.