Calilla sat upon her bed, a fancy four-poster contraption complete with gauze curtains, with the soft sheets pulled up around her waist. It was rare that she visited this room, preferring to use it as a decoy should someone of ill-intent sneak into the shop at night. It was rarer still that she made use of the bed itself. On the odd occasion that she slept in it, she was never alone and tonight was no different in that regard. Beside her lay the form of Emdhir, peaceful in repose, his shock of auburn hair still damp from the sweat they had worked up sometime earlier.
She felt warm and fuzzy inside. It was the oddest sensation for a woman who had rarely felt anything in her life, whether good or bad. It was this, in fact, that had kept her awake whilst her companion slept. She knew not what to make of it, or how best to deal with it. The peace of the pre-dawn hours and the silence, save for his soft breathing, would allow her to at least begin processing, or so she hoped.
The moon slid out from behind the clouds, entering through the thick glass windowpanes to bathe the room in its soft silvery light. She lifted her hand from the sheet, smiling as she wiggled her fingers. Her skin was dark enough that, even beneath the pale illumination, one would have to look hard to see her outline. Indeed, as she held her hand above Ed's shoulder, a hand-shaped chunk of him seemed to disappear into the night. His skin, by contrast, almost seemed to glow. But that, she knew, was only the most glaringly obvious of their differences.
They were opposites in every sense of the word. Whereas he was a healer, she was a killer. Whereas he had an open heart and a lot of love to give, her own was closed, guarded, locked away behind steel and ice. He did as he felt was right, she did as she deemed necessary. He led an existence of optimism, duty, community and perhaps a touch of fear whilst she led a life firmly entrenched in the reality of her own situation, tinged with more than a hint of nihilism. He wished to help people, to make them better, stronger, happier, yet every day she walked with the constant struggle of having to act outside of her nature, to not dismember every hobbit or dwarf or person of annoyance she crossed paths with. In all ways that would ever matter, she was the darkness and he was the light.
Yet, sliding down to lay her body alongside his, placing her ear to his chest where she could hear his heart beat strong within his ribs, soaking in the heat that emanated from his bare skin, she knew that he was different to those who had come before. Here and now, a serenity settled over her. Here and now, she felt no desire to slit his throat as she had done with so many others over the years. Here and now, sated, comfortable, relaxed, she felt a tranquility that she had never truly known before.
There would be struggles ahead, this much was clear as a summer sky, but when he said that they could overcome such things together, she could not help but believe in his conviction.
And if his calm, gentle and reasonable methods failed them, then she would always have her blades.
