The Justiceers
by Daphne Garrido
Part Three: The Will to Choose
Part Four: Prefinished Business
4.14
Juaqui plunged deeper, spiraling lower into Temeath’s enveloping blackness, birthing that rushing bliss of velocity so found in Gwevera’s heart and soul at these ultimate speeds.
Her chest was tightening as the the darkness fell upon them, vision gone blank, senses condensed to that of energy itself. Temeath’s waters would speak to spirit — teaching of trust, and holding to hope without attachment — control was lost upon her Jaqui, life so given to his protective presence, knowing he’d see her free to safety.
This part was always ‘a little freaky’, but it would be a most precious sensation for this Princess and her soul in every lifetime, always compelled to stand on that cliff of terror and peak out over its edge .
Gwevera’s fear was an intelligence all its own, and they were a joker with no doubt, a most pesky little bugger; nothing pleased it more than to sneak up on its vessel and surprise them with a wicked reemergence.
‘Oh, why do I do this?’ was the question she’d asked to herself in the black, where no one would be able to witness the enormous grin on her face, how lit up she was by the chance to prove her courage to herself.
The gills on her neck were gaping, their outflow of bubbling vapors drafting past Gwevera’s cheeks and beyond the length of her flowing hair so trailing her dive.
Jaqui wasn’t stopping, the devil, he was just diving deeper.
Gwevera could feel a lightness blooming in her head, these depths hypoxic, she’d not have the capacity to breathe much longer down here. Gripping on tightly, knowing she could trust, feeling what was coming so near; at least, she’d sure hoped.
Then her Jaqui had done it, a most graceful turnabout, a corkscrew of divine change in direction, and they were storming back towards the surface.
The speed they moved together towards the light above was unheard of, Gwevera herself screaming in joy, heart pounding a fury of love. She’d been right to trust her Mitzsch pair-bond, a found knowing most available to her always, which would never prove unwise in the end.
She would not feel another trust like the one she’d discovered living within her for Jaqui upon their first meeting, something innate to it, as if he was a part of Gwevera herself. While no doubt a dangerous beast of most vicious tendency; he was her beast.
‘Here we go,’ she’d thought, feeling the heat of Mother Sun upon her through its splintering rays spreading throughout Temeath’s uppermost reaches.
Jaqui exploded from the surface, her grip upon him never tighter, they’d gone higher than ever before — time slowed to a crawl, Gwevera’s face beginning to hurt from how hard she’d been smiling — she saw her observatory in the distance, Sun glistening off its glasswork dome, and this was ‘officially heaven’.
Morecai had been incredibly busy lately, so much going on in his life, the obligations of his Princehood were often overwhelming to the young man, his soul so calling to be free in nature. Yet, he had responsibilities to his family and people which kept him locked within the walls of Romelus.
This hadn’t been the best thing for he and Gwevera’s romantic endeavors, him feeling so terribly worn down by it all, not finding the energy to speak from the heart in ways he felt she’d wish to draw out.
Still, he’d agreed for her to come over to his home while he worked tonight, and Gwevera was excited to surprise him; show him she knew how to take care of a Prince.
Arriving at his door, she could feel the pressures bearing down on his shoulders, the way he looked so heavy of heart, and that whatever it had been he’d gone through, it wasn’t something he was ready to talk about.
So, Gwevera had just given him a really big hug, she’d kissed him on the cheek, then proceeded to his kitchen without a word. She brought supplies you see. While he’d worked, she noticed him glancing over anxiously, betting he was wondering why she wasn’t talking his ear off.
It was just being here, soaking in his most magnificent energy, which caused such peace to flood into Gwevera’s heart. A joyful presence expanded her, there was no need to be with any voice of head, or express some trivial line of thought, she’d just wanted to be with her breath in those feelings beside her Prince. To see the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t aware, studying how her form had been changing into that of a woman, eyes lingering longer than he’d care to admit. She’d do her best in these moments to suppress a smile, pretend she didn’t know, but she was loving every second of it.
They’d eaten together and Gwevera curled up on the couch as he’d continued his work, just watching a program on the Holo. She took back what she’d thought earlier, remembering where the place really was which she’d so falsely proclaimed another.
This was heaven.