Romantic Dribble
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th March 2006
Characters: Almonteo, Carmora
Description: Almonteo reminds Carmora she's the only woman he's ever loved
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 10, day 13 of Turn 3
Notes: Follows "Indiscretion"
Almonteo sat as his desk trying to go about the day's work but was completely frustrated as his mind kept wandering back to 36 turns before.
Jathali's eyes when he found her in his room, Carmora's eyes when he told her. Her eyes when she left him. His relief when she agreed to come back.
The suspicion in her eyes when he had to leave on another trip. It hurt.
Even after so long, it still hurt. And it was obvious now that it hurt her too.
With a long drawn out sigh, the Hallmaster pushed himself away from his desk and paced a bit, trying to clear his head. Finally he scrawled a quick message and posted it on the door - "Gone home early. Talk to Master Thanja if it is important and can't wait." His Hallsecond could be trusted to alert him if there was something really wrong in his Hall. But he _knew_
there was something going wrong in his marriage, and that was far more important to him than grumpy Masters and troublesome apprentices.
He paused for a moment outside their door, trying to decide what kind of face he should put on for her. Stoic? Contrite? Frustrated? Troubled?
**What a sharding fool you are,** he thought to himself. She would know when he was putting on a show. He had to go in as himself, and take the shots she flung at him. Opening the door, however, he was not prepared to see the sight of her crumpled on their couch, heaving with sobs of her own.
Tears sprung to his own eyes and lump formed in his throat. "Carmora?" he whispered.
Her sobs cut off abruptly as she hastily tried to scrub the tears from her cheeks. "Yes?" she asked, as if she hadn't been crying a few moments before in spite of the obvious evidence to the contrary.
"Please love. Let's not pretend. We need to talk about this. Can we do that without our pride's getting in the way?" he asked gently, honestly, his eyes pleading as he looked into hers.
"On this subject, pride is the only thing I have," she replied somewhat stiffly, but her eyes betrayed her, showing how deeply hurt she was... and not just hurt, but afraid as well. "I would never do that to you again, Carmora."
"Not even if you could?" she asked in a shaking voice, finding his eyes with her own. "There are plenty of women here who look at you and consider it. I know it. I've _seen_ it." He walked over to the couch and sat down beside her. "I learned the first time. The _only_ time. You are everything I have ever wanted or needed.
You are the only woman I have ever loved. And I love you thirty-six times as much as I loved you back then." Almonteo shook his head definitively.
"Not even if I could, Carmora. I promise."
"We never talked about it, you know..." She slid her hand into his. "It took me a month to get over it, and then we were busy with the pregnancy and the babies..."
"I don't think either of us ever got over it," he said gently bringing her hand to his lips. "Is there something you want to know?"
There were so many questions that had haunted her over the turns... had the woman been like her? Had Almonteo been pretending? Or had she been someone totally different... someone Almonteo thought maybe he might have preferred... But knowing the answers wouldn't change anything, not so much later. "I just want to know that I've been enough for you. That I'll be enough for you while we're here, with willing women around every corner..." "That month when you were gone, I was so lost, Carmora. So very lost and alone. And I know now it would be so very much worse. I don't ever want to do anything that means I might lose you again. You are enough, my love. You are everything. All the willing women in the Weyr can't make me forget that."
"Thank you..." She kissed his hand this time, before bringing her hand to his face. "You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that." "You have given me a beautiful family, and you have been my partner in everything for nearly forty turns. I am so grateful for you, and if I could erase that terrible mistake, I would have done it thirty-six turns ago. It is the only thing in our lives together than I have ever regretted. If you hadn't come back to me... I don't know... I would a miserable, lonely wreck. I do not deserve you."
"Let's not get dramatic now," she replied with a smile, letting her thumb trace his bottom lip lightly. "I'm not perfect either, love." "You married a silly harper who is wildly in love with you. You knew you were doomed to put up with his romantic dribble from time to time," Almonteo smiled, kissing at her thumb.
"I suppose I can handle it." Her fingers traced along his jaw and down his neck, and her eyes took on a certain heat. "Perhaps you could remind me how much you love me..." "In that case," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet alongside him, "we'd better move someplace a bit more comfortable. This could take a long long while."
Last updated on the March 9th 2006