Chapter 9

Rav had watched his son toss and turn most of the night, he finally got up before dawn and left the beach. Pulling the light sheet up over Kat, Rav got up also and went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Rav held out a cup to Revanche "why I'm drinking hot coffee when the morning already seems to be a scorcher is beyond me." Revanche chuckled "if we're lucky there will be a good rain soon to break this heat." Rav nodded "it's in the air just hasn't cut loose yet, when it does it's going to be a heck of a storm." Revanche grinned "just the sort you like." Rav laughed "I've always enjoyed a good storm, when I was little, Brand's Grandfather Stephen used to hold me up to the window, I would unfurl my wings and let the storm blow over me, it was great fun, I have very fond memories of Stephen." Revanche stared down at his coffee cup "when did I get old father?" Rav looked at Revanche in surprise. "You're not old son, you just set that special young feeling off to one side for awhile, you've never taken your responsibilities lightly and I think the years of learning with Tetly, then being married trying to be everything for everyone set you on a course that you never got away from." Rav poured them both another cup of coffee, waiting for Revanche to go on. "I loved Laurel, she was so womanly, everything a man could want when he looked at a woman, she was and still is a very kind woman, but I guess I always felt so jealous of males looking at her after awhile I just couldn't handle it, I wasn't mature enough then to realize she was the type of woman that if she had loved me like she loves Alex, she would never have given another male a second glance." Rav just nodded, "Chloe was lovely in her own way, almost the opposite of Laurel, soft, gentle, I always felt so protective of her, she was always telling me she wouldn't break, when she got sick and there was nothing I could do to help her, I felt like I had failed her, that I hadn't kept her safe." Rav saw the tears in his son's eyes and touched his shoulder "nothing wrong with crying for someone you love son, not ever, when your mother walked out of my life for three years I cried until I thought there were no more tears left then found out the next day there were even more." Revanche looked at his father in surprise "mother left you?" Rav nodded "a story for another time, just know that it made me love her more than I ever thought possible." Revanche went to the sink and splashed some cold water on his face, walking back to the table he told his father "now along comes a woman like Raimi, she is almost a combination of Laurel and Chloe but with a, ohh I don't know, a wildness about her, I've seen her with Zara being so gentle, I've seen her with Strut being down right snarling and rude, the first time I saw her she was trying to drown him in a pitcher of milk." Rav chuckled "something I'm sure has crossed everyone's mind a time or two." Revanche nodded taking a drink of his coffee "she's also scared and frightened trying to figure out how to live in our world, how to be a woman here, that's something I never saw in Laurel or Chloe, they were always confident in being women. She makes me laugh, she makes me smile, she makes me so confused I could scream and without realizing it she makes me want to throw her down and make love to her but I'm afraid to do anything that would make things even more frightening for her." Revanche sighed "then yesterday I acted like some fussy grandfather, I was shocked to hear myself, which just made me angrier, now she probably won't talk to me again, which I can't decide is good or bad for my peace of mind."

Rav chuckled "a man never has peace of mind when a woman is involved son. I think one of the things that has you confused is the fact that Raimi is not a soft gentle feminine woman who would ever be content to sit back and let her man do every little thing for her, she is a woman who has taken care of herself for a very long time, she fought for that right, for that freedom, she doesn't walk across a room she strides across it with confidence. She is soft and gentle in her own way, but she sees it as a weakness so only shows it to those she feels safe with like Zara or the small dragoness Ailysh. Certainly she has a wildness about her, if you keep in mind she is an amazon." Revanche chuckled, Rav winked "but think about that wildness in bed, and there is no doubt Raimi is trying very hard to get to the point where she can be sexually active without fear, it's also pretty obvious that she is attracted to you or she wouldn't of made the comment she did yesterday. " Frowning Revanche sighed "she was drunk on her butt yesterday." Rav laughed "so I understand but you know most people say what they really think when their drunk, why do you think Trink when he works on one of his little talks starts offering the other person a drink and ends up getting them sotted." Revanche raised an eyebrow "he does doesn't he, come to think of it." Rav laughed "you bet, it took me years to catch onto his little trick, the only person I've ever seen drink Trink under the table was Jenee." Revanche started laughing "Jenee?" Rav nodded laughing "Jenee could drink us all under the table and walk away whistling a tune." Rav held up a finger over his lips and tip toed over to the door, pulling it open quickly he caught Natalie as she fell in, Natalie smiled brightly saying good morning totally ignoring Rav and her son laughing at her. Rav grinned "now that your mother has gotten something to drink I'm sure she would like to offer a suggestion or two." Natalie made a face at Rav "now that you mention it, I do have a thought or two." Rav gave Revanche an I told you so look. Natalie sighed at the two "the heat is bothering Raimi something terrible, wouldn't a nice romp on the beach be nice and cooling. If you were to make her, her own beach just casually saying you knew she was having trouble with the heat, it might break the ice after that little fiasco yesterday, and if during this little romp you were to accidentally touch her a time or two it would give you an idea of how she reacts and you can take it from there, but I would suggest you wait until afternoon and give her a chance to recover from all that ale." Rav grinned when Revanche said he liked that idea "that's why I keep her around." Natalie snickered "I thought it was because you enjoyed tropical dancing." Rav winked "have I ever shown you the polka?" Revanche chuckled leaving the kitchen and his parent's grinning at each other.

Hellhound woke Raimi licking her cheek and jumping all over the bed. She opened an eye and stared at the puppy "all right just a minute" expecting to get up with all her muscles screaming, Raimi sighed as she got out of bed, not even a twinge of a sore muscle, opening the window she tossed Hellhound gently out, pulled on her dressing gown and stood staring up at the sky frowning at the dark clouds. With a shrug of unease she told herself they were just clouds then went into the kitchen. Pouring herself a glass of water she opened the kitchen window hoping for a breeze of some sort, rubbing her hand up her arm Raimi looked down at the slight glisten of oil and blinked for a moment, she had thought it had all been a drunken dream, Raimi smelled her arm the faint hint of lavender and lilac reached her and she found herself smiling. Raimi wanted to dance around the room, it hadn't been a dream, she had actually lay there letting Nedra female and male touch her and she hadn't felt sick to her stomach, she hadn't raged or screamed, ohhhhh gads she had actually lay there moaning and enjoying Nedra's touch, she thought feeling her face flame with heat. Laughing Raimi let Hellhound in the door then went back to the bathing pool, after she had washed with a slight sigh to be washing off the scent of the oil, Raimi swam her laps then went and got dressed in a light lawn blouse, her breeches and short walking boots. Once more in the kitchen Raimi fixed breakfast, chuckling that she was so hungry, "your sure hungry this morning Hellhound, after gobbling up a whole chicken yesterday you're lucky to get breakfast." Hellhound wagged his tail grinning. As Raimi cleaned up she kept feeling the heat in her cheeks, her mind going back over and over again to what had occurred the night before, blinking she started to chuckle going back into the bedroom, she looked around, there on the dressing table was a crystal oil bottle, Raimi took out the delicate cut glass stopper and sniffed with pleasure at the scent of lavender and lilacs filled her senses, there were lovely jars of creams and lotions, she could almost hear Nedra purring "you take care of your body my delicious one, you must also take care of your skin." Looking around once more Raimi started opening drawers, there in one drawer were lacy feminine night dresses and undies, night dresses of satin both long and short, opening another drawer Raimi once again felt her face flame with a scarlet blush, there in the drawer were the silken cords from last night, Raimi quickly shut the drawer almost giggling, gods she couldn't remember when she had felt so good, so free.

All morning Raimi kept glancing outside seeing more and more clouds, over the last few weeks there had been plenty of dark clouds but these looked different, with a frown she wiped a cool cloth over her face if anything the heat had gotten worse, not a breath of air seemed to be stirring. Still frowning Raimi decided to go check on the other dragons, to all of them the idea of a storm was something to be feared and she wanted to make sure Ailysh was safely tucked in her nest, even though these clouds didn't seem to carry the terrible feeling of electricity that seemed to make your nerves tingle and shudder. Reminding herself this wasn't the old world where storms were sent to destroy, Raimi told Hellhound to stay not wanting him caught out in a storm if it did come, with a whine Hellhound curled up on the front step. Raimi was half way to Morpaw's lair when the first crack of thunder and lightening flashed across the sky, she almost stumbled and fell as she glanced up at the clouds, running now as the rain came and with it the wind. Soaked clear through Raimi ran into the lair, Shelaw lay huddled under a blanket, Morpaw was trying to tell Toledoes and Ailysh this was a different type of storm they didn't need to fear, "where are Renlock and Bartolow, in their lair?" Morpaw shook his head with a worried look "they are searching for Strut, he was out when the thunder and lightning started." Raimi went over and purred soothingly to Ailysh "it's all right, these rains don't burn the skin, the flash of light doesn't seem to aim for anything, it just flashes randomly, the same with the loud cracking noises of thunder." Raimi turned to Morpaw "do you know where Strut went?" Morpaw frowned "there is a stand of old trees that Strut has been going to a lot, just north of here past the three large boulders." Raimi nodded heading out of the lair "they all knew how terrified Strut was of storms, the vicious attacking lightening had struck his families nest when he had been a young one, knocking it to the ground for the wevrils to set upon, he had been the only one to escape. Bent forward against the rain and wind Raimi made her way to the stand of trees. Renlock yelled at her "he is somewhere near the top" we dare not try and fly up there to get him, the way the branches and trees are swaying now, our wings would be ripped to shreds." Raimi looked at Bartolow who's fur matted with leaves and twigs, his wings cut in a dozen places. "I tried to reach him" he said wiping the rain off his muzzle. Raimi reached out for a branch and started to pull herself up, Renlock grabbed her arm "you can't, not in this wind, the branches are too slick, you will fall" Raimi nodded "I have to try though, Strut is up there alone and scared." Raimi slipped and fell three times, swearing and groaning, the dragoness flew up her wings beating at the wind, yelling for Strut to move so she could see where he was, seeing a slight movement, Raimi bunched up her muscles and with a surging push of her wings turned to her human form jumping into the tree grabbing at branches. Renlock gasped in shock expecting to see Raimi come falling down from the top of the large tree, or see her impaled on some branch, Bartolow moaned. Raimi frantically grabbed a large branch, swinging up her leg she inched to the tree trunk, gasping and panting she blinked the rain out of her eyes, Strut gave a frightened snort "about time you got here." Raimi grinned at the small dragon who was clutching the tree trunk, his small talons dug in for dear life "next time you dunce pick a smaller tree." Strut snorted "I like this tree." Raimi reached out and tried to take hold of him "let go damnit" then realized Strut was so frightened he couldn't let go, his talons dug in deeper with each flash of lightening and crack of thunder. Raimi inched closer "listen you twit, I'm not up here hanging around for the fun of it, let go damn you." Strut hissed "neither am I" then Strut whispered "I can't let go Raimi." Raimi nodded "ok then, I'm going to pry you lose, wrap your tail around my neck and hold on" she felt Strut's tail go around her neck, talon by talon she loosened him, trying not to swear each time the wind caught the tree making it shudder and sway. Finally getting Strut free of the tree trunk Raimi wiped the rain out of her face "listen to me Strut, I can't climb down the tree, it's too slick, we'll both fall, put your arms around my neck, when I jump you hold on and don't let go." Strut hissed "jump, what do you mean jump?" Raimi laughed "I'm going to jump out of the tree and change form, so hold on." Strut shivered as a flash of lightening lit up the sky, then with a shriek he felt Raimi stand up on the large branch and jump. "Oh my gawd" moaned Bartolow looking up, Renlock shuddered as they saw the woman Raimi burst from the tree her body falling, then the dragoness took form, her wings fighting the wind. Renlock gasped seeing Raimi falter then catch the wind, she came flying down with a thud "your strangling me you twit" Raimi rasped, trying to get Strut's tail loosened from around her neck. Raimi grinned at Renlock and Bartolow "let's get out of this storm, I don't know about you but I'm wet." Renlock laughed as they started running for the lair, Strut still wrapped around Raimi's neck.