Tales of a Shifter (P5) The White Mountain

Chapter 112 - Understanding

Chapter 112 - Understanding

Day 3

Brandon had awoken that morning and spent a long silent hour just...looking at Ezekiel and savoring his place in the Shifters embrace. Surrounded and cuddled in his arms, and layered against a body that sang to him with the sweetest energy and called up desires he couldn't indulge in.

There was no place on earth Brandon thought he could find such peace from. Gently he caressed the Leopards face, his strong nape, the ugly scar in the center of his chest....and the ropes of fresh off color skin around his throat and wrists reminding the Druid with a fiery sting of having to watch Hovel choke Ezekiel nearly to death.

That memory gave swift rise to rage, and with all the determination he could muster Brandon unlatched himself from the Guardians side and quickly slipped from the room. A part of him wanted to wake the Shifter and another part of him felt like Ezekiel had been through enough the last few weeks and deserved all the rest he was getting now. It was obvious that the Shifter was still fatigued from their ordeal, he slept like a rock, limbs laden with exhaustion and his breaths long and deep. He didn't twitch a muscle as Brandon pulled away and the Druid was happy to leave him to it. Something in him was contented with the idea of his love safe and resting in the bed.

Brandon also felt like this step he was taking with Ann was something he kind of had to tackle head on and maybe alone....he had been so weak and dependent on Ezekiel a lot the last few months, but this time he wanted to make the first move to change.

He hoped his sudden departure wouldn't upset the Leopard, but Brandon knew that Ezekiel would come for him when he awakened.

Brandon soon made his way to the Kitchen and spoke with Mantilo about his decision concerning Ann and the fact that he was going to have her be his teacher so that he could learn how to better control Mana and learn Alchemy. The Clan Head seemed oddly proud of his proactive decision and after simply reminding him to stay close to the Mansion Mantilo gave him his blessing to once again take Ann out of the basement.

The dark eyed Mana User was sitting against the far wall, her legs been folded beneath her, and her eyes closed. Her arms were crossed at her chest, almost as if folded into large robes that Ann no longer wore. Her face was calm, her breathing deep, and her head bowed in the dim light.

The door to her cell wasn't locked as it had been before, it instead was propped open, perhaps because even though none of the Leopards trusted the Alchemists...they all pretty much knew that if she hadn't made moves to run or hurt anyone so far, then she wasn't any immediate threat to worry about.

Brandon gently laid his shoulder against the side of the metal door and stared in at the woman, meditating within the dimly lit interior of the basements cell. Moments after he came to her Ann's dark eyes opened and her head raised to behold him. "Hello...Brandon." She called out, her voice hitching at his name as if she had been about to call him something else.

Still slightly weirded out by his and Ann's new relationship Brandon nodded in reply and quietly asked. "What...were you doing just now? Meditating?"

Ann slowly put her hands on her knees and sighed. "I was praying....it is a habit that many of us in the Brotherhood took the time to do as much as possible. Praying. It was a long standing habit of mine that I find myself unable to break....yet."

Brandon frowned as he stood up off the wall. "Praying...?" He asked, then he felt his tone bristle and he glared at Ann in anger. "Praying to your disgusting Bane, right!?"

Ann didn't react to his accusatory tone, she just shook her head. "No." She quietly replayed looking away from him. "I no longer pray to that Dark deity....instead..." Ann stopped and shrugged. "Instead I pray to myself."