An Ocean of Fire- Supercorp AU

20- An Ethereal Feast

The stars were swirling overhead, beaming and iridescent and glowing brilliantly down on a deep blue world, tinted with teal and silver.

Thrills raced along raised skin, naked and a little broken and whispering with sweat.

Gentle lips ghosted across a collar bone, pressing carefully, poetically, into a glinting golden symbol.

Warm hands slipped down curved sides, the barest hint of fingernails scraping across velvet skin.

A racing heart thrummed in ear drums, blood rushing through veins, scarlet heat pooling in cheeks and lips and unspoken places.

Teeth slipped down the swells of breasts, heaving like the swells of the sea, crashing along the coast of pale sands and pale skin.

Sharp hips are pressed down into the softest blanket laid upon the softest grass, and the soaring, private white walls rose up around them, shuttering the world away.

Slender fingers threaded into golden hair that meandered down a yielding belly like a river flowing home.

"Tahv Zehdh... Pil khap, zhao."

A breathy moan drifted through the night breeze, feathery and light as air.

Trembling knees were parting, in the same way the leaves part when the morning sun breaks through sky.

Gentle whimpers transformed to throaty groans as a silken kiss, pressed there, there, and finally, finally there-

Knock knock.

"Princess?"

Lena gasped and rocketed up from the bed, her lungs filling with air and collapsing just as quickly as she tightened her grip on the sheets. She stared down at herself in confusion, then out at the dark sky beyond the windows, grey and lit with a half moon.

Her legs were shaking, and her knuckles ached from grasping the fabric.

"Lena?" came the call again. "Are you alright, Princess?"

"Y-Yes!" She pressed fingertips to her forehead and frowned as confusion raced through her. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure..? Your heart is beating very hard, did you have another nightmare? I can come in and sit with you."

Lena tugged the blankets up over her chest and stared at the turning doorknob with panic.

"No! Please, it's quite alright. I'm fine. Just a nightmare, as you said."

The door knob quietly returned to its place. A few moments passed, and Lena felt a warmth radiate through her chest. She closed her eyes and reached for the mark on her skin, her fingertips tracing along it slowly.

Kara was sending her peace, and it flooded through her like warm water.

"Please let me know if you need me. I'm just next door."

"Thank you, Princess," Lena whispered softly.

When she was certain that Kara had stepped away, she dropped her face into her hands and breathed out a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

She slipped her legs out from beneath the blankets that were suddenly too warm, and pressed her feet to the cool wood floor.

She lifted the glass of water from the small table beside the bed and brought it to her lips, drinking long and slow. When she placed it back down on the table, she held onto it tightly, as if she needed some kind of tether to reality.

Her eyes searched beyond the window once more, but all they found were white caps rolling in from the deep.

She sucked in a lungful of air and gently probed the memory of a dream that somehow felt like the most real thing that's ever happened to her.

It was as if she could still feel it all around her.

Caresses moved across her skin, and she shivered at their ghosts.

And she missed them.

----------

The feast that evening had been surreal.

The tents, the people, the food, the dancing, the music.

Feelings of unrest still slivered through the aisles, pushing up against barriers and tinting the atmosphere.

But something else was there, too.

Whispers were darting around like wildfire, jumping from one camp to the next. Heads turned, lips murmured, and it was as if the air itself had shifted somehow. Words like healer and miracle and blessing wove their way through conversations.

Kara pressed a forearm to the cool glass of the dark study, leaning into it and staring out at the moon and the deep blue water as she slowly sipped a drink.

It was about halfway through the evening before she realized what it was.

Faith.

It was slipping into the eyes of guests, Kryptonians, royalty, travelers alike. They walked past their table, brilliantly lit with warm fires and sparking candles, to bow and wish the Princesses well.

Hums of faith were starting to vibrate along their voices. Perhaps not as far as acceptance, no - there were still rims of caution around their gaze, eyes narrowed just a little farther than normal, distance just a little longer than normal.

But faith... faith could be world-changing.

Faith in Kara, that she chose to marry a formidable ally instead of a treacherous enemy.

Faith in the House of El, for accepting that choice with grace and magnanimity.

Faith in Lena, to lead them not into destruction but out of a darkness.

A smile toyed at Kara's lips, and she finished her drink, setting it gently down on the table beside her.

Perhaps they would come out on top of this, after all.

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Tahv Zehdh - the belonging, unity

Pil khap - You'll have to figure that one out by yourself. ;)