Sable

"You can put me down. I can walk, you know," Sable said. Akeem had only been carrying her for roughly half an hour, but she had already grown tired of it. It just didn't feel right. She needed to be in control of something for once.

"It's faster and safer this way." Akeem wouldn't budge. Sable pursed her lips.

"Conor allowed me to walk," Sable said.

"And look where that landed you," Akeem replied, not missing a beat. Sable glowered at him.

"I wasn't given a chance to use my magic," Sable sighed. "And he had been asleep. We were both caught off guard; we can do better next time."

"I can go for days without sleep," Akeem said. "It definitely will not happen again. There was never a time where I was caught off guard. That stupid psychic vampire made a mistake in letting you go in the first place. I regret that I was not summoned sooner, but all had gone silent from you."

"They put a cuff on me that I couldn't take off," Sable explained. "It kept me from using my magic, and therefore from summoning you. It was Conor who managed to bite the thing off. Anyway how are you going to fight off enemies while carrying me? Put me down."

Akeem remained silent. He just kept on walking, tightening his grip on her. Sable sighed in aggravation. Wasn't he her familiar? Didn't he have to do whatever she asked? She looked up at him. It was worth a shot.

"What if I ordered you to put me down?" Sable asked. "Would you have to obey the order?"

"It is unwise to give me such a command," Akeem said in a low, warning voice. "I do not advice you to give me the order."

"I see," Sable smirked. "I order you to put me down."

Very mechanically Akeem set her back on her feet. She grinned from ear to ear while he glared at her. She took a step forward triumphantly, and stretched out her limbs. How long had it been since she had properly done that? It had been days; before her capture.

"You know, I know that you're angry with me about this," Sable started. "But I had been carried- and rather uncomfortably so- for days. It took them days to bring us there, to Finnian."

"I'm not angry," Akeem muttered. He looked back up at her with a wary expression then; jaw relaxed, eyes mournful. "I just- I wish I had been summoned earlier. Events wouldn't have occurred like this. That wouldn't have happened to Conor. You both wouldn't have been abducted."

"For the second time," Sable threw in. "Lucca had abducted me, too. Also- well, obviously- against my will. I'm getting rather tired of it happening."

"I didn't know that," Akeem said. He started walking again, and Sable followed him. "I thought Lucca would have been the kind of man to pull you aside and explain. He's not one- not these days, anyway- to hold anyone against their will. Not even you, with you being- who you are."

"Sable," she nodded her head as she reminded him of her name. "I don't think there was time. There's a ritual, it seems, that needs to be performed before Finnian can- absorb my powers."

"Oh, yes," Akeem whispered. "If we can keep you away from him these next few days, then it will be weeks before he can attempt again."

"Weeks?" Sable asked.

"The moon cannot be visible in the sky, not even a sliver of it, in order to perform the ritual," Akeem said. Sable stared at his back as they walked.

"How do you know so much about the ritual?" Sable asked again. There was a deep frown on Akeem's face when he turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"I witnessed a failed attempt," he said in a low voice. He looked forward again and focused on the path in front of him. "The day that you- Inara- died. I-I had no idea. I thought they had- succeeded. That I had ended up in some sort of limbo. Then I felt you, after she faded away."

He paused, and then continued, "Or rather- it was a mix of the two of you. I felt your birth, and the transfer of her soul to you. It was- it was a strange feeling. Suddenly I was tethered to the both of you. And I felt her, over the years, becoming you. It was not easy on your body to house two separate souls. I tried to reach out to her- and then to you. I tried so many times."

He fell silent after that. Sable wondered just how many times he had tried. And for how long? Had he contacted her in previous dreams?

The more she concentrated, the further from the answers she felt. And then there it was: she recalled several times throughout her life when she had dreamed of the man with dark hair and green eyes, wearing blue clothes. She reached out to him and touched his shoulder, causing him to stand still.

"I felt you," she said. "All those times. I just didn't know then. I wondered why you recently looked so familiar... but I had dismissed it all as just dreams then; I had no knowledge of all this. I'm sorry you were alone for so long."

Akeem smiled at her and gently brushed her hand off. It was a gesture that confused her.

"It is my duty as your familiar to endure anything and everything to protect you," he said. "even if that means feeling lonely for several years at a time. You forget that I am immortal, like Inara, for her- your- protection. Time passes rather quickly for me. Twenty years is nothing."

"Well, at least there's that," Sable sighed.

They continued walking. She looked down at her hands, her mortal hands, and wondered if she had gained that part of Inara as well. Would she live on forever with those powers? She would just have to wait and find out.

If she lived long enough. The thought of her dying in a foreign land as her powers were being absorbed made her shudder. It would be best if she stuck with Akeem, rather than making an attempt to go back for Conor. She assured herself that the psychic vampire would find his way back to them safely.