Sable

It had been a cold night. Sable had slept in Akeem's arms, a different feeling compared to how it was when she did in Conor's. Not that it felt better; she still wasn't keen on the idea of sleeping with someone she wasn't romantically involved with. Even if it was just sleep.

Morning had come, still cold, and Akeem had gathered and prepared her breakfast. It had tasted better than what Conor had managed to put together, though there was fish instead of boar. The fish had been less exotic, and something she was more familiar with.

They sat by the river where Akeem had caught the fish. He chewed on his own meal; while Sable sat nude upon the rocks, hidden mostly from sight.

She rinsed the dirt and sweat off her skin. It wasn't anything like a nice, hot shower with soaps, and the water was icy and made her flinch, but it was better than nothing.

Sable peeked over the top of one of the rocks as she moved water through her hair. Akeem was staring off into the distance, at something all the way across the large expanse of water. She tried to follow his gaze, but she couldn't see anything she felt would capture his attention.

It was then that she slipped and fell into the water. She screamed before she went under.

She resurfaced shortly after, the shocking cold of the water making her shiver violently, and Akeem was already in the water with her reaching after her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"Stop, stop!" Sable protested. She shoved him away and stood. At his look of confusion she explained, "It's shallow, look."

"Ah," Akeem sighed and nodded. He looked her over then, at her arms and head. "No scrapes either."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sable said, though she shook from the cold.

She realized then that she was still naked, and dove back into the water, despite the freezing temperature, so that only her head was visible above it. AKeem stared at her again.

"I'm indecent!" she yelled at him.

"Oh," Akeem laughed and shook his head.

"Go, go!" she yelled at him, her teeth chattering. She splashed water at him. "Don't look!"

"Okay, I'm going," he laughed more and started moving. "I'll be waiting at the top with my cloak. Don't fall again, or you'll have to deal with me looking. Now hurry, that water can't be comfortable."

"Fine, just go," she growled. How was he unfazed? She was a woman, and she looked exactly like the woman he had fallen in love with.

Had he seen her naked before?

Waiting be damned. She rushed out of the water before he had even made it all the way up and pulled her clothes on without thinking about drying off. She hurried up the hill after him.

He wasn't surprised when he turned with the cloak to see her already there. He draped it around her shoulders and ruffled her hair.

"That's going to be so tangled," he commented. "Without your shampoos and conditioners you've grown so accustomed to."

"It's a luxury I can survive without for now," Sable shrugged. She held the cloak closed over herself. "My hair is a mess of natural curls most of the time anyway. Akeem- I have a bit of a... well, several personal questions actually."

Akeem took a breath and stood tighter. The defenses went up, as if he knew exactly what she was going to be asking him.

"Go on," he encouraged her. Would she get honest answers?

"Have you ever- well... seen Inara? Without clothes?" she asked. The corners of his mouth twitched and he looked away for a moment.

When he looked back at her he said, "I have- on several occasions. To assist with bathing and dressing." He paused and then took a deep breath before he spoke again. "We- were also intimate... on several occasions."

"Oh," she gasped. She looked down at the ground; she didn't think she wanted to see his face when she asked the next question. "Was she- was Inara faithful to Lucca?"

There was a long silence. Still Sable did not look up at him. It was enough of an answer for her, though it wasn't the one she had been hoping for. Suddenly Akeem's fingers were under her chin, lifting her head so she would look at him. His expression was remorseful.

"She was not the beautiful, innocent being that many may praise her to be," Akeem said. "You need to know that. She was the goddess of romances, love, affairs; not the goddess of fidelity. She was- a very sexual being. Her engagement to Lucca wasn't out of love, for her. It was an alliance, for further protection. He is a powerful vampire, strong enough to join her in a fight against a world so eager to end her. Lucca knew of this."

Sable looked at the ground once more, and Akeem let go of her chin. It was a bad feeling, knowing more about the woman she was the reincarnation of. But it was knowledge she had prodded for.

"I'm sorry," Sable said. "That was terrible of her."

"She was a goddess," Akeem laughed. Sable looked up at him. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "And you are not responsible for her actions, just because you have her powers. You are two separate beings."

"Okay," Sable nodded.

"Come on." Akeem took one hand off her shoulder, and moved the other to the small of her back to guide her along. "My village is half a day's journey from here. We'll make sure we haven't been followed, and then join them there."

"That sounds good," Sable sighed.

She thought of Lucca back at the castle. How was he still capable of wanting to marry her, knowing what she had been doing? If it had been Sable going through that, she surely would have left the man. Lucca must have loved her very much to have still wanted to offer her that protection.

Sable slipped her hand into Akeem's. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but returned her grip. It was more for her own comfort than to comfort him. Even with what he had told her she still felt awful.

Akeem squeezed her hand gently. When she looked up at him, he was smiling warmly at her. Sable smiled back at him weakly and relaxed.

"You know," she began. "Lucca had no trouble calling me by my actual name. But you and Conor are the only ones, I feel, that have had no trouble actually knowing that I'm not Inara."

"I see," Akeem said. "Is that good or bad?"

"Well, both," Sable shrugged. She let go of his hand as they walked. "Bad that Lucca can't see that I'm not Inara. Good that the two of you can. I'm- I'm actually afraid of Lucca."

"Well, he did take you and bring you here against your will," Akeem added. "Maybe you have good reason to be afraid. It's a possibility that he's going back to his old ways."

The expression on his face was grim. Sable frowned at the thought. Old ways?

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. But Akeem gave no reply.

They continued on with Sable wondering what he had meant. She chewed on her lip, remembering the questions that Lucca had avoided answering. She must have spent hours pondering the possibilities. Before she knew it, her stomach was rumbling and Akeem had gently taken hold of her arm and guided her into hiding between some bushes. He was pointing off in the distance.

"There it is," he whispered. "Look carefully- you'll see the borders of my village."

Sable strained her eyes to follow his line of sight. At first she didn't see anything, and then she saw it: a small, wooden post with a blue mark she could just barely make out.

"I see it," she whispered back, smiling and looking at him again. "But it's across the river?"

"There's a secret way to it," he told her. "See where that part of land slowly grows deeper?"

She looked hard again. Near a tree, several feet away from the river, there was a dip that indicated a possible tunnel. Shrubbery hid it well.

"I see it," she said.

"It sounds strange, but it leads under the river," Akeem said. He patted her back and looked around, and then stood with her. "Let's go."

"Okay," Sable nodded. Anxiety burned in her chest. Would Conor be able to find them there, if he had made it out alive?