Episode 150: Rush (Aadya)

Aadya fell against Greg’s chest, laughing. He laughed with her, and when she looked into his eyes, just level with her own, she melted against him and the warmth of his smile.

“Do you think she’s panicking?” Aadya asked, loud enough that he could hear her.

“I hope so,” he replied. “She’s not usually that bad. Upset. She’ll be better tomorrow,” he decided.

Aadya hoped so, because them transporting was a strong move and evidence that Greg wanted to bring her into this world. It was more evidence that Greg wanted to stay here, to immerse himself and his family in the Dells. She pulled away from him and looked around the room. Thankfully, the conference room was empty. The wood walls and the plethora of plants felt dead after his mom’s garden. She wanted to do something big – something new. She wanted change, in the palace and the grounds surrounding it.

She wanted scientists.

“You should have met my last mother-in-law,” Aadya mused. She loved Greg’s already; she was kind and protective and warm. “Your mom was fine,” she stated. “Protective,” she iterated from her own thoughts.

Greg let his hand rest on her lower back and led her from conference room toward their next destination… which she hoped he had in mind because she was following him. Most likely the festival.

“What was your last one like?” he asked as they walked.

“She told Drey to marry me or die. We had just met, and she was in a good mood that day.”

Greg was silent as he led her through the palace as though he had lived there for years. She felt like she hesitated more when she was going somewhere.

He was home here, in more ways than her desire to keep him around.

“Yeah,” he finally said, “but my mom insulted your bees.”

She laughed again, her body leaning toward him. Until now, their bodies humming in harmony with each other, she hadn’t realized just how tense they had both been.

He kissed her head, so she tilted her face toward his so their lips could meet again.

“But I insulted her floral organization. I deserved it,” Aadya stated.

His laughter bubbled to the surface again. “Anxious? How can a flower be anxious?”

She kissed him, through his laughter until they both had settled. Then, she shifted her tone toward light and carefree. “The gift of a flower is full of meaning. My dad taught me.”

“The palace is full of flowers,” Greg stated, his eyes wandering the hall or his own mind.

“Yes?” she teased. She could see the thought bubbling beneath the surface, waiting to come out.

“Do you go around leaving messages?” He kissed her as soon as he finished speaking, and his eyes were warm pools of green and desire. “I already know the answer to that.”

Not desire, she decided. Joy and amusement, pure budding love without anything standing in it’s way except life itself. Life could stand aside, while they enjoyed this moment.

“Why if no one is listening?” he asked.

“Because.” that was a very complex question. The messages were for herself, more than for the intended recipient.

She wasn’t sure how to explain that, in a way that would hold meaning, but she tried.  “I’ve lived in places where warmth and love were missing. Most days, the idea is to be uplifting. Even if the message is lost, the arrangement and something more than that, to me, is there. filling the palace. I don’t need credit or acknowledgement for my work. “

He wrapped his arms around her. “You are amazing.”

She felt light and fluttery from her stomach through her neck, which tempted itself to be nauseated so she put it in its place, and teased him: “You are awkward, around your mom.”

“I have no idea how to talk to her. I try.”

She took his hand and they continued their walk toward the festival, or perhaps now they were just beginning to go there. Regardless, they walked together.

“What’s difficult about it,” she asked.

He laughed again, “Did you just meet her or not?”

“Go on,” she joked.

On to the next point: “Have you been to Poland?” Aadya asked.

“I was born there,” he said, confirming what she guessed based on his mom and their home and some books she had noticed. “Have you?” he asked.

The dessert idea… She’d hired a crepe chef from Paris, there was no reason they couldn’t sort out desserts in Poland.

“Once,” she replied. She’d visited most countries in Babylon, partially because of Niels and what his involvement in both realms meant for the treaty. Drey enjoyed the food in Babylon too; he found it more creative (she agreed).

They stepped out the doors and the sun soaked her skin with warmth and a level of content. They still held hands today, and it felt good to be open about Greg and to have him there.

She pulled an plum from a tree as they walked and handed it to Greg. “We’re going tomorrow,” she said.

“Just as long as we aren’t late,” Greg replied.

“We won’t be,” she promised. “We’re going to find a bakery and pay someone to show us how to make something, using Dells fruit.”

Something with jelly might be fun, after the jelly stuff she had eaten. She felt a sudden wave of red columbine (anxiety) herself. Perhaps Greg didn’t want to go to Poland – he wasn’t connected with the country.

She should have considered it before, but she was too focused on pleasing his mom.

“Do you have time for that?” he asked.

For Greg. “Yes.”

Greg, her children, and life-or-death needs would always come first.

He kissed her, not angry about the Poland plan it seemed.

She looked at him, still not sold on his lips and the way they were pressing harder than normal against hers. “Do you not want to?”

“What I want to do is reconcile my feelings with the fact that I’ve known you less than two days,” he stated.

Oh, that. Yes, there was that.

She was moving fast. The bond, the intensity of him, the desire to feel settled… perhaps insanely too fast.

“Do you want some time?” she asked.

He smiled. “With you.”

She furrowed her brows and grinned. “Do you mean a date?”

His skin glowed, which meant yes. “Or anything.”

“I can make time for a date,” she replied. Maybe even the trip to Poland could be a date, sort of. They needed more than making desserts. A real date.

“Just us,” she promised.

Greg’s hands ran down her sides, moving with the curves of her body. “Next week? You have enough going on this week.”

“Whenever you’d like,” she replied. “It has been fast. We can slow down, take our time.”

She would die a little bit, more like extreme faint, and they wouldn’t be married. They could do things the slow way, the proper way in some regards.

“Aadya?” Greg said, his fingers under sliding along her jaw and into her hair.

“Yes,” she moaned against his touch. She couldn’t help but lean into his palm.

“I said reconciling feelings. I have no interest in slowing down, unless you need to.”

If it were night, she suspected they would appear to be lanterns.

“I don’t,” she replied. She leaned into him, and kissed him again. His body was warm against hers, warmer than it had been in hours and in a new way.

After a few moments, possibly too long since there were people around, he pulled away. “Festival? I thought if there’s room, maybe you’d let me teach some of your citizens how to break into your vault.”

She laughed. “Or not. You haven’t even broken into my vault. What about a game, for the festival? We have someone who went to a college to learn codes. Something locked, some obstacles…”

“That could be fun, if you have time to introduce me to him. And…” his eyes took her body in, “I broke into your vault.”

She felt a rush of water fill her, then heat scour across her, and settled on a flustered feeling unsure of her current attire or if he meant gold or pearls.

“I suppose you are as amazing as you’ve let on.”

He kissed her again, for a moment. “I’m serious.” He pulled a handful of gold from his pocket – dellers.

“How?” she asked. He hadn’t had time to do it, except… a few minutes. Not long enough.

“You gave me the power to make myself small, and you gave me air magic. Very useful.”

“I see.” She grinned. “Does Konrad know? or Stetson?”

“Have they said anything?”

“Good,” she replied. What else was there to say? Except that she was beyond impressed and thankful he was on her side. “Can we relocate it all to the arena? Or Alum’s stall? “

“When do you need it there?”

“Whenever you can. Try not to glow-t when you see Konrad next,” she teased.

He was amazing. He may have thought she was, and she could accept the compliment, but he was too.

“I’ll see you around?” he asked.

“You will,” she replied.

She held him close this time, then kissed him for one more moment, before parting ways.

It was strange and new, that each step she took from him left her wanting him more. Distance wasn’t something that had ever bothered her before, but here, with Greg, it did. She was going to have to learn how to deal with those feelings, with all of her feelings and their sudden intensity.

It was magic, a magic greater than anything she had felt before. She’d met his mom, she’d learned more about him, she’d been swept off her feet by who he was and what he was capable of.

She pulled the glowing affection back into herself; now she had to be a queen and host a festival. Now, she had to prepare for an attack and various other incidents.

Now, at least she didn’t have to stop smiling.

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