RP: A Test of Trust

Synopsis: At Xersom's behest, and as a show of trust, Gheneroc must allow his student and consort, Larewen, to stay with the ancient dragon and his wife, until Xersom has deemed it appropriate for her to return.

A Cave, within the Xalious Mountain range

Gheneroc rested quietly within his cave. The young dragon whelps he wound up adopting were asleep in a pile right next to the massive stone dragon. Gheneroc rolled slightly in his sleep but something interrupted him. A familiar sensation of someone close drew nearer and nearer to Gheneroc. Larewen had been missed of late, and the dragon awoke to greet his consort. Though he didn't move because the whelps were still sleeping.

Larewen stepped quietly into the lip of the cave, leaning against the cavern wall in silence. It would be then that the great dragon awoke to greet her and the woman's chin lifted in return before dipping so that her crown could gesture toward the whelps. "Are they a handful?" she asked with that haunting voice. She'd never bore children, though she'd often wished for them.

Gheneroc nodded. "Quite. It's been some time, my darling." Gheneroc rumbled softly and one of the whelps yawned almost cutely. The mighty stone dragon rumbled again, mulling over what he was going to ask of Larewen. "They were left behind. They accepted me as their father. Much has transpired since you left. Where did you go?"

Larewen answered with a roll of her bare shoulders, her arms crossing over her torso as those dark eyes slipped back toward Gheneroc. "Nowhere, really. I found a place where I could hopefully be left alone and practiced." Her lips pressed into a thin line soon after and her head tilted. "Was I gone so long, really? I truly have little concept of time anymore."

Gheneroc chuckled softly. Unusual for his larger form, but the whelps left the dragon a bit weary. "It was too long, Larewen. Tell me. Will you truly be mine?" Gheneroc asked the question as though it were a proposal. The dragon's red eyes narrowed slightly at the vampiric elf, curious of her response.

Larewen arched a dark brow upward at his query, her head once more tilting at an angle, but this time it was more inquisitive than the last. "I believe we've already discussed this, Gheneroc. So long as you wish it, my body is yours," she replied. Her brow furrowed soon after. "Is something wrong?" The coldness in her tone was replaced with a very, very faint hint of concern as she pushed off the wall and stepped nearer to the dragon. His behavior was peculiar, after all.

Gheneroc rumbled. "Yes, but it is not your body I am concerned with. You are to stay with Xersom in his home. And to sever all contact with me during your stay." Gheneroc's own tones seemed to have a bit of an affectionate undercurrent. "Before you go, I must know truly if you are mine and mine alone." Gheneroc activated Larewen's mark, compelling her for the truth, or at the very least to sense any lies.

Larewen felt the shift in the chain; felt it constrict as she opened her mouth to reply. Truth would ease it and her frown deepened for a long moment. She swallowed an unnecessary mouthful of spit before exhaling slowly. "My heart does not love you, if that is what you mean to ask, Gheneroc. I have no desire to go against you, however. You can trust me." There was no lie in her words, though it didn't entirely divulge all truths, either. Her heart still belonged to Zondo, after all - even if she'd made it clear they could not be together and had gone out of her way to avoid him.

Gheneroc seemed satisfied by this answer from Larewen. His grip on the mark relaxed and the mark, knowing full well that Larewen did not care for Gheneroc in her heart. "Then go. When you are ready. Unless you have further business with me here?"

Larewen blinked at Gheneroc, completely perplexed by his behavior and bewildered by his words. She glanced briefly over her shoulder and toward the mouth of the cave, her jaw tightening before she looked back to Gheneroc. "Is something wrong? You wished for the truth and you have it," she asked. "Where am I supposed to be going?"

Gheneroc blinked. "To stay with the Ancient One. With no further contact with me until he sees fit otherwise."

Larewen finally drew nearer, those dark eyes seeking red ones. "I thought you were against that," she stated quietly. "What changed?"

Gheneroc rumbled softly as she drew nearer and Gheneroc would have smiled at this point. "Proof of trust with the Ancient One. I am against it..."

Larewen smirked at Gheneroc, even going so far as to reach out and place a gloved hand against his snout. "I must thank him, then, for giving me the opportunity to prove I am trustworthy as well," she said quietly. She patted the scales beneath her hands before she drew back. "I will go, then."

Gheneroc sighed softly as Larewen left. He was certain that the end justified the means, slowly unworking his link from Larewen to sever his link.