He would have found it funny, if he could read Malhin’s thoughts right now. She was worried about the prospective shitstorm this would bring to the table. How would she be able to give him what he wanted? How long could he stand chasing the storm, before finally walking away? She couldn’t understand what he meant, when he spoke these things to her. Not really, he supposed, because they had lived two very separate lives. These promises he made to her now, these vows he spoke in front of her. They were not something he could casually offer, or effortlessly rescind. These were words spoken with more truth than anything else shared between them to date. It was pure, the essence of a concept, that he wove together. Threading each one with care, before offering it to the Bjarni woman who stood frozen in front of him. She wondered how she could give him the whole of her? He wasn’t asking for it overnight. He knew it would be a long time before he learned it all, and that he had a long way to go before he earned that kind of trust. This was not a promise made, as if he thought that simple words alone would unlock the deepest parts of her. No, these words were an inviolable truth.

For everything that he didn’t understand about the spitfire who stood before him, there were some things that he felt he knew intimately. He was aware of her propensity for chaos. She seemed very much an avatar for such things, a chaotic entity given flesh. She was very much the storm, the human hurricane that he so fondly thought of her as. She believed he was searching for the eye, that he chased that core of safety that came with being around her. Did she not see that part of what he adored about her was the storm? That chaotic swirl which enveloped the woman. Nothing quite so much defined Malhin, as that storm. Why would he seek the safety of the eye, when he could dance within the rains, and be swept up with that chaotic flow she emanated?

It was such an odd thing. For so long, months and months, he feared to tell her these things. He had numerous, countless reasons why he would not share these thoughts with her, share his desires with her. The gulf in age that separated them was too vast. His past clung to him too tightly. He was a drifter, never meant to stay in one place for too long. He could have produced any number of reasons why he would not tell her these secret things. Yet today, as he stood there in front of her and poured out his heart, he found himself unable to stop. Swept up In the current. An old wife’s tale claimed that to give voice to thoughts gave them power. You were not hungry, until you believed that you were hungry. You did not thirst, until you believed that you were thirsty. Perhaps he had fallen prey to that old magic now? Vocalizing his thoughts about Malhin, giving voice to those secret desires. It gave them power over him, it gave her power over him. For today, in this room that they shared. They weaved a world meant for the two alone, with nothing more than the looks she shared with him, and the words he offered her.

The one thought they did share, was a worry of what would happen when they left this room. Moments of clarity such as these were rare in the extreme. Requiring intense emotion to bring about. Neither would forget the words that were spoken here today, for better, or for worse. The wounds they had inflicted on each other would mend, given time. The feelings they had evoked in one another would grow, if they nurtured them. It was obvious in the moment, but that moment could be lost the second they escaped the room. He could see it in her eyes, as clearly as she would be able to see it in his own. It was a combination of that thought, and the one word that Malhin offered him, that fueled his next action. What truly differed, were their thoughts. She saw it as burning everything to the ground, scorched earth policy. They would voice everything tonight, and doom themselves on the morrow. For him, well it was a different thought. He saw it more as a beginning, one that he desperately wanted to cling to. In the wilds, everything grew back better, and stronger, once a fire swept through. They had been through so much together, so many self-inflicted wounds, and self-imposed misunderstandings. They deserved one day for themselves, didn’t they?

With that thought in mind, he reached for Malhin’s hands. His touch was gentle, his fingers twinning effortlessly with hers. Was she too paralyzed by shock, to fight against it? Or like him, did she crave this strange thing growing between them? A true dichotomy, as any other time they had rebelled against it. “Be with me.” His voice was a whisper, threaded with longing, and spun with a hint of desire. Silence followed in the moment, as he moved in to close the space between them. “Stay with me.” His voice dropped another notch, softer than a whisper, yet spoken for her ears. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss against her forehead. His lips meeting her surprisingly warm flesh, just at her hairline. “Let me love you.” The final words he offered, his voice dying down while his lips sought hers. A far gentler kiss than she was used to, more than likely. Yet how could it be anything but? He did not long to claim her, in the ways they were both familiar with. That was not the point of this confession. He was not the type of cruel individual who would weave such words, in an attempt to claim that which had not yet been offered. No, his reasoning was far simpler.

He just…wanted to be with her. Wanted this day, with all it’s ups and downs, and sought to claim more. He was no fool, and neither was Malhin. Their life would be no simpler once they left this room. This sharing of secrets would not wipe the board. Yet, what day could more perfectly embody the chaotic nature of their relationship? And so he sought her attention, and sought her company. Even now, his anger had not vanished into the night. It had simply been replaced, with a yearning for this eternally frustrating woman who stood in front of him. He had not clearly spoken those words she wished to hear again, but even Malhin could not doubt the meaning behind what he asked of her now? Who knew what the future had in store for them? All he knew, was that he would like to spend this day with her. Come whatever may, no matter what else happened. Tomorrow, would be the next chapter for them.