//------------------------------// // 198. Tempest II. // Story: Short Shorts // by Coranth //------------------------------// Above all else, Tempest Shadow remembered the warmth. She remembered the warmth of the gentle water in the bath; the warmth of the soap her new Lord had used; the warmth of David's hands as he'd thoroughly lathered, and then rinsed her mulberry fur and crimson mane. Everything about him seemed to be warmth and softness; the warmth of his hands on her skin beneath the fur; the sympathy on his face and the sheer gentleness of his touch upon finding every little nick, scratch, and scar she bore. The way he examined, washed, caressed those scars of hers so gently; then the way he wiped the silent tears from her eyes when she wept upon his finding them; that he didn't think less of her for them, at all! Emotions warred within her as her David held her gently like a foal, comforting her yet saying nothing, just... allowing her to cry, to let it all out -- to let out what she wasn't sure. Tempest remembered the warmth of the towel, next; an enormous thing her new Lord wrapped about her over and over before gently drying her off, mindful of her many scars. Tears were all she remembered next. Did she cry again? She wasn't sure. Certainly something must have happened; when David gently unwrapped her from the towel for an instant she was cold, cold like she had always been before, under the hoof of the Storm King. She... she did not want that any more... She remembered gasping, shivering; she remembered a distressed noise, a sob welling in her chest; hoof reaching out, please I don't want to be cold anymore...! Then the world came back into focus as her cold hoof was taken by the warmth of a human hand; as she was gathered into human arms, picked up by him and carried away; eyes becoming misty with yet more tears as she tucked her head under his chin, nuzzled into his neck; smelling his scent, eyes closing gently. He was here with her. Her human. Her human. The one who had done what the Storm King never had. He whom had repaired her horn, fulfilling her dreams; at once shattering and rebuilding her world in a single moment. She remembered the breath from his nose tickling her mane; remembered raising her muzzle up to his nose; eyes closed still, she blew softly into his nose as he inhaled; then when he exhaled she drew in his breath. Tempest remembered - in that instant - feeling so very, very pony. She had always been Commander Tempest, of the Storm King's Army... but now, with that simple sharing of breath, Tempest Shadow felt like she was a real pony; that she belonged. Without knowing at all what he'd done, this human, this non-pony had given something else back to her; and she decided then and there she would stay with him forever because of it. Tempest remembered thereafter of her journey in her human's arms coming to an end; of her body being lowered down upon a soft surface. A bed? Tension filled her as she heard the rustle of her human removing his clothing. Surely he wasn't going to... to... to do what the Storm King, and his guards had-- had d-- Eyes closing, she buried her head into her forehooves, another awful noise escaping her, awaiting her human's awful betrayal... Only... what she expected to happen never did. Nightmares of the Storm King's disgusting clawed hands upon her body, of pleading agonized cries, of begging him to stop vanished in an instant as her human, fully clothed in sleepwear, settled into the bed beside her. Tempest remembered relief; remembered turning to her human, seeing him sleep-clothed; remembered gripping him, hugging him, holding him so tightly; she remembered flashes of wordless noise, wracking sobs, begging, pleading, screaming, please forgive me!, bawling like a foal; she saw the confusion on her human's face, then horror, sympathy and utter sorrow. Tempest remembered a soft duvet being pulled over them both; remembered her human gently moving, pulling her against him, spooning her... She'd been acting like a foal, she realized, a silly dumb foal... She remembered the warmth of her human's much larger body against her back as she stretched out against him; hands with fingers, not sharp claws, holding her close, not tight but relaxed and loose. And oh gods she remembered being petted, and petted, and petted, those amazing hands running from her poll to her croup and almost everywhere in between. She snorted, snuffled, groaned as David expertly drained tension she hadn't even known she was carrying from her body. Forget the Storm King, forget your horn; this is magic! she thought, irrationally. Above all else, Tempest Shadow remembered the warmth; and that, as long as her human was with her... she would never be cold again. - - - - - - - - "He loves her without knowing how, or when, or from where. He loves her simply, without problems or pride: He loves her in this way because he does not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no him or her, so intimate that her hoof upon his chest is his hoof, so intimate that when he falls asleep her eyes close,"