Welcome to Gaia! ::

I have been so swamped lately that I haven't had any time to work on writing anything for pleasure. And I'm to the point that I want to try to challenge myself with my writing, so what I've done with this exeprt (?) was to tell as much of the story simply through dialogue. I realize it's pretty vague in it's illusions to past events, but it's sort of something that just happened.





"What's she like?" Rhiannon asked with a weay smile. "This perfect woman of yours..."

"What's she like? Oh my... You're terrible, making me think all of this out! Well, she's beautiful..."

"Beauty above all else is it?" Rhiannon teased.

"No, not at all! It's the least of her virtues, but it was the first I encountered, so I thought it was a fitting place to begin. But her beauty also runs deeper than her physical appearance," Bennidict defended.

"What does she look like, then?"

"She's a fair height, and has a wonderful sahpe and figure. She's lean, but full in all of the right places to fill out soft curves. She's graceful in her movements, the way she walks or moves her arms even in the simplest motion, or the way a smile stretches across her face.

"She has the most expressive eyes I've ever seen, and they're such a deep, striking shade of blue. SOmetimes they're as light and clear as a couldless summer sky, and at others they're as stormy as the sea. But always, they're intense and seem to peer into the very depths of the person they're studying. Her hair is long, thick and soft, and gleams wonderfully in the light. So often, it smells faintly and sweetly of flowers.

"Her face in gentle, sweet. There's something child-like in the way that whatever she's feeling trickles down from her eyes to play on her face, working her expressive brow, wrinkling her perfect, gently sloping nose, making her full lips either smile or frown or pout, or the way that a crimson blush leaps up to stain her high, lovely cheeks at the most innocent compliment. She's the best sort of beautiful! She's the humble sort that doesn't realize that she is."

"Doesn't realize that she's beautiful?" Rhiannon asked skepticaly. "How's that?"

"Likely because she hasn't been told she is nearly enough. She was raised to believe that there are more important things in life than feelting outward appearances."

Rhiannon smiled. "She sounds remarkable."

"I haven't even scratched the surface yet," Bennidict smiled back.

"Then please, continue!"

"The rest is really rather difficult to put into words. It's all just so wonderful and... there. She's kind; she always has a smile and a kind word, or a patient and concerned ear for all she encounters. A person in need is a person in need to her, and all differences are forgotten while she does what she can for them. Maybe it's a hot meal, her time, a few coins that she can spare, or her maybe her skills to either sew a field or close a wound. It's all the same to her, and she never seeks any sort of repayment.

"She's patient, too. She'll wait for an oppertune moment rather than rush headstrong into something, and she deals with stubborn differences in opinion or practice commendably! They bother her, of course, but not too the point where she gives up or gives in. She'll stick it out unti lthe end for the best interest of all involved.

"She's strong, too. She doesn't skrink away from responcibility, and she refuses to withdraw from fear. If she's physically capable of doing something, she does it. Even if it places her in danger, she thinks nothing for herself. And the tradgedies she's lived through... I know strong men who were destroied by fewer, but still she carries herself proudly, confidently, and continues to live on because, really, there's nothing else for it.

"And I've never seen anyone love the way she does. Deeply, completely, freely. She gives all of herself, holds nothing back for the sake of "decency" and asks for so little in return. A smile. A kiss. A caress. To roll over in the morning to s aleepy smile and to hear her lover whisper softly that he loves her. Her love knows no bounds, be it for a person, a place, an animal, and especially her children-"

"Children?" Rhiannon interrupted.

"Aye children. You probably wouldn't know this, not many do, but all I really want out of life is a familt of my own," Bennidict blushed," and I want a woman who will enjoy the children as much as I will. She does. I've seen her with her own child, and she's absolutely wonderful!

"She's intelligent, emotional, intuitive and empathetic, active, talented, certain... She's perfect."

"She sounds too good to be true." Rhiannon said softly.

"I thought so too, once. But then I found her."

"Then what are you waiting for? A woman that wonderful won't go unnoticed. You'll lose her."

"I did once. And I died a little every time I saw her with him."

"Did you ever tell her how you felt?"

"No. She was so in love with him, and he was so happpy with her. He deserved that," Bennidict said sadly, staring off into the distance. "She'll need time, after losing him, before I'd even consider telling her."

"He sounds like he was a good friend of yours..."

"The very best," he nodded.

"You must miss him as well," Rhiannon said, setting the sleeping Tristan down into the basket beside her on the dock.

Bennidict was silent a moment, staring out over the calm, moonlit waters. "I do miss him. Horribly. But I also can't keep myself from thinking about the second chance his death may have given me. I hate myself for it, but I can't stop."

"You can't help how you feel, Bennidict. You aren't betraying him by continuing to love her or want her."

"Love? What makes you say I love her?"

Rhiannon smiled. "The way you talk about her. The breathless sort of whay you can't seem to say enough to praise her, and the way your eyes go so soft."

"Oh," Bennidict blushed. "I didn't realize it was so obvious."

"I don't think it's as bad as all of that, really. Who is she, Bennidict?"

"Oh, that's not really important right now... It's inappropriate, and I don't want to gossip..."

"You're not gossiping if you're answering an honest question. And I may be able to help."

Bennidict turned to look at her. She was breath taking, the way she looked in the moon light. Something resembling happiness had surfaced in the sad depths of her blue eyes and glittered there as she watched. He turned away, clasping his hands in his lap and paying particular attention to the way his legs dangled off the pier as the the silence stretched uncomfortably.

"You," he whispered, hoping that the lapping of the waves and the warm breeze would carry away the word inaudibly.

Rhiannon looked awa, her brow knitting together in deep contemplation as the fleeting happiness fled from her eyes. Often, she would open her mouth to speak, but would just as quickly close it leaving the words on the tip of her tongue unspoken. Bennidict flinched each time, the extending silence weighing more heavily on him far worse than anything she could say. During the silence, he filled it in his mind with all of the shriviling things she could possibly say. But none of it came to pass. There was only the silence, as even the wind and the ocean seemed to pause in rapt anticipation.

"Well," Rhiannon said finally, the wind and the ocean stirring to life again, while she was still clearly at a loss for what to say. "I... I really don't know what to say to that. I wish I did, but I honestly don't."

"Don't say anything," Bennidict reassured. "I didn't expect you to..."

"For how long?" she almost whispered.

"For how long what?"

"Have you felt like this?"

"Since the first time I sat here, on this dock, with you. It's only grown since then."

Rhiannon nodded, licking her lips nervously. She was weighing what she had to say next. Bennidict braced himself for what would, surely, be the world shattering blow to completely devistate him and place her eternally out of his reach.

"It's too soon," she said gently, reaching out to squeeze his thight. He inhaled sharply as she continued, "It's too soon for me to give you the sort of answer you deserve, one way or the other. You're wonderful Bennidict, and I don't know what I'd do without you to help with the baby. But, please, just give me time to let him go."

Thanks for the feedback. ^^ I'll try and get around to fixing them, but if there's only a couple, I did better than I thought for typing with no word processor at nearly one in the morning! blaugh