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Some Kind of Paradise (butterfly0408/gray)

She looked into his eyes and she believed him. Something inside her knew that if there was any way she could ever be reunited with her baby, her little girl, it was only Roland that could do it and WOULD do it for her. Which left new questions burning in her head. On in particular. "Why? Why would you do this for me? Keep a slave when I would be better use to your pockets to be sold in a few years? Why vow to find my child? I don't understand. No one has ever done anything even close to this for me before."
 
And here it was, the question he knew he would have to answer. All at once his feeble little wall keeping out all those thoughts came crashing down, and he found his head whirling. Through it all, he was dimly aware that he was talking, giving out his reason before his head fogged up to much to tell the truth. "Because...." A long pause here, closing his eyes as if the input from them was to much to handle. "Because I... Eden.." Opening them just enough to see her, he took a deep breathe and answered.

"Because I won't let this happen to you, I won't let you also be betrayed who acted like they honestly cared for you, because I.. Because I love you."

Be could hardly believe he'd said the words, and no sooner had he then he found he was leaning against the trunk of the willow tree, his breathing a little hard as he closed his eyes, cursing himself for not being able to handle everything going through his head right now.
 
Eden's face grew pale. She had been told these words before and it had ended in pain and heartache for her then. Something in her tried to tell her it was different, but then something else was telling her it was all the same. "No one can truly love a slave," but it was not her voice that came out. As like before, she was repeating something she had been told. "I am unlovable. If I wasn't my family would not have sold me into slavery in the first place." But what hurt the most was that her heart wanted it. She wanted Roland to love her for she loved him.
 
It seemed part of him was still in reality, and hearing her words did him a favor, it collected him enough to answer her words, speaking low and quite as he began. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want... But.." Collecting himself enough to sit up in full, he breathed in an out, trying to get his own line of thinking in order. "Thats not true. No matter what anybody has ever said to you, it's not true, nobody is beyond being loved, I have to believe that. It doesn't matter what you are or where you came from, Eden, believe me, those men that did that to you, that told you all that.. They were wrong."
 
Eden was sitting up in front of him, her tears started to slow at last. In a natural way this time. She didn't smile at him. She didn't return his words. She didn't say anything at all. All she did was just gently lean into him once more and wrapped her arms around his chest, holding herself to him, eyes closed as she took in a breath and let it go again slowly. Finally composed it seemed as she cuddled into his lap.
 
Roland wasn't sure what to do with himself. with everything flying in and out of his thoughts, he wished for something to ground him in reality, something to pull him back into his calm. As it turned out, that which he wished for turned out to be Eden. With her curled up in his lap, her arms around him, he found it was much easier to be calm and focused, to collect his thoughts as he pleased instead of letting them fly into his head all at once. Holding her in return, at length, he spoke again, eyes only barely open. "In truth, your position is partly responsible for why I was able to trust you."
 
She was still nuzzled against him as she spoke back to him, "Why is that?" Eden's eyes were still closed and she barely moved minus her hands gently rubbing his back as she held him. Eden needed this right. Just to talk gently to one another and bring them both back down to earth again.
 
Letting a single hand fall absently through her hair, he gave a small smile at her question. "It's a long story, I doubt you'd want to hear it." Though he said this, truthfully, he wondered whether or not he honestly wished to tell her. "I suppose you could say that had you come into my care only a not even a score of years earlier, I wouldn't have been much different then your other masters. But.. sometimes people change, when things happen." He was grateful to her now, her soft touch against his form, it was a world of comfort, and to be bringing up this matter was no small thing for him.
 
"I've told you my story master," she whispered as she nuzzled her head against his hand at her head, "You don't have to tell me yours... if you don't wish to. But know I would listen. I am a good listener." She didn't see how Roland could have ever been like the others. He was kind and had compassion. Could he really have been like the others? What could have happened to change him so?
 
Letting out a small sigh, he nodded against her, knowing she was right. If there was anyone.. It was her. taking a moment to collect himself, it almost seemed as though he would speak no more, and then, finally, he opened his mouth, speaking in a lightly conversational tone.

"Back what must have been.. seven or eight years ago, I met another woman.. She was older then me, and I was young and impulsive, we.. we took a liking to each other, it seemed, and met several times thereafter." Pausing, as thuogh he didn't want to speak the next part. "Her name was Alice..." Taking another moment of reflection, he let the name hang in the air, feeling the weight of it on his mind. "She.. She seemed as perfect a partner as I could wish for, witty and alive, free and beautiful. And.. And I loved her, and one night, she told me she felt the same way." Biting his lip, he spoke the next words as if detached, as though this had happened to someone else. "For almost a year this went on, and we grew very close, during all this time we remained celibate, partly due to her saying we should wait for the right moment, and partly I suppose because I had never been with a woman before. However.. One night I invited her to join me at a small lodging my family owned way out in the woods, I suppose I intended to ask her to marry me..." Shaking his head here, as if the thought were foolish, he looked down for a moment, staring at the scar on his chest. "That night... It was only us, and... she invited me into bed with her, and we...." Sighing, he let the assumption be made without saying it. Once more he looked at the scar on his chest. "I don't know what woke me, whether it was luck or something else, but when I opened my eyes... She was crouched above me.. Holding a knife." Reach a hand up, he lightly touched the mark on his chest without thinking. "I twitched just enough for her to avoid hitting my heart, one more second and I would have been dead. At that time, I suppose she saw someone approaching, for she fled through the window, and the only thing I remember after that was my father, apparently he'd found out the truth about Alice. She'd was from an opposing family that wished to to dispose of me, the only heir to my families house. All I remember was my father rushing me on his horse to the nearest doctor, I can't remember much else, other then that I woke three days later. I'd lost a lot of blood." And with that he'd said it all, or at least, almost all of it, being quite for what seemed an eternity, he bit his lip once again, choking back as much sorrow from his voice as he could.

"She waited so long. Till, I trusted her... Till I loved her."

((Whew, sorry it's so long, I wanted to get it in one go so you didn't have to sit through the whole thing doing nothing.))
 
"Oh... Roland..." Eden felt his pain. To love someone and think they love you in return, only to have them betray you... she knew it well. But not even she knew it as badly as he did. Her master had not tried to kill her to dispose of her like Alice tried to do to Roland. HER Roland. Eden pulled back and ran her hand along his cheek a moment, "I am sorry. No one should have their heart played with like that." She leaned her head in and kissed the side of his mouth before her hand lowered to gently brush over the scar. "We both bare the scars of loves betrayal, but it does not make us monsters. It only makes those who gave them to us the monsters." Her head bent down and kissed his scar tenderly.
 
Her words were the best comfort Roland could have possibly received at the moment, but despite that, he felt bad for another reason. "No, what happened to me was one moment.. But you." As she kissed his scar, he leaned his head into her shoulder, his hand gently running over her own, tenderly tracing the lines, and then his other hand dropped to her navel, holding there for a long moment. "What was done to you was to cruel for even monsters." With this, he could only hold her as he was, arms lightly held across her back palms spread over the surface as he held her close.

"But no more.. No one will ever take from you, nor lay harm on you, as long as I draw breathe."
 
She didn't tell him how there was a difference. He was a nobleman. It was his birthright to live a privalaged life without a worry or a care in the world. She was not born into that right. She was a slave and these sorts of things were expected of her. It made what was done to them both even in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered to him a moment before the sounds of distant thunder reached her ears as well as the wind picked up it's assault upon the willows around them, "It is going to rain..." she stated to him though not suggesting they go inside yet. Would things be the same when they left this little paradise under the willow? Or would he take it all back and prove himself to not be her prince charming but her black knight like the masters before him.
 
The sound of thunder and the raising wind came as quite a surprise to Roland. Quite frankly, he had forgotten about what lay beyond the reaches of their little paradise, their little hideaway under the tree. Not answering for a moment, he looked up to the branches, seeing that they showed small bits of gray cloud through them. "Indeed it is." He also did not suggest they go in yet, yet after a time, he gave voice to one other thought. "Let us stay here a moment longer perhaps, I know we must go in eventually, but..." Smiling lightly, he simply held her a little tighter. In truth, with all that had happened over the last few days, it was nice to simply sit here, and be with the one he loved. Love, no matter how many times he thought it, he couldn't believe he had found someone, after all these year, whom he could feel that way for again, if not stronger.
 
"But if we leave here... will it still be the same..." she voiced what she thought they both felt. She didn't move from his embrace, just rested there until the sounds of rain started to hit the tree branches above their heads. Nature was trying to force them out. How she wished she never had to leave this place. "We must go..." she whispered.

((I have to go as well. Will be back later on.))
 
((Ah, thats right, well, if I'm right, I think this is the end of the second day, so her birthday would be the next right? Hmm, Roland doesn't know that, does he?))

Closing his eyes at her words, he thought for a long while, not sure how to answer. Knowing how he felt was one matter, but putting it into words was another completely. Turning to the tree, he reached out with a hand, breaking free a small piece of the bark and pacing it within her hand. "Always." Offering her a smile, he closed her hand around the piece of wood. "But keep this as a reminder if you'd like." Roland knew that this would be difficult, that his life would likely not be the same ever again if he went through with this, but in his eyes, that was a good thing, all he wanted now was to make this one before him happy.
 
She held the tree in her hand and looking up at him, she had a smile on her face at long last, "I will. Thank you." Her hands closed around the piece of their paradise as she held it to her breast. "We have to get dressed before the rain gets to hard..." she reached for her clothing and started donning them once more, the piece of tree in her hand the whole while.
 
Nodding briefly to her words, he watched her take the piece of wood before standing himself, feeling a drop of water land upon his head after filtering through the thick canopy overhead. Replacing his shed clothing, Roland dressed slowly, finally slipping his shirt back over his head. Turning about to face Eden, he offered a smile, and thought about what lay ahead. Truthfully, he really did intend to get her daughter back, but to do that... There was a way, he was starting to see, but he thought it would be best to leave that for tomorrow, today had been trying and eventful enough already.

"Well.. Shall we?" He said, offering her his arm as he stood before the thing veil of leaves separating them from the garden beyond. "We may have to hurry if we don't wish to be soaked."
 
She finished adjusting her skirts before looking to him and taking his arm, "We shall." Taking her skirts up in her hands, she prepared to run with him towards the house. As they left the shelter of the willows, the spring air was filled with the warm rain. It was actually.... refreshing.

When they were about half way to the house, Eden suddenly stopped in her tracks, her grip on him forcing him to stop as well. When he turned to look at her.... she was smiling and laughing. "Haha HA!" she took a few steps away from him and held out her arms, looking up to the sky with her eyes closed as the rain fell upon her. She started to spin around in circles as she became soaked, but enjoying every moment of it.
 
Stepping out into the warm rain, Roland gave pause, taking in a deep breathe, loving the scent the tepid water added to the air. When she stopped him, he was confused a moment wondering if something was wrong. Therefore, when she let go and began laughing, spinning about cheerfully, it was all he could do to stand and watch, mouth slightly agape.

The sight and the sound of her voice were contagious however, for the corners of his mouth began to pull themselves up, till he was smiling wide and joyfully, his own laughter adding to hers as he turned his gaze to the heavens, holding his arms out and closing his eyes.
 
She spun a few more times before spinning herself right into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck and pressing herself against him, laughing still. "So much for not getting soaking wet, hmm?" She finished the thought with another little giggle.
 
Welcoming her into his arms and continuing the spin as he did, he planted a kiss upon the top of her head once more, before smiling and looking up to the sky again, unable to keep away his own little grin. "Mother natures showing off, it'd be rude not linger and admire her work." He commented at length, smirking lightly at the corny phrase. Folding his arms together below her chest, Roland rested his head atop hers, letting themselves be enveloped by the rain, soaking through his clothes as his hair became matted down with the pour.
 
"Mmmm," she just sighed a little as she looked at him, that smile still on her face a moment before she leaned in and kissed his lips tenderly.

Meanwhile, from a window above, Isabella looked down on them, a plan formulating in her head. Let them be happy for now. They won't be for long. Not after Isabella sent a few notes to a number of Roland's peers. See if he keeps his slave for his lover after they find out.
 
Staying like that for a moment, when she kissed him, Roland, smiled gratefully and kissed her back, oblivious to the plotting stare the pair of them were receiving.

Finally, he managed to extract himself from her lips, and gave a small little smile. "I suppose we really should go inside, lest we catch sick, and that simply won't do." He noted, however, despite his words, he didn't move at the moment, wondering if he should tell her now the plan he had formed in his mind just recently. for now though, he supposed it could wait, not even entirely sure it would work, he'd have to see about this first.
 
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