Cleansed By The Moon: 1333

[Lady Liliana Campbell]

Winter 1333, Drynoch

"Don't let this stop you. No more, Child, throw it away.
Write that memory down on parchment, and burn it."

Peregrine: The Wolf moon rose in the dead of night, the black of night fallen quickly in the cold bitter month. In distant fields over Cullin Hills, the fires rose heavily to the night, and the sounds of drums missed by those of waken ears, heard all by the souls lost into the world of their slumber. Dreams were for mortals, lost only to find themselves awake in memories to come, memories of the past. Peregrine lived in moments as this. He found his heart so full of whim that even the wicked grin could not hide his desire for the night. The cold wind pressed him to the house of Kendrew, in the Valley of Eirian, and the door that lead to Lili. It was an odd hour of the night. Early yet of midnight, he crossed the lawn like a shadow against the moon, his roguish hands buried deep in the pockets of the captain coat--Griffin Colors. His hair was tied back, and fallen strands tucked back behind his ears. The knock on the door was gentle at first, no stranger came to call, though he had never been to the home the lovers shared.

Liliana: Quiet. That was what enveloped the home of Kendrew and Liliana Campbell. Yet it was more than just a small home, instead similar to a manor only of wood, with stone steps that led up to the double doors. Inside children slept soundly in beds while the parents did as well. Only one parent anyways. Liliana found it hard to sleep at night with a disgruntled child kicking your stomach. Instead she sat in the kitchen off the main hall sipping tea, talking with a servant woman quietly, a shawl about shoulders over a simple tan gown to keep away the chill. Though fires were lit in bigger rooms to keep the house warm it was fairly large and didn't always work. The sound of a knock was responded to by a guard who stood inside, door opened to eye the man suspiciously. Already a servant rushed to fetch Liliana who came quickly in return toward the main hall doors,"Please, Duncan, do not question Peregrine so. He does not come to do harm I assure you." Though why he'd come at such a later hour the young Lady Campbell did not know. A smile was offered as Duncan stepped aside with a sigh of discontent. "Would you like to come in Pere? We have a fire going and some tea in the kitchen. It is quite cold this evening."

Peregrine: "I've not come to hide from this night, Lili.." He spoke with a soft smile, the full moon at his back. "Get your coat and walk with me?" That no doubt would have the entire household shaken, a pregnant Liliana off with the pirate in the midst of the night. He would turn a cad grin up to the Duncan at the door, the man who stood a good foot taller--but didn't most. The years had been kind to him, his happiness showed dearly over a broad back carved by the sea, and a thick chest. He had been so thin, from a life on the run, living in trees, and eating only when called. Rosalind kept him, healthy and happy. Peregrine turned that weight with the rigs of his ship, and might force of the navy. A story could be told over lips of the devil, the smirk of a demon, but on this night he was a much different man. The very beat of the drums, the fires at midnight could race unheard by the world, but just from where his feet connected with the ground he felt the pulse. He would extend a hand to her, palm open so that her vintage could read it, and welcome her to the dawning of her adventure.

Liliana: All it took was that request to have the young guard Duncan staring aghast. He was young yet, still in training, and a born Campbell clansmen. For the pirate to ask Lord Campbell's wife out made him immediately think dark thoughts. When the man's young face turned slightly red and lips parted to emit a denial was when Liliana stepped forward. "Duncan, not a word. Peregrine would not hurt me. You are young yet and this makes you suspicious. Now, fetch my heavy cloak." Some would say that Liliana should be more worried about manners and formality, and the behavior of married women- especially married pregnant women- yet not a thought went through her mind of that. Peregrine was her friend's husband, who was more a sister to her really, and Kendrew had faith in her that she'd never cheat. "A walk would be well though my steps may be slow." The touch of hand to stomach as smile widened,"Where will we walk?" By this time Duncan returned with cloak and was already helping her put it on.

Peregrine: "Slow let them, but take them..Walk with me, come into the night." He would smile taking her hand and curling it into his arm. The ground was covered in snow, and he pathway that they lead would find no steps to ever prove there had once been a man. The white blanket sparkled under the full moon, with all the pride of a pack's howl. It was the largest of the year, the closest and yet still Pere had never felt it so far away. He felt something in this woman that let hours pass in his own mind. There was a dark cloud that seemed to surface from her past, a shadow that followed her. What had come of his Roma? He knew her there, he felt her there. "The fires." Every full moon the gypsies danced in the hills, fires at midnight blazing to welcome their mother. All could be healed then, and like the stars they wished on they drew her down from the sky to fill their hearts, and heal their pains. Laughter could be heard as suddenly the world went quiet, once the trees grew thick, and the path lead them up. The sound of the hands against the drums could rival her child, but the rumble in their chest could not be mistaken. It was a wild heart, this one of his that suddenly found himself searching for own. In his own right, he was their King, but still the reason was beyond what any would understand. He did not lead them, he did not protect them, and now he didn't even live with them. Yet they were his family, and so was Lili. "Welcome, Liliana..welcome home."

Liliana: Ah, if Liliana's heart did not so thoroughly belong to Kendrew it would be easy to lose ones self in a charming smile from Peregrine. Instead she gladly accepted his arm and let him lead her as they left the shelter of the indoors. Outside the chill was more keenly felt, but movement was welcome with the kicking of the child. "Where..." Though it would not take long to spot the fires. It seemed almost mystical the way the flames danced in the approaching distance while the land was blanketed in snow. Ears began to easily pick out the sounds of the music, hearts matching its beat easily to that of the drums, and she found- the child within her womb calmed. Mocha eyes widened at that as she turned her head to look at Pere. It felt like home though never had Liliana ever lived around any of it. At least not that she could recall- having only been a year- and even what Adira had shown her...had never felt that way. "It does feel like home, Pere. Though I've never understood how." Liliana had always yearned to know more of her past, her ancestry, her family...yet it'd always been just out of her grasp. "As if the music flows through me."

Peregrine: "Close your eyes." His hand did slip into her own again, his palm coming up to cup her own as he slid around her back. His lips came to brush her ear lightly before he whispered, "It does flow through you..listen." The music did stop suddenly, the Roma came to pause with all eyes turned upon her, that way the only voice she heard was that of their King. The night wishes of the birds did start, before the soft lull of a single pan pipe, a voice in the trees so ancient, of a mother long lost. A pair of hands came to rub the surface of the stretched leather of the drum, until a slow beat was started. "Let your mind go.." A little on the forward side, he would stop if she wished, but his hand came around to touch where the child did kick. He kept his space between her, would not draw her back against him though the pull was forceful. He wished to hold her, to let her fall back into arms that would support her. He would take her hand, and place it between him and the child. "Feel her move..she dances." He did smile then too. He had no clue of the sex of the child, but in a woman it was still a girl. "He finds pleasure in this night..holding nothing back. Why do you not dance."

Liliana: Each beat seemed to call to Liliana. It made her want to let it take hold as it once did. Lids drifted shut as he spoke, the slightest curving of lips, and she leaned slightly back against the supportive figure of Peregrine. Yet it took only one thing coupled with the music and the slightest swaying of her own form to make her jerk slightly away- the slightest brush of his lips against her ear. Tension straightened her spine while fear made lids shoot open. It only faded away at the feel of the child that he touched through the ground and the familiarity of his voice coming to her where another had begun to call from the distant past. "He." The child's gender may not be positive yet, but Liliana knew deep down. It wasn't just the musings of Lara or Dona that made it so. Some unknown voice assured her that this child would give Kendrew a son. "I ca-can't dance. The child is not yet born. He is innocent to the horrors that can..." Moving away now, Liliana sighed softly,"I am sorry Peregrine. It's not you that makes me." Only Kendrew truly knew the full details of that horrible time. It was hard to discuss.

Peregrine: "Horrors.." Nightmares, memories; sometimes it was hard to tell the difference. He smelled of the wild, the deep woods, where he should the sea, but even in his there was the hint of something more. They all faded, the gypsies in the night; each one slowly left them to stand alone by the fires so warm and inviting. It broke his heart, into a thousand small parts to watch her. Dancing was second nature to him..and in it there was much he knew she wished. For a moment she had become a book best read, the favorite part over and over; he knew she loved to dance. Peregrine could feel it in her like the wind over his face, and he would bet she was beautiful. "Liliana.." He called to her softly reaching out to brush his fingers across her own, so not to startle her before he laced his fingers within hers. "Don't turn away..Come..sit." The fallen logs were vacant now, a favorite place. "Of what horrors come from dancing, child.?"

Liliana: Horrors? A great many it seemd though more with the memories. Liliana had not been whole upon her arrival in Skye. There'd been a time even when she flinched away from Kendrew. It was hard for her then without the music, but with it? The tremor that shook her small frame was not from the cold. Comfort was gathered from the feeling of Peregrine's hand lacing with hers as she let him guide her to a log. "I..." How did she even begin? To tell someone the details were hard enough. Oh, she'd given Siobhan a slight glimpse once upon a time, but the details had been vague enough so that they only cleared away her worries. Free hand brushed strands of ebon behind an ear as she sat next to him. "I thought it'd all be gone by now, the fear, except it's not. Even when Kendrew and I made love in the castle garden- long before Aberdeen- it didn't fully wash away all those memories." Well, that would be one secret Peregrine was now privy to. The Campbells had lain together before they were married. "Yet I still can't dance." Swallowing tears that slightly stung at her eyes, she whispered,"I was held captive Pere for...well on a year...before the man had his men drop me half dead into Skye's waters." That wasn't the full story but...it was a start. "The man was a merchant and after work he accused me of stealing from him. My skin...proved it he said..." She paused to gather air into her lungs.

Peregrine: He could have gathered she had been mistreated, the way she turned from him had once been the same Rosalind had. Yet, she was not so timid. In her dreams was when she feared the most, and he wondered of the same. His wife came to the back of his mind as he sat here on the log, but it was this beautiful butterfly that held his attention. "Lili.." He free'd his hand from hers only to slide in closer, one arm coming to run over her shoulder in comfort before he took her hand again with the other. "Those days are past you.." He squeezed her hand, "Think of what life this son will live without the music of his mother? No thoughts of this..Not now." He let go of her hand once again to press onto the round surface of the growing baby, "You can not let him feel.." Peregrine closed his eyes as the wind blew, he felt her there too, and opened his eyes once more shaking his head, "Let go.." To the heavens he would motion, the full round wolf moon there in the eyes of her son. "It is a new year." He touched her chin lightly lifting her eyes to his own, "You have a good husband, a good family, and a new start. It is time to let go."

Liliana: Each word worked its way into her mind, pushing through lingering memories, as she took comfort in the closeness of Pere. It was odd to find comfort in one not her husband and yet it seemed most natural too. This was a dear friend. Liliana trusted him so much that she'd gone out with him in the deep of night. Blinking away tears that began to leak down her cheeks, she murmured,"Glenna, when she was a baby, would stop crying immediately at the sound of music. I see it in her, the way the music calls to her too, every time she watches the dancing in Carnival Lane. My Father used to tell me I was that way as a child." Shifting a bit, Liliana sought comfort in the act of laying her head upon his shoulder,"Did I do wrong Pere? I denied Glenna that and...I'd deny this child too." Squeezing her eyes shut at the touch of his hand on her stomach, Liliana struggled,"How do I just make it go away? The memories of da-dancing for that man...they're...still powerful."

Peregrine: "You did do wrong, Liliana." He would press his cheek onto the crown of her hair, closing his eyes as he held her. "But you can make up for it." He whispered, "Take her out. Heal through your child. Think not of any other, but the memory of how happy you were..and are. Heal through her..him, your husband." The moon. They were all drawn to the moon, in life and love, business and pleasure. All life started at the sea only to rise into the sky and sit with the stars. "Don't let this stop you. No more, Child, throw it away. Write that memory down on parchment, and burn it." It was something he and Ada did often. "The fire will take it from you." Did she still shake? "Come..enough for tonight, let me get you home."

Liliana: Where once was a frown of worry came a smile. It was slow and slight, but there nontheless. "I hear much about you, Peregrine, from gossiping tongues. Both now and in the past. Yet here we sit. I doubt many get to see this side of you and perhaps you are not a saint, but you're still a good man to me. Thank you for helping my children...helping me..." Tears still glistened in mocha eyes that met his, but they did not fall and would soon begin to fade. Already it felt like her soul was lighter. The child in her womb was now completely calm. Most of all? No more did her body shake. One hand sought his to squeeze it in kindness before she laughed lightly,"Aye, lets get me home. If I do not join Kendrew in bed soon he will come looking and have a search party out hunting us."