Departing

Druid was prepared for Arawn to arrive today and just as he expected the god drifted from the sky into his little garden as he was cutting cabbages for dinner. Seeing his inner light again, he noted that something was changing in the old god. What it was, he wasn't sure, but he bet it had something to do with Sirona.
"Druid," Arawn greeted, "What have you seen with your wise eyes?"
It was a usual question for Arawn to ask, but it seemed almost humorous now. The god was transparent in that he was hoping that Druid would tell him something he could use to his ends, but Druid hadn't seen much of anything concerning Arawn lately.
At least, not anything that he would willingly share with Arawn. He almost smiled at the twinge of a foreign emotion, disharmonious and pointless, in his chest. He stood and turned towards Arawn.
"That your training of Sirona will take place. She'll be down soon enough if you would like to come inside and wait."
Arawn hesitated. He wasn't sure what to think of Druid's response. It wasn't often that he got the sense that Druid was hiding something from him intentionally. Had Druid seen something that would help him or hurt him? Was whoever he served telling him not to divulge anything?
Arawn could never get a good hold on Druid's motives. The protections around him that at once gave him his power and kept Arawn from influencing him were as strong as ever.
"Thank you for the invitation, but I am just fine out in the sunlight. Besides, I would not want to intrude."
"Don't pretend to care about how I would feel about you in my home," Druid waved flippantly towards him. "You land in my garden as if it is yours all the time. I'm not a maiden that you're trying to charm, so there is no need to lie."
Arawn chuckled, "You would certainly be the strangest maiden if you were. I thought we agreed to be cordial."
"You have never agreed to do anything," Druid said, filling his basket with cabbages. "I have simply acknowledged that it would be pointless to stand against you."
Arawn chuckled, "Well, it wouldn't make sense for an old man to stand in the way of the youth."
Druid chuckled, "No, I suppose not."
Arawn flinched at the sting of that comment. Whether he meant it to be a rebuke or not, it felt like it. He was eons older than Druid, though he wasn't sure exactly how old the man was. The appearance of the vessel he was in was a matter of Arawn's tastes and goals.
Sirona was young in every sense of the word, but Druid was wrong. He wasn't planning to stand in Sirona's way. He just needed to guide her path to where he needed her to go.
Perhaps Druid had been referring to himself as the youth, but Arawn didn't know the man to have any plans for himself that didn't involve healing the most wretched beings on the continent that he could find.
Arawn heard movement within the house as Sirona came to the back door and walked out with a bag across her shoulders and dressed in a plain gown of rough cloth.
She looked like a peasant, but Arawn smiled at her.
"So radiant today," he greeted with a slight incline of his head. "A pleasure to see you, Sirona."
Sirona smiled at him broadly, "Hello, I hope you weren't waiting long."
"Not at all," Arawn said, "Enjoying a bit more of Druid's company than usual."
Druid stood; the long hood of his robes billowed in the wind as he turned towards her.
"Did you take the bag of rations I left for you on the table?"
Sirona nodded, "Yes, thank you."
"Do you think I would not feed her?" Arawn asked, "You can hardly learn magic on an empty stomach."
Though admittedly, Arawn didn't need to eat to fuel this vessel. He hadn't thought of food at all.
Druid shrugged and pressed a hand to Sirona's shoulder,
"Enjoy your time and be careful."
"Thanks, Druid. I'll see you soon."
Sirona walked towards Arawn as Druid opened the back door to his house.
"Don't worry, Druid," Arawn said. "I swear to bring her back. Take care of the cabbages, won't you?"
Druid turned back, waving almost happily, "The squashes are more troublesome, but thanks."
Arawn felt his eye twitched in annoyance. He could never quite get under Druid's skin the way the man always seemed to get under his.
He would deal with annoying Druid some other time. For now, he focused on Sirona. He intended for her to be a much more powerful version of herself when he returned her, and far more enthralled with him than she was. When that happened, whatever tentative hold Druid had on her would be gone.
Before Druid could close the door, Arawn pulled Sirona against him and smirked as her cheeks filled with color. She smelled fresh from a bath and her breathing had started to pick up as their powers mingled and the heat of her body warmed his blood.
"Ready?"
She nodded and Arawn forced the Earth's pull to release them and the wind carried them up into the air. She shrieked as they flew above the tree line. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she held tight, shutting her eyes tightly.
Arawn laughed, "Your first lesson will be to deal with that pesky fear of heights and flying. Your fear will lessen as you get more used to flying as your transportation, but for now, focus on me."
Sirona peered up at him timidly as he adjusted his hold on her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her close to him, and grinned.
"Think of all the things we could get away with up here."
"There is a town just beneath us!"
"No one can see us," Arawn said, nipping at her ear. "That is another spell... Imagine all the things that could be done with that."
Sirona swallowed. At first, she thought of sneaking into Conna's castle completely undetected, but that fantasy started to melt away as the heat of his body seemed to grow against her and he slipped his hands up her back in a slow, sensual caress.
"Your fear of heights is truly a fear of falling," Arawn said, swaying them in the air. "I will teach you to challenge your magic so that you can float."
Sirona swallowed. it sounded fanciful, but the fact that they were stopped in the air above a forest of trees meant that it wasn't impossible.
She nodded, "Okay. What do I do?"
Arawn took her hands from his neck slowly. A jolt of power went through her. She felt it jabbing something inside and pooling in her hips before the warmth started to spread through her body.
"Do you feel that?" Arawn asked, a bit breathless. His eyes were heated and a soft flush was on his cheeks.
Sirona swallowed, nodding.
"That is your magic, or at least our magic together in you."
Her eyes widened at the sexual tone of his voice.
He licked his lips, "Focus, Sirona. If you do well, perhaps I'll reward you."
She tore her gaze from his.
"Will your magic to be light. As light as the air." Arawn said softly. "Try to match the way my magic feels."
Slowly, he felt her magic shifting around as she tried to match his power. A little flutter of hope and awe went through him as he felt the weight of her body ease and he could withdraw the power he was using to keep her in the air.
"That's it," he said, almost breathlessly. "Just like that."
Sirona wrinkled her nose as she felt something changing in her and willed it to change a little more, but she couldn't get it to go any further as if she'd hit a block of some sort.
She opened her eyes and he smiled, "That's very good."
Sirona smiled back, her heart fluttering a bit as she felt a little more assured that she could do this.
"I'm going to let you go now," Arawn said.
"Wait--"
"Calm down," Arawn said, softly pressing a kiss to her cheek gently. "You are already floating. Just for a few moments. Focus on what you're doing."
She nodded, shakily and relaxed her grip slowly until he was barely holding onto her at all.
He removed his hands and stood in the air a few feet away from her, but she didn't fall.
Her heart hammered, "I'm still in the air."
He chuckled, "Well done!"
Sirona beamed at him until she felt something in her start to stretch like fabric pulled too tightly. She felt the power giving out, and her stomach lurched. Arawn's smile dropped and his eyes widened.
She was screaming before she realized what was happening.
"Arawn!"