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"Sig... I..."
"I don't care. I've wanted to do that for two years. I didn't have the courage to before... but now... Saure... I want you. I'll have you, if you'll let me. If not... I won't pretend I can take you by force, you'd have me dead in an instant. But I'd risk it; I want you so badly..."
"Sig, you're drunk. As am I. Go to bed, your head will be clear of this tomorrow, and you'll feel a fool if you remember your words." She stumbled in trying to rise, and stepped away from the hearth, gathering her scarf and gloves. Sig grasped her wrist and pulled her back down.
"I haven't thought this clearly in a long time. I know what I want... and by all the gods that govern, I'll have you."
"Sig... please stop embarrassing yourself."
He pushed her easily to the rug, and kissed her again. He forced his tongue between her tightly pressed lips, and Saure cried displeasure into his mouth. She slapped him hard, and sparks flew with the impact. She scrambled from his grasp, and he held his cheek. Tears sprang to his reddened eyes, and his countenance was hurt and despondent.
"Why? Why must I always be rejected? How can I never have what I desire? Why won't you just let me, just this once? I ask for so very little..." and the poor boy wept.
Saure felt somewhat guilty for her actions, but it may have been the drink. She knelt before the boy, and held him for a moment. Then she looked him in the eyes.
"I'm saving myself for the man I am fated to fall in love with. I know him from my dreams, and I know in my heart he exists. I know he is looking for me as well. And even though I have not met him, he alone I love."
"Why can't I be him, then? Why couldn't you just pretend... just for one night?"
"Just as you are eager to lose your innocence, so am I. But I want it to be as it should, not like this. And, say sorry, not with you. You'll understand tomorrow. Come, I'll help you to your quarters."
Sig allowed, grabbing the bottle first. They made their way to the dormitories together, huddling against the cold.
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 Page 119
Fred was in the painstaking process of folding his letter when Saure came through the door. Fred looked up with wide eyes, startled, the folded note pinched daintily in his teeth.
"Help me pack, Fred. We're leaving this place."
His eyes widened further, and he tucked the note away in a nearby textbook. "To where?"
"Anywhere, everywhere." she gave a breathless chuckle, placing a pale wrist to her forehead, her other hand to her hip, and smiling lightly at the ceiling. "It just hit me tonight. It's amazing! A perfect paradigm shift! I don't know where I have to go, I just know that my path leads me away from here. From this city. I've learned all I can from here. All I need is the Manifesto." Her head dropped slightly, and she gave Fred a smile that made him warm all over. "And you."
Despite her charming little claim that all she would need in that world was a book and a large cat, she had accumulated a significant amount of cargo. Luckily, she had also accumulated a comfortable sum of money. The queen of Nora believed in the advancement of education, and thus decreed that all students be paid to learn. Usually this enticed the students to stay on in Nora after their learning was complete, and their knowledge aided the city's advancement. That, and the fact that Saure had never quit her small potions and plant business, added up to several heavy little coinpurses. She felt confident she would have no monetary problems on the road.
"Nag!" Saure called into the university's stables. Nag and Juniper still shared a stall, and Saure hugged both their sweet-smelling necks and pet their soft muzzles. Other horses in the stable stirred and one or two protested sleepily for the rude newcomers to be quiet.
"Another midnight leave, my deary?" Nag rasped tiredly with a horse's smile in her old eyes. Saure grinned and nodded.
"Go on, then. This old mare stays where she is."
Both Saure and Juniper protested, but Nag shook her mane with effort. "I'm tired and used up, loves. My cart-pulling days are done. You're all three young and full of gumption.
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