Beachcombing for Iron

I woke up early, for once. It couldn't have been later than six, though my watch never displayed the right time, here; assuming there even was a right time synonymous with the otherrealm. A fog had settled over the shore - the temperate air hung heavy and thick, and I wondered if it might rain here, as well. Did Planet get tropcial storms..?

Still unnerved by fragments of half-remembered dream, I glanced at Liryl - who was still very asleep, though it seemed fitful. She head pulled her blankets around her tightly - as if to hide all but her face, which was turned from me. Her mouth was agape as she took quiet, and perhaps painful, breaths of air. Her burnished blond hair hung about her head in a tangled halo.

... Feeling like a creep for watching her rest, I sighed and took stock of our surroundings. The fire truly had dwindled to nothing - the remains of all that we had burned were nothing more then flame-encrusted cinders that smelled faintly of the sea. Despite the fact that the wind had started to pick up, I felt uncomfortable just waking Liryl... For several reasons. Guiltily, my eyes slid from where they had been staring back at her - to the sand. But of course, there was nothing there but sand - and nothing else.

My hands slipped nervously into my pockets as I turned to watch the fog rise off the deadend fire, creating the illusion of a ghostly smoke. I didn't notice at first the faint rustling behind me that indicated Liryl had woken - not until I felt her fingers, faint and soft against my shoulder.

"You're... Awake. How did you... Sleep?"

"Well enough. I'm not much of a morning person, so - just trying to gather my thoughts!.."

That was true enough - it was what I'd come here to do, wasn't it?.. No. You came here to visit her. And now my thoughts are more cluttered than ever. What was I supposed to do? What am I suppoesd to do..?

Liryl pulled herself up beside me, onto the uncharred driftwood I was using as a makeshift seat. I felt a bit better with her beside me, even as some part of me felt it was the absolute worst thing imaginable to be sitting beside her at this moment.

"How about yourself? As promised, the fire didn't engulf us well we slept - so, there's that."

"... You have a strange - sense of humor. I slept... Fine. Though I am eager to go to a place... Today. You will come with me."

Despite the strength with which she said those words, it wasn't a request or a demand - it was somehow more than that, hesitant and pleading and certain, all at once.

Especially the last one.

"Absolutely.  Ah, you know - before we go, let me whip us up some breakfast! This'll be really good, I promise!"

A few moments and a very meager - especially compared to last night - fire later, my magnifcent breakfast of tinned oatmeal and canned coffee was complete. Liryl seemed extremely trepidatious about both - but trusted me enough to try the oatmeal (which she liked) and the coffee (which she spat out, laughing).

"P-paha! You cannot... Is this really a beverage... Where you come from? Do all people from your world - only like bitter, sour things?"

"Just me, actually. Though most people like coffee, or at least learn to love it. Eh, you tried it though, so more for me!"

Liryl contented herself with cold water - I'd noticed what looked to be purification systems in the temple basement, and some part of me wanted to ask about them. She looked so thoughtful as the water slipped between her lips that it felt wrong to disturb her with such a minor question... Her eyes drifted open and stared at me, quizzically.

"Am I drinking this... Oddly?"

"No, no! Not all - I guess I just spaced out. Again. Been doing that a lot, lately. Coffee hasn't kicked in yet, and all that. No. More than that - I have a lot on my mind, Liryl."



She smiled, perhaps a bit more painedly then yesterday, at the mention of her name.

"Perhaps... That makes two of us, then. Would you mind... Accompanying me back to the temple?"

A steely determination crept into her voice - a determination born of an unshakeable will.

Wordlessly I rose to my feet and doused the fledgling fire - the two of us returned to the temple as the fog engulfed the area that until moments ago had been a tiny refuge for us - and hid it behind a peal of warm mist.

As we entered back into the temple again, Liryl held up her right hand, indicating that we should stop. I hadn't realized I'd been marching in linkstep with her and jolted to a halt a little dazedly. She wheeled to face me, expression unreadable.

"We may be gone for most of the day. Is there - there anything that you need to do, here?"

Shaking my head, I say a faint glimmer of satisfaction slide slowly onto her lips.

"Good. I - that is... Good. The other thing I must ask is, you - you will not leave, regardless of what you see, will you?.."

"Is it dangerous?"

I don't know why that was the first thing I asked - perhaps some memory of the struggle against the dark being still tugged at my mind, though it had done so less and less the more time I spent around Liryl. Her eyes widened in surprise at my question, as if it had been the last thing she expected.

"N-no!... Of course, of course not. It is merely... I do not want you to leave, earlier than - than a week."

"Hey, I did say a week. At least. I'm not the sort of person to break a promise when I've made one. I've got plenty of other flaws - but I'll stand by my word... No."

"I'll stand by you, Liryl."

For the first time today, Liryl smiled. It was as refreshing as it was beautiful - the way her lips soared upward as freely as a bird in flight. I expected her to go and change, perhaps, or get something from her room - but she did neither of those things, instead wheeling towards one of the many byzantine control systems in the temple and activating it in with a practiced touch. The floor rotated beneath our feet, slowly revealing another passageway down; as Liryl rode back towards me, she looped her hand in mine, staring at me hopefully.

It took a bit of practice - but arm in arm, we made our way down the spiraling ramps. Though it was dark, luminescent fungus that shone a pale, unearthly blue lit the walls - I could make out some of the organic machinery that seemed to be part and parcel of the temple within several of the mushroom clusters. Though it was unfamiliar, I also felt it would've been impossible to lose our way.

At the bottom of the rampway was what was unmistakenably a train - of sorts. Unlike the excavation car I'd found before, this looked to have been... At one point, long before Liryl or I had lived... A passenger train, not too dissimlar to our own. But vines had overgrown it, rust stained the sides, and the track it stood on was in a state of perpetual disrepair. Liryl smiled a little to herself.

"This is... We can get to the forests, from here. One of them - I do not, know how many... And where the others may be. It is one of the reasons I, want to explore... More of Planet. It would be nice... To see others."

Her eyes shone at the prospect of visiting other groves - and for a half a minute I wanted to tell her that we'd do it together. Biting my tongue, I looked at the darkened cavern ahead of the tracks - it had no lighting at all. A small ramp, perched on several boxes, served as Liryl's access to the train - as she strode over it, her fingers nearly left mine - and I raced to follow her into the train, not wanting to lose the connection our fingers held.

A faint smile graced her lips as I did so and the rusty doors of the train clattered shut behind me with a grace that belied their appearance. Several more myconoid lights lit up the interior of the car, as Liryl reached for a lever, and pulled it down with an audible effort.

There was a hiss, perhaps of steam or something akin to it - and the train slowly came to life - moving into the darkness at a surprising pace. I helped myself onto a seat that had grown thick with soft lichen, and Liryl wheeled to a stop next to me - like this, we nearly came to the same height. I smiled a little sheepishly as I felt her fingers tighten around my own - and then the darkness of the cavern had passed, and we were outdoors again.

Reinforced glass tunnels did little besides reflect my awe as the sea roared past for a few brief moments. I could see Liryl beaming in that same reflection as squid-like creatures with skin that shone primsatically drifted lazily around us, and one-finned fish with eyes as big as dinner plates stared lazily through the glass towards our solitary train. We were headed upwards, however - only a small part of the tunnel had been built below sea level... And perhaps it had not always been so, at that.

The ocean faded away to pale yellow sand kissed by the fog from earlier, and Liryl turned to face me. She opened her mouth to speak, stopping in minor frustration as strands of hair fell into her face and between her lips. I brushed her hair aside, and realized just how close her face was to mine - and how soft her skin was. We stared for some time at one another, Liryl's eyes not moving from my own... Though this time, it was she who broke the silence.

"I... We... It is some time before we reach the forests, here. I thought... Perhaps, since I am showing you these... You might - tell me, a bit of your world."

Blinking a few times to remember what exactly that world was when it seemed lifetimes away, I gave a weak nod of my head.

"Y-yeah. There's a lot of similarities, as I've said - but we're in an age like the ancients before your time, or even the time of the priests. There are cities that stretch on - for as long as we've been traveling, and then some. There are towers of steel and glass that reach as far as the volcano - and factories, huge workshops that produce most everything we need."

"It does not sound... So horrible."



Her voice had a curious timber to it - interested, yet cautious, uncertain where it might be going.

"Is it... Very sad, where you come from?"

Well, I hadn't been expecting that. Watching the sand around us give way to soil the color of charcoal, I shook my head - then paused.

"Why do you ask? I mean, I don't think of it that way, but - "

"You seemed... Very sad, both times you came here. Now... And then. I just felt - perhaps, it was an especially sad... World."

"Maybe it is - or maybe it's just me. I guess there are as many answers to that question as there are ways you could ask it. I think - I'm happier here. And I think part of it is that I do feel like I keep running from the sprawling, increasing interconnected world we're in - and eventually it'll catch up with me."

A friend of mine had talked excitedly about how world wide webs and hypercards would bring us all closer together. Though I'd been happy he'd been so excited about it, I remember staying up all night, wondering exactly how much more connected I wanted to be with every person I knew... And did I want that connectedness to grow organically, or rise like one of the complexes dotting the landscape where I'd lived before the move..?

Liryl's fingers left mine, bringing me back to reality - because she'd moved to embrace me. Her body seemed so small, suddenly - as if she was trying to compress herself against me to shield me from something only she could see. I felt the warmth of her skin through that same pale yellow sun dress - and I felt her breath, along with mine. I did the only thing I could -

I embraced her back, tightly.

She seemed surprised at first, then went completely silent and still. So silent that at first I thought I'd done something wrong, only to feel her fingers moving down the back of my neck, slowly.

Finally, she disentangled herself from me, smiling gently.

"We already are connected... All of us. But you do not have to be connected to those around you, all the time. Those who... Are important to you will be there... When you need them most."

Pausing as her smile widened, Liryl pointed outside the window. Trees - tall as towers and some as thick as small houses - had begun to appear sporadically around us, and up ahead grew so densely as to blanket out the entire sky. Their skin was burnished brown, and their spiral-like leaves a brilliant, withering red.

"We're - we've arrived!.. You should pay attention to the trees here... I find that you can always... Think more clearly, in the woods."

"I couldn't agree more. Shall we?"

The train had jolted to a stop moments ago, but everything seemed so peaceful I was almost loathe to get to my feet. Liryl had take my hand excitedly, however - and though her eyes were patient, she was clearly eager to leave. Her energy was as contagious as her smile, and we stepped off the train. There was no ramp here - but the door opened out onto the forest floor, sheltered with fallen spiral leaves.

Around us, the trees rose omnipresently, the spirals dancing through the air as they fell infrequently. Not for the first time, I wondered if there were seasons here, and what their differences to ours might be. Liryl stared pensively at one, brows narrowing as if she was reading a fortune.

"I was thinking about my life... Recently. Before you'd come back, I wanted... To leave and explore more. Now I want that - more than ever. But I think - think that to do so... I need to learn more then just, how the machines here work. I want... To learn as much as I can. I feel... Since, I am the last... Even if I am just a ward, I should also try... To keep the teachings of the priests alive."

"A tough goal, even for someone as talented as yourself."

Liryl looked at me as if she felt - or perhaps simply was worried - I was mocking her. Thinking of the myriad thoughts that could be drifting behind those imperceibtly deep blue eyes right now, I chose my next words with care.

"... But one I know you can reach. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Certainly, I could've went on for some time and given her advice - but this was Liryl's path, and it was far better I felt to listen, then to speak. To her end - Liryl seemed to approve, but was silent for some time as her wheels crackled against fallen leaves.

"... I do not know. I think - there is probably not, at this time. There may - not be, ever. I would like it, however if you were nearby. If perhaps - sometimes, when I need someone to talk to, we could... Come here."

As the trees closed in around us, I think I could feel a little of the same spirituality Liryl felt in such a place. Forests had always seemed sacred to me - but the quiet canvas here was like a sea of wood and red leaf. These were perhaps the tallest things Liryl had personally seen - and unlike the roar of a cityscape or the harsh beauty of a mountain, there was an overwhleming feeling of sanctuary here.

"I'd like that. Listening to you helps me, as well. I don't feel quite as frightened when I'm with you."

"... Frightened? What of..?"

"Everything."

We continued on in silence after that, both of us lost in our own thoughts. Finally, we reached a glade in the woods - the sky was still invisible here due to the denseness of the forest canopy, but the ground was bare where one of the trees had fallen, carved out by wind and perhaps rain. It's trunk had been worn away into the soil, the soft, almost pillow-like that had spread across the train's seats had spread like wildfire. Liryl bade me sit, though she did not sit herself, instead circling the trunk repeatedly, the wheels of her chair wearing grooves into the soil.

"... You will leave again, won't you."

"In around a week, more than likely."

"... Why."

"This isn't my world. I have a job to do, and friends - obligations, and -"

"You're scared of them! And... You don't want to do them, so you rush back... To them?!"

Liryl was angry, more than angry - her voice shook the leaves around her, causing them to rise and dance as her chair whirled to a halt. She faced me defiantly, eyes burning with anger - and something else, something uncontrollable and untameable as the forest itself.

"I cannot... Stop you... Nor would I, even if I... Could. But then - why... Did you come back. Why... "

"The one thing I messed up before I left - I'd wanted to say goodbye to you."

Hahah. I 'messed up'. What a selfish thing to say. Liryl then had been an afterthought as the world collapsed around me, my only thought at the time being escaping with the doctor and Amanda. Had I come here just to pretend it was some minor moment of forgetfulness, say hello and goodbye in rapid in succession and then just disappear?

"No. Liryl, that's not right at all. What brought me back her is you. I - "

Liryl put her fingers to my lips, firmly. Her body trembled as she pried herself out of her wheelchair - and fell onto me forcefully. Her legs splayed where they ended, knees to the side of my hips as she straddled them. As the breeze rustled her sundress, I was aware of the fact she wore nothing under it. She made no motion to hide herself as I saw the soft rise of hair above her lower lips - only stared at me, intently. Then her hands pinned me down against the soft, downy lichen - her face inches away from mine - but hesitating to come closer to than that.

"Do you... Truly find Liryl... So terrible..."

Her breath was uncertain as it tickled my cheek and teased the stubble of my chin - as uncertain as the look in her eyes, alternating between desire to stay, and desire to run - both feelings I knew well.

"I am so... Monstrous?.."

Her lips slid against mine slowly - her kiss was not skillful, but languid, savouring my lips against hers as if they might disappear at any time. Her breath tickled me as her tongue pressed forward hesitantly to mine - then pulled back.

She broke the kiss, eyes shut as she tried to speak without pause. Her breath sounded even more forced as she did.

"You can go. Back to where you came from, but please. Please just let me have... This."

As she stopped, halted at the last word, I could see the tears forming underneath her otherwise shut eyes. I reached up to wipe them away, and for a second felt as if her grip against me might yield to bat my fingers away - but it did not. Her skin was soft to my touch, softer still without tears. As her eyes opened hesitantly, blue irises framed by soft eyelashes - her lips parted, questioningly.

"You want this, Liryl?"

"I have... Wanted this since before you left. Since you returned."

I'd guessed as much, but all the same... This...

"Things like this are never simple. There's still a lot - we barely know each other, and - "

Liryl laughed, this time bitterly.

"I am not... Looking for anything like that. I just want someone... who will hold me without... Seeing me for something.. I... More than that would be..."

Catching her breath, Liryl eased down against me. I could feel the weight of her hips, heavy against mine, and fought to remain cogent.

"You are - even before I was aware of this... Very few... Looked at me, like you do. Do not think... I don't know."

"Moments like these change people, Liryl. It isn't always easy to remain close - after you've - after we've..."

"That too, I know. But you will soon be gone regardless, won't you?.. I - I would rather... Have this memory, then."

Her lips drifted towards mine again - and I met them halfway. Her eyes widened in shock, then drifted half-shut as our tongues entwined, the taste of her saliva bitter against my lips as we kissed slowly at first, then feverishly.

As she pulled back from the kiss, a trail of our saliva hung translucent in the forest air, then broke. Liryl's eyes glistened in blissful surprise - then she launched herself against me again, the strength of her arms keeping me pressed down as she left a path of frail kisses down my exposed neck.

Already, I could feel her hips jutting against mine weakly, all of her effort going into trying to force her slit, now hidden by the flowing yellow of her sundress, onto my unexposed girth. She was pressed up against me so tantalizingly close that I could make out the gentle curves of her breasts through the fabric of her dress; but this was too fast. And if Liryl wanted this memory - as much as I wanted her - I wanted it to be more than this. Managing to wriggle free from the pinning grasp of her hands against mine, I pressed my fingertips under her dress and up to her stomach - shivering against her skin as I eased her back.

Liryl stared at me hesitantly as I pulled the sundress off of her. I took my time, taking care to trace every inch of her skin - marveling at the tautness of her stomach, the lines of her sides as she drew in every breath, the slope of her breasts as they rise and fell, the rise of her shoulders as they cradled her neck... Her eyes, reminding me of the sky hidden by the trees above. Our eyes met, and I knew this was no longer a dream. Kissing Liryl passionately, my fingers slid over her breasts, digging into their soft skin and kneeding it beneath them as Liryl squirmed, biting her lip slightly.

I felt her nipples growing hard under my touch as she begun to grind against me again, needily and impatiently - I could tell, because her fingers had dug into either of my sides enough for her to lift her hips up, trying once again to desperately mount me without me even having removed my slacks. I slid my left hand from her breast to the small of her back, smiling a little as it arched forward - and helped pull Liryl closer to me. She seemed confused at first, her head tilted to the side - but moving towards me nonetheless.

As the disharmony of scattered hairs above her opening drew closer to my face, I planted a single kiss above her thighs, watching her shoulders twitch as I did - then begun to kiss and nibble her flesh as I drew closer to her slit, my tongue teasingly sliding through the mop of hair above it - already slick with her juices - before parting her lips, tentatively.

She tasted sour, yet faintly sweet as I drank her scent up greedily - my tongue retreating back into my mouth before entering her completely. Her hips moved, but barely - mostly as result of the tumultuous wreck Liryl had become above as I ate her out. When it seemed as if she had reached her limit, I stopped to a half-cry of disappointment - instead sucking an a tiny nib of flesh above her entrance, while sliding a single finger into her cavernous warmth. Liryl gasped, but could not quite moan - all her energy going into not collapsing as she shook wildly, sweat coating her skin and dripping down from her breasts, to her thighs, down to my waiting tongue.

While she shook under the pains of sweet agony, Liryl managed to find enough resolve to pry the shirt from my back, buttons catching against me to both of our laughter - but we had no time nor interest in unbuttoning it. Then her fingers danced feverishly to my slacks, intent on yanking them off with the same haste. I quickly removed my other hand from where it had settled comfortably around her waist to unzip my slacks and shake them to my ankles, letting Liryl remove them and my boxers with a fevered rush of fingertips against skin.

I felt my rod break free - and her fingers dance across it's engorged shaft, the tip expanding even further between them as they pumped it up and down enthusiastically. I tilted my head back to moan in unexpected pleasure and surprise - and in that moment, Liryl seized her chance, pulling herself up and mounting me in a single fluid motion, her hips dropping onto me in a hot mess of desire as the delirious warmth inside of her wiped all other thoughts from my mind - I needed her, right now.

The walls of her slit clung to my rod tightly - I was so deep I could barely see myself as she ground against me. The only sign that we were unbreakably interlocked, besides the occasional flashes of my meat in the air as she rode it feverishly, was the mess of our fluids staining our hips and growing more sloppy against our skin by the second. My fingers ground into her thighs, helping her rock against my even as I could see her teeth biting into her lips and her eyes rolling back into her head. But she was too warm, too wet - I wanted her too much, and I could feel it welling up inside of me.

For the first time, moaning and yelling her name in a haze of desire - I came into Liryl, the warmth of my seed spilling into her and dripping out of her even as she continued to ride me, sloshing against her hips, her stomach - even the underside of her breasts as I came wildly. But Liryl was hardly done, unwilling simply to stop there. Her face hinted at her own building pleasure, still yet to reach it's zenith as she rode me furiously, her arms strained and sweaty as her body rocked against mine with a desperate need.

Her breasts swayed and bounced as a pale blush began to rise against her cheeks - her blonde hair falling all over her face in scattered strand as she rode me so furiously that my skin began to feel as if it were burning from the heat of her body. My shaft began to ache, even as it continued to spurt into the divine release of her depths - and finally, with a shuddering of her body, Liryl collapsed onto me, the sweat-and-cum-stained surface of her skin pressed down against me as she held me so tightly I wondered if she might start once again.

Finally - hesitantly - I moved to brush the strands of hair from where they obscured her eyes.

As we stared at each other on the lichen-bed in the forest, I felt her lips, soft and gentle, against mine... Followed by the imperceptible warmth of her smile.

The trees closed around us, quietly...