Ranger's Apprentice: The Tantalizing Tales

Under the rain

The rain hammers down as if it means to beat the entire forest into the ground. They look at each other, Alyss, standing on the veranda and Will, just coming from Tug's stables.

In the rain Will's hair becomes one with his face, wetly draped over the bone structure that drives Alyss crazy. Her own hair, she knows, is slowly starting to do a similar thing, her long dress starts sticking to her body, emphasizing her curves.

He offers her a hand, which she grasps, and immediately she's pulled towards him. Alyss manages to lay one hand on his chest and look him into his brown eyes, before she turns away and spins. Together, they float and twist weightlessly around the clearing, spinning and jumping and turning and twirling. They are joy and laughter, love and grace, emotions given a physical form. Their laughs are warm and hearty, their smiles so genuinely sweet that warmth runs through their veins.

As they come to a stop, Will looks his wife into her twinkling grey eyes and feels his heart explode with love. He kisses the droplets from her lips, and she could feel his lips smile against hers. Alyss sweeps his hair aside and she kisses him just over the collarbone. Her lips find his again, and she sinks into his arms. She puts her hands on his waistband and drags him closer. Will buries his face in her shoulder curve, his hands flexing around her back.

Rain dissolves them, rain surrounds them, but it doesn't manage to wash away the love that radiates out of them. They aren't afraid of falling, those raindrops, but neither is the couple standing amidst them. Because they know that if one of them would ever fall, the other will always catch them.