Not About Duty

Writers: Heather, Suzee
Date Posted: 7th March 2015

Characters: Jylanya, Naton
Description: A confusing decision
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 11, day 9 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Veerona, Milga

Jylanya

She paced in her office. This attitude of Veerona's seriously sapping
her joy in her wedding preparations. Jylanya so wanted her foster
daughter to share in her happiness but the little girl remained sullen
and intractable on the subject. Things just went much better when she
didn't talk about it.

So she'd sent her off to spend the night with Milga. Perhaps some time
with the teen and away from the preparations would help a little.
Truthfully she doubted it but just couldn't bear any more of the
constant pouting and refusal to participate.

Finally she made her decision and rubbing her hands through her hair
she peered into a mirror and blew out a deep breath. "Alright
Jylanya," she said under her breath. Then she opened the door and
walked purposefully toward the end of the Master's wing. A soft knock
and she waited with half a smile in the empty corridor.

Naton had been engrossed in an essay written by one of the journeymen
seeking Mastery, his new spectacles perched on the end of his nose,
when the knock came at his door. Jumping in his chair, the Master
Dolphineer quickly snatched the glasses from his face, folded them up
and stashed them behind a statue on the mantle. He wasn't quite ready
to let others know that he needed glasses while he was reading. After
all, he was still plucking out any grey hair that dared to make an
appearance in his thick head of mahogany hair.

"Coming!" He called, snatching up a shirt that he'd tossed over the
back of his couch. For a moment he held the garment between his hands,
and then hastily stuffed it behind the cushions of the sofa before
jogging over to the door. Swinging it open, his eyebrows lifted and a
smile tugged at his lips.

"Jylanya." The surprise in his voice was tempered with pleasure at the
sight of his betrothed.

She smiled and blushed. She'd seen him in with the dolphin's of course
but it was different like this. "Can I come in," she asked before she
lost her nerve.

"Can you...?" His eyebrows lifted as he repeated her question in
surprise. "Of course!" Naton stepped back and opened the door. "What
brings you by?" He asked as he closed the door behind the Dolphin
Hall Headwoman.

"Naton I..." she walked farther into the room without looking at him.
"I've been thinking while you were gone and..." she didn't quite know
how to word what she was trying to say. She knew she was the one who'd
kept him at arms length and slowed everything down when Veerona had
reacted so badly to their engagement. "I don't quite know.."

Naton listened to Jylanya's words with growing uncertainty. The tone
of her voice and the way she couldn't look him in the eye made Naton
certain that this was bad news. **Oh, shells, she's breaking off the
engagement.** The realization was like a cold bucket to the face, but
all of the clues pointed to it. They'd been a part for a long time,
and even when they were in the same place they couldn't really _be_
together because... Well he didn't really know why only that Jylanya
had been very proper and kept a respectful length from him during this
engagement.

He waited, pale faced for her to tell him that it would never work and
that they could just "be friends."

She wasn't looking at him and didn't see him blanch. Tied up in her
own feelings and need, she wrung her hands and paced. "While you were
on your trip things got better with Veerona but when you returned,"
she shrugged and didn't finish the sentence. "I just can't take it
anymore. I've tried so hard to do the right thing."

Naton sat down heavily on the armrest of his sofa, his shoulders
slumped forward in defeat. **I should have done more. I shouldn't have
taken that stupid trip and stayed here to help her through this
engagement thing with Veerona.**

"I'm sorry, Jylanya." He murmured softly.

She turned back to him puzzled. "It's not your fault," she said.
Noting the slumped shoulders and downcast look on his face, her brows
drew together. She shook her head. "I've decided that this time it's
not about doing my duty to my family it's about what I want."

The Master Dolphineer didn't think the woman standing before him could
have dug the knife any deeper into his heart, but she had, and now she
was twisting it. "I see." He looked down at the floor.

"Yes," she smiled softly at the top of his head. "I want you."

Naton's head snapped up and he stared at Jylanya for a long moment
before he finally said, "You.. want.. me?" But wasn't she breaking up
with him? His puzzled eyes searched her face as he tried to decipher
what she meant by those three words.

"Yes," she said softly and came toward him. "I want to stay..." she
was embarrassed to ask him like this. He'd never pushed her and she
wasn't experienced contrary to what some might think. They'd never
done it and, well... she wanted to. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

"You want to .. stay with me?" Naton stood and pulled Jylanya into his
arms as a relieved laugh escaped him. "Forgive me, here I thought you
were trying to tell me that the engagement was off." And the entire
time she had been working up to tell him that she wanted to _be_ with
him. Naton, while a charming gentleman in many ways, was a man
nonetheless and he'd thought about having Jylanya in his bed on many
occasions, he'd just never dreamed of her coming to him this way.
**Talk about a turn-on.**

"Oh no," she said as she melted into his arms feeling truly loved and
cherished for the first time in her life. "I want to stay with you,"
she said into his chest. "I love you." She knew they'd discussed her
past and her prior marriage to a cripple that had been pure duty for
which she'd received no reward not even the possibility of a child to
comfort her. Both Veerona and Naton were fulfilling parts of her she'd
never known she'd lacked and she wanted them both.

"I love you too." Naton returned with a smile. Pulling back a bit he
captured her face between his hands, studying the features of the
woman that he loved as he gently smoothed his thumbs over her
cheekbones. "I am so glad you came to me tonight." He said as he
lowered his lips to hers.

Last updated on the May 9th 2015

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Not About Duty