On the Wings of a Dream
by Forrister
Email address: forrister@hotmail.com
Feedback: Please – I really appreciate some constructive feedback. (Not necessarily positive feedback, but definitely constructive.)
Distribution: Please don’t distribute or archive my story without asking me.
Rating: PG – 17. Ok, this may be somewhat of an exaggeration but there are some adult concepts in here, hence the warning.
Disclaimer: I know Joss owns them all. I know I don’t. (I’m glad to be allowed to play with such wonderful characters.)
Note: This story is set during the night and morning after ‘New Moon Rising’.
I’m not entirely sure what to call this piece. It started life as an intellectual exercise, then got polished up a bit into a short story. It’s a one off, self-contained short (short) story, not my usual style. Oh and for the confused, the italics in the first half indicate a second point of view.
Thanks goes to Katharyn who coaxed me into polishing and posting this when I was going to keep it filed away in a disused filing cabinet, in a file marked ‘pointless fluff’. She also gets the credit with several of the good ideas contained in here.
Flying.
She was flying.
The earth was left far below as she rose on the thermals and glided like a falcon in flight. A part of her mind realised that she must be dreaming while another part rejoiced at this new found ability. She'd flown before in dreams but never high and never far. Just short flights that inevitably ended in being caught up in a tree and crashing to the ground. This time she felt an amazing sense of freedom, being able to go where she would and do as she pleased.
Clouds beneath her, sky above her, spreading her arms like wings and soaring far above the world below. She'd flown like this before. It was an escape from the prisons of her life - her own secret place where she could just be herself. Not having to live up to the expectations of others. Not having to see her shortcomings mirrored in their eyes. She was free to do what she wanted, free from constant scrutiny, free from embarrassment. Of course eventually she'd have to touch ground again but while she was here she could be whomever she pleased. But there was something different. A feeling that someone was missing.
As she swooped and rose through the clouds she felt a pull, slight at first but growing in strength. She turned and headed towards the feeling, watching the towns and farms fly by beneath her. The people below were invisible but she felt their presence as she always had. No one could touch her here. Not those faceless strangers that scared her so. Not her family who had stifled her until she’d escaped to college. This time however, that feeling didn't make her shrink back into herself. She was filled with a sense of freedom that was like nothing she had ever experienced before.
She spiralled and circled - performing intricate aerobatics in her freedom. Slowly she became aware of a force, drawing her in one direction. She turned and headed towards the place, staying far away from the criticisms and demands of the people below. She felt more secure here and strangely safer than she ever had before. It was no longer like she was fleeing from something, but rather moving towards something.
The pull was stronger, like an invisible line pulling her inexorably to some unknown goal. She wondered about it, and she also wondered why she didn't fear it. She'd always been so cautious before, careful to say nothing and watch, to run and hide herself. Never to push herself forward. Never to raise her head. What had changed? She felt the answer was very close.
That pull was much stronger now. Like a fishing line reeling in a fish, it pulled her onward. She wondered briefly why she wasn’t afraid, as she often was of the unknown. This seemed benevolent somehow, even friendly. She waited to find the answer.
It was another figure, a person flying towards her in a streak of red. She knew who it was before the features became clear. This person she had allowed into herself in ways she had never experienced before. This woman had caressed her soul.
There was a shape becoming visible – a sort of golden shape that was familiar to her. They had shared so much that she felt that the woman was a part of her. ‘The better part’ she decided as she flew towards her love. "Tara." The figure acknowledged her presence as they floated face to face in the air. "Am I dreaming?"
"I thought this was my dream?" Tara replied, grasping Willow's hand in wonder.
"Yours? Mine? Ours perhaps?" Willow replied as they flew together, hand in hand, dipping through the clouds and rising up to touch the moon.
Tara paused in flight and drew Willow to her. She remembered what had happened before they had fallen asleep. Willow had come to her room and she was so sure that it was only to say 'goodbye'. To tell her that she'd chosen Oz and that they could still be friends. Instead the woman she loved above all things had chosen her. Even thinking about it now, it seemed like a miracle. Willow had chosen her. The thought made her heart race and her soul sing. They had spent that night making love, giving and receiving, sharing themselves in body, mind and spirit, and finally falling asleep in each other's arms.
Now they were dreaming. Together? - Perhaps. The important thing was that they were together. Willow’s lips tenderly brushed those of her lover and then pressed into them with force and desire. She drew Tara's tongue into her mouth and caressed it as her hands caressed further down. It didn't surprise her that they were naked. She didn't even feel embarrassed or shy as she usually did. Tara's mouth began to move down her neck and inch towards her chest ever so slowly. She ran her fingers through the blonde hair and gently across her lover's back, throwing her head back as lips made contact with her nipples and began to nibble and suck.
Tara wondered briefly what had happened to gravity as they floated high above the clouds, taking pleasure in each other. Willow’s lips felt like fire on her skin and she was sure her lips were having the same effect on Willow's naked skin. They went on like that for ever so long. Nibbling, sucking, licking and fondling until their hands and lips reached the centre of each other's beings. It became unclear who was touching and who was touched as they began to melt and meld into each other. Like two flames of red and gold they intertwined and became one. Neither knowing where they ended and the other began. Tara was aware of their two forms spiralling high into the night and the brilliant glow that was streaming from them. Higher and higher, until they exploded in a shower of light in the sky and began to fall to the earth as a mingled rain.
Falling.
Falling.
*********
Tara’s eyes opened. She blinked a few times at the bright sunlight streaming into her window. Then she became aware of the weight on her chest. She looked down at the mass of red hair and instinctively began to stroke it. The events of last night came clearly into her mind and she remembered the hours of despair followed by the greatest joy she had ever known. She still found it hard to believe – that Willow had come to her and that they had shared such wondrous things together. It seemed like a dream.
Willow could feel the gentle stroking of her hair. For a moment she tensed, a little disoriented, but then she remembered where she was and who she was with. She relaxed and enjoyed the attention from her lover. Lover. That word rolled around her mind with all the sweetness of honey. Tara was her lover and her love. She wondered why it had taken her so long to realize it when in hindsight it seemed so obvious, so right. Last night was magical, in every sense of the word. It seemed dreamlike – yet more solid than reality.
Tara looked down as a pair of emerald eyes turned to look up at her. “Er . . . Good Morning.”
“Why did you stop?” Willow asked as she drew Tara’s hand back to her head.
“I didn’t want to wake you, love.” Tara replied.
That one word, “love” sounded like beautiful music to Willow’s ears. She savored the sound of it as she snuggled into Tara. “I was awake. Well, my eyes were closed but I was awake. Not that I was pretending to be asleep, you know. I thought you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you either, if you were asleep, which of course you weren’t so it didn’t really help at all, . . . really.” Willow blushed as her speech wound down.
Tara smiled as her hand resumed its soft action on Willow’s hair. Willow’s babble was like a breath of fresh air to her. She laid a gentle finger on Willow’s lips, letting her know wordlessly that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. She brushed the hair from her lover’s eyes as she spoke the thought that filled her whole being. “Last night was the most amazing night of my life.”
“Mine too!” Willow whispered. She was still a touch nervous – not of the relationship, but because she felt like she was standing on the edge of something totally wonderful and still a little anxious that happiness would be taken from her again. But here was Tara in her arms, solid and real. Her anxieties faded in a cloud of reason and she moved her hand to caress her love once more.
Tara was just happy to have the here and now. She didn’t want to think of what tomorrow might bring. Here and now she had Willow to hold and to love. Tomorrow would come soon enough. She pushed her fears out of her mind, silently swearing to give this woman the best of herself, as she leaned down to kiss Willow’s head.
As they snuggled there in the early morning light they forgot their fears, their individual situations, the problems that they might face in the future. Their thoughts were firmly fixed on each other. The physical bonding between them was a mere echo of the far deeper bonding of their spirits. A bond that was being strengthened with each passing breath. A bond that would continue to grow.
No matter what the future held, they had each other.
(The Beginning)
Somnia sunt surculos veritatis.
(Dreams are the seedlings of reality.)