Simmie Learns What Is and Was Ch. 02

Having no idea where to search first, she wandered the halls and corridors of the keep, looking at the portraits on the walls, studying the faces. Some she knew, some she didn't recognize, but still felt a certain kinship to them. Feeling herself being drawn to the ground floor, she found the staircase and descended it. The room that seemed to be pulling her to it was near the front to the right, so she followed that instinct and came to a closed set of double doors. Opening them, she was bathed in sunlight and the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. Dozens and dozens of roses and other flowers, beds of them, lining the room. A beautiful atrium. Silently admiring their beauty and delicacy, she wandered amidst them until she reached the back of the room, and found Hiney sitting in the corner staring out the picture doors into the woodlands.

"Good morning, Hiney, or I guess, I've outgrown the childish need to call you by that horrid name, Gil." He looked up, his eyes bright with emotion, and something else, she couldn't quite name. "Good morning, Simmie, I trust you rested well. You were quite the sound sleeper when I left this morning. How are you feeling about the things you seen and your memories?" He said as he moved over on the bench to make room for her to have a seat.

"Yes, well, one would be exhausted if they had relearned things that were gone for over twenty years, now wouldn't they?" biting her lip, she wanted to ask where they went from here, and did he still intend on holding her to the hand fasting that had been done so many years ago, but didn't know how to approach the subject.

"Simmie, it is what is meant to be; I cannot go back on an oath I made to your father that day. Grayson was my friend, and I cannot ignore the duty that I am honor bound to keep. We will be married tomorrow night, when the moon is full and at its peak." Finished speaking, he stood to walk away, but not before she stopped him.

"Hin.. Gil, you cannot mean to force this marriage on me. I am an adult, and a free person. Arranged marriages aren't done or enforced anymore, at least not in the United States." She stopped herself just short of putting her hand on his arm. "I mean, I admire you for your honor and integrity, but surely you must see that I do not hold you to the commitment you made so long ago."

"It is you who do not see, Simmie. What is done, can never be undone. The hand fasting was a marriage vow that was taken. We are forever marked for each other. I have never been unfaithful to you, since the day we were hand fasted, and I will die without ever being with anybody other than you. If we are not wed tomorrow night, you will never have children, nor will I, because we will never be married to anybody. We cannot mate with anybody other than the one whom we were promised to. Like it or not, that is the way things are done." With that, he left her in the middle of all the beauty, with tears in her eyes and a heavy burden on her heart. "Well, Simmie, looks like you know what you have to do, toots." Came the inner voice that she so wanted to shut up just once.

Hungry, Simmie headed off in search of a kitchen. "Hedo Miz, wot can I ged fer joo?" the short chunky cook (whom she later learned was named Brunhilde) asked Simmie as she entered the kitchens. Never one for girlish figure-favoring foods, Simmie said the first thing that always comes to mind when she's needing comfort food, "Got any Cherry Garcia or Chunky Monkey on hand?" to which she got a questioning look. "Ice cream. Do you have any ice cream?" Aha! The light bulb comes on she thinks. "Och! No Miz. Joo need something better fer yer body than Ice cream. Let's get joo something that will do joo good, no? Brunhilde has just de thing fer joo. Beef tongue wit noodles und broth. Eet will hit de spot." Oh my, thought Simmie. Beef tongue.. blehk. "Okay, Brunhilde, just point me in the direction of the dishes, and I will serve myself." Simmie offered and received a look that sent her to the nearest chair and table.

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After a rather unpleasant encounter with a beef tongue and some rather tasty noodles and broth, Simmie headed out to the grounds. Entering the stables, she found a horse stabled off by himself. A beautiful stallion, palomino and more than just a little cagey. Slowly opening the stable door, she picked up the nearest brush and started brushing him down. "Aren't you just the most meek and beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on? What's a pretty boy like you doing caged up when you should be out running through a field somewhere chasing some pretty Philly?" She crooned to him as she brushed him down. Amazed when he nosed into her chest wanting her to rub his nose and scratch his ears. "I'm going to saddle you up and take you out for a run. Nothing else for us to do, why not get some air?" she said to him as she headed off to the tack room in search of a saddle and gear. Ten minutes later, the stallion was saddled and she was in the saddle headed out to the nearest field when she heard a bellow like she'd never heard before.

"Simaya get off of him, he'll kill you! Hurry!" turning she seen Gil running at her hell bent for leather. She turned the horse around to face him "I'm fine Gil. I just want some air, I'll be back soon. He won't hurt me; he's gentle as a lamb. Go rain on someone else's parade." And with that, she headed off towards the nearest field. "Insufferable man. He thinks he owns me, buddy, what do you think of that?" she asked the stallion, to which she got a snort and toss of the head as a reply.

Ten minutes into her ride, she seen something out of the corner of her eye, and when she turned to look, it was gone. Odd, she thought, it looked like a flash of silver fur. An hour later, she decided they had been out long enough and wanted to head home when the stallion spooked. He started tossing his head and snorting, pawing at the ground. Looking around, Simmie didn't see anything, but she wasn't one to take chances. She turned him and kicked him into a dead run back towards the keep. "I don't know what you sensed, buddy, but I lay my trust in you, take us out of here." She told him as he hightailed it back to the stables.

Unsaddling the stallion, she brushed him down again, and got him some fresh hay before locking the stall door and heading towards the barn door exit when she was grabbed and pulled into an empty stall filled with loose hay. Simmie didn't have a chance to react before she was slammed against the wall of the stall and a seething Gil was in her face yelling at her about how she could have been killed. All she could understand in his rantings was "he's a killer, untamable, and you decide you're going to take him for an afternoon stroll." After he'd worn out his temper on her, she tried shaking his hold on her loose to no avail. "Listen Conan, I will do what I want WHEN I want. That horse is no more a killer than I am. He was perfectly gentle, and as a matter of fact, he got spooked just a little while ago, and all he did was head back for the keep. Any other horse spooked like that would have thrown their rider and went crazy." She gave back as good as she'd been given.

"WHO is Conan? You know my name, so stop provoking me, and did you see what spooked him?" he belted out like she was a field away from him. "You can stop yelling any time now, GIL. Conan as in Conan the Barbarian, because that is what you are acting like. No I didn't see what spooked him, but whatever it was, you can be sure it was a big enough threat to him and me that he didn't want to face it down. I gave him his reign and let him bring me home. Now, let..me..go." she said trying once again to get out of his grasp. "Simmie, I don't know how else to tell you than to just say it bluntly, stay out of the fields and the woods to the north. I seen what direction you came back in, and they aren't safe. There is something up there that you don't want to encounter. The woods and fields around here are safe, but the North fields and woods are off limits, okay? I don't want to lose you."

"Gil, if you will treat me like an adult, rather than a child, then I will listen to reason, but until then, you can kiss my ass. I am not your slave, and you are not my boss. You know how to be reasonable when you want to be, so why not do it?" Trying one more time to shake him loose, she succeeded and went to turn her back to him to walk off and was grabbed one more time and tossed onto the hay.

"Get off of me you oaf!" was all she got out before he was on top of her and kissing her with such a fury that it scared her to death. Fighting him, trying to get him off of her, she scratched at his back, pulled his hair, and tried kicking him. Nothing worked, and she soon forgot that she was trying to get away. A warmth spread through her limbs, her blood felt like it was on fire. "Gil, please, I can't breathe. Stop." She begged, trying to get some semblance of sanity back. "Oh God, Gil. Don't stop." As he kissed his way down her jaw to her neck and his hands crept up under her shirt. His hands were work roughened and warm on her skin. Pulling him closer, trying to sooth the ache that was quickly overcoming her to have.. something… she needed to be filled, she wanted his skin on hers. "Gil, please, I need you." Begging for what, she didn't know.

Her hands found their way beneath his shirt and up over his back, running them back down to his pants, she started unbuttoning his pants when her hand ran across his hardness. It was huge, and moved beneath her touch! "Gil" was all she got out before he recaptured her mouth with his. His hands had unbuttoned her pants and found their way inside at some point as his fingers were cupping her mons and she quickly forgot about his pants and what was in them. "Ohhhh, Gil, ohhhhh God, Gil!" Just as suddenly as he started kissing her, he was off of her. Panting and out of breath, she asked "What? Why did you stop? Why did you start?" feeling suddenly ashamed for some reason, she pulled her shirt back on, buttoned her pants and got up, not even bothering to dust herself off.

"Get out. Go to the house. Leave! NOW!" Glin roared. It didn't take Simmie more than 30 seconds to clear the doors of the stable house and be halfway across the lawn towards the doors of the keep. "Ya really did it now, toots. Gave him too much. " came the voice. "Oh, shut up for once. I don't need you on my back also. Go away, as a matter of fact, STAY Gone!" Simmie huffed as she slammed the front door and headed to the room she'd been given. "Okay, if that's the way you want it, see ya toots." And just like that, the voice was gone, and Simmie felt both relieved and saddened. "Of all the insufferable, pig headed, heavy handed, jackass things to do. He has to be the biggest jerk I've ever met!" Simmie ranted as she kicked her shoes off and threw herself on the bed. "Prick." She muttered as she pounded her pillow.

Later, after the house had quieted, and long after Simmie had found her way into fitful slumber, Gil slipped into her room from the adjoining doorway to watch her sleep. "Ah, Simmie. You don't know how close you came to bringing out the beast today. You scared me to death, and then infuriated me to the point that I lost control. How we'll ever survive our wedding night is beyond me, because as surely as I stand here, you strip away my control over the beast, and bring him to the surface fast and furious." A few hours later, he finally found his own bed and rested, but not before he had a run to the North Woods to see if he could find what had spooked Beezibub, the stallion. He cursed himself for having turned went home before her ride was finished, but he hadn't wanted to arouse any suspicion and questioning from her just yet. When he'd thought she'd seen him, he'd went back home rather than lurk further into the woods. What he found made his blood run cold. Simmie could not be allowed to wander alone again.