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Date Posted: 06:48:19 12/28/01 Fri
Author: Leigh
Subject: Re: Orignal Gemstone 15 -- End
In reply to: Leigh 's message, "Orignal Gemstone" on 03:53:05 12/24/01 Mon


************

The first snow of winter blanketed the grounds on the day of Nikita and Michael's vows. The clouds, thick and gray, hung low in the sky. The winter wind icy. Michael paused at the window, waiting for Nikita to finish dressing, and reflected on the past few weeks.

He'd stayed at Nikita's side for four days but then he'd had to leave to tend to affairs in Scythia. Over the next week he worked from sunrise to well into the night setting everything in order. Assigning men he'd known from his youth and whom he trusted to certain posts. He checked each of the forts along Scythia's borders, those that did not face Vatia, and placed men there to guard the forts.
Doublechecked on supplies and the needs of the people, made sure that there was enough wheat to last them through the winter, and then he returned home to Vatia. Home. The thought made him smile. Wherever Nikita was, there also was his home.

He recalled fondly the day he'd returned. The thrill he felt at seeing her and the answering hunger in her eyes for him. After dismissing the women she'd been meeting with she had come to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. "Welcome back, husband." She'd taken to calling him that before he'd left. And he didn't mind one bit.

Over the next several days he helped her tend to her affairs, never far from her side as she met with her military commanders, toured the outer posts, and visited her mother in Pontus. Then in an unprecedented move, Nikita announced to Madeline and the Council her intention to make Michael her doyan.

There had been a general uprising of protest, mainly from the older warriors, but Nikita had stood her ground. "A doyan's main responsibility and loyalty is to the M'yrene," she'd stated firmly. Then her eyes had misted as she turned to look pointedly at her mother. "Aella proved that with her life." Then she had turned back and looked at the rest of the council. "There is no one that I trust more then Michael. I do not doubt his loyalty --" she paused and turned to look at him, "-- or his love."

"I do not doubt he loves you," Madeline said, her voice even as she rose to her feet and faced her daughter. "But appointing a man to the position of doyan goes against our beliefs." There rose another murmuring of voices and several council members nodded their head in agreement. But Nikita was not deterred.

Instead she turned and walked over to where Michael stood. From his side she took a box that she had brought with her, then turned and walked back with it towards the center of the room. This she placed on the table before Madeline and the Council members. She opened the box to reveal the ivory tusk inside.

"Behold the Gemstone prophecy," she said softly, then raised her eyes to meet each of the council members eyes. "It is the reason that I am M'yrene today. And it is the reason by which I speak so boldly. The world is changing around us," she stated. "And we must change with it."

There was an audible gasp from the audience but Nikita held up a hand to still their protest. "We cannot remain secluded forever," she said, and her eyes took on a wisdom that was beyond her young years. "The answer to the problems we face cannot be solved by forcing our fellow beings into submittance. In doing so we become no different from those tribes whose men force their women into submission. That is not the answer. Learning to live together in trust, side by side, as equals --therin lies the survival of not only our race, but all of humankind."
Nikita paused, looked down at the ivory tusk, then carefully lifted it out of its case and held it up before the Council. Then in a voice that was at once firm, yet, gentle, she stated clearly, "By the power of the Gemstone prophecy I lay claim to my right to change the law that forbids a man to be appointed as my doyan. If there be any here who challenge my right, let her do so now."

Michael had waited with bated breath, his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for the Council to rise up in rebellion. But only silence met Nikita's claim. Even Madeline did not utter a word. Slowly Nikita had returned the ivory to its box. She turned then and summoned Michael to her side before presenting him to the Council. In a unanimous vote they confirmed him as her doyan.

*

"Michael?"

Michael turned, his mind refocusing on the present. Nikita stood before him, dressed warmly and ready to leave. He stepped forward and took her hands in his. "It’s snowing outside," he said, concern underlying his words. "Is there no other way this ceremony can be conducted? Perhaps in the great room?"

Nikita laughed as she leaned up and brushed her lips against his. "No. It must be done at the temple of Artemis and officiated over by the priestess there."

"Then perhaps we can wait till spring," he said. "After the snow has melted and the trek will not be so dangerous."

"Dangerous?" She laughed again, her arms circling his waist. "I have made the trip several times," she stated gently. "A little snow will hardly make a difference. Not if we leave today. We'll be home by tomorrow night."

"You've never been with child on any of your other trips," he countered, frowning at her as his hand slipped into her cloak and placed it upon her rounded belly.

"Ah, yes," she smiled. A look of joy and love radiated from her eyes. "And I have you to blame for that, my love. Now come. No more argument, Michael. Let us leave. The guards are ready and mother must be waiting for us at the temple already."

Women, Michael thought with a reluctant smile as he followed Nikita. You give them your heart and they take control of your whole world...


END

Note from Leigh: Thanks for reading. You can see by this earlier version that I was in my full "HR" mode. I don't remember when exactly I wrote this story but I'm guessing it must have been a time when there was plenty of angst on the series, haha! Since then I've started to rework the story so that it's not so, you know, mushy, in some scenes. Hope you enjoyed it (complete with all it's corniness, hahaha!!). Aloha, Leigh.

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