Kel and Dom - 50 Themes

01 - Sight

Dom still remembers the day he first saw Kel. His friends had teased him when he had placed that bet in her favor -- that she wouldn't fall off the massive gelding -- but the blaze of determination in her face hit him hard. He'd won that bet.

02 - Protection

Kel has always felt safe around Dom. What she doesn't realize is how hard he worked, without her knowledge, to keep the men of Third Company off her during her four years as a squire. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her on his watch, that was for sure.

03 - Flag

Just seeing the flag with her distaff on it fly above New Hope -- she knew Dom had to be behind it somehow.

04 - Crush

It's different than Neal, different than Cleon. What Kel feels when she looks at Dom is an ache in her core.

05 - Eyes

Their eyes met once, dreamer's hazel to sharp, bright blue, during Raoul's wedding. Kel couldn't breathe when she realized what her thoughts at that very moment were: that she wanted him. She couldn't help but hope that her emotions mirrored his.

06 - Pondering

"Cousin and best friend, cousin and best friend," mutters Neal as Yuki watches him pace the floor. "I know what they feel for eachother... Could it work? Would it work?"

"If you want it to, and they want it to, then yes," says his little wife sensibly. Neal swoops down and kisses her. "You're brilliant."

07 - Disbelief

"Right, Meathead," says Dom.

"Oh, Neal," sighs Kel.

The green-eyed healer can't help but notice how happy they look, though.

08 - Appearance

She wears a soft green dress to Raoul and Buri's wedding, and pins her hair up. Others may forget that Kel is both knight and lady, but after seeing her like this, Dom knows he won't.

09 - Touch

Dom finds her alone on the terrace during the reception, looking out at the stars. When he brushes the bare skin of her back with gentle fingers and murmurs how pretty she looks, her shiver doesn't escape him.

10 - Her scent

She smells like warm vanilla, lavender, linens and the soft smell of hay and leather from the stables. It makes him delirious, and he hates those rare occasions when a perfume covers it up.

11 - Battlefield

When Dom goes down with an arrow in his side, Kel hears a scream of terror and realizes that it is her own voice.

12 - A First

When his mouth finally leaves hers for the first time, late one night in an abandoned corridor of the palace in Corus, all Kel can think to whisper to him is that she's never felt quite that way before.

13 - Noticing

Raoul quietly takes note of the caress that Dom gives Kel's arm when he slides into a seat next to her. Later Buri asks him if he'd seen the sergeant brush her lips with a gentle kiss, and his suspicions are confirmed.

14 - Defense

Dom is relaxing in the palace gardens when he feels a tug on his sleeve, and looks down into blue eyes nearly identical to his own. "You'd better take good care of her," says Tobe sourly, "because I ain't stickin' around once the two of you start sleeping in the same bed. It gets noisy, I've learned."

15 - Acceptance

Raoul looks for Dom and Kel and finds them together, on the palace wall at night. They jump apart, sheepish, when he comes. The big man, eyes amused, quietly takes up residence between the two and admires the view for a few moments. Then he sighs, and surveys both of them.

Kel opens her mouth to speak, but her former knight-master shakes his head. "I suppose you're old enough to take care of yourself now, right?" When she nods, he sighs and kisses her forehead. "Very well." Turning to Dom, he adds, "Come find my office when the two of you are done here."

16 - Points to Make

Raoul doesn't deny that Kel is a woman, not the girl-squire she'd been, and he doesn't deny that the bonds he placed on all his men to leave Kel alone no longer apply to Dom -- nor does he deny that Dom was the one who most strictly enforced those bonds. All he wants to make sure of is that Dom loves Kel, truly loves her. One look at his captain's eyes, however, and he recognizes the resolute gaze and deep fire that Buri's eyes hold for him, that Alanna's and George's hold for eachother, that which is present in Daine and Numair, in Lalasa and Tian, in Jon and Thayet, and smiles, all worries put to rest.

17 - Question

"So?" demands Neal of his cousin. "When are you going to sleep with her? Or are you just going to explode of passion and ridiculous desire that you deem ignoble, you idiot?"

18 - Mother

Ilane of Mindelan doesn't know yet who the tall, blue-eyed swordsman is, aside from her daughter's letters, but the way she sees his and Kel's eyes meet is enough to make her want to plan a wedding then and there.

19 - Distractions

It is an evening meeting with the war advisers to the King, and Dom and Kel are seated directly across from each other at the very end of the table. Both of them think what a stupid idea that arrangement was, since neither of them can pay attention to anything else besides the heavy desire growing inside.

20 - Tossing

Kel lies in bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling unbearably alone. She needs Dom with her, needs him in her bed even though no one else has ever been in it before. She needs him, and Mithros damn virginity and all social inhibitions. She needs him.

21 - Turning

Dom starts to think that, for the first time in his life, cold showers are a truly wonderful idea.

22 - Embers

She hands him the papers, and their fingers brush. She hadn't meant it to be so, but the only light in her rooms is the fireplace. It fills his eyes with golden light, and she's not sure if it's a reflection or the real thing. She wants it so badly to be the latter.

23 - Flames

Kel can't concentrate on the papers before them on that night. An ache is pulsing so hard and fast insde her that the words swim before her eyes. And all she needs is the only other person in the room.

24 - Blazing

Suddenly Dom swears violently and stands up. She does too, and when their eyes meet he knows that she knows.

"I have to leave, Kel," he whispers. "I can't -- I won't force this on you."

She doesn't have the strenth to deny it, only to watch him go out the door.

25 - Requited

Kel doesn't see him for the next two days, and doesn't look for him, knowing him well enough to realize that he needs time to clear his head, still lying awake at night with that awful ache in her bones. But on the following night, she walks into her bedchamber and he is there standing by the window. She nearly collapses as the fire rushes back to her veins.

He turns and in two strides has her shoved back against the wall and is kissing her so hard and deep that Kel thinks it must be outlawed somewhere, stroking her hair, telling her through every ounce of his body what exactly his mind is on. When they break apart he whispers, between gasps, huskily, "I changed my mind. If you want this -- do you want this?"

She looks up at him, eyes wide and mouth dry, and searches his face. Whatever she is looking for, Dom knows she's found it there, because she nods. He bolts the door, blows out the candles, and pulls her to the bed.

26 - Caress

Dom's hands search for the hem of her shirt, and when they find the skin underneath he has to work hard to not die of ecstasy. She shivers.

27 - Knowledge

He knows her body so well, so well, and when he runs his mouth over her collarbone and long, callused fingers along the curves of her breasts she gasps and goes over the edge, bucking desperately, whimpering for something only he can provide.

28 - Sympathy

Daine sees the haggard look in the younger woman's eyes as Kel sits across the fire from her on the fifth day of the journey with the Queen's Riders, and smiles a little. There's a reason the lady knight has her long legs clamped tight together. It's the same reason her eyes are filled with longing, and the Wildmage knows it.

29 - Reunion

The room is dark and cold, but not to Kel, who can't stop shaking fifteen minutes after the climax. The sheets are drenched with sweat, and Dom is only now finding how to breathe. "Too much for you, sweetheart?" he murmurs, wickedly. The only response he gets is a muffled moan.

30 - Family

Kel's older brothers and her father watch carefully as the baby daughter of the family goes flying out of Mindelan's gate to be swept up in the arms of a laughing man. All decide that this is the happiest Kel has ever been.

31 - Horse

Peachblossom does not entirely disapprove of Dom's presence with his human mistress in the stable, but he does not -- repeat not -- appreciate it when this tall one with the blue eyes makes her squeak in the middle of his currying routine. It is most disconcerting.

32 - Birds

The first time Dom wakes up in Kel's bed, he thinks he might die of joy from the feeling of a lithe, warm body snuggled against him. Then he sees them: a line of sparrows on the foot of the bed, watching him critically and with great suspicion. He has invaded their nest.

33 - Dog

Jump adores Dom -- blue eyes mean hidden treats -- but finds it slightly mystifying. They spend so much time in bed! And they're not even sleeping!

34 - Discovery

There is a crashing bang on the door of Kel's room at New Hope, and a familiar voice yells through the door: "Darling commander! Did you forget our morning meeting? Because your beloved Meathead hates getting up this early without a cause, and your absence from this meeting certainly negates the cause I --"

A shirtless, tousled, yawning Dom opens the door, eyebrows raised over blue eyes that are filled with a very male satisfaction from the night before. Kel, bare body tucked under the blankets, bursts out laughing. For the first time in his life, Neal has nothing to say.

35 - Devotion

"Captain, there is no reason why you should need to go out there!" snaps the king. "The battle is won, the lady knight will surely be found by some squad. We'll send them out as soon as we can realize what we're doing, but for now you must stay here!"

Dom's voice is ice. All eyes in the room -- Alanna's, Buri's, George's Raoul's, all the senior commanders -- are on him. "Sire," he says, "answer this question before you say what I should do: if it were her majesty Queen Thayet out there, would you go after her?"

Jonathan freezes. Equally determined blue eyes lock together, but only one pair wins. The king looks down, humbled for one of the few times in his life. "She would go after me," adds Dom softly. "So I go after her."

"Go," Jonathan murmurs. "Go, and the gods be with you."

Dom bows deeply and leaves the tent.

36 - Morning

Kel likes having an audience for her morning glaive practice, particularly when that audience doesn't wear a shirt and is extremely persistent in distracting her with kisses.

37 - Public

The first time they kiss in front of anyone else besides Raoul -- and sometimes Neal, if they know he's tired enough to not tease them -- is outside of New Hope after seven months apart. As they both catch their breath and hold each other after the furious kiss breaks, Kel realizes that there are citizens of her town cheering on the walls as they look down, and blushes slightly. Dom chuckles: behind him, his own men are giving him shouts of wicked congratulations and wickeder encouragement.

38 - Flirtation

Dom still flirts outrageously with each and every skirt-covered figure who sidles coquettishly into his line of vision, but Kel just laughs at him, because she knows that late at night he'll tell her what he was really thinking.

39 - His scent

The tangy smells of metal and citrus mix with cotton and grass and spices in her nose as he sweeps her up from behind.

40 - Trust

When the two are out riding one evening, and the normally placid Hoshi screams and rears when a dark black snake darts out, Kel is thrown from the saddle and catches her ankle in the thick roots of a tree. Dom kills the snake and then quietly crouches next to Kel, who is trying not to gasp in agony. Murmuring gently to her, he cuts through the wood trapping her leg as she stares at the sky, eyes watering. When the heavy root is finally off the nerve it had been pressing painfully, her breath releases, and they share one of their most intimate gazes. He brushes her mouth with a tender kiss, and helps her to stand.

41 - Change

"I can't do this anymore," he tells her one night. "Trying to keep it quiet, not sleeping with you when we're on the road for fear of -- gods know what social consequence, your reputation, mine, I can't do this anymore, Kel. It's just too frustrating." His voice is husky.

Kel's heart has stopped beating. She can't believe he would say that, after everything that has passed between them, after -- everything. His eyes are glowing. Is he glad? It's over. Goddess. "Oh," she says quietly, and looks away. "So you -- we're ending it, then."

He stops, stares at her, then reaches out to jerk her into his arms and kiss her hard. When he leaves off and stares at her breathlessly, both pairs of eyes very bright, he shakes her gently. "No, you beautiful idiot, I want to marry you." When she doesn't say anything, he rushes on: "I know, I'm not -- a knight, an heir, or anything, and I don't know if you want --"

It's her turn to shut him up with a kiss, and then she feels tears trickling down her cheeks and the pad of his thumb stroking them away as he whispers "I love you, I love you" over and over again against her ear, and she whispers it back to him.

42 - Chagrin

"No!" shouts Neal, when they tell him. He glares at his cousin. "Don't you understand? Now she's in the family!" He looks furious for a moment, then kisses Kel's cheeks and forehead, and crushes Dom in a hug. "I was wondering when the two of you were ever going to get around to making each other honorable."

43 - Tests

Dom is suprised to find that, while Kel's family quickly embraces their daughter's new fiancee, New Hope is far more critical in deciding what is best for their young commander.

44 - Warnings

When Kel goes with Dom to give her news to Wyldon, and also to invite him to the wedding, he calmly congratulates her, then asks to speak to "the gentleman" alone. When Dom finally comes out of the office, he tells her that Wyldon threatened to have him hung, drawn and quartered if any harm should come to Kel.

45 - Preparation

Lalasa fairly shrieks when Kel slips into her dress shop and hands her a wedding invitation, then immediately whips out a measuring tape. Her former mistress will have the most beautiful wedding dress in the world.

46 - Help

All at New Hope insisted that the wedding be held there -- after all, isn't she their commander? So Kel's parents and everyone in attendance, down to the king, the queen, and the crown prince and princess, stream into the tiny settlement. The day of the wedding is bright and beautiful, and the women -- Thayet, Shinkokami, Ilane, Lalasa, Daine, Alanna, Buri -- help Kel into her wedding dress. Lalasa laces it up as Thayet works a comb through Kel's hair, and when they put her in front of the mirror Kel cannot believe the apparition that stands there. Then Alanna, always understanding, hands Kel her sword belt.

47 - Affection

Dom stands next to Neal near the altar and looks over the sea of faces. "Don't worry," Neal assures him. "They're all with you."

48 - Awe

When Kel steps into view, only the pressure of Neal's arm on his elbow keeps Dom from collapsing.

49 - Flowers

The two drown in their kiss, and for a fearful, trembling, beautiful moment, they cannot tell eachother apart in their minds. Then one of the small girls from New Hope lets out a whoop and flings a garland into the air. Suddenly it is raining, raining blossoms and buds and cheers that fall in a shower on everyone. "I love you," whispers Kel, and Dom whispers it back. Through the tumble of flowers, they can see Raoul wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Alanna kissing her husband's cheek, Tobe grinning from ear to ear. Dom's boys line the back wall, and they alone are making more noise than the entire rest of the party put together. Neal, predictably, is smirking. Even Wyldon's eyes are bright. Jump barks deliriously, and Kel cannot help but feel like a fairytale princess as the flock of sparrows flutters around them, cheeping. Dom is just trying to resist the urge to pull his beautiful lover -- his wife -- into his arms and devour her again.

50 - Love

He gets his chance that night. Both he and Kel retired from the party early, and it is Dom who shoos the maids out of their rooms. He wants to undress Kel himself, and does. Their kisses soon shift from laughing, teasing ones to something far more serious, and when they tumble into the bed their lovemaking is more intense, more passionate, than it has ever been. They both rest in the aftermath until Dom says, suddenly, voice husky, "I get to do this to you every night for the rest of our lives."

Kel's voice cracks as she answers. "I want you to, so much."

As he pulls her back to him, this time for a slow, lazy bout filled with kisses and caresses, both are aware that they have all the time in the world.

The Extras! Because I love KelDom and went overboard!

51 - Fight

The Scanrans yell for retreat, and they are pursued by the Tortallans into the forest. When the battlefield is cleared, Dom and Kel stare at each other. She had shoved him out of a sword's slashing path, and later he had jerked her down when an arrow whistled through the air above her head. They had each saved the other's life, and quietly Dom walks to her and kisses her mouth warmly. When she returns the kiss, gloved hand going to touch his cheek, he smiles against her lips. Wyldon sees the two, but pretends he doesn't, hiding the tiny smile that creeps across his own face. If this is how his soldiers survive, so be it.

52 - Innocence

When Raoul, during the morning meeting, casually brings up the fact that both she and Dom were late to it, she gives him a lazy, catlike smile. "I'm dreadfully sorry, my lord, I --"

Dom finishes the sentence without looking at his commander. " -- Didn't get much sleep last night."

53 - Image

When Kel has to get up in the middle of a meeting at New Hope to snatch up two small children and herd five more out of her office because their game of tag has spilled inside, Dom can't help but think how much he adores her for not thinking that this is anything out of the ordinary. He also loves her for making Wyldon look mortified.