Subject: In The Beginning 1/1 From: Kristen Fife Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:22:58 -0700 To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU X-UIDL: 4d56886f0a6022785a04a3974a47c713 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Return-path: Envelope-to: stequina@IGLOU.COM Delivery-date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:40:47 -0400 Received: from [128.118.141.59] (helo=f05n16.cac.psu.edu) by iglou1.iglou.com with esmtp (8.12.5/8.12.5) id 1E4mhI-0006G1-NQ for stequina@IGLOU.COM; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:40:47 -0400 Received: from f05n16 (f05s16.cac.psu.edu [128.118.141.59]) by f05n16.cac.psu.edu (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id j7FJJMCO268332; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:40:35 -0400 Received: by LISTS.PSU.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.3) with spool id 57446590 for FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:23:18 -0400 Received: from web60414.mail.yahoo.com (web60414.mail.yahoo.com [209.73.178.157]) by f05n16.cac.psu.edu (8.12.11/8.12.11) with SMTP id j7FLMxFf237686 for ; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:22:59 -0400 Received: (qmail 2578 invoked by uid 60001); 15 Aug 2005 21:22:59 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=RFcuAyO3ZzQXoVpL58lrWdogGen3F9PrTZTQM0llgcIVIsCNVmQpBirka7vis/uPTgQoOdQAF5oMhjuAzuSYmRZD3jV1rb0cmOySn8BfBmgtDtANsrv98g5R8tSNsBNmMbP5zOjUP3usIAOJqmMfb4MOqETboCrbmRBGw3SIuqg= ; Received: from [131.107.0.87] by web60414.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:22:58 PDT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Message-ID: <20050815212259.2576.qmail@web60414.mail.yahoo.com> Reply-To: Kristen Fife Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories Precedence: list Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by f05n16.cac.psu.edu id j7FJJMCO268332 X-Foreign-Sender: 128.118.141.59 X-UIDL: 4d56886f0a6022785a04a3974a47c713 This is a Dark Knight/Immortal Beloved songfic piece set in Paris in 1228 concurrent with flashbacks in "Dance By The Light of The Moon." The song is "Beggar's Game" by Dan Fogelberg. Disclaimers: I don't own Nick or Janette, the words are solely the property of Dan Fogelberg. May be archived at the FTP Site, fkfanfic.com/fkfanfic2.com. Anyone else interested, just ask me. Special thanks to Kristin Harris for her beta. (I know her love of an IB piece ;) ======================================= In The Beginning She watched him, as she had been watching him from the shadows for several nights. This bright knight, this Son of the Church, would become hers, for eternity. Tonight, it would begin. I saw her first in a beggar's game Her eyes were wild but her laugh was tame Those people knew her by another name I knew that she'd be mine I knew that she'd be mine. He looked up, some awareness rippling across his consciousness. His companions, celebrating their return to Paris and the Nativity season, continued to swig ale around him. The smell of roasted meat, rushes covering the scent of rancid animal products and human sweat combined in the air. The heat from the fireplace intensified the aromas, but Nicholas didn't care. He was home, back in Paris after eight years of hell in the Holy Land. As his eyes lazily scanned the room, they stopped. A woman stood in the torchlight, watching him. She gestured to him, and he could almost hear a whisper in his mind. "How badly do you want me?" She beckoned, then turned away from him. He scrambled up to follow the slender retreating form as she rounded a corner toward the stable yard. She took me in on a winter's night The air was brittle and the moon was bright My heart was heavy but her touch was light She looked back over her shoulder at him, a knowing smile on her face. They exited the tavern and entered the cold winter night. The wind bit into him, the full moon glittered silver on the snow outside the golden glow of the torches in the yard. He hurried his footsteps to catch up with her. "My Lady, I beg you, a moment of your time..." His breath steamed as he called out to her. She turned, still smiling. In the moonlight her skin was flawless. He felt himself flush with desire as he approached her. "Oui, mon chevalier? I saw you within the tavern." Her hand lifted to his cheek and stroked it. Her skin was already chilled from the frigid winter air. His breath caught in his throat. He reached up and grabbed her hand, bringing it genteely to his lips. He introduced himself with a slight bow. "My Lady, I am Nicholas de Brabant. Please, allow me to escort you to your home. It is unseemly for you to be out alone and I would be distraught to learn of any harm befalling such a beauteous creature as yourself." She laughed. "Oh, how noble your words! I assure you, mon Sieur, that I am in no danger. However, I would be glad of an escort to my...home. It is not far." Nicholas felt himself smile. "Thank you. You are as brave as you are beautiful." She started walking again, and he followed her, enchanted by this beautiful, brave creature. Deep in the dance we wandered Deep in my heart she fell. The candles glistened and the water gleamed She drew a bath and the windows steamed She looked like every woman ever dreamed In the heart of a lonely man. In the heart of a lonely man. As they walked through the maze of moonlit streets, Nicholas asked her questions. He discovered that her name was Janette, although she refrained from providing him with a last name. She said that she and her father were staying in Paris on business indefinitely. Other than those pieces of information, she was reticent on her life. The mystery only intrigued Nicholas more. He had been in Paris for two weeks and had been entertained by tavern wenches, but no woman had captures his attention since the long-ago Gwynyth. They approached a stone keep, the exterior brightly lit with torches. She approached the door and pushed it open, sure in the knowledge that he was following her. Nicholas was chilled to the bone. The air inside was hardly warmer than outdoors, although Janette did not seem affected. She led him into a sumptuous chamber hung with tapestries, thick rugs on the floor, and a huge bed draped in red velvet with a fine white chemise upon it. Dozens of candles danced as the door to the room opened, and he saw a hip bath in front of a roaring fireplace. She took his hand and led him in. “Come. You must be chilled, and a bath would warm you. I will have the servants come and pour hot water for you. There is wine on the sideboard if you would like; I have some things to attend to, and then I shall return.” She leaned up and kissed him, her cool lips eliciting a passionate response from him. He encircled her slender waist with his hands in an attempt to coax her to the bed.” “Milady, why wait? I have never felt anything like I feel with you. Can you not feel my heart pounding with want of your attentions?” She laughed low in her throat. “Oh yes, I can hear your strong heart beating like a war drum. Have no fear, you will gain more than you ever imagined ere this night is through. But you must be patient.” She left him, silent as fog lifting. Servants came in to fill the bath and the windows began to cloud over with the condensation. In eight years, Nicholas nothing but lust for any since the death of Gwynyth, yet something deep within him responded to this siren, Janette. He felt a stirring of more than passion, more than lust. His soul was quivering within him in anticipation of fulfillment of a destiny he scant understood. He disrobed and entered the bath, her scent lingering in the air. She took my blindness and she led me through As night retreated and the daylight grew And with the first rays of the sun I knew Love had another captive Love had another fool. The spell is broken and the chains fall free Finally my heart has come home to me It seems I've waited an eternity. Kristen Fife http://www.fkvoyage.com/fkfanfic/fife_kristen/ "I have a vampire by my side and I'm not afraid to use him!" -Tanya Huff