#ranesh

Ranesh: Okay.

Had a go at drawing a few of my favourite characters from Emily Rodda’s Deltora Quest series

Roddacember Day 9: Favourite thing about the Roddaverse

💕Valentine’s Day Treats💕  Marilen/Ranesh (at @mynamesdrstuff​‘s request) 2/5

The wind screamed and whipped Marilen’s hair from its binding, half-blinding her. It felt to her as if the land was raging, crying centuries worth of pain and fear for all to hear. She could tell Cherry—her father’s favourite horse—was tiring underneath her. She felt a pang of guilt for pushing the beast so hard. Guilt, too, for slipping away from Tora while her father slept. But shame did not cause her to turn back west, nor did it cause her to slow her speed. She could arrive in Del within the hour, if only she did not falter.

Even as she sped down the broken road, she felt the west calling to her, singing a song that she felt in her blood and bones. The magic of Tora faded the farther one travelled, but those who called it home could never quite leave it behind.

“It is like an addiction,” Marilen had once watched Ranesh say to Zeean as the older woman had tried to explain the intense homesickness of those who left the white city. “That place is a prison that numbs the mind.”

“That is not true,” Marilen had said quietly, and touched his arm. “I would call it feeling as if your heart is aching for something you have never known.”

Ranesh had softened at her touch, but the confusion and hurt in his eyes did not quite fade. Had he been Toran she imagined that she would have heart his thoughts. Am I not enough?

The thought of her husband quickened the pounding of Marilen’s heart. Poor Cherry was already burdened by her weight and the satchels of food she had tied to him, but she dug her boot into the gelding’s flank and urged him forward faster.

The road came to a sharp turn and Cherry whinnied in protest as Marilen guided him forth. The sun had set, but the moon was bright and to Marilen’s alarm she could see a figure on horseback moving swiftly towards her. Before she could even think about riding off the path, the figure was upon her. Marilen ignored the sharp knife of fear in her belly and prepared to kick Cherry into a state of flight when the figure drew closer and removed his hood.

“Ranesh!” Marilen cried, astonished.

Ranesh shook his head in equal disbelief and dismounted. “I was coming for you,” he rushed to her side and helped her climb down from Cherry. “What are you doing here?”

Marilen bit back tears. She had not realized how frightened and lonely she had been until she felt his arms around her. “The ports are open, Ranesh. I have brought what I could. It is not much, but I could not sit idly while our people starved.”

Ranesh’s hand slid into the tangles of her hair and then moved slowly down to the swell of her belly. He smiled softly and his lovely eyes met hers. “Do they know you are here?”

“No,” she said, knowing he meant everyone and yet no one at all. “You were right, Ranesh. Tora is my home, and it always will be, but it is too easy to repeat the mistakes of the past. I fear that already my people have forgotten the mistakes we have made. But we cannot do that. Our debt is not yet paid, and I fear that there is worse to come.”

Ranesh pressed his lips into her hair. “You are a brilliant and brave woman, and I am so lucky to be yours. Time is of the essence, and we must make haste. Marilen—know this: I think you made the right decision coming to Del, but I would love you even if you decided to stay behind.”

At this Marilen could not help but laugh. “No, you would not. And I never would have stayed. But you know that.”

Ranesh grinned and Marilen pressed her forehead against his. “Then, my love,” he said. “We must hurry back to the king; would you not say?”

Marilen pulled away and stepped back toward Cherry. “I have a duty to Lief,” she said with a smile.

Ranesh mounted his horse. “And my duty is to be with you.”