IMPROV: River/Gaheris, PG-13
Gaheris' dreams are like mirrors; she can see herself in them, backward, framed in gold, tinted with age. In them he's not bound and helpless; he's free for the one moment of his life, but he never leaves it. It's always the same death.
"Madness," River says to him in the dream, "is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result."
Slowly, he lets the sword drop. She reaches past him to close the door, shutting out the woman on the bed. Then she puts her hands on Gaheris' shoulders. "You have to try something else."
He kisses her. Goes on kissing her. Somehow she's on the bed, her hair flung out around her, and he's afraid again, but she is River, insists to be River. Slowly his body eases and warms.
She thinks it's not a nightmare anymore.
"Madness," River says to him in the dream, "is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result."
Slowly, he lets the sword drop. She reaches past him to close the door, shutting out the woman on the bed. Then she puts her hands on Gaheris' shoulders. "You have to try something else."
He kisses her. Goes on kissing her. Somehow she's on the bed, her hair flung out around her, and he's afraid again, but she is River, insists to be River. Slowly his body eases and warms.
She thinks it's not a nightmare anymore.