~*~ ~*~ ~*~
While she would perhaps not have admitted it to anyone but Solair and Sarath, because those two would certainly never betray anything she told them in confidence back to Raven, the first time he and she had expressed their growing feelings for each other that night on Earth had easily been the most sensual event of her whole life. He had proven only too capable of stirring up her anger, and come night he had proven his ability to excite any number of other feelings as well. Ever since then, her body had been all but screaming with the frustration of neither having the privacy nor the time to engage in a second encounter. By the time they had gotten done remaking their apartment into something habitable on the evening of their arrival, she had been too tired from days on the road and too little sleep. But they had more than made up for all the missed opportunities by the second afternoon, evening, night, and the following morning. To her deep and utter satisfaction, Raven had quickly proven to have all the stamina, staying power, and quick recovery time to keep up with even her most unreasonable demands. She left him snoring softly in the bed with the curtains pulled against the daylight, getting a well earned chance to regain the hours of sleep both of them had neglected the previous night. With legs that felt like jelly and a body that still tingled with the memory of what they had exchanged, she slipped free of the covers to get cleaned up and dressed.
It went without saying that all of them wanted to move ahead as quickly as possible with Raven's training. Not only because he did as well, but because every agent was needed in the field, so tying up Sarath and Destin and, through him, Solair, was not the ideal choice. It was fast approaching lunch time, however, and she truly wanted the two of them to linger in the quiet solitude that had made the previous afternoon so wonderful. She knew that she could have easily used the screen to beg off any lessons, however she didn't want to wake Raven by doing so, much less have him hear her gush just a little about the reasons behind the request. With these thoughts in mind, she slipped out into the hallway and crossed to the room Destin and Solair shared. Solair answered almost immediately, but had clearly not been long out of bed herself.
"Well look at you.." Solair knew her far too well not to see the clear evidence of her most satisfying night. But even as LeShana smiled back at her wicked gaze, Solair's face fell and became troubled. Before LeShana could get the first word of a question out, Solair surged forward, grabbed her arm, and was suddenly pulling her back down the hall. Much to LeShana's intense confusion, the moment her friend touched her, she was struck by a sudden and almost violent urge to pull away from her touch.
"Let me go!" She snapped sharply, but Solair only just held her more tightly as LeShana was practically dragged back to her apartment. As she was pulled inside, she yanked away and couldn't quite understand her violent rejection the next moment.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, but you were projecting.. badly." Solair told her calmly, as she moved further inside to cut herself off behind the intense shield wall. "If you were outside for even just a few minutes longer, half the crater would have known everything you were thinking and feeling."
"I don't.." LeShana whispered, struggling to get her mind working right after such a strange turn of events. Even as her over-reaction to Solair's touch began to fade, another, deeper reaction began to ripple through her; a total and complete rejection to the feelings of having even Solair's shielded presence inside their rooms.
"You two have just entered the first stages of bond shock, LeShana." Solair told her calmly as she crossed to the screen and began to activate any number of privacy settings meant to warn off anyone who was thinking of coming to their room for a visit. Bond shock was that much feared state all life-bonded couples had to be intensely careful to avoid. It was the reason why life-bonded couples had to take at least a week sequestered away from the outside world once a year, if not every six months. Without the time in seclusion to unwind and decompress from being out in the stresses of the outside world, a couple would enter bond shock. It was a dangerous state where they could, and would, affect anyone in a vast area. If the early warning signs were ignored, the couple would worsen, sicken, and then finally die. It was an all together very bad state of affairs. "Let's face it, you two have both been pushed right to the edge by stress and all the stuff that’s happened, we should have paid closer attention to that. Half formed bond or not, you two absolutely, without question, need to remain sequestered in here for at least the next two weeks. I am not even going to let either of you try to argue about it. With your bond still as new as it is, if we don't nip this in the bud right now, it may warp the bond permanently."
"Oh gods.." LeShana whispered, her mind sticking on such a horrible idea, and was all at once on the verge of tears.
"What the hell?!" Raven choose that moment to wake up, and was instantly in the worst of moods, but LeShana intercepted him before he could think to turn on Solair. As soon as they touched, he seemed to sense how much she just wanted to feel his arms around her.
"You are not to leave this apartment for any reason young man. You are to stay here and take care of her until further notice." Solair announced, as she moved towards the door. And though he might bristle a little at being addressed as such, Raven had gotten smart enough not to counter, back talk, or outright defy her, knowing only too well there would be consequences he wouldn't like, if not from Destin than from LeShana. "I'll take care of informing Sarath of what's going on and you take care of explaining it to him, is that understood beloved?"
"Yes." LeShana agreed softly.