Monday, January 30, 2017

Valentine's Challenge 2017 Submission #4 by Erin Darroch and Justine Graham



Through the Night
By Erin Darroch and Justine Graham

Good night, Sweetheart.

These are the last words I hear before I slip into restful slumber. I carry them with me, tucked into my heart like a promise of safe passage, an ardent wish to see me reach the morning unscathed.

I no longer dread bedtime as I used to do, nor try to ward off sleep until sheer exhaustion overtakes me. With you as the guardian of my midnight travels—steadfast and watchful—I can brave the haunting landscape of my own dreams.

When I wake up shaking in the deepest hour of the night, as I still sometimes do, you awaken with me, ever alert to my restlessness or distress. Your sleepy eyes rest on me in the darkness and reassure me; the weight of your gaze says you’re there for me, and always will be.

I relish the way you gather me up, press me close, hold me to your heart and shield me, a bulwark against those dark dreams. The scent of your warm skin, the tickle of chest hair against my nose as I breathe you in, and your rumbling voice in my ear, murmuring tender words you would never speak aloud to another soul. All of these things are mine, and mine alone.

My eyes drift closed again as I listen to the steady rhythm of your heart against my ear, allowing the soft mantle of your whispered words to settle down upon me, lulling me back into a state of warm and blissful peace.

I treasure the way you hold me while we drift awake, and the way you greet me at sunrise with your lips against my shoulder blade, your fingertips trailing down the length of my body. I love your heavy hand on my hip, curving over my ribcage, sliding under my breast. There’s no greater pleasure than to usher in the first rays of dawn with your reverent touch, amid the rush of joy that stems from your wordless affirmation that I am home, I am safe, and I am loved.

Then you say, Good morning, Sweetheart, and we begin again.

22 comments:

  1. Really liked this. Saying a lot in a short span. I definitely think Leia would enjoy and appreciate how different it is with him now, and that she would've had trouble sleeping for a while until she started sleeping with him, and then she can completely relax because she just knows she's safe with him. And that you say she feels loved, too. Oh and of course the idea that Han would never say certain things to anyone but her. Just great all around.

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    1. "Short" is not something we do very well (or very often), so I think I was more delighted that this came in under 350 words than with any other aspect of it! lol Thank you for your kind comments. :)

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  2. Oh, hell. Okay. This was so sweet. The perfect insight into Leia's mind. Just so telling in how important Han is to her, how vital he is to her security and comfort. I love that this is based in physicality, like he's a literal anchor for her. The line about him whispering things to her that he would never say to anyone else is also just so spot-on. Han's not a sap, but he's honest with her. And he's going to make sure she's okay.

    Welp. Thanks for this. You one-two-punched me in the gut this week, between "Blush" and this. Total opposites on the spectrum, but so wonderfully RIGHT. Beautiful!

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    1. I want Han to be a sweetheart (not a sap) but it's very hard to imagine him saying really tender things to Leia unless he's mumbling under his breath or saying it in Corellian (our favourite device). Sometimes it's just easier to report that he did say the things than to have him actually say them!

      Glad you enjoyed this (and SUPER glad you didn't let the bedroom setting put you off posting your own beautiful fic).

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  3. Short and sweet! This is so wonderful; I love it so much! And having it in first-person from Leia made it even more powerful with her thoughts spoken in her own words on how safe and loved Han makes her feel. I can't even find the words to describe how lovely I think this is!

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    1. I've become self-conscious about how loooooong most of our fics are, so it was a nice (self-imposed) aspect of this challenge to keep it short and sweet. Thank you for your kind comments. I'm so happy you enjoyed it!

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  4. Wow, I feel like Han Solo released from carbonite, when he says, "I'm out of it a little while"....and everyone submits great fanfic!

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    1. LOL! You crack me up, Knitzkampf. If you've been out of it for a little while because you've been writing (which I see that you have been), then that's a great thing. I've got your "NBY" fic on my short list of fics to dive into soon! xo

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  5. I admire how you have painted such a lovely, peaceful picture in such a short span. The language in this was lovely.

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    1. Ah, thank you! Justine and I do love to roll around in words a little bit. It's amusing to us both how long we'll spend deliberating over a single word-choice sometimes. Thanks for noticing. :)

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  6. Aww... Loved this sweet Valentine's treat!

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    1. Well, "Blush" was supposed to be our Challenge submission (and our Valentine to you) but it reached over 8k words and we thought Zyra might not appreciate such a behemoth clogging up the blog, so we wrote something a little shorter instead.

      We imagined this as a sort of "Valentine" from Leia to Han, albeit an unspoken one. In my head, at least, it was kind of like a Psalm....

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  7. Thank you to everyone for your kind words!

    As Erin said, this one was a challenge in more ways than one. We do tend to be a bit wordy (ie every fic we've ever written) so it was a real feat to create something in under 350 words.

    "Blush" took on a life of its own, and we decided early on there was no way to make it any shorter and tell the story the way we wanted it to be told...so this happened, instead. We gave each other a high five when it was done...look! We CAN do it! :)


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    1. Oh I was kind of wondering if that had been for the challenge at first, and then I saw it was like 8000 words and I do agree that's a little long for a blog post. I'm glad you wrote a second one for us.

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  8. Loved this so much. The writing is just beautiful. It so perfectly conveys how safe she feels with Han.

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    1. Thank you :) This was done in such a relative hurry (at least compared to our usual pace) and now I'm itching to make revisions of this thing. Feels not-quite-finished to me now that I reread it. But then, maybe I obsess a little too much over details!

      Thanks also for taking the time to PM us when your comments weren't showing up on the blog. <3

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  9. Short, sweet and oh-so lovely.
    My favorite line is "With you as the guardian of my midnight travels—steadfast and watchful—I can brave the haunting landscape of my own dreams. "
    Which sums up the whole surrounding text and the character's relationship in one beautiful thought. Through that we know that the POV person is tormented by nightmares, we know that the subject is a protective presence. Just on and on.
    It's neat too, to see you can put so much into so few words. And even make me enjoy a first person POV piece!
    Thanks so much for sharing.

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  10. Thank you! The first person POV was indeed something different for us, as was accomplishing anything this short! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. :)

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  11. Wow, that was really sweet. I love how much you can say a in shorter piece. The last paragraph was really touching.

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  12. Wow! How perfect and delicious! You can just feel How loved and protected Leia feels. What a wonderful feeling this story gives off! Thank you!

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