Heirot

Laya paniced. "Are you okay?!" she asked quickly, kneeling next to him. She brushed his hair from his face, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Here, let me help you up."

She slipped her hand under his arm and pulled helping him to his feet. She stooped and grabbed his towel, wrapping it around his waist. "Still not used to those feet, huh," she mused with a smile. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself..."

Laya finished drying herself and reached for her nightgown to pull it on. She hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes, then again she hadn't expected to "take" a bath either.

"I'm okay," Telanis said rather bashfully as he steadied himself on his feet. In the same moment, the bathroom door swung open.

"What happened?" Adonis asked as he burst in. He gripped the knob for dear life as he took in the two of them and turned his head away in embarrassment. "I-..is someone hurt?" he stammered, trying to stop thinking.

The moment the door opened Laya danced around to hide behind Telanis, she reached out and held on to his arms. She cowared there expecting Adonis to try and kill her then and there.

But, he didn't try to kill her. He wanted to know if they were alright. "Telanis fell," she said meekly, not moving from where she stood. "I think he's fine."

"I'm fine," Telanis confirmed gently, to persuade them both. "Just clumsy."

Adonis kept his gaze carefully trained away from them. "Okay," he breathed. He was frozen for a second. He could feel Telanis's soft golden stare on him, even if he couldn't see it. "Excuse me," he managed as he retreated from the room and closed the door behind him.

When the door was closed Laya stepped out from behind him, looking shocked. "He didn't say anything..." she breathed. "Do you think he knows?" she asked, watching the door as if she expected him to suddenly burst through with his dagger.

She finished pulling her gown on and turned to him.

"He knows," Telanis confirmed as he, too, stared at the door. "I didn't intend it to be a secret, but that still wasn't the reaction I expected from him."

Adonis went straight to his bag and began compulsively dressing, but his hands were shaking too much to lace his boots properly. He told himself to calm down, but he couldn't stop thinking about the kind of sexuality he'd always known. When he wasn't thinking about that, his mind fixated on how different Laya was with Telanis and how ill prepared he was to understand, and how completely he didn't belong here with them.

Laya frowned. "Do I want to know what you thought he would do?" she asked him. "Maybe... I should talk to him or you? One of us should..." she told Telanis. "I don't want him to act weird around us and... I want to get whatever it is over with. Adonis is really good at pretending to be someone else..."

"I thought if he could see how we are together, he'd realize that this is good. That whatever it is that happened with Erik, this isn't the same..." he said in confusion, forgetting that Laya probably had no idea who Erik was.

Laya frowned. "Who is Erik?" she asked. "Is that the one who hurt Adonis?" She wondered then, just how Adonis had been hurt.

"But, maybe he did see it was good?" she asked as an afterthought. "I'm alive afterall."

"Erik is the human Adonis loves," Telanis said. "I'm not sure what happened between them. He left to live with Erik in the city, and the next I heard from him, he was...like he is. Completely closed off. Distrustful."

Laya frowned. "I don't think he loves him anymore, Telanis." Laya went to the door. "I think this Erik did something terrible to him. Still, one of us should talk to him. He's probably very confused, or hurt. I know he didn't want us to do that, he may feel hurt that we were together even against his wishes."

But, Laya didn't regret it. Not a moment of it. "I don't think he understands what love is anymore..."

Telanis shook his head slowly, trying to understand. "His views confuse me, and he won't explain anything. Either he thinks I can't understand, or he does not want me to know." A hint of little-brotherly frustration lined his voice. He really wanted to understand, but Adonis kept him out.

And yet Laya seemed to get him, at least a little. She had theories about him he'd never even thought of. "Do you really think we hurt his feelings?" he asked in confused dread.

At about that moment, the door to the room outside opened and then shut. Telanis's eyes went wide. "He's leaving," he breathed. He glanced to his toweled form and then Laya's. "Please, go after him," he asked her. "I am so sorry, but you dress much faster than I do... I'm afraid I won't see him again, like last time..."

Laya nodded quickly, not even wasting words. She rushed from the bathroom and out the door after Adonis. She spotted him in the hall towards the steps. "Adonis," she called to him, her stringy hair danging about her face. She picked up the long gotton gown as she jogged after him. "Adonis wait. Please, I'm sorry... Please don't go."

Adonis stopped walking and took a moment before looking back at her. His expression was tight and hard to read, but he looked paler than normal. "I just...think I need some air," he said.

"You have your bag," Laya muttered, her eyes flashing to his hand. She frowned. "Adonis, I didn't hurt him... I love him. I would just as soon go back to Kron than hurt him." Her eyes met his, and her flushed cheeks turned a darker shade of rose. "I told you I wouldn't, and I'm sorry I didn't keep my promise."