Skedaddle

[Emora Deen]

Laya looked towards the door as it opened. Light poured into the dark room, and she couldn’t make out the details of his body, but she could definitely see the silhouette. “Telanis,” her voice croaked. She half-fainted in relief.

“Excuse me,” she whispered, stepping around the new acquaintance. She left him, her pace growing quicker the further she grew from his grasp. Her hands reached forward when she was close to Telanis she grabbed hold of his shirt and nearly pulled herself the rest of the way to him. She was too swallowed up by her almost irrational fear to think if it would make him uncomfortable.

The cat came out of no where, purring wildly as it saught Telanis's feet. It rubbed its body against his legs like Telanis was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen.

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis's hands instinctively wrapped around Laya as she pulled in against him. He didn't understand the uneasiness that seemed to strike through him from her psyche, any more than he comprehended the dark need rolling off the stranger on the other side of the storage room. The warm, simple contentment of the soft creature around his legs sat at odds with the strangely clashing emotional atmosphere. He studied the unfamiliar man for a few moments before his gaze grew firm. "Let's go upstairs," he said to her, his voice ever calm and steady. He turned her gently toward the stairs, coming between the man's wandering eyes and Laya's body.

[Emora Deen]

Laya nodded and allowed Telanis to guide her with the gentle pressure of his hands. She ascended the stairs and turned towards the door of their room before she froze. “I can’t go in there,” she muttered. “Adonis he will…” Laya looked back to Telanis. There was nowhere else to go.

Adonis would have to deal with her, or she would need to sleep on deck.

[Soran Nightblade]

Balance came to him more easily than expected as he guided her up the stairs, though it was hard to tell who was really steadying who. The unicorn knew something was wrong with the man in the cargo hold. His soul felt twisted, unnatural. When they came to the door, he looked at it and thought about his brother inside. "Would you prefer to rest out here for a minute?" he asked her. "Explain to me what happened?"

[Emora Deen]

Laya leaned against the wall, looking at the door. She glanced back down the hall at the steps. “I was…” Laya swallowed when she looked at Telanis. “I was upset and I heard a noise. It was the cat. Then the man was there, and he helped me steady my balance. I didn’t see him down there. I think he was doing something and I spooked him… He helped me steady my balance, but didn’t remove his hands and asked me if anyone knew I was down there. That is all that happened,” she explained fast and nearly in a single breath.

Her cheeks flushed. “I may have over reacted… Thank you regardless.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis stood facing her and brushed the stray hairs away from her forehead. He didn't see any reason to be afraid of the man they'd seen, except that something had clearly been wrong with his soul...like it had been changed so that he couldn't even read it. "Perhaps he has no money to pay for his passage," he theorized uncertainly, knowing something was missing from that theory but not quite able to imagine anything worse.

Adonis rolled his eyes from where he was leaning against the wall opposite the door. The door hung loose on its hinges; it wasn't hard to overhear what was said. His fool brother was so naive it was almost tragic. But Adonis knew, from Laya's account, exactly what had happened. Without even meeting this stranger they spoke of, he could guess what thoughts passed through a pathetic human's head in the presence of a young woman. He knew exactly what would cause him to ask if she was alone. The thought raised the hairs on his neck before he had a chance to stop himself from reacting. He took a deep breath and quelled the protective anger budding inside him. The witch was corrupting his brother. She didn't deserve his concern.

[Emora Deen]

Laya nodded. “Perhaps,” she told herself, wanting to believe Telanis’s theory more. “Telanis… I am sorry,” she spoke softly. “I don’t know what to say. I lost my head. I care a lot about you, and I trust you more than anything. If I hurt you, please tell me.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis smiled gently. "There are very few things in this world that can hurt me, and you are not one of them," he said. His voice glowed with the wisdom of an immortal creature, deeper than the playful nature he normally showed her and soaked with knowledge older than time. "I am sorry for the way Adonis reacted," he almost whispered. "He has been...hurt. Very badly. He is lost. Please try to forgive him."

[Emora Deen]

“I am not angry with him. I don’t blame him,” Laya said softly. “I understand how he feels and why he is upset. I know he wants to kill me… and I don’t even blame him for that.” She felt mystified at the revelation. Though, the prospect of death had once been very appealing to her it now frightened her immensely. It frightened her to the point that she feared to enter the room that her could-be-murder lay waiting in.

Laya wanted to wrap her arms around Telanis’s neck and pull herself close to him. She kept her hands at her side. “What do we do now?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis frowned. "You have done nothing wrong. His anger is misplaced."

[Emora Deen]

“You are sacred and immortal and I am a damaged human, Telanis… I love you and everything in my heart screams that it was right, but… what if it wasn’t?” she regretted saying it now. She didn’t want Telanis to think it was wrong. She wanted him to want her, so why was she so afraid of the idea of having him?

“I don’t regret what we did... I’m just afraid,” Laya whispered.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Please do not be afraid," Telanis said, his voice warm. He pushed back the crippling fear that he'd somehow hurt her. That in doing something without fully understanding it, he'd managed to frighten her, betray her trust. She was afraid... His eyes locked onto hers. "If I've hurt you, I will never do it again," he barely breathed.

[Emora Deen]

Laya looked up quickly. "No!" she said quickly, reaching out and putting her hand on his arm. "You haven't frightened me at all! I frightened myself, that's all..." And the man had frightened her, but in matters of Telanis it was all her doing... Well, Adonis's very public disapproval of their connection didn't help either.

"There is nothing in this world that you could do to frighten me, Telanis," she said as she placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. "You could never hurt someone like me."

[Soran Nightblade]

The unicorn looked down at her hand on his chest. After a moment, he placed his own palm over hers, letting the worry inside him fade. He could protect her from the rest of the world, but there was nothing he could do if she needed protection from him. Nothing except leave her side. It finally sank in just how hard it would be to do that. He wasn't just with her for her sake any more; he'd come to rely on her warmth and look forward to her smile each day.

His hand curled lightly around her fingers. "You should rest," he said with a grin, moving to open the door to their quarters. "I promise he will not hurt you."

[Emora Deen]

Laya stared at the door and then she glanced back to Telanis. She gave a reluctant nod, and pushed the door open slowly, staying close to Telanis as she intered the room. The stress just seemed to swell in her as she stepped inside, keeping her eyes on the floor as she moved towards the bunk-beds. She could feel Adonis in the room, and wondered if it was the hate she felt radiating off him.

She knew Telanis, with all his gentle nature, was not good in his human body. He would find it hard to not fall off the top bunk. She pulled herself up and climbed under the covers and laid back into the softness of the pillow.