Skedaddle

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis put the book down and rose quickly. "I'll go. Stay inside."

[Emora Deen]

Laya watched him slowly. "Okay..." She fiddled with her hair for a moment wondering if there was a specific reason he didn't want her to go out. "I'll make breakfast then and start on the cleaning."

[Soran Nightblade]

"Good." Adonis bent down and began pulling on and lacing up his boots. When he was set, he looked at her. "This house is a fortress right now. He may find you here, but he can't get to you. Not until we are ready. We'll meet him on your terms. Understand?"

[Emora Deen]

Laya nodded. "On my terms," she muttered. "Let us hope that I have the strength for those terms." Laya reached up and pulled her long hair back, braiding it quickly behind her head. She grabbed her mothers old apron and shook it out, wrapping it about her waist.

Laya started sweeping from the far corner in the kitchen.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis didn't know what to say to that, because she was right. He stood up and made his way out the front door to go after the firewood. He resisted the temptation to look down at the hand she'd touched earlier. It would be very hard to explain to her why he'd sympathized with her situation. That would require too much talking and too much feeling. He would just focus on the task before him. Let them wonder all they wanted about why.

Telanis woke slowly to a quiet, sunlit room. It was somewhat dusty in the morning light, but it still felt oddly comfortable to wake up there. Realizing he was alone, he got up and dressed in order to walk into the kitchen. "Good morning," he greeted, stretching. "Need any help?"

[Emora Deen]

Laya smiled at him, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Well, if you want you can pull down the curtains and pile them on the table. I'll wash them later. Also... Adonis went outside to get firewood. I'm not sure but he might need help finding some after the storm we had last night."

Laya kept sweeping the kitchen, working her way into the dining room, and then the living room. She stopped sweeping for a second and turned back to him. "Telanis, we are the only ones living around here, if you want to roam around in your natural form. I don't want to keep you cooped in that human form all the time. I'm sure you'd like to run and check on your forest. Cleaning is really boring for a man I think..." She grinned. "So it won't bother me at all if you want to go adventuring."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis smiled. "You are very considerate. But for now, I don't want to leave you in the house alone. I don't want to be away from you when the danger comes, like the day we arrived here.

[Emora Deen]

Laya smiled. "I'll be fine. Adonis did something to the house so no one who means me harm can get in," she told him. She went back to sweeping. "He says its a fortress now."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis blinked. "Really? How did he do that?"

[Emora Deen]

"I'm not really sure," she told him. "I guess it had something to do with what he found in that book."

Laya wasn't ready to tell him how they would have to remove the brand, so she kept quiet about that.

[Soran Nightblade]

"I see," Telanis said, hoping Adonis hadn't found anything in that book that was too far over his head. "Then...maybe I will go visit the woods for a short while. I will be back soon."

[Emora Deen]

Satine smiled. "Have fun," she told him. "I'll have a clean house waiting for you when you get back and lunch. Its a little late for breakfast... I'm sure you'll find something you like when your out anyway."

[Soran Nightblade]

Locating dry wood after a storm like the one the night before was no basic task, but Adonis had some ideas of places to look. After bringing a few smaller loads of branches and kindling back to the house, he went out for a large tree limb that had fallen and dragged it back to the house, hooking his shoulder into one of the forking branches like a yoke. That should keep the girl warm for a few days. He really hoped they wouldn't have to wait for this thing that long. He was in the middle of pulling the branch back to the house when a silver-white form loped toward him. Adonis paused and watched his brother trot up to him.

*I'm going out for a while,* Telanis said, his mane wisping in what remained of last night's wind.

Adonis frowned. "Okay."

Telanis began walking past him, then turned his neck back. *Adonis...what are you planning to do?*

The black unicorn's gaze hardened to ice. "Collect firewood. Sleep."

*That isn't what I-*

"Relax," Adonis ordered.

Telanis shifted his ears, studying him. *I'll be back soon.*

Adonis shook his head as his brother cantered off down the path. He dragged the bough the rest of the way to the house and left it outside while he looked around for tools. When he couldn't find any, he finally went back inside, closing the door quickly behind him. "Do you have an axe?" he asked Laya when he found her in the kitchen.

[Emora Deen]

Laya stopped sweeping and leaned on the broom. "Ugh... probably," she told him. "I think..." She leaned the broom against the wall and slipped her hands in her pockets. "I have no idea where it would be, though. There is a little shed out back... or there was a little shed out back. I don't know if it is still there. I think that's where my father kept all his tools. Want me to help you look for it?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis shook his head. "I'll find it." His sleepiness was making his social skills a little rusty. Then again, he didn't really have to put on "the nice act" around her. There was no need to put up walls of charm for display in this situation. She knew what he was, at least somewhat.

He turned and left the front door to see whether he could locate this shed. It hadn't escaped his mind that this time of day was when they'd been attacked the morning before, though it was probable that the timing had little to do with anything. He latched the knob behind him and went out to the back of the house, where he noticed the shed. He went out to it and unbolted the door, pulling it wide. He walked into the dusty, stagnant room and scanned the walls for his tool of choice. Something didn't feel right in the air. It was there for an instant, and then gone. Something he only felt because of instincts that had barely stayed intact through the last several years of his life.