Heirot

Laya closed her eyes for a moment. "You don't have to stay here with me," she said softly. "I don't want you to get bored."

She thought for a moment. "Though... if you would like to stay with me... is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked, not wanting to lie in silence and bore poor Telanis to death.

Kratos and Neko had long finished their meals. Poor Neko had only gotten through three mugs before she started feeling it's effects, Kratos still felt normal. He had to lift his sister up over his shoulder to get them out of the room, almost colliding with Adonis.

"Oh!," Kratos said, almost stumbling. "I didn't know you were here." For the moment, his hostile senses towards the unicorn man had fallen... maybe it was the drink?

"I'm getting a drink for your friend," Adonis said carefully, his insides freezing up as the two humans suddenly appeared in front of him. Was that fear he just felt? He repainted the feeling as spite and stepped to the side for them to get past, nodding to Kratos and Neko politely as he proceeded quickly into the galley, letting his peculiar acquaintance slip from his mind as he moved gracefully straight to the bar and acquired a tall glass of water.

Telanis looked around the room thoughtfully. He'd never been on a ship before, so everything about it mystified him. He found himself thinking about his brother, and abruptly stopped himself, trying to turn his attention to something else. "That person you thought was in this room...he is the one who gave you the fear you carry inside you?" he said quietly. It was more of a statement than a question. He had felt it when he first met you, so strong and painful that it seemed to radiate from her, but never as strong as it had been a minute ago. He looked down at her protectively.

Laya glanced away for a moment. "Yes," she replied, looking back at Telanis. "I always wanted to see Ongoreth... and since I had no family or anything to hold me back I went... One night I was wondering around and it started poring rain. I went and hid in this cave where a woman, Yoshia, was. She pretended to be in love with him... and... she never even warned me about him. So when I fell a sleep..." she stopped and swallowed.

"I woke up and I was chained up," she breathed. "Yoshia helped me break free. But, damn my kindness, he threatened to hurt her and her family. So... I stopped running." She squeezed his hand tighter. "And he..." She faded off, blinking back tears. "I was his slave for months..." She reached up weakly with her other hand and pulled up the loose sleeve of her dress to reveal the branded mark she wore that he gave her. "So now I'm afraid of everything... afriad of Ongoreth, afraid of the dark, afraid... of men. Except you... I'm not afraid of you."

Kratos resumed walking down the hall with his Sister over his shoulder. Adonis' appearance and purpose slipping from his now lax mind. He nugged open the door to his sister's room and placed her on her bed gently. As he watched her lay there, her cheeks flush from drink and now sleeping it off, Kratos sat next to her and looked at the wall. He listened to her soft breathing and old feelings welled up inside of him again. He shook his head stubbornly. 'That's your sister...you loon.' he thought angrily to himself.

He then stood up, not wanting to do something stupid and left the room.

Here's a map of our boat, cause I wanted one ^_~


Telanis's eyes glowed with emotion as he listened to Laya's story, his free hand involuntarily growing tighter in his lap as she spoke. He had seen and healed many horrible things, but never something like this. If only one of his kind had been able to come to her then, when the nightmare could have been prevented. He almost jumped out of the chair when the door abruptly opened. He spun around, startled, to see Adonis in the doorway.

Adonis caught the sorrow on his brother's face an instant before the white unicorn could clear it from his expression. He looked at Laya in confusion, sensing the same feeling emanating from her before realizing she was probably the source of whatever was bothering Telanis. He repressed the urge to look further into their feelings, not wanting to get any further into a human mind than he had to be. Keeping his disgust from his calm face, he crossed the room with his strange grace and held out the drink of water he'd brought for Laya.

Out in the hall, a dark-clad form rushed along the hall from the direction of the stairwell. It was impossible to make out the features of the person, but from the form's movement, it seemed to be male. Not seeing Kratos as he emerged into the hall, or perhaps not caring, the form jostled him roughly as it made its way past in the narrow, unlit corridor and disappeared into the shadows.

Laya weakly pushed herself to a sitting position, well barely sitting. She took the glass with a weak thankful smile and took several sips. Her eyelids hug wearily as if they were about to close.

"Thank you," she said after several sips of water.

Kratos stummbled backwards as whatever it was rushed past him. He scammbled back onto his feet and tried to find the person, an angry yell dying in his throat when he realize the figure was gone.

"What the--" Kratos muttered under his breath. Not liking the feeling that was now forming in the pit of his stomach, he walked back down the corridor after the figure to check on his friends.

Adonis looked away from the fatigue on her face as she thanked him. If she was already having this much trouble, she didn't have long. The poor fool still had no idea that he was the cause of her illness. He wanted to be away from her, hating the stench of her misery in the room, but he had a goal to achieve, so he'd have to tolerate her.

"You're still not feeling any better?" he asked her worriedly. He cast an uncomfortable glance at Telanis for her to see. "Not to be rude...I understand you see him as your friend, but would it be wise to ask the unicorn to step outside for a while. Just...in case," he said as tactfully as possible, distrust lining his voice as he spoke of his brother.

Laya clutched Telanis's hand tighter. "No... I want Telanis to stay..." She thought for a moment. "Telanis... if you want to leave you can. You don't have to stay because of me..." Her voice was soft, a musical touch to it that it once had.

"I'm not going anywhere..." She smiled softly. Strang for her to smile, since she rarely did so. But, for Telanis... she would smile.

Adonis looked at her sympathetically and rested his case. "Well...I've heard your kind can heal," he said to Telanis distrustfully. "If that's true, isn't there something you can do for this girl?"

Telanis looked from Laya to Adonis thoughtfully, returning Laya's grip on his hand. He looked back at her again, her faint smile making him want all the more to help her. "I can," he confirmed, though there was faint uncertainty in his voice. He wasn't sure his last attempt had had any effect. Maybe he hadn't put enough energy into it?

"Telanis, its alright. Maybe you can only heal wounds... not illnesses. It's just sea sickness... That's all. You can try again if you want." Her grip started slipping on the glass, so she rested the glass on her flat stomach. A slight shiver than up her as she chill entered her body.

"I am able to heal anything," Telanis said. Only he could honestly say that without even a trace of pride behind his words; it was the truth. He unburdened her of the glass she was holding, taking it and setting it on a table next to her bed. He looked at Adonis uneasily; something seemed wrong about this, but he was too naive to recognize the setup. "Let me try again," he finally said, and turned back to Laya. He leaned over her and lowered his head to touch hers, closing his eyes. The star on his forehead glowed softly, and then the light extended around Laya's entire form. Power that could only do good flowed from his body into hers, but through the filters of Adonis's spell, all of its effects were opposite, causing her body to throb and the air to seem as if it were being sucked from her lungs. Telanis felt Laya's pain increase, and broke off the spell, sitting up abruptly. "Laya, are you alright?" he asked in alarm, breaking all contact in case it somehow hurt her more.

Through ragged breaths Laya tried to answer him, but she couldn't manage to form the words the winces and gasps. She had felt pain before, but it didn't mean that it didn't affect her. She brought her hand to his and held it tightly as the pain flooded through her.

"It's okay... you... tried..." She smiled weakly before fading off into a loud moan off pain. "Telanis... I... love you..." She didn't mean it in a romantic way, though possibly she did. For right now she meant it in a caring way. She cared for Telanis more than she did for anything in this world. He helpd her. He cared for her. She loved him for it.

Telanis stared at her, a combination of guilt and the sympathy pain his instincts picked up from her making his eyes water. He'd actually hurt her. There was no doubt about it this time. But how was that possible? At this rate, he might really be the monster Adonis had told them he was-...

Adonis. His eyes darkened as he finally figured it out, feeling like a fool, but feeling his brother's cruelty even more. ~How could you do this?~ he spoke to his brother's mind without turning to look at him.

The dark unicorn wasn't sure who to stare at; Laya or Telanis. He had never heard such keen and pained condemnation in his brother's voice. Its seemingly calm tone sounded one step away from either yelling or crying, but he couldn't tell which. It annoyed him. The guilt his brother felt spread to him as well, and Adonis quickly blocked it out. Telanis wasn't supposed to be mad at him; he was supposed to be mad at her, for turning on him. But she hadn't. *That* he did not understand. Any logical being would construe that Telanis was conducting some sort of foul magic on her, but she seemed desperate to trust him. She had to be using him for something, then. To kill her emotional pain; that was it. She would endure one kind of pain rather than another.

~Please, take it off.~ Telanis thought to Adonis.

~I'm afraid that's not possible,~ he replied in cold irritation, and blocked off any further contact from his brother's mind.

Telanis did his best to keep a calming expression on his face as he gently touched the back of Laya's hand. "There has to be a doctor on this ship. I will go look," he said quietly. He didn't think a normal doctor could do much about this, but he was out of options. Giving Adonis a calm frown, he stood and left the room, staggering into the doorframe as the shifting of the boat threw off his already clumsy balance.