Heirot

In the distance, Adonis's spell finally wore off the guards. Their pain dissolved into rage and astonishment, then began to blend in again with the flurry of consciousness of the rest of the village. Adonis was relieved, enough to tolerate Neko's toying with his mane. The horse in the next stall peered longingly over the wooden divider at his untouched oats. Adonis glanced at the other horse and snorted indifferently, rolling his eyes away. Whatever.

The other horse's ears flicked up at Adonis's permissive gesture and arched his neck over the stall, barely able to reach into the bucket, but he scarfed on what he could reach.

Adonis turned his gaze back to the girl next to him, wondering how long she intended to stay there like this.

Neko looked over and started to laugh. "You oat thief!" she said giggling but then gave the other horse some oats as well so he wasn't craning over the divider. She yawned unexpectedly. "oh... I guess I'm tired." she mused and smiled to Adonis, the dark horse to Neko, and patted his mane again. She left the braid in.

"I guess I need some sleep." she said reluctantly. She didn't really want to go. She felt that if she left, her world would come crashing down soon after leaving the horses presence. She didn't understand the mechanics of that but she also didn't really ask questions.

Adonis avoided nodding. It would be too human. But she did need sleep. He turned instead, facing away from her and lowering his long neck toward the ground at the back of the stall, as though he'd lost all interest in her.

"Heh, I see how it is." Neko said in good humor, nodding to herself as if she had just figured out a big problem. She exited his stall and bade the dark horse goodnight. As she walked farther away from Adonis' presence, her mind and soul became slowly more aware of the events and feelings that had occurred. Her face changed from a care free smile, to a deepening frown of anguish.

The sadness fell so heavily back onto her that Neko had to stop walking and lean on the outside wall of her house. Her father was dead, her village taken over, Adonis was possibly dead, and she was almost raped in the foolish sentiment to be just like a noble and honorable man. What was she thinking? She wasn't a man! She was a fragile woman!

Neko began to sob quietly, holding her head in her hands as she sat outside the house. She couldn't bring herself to enter it, there were too many memories of her father in there. Without realizing moments later, sleep overtook her and Neko fell asleep, with tears still in her eyes, outside her house.

Laya blinked her eyes open the next morning to see Telanis's soft sweet face. He looked so cute... She could kiss him, but she wouldn't. That would be wrong. He was pure, and should be kept so. She still couldn't help wanting to kiss his cheek or something.

Would that hurt? She asked herself.

She wouldn't try it if it might hurt him.

She laid there, squeezing his hand lightly and she felt herself wanting to drift back off... but she forced herself not too.

Telanis's eyes drifted open at a light pressure on his hand. His long silver eyelashes floated up to reveal Laya lying next to him. His lips pulled upward faintly as he recognized her, and he squeezed his eyes shut comfortably before opening them again as he said "Good morning, Laya." His low, silken voice was heavy with sleep.

Adonis stood silently in his stall, right where Neko had left him. No sooner had she gone than he was overwhelmed again by the consciousness of the suffering villagers, and for a short while he had recognized Neko's psyche among them. He had wound up chewing on his oats, and even the straw on the stall floor to block the sensations from his mind, but eventually he just stood there numbly, bitterly wanting to leave this hellish place.

Laya smiled at him softly, his voice was like music to her. "Good morning," she said softly. "Did you sleep well?" she asked him, trying to hold back the urge that was growing even stronger to kiss him on the cheek...

"I did, thanks to you," Telanis said, not sure she'd understand what he meant, but it was true. He tilted his head slightly as a strange urgency emanated from her that he didn't understand. "You must have required sleep after yesterday's excitement," he said.

"Yes," she said and smiled. "I slept good too... Thanks to you as well... I didn't have nightmares...." She whispered the last part as if nightmares was a forbidden word. Then slowly she moved closer to his face and with out thinking she kissed his cheek softly then moved away, flushing.

"Er... sorry, I don't know what came over me..." she glanced at there hands instead, so she wouldn't have to see the look that might cross his face.

The look on Telanis's face was gentle and content, though a bit confused. He did not know enough about human courtship to recognize the sexual potential of her gesture, though he understood it to signify strong affection. After thinking about it a moment, he decided he was pleased by the gesture and ought to return it. He leaned forward, his hair brushing into her face like a satin sheet, and kissed her cheek softly before leaning back and smiling innocently. "Do you think the others will have woken? Shall we seek them out?" he asked, curiously observing the color in her cheeks.

Laya's eyes followed him as she saw him leaning closer to her and his face brushed across her face soothingly. When he kissed her cheek shes stared at him in awe and then smiled sheepishly at him. She had never had a man kiss her so genlty before.

"Oh... yes, we should probably do that." She sat up and tugged on his hand as she rose to help him up.

Telanis accepted her help climbing to his feet, which were slightly unfamiliar, like climbing onto a bike that's too big for him and re-learning how to get around its ineffectiveness. It still showed in his every movement that the body, though it was beautiful, was not his proper form.

He took Laya's hand and they walked out into the house, where no one seemed to be stirring. Curious how his brother was doing, Telanis drew Laya with him to the back door and opened it. There they found Neko sleeping on the steps outside, tearstains dried on her cheeks. Telanis didn't appear alarmed or worried in any visible way. He just quickly knelt beside her and touched his hand to her head very lightly. He looked back at Laya, eyes deep and thoughtful.

Laya looked at Adonis and let go of Telanis's hand as he knelt down to comfort Neko. She walked over to Adonis and knelt down next to him. "How are you doing?" she asked him, glancing back at Telanis with a soft smile.

Neko stirred when Telanis touched her forehead. "aah," she groaned awake and rubbed her eyes. "Telanis?" she said sleepily.

Adonis didn't raise his head to Laya, seeming indifferent as he stood facing the back of the stall. He twitched his tail almost defiantly, saying nothing, though mentally his attention was on her. He would be stuck playing the part of a stock animal again today; he didn't feel like fraternizing with this human.

Telanis smiled at Neko, worry softly lining the corners of his eyes. "Good morning," he greeted her cheerfully. "Is this bed comfortable?" he asked in honest curiosity, indicating the uneven wooden platform she was sleeping on.