Heirot

Telanis glanced across the dockyard at the ship that was finally in port, waiting to take them back to the mainland. The boat seemed small....was it really going to get them there safely?

"Don't be a coward, now that we've finally saved up the fare," Adonis growled moodily beside him. His look hardened when his brother's gentle eyes glanced at him uneasily. "You're leaking fear all over the place," the black unicorn frowned, knowing he could turn his empathy off if he really needed to. Unlike Telanis.

"Of course...As long as it is seaworthy..." Telanis murmured. He reached out with his mind and felt Laya's presence beside him, the familiar buzzing of lights that made up her emotions.

He turned with her to say his goodbyes to the others. After several weeks as guests at the estate of Sano Nakao, the wereleopard they'd met on the island, the bond between their friends and the Ongorethan man had grown strong. Before the tickets had been afforded for this voyage, Neko had already made her decision to stay, to learn more about Sano and see if this might be the right place to build a new life.

So this was goodbye. It wasn't easy to hug the girl and her brother, and even Sano got a tighter embrace than he expected as the unicorn bid farewell to each of them, a bright smile on his face. He was happy for them. He could feel in their emotions that this was difficult, but right, for them.

And what was right for him was to return to his forest, as soon as possible. It was more than nostalgia...his supernatural body couldn't handle the parting from its forest for long, and he was slowly beginning to feel the effects of his long departure. So today, they would set sail.

Laya was coming with him. Her presence was a bright, new kind of joy to him. Something he hadn't known existed, and didn't understand yet.

And then there was Adonis.

He was coming with them. Skeptical discomfort buzzed off his brother's aura as they prepared to board. Adonis did not hug the others, nor did he stand too close to Telanis and Laya. He did make eye contact with Neko as they turned to go, giving her the barest nod of parting as he made his way first up the gangplank to the ship.

Laya tugged the strap of her bag to where it adjusted more comfortably on her shoulder. She took a deep breath as she looked around the small ship. Her eyes took in the crew, and glanced up the mast to the sails. "Its nice," she said off handedly, having caught Adonis and Telanis's conversation. Telanis was uneasy about the boat, she wanted to ease his worry.

"In a couple of weeks we will be home in Ighten," Laya mused as she stepped in a circle, admiring her surroundings a little more. "Where should we put our things?" The boat looked far to small to have private rooms, but then again she could be wrong. She suspected that they would have to stay with the crew where they slept. Which could have no certain designated area at all. They could just sleep out in the night air. That was not something that bothered her at all.

Telanis placed one foot carefully in front of the other as he made his way up the tottery gangplank. Well, tottery by his estimation. He was still barely accustomed to level ground on two legs. Moving the ground under him was just plain cheating. He turned and waved one last time to their friends on the shore, then climbed onto the deck, where a crewman was gesturing for Laya to follow him. He and Adonis proceeded behind their guide without speaking to one another. They were led down a narrow stairwell and corridor lined on either side with small doors. The crewman stopped at one and opened the unlocked door. "Right here," he said brusquely, immediately making his way on down the hall.

Well, they hadn't exactly been able to afford to sail first class. Feeling curiosity outweigh his nervousness, Telanis peered over Laya's shoulder into the room they'd been assigned. There was barely space for luggage at all. Just two bunked beds (more like ledges with mats) and a small porthole.

Two beds.

Laya moved into the room so Adonis could see their quarters. She shoved her bag into a small cubby hole underneath the bottom bunk. She took a seat and looked at the two brothers. "Well, we could share one of the bunks..." she said softly, looking at the floor. "None of us take up much room."

Telanis stepped curiously into the room, fascinated by the scents and feel of the wooden walls of the room. He walked to the porthole and looked outside at the sea they'd be sailing into. "I could share with Laya," he offered without thinking much of it.

"You are not sharing a bed with a human," Adonis said flatly as he walked in behind them.

Telanis looked over his shoulder at his brother, confusion written across his face. "With you, then?"

"No. We'd practically be on top of each other, and we're both-" he halted at his brother's innocent stare. Of course, Telanis didn't think about such things. He, who had let himself be corrupted by humans, was the only one who would see it that way.

"I can sleep on the floor," the white unicorn proposed easily.

"Oh, Adonis, come off it. I'm not contagious with any disease that he might contract from sleeping next to me," she muttered. “It isn’t fair that one of us should sleep on the hard floor. If it bothers you then you could sleep next to me.”

The ship shifted as the waves moved beneath them. She didn’t like the room, but she wasn’t about to voice her complaints. It wasn’t the size that bothered her. It was the mere fact that it looked almost exactly like the room she had shared with her vampire master on their trip from Ongoreth to Ighten. She didn’t want to think about that, for it would bring up terrible memories.

So she turned her attention back to the unicorns. “You should accept that not all humans are bad,” she told Adonis. “At least, I would have thought that you might accept it by now.”

Adonis's deep brown eyes were hard as he turned his gaze on Laya. "There are no trustworthy humans," he said coldly. "I'll take the floor."

Laya frowned. She didn’t understand why he was still so bitter towards them… or at least towards her. She might not have known him for years, but she figured she had known him long enough to earn his trust. Had she not shown that he could?

“If that’s what you want,” she muttered. She then turned her eyes up to Telanis and offered him a soft smile. “Hungry? I wonder if the galley is open…”

"Yes. Let us explore," Telanis said as he turned to Laya. His soft brown eyes flickered to his brother. There was no judgment or anger in the look, just a calm understanding, as always. He knew better than to invite Adonis to join them. "We will see you later?"

Adonis knew it was jealousy that made him snarl at his brother instead of answering. Always siding with the humans, always disregarding the truth he tried so hard to show him. Always leaving him for them. He decided not to care about the flush of hurt that spread from Telanis's aura like a surprise pain.

The emotion never made it to the white unicorn's calm face. "Later, then," he said cheerfully, heading out into the hall with Laya and latching the door behind them.


Telanis looks up and down the hall. He could sense a swarm of emotions down the hall, happiness and worry and the full range of feelings in between. The energy of human minds. It called to him the way the sun drew a seedling toward its light. "I suspect the mess hall is that way," he said, the desire to know more about the people and things on this ship filling him.

She smiled then and took his hand, leading him down the hall. She felt a flurry of excitement herself. She was happy to be going home, just as much as Telanis was happy to be going home. “I wonder what food they have…” she mused, glancing back behind her to look him in the eyes.

The hall was very narrow and at the end it made a short zig-zag, leading into a larger area. There wasn’t a whole lot of room. Everything was miniature compared to average furniture. There were four tables and a bar that ran along the side of the wall with small stools in front of them for more seating. There was a door that lead to a kitchen and a staircase that led up to the deck, and down to a lower level.

There were only a couple of people in the room, and she could hear pans moving around behind the door to the kitchen. “Don’t think they are serving yet,” she said to Telanis, standing close to him.

The two at the table closest to the door looked up at them. They were sitting facing each other, and Laya got the feeling that they had interrupted something. She wasn’t sure what though.

Telanis scanned the room in fascination, taking in the faces and auras of the people there. Some of the people he could read easily, while others' emotions felt more subdued and shielded. He wondered why they were being looked at so strangely. The ship gave a sudden lurch, causing Telanis to stumble sideways and clutch onto the doorway for support.

"Looks like we's under sail," muttered someone in the back of the room. "Looks like some of us ain't got their sealegs yet."

Laya fell into Telanis, but righted herself. "Shouldn't take too long to get them," she mused, grinning at Telanis.

She wondered if they looked different for some reason to these people, and that was why they were staring. She shifted over to one of the empty tables and took a seat. "There isn't anything on your face, but is there something on mine?" she asked. Wondering if there was in fact something out of place that she didn't know about, maybe they were just curious people. She didn't like being sized up. It made her paranoid.

"No, nothing on your face," Telanis said blankly, wondering what that meant. He glanced around at the staring expressions of the others in the room. The floor shifted again, and this time Telanis half ran and half fell into the chair opposite Laya. He gripped the table for dear life. A grunt of amusement made him peer over his shoulder.

"Don't look like Ongorethans to me," the man scoffed. He stood up and crossed the room. The ship swayed heavily, but he corrected his balance like a cat walking across a roof. Pulling out a chair without asking if he could join them, he took a seat between them. He was in his 40s, an Ighten human with a full beard. His skin had been tanned and hardened by weather, engraving the smile lines around his eyes. "We don't get too many guests on this stop. Usually we just trade cargo, so pardon the peerin'. The crew don't see people much, and you lot are mighty different-lookin'. What happened to yer friend?"

Apparently, news traveled very quickly on this ship.

Laya looked at him. "He's resting in the room," she replied, looking him over. She glanced around the room at everyone, trying to figure out if it was friendly or not. She couldn't help but feel uneasy. She told herself that there was no reason to, that they meant them no harm. However, instinct was something she couldn't deny.

"Its a nice ship," she mused, resting her chin on her hand. Her sleek brown hair was braided losely so that her bangs framed her face and the braid dangled over her shoulder.

Her eyes flashed to Telanis. "We came for the food, but I think we are early."

"Oh, ye've gotta make some noise to get service in here," the man smirked, turning toward the kitchen where the pans were clattering. "HENRY!!!" he bellowed loud enough to rattle silverware.

The door to the kitchen swung out and a skinny head poked out like a spider pouncing out of its hole. "Good food takes PREPARATION, Al," the chef shot out tersely. "God, you people have NO appreciation for my cuisine."

"And what fine cuisine have you planned for us tonight, eh?" Al scoffed, inspiring chortles of amusement from others in the room.

"For you, rat soup!" Henry sniffed disdainfully, before finally catching sight of their new cargo. "I do hope you fine people have a more mature pallette than the crew. Dinner will be served in three minutes." He ducked back into his lair and slammed the door on them all.

Telanis smiled as he began to recognize the sense of comfortable rowdiness in the men's interactions. Although they were still being stared at, that wasn't something Telanis understood as awkward.

"We don't see many women on board, so pardon the man," Al clarified.

"Says the man who's pressing into her face!" chortled another man nearby.

"We all know he smells like a dead squid, missy. Don't be afeered of telling him!" Raucous laughter in the room.

Henry raised a calloused hand to his mouth and breathed into his palm, testing his breath curiously. The display made his crewmates laugh louder. "They dont' know how to speak around a lady, so I get to be the ambassador," Al clarified with a smirk. "You'd think they seen a mermaid! What is your name, my dear?"