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“Aymeric?”
At the sound of her soft voice, he looked up from the document he was reading and Katsum’s heart dropped at the sight of him. Accented by the pale light of the candles beside him, he looked nothing like the Lord Commander she knew. His hair was messy, like he’d run his hands through it in frustration, giving him a very wild and untamed look. His hand holding the quill gripped it far more tightly than he should and what handwriting she could see was rushed and shaky at best. His eyes screamed at how tired and exhausted he was, the dark rings under his eyes giving away how little sleep he’d gotten lately. He appeared to be but a shell of the man she knew and loved right now, just barely staying awake and barely functioning.
The Miqo’te woman sighed and stepped into the study, pushing past the door and moving up to the desk, “My love, why are you still here in the study? Are you not coming to bed?”
The Elezen sighed and looked back down, going back to his writing with squinted eyes, “I did go and sleep for a few hours. I got up after a few hours. I must finish this report first before I may get more sleep.”
“Aymeric, you are exhausted.”
By his strained expression and the thin line, his lips made, she knew he was not feeling like himself. She narrowed her eyes and set her own candlelabera down on the opposite side of the desk away form the documents and moved around the table to his side.
“If you do not get some sleep, you will pass out.”
“Yes, I am aware, but this must be finished first.”
“It will be here in the morning, love.”
“I want to finish it now.”
“Aymeric-”
“Katsum, leave me be!”
There was silence after that. His narrowed expression looking up at her startled her slightly and he turned back to the document before she could answer. Now it was her turn to have a thin line across her lips, her tail twitching in annoyance. There were very few times that he had ever raised his voice at her, so few that she could count them all on one hand. At first, she thought that he meant the things he said when he shouted at her, but know she knew different. It was then the twinkling of the glass in the candlelight caught her eye and she noticed the few drops of wine left at the bottom of it. Now, she understood completely. Yes, she knew better now, and it’s why she did the opposite of what he asked.
First, Katsum reach over and plucked the quill from his grasp, causing him to look up angrily and start to speak. She moved quickly around behind his chair, pulling him and it back with the very strength she felled primals with, pulling him away form the desk where he could no longer reach the parchments. Katsum then moved between him and the desk and tidied up the papers and stacked them together, setting them back into his book and closing it and setting the quill back into the ink well. Finally, she reached out and blew out the candles on his candlelabera.
“Katsum,” His voice was dark and angry, yet she turned to him with no fearful expression, even as he stood and towered over her, backing her against the desk and trapping her between his arms. It saddened her to see his sapphire blue eyes filled with such rage at something so trivial, the alcohol lightly effecting his mood as well. He leaned close to her face and growled, “I was not finished.”
“You are for tonight. You may finish the rest tomorrow after a full night’s rest.”
“Katsu-”
“Aymeric de Borel, do not test me,” Katsum reached up and cup his face, caressing his cheekbone with her thumb as her ears fell back sadly, “You are exhausted. Even now you are about to faint. The city can wait until morning, I promise you, and if they can’t, they will have me to deal with come dawn.”
Even as small as she was, he knew better normally than to not press her when she spoke as she did now. It seemed to reach him now as well as she saw the fiery rage leaving his eyes as it was replaced with tiredness and regret. He looked down from her, unable to meet her gaze now as he reached up and held her hand against his face, the fingers of an overworked official intertwining with battle-calloused ones.
“Forgive me, my sweet Kat. I don’t know what came over me…”
She sighed sadly, pulling him down to kiss his cheek.
“You are tired, love. And you have every right to be. So let us go and get some sleep now, alright?” She felt him nod slowly, feeling his exhaustion taking effect. She let go of his face and took the hand he held it instead and gently tugged him around the desk towards the door. He followed her with no complaints, letting her pull him to where she left her candelabra, picked it up and lit their way to the door and out of the study. She stopped only to close the door behind them, then moved into his side and took his am as she led him down the hall back up to their room.
“Thank you for saving me, my lady,” Oh how sleepy he sounded as he spoke through smiling lips, leaning against her as they walked, “I am sorry for yelling at you as well…”
Katsum holding the candles higher higher to light the path through the dark hallway, “It’s alright. I know you did not mean anything by it, dear. I will still be having talk with the nobles that gave you such a task so late into the night however.”
“Do not hurt anyone.”
“I won’t. I won’t. But I’ll make sure it’s harder for them to sleep.”
He laughed, stumbling a little on his feet, “Kaaat.”
“Alright, alright. I will only firmly advise them against doing it in the future. I promise.”
He kissed her hand, “I love you, my dear Katsum.”
“And I love you, my overworked, dearest Aymeric.”