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Of all the people Zoey would think to find in a corner cowering, none of her guesses would have been Rythian. She couldn’t quite see what time it was, but the moon was high and she was only half way awake, so it was somewhere in the region of time she really wanted to be sleeping. However finding Rythian like this, curled up in the corner of the bedroom looking wide eyed and confused, hugging a sword in the best attack stance a hunched man could manage, made the need for sleep go at the bottom of the list of current important things.
“Rythian?” Her voice sheepishly called.
His eyes, previously glassy and unfocused, seemed to laser in on her face and, thankfully, his hand dropped the sword very slowly to the ground. Even in the dark, she could see horror break across his face in waves as he steadily became more and more aware of who was in front of him.
“Zoey im… sorry just… go back to bed please. I didn’t mean to wake you. “
Two new things from Rythian in one night, cowering and a look of embarrassment. What was going on with him? whatever it was, Zoey was doing all she could to contain the worry blossoming in her stomach. Through all the ever changing things in her life, Rythian's stoic and cool nature was her constant support, and now even that had been shattered.
“Rythian you know that I’m not going to sleep until you explain what's going on. “
She tried to look him in the eyes, but he was very obviously trying to avoid any sort of eye contact
“Please Zoey...I promise I’ll explain some time just sleep now, it's late.”
She gave him the best stern look she could muster at an ungodly hour of the night.
“In the morning then.”
“Sometime, yes”
She huffed a bit but knew that even in his current pitiful state that was the best she was going to get out of him, so after giving one last stern look she resigned herself to the covers, expecting to feel the bed shift as he slipped into his side. Instead, the door squeaked softly and soft thumps could be heard going down the stairs. What is up with him?
When she came downstairs for breakfast, it was very obvious that he was trying to avoid the subject at all costs.
“So about what happened…”
“Yea sorry I didn’t come back to bed I ended up remembering I had forgotten to do something, which by the way I need to show you so if you would follow me.”
The whole day, he talked as if he wanted to make sure there was no chance of her interrupting his stream of thought to bring up the conversation again, which meant as fast as he could talk. And after he had spent an hour explaining something she didn’t understand in the slightest, he ushered her very quickly outside, muttering something about how the garden needed some tending to. Some days, she really just wanted to hit him. She spent the rest of the day taking out her frustration on weeds.
A couple nights later, it happened again. He wasn’t in the bedroom this time though. All the way on the second floor, shouts woke her from a deep sleep and sent her running downstairs two steps at a time. He had fallen asleep in the library on the couch, and from what she could tell was still asleep, but was yelling and thrashing like he was fighting something in his dreams.
Sweat covered his face and his mask was askew slightly. The whole situation left her standing in the door for a moment, but only a moment.
a moment later she was at his side shaking him , begging him to wake up. The second her hands grabbed him, his yelling and shaking stopped and his breathing slowed again: his whole body settling back into a peaceful sleep. She wasn’t sure what to do next. She felt she should wake him, but he was so calm lying there it felt wrong. Eventually, Zoey ended up tucked up against the couch with a blanket, head lying near his chest. It wasn’t comfortable on the floor, but she couldn’t leave him.
The next day when she woke, she found herself back upstairs in the big bed, Rythian absent as he always was in the morning. She would have said last night was a dream were it not for the complaints she received from stiff muscles as she stood. Wandering downstairs she found him in the magic room, engrossed in something she really didn’t have any idea about. He didn’t even notice her for a while, his eyes fixed squarely on the doohickey magic orb in front of him. The way his fingers practically danced with the tools and across the table was mesmerizing, and she wished she could just watch him in his element like this forever. unfortunately, he finally noticed her.
“Never seen you pay this much attention to magic before”
“It’s different when you do it. I'm clunky and awkward, but you…”
He looked up then and smiled faintly at her. It was the first time she noticed the bags perched under his eyes.
“If you practiced more maybe you would get better.”
She planned a solid comeback then, but knew he was stalling again from the subject she was determined to question him about. The only problem was, she wasn’t sure how the delicately approach the subject. She pondered for a bit, watching again as he returned to work.
“Rythian?” she murmured. she wanted to be forceful, to make him tell her, but his name came out more like a whimper than anything notable.
“mmm?”
“ Please tell me what’s wrong.”
His only response was a sigh and a gentle thud as he set down the tool he had been holding. She waited for him to look up at her; to either shake his head in his stubborn way and make her fight for the answer or to simply state the problem, but he did neither. He was normally very straight forward, but now he was avoiding eye contact.
“ Do you really wanna know?”
I just want you better, she thought.
“Yes”
“It’s… nightmares. I guess. Very.... vivid ones. They vary on subject.”
Zoey stared on, waiting for him to continue.
“Sometimes it's past things, like the other night… sometimes it's present things.. things I dream I lose”
He finally looked at her then, and there was so much pain in his eyes. He was very much against hugs, but she really wanted to just hold him then, if only to bring his smile back. Instead, she knelt in front of his chair and grabbed his hand, slowly tracing the different scars that littered his fingers. He started a bit in surprise, but didn’t pull away.
“I wish I could help..”
“It’s fine” he interrupted “ You really don’t need to do anything. I’ll deal with them.”
She kept gently tracing, hoping it was doing some sort of soothing. They sat there like that for a while, not really holding hands per say, but not really letting go either.
“Maybe you could do one thing for me.” He said quietly.
“hmm?”
“Try not to die horribly any time soon.”
They both smiled then, to Zoey’s relief.
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
with that, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist and lead him away from the table to go exploring. She knew they both needed the fresh air. It was the first night of peace Rythian had in a very long time.