Orlain

"Maybe it would be better if you let Jayce cool off and wait until Jack is back. I'm sure he will return quickly..." Damien suggested, "maybe he wont even see that demon."

Asha walked across the room to look out the window, "well he took his horse.."

"Jayce could take that demon down easily, I wouldn't worry..." Malak interrupted, speaking quietly through the pain of his new wounds. He looked up at Aegon tiredly, "for the record, I didn't start this one. You made me speak the truth..."

Aegon just shook his head. When the wall was repaired, he sat back down, healing Malak's new wound as he did. He was tired of all the blood on his floor.

"You aren't finished speaking, either. I know there is more," he said as he resumed his previous position. "You said you took it upon yourself to train Damien, and yet I do not understand why she would willingly do that or why you would even extend that courtesy. You are to stop, by the way."

Malak just starred tiredly at Aegon, not speaking for a moment. His wounds and the pain were draining him. Plus he had already been pretty busy that day.
"Stop? Why?" Damien suddenly asked before Malak could start to speak again. "Malak is the only one who understands my powers and he has done anything bad to me since he started teaching me. Without Malak I would still think I didn't even have them."

Malak was grateful for the interruption, he didn't like the idea of telling the truth as to why he had been helping Damien.

"Nothing a demon does is purely a selfless act," Aegon answered. "I have my doubts that anything he did was truly harmless."

"Wouldn't be surprising," Joey remarked from where he leaned on the wall. "Considering the multiple attempts on our lives . . ." Among other things, of course, but he wasn't willing to voice them.

"He understands," Aegon added approvingly. "But, we are being sidetracked. I'm still waiting for your explanation, Malak."

Malak seemed to almost panic as the attention was turned toward him again. He looked down, letting his long bangs fall into his face. "I was trying to make her stronger..." He answer simply. It was the truth, he was bound to only tell the truth for now. But it wasn't the whole truth.

Damien fell silent again, watching Malak's odd behavior. She had never seen him so quiet and unwilling to fight back. "There's more then that... Isn't there?" she asked, not taking her blue eyes off of him.

Malak refused to answer, shaking his head shortly, but only because it wasn't Aegon that asked him. He didn't have to answer Damien truthfully.

"I told you not to leave anything out," Aegon said darkly. "What else are you not telling me? I advise you to stop playing games; my patience tonight is wearing extremely thin. Your next wounds would not get healed."

Joey felt his stomach twist with anxiety. He almost didn't want to know what Malak's other reasoning was.

Malak let out a long sigh and kept is gaze downward, "I wanted her to become strong because I didn't want her to get hurt. She needed to be strong enough to defend herself. I know humans well enough to know that they betray each other and I wanted her to be ready... " he paused for a moment, trying to clench his mouth shut and not speak. But a unseen force forced him to speak, "because I love her..."

There was instantly silence in the room, Damien felt her face turn red and her heart pounding in her chest. But somehow she wasn't too shocked.

"But I thought demons couldn't love..." Asha mused, looking to Aegon for answers.

Aegon gave a thoughtful hum, clasping his hands together in front of his face. Had he not given Malak the instruction speak truthfully, he would have assumed Malak to be lying.

"Interesting," he said quietly.

The emotions that surged through Joey were too quick for him to easily identify. Anger, despair, fear--a sickening mixture. He tried to keep his expression stoic, but his fingers dug into his crossed arms as he watched the scene.

So much for moving on.

Malak finally stopped speaking and made sure not to look up and see everyone's reactions. Specially Damien's.

Unable to handle the sudden onset of pressure toward her Damien quickly got up and left the room, heading for her bedroom. She didn't know what to think, say or do. She just had to be alone for a while.

"Demons are nothing bu selfish, angry, greedy animals. How is that even possible?" Asha asked, glancing between Malak and Aegon.

"It's possible, just very unlikely. It usually only happens to demons who pretend to be humans often..." Malak said tiredly, "at first I thought I just wanted to kill her..."

"Either way, it is a development I did not expect," Aegon confessed. "Though I hope you never had any intent to pursue it."

Joey watched Damien leave, wondering he should follow. He immediately dismissed the idea. If he could even manage to speak to her, it would be nothing but anger.

"That would explain a lot," Kerian mused. "Though only so much. I suppose it does not matter now."

"No I did not. It's pretty obvious that she loves Joey anyway..." Malak said bluntly, finally looking up. "I am ashamed of myself for letting it come to love, but I can't change it now.." He pushed some more hair out of his eyes and glanced at Asha, who had fallen silent as well. There seemed to be something on her mind.

"Don't bring me into this," Joey said bitterly.

Aegon shook his head again and looked to Asha. "Have you a thought to share?" he asked, his voice taking on a considerably kinder quality. He never could quite bring himself to be coarse with his adopted daughter.

Asha shook herself from her thought and smiled at her father, "nothing important. But maybe I should go look for Jack to make sure he didn't get lost?" She suggested. She knew this terrain like the back of hr hand, and even though she couldn't fight, she was really good at running away. And so she had to fear for the lurker that may have been out there.

"May I go for a little while?" Malak asked Aegon once Asha was finished speaking. He really didn't want to be around his captors at that moment.

Aegon nodded. "Be careful, then," he said, knowing that he likely couldn't stop Asha if he wanted to. Not without undue force, at least.

He returned his attention to Malak. For now, he had no other use for the demon. "Fine," he said. "But cause no trouble. Harm no one, or there will be consequences."

Asha nodded and grabbed her coat before heading outside. She figured she could find Jack pretty easily.

Malak gave one last nod before vanishing in his spot, leaving behind a small amount of purple haze.

Later that night Asha returned with Jack was was very sore and tired. He could barely remember what Jayce had done, but he was sure it was bad enough to get thrown through a wall that he should apologize to Aegon. Although he couldn't garentee that Jayce would stay dormant he also told him that he was fine with Aegon having to use force to stop him. He understood, just like he hoped Aegon understood that it wasn't him who did it, it was Jayce.
When he returned to bed with Zakuro he tried to hide his pain to make her not worry, but it was useless. With a couple broken ribs and numerous scrapes and bruises, every movement hurt. Staying in bed for a few days was probably a good idea.

Three days passed by without much of a hitch. Malak would come back every night to see if Aegon needed him, but he would never stick around.

Damien tried to pretend nothing had changed, but in reality everything had. And she felt so guilty for even considering Malak again. But she couldn't help herself. He was always secretly there when Joey wasn't. And thinking about this set Damien into a bad mood again and she started to give him the cold shoulder. she barely spoke to him and when she did she was short and annoyed. Everything was telling her to hate him again. She didn't know why.

After three days of no movement from Rane other then her very shallow breathing very slowly returning to normal, Jack was starting to wonder if she would ever wake up.
And she would, she twitched her hand lightly a couple times as her body brought her back to consciousness. Her pale eyes opened a tiny bit for just a moment, it was too bright to wake up, but she had no other choice. She instantly wondered where Taiju was, and tiredly glanced around, barely remembering where she was.

The next few days were rather uneventful.

Joey was visibly distressed about something for the first day or so, but whatever it was, he quashed it and proceeded to act normally for the days afterward. He spent a significant amount of time outside on the cliff, watching the beach and enjoying the sound of the surf as background noise for his thoughts. He frequently took a sketchbook out with him, but the pages only ended up being full of frustrated scribbles.

Aegon spent the time healing Rane. It took significant work and reference to texts; eventually his table was cluttered with books that he didn't seem to notice once he was finished with them. By the end of the second day, all he could do was leave Rane alone to recover. it was hard to be certain that his work was done when the girl was still unconscious.

Zakuro could do little but sit back and watch, occasionally trying to be helpful if it didn't put her in the way of everyone else.

Taiju spent as much time as he could in the den, keeping an eye on Rane. It was surprisingly little time--Aegon repeatedly grew frustrated with the young man's presence and shooed him out again. When he wasn't allowed in, he either sparred outside or dipped into the ale stash Aegon had told him of. The healer truly cared little for what everyone did in their spare time, and at least it kept Taiju out of his way.

When Rane showed signs of waking, Aegon left the room and didn't return, instead mentioning idly to Taiju that Rane was waking up. He was in the room immediately after, trying not to look too eager as he he approached the makeshift bed, breath bated.

Rane blinked repeatedly to try and clear the fog from her eyes. It felt like she had been asleep for years. Though she tried to look for Taiju, her eyes were still adjusting and she couldn't tell if it was him or not. She watched the blurry figure moved over to her side and she tried to choke out a word. But her throat was too dry, after trying to clear her throat softly she attempted again. "Tai...ju?" She asked quietly, her voice scratchy from lack of use.

Taiju's breath hitched when he heard Rane's voice. It had only been some days, but that was too long as far as he was concerned.

He tried to find words, and couldn't. Eventually, he settled for sitting on the edge of the couch, a small smile finding its way onto his face. He regretted the drink he'd had before Aegon found him--but hopefully Rane would be too out of it to notice. It didn't matter. She was awake again.

Rane blinked a few more times before her eyes were finally focused and she saw Taiju's face clearly. She smiled at him and tried to clear her throat again, to speak more clearly.
"Where am I?" She asked, reaching out a hand for his. She could vaguely remember something happening, but her memory was foggy and still coming back in chunks. She could remember traveling somewhere important, but couldn't remember where or why. But seeing Taiju made her feel safe, even if she was clueless right now.

Taiju took Rane's hand between both of his, having to make an effort not to grip too tightly out of sheer happiness. "We found Aegon," he replied. "We've been at his home for a few days now while he tried to heal you. I have no idea how much he's done or what, but he's obviously done something to finally have you back."

Rane's smile got even bigger and she looked around again, taking in the room for a moment. Sheer happiness flooded over her and she reached up to grab Taiju's shirt with her free hand. She pulled him down toward her and kissed him right on the lips. She was just too happy to not kiss him, but too weak to sit up herself. Rane knew that Taiju had taken care of her the whole journey here and wouldn't be able to repay him for that.

Taiju made no protest, just throwing out a hand on the arm of the couch as he dipped his head to kiss Rane. He hadn't realized how much he had missed something as simple as this until just now--even just a touch now was enough to nearly send him reeling, and it was wonderful. He couldn't contain his relief or how badly he needed this moment.

Rane wrapped her arm around Taiju's neck so he couldn't pull away. Not that she thought he was going to, but for her own feeling of closeness. She kissed him several times, and then just hugged him tightly. She closed her eyes, thinking to herself as she held him close. She knew Aegon had saved her, she felt a million times better then she had the last time she remembered being awake. Nothing hurt and she had more energy. She could think straight, and although she was still weak and tired, she knew she was going to live. Thinking about how she actually had the option to spend her life the way she wanted, being with who she wanted now that she would have a longer life sturred up so many new emotions. And one of them she was instantly sure about, for what seemed to be the first time ever. Before she could even think about what she was saying, it just came out.
"Taiju, I love you..." She said it softly as she hugged him closely, but she was completely sure of herself.

Taiju smiled at the declaration. That felt like all he could do--grin stupidly and breathe and touch and just be happy that Rane wasn't going to be taken from him too early.

"I love you too," he whispered back, pausing to marvel at the ease with which the words passed his lips. It wasn't the first time he had said the phrase--that had been some months back--but any time he had said it before was always difficult. Now he was more sure of it than anything else in his life, and damned if a little bit of awkwardness was going to keep him from saying it.

Rane loosened her grip on Taiju just enough to kiss him again. She could smell and taste the alcohol on him, but she didn't care. She could easily tell he wasn't drunk, and in his shoes she would have drank as well. And although she had said the three words before, they had taken a new meaning this time. It was something much deeper a life changing this time. And she couldn't be happier with that. After a few more long and wonderful kisses she released him all together and smiled widely at him.

Although disappointed to have the moment end, Taiju did have to admit that he would rather be in a less compromising position if anyone else chose to pass through this room. He sat up only to perch himself back on the edge of the couch, unwilling to go anywhere else for a long time.

"So how do you feel?" he asked, a question that always seemed ridiculous but was inevitable either way.

"I'm a tired, and feel like my body is filled with sand, but other then that not too bad," Rane answered with a smile still on her face. Though she said she felt better she was still very pale. She moved a little awkwardly to lift her shirt and see how her old wound, the one that refused to heal, was doing. Where there was once purple and inflamed tissue there was now a small pink scar. She ran her hand along it tenderly as if not to believe it for a moment.
"How long have I been out?" She asked, thinking it had been months by the progress.

"A few days at most," Taiju replied. "If nothing else, Aegon is efficient. I imagine we'll be here awhile longer, though. There's a lot of talk about helping the prophecy and trying to decide what to do next, what he can do, what the rest of us can do . . ." He trailed off, thinking of the other things they had learned about Aegon and his relationship to Malak, but that was kept silent for the time being. No need to overload Rane with so much information so soon.

"A few days?" Rane repeated in shock, she looked back down at her scar. "He is much more powerful then I could have ever thought.." She mused and then smiled again. "So he is going to help everyone like Asha said? Thats a very good thing." She pulled her shirt back down and relaxed again, but just for a moment. Rane had been out of it for so long that she couldn't help but want to push her body. She tucked her hands under her back and tried to push herself up into a sit, having a hard time with the movement.

"I'm not sure exactly what he intends to do," Taiju said, immediately moving to help Rane sit up properly. "I think he went to talk to Kerian, but nobody's been informing me of any plans. The last few days have been fairly uneventful, aside from most everyone being as moody as they typically are."

Rane relaxed against the back of the couch once she was sitting up. She was winded from the movement and took a moment to catch her breath before speaking again. "So I'm guess Joey and Damien haven't worked things out?" She asked, glancing around the room once again. She looked over at the books laying all over the table, instantly wanting to look at all of them.

"I'm beginning to have my doubts they ever will," Taiju sighed, resting his head back against the couch. It seemed silly to sit and gossip about the love lives of their companions, but there was little else going on in this oversized house. "We discovered a few days ago that Malak is, apparently, under Aegon's control. We learned a few things from that, but, most related to this, the demon confessed he was in love with Damien, apparently, or at least claims to be. I don't think it made anything better for the two of them."

"Under Aegon's control? So he made him try to kill everyone? I always though Malak was weird. And it doesn't shock me about his being in love with Damien..." Rane mused lightly. She considered the idea of what would happen if Damien left with Malak, or is Aegon wasn't on their side. Well for starters, she would be dead. Having someone that strong against them would be bad enough. They have plenty of enemies.

"Well, no. None of that was Aegon's doing, as far I can tell. From what I gather, Malak was supposed to simply be keeping an eye on the prophecies and telling Aegon about anything interesting. Anything else was Malak's doing." He sighed. "Was tempting to kill him again, but after seeing what Aegon did to the last person who stabbed Malak without explicit permission . . ."

Taiju shook his head. "As for being unsurprised, I think you're the only one. Nobody else thought it was even possible."

"of corse it's possible. Just like good demons are possible. Just very rare." Rane laughed lightly, "what kind of demon would you be if you went around telling other demons you were in love?" She paused a moment, thinking about what Taiju was saying, "who stabbed who?"

"Jayce got pissed off the first night we were here and stabbed Malak in the shoulder," Taiju said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Can't exactly remember why now. I was . . ."

"Drunk" was the word he was looking for, but not the one he wanted to use.

" . . . Slightly out of it at the time. In any case, Aegon threw him through the wall. I haven't felt like testing his patience since then."

Rane couldn't help but start laughing at the thought of Jayce getting thrown through a wall. She tried to stifle it but couldn't. "That is possibly the greatest thing ever, I wish I had been awake. Is Jack alright?" She asked, concern in her voice even as she still giggled.

Then she settled down and took a more serious tone, "I know you have been drinking," she said softly, taking his hand again. "While I don't agree with drinking as an answer to anything, I would have done the same if I were in your shoes..."

"Jack's fine. Back to doing whatever it is he normally does," Taiju said with a shrug. He had, admittedly, only been paying so much attention to everyone else.

He sobered when Rane brought up the other topic. Abruptly ashamed, he looked to the side and cleared his throat. He didn't know how to respond.

"I thought I was done with it," he said lightly.

"Well, you're done now." Rane said softly in a reassuring tone. "Just start over and don't think about the past. It will only kill you slowly. And we have plenty of future to worry about now, we will be too busy to worry about weakness's in the past." She smiled widely and leaned toward him to kiss his cheek lovingly.

Taiju sighed, but he couldn't help smiling right after. Rane was right. Start over and forget about it. There was so much more to worry about and look forward to for him to linger on a few days of mistakes.

"Alright," he conceded. "I'll work on it, at least."

"Good," Rane chimed before leaning on Taiju tiredly. She was tried and weak, but not enough to sleep. She was surpised how good she could feel, and yet how little energy she could have.
"I can't wait to meet Aegon for real. I don't really consider being half dead meeting him. . ." she mused, changing the subject. "The healer that raised me said the lighter the eyes were on a healer, the more powerful they were. And that's why my eyes are to light. His eyes must be completely white..."

"I'm not entirely sure. I had not looked," Taiju confessed. "I think they're light, but . . . eye color has not been one of the things I've worried about since getting here."

As if on cue, the healer reentered the room, Kerian following shortly behind. Whatever they had been discussing, it was dismissed as they both caught sight of Rane.

Kerian gave a smile, out of relief as much as cheerfulness. "You're looking better," she remarked to Rane. "I'm glad to see that you are well again."

"I am feeling much better, "Rane smiled back at Kerian. "Best I have felt in ages." She looked over at Aegon, and she suddenly felt like she was in the presence of a god. Rane had studied about Aegon, believing he was nothing but a myth for a long time. But he had also done many things that had changed the healing world dramatically. She had never thought she would be healed by him, let alone face to face with him.
"Thank you so much..." She said whole heartedly, "your work is amazing.."

Aegon smiled dryly. "We'll see about that," he remarked. "As long as you hold up over the next few days, I can claim that."

"How much longer do you think it'll be?" Kerian asked.

"Well, the actual healing is done. I just want to make sure she'll be well. I haven't attempted something like this in some time, and not quite to this scale. It is nothing too worrisome."

Rane had a million thoughts running through her head about Aegon, she wanted to ask him a million questions, but seem composed at the same time. "What exactly did you do?" Rane asked, trying not to sound like an idiot. "I mean, cause the healer that used half of my life force to save my brother said it would be impossible to save me when my time came... And she died in the process." Rane was still very young and everything she did know about healing it was out of old books that she found here or there or from experience. She remembered some things the healer told her when she was young, but she barely understood it at that age.
"How do you not even look tired?" It was obvious that Rane was pretty amazed.

"A lot of patience, and a lot of research," Aegon answered. "Some of the theory is similar to how I've lived for as long as I have. It doesn't require borrowing energy, as was the case for you and your brother, if I'm correct, but creating it or pulling it from elsewhere.

"As for not appearing tired," Aegon finished with a slight smile, "there is no particular secret. I am an old man. I am tired most of the time."

Taiju dipped his head to hide an amused smile at Rane. It was cute when she became so involved in something that interested her.

"That is truly amazing... If it wouldn't be too much of a bother..." Rane began, "would you mind teaching me how to get the energy else where while we are here?" She didn't want to sound desperate, but she couldn't let this chance pass her up. "I think it would help me help the others finish off the prophecy. They get hurt quite a lot, and I can't always heal them properly because I am still pulling from my own energy." She hoped so badly that the only healer would at least give her a chance. Teaching her was probably the last thing he wanted to do.

"I think you should focus on recovery more than learning at least for the rest of the day," Aegon said, crossing his arms loosely. He surveyed the books he had stacked on the table in the last few days, then moved to pick up one. "But if you must, start with this. A lot of techniques I use are much older than what is common nowadays."

Rane smiled widely as she took the book from Aegon, quickly looking the cover over. It was a very old book, and was very used, but still in good reading condition. For how old this book seemed, Aegon must have taken good care of it.
"Thank you again," She breathed, looking back up to the old healer. She was always eager to learn, not to become stronger but to help others better.

Asha strolled into the room a moment after the book was handed to Rane. She smiled whens he saw Rane was awake but then looked back up to her father. "I went and searched the area and I think that the lurker officially went to look for different food," she told him proudly.