Donoma felt the word pierce her heart and she wasn’t sure what to say to Saelak as she reached out her hand once more, wanting to comfort him in some way.

“I wouldn’t care if the whole world fell for Aster, I wouldn’t care if he accepted every advance made towards him! I just- I wish he would accept me too.” He said brokenly as the tears silently fell down his now rosy cheeks. “I’ve held myself back for years, Donoma… He never showed the slightest interest… yet you-” his voice did break that time as a sob threatened to escape and Donoma rested a hand gently on his shoulder, “You’ve only been with us for a few weeks and Aster already accepts you…”

“Oh, Saelak, I told ya we’re not like that.” She reassuringly hugged him and explained, “It was an accident from the quake, I was bein’ me foolish self and fell.” She pulled away slightly to make sure they could see each others faces as she swallowed but forced herself to speak, “I know ya love him, ya made that clear when I suggested it at that temple in Ahtil,” She used a thumb to wipe away the salty streaks running down his face. A small quiver entered her voice as she said, “I also want ya ta know that I support both o’ ya in whatever ya decide makes ya happiest. I’m not here ta steal either o’ ya away from da other.”

Saelak finally returned her gaze, as though searching for any sign of deception, “I- uh… If- … If Aster doesn’t…” He broke eye contact again as his face rested against her shoulder and she reflexively wrapped her arms around him again, “I don’t know what to do, Donoma… My heart hurts… I… I made a mistake last night…” His breath came ragged as he dumped his fears onto her, no longer able to hold it in, “Something I can’t take back...”

She patted him on the back and whispered, trying to calm him down “Shh, shhh… it’s okay, I know what happened. You don’t need ta explain anything to me.”

He gave a small sobbing hiccup before getting out, “Wait, what?” He leaned back from her, wiping the tears away with his palm, “How? How do you know what happened?”

Donoma realized her mistake of inadvertently revealing Aster’s deception and awkwardly replied, “Well, ya see, that’s what I was askin’ Aster about before da tremors…”

Saelak’s face began turning an even brighter red in his embarrassment, “But… but he said he didn’t remember…”

Donoma could almost hear the hope in the poor boy’s voice as she admitted, “Me thinks Aster was buyin’ some time… ta come ta terms with it.”

Saelak nose wrinkled as he said in a bit of angry despair, “You mean figure out how to turn me down without turning me away.”

“See there ya go again changin’ me words.” Donoma said and she surprised him by flicking his forehead, “Ya really think Aster doesn’t care ‘bout ya?”

He rubbed at his forehead in a bit of annoyance before pointing out, “I know he cares about me. I know he cares about you too. He’s my best friend but… He’s never shown interest in anyone, at least not enough to act on it. If he knows that you or I like him as more than just friends he might think he’s doing the ‘right’ thing by leaving us so that we move on.”

This time she squished his cheeks together and forced him to look at her, “Saelak, I want ya ta understand: I’m. Not. In. Love. With. Aster.” she slowly enunciated every word, hoping it would sink in.

He raised an eyebrow, and said through fish-shaped lips, “But you said earlier.”

“I was teasing you, ya bloody dense princeling!” She said in exasperation as she released his face and tossed her hands up in the air. “Ya didn’t need ta kiss Aster fer everyone around ta notice that ya love da lil half-elf! Even Aster has most likely known. Ya don’t really think yer that good at hiding or that he’s that blind ta see it do ya?!”

At this Aster banged his head silently against the wall, still out of sight but within earshot of the two elves. There was no way he was going to be able to run from this situation any more. Donoma had made that perfectly clear and he finally realized how much pain he had been causing Saelak. It really was his selfish insecurities that had been driving him to ignore his companion for so long. He still wasn’t sure he was ready yet, however.

“Let me remind you, Magistrate, that the Trinity will not be happy if all these resources we are granting you do not show equal results. You have promised us a powerful deviant and we expect to be impressed,” the elderly feminine voice spoke through a glowing communication sphere clutched in Lux’s hand.

“You will not be disappointed, Magus,” Lux responded in his most formal manner, “This criminal has already taken out one of our scouting parties, but he won’t evade our grasp much longer. He has no idea we are coming and we should have him back to the Enclave…” He noticed Nyx gesturing across the small table from him and rolled his eyes at her before altering his statement slightly, “Within three moons. We need to close his debt in Ahtil and there’s no gate from there. It will be a long journey on foot but the resources you are providing will make sure that he won’t escape our custody.”

“Hmmm, very well then. I expect frequent progress reports.” The disembodied voice said before the sphere went dim and the connection was cut off.

Lux gave out a heavy breath he hadn’t even been aware he was holding before Nyx verbally pounced on him, “Three moons?! That’s barely any time to play and train him! And what if the Trinity decide they want to keep him? Or worse, kill him?!” She angrily cried out to him.

The paladin pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache beginning to form, as he replied wearily, “Then that is their decision and we will accept it. I think you forget, sister, that this man is a wanted criminal and a deviant that has the potential to literally destroy our world.”

She scoffed at him, “So dramatic! We know nothing of what he is capable of aside from that he has fire and wind along with his flipped spirit. We don’t know if it was him that got our scouts or if it was one of his companions or some random monster that bested them.” She crossed her arms once more, “And to be clear brother, I will not let the Enclave break my toy.”

“If memory serves me, you are the most likely one to break your toys,” Lux quipped back at her, memories of other men and women tied, begging and broken flitting across his vision.

She gave a grin, “We’ll see. Perhaps this one will be different. Perhaps this one will be strong enough to not break so easily.”

“We still have to hand him over to the Enclave, Nyx.” He told her, his tone not allowing room for argument, “I’ll buy you as much time as I can but you will relinquish him to their judgement.”

She gave another huff before nodding and standing to leave the room, “Well let’s go finish the preparations and get ready to finally capture this delicious treat. I’m hoping you find him as pleasing to the senses as I do, brother. It would be so nice to find a toy we both enjoyed playing with.”

Lux stood to follow her giving a nod but saying doubtfully, “You know that most powerful beings make my fur stand. The noise their magic makes is usually a harsh cacophony and those with little power are just an annoying buzz, a bug I can’t squash.”

Nyx gave a frown and patted her twin reassuringly on the cheek, “I’m sure we’ll find someone that sounds to you like he smells to me. My sound isn’t that annoying, is it?”

He shook his head and said, “You know it’s not, but your sound has been with me since we entered this world. It is akin to a childhood lullaby at this point.” The lie came smoothly to his lips. He wasn’t lying completely but the deep thrum of her magic had been something he had become accustomed to years ago. He didn’t think of it as pleasant but it was definitely not as jarring or obnoxious as most others. His gift leant him to preferring to be alone when possible, but his current position didn’t allow for that, he reminded himself, as they left the smaller room to join the group gathering in the adjoining larger one.

Saelak stared at Donoma a bit shocked, playing back her words in his mind as he barely breathed out the words, “He knows?”

Donoma shook her head and said softly, “He speculates, Saelak. Nobody will actually know unless ya tell ‘em. Did ya ever stop ta think, though, that he might not show ya any interest cause he doesn’t trust his speculations?” He gave her a doubtful look before she expanded a bit further, “Put yerself in his shoes, what if ya were him and I was ya. Would ya be comfortable in tellin’ me that ya weren’t interested, or even that ya were interested, if I didn’ tell ya I was interested first?”

“But if I wait for him and he’s waiting for me, then how does it ever change?!” He interrupted in frustration, “Who is supposed to say that they’re interested first?!”

Donoma looked a bit sad before she smiled and said while patting over his heart, “Da one who can’t stand da pain and wants things ta change da most.”

Saelak's face scrunched up, warning of becoming wet once more, “But does that mean his heart doesn’t hurt for me?”

She shook her head, “You ‘n me both know Aster is a stubborn martyr. He’d die before lettin’ his pain cause us trouble. I realized it when he stood on a stage against a small army ta save a monster. His little actions ta protect ya from a metal beast, or ta protect me from fallin’ rocks.”

Saelak gave a fond smile as his own memories filled his mind, “Or stood up to an insane prince.”

Donoma nodded and pulled a small kerchief from her belt pouch to wipe his face, “Me thinks Aster might just be waitin’ fer ya ta tell him yer ready ta change things.”

Aster waited a few breaths as silence began to fill the space before making some obvious noise as he walked further down and came into sight of the pair, Saelak noticed and quickly turned his back, not wanting Aster to see his tear streaked face. Aster bowed his head apologetically to Donoma as he asked Saelak, “Sorry, if I’m interrupting but did you need to tell us anything, Saelak? Where is Slava?”

The elf didn’t turn as he wiped his face a bit more and said in as flat a voice as he could muster, “They went to make sure there wasn’t a cave-in or anything that might block us leaving or if anyone else might have gotten injured. Apparently there are protocols in place and I was coming to retrieve you both.” He didn’t look up as he quickly moved past them, back towards where he had found Aster and Donoma entangled, “We need to gather our things and return to the entrance while they do a headcount and verify the stability of everything.”

Aster and Donoma followed him and collected their things, falling into an awkward silence that nobody seemed to want to break.

They met up with Slava a while later and Aster handed over what they had gathered. The group was forced to cut their day short and as Slava was talking about finding a place to eat, Aster and Saelak both noticed Donoma become tense as she stared across the road from the mine’s entrance.

“Don, what is it?” Aster asked, trying to see what she had noticed.

Her lips remained pursed as she communicated mentally to both of them, conveying her worry, “That dwarf across da street, sittin’ against da alley wall, was there when we entered da mine this mornin’.”

Saelak was the one to voice his doubts, “Are you sure that’s the same one?”

She gave him a piercing look, still not speaking aloud, “Positive. They’d been followin’ us a ways before settlin’ there.”

Aster nodded, trusting in his companion, and returning the mental communication, “What do you want to do?”

She answered by walking straight forward towards the dwarf in question, as her two party members lurched to follow her.