K'luha Haaz: The night had settled cold on the... wherever they were. K'luha was sure as she had been staring up at the top of the carriage for too long. They had stopped for the night still, and a small fire was still crackling and snuffing itself out where they had cooked. Tahj was already asleep, but the pain in Luha's hip was making too difficult to sleep. That among with the fact that she hadn't been able to really bathe since they left, or clean up, and using the bathroom was... she didn't want to think about it or how long she was holding it.Â
Finally when she was certain Tahj was asleep she glanced around, narrowing her eyes as she wondered where K'ile had gotten off to. "K'ile..." she called quietly, not wanting to wake Tahj. She decided quickly if he didn't answer she would... just have to suck it up and deal with it herself. "K'ile where are you?"
*
Twinflame: He could smell the Sagolii from here, and to him, that was as good as seeing it. The window was blowing north, and it was a long, long way away, but there was the slightest hint of those dry sands and the many desert plants the he knew grew there. Eyes closed, body still, ears turned back away from the fire, he could just scarcely pick it out. It had taken him an hour of searching, but he'd found that smell among the others, and it beckoned him. It reminded him to never stay too long from home, as once he had done years ago, and the reminder heated his heart like sunlight.
K'luha's call was at the very fringes of his focused senses. For her, he reluctantly let the concentration slips away. His ears perked up and his tail slid on the dust behind him. He stood and rolled his arms, his shoulders, letting the weight of them return. He let the dark knight and the crackling fire, the stars and brushlands return.
He answered back, silently, for he knew K'luha could hear him well, "I'm over here, staring at the fire and fantasizing of one day growing up and becoming Nunh."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha repressed a snort. Staring at the fire and fantasizing about becoming a nunh one day? Cute. Very cute. Although... something in the long silence it took to answer made K'luha wonder... just what was it he was really thinking about? She wanted to know... and yet. When she remembered the last time she asked...Â
Luha's ears swiveled down to press against her head. She hadn't know that was what he was thinking. She hadn't realized that's what he was doing and she had rejected him so fiercely too. Was there even a chance he would open up to her like that again?Â
No. She didn't think so.Â
K'luha tried to shake the thoughts from her head. The nagging thoughts that she really didn't know K'ile like she thought she had and the other thought that wondered what the hell she even thought she was doing. She would have to suppress her pride, just for a little bit. Just for now.Â
"K'ile I..." she paused, as if the words were coming out with a great difficulty. "I need your help." she finally finished quietly. And if he didn't hear them fuck it. She wasn't saying it a second time.
*
Twinflame: In the night, K'ile's footsteps were dramatically audible. They shuffed and crushed the soil as he moved, without hesitation, but also without hurry, away from the fire. Appearing at the end of the carriage a moment later, he leaned on the end of K'luha's bench and said, "What's up?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha listened quietly, his footsteps somehow sounding more like an Auroch's thundering steps. When they went silent and his head popped over the top, K'luha looked up and somehow shrieked back into her bench.Â
"Bathroom." She answered somewhat awkwardly, avoiding eye contact for a moment. "And maybe something to scrub off the layer of filth I feel on me..."
*
Twinflame: Blinking, K'ile said, "I don't think I've got any soapweed or anything, so I don't know what to do about that. Anyway, it's going to hurt you to move, isn't it?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha moaned faintly in protest. There had to be SOMETHING she could at least wipe some of the grime off with. Sand, some sort of plant, anything would do at this point. As for moving, she grimaced at him and nodded. "Why do you think I finally gave up on moving around?" Luha grumbled, rubbing lightly at her hip. Curious as it its state, she pulled down on her skirt to check the skin's color for a moment. Needless to say it looked far worse than it had before with a disgusting sallow tone to the bruised and cracked flesh.
*
Twinflame: Positioning himself just outside the carriage, K'ile gestured beckoningly, "Well, I can't help the pain at this point. Scoot down and I'll help you out a ways. That's what you're hoping for, right?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "Yeah.... yeah that will be fine..." K'luha answered distantly. She inhaled deeply, preparing for the pain. But only for a moment before she forced herself to sit up. Luha bit down hard on her lip, teeth breaking the soft flesh as she grimaced through it. With a less than careful movement, she managed to pushed herself down to the edge of the carriage and breath out raggedly.
*
Twinflame: K'ile reached out and took K'luha's hand, saying, "I'll carry you. It'll be easiest. I think you're still going to hurt a lot, so just make this as easy on yourself as you can."
*
K'luha Haaz: She nodded slowly, looking to K'ile when he took her head for a moment. "Yeah that's... that's fine."
*
Twinflame: Turning his back to her, K'ile pulled Luha onto his back in the same motoin he'd used back in Gridania, though it was quite a bit gentler this time.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha hissed and bit into her lip against as K'ile pulled her gently onto his back. It hurt. It hurt more than eve giving birth had hurt her. When she was finally on his back however, she pressed her head to K'ile's shoulders and muffled her own soft cry.
*
Twinflame: Accepting the he can't really do anything about the pain, K'ile secures his grip on K'luha and begins to walk away from the carriage, angling off into the darkness. "I think Tahj can probably get over her fear of fire with some help," he said. "What do you think, Luha?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha nodded against K'ile's back. She already had faith that Tahj could overcome her fears. Tahj was a good girl, and while she had thought originally Tahj would leave after a few years, she was beginning to think otherwise.
*
Twinflame: "Yeah. She's smart. It's good for her to be afraid when she's young. She'll learn how to overcome that and won't have to worry about it when she's old like us... Okay, this should be fine, right?"
*
Twinflame: K'ile paused, not too far from the fire and the carriag,e but well outside of the firelight.
*
K'luha Haaz: Maybe it was good... As long as Tahj didn't turned into K'aijeen K'luha would be fairly happy. She was happy as it stood that Maka's daughter was alive and well and coming home with them. It felt a little like after all those years, she could atone for what she had done, even if it was only a little.Â
Luha glanced around before nodding again. "Yeah, this is fine. Thanks..."
*
Twinflame: Letting Luha down, K'ile eased away from her slowly to make sure that she had control of her own weight. "I don't think I have anything to clean you up with. Well... No. We aren't conserving water, are we?" Using water to clean oneself during a trip was an odd thought to K'ile, who had, after all, only bathed recently because K'luha had literally forced him to.
"Well. We'll see. Just call if you need me. I won't be far."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha clumsily managed to stand on her feet as K'ile set her down. It didn't hurt as much when she wasn't moving her hip but walking and sitting? The movement of it felt like grinding bone into muscle.Â
"Ah... alright." Luha finally sighed and set about the task of using the bathroom with a broken hip in the dead of night. Which was to say, not terribly easy.
*
Twinflame: K'ile busied himself scouring the carriage for cleaining whatsits.
*
K'luha Haaz: Luha was quiet for a few minutes while she did what she needed. Without anything at hand however, she went instead for ripping off part of her shorts and using the fabric for hygiene's sake.Â
Finished, she painfully stood and limped over back to the edge of the campfire. "Find anything...?"
*
Twinflame: "Hey!" K'iles ears popped up and he snapped his gaze up quickly, "Don't be walking around! You could've called!" He stood quickly and half-ran over to her, putting his hands on her right away. "Come on over by the fire. Figure we'll just use a bit of water and cloth like city-fok do. There's plenty of water in the carriage anyway."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha's ears flattened into her hairline and she looked towards the ground. "It's embarrassing enough as it is K'ile..." she mumbled towards him, her hands clenching into weak fists. "You... were right. I should have seen a Conjurer..." Luha admitted, her eyes fixed firmly on the ground in self-loathing.
*
Twinflame: Taking K'luha under one arm and pulling on her weight, the action forceful but not mean, K'ile said firmly, "No you shouldn't have. You were right." He tried to guid her towards the fire.
*
K'luha Haaz: Luha went along with the movement, to angry with herself and upset with the pain to really go about fighting him over where she was being moved. Besides, the fire was comfortably warm in the chilly night air. Although, K'luha turn head head to K'ile, confused. "I... what?"
*
Twinflame: "You were right about the conjury," K'ile repeated. "I didn't just give up on that because you were stubborn. You were right. Everything you said about it. Here, sit down," he stopped her in front of the fire and eased off her agian.
*
K'luha Haaz: Still confused, Luha looked to the male miq'ote with a face that showed her feelings in equal parts. Carefully however, she sat through the pain, only to look up at K'ile again, as if to request further explanation.
*
Twinflame: Noting her expression, K'ile quirked his own, and he just shrugged. "I'm just saying. I don't really like conjury either. Or white magic or whatever." He turned and went back to the carriage long enough to retrieve his bag, from which he pulled his canteen and, oddly enough, a woven shirt.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha's confusion at his agreement with her paled in comparison the moment she saw him holding a shirt. "YOU OWN A SHIRT!?" Luha blurted out very loudly before blushing and putting a hand over her mouth.
*
Twinflame: Chuckling, K'ile shook the shirt, out beside him. It was dyed red with withleather ties about the collar and sleeves. "I own a whole wardrobe, but what I wear is nobody's business but my own."
*
K'luha Haaz: "A-ah.... o-of course..." K'luha replied, still embarrassed at her outburst. Somehow, it made her a little sad when he said that. She wasn't entirely sure but, it reminded her that she had shut him out when he finally opened up to talk to her.Â
Ears fallen and feeling both sad and angry at herself for being that way, K'luha stared awkwardly at the floor.
*
Twinflame: Still wearing his smile, K'ile further interrupted the silence of the night by loudly ripping great shreds from his shirt as he walked over to K'luha.
*
K'luha Haaz: "So much for you owning a shirt..." K'luha managed enough sarcasm for one remark at least.
*
Twinflame: "I've got more." K'ile threw a number of the pieces of cloth at K'luha, letting them drape over her. Anyway. Water and cloth. Do you want me to scrub you clean?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "Oooh, good. More shirts to use as sponge." K'luha called back, mustering a bit more sarcasm for the night. She lightly blew air up at a cloth stripe that landed on her face, letting it fall off down onto her lap. "Well that depends. Do I have to tell the elders about it?" Maybe in her depression, sarcasm just felt the most fitting way to avoid thinking on it, but she was unusually full of it tonight.
*
Twinflame: "I'm not actually going to do it," K'ile answered, a bit disappointed she'd chosen the tone she had. "I was just going to tease you about it and then let you clean yourself. You don't really want me doting over you, do you?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was silent for a long moment before shaking her head. "Maybe I did, but that's not something I can ask for. The things I want are things I cannot have, nor things I can ask for." Was her solemn answer before looked at K'ile with a heavy sigh. She held her hand out for K'ile to give her the canteen. "I will try not to waste much."
*
Twinflame: Ignoring K'luha's hand and walking over in front of her, K'ile dropped down before her and frowned into face. "What are you so down for? I know your hip is broken and that's annoying, but we've got Tahj. She's pretty and smart and fun. You should be happy."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha blinked, not quite expecting the confrontation but not shying away from it either. She frowned a but and dropped her hands into her lap. "She makes me think so much of Maka. She makes me remember what happened and just how much of a disappointment I am. And she makes me think of K'ailia, and how even in exile my sister raised a girl who would make her proud. And then I think of you, and I am ashamed that I have burdened you with my stupid advances and put at risk something precious for us both." K'luha paused, looking at her hands which were lightly shaking. "I am a fool... but even a fool like me can do something for the tribe. I shouldn't... try to be something I'm not capable of. I should just do what I know how to do and not think of such things...." K'luha trailed off like she had more to say, but was reluctant to say anything else.
*
Twinflame: Quiet and thoughtful, K'ile reached out and put his hand in K'luha's hands to still them. "Hey, if you're going to come up with a bunch of lies about yourself, they should be good ones, not bad ones. I don't know of a single person who's disappointed in you, and you don't burden me at all, so shut up about that."
*
K'luha Haaz: Lies? They weren't... Luha looked up to K'ile and shook her head, her face blushing in shame. It was kind of him to say so but, how could he not remember it? "K'deiki, my mother... even K'yohko... I know they are all disappointed in me. And you, K'ile I asked you to do something forbidden in the tribe law. I asked you to kiss me for Azeyma's sake! I might as well have tried to shove you into being a nunh when I have always known that isn't what you wanted! There's... there's no excuse for that behavior. There's no excuse for doing that to you... and I am ashamed of myself and my selfishness..." K'luha looked down again, feeling like she might cry if she actually looked at K'ile.
*
Twinflame: Inhaling and closing his eyes, K'ile exhaled with a huff. "Don't do that. You don't know what I want and, honestly, you can't make me do anything I don't want to. Nobody can. I kissed you because I wanted to. Don't take credit for that."
*K'luha Haaz: "But... you always said that wasn't what you wanted..." K'luha tried to defend herself very meekly. "Weren't you serious when you said that...?"
*
Twinflame: "Yeah," K'ile said, and shrugged. "Changed my mind. I can always change it back. Luha, everything that everyone does is only their own business. If anyone's disappointed in you, they need to just get over it, because it's not their business."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha quieted down, looking for something in her head that she might have missed. It did matter to her when people were disappointed in her. She didn't want to let down people's expectations of her. But it still made her feel better to hear the encouragement from K'ile. "I know... that back at the Amaljaa camp I... I didn't mean... I know I messed things up but... do you think... you would be willing to let me know what's on your mind? Even though I already fucked it up once... do you think... you could give me another chance?" K'luha asked after a long time of silence.
*
Twinflame: "What?" K'ile blinked, his ears perking up, as if something he'd been watching had suddenly changed its shape. "What... You mean, me? Luha, you've got as many chances as you want."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha blinked and looked up to K'ile, her eyes slightly wet but not crying. Again the confusion on her face read clearly and asked for an explanation without saying a word.
*
Twinflame: Watching her face for a moment, K'ile looked away from her and said. "What, you want to know what's on my mind again? You still think I'm hiding something?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "I...why? Why do I get as many chances as I want...? I don't... understand it..." K'luha furrowed her brow a little, trying to think hard about why that would be.
*
Twinflame: "I don't know," K'ile shrugged. "It's not like anybody else is asking."
*
K'luha Haaz: "Would you give it to others if they asked...?"
*
Twinflame: "Hm." It was a strange question, and he pulled at his ear while he considered it. "What's the point of asking that? I might, but it's not going to happen, so it doesn't matter."
*
K'luha Haaz: "It could happen." Luha interjected. "K'rei likes you. She might want to know."
*
Twinflame: "Argh," K'ile's tail shivered and his ears lay down. He tried to pull them back up, but the agitation pulled them back as though there were weights on their tips. "How did this get about me? Luha, just cheer up, okay? There's nothing on my mind to ask about anyway."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was torn between laughing at his reaction and wincing at it. She ended up doing something in-between, letting out a small giggle and at the same time recoiling a bit. "It's hard to cheer up when I have so much time just to think." K'luha explained, her tail wrapping around her hips as she shivered lightly in the chilly night's air. "Too much time to think. Too many dreams about the past."
*
Twinflame: Crossing his arms over his knees, K'ile muttered, "So why bother thinking and dreaming? That's where your problem his." He flinched suddenly, when his idle tail swept intot eh fire's dwindling coals. He grunted and stood, spinning and kicking the fire forcefully. He threw ash and cinders, pieces of wood flickering off into the dark, "I hate fire! Damn it!"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was about to reply when K'ile so suddenly stood an lashed out. She flinched visibly and stared, in awe of the sudden declaration and the rather uncharistically violent reaction.
*
Twinflame: Pulling at both of his ears in frustration, K'ile managed to look over his shoulder at K'luha, though his gaze was probably angry when he'd rather it not be. "Just wash yourself up, and stop making things about me. I shouldn't have to come up with some personal sob story just to get you to stop being all mopey." He shook himself and turned off to the dark, suddenly walking away. "I'm gonna go... hunt some breakfast."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha couldn't do much at first. What had him so frustrated all of a sudden? Was it really her? "No I... K'ile..." K'luha sighed, trying to get his attention as he started storming off. "Wait K'ile don't forgot.. K'ile!" Momentarily forgetting about her hip, K'luha moved to stand sharply and grasp for his shoulder as he left. "K'ile I didn't!"
*
Twinflame: Still moving away, knowing she couldn't keep up with him, K'ile answered simply, "I know you didn't," as he slipped over into the night.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha indeed could not keep up with him. Not even remotely and as he pulled away and vanished off into the night she tripped and fell hard on the ground. Luha winced as she hit the floor and sucked in a breathful of cold air to stop the pain. Her eyes opened briefly in the direction he left, though she couldn't seem him through the darkness. "Then why....?" she called softly, laying on the ground for a few minutes before she would get up to wash, limp back to the carriage and sleep once more.
Finally when she was certain Tahj was asleep she glanced around, narrowing her eyes as she wondered where K'ile had gotten off to. "K'ile..." she called quietly, not wanting to wake Tahj. She decided quickly if he didn't answer she would... just have to suck it up and deal with it herself. "K'ile where are you?"
*
Twinflame: He could smell the Sagolii from here, and to him, that was as good as seeing it. The window was blowing north, and it was a long, long way away, but there was the slightest hint of those dry sands and the many desert plants the he knew grew there. Eyes closed, body still, ears turned back away from the fire, he could just scarcely pick it out. It had taken him an hour of searching, but he'd found that smell among the others, and it beckoned him. It reminded him to never stay too long from home, as once he had done years ago, and the reminder heated his heart like sunlight.
K'luha's call was at the very fringes of his focused senses. For her, he reluctantly let the concentration slips away. His ears perked up and his tail slid on the dust behind him. He stood and rolled his arms, his shoulders, letting the weight of them return. He let the dark knight and the crackling fire, the stars and brushlands return.
He answered back, silently, for he knew K'luha could hear him well, "I'm over here, staring at the fire and fantasizing of one day growing up and becoming Nunh."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha repressed a snort. Staring at the fire and fantasizing about becoming a nunh one day? Cute. Very cute. Although... something in the long silence it took to answer made K'luha wonder... just what was it he was really thinking about? She wanted to know... and yet. When she remembered the last time she asked...Â
Luha's ears swiveled down to press against her head. She hadn't know that was what he was thinking. She hadn't realized that's what he was doing and she had rejected him so fiercely too. Was there even a chance he would open up to her like that again?Â
No. She didn't think so.Â
K'luha tried to shake the thoughts from her head. The nagging thoughts that she really didn't know K'ile like she thought she had and the other thought that wondered what the hell she even thought she was doing. She would have to suppress her pride, just for a little bit. Just for now.Â
"K'ile I..." she paused, as if the words were coming out with a great difficulty. "I need your help." she finally finished quietly. And if he didn't hear them fuck it. She wasn't saying it a second time.
*
Twinflame: In the night, K'ile's footsteps were dramatically audible. They shuffed and crushed the soil as he moved, without hesitation, but also without hurry, away from the fire. Appearing at the end of the carriage a moment later, he leaned on the end of K'luha's bench and said, "What's up?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha listened quietly, his footsteps somehow sounding more like an Auroch's thundering steps. When they went silent and his head popped over the top, K'luha looked up and somehow shrieked back into her bench.Â
"Bathroom." She answered somewhat awkwardly, avoiding eye contact for a moment. "And maybe something to scrub off the layer of filth I feel on me..."
*
Twinflame: Blinking, K'ile said, "I don't think I've got any soapweed or anything, so I don't know what to do about that. Anyway, it's going to hurt you to move, isn't it?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha moaned faintly in protest. There had to be SOMETHING she could at least wipe some of the grime off with. Sand, some sort of plant, anything would do at this point. As for moving, she grimaced at him and nodded. "Why do you think I finally gave up on moving around?" Luha grumbled, rubbing lightly at her hip. Curious as it its state, she pulled down on her skirt to check the skin's color for a moment. Needless to say it looked far worse than it had before with a disgusting sallow tone to the bruised and cracked flesh.
*
Twinflame: Positioning himself just outside the carriage, K'ile gestured beckoningly, "Well, I can't help the pain at this point. Scoot down and I'll help you out a ways. That's what you're hoping for, right?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "Yeah.... yeah that will be fine..." K'luha answered distantly. She inhaled deeply, preparing for the pain. But only for a moment before she forced herself to sit up. Luha bit down hard on her lip, teeth breaking the soft flesh as she grimaced through it. With a less than careful movement, she managed to pushed herself down to the edge of the carriage and breath out raggedly.
*
Twinflame: K'ile reached out and took K'luha's hand, saying, "I'll carry you. It'll be easiest. I think you're still going to hurt a lot, so just make this as easy on yourself as you can."
*
K'luha Haaz: She nodded slowly, looking to K'ile when he took her head for a moment. "Yeah that's... that's fine."
*
Twinflame: Turning his back to her, K'ile pulled Luha onto his back in the same motoin he'd used back in Gridania, though it was quite a bit gentler this time.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha hissed and bit into her lip against as K'ile pulled her gently onto his back. It hurt. It hurt more than eve giving birth had hurt her. When she was finally on his back however, she pressed her head to K'ile's shoulders and muffled her own soft cry.
*
Twinflame: Accepting the he can't really do anything about the pain, K'ile secures his grip on K'luha and begins to walk away from the carriage, angling off into the darkness. "I think Tahj can probably get over her fear of fire with some help," he said. "What do you think, Luha?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha nodded against K'ile's back. She already had faith that Tahj could overcome her fears. Tahj was a good girl, and while she had thought originally Tahj would leave after a few years, she was beginning to think otherwise.
*
Twinflame: "Yeah. She's smart. It's good for her to be afraid when she's young. She'll learn how to overcome that and won't have to worry about it when she's old like us... Okay, this should be fine, right?"
*
Twinflame: K'ile paused, not too far from the fire and the carriag,e but well outside of the firelight.
*
K'luha Haaz: Maybe it was good... As long as Tahj didn't turned into K'aijeen K'luha would be fairly happy. She was happy as it stood that Maka's daughter was alive and well and coming home with them. It felt a little like after all those years, she could atone for what she had done, even if it was only a little.Â
Luha glanced around before nodding again. "Yeah, this is fine. Thanks..."
*
Twinflame: Letting Luha down, K'ile eased away from her slowly to make sure that she had control of her own weight. "I don't think I have anything to clean you up with. Well... No. We aren't conserving water, are we?" Using water to clean oneself during a trip was an odd thought to K'ile, who had, after all, only bathed recently because K'luha had literally forced him to.
"Well. We'll see. Just call if you need me. I won't be far."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha clumsily managed to stand on her feet as K'ile set her down. It didn't hurt as much when she wasn't moving her hip but walking and sitting? The movement of it felt like grinding bone into muscle.Â
"Ah... alright." Luha finally sighed and set about the task of using the bathroom with a broken hip in the dead of night. Which was to say, not terribly easy.
*
Twinflame: K'ile busied himself scouring the carriage for cleaining whatsits.
*
K'luha Haaz: Luha was quiet for a few minutes while she did what she needed. Without anything at hand however, she went instead for ripping off part of her shorts and using the fabric for hygiene's sake.Â
Finished, she painfully stood and limped over back to the edge of the campfire. "Find anything...?"
*
Twinflame: "Hey!" K'iles ears popped up and he snapped his gaze up quickly, "Don't be walking around! You could've called!" He stood quickly and half-ran over to her, putting his hands on her right away. "Come on over by the fire. Figure we'll just use a bit of water and cloth like city-fok do. There's plenty of water in the carriage anyway."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha's ears flattened into her hairline and she looked towards the ground. "It's embarrassing enough as it is K'ile..." she mumbled towards him, her hands clenching into weak fists. "You... were right. I should have seen a Conjurer..." Luha admitted, her eyes fixed firmly on the ground in self-loathing.
*
Twinflame: Taking K'luha under one arm and pulling on her weight, the action forceful but not mean, K'ile said firmly, "No you shouldn't have. You were right." He tried to guid her towards the fire.
*
K'luha Haaz: Luha went along with the movement, to angry with herself and upset with the pain to really go about fighting him over where she was being moved. Besides, the fire was comfortably warm in the chilly night air. Although, K'luha turn head head to K'ile, confused. "I... what?"
*
Twinflame: "You were right about the conjury," K'ile repeated. "I didn't just give up on that because you were stubborn. You were right. Everything you said about it. Here, sit down," he stopped her in front of the fire and eased off her agian.
*
K'luha Haaz: Still confused, Luha looked to the male miq'ote with a face that showed her feelings in equal parts. Carefully however, she sat through the pain, only to look up at K'ile again, as if to request further explanation.
*
Twinflame: Noting her expression, K'ile quirked his own, and he just shrugged. "I'm just saying. I don't really like conjury either. Or white magic or whatever." He turned and went back to the carriage long enough to retrieve his bag, from which he pulled his canteen and, oddly enough, a woven shirt.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha's confusion at his agreement with her paled in comparison the moment she saw him holding a shirt. "YOU OWN A SHIRT!?" Luha blurted out very loudly before blushing and putting a hand over her mouth.
*
Twinflame: Chuckling, K'ile shook the shirt, out beside him. It was dyed red with withleather ties about the collar and sleeves. "I own a whole wardrobe, but what I wear is nobody's business but my own."
*
K'luha Haaz: "A-ah.... o-of course..." K'luha replied, still embarrassed at her outburst. Somehow, it made her a little sad when he said that. She wasn't entirely sure but, it reminded her that she had shut him out when he finally opened up to talk to her.Â
Ears fallen and feeling both sad and angry at herself for being that way, K'luha stared awkwardly at the floor.
*
Twinflame: Still wearing his smile, K'ile further interrupted the silence of the night by loudly ripping great shreds from his shirt as he walked over to K'luha.
*
K'luha Haaz: "So much for you owning a shirt..." K'luha managed enough sarcasm for one remark at least.
*
Twinflame: "I've got more." K'ile threw a number of the pieces of cloth at K'luha, letting them drape over her. Anyway. Water and cloth. Do you want me to scrub you clean?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "Oooh, good. More shirts to use as sponge." K'luha called back, mustering a bit more sarcasm for the night. She lightly blew air up at a cloth stripe that landed on her face, letting it fall off down onto her lap. "Well that depends. Do I have to tell the elders about it?" Maybe in her depression, sarcasm just felt the most fitting way to avoid thinking on it, but she was unusually full of it tonight.
*
Twinflame: "I'm not actually going to do it," K'ile answered, a bit disappointed she'd chosen the tone she had. "I was just going to tease you about it and then let you clean yourself. You don't really want me doting over you, do you?"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was silent for a long moment before shaking her head. "Maybe I did, but that's not something I can ask for. The things I want are things I cannot have, nor things I can ask for." Was her solemn answer before looked at K'ile with a heavy sigh. She held her hand out for K'ile to give her the canteen. "I will try not to waste much."
*
Twinflame: Ignoring K'luha's hand and walking over in front of her, K'ile dropped down before her and frowned into face. "What are you so down for? I know your hip is broken and that's annoying, but we've got Tahj. She's pretty and smart and fun. You should be happy."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha blinked, not quite expecting the confrontation but not shying away from it either. She frowned a but and dropped her hands into her lap. "She makes me think so much of Maka. She makes me remember what happened and just how much of a disappointment I am. And she makes me think of K'ailia, and how even in exile my sister raised a girl who would make her proud. And then I think of you, and I am ashamed that I have burdened you with my stupid advances and put at risk something precious for us both." K'luha paused, looking at her hands which were lightly shaking. "I am a fool... but even a fool like me can do something for the tribe. I shouldn't... try to be something I'm not capable of. I should just do what I know how to do and not think of such things...." K'luha trailed off like she had more to say, but was reluctant to say anything else.
*
Twinflame: Quiet and thoughtful, K'ile reached out and put his hand in K'luha's hands to still them. "Hey, if you're going to come up with a bunch of lies about yourself, they should be good ones, not bad ones. I don't know of a single person who's disappointed in you, and you don't burden me at all, so shut up about that."
*
K'luha Haaz: Lies? They weren't... Luha looked up to K'ile and shook her head, her face blushing in shame. It was kind of him to say so but, how could he not remember it? "K'deiki, my mother... even K'yohko... I know they are all disappointed in me. And you, K'ile I asked you to do something forbidden in the tribe law. I asked you to kiss me for Azeyma's sake! I might as well have tried to shove you into being a nunh when I have always known that isn't what you wanted! There's... there's no excuse for that behavior. There's no excuse for doing that to you... and I am ashamed of myself and my selfishness..." K'luha looked down again, feeling like she might cry if she actually looked at K'ile.
*
Twinflame: Inhaling and closing his eyes, K'ile exhaled with a huff. "Don't do that. You don't know what I want and, honestly, you can't make me do anything I don't want to. Nobody can. I kissed you because I wanted to. Don't take credit for that."
*K'luha Haaz: "But... you always said that wasn't what you wanted..." K'luha tried to defend herself very meekly. "Weren't you serious when you said that...?"
*
Twinflame: "Yeah," K'ile said, and shrugged. "Changed my mind. I can always change it back. Luha, everything that everyone does is only their own business. If anyone's disappointed in you, they need to just get over it, because it's not their business."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha quieted down, looking for something in her head that she might have missed. It did matter to her when people were disappointed in her. She didn't want to let down people's expectations of her. But it still made her feel better to hear the encouragement from K'ile. "I know... that back at the Amaljaa camp I... I didn't mean... I know I messed things up but... do you think... you would be willing to let me know what's on your mind? Even though I already fucked it up once... do you think... you could give me another chance?" K'luha asked after a long time of silence.
*
Twinflame: "What?" K'ile blinked, his ears perking up, as if something he'd been watching had suddenly changed its shape. "What... You mean, me? Luha, you've got as many chances as you want."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha blinked and looked up to K'ile, her eyes slightly wet but not crying. Again the confusion on her face read clearly and asked for an explanation without saying a word.
*
Twinflame: Watching her face for a moment, K'ile looked away from her and said. "What, you want to know what's on my mind again? You still think I'm hiding something?"
*
K'luha Haaz: "I...why? Why do I get as many chances as I want...? I don't... understand it..." K'luha furrowed her brow a little, trying to think hard about why that would be.
*
Twinflame: "I don't know," K'ile shrugged. "It's not like anybody else is asking."
*
K'luha Haaz: "Would you give it to others if they asked...?"
*
Twinflame: "Hm." It was a strange question, and he pulled at his ear while he considered it. "What's the point of asking that? I might, but it's not going to happen, so it doesn't matter."
*
K'luha Haaz: "It could happen." Luha interjected. "K'rei likes you. She might want to know."
*
Twinflame: "Argh," K'ile's tail shivered and his ears lay down. He tried to pull them back up, but the agitation pulled them back as though there were weights on their tips. "How did this get about me? Luha, just cheer up, okay? There's nothing on my mind to ask about anyway."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was torn between laughing at his reaction and wincing at it. She ended up doing something in-between, letting out a small giggle and at the same time recoiling a bit. "It's hard to cheer up when I have so much time just to think." K'luha explained, her tail wrapping around her hips as she shivered lightly in the chilly night's air. "Too much time to think. Too many dreams about the past."
*
Twinflame: Crossing his arms over his knees, K'ile muttered, "So why bother thinking and dreaming? That's where your problem his." He flinched suddenly, when his idle tail swept intot eh fire's dwindling coals. He grunted and stood, spinning and kicking the fire forcefully. He threw ash and cinders, pieces of wood flickering off into the dark, "I hate fire! Damn it!"
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha was about to reply when K'ile so suddenly stood an lashed out. She flinched visibly and stared, in awe of the sudden declaration and the rather uncharistically violent reaction.
*
Twinflame: Pulling at both of his ears in frustration, K'ile managed to look over his shoulder at K'luha, though his gaze was probably angry when he'd rather it not be. "Just wash yourself up, and stop making things about me. I shouldn't have to come up with some personal sob story just to get you to stop being all mopey." He shook himself and turned off to the dark, suddenly walking away. "I'm gonna go... hunt some breakfast."
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha couldn't do much at first. What had him so frustrated all of a sudden? Was it really her? "No I... K'ile..." K'luha sighed, trying to get his attention as he started storming off. "Wait K'ile don't forgot.. K'ile!" Momentarily forgetting about her hip, K'luha moved to stand sharply and grasp for his shoulder as he left. "K'ile I didn't!"
*
Twinflame: Still moving away, knowing she couldn't keep up with him, K'ile answered simply, "I know you didn't," as he slipped over into the night.
*
K'luha Haaz: K'luha indeed could not keep up with him. Not even remotely and as he pulled away and vanished off into the night she tripped and fell hard on the ground. Luha winced as she hit the floor and sucked in a breathful of cold air to stop the pain. Her eyes opened briefly in the direction he left, though she couldn't seem him through the darkness. "Then why....?" she called softly, laying on the ground for a few minutes before she would get up to wash, limp back to the carriage and sleep once more.
![[Image: Collage_banner.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/Collage_banner.png)
