Random 59

"Thank you. Soon, not now," he said, sensing and thinking of the same urgency. Once she was done with his hair, Kai began to braid it instinctually, but then suddenly realised that was only going to be a bother. Clothes on, hair combed, he waited until she was done, considered for a moment and then kissed her cheek. "We should go, hm?"

Sylvie kept Ayu-Asra from nipping Sebastian's ear, and rolled her eyes. The dragon seemed a tad cranky, but not cranky enough to avoid her. "All four of us."

On the way downstairs she asked, "How's your wrist, Kai?"

"Sore, not broken, I think," he said in a contemplative tone, flexing it. Then he turned to look at Sylvie. "Do I have any bruises on my face?" He did, actually. Foreheads meeting together...

"Yes." Sylvie wiped across her own forehead to show where. Right now she considered it an asset, a sort of proof the had been attacked.

Gemma came from the kitchen to the corridor, stopping half-inside the door, "What took you so--" When she saw Kai, she stopped, and one corner of her mouth ticked up. "Well, good morning. What a surprise." When they reached the bottom of the stairs, and better light, the sight of the bruise made her frown. "Now that looks like there's a story."

He only nodded, twitching when the Gemma showed up. Kai was once again acting more stupid than he really was, but at least this time he really didn't need to act sheepish all that much. A slightly nervous grin appeared on his face, prompted by his long and extensive knowledge of women who tried to marry off their friends or get them on dates. "Um. Hello. I'm sorry. It was because of me," the half-elf said, looking at the floor as if he had done something wrong.

Gemma stood aside and held the door for them. "Come in and have a seat." For Gemma, it sounded gentle.

Sylvie gave her a slightly guilty look because of the mess they'd left, but saved the apologies for later.

"I... thank you," Kai said with some hesitation, but stepped in anyway, looking around with a pair of eyes that took in everything even though his mien was more along the lines of embarrassment.

One bit that he didn't expect was Riya, busily cleaning up and looking feisty. "Just what hap-- oh." The girl blinked at her mother, Sylvie and Kai. Especially at the latter, judging by how she was about to burst into a grin until... she saw the wounds. "Oh. Oh."

Kai had the sense to look utterly apologetic. "Um. Morning," he said weakly.

Garren had been standing at the window, looking out into the yard, but turned his attention to the new arrival, looking faintly worried. Ayu-Asra pushed himself off her shoulder and flew past him, out of the window.

Sylvie for a moment wondered if he was getting sick, since he didn't beg anyone for food, but concentrated on the people present, in particular Riya. "Sorry we left a mess. We were both a bit shaken. Should I finish?"

Riya was the first to speak, as ought to have been expected. The chatty girl almost went berserk when it came to words: "No! No, I'm sorry, I thought you'd left it on purpose and... what happened?! Seriously, that looks a little bad and..."

Kai covered his eyes with a hand. The one with the wounded wrist. "It's fine. Sylvie... she patched me up as well as she could, and I... well, I didn't want to wake you up so we were quiet about it." He lifted his gaze from his hand to the three of Old Ivy present. "I'm sorry," the half-elf continued. "I didn't know where else to turn, and..."

Riya stared.

Gemma took Kai by the shoulders and walked him to the closest chair, telling him gently, "Now first thing is you sit down and try to calm down a bit. Nobody here will bite your head off."

The sudden switch, and just how thickly Sebastian was laying it on, took Sylvie by surprise. Looking worried wasn't difficult, though; he was a scarily convincing actor.

Had she asked, he'd have told him it was practice -- and having been through situations before, but instead Kai kept the show going, twitching as if genuinely a little afraid or intimidated, only relaxing a little once being forcefully dragged to a chair. And that relaxation, well, that was only a precursor to a still slightly worried yet grateful smile and keeping quiet. He rubbed his scarred palms nervously.

Riya looked at Sylvie, then at Gemma and Garren, blinking. "Okay, which drugs do you need? Or do I make tea?" she asked, suddenly very determined. Cleaning, the girl thought, was not the priority here.

"Tea should do, I hope." Sylvie sat down next to S-Kai, dammit, mostly to get out of the way, and reached for his hand.

That elicited a brisk nod from Riya, who set off to work on that tea, picking the mint that Kai had apparently preferred, occasionally looking over her shoulder with a gaze loaded with questions.

Kai, on the other hand, looked at Sylvie's hand and his, then looked a little embarrassed again. He maintained the look of someone who didn't know what to say, even though he actually did, having run several possible lines of conversation in his head. None of them were fitting of a slightly dim-witted, polite pilgrim who seemed like he'd had quite a thrashing. Instead, he only leaned toward Sylvie, eyes open and staring at the table wearily.

Sylvie squeezed his hand but turned to Gemma. "Last night I had the window open and heard him in the yard, asking for help. He had been attacked, and I think he did not want to yell in case they were looking for him."

Judging by Kai's face, that was about the size of it, but he still looked up a little, inhaling. "I really didn't want to... impose, you know," he said, as much to Sylvie and the family.

Gemma sighed. "Would have been safer to wake us, anyway, in case there was someone after you. But, well, nothing happened." She looked from Kai to Sylvie and back with a slight frown.

Garren asked, "So there was someone seeking help at the door, and you brought your staff...?"

"In case there was someone behind him who needed hitting," Sylvie answered.

"But there wasn't, so you patched him up, dosed him with a painkiller and took him to your room," Gemma said. The opened medicine bottle had been in the tea rack. After Sylvie nodded a little warily, Gemma asked her, "You wouldn't take advantage of an injured, shaken and drugged man, now, would you?"

After a stunned moment Sylvie answered, "No." It sounded half like a question, and she looked at Kai. She was very close to bursting out into something.

Kai looked about as stunned for a moment, eye wide and staring directly at Gemma. In general, it seemed as though the half-elf hadn't even thought of anything like that, and on the other side of the room, Riya turned to poke Garren, nudging her head at Gemma, disapprovingly.

The Lady bless people like Gemma, Kai thought, even so. "Um... I... you, you know, she would not have...," he said, still staring at Gemma, shocked -- as if the thought hadn't even occurred to him.

What had he said, again? That he felt like he was in his teens again?

It was at this point that the cavalry -- the daughter -- intervened. "Mother," she said in a certain tone.

It earned her a short, exasperated look - and raised eyebrows and a headshake from Garren, not that she noticed - but then Gemma relented. "Well, if you're sure, good." The fact that he had taken Sylvie's hand earlier helped.

"You're invited for breakfast, lad. And I don't want to hear anything about 'imposing', you hear?" She still wanted to hear more about who had attacked him where and why, because if the streets got more dangerous she wanted to know, but he could settle down a bit first.

Kai looked suitably terrified by the force of nature that was Gemma. And to be honest, he was, and further, even though being called 'lad' had long since stopped amusing him, this time it did. It didn't show, of course. "...yes ma'am," he said meekly, trying to avoid looking at Sylvie. She might have started laughing, he suspected.

She was already biting her lip to keep from it, but made an effort to stop when she realised it might look guity.

"Good." On Gemma's say-so, she and Riya took care of the breakfast.

Garren joined Sylvie and Kai at the table, starting with unrelated smalltalk, first updating Sylvie on the progress with his plant encyclopaedia (it was going well). After a short discourse about Mael's absence (he was with his fiancee) they hit the inevitable topic of weather - whose roof had developed a new leak, and the like. One wall at Old Ivy, next to the passage from the street to the yard, had started sweating. Some things stored in that room would have to be moved, but there was no damage yet.