Since Edwyr could do nothing about whatever Genrith was up to until she returned so he could keep an eye on her again, he'd done his best to get some training done, at least before going to bed. Now it was morning again, but Edwyr was unwilling to get up and leave Wyn's side.

It was funny to think about how much and how quickly his attitude toward rising early had changed with the start of their relationship. Edwyr felt lazy for it, but it was difficult to resist when Wyn himself was so unbothered by it. In fact, he seemed very unbothered in general, Edwyr thought to himself as he watched the other elf slumber peacefully next to him. Perhaps this kind of calmness, even in dire situations, came with Wyn's age, though Edwyr couldn't imagine himself acting like this at one hundred and seventy. Not that Edwyr was complaining, it was just surprising.

Wyn grumbled something, turning his head and pushing his face against Edwyr's shoulder. In turn, all Edwyr could do was stare at him, his cheeks warm and eyes wide, completely overwhelmed. Wyn was far too adorable given how powerful and respected around here he was, and Edwyr wasn't sure how to deal with this yet.

"You don't have to stay in bed with me," Wyn mumbled without opening his eyes, clearly more than content to keep laying where he was. "I would like you to, though."

Edwyr shook his head, brushing a strand of hair behind Wyn's long, exposed ear, studying the small, golden rings decorating almost the entirety of the top of the ear as he did. Wyn liked accessories very much, it seemed.

"I'll stay, Tehr."

Wyn's lips curved up into a gentle smile, his eyes opening just enough to let Edwyr catch a glimpse of that otherworldly yellow color. In the morning light, Wyn's eyes looked almost gold. It was quite beautiful, and yet Edwyr couldn't help but wonder why Wyn's eyes were like that. And not for the first time, either.

But it was the first time he actually asked about it. "Why are your eyes yellow?"

Wyn's smile grew into a small grin as slowly raised his head so he could properly look at Edwyr, his hair spilling out over his shoulder. Edwyr immediately got the urge to stroke it, but he resisted. For now, at least.

"Oh, an accident, you could say," Wyn said, taking a breath to start telling him what Edwyr could already tell would be quite the story. It usually was, it seemed. "I was trying to see if I could...." Wyn paused, his smile ebbing a little as he looked down at the bedcovers. "I was trying to alter how I look. Not through illusions. Permanently. And, well, I thought changing the color of my eyes would be an easy stepping stone to reach. I chose an unnatural color simply to see if there were limits to what I could do."

Wyn huffed out a laugh, once more looking amused. "Somehow I managed to change the color of my iris easily enough. But then I could not change it back. Or to any other color." The elf shook his head. "To this day I still do not know what I did wrong. By the time I could control this kind of magic, I was used to my eyes being like this, and I simply decided to leave them be."

His smile softened as his eyes found Edwyr's again. "I think the color is quite becoming, wouldn't you agree?"

Edwyr let out a small laugh, unable to resist it anymore. Wyn was far too charming. "Yes, it's very striking."

Wyn almost looked bashful then, ducking his head just a little and smiling to himself, as if Edwyr's barely-there compliment had had profound impact on him. And Edwyr couldn't lie, it did make his chest flutter to see Wyn reacting like this. It was so difficult to remember that the elf in bed with him was a very powerful, ancient sorcerer sometimes.

Though speaking of sorcery, Edwyr couldn't help but wonder what exactly Wyn had changed about himself aside from the eyes. Why research such magic in the first place? Edwyr didn't think the other elf was vain enough to learn something like this simply to make himself more attractive or something like that.

"Did you research that when you were trying to figure out how to make yourself stop aging?" asked Edwyr, this being the only connection he could think of. And sure, Wyn looked quite young, possibly too young to have discovered the key to immortality from Edwyr's rather rudimentary understanding of how creating new spells or even inventing entire types of magic worked. But surely there was more to this than Wyn simply making himself younger than he was at the time.

"Ah, not quite," Wyn said, his smile gone all of a sudden. Edwyr tensed up, not liking the change of mood at all. "I...I told you I used to look quite different when I still lived on Aendor. Do you remember?"

Edwyr nodded, sitting up. It felt appropriate given how serious things were right now. Whatever Wyn was going to tell him, it was clearly no laughing matter. Wyn sat up as well, following Edwyr's example, but sadly he didn't scoot over so they would be sitting next to each other. Edwyr had wished that would be the case.

"Well, I was...." Wyn let out an annoyed sigh, shaking his head as if mad at himself for having a hard time saying whatever he wanted to. Edwyr reached out to put his hand on the other elf's shoulder, but before he could reach, Wyn got up, beginning to pace around. "The body I was born with was female."

Edwyr's eyebrows flew up in surprise. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it was certainly not that. That was so odd to wrap his head around. Edwyr didn't have a problem with it, of course. It was simply difficult to comprehend because Wyn was a man, and anything else simply seemed strange and wrong.

"So you were born a woman, but you changed that through magic?" Edwyr asked, trying to make sense of this in his brain. This all sounded familiar to him for some reason. He immediately regretted saying this, though, when he saw the grimace on Wyn's face. It was clear this was very difficult for him. Edwyr should have probably just given him time to continue.

"No, I.... No, that body never felt right. This one does."

Edwyr nodded, but before he could say anything, Wyn started rambling, one hand rubbing his eyes as he continued pacing.

"I apologize. I should have told you this already, but it was so long ago. Sometimes, even I forget. My time on Aendor feels like little more than a dream sometimes. Something that was never real, to begin with. But I am sorry. That is no excuse. And I am very sorry if this makes you uncomfortable because—"

Edwyr couldn't listen to this anymore. Before he even knew it, he was on his feet, marching to Wyn only to grab him by the shoulders. For a split second he considered shaking him for good measure, but given how upset Wyn was that was unlikely to help, and so instead, Edwyr leaned in and softly pressed his lips against the other elf's.

He could feel some of the tension draining out of Wyn's shoulders as Edwyr pulled away. The elf still seemed a little distraught, but certainly less so than before.

"It's okay, Wyn. Thank you for sharing this with me."

Edwyr had so many questions, but he wasn't going to ask any of them. Not unless Wyn wanted to answer them. But he'd leave asking about that for later.

Wyn was staring at him now, wide-eyed and so, so vulnerable. As if he had sincerely thought Edwyr would end what they had because of this. The thought tore at his heart, but Edwyr refused to let it fester. Especially not when at that moment, it finally clicked why this felt familiar.

"Actually, I think you may have this in common with someone from Sunwood."

He was sure that was the case, though he couldn't remember the woman's name right now. He remembered someone, probably Arbane or Lanna, telling him how she originally hadn't felt right in her body either. This seemed to be a very similar situation, albeit flipped.

Edwyr cursed himself for not asking any follow-up questions back then. Maybe he'd have learned something useful. But since this had taken place when he'd been in the process of being introduced to the town and everyone in it, he hadn't questioned anything, partly due to none of the humans finding it odd, and also because at the time he'd been preoccupied with his anger concerning what had happened to him to care too much about anyone else.

"Another elf in Sunwood? I thought you were alone," said Wyn once he managed to get over his surprise. Though his eyes were still blown wide, despite the way he was keeping them narrowed.

"No, a human."

Wyn bulged out his eyes at him as Edwyr finally let go of his shoulders. "Humans can feel this way as well?"

Edwyr snorted, unable not to find the humor in the other elf being flabbergasted at the possibility. As if it had never occurred to him. Well, clearly it hadn't, but it was difficult to believe that Wyn, being as happy to theorize and think about things as he was, hadn't thought of this.

"Oh, those poor, magicless souls."

Wyn looked quite upset now, his brow furrowed and his eyes sad. Edwyr hadn't meant to cause this at all. He'd meant to show Wyn that he wasn't alone, and that this wasn't a completely alien concept to Edwyr, but clearly, he'd failed. What could he say to fix this?

"Well, after we depose the Council, you could help people with this, right? Since you know the magic to do it."

For a second Wyn seemed to think this over before a grin lit up his whole face. Edwyr almost sighed as relief washed over him at the sight. He never wanted Wyn to be upset ever again, and while he knew that was impossible to achieve, he didn't have to like it. Least of all, he didn't want to be the cause of it.

"Yes, that...that is a wonderful idea." Wyn fidgeted with his hands a little then, his smile ebbing.

"What's wrong?"

Wyn looked directly into Edwyr's eyes again, then. There was such a deep sadness in them that it almost made Edwyr wince. That, and guilt. "Nothing, I simply feel quite foolish for not realizing this. I should have been helping others this way for decades."

Edwyr knew that Wyn was about to go on a tirade of guilt and stopped him before he could get another word out. "That doesn't matter, Wyn. It is never too late to start. Especially for you. I mean, you can't die of old age."

Edwyr expected the other elf to argue with him, but instead, Wyn just sighed, his shoulder sinking as he gave in. "I know you are correct. I will...try to do better." Then he smiled again, only a small curve to his lips, but it made Edwyr grin at him. "On his deathbed, Atho told me there was still business left unfinished for me. I thought he meant fixing things on Aendor, but...perhaps there is more I can do afterward, as well."

The way Wyn was saying all of this made it seem as though he had perhaps wanted to die alongside his human husband. And maybe he had still wanted that after ending the Council's reign. But Edwyr hoped he was wrong. He didn't want Wyn to die anytime soon, and he didn't care if he was being selfish.

"Of course, you can," said Edwyr, kissing Wyn once more. "You're brilliant."

Wyn's cheeks darkened as he ducked his head a little, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh, well, I have a lot of time on my hands, which allows me to study."

Edwyr shook his head. That was certainly not how brilliance worked, or everyone could attain it. But he didn't want to argue with Wyn about any of this. So instead he decided to use the more relaxed atmosphere to tease him a little. "I don't know about that. You sleep quite a lot."

Wyn chuckled, giving Edwyr a somewhat mischievous, toothy grin that almost disarmed him. "Well, how can I not when I have someone so very special to share my bed with."

Now it was Edwyr's turn to blush. Even though he liked it, he still wasn't used to being talked to like this, and he was immensely grateful that Wyn was sparing with this type of language because otherwise Edwyr might get completely overwhelmed with emotions he had difficulty identifying.

"I apologize for, hm, distracting you so much."

Wyn looked a little amused, but there was still a small flicker of guilt in his eyes as he said this. And Edwyr wanted to shake him again. Wyn had somewhat of a guilt complex it seemed, and it was starting to get a bit ridiculous. Not everything was his fault, no matter how much the elf seemed to think so.

"I certainly don't try to resist all that much."

Wyn opened his mouth, probably to argue, but then he just smiled and embraced Edwyr, a little awkward and tense, but that all melted away when Edwyr hugged him back immediately.

"Thank you. For being so understanding of my...." As Wyn paused, likely searching for the right word, Edwyr sighed and pulled away just enough so he could plant a kiss on the other elf's forehead.

"There is nothing you could say that would make think less of you, Tehr." Edwyr sighed again, this time with sadness filling his heart. "You were afraid of telling me about this, weren't you? And about your age."

Wyn let go of Edwyr, prompting him to do the same, and hung his head. "Yes. I was afraid of...well, of how you may react. I quite like what we have, and I would hate to ruin it. But you also deserve the truth."

"Yes, but I don't want you to feel like I will break things off at any time because of something you tell me about yourself."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

That was most of what bugged Edwyr. Wyn seemed constantly anxious over their relationship ending horribly, but that was no way to live. And Edwyr thought it was fairly sturdy right now. He had never been in a proper relationship with someone, certainly not the way humans did it, but everything Wyn and he had done felt good and right, so he didn't think there was anything to worry about. Unless of course Wyn didn't feel the same, but in Edwyr's opinion, this was just the elf overthinking again.

"I'll try to remember that," Wyn said, sounding quite sad for some reason. But before Edwyr could try to ask what was wrong, Wyn's expression cleared up. "Thank you. I feel much lighter now. Ecstatic, even."

Edwyr grinned, his heart swelling. "Is this what you wanted to tell me earlier?"

Wyn gave a nod, though it was far too jerky to appear natural. So Wyn was lying, it seemed. But Edwyr was sure he just needed time to approach the subject. It was likely again going to be something inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, anyway, so there was no reason to push Wyn to tell him. He would do so in his own time.

"Look, whatever else you want to tell me about your past, or anything," Edwyr said, pausing to take a deep breath. "Don't worry about if you should have told me already or not. I want you to be comfortable enough to tell me. Take your time."

Wyn avoided Edwyr's eyes, his head a little bowed forward. He looked so much smaller like that, fiddling with his hands in front of him, his shoulder drawn in. It made Edwyr's heart clench. He was starting to feel as though what he meant to be comforting words was only serving to upset Wyn further. And the worst part was that he didn't know why.

But before Edwyr could come up with something else to say, Wyn seemed to calm down a little and smiled, though he still didn't hold himself with nearly as much elegance as usual. "Thank you for being so understanding."

Edwyr wasn't sure if he was going out of his way to be understanding. It seemed a normal amount in his opinion, but he decided not to point that out. He was just glad that Wyn seemed to be taking this to heart. He apologized far too often, especially considering what he apologized for. It seemed as though the elf was constantly anxious, and this side of him hadn't been revealed to him before they decided to be together. Edwyr just couldn't figure out if Wyn was anxious directly because of it, or because he tended to hide it and trusted Edwyr enough to not bother with it in front of him.

"Um, could we hug again?" Wyn asked, his grin growing a little pained as if he was embarrassed about it. "I quite like it."

"You don't need to ask," Edwyr said before putting his arms around him, noting how tense Wyn still was. But as the elf hugged him back, he melted into the embrace, letting out a soft, relieved sigh. They stayed like that for a little bit, both unwilling to let go. At least Edwyr was unwilling, anyway. Something about making any kind of physical contact with Wyn made his heart flutter. And so he waited for Wyn to let go, which he did a moment later. And Edwyr immediately missed his touch.

He wanted to shake his head at himself a little, this was ridiculous.

His self-berating thoughts left him immediately, though, when Wyn gifted him with a brilliant smile that almost threatened to overwhelm him with sheer joy.

"As much as I hate to say this, I do think I should go work on a few things concerning our upcoming trip."

The fact that Wyn was calling their questionable, very dangerous plan to delve into the reaches of the jungle an upcoming trip was far too amusing not to chuckle at.

"Yes, I should get back to training, as well," Edwyr joined in, nodding. "I need to work on fire magic."

Wyn did one of his little smiles with his eyes, the wrinkles around them deepening. "You are making excellent progress."

Edwyr smirked. He had no frame of reference for how much progress one could make in a month for it to become excellent, but he did know that Wyn might not be completely unbiased here. "Are you sure you are not just saying that because we are together?"

Wyn scoffed, pretending to be offended, but Edwyr didn't miss the way his cheeks went a shade darker. "Of course not. I am objective."

Edwyr's smile grew into a full grin at the ridiculousness. How Wyn managed to be like this after being alive for so long was beyond him, but it was very charming.

"No, but truly." Wyn's face was now more serious, an almost shocking amount of sincerity and earnestness in his eyes. "You are very talented. I am glad we met."

Edwyr was about to point out that surely giving Edwyr magic was not solely why Wyn was glad they had met, but before he could, Wyn did it himself.

"Well, aside from more personal reasons, I mean."

Wyn smiled again, and whatever Edwyr had been planning on saying to that left his brain as all he could do was stand there, staring into Wyn's eyes. He hadn't even properly realized he'd been staring until Wyn broke eye contact.

"Ah, anyway, I'd best be going."

Naturally, Wyn didn't move an inch. And Edwyr couldn't help but laugh.

"You are simply very difficult to leave," Wyn said, chuckling. Edwyr couldn't help but agree. It used to be so much easier to do what was responsible. But they would both have to manage.

He leaned in, pressing his lips against Wyn's in one last kiss before pulling away. "Okay, I'll make it easier for you and leave first."

Wyn curved his lips in what was almost a pout for a moment before huffing out a laugh and nodding. "You are stronger than I."

Edwyr wasn't quite so sure of that. He didn't want to go do anything that much either, but he would force himself to. With a sigh he took a few steps away from Wyn and to the door, looking back only to give the other elf a smile before exiting Wyn's quarters and shutting the door behind him.

It was getting harder and harder to do anything without getting distracted, and while a part of him couldn't manage to care in the slightest, he knew it was a problem, especially with what they wanted to do. After they took over Aendor and hopefully both survived, then Edwyr would let himself indulge in temporary laziness and a lack of productivity. But not now.

As he started to walk down the very familiar corridor to get to the training room he frequented, though, he was stopped by someone calling his name from behind him. Whirling around, he came face to face with Orenis, who was breathing hard, looking as if she'd just spent the last hour running around the castle.

"Edwyr, finally," she exclaimed, pausing to take a breath between each word. "Of course, you would be at Wyn's. I went to your quarters. Stupid."

Edwyr wrinkled his nose at her calling his presence at Wyn's chambers obvious, but he said nothing because he knew he was just being defensive for no reason since Orenis hadn't meant this as an insult.

"Genrith's back!" Orenis almost yelled before Edwyr could think of anything to say. His eyes widened, immediately feeling his heartbeat spike. He hadn't been expecting this at all, certainly not so soon. It had only been a few days. He'd expected Genrith to reappear as they were about to leave if he were to be honest.

"She is?"

"Yes, but I heard her say she'll leave again soon."

Edwyr's immediate thought was to go to Wyn to ask if he knew why Genrith could be leaving so fast, if he knew what she had planned, but they didn't have time for that. Not to mention that it would cause yet another conversation about how Wyn thought Edwyr was being paranoid, which they truly didn't have the time for.

"Do you know where she is, then?"

Orenis shrugged, but the gesture came across as very tense with how rigidly she was holding herself as if she was ready to start running at any second now. "I know where she was when I came to get you. But that doesn't matter. We can go to the Infuser and hide until she arrives."

Edwyr nodded, not finding any issue with that plan. "Okay, then let's go."

With a single nod, Orenis started running the way she'd come, Edwyr close behind her. He knew that anyone who would see them would find this odd or even suspicious, but he didn't care much. All he could focus on was catching Genrith this time, finding out what she was up to, and either confirming his suspicion that something was going on, or being able to dismiss them. Though if he were to be honest with himself, he wasn't sure if Genrith not being up to anything one time would completely convince him, though it would be a start.

They didn't stop running until they reached the steps leading to the Infuser, and even then they slowed down mostly just not to alert Genrith if she was there, making their way down as quickly as possible while staying relatively quiet.

Edwyr let himself breathe as hard as his lungs begged him to only once they reached the Infuser when they found the room empty and there was no reason to stay silent, anymore.

"So either she already left, or she hasn't been here yet," Orenis said, panting. Edwyr was about to suggest that Orenis could go find out where the last portal opened through the Infuser had gone and try to go there maybe when he heard footsteps going down the stairs.

"We have to hide!" he hissed, trying to be as quiet as possible. But where would they hide? There weren't that many things in this room to use for that purpose, and he was quickly realizing that he hadn't given this much thought when Orenis had told him the plan.

Orenis didn't hesitate for even a second, though, grabbing Edwyr's wrist and dragging him behind the Infuser. He hadn't even thought of that at all, mostly because the Infuser turned into a portal once the right magic was used on it. He had no idea what it looked like from the other side, nor was he sure if it would even hide them once it was activated. But he couldn't say any of that as the footsteps grew closer and closer until the person was in the room with them, a squawker in tow judging by the unmistakable sound of claws on stone.

He didn't dare breathe as the footsteps stopped. There was no way to confirm if this was Genrith or not, but he couldn't look without the elf on the other side of the Infuser seeing him. And so he waited, staying perfectly still as the person began to speak.

They were unfamiliar words, six of them, though clearly a transportation incantation, given the situation, but Edwyr immediately knew at least one thing—the voice belonged to Genrith. The room was flooded with stark, blue light as the Infuser came to life, but to Edwyr's surprise, it only happened on Genrith's side. On his and Orenis' side, the Infuser was still solid, but it must have changed not only because of the glow but also the humming emanating from it.

He flinched when he heard Genrith step closer, only to breathe out in relief when she disappeared with her squawker inside of the portal. As the light disappeared and the room was once more cast into darkness and silence, Edwyr took a deep breath and got up, walking up to the front of the Infuser to open the portal again so they could follow Genrith. Except he had no idea what words she'd used at all.

Oh, why hadn't he paid more attention to what she'd said? Why hadn't he—

"Here you go," Orenis said, handing him a piece of parchment with those same six words written on it. "I know this one. Leads to an Infuser at the southwestern edge of the jungle."

Edwyr blinked, shocked that Orenis had already dealt with a problem he had only been in the process of realizing, but he didn't waste time and grabbed the parchment, taking in a deep breath to focus. He still wasn't very confident when it came to opening portals, having done it only twice so far.

He spoke the words, trying to think about nothing other than opening the portal, and the jungle for good measure, and thankfully the Infuser was quick to react, bathing the room with light once more.

But Edwyr couldn't take even a second to feel happy about accomplishing this so relatively easily. They had no time to waste. Looking at Orenis who gave him a determined nod, Edwyr stepped into the portal's light, bracing himself.

But nothing could prepare him for coils of rope tying themselves around him the moment he stepped out of the portal. Crying out in surprise, he lost balance as the rope tangled itself around his ankles and fell to the ground, gasping as the impact against the hard grassy ground pushed all air out of his lungs, unable to even attempt to catch himself as the ropes pinned his arms to his torso.

And just as he recovered enough to try to get the ropes off him with magic, a length of it slithered over his mouth, pushing against his lips and teeth so hard that it left him with no choice other than opening his mouth to gasp in pain. And just like that he was gagged, the corners of his mouth pulled back painfully by the rope now between his teeth. Now he couldn't use magic or defend himself in any other way.

Still, he dragged himself up on his knees, unwilling to just lie down and take it. But his glare turned to an expression of shock when he saw Genrith standing over him, eyes narrowed and eyebrows knitted together in what seemed to be intense displeasure.

A muffled noise escaped him as he tried to say the elf's name immediately, his shock immediately turning to anger as he was reminded that he was tied up and gagged. Genrith must have done this. There was no other possibility that would make sense given that he couldn't see anyone else here.

He shot a look over his shoulder to confirm that Orenis was in a similar predicament, glaring up at Genrith with a kind of anger that Edwyr hadn't seen from her before.

"I knew you would take the bait," Genrith said, folding her arms over her chest. "You should have listened to your new lover, Edwyr."

Edwyr glared harder, having no other weapon at his disposal as immobilized as he was. There was a bitter kind of victory to this as now he had definite proof that Genrith was doing something behind everyone's backs. And that she was willing to attack him and Orenis to hide it. But what was her plan here? Surely, she wouldn't kill them. Wyn would look for Edwyr if he disappeared, which would create more problems for Genrith if she wanted to keep whatever she was doing a secret. So what was her plan here, then?

"I didn't want to do anything about your snooping, but it seems you are far too persistent to leave alone," Genrith continued, pulling her staff off her shoulder by its strap and pointing at him. "I know you will not remember this, but you should be grateful. Memory alteration is the least unpleasant option I could choose to deal with you."

Edwyr barely had the time for his eyes to widen before Genrith started casting a spell, the tip of her staff growing a dark purple. He let out a muffled cry of agony as horrible pain stabbed through his head. And just like that, he was falling forward, his vision going black.

+++++

Edwyr groaned as he came to with a pounding headache. He couldn't remember where he was or why his head hurt, but he wanted to go right back to sleep for at least a year. But he could hear someone calling his name, so he knew he wouldn't get to.

Putting together enough energy to force his eyes open, Edwyr blinked a few times, his blurry vision clearing enough to see Wyn standing over him, a worried frown on his face. Even with the headache, Edwyr couldn't help but admire the fact that the other elf had chosen to keep his hair down today. He looked so handsome like that.

"Oh, thank the Goddess," Wyn breathed, bowing his head a little. Edwyr only then noticed that Wyn was holding his hand. And that he was lying in his bed. How had he gotten here? He had no memory of anything bad happening.

"What happened?" he asked, pulling himself up to sit. Aside from the headache, which was now slowly losing its intensity, he felt all right. He felt like something was off, also, but he would attribute that to the fact that he was in bed with Wyn having clearly been worrying about him and with no memory as to how he'd gotten here or why.

"You were attacked by a furoi," Wyn explained, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. He still hadn't let go of his hand, though, not that Edwyr wanted him to, ever.

A fuzzy memory of being attacked by a scalewing did pop up in Edwyr's head, but it felt more like a dream rather than reality. How out of it was he still? And there was something else, as well. He and Orenis, they'd....

Wyn sighed, looking down. "You and Orenis followed Genrith, and that is when it happened. You both were injured, but Genrith brought you back here." The elf turned his sad eyes to meet Edwyr's. "You were quite gravely wounded. I healed you, but I could not help but worry I was perhaps too late. I'm so glad I wasn't." Wyn's gaze turned a little displeased then, with a hint of pleading. Edwyr wasn't sure how Wyn managed to get both of that across at once so well, but he did. "Edwyr, being so suspicious of Genrith almost cost you your life. Please, let it go."

Edwyr looked away, frowning. He felt very foolish, but for some reason, something about this wasn't right. He couldn't even remember why he'd been so adamant that Genrith was up to something in the first place. What proof did he have? He winced as a spike of pain stabbed through his head, then. Had he hit his head somehow while being attacked? He could barely remember the encounter, never mind his general confusion about this whole thing.

"Okay." There was no reason to argue. Edwyr didn't particularly want to stalk Genrith anymore, and he couldn't figure out why he'd wanted to do it in the first place now that he properly thought about it. She wouldn't bother bringing him and Orenis back here like this if she was up to something, surely. Why leave the two people suspicious of her alive if she could just let them die, and then report the sad news?

He swallowed as his insides twisted then, a chill running down his spine. But he had no idea why. Maybe his body was still reacting to nearly dying.

"Good." And suddenly Wyn was hugging him close, his face buried in Edwyr's shoulder. The elf was clutching onto him almost desperately as if he was afraid Edwyr would disappear if he let go, but Edwyr was more than happy to let him, putting his arms around Wyn just as tightly.

He was stupid to have followed Genrith with no idea where she was even going, and he was stupid to have involved Orenis. Why had he felt so strongly about this? He just couldn't figure it out. And neither could he figure out why thinking about this made him feel so...strange. Like he was missing something important, something terrible. And yet no matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn't put his finger on it.

But as he just sat in bed,embraced by Wyn, he found it harder and harder to worry about all of this. Hewas warm, comfortable, with someone he liked very much, and most importantlyalive, and he needed to focus on what was important. He would stop wasting timeon conspiracy theories and continue his training. If a scalewing could defeathim, anything the jungle threw at them would as well, so he clearly wasn'tready yet. And he would make sure he was.