Echos of a fateful meeting

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti was briefly very confused when he gesture of kindness was met with some mumbled negativity. But bastian grew more appreciative as he woke so Leti chalked it up to whatever small nightmare the had been having.
"You're welcome. This sort of thing is nice sometimes. " They might eat less extravagantly on a daily basis but leti enjoyed a celebration.
He started to tuck in himself enjoying the fruits of his hard labour.
"I suppose we could eat meat a bit more often" He mused as if to himself. They certainly had enough chicken for several more meals.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

"Yeah," he agreed softly around a mouthful of chicken leg. He noticed belatedly that Leti didn't have one of those and felt all the more awkward for a moment.

What had he done to deserve all of this? It wasn't a rhetorical question. The answer was nothing. Gifts. He didn't understand gifts. He worked his way through most of the chicken and half the vegetables before he stopped suddenly.

"First you save my life and then you cook for me. I am flattered," he said, a bit of confusion mixing into the gratitude. He didn't understand. "Leti..." he grumbled in mild exasperation. The man couldn't keep doing this. Not for...the month at least before his leg healed enough.

He was clearly uncomfortable, physically and mentally. He didn't want to be. He wanted to relax and enjoy it but he felt obligated to...to something.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti found bastian's grumbling exasperation perplexing. He offered a confused expression and replied "bastian?" in a tone that made it clear he couldn't follow what the man was trying to say. 'gifts' were a way of life out here where the village only had each other to rely on.
Nor could leti fathom someone being so genuinely upset that someone had been nice to them. He had only meant to cook a nice meal not cause the man some kind identity crisis. Nor would he understood the man's grief if he spelled it out. Leti was no stranger to the idea of working for you food, but not everyone could.
"You're right, I should have left you in a puddle of your own blood or fed you stale bread. Just like all other wicked hearted humans." He replied in a teasing tone. "I'm a healer, I like to heal people." He shook his head and very pointedly stuck a piece of chicken in his mouth to chew for a moment.
"If all it takes is a little hen to get you to eat more then so be it! And don't you dare get any notions in your head about over eating your share. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not as partial to it." Sure he enjoyed making something that pleased bastian but the whole circus only came about because he had hoped having something bastian liked meant it would help grow his appetite back to normal. He wasn't about to let bastian mope about it. There plenty of things he would let bastian put his broody face on for, but not good food.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He wasn't upset so much as confused but he didn't know how to explain and it seemed perhaps better to simple shut up and allow it to happen. Which was what he normally did.

He grimaced at Leti's teasing. No, he wasn't 'right' that wasn't it. Maybe it was the charity and being reminded of the extent of it. None of it made hin feel less obligated or more comfortable. Leti meant what he said though, Bastian could feel that much. Which was comforting in a strange way. It gave him new perspective on the insistence the young man had spoke earlier, about the soldier nit worrying over getting back into shape. Clearly he had meant that too.

As for the food...he summoned a short "Yes, sir," of acknowledgement. Bastian shut up after that. He very much liked not lying in a puddle of his own blood, after all.

He forced himself to finish the plate and even the wine, orders being what they were. He figured he had already upset Leti enough. Besides, it was really good food.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti happily munched on his food alongside bastian. Just seeing the man clean his plate for once was enough of a reward, well, so long as he kept it all down.
He wished bastian wasn't in quite such an awkward mood but there was a lot going on in that head that he wouldn't talk about. It was hard to know if what he said had really gotten through. He set aside the dishes and quietly finished his own cup of wine. A light pink tinge already appearing on his face. He felt a little buzzed too, he had always been weak to drink.
He snuggled into bed next to bastian happy and full and content. A strange part of him knew that he should enjoy such moments as much as he could. They were fleeting and he knew their closeness would have end eventually.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He also hoped he kept the food down. Though as Leti moved the plates and utensils aside and pressed up against him, Bastian rralized perhaps that wouldn't be a problem. Sleeping seemed as good an option to him as any, though he did spend the last few hours doing the same. It hadn't been very restful without a companion however.

Bastian sighed heavily as he pulled Leti against his side gently. "You are quite the chef, healer," he teased in quiet grateful tones.

"You do not drink much, do you?" He asked, finding his gaze resting on the white haired man's cheeks. And lips. And eyes. And of course his hair, he really couldn't stop looking at that. Bastian himself could already feel the warmth of the wine fading.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti settled against bastian easily, now plenty used to cuddling with the man. He offered a broad smile "why, thank you~" taking the teasing in stride "I like to think I make due with what I have." Though even he knew that as a healer he had access to more spices than most other villagers had in the whole of their life.

The question took him a little off guard. "every now and again" He half heartedly protested. It was true though. He certainly didn't mind having bastian's sharp eyes lingering on him. "do you?" He asked it only occurring to him now that he could that to the list of things he didn't know about.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian still found it a little strange how close he wanted to be to the other man. Not for any particular reason. He had just never felt this way about anyone and it was exciting and odd and he didn't understand it at all. That didn't stop him from wanting to be close to him.

The soldier smiled briefly at Leti's correction. Every now and again.

"More than I should. Less that I would like. Not so much recently," he admitted with a half shrug. "That is okay." He drank a lot socially. Or well...technically socially. There had been a few times he drank to forget but he discovered that didn't really work well in the long run and he was rather committed to his career. So he stopped drinking quite so much. He didn't have much problem not drinking for a few weeks or months if he had to. Though it would take more will power now, knowing what he did.

Surprisingly, the recent trauma didn't drive him to that need immediately. He could go for something more for the pain since the nettle had worn off long ago but it was mostly just the chest wound that throbbed and ached.

"Is there something else you want to know about?" He found himself asking. He could nearly feel the curiosity around Leti. Or maybe it was uncertainty?

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti gave small 'huh' noise in acknowledgement. He supposed he would consider himself a 'social drinker'. He really only ever drank when it was to celebrate some holiday or special occasion with his father. He had drank at the pub once or twice but he wasn't friends enough with any of the villagers to be tempted there often.

The question threw him off a little. He hadn't expected for bastian to volunteer more considering how cryptic he had been about most things. Only now that he had the chance to ask anything he wasn't sure at all what to ask.
He chuckled "well... I don't know really...let's see. Your favorite food is meat, you're a soldier...you're good with a swor-" He playfully began listing off the things he knew as if trying to find the gap in his growing bastian encyclopedia.
Only his face fell when he realized there was something fairly important and much less playful he needed to know.
"...That fancy sword of yours...how many times have you used it." He asked in the gentle sad tone of someone who suspects they won't like the answer. It wasn't as though he was afraid to here it, he had the feeling he knew already. But he wanted to know for sure.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He didn't expect himself to offer either. It wasn't something he usually did. But he needed Leti to know. Nothing specific just...needed him to know.

"You know...there are a lot of kinds of meat," and ways to prepared them, he interjected softly. To be fair, Bastian wasn't sure of his favorite food exactly. Protein seemed fair enough so he didn't dispute it.

The soldier rested his eyes on Leti's as he trailed off. He could feel the question, or at least direction, that Leti had accidentally found hinself at. Bastian didn't push. He understood what he was, what he did, was fundamentally at odds with the white haired man's craft. They both might serve in the name of protection, but Bastian wasn't delusional. Moral codes and sides not withstanding, he was aware he hurt people for a living.

"That one? Not much. Weapons in general? More than you want to know." The man didn't exactly keep track. It was a sinple answer, surely, but he didn't look away from the man. He just...wasn't sure what else Leti might want to know.

[Feleti Eidothea]

The healer mulled over the answer with a bit of a poker face. Perhaps because not even he really knew how he felt about it.
Instinctively part of him wanted to ask for details, how many, how much, and if it had ever...escalated to the final blow. But perhaps bastian was right, maybe it was better if he didn't know.
"I see" He replied sounding not particularly satisfied but not pressing further.
He still managed to meet bastian's gaze, it wasn't though he hadn't suspected as much. It just wasn't pleasant to affirm it.

"It feels as though anytime I learn something about you I just have more questions." Feleti mused with a smile drifting back onto his face. Maybe he was just anxious knowing that perhaps if he didn't learn what he could now that he might never know. Even when he tried to simply enjoy the man's company part of himself wouldn't let him forget that this was a fleeting arrangement.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He could tell the man had more questions. Part if him wanted to answer them if only he knew what they were.

"I have killed people before, Leti. Most of them I remember." He didn't want to. Not many, he could count the number on one hand at the moment, but the fact remained that he was a killer. He knew there would be many more now that he was a full Warden. It wasn't something he was happy about. But it was also his job.

"Curiosity is a positive trait," he said, almost encouragingly though he wouldn't push Leti if the man didn't want to ask.

Fleeting or not, Bastian very much enjoyed the moments with Leti. He wasn't worried about anything too far ahead. Perhaps because the inevitable wasn't worth thinking about. Because he accepted it. But also becaise it was distracting. Not to mention he was a busy worrying about his nightmares and ensuring he was doing what he could to heal and get back in shape.

"You mentioned wanting to do more somewhere else. Have you ever thought of going to Ethion? Or perhaps simply traveling the isle?" If Leti didn't want to press, Bastian would offer his own curiosity. And perhaps it was a soft nudge at coming with him? No, the fantasy that was this moment wouldn't hold up in Ethion. But certainly he would like to see Leti again. Even if it meant coming back to Greyshollow.

[Feleti Eidothea]

He knew. The healer had already known somehow, maybe it was just something in the way he talked. Even so having the words said aloud really made it sink in.
He wasn't made to wallow in his thoughts about that for too long as the conversation mercifully switched direction.

It was less whether he had thought of traveling the isle and more about whether he had thought about leaving greyshollow. It would be a lie to say he hadn't once or twice but it had always felt like Cain needed him here. "My father was a field medic before.....It was long before he took me in and he hardly ever talks about it but...I can't help thinking maybe I could do a lot of good as a medic." He hadn't ever quite worked up the courage to have day dreams about the capital specifically. The healer also wasn't sure he dared to day dream about running away with bastian when he left. No as much as he held a fondness for the idea that what they had wasn't a singularity it was too much to hope for. It felt like tempting fate, or perhaps acknowledging how deeply tangled things had gotten to recognize that yearning for more.
"but well....it is a nice living here in the mountains...and Cain won't be able to make it up and down the steps forever..." He replied with a bit of a shrug.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

A field medic would travel. With an army or even with smaller patrols. "In the army?" Bastian asked. He imagined he had never met the man, but it was possible he knew soldier who had known Cain. Not that he was all that worried about it, simply curious. "No battles are pretty. Even small skirmishes," he added simply, his voice quiet. Bastian gestured at himself, serious and joking all at once.

He was learning, even without knowing what Leti knew or about the man's magic, that relationships were messy. Considering his upbringing and social distance and that he was a loner type, Bastian wasn't used to being close to people and all that that entailed.

"It is nice," he agreed. Bastian avoided discussing the fsther son relationship. He didn't know how to handle the stark contrast, but he imagined Leti was a good son.

He shifted a little and got more comfortable against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. It was...difficult not to let his mind wander to this or that fight now that he had mentioned it. The soldier frowned silently, gaze distant again only this time he was desperately trying not to think if anything. Which inevitably brought him back to memories of the well, that figurative place his father had made literal and the terrifying and comforting darkness at the bottom.

He had a renewed desire to see what was at the bottom of the steps in the cave. And a renewed fear.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti felt rather than saw bastian grow a bit distant in the dark. His silence seemed to mark the end of their conversation though he wasn't sure that was on purpose.
In the dim light his hand found bastian's and he interlaced their fingers.
He had no way of knowing what bastian's mind was thinking about or more accurately trying not to think about. Even so he could feel the mood drifting to an uncertain place.
"did you ever think of being something else? not a soldier I mean."
It was a bit of a moot point, he felt he knew. Even so he felt like he needed to put words into the silence.