arguments
L'yuta eventually finds her at the Hourglass.
The innkeep recognizes him and lets him through easily once he asks about Cessna; itâs times like these that heâs somewhat grateful for the familiarity granted by the number of times this innkeepâs witnessed them stumbling back into the inn together, ready to drop at the sight of a warm bed.
Sheâs never bolted away without a word like this before, so heâs careful to put an ear to the door before knocking, wanting to see if sheâs crying to herself. Heâll come back later if thatâs the case - he knows better than anyone how important a private moment free from judging eyes is.
L'yuta strains to listen for anything until he realizes heâs been glued to the door for five minutes without hearing a single telltale sniff or sob (and Cessnaâs a sobbing kind of crier, he knows this for sure - she lost the last of her food rations once on a particularly taxing day and, well, the rest is history). With a slight pang of alarm, he knocks on the door and calls out softly.
He does it two more times, and neither try yields any response - itâs extremely uncharacteristic of her, and with a mounting worry he tries for the doorknob, expecting it to rattle locked in its socket. Surprisingly enough, it gives easily, and he steps into the room to find Cessna curled up in the farthest corner of the room, sitting with her knees drawn to her chest and her head down.
He takes a few tentative steps towards her, then faintly realizes heâs never seen her like this and doesnât exactly know how to handle it. (The crying over food episode was fixed easily enough, obviously, once they had gotten back to camp. This, however, is an entirely new thing altogether.)
âCessna,â he starts uncertainly, completely unsure of how to proceed.
She doesnât move or respond at all for a good minute, and his first thought is Did she fall asleep? I wouldnât put it past her to fall asleep - until she looks up from her knees to squint at him through red-rimmed eyes. Ah.
L'yuta scratches the back of his head awkwardly. What do you even say in this situation? Heâs never been in an explosive argument with a sibling before (heâs never really had a sibling to argue with, so thatâs probably a small blessing in a sense).
Cessna continues to gaze up at him wordlessly from the tops of her knees, and he drops his hand and lets out a sigh. âYou really shouldnât be sitting on the floor, you know. Youâll get your clothes all dirty and gross.â
Thatâs a normal enough thing to say, right? he thinks to himself. Cessna lowers her head again and mumbles something out - he doesnât catch it the first time, so he stoops down to touch her elbow slightly, repeating his plea. âHey, come on, Cessna. Thatâs a particularly dusty corner youâre sitting in, and you know you hate doing laundry -â
âMy clothes are black, itâs not going to show,â comes the muffled response. L'yuta pauses and rolls his eyes despite feeling rather relieved - if she can still sass him at this point then he guesses thereâs not much tiptoeing he has to do around her just yet.
He pats her elbows slightly. âWell, get up, anyway. I know youâre just going to roll straight into bed if I leave you here, and thereâs no way Iâm letting you get grime all over the sheets.â
Cessna just murmurs stubbornly into her knees again, refusing to budge, and heâs feeling a little exasperated at this point, so he sits on the floor beside her (dust be damned, heâll worry about it later). The gesture makes her turn to him in surprise, and he shrugs.
âDo you want to talk about it?â he begins, now that sheâs looking at him. He figures talking is the best thing he can do at this point. Cessna stays quiet for a few seconds, then lets out a shaky exhale and whispers, âHeâs never yelled at me like that before.â
L'yuta shivers slightly. After todayâs events, calm, composed Hellen Forsythe shot straight to the top of his list of people he didnât ever want to see angry, much less make angry. Cessna, unfortunately, squarely hit both points earlier, and the results were unexpectedly disastrous.
He doesnât want to coddle her, though. Cessna messed up, and although he does think Hellen shouldnât have yelled at her the way he did, it was something she needed to hear. âHellen couldâve done it in a better way, but heâs not exactly wrong, you know. What you did - what you got yourself in with Atreus - that was really, really foolhardy of you.â Iâd be angry, too, if you put yourself in such a dangerous situation like that again without thinking properly, he wants to say, but he elects to hold off for now.
âThanks for the vote of confidence,â she says, but there isnât much bite to her words. He knows she understands his point, and Hellenâs too: she has a tendency to jump blindly into things once sheâs spurred herself into action, but today is the first time itâs gotten herself very close to being seriously hurt at the very least. âThey were planning to get rid of Atreus. I know I canât even stand him most of the time, but I canât just not do anything knowing somethingâs happening while he doesnât even seem to have a clue.â
âSomeone in his line of work definitely knows when somethingâs up, Cessna. I donât find his company to my taste, either, but I think you give him far too little credit,â L'yuta replies. âA man like Atreus knows how to press his advantage whenever possible, and Iâm pretty sure he knows how dangerous it is being around him - why do you think Hellen hates it so much when he finds out youâve been tagging along again?â
At this, Cessna chuckles dryly and retorts, âPlease. Iâm pretty sure Hellen only gets mad because heâs not with Atreus, but thatâs a story for another day.â
L'yuta shakes his head slowly, but manages a small wry grin. âPascalâs been putting really strange ideas into your head lately. You Forsythes are weird.â
This small segue makes her laugh a little, thankfully, and L'yuta figures itâs as good a time as any to get his point across. âIt still stands, though. If Hellen and Atreus hadnât gotten there in time, you wouldâve ended up with more than scraped knees and a few bruises, and you only even got those from tripping while running.â
Cessna makes a vague disgruntled noise beside him, and L'yuta leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, remembering how close of a call it had been. Cessna had snuck out and gone off on her own to investigate whatever it was that was bothering her while L'yuta made his way to the merchant alley to pick up supplies; Hellen and Atreus were off running their own errands. It turns out that the man she ended up following wasnât alone - they were a fairly small-scale operation, praise the Twelve, but they were enough to overwhelm a single person cornered in Pearl Lane. They had been keeping tabs on Atreus, but in her nosing around Cessna had gotten herself involved now, and she wouldâve paid dearly for it had it not been for the timely arrival of her older brother and Atreus himself, who decided to dispatch his pursuers then and there since it proved convenient for him (and upon seeing that Cessna got pretty much nothing done in way of taking care of business for him).
It was L'yuta who noticed the commotion in the alley and called Hellen over linkpearl, but heâs not telling Cessna that. He doesnât want an earful from her about how she was doing just fine on her own - they both know itâs auroch shite, and L'yuta knows how to pick his fights. He wasnât about to leave her there, but jumping into the fray wouldâve complicated things further despite their combined efforts; heâs just glad it ended without serious injury on their part, at the very least.
Serious physical injury, he reminds himself, remembering the way Cessna flinched in the face of her brotherâs (justified) anger and feeling a tinge of sympathy. Sheâs still curled up into herself as tightly as ever, and she managed a smile and a chuckle earlier, but her tension beside him belies her true feelings still.
Speaking of tension, sheâs as tightly wound as before, and itâs almost painful to look at. He puts a hand on her shoulder by way of small comfort, and she buries her face in her knees once more.
âItâll be all right,â he ventures, keeping his hand on her shoulder. âIâm sure Hellen didnât mean to hurt you - youâre his baby sister and he cares a lot about you. He was really worried, and you know as well as I do that people sometimes say or do things they donât really intend to when theyâre really upset. In fact, Iâm pretty sure Atreus is getting yelled at really badly, too,â he chuckles faintly, trying to lighten the mood once more.
Cessna seems to shrink once more at the mention of her brotherâs outburst, and L'yuta sighs and pulls her close. âCessna. Youâll be fine. Itâll all be fine.â
The gesture succeeds in getting her to wind down, and she ends up burying her face in L'yutaâs shoulder without a sound. He awkwardly pats her shoulder, not knowing what else to do, and they stay like that for a few seconds until Cessna starts shaking softly and he feels a dampness on his shoulder and - âAugh, Cessna, youâre leaking on me,â he halfheartedly fusses.
Cessna doesnât even look up. âIâm sorry, L'yuta.â
âIâm pretty sure itâs your brother you should be apologizing to, not me,â he replies, stroking her hair. Well, I got worried too, but Iâm kind of used to this by now, really. Itâd be weird if I wasnât.
âNo - Iâm sorry. For everything. I really am. I know I get into trouble a lot, and I keep pulling you into things you probably donât even want to be involved in, and you have to pick up after me sometimes, and -â She trails off quietly, trying to find more to apologize for without repeating herself.
L'yuta just shushes her gently and lets her stay in his arms for a while. For all her effusive bluster, this is the most vulnerable heâs seen her yet, and he doesnât want to push her if she just needs time to gather herself for now - the dayâs events had obviously shaken her deeply, and if itâs L'yutaâs presence she wants right now, itâs what sheâll get.
Itâs at this moment that he notices he left the door ajar when he came in, and he looks up to see Hellen slowly pacing outside the door, looking into the room every now and then with open remorse on his features.
L'yuta puts a finger to his lips and Hellen nods and turns away for now. Thereâll be time for a much-needed conversation later, but right now, heâll give Cessna the small reprieve she seeks.










