Yes his Rennie was in his arms now, but after that initial rush of relief Kai was actually just getting more worried than he’d been before. Ren looked and sounded just… Not right. Not right at all. His voice was lacking so much of its normal life, and now that he was looking at his face he could see how gaunt he looked, how sad and tired. Seeing Ren like that was painful, and it made him very scared to hear what he had to say. What had happened to make his ever-positive friend look like this?
“That’s okay, of course,” he said softly, wrapping an arm around Ren and leading him inside, to his bed to take a seat, pulling Ren down next to him. He still kept him close though. And though he was scared to ask, he did it anyways, knowing it had to come out eventually.
“I...told you that I was going back to my village to visit my family.” Ren’s eyes stayed fixed on the book in his lap as he sat next to his friend. He had practiced saying this over and over in his head in a million different ways. But as soon as he said it, it was true. As soon as he said it, it was real.
“They’re...they’re all gone, Kai. I went back there...” It was all ash and dirty snow and pieces of debris. “It was all gone. Burned down.” It wasn’t fire like yours, it wasn’t warm and comforting, it was the kind that ruins and destroys. “Someone burned it down.” It’s not your fault, the fire wasn’t yours, I love you even still, but, “My family is gone.”
Before the phoenix had a chance to respond, delicate fingers pushed open the pages of the book. “This was my grandmother’s journal. It was the only thing I found. Fireproofed.” The only thing left. The pages were stuffed to bursting with pressed herbs and flowers, recipes, drawings, photos, and other things. Close to the back of the book was a small stack of photographs and drawings. Only one really held Ren’s interest at the moment. It was the one thing he had come to show the phoenix, so that he could start to put it all behind him and forget the pain that had lodged itself like a shard in his heart.
In the photograph was an old woman, obviously the owner of the journal. Next to her, in the middle, was a very young Elven boy. And on the other side of the boy, holding his tiny hand, was a man that looked exactly like Kai might look if he was a few decades older. “I found this. I thought you might like to see it. That’s my grandmother,” a pang in his heart, “and me. And...remember how I told you I remember meeting a phoenix when I was younger?” The elf pointed at the man in the image who so closely resembled his friend.
At least it was all out now. Ren leaned his head on the phoenix’s shoulder as he passed the photo over for his friend to look at if he wanted to, already exhausted again. He was beginning to wish he was back in his own bed, but being here with Kai...it was almost as good.
