Unfortunate Truth

[shaychlendel.livejournal.com]

((Closed thread for now, Vanyel and Tylendel.))

Freshly sorted, and with a relieved sens of freedom, Tylendel left the sorting room hand in hand with Vanyel, casting his first glances around the castle proper.



"Gods, Vanyel," he breathed, taking it all in. "It's like nothing I've ever seen! This place is... it's like the magic in stories we heard as children!" He gazed at Vanyel, a childlike amazement in his eyes. "Imagine, ashke, we live here now! Together!"

He ran to the balcony to watch the moving staircases and the other students, noticing the ghosts and the paintings, everything mystified him.

"Where are the dormitories, could you take me there?"

Comments

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama had warred with the idea of checking on Van for long enough, he supposed. He'd managed to wrangle a house elf's help in locating the Gryffindor commons, and it was just a matter of going to the door where he felt the most "stay the hell away" from.

He paused a moment to listen, hearing nothing from within but two sets of breathing, and knocked softly.
"Van, can you talk a moment?"

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

He woke up, and slowly slipped lose of Tylendel's sleeping form. He walked over to the door, and stuck his head through it. "Kurama? What's going on?" he asked quietly, his hair tousled from sleep.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Just checking up," he said, keeping his voice low. He tried his best to smile down at Vanyel, but couldn't quite manage it. "All went well, I hope?"

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"As well as could be expected," he said with a sigh. "Which simply means I didn't have to get any help with it."

He looked at Kurama carefully. "Sorry if I was, well, rather direct earlier. But he'd forgotten everything that went wrong, and I didn't want him remembering it in the middle of his sorting. That wouldn't have helped anything."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He nodded, looking away.
"I... must apologize also. I was unkind without provocation," he said, ducking his head.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

He sighed. "It's ok. I could tell you didn't understand. I just.. well, I can't leave him. He's less technically damaged than I was when I got here, but he's also less stable, I think. I just had the physical damage, to my body and mind making some things harder."

"I do value your friendship, and I tried to make that point clear to him. But I don't know that 'Lendel will be thinking all that clearly about some things for a while yet."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Have you spoken with Kusuriyuri, then? He should be able to help with whatever is hurting you both..." he asked, trying to move away from the touchier parts of that subject. He didn't like admitting he was wrong any more than he had to.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"Yes, but the sorting was not the time to deal with it. And 'Lendel wanted answers to questions I couldn't give without making him remember things. At least I managed it with as little leakage as I could figure out how to arrange for, though."

He sighed. "And a lot of the physical damage, I think Professor Snape has mostly healed, including that inside my head. Quite a bit of the rest of it, 'Lendel should be able to teach me at least the basics of, when he's in better shape. He at least understands the nature of the gifts I seem to be manifesting."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He nodded slowly. Vanyel seemed all right, but he could feel the anxiety coming off him in waves. He could smell it, see it, almost even taste it in the air around the room.

"And he? How well did he take the news?"

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"Badly," he said, his tone flat. "I'm just glad I had him shield the room, before we started. It left him with less power when his shields started to go," he said softly.

"Even if I wanted to let him out of my sight, I wouldn't, now," he said. "He's not stable enough for that."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama made a face and shuffled uncomfortably.
"This is... beyond my expertise, but if there's any way I can help..." he offered, grasping a little for words. In these situations, he was powerless, and it hurt to be so. And the worn, sad look on Vanyel's face would have been heartbreaking had he that much of a capacity for compassion. For now, though, he felt merely inadequate, and that was enough.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," he said. "Maybe you could ask Kusuriyuri to drop by, and help?" he asked. "I don't know anything about shields or ward," he said. "And I'm sure the exhaustion will wear off eventually."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Next time I see him, promise," he said. It wouldn't be difficult, they would most likely be seeing quite a lot of each other. "He's probably already gotten something ready for you both."

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"I have something for me, but this is a bit more than it's up for handling, when he's broadcasting everything. And I tried to get a sedative from Professor Snape, but he wanted me to take this to the hospital wing"

Vanyel sighed. "I just didn't think it would be fair to 'Lendel, to make him re-live all that, in front of other people. At least I was there for all of it, the first time around," he said softly.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He listened quietly, letting his gaze fall on Tylendel, still fast asleep.
"Did he harm you?" he asked, his voice unaccusing.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"Harm me?" Vanyel asked, surprised. "No."

"The magic hurt my head a bit, as his control failed, and he said some unpleasant things, from his pain, but he didn't hurt me."

Vanyel smiled at Kurama. "We're lifebonded, Kurama. He won't ever harm me, not on purpose, not when he's in his right mind. When he' barely conscious, it's happened, once, but he was so apologetic when he woke up it was ridiculous."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He made an uncertain face, but backed down.

"I understand the word," he admitted quietly, "but I'll be honest and say that the concept escapes me. But if you trust him, I will stand behind that trust."

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

Vanyel nodded. "I hope that the two of you can come to an accord, but it may take time," he said. "Just know that I trust him with my life, and, right now, I hold his in my hands. So I won't be leaving him, possibly not even for a moment, for some time yet. He's been through more trauma than he ever put me through, and he needs that support now."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"I'll try," he agreed. "And I will trust that your faith in him is not misplaced."
though, he would have trouble believing that Tylendel's trauma was worse than Vanyel's. After all, he didn't have to watch it all happen.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"It isn't," he said. "And thank you. Without him, I don't think I'd have been capable of making friends at all," he said softly.

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

"Then I must thank him, when he awakes," he said, his voice quite solemn.

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

"Not yet," he said gently. "He was, was afraid I'd leave him, for you, or A, and leave him bereft of anything he's loved. I don't want him getting the wrong impression."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

Kurama gave a short laugh, shaking his head.
"I could understand that he would be worried about me, but A?"

[vanyel-peacock.livejournal.com]

Vanyel shrugged. "He's not used to me having friends," he said. "It was less possible at court, because I had to keep up certain impressions," he said.

"That, and he's not in good shape. So I'm trying to take everything he says fairly lightly."

[serrulata.livejournal.com]

He nodded, looking at Tylendel's sleeping form, deeper in the room.

"You'll need to get him looked at, sooner rather than later. If he explodes and catches you in it, I don't think the outcome will be very sunny."