Talk and follow

Soran pulled the wine bottle away from his mouth and stared up at Alex for a moment before accepting the mug of warm liquid. "Thanks." Eremis didn't know about his head injury because he'd been climbing the cloud steps at the time of his fall from the horse. Soran forgot to mention it after the Rocs were taken care of since he became preoccupied with Rowan's standoffish actions.

He took a couple sips of the liquid then leaned back against the tree, studying Alex's face while he spoke. The youth actually seemed concerned about him even though they barely knew one another. Life on the streets had left Soran believing that people were cold hearted and uncaring until Marz and Tristan came along to chip away at that belief. Shortly after they rescued him from a pack of angry guards, he met Cas then Rowan. The demon boy had a kind heart under that tough exterior of his, and the elf always appeared willing to befriend anyone, especially if they happened to be good looking.

Alex offered to listen if he wanted to talk about what bothered him. Apparently, his depressed mood was obvious since it looked like Alex picked up on it immediately. That told Soran the youth was quite observant, and that he possibly enjoyed helping others. Most people were too focused on themselves to pay attention to what anyone else might be going though.

“Oh and if you didn’t bring a tent with you and need a place to sleep tonight you’re welcome to sleep in my tent,” Alex said. “However, should you decide to sleep in my tent with me I need to let you know that I prefer women and will not bother you. Later, if you do decide to share my tent, and you really really feel the need for contact then I might consider letting you lie next to me.”

Soran smiled then gulped down more of the sweet tasting liquid. It was nice to know that Alex wasn't anything like Jeremy. The otherworldly youth tried to befriend him at first, but only because he'd had high hopes of fucking his brains out later. Sex didn't even have a place on Soran list of priorities. In fact, he’d hated the sex act until Rowan showed him the beauty of slow, gentle lovemaking. He was pretty positive he'd never experience such elation with anyone other than the elf, and had no desire to test out his theory by jumping in bed with someone else.

After several minutes of silence passed between them, Soran realized Alex was waiting for him to say something. While living on his own and taking care of Maddy, he rarely got the opportunity to talk with anyone except his nightly tricks; that really put a damper on improving his conversational skills. "Umm, thanks for offering to listen to me, but I really don't have much to say. I'd hoped to have my first real relationship with Rowan, but it just didn't work out."

He paused to drain the rest of the liquid in the mug, amazed at how much better his head felt already. "Rowan's uncomfortable about settling down with one person. I didn't enjoy seeing him so uptight about the relationship thing we decided to try so I broke it off with him...gave him back his freedom."

He set down the empty mug then reached for the wine bottle. "It was dumb of me to fall in love with someone like Rowan." The admission fell from his lips before he could stop it. After a shrug, he moistened his mouth with a little wine. "Anyway, it's over now, and I guess my stupid, broken heart just needs time to mend."

Soran stared off into the distance while silently vowing never to let his emotions rule over his better judgment again. He knew how Rowan was yet he went and foolishly lost his heart to him. Never again will I go through this heartache crap. I'm better off alone. The past five years showed him he didn't need anyone. He could get along just fine on his own.

"I think I'll sleep outside tonight, Alex. I'm not very good company at the moment anyway." He ran a hand through his hair then rubbed his eyes; they felt itchy from suppressed tears. Before Alex could head off to his tent, Soran grabbed his arm. "Thanks again for coming to talk with me. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on in the future, I'll be there for you too." He gave the youth a soft smile then released his arm and took another long drink from the bottle. Hopefully, the wine would eventually dull the emotional havoc he experienced and make him pass out for the rest of the night.

*******

Shortly after Rowan entered the druidess' house, Jeremy got out of the water and let his body air dry before tossing his clothes back on. He smoked another cigarette as he sat near the stream watching Cas and Eremis goof around in the water. When his stomach started to growl he tore open a bag of Cheetos. Just as he finished stuffing his face, he saw Rowan exit the house and head towards the trees at the far end of the clearing. Apparently, he was looking for Xue, who Jeremy had seen take off after a wolf only moments ago.

Jeremy kept his eyes on the area while washing the remainder of the Cheetos down with a can of Pepsi. When he spotted Rowan mount his horse several minutes later and ride away quietly, he made a mad dash for the barn. Since his horse had been killed by the Rocs, he climbed aboard Demon and took off after the elf.

"Yo, Rowan," he called out, announcing himself before riding up alongside of the elf. "Thought I'd join you since I'm all for the idea of ditching the others too!" He laughed then met the elf's eyes. "So, are we headed to Dara to finish this mission by ourselves? That'd be cool cause we'd get the job done faster without those amateurs. I mean Soran and Cas can't even handle their swords properly, and Eremis is a raking sissy. They'll need Xue, Kato, and Alex to baby sit them on the journey back to Bizmar."

*******

After sharing another long kiss with Cas, Eremis finally pulled back and grinned. "I'm starving." They hurried out of the water and sprawled out in the grass until they dried off a little. "We still have plenty of food left over from the people of Moltare so I say we eat that instead of waiting for the druidess' stew to finish cooking. She might not have enough for all of us anyway."

They tugged on their clothes then headed to the barn where all the horses had eventually gathered. Eremis retrieved a bag filled with apples, cheese, and bread then frowned once he took a good look around. "I just noticed that Rowan and Soran's horses are missing, Cas."

When he spotted Xue standing off in the distance, he grabbed his lover's hand then they made their way to her side. "Did you happen to see Rowan or Soran? Their horses are gone."