Adrift-mxm

Chapter 17

Inkani is nervous. 

Bin watched the greenery slowly pass by them as Karalius carried him toward his captain's home. The man seemed to be on auto-pilot, because no matter what their surroundings, whether it be the town or the forest, his footsteps remained steady and perfectly in sync. 

He wasn't feeling nearly as bad as he had earlier, but he hadn't gotten a whole lot of sleep before Inkani was back on deck, shouting orders to head for land. He honestly thought that Karalius would break the door down and attack them for being too loud, but before he could respond in such a way, he'd grabbed one of his cold hands and held it tightly. 

The touch had calmed the fury in his eyes, to a point, but he had no doubt that if he got disturbed again once they got situated at Inkani's home, there would likely be hell to pay. 

He was just settling down for the rest of the walk when a familiar scent caught his attention and he immediately perked up to look around. 

Ah! 

"Kara, look!" he said as he pointed a little ways off the side of the road. 

His demon's gaze followed the direction he was pointing, and when Bin looked back to see what he thought of what he'd found, he noticed the slightest fraction of intrigue in the man's normally-dead eyes. 

"It's our favorite tree, remember? Your mom had one planted in the backyard and we always used to press our faces into the fresh blossoms so that we would come back in smelling like flowers!" Bin said as Karalius began drifting in that direction without needing any instruction. 

Without a single word he walked all the way up to the small tree. It was just-barely taller than he, himself, was, so it didn't take any extra effort for Kara to simply lean forward and brush his nose into a bunch of white blossoms. 

When the man turned his attention back to him, but didn't step away from the flowers at all, allowing the blossoms to frame the left side of his pale face, Bin nearly began to cry. 

Karalius noticed his change in demeanor quickly and took a step back from the little tree, then lifted his free hand up to brush the spot beneath Bin's right eye. 

"Nana, what is wrong? Did you not want to see the tree?" he asked, not understanding. 

That look of confused worry ended up doing him in. Tears began to stream down Bin's face like raindrops falling from the sky, startling Karalius even further. 

The man tried to wipe away each tear before they fell, but his efforts were fruitless, making him even more stressed. 

He looked back and forth between the tree and Bin several times as he contemplated what he could do about the situation, but when he eventually lifted a miasma-covered hand, seemingly intent on burning the tree down to stop his master's tears, Bin reached out and grabbed hold of it!

"I-it's not the tree, Kara," he stuttered, knowing darn well that it did involve the tree, but it was Karalius's actions with it that actually made him cry. 

You're still in there. 

His tears had come because of how relieved he'd felt when his best friend pushed through the darkness in his mind and did something they had done so long ago as if it were second nature.   

When Karalius slowly lowered his hand again, Bin grinned and sniffled. 

"I was just surprised, that's all. Now you've got pollen all over your face," he said with a light laugh. 

"Does master not like the tree any longer?" Karalius asked, still not comprehending very well. 

 Realizing that the poor tree might still go up in flames if he wasn't careful, Bin got himself under control and reached up to finally wipe away his tears.