Bird of a Wing (Bow 1)

Chapter 2

Tai'ray's chamber was oddly simple compared to most of the palace. Navat was a stunning city, made from a set of tree houses and houses on rocky formations, linked by bridges. There were a few buildings on the ground but in general, those were temples to gods not sky related. The k'nairi acknowledge the gods of the land as well as the gods of the sky after all. They did have to eat and land occasionally.

The chamber door was carved with stories of Winglords past but once inside the chamber, it was plain primary colours and wooden decorations instead of gold and silver which adorned most of the palace rooms. It smelt of freshly cut wood despite the fact not a single wooden thing had ever been cut in the room.

"Ryraso," Tai'ray smiled weakly from his perch on the cushions he was leaning on, his blond hair flowing loosely around him and only wearing some loose shapeless pants which almost seemed to drape over his lap like a blanket hiding his legs from view. They were cream coloured and no sign of dirt or blood on them showing Tai'ray had changed after the fight.

His injuries had clearly been treated by a first aider but Tai'ray had obviously been waiting for Ryraso to appear before finally having them bandaged up. "I was worried for a moment you weren't going to show up," he teased lightly, an almost awkward smile at the end of it.

"You were worried?" Ryraso frowned slightly. "You were the idiot who fought the man," he said bluntly, pulling his bag over to start looking over the wounds. "These are hardly life-threatening Tai, you could have let the arena medic fix you up for once. Where are Nel and Dy?" He grabbed Tai'ray's arm to look closer at one of the more jagged wounds.

"They have gone to get food. The servants are busy preparing for a celebration of the new alliance. We thought you would be here sooner," Tai'ray said sounding almost confused by this, not having missed Ryraso's lack of response to his tease. "I know this alliance isn't what you wanted Ryraso but I thought..." he started, clearly about to go into a speech about something. Ryraso wasn't sure of the exact nature, all he was sure of was he wasn't in the mood for such a thing.

"Don't," Ryraso murmured as he cleaned the wounds with a cloth which had been left for him to do so with. "Just don't." None thankfully would need stitching, he mused and he bandaged the man up. Tai'ray would heal fast and would likely be fighting fit again before the end of the next day.

"You aren't happy," Tai'ray said softly, a hand pressing over the one Ryraso had on his wound, making Ryraso look back up into his eyes.

"What makes you think that?" Ryraso said almost wincing at the sound of his own voice, no subtlety there, just hurt. "I'm hardly the only human in the link who is unhappy with this change of affairs Tai'ray," he added more softly, finishing up his bandaging.

"You are the one that matters to me," Tai'ray said softly, his eyes looking down at Ryraso's backpack. Ryraso felt his heartbeat fast at those words. There was nothing between him and Tai'ray but sometimes there seemed to be. "You're leaving?" he asked, sounding darker, k'nairi possessiveness appearing like a black cloud.

"I think I have to, don't you?" Ryraso said seriously, wincing as Tai'ray grabbed his arm more roughly than before.