вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. ii

Still can't believe I'm doing this to Tam...

Forgive me, Tam protection squad.

"No, Linh. Please."

Linh stamped her foot out of a (rare) show of anger. She'd been arguing with her twin for the past hour, and Tam still refused to go anywhere near Elwin. "Why, Tam? This...whatever it is... it's scary. Don't you find it scary?"

Tam opened his mouth to answer, and was cut off by a certain Telepath entering the room. "Hello, you two. Linh, I managed to somehow get the last two boxes of treats. Try to make these ones last for at least a few weeks this time. Your murcat's going to get fat otherwise."

She ignored the boxes their temporary guardian was offering her. "Tiergan, please help me convince Tam to go to Elwin."

A concerned-looking Tiergan set down the boxes on a small side table. "Why, what's the matter?"

Tam threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "Absolutely-"

"Tam, just be quiet for a minute." Linh pulled out the small packet of petals she had in her pocket. Petals he had painfully hacked up and given her to look at, then promptly forgotten about. "He's been coughing these up."

Tiergan took the packet from her, squinting at the contents. As he recognised them, his eyes widened with shock. "No... this shouldn't have happened... not to an elf."

Linh's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, what? Is the fact that my brother is coughing up petals less astonishing than the fact that he's an elf?"

"No, not like that." Tiergan set down the packet, pain lacing his features. "I myself can only make an attempt to guess what's going on."

"See, I was right," Linh said, turning to Tam. "We need to go to Elwin-"

"No, Linh. Not Elwin," Tiergan interrupted.

"Thank-" Tam was interrupted by another bout of painful coughing.

"Elwin won't be able to figure it out either," Tiergan said.

"Then who?"

"The Black Swan's research expert, of course. Mr. Forkle."

*more moody trumpet music along with S0Keefe4Life 's sad violin*