Lamia's Pet

The Return

A shiver crawled up Peter's spine as a chill breeze ran through him. It was morning, and the dew hadn't yet run off the grass leaves before they'd gotten back to walking after a rest through the night. The return trek took a few days, and a few days had passed, but it felt like an eternity had flow by during that time. There was no difficult terrain along the road, and it was relatively free of things like dangerous animals, despite its rural surroundings. Hence why Peter was allowed to go by himself on his little quest in the first place. Still, Peter was glad to have Virgil nearby when it was nighttime.

Almost the entire time they'd been out on the road, Virgil and Peter had been discussing their cover story for when they returned. Both were confident that they'd made the story waterproof. Going over the same things over and over for rehearsal, that way neither one could confuse any details or contradict the other. They'd also spent a decent amount of time just talking. Catching up on things that Peter had neglected to ask.

'How were mum and Uncle Gerald?' 'What's the harvest been like?' 'Were the travelers causing any trouble?'

Though, Virgil did come off a little distant as their journey progressed. Answering curtly, sometimes coming off as irritated. Something was most definitely on his mind. It wasn't like Virgil to be so cold. Even when he was upset over something he usually tried to hide it and maintain a warm persona. Whatever it was had put the pair into a silent stride for the past few hours. It was agony to just hear nothing but the occasional stirring of leaves caused by the wind and their footsteps.

"Virgil, are you mad at me?" Peter suddenly spoke out.

The sound seemingly surprised Virgil, as he blinked back into reality. "What? No... well, actually- well... no."

How convincing.

"Cmon, spit it out!" Peter insisted, "When we started the journey you were glad to talk to me. Now I feel like I said something that upset you and you're mad at me."

With a huff, Virgil shook his head, keeping his eyes forward as they walked and refusing to face Peter. "It's just... I've been thinking..."

"About what?"

"I'm getting to that!" Virgil spat Impatiently. "I was going to say: I've been thinking. When we were around Pandora, you didn't ask any of those things before. About home, I mean. You just... didn't care. And it only bothers me now, because now I've noticed noticed it and thought about it."

"I did ask about mum and uncle." Peter corrected with his brow furrowed in confusion.

"No, not really." Virgil dismissed his brother, "you asked it once, and it was as small talk. After that, you never asked for any kind of details. You hadn't even thought about them. You were too preoccupied with that woman."

Of course Peter wanted to say that his brother was wrong, but surprisingly, he was not. Recalling back to when Peter had asked, it was on the first night that Virgil was with him and Pandora. And Peter really never did press for anything more than just a cursory glance of information. Which, now thinking about it, was very insensitive. It made Peter feel quite guilty now that Virgil had put perspective on things.

It wasn't that Peter didn't care, but Virgil was right again when he said that all that Peter's mind was focused on was Pandora. Now what could Peter say to his defense? There wasn't much to do but apologize...

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't think about it at the time because... I-I don't know, it'd only been a week at that point. I hadn't been there that long." Peter tried to make excuses, trying to backpedal and maybe get some kind of forgiveness.

Virgil remained silent, which made the guilt weigh heavier on Peter.

"Virgil, what do you want me to do about it now?" Peter added, "I'm coming home now. So what does it matter what I neglected to ask back then?"