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Discovering Aphismet in the kitchen, staring empty-eyed into the food he was preparing, Isi hobbled close. For the past few days he had been grieving silently too. Chloe's disappearance hit him hard, although not as hard as Aphi. As soon as they received the letter in the mail, Isi's personality became blanch and stale. He hardly talked and it didn't look like he had much personality anymore. Although, for the sake of the raevans, Isi forced himself to try and be the person he used to be. With Aphismet being so devastated by the news, the raevans were confused and hurt and they needed him. Eiry actually thought that he had done something wrong until he was told that "Mommy" was gone. Now Eiry was in his bedroom with Rivener, giving in to random bouts of tears. So Isi would be the one to go in and talk with them, reassure them, and try to get them distracted by an activity. Usually it didn't work, but Isi tried nonetheless. Isi was also following behind Aphismet and cleaning up things that were misplaced by the poor fellow's distracted mind. Now, Isi was going to try and talk to Aphi. There was too much burden and confusion on the man and Isi thought it would be best if he could relieve himself of it and talk. He knew that Rivener had been yelled at...But there was nothing else Isi could do.

"Aphi?" asked Isi quietly, hobbling up softly behind him. He reached out with a hand and placed it on the man's arm. "How are you doing?"

Flinching away at the sudden movement, Isi dodged the flung arm and the dropped spoon. Bending down and using his crutches to lower himself to the floor, Isi picked up the spoon and put it back on the counter. He pushed against his crutches and got himself back on his feet, "I was just wondering how you were doing. Do you need help with dinner tonight?" Isi tried to force a smile onto his face, but it felt like he were trying to mold plaster that was already half way dry.

Isi sighed and gave his brother a soft smile as he hobbled in and slipped the rungs of his crutches over his arms so he could use his arms. Slightly bumping Aphismet away from the cutting board, he reached out and took hold of the knives Aphi was using to cut the trout.

"I'll take care of dinner tonight, Aphi. Why don't you lay down and listen to that book on tape I found in the attic the other day?" Isi suggested hopefully. If he could get his brother distracted, perhaps he'd be better off...Well, at least that's what Isi hoped, "Or...If you want to talk about anything, get something off your chest...I'm here." Isi winced and hoped for the best. It was this sort of tactic that Rivener used when trying to break through to the devastated man that got him yelled at.

Isi jumped at the sudden noise exploding from Aphismet's throat and could hardly do anything in protest when the man reached over and threw the knife he had just picked up underneath the fridge. He saw that the man had, not thinking, grabbed the blade and blood was now dew dropping his fingers. Isi winced. It really hurt him to see Aphismet like this, to see him get hurt.

Stunned by the sudden show of emotion, Isi had to gulp and rethink his words before he tried to answer Aphi's question, "Last week? You were at work." Hanging his arms forward, the boy let the hoops of his crutches slide back down so he could once again use his crutches. Hobbling over to the man, Isi put on a stern face, "Aphi, you should just stop trying to make dinner, alright? I can take care of it. Come on, we need to get you some band aids." Tentatively, he reached out and placed his hand again on Aphismet's shoulder.

Isi hoped that with every touch perhaps he could draw Aphismet back to the real world. He knew he couldn't reach the poor man on an emotional level, but perhaps if he was real to him?

"Aphi, what's gotten into you?" Isi exclaimed in surprise. Now his adopted older brother was frightening him. He couldn't make sense anymore of what the man said and the frenzy in his eyes scared Isi. It reminded Isi of the insane disorderliness in Old Massi's eyes, and that awakened a deep fear in the bowels of his gut. Bracing his ground and tightening his grip on his crutches, Isi shook his head at Aphi and asked, "Did what again? Aphi, I don't understand you. What did you do? You've been home when you're not at work, sometimes you went out. We had some guests over once or twice, and before that we went to the Summer Festival. You've been with me, with Rivener and Eiry, your family!"

Isi hardened his face and he burst aloud with the one thing he had been meaning to tell his brother ever since this news hit the Delaran home, "Aphismet, it's not your fault that Chloe's gone! Please!"

As if a huge concrete block had been suddenly dropped upon his shoulders, Isi stumbled and gasped as if he couldn't breathe. A secret...What had...What did Aphismet say? He had known about Aphismet's family, they shared their past tales on the first night they met. But he hadn't know this...A heavy iron hand clasped over his heart and Isi actually reached to grasp at his chest. It was a physical pain. Luckily, Isi was behind the man, hobbling out of the kitchen towards Aphi so his actions of shock weren't seen.

He shook them away from his head. Isi had never seen any strange actions like this from Aphismet before. It couldn't be true. People were just desperate for answers, right? The only one there to place the blame on was Aphismet! It couldn't be...

Hobbling forward, Isi grabbed the table as he slipped the hoops back over his arms. Making sure his waist was propped up against the table so he could stand, Isi leaned forward. Then softly, slowly, Isi picked Aphismet up off the table, wiped his tears, and took him into a soft warm embrace.

"Aphismet, thank you for telling me," Isi said, feeling a soft pang of guilt. Perhaps he should tell him, too...No. He couldn't, that be too much. He wouldn't need to know, he'll never need to know. "...But I don't believe it at all. You're too kind a person, you're generous...Aphi, you took me in when I had no where else to go. You're a wonderful person. That's why Chloe picked you. That's why I love you, and Riv and Eiry. They love you too for who you are. If you did do it, then I'll help you. I'll make sure you don't do it again. But there's no proof that you did, there's no solid evidence. They're only guessing. And who are you to believe a group of suspicious answer-hungry FBI members, huh? They're just trying to put the blame on someone. There's no proof. There's no proof at all, Aphi."

"Aphi," Isi frowned sternly at the man and held him strongly by his shoulders, have to make sure that Aphi was paying attention and half for he was using him to keep him up on his legs, "I'm stronger than you think. I can connect with more feeling than you can imagine and I can feel what you feel like. Just...You don't have to worry about me, alright? Worry about your health right now and getting those ridiculous ideas out of your head." Nodding to affirm these statements, Isi bent low so that he could look Aphi in the eyes, "You must've hurt because she means something to you, that's all. It doesn't mean that you did something. You probably forgot those nights because of post traumatic stress. You can't remember things because you're tired, you're working a lot, Aphi. You haven't done anything, got it? It's okay to be afraid. I'm here for you."

Isi was quickly running out of things to say to try and comfort his brother. It wasn't like him to run out of things to say so quickly. But it was so hard to watch Aphi like this, and it hurt him even more to see that there was nothing he could say or do to affirm the poor man. He felt like he was trying to reach for someone who was already being swept down a river.

"You haven't and you will never do something to hurt anyone, alright? It's just not in you."