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What makes you think you know? On what authority do you base your assumptions?

A'Hallei's lips set into a thin line as he briefly considered knocking her unconcious, if only to cease her chatter. Makenna never spoke this mu--

That thought was murdered before it finished. Besides, what did this change? His willingness to forgive? There could be no forgiveness when it was not asked for, nor wanted. If this was how the feelings ran, misguided, unrepetant, then he wasn't sure he wanted the vulnerability back. He wasn't going to chase the one who couldn't realize his own folly nor admit it. He didn't admire stupidity.

In a swift motion, the ghostly boy was crouched over her prone figure, staring down at her intently, eyes just as distanced as before, but she made him curious. He looked at the waves of her hair, cascading down off the sides of the bed in auburn rivers. He always liked long hair. He tilted his head slightly, darker hair a little more, but hers had a way of...It kind of held a reddish... How to describe the color and how it caught light? Delicious curves in her hair... His eyes roamed away from her hair down her body, voluptuous, healthy otherwise, strong. He liked the softness of her, made her less threatening, a contrast to him. He looked down the smooth muscle of her trapezuis, traveling down her chest over the swell of her breasts, down across the flatter plane of her stomach, so unlike anything he'd ever seen before. She was a different creature entirely, a woman.

He brought his eyes back up. She wished to speak, so be it.
"Why?"

Her reply caught his wandering attention. Without playing fifty thousand questions, what was the shortest route to finding what he was looking for?
Like a crack of thunder across his mind it came to him. His expression turned to wonder for a moment, when for some reason, the anger associated with it fled. He looked down at the woman before him, looked at her, not for her features, but in a desperate decision as to whether or not he wanted to trust her answer, to let her know.

What the hell could it hurt? They were in the woods, and if he for the slightest moment felt that same pang of betrayal he felt so keenly with obsidian, her life would end. He did not hold the unerring stipulation of doing no harm with the woman. She knew him, he knew her yes, but as vaguest memories.

Again his mouth produced not the words he wanted. Instead, he decided to repeat the action he had taken with his beloved right before he learned the truth. Reaching behind himself A'Hallei fumbled with the snaps on his chestplate and removed it, letting the smooth metal sheet fall to the cave floor with an echoing clatter. Reaching down, he grasped her hand in his own, and placed the palm of it over his heart, to feel the unerring pulse underneath. Her heat seeped through the thin material of his shirt. Pleading for her to understand, he let his own hand rest on the center of her chest lightly.

What is wrong with me? Is my heart less human than another's? If my affection is not as strong as those of anothers, why then, does your low opinion tear it apart with the same force? In essence, what I want to know is; Am I not worthy?

His mind stretched forth to tickle at hers with his question like green tendrils it flickered like a snake's tongue. The raw feeling so new and unknown in his chest beat at her hand. He could state it no more clearly than this, and he hoped her empathy would allow her to pick up on it, he trusted it to, or he'd never trust his mental prowess again. Makenna had broken his self confidence in ways he never knew he needed to function even in the marginal way he did. A'Hallei could not deny his humanity.

He'd heard her voice as clearly as though she had spoken it aloud to him, but more so, because of the rush of emotion that followed, pushed through her hand back toward him. Her arm reached up to him and she pulled him down. He decended onto her, bowing just enough to keep them from crushing their arms, and he allowed himself to bury his nose into the crook of her neck. Crouched over her, to a bystander it would look like a vampire was attacking the woman on the stone bed but it was not so. She sheltered his unsteady mind and his jittery nerves if only for a moment. It was enough.

"Tell me your name." He requested of her again, voice muffled by his face being against her chest. He could feel her breathing against him, kind of excited, faster breath. His hair again fell about the two of them like a draping of cloth, the strands laying on everything within their legnth, intermingling with her hair as well. How fortunate this woman dropped down on him. How long would he have stewed by himself with the doubts that were only now starting to lift again?

This was the first time he'd ever been hugged this way, and what a shame it had taken so long, when he was this old to know the sensation.

Catzi...A small timid smile graced his face, though it was obscured by her body. When was the last time he smiled? Too long. The facts surrounding the awkward positioning of their bodies began to make themslves apparent to him. His mind began to wander again as nervousness crept through him. Experimentally, he leaned down and pressed a swift n** to the side of her breast closest to him before leaning up. He released her hand and lay it down beside her as he swiftly checked again to make sure he had not injured her unintentionally.

Swinging his leg off from around her body, A'Hallei departed from the cave, leaving her to think as he prepared for the evening ahead. Even in the sheltered undergrowth, he learned quickly the nights could get bitter cold, but fortunately the cave he selected was dry, so they did not have dampness to contend with, that would be problematic for the state of his...Companion for the day. His thoughts mainly revolved around her as he began his preparations, wondering, always wondering.

Rations were not extensive to begin with, but he was making use of the dense wilderness by unearthing various edibles-- it being too late to fish or hunt. A'Hallei returned within the hour with wild tubers and a handfull of walnuts. When bent to complete a duty, he performed to the best of his ability, and now his focus was on taking care of Catzi. He'd see her through to her health before her fall, or he would have personally failed. He'd set up a quick campfire for dinner. Before getting started however, he returned to her side.
"How are your injuries?"

Nodding his approval, A'Hallei glanced her over, indeed, noting that she had shifted to one side of the bed. He set down the edibles he had discovered on his foray and tied up his hair out of his face, leaving it in a fairly tight bun, with only a few tips shooting out of the back and hanging down. At first, he didn't answer her probing questions-- she would find out soon enough what things he had unearthed in the woods nearby. A veritible goldmine, it was more than enough for those who knew what to look for.

Scraping out a clear patch of ground. A'Hallei made swift use of flint to start a small fire from some dead timbers he'd collected earlier. He was glad to have brought such provisions with him. Of less use out here, he also had no less than fifteen thousand dollars in cash from the commisions he had made working at the forge, but he no longer had much use for it. Some other time it might come in handy, so he did not leave the numbered papers behind, and would not turn it over to Obsidian, so they remained tightly bound in his pack.

Blades made swift work of the vegetables, which turned out to be wild potatoes and turnips. Of the walnuts he crushed and reduced to a glaze with fresh water, which he later dribbled over the vegetables when they were finished frying. Living so long on his own, he learned to get creative with limited food options. More time, and he could have made a stew, but this would have to do. While it was true Makenna usually took care of the food, A'Hallei was by no stretch inept. He dished out a large portion of the dish onto a thin metal plate and brought it over to Catzi with the canteen, and a single, rather crooked fork. Silverware always turned out odd when he made it, but it always sold for some reason.

Returning to the fire, he set aside the remaining food so it would stay warm but not burn. Immediately he retreated back up to his perch on the stone shelf to keep an eye out. The smell of food attracted animals very quickly, so he would keep his guard up, as motionless as a stone gargoyle. He wasn't much company, and would apologize, but he had the feeling she would not mind.

It was a good thing he was largely unconcerned with being a good host, or he might feel guilty about so obviously ignoring her. In truth, he was glad of her presence, taking his mind off of his useless worrying and distancing the pain. With his mind set on detailed tasks, the voices in his mind subsided to a low murmer, like the incoherent din of a crowded restauraunt. How nice silence must feel, for once to have the peace of just hearing the wind blow, or the rustle of soft cloth as it shifts with breath. Someone had a nasty cough, the erupting explosion of ragged barks causing him to occationally flinch minutely.

Without warning, he released an irritated sigh, but made no further motions-- all this noise was giving him a headache. His hands began to clench with the urge to strike or swat at the swirling images impeding on his concentration, but they were all illusions, mirages, and no amount of violence against them would cause them to ever leave him be. Sometimes they gave him the sensation of being observed all over again, the pinpricks of needles long past remembered as fresh wounds, and unknown substances causing the fatigue of small children's muscles. His hands tightened further as he felt the molten fire in his veins, searing down to his fingertips, igniting him from the inside out.

"Thank you very much." her voice broke into the delusion he was so perilously close to falling into. Just in time too, lest she be the most recent observer to what exactly happened when he lost his awareness to the mire. He looked at her, the wild expression returned but fleeting as the realization of where he was sunk in again. He nodded, before pointing outside.

"After you finish..." He scraped his hands over his chest as though he were brushing something off, and grabbed the shift between his legs, lifing the cloth and mock scrubbing it, indicating to her she should bathe and clean her scrapes.
"Before dark." He warned. He would stand guard nearby should she need his help, after all, she was still in a fragile condition. She'd feel better, he surmised, after she got the dirt and grime off of herself from her tumble. It would make it easier to sleep, certainly. It was only then he noticed how quickly she devoured his meal, which brightened his expression.

A thin white eybrow lifted as he eyed her curiously. Perhaps the renewed chatter was due to her feeling better, at least the smile was indicative of it. He nodded-- He would need to wash the dishes. He dropped from the perch he established as a vantage point and retrieved the pan he cooked the food with. The food vanished almost instantly, leaving the teenager standing with an empty pan, licking the walnut glaze from his fingers, tongue almost suprisingly pink. It probably would have made more sense if it were green, like his eyes and the marks decorating his skin, but he was not so inhuman to not have red insides. His blood was still as scarlet as anyone else's.

He retrieved the pot, her silverware and one blanket wordlessly and motioned with a nod of his head for her to follow him.

With a sure foot, A'Hallei led his companion along to the closest point the creek ran to the quartz cave. He looked back every now and again to make sure he was not proceeding too quickly. He also made sure to steer her clear from other places where the ground was soft. The caves labyrinthed through this area, and any one of them could result in another devastating fall.

He'd make sure to explore them later. At last they arrived to a shallow bank leading into the creek, which was shallow in most spots, but had numerous sink holes up to four feet in depth. The water was clear, as the creek had a bottom composed of violet quartz sand and black granite. Small fish darted in and out of alcoves and chased little water skaters along the surface. He dropped the blanket on the bank for her to use to dry herself and moved off to wash his dishes closeby downstream.