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He watched her go, aware his heart had picked up pace a bit in his chest. When she'd drawn out of sight, he did as told and moved forward to fetch up a plate of chicken, rice, and vegetables.

As the scent of sauce and cooked chicken teased his senses, his stomach clenched in wanting and it occurred to him he'd not eaten all day. Carrying the plate carefully into the living room, he found a spot to sit a polite distance away from Rose, and awaited Nani's return.

Zhane finished the last bite of his dinner (which had, in fact, turned out to be incredibly good), and laid his plate beside Tinania's as he, likewise, settled back.

"Pretty much..." he said, closing his eyes a moment. "He flies off the handle about the stupidest things sometimes." Cracking his eyes open to look at her, he smiled a bit. "Heh....one of my earliest memories is when we still lived with Aunt Karma. He picked a fight with her over her putting the toilet paper on the roll backwards. They yelled at each other for like an hour..."

One hand reached over to place itself on hers, patting the back of it gently.

"So believe me when I say I don't think its anything personal. I think he would've blown his stack even if I'd been down there by myself and the kitchen -hadn't- been a mess."

"Mom says he'll cool down someday...when he's old and gray and can't get out of his rocker to yell at the millions of cats she'll have." he grinned, though it slipped a few notches into an inquisitive expression as he cocked his head a bit.

"Who's Surion?" he asked.

Zhane remained seated where he was, puzzled by her sudden shift in mood. When she didn't immediately come back, he rose from where he sat to pad into the kitchen after her.

Seeing her from behind, tensed and, even from this angle, looking upset, he felt his heart sink.

"Nani...?" he asked quietly. "Are you all right?"

He stood where he was, feeling rooted to the spot. He wasn't sure what he'd expected her to say, but....that hadn't been it. He hadn't known there'd been anyone else in her life....frankly, he hadn't cared to ask as it had never come up before. All he'd known was that he enjoyed spending time with her and that she seemed to reciprocate it.

As her trembling worsened, whatever spell shock had woven to keep him frozen where he was broke and he slowly moved to where she stood, placing a hand on her shoulder lightly.

"....m'sorry I asked." he said, feeling like he wanted to crawl off somewhere and hide for numerous reasons. Foremostly, though, for upsetting her all over again when the night had been making such a nice turnaround from the low note they'd hit earlier.

Another part of him, a more possessive part, wanted to be upset over other things, but he quelled it for now. She'd agreed to a date with him and nothing more....there was nothing to have hard feelings about. Especially when, from the sound of things, this was not something she had wanted to happen.

He hesitated and then wrapped his arms around her from behind, at a loss for anything else to do but trying to offer comfort.

He said nothing for a long moment, trying to unjumble his thoughts as he held her. He had no idea who this Surion guy was, or why he'd do such a thing, but seeing her this upset felt like a kick in the stomach. He wanted the Nani he'd grown to like to come back...the smiling, bright-eyed fairy that had shown him the mermaid pool and given him his first kiss.

"There's nothing you can do to break it?" he asked at last, his voice little more than a murmur as his hand went up to stroke through her golden mane of hair as her face hid itself against his shoulder.

He tried to come up with something to say to her and came up blank. Telling her it would be all right was empty because, this very clearly was not all right. Not in any way one could look at it.

And it wasn't fair.

His eyes squeezed shut, feeling his teeth grit together. Nani had been his introduction to many new feelings, and this was yet another one. He'd never before found himself upset with someone he'd never even met or heard of before.

His mind poked at the situation like a tongue at a bad tooth as he mulled it over, examining it for a solution.

"Well..." he began at last, resting his forehead to hers to look her squarely in the eyes. "....if you can't wish for something like that, maybe I can?" he offered hesitantly.

He didn't seem entirely sure of himself. Being brought up in a world of reality had ingrained him with a strong sense of skepticism about a lot of things. And wishes, if his childhood storybooks and cartoons were any indication, were a slippery slope.

People would wish for things without thinking them through that they thought would make them happy, and would always end up with some sort of catch they hadn't counted on that prevented them from enjoying it. Even in this case, it seemed that the person who held Tinania's heart captive with his own wish hadn't counted on her being distraught by it.

But, if this was for real, then this wasn't a wish for him and it wasn't himself that he had to worry about. It was for her. And all the more reason to handle it with kid gloves.

"I can try." he told her earnestly. "Only if you want me to."