Welcome to Gaia! ::

Elliot could feel his anger bubbling, watching his lantern, making sure the light stayed white without so much as a flicker. It was a hard task. "I pay you nothing, I hardly use you for bedroom activities," most of which hadn't taken place in the bedroom "and I continuously tell you that you are my companion, not a bentien." He said, voice wavering between calm and anger.

the prince was thankful for Leo's silence, thinking carefully and forcing his anger away, if even temporarily. "You are my friend, Lily. You are my companion, you are to stay at my side and you are supposed to be there for conversation. Your title of a bentien has no say in my presence. Your title is friend."

"A friend is everything you have been doing, from talking to me, to speaking your mind and making sure I keep my emotions in check." He smiled weakly, fearing Lily would once again go into shock and deny that bentiens could not have such a status. "You are the only person who is my friend. The formalities are everywhere, and while you remain polite, you are not formal. You cannot begin to fathom how big a breath of fresh air it is."

Elliot looked in shocked when the other smiled and agreed. The lantern light almost seem to freeze there on the sheet before blue and yellow merged together, not making green, but living together in the glass bulb. "I," luckily Leo continued to speak, Elliot smiling happily. "Yes, in private we are friends, right now we are friends." And hugged Lily tightly, smiling into his shoulder.

Elliot allowed the other to pull away, still keeping his own pleased smile. "That's a good question. I've never entertained a friend before." and snorted, chuckling happily to himself, biting back the joyous laughter. "I'm happy. Oh these are good emotions." And leaned his back against the closed door. "This is a field neither of us are experts at. How do people entertain their friends, I wonder. Thoughts?" He asked Leo, waiting for his opinion. Chances were they'd just discuss this and then let the conversation turn as it may.

"I don't think I've played in a forest. But who's Tsume?" It appeared to be a hidden wound, Elliot watching Leo's face go from blank to confused. The prince was praying it was a happy memory, praying to the lord he didn't rip open a closed wound. The other soon spoke, making him jump and stare, noticing the color draining from the other's face. "Lily? What did you forget?" he asked, leaning forward, Leo's face suddenly pale. "Lily calm down, remember to breathe, what are you remembering?"

He listened intently, memorizing the boy's history, his memory. Tsume had been Leo's friend, best friend if they grew up together. The Falian's face just spoke of pain, guilt, even shame for the lost memory. Elliot nodded when Leo asked to pay his respects to his friend. "You may, yes. However you will need to go alone. Without an alliance or a guide we cannot go past their treeline." And with no open borders, Elliot going in there was practically his own death sentence or a declaration of war, perhaps both. He only prayed there was enough time for him to put up the signs regarding Leonard. "One who was forced to live a different persona. That memory is not Lily's memory but Leo's. It does not make Leo a wretched person, Lily, because you came in to save him from dying." He gently touched the other's hand before sitting back against the door. "You will be all right. We have nearly a month before we reach Falia." We've another day before we reach Loslith, and then we will stay there a week, then another week will be passed to go to Falia." He explained.

Elliot smiled back. "I'm sure Tsume would appreciate your respects regardless of where they are." Elliot never payed respects to his mother, he had only gone to her funeral, and after that the man had avoided her grave like the plague. He was the reason she died, and it hurt, but with Lily leaning against him the prince felt comforted, and her hand was there so he held it. Nothing more, nothing less, just comfort.