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He had sent Alek a message by frightened little girl asking the Ice to meet him near Eis and Mavine's house in the foothills, but Kauff had less than no way of knowing if the mage had even received his request, let alone whether or not he would come. Children were notoriously poor at staying on task, and Kauff hadn't exactly left town in the friendliest of manners.

He'd give Alek another thirty minutes. After that it would be safe to assume the meeting wasn't meant to happen.

The depths to which Kauff's mind first sank in response to Alek's harmless greeting weren't all that appropriate considering the prentice had saved his life. It didn't help that the Ice was quite striking in his own nervous way, with those sad eyes and thick hair he could just grab in a fist and—

"Yeah," he said with a breathy chuckle. "Well, I was coming the whole time, since I was the one who asked and everything, but... you too. I'm glad too. I was about to leave. What took you so long?"

All right after Baenek? Yes, technically he was fine. Healed and cared for, thanks to Alek. But his trust had been bruised, and he no longer strolled through life with as much naivete as he had once possessed. Looking at it all from the outside, it was easy to assume that the consequence was a good one, that he had grown up a little. Inside though... Kauff sighed. He just wanted a hug from his mom.

"I'm good," Kauff assured him. "I've never wanted to kill someone as much as I do that piece of s**t, but I'll have to live with the satisfaction of almost wringing his neck."

Kauff laughed loudly at the thought, forcing himself quiet again when he recalled that he was still in Zena, he was still unwanted here, and he was technically kind of partially laughing at a man's untimely death.

"Maybe so. Something to deal with when I come back to it, I guess." He couldn't imagine chasing after Baenek just to beat him up some more, especially with the way he felt at the moment. "Right now I'm just heading back to Sauti. Looking for my family."

It was what he had come to tell Alek, that he was leaving Zena for a time and they wouldn't see each other anymore. It made perfect sense, considering what they had both been through recently, and yet it still hurt. He had felt as thought he belonged here, even though he had spent the majority of his time hiding. Now he just felt like he was giving up, running from a place where he might have made a life.

He noticed. Kauff found it sort of endearing, flattering even, but he also realized it was probably not the best reaction to encourage. Had he been a better person, he might have reassured Alek, but instead he allowed the younger man to fret, basking in his concern.

"I'm not going to disappear or anything. I'm not leaving forever either." That last bit was probably a lie, to be honest, but Kauff wasn't about to press the issue now. If he ever came back to Zena, he would need the help of a small army to keep himself from being hunted down and messily killed. "You have plenty of friends here now."

Rather than reply right away, Kauff took Alek's hands in his, a ghost of a smile crooking his lips. He rubbed the Ice's palms with the tips of his first and second fingers, holding Alek's gaze as best as he could.

"I'll miss you too."

He curled forward, moving deeper into Alek's personal space than he knew the prentice was strictly comfortable with, and covered Alek's mouth with his own, grinning into the impromptu kiss when he felt Alek's hands begin to quake in earnest.

Kauff's heart raced with adrenaline, his breath coming fast and smile wide. While he had rather unapologetically checked Alek out at every opportunity he'd had during his stay, he had never taken his interest further than that. This had been a whim, and a wonderful one at that.

Even though they had separated, Kauff still held the Ice close, his hands having shifted from Alek's to the prentice's waist and neck. His thumb brushed behind Alek's ear, blood leaving his brain as the Ice shivered.

"Yeah. All right." What Alek had said was true, but that didn't mean Kauff wanted to stop.

His heart had slowed but Kauff's desire had not. He took a step and Alek matched it in the opposite direction, the same frustratingly calm expression on his angular features. Kauff cooled quickly enough after that, never having been interested in those who weren't just as interested in return, but that didn't stop the sigh of frustration that escaped him as he stopped. This was fine. This was what friends did. They didn't ******** each other for the first time when one of them had one foot out the door.

"I guess. I was just trying to ease your nerves." He grinned.