The air was cool, a gentle breeze starting to pick up, but never stable. Crickets and frogs were in high spirit, chirping and croaking away loudly. Stars sparkled across the sky like glitter, with the moon high in the center as thin clouds wisped by the waterfront of the lake. A taguel sat alone within the grass at the water's edge, staring out at the sky's reflection. He wasn't alone. Another soul was within close by, approaching Yarne from behind and concealed by the trees.
"Why do you stare at the moon through the lake when you can look up?"
Yarne immediately sprang up and spun around from where he was kneeling down beside the edge of the waters, shrieking. "D-don't just sneak up on me like that! I could have jumped right out of my fur!" he scolded the silver haired man before him. He sniffed the air, quickly picking up the other's scent. Along with the man's unique smell the taguel also picked up hints of soot and dirt; a campfire. There was the faintest scent of cold water and old stew. Whoever this person was, Yarne could tell he was from the camp of his new friends. "Who…who are you?"
"Niles," he answered as he took another step closer to the rabbit-man. "I've heard of you. Yarne, is it? So you're the strange rabbit-human discovered south of the Dragon Gate, correct?" Niles walked with confidence up to the taguel all the while scanning him with his one eye. He took note of Yarne's natural red eye color, the obscure designs on his armor, twitching whiskers, and the tuft in the center of his scalp inconsistent with the rest of the man's primarily-brown hair. His knees were trembling, still in a frightened state. The outlaw chose to ignore this and shifted his attention to the lake waters and then to the night sky above. "It's rather pretty tonight, isn't it?"
The taguel remained cautions, trying to keep a bit of a distance between him and Niles. With arms crossed, his nose wiggled as if he would be able to sniff out any ill intentions this man was planning for him, yet his attention snapped when Niles commented on the state of the moon. Yarne swiftly glanced back down at the lake waters and nodded. "Y-yeah, it is! It's been a long time since I've seen it so bright and clear, even in my homeland," he answered, keeping his gaze fixated on the water.
"You never answered my question," Niles taunted, leering at the rabbit with a smile. He knelt down by Yarne's feet and the look back up to him. "Why do you look at it only in the water?"
Yarne jumped at the question again, breaking his brave façade immediately. It was no use. He sighed before letting his body slowly relax and sit beside Niles. "It's… somewhat complicated," he began before looking over at his company. He paused, taking a moment to admire the cross on Niles's eyepatch before looking back down at the moon's reflection. It was a waning crescent, yet still luminous enough to clearly see the outline of the moon's dark side. "My… my mother passed on old legends to my father before she died. When I was very little he told me about this story about how when we taguel pass on our souls rejoin with one another in the moon, so it's forbidden for the living to look on it directly…." His voice started to trail, thinking he had said enough.
Niles just grinned at the other shifting his position be sitting down beside him in the grass, reclining back just slightly. "Oh really? 'Taguel,' as you say it? So then your father was human?" he mused. It was an obvious conclusion to draw, just from listening to Yarne's story. They'd be no reason for parents to have to share stories like such unless they were of difference species, and Yarne clearly didn't have anything like that of the wolfskin or kitsune tribe or a manakete. "So that's why you're out here. You must feel lonely, being the only taguel here in Nohr, am I right?"
Silence.
There were many details about himself Yarne hadn't shared with the Nohrian army upon his arrival, one of which being the current state of his species. He blinked at Niles as he brought a hand up to the tips of his long hair, stroking it out of nervous habit. Tiny hairs stood up across his ears as he thought of exactly how to answer. A nervous, fake laugh followed. "Y-yeah, I guess you're right. It's just been a rough day, I suppose…" Yarne allowed his answer to trail off before Niles could pry any further. "My dad… whenever I was scared he'd just… let me sleep in my beast form on his chest in his bed with him and he'd always have small mirror for me to aim out his window at the moon whenever I felt lonely or scared. He… was a really sweet man," he continued to ramble. The longer Yarne talked the more comfortable he found himself becoming around Niles. The man remained tame and calm. Something about it almost didn't feel right to the taguel, but there was nothing to support his suspicious as of yet.
"Erh… what about you?" he finally asked, changing the subject, "why are you out here so late?"
"Hmm?" Niles turned his gaze back to the stars above and then again to the taguel beside him. "I don't sleep very well. I often come to stargaze. Finding you here was purely a coincidence."
"I see. Well uh… c-can I… can I ask about your eye?" It slipped out before Yarne even realized what he has said. A tooth dug into his tongue as he began screaming at himself in his thoughts.
Niles was silent as he raised hand up to his patch and glanced away. He tranced along the curve of the leather patch and down the wire holding it in place on his head. His thumb pressed over his lips before an eerie smile came over him. "Ah, yes. Are you sure you want to know? It is not a pretty tale," he teased as leaned onto his side and inching closer. He watched, observing the apple in Yarne's throat move as he gulped before nodding. Niles laughed. "Very well then. If you must know my furry friend, I lost it when I was very young. Someone I thought a companion torn it from my skull as punishment for a failed task." The words left his lips so casually, as if it was part of his daily routine.
Shivers ran down Yarne's spine and across his whole body, shocked. "I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to ask that; you didn't need to tell me!" He acted accordingly, leaning slightly away from Niles.
The other's smile never faded. A pleasant Hmm mused from his lips as he slowly reached a hand down and placed it over Yarne's beside him. "Do not worry. I have long since learned to accept my mistakes. It's not pleasant to speak of, but it's not unpleasant either." Niles's eyes narrowed, locked with Yarne's. He didn't remove his hand from the other's, up continued to hold it instead on the ground. A pink glow was on Yarne's cheeks. "You seem nervous, now. Is this turning into a date?" he teased.
"Wh-WHAT?!" His entire body stiffened as his tail shot up, alert. It was then he noticed just how close and Niles were to each other. Had the always been sitting mere inches from each other? Yarne wasn't sure exactly what to do in these kinds of situations.
Niles only laughed before waving his free hand at the other. "Oh come now, rabbit. I'm only joking; I promise!" The outlaw reached his free hand out and laced fingers through the taguel's long dark brown locks. It was much softer than he imagined for a humanoid who most likely was used to rolling around in dirt and the wild all day. He continued to hum as he observed the taguel's continuous flustered manner. Finger tips were just about to caress along the line of Yarne's ears until he saw the taguel shut his eyes as though shock had evolved into fear. He paused, taking note before retreating from the rabbit's body. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude too much," he commented softly, "perhaps…you could tell me more about the taguel. What other customs do your people have?"
Yarne reopened his eyes and began to calm down when Niles spoke his apology. Slowly, he allowed himself to become comfortable again, but was dodgy with eye contact now. At the man's question his heart sank a tad further. He knew very little he could answer with. "We…we have a great knowledge of healing salves and medicines!" Panne did; most were more than likely long forgotten and lost to the ruins of their tribes. "And pride is the core of our very race! We always show our strength and are brave warriors in battle. Hardly anything can compare to our power!" Nothing could to his mother's, or so he had heard. Yarne was more known for always being a diversion and running away from an enemy, and he knew it.
Niles could see Yarne struggling to talk about anything else. He nodded at each sentence the other spoke, but did nothing to stop him. He was enjoying it, watching the taguel starting to break down if he could get to the heart of the matter. "Oh really? Then you'll be a great addition on the battlefield, won't you? I look forward to seeing you in action," he baited.
"Y-yeah…" he struggled to find anything to add on. "My mother… she had a younger brother, but I never got to meet him. But there was this one person that was like a war buddy to her. Father always said he was a lot like who would have been my uncle and he visited us often, so one day he just… became Uncle Henry to me!" Now he was just rambling and his body was trembling. He didn't even know why. Yarne had been away from Ylisse for so long now, that he was longing for home and didn't even realize it until he started talking. All while he kept talking, the taguel didn't notice Niles had begun to move again, this time cupping he side of his face. His whiskers flickered. "N-Niles?!"
"Quite… the timid rabbit, aren't you?" he teased.
"Niles…" Yarne was tired and confused at this point. He exhaled a deep breath before placing his other free hand, shaking, over the one on his face. "S-sorry. I guess I'm just a little… homesick." He looked into the archer's face, deep into his dark blue eye to see the moon's reflection in it; small yet so close to him. It was comforting.
"Liking what you see?" Hardly a single question from Niles couldn't be a tease or an insult. He chuckled. "Stare all you want with the moon in my eye, I don't mind." Red and blue eyes locked together. They were total opposites. "Red is such a pretty color for you. It's beautiful, much like blood," he breathed as he gently closed the gap between them. Lips linked together in short, but sweetened kiss from the outlaw until he felt the points of Yarne's fangs poking at him, yet not pull away. He grinned through it before tracing the crease of the taguel's mouth with his tongue, licking and teasing him.
Yarne was the first to part and then just started back at Niles in disbelief.
"See, now you're calm. There's no need to be nervous around me," he pointed out. He was right. Yarne's body wasn't shaking any more. Nor was his hair standing up. The kiss had given him enough distraction to forget about his troubles for a moment. There they were, a criminal and a rabbit, red and blue, the moon and the water alone in a tender moment. Yarne had grown silent, but wasn't fighting to get away from the man. Niles's hand crept back into his hair before tracing down along the taguel's neck and stroking his fur. "My tent has a spare cot in it. You're welcome to it if you haven't been assigned one yet."
Hesitation was minimal.
Yarne didn't let go of Niles's hand as they began walking back to camp, admiring the moon in each other's eyes every step of the way.