Rythian didn't come out of his rooms for a week after he had told Zoey he loved her. He wouldn't eat, insisting his lifestone would sustain him just fine, which worried his mother to the point that she dragged a chair into the hall across from his door so she could talk to him. No one knew what was wrong with him. No one but Princess Zoeya.
She hadn't exactly been herself either, but she still acted as she normally would, trying to hide her problems. She felt that they were insignificant compared to other people's. When she was alone in her room, she would go out onto the balcony and stare at Rythian's door, trying to see inside, though she knew she wouldn't. He kept it pitch black in there precisely for that purpose.
When he finally did come out, it was to see King Xephos, General Honeydew, and Teep off back to the castle. He was only out for a short time, saying goodbye to the three of them and checking on his horse before retreating back to the darkness of his room. Zoey had tried to talk to him when she found him in the stables, but he ignored her. She wanted so bad for him not to be mad at her, but the more she tried to apologize or just plain talk to him, the more he seemed to get worse.
A few more days passed, and still Rythian remained in his rooms, refusing to come out for anyone. By the end of the second week, Zoey was fed up enough that she just flew over to his balcony and stood there, staring into the darkness and crossing her arms. "Rythian, I know you're in there!" She said, and she could've sworn she saw a movement in the darkness.
"Will you PLEASE just come out here and talk to me?" She asked, self-consciously fiddling with the long sleeves of her purple dress. She stood there for a minute. No response.
"Rythiaan!" She whined, walking up to the doors and peering inside, faintly seeing his outline sitting in the farthest and darkest corner. His purple eyes glowed slightly, providing just enough light for him to write in what looked like his journal. He finished writing and ripped the piece of paper out, teleporting it to the balcony just behind Zoey with a slight "vwoop" sound.
She walked over and picked it up, seeing it said "Go away, Zoey." She frowned, and marched right back up to the doors again. "No, I will not go away." She said, watching as he got up and walked to the doors.
He was skinnier than he had been, she noticed as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed and eyes cold. "You haven't even been using the lifestone, have you?" She said sadly, realizing now how foolish she'd been to think he was. He didn't reply.
"Rythian, why won't you just talk to me? Please?" She asked, and he complied and said "Go away, Zoey." With that, he turned back around and walked back into the darkness of his room.
"That's not what I meant!" She called after him, distressed. He ignored her, and sat back down in the corner, snapping his fingers. She saw the shadows wrap slowly around him, encasing him like a cocoon, and soon enough, he was invisible.
She pleaded with him for half the day, knowing he still sat there. When it began to get dark, she left, only to return not long after with food and water. She sat down, looking into the darkness. Crossing her arms, she said defiantly "Rythian Hellstrand, I'm not moving from this spot until you come out here and talk to me!"
Rythian scoffed from his corner, though she didn't hear it. She wouldn't sit out there forever. It would start raining, or she'd get cold, or she wouldn't be able to sleep. Then she would leave.
But she stayed true to her word. She sat out there for hours, staring where she knew he sat. By midnight, she was curled up in the center of the balcony, fast asleep. Rythian shook his head. She could get comfortable anywhere.
He got up, walked to the doors, and watched her silently. She was crazy to do this. It was almost winter, for crying out loud! He could see her shivering from over here!
He tried telling himself to just forget about it. It was her decision to be a fool and sit out there on the cold. But, soon enough, he found himself gathering up the pillows and blankets from his own bed and stepping silently onto the balcony. He didn't care how mad he was she didn't love him, he still loved her, and he would not just sit there while she froze to death.
Careful not to wake her, he laid the blankets out on the floor, put the pillows down, and picked her up. He set her down on top of one of the blankets, then tucked the other one around her. He sat beside her and waited until she stopped shivering to even think of getting up. When he did, he lingered by the doors before walking in.
Even then, he watched her from behind the glass. He saw her stir, and ducked further into the shadows. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. She looked at the blankets and the pillows, and smiled slightly.
"These are his…." She said, and looked to where he'd been standing only a second before, the small smile still present on her face. She laid back down, and pulled the covers up over her nose, watching the doorway until she fell back asleep. Rythian crawled onto his own bed, and spent the entire night shivering, but he didn't care.
He could handle being cold, just like he could handle not eating. Maybe he was abusing himself, -he had been using the lifestone up until a few days ago- but he just didn't feel like anyone would care if he didn't eat. Zoey didn't, why would anyone else? He looked at her again, asleep on the balcony.
Maybe he was wrong, though. She wasn't sleeping on his balcony because she felt like it would be fun. She did it because she wanted him to come out of his room. She was worried about him.
She hadn't smiled when she'd realized the blankets were his because they had something funny written on them. It was because she knew that he'd put them around her. Rythian turned on his back and looked at the ceiling. He felt so foolish now.
She cared about him, and he knew she did all along. She just wasn't sure about herself. Hell, he wouldn't have known he was in love with her if his mother hadn't told him. It would have probably taken him years to figure out.
He had given her less than 15 seconds. That wasn't fair to her. Nor was it fair for him to be so cruel to her for not figuring herself out. He looked at her again.
He just needed to give her time to think about it, and right now all she was thinking about was getting him to come out of his room. He needed to act normal again, so she'd stop worrying about him and think about herself for awhile. Of course, he couldn't just go back to the way things were before Lalna had attacked the castle and they'd come here. Before he'd found out he loved her.
He couldn't act like being near her didn't make his heart pound. He couldn't pretend that he didn't enjoy it when she held his hand as she led him around. Rythian reached up and pulled his mask down, his own hand resting on his scarred face for a moment. He couldn't tell himself he didn't wish she touched his scars more often.
He loved Zoeya, and he couldn't just pretend that he didn't. But he did need to stop punishing her for not understanding her feelings. He turned on his other side and faced the wall, staring at it for a moment as he made up his mind. In the morning, he would get out of here and be with Zoey for the rest of the day.
He would try to control his emotions, and hope for the best. And if it turned out she did love him, then great, all the better for him! And if not, he would just have to live with it. That was just the way it was going to have to be.
He fell asleep not long after this contemplation. Though he woke multiple times in the night from being cold, or from nightmares about his father, he woke the next morning feeling ready.
Zoey woke up before him, and when he woke up, she was munching on an apple she'd brought from the kitchens the night before. He watched her from the doorway, and she watched him from her spot on the balcony. She sat on top of the blankets he'd given her during the night, making sure she left room on the blankets beside her for another person. When she finished her apple, she set the core aside, and said "Thanks for the blankets, Ryth, but are you going to just stand there or are you going to come over here and talk to me?"
He watched her for a moment, doubt causing him to hesitate. She smiled at him and asked him again, seeing something had changed while she was asleep. His eyes weren't cold, and he wasn't hiding in the dark anymore. He gave in after a few more minutes of thought, and Zoey beamed at him when he turned the handle to the door and walked out.
He felt his pulse quicken as he sat next to her, and he said "Well, you win. I'm out. Now what?" The smile faded a bit from her face, her joviality giving way to sincerity.
"I'm sorry I made you mad, Rythian." She said, glancing at the floor in front of her. "It's okay," he said "I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that and then held your lack of an answer against you. That was unfair to the both of us."
She looked up at him and smiled a bit, her mood turning happy again. "I'm glad you're not mad anymore! You want some food?" Rythian smiled and took the sandwich she offered him, saying lightheartedly "Of course I want food, Zoey, I'm starving here!"
He ate the sandwich and thanked her for it, which caused another wide smile to appear on her face. The two talked and joked for a long time, and when Cecilia came to see if Rythian had come out of his room, she was very pleased to find he and the princess laughing on the balcony. Neither of them noticed her, and she smiled when she saw Zoeya tug his mask down just to see his face when she did. She laughed as he scolded her, hastily pulling it back up to hide the blush forming on his cheeks.
Shaking her head, Cecilia went off to find Lomadia, who had wanted to know if Rythian was finally out of his room nearly as bad as she did. She would be happy to know what she had just seen, to be sure.
Meanwhile, Zoey was still giggling at Rythian's reaction to his mask being pulled off. "Why are you so funny when you're flustered?" She asked, half thoughtfully and half jokingly. Rythian retorted with "Why do you ask so many questions?"
Zoey laughed again, saying simply "Questions help me understand you better. You're really hard to figure out sometimes!" Rythian chuckled, smiling slyly beneath his mask. "Maybe that's the way I like it!"
She considered him for a second before laughing again. "You can't expect me to take you seriously, can you?" She asked, and he chuckled. "No, I suppose I can't."
They were silent for a second or two, Rythian staring off into the distance while Zoey watched him. Suddenly he felt her wrap her arms around his arm and lay her head on his shoulder. This caused a variety of reactions, the tingly sensation shooting through his veins and the quickening of his pulse were only 2 of them, but they were the most notable. He looked at her, rather startled.
She was now the one staring into space, and he now watched her. "I missed you, Rythian, when you locked yourself in there." She said, gesturing to his room with a nod of her head. She looked up at him.
"Don't do that again, okay? You drove everyone insane!" She continued, making a slight joke at the end. He smiled a little, assuring her he wouldn't.
They just looked at each other for a moment, and then Zoey released his arm, grabbing his hand instead. "Come on, let's go find something else to eat! I'm hungry!" She said rather excitedly, standing and tugging him along behind her.
Rythian rolled his eyes, chuckling as he was lead down to the dining hall. She just wanted to drag him down to have dinner with everyone again. It was something she liked to do, like saying "Look everyone! I got Rythian out of his room!"
When they got there, Lomadia and Cecilia were sitting opposite each other, probably discussing the war. Another battle had happened while Rythian had hidden himself away. One on Lalna's turf that Xephos had won. It was a key victory, and the king's army intended to use the territory to their advantage, but the question was how.
As soon as Zoeya came in, however, the discussion stopped; no one liked to talk about the war -or really anything negative- in front of her. "Rythian!" His mother exclaimed, acting as if she hadn't seen what she had earlier. Lomadia followed suit, saying rather teasingly "Glad to see you're out of your room for once."
Zoey released him and sat beside her mother, and he sat beside his, replying cooly "I just needed to think about something for a while." She smiled. "Glad to see you've figured it out." Cecilia smiled as well, though she changed the subject.
"There's a surprise for you in the kitchen, Rythian, if you'd like to go look." She said, which caused him to raise his eyebrows at her. "A surprise, huh? Well, I guess I'll just have to go look, then."
He got up and went into the kitchen, hearing a strangely familiar voice say rather loudly "God damn fish is overcooked! Again!" He followed the sound around a corner to see the source of the noise. "Ravs!"
The young man turned and spotted the mage. "Rythian!" The two laughed and greeted each other properly before Rythian asked "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you for ages!"
"Well, apparently your old chef quit, so I'm the cook here now!" He said proudly, then whispered "You want some Scotch?" He produced a mug from inside a cabinet and poured some in, offering it to him. Rythian laughed and took the drink, thanking him and taking a swig.
It'd been a while since he'd had alcohol, and it hit him harder than he thought it would. "Holy crap!" He said, and Ravs laughed. "Too much for ya?"
He shook his head, balancing himself on the nearby counter and laughing. "No, no! I'm just not used to this much kick!" Once balanced again, he asked "This isn't watered down at all is it?"
Ravs shook his head. "Hell no!" Rythian rolled his eyes. "You always did enjoy the extreme end of things."
The two of them talked for awhile, mostly about what the other had been up to. Ravs' dad had been the cook here when the two of them were kids, but soon quit because he'd wanted to start his own tavern out in the country. According to Ravs, it was still up and running, but he just didn't feel like that was where he belonged, so he left.
Rythian told him of his time in the royal castle, and answered all his questions about life there. Ravs had never been there, and, like most people, wanted to know what it was like. Rythian was patient, and explained and described everything as best he could.
Eventually, Rythian had to return to the dinner table so that Ravs could finish cooking, and he left. When he came back in, his mother smiled at him knowingly. "What was that all about?" Zoey asked, and he explained who Ravs was and why he was here.
She and her mother listened intently, and Zoey giggled when he finished. When he asked why, she replied simply "He wears a kilt everywhere!" At this, Rythian rolled his eyes. "It's just part of his culture."
She smiled at him. "I know, I shouldn't be laughing…. But it's still a little funny!" She said, and Rythian smiled a little despite his respect for his friend.
When the food was served and everyone ate, Zoey dragged him off again, and he bid a hurried goodnight to everyone before she pulled him out of the room. She held his hand as she had before, though this time she led him off to the stables to visit the horses. When he questioned her about it, she admitted her intentions. "I may want to go riding before it gets dark…."
When they reached the wooden building and went in, Ghost and Willow both jerked their heads toasted the doors. Rythian sighed. It must have been awful for them to be cooped up all this time… "Alright, we'll go out for a quick ride."
Zoey gave a triumphant squeak of excitement, and grabbed the horses' bridles and reins. After quickly putting on this and their saddles, they walked the horses out of the barn, then rode out the front gates towards the nearby patch of forest. The two horses eagerly broke into a gallop, Ghost trailing slightly behind Willow, as was normal. Zoey giggled and urged her horse to go faster, the adrenaline rush making her rather loopy.
Willow complied and sped up, Ghost following not far back. A smile was slowly breaking out across Rythian's face, hidden beneath his mask, and soon enough he sped Ghost up, passing Willow with ease. This, of course, caused a race between them, Zoey starting it by shouting "Last one to your cottage is a rotten egg!" and passing Rythian again.
He laughed, and thus the race began. Both horses were eager and very willing to run, but the results were very much the same as any other race they had ever done. Rythian lagged behind Zoey for awhile, and right before she won, passed her with ease. He and Ghost shot through the trees and into the clearing first, Zoey and Willow following not far behind.
"Why do I even start these races if you're just going to beat me every time?" She asked, and her guardian laughed, shrugging and sliding off his horse's back as he said "Maybe the fun's in the race itself, not the winning?" She thought on this as she slid off her own horse, leading her over beside Ghost. "Maybe," she agreed after a minute.
Rythian smiled at her, and she tugged his mask down without warning, just to catch a glimpse of it. She succeeded, and giggled as he turned away from her and fixed the mask, complaining "Why do you insist on doing that? At least wait until we get indoors, for crying out loud!" Zoey blushed slightly, looking at her feet, admitting "I just like it when you smile…"
He looked at her for a second, rather amused at her sudden shyness. He chuckled, shaking his head. "Come on, I need to find another book to read." Zoey rolled her eyes, responding "What about that huge library back at the fortress?"
Rythian waved his hand dismissively. "I read all those a long time ago." Zoey rolled her eyes, asking sarcastically "Of course you have, why would I think otherwise?" He simply laughed it off, opening the door and walking into his cabin, she following not far behind.
He illuminated the torches, and quickly located the secret lever that opened the door to the basement. The staircase was revealed once again, and the two of them set off down it, Rythian flicking the switch that turned on the glowstone in the walls. He went over to the bookshelves almost immediately, while Zoey looked around again. She noticed things she hadn't before, like rough sketches of magical items -and a few ordinary things- stuck to the wall above the desk, and quite a few open books laying about in corners.
She heard him mumbling "Read it," over and over as he looked for a book he hadn't read on the shelves lining the stone walls. How he hadn't read every one of them surprised her, but after a few more moments he exclaimed "Found it!" She walked over as he wiped the dust off the cover of an old leather-bound book, and she could tell he was smiling widely. She rolled her eyes.
"I'm surprised you haven't read every book in existence by now! How many have you read, anyways?" She said, and he chuckled slightly. "Well, I finished the library at the fortress, this is the only one I haven't read out of these, and I'm halfway through the castle library." He replied rather matter-of-factly, which caused Zoey to gape at his apparent interest in reading.
"Jeesh! When do you read all this stuff, in your sleep?" She asked, and Rythian admitted "I read at night, when I'm SUPPOSED to be sleeping." She rolled her eyes, saying incredulously "No wonder you're tired all the time!"
He laughed nervously, and started up the stairs again. "Come on, it's getting pretty close to dusk now. We'd better get going." He said, and Zoey rolled her eyes, but followed him anyways.
He shut the stairway behind her, and he reached for the door handle before Zoey said "Hey Ryth?" He stopped and turned to her, and she asked "Can we stay here for just a little while longer? Please?"
He gave her a questioning look, but agreed anyway. Might as well humor her. It wasn't really THAT close to dark yet…. He lit the fireplace with his Ring of Ignition, and the two of them sat at opposite ends of the couch.
Zoey almost immediately reached over and tugged his mask down, sounding rather bossy as she ordered "Keep it down!" He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, but she knew he listened to her. "Fine, but only until we leave. I'm NOT going outside with my mask down."
She scooted closer, laying her head on his shoulder and looking up at him. He was aware of his heart beating choppily, but he was beginning to get used to it. It wasn't a surprise when she began tracing the scars on his face… More of an expectance by now.
A smile twitched it's way onto his face, which caused Zoey to smile as well. Again, not anything that wasn't rather predictable. They stayed like this until Rythian caught a glimpse of the orange hue to the sky out the window. He gently removed the princess' hand from his face, and pulled his mask back up again.
"Time to go, Zoey." He said simply, and she backed off so that he could get up. After he'd stood, he turned and offered her his hand. She frowned slightly, but knew they had to go now or else everyone would get worried, and took it.
They walked out to the tree where the horses were tied, untangled the reins from the tree branches, mounted, and rode back into the forest. While they rode quickly, there were no more races, Rythian a bit unnerved by the war and the decreasing light level. He would have been fine with both these things on his own, but… The last thing he wanted was for Zoey to get hurt.
They reached the gates of Rythian's family fortress a few minutes before night fell, and dismounted just outside the stables. They led Ghost and Willow in, removed their riding gear, and let them into their stalls. Zoey wanted to stay with Willow for another moment or two, so her guardian stayed as well. Not like he had anything better to do, after all.
Soon enough, though, she started yawning and rubbing her eyes. Rythian chuckled lightly. "Tired, Zoeya?" He asked with a teasing tone, and she shoved him playfully in response.
He simply laughed. "Come on, let's get you to bed." She nodded, rubbing her eyes again as she followed him back out into the night. She grabbed his arm in hers again, leaning on him and yawning.
They walked to Zoey's room like that, and when they got there, she released him and flopped onto her bed. "WHY am I so tired?" She asked, thinking aloud. Rythian responded "Well, I don't imagine sleeping on a stone balcony last night was too comfortable…"
She giggled, teasing "Your blankets made it a lot more bearable." He cleared his throat in and attempt to hide his embarrassment, saying rather hurriedly "Yeah, well I couldn't let you freeze, could I?" She giggled at him again. "No, I suppose you never could stay mad at me."
"That's not what I meant!" Rythian snapped, flustered. Zoey only laughed again, saying "I know, I know. You need to calm down a little!"
He took a deep breath and apologized. She smiled at him. "Good. Now, let me go to bed!"
He rolled his eyes again, but left anyways, bidding her a good night as he did. When he was gone, Zoey giggled again. He was so funny when he was embarrassed! As she settled down for bed, she thought about the night prior, snuggled into his blankets.
When she thought about it, she realized that he hadn't had blankets that night. While he couldn't have been as cold as she was without them, it had to have been uncomfortable. She smiled. He did these odd little things for her that she'd never quite understand, but always appreciate.
He had always done them, ever since they had first met all those years ago. She had a feeling he always would, too. Maybe they had something to do with him loving her? She had noticed her dad did similar things for her mom a lot….
She thought on this as she fell asleep, remembering something odd that had happened while she and Rythian were sitting on the couch in his cabin. When she laid her head on his shoulder, it brought her a strange sense of contentment. Like she could sit there with him forever and ever and everything would be fine. She just figured it was because she hadn't seen him in awhile, and she was happy enough that he was out of his room again.
But it wasn't just that. No, it was something more. Much more.