"I heard you wandered off. Were Pegasus and Mai a bit much even for you to handle?"

His gaze rose from the large book within his lap, quickly moving it to the side as she smiled. The pair had been bickering for a while and neither had noticed when he had slipped out of the room, giving him more than enough time to explore this new place. There was technology around every corner that threatened to distract him but he remained diligent. It was best to familiarize himself with his new surroundings without hinderance yet he was extremely relieved when he had come across this impressive collection of knowledge. Finally, something familiar besides the water coming out of the faucet! It had only been a few hours but he had missed her immensely and had to restrain himself from embracing her. Public displays of affection had always made him uncomfortable, even managed to make him a squirm when a couple would forget where they were. Now he honestly didn't blame them. This feeling was addictive, new, exciting, near maddening but he wouldn't trade it for the world. He did stand though and offered her a soft smile in return. How odd that something once so alien to him now came naturally.

Her hand dropped to the short chiffon skirt that reached her knees and raised the hem just enough so that she could curtsy. "You look dashing, even more so when you're wearing a smile," she chuckled, cerulean eyes darting over his being. "I like. Do they fit okay?"

He nodded, rolling his shoulders. It had taken him a while but had found a dark gray long sleeve button up shirt, a vest with several pockets and dark charcoal stained denim pants. These were much more comfortable than the clothes that frilly man had picked for him earlier. This was more close to his style. For a split second her gaze had locked upon his hair, her lips parting as if to make a comment, then they closed as their gazes met.

"I'm surprised to find you here. Most would jump at the chance to hop on their phones or tablets, there aren't a lot of people in today's age that pick up a book." A shriek slipped between her lips as her legs were knocked out from under her, landing her squarely in one of the wheeled chairs and was spun around to face a beaming Pegasus. She raised her hands and lightly pushed against his chest so she could have a breath. All blinked in surprise when the stranger suddenly pulled her chair away from Pegasus until there was at least a few feet in between. Anzu offered him a small nod of thanks then refocused upon the frill dressed man. "What's with all of the excitement?"

"I am a genius! I have truly outdone myself!"

Her hands that had fallen to rest in her lap suddenly formed fists, causing the fabric to bunch and wrinkle. "I already told you that I'm not dancing ever again, so stop with the whole costume parade!"

Amethyst widened. She had appeared to be completely healed, save for a few patches upon her calves that were still a fragile shade of pink, but her exclamation dumbfounded him. It was because of her dancing that they had found each other and to hear that she had given it up completely made his heart give a painful squeeze.

"No, no, you misunderstand!" He clapped his hands, the grin lifting his lips never wavering as he moved back far enough so that he could sling an arm over their visitor's shoulders. "I am referring to this young man here!"

"We both know that all you did was the hair, he was the one who dressed himself so don't even try." Mai grasped tightly onto Pegasus' sleeve, leading to the door when the stranger shrugged him off. "Back to your designing den you go." And the door closed with a click.

Anzu groaned lowly, her head falling back as her eyes slid closed. "I love them both but even I have my limits." Her eyes cracked open as a tapping sounded and straightened in time to spot him curiously examining the nearby globe. Her eyebrows rose when he tapped the upper border of Africa after spinning it around. "Something in Egypt pique your interest?" With wink, she tilted her head in a manner that said "follow me" and lead him through the maze-like bookcases until they came to a stop in front of a glass encased section. "This 'ere, my fine fellow, is the finest collection of Egyptology texts to be found in all of the world." His brow rose at the sudden change in her accent. It was so bizarre and horrible that he couldn't help but bite his lip in attempts to hide his amusement. The only thing that it achieved though was a narrowing of her gaze. "Are you making fun of my British accent?"

He shook his head but the telltale glint in his eye earned him a laugh.

She made quick work of the lock and the glass doors swung open with a soft creak, bringing with it the scents that threatened to drown him in waves of memories from early childhood. The smile fell from her face as a pained expression crossed his features. Was this a sensitive subject? The way he was carefully handling each piece of the fragile papyrus scrolls and parchment clusters was as if he personally had written each with great care. A lightbulb flashed within her mind as his amethyst eyes darted across the pages in the way that hieroglyphs were meant to be read. Tanned skin, sharp eyes, proud jawline, reading the symbolic language correctly… "Are you Egyptian?"

His head had bobbed in answer before he could even think better of it and clenched his eyes shut for a moment. Technically he was a merman, his mother from the Red Sea and father from the Mediterranean, but Egypt was close enough; a medium between the two that would be a better answer. A dull bell rang in the back of his mind as his gaze rose back up to the shelf and spotted an severely used sketchbook.

The air in her lungs chilled when he pulled out the old book. "H-how did that get in there?"

Their gazes met for a moment. Of course he had heard the hitch in her voice but he had also heard the underlying emotion in her tone. A mixture of sadness with hints of anger and reluctance. The tales he had heard, including the one from the eel siren, whispered within his ear as the page that had been sticking out fluttered to the ground…showing a rough yet exquisite sketch of a merwoman offering up a scale to an infant child.

Her hand snatched up the fallen page and carefully took the book from his own, fighting to remain calm as she placed the page back between the covers and tucked it back into the place where it had been found. She had moved so quick that he was surprised but now he was filled with concern as her features twisted with pain as her breathing became quick for a few seconds before it leveled and a forced smile found its way upon her features. "Sorry, that sketchbook was my mother's. She had quite the imagination and would tell anyone who would listen stories of things that would make even your head spin."

"Apologies for the interruption," the blonde woman from earlier appeared, looking between them with interest that was growing into concern when she too saw Anzu's expression. "But there's a call waiting for you."

The brunette nodded. "I'll take it in the upper study." She turned to him. "Stay as long as you like and just let someone know if you need anything, okay?" It was as she made to step away from him that he finally moved: his hand met the top of her head then drifted down to brush his knuckle against her cheek. Mai's slender blonde brow rose when Anzu made no move to continue towards answering the awaiting phone call but chose to remain where she was as he gently stroked her cheek. The young woman was not one to simply stand back and allow others to touch her without permission but what was speaking volumes was the look within their visitor's eyes as he gazed upon her. Pale mauve eyes widened as they looked between the two. "Or I can tell them that you are busy."

And the spell was broken. His hand fell away as she blinked a few times while taking that step backwards and away from him. For a moment there, just a split second, he felt as though he was recalling a long forgotten memory that had been steadily making its way to the forefront of his mind the longer he gazed within her oceanic pools. It receded the second that the woman assistant had spoken though and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't bring it back. The two left, leaving him alone with promises to come find him later, and his gaze found its way back to the glass case to find the key still within the lock.

. . . .

Her cheeks were burning as she followed Mai up the main staircase of the library, hands fanning her face in attempts to relieve the heat. "Don't."

"I didn't say a single thing."

"You were thinking it." Cerulean narrowed as they glanced in the blonde's direction.

Mai lightly nudged Anzu with her elbow. "Oh, come on, I haven't seen you like this since-"

"Drop it." The brunette warned as she took the seat behind the study's desk and picked up the phone. "Yes?" Her eyes rose to the ceiling as annoyance crossed her features. "For the hundredth time I am not interested in a marriage proposal from your son….MrUnderwood, let me remind you that your son is a peeper and extremely disrespectful…Did you just say 'boys will be boys'?…If that were the case then you wouldn't have a receding hairline and your son would forever physically be the child he truly is." Mai fought back a laugh, covering it with a cough, as the phone was slammed back onto its receiver. A twitch appeared within Anzu's finger when several red lights lit up, indicating that every line had an awaiting call. Her cerulean eyes briefly rose to find Mai's directed upon her manicured nails, as if something interesting was upon them, and scowled while lifting the phone again.

. . . .

"That was torture! Why didn't you tell me what today was?!"

Mai shrugged her shoulders. "If I recall correctly, I had but you were too worried about your stray puppy to listen to a single word I said." A smug smile lifted her painted lips when Anzu's face became pink. "You should learn to pay attention when someone is speaking to you."

A hand drug down her face. "Never mind that, what time is it?" She leapt to her feet, staring wide eyed at her assistant. "What do you mean its nearly dinner time?! Are you saying I've been denying marriage proposals for-"

"Six hours, forty seven minutes," Mai winked. "A new record." Her hand expertly reached out and grasped onto Anzu's shoulder as the younger woman made to exit the room. "Hold it. You've been neglecting your other responsibilities and I'm not letting you leave this office until you finish them." She chuckled as the brunette in her grasp grumbled lowly before turning to sit back in the seat she had just vacated. Mai had been her assistant long enough to know that when something needed done Anzu would buckle down until every last thing was finished. That was the kind of person she was, unless something else had her attention. "And you might want to keep your voice down."

Confused, Anzu glanced in the corner where her assistant was pointing. There he was, nestled in the window nook, with an open book hiding his face. He was surrounded by the texts that had been inside the case she had shown him and he had one in his lap, one of his hands was preventing the breeze coming in through the window from turning the page he had yet to read.

"You were so engrossed and getting worked up that he heard you even all the way downstairs so he came to do his 'research' up here."

The slow rhythm that was the rise and fall of his chest were causing the book upon his face to slowly slide down, threatening to fall to the floor with an impact loud enough to wake him, but she was quick to cross the space in time to carefully lift it from his sleeping form. It was as she placed the book off to the side that she glanced over her shoulder in time to see his features become distressed. Was he having a nightmare? Her hand moved of its own accord, rising from her side to brush the golden bangs from his face, and gently caressed his tanned cheek with her thumb. Almost immediately the wrinkle between his brows vanished as his breathing deepened.

Mai glanced at the studded watch on her wrist. "I will go and tell the kitchen you'll be taking supper here in the study." And slipped out the door.

Cerulean eyes fell from his face to examine the book in his lap. It appeared that he was researching natural disasters. Her breath caught as his hand suddenly rose, grasping the hand that was still against his cheek so quickly that she had little opportunity to pull away in time. His eyes were closed, meaning he was still asleep, but there was something wrong. Slick sweat had broken out across his skin and he was trembling. Was he sick? The back of her free hand met his forehead, finding their temperatures to be close, so that meant no fever. She swiped the glass of water that Mai had brought her earlier and was thankful that he was up far enough propped up by the pillowed cushions that she didn't have to move him as she placed the brim against his lips. For a moment she thought he was going to pull away but the second the liquid had touched him, his lips parted more to allow the water passage. The glass was drained within seconds and was returned to its place on the desk as his eyes finally opened. "Hey, there," she whispered, the hand he still held giving his a brief squeeze then slipped from his grasp as he sat upright. "You fell asleep."

His gaze fell to the hand that had held her own then rose to meet her gaze. That's right, he had heard her exclamations and had followed them to this room. Mai had initially told him it would be best for him to wait downstairs but seemed to change her mind and had told him to bring whatever he needed, that so long as he was quiet he could come inside. He was by nature a reserved quiet person so now that his voice had been taken it was even easier to be silent and overlooked. Yes, she had been a bit loud, but she had every right to be judging from the side of the conversations he had overheard; she had been denying numerous proposals, a few more graceful than others, but he had made sure to keep his face hidden by the book so none could see just how amused he was.

"It seems that you go a little dehydrated while you were asleep. I can get you some more water if you need." He shook his head, offering her an assuring smile, and earned a light flick to his forehead. "Next time, tell me, or someone, when you're thirsty." She facepalmed suddenly, the loud smack filing the air and him with alarm. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I've never asked for your name!"

A lump formed in his throat. Sure, he had known that this was going to come up eventually, but he had yet to come up with a plan on how this one sided conversation was to be resolved. He couldn't speak and if he even thought to expose his true name it would be no different than confessing he was supposed to be something other than human…or would it? When he was merman, she had called him 'Yami' and it had worked in keeping them both safe from her ever finding out what he truly was, but that wouldn't work now that he was human. She would instantly know something was wrong and question him further. Or worse. Just as his lips parted, the door to the study blew open, causing them both to jump slightly.

Mai's mauve eyes locked on Anzu's cerulean. "Change of plans. Your brother has returned and requests you dine with him in the main hall."

"And here we go," her shoulders rose and fell in a sigh as she glared up at the ceiling. "Let's get this lecture over with then." She rose to her feet with a groan, rolling her shoulders while assuring Mai that she would be along shortly then turned back to him, extending her pinky. "I'm going on ahead but don't think this conversation is over. I'll be waiting so don't take too long, okay? Promise you'll be quick and that we'll talk about this again soon?"

Without hesitation, his pinky rose and wrapped around her own.