Bertra woke up feeling very warm, very comfortable, her arms and legs closed in on one another as a dim light came past her, just enough of it that she knew it was there. Her sharp elven ears pricked at the sound of motion. Smooth motion. 'I'm not in my bed. I'm not in any bed. Where am I?' She asked herself as instincts old and new screamed at her to respond to the unfamiliar with aggression.
"Awake?" Inta asked, and when she recognized his voice her memory returned, so she relaxed.
"Yes. Not all the way, and my head hurts a little." She lied, in reality it was pounding like the thousands of marching feet of the armies that fell on Kami Miyako years before.
"Where's…?" Bertra's ears pricked up, Entoma's noises were gone, her scent was present but long faded.
"She's gone." Inta said and poured two cups of tea, he kept his head down and focused over the silver tray and the two wooden cups which sat upon it, while his fingers flew with vampiric speed about the task of preparation. "She left last night, and I don't know when I'll see her again."
Bertra sat up immediately, flinging the blanket off of herself to crumple in a heap on the floor. "Did you fight? I don't understand."
Inta never broke his pace nor his gaze as he walked over to her, utterly calm in temperament and seemingly quite at ease. He bent at the waist and held the tray out to her with one hand under the center and the other folded behind his back. His blood red eyes on Bertra's blue, "You may remember your… matchmaking efforts, it brought things to light for her I suppose." Bertra reached with slow, shaking hands to take the cup closest to herself. Little droplets of hot liquid splashed over the side until she brought it down to her lap where her legs closed tight around the wood.
Inta straightened up, took the remaining cup and then spoke while going to set the tray down on the table. "I have spent most of my life alone except for a sister who has been dead for years now. I had one human friend and watched him die, so I know what it means for you to want the best for Entoma. Maybe that isn't me." He gave her a shaky smile that slightly exposed his fangs.
"In some ways I'm no different than she is, I was created, forced into a body I never asked for and I never even knew why, and it kept me alone… she's asked for time, she's asked for space, I'll give her both and hope for the best." Inta said and raised his cup to Bertra.
"To you, though." He said and Bertra looked down into the trembling ripples of her little wooden cup.
"Me? I may have just screwed everything up… I just want what's best for her, to help her after everything she did for me and I-" Her lower lip trembled, "I have to make this right, I'm sorry!"
Inta raised his hand, "Stop."
Bertra rarely listened to anyone, but with his arm outstretched and hand out with palm up, she was briefly stilled, long enough to catch the intensity of his ruby eyes and listen.
"It's fine, there's nothing to fix, let her take her own time, we work in the same field, in the same building, and are only a short walk from each other. There's nothing here to fix… she made a choice for herself. Let it be what it is." Inta's face betrayed no emotion, not even the corner of his lips twitched.
Bertra remained seated while he held his cup out again. "Now, to you?" He proposed again.
She followed his lead, ignoring the pools of water in her eyes. 'I was just trying to help… what did I say… do? How could I…?'
Bertra accepted the toast while she blamed herself and drank the sweet milky colored substance down.
When the cup was empty she made to stand again and this time Inta neither said nor did anything to stop her, and neither bade the other farewell when the door was closing to break the line of sight between them both.
Alone, he went to his bedroom to clean up the wreck he'd left it in.
Her return to Entoma's flat found the heteromorph snacking on a bird while working over a paper at a desk in the corner while the familiar orc worked diligently but slowly in preparing sugar with tea, the way Entoma liked it.
"Entoma I-" Bertra found herself cut off while the arachnoid woman worked, all it took was one raised finger.
"Wait, I want to get this little 'bonus' assignment ready for my students… when I have students, that is." Entoma's voice had a rare lilt to it as she was quietly content.
Bertra went and sat not far away, she watched with curious fascination as the second half of the bird, white feathers, leathery looking legs and all, completely disappeared down Entoma's mouth. Her friend was not wearing her mask at the moment, though it sat upside down with its wiggling legs readily within reach.
Finally Entoma finished what she was doing, turned her head to Bertra and said, "No."
"No?" Bertra leaned back, unsure of what to make of the one word statement.
"Just enjoy your vacation, enjoy your time with me, nothing else, and nothing else, can you promise?" Entoma asked, though it felt very rhetorical.
And it stung. Bertra hung her head and folded her fingers into her palms while resting them on her thighs. "Yes. I'm sorry."
"I forgive you." Entoma said succinctly and dropped the quill that she still held in her hand to fall with a little tap into the black bottle of ink nearby.
Bertra's shameful downcast face began to fade away and transform into a smile as warm as the summer sun.
"Then what do we do next?" The pair asked at once as Manaly approached with a cup for them each on a silver tray.