Title: Lawbreaker's Eyes
Author: I_nv_u50
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer/Claimer: Characters so far are mine, but the world is Mercedes Lackey's.
Warning: Slash (m/m) ahead.
Author's Notes: Chapter two :D A note on Coan (yes, it is pronounced like ice cream cone XD) – he goes through personality changes when he's in the house of healing and when he's not. Basically, when he's with the healer's he's more friendly and more likely to make an effort at being friendly :D And empathy isn't his only gift, although it is his most prominent.
ola ~ lol does reading in the dark work? Luckily I have no windows to my computer room, but that doesn't stop my brother from bothering me… I wonder if lights off would work on him O.o;; lol he's 'gooder' (won't say better, cause that implies personality wise too . … I'm so weird O.o;;;;) than kylan in that he hasn't killed anyone (knowingly) but he is a thief, so he isn't the best. I suppose he can expect the same amount of treatment as skif gets :D I like skif too ^^ anyway, yea, this story is from his pov as well as from coan's… you get to see kylan through thaelin's eyes =P thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^
crystal ~ Thanks for reviewing ^^ I'm glad you like it ^^ Please review again!! ^^
darkdancer ~ lol Yea :D kylan gets a real surprise :D brynn knows before kylan, because he has to teach thaelin in the orientation's class, right? :D as such, kylan doesn't even know that thaelin is alive O.o;; imagine his shock XD thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
Sukura ~ Thank you ^^ I'm glad you enjoyed that one, I can only hope that you like this one too ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^
TeeDee ~ Definitely plan on updating this story :D Hope you have a great vacation :D Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
MajikzPawn ~ heh… I guess it was more obvious for me cuz I was planning it O.o;; oh well… all the better that it was a surprise, right? O.o;;; And yea, that's how you pronounce coan's name. I'm beginning to wonder where I get these names O.o;; oh well ^^ lol don't worry. Next chapter will be long cuz a lot happens there… erk O.o; I thought I caught all of them O.o;; ah sorry about that then ^^;; yep. But only from thaelin's pov, and maybe from coan's… not entirely sure about that yet, but anyway O.o;; thanks for reviewing, I hope you do it again!! ^^
Cathryn M. Guthrie ~ Thanks ^^ I didn't cry so much for magic's price though O.o;;; I guess I was feeling more sentimental through the first book O.o; I'm strange like that :D I'm glad you like this one as much ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
etcetera-cat ~ lol Glad you like Jesalis :D nyeh… thaelin pulls through. He's used to it anyway. He's learnt how to smile through the whole time T.T idiot boy that he is :D lol thanks :D I rather liked the idea myself ^~;;; will update ASAP :D thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^
Tsukinoko ~ He appreciates the concern :D Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
Maischeph-Vanscrilla-Black ~ Glad you liked it :D delighted that it was unexpected :D I was hoping it would be too obvious, but it obviously wasn't as much as I had thought it was, so that's all well and good :D Yea, it's that song :D I'm not entirely sure what it's called off the top of my head, but that's the one ^^ yea… I mutter aloud too… the worst is definitely when you start arguing with yourself XD Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
Fireblade ~ Thanks :D XD = laughing… basically… I think. With closed eyes or something O.o;; kinda the facey-thingy of lol ^~ thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^
Stee ~ lol kylan didn't ask about thaelin, because as far as he knows, thaelin is still beng beaten in the main house. Brynn knows already, but he hasn't told kylan because he's still somewhat a jealous bastard . don't worry though :D kylan finds out soon enough ^^ and yea, this whole story is from thaelin/coan point of view… makes a change O.o;; thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
Risu ~ Thanks ^^ I'm glad you liked it :D Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^
The Golden Dragon ~ Congrats! Although it sucks that the computer is slow :D I've had problems with that in my past XD yea… I'm beginning to get real fond of Cyril, despite myself O.o;; dangit. I hate it when that happens… you try so hard to dislike a perfectly good horrible acting character and then they make you like them. hmph. :D lol. Glad you didn't see it coming :D surprises are always good, right? :D I didn't cry so much the last two LHM books… and I only cried when lan got chosen and when kalira and he died T.T the rest of the time, I was like: "you go boy!! XD" … anyways… lol… thanks for the inspiration.. gonna need it for next chapter, cuz that one's a biggie… ack… anyway, thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^
That's about it…. And in case anyone's wondering, this time frame is directly alongside the end of Murderer's Touch. Basically, the day that Coan wanders into Thaelin's room in this chapter, is the same day that kylan and brynn go out for their ride. Which means thaelin got chosen the evening of kylan's temper tantrum day. Is that clear to anyone but myself or did I ramble complete junk again? XD anyways, read, enjoy, and please review!! ^^
Coan wandered through the Healing House, greeting passing Healers and Trainees with a small smile and a curt nod. Coming to a closed door made him pause, and glance around. A passing Healer noticed.
"You can go in, Coan, but don't expect her to talk to you. She hasn't said anything to anybody yet."
Coan shrugged ever so slightly. "Maybe I can help."
The Healer sighed. "I'm not sure if even your empathy is enough for her, but you can certainly try. If she's sleeping, don't disturb her, no matter what. She's been awake for a few days now, and she needs the rest. Ignore her nightmares; it's better for her than being awake. At least this way, she can start helping herself heal."
Coan gave another acknowledging nod, and opened the door quietly to slip in.
There was a shape huddled under the blankets, and soft, muffled breathing filled the air, deep and even enough to convince Coan that the patient was indeed asleep. He paused on the threshold, and watched for a minute, waiting for any indication that she might be pretending to be asleep. Painful feelings smothered the air around him, and something inside him began to ache dully as a sort of echo, but she was indeed asleep. The force of her nightmares proved it.
The Healer's words reminded him that he wasn't supposed to wake her up, but even so, a pang of utter hysteria made that command a little difficult to remember and obey. He darted out of the room and closed the door behind him quickly and quietly, leaning against it weakly for a moment to catch his breath.
His vision was spiraling dizzily.
:Coan? Are you all right?:
Coan drew in a shaky breath. :Fine,: he returned reassuringly, reciprocating the inquiry with a mental hug. :Aren't you supposed to be busy?:
Faolan quickly responded with a mental snort. :As if.:
Coan bit back laughter and straightened up to walk down the hallway. He stopped outside another closed door a little further down. Glancing around, there appeared to be no Healers within the vicinity, and he eyed the door handle again. :Do you think it's all right?:
Faolan considered it thoughtfully, his thoughts distracted. :So long as you don't wake up the patient, it should be fine.:
Coan didn't bother to reply, merely opening the door quietly. The person sitting on the bed stopped taking, and turned to stare at him inquiringly. The person in the bed merely glared at him.
"Sorry," Coan answered the glare. "Didn't know you had a visitor. Excuse me," and he turned and left the room quickly.
Faolan laughed at him. :Couldn't have been smoother, could you?: the Companion teased.
"Shut up," Coan mumbled, his cheeks heating up slightly. "I didn't mean to."
His Companion merely laughed at him again, an affectionate note in his mental snicker. Coan shook his head blatantly and continued down the hallway, pausing as a Healer left the room in front of him, turning around to call something back in to the room.
The Healer shut the door and saw him. "Coan! Just the person I wanted to see! Your newest Trainee is in here," the Healer gestured to the room he had just left. "And I know he's not telling me something. He's pretending to be fine, but even though my own empathy is small, it can still tell he's feeling anything but fine. Want to give it a try?"
Coan shrugged. "Don't mind. What do you mean, 'my newest trainee'?"
The Healer grinned at him. "Well, not really yours. He's the latest Herald Trainee though, and that means you get him along with the other trainees, right?"
Coan blinked. He hadn't thought the trainees were that obvious about being friendly and helpful to new trainees, but apparently they were. "Sure," he replied slowly.
The Healer winked at him, and pulled open the door, waving him in.
Coan spared one last dubious look for the older man, and walked into the room.
Somebody was standing by the open window, leaning on the windowsill heavily, and arguing in what might have been a playful manner with the Companion standing outside. He looked to be in rather bad condition, but Coan knew that that was rather a given, what with this being the healing house and all. The other boy was wearing the standard nightclothes for the House of Healing, but Coan could see bandages wrapped around the boy's otherwise bare legs, and his arms were rather heavily bandaged as well.
The other boy turned around quickly, his face freezing in a wary, but somehow unsuspecting mask. Coan blinked at him. The patient had dark black hair, with slightly reddish tints to the light highlights, and his face was black and blue and some sort of sickly yellow.
Coan stepped forward a step. "I'm Coan," he offered quietly, his empathy letting him know exactly how unsure the boy was feeling. "I'm a Herald Trainee too. I sometimes work here because my Gift helps some people a lot. Who are you?"
The other boy opened his mouth to speak, and Coan noticed his jaw. It was bruised more than the rest of his face, and was slightly disfigured, but in a way that showed it was healing slowly. Coan looked at it, and felt a wave of sympathy creep up from somewhere, but he quickly repressed the feeling. There was a lot of people hurt worse than this boy in this very building.
"Thaelin," the other boy croaked out. "M'name's Thaelin. Are you really a Herald Trainee?"
"Yea," Coan replied hesitantly, still eyeing the jaw. "How'd you get hurt?"
Thaelin grinned. "Nothing special, I'm afraid."
:How can he grin like that?: Coan asked Faolin, troubled. :I can Feel him hurting.:
Out loud, he offered a small smile and said, "Hope you're doing better then. Anything you want to ask about Heralds?"
:I don't know, Coan. I could ask his Companion, but that's not really polite.:
Thaelin looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned his head over his shoulder to stare at his Companion. "Don't know," the black haired boy mumbled quietly.
Coan blinked and smiled again, this time directing it at the Companion. "Heyla, Jesalis. Didn't know you had Chosen."
Jesalis snorted and bobbed her head, her eyes gleaming mischievously, and Thaelin turned again to blink at him. "How'd you know it was her?"
:I suppose it's not. Especially if Jesalis feels it's prying.:
Coan shrugged, letting his smile grow to a grin as he replied to both Faolan and Thaelin. "Most Trainees know all the Companions if they've been here long enough. Obviously the first one you recognize on sight is your own, but you eventually place names to the others."
Jesalis shook her head and whickered, and Thaelin leaned back against the wall, shaking his own head. "I don't think I can do this," he said quietly, to himself, before looking back up at Coan with another grin.
Coan tilted his head thoughtfully, making his face blank. "You don't really have a choice. Would you really give up Jesalis though?"
A thrill of panic raced through the air and made Coan shiver slightly. Who was this boy?
"Never," Thaelin, responded quietly, and smiled a smile that looked tender despite the wide array of unnatural colours on his face.
Coan sensed his presence was not needed that much anymore, and smiled in return, inclining his head. "I'll be around if you want to talk to me again. See you later,"
Thaelin nodded blissfully, his attention already fully occupied by his Companion who had stuck her head through the window.
Coan smiled genuinely at the sight, and turned and walked out, shutting the door behind him.
:All right, Chosen?:
"Fine," Coan replied shortly. "Quit meddling," he added, teasingly.
Faolan sent through exasperation. :Don't be such a spoilsport, little love. I'll worry when I want.:
"Right," Coan mumbled, and hid a grin.
When he sat down to lunch later on, he noticed another trainee staring at him. It annoyed him, and made him slightly nervous, so he ignored it as best he could, and continued eating.
To his somewhat irritated surprise, she didn't stop staring, although he had no idea why she had started in the first place. His eyes were too dark a brown to be attractive, looking like hollow tunnels when he glanced in the mirror, and his hair was too plain a brown to be considered eye-catching. He was too thin, and while he wasn't short, he wasn't nearly tall enough in his opinion.
Faolan snorted in his mind. :Don't be ridiculous, Coan. You're not that bad looking.:
Coan was hard pressed not to snort back. He scowled instead, unconsciously directing it at the girl, who flushed and looked away. He blinked; slightly surprised before he realized whom he had scowled at, then shrugged mentally.
Faolan grumbled into his mind. :You could have given her a chance, Chosen. How could you hate being lonely and still never do a thing about it?:
Coan shrugged, and swallowed another mouthful. "Dunno," he answered, as nonchalantly as he could.
He Felt Faolan's annoyance, and cut the Companion off before Faolan could put it into words. :Yes, all right, I know, I can't drown myself in self pity if I make no move to help myself, stuff like that. You've told me all this before, Faolan.:
:Then why don't you do something about it?: His Companion countered, sounding piqued.
Coan shrugged again. "Dunno," he said aloud.
Faolan didn't reply.
After lunch, because he wasn't doing any chores today, he wandered off down to the Companion's Field, to idle the time away with Faolan. His Companion was waiting for him by the fence, cropping the grass to keep busy, but he stopped when Coan approached.
:Anything special to do today Coan?:
Coan shook his head slowly and climbed on top the fence to sit there, perched steadily with his feet hooked around one of the lower planks of wood. "Don't think so. Have a class later, but that's not for a candlemark or so."
:Good.: Faolan lowered his neck a little and lifted his head so he was staring up at Coan. His sky blue eyes glinted playfully. :Want to go for a ride?:
Coan couldn't help laughing at the wistfully hopeful and playful expression in his Companion's eyes. "With you? Always," he grinned.
Faolan shook his head, nickering. :Glad to hear it, Chosen. Glad to hear it.:
"Ah," Coan teased, climbing easily from the fence to Faolan's back. "But did you ever really have any doubt?"
Faolan looked back at him with one eye, his expression suddenly gleefully loving. :Never, Coan. No doubt what so ever.:
Coan felt a lump begin to generate in his throat, and he cleared it, smiling somewhat sunnily back at his Companion. "Thank you," he whispered quietly, knowing Faolan would hear no matter how quietly he said it.
Faolan cocked his ears back slightly. :It's my pleasure, Coan. Now all we need to do is get over your problem with other people, and we'll never have any trouble.:
It was only the still teasing note in Faolan's mind voice as he said this last, that prevented Coan from becoming all sullen. But then, maybe it was more than that.
Faolan whickered back a laugh at him. :Lighten up, Coan. Life's not all that bad, is it?:
Coan didn't answer, thinking it over honestly. Faolan took this as a good sign and began to move, quickly starting to canter once he felt Coan begin to realize things.
"You did that on purpose," Coan said, his words whipped away by the wind they were creating. But he still knew Faolan heard.
:Of course I did.: Faolan retorted. :It wouldn't be fun if I had to figure everything out for you then argue with you until you agreed I was right.:
Coan sighed, and leant forward slightly, ducking so as not to be so wind resistant. "All right then. I agree. I'm an idiot."
:Have any ideas about how to stop then?:
"Not yet," Coan admitted.
:Well, you've realized it, at least. That's the first step, admitting it.:
"Only for you, Faolan. Only for you."
There was silence for a moment, and then Faolan sped up into a gallop, racing around the perimeter. :I'd rather it was for yourself, Coan. It should be for yourself.:
Coan merely shrugged and bent lower, ducking his face into his Companion's flying, wind tossed mane.