"In a cup of Tea"

by Shelly Webster and Arsen Dalavaccio

Disclaimer: We don't own Escaflowne. There's also a quote from The Princess Bride, which we also do not own.

A/N: Oh. I suppose some of you are wondering about Sei. Sei is in his mid-forties. Heh…Flowers are people too! Oh! Just a quick plug! Folken refers to his journal here. Arsen is posting it as a story called "I see Said the Blind Man" under the author's name Lady Thompson. Anyhow, it's very good and well-written. Kudos to D. Oh! Most vitally, we must invite you to our Escaflowne forum. We have a nice RPG going which we're sort of restarting, meaning most characters are up for grabs. The link is listed as my homepage in my bio.

Shout-outs:

Sakura Shinguji-Albatou: We...the philosophy isn't present so much always. But enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 6

The Reversal

Folken walked back into the infirmary. "Have you had enough time alone?"

"You were the one wanting to be alone." The older man snuck the kerchief into his pocket. The dark blue square had stayed in his hand the entire time Folken was gone.

"You were the one crying."

"I did not ask you to leave."

"You didn't have to."

Sei changed the subject. "I read some of your stories. Do you write anymore, other than for files and reports?"

"No. Well...I do keep the journal."

"A journal? Of what?"

"Of my experiences and observances."

"That sounds interesting."

"Quite." Folken's tone showed this wasn't open for discussion.

"Would you like me to show you how to make tea now?"

"Yes, I would . Would you care to show me how to make tea?"

"Come to the kitchen area." Sei raised the cover off the stove.

Folken approached, a pen and notepad in his hands.

"You don't want it too hot." The doctor set the heat at a midrange, filled the teakettle with water and set it on the burner. They stood in silence for a moment waiting for the kettle to heat. The water boiled, so Sei poured some into the pot. "You have to heat the pot before you use it, otherwise the tea isn't as good or strong."

Folken took notes on what Sei did.

Sei swirled the water then dumped it in the sink. "Then you refill it." He did so, got out his tea strainer and filled it loosely with the tea leaves. "Don't pack it too loose or there's not enough to flavour the water, but too much and the flavour can't get out into the water." He placed the strainer in the tea. "Then you let it steep for about 3 minutes, usually." The three minutes passed in silence. Sei removed the strainer. "You put the milk in the cups before the tea, or the milk gets scalded." Sei did so. "And then the sugar, and it's ready."

Folken, being quick about taking notes, had time to make sketches as well. "Easy enough."

The physician handed Folken a cup of tea. Sei sipped the tea.

Folken drank the tea and slipped into his instant reverie.

Sei watched, faintly smiling. At least I can give him this.

Folken set the tea down at the table before taking his chair.

Sei sat as well.

Folken went over his notes. He laid them down on the table one by one, which afforded Sei a chance to see them and the lovely pictures.

"I didn't know you could draw so well, especially so casually."

"I draw accurately." He took out a sheet of paper. He drew a picture of Sei. A very detailed sketch. He handed it back to Sei. He then drew a portrait of the two. He drew one where Dilandau was lying on a hospital cot, asleep and Sei was sitting next to him, hunched over.

Sei smiled and looked at the sketches. "Most artists try to hide the flaws of the people they draw. You didn't."

"I see no need to hide the flaws of others. They know them already, so what would be the point?" He idly sketched a flower.

"This is true. It's mainly vanity that causes people to hide flaws, but it rarely works. I like your drawings."

"As far as I know, it is protection to hide flaws."

"Not all flaws."

"And what flaws would those be?"

"Appearance. If I tried to hide my age, you would not think me younger, would you?"

"I would know better. I know you're an old, old, old man." He smirked.

Sei frowned. "Not that old." He was in his mid-forties, his hair barely beginning to turn grey.

"If you were a soldier, you'd have switched to instructing people like me by now."

"I'm not a soldier."

"No, you're not. Neither am I." Folken stared at his arm.

"I'm perhaps twice your age, and you're rather young." The doctor could say this, but he was not convincing even himself that their age-gap wasn't too large.

"Yes." He contemplated what might have been.

"So I am not old old old. And stop thinking you are."

"I don't think I'm old!"

"Oh?"

"If I were old, I'd be decrepit."

"Who else dies but the old?"

"The young."

Sei didn't smile at the smart-ass reply. "Those who have lived enough, you might say. Which is age. Age is more than the physical."

"In that respect, I'm quite old."

"So you think. But you shouldn't be older than I am."

"If we are talking in terms of mental age, I could be."

"Perhaps, but not by much."

A moment of silence followed in which Sei looked at the diagrams in the notes. "Making tea isn't an exact science; that might be where your trouble is coming from."

"Oh? Perhaps."

"You drew the angles I used. That's not necessary."

I know that. I like angles." He drew a few more out.

"Ah. Were you ever interested in architecture?"

"No, not really. I don't care for building structures."

"Ah. I'm surprised. With all the art and the angles in building..." Sei didn't really know what else to say on it.

"Yes. But there is no art in the buildings of Zaibach."

"I know. You have seen other buildings."

"I have. The buildings of Fanelia were quite beautiful."

"Were..." Sei's voice was a whisper. He sipped his tea. After a moment, he spoke again, louder. "You're quiet today."

"I have much on my mind, as always." Folken sipped the tea.

"Such as...?"

He looked over at Sei. "It is none of your concern."

"Ah." Not ready to push it, Sei sipped his tea instead.

"You've…" He sighed, deciding against sharing his thought, instead sipping the drink some more.

"Hmm?" Sei raised his eyebrows, signaling that Folken was going to have to say something.

"Where have you been, besides Daedalus and Zaibach?"

"I was trained for a time in Asturia, but that's about it. I never was interested in traveling."

"Never? Well, have you ever seen the mountains, perchance? Gotten lost in the woods? You said you were in Asturia. Did you see the ocean?"

"Not very lost, but I have been in woods. I have seen the ocean, though I prefer lakes."

"Lakes are beautiful." Folken seemed a bit awkward at discussing something so completely unrelated to anything Zaibach. But he did miss it, miss nature. He just wanted to hear about things like that. He rarely left the ships nowadays, even when he was given time for leave.

"Yes. I grew up on a lake. My father and his father were fishers. There were woods nearby, but with many clearings."

"You must've enjoyed yourself there."

Sei smiled a tad wistfully. "I did. Though my mother always said she was surprised I didn't drown, I swam so much."

"I've never swum before, myself."

"Really? That's unfortunate." Sei wished he could share such a free, natural activity with Folken, but the Vione was not equipped and he doubted Folken would attempt it if it meant leaving the airship.

"Never really had the time."

"It's very calming."

"When I was younger, if I had free time, I was always running about in the woods with my brother. Or just playing around near the palace." Folken smiled sadly, remembering his brother.

"Did you ever help tend the gardens? I'm just wondering how you got interested in botany."

"There were many beastmen in our woods and in Fanelia. I used to enjoy talking with them. They taught me what I know. The catgirls were particularly kind to me." His mother would tease about their kindness, but he usually just shrugged her confusing comments off.

"Ah. Grandmother always said the beastpeople are very intelligent. Sadly, none lived near us."

"They were easier to talk to than any of the 'humans,' that's for certain. They knew what it was like to be considered different." He bowed his head. Folken's biracial status was not something he had discussed deeply with Sei.

Sei put a hand on his shoulder.

Folken always tried to not let the hatred get to him. But something in him still wanted to yell, 'Why the hell do they all hate me!' Because of that discrimination, he had grown to believe that everyone would hate him anyway. So he didn't try to be kind anymore as time wore on.

"Did no one else try to see the person behind the wings?"

"My family...the beastmen. That's it."

"I am sorry. No wonder you have kept to yourself."

"They always said that to be a Draconian is to be cursed. That certainly was a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"They also say that beastpeople are, well, beasts. Cruel and violent."

"Which is not true. Mankind has always been known for its excessive violence. It isn't necessary. I want nothing more than to end it." He sounded firmly resolute.

Sei's answer was also firm. "I do not believe mankind wants to remove the violence. I do not believe it will happen."

Folken shut his eyes. "They will." He laughed. "Oh, so now you're the one without hope?"

"We have different hopes. Yours are so high that they mean nothing."

"Hmph. And a short while ago, you were crying because you would've given anything if I had some form of hope."

"Different hopes. I meant the kind of hope that gives you the will to live."

Folken was left speechless once more. He hated how Sei was the only one who seemed to make the words he was so skilled with vanish completely.

"You never lacked the hope that man will no longer be violent. But it's not enough."

"I don't want the hope to live, Sei. I don't want it."

Sei's sorrow clearly showed on his face in the moment before he put his head in his hands.

Folken leaned his forehead against his metal arm.

"What's wrong with living?"

"What isn't?"

Sei sighed. "...What do I have to say to get you to even think about any alternative?"

"I have no idea." He laughed again. "If you could tell me that everything was going to be alright for a change and back it up with proof, then I might."

Sei frowned. It seemed that was all he had been doing with Folken. "You don't seem to take any proof I ever offer."

"That's because it isn't absolute, therefore it cannot be trusted."

"Nothing is absolute." His hands dropped onto the table. "You've been in science for too long."

"I have not."

"Do you have proof?" He smiled, glad he had a chance to turn that idea against the Strategos.

Folken was not giving an answer. Sei sipped the tea as he waited for an answer or admission that Folken had been blanketing too much.

"Why would I need proof for that? You're the one who needs to learn to offer it." He knew that he wasn't being fair about it, but didn't care at the moment.

"You can't have it both ways. Either we both need proof, or neither needs it."

"Oh, be quiet!"

Sei smiled at the other man's snap, sipping his tea. The look on his face was almost more annoying than anything he could be saying.

Folken stared at him. He leaned in very close to the doctor, almost touching his face. "Don't be so smug."

Sei just barely smirked, not being accustomed to doing so. He still said nothing.

"I don't have to offer proof because I am in charge."

Sei leaned forward a tiny bit, not having much room to do so. "Oh really? I don't think so." Sei wasn't sure if either of them could make such a claim, because he wasn't certain he was even in charge of his own actions still.

"Well, I don't care if you don't think so. Because that's the way it is." Folken did realize how foolish his arguments were now, but didn't care. He was just fooling around now. He leaned back in his chair, sipping tea.

Sei also leaned back, knowing Folken knew he hadn't won that.

Folken glanced over at him a few times, wanting to start another argument.

Sei raised an eyebrows inquiringly.

The taller man took a sip. He then turned to Sei again. "I've got a question for you. A good one. You ready?"

"As always." Sei took another sip of his tea.

"Love. What do you really think of it?" He stared at the older man. He looked very determined.

Sei's expression showed nothing but surprise. "Love?"

"Yes." He smirked. "We might as well discuss something neither of us knows anything about. That'll make us equal." He was as perky as he could be, though few people would guess it from looking.

Sei smiled. "As you wish." He took a moment to try to find a good thought on love to start with. "Love...It is something not many are lucky enough to find, but I do believe in it."

Folken sipped his herbal drink. "Oh really? And you haven't been lucky enough to find it."

"Yes. Don't you believe in it?"

"Me? Not particularly. I think it is a wonderful dream. Nothing more."

"What about your parents?"

"What about them?"

"You said that from what you saw, they were in love."

"From what I saw, yes."

"How do you define love? That might be a good place to start."

"Love is an emotion which binds one person to another, at minimum. Given the right circumstances, it can cause great problems which may or may not conflict with certain loyalties." The Strategos basically quoted the Zaibach Standard Dictionary's definition to the term.

"I disagree." Sei shook his head.

"Do you?" Folken was anything but surprised.

"It is a new loyalty, yes, but a loving relationship is hard to develop if loyalties are crossed."

"And loyalty is always a difficult thing to keep within one's control."

"Is it?"

"Of course. It is difficult to stay with one thing or another."

"Says you, who have served Zaibach how long now?"

"Ten years."

"Was that difficult, or are you going to tell me that this is different?"

"What do you mean?"

"To stay with Zaibach that long, was it difficult?"

Folken used the corners of his eyes to look away from Sei. He sipped more tea. "In what way?" He decided to try another arguing technique.

"You were loyal and devoted for 10 years. You seem to have had that very well in control."

"Yes, I suppose I did." Lies were easier than admissions of one's failings.

"Never mind... I believe we were talking about what love is...It's caring about someone, even if it hurts, caring even when they make you cry; wanting to know them and all about them." He didn't realize he had described how he behaves with Folken.

Folken smirked. He had the realization which had not hit Sei. "Interesting description. "Is that a tell-tale sign, would you say? Someone who displays that sort of behavior...would you say they are, most likely, in love?"

"Most likely, yes. One doesn't care about enemies like that." He sipped his tea peacefully, unaware of the path he was trotting down.

Folken laughed openly, smiling more than usual.

"What is so amusing?" He still sipped the tea.

Folken leaned close to him like before. "Do you have something you need to tell me?"

Sei half-choked on the tea. "I beg your pardon?"

"You did say someone is in love whenever they act like that, right?"

"Most likely, yes."

The Strategos grinned, a smirking, satisfied look in his eyes. "Sei, might I ask you to try and describe how you've been dealing with me for these past few days? With my 'stubbornness' as you call it."

The physician blushed, covering his face with his hands. "I said most likely. It does not always mean the person is in love."

"Of course not. But...are you? Perchance?"

Sei's answer was carefully worded. "I care about you. I'm too old for love."

Folken nodded. "Of course." The smirk did not leave his face, even as he sat back in his chair, sipping tea.

"And you ask because why?"

Folken blinked. "Mere curiosity." He returned to sipping his tea without making eye-contact.

"Ah." The doctor sipped his tea, trying not to hope or assume. "Curiosity? Why?"

The philosophical man stopped smiling so much. "Because I am a naturally curious person."

Sei raised his eyebrows. "Somehow I think that's not entirely it."

Folken stopped smiling entirely, his eyes growing wide. "Oh, now... Wait a minute! Are you suggesting I asked because I was hoping for a certain answer?"

Sei coughed. "Just commenting that you don't seem overly curious about things like this generally. But now that you mention it, were you? Would it make any difference if someone were in love with you?"

"I..." Well, seeing as he'd felt himself hated his whole life, he would like to hear that someone didn't for a change. And love is the complete opposite of it.

Sei knew the truth that Folken was thinking. He leaned forward. "Is that what you want, to find love?"

Folken backed away into the chair. "I don't know."

Sei leaned in a little closer. "Ah."

Folken stared at him. There was a bit of lost in his eyes.

Sei stayed there for a moment, bare inches from Folken, looking at his face and in his reddish-brown eyes.

Folken couldn't look away. He was surprised Sei was brave enough to do that.

Sei finally sat back. "Now, what were we talking about?" Outwardly, he was perfectly calm, almost like how Folken usually was.

Folken would like very much to blink, but he still couldn't, so shocked was he at Sei's behavior and their role-reversal.

Sei sipped his tea again. "What? You can't think you're the only one who gets to do things like that."

He slowly looks over at Sei, his eyes shifting from where Sei had been moments before. He then shook his head, blinking rapidly several times, and drank the rest of his tea.

Sei smiled and sipped his own tea.

He stared back over at Sei.

Sei raised his eyebrows.

Folken blinked, remaining at a complete and utter loss for words. It wasn't so much what Sei did as what he was saying while he did it. He mulled it over in his head. Love... He'd never considered it. Not that kind, anyway.

"But you don't believe in love, do you?"

"Do I...I never said I didn't. I said I didn't know..." He looked very confused. Folken glanced over at Sei out of the corner of his eyes.

"And?"

As per his usual behavior, the younger man rose from the table and walked out the door. Folken hurried to his quarters. He leaned against a wall. What the hell am I doing!

Back in the infirmary, Sei rested his head back in his hands. What the hell was going on! Even if he had known that Folken was thinking basically the same thing, he would not have been reassured.

Folken let his head land against the wall with a thunk. Love...why did I bring that topic up? I don't know anything about love! He squeezed his eyes shut, but could not block out the chaotic thoughts he needed to sort on the matter. He thought about it for hours. But Sei suggested… He pondered for a moment. He had never considered it, but... He was so lonely, wasn't he? Wasn't that something that bothered him to no end? And he'd been going to Sei so often...compelled to go see him... He didn't know if he was in love with Sei or not, but..well...there was no one on the Vione that he could possibly get close to like that.

Back in the infirmary, Sei had no idea that his words had actually provoked deep thought on Folken's part. Instead, he focused on his own confusion. He'll probably never come back now...Gaea! What was I even saying? Why? Sei did feel this bond, this connection to Folken, but love? He had never considered other men really as prospects, let alone someone like Folken. But then, there really isn't anyone like him… Sei blinked. Thoughts like that were not a good sign when he knew he had just driven the subject of them out of his life forever.