5. Accumula Hotel
Ghetsis retired to his room as soon as we returned to the hotel. Idle chatter returned at our Sage's departure, and by dinner the incident was mostly forgotten. Wilhelm spared me a sympathetic glance occasionally, but I was not very receptive. Although the others spoke highly of the food, I couldn't bring myself to eat. Instead I excused myself and went up to our room. As I climbed the stairs to the upper story, whispers followed from the dining room.
"...stupid. To think he could really..."
"...has balls, seriously. Would you...?"
"...reason I'm still alive..."
"...has a point, though..."
"Enough."
That was Wilhelm. Trust him to end rumors and speculation. He was probably citing a quote from Ghetsis at this moment. I didn't linger to hear it. I'd heard enough from the divine Sage today.
"Damn it!" I hissed.
I punched my fist into the wall. It hurt. It hurt a lot more than I remembered. In my former life, I had often hit things in frustration. I had been rougher, tougher, and meaner back then. Now, though, all those vaguely remembered faces and deadlines paled in comparison to what I'd lost this time. Because of my stupidity, I had lost Ghetsis' instruction. Anger and humiliation had been my driving emotions during the walk back, but after Ghetsis had left and I was able to sit down and relive every painful, frightening moment, I realized what I had really lost. Ghetsis was no longer amused by me. That thought sparked its own bit of righteous indignation. My pride tattered and bruised as it was, chafed at the thought of being nothing more than some other man's entertainment. In my former life, if any man had spoken to me like that, touched me like that, I would have knocked him flat on his ass, with my pokémon or my fists. Even now, I could hardly believe that I had stood there and allowed him to blister me like that. Hadn't he encouraged me to ask questions? Hadn't he said it was the Sages' duty to instruct us all? If that was the case, why did he turn on me? Why did he cast me out?
Even as I thought this, I knew what had happened. It was my tone, it was my posture, it was my aggressive, angry, incendiary method of speaking that turned a question into a challenge. A challenge that he could not back down from. A challenge he answered.
"Rex?" Wilhelm asked.
He startled me and I looked up from the doorknob in panic. I wasn't sure how long that I had been staring at it, or how I had gotten here. Looking at it, I wasn't even sure this was the right room.
"He was rough with you," Wilhelm said. He placed his hand on my shoulder in a solid manner. He was careful to avoid the little crescents bruises that Ghetsis had left. "He can be that way sometimes."
I could not bring myself to look at him and to see the sympathy that he offered me. To lose such a precious chance at a new life over something as foolish as misplaced pride! I did not deserve pity, I needed condemnation.
Wilhelm let his hand fall from my shoulder. He must have sensed my mindset.
"Our honored Sage would like to speak with you privately," he said in his normal bland tone. "If you will follow me, I'll take you to him."
I felt fear coil in my stomach. Wilhelm watched me implacably. I entertained the notion to tell his honored Saglyness to pick feathers off a bridge, but that was the fear talking. In the end, I nodded. There was nothing else I could do.
Our Sage's room was a little ways off from our own. It was a little larger than ours, but its true luxury was the steaming private bath. This little hotel was built in the true Hoenn style, with the common bathing rooms. I was an Unovan, born and bred, and could never quite get used to the concept. I was by no means shy, but there were somethings a man had to do in private!
Apparently there were some concessions to the Unovan mindset. I glanced at the water apprehensively. This was beginning to feel like one of those movies where the undercover agent is brought before the evil overlord for casual interrogation before the real torture starts. I had never been impressed by those movies before, but I was beginning to wish I'd seen more of them. When Ghetsis appeared out of a side room, I was relieved to see that he was still dressed in his usual robes. There were few things more awkward than talking to a man while he is in the bath. In my former line of work, I'd met Kantens, Johtens, Sinnish, and Hoennians, all who had considered it perfectly normal and an acceptable way to conduct business. Only we Unovans and the Kalosians held to our private showers, although Kalosians were as a rule up for anything...
I was very glad that Ghetsis was an Unovian.
"Your announcement left something to be desired," Ghetsis said testily.
"Yes Lord Ghetsis," Wilhelm said.
Ghetsis looked like he wanted to say something more, but Wilhelm's stoic expression never faltered. Ghetsis regarded Wilhelm a little longer before waving him away.
"That will be all, Wilhelm. You can take the rest of the night off. Rex will attend me instead," he said.
I swallowed unpleasantly. We all knew Wilhelm acted as Ghetsis' batman, but aside from giggling jokes and suggestions between Zarah and Candice, no one else had ever wanted to do it. Attend him? After today?
I looked in mute appeal to Wilhelm, but his gaze was fixed at some point over Ghetsis' shoulder.
"Yes Lord Ghetsis, thank you Lord Ghetsis," he said. He bowed slightly and left. Quickly and without a word. I suddenly wished I had accepted his sympathy earlier. I was not sure I was ready for condemnation.
"Come," Ghetsis said briskly, summoning me with a word and a impatient gesture.
I followed him into the room he had previously left. My steps were heavy and slow, weighed down by the nervous dread that held my mind in its talons. What was this? What punishment could he only dole out in private, here in this isolated hotel room?
He returned to the room he had only so recently left. It was the bedroom, appointed in typical hotel room style with a large bed. The decor was vaguely Hoennian, but the scroll painting put me more in the mind of Johto. The closet door was open and inside hung several of Ghetsis' heavy robes, all identical. A plush black bathrobe lay neatly folded next to standard stark white hotel towels on the bed.
"Unlace the back," Ghetsis prompted.
I stared at the Sage in confusion tinged with panic. Unlace what? Ghetsis' impatient expression hardened. I saw words form on his lips and malicious intent in his eye.
"Rex..." Never had anyone said my name so patronizingly. Even in my fear and self-loathing, I bristled. At this point I had nothing left to lose. They could hardly kick me out of Team Plasma. Even if they did, I would follow Lord N. As a civilian, I would probably see more of him than I saw now...
Ghetsis sighed. He presented his back to me and swept his hair over his shoulders. The odd leather shoulder guard laced up is several places in the back, I saw now. Normally they were well hidden by Ghetsis' hair, but now... I started in the center and loosened the first knot, tugging the reluctant cord back through tiny grommets.
"Gently, gently," Ghetsis cautioned.
I slowed and focused more on teasing the cord out. It took longer, but it was steady work that focused the mind. Ghetsis relaxed as the cord slipped free. I watched the tight tension leave his shoulders. He remained perfectly still until I finished, then he lifted the collar over his head and laid it down on the bed. It caused quite a depression in the soft comforter and even the mattress creaked. While Ghetsis undid the bright outer robe, I gave into curiosity and pushed the collar-piece experimentally. It was nothing I could not lift, but it was heavy enough that I wondered why anyone would wear it. It would take some strength to carry this around all day.
I turned an appraising eye on Ghetsis. Until now, I had only thought his voice was strong. I was wrong. The garish outer robe lay draped across a chair, and Ghetsis was already shrugging out of the white under robe. Although no triathlete, Ghetsis was not unfit. He spread his arms casually and I watched the play of muscle in them. Ghetsis and I were about the same height, and in my prime I would have put him to shame. Blazing Kyurim, I was probably still stronger than him; however, his personality and those robes he wore made him seem so much larger, even if they hid his physical strength. Damn, and he'd always struck me as a weak academic type.
"My robe, Rex," Ghetsis chided.
I flushed and grabbed it off the bed. I offered it to him and he met my eyes with a questioning quirk of his eyebrows. He lowered his arms and took the proffered robe. Too late I realized that I was supposed to put it on him. I gritted my teeth. I should not have to feel stupid over that. His Saglyness could don his own bathrobe...
"My tea set is on the table in the other room," Ghetsis said. "Do you know how to prepare tea?"
I shook my head. For most of my life, I had survived on water and coffee. Tea was something one drank at business meetings, and it came in bags. The Tea Ceremony was a Kanten thing. I had never learned it.
"Then you must learn. It is useful skill, and a relaxing one. Come with me," he said.
I followed him warily. His tone had been brisk, but kind. I did not trust these quick mood swings of his. A pleasant Ghetsis seemed only to mask darker emotions that it did not serve his purpose to show. Besides, he was no longer interested in me. Why would he teach me anything?
Ghetsis settled into an arm chair by his tea set. He ghosted his fingers over the pot. For a moment his controlled, regal look faltered. He looked softer for a moment. When he looked back at me, the softness was gone.
I had remained in the threshold. I wanted to gage his mood. I needed to know what I was dealing with. He looked annoyed. I did not like the way that made me feel almost ill. Never in my old life had anyone cowed me so. Ghetsis made me afraid, and I did not understand why!
"Come here Rex," Ghetsis said.
He motioned to me and, like a trained growlithe, I left the door and approached him.
"We will start from the beginning," Ghetsis said. "This task is simple, so I will not demonstrate. Instead, I will provide instruction. You will listen to what I say. If you understand, you will nod. You will then do as I have instructed. You will not speak. This is a time for quiet introspection. Do you understand?"
I nodded. I didn't much feel like talking anyway.
"In the fridge, you will find a carafe of water. Bring it here, and be careful to keep it still," Ghetsis said.
I turned toward the fridge, but Ghetsis' chiding "Rex," brought me up short. I felt my stare hardening into a glare. Really? He was going to insist on that?
"Do you understand?" Ghetsis asked.
I considered telling him that I did and then informing him that I didn't give a pretty wing. I really did, what game was this? What was he playing at?
"Haven't you humiliated me enough?" I asked. "What do you want now?"
Ghetsis' brows drew together and I waited for the anger that would have to come. Ghetsis looked at me and said nothing. The silence filled the room, words being replaced instead by gaze. His spoke authority and reproach, mine hurt and confusion. Even in my anger, though, I could not help but be conscious of our positions. I had been in the wrong, even if he had no right to forbid me from speaking.
I looked away and nodded. I fetched the water.
"Do not jostle it. As in everything, the purer the components the better the brew," Ghetsis continued, as if nothing had happened. "Pour it into the kettle on the counter and then turn the switch near the base. When you are finished, sit there," he indicated the seat on the other side of the tea set.
I nodded. The kettle was a little electric water heater that was already plugged into the wall. I poured the water into it and then flipped the switch that set it to heating. All of this seemed rather anticlimactic so far. The Tea Ceremony I'd been picturing had bowls and whisks in it and required elegant movements. It was easy to picture Ghetsis doing something like that. As I made my way over to the other arm chair, I looked at my own hands. They were softer now than they used to be, but it was hard to imagine my thick, blunt fingers ever being delicate enough for that kind of task. Ghetsis' fingers were long and beautiful, perfectly suited to things like tea and both grand and subtle gestures. I couldn't even picture the man holding a hammer or using a power tool. It wouldn't look right if he did.
"It is understandable that you are confused," Ghetsis said. I straightened self-consciously, my train of thought broken. I hadn't realized that I'd been staring.
"I realize that I hurt you today and I admit that it was my intention to shame you in front of the others. I am not ashamed, because you forced my hand," Ghetsis said.
I scowled, but I had figured as much myself. It still hurt that Ghetsis wasn't even a little repentant.
"Do you understand why I had to?" Ghetsis asked.
I grit my teeth, but relaxed with a sigh. I gave a slow nod. Ghetsis mirrored my movement with an approving half-smile.
"Good. It was N that set you off, I expect. I can't say that your vehemence was unexpected. Your loyalty to him is admirable; however, again, it is not cause to persecute your teammates or, in this case, your sage. As much as I admire your spirit, temper your anger. Use it to fuel your conviction. In the harsh glare of others' anger, your conviction must always burn brightest or you will falter. This does not mean you won't fail at times, but you cannot allow yourself to lose sight of your purpose. If you do, then you are truly lost," he said.
He clenched his hand. His tone was the same as it was when he talked to me on the road. Candid. Earnest, as if he were trying to teach me again. I listened quietly. So he had seen N. I had a mind to ask why he had said nothing, but at this point it was easier just to listen.
"Do you remember what I told you earlier today, about earnestness and conviction?" Ghetsis asked. I nodded.
"I told you they were important, although I did not explain why. Do you know how people perceive you, Rex?"
I opened my mouth, but closed it again when Ghetsis open look hardened. My anger flared for a moment at this continued censorship on my speech. Why should I suffer this indignity? How was I supposed to tell him how people perceived me when I wasn't allowed speech! This foolish silence he insisted on... If he would let me I'd tell him...
What?
It was then I realized that I did not know. I could tell him how I perceived myself, but that wasn't the question. How could I know what others thought of me? It was not possible.
I shook my head.
"You are a proud man, Rex. You show it in dozens of way. I see it in the set of your face; I hear it in the tone of your voice. Your teammates witness it daily through your aloof, condescending interactions with them. You do not see them as equals, you do not treat them as such," Ghetsis said.
I flushed and looked down. It was true. I had never thought highly of the kids. Even now, it was hard to think of myself on their level. I found myself remembering Wilhelm and the sympathy he'd offered. I hadn't accepted it because I hadn't thought I deserved it, or could it be because I didn't want anyone's pity? My eyes stung. Ghetsis' blunt summarization hurt.
"You are haughty to others outside the team as well. You are proud of your truth, and you are not afraid of its consequences. That is why you are frustrated by what you don't understand, and it is something to be admired. To be proud of something isn't bad, Rex," Ghetsis said so gently that a tear actually escaped my eye. I dared not wipe it away or look at the sage. Either would call attention to my weakness.
"Even now your pride shows, but alongside it is your weakness. You've been broken as only a proud man can be. In a moment, everything you believed in shattered. Although it is less obvious, I see that too. In your hesitance and your eyes, I see you use your pride, the broken shade of your former self, as a shield."
"Rex," his voice was coaxing and comforting, but my tears were falling more freely now. I couldn't look at him. I couldn't let him see me now.
"Rex," he said again, but this time his kindness was accompanied by two gentle hands on my shoulders and the sage himself kneeling down at the foot of my chair. His face was blurry, but the sympathy he offered was written there plainly. It was too much. With a ragged sob, I broke down and covered my face with my hands.
"Rex," Ghetsis said again. He tugged gently on my shoulders. That was all it took. I slid off the chair and rested my forehead in the crock of his neck. Ghetsis' arms went around me, and he stroked my hair in a comforting manner. This gentleness just caused me to cry harder. The sage held me close and whispered soft words.
"Hush, it's alright. Let it out, bare yourself. You must, if you wish to come to terms with yourself. You are safe here, so don't hide. I will not judge you, I will not condemn. Only you can decide what you feel, but you have to let yourself feel it first. Shh, it's alright. I know it hurts. Rex, don't hold back. Free yourself. Can you feel it?"
I nodded and clenched him harder.
"I'm sorry," I panted out. "I... I don't understand!"
"I know, I know," Ghetsis soothed. "I'm not asking you to."
"But I should! It's so simple, everything is so simple!" I said.
"Is it? Is it really? Rex, you're trying to understand a completely new mindset, one that is anathema to everything that the entire world has held common for centuries. It is anything but simple! Don't be so harsh with yourself. Just relax. Shh..."
That was the end of any real conversation. I sobbed and Ghetsis' soft words no longer sliced but comforted. The gentle rise and fall of the sage's chest and the rythmatic way he stroked my head steadied and accepted my weakness, gently soothing my fears and worries. Even his scent was comforting. My sobs subsided slowly into coughs and hiccups. My tears no longer flowed, but I could feel them close to the surface. I felt drained and empty. I looked up at Ghetsis. The sage was smiling. His eyes glowed with... Pleasure? Satisfaction? I wasn't sure which, but right now I needed his strength and seeing him happy bolstered my own spirits.
"Do you feel better?" Ghetsis asked.
"Lord Ghetsis..." I said although my voice weaker than I thought. I couldn't trust my feelings right now. I was perfectly content in the sage's embrace.
"Rex, remember...?" he chided.
I wasn't even offended. I nodded like I knew he wanted. I was happy to do so.
"Sit back in the chair," Ghetsis instructed.
I frowned. I didn't want to, but the sage stood and I released my grip on him reluctantly. I eased into the chair. Ghetsis went over to the electric kettle and unplugged it. I got to my feet, but the he stopped me with a gesture.
"No," he said. "I will do this."
I sat back down and watched as Ghetsis readied the pot. He slipped a metal strainer into place inside it and then sifted leaves into it as before. He poured the hot water into the pot, settled the lid, and then flipped over the tiny hourglass as he had before.
"One day, I will show you a true Tea Ceremony, but today this is all I require," Ghetsis said.
I watched him in a daze. It seemed surreal now, but I could still feel the tears prickling at the corner of my eyes and there was a blacker shadow on Ghetsis' plush black bathrobe. Ghetsis seemed content with the silence. It suited me as well. I was trying to get my emotions back in order. I did not try very hard. I would feel better in the morning. All I needed now was to not cry again. When the hourglass ran out, Ghetsis removed the strainer with the little tongs and poured the tea into the white and black cups. I took the white one and cradled it in my hands. The warmth was comforting. Ghetsis took the black and sipped his tea. The silence stretched on, but it was the comfortable silence we'd shared... This morning? God, how was the morning so far away?
"You should always know how you are perceived. It isn't enough to simply project an image, you must know how others see that image. It's like the sound of your voice. You hear it one way, although everyone else hears it another. You had no idea how others saw you. You even thought yourself humble. Take this as a lesson on how deceptive your own perception can be," Ghetsis said.
I glanced over at him. He smiled, and it was sharper than the gentleness he'd offered earlier. The sharpness reminded me of his biting words, but I felt grounded by it. The tears that had been waiting to ambush me receded and I felt a shaky semblance of strength return. I managed a half-smile and a nod.
"Remember your feelings now, because this is what humility looks like on you. I encourage you to examine yourself in the mirror, or even take a picture. You need to know how to reproduce this in the future, ideally on command whenever the need strikes you; however, that wasn't what I wanted to tell you. Earlier you had some questions that, despite your attitude, I want to answer."
I grit my teeth against the embarrassment and kept my gaze steady on the sage. Ghetsis sipped his tea in an unconcerned manner and regarded the wall instead of me.
"We left because I decreed it. It was a simple answer, true after a fashion. It didn't satisfy you, of course. I delivered it as a warning. The knowledge that I am sharing with you is special, Rex. I am very wise, and I know a great many things; however, this power, my ability to shape perceptions with my body and my voice, this is my ultimate gift. These lessons are a baring of my soul and although I share myself daily, I will not give my soul to swine," he sounded disdainful and he looked it, too. I wasn't sure I liked his face with a sneer on it. "The others would not make use of what I share with you. It is not their calling. They have faith, they believe in me. It may seem childish to you, even lazy, but what is conviction without faith? Your conviction lies in N, but only because you have faith that what he says is true, hmm?"
Ghetsis looked over at me. I stared hard, but not at him.
Faith. Another new word in this new life. Another word with no meaning before. Even now, I chafed at calling my respect something as wistful as faith. Belief, conviction, those were strong words. That was how I believed. Ghetsis was wrong to equate something so weak with things so strong, but that was a discussion. I had only yes and no.
I nodded yes. What he said was close enough.
Why, though, did he speak as if there were doubt to Lord N's tenets? He of all people should believe in N fully!
Ghetsis' sneer softened into a frown.
"I see that, the disapproval in your eyes. You think I speak heresy, and it stirs your blood, doesn't it? Tell me, Rex, have you ever reasoned better in anger?" he asked loftily.
I frowned, too. What was he getting at? I kept still and waited.
"Anger, does it sharpen your wits, strengthen your blows, feed your audacity? Does it make you feel powerful? Oh, yes," Ghetsis answered himself. "There's nothing quite like the feeling of a towering rage. You can forget yourself and singe those who've hurt you. No holds barred."
Well, that is the absolute worst thing you can do it a speech. Forget yourself? Ha!" The sage shook his head. "You are the person you must always be mindful of! Perception, Rex! How do those watching you see you? Always, always think of that!"
"Now, why don't I take questions from the crowd? Why do I leave? Think about what I've told you. Do you understand?"
I just watched him. Again, like last night, I felt a sort of excitement. There was the feeling that I knew, but it was tantalizingly out of reach. I shook my head. Even if I knew, I couldn't tell him. Ghetsis smiled, but there was something about it that was different from his other smiles. This was like the one he shared with the teapot, only more animated. His eye seemed to almost blaze with feeling, but what kind I wasn't sure.
"No? Perception! When I'm in front of them, I have to be everything! A teacher, a confident, a friend, an authority... To be truly successful, I have to be everything to everyone and, quite frankly, that's not possible," Ghetsis said. "So I do what I can, project what I can. I plant my message and retire. If I stayed, my words would lose their power. It is best to let those who are truly curious come to us."
I shook my head. I thought I understood what he was saying, but I still was not sure that he was correct. I looked up with a frown and I felt the line of my brow that indicated disapproval. Again, I never would have noticed before, but I was hyperaware of my every move. Ghetsis' work, I thought with a now familiar awe, tinged faintly with despair. How could I ever learn to do what he did?
I need not have bothered expressing my feelings so bluntly. Ghetsis must have read my mind from the set if my shoulders or the tension in my fingers or something.
"You still doubt? Then consider this. In a crowd, it is easy to lose one's self. A person feels safer and natural inhibitions are loosened so that even a shy person can become a fierce heckler. Even innocent questions can be taken up by bad spirited people, and then suddenly you are surrounded by a hundred questions. Who do you answer first, who is most sincere, and who needs silenced... It's taxing even on me. Even if you answer, that only stirs more questions from others. That is assuming that those questioning you are doing so sincerely. Most questions from a crowd with vastly differing ideals are not meant kindly. The crowd is too chaotic and most of what it says is foolish and baiting. They want to get you angry and that is something you cannot allow," Ghetsis said.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He looked tired suddenly and older. He sipped his tea and sighed.
"Do you understand?" he asked me.
I frowned and my brow furrowed again, but I felt my cheeks bunch differently and I knew that this was my pensive look. I wondered if that was how others perceived it, but I knew my mind was wandering.
Did I understand? Yes, I did. I knew what he was trying to tell me. He was trying to tell me that crowds were too simple to receive instruction and that they would not be able to understand what he was saying. It was an extension of his "stupid children" argument from earlier. I did not like that, nor did I believe that it was true. No person was stupid and anyone could understand. Ignorance was not the same as stupidity.
His caution stemmed from fear, I thought. Fear of the "belligerent child." Ghetsis stressed appearances and seemed very worried about being taunted out of his facade. Why? Why would he have to worry about his emotions when what he said was the convicted truth? If a person got angry about something they believed in, how was that wrong? It only meant that he was sharper witted and fiercer about the truth and Ghetsis angry was a powerful sight indeed. I remembered his hissed words and stinging slap again with a shiver. That intimidation was strong enough to cow me, how much more effective would it be on others if he...
The thought was rogue and fleeting. I grasped at it while I sipped at my lukewarm tea. Perception. Could it be?
"You're not as scary to them," I said. "Fear, that isn't what you want from them."
"It's true; I don't know any of them as well as I know you. The same is true of them. I don't want them to fear me. I want them to respect me, to see me as a reasonable, well-educated man who is kind and considerate and very, very worried for them. People are more malleable when they think they have a problem, and they are more likely to take advice from an expert. Consider dieting fads as an example," Ghetsis said with a tired smile. "I hardly want to be scary, Rex. Not to them and certainly not to you. All I demand of you is respect, and all I ask is a little faith. Trust me, believe me. One day you and I will converse as equals. I look forward to that, that day," Ghetsis said wistfully.
I looked over at the sage. I wanted to see his look. Ghetsis was looking at me, but his gaze was not as direct, as if he were seeing something beyond me or maybe someone else entirely. His lips curved up in a contented smile, again like for the teapot. I felt uncomfortable. If not me, than what was he seeing that made him look so open, so raw?
The sage shook his head ruefully and rested his forehead on his hand.
"Bedtime, Rex," he said. "Tomorrow will be busy, I expect. I want to be rested for it."
"Yes, Lord Ghetsis," I said. I put my cup down and hovered over the tray awkwardly. Should I pick it up? Should I clean it, or would he tell me?
"I'll take care of it," Ghetsis said. He made a shooing motion with his hand. "Leave me and take your own rest."
I nodded and made my way to the door. I paused before the door, and it was well I did. My instincts were right and Ghetsis called,
"Rex, wake Wilhelm and inform him that I wish both of you to attend me in the morning ," he said. "He'll understand."
I nodded, too drained to think much more than that I would be out of bed sooner. I left the sage's room and went to my own. I opened it softly as possible for hotel doors. I could hear the contented snores of Marcus and Justin's occasional whimper. Marcus was sprawled across one bed, while Justin was curled on the sofa. Wilhelm slept like a dead man on top of the covers of the other bed. I sat down next to him as I pulled off my boots and shrugged out of the surcoat and hood. When I looked at Wilhelm next, he had not moved but his eyes were open and he was regarding me passively.
"Um, Ghetsis wants us both tomorrow morning," I whispered.
Wilhelm said nothing. The light shifted minutely on his face in what might have been a nod before he rolled over and relaxed with a soft sigh. A few minutes later he started to snore softly.
I struggled under the covers and lay staring at the ceiling. When I drifted off I was still thinking about Ghetsis and appearances and that small, wistful smile that made my heart hurt.