Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. This ones a bit shorter than the others, and focuses mainly on some tension between Kaemar and Te'ithan, both good and bad.

Enjoy

~Chapter Three~

When Kaemar awoke the next morning, he felt considerably more tired than he had when he went to sleep. He'd had a restless night, his dreams haunted by a pair of empty black eyes, and the sound of someone laughing at him, a sound that had chilled Kaemar to the bone. Te'ithan however, seemed unnaturally cheerful, walking around with a smile plastered on his face and, Kaemar paused, incredulous, singing.

He growled low in his throat, glaring murderously at Te'ithan as he dragged himself out of his bedroll. Te'ithan just grinned back cheerfully, and poked his tongue out at him.

//Goddam overly happy empath,// Kaemar growled to himself, brain not functioning well enough to come up with a better insult, or to actually say it out loud. //I feel like I have some kind of hellborn hangover and he's singing? I didn't even drink!//

"Somebody's not a morning person!" Te'ithan called to him, sitting down against a tree and beginning to plait small sections of his hair. "And you have the worst case of bed hair that I have ever seen."

Kaemar tugged irritably at his hair. Te'ithan was right, it was in a bad state, tangled and knotted. He groaned, and began to comb his fingers through it ineffectually.

A laugh, and then Te'ithan was beside him, pulling his hands away from his hair. "Let me do it." he said. In his hand was a small wooden comb, and when Kaemar nodded his consent, Te'ithan began tugging it though the knots gently.

Kaemar began to relax, the bad mood from his dreams slowly fading away. No one had combed his hair for years, not since his mother. His eyes, which he hadn't realised were closed, snapped open at the thought of his mother, and he forced himself not to let his guard down to far. It did feel nice though, and he wasn't about to ask Te'ithan to stop.

"I love people's hair," Te'ithan commented idly, running his fingers through Kaemar's hair, instead of using the comb. "I always wanted a little sister so that I could play with her hair."

"You do realise that I'm not a girl, don't you?" Kaemar asked dryly.

Te'ithan chuckled. "I know," he replied. "but I never did get a sister, so you'll just have to be my replacement for a while.

Kaemar snorted, but said nothing. Despite his intentions, the gentle tugging on his hair was beginning to lull him back to sleep. Without really thinking about it, he closed his eyes, leaning back against Te'ithan.

He realised that he must have fallen asleep when he felt Te'ithan shaking his shoulders. He shrugged the empath's hands off and sat up, feeling slightly embarrassed. Somehow he'd managed to end up half-sprawled across Te'ithan's lap.

"Didn't get much sleep, did you?" Te'ithan asked sympathetically, helping Kaemar to sit up. Kaemar shivered involuntarily at his touch, and kicked himself mentally. He was not going to think about Te'ithan as anything other than a friend.

He shook his head, wondering if he could learn to shield his thoughts from Te'ithan. //It would work both ways,// he thought. //I'd be one less person for Te'ithan to have to deal with, emotions-wise, and I certainly don't want Te'ithan knowing what I'm feeling, especially when those feelings are about him.//

Te'ithan was waiting expectantly for a response, so he shook his head. "Bad dreams." It sounded childish when he said it, and he felt even more embarrassed.

"I have bad dreams sometimes," Te'ithan confessed. "usually they're a result of being exposed to too many people. Before I had my mage training and knew what was causing them, I used to run screaming to my parent's bedroom. I spent half my childhood at my mother's side, thinking that she could make the nightmares go away. It never worked, but it was nice to have a comforting presence with me when I was afraid."

Kaemar was surprised. Te'ithan was far more open than he had expected, more than Kaemar himself was.

"Are you saying that I should run to my mother whenever I can't sleep?" Kaemar asked jokingly. "Could be a bit hard."

Te'ithan grinned back. "Not exactly, just..." he trailed off. "If you're going to start screaming at night, wake me up beforehand so that I don't' think we're being attacked. I'll understand." he grinned wryly. "I'll pick up on what you're feeling anyway."

Kaemar grinned back. "Thanks."

~*~

"I am going to be so happy when we reach a village." Te'ithan remarked as they set up camp. "I'm sick of sleeping in the cold."

"You really don't like the cold, do you?" Kaemar replied absently, setting up his bed roll.

"No." Te'ithan answered. A gust of wind blew across the clearing, and he shivered in response.

Kaemar laughed. "I'll build a fire then."

The grateful look that Te'ithan shot him was almost comical and Kaemar quickly set to building a fire, struggling not to laugh. By the time he was done, he was sure that Te'ithan would have no cause to complain of being cold if he sat anywhere near the fire, in fact he might be in danger of getting slightly singed. Looking around, he wondered where Te'ithan was, then shrugged his shoulders, poking at the fire with a stick. He'd taken the silver chain that he usually wore around his neck and looped it around his wrist. It glowed in the firelight, and he found himself twisting his wrist around and watching as it reflected the orange of the fire.

Loud humming alerted him to Te'ithan's reappearance, and he turned around, lifting his head in a short wave.

Almost in slow motion, he watched as the chain slipped off his wrist, and fell into the edge of the fire.

Eyes wide, he cursed loudly, then dropped to his knees in front of the fire. Without thinking, he tuck his hand in, grabbing at the chain and wincing as the flames licked at his hand. He pulled his hand out quickly, clutching the chain like a lifeline.

"Kaemar!" A yell from across the clearing, then cold hands were on his shoulders, pulling him away from the fire.

Te'ithan's face appeared in front of him, eyes dark with anger and some other unidentifiable emotion, and Kaemar cringed as the empath grabbed his burnt hand, seemingly not caring whether he hurt Kaemar or not.

"Stupid mercenary," Te'ithan growled. "what the hell were you thinking, shoving your hand into a fire?" he asked, eyes blazing. "Is this what you learned as your time as a mercenary?"

Kaemar shook his head dully. Now that he was thinking properly again, his hand was hurting like all hell. Slowly opening it, he revealed the chain he was holding to Te'ithan. "Dropped it." he told him through clenched teeth.

"And you couldn't wait until the fire was out to get it back?" Te'ithan asked incredulously. He let go of Kaemar's hand. "Wait here," he said. "I have some salve in my bag, it'll stop it hurting so much."

Kaemar watched as Te'ithan dug though his bag, pulling out a small container of slave and some bandages. The empath knelt down in front of him, silently taking Kaemar's hand again and gently rubbing the salve into it. The soft touch of Te'ithan's fingers on his hand was soothing, and he found that the salve did help to dull the pain. He let his eyes drift shut, and was beginning to relax when Te'ithan began to bandage his hand.

"What's so improtant about this chain of yours?" Te'ithan asked, carefully wrapping the badage around Kaemar's hand.

"It was a gift." Kaemar replied softly, not meeting Te'ithan's eyes.

"Must be from someone pretty special then." Te'ithan said. "A girl?"

Kaemar shook his head. //A lover. A mercanary killed in battle.// He looked up at Te'ithan then, saw the empath's brow was furrowed in concentration as he tied off the badage, being careful not to hurt Kaemar unless there was no way he could avoid it. //But I'm not going to tell you that.//

"It was from a friend." he said aloud. "A fellow mercenary. He's dead now."

Te'ithan looked shocked. "Oh." he said, leaning back on his heels and studying Kaemar's face intently. "You loved him a lot, didn't you?" His voice was neutral and controlled, causing Kaemar to flinch and pull back sharply.

"Be that as it may," Kaemar said softly, standing and moving away from Te'ithan. "he's gone now, and I don't want to talk about him."

~Tbc...