Aiolos flipped quickly through an old spellbook, mumbling to himself and then letting out a quiet noise of distress as one of the pages fluttered free. Taking two more out of the book and shutting it, he returned it haphazardly to the shelf and grabbed the detached paper, sliding all three into the front of his robes and moving along down the aisle.

Aravind had turned the corner of that same aisle a second before Aiolos had returned the book to the shelf. Dark eyes narrowed, he inched closer to Aiolos and opened his mouth to say something. He was inwardly outraged that someone would even think of doing what he thought he saw just transpire, but when he caught sight of Aiolos's face, he paused.

Aiolos let out a mild shriek and slapped his hand to his chest in surprise. "You startled me! Don't you know not to sneak up on people?"

Aravind started too, eyes now the very opposite of narrowed. "I...uhm, for...give me. I just, I thought..." He cleared his throat. "I thought I saw you, uh..." Again, his words failed him, his mind too preoccupied with studying Aiolos's unfamiliar face.

Aiolos's pale cheeks flushed slightly and he ran a hand through his already very messy dark hair. "You thought what?"

"That, uh...uhm, I mean..." Aravind gestured at Aiolos's robes, though his gaze never left the other's hazel eyes. "Pages, from a book..."

Aiolos' hand moved to his chest again, his cheeks heating further. "Are you accusing me of stealing?"

"Uhm..." Aravind took a small step towards Aiolos, brows knitted slightly. "I think, yes..."

Biting his lip and looking close to tears, Aiolos shoved past Aravind and ran out of the shop.

Aravind whirled with the force of Aiolos's passing and his hand shot out as if he could grab the back of the brunet's robes, but Aiolos was already well out of range by then. Aravind made to run after him, but without Aiolos in his presence, he found that he could think more clearly. This caused him to pause, drop his arm to his side, and begin to mentally berate himself with many obscene words that had probably never passed his lips before, and never would.

--

A passing breeze batted Kyler's dark, choppy hair, and he reached up to push his overgrown bangs out of his eyes. The village he found himself in seemed fairly quiet and peaceful, and he tucked his hands behind his head, smiling as he strolled. Of course, the scene was really too ideally suited to a weary traveler, completely unfit to last; moments later, the sounds of a struggle reached his ears from some nondescript alley as he passed it. He stilled, glanced in the direction of the dingy corridor, and moved closer for a better look.

Down at the end of the alley, half hidden in its shadow, a gang of young men appeared to be attacking some kind of animal, which was clearly outnumbered and bleeding from several wounds.

Kyler frowned slightly as he eased into the shadows of the alley, and his hand automatically reaching for bow that was hung on his shoulder. "Hey!" he shouted, in hopes of dispersing the problem without having to waste an arrow.

A few heads turned in Kyler's direction, but only one broke away from the group to approach Kyler, leaving his fellows at the creature. "What?"

Kyler peered over the person's shoulder, his frown deepened somewhat. "What's going on over there?"

"Oh, we found a werewolf skulking around. We're doing okay, but you're welcome to help us kill it if you want."

"Kill it? What did it do?" As Kyler moved past the man, he brought his bow down from his shoulder.

"Eh, I don't know what this one in particular has been up to." The man gave Kyler a considering look. "Why?"

"Because I see no reason to kill it, if it hasn't done anything wrong." Kyler stood close enough now that he could make out glimpses of the werewolf between the people attacking it, his frown now almost a scowl.

"But.. it's a monster. Why wouldn't we kill it?" The werewolf had stopped trying to fight back at this point and was huddled on the ground, unmoving.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Kyler pushed between two of the attackers and shoved those nearest away. He stood defensively in front of the poor creature, drew a few arrows from his quiver, and set them deftly on his bow. "Why don't you let me handle it from here, huh?"

A few of the men exchanged glances, one of them taking the chance to sit down heavily on a crate, cradling a wounded arm. A roughened, bearded man folded his arms and sneered. "And let you take our kill?"

Kyler raised an eyebrow as he turned slightly so that, with the bow on its side, the middle of the three arrows pointed directly at the bearded man's chest. "I think your greatest concern right now should be that you don't become my kill."

The man lifted his chin, a few of his friends hefting their weapons. "There's only one of you. Who's to say you'd make it out alive?"

Kyler sighed, the barest trace of defeat glimmering in his eyes. "How much do you want for him?"

The bearded man thought about it for a moment, then named a ridiculously high price.

Kyler frowned again and named a slightly lesser price, with the addition of, "and we all get out of here unscathed. Though I might not be able to take all of you, I could certainly kill a few of you before going down myself; have you ever been shot with an arrow at this close a range?"

The bearded man seemed to consider this but one of his cronies interrupted. "Wouldn't it just bounce right off this close?" Another one nodded his head, while the one who'd sat down suggested they just take the money and leave. The bearded man told them all to shut up. "Okay. I accept your terms."

Kyler hid his relief behind a stony expression and warily lowered his weapon to open his sack. After a moment of rummaging through it he procured what he'd promised. Once he'd returned his arrows to his quiver and slung his sack and bow over his shoulder, he gestured to the mouth of the alley with his chin and walked a few paces ahead of the mob.

Someone helped the injured man to his feet and they followed Kyler, some distrustfully, some relieved. Once back out into the sunlight, they stopped and the bearded man put his hand out towards Kyler, palm up.

Kyler handed over his bargaining material, his lips somewhat pressed into a tight line.

The bearded man counted the coins before pocketing them, giving Kyler a grin and what was meant to be a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Good day to you." Chuckling to himself, he led his associates away down the street.

Kyler barely spent a second watching them leave before running back into the alley and kneeling beside the fallen werewolf. He gave it a quick once over before setting his magic to work on healing the creature's wounds.

The wolf shifted into a man as his wounds slowly healed, his clothes badly torn and blood pooled all around him.

Kyler gently laid his hands on the man's shoulders and peered at his face, his own expression concerned. "Are you all right?"

The werewolf's head lolled to the side, but his eyes did not open. He was breathing shallowly, blood smeared over much of his face and body even as the wounds it came from closed over.

Kyler's lips were once again pressed into a line, this time a much tighter one. He pulled the werewolf close and let the man rest against his chest while Kyler's fingers slowly trailed through the werewolf's matted hair, both in an attempt to comb it and to sooth the owner of it.

The werewolf seemed to relax in Kyler's arms, his breaths evening out and deepening as he fell into true rest.

Kyler smiled slightly and rose to his feet with the werewolf in his arms, bridal-style. He made sure that the man's head was leaning on his shoulder and not lolling back before he emerged from the shadows of the alley and began to search for an inn.

-

Ulf slowly blinked his yellow eyes open, wincing at the light that spilled in from the curtains. Rolling to put his back to the window, he closed his eyes again. Less than a minute later they snapped open, quickly taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Kyler was sitting in a chair by the bed with his head drooped forward onto his chest, apparently having dozed off while keeping watch over the werewolf. His bow and arrows were leaned against the wall, and his sack was on a little desk in the corner of the room, its contents arrayed across the pockmarked surface.

Ulf stared at Kyler for a long moment and then slowly sat up. He glanced down at himself and the sorry state of his clothes, absently scratching a spot of dried blood off his arm.

Kyler murmured something in his sleep and flinched. Not even a moment later, he was jerking awake and reaching over his shoulder as if to grab an arrow, which of course, wasn't there. Calming down, he eased back in his chair and looked at the werewolf. "Oh... you're awake..."

Ulf continued scratching his arm, keeping his eyes on Kyler. "Who're you?"

The archer smiled and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "I'm Kyler. And you are?"

"Ulf."

Kyler smiled more. "Ulf... that's cute. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ulf frowned slightly. "What happened? Why am I here?"

Kyler's smile disappeared as he leaned back again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you sort of passed out in the alley back there, after those guys beat on you, and so I brought you here. Sorry I didn't clean you up'r anything, but I didn't want to, you know, violate your privacy. There's a bath down the hall you can use, though..."

Ulf looked down at himself again, then at the door, then back at Kyler. "Thank you for saving me, then. I think I'd like a bath."

"Don't mention it." Kyler's smile gave a brief encore. "I have some clothes you can borrow, if you want..."

Ulf smiled a little in return. "Thank you. I don't have anything to repay you with, though."

Kyler crossed his arms and shrugged. "You don't need to repay me." He chewed on his bottom lip as he glanced at the ceiling and mumbled to himself, "I'm gonna to hafta go through hell and back again to make up for that money I lost, though..."

Ulf looked down at the blanket, now slightly stained with his blood. "I could help you. To make up for it. If you want."

Kyler offered a carefree, lopsided grin and shrugged again. "That's up to you. If you want to join me on my helter-skelter adventures, feel free."

Ulf looked up in time to blush slightly, twisting the blanket in his clawed hands (and ripping it accidentally). "Okay. Thank you. I'll go bathe now." Letting go of the blanket, he climbed carefully out of bed.

Kyler tilted his head and his smile turned a little fonder at Ulf's blush. "I'll get you some clothes..." He got up too, went over to his sack, and started to ferret through the things still in the bottom.

Ulf picked at his shredded clothing distractedly. "Are there any towels?"

Kyler looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Mmmm...yes, if I do recall."

"Okay." Ulf waited for Kyler to hand him the fresh clothes before making his way to the baths.

Kyler did so a moment later, offering up a rather rumpled outfit, but an outfit nonetheless. "See ya in a few," he said, and saluted Ulf before dragging his chair over to the desk and sitting down to go through his items.

--

Aiolos held his hat to his head, squinting into the wind as it flew at him and messed with his clothing. His hair was impossibly tangled and would be a nightmare to comb through. Huffing with annoyance, he finally just shoved the hat into his bag and continued along the road into town.

Heading along the way towards Aiolos were Kyler and Ulf. Kyler had his sack and quiver and bow all slung in some way on his person, and was smiling his typical on-top-of-the-world smile, despite the fact that, even with the passing of a fair amount of time, he was still rather pathetically broke.

"Oh, my!" Aiolos hurried over to Kyler and Ulf, taking out a map and shaking it in their direction. "Could you possibly help me out? I can't read this map for my life."

Kyler stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrows at Aiolos with a brief sidelong glance at Ulf. His smile quickly returned, though, and he nodded, turning his head slightly so that he could see the map. "Well, where are you trying to go?"

Ulf stood quietly beside Kyler, readjusting the pack over his shoulder as Aiolos explained his situation to the ranger. The newcomer handed the map over and pointed to a few spots, his nimble fingers slipping surreptitiously into Kyler's pocket.

Whatever Kyler had been saying petered out then as he glanced down at Aiolos's hand in his pocket. "What're you doing?"

Aiolos blinked and followed Kyler's gaze, then pulled his hand out of the ranger's pocket as if surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to, it just happens automatically sometimes." Aiolos rubbed the only ring on his hand, tapping it with his nails.

Kyler's mismatched eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Uh-huh... well." He snatched Aiolos's wrist in a strong grip and brought the thief's hand close to his face for observation, but did, in fact, find the sneaky hand to be bare, save for that one ring. "Y'know, I find pickpockets immeasurably annoying... I mean, I'm broke enough as it is. Why dontcha try working for your money, hm?"

Aiolos flushed and yanked his arm back. "I said I was sorry." Snatching the map and shoving it into his bag, he stormed off down the road, causing gusts of sand to drift up in his wake.

Kyler frowned and ran after the Aiolos. "Hey, wait a minute!" Once he'd caught up, he grabbed the back of Aiolos's collar and yanked the thief to a stop. "Don't think you're gettin' away, just like that!" At that moment, out of nowhere another hand joined the party and clasped Kyler's, causing the archer to jump slightly. "What the-?" "What seems to be the problem, here?" Aravind regarded Kyler coolly, though something less composed simmered just beneath the surface of his dark eyes.

Aiolos tugged himself free of Kyler's hold, taking several steps away. "There's no problem. I was just on my way." Ulf stepped up beside Kyler, frowning slightly at Aravind's hold on the ranger.

Once he'd overcome his shock, Kyler glared at Aiolos and jabbed an accusing finger in his direction. "He's a pickpocket, that's what!" Aravind glanced at Aiolos, and if one didn't know any better, they might say that Aravind looked almost amused. "Is this true?"

"It is most certainly not true! I didn't steal anything from him! You can search me!" Aiolos folded his arms in a huff, ignoring the slight crinkle of paper from his robes.

"But you most certainly tried to steal from me!" Kyler protested. "He came up to us asking for help with his map, and then as I, trying to be a friend, start to offer some advice, he sticks his hand down m-" "Okay, enough, please, no more..." Aravind held up a copper-colored hand and closed his eyes for a moment. "I think that as long as he didn't take anything, you have nothing to charge him with."

Aiolos sniffed, tightening the sash around his waist. "Thank you." To Kyler he said, very archly, "Have a nice day," and started down the road again.

"Hey, but-!" Kyler glowered at Aiolos's retreating back and looked seconds away from stomping his foot like a petulant child. Before Aiolos was out of ear shot, Aravind said, "However, I think I have something to charge him with."

Aiolos clenched his fists and spun around. "What do you want from me?!"

Aravind looked vaguely and momentarily surprised by Aiolos's outburst, but wound up smiling just the same. "A great many things, really," he murmured, probably too quietly for Aiolos to hear. A little louder, he said, "I'd like to see the pages you stole from the library." Kyler's indignation flared anew. "Ah-hah! You dirty thief, stealing from a library of all things! Oh, is nothing sacred anymore?" He clenched his fists and shook them at the heavens in a melodramatic display.

Aiolos crossed his arms again. "Why should I listen to you? You're not a law officer."

Aravind raised an eyebrow and took a few slinking steps towards Aiolos. "No, but I am very good friends with a few of the higher ups."

Aiolos started backing up, glaring mutinously at Aravind. "So, what? You want to put me in jail?"

"You, in chains? It does sound rather tempting." Aravind shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest. "All I said was that I wanted to see the pages you stole. Perhaps I'm merely interested as to what makes them important enough to steal."

Aiolos glared harder. "They wouldn't interest someone like you."

Aravind's expression seemed amused again. "And how do you know, exactly, what someone like me would be interested in?"

Aiolos sniffed haughtily, lifting his chin. "I just know you wouldn't be interested in this. You don't have the capacity to understand it."

Something like anger flashed through Aravind's expression, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Is that so?"

Aiolos held his ground, despite its tendency to shrink beneath his feet. "Yes."

Aravind took another few, slow steps towards Aiolos. "This, coming from a thief who can't even do his job right."

Aiolos backed up for each step Aravind took, and soon found himself backing up into a tree. Forced to stop, he tightened his arms around his middle. "It's just a bad day."

Aravind laughed shortly as he continued to advance lingeringly on the cornered thief. "So you say."

Aiolos yanked a dagger from his boot and held it out towards Aravind. "Don't come any closer."

The appearance of the dagger stayed Aravind's feet, but there was no trace of fear on his face. If he felt any fear at all, he didn't let it show. Kyler appeared then and came up beside Aravind, glaring at Aiolos's dagger and sliding his bow down off his shoulder. With a sigh, Aravind looked away from Aiolos, and if one paid really close attention, they might be able to see wistful disappointment in his eyes.

Aiolos' eyes darted to Kyler's bow and to each of their faces before he took off into the trees, crashing through the undergrowth and pelting at full speed through the forest.

Aravind glanced up sharply as Aiolos took off. "An incompetent thief, alone in the woods... he's gonna get himself killed," Kyler muttered, and then sniffed haughtily. "Good riddance." "I'm sure he'll be fine," Aravind said a moment before running after Aiolos and disappearing into the woods as well. Kyler watched him go, slightly incredulous, and then looked around for Ulf.

Ulf was beside Kyler, chewing on a piece of fruit. He raised his eyebrows at Kyler, as if asking him what he was going to do now.

"Well, we've got nothing better to do, right? Let's go with 'em." Kyler gripped his bow firmly and gestured for Ulf to follow as he jogged off into the forest.

Much to his continued misfortune, Aiolos stumbled into a little group of orcs. The orcs were surprised for a moment before nocking their bows and shooting at him. An arrow caught the thief in the arm before he was able to conjure a hasty protective barrier, ducking behind a tree and hiding.

Aravind hadn't been far behind Aiolos and also found himself coming upon the band of orcs a moment later. He'd seen Aiolos get attacked and disappear behind a tree, and once he'd located said tree, Aravind ducked down with him, an arrow missing his shoulder by a hair's breadth. "Are you all right?" he whispered, slightly breathless.

Aiolos held a hand to his arm to try and stem the bleeding, his whole body glowing faintly with the shield spell. "My clothes are ruined!"

Aravind blinked at Aiolos, and then couldn't help but laugh quietly. "I'm sorry to hear that..." An arrow flew onto the scene then and lodged itself in the chest of one of the orcs. The arrow was quickly followed by one of its brothers, and then another, and then the owner of the arrows himself appeared.

Aiolos frowned at Aravind, though at this point it was little more than a pout. "What do you care?" There was a low growl, followed by a large wolf-creature who mauled a few of the orcs and chased the last one away.

Kyler sent one more arrow flying for good measure. Once he was sure the monsters were well out of sight, he sighed and plopped down onto the ground, laying his bow beside him. "Good job, Ulf," he said with a smile. Behind the tree, Aravind averted his eyes with a shrug and rose to his feet. "Try to show a little compassion, and this is what you get..." he murmured.

The werewolf padded over to Kyler and nosed his shoulder. "Oh, excuse me! I guess you weren't the one threatening me back there?" Aiolos got to his feet and yanked the arrow out of his arm with a hiss of pain, clapping his hand over the wound and starting back towards the road.

Kyler laughed and petted Ulf's soft head. Aravind folded his arms as he followed Aiolos, the barest trace of a scowl on his face. "Sure, and I also wasn't the one who followed you into the forest, genuinely concerned for your safety! That wasn't me, either. You should do something about that wound; I can heal it for you, if you'd let me."

Ulf sat down beside Kyler and rested his head on the ranger's leg, looking up at him with soulful yellow eyes. Aiolos stopped walking at the last of his spell fizzled out and turned back over to Aravind, wordlessly holding his arm out.

Aravind looked briefly surprised that Aiolos had acquiesced so easily, but was nonetheless glad. He took a deep breath and gently wrapped the fingers of his left hand around Aiolos's elbow while he hovered his right hand over the wound. His eyes closed halfway and seemed to distance beneath his sable lashes, and slowly a tingling started up in his core. It traveled through his arm and to his hand and manifested itself in a bluish glow. Soon, the wound that was bathing beneath the pale light was sewn up and the skin good as new, albeit smudged with blood.

Aiolos looked down at his newly healed arm and rubbed it, muttering "Thanks."

Aravind let his left hand linger at Aiolos's elbow before bringing it back to his side. "Don't mention it."

Aiolos tugged his torn robes in place as best as he could. "Are you going to let me walk away this time?"

Aravind had his arms crossed again and was glancing off to the side. After a moment, he replied, "Do I want to? No. But I can't stop you either."

Aiolos frowned at Aravind's answer. "What do you want?"

Aravind shrugged. "A great many things, really. Right now I'm thinking about going to check on that archer and the werewolf, make sure they're okay, too... which I'm sure they are, but you never know..." He sighed. "I felt rather useless back there in the fight, so the least I can do is help clean up." Despite this, Aravind made no move to leave.

"Well, don't let me stop you." Tugging his bag over his shoulder, Aiolos turned to leave for what was definitely not the first time that day.

Aravind made a slightly frustrated sound and took hold of Aiolos's arm before he could leave. He whirled Aiolos to face him, pulling the thief close, closer than he'd probably been to someone in a long while. "All right, so, this is not something that I do regularly; on the contrary, it goes against everything that I pride myself on being. But I am going to spell this out for you, this once: I think you're...really, really cute. I like you, a lot, okay?"

Aiolos stared at Aravind uncomprehendingly for a moment, but didn't try to escape. Finally, he managed, "What?"

Aravind let go of Aiolos and took an uneasy step back, his head bowed slightly. If blushing was something he did, Aravind's face would have been fairly stained at that point. "Don't make me say it again..."

"You've been following me around, threatening to arrest me because you like me?" Aiolos had a slightly disbelieving expression on his face, but instead of letting Aravind respond he grabbed the monk's face and pressed their lips together.

Aravind started and all of his motor functions seemed to fail him for a moment. But that moment passed quickly enough, and soon he was tentatively clasping his hands to Aiolos's and, with equal uncertainty, returning the kiss.

Aiolos gentled the kiss, pulling away soon after and clearing his throat, his face slightly red.

Aravind touched his fingers to his lips and looked away, his usually cool visage completely shattered and vulnerable. "Uhm..."

Aiolos' brows furrowed slightly. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to upset you..."

"Uhm, no, no... I'm not upset." Aravind took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again a second later, he offered a fleeting, but no less happy, smile. "I...uh, well... what now?" He folded his arms. "Are you...going to go on your way, or what?"

Aiolos looked slightly put out and took a step away from Aravind. "I don't know. I guess so."

"But... why? I mean, like I... like I said, I don't want you to, but I won't stop you..." Aravind raked his fingers through his long black hair. "I don't know, I'm bad with these kinds of things..."

Aiolos scratched his arm. "Well, what are you doing?"

"I...don't know... whatever I'm doing, I...would like to be around you." Aravind bit his lip and looked away again, embarrassed.

"Uhm... okay..." Aiolos scratched his arm some more, glancing down at it and tugging the ripped fabric across again.

Aravind sighed and raked his fingers through his hair again. "You...don't have to if you don't want to. But I," he stepped up to Aiolos and, with only a moment's hesitation, gently gripped the thief's upper arms, "I would really like to...to be around you. Of course, if you refuse, I might just wind up following you around again." He nodded seriously as he reached up with one of his hands to tilt Aiolos's chin.

Aiolos looked dubiously up at Aravind. "You don't even know me."

"Well then, let me get to know you." Aravind inched an eyebrow up a little, his fingers absentmindedly brushing back along Aiolos's jaw.

Aiolos continued frowning slightly, though he unconsciously tilted his head as Aravind stroked his jaw. "But... What will we do?"

"What do you want to do?" Aravind's fingers traced the groove beneath Aiolos's ear.

Aiolos's pointed ear twitched. "Er.. I don't know. Right now I am kind of hungry."

Aravind blinked, and then, slowly, a smile broke out across his face. He laughed and leaned in to kiss Aiolos's ear, drawing back slightly to say, "Then let's find some food."

Aiolos smiled hesitantly back. "Okay."

Aravind sighed quietly as he pulled back. Glancing over his shoulder, he asked, "I never...went to go see to those two, did I? Maybe the archer has some food on him..."

"Erm. Okay." Aiolos scratched the back of his head and then started combing his hair out with his fingers, wincing at the knots.

Aravind led Aiolos back through the woods the way they'd come. A few moments later, they stumbled upon Kyler still sitting on the forest floor. The archer looked back at Aravind and Aiolos with a friendly wave. "Greetings, strangers!"

Ulf glanced up as Kyler's hand left his fur. Aiolos smiled awkwardly. "Uh, hi."

Kyler gave Aiolos a suspicious once over as he returned to petting Ulf. "Is...your arm okay?" Kyler asked the thief.

Ulf settled his head back down and closed his eyes contentedly. Aiolos looked at his arm and laughed nervously. "Yep. Good as new."

"Hm." Kyler shrugged, scratching behind one of Ulf's ears. "That's good, I guess..." he admitted rather grudgingly. Aravind drew away from Aiolos and knelt beside Kyler and Ulf. "Are you both all right?" Kyler waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, we're just fine, thanks." Aravind nodded. "Do you have anything to eat, by any chance?" Kyler tapped his chin and thought for a moment. "I think I have a few snacks, but nothing very gratifying." He considered Aravind. "Do you have any money?" Aravind raised an eyebrow. "Yes..." Kyler grinned. "So what do you think about treating us to a meal?" Aravind sighed. "I...don't see why not."

Aiolos peered at Ulf, taking a few steps closer and reaching out to stroke his fur. Ulf didn't react, dozing lightly with Kyler's leg as a pillow.

Kyler sighed as he continued to pet Ulf's head. "I'm just a little broke right now... I'll pay you back though." Aravind tilted his head. "Where are you going?" Kyler shrugged. "No where in particular; just on a quest for money." Aravind glanced at Aiolos, and then back at Kyler. "Do you have room in your party for a couple more?" Kyler hummed thoughtfully as he patted the werewolf's fur. "What d'ya think, Ulf?"

Ulf squinted open his eyes, glancing briefly at the other two before returning to his nap. Aiolos sat down, smiling slightly as he ran his hands over Ulf's soft fur.

"All righty, it's decided. Welcome aboard." Kyler smiled at Aravind, and then glanced less amiably at Aiolos. "But I will not have him picking my pockets, that's for sure."

Aiolos' smile disappeared and he stood up, tugging his robes tighter. He looked about to say something, then just turned and started walking back towards town.

Kyler watched the thief go, rubbing his fingers down Ulf's neck. Aravind sighed, swiftly rose to his feet, and went after Aiolos. He easily caught up to the thief and instead of yanking him back, slid into Aiolos's way, his arms crossed. "Where are you going?"

Aiolos moved around Aravind and kept walking. "Leave me alone. I'm just a filthy thief, you don't want to dirty your hands with me."

"Ohhoho..." Now Aravind took a little lunge forward to grab Aiolos's arm and pull him to a stop. "That is the farthest from the truth. The farthest, and if I haven't made that abundantly clear, then I'm a greater failure than I thought."

Aiolos glared at the ground, not looking at Aravind. "You're just wasting your time. Go find someone who wants it."

Aravind's jaw set and hurt flared in his eyes, though Aiolos, of course, didn't catch any of it. "If you didn't want it then why did you kiss me?" he demanded.

Aiolos shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Aravind took a deep, wavering breath and closed his eyes. "Why are you so upset?" he asked at length, his tone even.

"Why are you?" Aiolos snapped, finally taking his arm back from Aravind. "I've been having a really bad day and I just want to go somewhere quiet where I'm not being insulted, glared at, or threatened all the time."

"Why am I upset?" Aravind just shook his head and opened his eyes, his expression soft. "I'm not insulting you, or glaring at you, or threatening you, not anymore," he said, still managing to maintain a steady tone despite himself, "...and I won't let anyone else do that either, if you'd give me the chance. But, I... like I said, I won't stop you. Go find your quiet, that's what you really want."

Aiolos looked up at Aravind, his expression troubled and vulnerable. "What do you want from me?"

Aravind put his hands on Aiolos's shoulders and leaned down to brush his lips against the thief's. Pulling back, he murmured, "I already told you."

"What did you say?" Aiolos reached one hand out and twisted it in the front of Aravind's tunic, still looking up into his face.

"I just want to be around you. I want to get to know you." Aravind gave Aiolos another ephemeral kiss. "I really like you."

Aiolos wrapped his arms around Aravind's waist and buried his face in the monk's neck. "Even though I'm an annoying, defensive jerk?"

Aravind smiled slightly and massaged the nape of Aiolos's neck. "You're even cuter when you're angry."

Aiolos made an indistinct noise. "Angry isn't supposed to be cute..."

"I don't think there's anything about you that could not be cute."

Aiolos pouted up at Aravind. "How would you know?"

"I wouldn't. I just think. Maybe, if you let me get to know you, I could decide for sure." Aravind nodded and kissed Aiolos's forehead.

Aiolos closed his eyes, leaning his head on Aravind's shoulder. "Maybe you could."

"Maybe I could." Aravind hugged Aiolos close and couldn't help but smile a little more.