~CLOSED FOR REPAIRS~ Holding Back the Tide (Roland/Leander)

A Sharp, Strong Denial (5)

Leander felt completely useless.

For the past three hours, he'd been sitting in that room, barely doing anything. Bracken kept redirecting Tani, doing everything themselves, but he? He hadn't done anything truly useful. What did they want from him? He had his own work to get to, didn't they know?

Batu and Evan had wanted him to stay and help with Roland. He might have preferred that to this. They would have at least had something for him to do. He wanted to be around Roland because he always helped. Roland never let someone stand around idly, he'd have had him doing something at least. He just wanted to be active, useful.

I was useful in Hydropolis.

"Leander! OI!" Leander became aware that Tani was now trying to get his attention. "Would you stop daydreaming about your dead girlfriend and pay attention for a single second?!"

"I would pay attention," he responded somewhat bitterly, "if I knew what I was supposed to pay attention to. Why am I even here with you two? I have work to do."

"Whoa now, calm down," Bracken tried to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. "Alright, now I'll admit there's not much to do down here, but it's better than having to deal with the rest of the boys, I'm sure. Could you hand me the box just next to you?"

Leander slid the small box across the table. Sure, maybe this was better than Batu's constant growling and criticizing of him. Maybe this was more appealing than Evan doting over him like a worried grandmother like he had been the day before. Maybe being here with Bracken and Tani while they were doing... whatever they were working on was a better pastime than Roland trying to talk to him, trying to get him to tell him what had happened at Hydropolis, something he didn't want to have to bring up if he could avoid it.

Roland was always one for seeking information, he couldn't deny that. If there was a question, he wanted an answer. An admirable trait to be sure, but not quite a helpful one when the information was sensitive. But even then, when it was, he understood. He would come back later, but he understood the pain they were going through, almost as if he, too, had gone through it. Had gone through every kind of pain imaginable.

"OI!" Tani again.

"My fault. Lost in thought," Leander stated plainly. "What do I need to be doing?"

"Okay," Bracken fully turned away from the project. "I get that you just lost your kingdom AND your queen, but even with such heavy losses, you NEVER get this distracted by them. What is going on?!"

Bracken seemed to know the team better than they knew themselves sometimes.

"I'm not entirely certain..." Leander admitted, "but it may have something to do with Roland's return. Why this would be the case is a mystery to me, of course, but..."

"Well there's only one way that could check out," Bracken responded with a smirk.

"Blimey, I thought Broadleaf people were supposed to be the smart ones!" Tani scolded her. "It can't POSSIBLY be that, d'you know anything about him?!"

"Yeah, I know he was attached to the queen, but it's all I've got right now, not my fault if he gets defensive when I say it right?"

"If I may be so bold," Leander pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, "would you mind explaining what you're talking about?"

"Well..." Bracken tried to explain, now clearly nervous. Tani rolled her eyes.

"Oh, flippin' heck- she thinks you fancy him!"

Before he knew what he was doing, Leander was on his feet, glaring daggers at Bracken. His blood was boiling, How could she think such a thing? His heart - his loyalty - belonged to Queen Nerea alone. Even if he could love anyone else, how could he move on so quickly? It was unthinkable.

"I know, I know," Bracken tried to recover. "You love the queen. But she's gone now, and it's not that far of a stretch, you were really close to Roland when we were still building the kingdom--"

"My loyalty lies with my queen alone," Leander growled softly, slowly. This was a talent he'd learned over the centuries he'd spent as Archon; a voice that was so quiet, yet felt louder and more commanding than any furious roar ever could. "I will not stand for such accusations."

If either Bracken or Tani had another word to say, they were far too frightened by Leander's sudden fury to say it. The once-Archon turned heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Falling back against the stone wall just beside the door, he slid down to the floor and put his head in his hands. Not crying, not about to cry, but definitely infuriated... and confused.

He sat there for a while. People would walk through, like servants and maids, but wouldn't pay any heed to him. Why would they? They were busy. They had work to do. He had work to do. But he wasn't going to get up. He wasn't going to do it. There was far too much on his mind.

"Something wrong, Leander?"