Reap the Earth at Which you Stand [boyxboy]

Chapter XLIII

~Saturday 17th February 2018~

"You're nervous?" Vasile asked, looking up from his breakfast to Dakota sat across from him at the table. They were up earlier than usual, since Dakota had barely rested the previous night, meaning they had time to talk alone. They weren't set to take Izelon to meet Easton until ten, and it was only five. Still, Dakota felt unwell from the get-go, and it wasn't getting better as he pushed his food around his plate lifelessly.

"Mmm," Dakota nodded, placing his fork down and sipping his coffee instead, at least he could consume that, "East's a bit of a wild card. I mean, so far, I've gotten everyone's reactions wrong. Loral was vicious when he found out about Mylo, Torin was pretty tame when he first came here. I just don't know what to expect anymore," there had been a pretty long debate between the brothers over which brother they would speak to first. Of course, Izelon would be masked no matter what, and they wouldn't actually say anything until the man concluded whether his Kept had been found. Still, it was risky. They were taught to look past an illusion or ruse, and Raylen was certainly good at that. No matter who they told first, questions would be asked and suspicions would arise. Dakota only hoped they had come to the right conclusion.

"You call Torin's reaction tame?" Vasile chuckled, one eyebrow arched as he leant back in his chair. It seemed the both of them were too alert to eat much. So long as Mylo didn't pick up on the nerves, it didn't really matter. Dakota had only cooked that morning because he wanted to do something with his hands. He would have been happy with just a piece of fruit really. Vasile seemed to be in silent agreement.

"No one died, I'd say that was a win," Dakota smiled faintly, unable to stop that expression any time he thought of his brother. It was nice to know he was somewhere safe, somewhere happy with his Keeper. He only hoped that their parents weren't pestering him so much because of his absence. It was bad enough that Dakota had been staying away from the house more and more recently, now with Torin following in his footsteps, Grant was going to notice.

"Are you expecting someone to die today?" Although Vasile's tone was still light, Dakota knew there was real weight to that question. Easton could react badly, he could lash out, and someone could get hurt. There was always danger, no matter what Dakota was doing, no matter the family he was spending time with. He was never truly safe. No one was.

"No, not with Ys and Torin there. Speaking of Ys, he isn't bringing any of the Seven, is he? I don't want East feeling cornered, this isn't a kidnapping. This has to go better than every other introduction we've had. Izzi deserves that," the less people there when Dakota had to tell his brother about the new change to his life, the better. Dakota didn't want to be there whilst someone died because the Seven got twitchy or Easton felt crowded.

"He might bring one but I imagine they'll just stay in the car or outside. I know he's comfortable being here with just Torin, since he's so adept at fighting, but there are threats in public. Even masked, we are targets," Dakota nodded, despite still not being too happy with Vasile's answer. He would have preferred to go see Easton alone, just one on one with his brother, since he was at the center of his whole mess. However, Loral and Torin wanted to be there too, meaning that Ysmael and Pete had to tag along too. At least Vasile had offered to stay at home, he had other things to do anyway.

"What if it isn't him?" Dakota had been thinking about that all the previous night. He wasn't sure how to put Izelon and Easton in the same room without explaining everything and, even if he did, it might all be for nothing. Meeting Raylen might be too, Izelon's Kept might be one of the triplets. It could even be Waverly, which hadn't been touched on much. Torin had already experienced being paired with someone he didn't think he could ever be attracted to, who's to say the same wouldn't happen to Izelon?