Darkling

Further North

A week passed before I had even realized it. I trained with the Nyxians, and helped fly patrols, filling in to help with whatever needed doing with the rest of the warriors before falling into bed after dawn. Paisley picked up seamstress duties quickly, soon making delicate embellishments and embroidery to decorate tunics and quilts. She glowed with pride at the compliments, praise, and growing demand for her work. Hugo had been helping out all over the village. No one task seemed to satisfy him for long, but no one really seemed to mind as long as he was helping out.

Ashtoreth had not forgotten it had been a week, however, and it almost startled me when she asked Hugo over the evening meal if he still wanted to go back to Lumence or if he wanted to stay. We all held our breath, waiting while he picked at his food and considered.

"I'll stay." He smiled when Paisley hugged him tight and Mithra ruffled his hair. "I want to stay. I was scared before, but, not so much now."

Next to me, Deimos let out a breath and resumed eating. Ashtoreth, on my other side, nodded in satisfaction. "Good. I had hoped you would feel that way." I grinned at him, relaxing once more, pleased that he had decided to remain in Nyxia.

Things had begun to settle into a routine. Something comfortable that I wouldn't mind living for the rest of my life. Though, there were still a few things to work out. Ashtoreth had been carefully putting off any sort of binding ceremony to officially declare us mates until she heard back from Jokari. Her reasoning was that if Jokari brought back information we could work from to find others like me, I would assuredly want to go track them down and see if I could find family.

I couldn't really say she was wrong, though I didn't believe she had to worry about me staying up north and never seeing her again.

My family was here in Nyxia, even if they didn't look anything like me.

Later that night, I slipped into the house and my brief excitement that Jokari was back faded when I realized it was Deimos talking to Ashtoreth instead. Not that I wasn't just as pleased to see him, but he looked upset. Ashtoreth gave me a smile of greeting before turning back to Deimos.

"Maybe Su'en can give you some advice."

Raising a brow, I approached the two of them sitting before the fire in curiosity. "Advice about what?"

Deimos sighed, smoothing the hair around his horns. "Paisley has been trying to convince me to talk to my mate. She thinks I shouldn't just suffer in silence, watching my mate be happy with someone else without even knowing..." He huffed, shaking his head. "I just don't want to make things awkward. Paisley doesn't know what she's asking me for."

I considered, puzzling it out. "Because your mate is Hugo?"

Deimos blinked at me in surprise, while Ashtoreth smiled. "How did you...?"

"A lot of little things," I answered. "I don't understand the problem though. Why can't you tell Hugo he's your mate?"

"Because Hugo is in love with Paisley?"

"Yeah. So?" Deimos stared at me. "You love Paisley too, don't you? At least on some level." Deimos slowly nodded. I nodded once in return. "Neither of them are strangers to sharing. Companions can't have exclusive relationships and still do their jobs after all. But since it's you... They both know you care about both of them. Are you unwilling to share Hugo with Paisley or get involved with her too?"

Deimos blinked. Then lurched to his feet, hugged me tight, and dashed out the door. I stared after him, confused. "That... That was an actual question. I don't know how rigid Nyxian's are with their relationship dynamics."