Beyond The Night - Bronze

XV. Griff

   Griff took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. He put a hand to his stomach that was about to burst and from the corner of his eye he watched Liz, who was sitting to his left.
   After putting her napkin on the table, Liz put a smile on her face and said, "Thank you for the meal."
   "Don't even mention it, honey," Emma said with a gentle smile. "Caius's friends are our friends. If there's anything else you need please don't hesitate to ask."
   "Thank you. But you're already doing enough by taking us to Centhepha. We can't ask for more."
   "Oh, I almost forgot," said Hugo. "Caius."
   "What?"
   "Did you run out of money or something?"
   "What are talking about?"
   "I thought you hated Meddwl Dewr. Why get on it? Out of all the ships that are going to Centhepha, why choose mine?"
   "What? Do you want me to get off?"
   Emma cleared her throat. "What Hugo is trying to say," she said glaring at Hugo. "Is that, if you need money or if you are in trouble, you can tell us. We're just worried about you, Caius."
   "Thank you, Emma," Caira said. Then he added while glaring at Hugo, "But I'm not in trouble or anything. Don't worry."
   "Liar."
   Griff stared at Liz with his mouth wide open. He expected a response like that from Alvis, not her.
   Caira looked as surprised as Griff.
   "Liar?" Emma asked. "Is he in trouble?"
   Liz nodded with her ryes closed.
   "Caius!" Emma scolded.
   Caira sent Liz a deadly glare but she continued without a care. "The ship Alvis and Caira was on when they were leaving Centhepha in April burned. That's the reason we couldn't take another ship. No one would take them."
   Griff grabbed Liz's arm under the table. "Liz," he said in a warning tone.
   Liz turned to Caira. "Sorry, Caira. But you shouldn't lie to your siblings."
   Griff tightened his hand around her arm.
   "That's none of your concern," Caira said.
   Liz opened her mouth to respond but Alvis was faster.
   "Whatever. Even if she didn't tell them, I would."
   Caira got out of his seat without looking away from Liz and with heavy steps, he left the room.
   "I hope he doesn't burn this ship, too," Hugo said with a crooked smile.
   Griff turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"
   "I thought Alvis was the one who burned the ship," Liz said.
   "What?" Griff turned to Alvis. "You didn't burn that ship?"
   Alvis shook his head. "No. Caira did."
   Griff and Liz stared at each other.
   "I wouldn't expect that from Caira," Liz said finally.
   "Really?" Alvis asked. "I think it's exactly something he would do."
   Liz frowned.
   "But why did he do it?" Griff asked.
   "What do you mean?"
   "Why did he burn the ship?" Griff repeated. "I mean, what was the reason?"
   "You need to ask that to Caira."
   "Weren't you there?"
   "After setting the sails on fire, he came to tell me that we had to swim to Riwelter. Right after that, he jumped overboard so I couldn't ask why."
   Emma's laughter surprised Griff. "Caius didn't change at all."
   "He's trying," Alvis said. "Trust me."
   After dinner Alvis and Hugo stayed in the big room to continue their conversation, while Aristide dissappeared to his cabin. Griff followed Liz to her room and closed the door behind himseld. "I think you should apologize to Caira."
   Liz sighed but she asked without turning around, "Why?"
   "You shouldn't have got between him and his siblings."
   "I was right. You know that."
   "It doesn't matter even if you were." Griff took a step towards Liz. "You took it too far."
   "You're late," said Liz as she turned around. "You should've stopped me if I took it too far."
   "I tried to stop you."
   "It wasn’t enough."
   "Well, what was I supposed to do?"
   "We talked about this."
   Griff hanged his head back and stared at the cieling. "Yes," he said as he exhaled. "We did talk about this. And I told you that I couldn't hit you."
   Liz shrugged and averted her eyes.
   "Liz." Griff took a few more steps. He reached towards Liz and gently grabbed her elbow. He knew Liz wasn't actually mad at Caira but he also knew, whatever she was mad about, she wouldn't tell Griff. That's why, first, he decided to calm her down. "Do you want to go out to the deck? This room is a little stuffy. And I think we could do with some fresh air. What do you say?" Griff cocked his head to one side and watched Liz from between his eyebrows.
   Liz sighed again. "Isn't Caira there?"
   "There's a huge deck upstairs. I'm sure we can manage to avoid him."
   Liz rolled her eyes. "Okay, but if we start arguing, you're going to be on my side," Liz bargained.
   Griff walked to stand behind her and started pushing her from her shoulders. "I can't make any promises," he said with a laugh.
   "Traitor."