Personal Duties

6

Sunlight, dimmed by a dissipating but still heavy baring of clouds, cascaded into the bedroom as curtains were parted open, bringing an uncomfortable light to the back of Leonan's eyes, dragging him back from his state of unconsciousness.
His eyelashes battered and then opened narrowly, squinting at the blurry figure standing in the window, noticing him much sooner than the man tending to his healing.

He moved his right arm, only to be halted by the cable poked into his arm. The loss of blood now highlighted the rings under his eyes, melancholic and exhausted. Leonan turned his head, and breathed out a tense and groggy sigh, each pulse of his heart sending sharp pains to his tightly wrapped mid-section.
"Can't allow my death to be dignified, can you?" he muttered, arching his brow inquisitively at the man beside him. "Oh well," he paused, coughing into his elbow as he moved to sit up in the bed; his bare torso visible above the covers. "-Worthless knife, hasn't drawn blood in more than a thousand years, and I expect the fucking thing to work? ... Idiot." His grumbling still bore a very charming voice, the regional accent being very pleasing to the ear itself, much less than when articulated with regality.

Mateo's eyes took in the rising form of Leonan, silently inspecting him as the light from the window ran past him to sit and glow upon the kings chest. He walked forward towards him, his silhouette lightly outlined in the rays that wished to highlight how pale the boys asking was that sat before him. A silent laugh danced behind his eyes as he listened to the comments.

Reaching the side of the bed he patted Aaron on the back, "Well done," silently taking his place as the court official went to the door to stand outside of it. A chair that had been sitting around a dining room side circular table had been brought closer and Mateo gripped it and sat down.

He made sure to keep his space, not wanting anything else sudden to happen, "Leonan.. I'm unsure of how you will react to what I've come to propose. However I do hope you won't try to kill yourself again before I finish." He looked down at his hands, silently clenching them, "I can promise that neither my men, nor I, wish to harm you in any sense." His expression eased into one of sincerity before he straightened and pressed his back lightly against the chair, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

Aaron, patiently waiting outside the door could hear as the sound of thunder, the footsteps of hundreds of men, began to grow ever more faint as Xavier took charge and led them back to the safety and warmth of the buildings in town. The men deserved a decent rest after coming so far and working very hard.

Leonan's brows lowered in a grumpy state of unamusement. "State your terms consicely, Dragonair," he ended with an airy sigh, his head falling several degrees to the side in a tilt. Chewing on the corner of his lip, his attention averted to the window, where a thin frame of steel locked it shut. "Come closer," the blond slightly leaned forwards; causing the IV stand to roll on its wheels. Mateo saw Leonan's eyes in their full color, wide red dots rested upon a white surface.
More than the absence of a black dot, the depth and detail to his irises were minimal if not entirely missing. "You need to understand the importance of this place. The consequences of everything you do here might have terrible consequences for all mankind, and there's nothing here for you that's worth that burden."
Reclining back once more into the lavish comfort of the bed, Leonan stretched out his shoulders; again lightly tugging at the chord buried in his skin.
His chest would puff out as he drew in a deep breath, only to deflate as he exhaled a tired yawn; appearing rather content. "I'm destined to be buried here, but come winter, perhaps you'll rest here too." The corner of his lip faintly twitched into a grin, before levelling again, now resorting to close his eyes.

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Authors Note: I wrote what is underlined, my partner wrote what isn't.