Souvenirs From Dead Worlds | ✓

Chapter 17

Communicating with Seba when he was upset was even more challenging than communicating with Seba generally was, Kias was finding. The language limitations always made things difficult, but at least Kias usually had Seba’s full and focussed attention. Now, though he did his best to follow Kias’ lead, he was too distracted for anything approaching conversation.

 

Somehow the baths were hot, as they always seemed to be, though Kias had no idea how they actually worked. Some kind of underground heating thing, he assumed.

 

Kias' eyes skimmed over Seba's bare skin as the boy stripped and stepped into the bath. There were marks on other parts of Seba's body as Kias had suspected, most notably his arm where Kalem had grabbed him and his back, which Kias was pretty sure had been slammed against a wall a couple of times. They were all new marks, though, Kias was relieved to see. Kalem hadn't made a habit of hurting Seba.

 

Seba hunched in on himself in the bath, watching Kias with wide eyes. Not scared or self conscious, just in shock. Kias, sitting on the edge outside the bath, gave him a reassuring smile. He wanted to explain to Seba that Sam's anger wasn't Seba's fault, that Sam was only angry at Kalem and most of all himself. Kias had been in Seba's position before. Once he'd believed Sam had owned him and was, for some reason Kias had been unclear on, completely furious with him. When Sam was distressed he wasn’t always the best at empathy.

 

Eventually Seba relaxed and started washing himself. Once started, Seba seemed to almost go into a trance, completing the motions of cleaning without conscious consideration. At one point he dropped the bar of soap into the bath, and it took a couple of moments of blinking blandly down at where it had sunk beneath the water before some life came back into his eyes and he ducked under the water to retrieve it.

 

"Are you okay?" Kias asked when it looked like Seba was almost done.

 

Seba's head jerked up at the sudden sound and for several seconds he just stared at Kias. "Yes," he said eventually, but there was no conviction in it.

 

"I'm sorry," Kias said, though he didn't know what he was apologising for. They were simply the only words Seba would know that came anywhere close to communicating what Kias really wanted to say.

 

"Thank you," Seba responded after a long silence, and Kias wasn't sure if he'd chosen those words due to a lack of better ones or because he genuinely meant it.

 

"You're welcome," Kias said anyway, although he wasn't sure what he had even been thanked for. The more they talked, though, the less spaced out Seba looked, so he was willing to keep it up.

 

When Seba looked like he'd finished washing, Kias pushed himself up and fetched Seba a towel. "Come on," he told Seba, holding the towel open to wrap around Seba when he got out of the bath.

 

"Thank you," Seba said as the towel was wrapped around his body. Kias wondered if he was so well mannered all the time, or if it was simply due to the language restriction.

 

#

 

Although Sam's position had hardly changed since Kias and Seba had left, somehow Kias was able to detect the change in Sam's mood and went over to him as soon as he entered the room. A touch of Kias' hand to Sam's back had Sam rolling over to face Kias, then lifting one arm to gently pull Kias against him. Seba stood near the door, watching them and pretending not to.