Catalyst
Thaddeus had many stops to make on his way home, some related to his brief conversation with the young prince's lover in the hallway---a delightful sweet chap, despite his unconvincing attempts to be cranky! And the boy's requests made him feel warm inside; he was a sentimental old coot and fond of admitting it. Of course he would help, that was a given, though he'd teased Master Rhion by pretending to be uncertain of the matter. It had been fun, to call forth all that winning, coaxing charm the lad had on tap, feel it foaming over his aged head like honey ale. Not that the boy was a gusher! But he'd make a damn fine politician, with that force of personality wrapped in a warm sugar coating.
"Better not put it that way though; don't think the lad is fond of politics!" Thaddeus muttered to himself, cackling, as he fumbled for the keyhole. Someone had lit the two huge, cut green crystal lamps outside---probably Althea, bless her patient heart. But Thaddeus had made a few stops purely to chat with some of his many acquaintances. Naturally they did their talking over a companionable glass or two, and the old man was aware he had lost track of both the number of friends and the amount of wine he'd shaken hands with that evening. His normally steady fingers were a little arbitrary as a result.
The door opened smoothly before he could puzzle out the fact that he was trying to insert his key back end first. Yes, in town they were allowed doors, very sturdy ones, too. He blinked owlishly up at the tall, handsome woman who observed him thoughtfully from the warm shadows of his home's interior. "You old fool of a human," she observed darkly, tossing back her rich mane of chestnut hair and crossing her arms over her ample bosom. "I should let you stay out there and take root with the shrubbery!"
Thaddeus eyed the backwards key in his fingers with feigned dismay. "Perhaps you should, dear, I'm only fit for fertilizer these days!" he cracked out, beginning to walk meekly toward the hedge.
He grinned when the woman grabbed him from behind, picked him up effortlessly, and twirled his small frame inside to an herb-scented room. She planted him firmly but gently on his feet before turning to shut out the night. "Woman, you left my bag outside," he complained.
"YOU left your bag outside, you old wine jug!" Althea snorted, but before she could turn to the door a couple of teen-agers and a scrawny but agile boy-child were already hustling to do the honors. "We'll get it, granpa!" "No, *I'll* get it! By myself!"
"There's no candy nor presents in there, you grasping varmints---only materials for my craft!" Thaddeus felt obliged to remark. The teen-agers spared him a pitying glance before diving outside; the younger child didn't even pause to bother.
The old man felt his wife's strong arms wrap him comfortably as she laughed. "What a bad liar you are! They know you always bring them something---"
He patted her hand that rested on his middle, feeling as powerfully as in his youth the wonder of being paired with a Shyle lady. That he had aged and she had not made no difference to their delight in each other. Their ways of expressing their feelings had shifted somewhat, though. "You nagging witch, I never lie. There's naught to interest them in my duffle, because I put all their treats in my pockets!"
"And so Marla will have chocolate to clean from your clothing? That will thrill her!" The woman's tone was dry, but her fingers caressed the old man, and as tenderly as if he were still in his thirties and newly married to her.
"There's no need for her to clean my clothes at all; she's too fussy a daughter for a man to be blessed with!" he complained, finally managing to turn himself in his woman's arms. He tilted his face up and was rewarded with a kiss from warm lips colored like berries and tasting of the sun-blessed fruit as well. When he tried to pinch her bottom, though, she pushed him away gently but firmly. "None of your tricks till you've eaten, you. Something must be done to absorb all that liquor in your system! And tell me how your day with the new prince went; you seem elated, husband, if it's not just the wine a-bubble in you as usual."
"Nag, nag, nag!" Thaddeus grumbled happily; he allowed Althea to push him into a comfortable chair near a small, ornate carved table. The children burst in, dragging his heavy bag and complaining loudly that indeed, there had been nothing of interest in the "cursed thing."
One sharp look from Althea, though, and they quieted, looking as meek as they ever got.
"Out of my lord's hair until he's eaten!" she announced firmly.
"What's left of his hair," he couldn't help piping, and she threw him a look also, though it did little to make him meek. Gods, what a woman he had! He couldn't wait till the children were abed---well, perhaps he could wait until he'd snacked on the very fine pile of ham and spiced cheese she'd plonked in front of him. It was a surprise to him that he was actually faint with hunger---hadn't noticed it until this very instant.
For nearly half an hour he involved himself only with eating, and Althea sat near him companionably and quietly, as human women never did. Human women seemed to think that if they stopped chattering for five minutes you would forget their existence! Thaddeus laughed at the thought, and his wife lifted an eyebrow at him.
"Well? The children have given up on you and gone to bed; you'll need to leave their treats where they can find them in the morning, or they'll think you're ill."
"Oh, I'll do that. And you so patient, wife, when I know you're bursting for news." He cackled as she glared at him; he'd known that remark would offend her!
"Don't confuse me with yourself, you old gossip! I can find out what's goes on from a friend if I need to, since my husband is only interested in teasing me!" She got up, looking honestly miffed, and he hurried to appease her by leaping up and grabbing her firmly.
"I'm interested in more than that!" he cackled, and she snorted. But she also made no attempt to leave the circle of his arms, though she could have knocked him flat with one capable hand.
He hugged her hard, and began talking almost dreamily. "They are like us, I think, the young Shyle prince and his lover."
"Lover?" Despite her remarks about disliking gossip, her warm, lovely face immediately glowed with interest. "I didn't hear about that! I understand he's quite beautiful, the young prince----but not that he was companioned."
Thaddeus grinned. "Well, companioned he is, and by a young man I'll never introduce you to, knowing your weakness for blonds!"
She smiled, and brushed her hand lightly through his thin, grey hair. "One blond is enough for me. But knowing you, if either of them had even marginal good looks you flirted shamelessly. I hope you didn't make too big a fool of yourself."
He laughed. "Oh, I did my best! But come, wife, let's go to bed and talk there. Now don't look at me that way, you hussy; I promise I'll tell you all, before I get up to anything. I've put in a hard day and these old bones need to relax."
"A hard day, drinking and flirting! I wish my days were so difficult!"
He laughed so heartily he started wheezing. "You would be bored if you weren't managing all our lives, admit it!"
"You are the only one who needs managing---the children are sensible like their mother."
He looked up at her affectionately. "Have I told you lately that I love you very much?'
She smiled just a little. "Like all humans, you seem to think these things should be mentioned thirty times in a day. But I am a Shyle, as are you. What is done, is more important than what is said."
"Oh, but words have their place," the old man said cheerfully as he followed her to the bedchamber. "And without them you'd get no news."
"I've haven't gotten any yet, despite all your chattering," she muttered darkly, but nestled him comfortably against her in a way that was not unfriendly at all.
"Well, first off, picture a boy with skin of ivory perfection and the features of an angel. A small face, almost consumed by the darkness of eyes as black as a crow's wing. Watchful, intense as a serpent. Graceful beyond belief, like a small black panther stalking its prey."
"You did make a fool of yourself. I think. Now tell me what you really saw."
Thaddeus sighed, and said one word only: a remarkable feat, for him.
"Loneliness."
She was silent for a space, respecting his unusual seriousness. "Well---he is a young god. I suppose that is natural. But you said he had a companion?"
"Oh, yes. A boy as golden as a rising sun, bright to his darkness. Very similar to the young ruffian who used to try and trip me up on my way to work---which you put a stop to, remember?"
"I remember," she said patiently. "That's hardly a recommendation!"
"No, alike in looks only! This boy has brains, and a deal of kindness. Took me aside to ask help for the prince's birthday; the child will be seventeen shortly, and so in addition to my usual work I'll be crafting a pair of boots for the lad, as a present."
"Boots?" She tilted her head to study him. "Have you done that before?"
"No, but I measured---um---everything. Feet included! I can figure it out, if that fool son-in-law of mine can find me some soft leather. He specified soft, you see. 'So he'll hardly know he's wearing them. But I want a pair as beautiful as he is.' That's what he told me, this Rhion fellow. He's head over heels in love, my dear. He worries about the lad going barefoot all the time!"
She smiled. "That seems to prove it. How wise you are, my dear."
"No need to be sarcastic, woman!"
She ignored the comment, since she hadn't been sarcastic in the least. "Is that why you said they are like us? Because they are very much in love?"
Trust a demon woman to remember every word you said and bring it back to fluster you! He felt himself blushing, but laughed when she did. "Well, that must have been what I meant, I wasn't comparing their beauty to ours! There's only one lovely one in our relationship I fear."
Instead of responding to the flattery as would a human woman, she sat up slightly, and studied his worn face with grave thoroughness. "You have never been a handsome one, true. Some of my friends have wondered why I picked you, the more so because you are mortal. But there is a light in you, husband. I was not wrong in my choice. It will be very dark for me, when you depart."
He shifted uneasily. "My dear, you won't be rid of me for a good many years. Unless you put something in the stew, that is!"
His attempt to lighten her mood didn't work; she continued to study him solemnly, as if memorizing his features. "I am Shyle," she said proudly. "I will not wallow in grief; I will no doubt love others. But I will take no once else for husband, ever. I promise you this."
Damn, what had he done to deserve such a woman? Now he was seriously embarrassed, something that rarely happened. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it briefly, brimming with happiness.
"They don't know it though. That's why I said the boy was lonely." He offered her more news rather than the babbling praise he wanted to heap on her. Too much sweet talk made her edgy; she'd even asked him once to please stop talking to her as if she were five years old! Another difference in demon woman. Or maybe, it was just Althea.
"Don't know what? That they love each other? How silly."
"Well, not everyone's sensible like us! The blond boy, this Rhion---he might guess it soon, I think. But Damian---"
He shook his head, unaccountably depressed. "I believe he thinks that Rhion is just being nice because he's a generous person. Or some such dribble! That boy is too complicated for his own good. Or maybe," he added slowly, "Maybe he's very simple and basic, and the life around him---that's complex."
"Thaddeus, you are babbling now. You should sleep an hour or two."
"Sleep?" he barked, sitting up quickly. "Like the devil---I have too much work to do!" He sounded appalled that he'd forgotten this fact. "Get that dang lunkhead who married our daughter up, too! I need some help with such an order as this. And being an armor smith, he might have some notions about the shoes---"
Althea laughed. "And what does one thing have to do with the other? So go my plans for loving this night, lost in a storm of sewing as usual!" She eyed him whimsically as he sputtered, pleased to have ruffled him.
But instead of swearing to the blue stars his love for her despite the lack of sex, he calmed down and said abruptly, "I need a favor from you, lady wife."
"A favor would be to have either some loving this night, or peace from your requests." Then when he hesitated, she sat up in bed quickly. "I teased you, of course. What may I do for my husband, to assist him?"
"Paints!" Thaddeus barked, looking nettled.
Althea waited expectantly. When the old man produced nothing else except some aimless fidgeting, she said tartly, "One word is not usually your style, old fool. I have lost the ability to extract meaning from brevity, living with you!"
The old man rose from the bed and began to pace thoughtfully as he set out his supplies from the large duffel he had lugged into the bedroom. "I hate to ask it of you, but you are a fine artist and I know only my own craft."
She sighed deeply. "Thaddeus. Stop dithering at me as if I'm a merchant you're trying to cozen, or I'll hurt you I swear!"
He glanced at her and chuckled. "Sorry, wife! Well, then, would you gather an assortment of paints, such as you would like and use yourself? That's another gift this Rhion wants to have ready for the prince's birthday. Apparently the lad was quite the painter before coming here and Rhion wants him to have some hobby to break up what's bound to be very hard training."
Thaddeus chuckled as he hobbled to a closet and pulled it open; shelves loaded with various fabrics covered the walls of the nearly room-sized storage. "The boy said that he'd teach the prince to cook if he could, it being a more useful pastime, but he wouldn't trust the lad to burn water and so art would have to do! But of course Rhion has no more knowledge of what a painter's tools are than I do!"
"'Art would have to do', eh?" Althea snorted, looking nettled. Then she softened, and rose from the bed herself to stride up behind the old man. She hugged him quickly from behind, and he dropped the cloth he'd been pulling forth, cussed a little, then leaned back in her arms with a sigh.
"Of course I'll help. Now get on with your work or you'll still be at it past daybreak and that I will NOT have. I'll roust your son-in-law as I leave for the Inner City."
"Wife, if it's too much trouble--- I thought you could just put together a palette of some of your old paints for---"
"Oh, yes---gift the future lord of the Shyle with a handful of dried-up oils and some painted over canvas! Husband, thank the stars you bothered to mention this. The thought of how you would manage it makes me shudder."
Thaddeus snorted. "You never shuddered in your life!
"Well, trust me, I am shuddering now."
Already half distracted by his work, the old man gave her only the sketchiest of kisses and a distracted thank you. Altheas grinned a bit, then went to the ornate wardrobe and tugged open the mosaic doors decisively. Her lounging robe was suitable for dalliance not shopping. And shop she would, for far more than a young vampire's set of art supplies!
Her dear husband would pay through the nose for abandoning romance for needlecraft once again. The thought tickled her, and she laughed out loud. There was some filigreed jewelry at the shop near the butcher that would suit her coloring and also make her dearest husband swear like a sailor when the bill came due!
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With Deathwalker's unwelcome help De managed to find a suitable pair of pants for his training session with Mish-shy in one of the unexplored wardrobes. They were made of neither leather nor silk and were both sturdy enough to avoid tears, while being flexible enough to allow him a free range of movement.
It was a foreign material to De, but he was sure they were forged from the skin of some sort of creature. A very dark, fairytale like being with blue iridescent skin.
They pleased him and they seem to please Deathwalker, though De cared little whether the arrogant bastard was pleased or not. He'd been tempted to remain in his silks just to annoy the meddling fool, but in the end common sense won out over his desire to make things rough on his new demon allies.
He refused to call them family, whether they'd adopted him or not.
As they moved through the hallways, De trailed along behind the Demon King's second barefoot and semi shirtless having only thrown on a thin vest. Something Walker had frowned upon, offering him a chain mail shirt---but De had slapped it away with disgust, pointing out he'd always practiced shirtless and with as little armor as was necessary.
The demon hadn't pressed the issue, had instead nodded, bowed slightly and motioned both he and Rhion out the door with the wide sweep of his arm. "As you wish." Three words that irked De more than he liked to admit, or maybe it was just the tone they'd been delivered in.
Rhion, though, had chuckled softly and observed, "That obviously means he'll be first in line with 'I told you sos' if you get hurt. And pleased as punch about it, no doubt!" The blond made no attempt to lower his voice, and if the demon had been annoyed at the remark it would have sweetened De's mood. Unfortunately, the tall, elegant bastard merely smiled---straight at Rhion, damn him!
De was beginning to like this Deathwalker even less than Mish-shy.
Daniel had stirred during their walk, inquiring about unfolding events to which De immediately enlightened him by mingling their spirits together---sharing memories and emotions was a whole lot easier than talking about them.
Rhion turned from his half snippy conversation with the demon to look at them. It was as if he sensed the change as it happened and turned to watch them snap their bond into place.
His gaze rested curiously on their eyes for several long seconds before he finally asked "You gonna be okay to do this?" Their human lover seemed to understand that he wasn't simply addressing De or Daniel but some combination of the both of them.
They looked between Rhion and Deathwalker, noting instantly that both of them seemed to be puzzling over different things. Rhion wasn't sure of the balance struck between them, while Walker seemed more inherently curious about the eyes---which Daniel knew were currently a dark rich blue like Ocean water at dusk.
"Yes, we've done this before," they answered simply as they stopped near the Arena entrance. "And we'll do it again."
"When you're done chit-chatting, Rhion--- follow these stairs to the top. We'll watch from there." Then without another word their demon escort left them alone in the hallway.
Rhion snagged their chin, and tilted their face ever so gently toward his. "Be careful. I know you're good---but these are demons."
Damian's first inclination was to pull away and snap at Rhion, but Daniel wouldn't do any such thing. For a moment there was mild conflict---then they let out the faintest sigh, closed their eyes, and accepted the touch and the concern behind it. And to De's surprise at least, it seemed to strengthen them on some level, rather than distracting or weakening. Make them more ready to face this thing.
They looked deeply into Rhion's eyes, topaz and amber in this light, and found something there that the man gave to no one else.
Something to come back to.
De had the urge to roll his eyes at Daniel's romanticism but refrained, outwardly at least. The last thing he needed was to be questioned on Daniel's privet thoughts, because they were Daniel's!
Never in a million years would he be caught thinking something so very---- human.
De snorted, pulling his soul away from Daniel's long enough to react, as he should. He tossed his head just enough to break from Rhion's light touch. "These are bigger and louder versions of what we've faced before. Don't overrate them like you do yourself!" It was De who spoke, not Daniel that much was obvious to any fool and their human was no fool.
Rhion grinned a little at De's tart remark and stepped back a pace, raising his hands in mock surrender. "My apologies, go at them like the mean little shit you are. You'll do fine, the pair of you. I might as well go back to our room and prepare your victory snack!"
Instead of turning on his heel and exiting the area as De half expected, Rhion headed for the stairs, still softly laughing for some reason.
"Fool!" that single word should have come out sounding harsh as De intended it to, but instead thanks to Daniel it came out soft and affectionate.
The quick glance Rhion throw them over his shoulder was filled with warmth and humor. De couldn't help rolling his eyes, only this time his exasperation was directed at the both of them---his inner twin and his human lover.
Those two made quite the pair and De realized however marginally that he was jealous of the simplicity of the relationship between them. But he supposed that's how things were for those never meant to hold power---easy!
Strangely enough he found that no matter how jealous he was, he was also glad for them. Things should be easy for someone, why not the people he cared about?
