Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bezernia chuckles. "Ye forget who I am... but thanks, anyway. We'll get there, eventually. But iffin it's yer younger self yer worried about... maybe he needs to develop a tougher psi-screen. I could teach him. I was going to, but ye kind of stepped in."

Bez bows his head, rubbing his nose between his hands. "I made him a promise, Kero... I'm not going to do anything other than court him. And courting means he gets the final say. He's been... well receptive... to a point... but face it. We're not dealing with Talesian. He might look like him, might occasionally sound like him but we're dealing with Ai... Tam's not phobic, but he's no longer in charge... And as Ai, he... she... whatever... is rather young... It's like dealing with a young teen, emotionally that is. Which is probably the problem. His mind has matured considerably but the body and his emotions were kept in limbo..."

Bez looks at the book and purses his lips. "I wonder. Maybe iffin we left it lying around for him to find... ye think that would help?"

"Ah... but iffin the prey wants to be seduced but doesn't know how to respond..." muses Bez softly. He shrugs slightly and tucks it inside his vest. "Can't hurt trying. Ye better hurry back. He's done sulking and out looking for me. Dang, I cold have sworn we told him to stay put. Iffin he catches you sitting here with me drinking, he's gonna blow first and ask questions later."

A minute or two later, the sound of wings overhead announces Ai's arrival. His landing is far more graceful than Bezernia's was, but hurried and he doesn't absorb his wings.

"Bez, have you seen Kero? I wanted to apologize for something and Hope says hadn't seen him since he came into the room to talk to me. Got really mad at me too. Said I needed to stop playing with his head."

Bez points to the log beside him and shrugs. "He was here... not any more though."

"You've been drinking..." says Ai quietly.

"Sit..." says Bez firmly, then he sighs in resignation and repeats himself when Ai shakes his head no. "Please, Ai, sit down... we need to talk... and yes I've been drinking. Can you blame me?"

Ai finally absorbs his wings and sits down on the log. "I need to find Kero..."

"And you will, don't worry. You always do. But right now we need to talk... about him... about you... about us..."

Ai sighs, his shoulders slumping. "Fine... we talk... after I find Kero."

"No.... we will talk right now. Kero is a big boy. He can take care of himself... trust me." says Bez firmly, shaking his head.

When he wakes near supper time, he finds Tam sitting in a chair near the bed, his feet propped up on the mattress (sans shoes of course), sound asleep, buried beneath a thick fluffy blanket. Before the door lies Salunia on one of his spare pillows. She is glaring daggers at the bard, but not making a sound.

"He pwomised not to weave..." she grumbles in a soft whisper.