Unhinged Triptych Chapter 7

Natalie glanced up at the clock hanging a few feet above her teacher's head for the third time in five minutes.  Each second seemed to her twice as long, each minute a century.  Soon...so soon...

"And...yes, that was the bell.  That will be all, boys and girls."

And hallelujah, she was free!  She swept her books into her bag and was (unsurprisingly) the first one out of the classroom.  She hadn't gone three feet, though, before she was roughly pulled into an awkward, one-armed embrace.

"Yee-haw!  Let's get goin', dearie!" Kirandin cheered as she steered Natalie down the hallway.  "Adon's a-waitin' a little ways off and he hates it when people're late!"

Natalie blinked at the sudden change in direction and the horrible, garish hoot Kirandin was passing off as speech at the moment.  "Um...okay?  I take it you're excited?" she asked nervously, wondering if it was really safe to be carted off by this girl.

Kirandin gave her a cheerful wink.  "Yer damn right I am!  I finally get my chance t'hear Adon's sob story--then I get to yell at 'im anyway!" she announced, pushing open the school's front doors carelessly.

Natalie turned to look at Kirandin, and very nearly tripped in the process.  "Yell at him?  He lets you yell at him?  Whenever I yell at my brother, he goes all sulky then gets back at me in evil ways.  Yeah--don't ask about those," she added, cutting Kirandin off before she could even formulate the question.

Kirandin shrugged with the arm that was around Natalie's shoulder, which almost sent the younger girl sprawling.  "Adon's a pushover.  He lets me get away with anything.  He was like that with the two other girls he called sisters, too..." she said, her voice leveling out into a normal pattern as she mentioned them.

"Other girls?  What are they like?" Natalie asked curiously.

Kirandin looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.  "Well, I certainly wasn't as close to either of them as Adon was, but Alia told me that she considered me a little sister anyway.  She was amazing--nice, kind, sweet, beautiful...it was no surprise that everyone loved her, even if she was a bit quiet and frail.  Denali, on the other hand...erk.  She was an odd duck.  Always looked up to Adon with a type of hero-worship even though I think that he might have preferred Alia.  She was always very quiet and mysterious.  With Alia, a silence was gentle, but Denali's silences always made me feel that she was thinking things, amazing things, but she just didn't want to share.  It never mattered how different they were, though.  Those three were inseparable.  ...Then again, those are only memories.  I haven't seen Denali much since Adon left us...and...well...Alia...  Maybe I'll be able to tell you what happened to Alia after I talk to Adon," she stated with a kind of hollowness that seemed very strange coming from Kirandin.  Even though Natalie had only known her for a short time, she got the feeling that this girl was very rarely subdued.  At the moment, however...at the moment, she appeared to be lost in her own world.

The walked together for a short time, enveloped in a kind of solitary silence despite their proximity.  It wasn't until they came into view of Adon, who was standing a few blocks away from the school looking rather impatient, that Kirandin wiped the melancholy look from her face.  "Hi Adon!  Ready to go meet the sib?" she asked, giving him a teasing smile.

Natalie looked from Kirandin's smug face to Adon's purposefully and carefully blank one.  "Pardon?" she asked.

Kirandin gave her a look that reminded her very much of the gossipy old ladies that lived in her neighborhood.  "Well, Adon called your older brother a little while ago.  It was great!  Your brother's not exactly one for sweet talk, is he?" she asked.  She then barreled on without waiting for Natalie's nod of affirmation, "Anyway, he demanded that he meet me'n Adon before we go anywhere.  Very overprotective.  Didn't seem to like Adon very much."

Adon gave her a distinctly annoyed look.  "He didn't like you either, might I remind you," he responded peevishly.

Kirandin disregarded this and continued.  "It's odd to see someone ignore his charm so utterly!  I was amazed!  I absolutely cannot wait to meet your brother, Natalie--Natalia?--dearest," she said, bouncing slightly as she spoke.

"Yes, well, if you two want to have any time to learn anything, we had better be going, right?" Adon interrupted, starting down the street.  

Natalie could only dumbly follow, caught off guard slightly by the siblings' quarrel.  It was only after they had walked for a few streets that she realized that she wasn't the one leading.  "Adon, how do you know the way to my house..?" she asked tentatively.

Without missing a beat, Adon very calmly replied, "Your brother gave me directions.  It was only proper seeing as how he was the one to demand our presence."

On his other side, Kirandin frowned to herself, knowing this to be a lie.  However, Adon had promised to explain...

Soon the three of them were in front of a cheery little house, all done up with bricks and green shutters.  It was a squat two stories--a good choice for a family the size of Natalie's.  As they drew nearer, an old welcome mat greeted them at the door, its worn edges letting them know that many had been accepted before them.  However, before Adon could ring the bell, the door opened to reveal a boy of seventeen or eighteen with dark chocolate locks that complemented Natalie's red ones well.  Suspicious blue eyes studied the trio standing outside his door.

Natalie, for her part, was very cheerful about the whole situation.  "Hi Sam!  Kirandin picked me up after school, and then we all came to see you.  Mr. Smith said that you wanted to meet him, anyway..." she said with a sunny smile, and Adon thanked the graces that gave her the common sense not to call him by first name in front of her brother.

Sam gave a very slight nod, then moved to let them in.  Adon walked in first, but then stationed himself just inside the doorway so that he could examine his surroundings.  Simple blues, greens, and whites greeted his eyes wherever he looked.  It was like being in the ocean.   Natalie, being more at home, went right for the kitchen.  "Do you guys want anything to drink?  We've got soda and tea and stuff," she called over her shoulder.  

Adon politely shook his head, but Kirandin looked interested.  "Really?  Let me see!" she exclaimed, dashing after Natalie.

Adon massaged his brow tiredly.  "Er...please excuse my sister.  She never really grew up..." he told Sam apologetically.

Sam, on the other hand, looked amused.  "She does what she wants when she wants to.  She's the least dangerous type, because she's an obvious sort of person.  I think I like her," he said wryly.

Adon looked at him for a moment, then shook his head disparagingly.  "You take her, then," he replied.

He got a sideways look for that one.  "You're Mr. Smith, I take it?" Sam asked.

Adon nodded in return.  "And you'd be Sam Walker."  It was a statement, not a question.

Sam turned to study Adon contemplatively.  "Yes, but we're not here to exchange pleasantries, are we?  You're my little sister's twenty-odd teacher, and you have an interest in her. Sorry, Mr. Smith, but that seems just a little suspicious to me.  Don't give me that tutoring crap, either.  If you expect me to trust you enough to entrust Natalie into your care, then you at least need to tell me the truth.  Why do you want Natalie to go with you tonight?  This had better be good," he stated calmly.  He kept his eyes level with Adon's and did not look away, no mean feat.

At this point, Adon considered his options.  He could lie, but something told him that the boy in front of his would know.  He could tell the truth, and while he might be believed (Sam looked the tolerant sort), that was a story he did feel comfortable telling people he did not know intimately.  A compromise seemed to be in order.  "I feel that Natalie needs help, and in more areas than just school.  I also feel that I can provide that help.  I would never touch her, at least not in the manner you're undoubtedly thinking of.  Tonight I plan to tell Natalie of my observations and my reasons for talking to her.  In my opinion, it is not my place to tell you of these problems, but Natalie's.  I only ask that you give me this one night to speak with her.  Speak...just speak.  The only reason I wish privacy is for Natalie's own sake.  After I have told her what I need to, I will bring her back to you.  If she wants to tell you all about it then, so be it.  If she believes that I have hurt her in any way, you are free to take vengeance by any means necessary," Adon said, stating his case in a flat monotone.

Sam merely raised an eyebrow at this.  "But you two won't be entirely alone?" he asked.

Adon gestured towards the kitchen.  "My sister will also be there.  She lives with me, and it would be very rude indeed to kick her out of her own house," he said, mentally shuddering at the thought.  After all, it seemed obvious to him where Kirandin was going to stay now that she'd found him.  She'd never been much for hotels of any sort.

At this, Kirandin popped her head out.  "Was I just mentioned?" she asked around a mouthful of what appeared to be a sugar cookie.

Since he was supposed to be stern right now, Sam held back his smile.  "Yes.  Care to vouch for your brother's strength of character?" he asked her.

Kirandin pondered for a second, chewing the cookie slowly.  Finally, she swallowed hard, took a swig of her soda, and said quite seriously, "My Adon is a heartless, manipulative bastard, but only to people he doesn't respect.  Growing up with him, I know him to be actually kind and caring, odd as it may seem.  After watching him talk to your little sister, I can already see that he's fond of her--and not in the way you're thinking about.  He used to look at me the way he looks at her, back when I was still cute.  Hurting her would be as abhorrent to him as it is to you.  I don't really know much about the situation, because Adon is a secretive, snarky idiot, but I know that if he says she needs help, she probably does.  And no one can help like him."

Sam looked from Kirandin's serious gaze to Adon, who was muttering something in another language that sounded obscene and looking away from them both.  "Fine.  She can go with you--but only for a few hours.  Have her back by eight at the latest, and feed her well.  If I ever, ever find out that you so much as looked at her the wrong way, I will do something to you that will land me in prison for the rest of my life.  Understood?" he asked Adon, giving him a sort of look that guaranteed that he'd make good on that.

Adon nodded briefly, then glanced towards the kitchen.  "Thank you.  Natalia, are you done with your snack?" he asked without raising his voice, knowing that she was listening to their conversation.

Natalie poked her head out from behind the doorway guiltily.  "Um...yeah.  When we get to your house, can you explain to me why you always know what I'm doing, too?" she asked, coming over to stand slightly behind her brother.

A shrug.  "It's not exactly hard to guess, Natalia.  Come on now.  It gets dark pretty early this time of year, and I don't want to be walking around after dusk," he said simply, walking to the door and opening it for the girls.

As Kirandin walked past, she was muttering to herself.  "Walking, walking...it's always walking with you, isn't it?  Even when we had other modes of transportation, Adon always had to walk..."

Natalie just gave her brother a brief hug.  "Thanks, Sam.  You're the best," she said with a cute grin before flouncing through the doorway.

"Yes, and you'll keep thinking that until you want to start dating..." Sam murmured to himself, shrugging slightly when Adon gave him a funny look.  "Bye now.  Don't forget to play nice," he said, going over to usher Adon out through the door.  

Adon didn't answer, but only shut the door behind him.

~~~~~~

"Good evening, Adon," a portly old lady said in a rather motherly tone.  She let her clear blue eyes travel over his companions.  "Friends of yours?" she asked, not even bothering to hide her surprise.

Adon was quiet for a moment, and appeared to be counting in his head.  "Family, actually.  Kira, Natalia, this is my neighbor, Mrs. Lorraine," he said, trying to keep tightness out of his voice.

Mrs. Lorraine came right up to where the three of them were standing in the hall leading to his door and reached up to set her hands on his shoulders.  "It's good to see you with some human contact, Adon.  You girls see that he eats right, okay?" she ordered lightly, a smile crinkling up the corners of her eyes.  Before either one could answer her, though, she disappeared into a nearby door.

After the door was closed, Adon shook his head and resumed walking.  "Tottery old bat," he muttered, continuing on to his own apartment.

Natalie looked rather bewildered by his reaction, but Kirandin seemed to expect it.  "Don't look so shocked, Natalia.  Adon's a jerk--you'll just have to understand that," she said lightly.  Then, seeing that he was ignoring her, she continued, "But really, you'd never know what a mamma's boy he was when he was little.  Always hiding behind her skirts, always running to her when he got a boo-boo..."

The door swung open and Adon went inside, refusing to respond.

Natalie looked from the open door to Kirandin, who was giggling next to her.  "He likes to be so 'badass'," she whispered to her younger friend before she went in herself.  With some trepidation, Natalie followed.

They were met by a very cold, bare apartment.  Things were mostly shades of white, broken periodically by little dots of color that were obviously placed there by someone else.  Kirandin lanced around the room they were in, from the beige-ish couch to the bright, cheerful throw pillows shoved behind it, to the catpost in the corner.  "Damn, Adon.  How did a guy raised by someone so artistic turn out so very bland?  And is that a catpost?" she asked curiously.

A mewling from a nearby doorway came as if in answer.  They both looked over to Adon, who was cradling a small, black kitten.  "Yes, it is.  I was given a kitten by a coworker some time ago, and it wouldn't be good for my furniture's sake if Noir didn't have a scratching post," he said dryly, handing the kitten to Natalie.

"Noir?  Oh yeah, real original Adon," Kirandin smirked out, "Though I'm glad to see that you still like cats, at least.  I was starting to wonder if you'd lost all personality."

Adon ignored her, turning instead to Natalie, who seemed quite entranced with the kitten, who in turn was entranced by the girl's hair.  "Natalia, dinner first or explanations first?  I'd prefer not to do both at once," he said, frowning slightly at something unknown.

Noir was momentarily forgotten as Natalie looked up at him eagerly.  "Explanations!  We just snacked, so we won't be hungry for awhile..." she stated, tacking on her reasoning at his grimace.

He sighed deeply, then stepped forward to take the middle seat on the couch.  Both girls couldn't help but notice that some of the fluidity was missing from his step.  "Then...just sit down.  This is a story that will take quite awhile," he told them, his voice taking on a haggard edge.

Kirandin immediately made herself comfortable, which meant taking the cushion to Adon's right, then turning to lean against his side.  Her legs (luckily enough) only brushed the lamp on the side table, even though she extended them right over the arm.  "Yay, story!" she hummed to herself.  She then tilted her head back to look him in the eyes and grinned.

He scowled at her in return.  "Kira, I know that you can be serious when the situation commands it.  Well, oddly enough, the situation commands it," he ground out testily.

Noting the strained look he was trying to hide, Natalie simply sat down next to him and tried not to look into his face.  She wasn't altogether sure that she wanted to see the emotions that would soon be there.

Adon sighed again, and sat forward, forcing Kirandin to readjust slightly.  (Finally grasping the severity of the situation, she didn't comment.)  He ran a hand through his hair distractedly, and seemed faintly surprised when it ended at his nape.  "I'm not even sure where to begin..." he muttered to himself.

"Start with me, then!" Kirandin's muffled voice ordered from behind him.

A faint smile flitted over his face.  "All right, then.  Technically, I am older than Kirandin, but we say that we were born at the same time.  That was the way that our creator...mother, really, wished it," he began slowly.

Once again, Kirandin interrupted.  "That's because Adon was the pro-to-type~!" she added in singsong.

Natalie frowned slightly at this description.  "Prototype?  Prototype for what?" she asked, having a feeling that she'd be asking a lot more questions before they were through.

Adon had to ponder this before answering.  "She called us demons.  However, we aren't the 'demons' of lore.  We aren't evil, and we aren't vicious.  Our powers are really negligible, and we certainly aren't servants of Satan.  Originally, demons were just...demons.  The word had no negative connotations.  Tristan would not have named us that if that were the case.  Demons...she thought that the name was beautiful.  Over the years, though, the meaning of the word was twisted by myths and misinformation..." he mused softly.

Again, Natalie had to ask, "Over the years...created...  Just what do you mean by all that?  Just what are you?"

Both girls were shifted a little as Adon rose from the couch.  Wordlessly, he pulled off his glasses and handed them to Kirandin, who took them as easily as she would have if they'd planned it.

Somehow, amazingly, Natalie only let out a little squeak when he revealed his true form.

The little sigh from Kirandin did not deter her attention.  "A pity you can't put your hair back to rights, too..."

As usual, Adon paid her no heed and waited solely for Natalie's reaction.

The reaction, though slow, did come.  The delay could be blamed on the very odd happenings of Natalie's mind.  Disbelief, acceptance, surprise and expectance all warred in her mind.  A very old, very young part of her thrilled at his wings and tail, but the older part of her could only wonder who this Tristan woman was, and how she could have made him.  How anyone could have made him.  The most difficult thing for her to deal with, though, was the rightness of it all.  It was what had been nagging at the back of her brain.  She knew him.

"Once upon a dream..." she murmured, trying to piece said dream together.

Kirandin blinked at this, but Adon looked distinctly annoyed.  "A dream?  Whoever gave you that idea, Natalia?  Moreover, why do you believe it?"

She glanced up at him uncertainly.  "My mother told me a story of when I was little, once.  She told me that one day when I was about five, I got lost.  She looked everywhere for me, but couldn't find me.  Finally, after an hour or so of looking, I showed up, looking lost.  She told me that...that I told her that I met an angel...  At first she just thought I was playing, but I didn't give up on the idea.  Day after day went by, and I still chatted away like five-year-olds do about my angel.  She became upset and explained to me that angels didn't come down to visit...and I responded that he'd been hurt, that something very bad had happened to him.  She worried a little at this, but she told me that I'd probably had a nap and had dreamed it all...  When Mum told me the story, she just shook her head at how long it had taken to convince me..." she whispered.

Kirandin looked to Adon for confirmation, but his impassive gaze remained on Natalie.

She frowned for a second, as if trying to dredge up a memory.  "All I truly remember...is how much you really did look like a fallen angel..." she finished.

Adon shut his eyes, obviously much more familiar with that memory than Natalie was.  "At any rate...it wasn't a dream.  It was very much a memory, and I'd appreciate it if you would think of it as such in the future.  I've had enough people describe me as 'dream-like' as it is, thank you..."

Natalie nodded, even though he couldn't see her.  "...could you fill in the gaps, please?" she requested timidly, not trusting the closed look on his face.

"Yes, please," Kirandin interjected from her position all splayed out on the couch, "Enlighten us, dear brother."

He opened his eyes to give them both a subdued Look.  "Yes.  But only if neither of you interrupt."  Without waiting for their agreeance, he began.

~~~~~~~~~

'Once upon a time (long before you can even imagine, Natalia), there was a race known only as the First. That was the name that the demons later gave them.  The First never considered it necessary to name themselves, and the demon who coined the phrase was none too imaginative, sadly...  Anyway, they were the original creatures, and they created the demons.  Well, one of them created the demons.  That would be our dear mother Tristan.  They created the humans and all of the other creatures on this planet, too, but that doesn't matter at the moment.

'As Kira pointed out, I was the prototype.  I was her experiment number one.  Thankfully, Tristan never left much room for mistakes.  Soon after I was created, she made two other demons--two girls named Alia and Denali.

'Now, there were two important things going on at this point.  First of all, for her part in all of the creature-making, one of the First, a small girl named Rhia, accidentally created a very deadly creature.  To be honest, Tristan never even told us exactly what it was, but it was bad, apparently.  The second thing was us.  Tristan adored us, but the other First did not approve.  They thought that pretty things should be dumb, like a bauble.  The fact that one of their creations was as smart as them disturbed them greatly.  For awhile it looked as if we might be...exterminated, but then the smallest of them all, the boy Kriton passed on an idea.  Kriton...ah, gods, he was a handful.  Always playing tricks and wasting his brilliant mind...  He thought of us as playmates, and wanted to save us.  He proposed that we guard Rhia's creature and keep it from harming others.  He used his wiles and his persuasion to the best of his ability...and the rest gave in.

'In order to do this, Alia, Denali and I were all given Keys.  The Keys were tied to our life--we could give the Key willingly, but it could be forcibly taken only by killing the holder--probably to give us some incentive to keep them safe.  All together, these Keys could set free the beast.  The only reason it wasn't destroyed period was because the leader thought that it could one day be of some use to us all.  A silly idea, now that I think of it...  Hmm...  ...back on track, this idea seemed to work so well that Tristan was even given permission to make a few more of us.  Yes, Kira, like you.

'Life was good for a long while...but then they were gone.  The First simply disappeared from our lives, leaving us with the world, the animals...and a new race, the humans.  Their parting gift, I believe.  There wasn't even so much as a note to explain.

'After a few hundred years of mucking things up, we got the hang of living by ourselves.  We even discovered a wonderful past time in watching the humans at work, evolving and learning and being generally fascinating.

A sigh.

'I suppose that I should explain that I was very close to my first two sisters.  I loved them both dearly, but they were both very different.  Alia was a sweet little wisp of a thing...even when she was fully grown, she looked like a child to be protected.  Gentle and kind, with beautiful fair hair and blue eyes...she was the real angel among us...  Denali was wonderful, too.  A lot of people would shy away from her as she was rather standoffish, but once you got to know her, you'd realize that her dreams were lovely, gossamer things that she just didn't trust to the world.  Sometimes we would talk well into the night, every thing that she'd tell me a marvel.  Eventually, though...Denali seemed to drift away.  Something happened.  One of her dreams had become a nightmare, but no matter how many times I asked her what was wrong, she would just give me that vague, closed-off smile that she'd always given to the rest of the world.  I never stopped trying, though...

'Our job frightened us, especially when we were younger.  Whenever we were taken to where the thing was kept, it was only kicking and screaming and squalling.  However, as we grew older, Alia and I looked at our task with a kind of resignation, and we would sometimes visit to check on the seals.  Denali was different.  One day, when we were just out of small childhood--I'll never forget it.  She stopped the sullen whimpering that she'd indulged in every other visit and looked around.  Really looked.  Then she smiled and told us that the beast's tomb was magnificent.  From then on, she spent most of her free time there.  Sometimes she would try to lure me there for assorted reasons, but that place never made me comfortable.  After her revelation, whatever it was, she spent even more time there, away from us.  I wonder if she did it just because she knew that we wouldn't follow.

'...then...ten years ago, it all came to a head.  As far as I know, there are two living beings who know exactly what happened that day...  I was looking for Alia--I can't even remember why now.  It doesn't really matter.  Everywhere she could be, I looked.  The only place I didn't check was Denali's hideout, for obvious reasons.  Finally, though, I had to go.  And what was inside...Gods, it's still hard to believe, but I have nightmares about it so often that I know that I really must have seen it.  Blood.  Everywhere I looked was blood.  I didn't even know that one person could hold so much of it until that moment.  And in the middle of it all was Denali, who was very calmly sitting on the box that contained the monster.  She was so serene...it was as if the corpse on her lap didn't exist.  Then she noticed me and extended a hand...a hand coated in Alia's blood.  I recoiled from her...and she frowned.  She looked hurt, even...  She rose to greet me, and Alia just slid off her lap like nothing more than a cloth shawl.  She came to me, took my hand in hers and gave me a smile tingeing on desperate.  She asked me to help her...  She asked me for my Key.  At that point, I could not deny what had happened, and I was horrified.  All I could do was shake my head dumbly.    All of my articulation, all of my wit left me at that moment, and all I could do was refuse her.  She'd looked so hopeful, and yet when I didn't give it to her, she didn't look surprised.  She looked quietly sad, and somewhat lost.  But even then, even when she didn't know what to do next--she attacked.  With strength that I know she had never possessed before, she attacked.  It was all I could do to escape, to come down to the world of the humans.  I was dying.  

'Then, as I sat waiting to die and hoping that my corpse would not be found, a young girl came across me.  As much as I tried to make her leave, she would not.  She insisted that I needed help, and that she would be the one to provide it.  I'll admit, by then I wanted to be rid of that damnable Key, that thing which had torn the three of us apart.  The reason I agreed to give it to the child, though, was that Denali could not get it.  Alia and I would be nothing compared to the devastation that she could wreak.  Besides that, I would not let Alia die unnoticed.  It sounds selfish, but I didn't care all that much about the world I had to protect.  I just didn't want Denali to succeed after what she'd done to Alia.  So...I gave the Key to the girl.

'After she'd gone, I waited again for death.  However, to my great surprise, I began to get better.  The only thing I can think of to explain it all is a demon's natural restorative ability.  It was something that I'd never been treated to before, because the Keys absorbed power from us, and so we didn't have all the abilities that a normal demon would.  I wasn't expecting to get better at all, but within a week, I was fine--physically.  I still couldn't understand what had gone wrong, but I knew that I'd put an innocent girl's life in danger.  So, from then on...I watched over her.  I couldn't go back home, so I created a home for myself here, always as close to her as I could be...'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adon's clear voice had started to croak by now, whether from overuse or the carefully locked away emotions that were being dealt with.  Kirandin still laid spread out on the couch, but her breathing was shallow and for once she said not a word.  Natalie, knowing exactly who that young girl had been, looked down at her feet, trying to absorb all that was being said.  

"So...so you've been watching over me for ten years?" she asked, trying to keep the tremors from her voice.

Adon tried to smile at her, but didn't quite succeed.  "Yes.  I'm actually surprised that it took this long for me to be found out," he responded quietly.

Guardian angel.  The words came unbidden to her mind, and she pushed them away, knowing that he'd never accept them, though that was how it seemed to her.  "Thank you..." she murmured, still not meeting his eyes.

His eyes widened a little at this.  "Don't thank me, Natalia...please.  I'm the one who created your problems--it's only natural that I do my best to resolve them," he said tightly.

A shuddery sigh came from behind him as Kirandin sat up from her former position.  "No, you didn't, Adon...  How can you blame yourself for what that bitch did?  She hurt you and she killed Alia!" she snapped, wholly furious on his behalf.

He'd adopted a very haggard look somewhere over the course of the story.  "Kira, you weren't there...there was something wrong, and there had been for a very long time.  I just couldn't see it, and if I had--" his voice broke at this.

Kirandin's eyes flashed angrily.  "You idiot!  I was there!  I saw how depressed you got when she went off to do her own thing, and I saw how hard you tried to mend your relationship.  It was her own damn fault, Adon!"  She jumped up from the couch, and after a moment of looking unsure of herself, wrapped him up in a bear hug that couldn't have been comfortable.

Feeling rather out of place, Natalie rose from the couch and headed to the kitchen.  "I'll...I'll just make us some dinner, 'kay?" she stuttered out, not looking back at the two demons who seemed to be quite content to comfort each other.

She stumbled into the kitchen, trying not to hear Adon's subdued words and Kirandin's indignant answers.  She felt awkward now, somehow unable to take part in their grief.  It was like hearing the end of a tragic play without knowing the characters.  She wanted to stay with them and help them to feel better, but what could she say?  There was nothing that she could say that wasn't impersonal and altogether unhelpful.  All she could do was systematically pull food out of the refrigerator and start the stove.

An hour later, a makeshift casserole was on Adon's tiny table and Natalie was trying to work up the courage to call them both to dinner.  It was a good ten minutes before she could walk out to living room, and when she did, she realized that she'd probably made too much food.  Kirandin was sitting alone on the couch, Adon conspicuously absent.  

"Kirandin?  Where's Adon?" she asked timidly, not wanting to break the somber mood.

Kirandin looked up and gave her a feeble smile.  "Kira.  Kira's fine.  I dunno what Tristan was thinking when she named me, because Kirandin's way too long...  Adon's in bed.  I made him go a little while ago.  Sorry about dinner and all, but he really needed it..." she explained, rising from her spot on the couch.

"No, you're right...he looked awful.  Um...even though it's just the two of us in someone else's house, dinner is ready," Natalie announced, making an equally lame attempt at a smile.

Even after they'd seated themselves and started on the food, neither one really talked.  The silence felt almost heavy to Natalie, like some kind of barrier, but she didn't know how to break it.  Kirandin didn't even seem to notice.

Natalie pushed the food around on her plate, desperate to think of something but coming up with nil.  "Um...so, how long have you and Adon known each other?" she asked, hoping that some small talk could break the silence.

Kirandin was quiet for so long before answering that Natalie started to wonder if she was being ignored.  However, it appeared that she had merely been thinking about her answer.  "Far longer than even I know.  You see, there haven't been any new demons in a very, very long time.  Since before we even bothered to count years or centuries or millenia.  We were all very close-knit..." she murmured.  "God, how did this happen...?"

Taking this as a sign to keep quiet, Natalie didn't ask any more questions, and Kirandin walked her home in silence after dinner.

Once again, the door swung open without either of them ringing the doorbell.  "Just you?" Sam asked, quirking a brow.  "Where's your brother?"

Kirandin forced a smile onto her face.  "Well, I just got in today, so I didn't realize it until we got home, but Adon's been overworking himself something awful.  He hasn't been eating right, and he's barely been sleeping at all.  As soon as he finished talking to Natalie, I put him straight to bed," she told him in a chipper tone of voice.  Then, without even saying goodbye, she turned on her heel and walked down the street, her head bowed low.

Sam turned to Natalie, a questioning expression on his face.  She just shrugged.  "I don't think that you need to worry about Mr. Smith, Sam."