Bird of a Nest - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

"Aw'endo,"
"Yes, Herymi?"
"Next time you feel the need to sneak out of the palace, tell me please," Herymi scolded, hand on Aw'endo's back under his wings, guiding him back to his room while several other guards surrounded them. "It would be far less embarrassing than this," he added, not missing how Aw'endo's wings were sitting. Nor how tense his back muscles were. Aw'endo was pulling off the 'not fussed despite being caught and escorted back' prince look very well, but Herymi was too close to miss the signs.
"Next time, you might not be here," Aw'endo said calmly, not even looking at Herymi just walking forwards.
Herymi nodded, looking around and assessing threats. The other guards were professional, none showing signs of aggression, annoyance or amusement. Moruv'y was the only one being slightly off, but that was because he was more there to watch Herymi than to deal with the escape artist Princes. The man caught his eyes and his eyes darted upwards to the upper corridors were some nobles were milling about with a clear look of distaste.
The guards were being professional. The servants and other palace goers were not so proper. A few openly muttering about troublesome Princes. Herymi frowned as he heard one thread of information through the vine.
"At least the human medic is useful despite his antics."
"I will be here for a while yet and even if I am not, you will just have to make allies with someone who will be here. You are part of the Royal circle, you can't just go wandering about outside without supervision," Herymi continued to scold, but his hand moved just an inch upward, rubbing where he knew a particularly sore nerve would be. Aw'endo's wings tense again and puffed out before relaxing again. The one behind Herymi pressing against him gently. Aw'endo wasn't minding the hold at all.
"I'd rather you just stay," Aw'endo muttered, pushing forward and storming into the Royal rooms.
The guards paused at the doors, the rooms having a private, more trusted, force. Herymi thanked and dismissed them, patting Moruv'y on the shoulder with a tight smile. "I better go deal with that before his guardians get their claws into him," Herymi commented, eyes looking over the intricately carved doors that marked the Royal Wing. It blocked commoners, ignoring servants, from entering. Nobles were a different case but even they couldn't waltz around completely freely. Aw'endo was safe in there for the most.  That didn't stop the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach that something was wrong with Aw'endo. "Is Eyeri ok?"
"Yes. His assigned guards had Former Consort Gar'kin help with his situation," Moruv'y admitted. "I'll let your mates know where you are."
"Not my mates," Herymi said calmly, walking forward through the doors himself. A collection of chuckles and groans following his words. The general opinion of the guards was that Herymi and O'chetur should stop bickering all the time and just get into bed Herymi was pretty sure before Ran'mosy arrived, they had been planning on locking them into a cupboard somewhere to get the act done and dusted. Once Ran'mosy had arrived and helped stop O'chetur and Herymi's arguments getting so extreme,  they backed off.
Herymi had a backup now.
"You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise," Moruv'y called. Herymi smirked, knowing Moruv'y couldn't see his face. He wasn't kidding himself about anything. He was enjoying the reactions of the other guards too much.
He moved through the corridors, the odd guard gesturing the direction the youngling had stormed too. Rather surprisingly it wasn't the consort rooms, it was the shrine next to it. Herymi walked in carefully, looking around and relieved to see it was just the two of them in the small room. He was considerably less happy to see how Aw'endo was collapsed on the pillows, his body shuddering though he was making no sound.  Herymi looked up at the station of the Goddess, candles half melted and the incense not quite out yet. Aw'endo wasn't praying.
Removing his boots, Herymi moved over to Aw'endo and sat next to him. Aw'endo curled into a ball, not looking at him. His wings were more expressive and batted him lightly before landing on his lap. Herymi felt his lips smirk, though his chest felt heavy not amused in any way. He was a year younger than O'chetur, and other than the rest. He had matured to an adult years before them. He knew how to deal with upset k'nairi teenagers.
It was quiet for the most. Occasional a bubble of sound from outside but otherwise nothing. Just the smell of wood-burning and the felt of Aw'endo's soft feathers under his hands as he combed them and pulled any debris Aw'endo had picked up.
"I couldn't find him," Aw'endo murmured eventually, popping the bubble around them.
"None of us can," Herymi said softly, knowing exactly who Aw'endo was talking about. Cai'ness. He was missing. His family has disowned him and no one knew what had happened after that. The family was refusing to talk about it. "It's alright. People are looking. We'll find him," he promised softly. The main reason Herymi was in the know about the investigation was because of situations like this. He was in Aw'endo's trust, and Captain Par'nast didn't want Herymi to be caught off guard.
"No one has told..."
"No, we haven't," Herymi nodded. "The request was under the table for a reason. We don't want to risk what would happen if that reason was brought to light."
Aw'endo sat up and looked at him eyes watering. The youngling clearly understood the implication behind that. Cai'ness was too sore an issue for his family. If it was pressed, it was impossible to know how all the pieces would react. Nel'os would demand for a bigger search. Tai'ray could demand for none at all. Ryraso would have to admit to wanting someone to check up on the Noble. "We have to find him," Aw'endo said firmly.
"No, we have to. You have to stay here and study," Herymi said firmly, raising his hand as Aw'endo tried to argue. The Prince's wings spreading and his talons clutching at a sitting pillow almost tight enough to tear through the material. "You know better than I, what can happen to nobles who are disowned. The best-case scenario is that he has been sent off to the country. The highborns are checking for such an occurrence."
"And the worst..." Aw'endo trailed off unable to even say the words.
"Is why the guards have to hunt for him and not a Prince, " Herymi pointed out, reaching out to brush some hair out of Aw'endo's face but he flinched away. Aw'endo's eyes not looking at him. Herymi felt the look of pity on his face form, and he lowered his hands.
"Stop looking at me like that," Aw'endo growled.
"It's ok to feel helpless in this Aw'endo but there is nothing you can do at the moment," Herymi said trying to be reassuring.
"But I can be, I can be doing something. Anything. I can be looking," Aw'endo barked. "I'm the one, the one, who got him kicked out by just being, being friends with him. I'm... I'm the one who got him into this situation. I have to help him somehow! If he's in the slums or worse... I just have to be brave."
"No, you have to be smart and he is not going to want you putting yourself in dangerous situations to find him. Your guardians aren't going to be too thrilled about it either," Herymi warned.
Aw'endo laughed, the sound bitter and cold. "My guardians? They wouldn't notice if anything happened. They barely notice me at all," he said sadly, looking at his hands again. Herymi looked at them, noticing how chewed down Aw'endo's nails were and the scratches and small bruises littering them. A dark memory flashed through Herymi's mind and he grabbed one of Aw'endo wrists. Human teenagers and k'nairi teenagers weren't that different despite the difference in time mentally. Prone to struggling without asking for help and letting them overwhelm them.
Herymi quickly yanked his sleeve upwards as Aw'endo yelled in surprise at the suddenness of the action. He narrowed his eyes at what he found. There were no cut marks like what Herymi had been fearing but Aw'endo's wrist was skinny than it should be. Much skinny. Herymi pushed the sleeve up further and felt sick.
"How? You have training every day, someone should have noticed you losing this much weight," Herymi demanded, thinking back. Fetmar had been there every day for the past two weeks, there or thereabouts. Zaro too for the last week. Aw'endo's classmates should have noticed too. How had he missed? He had been rubbing Aw'endo's back. He had felt Aw'endo's spine but just assumed it was normal for him.
"I kept my top on. Surprisingly easy," Aw'endo murmured, yanking his arm out of Herymi's grip and folding them around him protectively. Herymi watched as he pinched at them and felt a wave of something in his stomach.
"Eyeri wasn't eating," Herymi said idly. "You have been, haven't you?"
Aw'endo shrugged. "They notice Eyeri more," he offered.
"Fuck, Aw'endo," Herymi cursed, running a hand through his hair. He could already see how this had happened. Everyone was hyper-focusing on Eyeri's problems and forgetting the youngling sitting next to him. "You have to talk to them, you can't just hide behind Eyeri. You have to tell them about your problems."
"Even if I did, they wouldn't listen," Aw'endo muttered. "My problems are minor compared to everyone else's. I should be able to cope with them, I just need to stay strong and keep going. It getting better, a bit. Now the dickhead's gone, some of the others are actually being friendly with me. Drak asked me to team up with him for training this morning. Matron too is being nicer to me now I'm doing my homework and attending classes." Aw'endo was sounding more cheerful near the end of the list and Herymi's heart only hurt more.
"I..." Herymi trailed off. "Come on," he settled on, reaching forward to talk Aw'endo's hand and tug him out of the room. Stopping to put his boots back on but making sure to take Aw'endo's hand as he did so. It was cold in his grip, colder than it should be. Aw'endo came quickly, not fighting but his wings were shivering.
As they walked into the room they found Fetmar standing there towel drying Eyeri's head. The boy's clothes soaked through and his head bowed as Fetmar growled at him. "You're grounded," he said firmly. "Forget anything the others say, as far as I'm concerned, if you're not studying or working, you're in your room. Understood?"
"Yes, Fetmar," Eyeri said, just sounding incredibly tired and weak.
"What happened to this one today?" Herymi asked, keeping his grip on Aw'endo's hand tight as he tried to let go and hide away again. Eyeri's problems were not going to disappear any more than Aw'endo's were and Aw'endo needed to learn how to ask for help.
"Healer Pol'ar discovered that Eyeri was a slave before becoming a healer so Eyeri ran off into the garden and hid," Fetmar stated calmly.
Daggers of ice. That was the best way to describe how Herymi felt at that news. Like he had been dropped through a sheet of ice that had fractured into shards that were now stabbing all over him. Bigger than Aw'endo's problems, indeed. Eyeri pressed closer to his brother and Aw'endo almost escaped his grip this time. Herymi yanked Aw'endo forward roughly. Not the time to fall about now. Or to have a ton of realisations, they would have to wait. Maybe he could get Ran'mosy to distract O'chetur for a little while this evening while he processed this new tidbit of information.
"Aw'endo hasn't been eating," Herymi forced out, lifting Aw'endo's arm up to reveal the skeletal limb. Fetmar looked over it with a look that Herymi suspected mirrored his own one of shock. "With how much weight he's lost, I imagine it's been happening a while."
Fetmar and Eyeri didn't say anything, both just looking at Aw'endo. "Right," Fetmar nodded.
"Switch?" Herymi offered, holding Aw'endo's arm out. "Your one just needs a hug, this one needs a talking too. Oh, he escaped the palace and went gallivanting on his own without a guard too," he added almost like an afterthought. It basically was.
Fetmar's shoulders tensed and the look in his eyes got darker and distinctly more paternal. Eyeri winced as Fetmar nodded. Fetmar leant down and kissed Eyeri on the forehead before pushing him to sit down on the pillows. He marched over and took Aw'endo's hand from him.
"Thank you," Fetmar said cooly, nodding at Herymi before yanking Aw'endo close and kissing his forehead too. The look on Aw'endo's face was conflicted. Joy at the kiss. Not so much at being handed over to his foster brother. Fetmar gave him a tight but brief hug, not hugging the boy for longer than a second before marching him over to one of the rooms and slamming the door shut. Herymi winced, feeling a little sorry for throwing Aw'endo to the lions but knowing Fetmar was the best one to deal with Aw'endo.
After all, it wasn't like the adults had noticed. He stumbled over to the pillows and sat down, kicking his boots off again, this time not caring where they landed. Eyeri watched him like a wary animal. "You going to come over here for a hug or am I going to have to crawl after you?" Herymi asked seriously.
Eyeri thought for a moment and then Herymi had a teenager in his lap, clutching to his shoulders. Herymi wrapped his arms around Eyeri and gave him a strong hug, unsurprised as tears started rolling from the boy. For now, all he could do was be there while they waited for the Royals to return.