Chapter 172 - 166. Touch of Malice
It was always the hardest when you had no idea what to do as someone you loved went through something.
Bassena knew, from the darkness curtaining those usually brilliant blue eyes, that Zein was inside his negative space again. But this was a topic Bassena couldn’t touch upon unless Zein started to open up first, so all he could do was sit there, debating if he could at least ask if the man was fine, only to shrink back because he didn’t want Zein to clam up even more.
"I’m fine," Zein said, suddenly. Bassena had been staring so much that the esper might as well voice out all of his concerns. "Just let me think on my own for a while."
"...okay," Bassena shifted his gaze back to the front, at the darkening sky that seemed to make everything gloomier than it was supposed to be. Because he knew Zein was lying. The guide wasn’t fine.
But he said he’d wait, so he’d wait. Whether it was for Zein’s heart to be ready to open up, or to accept his own feelings.
But at least Zein held his hand again, so Bassena was quite happy with their little wordless, intimate session on their way back to Althrea.
He would have liked it even more if Radia didn’t suddenly pop up through his commlink, again. [What are you going to do with them?] the man asked, in a completely serious tone that Bassena couldn’t even get mad at him.
Because it was a totally needed question. While the group had been fine on their own, they also had been hanging to that effort of finding their Master’s son. And yet, now the son said he didn’t want anything to do with them.
"I don’t know..." Zein answered truthfully. He knew, much like him, those people also needed closure. "But I don’t think I’m ready to face them now."
They fell into wordless contemplation filled with the sound of propellers and wind belting. But when the Trinity compound started to appear on the horizon, Radia broke the silence. [Can you leave them to me?]
"What do you mean?" Zein frowned for a bit.