Sentio really didn't know what to expect when they got home, so he trailed after Cacopheny a little nervously. The half-demon went straight for the living room, where dragon-formed Chario lay on his belly and... Akija leaned against his side and looking more awake and aware than she had in two months. She was still thin and faded with ill health, but her eyes were bright.

For the moment, Sentio was forgotten, as Cacopheny crouched down beside Akija and touched her face. "I'm back," he said quietly, fondly. "And Sentchio came, too."

It didn't take long to be remembered again, at least. Akija looked past Cacopheny, who took a seat on the floor next to her, to Sentio in the kitchen doorway, and held out her arms, smiling. For the first time since the fever struck, she saw him. "C'mere."

So, of course, he came in and knelt in front of her, half hugging her and half falling into her arms, finally smiling, himself. "Look who's up and about already," he laughed, hugging her as tightly as he dared, sure she'd break.

"'Bout damn time," she answered, hugging him back. She smiled contentedly as he sat back, tucking his feet under him in a more comfortable position than leaning awkwardly forward had been, almost glowing as she looked around at them all. "And there's all my family."

Sentio blinked at her in surprise, then blushed. The idea that she thought of them as family was... well, it surprised him, even flattered him a little. It wasn't a new idea to him-- she and Char and Cacopheny were as much family as his parents, if not more; they were all so much more immediate and real than his busy parents-- but to his knowledge, neither of them had ever voiced it before. He gave her hand a squeeze.

All Cacopheny did was smile and put an arm around her shoulders, but then, he probably had no real concept of "family", unless it was one made since his rescue....

"So how're you feeling?" he asked Akija. "Cacopheny said you ate a bit."

She actually smirked a little. "I think I'm sick of soup," she said, then tapped her temple. "Definitely still fuzzy up here, but at least I can see where I'm goin'."

"Vich is more ssan some of us manajze on sse best of dayss," Cacopheny chuckled.

Sentio looked sideways at him, wondering if he was talking about his disappearing, the way he was most of the time, or even not even himself. "You said you'd explain," he said.

The reminder drained the amusement out of Cacopheny's face, and he nodded. "I did say ssat. Yes."

Char and Akija were both quiet, the former quietly attentive and the latter quietly puzzled. Sentio wasn't sure what to make of it. Did either of them even care?

Cacopheny spoke again, putting his hand over Akija's on his knee. "Sentchio tolt you about sse zhadows I. I vas seeink bevore I reft. Yes? Sse two who tid not speak, but made me nerfous?"

"The two that... ruin things?" Char asked, remembering and frowning slightly. "When we all realized you were gone, it was because we wanted to ask you about them."

Nodding, Cacopheny said, "Ssey vere vy I reft. Eff'ry time I see ssem, ssinks... tchantch. T-t-chanzje," he tried again, getting the word out a little more clearly that time. "Get bad, get vorse, get ruin't. I. Tidn't vant ssat to happen... not here. Not to any of you." He gave Akija's hand a squeeze, looking down. "So I reft, ant I ssought I took ssem viss me. Ssey forrowed me, ssey did. But ssingks got vorse here. Anyvay."

"I'm not ruined," Akija huffed. "I'm halfway better, already."

Cacopheny laughed a little and hugged her shoulders. He didn't have to find an answer, though, because Char asked, "What happened the last time you saw them?"

"Er." Cacopheny glanced at him, then away. "Rrrrrao's mate vas angkry. He-- he-- er. It vas. Ssat vas ven I stopp't leafingk my own rrrroom ven Rao tidn't vant me." Not a one of them asked for elaboration. Sentio could well imagine just what "angry demon" meant for a much younger Cacopheny, and he didn't really want to think about it any more than he had to. The fact that Rao had another male hanging around at the time was more surprising to him, honestly.

"So where'd you go?" Char asked. "We had the whole clan looking for you. All we figured out was you'd gone too far south to follow."

"Yess," Cacopheny agreed. "Too far souss.... All sse vay souss." He paused, glanced at Akija almost guiltily, then said quickly, "I tidn't mean to go ssere. I zjuzt ented up ssere. Vass eisser forvard or back. Forvard or back. Ant forvard vent ssere."

This time, not a one of them seemed to have followed what he'd said. Akija looked puzzled, Char confused, and Sentio had no idea what he was talking about. "Where's 'there', Cacopheny?" he asked.

The half-demon looked down at his hand on Akija's unhappily. "Rao's old caffes."

Sentio gulped in surprise. That was the last thing he'd expected-- he didn't even think Cacopheny could have found his way back, after all this time! Akija, though, reacted even worse: she suddenly went rigid and trembling-- or as rigid as she could, frail as she was-- her hands clenching into fists-- the one on Cacopheny's knee digging claws into his robe. Cacopheny closed his hand over it automatically, and Char's head came up sharply. "Aki--"

Despite her voice being so raw and weak, and small with what Sentio could only vaguely recognize as fear, Akija still managed to interrupt and silence her bond: "Was she there?"

A very legitimate question, and one Sentio rather dreaded the answer to. Cacopheny carefully disengaged her claws from his clothing, bringing her clenched fingers up to his mouth to kiss. "I ton't know," he said softly, looking at her rather than anyone else who might be in need of reassuring. "I tid not go in. I tid not vant to."

Sentio had fully expected a smile-- a tremulous one, maybe, but still: a smile. That had to have been huge for Cacopheny, not going inside to see if Rao was there-- to see if she wanted him. Not wanting to see-- not wanting to even know. Surely Akija would appreciate that; Sentio did. Instead, though, her face crumbled into something unreadable, something that twitched like it might want to be anger, or sorrow, or even guilt-- which made no sense at all. She screwed her eyes shut buried her face in Cacopheny's side, to no one's surprise more than his, and he wrapped his arms around her while she clung to his robes.

"Akizja... Akizja, vat--? Iss all right. Akizja, vat is-- I'm sorry?"

It really didn't take much to fluster poor Cacopheny.

"Akija, what's wrong?" Sentio asked, leaning closer worriedly.

She didn't answer, but Char did, instead. "Close call," he said, putting his head back down on Akija's hip. "That was a close call, Cacoph'."

Looking between the top of Akija's head, only ears and horns and messy hair visible, and Chario's face, Cacopheny said only, "Oh." But he did understand something, at least, because he tightened his arms around Akija, put his cheek to her hair, and added quietly, "You tidn't effen haff to be ssere to help, to-- to-- vight. Efferyssink you effer tid. Or said. Help't. You veren't effen ssere, but you still vought vell."

All right, so he understood something Sentio had obviously missed. What was he talking about?

Akija's response didn't help, either, because she didn't do anything except sit there and cling to him. Sentio finally gave in and asked-- privately, because the last thing he wanted to do was disturb Akija or tell Char he'd been left out of the loop-- ::Cacopheny, what's that all about?::

The half-demon's response was ready enough: ::She's upset. Feels bad. Guilty, afraid, unhappy. She didn't fight for me, she just let me leave. And now I might have seen Rao, and she wasn't there. She couldn't fight. It makes her afraid of what could have happened. So I told her she did, even if she wasn't there. Because without her-- without you, too-- I would not have not wanted, and I would not be back here now.::

Sentio blinked a little, not entirely sure he followed that. Cacopheny's rambling thought-speech sometimes left him a little behind, but after thinking it through a moment, he thought he understood. Cacopheny had told him before about Akija's desire to protect him from Rao, more than even herself or the dragons, because of what she had done to him-- it made sense that she'd be upset, and guilty, that she couldn't make good on that desire when he needed her.

Apparently Akija had come to some kind of understanding, as well, because she finally turned her head for a shaky breath, a sigh, and a simple, "Good. ... Good."

Cacopheny just nuzzled his big nose into her hair and held her closer, looking quite happy to never let go again.

It made Sentio wonder what the household would be like now.