Sentio didn't wake again for several hours, not only making up for a lost night's sleep, but also for the stress of the morning. It took him a while to work up to opening his eyes, reluctant to face anything at all, but a tantalizing smell that he fervently hoped was dinner finally convinced him to. He was the last awake, but Chario and Akija were laying quietly, probably talking silently about who knew what, and Kenjista, for once, did not seem inclined to complain about anything, now snuggled between him and Chario's fluffy side. Everyone seemed pleased enough that he was finally awake; it meant they could move and investigate that wonderful smell.

It did, indeed, turn out to be dinner, and a tasty dinner, at that. Almost as good as Mirabet would have done, in fact, though Mirabet'd had far longer to experiment with recipes than Chaith. Daemon food, he discovered with some surprise, wasn't really all that different from dragon food. He had never really thought about what daemons ate, but he'd somehow been of the thought that they ate something completely different from dragons. The revelation of that small similarity, comfortably normal foods, and that he'd been actually surprised by it told him a lot about how strangely dragons thought about daemons, when they thought at all.

Dinner itself was subdued, in part because of the traumatic morning and perhaps in larger part because Cacopheny was still sound asleep in the corner, curled up tightly and seemingly dead to the world. Worst of all, though, was that Sentio hadn't forgotten that he'd promised to explain to Akija and Chario just what had gone on between his bond and the demoness Rao before he was rescued. It was even more uncomfortable than telling his father, because Akija and Char didn't know all of the things demons were capable of, and Akija had only inferred parts of it from what she'd seen with him that morning while Chario hadn't seen anything at all except the aftermath.

Sentio wasn't at all certain whether to be relieved or disturbed by the pair's reactions. They'd spoken privately-- or, Sentio had, with Char and to Akija, and the Fire had relayed Akija's few comments on the matter-- so as not to disturb anyone else in the household with the conversation and, on a more personal note, because Sentio wasn't comfortable talking about it at all, much less in front of Akija's family. Chario had seemed like he hadn't wanted to know-- Sentio couldn't blame him-- but Akija had just closed off and made no comment whatsoever except to thank him for explaining. Char tried to reassure him that she just needed to think it over, but at the time, Sentio couldn't help yet another worry that, once she had finished thinking, she wouldn't want anything to do with Cacopheny, now that she knew just how messed up he was. He didn't even want to contemplate what Cacopheny would think of that. Bad enough that he might not have her support in dealing with the half-breed, without worrying about how he might think about it.

That evening Chaith somehow managed to get Cacopheny clean and dressed again in a new pair of trousers and tunic fetched from the manor, over Sentio's weak protests not to disturb him. Oddly enough, she managed it all without disturbing him. Cacopheny slept through the whole ordeal, barely twitching, as if he was so exhausted that he simply didn't notice being moved around, submerged in water, and efficiently dried and dressed again. Chaith had even managed to untangle his hair, which Sentio didn't think he'd bothered to comb for the past week, with more gentleness than he'd thought those burly arms and big hands could have. That, of all things, got the most reaction out of Cacopheny of all of it, and even that was just a sigh and shift of position.

Once he was clean and combed, Chaith settled the half-demon back in his corner of the living room and let him be, brushing aside Sentio's concerns about how oblivious he was. "He's had a rough time, poor boy," she said, "just let him sleep it off. He'll be fine, stop worrying."

Sentio wasn't very good at not worrying, but he tried. That the Watcher family didn't even mention when he should go home both helped and hindered: at their house, though he didn't have a bed or any of his usual things that reassured him, he at least had company, and friendly company at that; but he also had Cacopheny's quiet form hiding in the shadows of the unlit corner in the living room right under his nose. Still, he figured he'd just fret at home, too, and then he wouldn't have anything but books to distract him. At least the Deiv Watcher had been thoughtful enough to send a message to the manor to let them know where he was, while he'd slept the day away, so they didn't worry. What else he may have told them, Sentio didn't know. He hoped it wasn't much, and since no one came looking for him, he had to guess it was nothing at all.

As for Cacopheny, he did nothing at all to make anyone worry-- except sleep. It was almost enough to make Sentio sleepy, just being exposed to his utter dreamlessness though their open bond. That night, Sentio didn't even dream, himself, drawn into that void of utter exhaustion. It made it doubly hard to wake up again, worse than a usual morning, which was saying something. Cacopheny seemed to have an even worse time waking up, though, given that he didn't.

Finding his bond still asleep the next morning, Sentio simply couldn't bring himself to leave and go to school. Since Kenjista never liked school to begin with, Akija only went to keep her friends company, and Chario wasn't about to go alone, they all hung around the house, wandering from room to room and largely doing nothing but being lazy, just waiting for something to change. If it wasn't for the constant wondering about when Cacopheny would wake up, and what he would wake up like, it would have been terribly boring; Sentio didn't even have a book to keep him occupied. It was a very odd sensation to be bored and tense all at once, and not one he particularly liked.

Life seemed to be going on as was normal for the daemon family, or as much as could be normal with two odd house-guests. Akija's father went out to deliver some of the bespelled artifacts he and Akija had made-- that Akija was creating marketable items simply boggled Sentio's mind; she seemed so young, most of the time, and she spent so much time with the rest of them at school. Aeta, Akija's brother, was hustled off for lessons of his own with a gene artisan, rather reluctantly, in fact, as if he'd much rather stick around and be bored with the rest of them. Chaith puttered around the house doing chores, though she spent most of her time outside in the garden. Sentio caught snatches of conversation from where she worked, as if other members of the seemingly infinite Watcher clan were stopping by every now and then to check on things. It made very starkly clear just how alone Sentio was, or at least felt, with only two family members who he ever spoke to-- he thought his mother had a sister somewhere, but he'd never met her-- and what was worse, both of them were to be kept purposefully in the dark about what seemed like the bulk of their son's life.

At least Akija and Chario didn't seem like they were going to abandon him or Cacopheny, even after having a whole night and day to mull over their story. They hadn't tried to throw either of them out of the house, hadn't avoided talking to him or avoided looking at Cacopheny in his darkened corner, hadn't even frowned at either of them. Their conversation was easy and their silences comfortable. Thank Asuka for small blessings.

By that afternoon, though, Cacopheny still hadn't woken up and Sentio was really starting to worry, but no one else seemed all that concerned about it, so he did his best to keep his thoughts to himself. He didn't know how well he did, but either everyone else was good at humoring him, or they just didn't notice. He fervently hoped it was the latter; he'd had enough embarrassment for a few weeks. But even if it was the former, he was still relieved that no one commented, not even Chaith as she went about her daily chores.

Chaith was still outside and Sentio in Akija's bedroom, sprawled out on his stomach on the floor in the last vestiges of summer's heat, with the daemon and her Fire bond, and of course the ever-present Kenjista who seemed to not want him out of her sight now, when Cacopheny finally woke. He didn't even notice, at first, his bond's waking was so slow; even when he started to feel confused and disoriented without having any reason to be or anything to be confused about, he took a moment of confusion of his own to wonder what was wrong. It was the surge of panic-- mild, compared to what it could have been, but still quite firmly there-- that finally shook him out of the daze of bored, tense waiting.

"He's awake!" he exclaimed, breaking the current stretch of silence and clambering hurriedly and awkwardly to his paws.

"Well, dun jus' stand there, s'go check'im!" Akija slurred, blinking out of what seemed to be a nap and sitting up to swing her feet down. Chario yawned widely beside her while she rubbed her eyes. Sentio hardly noticed, already bounding out the door with a disgruntled Kenjista wailing silently after him.