It had been a month since Evoli had left for the world of Mythaclae, and Riyiktih and Evola had spent most of the time since about the same as they usually did, despite the odd absence in their lives. Evola spoke briefly with her brother once a day, just after dinnertime, but even so, Riya knew she missed him. As a matter of fact, he rather missed the young Air, too. The hatching he was supposed to attend hadn't happened yet, but it had been scheduled, and Evoli was having the time of his life exploring the "Dragonhome" and exploring the library there, on top of trying to keep up with the magical, theoretical, and historical classes Evola and Riya were engaged in. Riya didn't know how he managed it, unless he just wasn't sleeping, or wasn't doing anything else but read when he wasn't asleep.

Riya, himself, was currently stretched out on his bed, leaning against the headboard and holding up one of the books he was supposed to be studying. His mind, however, was everywhere but on his book. They jumped from speculation about his young dragon friend off-world, to wonder about what was going on with his father on Mars, to checking up on Evvie in her own room, also supposedly studying. She seemed to be as unfocused as he was, but she was putting up a good fight to at least look like she was getting some reading done. He was mildly tempted to invite her into his room with him so that they could pretend to read together, but didn't; it might be too much of a distraction for her, poor thing.

She's been so unfocused lately, he thought, carefully to himself and not where she could pick it up. Must be not having Evoli around... it does feel awfully strange, only the two of us, and that empty bed in there with her. In fact, a couple times since her brother had gone, he'd woken up to find her snuggled up next to him, sound asleep, having crept in sometime during the night. He figured she simply wasn't used to sleeping alone anymore, if she ever had been, and he didn't really mind. She didn't snore, at least, even if she did make the bed a lot warmer.

Book. Read. Study. Stop thinking about random stuff, he told himself firmly.

This time he managed a whole page before his thoughts found something else to latch onto. Over the past three months since the third Avengaean bonding, Riya had been making the time to go out to the forests surrounding Sanctuary and visit the tree-formed daemons out there. They were without doubt some of the most fascinating creatures he had ever come in contact with, barring only dragons themselves. Since they were only partly animal, and largely... well, vegetable, their "culture" was very different, and their language would have been all but impossible to figure out if he hadn't been bonded to a dragon who could understand just about any language. They were painfully shy, and because of the way they could plant themselves down and look like any other tree in the forest, they were pretty much left alone by both Sanctuary itself and other settlements in the area. Even if someone knew they were there, they were almost impossible to find. Riya had no idea how he had managed to stumble across one and not frighten him off. He gathered that Poplatuf-- the one who "found" him-- was fairly young, so he could only assume that he was also more open-minded and brave than the rest of his clan. Or something.

So far, Riya had only been privileged enough to meet a couple other tree-daemons besides Poplatuf, and he had never been allowed anywhere near the clan's central spaces-- not that he probably would have recognized them even if he had seen them. But those few he had been introduced to had been easy enough to convince that he wasn't going to betray them to the city or the dragons, nor would he bring fire or take an axe to the forest's trees or themselves, and after that they were surprisingly friendly. Young people of all kinds needed some kind of adventure, Riya figured, and he was theirs.

Despite doing most everything else together, Evola had never come with him on those outings. It was just as well; even if he thought she might have wanted to-- which he didn't, for she still seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of so many daemons in one place, despite all of Riya's reassurances-- he doubted she would have been welcome. The daemons didn't entirely trust dragons; they didn't trust much of anyone except each other, but dragons were worst, because of their general prejudices. Prejudices which, unfortunately, Evola had been so far unable to quite rid herself of.

Evola. What? He looked up from the book-- which he didn't think he'd turned a page in for at least five minutes-- to find her leaning against the door frame in human form-- dragon form wouldn't fit through the doorway, anymore-- hugging herself lightly and watching him. Mildly surprised but not unwelcoming, he said, "Hey. Tired of reading?"

"I can't concentrate," she answered with a sigh. Rather than saying more, he held out a hand for her, and she readily padded over, climbed onto the bed, and settled under his arm. "I don't know what's wrong with me lately," she huffed. "If this doesn't stop soon, my grades will start getting bad."

"Dunno what to tell you," Riya said, squeezing her shoulders gently, "but I bet it will." He knew she didn't believe him when he said she'd get used to Evoli not being around, but even if she didn't, he'd be back soon enough. Those eggs couldn't take that long to hatch.

"I hope so," was all she said, and she snuggled up against his side with a little sigh. She felt very warm-- but then, when didn't she? Riya and Evoli were always turning down the heat in the apartment, after she'd turned it up, complaining about being cold. Somehow, she managed to always feel warm, even when Riya thought she should have been freezing to the touch.

They lapsed into comfortable silence, and for a while, Riya actually managed to do some reading. It was nice to have Evola there, even if they weren't doing anything, and even if she kept shifting around, as if restless but unwilling to move. He wasn't concerned, though; she was like that often enough, unable to keep completely still. Besides noting that she actually was comfortable, despite the shifting, and awash with contentment and affection, he didn't pay her side of the bond much attention. It wasn't really even much of a distraction when she found his braid and started undoing it, playing with the strands lazily.

It was a bit of a distraction when she tried tickling his neck with said braid strands. "Evvie, I'm tryin to read," he said absently, and she pouted at him, but subsided, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder and neck, settling closer against his side.

Though she left his hair alone after that, except to run fingers through it occasionally, it wasn't long before the little movements started again. She shifted position again, and again, and again. This time, all her moving around was getting a little nerve-wracking. "Are you okay down there?" he asked, looking away from the book momentarily. She didn't feel like anything was wrong, though her thoughts were even more unfocused than before, as if she was distracted by something he couldn't for the life of him identify.

"Yes," she murmured, hugging around his waist with one arm, the other tucked up under her chin. "Sorry."

"It's okay, you're just not usually quite so antsy."

"Mmm," was all she said, nuzzling up into his neck as if she hadn't heard him. A little puzzled, but unable to really explain, much less do anything about, her strange mood, Riya shrugged faintly and tried to go back to reading. It was hard, for her distraction seemed to be catching, and he found himself reading the same paragraph three times before he actually understood it. Evola was idly running her fingers up and down his arm, seemingly half-asleep, or at least not thinking about anything in particular, and she was pressed up about as close as she could get to him. Another shift, and she was practically laying against him, one arm around between him and the pillows he was leaning against, the other resting against his chest. That might well have explained the distraction, as much as her own fuzzy state of mind; as affectionate as she was, she wasn't usually this clingy.

But he still didn't really understand just what that meant until she kissed him.

Perhaps it was just because of what habit said to do when a girl kissed him, or because he had been infected by whatever emotion was winding its way through his bond's mind, or it might have even just been surprised reaction. But whatever it was, for a moment, Riya almost put aside the book, swung her around more comfortably, and kissed her soundly back. The impulse was surprisingly strong-- but the feel of her under his arm, against his mouth, reminded him forcefully of how young she was. And how strange it was that she was kissing him. It just wasn't something he expected from her!

So, what really happened was that he stiffened, dropped the book into his lap, and quickly pushed her back from him. She blinked at him dazedly. "Evvie-- what're you--" He really wasn't sure what to ask, but sense came back into her eyes, and suddenly all he felt across their bond was a churning embarrassment. She tugged herself away from him and, with a much more characteristic show of dramatics, she threw herself off the bed, darted out of the room and into her own, and slammed the door. She even went so far as to shut him out as completely as she could, mentally, for it being the first time she'd ever tried to do so.

Riya was left sitting on his bed, staring after her, completely and utterly confused as to what just happened.