It took ten minutes of cat-and-mouse around the divan for Zalgus to explain the situation well enough for Raina to calm down. She gave him a stern look, before turning to Aislynn, now unbound. Her brother remained behind the couch, keeping Aislynn between himself and his - rather justifiably - angry sister. The last thing she had expected, or wanted, to see was Aislynn chained on the divan with Zalgus reaching for her.
"I'm 'kay!" Aislynn insisted, flustered, and waving her hands in front of her defensively. More in defense of the man hiding behind her. "H-honest!" Her face felt like it was about to melt from the ferocity of her blush.
"It's not proper, Zalgus," Raina said, her hands planted firmly on her hips in a power stance.
"What else did you expect me to do?" Zalgus sniped back, pushing his glasses back into their proper position. "Merely touching her caused an adverse reaction, it was the only option to keep her still and prevent additional injury to the both of us."
Raina's disapproving stare did not waver.
"I found no enjoyment in it," he continued, flicking his hair out of his face in a flippant gesture. "I was in the process of releasing her, as she had calmed down enough to be reasonable. Honestly, she hit me harder than what I did to her."
"Raina--" Aislynn started, only to find a small pouch of coins to be set into her hands. Just from the weight she could tell that Raina had just given her more money than she had seen in her lifetime.
"There are entertainers beginning their performances outside," Raina said, helping Aislynn to her feet. "They are very different from what you may have seen at home." She encouraged the smaller girl toward the door with a light tap on the back. It would be too embarrassing for Aislynn to be present for the next part of the conversation. Raina would spare her the indignation of being discussed as if she had voice of her own, but it was for the better.
With a guilty look back at the source of Raina's ire - who was maintaining his composure spectacularly - Aislynn pulled her hat on and headed for the gazelle-embossed door. She had never intended to cause this much strife between them, even though most of it had been in good humor. At the door she paused, looking back at the siblings. One smiling, and the other reserved, but confident.
"We will join you shortly," Zalgus said, shooing her with a sweep of his hand.
Once the door clicked shut, and her fay-like steps faded down the hall, Raina rounded on her brother.
"Do not play with her Zalgus," she said, frowning in disappointment. "It is cruel."
"I can assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am attempting every effort to acclimate her to our society, and not my personal desires."
The siblings maintained eye contact, both searching for all the little signs they knew so well. Tension remained in the air for a few moments more, before Zalgus huffed and tilted his nose to the air.
"Whatever you may think of the situation, we have far more pressing matters to discuss. Let's be civil, shall we?" He gestured for his sister to take seat across from him.
"I am more than happy to be civil," Raina replied, taking the offer of a seat. She folded her hands in her lap and then leveled a piercing stare at her brother. "First tell me all of your intentions when you brought Aislynn with us."
Zalgus sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could already feel the oncoming headache. His sister meant well, but it was a waste of precious time. He could be reading right now, if she would just let him tell her what she needed to know.
"My spirit showed me a young, isolated woman with the ability to shape," he said, leaning on the back of the divan. He could see a white feathered hat bobbing through the crowd out of the window to his left. "Her only defense is to spur others to do the right thing. She creates an army with her voice, but if there are none who stand with her, she will be crushed under the weight of mechanisms too large for her to comprehend."
"So you have done it to protect her?"
"Indeed. She has a lovely smile. I would be amiss in my duties as a gentleman if I were to so easily let her fall prey to some brutish rogue."
Raina released the tension in her shoulders. She knew her brother well, but not perfectly. There was just an instinct within her to be certain of their dynamics - to know there was not something underhanded going on.
"My apologies," she said softly, focusing on the small swirls of color within the fabric of the rug. "I made an awful assumption."
"One that I might have made of myself, without the proper information." Zalgus let himself smile affectionately at his sister, dropping his pompous air for her comfort and reassurance. "Now can we move on from the mystery of whether or not Zalgus is eagerly manipulating a naive shaper to his whim and talk about what our plan for the next several weeks might be?"
"Of course! So we shall discuss your pressing matters, and then clarify your crush afterward."
Zalgus tried and failed to stop his mouth from dropping open, though he prided himself on managing to snap it back shut quickly.
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