Stop being hangry

Shayn immediately felt bad as he reached the fresh air outside the library. He was a little overproud of his work, and the insinuation, however slight, that he could have done something wrong was irritating in the extreme.

Still, now that he was able to clear his head a little, he could see her point of view. All she knew was that the maps didn't match right. She had no way of knowing who was right or wrong, and thought to speed up the process of figuring it out by calling the other man. 

The other man, who was definitely, positively wrong. Why couldn't Simone just believe Shayn that he and Kyler had done everything absolutely, meticulously correctly? Wasn't his word enough to affirm that anyone who disagreed with him must be absolutely mistaken? 

He grimaced. His mother would whip him for being so rude to a lady if she knew. He hadn't exactly been polite in informing her exactly how he felt about her attempts to verify who was correct. His stomach rumbled again. 

Mayra had always told him he was mean and cranky when he was hungry. He walked purposefully to one of the carts in the square that sold meat pies. The scent in the air was only intensifying his hunger pains. 

"Good Afternoon, Sir!" The proprietor greeted him warmly. "Today we have meat hand-pies with diced onion, garlic, and carrot! I make the pastry and fillings fresh every morning!" 

Shayn inhaled hungrily. "One, please–No, two." 

The man smiled widely and wrapped up the meal after receiving Shayn's money. 

"Thank you, Sir, please enjoy!" 

Shayne nodded, not wanting to engage in conversation when he was so ravenously hungry. It must be mid or late afternoon! 

The filling of the pies was hearty and generous. After the first, he reconsidered the need for a second. He didn't want to make a glutton of himself. 

His eyes roamed back to the library. Simone hadn't eaten all day, and he did likely owe her an apology. With a sigh he wrapped up the second pie and headed inside. 

This would be embarrassing. He was glad Kyler wasn't around to make fun of him for it. Or Mayra. Or anyone else, really. He hated apologizing, and his pride might prevent it with an audience. 

As he walked up to the table, he noticed a mysterious lack of personage at the table. Simone must have gone to get something, but she'd left all their papers out on the table. She would be back soon. 

This was even better. He didn't have to apologize to her face, where he would probably get irritated and ruin the attempt by being rude again. Why couldn't he manage to be calm and polite around this woman? Her very presence had chafed him from the moment she slammed into Kyler on the street. 

He frowned. That was probably it. Protectiveness of Kyler colored more of how he viewed the world than he cared to admit. It irked him further to see her laughing with his brother and taking his arm at the party. 

Shayn was partially afraid Kyler would get attached to the pretty librarian, and then she would break his heart. For his part, Kyler did seem intent on matchmaking Shayn with the blonde, which was both better and worse. 

Maybe he could try harder to be nicer. It would be a lot of effort, given how much she aggravated him, but a journey of stilted politeness would be better than one of openly bickering. 

Or would it? He wasn't sure, actually. He didn't like pretending things like that. It felt too much like lying. He shrugged to himself. He would speak his mind, as politely as he could manage, and she would either learn to accept it, or she wouldn't. 

It wasn't his problem either way. 

He pulled a scrap of paper out of his bag and scribbled a hasty apology across it, then laid both the wrapped meal and note on the corner of the table before making his escape.

It would be better if he didn't talk to her again today. The longer they had apart, the more peace both of them could enjoy. 

_________

Victoria and Gabe walked in silence back to the Shermans' house. She eyed him, and he took a deep breath. 

He really didn't want to talk about it, but he supposed walking was the best time. He wouldn't have to look directly at her as he spoke, and there were distractions he could use if it became too much to discuss. 

Victoria was determined to have it out of him, which her serious expression confirmed. He wondered how long exactly it would take her to demand it from him, but so far her silent glances were all he endured. 

"It was before we met," He began. 

"I gathered that. I think I might have noticed if you disappeared to another world since then," The dam on Victoria's words broke as the sentence flooded out. 

"You are exceptionally observant," He admitted, and she colored slightly. 

"Most orphans are. We learn to survive by reading people and seeing things." She liked to downplay this aspect of herself, and in truth it often annoyed him that she saw too much.

To her credit, she very rarely brought something up that he didn't want to talk about, but she probably knew more than she let on. 

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" He asked with a half-smile, and she snapped her mouth shut and pressed her lips together. 

"All right," He continued. "You know, I think, that once, I was kept in the Darkness." She nodded silently, apparently determined not to interrupt him again. 

"It was oppressive. No light or sound. I'm still not sure how long I was kept there. Weeks, or longer. Perhaps months. Wondering what was out there, in the quiet. For the first long while I was tied to a tree. All the captives were. Separately." He paused his words, but continued walking, collecting himself. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Victoria's hand move as if to take his, but it settled back at her side instead. 

"Eventually, I was able to get loose, but we had been warned that any escape into the Darkness would mean starvation and death. Without light or sound, survival is all but impossible. And even if I could survive, I would never escape the Darkness without their portal-makers to let me out again." 

"How did you get out?" Victoria asked softly after a moment. 

"Roland. Well, sort of," He amended. "When Roland was thrown into the Darkness, his necklace glowed. I could see it a little, and moved towards it, keeping hold of the rope that was tied to my tree. He was the first person, other than the guards, that I had seen or talked to since I got there.

"We got to Amelia, and figured out the necklace itself was a portal-maker. Magical. Roland was taken out of the Darkness by the guards, but after that I decided escape was worth it. Maybe Roland could get me out from the other side. 

"Roland set a fire for me to find, some light in the Darkness. I waited around it, and ate the food he left for me. Before he could come get me out, another creature found me." 

Victoria tensed, clearly expecting some terrible monster to enter the tale. Perhaps the Void, which Gabe had, thankfully, never directly encountered. 

"What was it?" Victoria's voice and question were small. 

"She is named Gwen, and you heard her voice today." Gabe replied. 

The young woman's eyes widened, and she stopped in the street to stare at her companion. 

"Gwen?" 

"One of the Fae," Gabe replied. "She took me to their world and kept me safe there until the war was over." 

"I didn't see much of it either," Victoria said, but her face revealed the fear she'd felt during it all. "Our neighbor helped watch me while the Shermans did everything." 

Gabe knew from his time hiding in the pantry during the War Between Worlds that it could be traumatic to listen to the outside war, knowing it was there, threatening to come in. There was no safety to be had in such times, no matter how much the adults would wish it so. 

"Then you've been through one more war than I have," Gabriel replied with a wry smile. 

"Not true. Your village… that counts as a war." Victoria had gathered snippets over the years from those who'd lived through the tragedy. All of Amelia's children, in addition to himself, had lived through the attack. 

"It was a skirmish," He minimized. "No one died, and with the wolves, no one dared fight back." 

"Why do you do that so much?" Victoria asked after a moment. 

"Do what?" 

"Try to make everything you've been through sound like less than it was. You went through so much. Experienced so much. You're allowed to acknowledge it."