Whoops, accidentally pasted in the last chapter. I fixed. X.X Sorry bout that. There's just so many... On another note, updates are moving to every five days rather than every three. Live long and prosper.

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The awkward was real.

Neara twisted up her fingers so tightly within one another they popped.

"Why were you lurking by the door?" she asked.

"I wasn't lurking. Someone has to guard you two."

"From what? Other rabbits?"

"...if need be."

Awkward took a seat between them and got comfortable.

Aetius noticed the flames crackling and the tips of his ears drooped a little. Just enough for Neara to see. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? For saying I'm worthless or saying..."

"Sorry for everything. I... I misspoke." He looked at her, brown eyes full of feeling. "I still carry deep feelings towards my Clan and... and I don't know if what you're saying about Captain is real or not, I'm not sure I believe anything anymore, but you're not the kind of person to lie... so I guess what I'm saying is that while I don't believe you, I'll wait to make a judgement call until I have more evidence." He looked down at the fire and slowly sank to a squat. "Will you forgive me for speaking harshly?"

"A few minutes in the rain and you feel sorry?" The fire inside her hadn't quite died. "What kind of sick...Ugh, How do you expect me to believe you? You're outside for a second and suddenly see the error of your ways?"

"I didn't say my ways were in error; just my words. I shouldn't have implied you... meant less to me. I meant what I said in the clearing, before all of this: I do love you. And while I can't be as flowery as the Peacock Clan or provide for you the way a predator can, I do care for you, in my own way, and the idea that I've caused you pain is ... well, it's painful to me." At her interrupted chuckle he scowled. "I said I wasn't great with words, alright?"

"No, it's ok, I'm sorry, I know what you mean, it's just... never mind. I'm sorry for..." the flame flickering in her soul said she had nothing to be sorry for and it took her a few seconds to come up with a convincing answer. "... I'm sorry for trying to cut your mark off. You're right; I did act rashly and in the moment..."

"Like a child," he said affectionately.

"Don't push it. I'm barely forgiving you for lying to me about Theo."

"I told you I didn't..." He stopped and drew a harsh breath through his nostrils. "I won't fight with you again."

"Oh yeah? Sounds like you had something to say." Even as her head screamed at her to stop fighting, she didn't want to stop herself; Theo was dead, probably killed by Captain, and her own mate refused to believe her without evidence. Where the hell was she supposed to get evidence that Captain poisoned Theo? Or colluded with Ape King?

"Look, I just said I didn't want to fight."

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want the fight to end on your terms; you still lied to me about Theo." She didn't know if she could forgive that quite yet.

"I didn't lie, I just didn't think you were that clueless," he barked.

"Clueless?" Her voice shook with outrage, escaping her ability to keep it under control.

"Yes, clueless. Why would you have left the City of Beasts if you knew you had a protector there? Why wouldn't you have at least asked after him? Captain brought him to us long before we picked you up and while I can't recall exactly how many days, it was a few sunrises before we found you."

"Found? You still think it was an accident that the two most fertile females..."

"I've met females with just as much fertility; you're not special for being fertile and beautiful." His voice softened a little and it made her disgusted. He only wanted to be her mate because she was hot!

"Oh, haven't you heard? Me and... well, just me, I can have my estrous cycle tw...two times a year. Yeah, twice a year, I can have my estrous cycle." She was such an idiot. Well, why didn't she just confess to being from a different world already?....shit.

"You... what?" His lips tightened but his eyes remained hard. "So you have a cycle twice a year... Rabbit females have their cycle three times a year. The fact that we rescued you and planned to kidnap Shay is coincidence. We didn't know you two were friends. Besides, I bet your ability to mate is compromised by being from a different world."

Even bigger shits... he remembered. Of course he did. "I gave birth to two sheep!"

"Like that's an accomplishment."

"When was the last time you gave birth? Or even sired children?"

"I..."

"That's right; never. That's what I thought. Otherwise you'd have children, and you don't. So... I forgot why I brought that up. Hang on." She tried to send her memory backwards, but it kept snagging on his pained face. He knew he had no children... so why did he look so hurt?

"Because I said you were incompatible with beastmen." His voice sounded significantly subdued.

"Yeah... wait, why did you say that? Ugh, weren't we arguing about Theo?"

"We were."

"Then... I don't know how we got here." She chewed on her inner lip and twisted a bushy curl slowly around her finger as she thought. Aetius remained where he was, his dark skin almost glowing from the fire's heat.

"You're... sensitive about the truth."

"Well, no, I just..."

"Then you're not mad that you didn't know about Theo." He refused to meet her eyes, his voice as light-hearted as his face was serious. "It's something else... you admitted yourself that you didn't care for him particularly."

Neara stared at him with a hard gaze of her own. Why wouldn't she be offended that he'd lied about death? Why wasn't he more upset? Why was he, well, she knew why he defended his Clan so hard, but to not even consider that Captain wasn't what he seemed...

"Well, maybe this will soothe your heart, or remove the doubt in your mind." He didn't move a muscle; not even his whiskers quivered in the fire's glow. "Theo was my son. My only son. My mate... my first mate... she killed the others being careless. I took Theo to my Clan, as I should have done earlier. She said she could be a good mother and I believed her. Love blows mist in your face, they say, and it certainly did for me. Captain knows this, and for him to kill my son would be unthinkable. For him to take the last member of my family in a pitiful attempt to draw you to the Clan..." His eyes turned to her, so full of pain they burned the breath in her lungs. "Can you understand why I hesitate to blame him without more evidence?"

Tears burned at her eyes in empathy.

"Captain... I can't believe he would destroy more of our Clan... least of all to get at my... you."

"I'm sorry, Aetius, I didn't know."

"I..." he weakly chuckled, "I forget how common knowledge in the Clan doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to see."

Awkward, replaced by Tragic, popped in to see how things were going. Unfortunately for the pair, everything felt off about their relationship still. The fire crackling provided just enough white noise to avoid the pressure of talking to fill space.

"So... what's going to happen to us?" Neara asked.

"I don't know. On the one hand, I can't betray my Clan. On the other... well, there's you." He seemed to relax a little since she made the first move. "Wonderful, infuriating, insecure, adorable you."

"You don't really..."

"I do, Neara, I do. And your constant rejection and misunderstandings cause me no end of grief." He grabbed his ear and began to flick the end of it, rolling it between his fingers as he spoke, "It's like you expect everyone to be mean to you all the time, when, as a female, that shouldn't have been the case. I know you said you were... from elsewhere, but haven't the males any respect or decency?"

"You're not going to fly into a rage, are you?"

"No, I'm honestly more curious than anything else. It's such a foreign concept to me... the idea of mistreating a female is like throwing away good food; you don't do it, and you frown on those who do. They... well, they wouldn't survive long."

"I guess... when you have enough females, you're able to take your pick and do whatever you want to them."

"But how?"

"I... just... if you're starving, you eat whatever you can, right? So if you have a lot of food, you get favorites and if you're bored, you might eat because you're bored, but you're not... ugh, this is hard in a world with limited everything..."

"So they view females as food? Something to be consumed and thrown away?"

"Everyone does. Everyone views everyone like that, mostly, so it's..." A wave of exhaustion overpowered her ability to keep talking. "I'm tired... is it alright if I just go to bed? I don't want to kill you, I just... I don't want... I think it's better if we stay apart for a few days."

Aetius nodded and stood. "If that's what you require, Neara, I will give it to you."

"I'll just wait for Shay, if you don't mind."

He nodded and left, shutting the door tightly behind him.

Nera stared into the fire until her eyes burned from the smoke. She looked at the bed, then shook her head. She needed to talk to Shay.

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Aetius sighed and gently tapped at Captain's door. A soft, 'Come in', echoed from inside and he opened the door slowly.

Captain sat by the fire, cross-legged, the chair neglected. He preferred to eat like a common Rabbit, although it was his right as Clan leader to have the option of the chair. His silvery fur glistened in the fire and when he turned around, his wrinkles were thrown into sharp relief. He seemed as old as time itself, most beastmen dying before they attained wrinkles... with the exception of the Turtle Clan, though they'd been extinct for ages. His eyes burned with intelligence and he gestured to the floor next to him.

Aetius sat fluidly and waited.

"It's late, Aetius," he said at least.

"I know."

"Then why have you come?"

"I wanted to ask... about Theo."

Captain's surprise filled the air. "What brought that up?"

"Neara, she... she's a little hysterical about the whole thing. She just found out he's dead." He tried to piece together how he was feeling, but everything seemed muddled together when he talked.

"What? How could she not know?"

"I'm not sure, Captain, I only know what she told me. She... well, we fought about it. That's why I came to see you..."

A rough hand clasped his shoulder. "Aetius, my friend, I do not expect you to mate with her. If her ire is what disturbs you, please, allow me to send someone to distract her. She's made small talk with Henry, although I had intended him for Shay..."

"Captain?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I neglect your feelings." He coughed a little and pulled his hand back to cover his mouth. "Forgive me."

"You intended Henry for Shay?"

"We've been following them for a long time and she seems to like the 'take-charge' sort. If she does accept, I will present him to her."

"And what about Neara?"

"Her? Well, Vincent was my first choice since he's so like her other mates but..."

"You know about her other mates?" A touch of incredulity entered his voice. If he'd done reconnaissance work on Neara without him knowing... she might be right.

Captain raised an eyebrow. "Her sheep beast mark is very clear, and a beautiful female like that has to have more than one. If sheep are her type, then she must be into the gentle sort, and Vincent is very mellow."

"Yes, sir." He turned it over in his mind. Did he suspect Captain because he wanted Neara to be right, or because he was actually suspicious? On the one hand, Captain; on the other hand, Neara.

Both beastmen watched the fire glow in front of them. Captain's bowl lay next to him, untouched since Aetius walked in. The light slid from the opulent furnishings and smeared shadows across the thick walls, remarkably clear of dirt and roots. Each Clan leader left their mark on the Leader's Hole, as it was nicknamed, and his father's carefully crafted rabbit miniatures still decorated the high shelves, a rabbit for each of his Rabbits, as he said. They didn't sparkle, as they did when they were new.

"Aetius, I hope you realize I would never ask you to mate with a female. Even this is...temporary. If they agree, and I doubt they will, we need to be able to protect the Valley against Shay's mates. I've thought about somehow secreting them to the bottom of the mountain, but their scent, well, you know it."

"I... understand."

"If you have any ideas, please, let me know."

"Of course."

Captain's hand wavered over the food, then clenched and pressed itself to his side. Aetius noticed, but couldn't tear himself away. His mind felt so confused right now. How did you talk to your leader about them potentially lying? Where would the proof be?

"Have you found any new weapons?"

"What?"

"When you disappeared with Joseph... you were gone a long time and I was curious if he'd found a new weapon for the Clan."

He waved his hand dismissively and tch-ed. "We have enough weapons, Aetius, enough to bring down an entire City, if we must. What do we need those for?"

"Since Shay's mate is a snake, I thought something like poison."

Captain shook his head. "Snakes are immune to most poisons, although I appreciate where your mind went. No, the ferals are a problem in and of themselves since they'll be expecting the sleeping bombs next time. Four marks, Aetius, and eight between them. That's not counting the Eagle, or the leopards."

Aetius let Captain talk, letting the sound wash over him in a soothing blanket. His superior was talking, appreciating, validating his existence. This was love, wasn't it? Didn't he love Captain? But Neara... the thought of her scowl and frizzy curls brought a smile to his face. He thought of his dark skin tracing over her white, the contrast a delight to his delicate artistic sense. Her soft skin beneath his fingers, and her hard wit beneath that, her intoxicating smell and how she didn't think he noticed her twisting her hair nearly out of her scalp... Was that love as well?

Captain inspired courage, loyalty, strength, everything Aetius himself hoped to become in time. Although it wasn't mentioned, the Clan knew Aetius was being groomed for the position of Clan leader, taking over when Captain succumbed to old age. They trusted him, and he trusted the system, trusted his Clan. Neara, though, was a threat to all that. She made him feel soft, like he wanted to strew flowers at her feet and catch raindrops for her bath. Her smile made his stomach flip over the three moons, and when he carried her for the first time, her weight felt as if it should have always been there. They didn't fit like a puzzle, not exactly, but her body pressed against his made him feel safe and comfortable like a child, soft and lazy like a female, things Aetius did not enjoy comparing himself to.

If Neara made him feel these terrible feelings, why did he yearn to see her smile? Why did he take any excuse to bundle her into his arms and just see his hand against her skin? The image of his beastmark against her ribs thrilled his middle like a pasture with a playful breeze.

"Thank you for listening, Aetius. I know we can't do much, but it's good to have a friend to talk to."

A vibration like a tendon being cut spiked his chest and he didn't try to suppress the satisfied smile. "You're welcome, Captain. I'm glad to be of service."

"And you are, Aetius. Now, my dinner is aging, and you know that you need your rest as well. Please, come to me with any more concerns, especially if they're about Neara."

Aetius nodded and stood, his legs springing him upwards in one motion. He left and, once again, shut the door tightly.