Ezra listened.
He stayed where he was, leaning his back against the rough bark of a huge tree, his breath still uneven from everything that had happened.
He tried not to move, not to make a sound, even as every part of him wanted to go back, to take Lior away from Kaelis, to fix what had just broken between them.
'Just listen…'
He forced himself to stay still.
Even though it was really, really, really difficult.
"You know, I have a younger brother named Aurien," Ezra heard Kaelis say.
His voice carried softly through the quiet, calm in a way that almost didn't match the chaos from earlier. "I'm sure you've met him once. If not, you will at some point."
"Aren?" Lior repeats, tilting his head.
"Yes, Aren," Kaelis repeated without correcting too much this time. "He's my little brother. I care about him a lot. But the thing about Aurien is that he used to be… a bit weak, and a bit of a pushover."
'Lior doesn't know that word.'
