“I’m Mari,” the younger daughter shyly smiles at him and Azure gives her a brilliant answering smile that makes her blush. He laughs inwardly, apparently the siblings share more than just their appearance. She holds out a dish with cookies, “Would you like one?”
“Thank you.” He reaches for one, “I’m Azure and sorry about Ocher.” He gestures vaguely in the other boy’s direction, “He’s bad with new people.”
“But we’re not new…” Mayla says in confusion.
“It has been fifteen years. That’s a lot of time.”
“Ah.” She looks down at her clasped hands and silence descends upon the room. Suddenly, no one can make eye contact any more.
“Wow, these cookies are delicious!” Azure exclaims, mindless of the tension. They’re not his family. There’s no reason for him to feel uncomfortable, he hasn’t done anything wrong.
“Thank you,” Mari answers. “We baked them together this morning.”
Wrong answer. He can feel the hot anger creeping up under that blank look of Ocher’s.
“Is he okay?”
Azure glances back over at Ocher’s faintly strained expression, “No, not really. This is a lot.”
“That’s true,” his mother nods. “But, I am curious to how things progressed to this point, none of us have any overly aggressive traits.”
It’s because they didn’t need to. What kind of life did she think Ocher led? He was in the army, learning to kill, not learning how to be non confrontational. The naivety of this woman is unbelievable. Azure reaches over to place a calming hand on Ocher’s arm and it doesn’t go unnoticed. “Different environments,” he shrugs.
The middle brother studies them with narrowed eyes, “No, really, who are you?”
“I’m his friend, would anything more really mean something to you?”
“Are you the one responsible for luring him away?”
“I think Ocher can make his own decisions and how are you so sure that what you’ve heard is the truth? Maybe they’re lying to you.”
Mayla fans the air, standing abruptly. “There’s no need for that kind of talk right now. Won’t you two stay for dinner? We can catch up more. And maybe Ocher will finally talk,” she teases with a smile in his direction.
Doubtful. “Sure, it’s been forever since I’ve had a home cooked meal and probably longer for him. Maybe not since you gave him up.”
The room freezes and Mayla’s smile grows fixed. “That’s the law.”
“So it is. I wouldn’t give you up though, Ocher.”
Ocher turns to him and through clenched teeth utters his first words since they entered, “Yes, you would.”
Azure turns away from him with a knowing smile, “We’ll still gladly stay for dinner.”
“Good, good,” she answers, forcing a pleasant smile back on her face. “I’m not sure how far you’ve traveled, but you probably want to rest. Mari, could you show them to your room while we finish dinner?”
“Sure.”
She steps towards them, but before she can say more, one of her brothers cuts in. “No need, we’ll show them after we talk a little more.” Mayla looks uncertain, but eventually nods before she and Mari disappear off into the kitchen and the four of them are left alone in the living room.
His brothers look distinctly less friendly than before. They ask probing questions in an attempt to get answers about Ocher’s life and what he’s been up to, but Ocher’s not interested in answering and Azure, himself, doesn’t have a clue. So, he either fields the questions off or outright lies about the answer.
“You guys are pretty close, huh?” The eldest brother who introduced himself as Eliam asks.
“Barely.”
Eliam’s eyes flick between them, his mouth twisted to the side, unsure if he’s being honest or not. “Let them rest!” Mayla calls out from the kitchen, interrupting their endless questioning.
Looking annoyed, he stops and gestures them down the hall. Azure pulls Ocher up by his arm and whispers to him, “If you don’t speak to them soon, they’re going to think something’s wrong with you.” Azure gives his arm a reassuring squeeze, “Don’t feel threatened, you’re the cutest by far. Although, your sister might be a close second.”
Gray eyes look up at him and they’re brimming with fury, a whisper away from spilling over. Ah, an army learned defense mechanism. He isn’t nervous at all, he’s so angry that saying one word might put him over the edge.
They enter the bedroom and the instant the door is shut behind them, Ocher snaps, shoving him away with unrestrained force. “Who asked you to be so friendly with them?” He almost yells, shaking with anger. “I hate every one of them!”
Azure glances back towards the door, “Lower your voice, you don’t want them to hear you.”
“Let them hear! They’ve never done anything for me!”
“Yeah, I get that,” Azure agrees soothingly, reaching for one of his clenched fists. “But -”
“Don’t touch me, Azure! Go talk to my sister if you think she’s so cute!”
He sighs, “I don’t understand. Are you angry or are you jealous? Pick one.”
“Maybe she can be another Sara for you. You and this shitty family would probably get along well.”
Azure drops onto the bed, “So, it’s anger and you’re taking it out on me. Let me know when you’re done.”
Ocher turns to him with narrowed eyes and scarlet cheeks, “You’re an asshole.”
“You already knew that,” he replies dismissively, unwilling to rise to Ocher’s level of aggression.
He stands abruptly when Ocher moves away from him. His hand wraps around some heavy trophy and he’s aiming towards the window by the time Azure makes it to him and pries the metal object from his clenched fingers, shoving him back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He snaps.
Ocher pushes him back, “I can do whatever I want, especially if I’m about to die from turning myself in!”
“You’re not turning yourself in.” He barely manages to dodge the unexpected punch that Ocher throws at him. He grabs Ocher’s wrist and twists it behind his back hard enough to cause pain.
They stare at each other, Ocher’s eyes dark with absolute fury, as if he’d like nothing more than to rip his head off, then everyone else’s. His body is tight with tension and Azure moves to grab his other hand before he can try a punch with that one. Ocher headbutts him and he feels pain explode across his face causing him to let go.
Azure holds his aching nose and Ocher looks on smugly, apparently anger loves company just as much as misery does.
“Is everything alright in there?” The voice of one of Ocher’s brothers calls through the door.
Ocher reaches for the closest item and ignoring his throbbing nose, Azure throws himself across the room, covering Ocher’s mouth with his hand and using his entire body to pin him to the floor. “Yes, we’re fine!”
“Mother says dinner is almost ready.”
“Okay, we’ll be there in a minute.”