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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2225849" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 211: One Last NightThey were all back to staring the second Jyren and Shadow were back inside. One would think it would be something that could be ignored after it happens so often...but Jyren found that it was just the opposite. The longer it lasted, the harder it was to resist the urge to scream, find a corner, and hide out for a few years. The next best thing was what was currently happening. He was being dragged through the crowd by Shadow fast enough that he couldn’t actually make out any of the eyes.    In a moment, the two of them were back to the gigantic series of tables that held an uncountable amount of food. Lots didn’t even accurately describe how much food there was. So, for a moment, Jyren just stood there and stared at it all. But, for the second time, his stomach growled in protest of his not-eating and, again, Shadow heard it. She grinned again prodding him along in front of her while he held two plates.    At first, he didn’t even know what was happening, but soon there was food appearing on the two plates. As quickly as she could, Shadow was pushing him along and finding the ‘best’ foods she could. Of course, best wasn’t accurate, as everything was good and it was more a matter of what she could reach or not. Five minutes, and both of the plates were piled with so much food that Jyren was actually having trouble holding them.    As Shadow then started pushing him off towards the exit...well, around the back wall to hide them from the sight of the parent’s. None of them would like it if they left, most likely. But, thankfully, Shadow picked up on the idea that Jyren was nearly dropping the food, and took one of the plates while she led him around the long way. They shared a mutual grin while sneaking right behind both of their fathers, probably no more than a couple meters behind the two men and neither of their tails even twitched.    Very slowly, they snuck out the main exit, seemingly unnoticed. Well, except for the two guards at the door who watched them both still sneaking past once they were out in the hallway. The guards glanced to each other, shrugged, and one grinned slightly.    When Shadow made it around the first corner outside of the main chamber, she let out a triumphant, “Ha!”    Jyren grinned as he followed her, but watched in slightly confusion as she starting hopping on one foot down the hallway in front of him, “You alright...”    She grumbled something over her shoulder before managing to get one of the high-heeled shoes off with one hand, then switched feet, yelping suddenly at her bare foot touching the cold floor. She got the other shoe off, danced around from foot to foot again, then looked to Jyren, “Stop standing there! This is cold!”    He held his grin, but stood there and didn’t move, “What if I like this spot?”    Her eyes formed a mock glare, “You want to find out just how cold this floor is?”    The threat would have been more...well threatening if she wasn’t still bouncing from foot to foot every few seconds. Still grinning, Jyren said, “I’m quite comfortable, actually. Besides, you look like you’re having fun.”    And then the inevitable occurred. Shadow pounced. However, Jyren had just enough time to sidestep to the left, laugh, and run as fast as he could down the hallway in front of him. Behind him, Shadow yelled a curse and he could hear her feet chasing after him, and feel her annoyance at the cold through the link. All in all, he was winning.    Making two turns(following Shadow’s own remembering of where their room was supposed to be), Jyren found another very long corridor ahead of him. He glanced behind him a moment to see Shadow barrel around the corridor, then realized she was actually catching up. Quickly, he turned back and continued forward.    Then something hit him in the back of the head. It hit hard, with a sharp point against his skull. It did nothing but just hurt, and when he glanced behind him to see what it was Jyren knew he’d made a mistake. Shadow’s second shoe hit him square in the forehead, sending him stumbling back in surprise more than pain. But he lost his balance(and the plate he’d been carefully running with), and the next thing he knew he was on his back and his head was spinning.    Just as he started to sit up, he heard an “HA!” and then was pounced. This time, Shadow found her mark, and his head found the soft mix of food and floor that was now scattered across the ground underneath him. As Jyren’s vision slowly came back into focus, he saw her idly sitting over him and picking off pieces of food to eat. Deciding it was the best thing he could think to do, he groaned.    That did get a reaction. She raised an eyebrow and actually looked down to him. But instead of a question, she picked some brown thing off from next to his head and shrugged, “You’ll live.”    He groaned again.    Rolling her eyes, Shadow sighed, “Fine. Fine...I’ll make sure you aren’t completely broken.”    She leaned forward while reaching to lift his head up off the floor. With her free hand, Shadow idly picked away at the food his head had landed on, forgetting completely about the fact that he may or may not have a concussion. He’d live. And besides, some of the best stuff hand landed under him...    There was a muffled whimpering noise. Slowly, she looked down. Then, she made the same whimpering noise...noticing where she’d pulled his head up to while trying to lean over him. Carefully and slowly, Shadow sat back up and let his head down, her face as red as his...in fact, most of both of them had gone red. Slowly, she mumbled an apology, “I uh...didn’t know that...dresses um...did that...”    They both looked past each other for a long moment. Then, finally, Shadow got up and pulled him to his feet. Ignoring the food all over the ground, she picked up her plate(which was now only half full as she’d been eating things while chasing after him), and quietly led the way back to their room.    It was huge. Well, huge compared to the room in the Palace. In fact, the room was actually three rooms. One, a large, semi-circular living area, with furniture, interesting pieces of art, and a large window near the opposite end. That alone was larger than the room in the Palace. Off to the left, Shadow found the bedroom, which was just as big, and just as packed with a gigantic wardrobe(likely fully packed with clothes), a desk, and another door that likely led to the washroom. That wasn’t even mentioning the bed, which was, as with everything in this place, huge. Shadow idly placed the plate down on the desk as she wandered around, looking over every section of the place as she used to do looking for dangerous areas or listening devices. Not that they were likely to be found, but it had become habit.    Jyren had just stood back, finding that he was staring at her but not actually doing anything to change that. Once she had finished, Shadow sighed and sat down on the bed. She glanced up to Jyren just as he sat next to her, but then went to staring down at the floor, “I’m sorry.”    She couldn’t see his face react to that, but she knew he was surprised. He stuttered out a series of non-words before making sense of his thoughts and asking quietly, “For what?”    Shadow shrugged and motioned around them, “For this...” she then reached over and poked his leg gently, “For that...most everything, actually.”    “There’s nothing to apologize for,” Jyren said, still not completely understanding what she meant, but trying to fill in the holes through the use of the link “I...I’ve told you before I do kind of...well...I like this body. It still takes some getting used to but it isn’t all that bad and...and the rest of this, well...at least we aren’t stuck in it alone.”    She blinked slightly, then very carefully looked over to him, “We will be.”    “You really aren’t going to let me go with you after Nine, are you?” it was less a question and more a stating of fact by this point.    With a sigh, Shadow nodded, “You can’t come with me...Nine will...she...she will go after you to distract me. And I...I cannot do this if I have to worry about you.”    “We’ve done things like this before,” Jyren said, trying for the last time to convince her to let him fight, too.    But Shadow shook her head, “Nine is different. You just have to trust me on that...and...and someone has to stay here and protect our family.”He bit his lower lip and managed a slow, forced nod, “I...I understand. I still don’t like it...but I understand.”    Silence. A silence that was becoming all too common lately. It was unnerving. It was so quiet that it was loud. It was...it was starting to drive the both of them crazy. But neither knew what to do about it. Well...no, there were ideas. It was easier, though, to just ignore them and let the long silences continue. But not this time.    This time, Jyren acted. He reached down to rest a hand on Shadow’s face before leaning down and kissing her.</blockquote>

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