Feast for Four

He didn’t know how to answer Indigo, the chasm between him and his siblings only grew, as he looked at them like an outcast, and all of them looked back at him. He wasn’t sure if he imagined the accusation in their faces, or if it was real. He was ruining Asla’s day. He hadn’t meant to do that, he didn’t want to do that. He just wanted to slip quietly away, nurse the pain in his heart alone.

Asla asked her question, addressing it to Azure, knowing that this had begun because of something between Azure and Mortis. His brother had separated him from their family, cut him off as easily as snipping a string. How could he say? Mortis believed, deep in his heart, that if he told his family that Mortis had pushed him, and that Mort believed he had tried to kill him, that Azure had been punished for it and did not believe it fear… if he told them that, then it would be final. Azure would never forgive him. What if his siblings took Azure’s side, what if they supported the murderer instead of his victim?

In a way, Azure truly had killed him that day, killed the joy in him. Tears pricked at his eyes, and he wanted to leave it to Azure to answer. A part of him desperately wanted to know what his brother would say, and another part desperately didn’t. Mortis took a deep breath, and the words tumbled out of him. Partly a lie, partly the truth, as much as he could bear to sya, even if his siblings hated him. What did it matter? Mortis didn’t belong anyway. “I got Azure in trouble, and he doesn't forgive me, and I'm sorry, but I don’t think we’ll be friends any more.” he turned, pushing past Indy, tears blinding him as he fled.

-Exit Mortis-