Barek shook his head. "It was only a question, don't apologize." He said as he watched his son become uncomfortable. Obviously the boy was thinking of something, so Barek merely waited for the thoughts to turn into words. When the question came Barek stared, a bit caught off guard. He wasn't used to discussing his relationships with anyone, even himself and Z'tan, much less a kid.

He looked away. As if on cue there was a loud slam of the front door followed by Barek's door opening. Arien stood in the middle of the door way, staring at the scene before him for a moment. He looked a mess, his hair was sticking up and caked with mud and dirt, his shirt was mysteriously missing and his pants were tattered and held up with his hand. There were fresh scratches on his chest and arms as well as his face. "Did I interrupt something?" He asked cautiously.

"No." Barek said with a hint of eagerness in his voice. "We were just talking...didn't you leave?"

"Yeah..." He said blatantly. "I'm back for a bit."

Jaska waited for Barek's answer, the picture of curiosity with his bright eyes, and his head tilted. He was so absorbed in trying to lift the emotions from his fathers face that when the door banged open, Jaska literally jumped a bit, his wide, startled eyes flying to the familiar form of his uncle. He quickly relaxed when he recognized the tall elf.

He chuckled in a show of baffled amusement. He was used to this, but he never understood exactly /why/ it happened. His family was weird. "Your pants are gonna fall," He giggled, his question momentarily forgotten as he slid off the counter. This was far more exciting.

Arien laughed at Jaska's statement. "Yeah...I lost my belt..." He mumbled, hiking his pants up a bit.

"Go clean up." Barek demanded and surprisingly Arien left to do just that. After a few minutes he returned, wet, and with a pair of new clothes. He scrubbed his hair with a towel before sitting down at the table. Barek stood up and grabbed a kit of healing supplies and handed them to Arien.

"Thanks." Arien said as he opened it up and began spreading some oils on his scratches. "I think I might stay here for the night."

"Any reason why?" Barek asked, watching Arien critically. Over time he had come to feel protective of the young man, despite his insistence of the opposite.

"Uhhhh." He glanced at Jaska briefly and looked over at Barek. "Waiting for a storm to pass..." He said as if asking a question and hissed through his teeth as he moved to stitching the deeper cuts up. "Where's Kailyn?"

At this question Barek was quiet.

Jaska tilted his head curiously at Arien's cryptic answers. A storm? It wasn't raining outside, was it? He looked outside, but it was nothing more than a calm dusk.

At his question about Kailyn, Jaska looked thoughtful looking out the window. "......I should go find him." He said, reluctantly. He really hated having people mad at him, and then having to talk to that person. He hated confrontation in general. He looked at Barek, "I... think I can tell where he is?" He rubbed the back of his hand a little, looking uncertain, "Should I?... Its getting dark..."

Arien looked confused at everyone's reluctance to answer him. His gold eyes stayed on Jaska when the boy spoke up. When Jaska continued Arien's eyes darkened and he looked over at Barek who nodded once at his brother-in-law.

Barek shook his head at Jaska. "No, it's not safe. I'd rather you stay here with me. Don't worry about Kailyn. He knows his way around pretty well." He said patiently and leaned back. Arien huffed through his nose, an animal sound of impatience. "Don't get upset. They're both kids." Barek finally said, in a strangely paternal voice.

Arien surprisingly didn't retort, but only narrowed his eyes, obviously an unspoken conversation taking place. Barek shifted his body but didn't look at Arien. Arien let out an angry sigh and moved to Jaska. "Let me see your hand, I can heal it, at least so it doesn't get infected." He said to his nephew, holding out his own hand.

Jaska looked between his father and uncle as they argued, looking a little confused. Why did adults always have to do this? He waited for them to stop talking, looking around, shifting uncomfortably. He looked back up at Arien's angry sigh.

He perked up a bit, "I already healed it, mostly." He said, putting his hand in Arien for inspection. Sure enough, the markings looked as though they had only just healed, still a bit raw, but mostly closed over, leaving just the slight lines of the scar . "Mama said that I could probably be a really good healer one day, if I can already heal myself. It takes a while though." He added, smiling.

Arien looked at Jaska's hand with a raised brow. "Huh...must be part of the recessive genes." He said mostly to himself, for neither of Jaska's real parents had the true ability to heal. "Good job. You take after me. Thank goodness." He said with a grin. Barek rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Arien put a hand atop Jaska's head playfully and messed up the boy's hair. There was an obvious bond Arien felt for Jaska, almost like his own son.

As Arien let go of Jaska the front door opened and the first thing through it was Algeah. She glided to the nearest window and perched herself on the sill, she gave Arien a look. Kailyn came in afterward, shirt wet and hair stuck to his face with sweat. He looked around and quickly rubbed his face and slicked up his curly hair.

"Arien, you're back?" He asked curiously, his blue eyes not telling what he was feeling. "I thought you..." He trailed off as Arien looked at him. He visibly stiffened and pulled at his glove. "It wasn't me." He said defensively.

Jaska grinned when Arien seemed to be teasing him and ruffled his hair. He laughed and shook his head as Arien let go, some of his curls flopping back into place. At the front door's opening, he looked up again, his eyes widening a bit at Kailyn's disheveled appearance. He looked between Arien and his friend, something seeming to click into place.

He tugged on Arien's hand. "Kian did it." He stated simply, no malice or hurt in his voice, just matter-of-fact. Kian had only done as he was apt to do, like anything else. Jaska had never really much understood the need to hate something because it had acted in its nature. It was alright to be afraid, and cautious, but not angry. He blinked up at Arien, head tilted slightly.

Kailyn glanced at Jaska when he spoke but his eyes moved back to Arien. The tall elf was studying Kailyn intensly. "I didn't.." He paused as Arien looked away towards Barek who gave an uninterested shrug and picked some food from his teeth.

"I don't know. Ra knew something about it, but didn't explain." Barek stated. Arien gave a frustrated groan. "I think he's messed up, even more than us. So it makes sense Ra would understand." The drow finished.

"What are you talking about?" Kailyn finally said, wiping some sweat from his upper lip. "I'm not messed up-" He was cut off when Arien stepped up to him and punched him in the face. He stumbled back and stared at Arien. "IT WASN'T ME!" He yelled in a surprised voice and threw a fist in retaliation but Arien caught it and shoved the younger elf to the ground and pinned him down. Kailyn's blue eyes widened in a wild shock and he screamed out in frustration. He bucked up against Arien but could only push up slightly. During it all Barek only watched with his bored expression.

"Jaska! Tell him!" Kailyn yelled in an emotional frenzy.

Jaska gave a frustrated sigh as no-one really paid attention to him. His red eyes flickered to Barek when the drow spoke, then back to Kailyn, concern starting to edge his face. This really wasn't going to end well, was it?

He still jumped back though, startled, when Arien lunged at Kailyn, and the fight began, looking between them and Barek with almost helpless expectation. When he realized his father wasn't actually going to do anything to stop them, the inability to do anything gave way to further deepened frustration, and he looked at the two combatants, "Stop it!" He said, some of the anger reaching his soft voice, sharpening for once. "Kailyn didn't hurt me! Kian did. They're different."

Kailyn glanced at Jaska again and back at Arien. Arien stared back at Kailyn. "Jaska..." Arien said quietly, still holding Kailyn down. "He could have stopped it." But he got off him anyways. Kailyn remained laying on the ground for a minute as his breathing slowed down and he stood up.

"I couldn't." Kailyn retorted.

"You didn't try. And don't think of making another excuse, I think you sometimes forget that I hear everything." Arien said. He pushed back some hair from his face and watched Kailyn stare at him.

"So what's for dinner?" Barek said suddenly, but seriously.

Kailyn looked at Barek for the first time and his mouth dropped. "What?" He questioned in astonishment. "You're serious? I'm not doing all the cooking!"

"It seems suitable." Barek said with a shrug, not adding any reason as to why it was. "Anyways, you don't want Arien or me cook. And Jaska's your guest, or I guess...your owner...so I don't think he should have to, plus he's younger."

Jaska's brow furrowed at Arien's reply, he looked to Kailyn with a little confusion, but didn't say anything. Sometimes, he was sure he just really didn't want to know things. He looked over to Barek incredulously at his question. He shook his head, blinking. Were all fathers crazy like this? Surely not.

He winced at the mention of him being Kailyn's 'owner'. Could you even own people? How did that work? Wouldn't it be awkward?... like this.... He sighed, shifting, "I know how to cook." He muttered, feeling a bit irritated. Why did they have to treat Kailyn like this? An hour or two ago, Barek hadn't made it seem like a big deal that Kian had hurt him. Now he was saying crazy stuff, and treating Kailyn like some sort of servant! He looked at Barek in a somewhat baffled manner like, 'do you know about how much sense you are making?'. He clearly didn't.

Both Barek and Arien looked at Jaska when he stated he knew how to cook. But before either could say anything Kailyn spoke up. "No. I'll cook." He said with surprising hostility. His blue eyes looked dark. Barek nodded a little as he stood up. Without saying a word he went back into his room to read. Arien wandered to the couch nearby and fell down onto it, his legs dangling off the end. Almost instantly a gentle snore arose, it wasn't too loud to be obnoxious, but not too soft to be inaudible. Neither of the two men were exactly open about much, especially with touchy topics, either one would over react or the other would not react at all.

Kailyn remained quiet as he pulled some stuff from the kitchen cabinets. Taking out a chopping knife he began to cut up herbs with a speed and accuracy that was inhuman. He pulled out a large pot and headed towards the back door to get water from the well.