Riven deposited me back in the chair I had been in.  Ren was looking at me, concerned, but before he could get a question out, Riven started looking through the cupboards.  “Ren, do we have any tea for nausea?  Like not physical stuff?  Or would Adair or Honey have some?  Can you help with that if we don’t?”

Ren blinked, taking a moment to either process what he said or consider, I wasn’t sure.  “Yellow box,” he said at last, once Riven stopped talking.  “If that doesn’t work, we can always ask Beatrice.”

“Oh right, naga dreamcatchers would do it.”

“Naga?”  I questioned, feeling more confused.  “Dreamcatchers?”

“Beatrice is one of my best friends,” Riven explained as he put a kettle on the stove.  “She’s a naga.  She gave me this dreamcatcher like thing that naga do that helped when I was getting bad paranoia from nightmares – basically just took it away for me.  Really useful stuff.  We’re going to try the tea first, since we have it here, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll see if Beatrice has an option that’ll help instead.”

That was a lot of information I hadn’t expected.  Riven seemed so sweet and nice, kind of quiet energy, definitely not someone I would expect to be friends with a naga.  I looked at Ren, perplexed, trying to ask him my question without actually saying it.

He seemed to get it because he grinned abruptly.  “Riven is basically the king of making friends from anyone,” he explained.  “He claims it’s his unicorn side, while Honey – my sister – and I both just think it’s him, once he started being himself.  He’s got several unusual friends, but that’s part of what makes him Riven.”  He looked at Riven with such affection in his eyes it took me by surprise.

I’d come to the conclusion that real love was a myth, but looking at the two of them, I suddenly wasn’t so sure any more.

Before long, Riven set a steaming mug of tea in front of me.  He looked almost as nervous as I felt when I drank it.

“How do I know if it works?”  I asked cautiously, after swallowing a few mouthfuls.

“Try eating again,” Ren offered.  “I know it’s not exactly the best solution since if it doesn’t work it means more throwing up which isn’t exactly fun, but the other option is to try to trigger the thing that caused the nausea to begin with.”

Yeah, neither sounded great, but I wasn’t about to intentionally recall stuff if I could avoid it.  I did really want to try more of that casserole, though, so I hesitantly took a bite.

When nothing happened, I took another bite, then just kept eating steadily while Riven and Ren, who seemed relieved, started talking more generally.

Ren, I soon learned, was a photographer.  I’d noticed the pictures around the house and was somewhat impressed to learn they were all his.  Riven was working in a café but going to school at nights or, during the summer like now, was taking correspondence courses.

Ren started to talk about Nathan’s family, apparently thinking I’d be interested since I knew Nathan, but when I flinched and stopped eating, he paused and then switched topics to discuss his family, instead, explaining that his mom was on the city council, his dad ran a clinic for supernaturals, his sister just finished med school and was starting her residency, and his older brother ran a vet clinic.

I did discover from the brief mention of the prey shifter family that the tea indeed seemed to stop the nausea even with triggers, which was an almost tear-inducing relief.  At least maybe I could eat again.

After dinner, I insisted on washing the dishes because they had made and given me supper, after all, so that was only fair, and then Riven asked if I wanted to watch a movie, play some games, look at photo albums, walk the dog, or get to bed early.

I kind of got the impression he was wanting to show me the albums, and that seemed like a quiet enough activity that shouldn’t involve triggering something for me, so I opted for that.  Riven’s delighted smile made me happy I chose that option and before long I found myself sitting on the couch, the dog’s head in my lap while I petted her, and Riven and Ren next to me, Ren’s arm wrapped around Riven.

Riven seemed to be in his element, proudly showing off his fairy's photos and talking about them.  I noticed that Ren’s face got red, but he didn’t leave us, just sat there quietly with a smile on his face while he watched Riven.

Ren’s pictures were really beautiful.  I found myself impressed by some of the flower pictures – not something I’d necessarily normally even notice – and some of the black and white ones focused on texture.  Then I opened up one of animals.

The first picture on the page was one of a fox, which naturally appealed to me.  An animal fox, not a shifter, but it was practically lit in silhouette by sunlight.  Beneath it, a picture of a large cat, its eyes focused as it crouched, intent and just about to jump.

Intrigued, I turned the page and then dropped the album, almost throwing it from me.

It was a picture of a baby deer.  Clearly my reaction was not the response to that picture that most people would have, because Riven and Ren both seemed startled.  For a moment we were all just frozen, then I carefully got to my feet, picked up the album, and without looking at it again, set it on top of the others, tightly closed.

“Um, sorry.  I think – I think I should go to bed now.”

I felt bad about being rude, about throwing the album when it was something important to both of them.  It was probably insulting and I hoped they wouldn’t kick me out over that.  I hoped I hadn’t just screwed up my chance to make friends with these nice people just because I was scared of prey animals.  Particularly of deer.  Even in pictures.  Even if they weren’t shifters.

I shut the guest bedroom door behind me, then noticed that someone had set out some more of Riven’s clothes for me, probably when I was busy washing dishes.  Pajamas and some more daytime clothes.  I felt tears fill my eyes at the kindness and hoped, really hoped once again that I hadn’t ruined this.

But that was a problem for tomorrow.  I had some food in my stomach now and I really needed some sleep.  After readying for bed, I cautiously climbed under the covers and then silently cried myself to sleep.

~~~~

A knock on the door woke me up in the morning and for a moment I forgot where I was.

“Miles,” Riven’s soft voice met my ears, stopping me before I panicked completely, “breakfast is ready if you want some.  I’m not working today, so I’ll be around working on class stuff if you need anything.  My office is at the end of the hall, past your bathroom.”

I blinked, slowly remembering where I was and everything that had happened.  I had slept surprisingly well for being somewhere new, but maybe that was just because I was so exhausted.

At least Riven didn’t sound mad.  Maybe that meant they’d give me another chance.

I got up and went to brush my teeth, met at the door by the fluffy white cloud wagging her tail enthusiastically.  She insisted on keeping me company in the bathroom, which I guessed was okay since she was a dog after all, and eagerly followed me downstairs when I went in search of food.

Riven had made me tea again, which I gratefully drank before I started on the breakfast of French toast and fruit.

Riven kept tossing blueberries to Sapphire during breakfast and laughing when she missed them.  “Ren is working today,” he told me.  “He’s got an exhibit coming up so there’s a lot going on.  But if you need anything, feel free to ask me.  There’s a computer over there,” he pointed to a desk in the living room, “if you want to use it, and you’re free to watch anything or use the gaming console.  You may have noticed that the guest room doubles as our library, too, so if you’re interested in reading anything, help yourself.”

I had noticed the bookshelves in there this morning, one filled to the brim with books and the other apparently a work in progress.

“There’s a nice yard out back, too,” Riven added.  “If you’re not familiar with fairy gardens, you’ll probably like it.”

I paused, glancing around the kitchen and living room.  “Is that why there’s so many plants indoors, too?  Is that a fairy thing?”

“Yep!”  He seemed pleased that I’d figured it out.  “They’re really good with plants and animals, it’s part of what makes Sorrel a good vet.”

Riven paused, apparently remembering the conversation from yesterday, and that flash of guilt filled his face again.  “Um, I really didn’t mean to say anything about Sorrel and Nathan yesterday.”

“It’s okay.”  I popped a strawberry into my mouth whole.  “Nathan already told me about it.  He said you told him he should let himself be loved and he was thinking things over and that’s why he was in town.”

Riven seemed surprised by this discovery.  “Oh, he told you?  Oh – well, that’s good then.  At least I didn’t accidentally reveal something I shouldn’t have.  I value my friend’s confidences, I don’t want to break them, even accidentally.”  He frowned a little, then sighed.  “I didn’t really have any friends a year ago,” he explained.  “I was just trying to exist, I guess.  Meeting Ren ended up totally changing my world and I started being able to make friends.  Sometimes I still feel like if I say or do the wrong thing, I might screw up and lose them all.”

I was startled, meeting his slightly embarrassed eyes with wide eyes of my own, feeling a sudden kinship.  “I’m always afraid to open up to people in case they turn out to be…different than what they appear.  It’s hard to trust anyone,” I admitted.  “It’s one of the reasons I like working with kids, they don’t have any pretenses.  You know what you’re getting.”

“When I first met Ren, I was so worried everyone was secretly planning to hurt me and were just playing along for a while.”  Riven admitted wryly.  “Trusting people can be hard sometimes.”

“What helped you change?”  I asked, deeply invested in this answer.  I wanted to know how to trust people again.  I didn’t know how to live my life without that.

“Hmm.”  Riven thought for a long minute before answering.  “Well, for one thing, Ren.  Having someone who loved me like that – even before we were dating, let alone engaged – it gave me at least one person I could trust.  I still had to make an effort, had to work on trying to trust him because I was so used to being scared of supernaturals instead, my instincts were to second-guess everything and assume the worst.  But he was patient and didn’t give up.  I had to also start to question myself – about him, about the others.  Like with Honey, his sister.  When I knew she realized I saw supernaturals, I was afraid she’d hurt me because that’s what my history had taught me – that’s what all supernaturals did to me, I believed, and would do to me.  But when I actually sat down and really thought about it, I realized that both she and Ren never did anything to even suggest they would ever hurt me.  They were concerned about me, thought about my comfort level, were patient with me.  It took a while.  It wasn’t something that happened overnight.  Some people,” he added thoughtfully, “probably benefit from therapy.  Ren suggested I could try but I’ve felt fairly happy with how I’m changing and growing without it, but I think it depends on the person.”  He shrugged.

“So…time.  And people you could trust being patient with you?”

Riven gave me a smile.  “Yeah, basically.  And challenging my beliefs.  For me, it also helped when Ren protected me, because supernaturals stopped targeting me when they realized I was aware of their world and they no longer saw me as a possible Hunter.”

He traced his finger along the top of his glass of juice.  “I was kind of like you, at first, when I met Ren.  Probably worse.  I tried not to talk to people, really tried not to look at people.  Supernaturals freaked me out.  The first time I met Sorrel, he and Honey and Ren were all in my apartment trying to break a witch’s curse on Ren – long story – and I basically freaked out and hid in the corner, convinced they were going to hurt or kill me.  Not the best of impressions for any of us, really.  But Ren decided he was interested and didn’t give up.”

He didn’t seem at all like that, now, living in fear.  But he had, I could tell – because he knew what it was like.  People who hadn’t lived like that couldn’t understand it fully.

Riven shook himself a little, apparently to move on from the emotions he’d remembered, which seemed to be a clue it was time to change subjects.  “Anything fun you want to do?” 

I thought about that.  Something fun?  It had been ages since I’d done truly fun stuff.  Probably not since I’d graduated from college.

“I guess I’ll look at the movies you have,” I said tentatively.  “I don’t want to interrupt your studies.”

He waved his right hand in the air as he rose to gather the dishes.  “Don’t worry about it, these classes are pretty easy.  I actually annoy some of the other students when we have web meetings because I put in the work for the class and they don’t want to bother, but since someone in the class is, the teacher expects them all to.”

I laughed a little.  “Some of my classmates were like that in university, complaining that I ruined the curve.  I had some of them offer to bribe me if I’d just stop doing so well in one of my classes.  Ironically, it was in an ethics class that they did that.”

Riven seemed amused.  “Sounds like a perfect example of why ethics class is needed, then.”

He left me to go upstairs to his office while I ended up spending the day in front of the TV, Sapphire mostly curled up with me while I petted her.

I tried not to think too much about anything other than the movies I was watching.  Like, what tomorrow might bring, what I was doing here, what was going to happen to me, would I be able to stay here?

I couldn’t help but hope that they’d let me stay.  Not in their house, obviously, but in their city, Avenglade, and more importantly in their lives.  Riven helped me feel safe, made me feel like I wasn’t alone.  Even if I didn’t have a good basis for my certainty, I found myself firmly believing that Riven, at least, wouldn’t send me back to him.  Maybe I’d be safe here.