"I'll be careful," Glory promised.

Lleu opened the door and held it open for them. Lleu's room was full of many different trinkets. His favorite trinkets from the human world, based on sheer amount...appeared to be wind-chimes. All over the place were different kinds of windchimes...wood, glass, metal. They made barely any sound underwater...but something about them must have been quite appealing to Lleu.

Lleu headed over to the side of his bed--yet another thing stolen from the human world. It was a large bed with red satin sheets and lace curtains around it. He sat on the floor beside the side of the bed where the single occupant was curled up.

This was probably Lleu's mate, Morty. He had his eyes open, but was relaxing. He was a little paler than what looked to be healthy for him, and had an odd red rash creeping up his arms onto his shoulders.

The first thing Glory noticed, aside from the fact that she wanted a bed that big in her own room back home, was that Morty had a gauge in one of his ears.

"Nice gauging," she commented, staying a decent distance away for the moment. "Not something I would get done, myself, but I have a couple pairs of studs, so it's all good."

"Thank you..." Morty sounded weak, but he seemed to be in a good mood. He shifted a bit. "Before you press on it, yes...it hurt. It doesn't hurt now, though...if I take it out, it gets all floppy. It's funny-looking."

Léan didn't take notice of his jewelry, for once. Instead, he was examining--also from a distance--the nasty red rash--a mix of bumps and scabs--all along his arms. "...Ouch."

"That's what happens when you gauge," Glory said. "Like I said, I wouldn't get it done. I'm not really into gauging and cartilege piercing and all that. Not my thing. Though I've met people with gauges twice the size of yours, I don't know how they can handle it." Her gaze jumped to the rashes on his arms. "Now that, on the other hand, looks painful."

"Oh, it is," Morty assured her, shifting to lay on his back. His other arm was even worse than the one that was visible before. "Trust me."

Lleu studied his arms with concern in his eyes. Rashes were not a common occurrence underwater, it seemed, unless you were stung by something...and even then, someone would have to recognize the aftermath.

"It almost looks like you were gotten by something corrosive," Glory said. "Acid or something."

"Whatever it was, I don't remember it happening, and it's making me all kinds of sick," Morty replied, trying not to move his arms too much. They hurt, terribly.

"I don't know of anything that causes something that looks like that," Glory said. "I mean, I'm nowhere near an expert, but still."

"What bothers me is that he doesn't remember it happening," Lleu quipped, softly. "He woke up, as he told me, after taking a nap out in one of the coral reefs. No pain, no memories of anything happening. And when he woke up..." he trailed off.

"Coral?" Glory repeated, thinking. "I think I read something once, I think it mentioned something called fire coral... It was a while ago, and I'm not sure where I read it, but I remember it saying something about the stuff being poisonous, and it caused rashes and blisters... I'd have to look it up back home and see what I could find on it."

"Oh, I wasn't near that, I don't think...but I guess it would be a good a place as any to start looking..." Morty laid his head on one of Lleu's hands, making sure he wasn't touching the odd rash.

"But...would that cause severe mood swings? Rabid behavior?" Lleu knew about fire coral, but he didn't know of any symptoms from it other than the rash.

Léan shuddered. He'd had a bit of fire coral rash on one of his hands before. It wasn't much, and had gone away on its own.

"I have no idea," Glory replied. "I would have to do some research at home." She hated feeling so helpless, but she wasn't an expert.

Morty shifted a bit. It seemed like no matter what, he couldn't get comfortable. There was a prickling sensation all over his body, and he ached because of it.

Lleu nodded, understanding. "I would be very grateful if you could do some research for us. The only doctor here has already looked at his condition, but he doesn't know what to do."

"I'll see what I can find," Glory said. "I don't know how much information I'll be able to get, though..."

"If you cannot get a lot of information...that's all right. You don't have to go out of your way," Lleu reminded her, kindly. He regarded Morty with solemn eyes for a moment, and then budged up from the side of the bed. "I should go hunting. I need to catch food for both of us..."

"I'm sure I still have some strings I could pull," Glory said. "If nothing else, I have a professional researcher on my speed-dial, and she's already looking some things up for me, so one more won't be a problem."

"Thank you very much..." Lleu murmured, bowing to her slightly and respectfully. "Do you need me to show you out of the city? I can, if you want me, to."

Something appeared to be changing with Morty's behavior. He had gone from quiet and some feeble joking around to a completely flat, emotionless expression and a hard glare at the ceiling. Mood swings...Lleu had mentioned something about that, and that it wasn't normal for him.

"It's probably a good idea," Glory nodded. She'd noticed the sudden change in Morty's mood, and it set her on edge. "I know one of us will end up getting distracted by something, otherwise..."

Lleu followed her gaze, noticing the change in Morty's attitude. He cleared his throat, and then swam over towards the door. "Follow me. Get some rest, Morty. I'll be back soon with a meal for us."

Morty, tense, didn't answer him.

Léan followed Lleu quickly, suspecting possible violence on the way from Morty.

Glory followed him out, not relaxing at all until they were a ways down the hall. Something about the way Morty's mood changed unnerved her.

Lleu stopped at the end of the hall, sighing heavily. "I apologize if he frightened you. He's not usually like that. You see, that is what I don't understand. The rash from the coral...I could understand that. But what is making his mood change like that? It only started after he returned home with that rash developing..."

Léan was silent, and he folded his arms across his chest.

Now, where had he seen that odd, sudden, violent change in mood before? He had a feeling he'd seen it before, along with a rash.

"I'll see if I can find any information on it," Glory said. "I don't know if anything will turn up, though."

Léan finally spoke up. "...For the life of me, I can't remember where, but...that sudden change in mood, coupled with the rash--I've seen it before."

Glory blinked, a bit surprised, but didn't comment in favor of letting him think. If he had an idea, then all the more power to him, it was more than what she had.