Malachy nodded quickly and slipped a hand onto the other fae's arm. "Come then, I'll show you the way." The journey would be a few days long, to be honest. But that didn't bother Malachy so long as he could stretch his wings a little. From the journey there, he could well remember places where that was possible. He mulled over still, what Chiro had said. Not deserving of companionship? But all fae lived to spend time with each other. In varying amount of course, but they were as a whole a vvery social race of people.

"I could try carrying you from the balcony?" To show what he meant, the younger fae let his wings spring from their resting place upon his back. Malachy looked to Chiro hopefully, with wide pink hued eyes.

Chiro tilted his head in slight confusion, until it hit. He quickly shook his head, stepping back without thinking. "Um... N-no, it's okay, I... there are staircases leading down..." He pointed nearby. On of the two old staircases were there, carved into the side of the mountain and in an alcove type of area. It was choked with vines, but with a simple wave of his hand, the vines disentangled themselves and slid left and right, away from the stairs. "But... I'd like to see you fly..." He told Malachy. "I think it's so much more beautiful when I can watch it, instead of experience it."

He wanted to see Malachy fly. Wanted to see his beautiful, delicate wings catch the sunlight and reflect in the sharp blue sky. What were their full patterns? They had to be amazing from so high up. He had to be elegant. Something like air. The wind, perhaps.

Vines moved as if of their own volition, and he knew it was because of Chiro. How amazing could one fae be, both in ability and personality? "I suppose ..." It did indeed seem like the thought had the other fae feeling alright, a little curious. Nodding to himself, Malachy spread his wings and moved to leap from the balcony. The wind caught him up in it's gentle grasp, and helped him to dance. With minute tilts of the delicate seeming appendages, he twirled and sliced through the breeze. Malachy couldn't stop the laugh that leaped from his throat as he swooped down to fly around the other fae for a few moments.

Then he came face to face with Chiro's ruined wings, and fluttered to a halt upon the ground. He waited for the other fae to join him, head to the ground and wings folded demurely against his back. Malachy clasped his hands before him, playing a little with his bracelets. Fingers pressed the metal circles around his wrists this way and that so the jewels shone in the sunlight, and brought attention to the elegant reddish pink tattoos all along Malachy's forearms.

Chiro watched with a faraway smile while Malachy leapt into the breeze and his wings caught the air; he walked carefully down the stairs while his eyes glued themselves to the younger fae, bare feet sliding down earthen steps and willing away vines that remained in his way. The sun didn't seem to catch him quite as well as Chiro thought it could. No, Malachy seemed to have a light of his own and in the perfectly clear sky, like a flower's petal in an updraft. His hair seemed to have a will of its own and glided behind him and around him as his wings turned so slightly to spin his body around. How did such thin, delicate wings hold him up...?

When he landed it was like a curtain had drawn on the middle of a performance. He made it down the stairs quickly, nearly tripping when he made it underneath the shadowy forest floor. "That was a magnificent show, Malachy." He said, turning to face him and tilting his head. "Malachy..." Did he do something wrong? A concerned hand reached out, hesitating then tracing lightly one of the light tattoos going down his arm. "What's wrong...? Did something happen...?" he rearranged the bag on his shoulder and grimaced at the clanking inside.

The younger fae shivered slightly, and lifted his eyes to meet the other man's gaze. "I just ..." Looking down once more, Malachy sighed. "It doesn't matter," mumbled the fae quickly. He smiled, feeling somewhat bolstered by the concern he could feel pressing into his mind. It was a nice feeling. Usually, such reading of emotions was hard to come by. Not now though, with Chiro. Maybe it was the other fae's need for company that made the process so simple, so easy and effortless. Yes, that was probably it.

"I suppose ... I .... I wondered ..." He couldn't say it. Not now. ." It really is nothing of concern, certainly not to me." Hadn't Malachy said he could do nothing to help him fly again? The fae had to force himself not to speak more, to stutter out an answer, an answer he couldn't speak in the first place. Besides, Chiro had no need to hear his worries. Malachy was working to help him heal, and burdening the older fae with his own little hangs ups was entirely the wrong way to do so.

Chiro blinked quickly, as if something fluttered in front of his eyes. Malachy was obviously hiding something, he would have been blind to not figure that out. His voice seemed to be hiding something as well, or at least pushing something down. No doubt. He wanted to know something but couldn't ask. Why? It confused Chiro and worried him at the same time. Was he causing the confusion? He breathed in, nodding in a resigned manner. "Okay... Okay... I won't push it if you don't want to... say." He stepped around and looked up at the trees. Not here, but deeper in were the husks of the homes that once let his kind reside close to the earth and nature. Before the split caused such a terrible rift. "Which way do we go...?" He asked.

At the first sign of life he would usually turn and go the other way. He often came upon cities and towns full of beautiful wings and beautiful homes, and some even resided within walls. Others were large cave systems that weren't homes for fae, but for other races. He didn't know them. Didn't know what they were called. He hadn't cared. They would have shunned him too. He glanced back at Malachy and tilted his head, shifting the bag into one hand and giving the other fae a small smile.

Worry slipped up against his own thoughts. Oh he knew it was Chiro, and thinking that it was his fault had Malachy moving to catch up the fae's wrist. He tugged him along a bit, leading the older fae upon a path he knew well, though Chiro did not. It was something in the air, or perhaps an inherent sense of direction that all his branch of faery-kind shared. Malachy was surefooted, his bare feet making near no impression upon the ground.

As they walked, the younger fae finally spoke. "It is ... truly a shame that you aren't able to fly anymore." He had already said so before. "That's all." It wasn't a simple thing. Somehow, it was a complicated matter to Malachy.All he wished to do was help, and when it came to the other fae's wings, he was helpless in the face of that.

Chiro hurried along with him, not that he had much of a choice. Malachy was intent and when he was, it seemed he wouldn't release what was in his sights. Nor was it the case for anything he physically held, and Chiro had to keep one arm raised to keep the bottles from clanking together and shattering. His footfalls were silent, though, after centuries of practiced evasion when danger was near or when he wanted to avoid others. It had become so hard to in recent years, with land being developed and cities and towns sprouting up all over the place. More and more hunters and scouts were out, wanderers and merchant travels, new roads and paths he'd never seen before. Like this one. He followed Malachy only because he had no idea where the road led.

He sighed, falling into step alongside Malachy. "It's... okay. I said so before. I probably wouldn't be able to use them if they were repaired, anyway... And... you can't fix everything." But he could try. Everyone could. If something wasn't right, it was in one's nature to try to make it that way. He had avoided that nature for far too long. In a way, the clinking of bottles in the makeshift silk bag was almost reassuring. Comforting. Chiro was actually doing something... Something that took him back to what and who he was. But all in such a strange, new environment. He shivered in worry and anticipation before he managed to push the feelings away and glance toward Malachy. He had to do something to take the younger fae's mind off whatever was on his mind. But he couldn't think what to do.

"But I want to help... And I can't.." Malachy was aware he probably sounded like a whiner, someone who was more concerned with their own wants and needs... rather then that of others. Selfish was a better word for it. He was more concerned with his need to fix everyone then what the other fae thought. It was oddly contradictory, considering why it was he wanted to fix and repair what he could.

Add to it all that he could feel the other fae's emotions near as strongly as his own, and things were doubly intensified. "They'll stare," said Malachy in response to the unspoken emotions. "Some might avoid you, otherwise will come to poke and prod, but my people respect boundaries once they've been set. After that, you will have to make the first move." Thick branches, close together, had Malachy tucking his gold and pin wings tight against his back. They were tougher then they looked, but he daren't take any chances.

Chiro didn't realize he was biting his tongue until the taste of blood was evident---then he stopped and brought his hand up to his mouth, nipping his fingernails instead. He was afraid of being stared at. Laughed at. It was frightening enough being seen by merchants, though they didn't normally want to stop and investigate a random, barely noticed fae nearby. Laughed at... Because of his wings. He didn't have to assume they would---not everyone of a certain race was predictable. Some would definitely laugh. Others might worry it was a contagious disease.

He looked toward Malachy again. "I... might not go out of my way to meet others..." He admitted. "They might... not necessarily like me much... I don't mind, though... Really. As long as no one thinks I'm there to harm them. Maybe I could even speak with your... perhaps you have scribes? Theorists? Historians, perhaps? I could tell them of what was before they were born... What they don't know..." They could begin gathering knowledge that had been lost for thousands of years. Seemingly. In Chiro's mind, it was all fresh. He would have to approach it from a general standpoint, however, than a one-sided concept. He could do that. He was sure he could. He just had to stop biting his nails...

Malachy considered the problem, and reached out to grab the other fae's wrist. He tugged the hand away from Chiro's lips, and peered at the already gnawed at nails as they walked. "I may have a solution." Malachy waited a few moments to let the words sink in before going on. "You could stay in my home, and near it, and I could bring the scribes there, the historians, one at a time so you won't have to deal with too many people at once."

With a tiny smile, he released the other fae's hand. "I'll explain that you are one of my patients, and they'll not ask too many questions about your presence in my home. As a healer of the mind ... as one of my patients ... you will be given some consideration." Still, Malachy would need to help others who paid in what way they could. Otherwise, it would be difficult to trade with some of the other fae people who wandered through the city from time to time.

Chiro pursed his lips, feeling like a misbehaving child. He had, at one point, had a bad habit of biting his nails down to painful stubs and had gotten away from that quite a long time before. His parents had used their restoration magic to regrow them and then scold him about his bad habit. So he grasped his fingers underneath the grip of the bag, and when he pulled them out of his palm, the nails were restored. "Sorry..." He muttered quietly, shoving his hand into his pocket. "That... sounds nice... But I don't want to be a bother... I shouldn't even be coming with you... I should... do something... else..." He felt like he was taking advantage of it. Taking advantage of another's worry. A worry that shouldn't even be there. It was worrisome, but he didn't let himself feel that.

"What can I do to...repay you?" He asked after a moment. "I have to do something---and don't say nothing! I have to do something... Perhaps... I can make soothing remedies for those that come to you...? I know you must be able to heal the minds of the broken... We were able to do that too. The creations we made were able to send one into a calm, relaxed state, an entirely different world, even, where they were able to be spoken to more easily... It cured nightmares... worries... fears... hatreds... It even bred love." Chiro smiled lightly. Recalling all the bottles he would make, practice on, using just about anything he could find. It was an easier time, then.

Malachy walked along the path, invisible though it was, and deliberated silently. What indeed could the other fae do? He didn't want one patient treating the others, not at first. The pink eyed fae lifted a hand to brush his fingers against low hanging leaves as they continued on their way. There had to be something the other man could do, to help Malachy and repay him. There would be no arguing that point.

"You could repay me by ..." Dare he ask it? "Maybe you could ..." He blushed, and then winced in pain as an unnoticed branch pierced and ripped through one of his wings. Eyes wide, Malachy froze. The young fae twisted about slightly to try and catch sight of the damaged appendage. He couldn't even reach behind him to untangle the branch. A soft whimper left his lips. He wasn't used to pain. Malachy hated it, and hated feeling so helpless all of a sudden.

He tilted his head, curious as to Malachy's reaction. What could he do? There had to be something... If he couldn't make anything for others that Malachy helped, why couldn't he make something for Malachy himself? He was about to speak up when the younger fae froze with a pained face and a soft noise, twisting enough for Chiro to see the sharp branch---a dead branch still attached to the tree. He set the bag down beside him. "Oh... Don't move, Malachy..." He put a hand on the younger fae's shoulder to steady him and grasped the branch, snapping the bulk of it from what had pierced the wing and sliding it out. He grimaced as well, imagining the sensation though his were ravaged. "I can repair this..." He muttered. "Just don't move it... Okay?"

His hands brought the wing up, unfolding it gently and lying it flat over his hand and placing his other over it. The rip had grown, but flat out, it was static. But it looked far more terrible than it was. His hands warmed, generating a light glow that was contained inside his fingers and palms and lightly knitting the tear together again. The movement was so automatic that it was over in an instant, and the tear was wiped away like a small dirt smudge. "There we are..." He smiled lightly, stroking the edge of the wing. "It's back to perfection..." He couldn't help but carefully raise it to its full extension, moving back the trees so they didn't harm them again. "Beautiful things..." He was speaking from a place of quiet admiration rather than envy. How do they hold you...?" He shook his head, releasing the wing and going down to gather his bag. It was nature, little else.

Move? He couldn't even think of doing so! The idea was absurd. He trembled though, and felt himself sag a bit in relief when the branch was removed. At least he didn't have to fear even more harm coming to his wings. Then talk of repair reached Malachy's ears, and gentle hands had grasped his wings, were brushing against the sensitive appendages. Eyes half closing, he shivered and let out a soft gasp as Chiro's magic worked it's way through the tear, healing the hole and lingering behind.

Malachy's eyes closed and a moan finally escaped him when his wings were pet and complimented so nicely once they were fully extended. That was why no one touched another's wings, why their loss was so horrible. It wasn't simply about flight, not to his kind of fae. Their wings were an integral part of who they were, and their loss a thing so painful to their identity, and to their bodies that it was a near impossible thing to contemplate.

Chiro rubbed his hands together slightly and reached down again, grasping his bag and pulling it over his shoulder again. "Erm... are you okay now...?" He asked carefully. He'd never seen a fae react the way he had when one touched their wings to repair them. The feeling of another's hands running down one's wings felt very good, he remembered that easily. But not quite so close to how Malachy seemed to take it. His reaction, while familiar, was still confusing. Odd, perhaps. But he wasn't the same as Chiro. He was different. So different.

He breathed out, shifting slightly. "Ah... Well, next time you need a... any help, that is... with restoration, you can ask... Or if you need medicine...? I was very good at medicine making beyond calming solutions... if you just ask..." He nodded slightly and shifted. "I'll walk behind you this time. I can keep your wings safe." He waved a hand, and the trees shifted again, pushing back from the nearly invisible path. That would follow Malachy as he walked, moved through the trees. It was desperately thick here, from the thousands of years of growth and no one nearing his lost city. No one wanted to be near such a massive graveyard and he couldn't blame them.

It was the first time anyone had laid hands upon his wings. He didn't want Chiro to stop. A soft sigh escaped Malachy as everything came to a disappointing halt. It had ended after all, those few wonderful moments, precious contact ... Even the feeling of Chiro's emotions had seemed so much nearer, clearer to his mind then before. There had been so much kind concern.

Slowly, the young fae opened his eyes to let them rest upon the other man. He was almost disappointed to hear his wings would be protected so, for it took away the chance that the other fae would lay his hands upon Malachy's wings. "Thank you," said Malachy all the same. "It would be ... nice ... if you did that again.. Kept my wings healthy." Though his kind needed such maintenance only rarely. Even so, the pink and gold winged fae asked, all the while wondering why it was he did so. The need for such a contact had never before drummed within his heart.

Chiro smiled faintly, tilting his head to the side. He was always glad to help, he remembered. When times were calm and well in their city he was a helper, assisting young and old with their wings or their research. Their memories of the old gods, written down into scrolls and tomes. How much he had to tell. How much did Malachy want to know? He was curious, but shoved that feeling down. "Any time." He said, nodding slightly. "If... you like, I can keep them strong. A single massage a day will make them gleam even brighter, with a little of my restorative magic... A little care. Perhaps your kind don't need manual upkeep, but..." He broke eye contact and looked at the ground. "Er... well, never mind. Forget I said anything." He was getting ahead of himself, forgetting where he was and who he was with. While Malachy seemed adamant that he help Chiro for some reason, it still wasn't his place.

He nodded forward. "S...shall we be off?" He asked. He still didn't know where he was going---it was up to Malachy to show him the way and after that, he would remember it.

Curiosity aroused, he began walking again while speaking over his shoulder a bit. "But what? I would really like to know what you were going to say ..." And the idea of a daily massage had his wings fluttering with excitement. Malachy simply couldn't keep them folded, furled up and tight against his back. It helped to know that Chiro would keep his wings safe. The younger fae hadn't realized how much his wings meant to him, to have them healthy and strong, before coming across Chiro with his tattered ones. Such a shame ... He wished it were otherwise, but for whose sake he couldn't quite be sure.

"As for the massage ... I ... would like that. It would be ... nice." Indeed, he would probably grow to treasure his wings all the more, though they were a natural part of him. Malachy had never really paid too much attention to them, save for general, rare, maintenance. He was usually more concerned with his clothing, or the decorations upon his arms. Elegant, swirling, lines of pink ink embedded within the skin itself... Not everyone in his city had such things. His jewels, the gold chains around his neck, the bracelets around wrist and ankles, they garnered more attention from the fae then his wings. That was the usual way of things.

"But I wouldn't mind." Chiro's voice was low, breathy. It was a halfhearted reply in that he didn't want to speak, but felt obligated to do so. Repairing the rip in Malachy's wing had been a curious thing. The way he had reacted. They had to be more sensitive than his own ever were. But it was also a sweet memory. Bringing his hands along the skeleton and sliding them down to the ends, brushing a new layer of dust onto them and closing tears, reinforcing the thin membranes and making sure they were perfect. It took an hour, sometimes. But Malachy's were thin. They looked to have little to no dust coating them and their sheen seemed to be built in, woven through the membrane. They would be a curious work. And if they were sensitive, he would have to ask a lot of questions beforehand.

"I'm... glad." He said, a little louder this time as they continued along. This time, though, Malachy's wings seemed restless. Chiro wanted to touch them again, get a feel for what they were made of. They didn't have a tiny skeleton like his did. Maybe they couldn't be grasped and pulled to straighten out like his could. What if they were truly more delicate than they seemed? He shook the thought away.

"Er... What... What exactly will be going on?" His question seemed to have no merit, and suddenly even Chiro was confused. "I mean, when... we get there? What will you do?" About me... What would he do about Chiro? What was his intention? To help, that was evident, but how?

Malachy smiled. His wings settled down to a gentle fluttering, just a movement now and again. This was how they moved when he was content. Rarely where the thin membranes ever still. "Do? Get you settled down in my home, first of all. And then, we'll see. It all depends on how you feel. I know it's been quite some time since you've been to a city, other then your own. You must be nervous Chiro. No, I know you are." Now, Malachy turned about and walked backward, his eyes upon the other fae as he used what small amount of ability with nature he had to make sure he fell not.

"I don't know when it is we'll arrive, but no matter the time, it will be alright. It can be easy to slip past people unnoticed." He sneezed a moment before going on. "They're very busy, and can be self absorbed sometimes. " Malachy smiled. "I have an extra room. It should be interesting, decorating it to your tastes." He was looking forward to it, helping Chiro create a safe haven within his giant flower home, seeming like a rose. They usually grew on bushes, upon long stalks, but somehow his people had managed to adapt them into large dwellings of one bud, a perfect flower whose petals twisted and turned to create different floors, staircases, rooms and doorways. His was, of course, a nice pink specimen. Still growing as he was, it had enough room for a guest or two, and an area for Malachy to meet his patients. He hoped Chiro would like it.

He shifted a little. At least a few days would give him a while to prepare. He could have found a way to get there in at least one day, perhaps, using whatever was nearby to send them over the earth in a swift motion, or compact clouds enough to step onto them without the risk of falling through. But he didn't want to mention that. No, he wanted as long as he could get without harm to either of them, so he could think, and steel his nerves. "I just... don't want to... I don't want to be a burden, or impose, or... do anything that would inconvenience you." Chiro sighed, moving the bag a little and wincing at the way the glass shifted against itself. "I'd like to do what I can to help, at least, in... well, in compensation. I don't mind... Especially when I can share my information with people who want it... I've heard people talk about the ruins and finding so little to go on, and lamenting the way my kind simply vanished without a trace..."

If they only knew. They hadn't vanished without a trace. It had been a long, agonizing process full of heartache and rage and remorse and wishing that it hadn't come to that. And over the thousands of years that crater that had been made by his own kind had filled with water. It was no more than a lake now, rather than a blemish of the past "Perhaps... you're right... that if I talk about it, it can help me... ease the pain in my heart. And giving out the truth... that will feel nice." He smiled, despite the pressure behind his eyes pushing them to leak a little. They weren't tears born of negativity or sadness, at least, not this time.

Malachy lowered his head slightly, peering at the other fae from under his overly long eyelashes. "Of course you won't be a bother ... I ... Well you see, the company alone will be nice." He had friends aplenty, and acquaintances galore, but sometimes it got lonely in his home once everyone had gone. There was an emptiness there, a void within a place that wasn't shared. Now it would be, though.

He lifted his eyes as they walked, righting himself and falling behind so he now stepped lightly beside the other man."Once you've shared your tale, you'll have others to speak with, and perhaps .. share your sorrow and happy memories with as well." It would be an ease of burdens as yet unseen. His ways of healing the mind were probably vastly different then those of Chiro's people. Malachy served as a guide along the journey, nothing more and nothing less. All the answers already resided in each person, and anything coming from an outside source could only bring confusion.

He could ease emotions, make them less powerful, could induce healing sleep, but more then that Malachy refused to do.

He slid the bag off his shoulder and carried it at his side instead. Malachy spoke of his kind as though he had so many friends, but the way he spoke was... painful. Like he was hiding something from Chiro but he had no idea what. So he nodded instead. As long as he was doing something instead of lying around like a leech, getting too comfortable, taking advantage of someone for the first time... in his life. He slowed his pace, half-turning to speak directly to Malachy.

"I just hope what I say is... up to par with what your people already think... I fear that if they think the city is haunted, there is more they may be disappointed with..." What if the civilization that confused so many for so long was little more than a blemish in their minds when Chiro finally told his story, the whole history? He knew it well, grew up among it. Their aging process was probably different than that of the races that inhabited the world now. He was probably ancient in the eyes of many. An old fae. He lowered his head and stared at the ground, watching his feet pat the earth. How old did he look? He hadn't seen himself in centuries.

The younger fae shrugged. "Everyone will react differently, Chiro. I'm certain the historians will love to hear what you have to say, though, no matter how others react." What now? He could feel something ... Off about the other man's emotions. "Is there something bothering you, something we haven't spoken about yet?" It seemed like much did bother the older fae, tremendously so. He wished he could do something more then simply lend an ear. But what else could he do? Malachy bit his lower lip once more.

To distract himself, he plucked a stray leaf from one of the surrounding trees. He sneezed lightly as he twirled the emerald foliage thoughtfully. Malachy's thoughts strayed. There were many he could help, and those with ease. Chiro was different. Tattered winged, sad eyed, older then any of the oldest of his kind ... Malachy glanced at the other fae. And yet he was so mysteriously charismatic. There was something about him that was more intense then with the average fae.