Chiro was glad to hear that. He certainly would, and put that bit of promise into the back of his mind as a comforting concept to return to when he grew antsy and worried. He followed Malachy along wistfully, staring at the open market stalls. Beautiful. There were open markets in his old home, never within the mountain city, though. He could feel eyes on him. He could see them though Malachy seemed to angle in a way to hide them. "I see them all, just like they see me." He muttered. "I've been stared at... plenty of times. You don't have to try to shield me."

He stepped aside, approaching a small blanket full of beautifully-cut gems and jewels. "So amazing." He commented to the young female fae, crouching to inspect what she had. Heart-cut red gems, circular-cut blue and green, some diamond-formed gems, and each was larger than the next. "You have such an impressive collection... Would it be too much trouble to... hold onto something for a bit?"

The young fae shook her head. "What did you have in mind?"

Chiro glanced toward Malachy, and shifted the smallest bit to hide what he pointed at---the lightly-toned amethyst in the shape of a heart, no larger than an actual heart, perhaps. "I would hope you might keep that safe for me... I could make you a potion, a serum, or perhaps some teas in exchange, something you might find very difficult to get otherwise..." His voice was low---it sounded as if he were plotting something, but Malachy deserved a gem like this. Beautiful, like him, his heart, everything. There was nothing about Malachy that didn't shine.

The young woman smiled. "Of course." Deftly, she wrapped the gem in cloth and put it aside, slipping a ribbon and a tag. "I just need your name, and .. as for payment, you said you could make some teas? That would work perfectly."

Malachy had moved away at the other fae's murmured comment. He took the opportunity to cough, and hide it away from Chiro. His eyes fell upon something wonderful, beautiful, the delicate flower reminded him so of Chiro, but there was no way gifting such a thing to his patient, to a friend so new, was appropriate. There were certain things which signified far more then they seemed. He didn't know what went beyond friendship, where Chiro was concerned, and now he worried. Had he overstepped the bounds? He didn't know, and he cursed his lack of experience with such things, with the knowing of where the line was. He didn't want to cross it..

He smiled, settling a little. "My name is Chiro... That's with an I, not an E, that's a common misspelling..." He glanced backward and grimaced as Malachy seemed to be coughing, or at least recovering from something similar. "Er... Oh, right! Right, of course, teas. I'd be more than happy to help you with teas... Hm... Would you like something to help you wake up? Or help you sleep? I'm sure I could do both... And maybe mix something up to help you focus when you need that... I do hope it's enough... I could easily add a few other things... Polish for your beautiful gems?"

"No, I think your teas will be perfect as payment." The young woman giggled, writing Chiro's name on the tag and slipping it under a silken bag. "Who's so lucky to get a gem this pretty?" She asked curiously.

"Oh... A friend of mine... He's helped me... more than you could ever imagine..." He smiled, feeling a rather new emotion well up to bring a tear to swim in his eye before he blinked it back---a good feeling, as if his heart were welling with appreciation, kindness, some strange form of love that came with bonding to a companion when his kind were still in control of the largest city on the planet. As if there was a knowledge there that he wouldn't be alone anymore, no matter what. He stood, saying goodbye to the young fae and promising to come back tomorrow with his teas as promised payment, going back toward Malachy with his bag.

Malachy froze. He felt like crying as Chiro's emotions swamped across his own. Why did it hurt him so, to feel Chiro so happy, so full of warmth? Shaking his head, he tilted it the other fae's way and smiled brightly. "Did you find everything you need?" He took the opportunity to eye the young woman his friend had been speaking to, and felt a shard of that same emotion wiping through his heart. Could it be that he ... ? No, it wasn't right. He was friend and healer to Chiro, that was all, nothing more. It couldn't be anymore.

Chiro could barely comprehend the feeling moving through him like his own blood, like it was meant to be there. He set the bag down at his feet and wrapped his arms around Malachy, under his wings, in a hug so tight he lifted the fae off the ground. "I can't believe I'm here, and talking to people as if I... as if it's normal. As if I haven't been gone for four thousand years. Thank you so much, Malachy... Nothing could possibly give me more joy, I think... I'm glad you made me follow you." He set the younger fae down, breathing in carefully. "Sorry, Malachy... I... I suppose I'm just so... happy to be communicating with others. And getting back into what I used to do best... I can't wait to start making my creations again..." He bit his lip, on the verge of tears in a very different way.

It was so easy to bury his emotions beneath Chiro's so joyous ones. Malachy smiled and laughed as he was lifted from the ground, wrapped his arms around the other man to savor the closeness. He felt like ... like it would be lost somehow, snatched away soon. "Don't apologize. There's nothing to be sorry for, Chiro. Seeing you so happy is well worth all I could ever do for you." He kept smiling as he bent down to grasp the bag, and handed it back to his friend, though his heart was aching. It had to be that young fae, the one selling the gems ... Had she wrought such a change in Chiro?

It had to be so. But how, when Malachy hadn't been able to? He'd done all he could ... But Chiro was happy, that was all that mattered. "Come on then, would you like to get back home, so you can start working on them? "

Chiro took the bag, settling it on his shoulder and nodding. "Of course, I'd love to!" He nodded quickly, staring around to get another good look at the city's heart. "I have things to do, after all." Making teas for a few people, then for Malachy, and him. Making some things to take care of the stuffy nose that he seemed to have, by the way he kept breathing through his mouth and sniffing more often than he should have been. "Er... If I go for a walk later tonight... You won't worry?" He wanted to visit Oren. He could sense where the man was, perhaps, just by walking the flower-made homes. He wanted to talk about his past to someone that wasn't so emotionally invested. Then he'd be able to handle it when he told Malachy. It wouldn't be so hard for either of them, that way. Then tomorrow... Tomorrow he would get that gem. The gem that was the same color as Malachy's eyes. Beautiful eyes. Beautiful heart. What would Malachy think? Hopefully he would like it.

Chiro was much better now, healed almost. He was happy for that. As he acted as guide to Chiro once more, Malachy couldn't help but wonder what he would do, alone in his home. It had never bothered him before, the thought of that. "No, I won't.... I promise." Tilting his head, he smiled. "I hope you have fun." If anything did happen, anything that would make his presence necessary, the flowers would tell him.

That was a far possibility though. Probably Chiro would be off gallivanting with the gem fae. A quick breath sent Malachy coughing, and he was actually grateful for it because it took his mind away from the seemingly new feelings haunting him. He had never reacted in such a way before to a patient's new found happiness. But Chiro wasn't simply a patient ...

Chiro nodded as they came to the flowers again. "Good... And... I hope I do too." He doubted it. His emotions would be running high and he would have to keep that calm. He wanted to talk about it, though, before diving into any problems with Malachy. Besides---Oren was extremely interested in his life, his past, or at least, his kind's existence.

They stepped into the flower and he hugged Malachy. "I'm headed on up to start my brews, okay?" He smiled, but was so reluctant to go by himself. He half-hoped Malachy would follow, so he would have someone to talk to while he started his brews. But he went to the second level, setting his bag on his vine table and starting to organize everything. He took a few bottles of water to dump into a boiling kettle and start a small flame underneath it to heat the water to boiling, and started organizing the rest on his shelves and desk. Maybe he would take some cloth to sew if Oren let him in to talk. It would give him something to do with his hands. Something to focus on while he talked.

He hugged Chiro quickly, and smiled. It was hard, forcing his lips up constantly into an expression he didn't feel. "Alright." Malachy didn't follow, not to Chiro's room. Instead he made his way into his room, and curled up upon the bed Chiro had created for him. It was such a thing of beauty, and so strong. He kept thinking that, and comparing it to the person who had wrought it. He hugged the blanket Chiro had made, sniffed it lightly and closed his eyes as he wrapped it tightly about himself. It was almost like being hugged by the other fae. Perfect. He sniffled again, and buried his face in the cloth as he began to cough.

He mixed the first batch of tea, funneling it into a bottle and labeling it---For Focus. The next one he made was an amber tone. To Sleep. The third was especially dark. To Wake. He set them aside, on a shelf near a few boxes of dried herbs, and made smaller brews of tea with a few highly-scented herbs that smelled somewhat like peppermint. It would clear the nose. Soothe the spirit. He poured them into cups he had slid into the bag as well, glancing into Malachy's room and finding him on the bed. "Hey..." He stepped in, shouldering past the curtain and coming close with the cup. "I thought you could use this." He offered the cup, crouching lightly and biting his lip. He seemed... sad. "Are you okay?" Concern began ebbing into his mind easily---but it was easy to worry for Malachy.

The sound of someone entering his room could only be Chiro. Malachy shifted a bit, opened his eyes. "I'm alright." The younger fae forced a smile as he sat up and reached out to accept the warm cup of tea. He took a quick sip and truly smiled this time. "It's so warm ... like ... Like getting a hug from someone who cares. My patients would love this." Something else Chiro had made. He tried too hard.

Malachy's throat tightened, even though he kept taking sips of the tea. What would he do if Chiro left, no when he left? Malachy sniffled. "I'll be alright ..." It was more of a promise to himself, then a statement to anyone else.

Chiro didn't move---didn't change his feeling. "I... Are you sure you're okay...? You seem so different..." It was a bad different. It was as if Chiro's happiness had become Malachy's sadness. "... I'd hope you would tell me... if anything was wrong? It wouldn't bother me... not at all." His happiness had begun to lose its momentum, stifled with concern for the ill young fae he hoped he wasn't becoming a burden to. "I... hope... I'm not impeding you..." He muttered. "I'd hate to be an inconvenience..." He would hate it... He'd despise it. Losing his first friend in... too long. That was a horrible thought. Especially after he wanted to give Malachy such a beautiful gem to show his care.

Malachy shook his head vehemently, and launched himself upon the other fae. He wrapped his arms tightly around Chiro and settled against him, tucking his head upon the other man's shoulder. "I'm sure. I swear I'm sure, Chiro! Being sick is simply something that doesn't happen to me often, that's all. I promise ... you're doing the furthest thing from slowing me . I told you I would do anything to see you happy." Malachy leaned back so he could look into the other fae's eyes, and smiled.

Chiro hugged the fae back, nearly ready to cry. "Okay, I understand, Malachy..." He said, squeezing the young man. "I just... worry, I guess. I haven't had a friend in so long, so... I suppose that's why." He backed away, smiling. "I'll go finish some things up... I'll make a pillow for you soon, too... Okay?" He smiled, standing and pulling Malachy up to settle him on the edge of the petal bed. "Just... rest. I'll go for a walk later, but I'll be back soon." He caressed the fae's cheek, stepping back and leaving Malachy to rest.

Malachy smiled, leaning always towards the other fae like he was his sun. It was a pretty apt comparison to his mind, now that he thought of it. He wilted, thinking that the light would go away, and shine upon another. "Alright Chiro, but you know the bed is so comfy that it doesn't even need a pillow." The feel of the other fae's fingers lingered against his skin, remaining with him as he leaned back with a small smile to close his eyes and allow himself to finally truly sleep.

Chiro smiled to himself, glad that he'd done such a good job with the bed. It would hold up for a long time, too. Going back to his own room, starting work on some calming serums. A drop in a cup of water would ease the drinker into a calm sense, so that they could speak of terrible or dangerous things without feeling an overflow of emotions. He needed that... But decided against it as he mixed the concoction and waited for the sun to fall behind the horizon and its trees. Not long now. No, not at all---he was sure of it. One had to be sure when they lived in a mountain, and that feeling had never faded.

He bottled the serum, corking it in one of the many bottles he had brought with him from his old home and set it on his vine-made bench. He gathered up some cloth to sew and cut and create with, and slipped past Malachy's room, down to the bottom level of the flower and through the slit in the flower wall. His wings shifted slightly, forming their usual cloak-like cover over his back as he started off.

The next day, Malachy awoke to a strangely empty flower. He shifted from his bed. Quick steps brought him from his room, to Chiro's, to the living room. Nowhere. The other fae was nowhere to be seen. Had it already come of pass, had Chiro already gone? The thought made him plop down upon one of the chairs, curling up into a tight ball. He knew Chiro could simply have gone to the market to sell some of his teas or to inquire about setting up there, he could also have been anywhere else.

Perhaps Chiro had decided to return to his city.

Malachy didn't know, he couldn't know. The fae, who hadn't even bothered to change, began pacing.

His night was difficult. Oren was kind enough to listen even through his sobbing when it overtook him, and sat through the silence while he distracted himself with fevered sewing. They both seemed to have lost track of time, and he found it was already morning when he left, so he ran back to the pink rose and gathered his teas for the gem fae, sprinting to her open-market setup to trade. Her face lit up when she saw the corked bottles, and was happy to exchange the gem for it. "I hope he adores it as much as you adore him." She said as Chiro smiled warmly at it.

"I hope so too..." Chiro sighed wistfully, hurrying away after quickly thanking the young woman. The gem was huge. Heavy. It weighed his hand down as he ran back to the flower, never slowing down even as others ogled his odd wings, his strange coloring, his curious clothes.

He slipped into the flower and spied Malachy, and froze, slipping his hands behind his back. "M-Malachy...! Er... Why are you up so early...?" He felt his face grow a little warm, and looked down.

He stood, took a few steps forward. "I ... I was worried ... You weren't here!" Malachy looked down at his feet, to the soft rose petal floors. "I was afraid you weren't ... coming back." Though admitting that might lead to so many other things. He didn't want to talk about them, not when he himself wasn't sure, wouldn't admit it to himself.

He tugged at his clothing with embarrassment, only now realizing that it was the same as the day before. Taking the effort to change his clothing, why hadn't he done that? It hadn't seemed to mater. The flower swayed. It echoed the emotions of its inhabitants, a rare thing, but truly happening at times because of the very essence of what the flower home was.

Chiro looked around them, how the flower swayed suddenly, oddly. Why? There didn't seem to be a breeze outside, so it had to be from inside---from its owner. "Why... would you think that...? I... I went for a walk last night... Then I came back... I'd made some tea for a merchant, so I could trade her for something... for you." His head started spinning---mostly from concern for how Malachy would react. Would he like it? Would it make up for the worry he'd caused? He brought it out from under his wings and presented the wrapped thing. "Be... be careful, okay? It's... a little heavy." He looked down a bit, hiding his reddened face with the shadow presented by the glowing orb behind him.

"For me?" Malachy stepped forward to accept the gift, his hands falling a little with the unexpected weight. Worries about why Chiro had gone for so long, why he had disappeared, it all slipped away. Chiro kept giving him things, but this felt so ... different somehow, perhaps because Malachy's emotions had changed. Bit by bit, Malachy slipped the wrapping away and what he saw made him back up until he sat upon a chair.

"It .. oh Chiro, it's so beautiful ..." Tears were falling from his eyes unnoticed as he stared. It hadn't been meant to be what his people used such gems for. It wasn't a promise of love, of commitment. Malachy hadn't truly realized that was exactly the kind of thing he wanted from the other fae. He lifted it to his heart and hugged it close. "Thank you, I'll treasure it." No matter how it had been meant. He smiled. It had been given to him all the same.

Chiro blinked hard, fighting back glad tears. "You... don't think it's a bit much?" He was concerned even now. The gem was so flawlessly beautiful, like the fae that held it. Maybe his feelings about Malachy had changed. What would others consider them? Friends seemed too casual. He felt the same connection with this colorful, beautiful creature that he'd felt one other time in his life, and that time, it had been a lifelong bond. But now that bond had severed. Something had to change. It wasn't the way his kind had existed, but he needed someone to bond with. He needed to take care of someone, and Malachy was there now. He needed to be taken care of in some way, and Chiro's protective instinct kept overriding everything else.

He stepped forward, kneeling in front of Malachy and putting a hand over the heart-shaped gem. "Malachy... There's something about me---my kind---you should know about... I... I need a bonded companion. I need... to help someone. Be with someone to make them happy. To understand them in a way no one else could possible conceive. I feel as if I've found something like that." He paused, looking down and brushing his hand over his eyes. "And the feeling was... strange at first. I hadn't felt it in so long..." He breathed out carefully.

At first the words didn't register. Nor the way Chiro moved, settling down before him like a supplicant before his king. Malachy was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. The heart, of amethyst and so like his own colors, it felt meant for him, destined for him. He breathed out softly, wings folding down to lay against the vine chair. After what must have seemed like an eternity to Chiro, Malachy glanced at the other fae.

"Who ... who is it? Is it .... me?" There was so much more to ask, to learn about. What did such a relationship entail? Why was it necessary for Chiro? But the most important for Malachy, was the knowing .. .The acknowledgement in words of what he wished was true, of what he thought the other fae meant with his actions.

Chiro couldn't take the wait. The silence was overbearing, killing him every moment his heart beat in his ears as if counting down the seconds to a resolution. He was chewing his lip, nearly biting through the skin, and he straightened up when Malachy looked up. He nodded.

"Ye---I mean... I'd like it to be..." He put a hand over the gem heart, lowering his gaze to it. "It has to be a mutual feeling. I mean... I know I must be stuck in my ways, even after... after so, so long detached from my kind and what we used to do... You have no idea how much it would mean... How much it does mean... to me. I don't know how your kind exist... how you cooperate with one another... I don't know if it's similar, but... But I hope it might be." The memory of his original companion was still fresh in his mind, but he couldn't save him. Visit, perhaps, but never bring him back. Malachy wasn't a plug for that painful wound---his kindness had struck a deep chord within Chiro that he didn't feel he'd ever be able to understand again.