Jerico waited for her at the bottom step of the stairway ultimately leading to her room. Close enough to listen, but far enough away to appear gone in case she should be looking. He was a little surprised when he wasn't kept waiting long.
He was perhaps a little more surprised when she walked down the very steps he was on--and sat next to him. Albeit at the greatest distance possible, the fact still remained... she'd chosen to sit at his side.
It took him a while to recover from the shock. Being who he was, though, he managed. "False alarm?"
"Something like that." She muttered, looking and sounding remarkably tired. "You don't listen."
He actually chuckled at the accusation. "I listen. I just don't necessarily do as I'm told."
Regardless of her features softening slightly, her tone was absolutely serious. "You'll have to learn to."
"What is this?" He found the quiet words spilling from him unconsciously.
Nikkira responded with silence. Jerico might have thought she was ignoring him, but... truth be told... she didn't have an answer. He was asking for everything... for much more than she could understand herself. A lifetime's experience was not easily passed in words--nor were these concepts that any language had any words for. She didn't want it defined; that just brought it closer, giving it words, allowing it a place in vocabulary and mind...
"Nik..?" He'd watched her already-pale skin go a bit whiter in the silence, expression shifting from bitter to blank.
The pause was quite a bit more brief that time. She let a long, shuddering sigh escape quietly... then stood and turned to climb the stairs back to her room.
He wanted to reach out for her. He felt his hand twitch as he fought the urge to do so, to stop her from disappearing for however many days it might be before he happened to catch her just before she left again. In the end, only words felt like they might help the situation. "Nik. Wait."
She shouldn't have. She shouldn't have chosen to sit next to him, shouldn't have so much as let the wretches into the castle... but it was too late to take it all back. At the top of the stairs she paused, but didn't risk looking back.
It was enough; Jerico took his chance. "You're going to get tired if you keep running."
Motionless silence. Seconds passed, expanding into time felt far more harshly than an outsider would view it. She didn't speak, but she didn't need to. The answer was far too simple. She'd die if she stayed still.
