Reya felt her knees go weak with the sudden loss of tension and she slumped down to the floor. Sitting with her back against the door, she sucked in deep breaths of air slowly as a means to calm her hammering heart. Raising a hand to her face, Reya touched her slightly tender lips with her fingers even as she regard the unconscious man at her feet. He was breathing in the steady rhythm of sleep, each breath heavy with the reek of liquor.

What am I going to do with him? And how did he end up here in my room? I only told Graine the access code... Igraine! Oh, that woman! Reya was starting to get a very good picture of whose brilliant idea it was. She studied his features as she considered what to do with him. The rumors about him were true after all; Sigurd was a very handsome man. His cheekbones were angular giving his face an aristocratic bearing that she found appealing. But as appealing as he might be, there was no way Reya was letting him spend the night in her room, drunk or not.

Reya ran through a list of the people she could ask for help from mentally and dismissed all except for Hyuga. Igraine and Jessie were most likely the mastermind of the whole thing so asking them to help her remove Sigurd was out of the question. Perhaps Kahr and Hyuga were also involved but she just did not felt comfortable with the idea of asking her brother so that left only Hyuga. Reya felt that she could count on his sense of discretion if nothing else. Having decided on her course of action, Reya hauled herself to her feet and was about to pick up her intercom unit when she heard something.

Noln? There was no mistake; it was the desert language. Reya recognized the almost musical resonance of the words even though it had been years since she last heard or spoke a single Noln word. Besides her late teacher, Sigurd and her were probably the only people in Solaris who knew the language.

Reya breathed the two words a touch poignantly into the silent night. How many families have been torn apart? How many have lost their loved ones to this city in the sky? She wondered her glance full of pity and regret as she regarded Sigurd. Uttering a sigh, she kneeled over by his side. He was sprawled belly down in an ungainly heap after being floored by her punch and the least Reya could do was settle him in a more comfortable position.

Turning him over was harder than Reya thought as she struggled a little with his weight. The man was heavy, dead drunk. Just as she was about to succeed, Sigurd gave her another surprise. One arm snaked around her waist, pulling, making her loose her balance and Reya fell right on top of him. Before she could get off him, his other arm wrapped itself around her, effectively trapping her in his embrace.

Not again! Reya groaned inwardly. Encounters with Sigurd outside official Jugend business seemed to have an unhealthy tendency for her to end up in his arms. If she was not sure that he was drunk, she could have swore that the man did it purposely. At least Reya was grateful that he was not squeezing the breath out of her. She tried to wriggle her way out of his hold but failed miserably. Her headache was getting worse and venting an exasperated sight, Reya stopped her futile struggles.

As she slowly relaxed, she also became more aware of her companion. Sigurd clasped her firmly yet gently and Reya could feel his quiet strength around her. It was like the way that Igraine used to hold her when she was upset but at the same time the feeling was different. Reya felt comforted, protected and ... cherished. But it was much more than the solace offered by a sister. It was like the regard of a lover...

Listening to the steady rhythm of Sigurd's beating heart with her head resting upon his chest for the second time, Reya closed her eyes and briefly contemplated her own feelings. Her mind gave silent voice to so many questions yet there were no answers. Abandoning it as a lost cause, Reya moved a little tentatively, attempting to slip free again and this time she succeeded. His arms finally relaxed in deep sleep slackening his grip. Brushing aside a fall of fine silver hair away from his face, Reya lightly ran her fingers over the panes of his face.

Perhaps I could fall in love after all... A faint smile touched her lips. Rising to her feet, Reya picked up her intercom unit.

" Hyuga? "

Sigurd sat alone at in a remote corner of the shokudo, one hand wrapped around a cup of steeping hot coffee while the other nursed his tender left cheek against a small icepack. He was thankful that his dark amber skin concealed the fact that a massive bruise decorated one side of his face. It was hard to imagine how he would have look like with that bruise had he been fair skinned. The chill numbed his aching jaw somewhat but could not do the same for the pounding headache that racked his brain.

I must have been drinking last night... Sigurd stared at the black swirling depths of his coffee, trying to puzzle out exactly what had happened and how he end up with this one hell of a bruise. It hurt to think but Sigurd was not giving up until he recalled the missing gap in his memories about the previous night.

He had been heading towards his room after a fruitless wait at the Church grounds for Reya to show up. Igraine had called the Lab to check after her but other than finding out Reya was still at there, nothing else had been revealed. Disappointed at not being able to see her, Sigurd was resigned to a quiet night when Jessie turned up, whiskey bottles in tow together with Kahr and Hyuga.

The rest was a hazy blur yet there was something else that Sigurd could distinctively remember. The elusive scent of a woman... and the soft velvet that was her lips. There was no mistake; he had kissed a woman. But the question is... who was she? He had pretty much abstained from intimate company of any sort with other women ever since he set eyes on Reya. The woman fairly haunted his subconscious.

" Morning, Sig! Had a good night? " Jesse greeted him jovially, looking none the worse after a night of heavy drinking.

Sigurd was at least comforted to lift his head up and find that Kahr and Hyuga looked not much better than he did with bloodshot eyes and slightly emaciated features. He greeted all of them somewhat lukewarmly without his usual enthusiasm, mindful of both his aching head and bruised cheek.

" Good night? A night is never good when the company happened to be you. " Sigurd threw Jessiah a totally disgruntled look.

" What was that devil's brew you forced down our throats last night? I'll probably never get my proper voice back again, no thanks to you, " Kahr's voice was noticeably one octave lower and hoarser.

" Ungrateful brats!! You should be honored that I was inclined to share my