"Wow! Sounds like an exciting place!" Thyme said at a volume that was overcompensating.
Rikki sneered, "I heard swamps have a bad smell, I wouldn't want to go there."
"Hey Caleb! We were wondering when you were going to turn up!" Angela shouted suddenly towards the edge of the pool.
When Caleb turned his head, Sabine immediately made herself scarce behind Rikki's great mop of curls. She was attempting to not make it look like she was hiding, but Rikki was giving her a hard time of it by purposely moving her head from one side to the other and exposing Sabine's face. Sabine was starting to look distressed at this point, but held herself together.
Caleb gave a weak smile and a wave.
"Get over here, slackwit!" Angela shouted.
"Fine!" Caleb rolled his eyes and ran for the pool. He dove in and closed the distance quickly with his momentum. He broke the surface of the water and grinned at Roland, "Roland, look who's got brave, have you talked to...wait..." Caleb pitched his head to one side, "What's everyone crowding around?" Caleb's initial mirth fell quickly when he saw Meesei, "Oh...it's you," Caleb said with a small measure of resentment.
Sabine looked to Roland and tried to murmur to him without making herself conspicuous. "Who did you to talk to?"
Ahnasha and Fendros were in Najirra's company for a full hour and a half. They spoke about anxiety in its many forms, the damage it does over long periods, and, as he promised, how to recognise it. It felt to Fendros like most of this conversation was imparting knowledge to build on, and as such he didn't feel as though there was as much progress as he had expected. He did feel like Najirra's counsel had promise, though.
Najirra himself was hard to read, but he had a supernatural talent for reading Fendros and Ahnasha. Fendros began to suspect that the magic in the room was mostly just to help keep track of their thoughts and feelings, but it was far and beyond anything he could conceive magic doing. Otherwise, Najirra was very patient with them. He spoke openly and encouraged openness from Ahnasha and Fendros. Nothing was left to be avoided, and nothing was met with vicious judgement. Fendros ended up feeling so comfortable talking with Najirra that he felt safe telling him personal secrets that he would never bring up except to those closest to him.
The middle parts of the meeting were where they touched upon the incident that had caused the trauma in more detail. This time, Najirra purposefully insisted that Ahnasha do the recounting. His rationale once they had calmed themselves was to get to know what happened better himself, and also something about recounting the tale making it easier to deal with. Fendros was sceptical, but Najirra claimed that emerging from recounting the tale and assuring oneself that they were alright and safe is a way to train one's instinct to be less fearful of it.
The meeting was only interrupted around an hour in when Rhazii began to cry. It was about time for him to be fed anyway, so he spent the rest of the time with Ahnasha.
The latter parts of the session turned to everyday behaviours that were affected by the trauma. In particular was the fear of losing one another that threatened to drive an ironic wedge between Ahnasha and Fendros if they weren't careful. Fendros' blind charge into the mercenaries a couple of weeks ago was the prime example, but they were taught to recognise it in future.
Unfortunately, Najirra had to call the meeting to a close before the final issue was discussed to satisfaction, but he insisted that he had other clans people to help. He said that he would call upon Ahnasha and Fendros in a week to continue.
After saying farewell and thanks to Najirra and his daughters, Fendros walked out of Najirra's family's chamber with Rhazii asleep in his arms. He didn't feel as if they were cured, or even close to dealing with the problem completely, but he felt...lighter. He felt far less tense and worried. Perhaps having the freedom to just talk and be listened to had done more than he thought. At the same time, he had learned a lot, and he wasn't sure if he had taken it all in properly, but it gave him optimism.
"I'm glad we came here, Ahna," he said as they walked the down the corridor away from Najirra's chambers, "It will not be easy, but this is the best chance we have ever had."
Though Janius' smile remained, his brow turned in slight sadness. He sighed heavily through his nose and failed to maintain eye contact with Kaleeth. "I'll be honest, Kaleeth, I'm..." Janius took a moment to give his thoughts in words, "...I have a hard time imagining myself as a father. It's just...I'm scared, Kaleeth." Now Janius' smile faded, "What if I'm not a good father? I've not been the greatest of mentors for you, I can't exactly think of how my own father would do things without hating myself for even considering it, I'm not...I'm not the best of people." Janius looked at Kaleeth again, "Why do you trust me to be a father?"
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