Verana had no idea how the Humans chose to do the things they did, day after day. She had spent the last couple days, in and out of the meetings and dinners, idle walks in the gardens and various other social events that they participated in. She spent her time watching, listening to what was said about the world outside the island. Learning languages of people she had never even known existed before the beginning of the week.

All of her human friends committed themselves to long hours of this kind of thing, in addition to endless paperwork before, in between and afterwards, and she could smell the exhaustion and stress on all of them. Oliver was the least afflicted, disappearing for duties relating to his ships at sea, that Verana believed only encompassed him getting in his small boat and sailing it away from the claustrophobic confines of the palace and enjoining city.

She had thought Sencha and Shaktay would disagree with her not immediately acting on the enemy or at the very least, moving in to rescue the Feysha on the boats, but they had cautioned her to wait, to allow the Humans to attempt diplomacy. Humans had their processes for peace that the Feysha could not comprehend but to give up on it prematurely could result in war.

At night, she dreamed of being nailed to the front of the ship, unable to move, trapped as she crashed headlong through the waves towards a dark, looming stretch of land. The enemy kept their distance from her, as did most of the outsiders. During the social events, she could see their calculations, hear their words and musings about her value, the prestige of having her in their Kingdom, not knowing she could hear them. She didn't tell the Humans she trusted, she didn't think there was anything they could do and their distress was not something she wanted to cause.

One evening, Verana sat idly on the railing of Amiya's chambers porch, the ocean at her back, listening to the Queen and her friend try to talk through the ridiculous, aggravating negotiations they had been through that day. She zoned out for a moment until Amiya's words brought her back to what they were saying.

"I worry for Cavin, he hasn't slept since this thing began. Even if he could, there's nothing that relaxes him enough or clears his mind and he's up and pacing, working, planning peace, planning trade, planning war, over and over again and then launching himself into the daily duties once more. He used to go for rides to clear his mind but even there, someone finds him and joins, and brings his mind right back to working."

"Maybe he should go sail with Oliver." Reyani said thoughtfully, raising a brow. "That small racer, there wouldn't be many people around."

Amiya shook her head, "he gets sea sick and the Guard would insist on joining, which would increase the size of boat needed, and suddenly there's a day sail for distinguished guests upon his majesty's most splendid ship."

"So he needs to do something, where no one can catch up to him he can enjoy the present, and is thrilling enough to clear his mind. Something to allow him to relax and get a normal night's sleep." Verana said slowly, glancing out at the sky, watching the sunset as she rejoined the conversation with her friends.

"Not a small order, I know." Amiya shrugged helplessly. "He's begun to get headaches and he's not eating nearly as much as he should."

Verana offered a shrug in return, looking at her. "Do you trust me?"

Amiya stilled for a moment, watching her without understanding. "Of course I do."

"I smell this stress... this pain, and tension in all of you. I don't know how any of you stand it, and I understand why Duke Oliver disappears for hours on end. It is not healthy for you, but I understand that is something that is built into your lives as Humans." Verana shrugged again, letting out a slow breath. "I may know how to help him, if he'll accept."

Reyani watched her for a long moment, understanding beginning to dawn in her eyes. "Can you....?"

Verana nodded. "I haven't been flying as far, but I've been training with weight. I've also figured out how to do it, so that my power helps, at least prevent a disruption in balance. It wouldn't be for very long."

"You're talking about flying?" Amiya shook her head, glancing between the two of them. "If anyone, anyone else found out, there'd be panic."

"Where is he now?" Verana asked in response, standing up on the railing and stretching her wings wide feeling the wind calling, promising to soothe everything that was wrong in her mind. She only hoped that it would be the same for Cavin, that the breeze would help his troubled mind.

Amiya leaned onto the railing, nodding up towards a balcony only a level above them, about twenty feet away, the drapes were closed, but there was the flickering light of a lamp on against the coming night. "There. Its his private study, he'll be there. Verana... bring him back..."

She grinned and allowed herself to fall backwards off the balcony, spinning to catch herself and bringing herself up to the room indicated. She landed on the balcony and knocked on the glass that shut the room away from the wider world.

When Shelby opened the door, letting out the stuffy air smelling of long nights, stress and frustration, she wondered exactly what the meaning of Amiya's words were, bring him back alive, or bring him back to live?

"He's... at his papers tonight, Verana." Shelby said, looking tired and haggard himself, skin tight, dark circles under his eyes, shoulders set rigidly with tension and stress.

"You need to take your horse out for a run, you've been neglecting that, Lord Shelby." She said simply, opening the second door to the balcony, shifting her wings to allow more of a breeze of air to enter the room, ruffling a couple loose papers on Cavin's desk.

She smelled a flash of anger and frustration as Cavin slammed his palm down on the paper, turning to snap. "What? Can't you see I'm drowning in work?"

He realized who he was speaking to and she could sense the regret and stress in him, boiling near the breaking point and dragging him down a little more. His expression became apologetic and tired, though she didn't give him a chance to give voice to whatever was on his mind.

"Good. Then its about time you allowed yourself to come up for air. You're making yourself ill and you're making everyone who cares about you ill with worry." Verana narrowed her eyes at Shelby when he opened his mouth to talk, glaring at him until he closed it again, shaking his head.

Cavin shook his head in disagreement, "its the cost of keeping the Kingdom from falling apart." He trudged towards her though, rubbing his temples gently, blinking in the gentle evening sunlight. She was relieved to see him in a pair of breeches, a light shirt and simple boots, knowing it would be harder to explain if she needed to ask him to get undressed out of the stuffy, heavy court attire he usually wore.

"Well, you taking a couple minutes to breathe in actual air, will not cause it all to fall into chaos, I promise." She offered a smile and shrugged, "just stand there... breathing.... Keep your feet shoulder width apart, and relax."

Verana guided him to the railing, running her fingers gently over the back of his neck as she spoke. Shelby watched her thoughtfully, leaning against the door jam, looking a little more relieved as he saw Cavin's shoulders relax, saw him close his eyes into the breeze and breathe in, leaning into the night air.

"You're right, Verana. That is helpful. I just... all this, its just never ending." Cavin murmured. "I understand why my father died so young."

"Well, then we're going to have to work out a way that you let yourself relax. You need to learn to turn all this stuff off, allow yourself to be right here, right now, let go. I have an idea, but you must trust me, alright?" Verana gave Shelby a hard look at the word 'trust', shifting behind Cavin and wrapping her arms up under his. When he didn't pull away, she held him firmly over the chest as she wrapped her power around him, to hold him more firmly to her body and allow him to be buoyed by the wind.

He would be light now, a fraction of his actual weight. Verana softly murmured to him. "Take a deep breath, and let go."

"What are you doing?" But he didn't try to move, which would have been hard with her power wrapping around him.

Veranahad him firmly restrained for balance, even leaving his arms free was a risk, he could create drag, or catch them wrong in the wind. After a moment hesitation, she spread her wings and lifted them both up from the balcony. As her wings snapped open, the down draft knocked Shelby backwards into the open window as she took off higher and higher into the air, punching through the cloud cover.

That was about the time that Cavin started screaming.

She smelled fear, surprise, a spike in the body's response to danger coming from him, though he thankfully didn't struggle.

After a few moments, Verana began to sense exhilaration followed by a joy so encompassing that it washed away the smell of any of the stress or tension left in his body. She laughed in relief, turning them into a roll as she climbed higher, before dropping  down over uninhabited open farmland though they were far above eyesight in the dark night.