Somehow, after they were done yelling at each other, there was always a lot of nervous laughter; most of it, Hiru's. Sanga's amusement tended to take a less nervous and more mocking tone.

Ban had been very clear on this point: they had to get better at releasing Sanga's power in a hurry. Handicapped. From great distances. They had to be able to anticipate each others' movements so that cooperation would be possible, no matter the situation.

But it was difficult when Hiru was so unwilling for Sanga to touch him at all; it was difficult when the butterfly did not trust an inch of Sanga's flesh against his own. Hiru had suffered enough from his own kind. Sanga did not blame him for his skittish attitude. But that did not mean it did not irk him.

"Butterfly, I am the one baring my throat to you," he informed the Seelie sternly after their third botched attempt at a speed seal-breaking. Hiru looked embarrassed, and annoyed.

"You make me uncomfortable," he snapped. "I don't like--" And he always cut himself off, there, as though he was not clear on that, himself. Sanga sighed and rested his hands on Hiru's shoulders.

"What can I do to make you trust me?" He asked as plainly as he could bear. "What will it take?"

Hiru's eyes were sorrowful, their anger lost in the green depths. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. Sanga smiled sadly.

"If only this worked the other way around," he murmured. "For I am sure there is not a deceitful bone in your body that I can detect." Hiru returned the expression, tight-lipped.

"Truly, I am sorry," he muttered. "I know... it is not you, it is... the stories," he blurted suddenly. "I hear so much. I have always heard... such terrible things. The humans tell tales of you, and of us, and--"

Sanga picked up a pale golden hand in his clammy, webbed fingers, and stroked its back gently as Hiru made a valiant attempt not to flinch. "Not you and us, butterfly," he chided gently. "It is but you and I, with no society to hold us in place, out here."

He brushed his thumb along Hiru's knuckles and replaced the butterfly's hand at his side. "Let us move on. The way is long, yet, and not as perilous as Ban would like to believe."

Hiru paused a moment, then followed lightly at the older sidhe's heels. "I hope so," he murmured. Biting his lip, he slipped an arm in against Sanga's side; the sprite started for a moment, and smiled, offering his own forearm more fully. Hiru rested his hand upon it, trying to ignore the strange, shifting feeling of not-quite-unease in his belly. "I do hope so."

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