“Why would we be in trouble at all?” Zevran says coolly. 

Nova's shaking slightly. "I- I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to- I just- lost control. It- It won't happen again!"

“Nova, you didn’t do anything, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Zev says firmly, but in a gentle tone. His eyes are on Aaren, accusing him. 

"Absolutely not!" Aaren agrees. "And I'm glad you tried to protect your friend, even though it must have been scary to do so."

Pause. "Besides, you didn't set anything on fire, or fuse the whole house like Sparky over there," his tone is nothing so much as fond and amused. "So, no harm, no foul."

Nova half reaches for Zev, because- he needs-

He can't believe that, no-one had ever-

"They- they said- that I-"

“Fire? What is he-“ The look on Nova’s face is enough to explain things for Zev. When he fell, Nova must’ve...

“Nova,” he says softly. He takes Nova’s hand because how can he deny him when he reaches for him? 

"I haven't done that in years!" 'Chelle complains good-naturedly, grinning.

"M'sorry," he repeats miserably. "M'bad. I know."

"You are not," Aaren states firmly. "You're no more bad than 'Chelle is for accidentally fusing the whole house when she fused the house. You were scared, and protecting Zev. Your flames would make that easier. You were merely using what you had."

Zev tightens his hold on Nova’s hand, only just quelling the urge to press his lips to it. “You’re not. You’re not bad. There’s not a bad bone in you, you’re so good. You’re so good, mi vida.”

"The main reason I bring it up, is because I wanted to point out that our cellar is...bascially fireproof if you need to let off steam. And ask whether you received any elemental training?"

Nova shakes his head slowly.

“They...they didn’t want him as a solider.”

"Didn't want me to use it..."

Aaren pauses, looks between the two boys. "Zev, you don't have to answer this, but do you have any magic?"

Zevran shakes his head, eyes still on Nova.

"And did-?"

"Dad, quit with the questions, huh? You guys wanna go see if there's any crappy cartoons on TV?"

Zev gives ‘Chelle a puzzled look, though he does feel grateful for the change of subject. Nova’s hand is shaking in his. 

"...you've never watched crappy cartoons on TV, have you? C'mon. Both of you, living room. We'll see what we can find."

She heads out of the kitchen.

Zev runs his thumb over Nova’s hand. “What do you want to do? We can go...” he whispers, leaning close. 

...He shrugs again, no idea how to respond to that.

"I'm not going to make you stay," Aaren says. "But I've asked a healer friend of mine to come over. Take a look at you, maybe get you in better shape before you head back out. Easier to protect yourselves."

Nova’s shutting down, Zev has seen this before. He thinks that the best thing to do is pull away, as much as it hurts him to do that. 

Nova makes a quiet distressed noise as Zev starts to pull away, and then flinches slightly. (He shouldn't be asking Zev for this, Zev never seemed to want to touch him.)