Lucy sticks her tongue out at him. "You're just jealous because I'm prettier," she says loftily. 

"In this room, we know at least three of these people are attracted to boys and we only have one confirmation of liking girls, I'm not actually sure you win that one right now." 

Tylendel says something to Vanyel in a whisper, Vanyel makes a face at him, and they're both off in peals of laughter again. 

"Did you just propose a threesome with him," Donni says, deadpan.

And now Vanyel is bright red and also laughing too hard to breathe. 

Lucy snickers. "You do what you want, but there are some things I am not going to stay in the room singing for!"

–That breaks Donni's deadpan and now she's flopping back on the sofa, giggling uncontrollably, and even Mardic is snickering a bit. 

"'Lendel, stop it - let me - catch my breath..." Vanyel flops against him. His eyes are bright; he looks happy. 

It's a bright, warm glow in Lucy's heart. 

Vanyel is a good friend. She's liked him since the first day they met. She's loved him since not long after. And this is the first time she's seen him really happy. 

(Later, she will look back on this as the moment she started loving Tylendel too.)

And then there is a candlemark or so of all of them sitting together, talking and laughing and the occasional hug or playful wrestle. 

Vanyel is starting to seem kind of withdrawn by the end of that time, though, curling up against Tylendel's side. Donni is busy relentlessly teasing Tylendel with some long embarrassing story from their years as students together, that has him turning pinker by the minute and very distracted. 

Savil Mindspeaks Lucy. :Does Van look tired to you? Donni's going to be, er, like this until we tell her to quit – reckon we should try to get him some peace and quiet soon?: 

:Physically tired I'm not sure of but if Wilbur was looking like that I would set a minor fire to distract people if I couldn't extricate him from the social situation any other way. I assume Van has less poker face and more people-tolerance than Wilbur does, but.:

:Let's not push him on day one: "Mardic, Donni – why don't you two run along and bring your things over, if you do want to take up my offer to stay here for a bit." 

There are goodbye (if only for a candlemark or two) hugs exchange, and Mardic and Donni head out. 

"Not to be too self-congratulatory, but you have good taste in friends," she tells Vanyel. 

"Hey there, they were my friends first," Tylendel points out. "Mardic and Donni are wonderful. I–" He shakes his head. "Suppose I didn't miss them, exactly, it - feels like I saw them yesterday. But...it's good to see them now, either way." 

"You have good taste in friends, then," she tells Tylendel. 

Lucy, unlike a full human, can purr like a cat. She flops across the boys' laps and demonstrates this. 

That's a tiny bit unsettling but mostly adorable. "Aww," Tylendel says. 

Vanyel smiles along for a moment, but then turns serious. "'Lendel, I...wanted to talk. About some things." 

Lucy does not stop purring but she quiets a bit. 

Deep breaths. He can do this. 

"A lot of things happened in the last year. I got Chosen, my Gifts were awakened, I went to k'Treva with Savil. And I think it would help you...understand how I've changed...if I talked about the things."

He squeezes Tylendel's hand. "A lot of it was really hard. I think - that's going to be upsetting for you. But I'm not telling you because I want you to feel bad or guilty. All right?" 

Look at how pettable Lucy is. Would petting her be soothing? Feel free if so. 

Tylendel seems to find it so, at least.

Vanyel takes another deep breath. "So I think Lucy might've already told you some. But I'll say it again anyway." Some of it's going to be really hard to say out loud; a lot of it, he's never actually talked about to anyone before. But Tylendel is here. He can be brave enough. 

"You died," he says. "I - watched it. I felt what you were feeling." And that isn't a memory he's been able to even look at, until now, but...now that he can, it falls into place. "So I understand why. I really mean that. That you - in that moment - you couldn't imagine - being in a world without her." He squeezes Tylendel's hand harder. "And I know that if someone had stopped you, even for thirty seconds, you - wouldn't have."

Tylendel...looks down, blinking hard, and his breathing catches, and Vanyel tenses up a bit, but then both of them take a deep breath, and neither bursts into tears.