2. Bygones be bygones

High above, near the very top of the station in whose basement Mani worked, atmosphere was completely different.

Inside the mystically darkened room, whose walls were covered in artistically shaped diagrams and drawings, a man wearing a long robe stood in front of an altar. Under his steady gaze, fluids were bubbling and evaporating while he controlled the flames heating them.

Steam clinked and clunked through pipes and containers of haphazardly constructed distilling apparatus. Almost hidden under all that noise came irregular snoring and annoyingly repetitive beeping sound.

At first, wrinkled old man did not pay it any attention. He was firmly focused on his task, regulating heating and monitoring condensation speed of his newest potion.

After all, as a priest he was out of work, and due that, he should have been moved to work at the gardens, being useful. Only by his skill of brewing new and creative potions did he manage to cling to this luxurious abode on the top floor. Where else could he have access to a private terrace from which he could see birds flying and clouds gliding and… what was that beeping…?

He turned around and scanned his scrying, err, brewing room. Nothing that would beep could be seen among bits and bobs on shelves and tables. None of the carvings suddenly developed ability to beep. He tilted his head and followed the sound.

There was nothing unusual at the front room. Tables and sofas and carpets were as they always were. Nothing new could be spotted among decorations hanging on the walls either. His ears led him toward rarely used doors, those that led to meditation room.

Well, it used to be a meditation room once upon a time. Then he turned it into a lounge for his private potion testing evenings. As those often turned into days, he had a bed moved in, with lots of pillows and side tables, making it more convenient for sampling and judging the efficacy of each new potion.

Through slightly open doors, beeping mixed with snoring came. No one would dare to barge into his private space except one person, and they were currently in the middle of a spat so.. did it mean he won this time? Old man tilted his head and carefully pushed the doors open.

Inside, in a diffused soft light of floor lamps, he finally found a big, sprawled body tucked into pillows on his bed. But the person was not the one he expected to see.

"You!" He could not help raising his voice "Wake up right now!"

Then the old man saw empty containers strewn all over the floor, and his chin started trembling.

"My stash! You dared to…" old man's voice broke and he turned abruptly stomping out "I am going to report this to your father, young man. Those were potions made for him, that you dared to snatch them is not going to fall on my head!"

As grumbling former priest stormed away with a huff, all that was left to be heard were distant clinking and persistent beeping. Snoring was replaced with a grunt as sprawled man sat up and looked around.

With a yawn and bleary eyes Yax tried to establish his whereabouts. Not his room. Nor Ivory's either. As it could be, as there was ever a chance for him to wake up there.

Yax slumped back into pillows, his hurting brain reminding him picture by picture of exact chain of events that led from his failed proposal, to raiding holy potions, to waking up to yet another day of unholy beeping blasting his ears away.

Wait. What is that beeping?

Yax sat back up and patted his clothes. His shirt was unbuttoned, but his pants were not, why would they be? Distracted by random thoughts, he finally found the source of beeping. From his pocket he pulled out the pendant he ceremoniously used as engagement token last night, then got rejected, then gotten drunk…

Sparkling swirls twinkled in the gem, beeping noise not diminishing at all, and together it made him feeling queasy. He burped. Right, he should throw up first to make himself feel better. He got up and looked around trying to remember where priest goes to poop… Do priests have to poop…?

Amazed by his own thoughts, Yax decided to skip purging his stomach in favor of taking the pendant back to treasury room. It was not beeping yesterday when he took it out. If it's placed back into the box it should stop beeping… perhaps? Hopefully?

He buttoned up his shirt and picked up his jacket from the floor. Looking around, he decided to skip cleanup as he was already caught in the act. No point in trying to cover it up now.

As soon as he left priests private quarters, he was met with a somewhat stern and somber face scrutinizing his crumpled and evidently hangover appearance. Yax jolted and straightened his posture, pretending there is nothing strange with him looking as he is, and greeted his personal guard with usual nod and huff.

"Good, you are here," he said sounding as natural as possible, despite scratching in his throat and still endless beeping coming from his clothes.

"Follow me." 'Don't ask me anything right now' was silently implied.

Walking a step behind his liege, Cid was pondering great mysteries of love and affection. Opposites attract? Different parts make a whole? Obviously, whatever it was that made one party infatuated did not spread to the other one.

Cid did found it a welcomed source of entertainment, to observe Yax's futile attempts at courting and flirting. There was nothing much to do for fun here anyway. But, for better or worse, it seems that this love story came to a definite, and expected, end.

When they entered the treasury room, there were few other people already there. And every single one of them looked at Yax as soon as he and his beeping pendant stepped inside.

"Oh. Hmm… yes. what's going on here?" Yax asked bravely facing the scrutiny. Slender guy in the middle of the group narrowed his eyes and stretched a pale elegant palm towards him. "Just give it to me."

Yax felt his eyes widen in shock. What's going on now? He patted himself down, pulled the pendant out and presented it with vigor.

"And yesterday when I offered it to you, it was rejected." He grumbled under his breath, then noticed blond guy's expression freezing as he hissed back at him.

"You were proposing to me using the Eye of Great Serpent?" He snatched the gem while shaking in anger. Last night he was so furious at Yax keeping up with his antics that he did not even look at the item. As soon he saw Yax dropping down on one knee he was so furious he just wanted to pummel that stupid idea out of his thick skull.

From behind he heard snickering and few snorts. As always when his emotions get high, Ivory's pale face became a few shades darker.

"Ivory, I did not know you two were an item." He heard someone chuckling in mirth.

"We are not." He managed not to shout, turning his back to Yax and moving back toward the storage management team "Come, check the pendant. Why is it beeping? How is it even possible…?"

Standing by the door, ignored and dismissed by his not lover, Yax stuffed his hands in his pockets and puffed out his chest. So, what if they were not dating. They could have. He pursed his lips and glanced at Cid, still faithfully guarding his side.

"What's all the hubbub about?"

Cid tilted his head "Not sure. Something about alarm going off at the basements."