Rind.

"Don't touch me."
"You have a limited amount of time for that law to hold."
"Don't do it."
Kellan didn't respond, only snorted.
"I'm serious. I will end you."
Kellan raised both eyebrows but didn't take the bait.
They were lying in bed together, Gustin shivering in between the furs - the home hadn't really recovered from the chill of the open door earlier. Kellan moved to wrap both arms around him, but Gustin punched him in the rib.
"Not a chance."
Kellan scoffed and rolled over to face the wall. Gustin continued to shiver. They lay in silence.
"What are we going to do?"
Kellan turned halfway.
"You didn't seem so worried when I first warned you, human."
"There weren't consequences like this when you first warned me."
Kellan scoffed again and tried to go to sleep. Gustin tapped him.
"Maybe we should make two beds."
"So I can wake to you frozen in your sleep? No, human, you sleep here for tonight."
"But what if it - comes?"
Kellan shook his head.
"It doesn't work like that." there was a pause. "I may be able to hold off until the transfer." Gustin sat up in interest.
"If you can manage to behave."
Gustin frowned.
"It's not my fault, I didn't - "
Kellan turned to give him an even look. Gustin, always a quick learner, backed down.
"I'll be good."
Then it was silent again, save the crack-popping of the fire in its pit.
"So tell me more about it."
Kellan sighed.
"Which part?"
"The heat."
"It's simple. It burns. I can't control it fully, but I can try. If it goes unsatisfied many times, it goes into abeyance."
"When does it start?"
Kellan shrugged.
"When you come of age."
"When do you come of age?"
"When your season starts."
Gustin quietly contemplated whether this was intentional or not.
"When did yours start?"
"The summer I was 19."
"Is that late?"
"Early, on Arem'mir. Late here."
Gustin filed this away for later thought.
"How many did you go alone before it...abeyed?"
There was hesitation in Kellan's voice when he spoke.
"It...was satisfied for some time."
This piqued Gustin's interest.
"Saucy. By whom?"
Kellan was silent for so long that Gustin thought he wasn't going to answer at all. Finally, he did, but there was real pain in his voice when he spoke.
"Ideste."
Gustin got a bit quieter.
"Was she...your mate?"
Kellan shook his head.
"He. And no, he was never my mate."
Kellan seemed suddenly sulky, even for him, so Gustin let it go. For a full thirty-five seconds.
"Did you want him to be your mate?"
Kellan rolled over to look at Gustin.
"What do you mean to pursue, human?"
Gustin was a bit taken aback by the harshness of his tone.
"Nothing, I just..." he drifted into quiet and Kellan turned back over. "I thought we might come to know each other, a little."
Kellan growled somewhat, but only to himself.
"I did want him to be my mate. I wanted him very badly, and still I do."
Gustin scrunched his eyebrows together.
"Well, why don't you try? Go out and get him, seal your season, trade me back, I'll escape, everybody wins!" Gustin clapped his hands. Kellan sighed.
"Not that simple, human."
Gustin laid back down.
"Why not?"
"Because a very long time ago, I did a very terrible thing, and the only reasons I narrowly escaped death were my age and my exile. If I go back now...I do not believe I have been forgiven."
"Oh."
Gustin thought on this. So his initial instinct had been right - this wolfe was not alone for nothing. He wondered what his crime had been. Hopefully not murder, seeing as they still had to share a bed. But the Layer didn't seem to frightened of him, and if he was willing to do trade, he must be reasonable enough...what sort of thing would get a wolfe exiled, anyway? That kind of knowledge might be useful to have. It might even carry a hefty price tag. Gustin thought of long nights on a Psire island. It would be better to wait - if he pressed for too much too early, it would ruin the delicate threads of trust forming between them.
"Well, what could you do, to get un-exiled? Anything that might make it up to the pack?"
Kellan nodded.
"One thing. One thing is all I have. I waited twenty-two years for an opportunity to prove myself. I prayed, but I thought the moon had forgotten me. Now, I have one thing I can do to ask them to forgive me."
Gustin felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach.
"What's the one thing you can do?"
Kellan quirked one side of his mouth in a mirthless grin.
"I can trade them for you."
~:~