"Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart." —Ecclesiastes 7:3
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Erin didn't know it, of course, seeing as how she'd only just met Apollo, but the hare had taken the news of Bratis' death surprisingly well.
After dinner they'd gone for a little tour of the castle, trailed, at a distance by Evvey, Reshat and Tikkcik. Erin had explained who she was and retold her life's story in under half an hour, but when she got to the part about Bratis's death she found herself choking on her own words a bit. Through her whole narrative, Apollo had listened as intently as possible, and reacted with appropriate delight and amazement when she explained that Bratis had raised her. But when she got to the part about his mentor's death, well, Apollo didn't actually hear anything she said after the word "dead".
His head was spinning. Bratis? Dead? It simply couldn't be. He froze for a moment, then turned on Erin and fixed her with a plaintive, confused, and reproachful stare. Then he turned quickly and stomped out of sight down a hallway.
Erin was upset and confused, unable to rationalize this behavior. When someone you cared about had died, you cried, or sighed, or looked for comfort, or something, but this silent and angry withdraw? The anger she could understand, but something about it seemed strange. She hurried after him, calling out for him to wait.
Erin found Apollo sitting on the steps that led from a large hall into the courtyard. She came down and stood beside him.
"I'm sorry." She said softly.
Apollo looked away and said nothing.
Erin was starting to get annoyed. "Hey, I know it's rough, you think I didn't feel bad? I was there."
"Why?" The word was muttered softly and bitterly.
Erin shrugged and lay down on the step beside him. "I don't know. But you didn't let me finish what I was saying. The thing that killed Bratis-"
But Apollo suddenly stood up and walked a short distance across the lawn, where he stood looking up at the evening sky through the branches of a tree.
Erin trotted over to him. "Apollo, listen-"
"WHY WHY WHY! How could you?! AHHHH!!!" Apollo suddenly began sobbing and screaming and kicking at the ground and the tree.
Erin hung back in sorrowful bewilderment. There was nothing she could do, was there?
The hare collapsed on the ground and cried and sniffled. Erin, crouched on the grass nearby, was reliving the pain all over again. She longed to go over and comfort the poor creature, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to. She was confused, timid, going through shock all over again. She felt his pain, and felt it intensely. But there was nothing she could do..
Reshat appeared, bounding down the steps, followed by Evvey and Tikkcik.
The genet looked apologetically at Erin, who was on the verge of tears herself, then went over to Apollo and placed a paw on the hare's shoulder and spoke soothingly into his ear.
After awhile, Apollo's fit was done, and he allowed Reshat to lead him back inside.
Erin followed, shivering, and fell in with Evvey and Tikkcik on the way.
"'Ee does thaht, yah know." Said the wallaby with a sigh. "'Ee ain't roight in th' head."
Erin nodded. "I know." She had decided that her mission would wait until morning. With a creature like that, she figured, it was best to wait until he'd had time to cool off a bit.
Since Erin had been sleeping for most of the day, she was awake long into the night, a thing which really wasn't unusual for her anyway, and Evvey, Tikkcik, and Reshat were more than glad to keep her company.
They'd taken up positions in the library, lounging in and on overstuffed reading chairs, their laughing faces illuminated by several of the now dimming globe lamps and candles.
The library was large, longer that it was wide, but had a feeling of being somewhat sequestered, probably because it was jammed with, not only books, but chairs, tables, potted plants, globes, maps, sheets of parchment, quill pens, cartographic and astronimical instruments, and other bits of scholarly-looking paraphenalia. The far wall was a large window looking out into the moonlit courtyard, and in the opposite end was a large carved wooden door, but every other inch of availible wall space was covered with bookshelves.
However, the four young creatures paid no attention to any of this. Tikkcik had produced a tray of cheese and crackers, and a large jug of citrus punch which apparently was spiked with something quite potent, and now, having consumed a large amount of all this, they were all laughing and making jokes and generally having a grand time.
Erin was positively giddy, and was slurredly trying to tell her new friends about the time she'd tried to catch a snake in the forest, when the large door suddenly opened and a very exhausted-looking Apollo walked in.
Evvey wiggled his ears comically and waved to the hare. "Hey, 'Polloh! C'mon ovah, th' pahty's ahll heah!"
Apollo was glaring now. "Look at you guys. Drunk off your butts, and you don't even care." He muttered.
"I'm not drunk..." Said Erin, sticking out her tongue. "I'm always like this-" She tried to stand up, but discovered that she couldn't, and so flopped back into her chair.
Apollo leaned against the bookcase. "You guys make me sick."
Tikkcik was getting into a dangerous attitude. "Yeah, well-"Here he hiccupped-"'s not like you ever have any fun, you pa-hic-arty pooper. Why don't you just go away."
Apollo was mad now. "Fine!" He shouted. "I'm leaving! You guys can just laugh yourselves silly. I don't care!" and with that he stomped out and slammed the door.
Tromping back down the hall, Apollo was fuming. Those insensitive little jerks, how can they behave like that at a time like this? And they've corrupted Erin now, too. I wouldn't be surprised if they- He shook his head and changed his line of thinking. Bratis is dead. The only creature who ever helped me is dead. I've got nothing to do, nobody around here even wants me here, and I'm a total loser. And Bratis is dead. And this Erin, she thought she was his daughter all her life, and now he's dead and she's in there laughing it up! How can she? She should be mourning, like me. She could at least try to comfort me. But she doesn't even care. And here I am, all alone.
Apollo was outside his own room now. Glancing back over his shoulder, he sighed. Then, as the emotions overtook him, he flung open the door, bounded inside, and threw himself on his bed.
And cried.