Caius had been surprised to see signs of surgery on Vordun when he checked on him. He had no idea that the wounds from the battle with the giant merged robot house were that bad. Sure, Vordun had gotten roughed up and Caius had mainly sent him Celes’ way as a just in case measure, but he hadn’t realized it was that bad. Celes had picked it up where he hadn’t and while he was grateful to her, he felt ashamed. He had missed that, and not only failed as Vordun’s owner but had put a burden on Celes.

He’d make it up to her. Perhaps he should stay in Torensten a little longer… While Caius wasn’t one to stay in one place too long, he’d been considering trying to alleviate things for Celes if he could. This might be a good time to start. He was getting better at dealing with the papers, in the few times he had relieved her. But Celes could still handle them faster. Dealing with paperwork and training the recruits was something she said she wanted to do, and Caius had all the respect in the world for her ability to pull it off -- but it didn’t mean she had to handle it alone. Now that the Dragonblades were growing, maybe he could afford to stick around longer than he usually did and help out on that front. Keep improving and take a bit of strain off his business partner. He doubted he’d ever do it as well as her, Celes was a natural leader and commander, and knew this stuff well, while Caius had grown up fighting on the front lines. But he'd damn well try.

When he heard her voice call out, Caius couldn’t help it as his expression visibly lightened and his eyes seemed to brighten in turn. For a moment, it was as if the past few weeks hadn’t happened and his fatigue was temporarily pushed aside. His posture straightened despite moments before seeming ready to fall over. He still felt like death, but he could manage to hold off on falling over for a bit longer. Adjusting his collar without realizing he was doing it, he slowly made his way towards the source.

"Sabin?" he inquired when Celes came into sight. "Is that a client, or a recruit? You've been busy" he remarked casually, managing a warm smile. When she turned, Caius formally placed a hand to his heart and bowed his head. "Celes, it's good to see you" he spoke softly. Not seeing anyone else around to address, and giving her a few moments longer to address this "Sabin" if she needed to (He didn't want to interrupt her business). When that was clear, his gaze trained on her as he took a deep breath, his emotions welling up just a little as he spoke the first thing on his mind. "I saw Vordun. Thank you, it means the world you did that" he almost whispered. "I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you."

He'd startled her on accident. Whoops. He gave an apologetic look, but didn't speak on the subject, instead moving to business. "If you'll vouch for him, I suppose no need for a tryout. I trust you" he brought up, managing a smile. "I'll introduce myself next time he's around."

Perhaps he was a bit emotional over a dragon. But Caius had raised Vordun. Spent almost every day with Vordun. Vordun was the closest thing to Caius’ own child, and it was clear he cared about the drake dearly. The last thing Caius had expected was for Celes to have to go out of her way and perform surgery on a dragon, especially one that she was clearly nervous to be around. He wasn’t blind to that fact. But Caius didn’t — couldn’t have realized what needed to be done at the time, he’d just figured Vordun was banged up and if it turned out it was a bit more extensive than what his own healing magic could handle, Celes was far more powerful of a healing magic user than he was. Surely it would have been a cinch for her. But it hadn’t been. And she’d done it anyway, even if she’d clearly been upset at him and avoiding him, with no hesitation. And considering he’d likely only just found out recently that Vordun’s injury was that extensive, it was little shock his emotions were running a little high when it came to the subject.

He had inconvenienced her far more than he had meant to. He wasn’t happy about that, but he was deeply grateful all the same. She said it was fine, though Caius had begun to notice a pattern of awkwardness, short answers, hesitation. She'd been this way with him for the last while too, in the few times they'd spoken. Seemed he wasn't imagining that something was up.

”You should go sit. Or rest. Or something” she brought up. He nodded his head. "I will soon."

The adrenaline was keeping him going for now. But it wouldn't last forever.

”I’ve just been working. You know how it is” she said, and he smiled lightly. "I saw the Mog issue on my way back. You've been doing well" he brought up. She'd been getting out of the office more, it sounded like. He wondered again about if maybe covering for her at the office a bit more often might be best.

”So. I guess we’re both here now.”

"Yeah."

He scratched his head. Now he was awkward. Did she mean what he thought she meant? He didn't know, but the tension was killing him here. He supposed if possible, it was best to get this over with.

"I uh... If you have a free moment, I was uh... Hoping to sit down and talk. It's... Not a big deal if you're busy. It can wait. If you're free, um, I can grab something to drink if you want to sit down?"

“I thought it was great” he answered casually with a light smile when Celes expressed she should have said something better. She'd represented them well, so he couldn't be happier about that. Caius was always big on the Dragonblades being represented well, as especially in Torensten, that could make or break them. King Hremit and the people of Torensten had always been big on honor. Making sure they conducted things and spoke honorably, while obviously the right thing to do, would also ensure they could continue their work. And continue to grow, at that. If this bombed, well... Caius didn't really have much else. It was as he had told a certain orange-haired young lady a long time ago - The Dragonblades gave him purpose.

Celes agreed to sit down and talk, but Caius saw it. I mean, it wasn't like she was being subtle. She had suddenly gone very, very cold. And he wasn't being subtle about the fact he'd seen it either. His eyes widened as he stared at her a moment, taken aback by it. Hurt welled up in his eyes throughout that moment, and he averted his eyes after the moment had passed. Had he really let this fester for so long that it had gotten this bad? He quietly cursed himself for letting it go this far. Or was this even the only reason she was upset? He just... Didn't know. All he could do was handle what he knew, and hopefully if there was something else, perhaps it would come out. If she was upset at him, he wanted to make it right if he could.

”You’re right. We do have something to talk about.”

What did she mean by that? That bugged him, but he knew he couldn't worry too much about it for now. As much as he did very much worry about it. It was an anxiety he couldn't keep away. He tried. He really did. But this was Celes. This was... This was the one person he cared about the most.

He quietly nodded his head and said no more. He let out an exhale to steady himself as he went to get their drinks. Before long he had returned with them, gingerly handing one to her before sitting down in the chair opposing hers. He stared at her a moment, trying to find the words. Trying to pull back everything he'd been reminding himself to say. He was... Not good at words. Nor at memorizing what to say. He'd played this back in his head a hundred times now, but now that he was here? It was like it had all just disappeared. God, did he really have to wing it? This could be bad, but...

In the end, he was just going to have to speak from his heart and hope for the best. As bad as that might end up being.

Another long exhale. A long drink to wet his lips and cull the dryness in his throat. Finally he looked to her proper as he cleared his throat.

"I uh..."

He was blowing it. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but eventually he managed to get ahold of himself, at least enough.

"I owe you an apology."

Here we go. He met her eyes.

"I... I wanted to bring this up sooner, but we both know that I'm not very good at, you know... Words" he admitted, managing a small, nervous laugh. No, no he was not. "I wanted to find the right words to say, not bungle this up, but... Yeah."

He took a breath. Okay. For real this time.

"I understand how much your worth as a warrior means to you. And yet on our last mission together, I... Well, I hesitated to send you down there. And I know you saw me do it, I saw the look you had. I know I shouldn't have. And since not long after you've been distant, and while I don't know if this is the reason, the least I can do is start to make it right. But... What happened on that day wasn't me thinking you couldn't do it. Quite the opposite actually. But I guess it just... Hit me. While I had no lack of confidence in your capabilities, fact was that whoever went down there was taking a huge risk. And.... I realized that I wouldn't know what to do if you died. I don't know if I could continue this mission of ours if you died, and... Well..."

He bit his lip. "I consider you my best friend. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. For a moment, I told myself that I'd rather risk myself. I'd rather die myself than have to live in a world where you weren't there. Without you, all of this falls apart, and... In a way, so do I. On top of that... Their ire was directed at me. In my eyes at the time, the responsibility of taking care of that was mine to bear. If you died because of me, I could never forgive myself."

He took another breath, steadied himself once more. "But at the end of the day... I understood that you can take care of yourself. On top of that, if anyone was going to get it done... It was you. I... Would even go so far as to say that out of the two of us, you had a better chance of surviving that than I did."

He sighed. "But I still hesitated. I still disrespected you. And it's been bothering me since. And if I've upset you, if I've slighted you, I am so sorry. I should have told you straight up right away. I shouldn't have waited this long, nor should I have hesitated in the first place. Most of all..."

His expression hardened as he felt that determination to say what came next.

"From the bottom of my heart. I want you to know without a shadow of a doubt that I respect you and your capabilities to the highest degree. You possibly more than anyone else in this life. And I'm sorry if even for a second I made you think that I consider you any less than how I really do feel."

He let out an exhale, as if a world had been lifted off his shoulders from finally getting that out. He let out a small laugh at the thought that came next.

"Honestly, I admitted to Yuna recently that you are literally the last person I'd want to be on the opposite side of a battlefield to. You're terrifying when you fight" he admitted, that smile finally starting to come back. "That's a good thing, of course. I don't know how anyone up and decides to mess with you. I wouldn't."

Despite the smile though, he had started to read her expressions. He didn't know how she would react, how she would respond. Had he bungled it up? He didn't know. And that worried him.

The smile slowly faded in the silence that followed, and his hands tightened a bit in anticipation.

Well, practiced had been the intention. By the time he'd said it though, not a single thing he'd prepared had come out and he'd just winged it. He did say he wasn't good at that, after all.

His frown deepened when she spoke up. Cold, harsh. His expression moved between clearly being upset, at points guilty, others utterly confused as she completely lambasted him. He didn't know what to think. He knew there was a possibility she'd lose it at him, but while she wasn't exactly yelling, this was still the last thing he wanted. But he had said flat out that he wanted to start on making things right. At least now he knew what was wrong, or at least to an extent.

Caius waited for her to finish, letting a silence hang for a long moment. He'd bit his lip, and hard at that. For a little bit, he just stared at his drink, trying to process everything she'd said. But finally, he took a breath, settled himself down, and looked to her. "Do I really do that constantly?" he asked in almost a whisper. His tone was hurt. But not hurt by her. Hurt by the fact that he had made her feel this way, regardless of his intentions. "I know that there was that one time, and I gave my reasons there, but... If that's happened beyond that time, I don't remember. But..." he trailed off. Another exhale. "If I have, I apologize. I never intended to pull you back, or make you feel as though you weren't..."

Weren't what? God, finding words was hard.

"... Weren't, well, you. We're warriors, danger's part of it. This is our job. I remember hesitating once, but it sounds like I need to be more aware of what I say and do if I've done it past that."

Then it came to what he'd been saying. Why she was mad. This was... A slippery slope, to say the least and he wasn't entirely sure how to approach it. But he'd try.

"As far as what I've been saying goes, I... I guess you're right. I didn't consider how you would have felt" he spoke softly. He'd remained relatively calm on the surface despite everything, though his voice broke at points. Inside though, everything was on fire. "That was wrong of me. That's not a burden you should bear, and I shouldn't have said things like that. I'm not great at words, and trying to convey how I feel about things is... Difficult. But I've put a burden on you that I never meant to, and I apologize for that."

But it was her last words, much of it was... Well, he didn't really understand a good deal of it. He tapped his fingers on the glass a few times, trying to find the words. Another breath. The nerves seemed to escalate when he spoke next, but he steeled himself nonetheless.

"Forgive me, but... Some of what you've said doesn't make sense to me straight off, and maybe I'm missing something. But did I really say that you were the light in my dark and the only thing that keeps me going?" he inquired, blinking a few times in turn. "That doesn't sound like something I'd say, I guess? I might have said the Dragonblades give me purpose, perhaps. What we do here, the Dragonblades. They keep me going. I love doing this, I love getting up in the morning to go out there and work with the group, and going out and helping people. That's given me something to look forward to, a purpose to fight for, I'll wholly admit."

He tilted his head slightly, very much trying to recall if he had said those things. But nothing came. His voice settled a little, his tone deepened into something more serious. He met her eyes.

"You are invaluable to me. When I said that there is nobody I would rather have fighting by my side, I meant every word. And I don't think that's ever going to change. You probably stopped me from doing something stupid after that incident before, and I will forever be grateful for that. But I genuinely don't recall saying those things. As far as wanting something more... I don't understand what you mean. Maybe I'm not remembering right, but a lot of this isn't making any sense to me. Is there any chance you could elaborate a bit?"

He was a little annoyed at not having any real context to a fair bit of this. But what was important to him was that he had hurt her. He let out a sigh.

"Either way, I've made you think that I expect all of these high things of you, and absolute perfection, and... Well... Yeah. And I apologize for that. I never wanted to make you feel that way, and I still wish I hadn't. I wish you'd brought this up when you first started to feel like this, honestly. I would have listened and tried my best before to make it right. But while not all of it makes complete sense to me, what's clear is I need to re-evaluate what I say and do. That, I can do."