He pawed at the ground. “I’m sorry, Icetales.” He kept staring at the ground, studying the dirt and the fur on his paws, and anything but Icetales himself.
Icetales blinked and looked intently at Koamaru, his tails quivering ever so slightly. The Manectric was… sorry?
There was something in his voice to confirm that. Was that remorse? Guilt? Shame?
Before he could inquire about that, Koamaru elaborated further…
“Not telling you had nothing to do with not trusting you.” Once he began, all the words started to spill out. “You’re one of my best friends. I trust you almost more than anyone I know and I know I ruined everything but I just… I just needed you to know that it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you. I wanted to protect everyone and stop things from getting out of hand and I needed to find a way to do it but then it was too late-“
While Icetales kept a neutral stare outside of his body, he could feel some guilt starting to gnaw at him as well.
By the heavens, how much was Koamaru holding inside of him? By the way he was explaining things, the whole situation weighed and was still weighing on him a whole lot.
The Ninetales lowered his cup, completely focused on what Koamaru was saying. His tails thumped the floor when the Manectric said that he was one of his
best friends, and his heart swelled with a plethora of emotions.
Thrill. Joy. Shock. Shame. Sadness.
Oh, Sir Koamaru… I did not know that thou were…
Icetales bit his lips, debating what he was supposed to say about that. However, Koamaru had something more to say, apparently.
He sucked in a breath and sighed.
“Nevermind. I just came here to tell you I’m sorry and that I still trust you.”
And so, everything ended, but Icetales was at a loss of what to say. He rubbed his cheek with his leftmost tail, slowly digesting everything that Koamaru had admitted. And… that he trusted him.
Bejirah. I am a fool.
That is nothing new. Thou hast been reminded all thy life that thou art a fool.
Oh? Funny that thou did not say ‘we are fools’, darkness mine.
Because thou art the only fool here.
How helpful. Very helpful, indeed.
Well, retreating into his mind to ponder things carefully was out of the question, so he decided to just… wing it.
“Sir Koamaru, I appreciate thou telling me about all of this, and explaining the situation thou were roped in. That sounded,” he sighed, “like a very delicate situation, indeed.”
Icetales looked away.
“I shall be absolutely frank: I was indeed wounded upon finding out that you all withheld vital information from the team. It was painful to realize that some members of our team did not entrust what they found out to others nor warned them about what was to come. It made me wonder what kind of team we were, to begin with, and question our unity and entente.”
The Ninetales’s tails twitched erratically for a few seconds, but then they stopped. Whatever overwhelming feeling that was invading the fox had dissipated.
“…At least, this is what I believed back then. But on hindsight, I… believe we all were carried away by our emotions, and the insecurities of some members of our team surfaced in full strength.” He looked down. “Mine sure did…”
Icetales took a deep breath and shook his head. No. There was no point in dwelling on that anymore.
“Howbeit… now I understand. There was some sensible and dangerous information in play, and we have suffered the consequences of leaked vital information in the past. So… I cannot blame some folks for preferring to be more discreet this time around. As a butler, I know well about discretion and that silence is golden, under certain circumstances.”
With those words, he turned back to Koamaru and flashed a small smile. “For this reason, I do not think any less of thee nor anyone else, Sir Koamaru. I believe that you all chose to do that out of good faith, and I cannot blame you for trying to do your best for the sake of the team.”
His smile widened slightly, even if there was a glint of sadness in his eyes. “As such… I accept thy apologies, and… I sure hope thou will forgive me about… well, the entire Voidlands issue. I did not mean to offend thee in any way. I was just concerned, and… I apologize, too.”
