[External POV]
"You don't have to be so touchy about it, Cael." Riven said with a shrug as they walked down the road. "Zael is right. If we don't start it, someone else will anyway."
"I'm not being touchy." Cael's voice climbed almost to a shout. "Just forget about it, okay?"
Riven smiled. The kind of smile that acknowledged his own success, that quiet satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten under Cael's skin without even trying.
Riven liked scenes like this. Sibling disputes. Unresolved fights with nowhere to go. He was the kind of person who'd rather watch from a distance and enjoy the show than intervene or be any part of it.
And if there was anything he liked more than the show itself, it was Cael's face when he was on the verge of losing it. Cael was used to keeping his expression empty of feeling. He knew exactly how to hide it, until he was pushed to the very edge.
And then he'd only look embarrassed about it afterwards.
