Catalin gives no response as the earthbender leaves, Corelia giving her a shy wave goodbye with her brother between them.

As soon as she's gone, the twins share a gaze for a long moment.  He breaks it first, looking somewhat ashamed.  "Yes, I know I'm doing it for the wrong reason.  But after what father did..."  He clenches his scarred fists, anger boiling up inside him until his sister gives him a hug, kneeling beside him.
"It's okay, Kitten.  I know."  The tension drains out of him in her embrace, and he sniffs, leaning his head against her chest, ear to her heart.
"Strong and steady, as always, Elli," he confirms with a smile.  "I don't know what I'd do without you..."

She smiles back and holds him tighter.  It doesn't really bear thinking about what he'd do without her..."Um...what will we do about Lili?  What if she finds out?"
His smile disappears.  "I think she might already know.  If she doesn't, good.  She won't.  If she does...we'll see."

They hold each other for a short time longer before he stands.  "I'll run a bath for you tonight.  Why don't you go get ready while I get these leftovers put away?" he asks with a light kiss on her cheek.  She nods and heads over behind the privacy screen while he deals with the leftovers.  As he does, his hand strikes the pouch of coins on the ground again.  So much money...just what would they do with it...

"Very good," Catalin says with a nod before turning his attention back to his soup.  "Oh, and one more thing.  The door is locked at sundown.  Come back in before and don't leave after if you want to be sure to be able to get back in.  We may or may not be awake to let you in."  He takes another bite of his soup.  "I believe that's it.  Aside from those rules, do as you will."

The whispering continues for a moment longer before Corelia peeks out from behind the screen.  The fear in her eyes melts into concern when she sees her expression.  "Lili, are you alright?" she asks quietly.  She begins stepping further out, but stops as Catalin steps out as well, returning to his spot.  Well, near it, anyway.  He sits on one of the sleeping mats, facing the wall, and pulls the pot of soup over to himself along with Lili's bowl.  Not bothering with the ladle, he bends some soup into the bowl and calmly begins eating, seemingly ignoring Lilibeth for now.

Corelia nervously steps out the rest of the way from the screen and comes to Catalin's previous spot, timidly facing the earth bender.  She reaches down and picks up the bag of coins and looks inside.  Her eyes widen.

"Buh-"  Catalin recoils slightly and flails out to catch the airborne bag, missing it by a mile if his arms were that long.  It's stopped inches from his face by Corelia reaching up from her embrace to snatch it out of the air.
He turns his head away and takes the bag from her hand, leaving it free to return to around him, where she squeezes him tighter.  The previous look in her eyes is replaced by a look of fear and her head retreats farther back behind her brother.  "Please be more careful," she breathes out timidly.  "My brother...he..."

"I did," Catalin replies in response to her assertion that it was him.  "It was her idea, though."  Corelia shakes him again, and it's clear from her resigned expression that this is something she deals with often.  She blushes and smiles at the compliment to her culinary skills.  "As for payment, could you at least wait until I'm done to pay me?  There's still a slight bit of damage that I didn't get to yet."  He waves his hand over his face and the water he splashed over it rises to cover his hand.

"Come on, Kitten, we need the money," Corelia says quietly.
"If we need it, then we'll earn it.  I won't take it for a job left half-done."

Their home isn't too far from where they picked up Lilibeth, and before long she's being carried through their front door.  It's a single-room affair, a water pump in one corner next to a pit dug into the ground, a largely superfluous privacy screen between it and most of the room.  Set into one wall is a small fireplace with some rudimentary cooking tools nearby as well as an icebox.  Occupying another corner is a pair of sleeping mats placed close together.  There's no floor aside from the soil.

"Over on one of the mats, please," Catalin says to his sister as he goes to the pump, stumbling once on the way over.  He kicks the shoes off his earthen feet and grabs a bucket while she carries the woman over to the mats, laying her across them and spreading the blankets over her and a spare shirt under her head.  He reaches to the base of the pump and bends some water out and into the bucket before carrying it over to their side.  "Oh sure, both of them?  Fine."
Corelia blushes sheepishly and begins shifting her to only one but Catalin stops her.  "Thank you for doing this, Kitten," she says to him softly.
"Thank me when I'm done.  I might not be able to do it without rest first."  He shakes his head and kneels down.  "I'll just get this over with."

Catalin reaches his hands into the water.  When he withdraws them, they're covered in liquid gloves.  He moves them to her head at the site of her injury where they begin glowing, applying his mending powers to the damaged area.  As he works, a small smile creeps onto his face.  Though it's certainly not something he goes out of his way to do, applying his healing arts always did fill him with a special feeling that was never matched by almost anything else he did.  It made him feel...significant.

A short time later, he slumps forward, nearly falling on his patient before Corelia catches him, his water bent gloves falling from his hands onto the dirt floor next to Lilibeth's head.  "Careful, Kitten," she says, smiling gently as she rights him.
"That's...about as much...as I'm going to..."  He slumps again, this time falling against his sister.  She hugs him tight and he lays his head against her chest, listening to her heartbeat for a moment.  "Need sleep..."
She nods and picks him up.  "Sure thing."  She carries him over to the wall opposite the sleeping mats and places him down.  He's already unconscious and goes without a sound.  Once he's in place, she goes back to their guest and takes one of the blankets to lay over her brother and a spare dress of hers is folded up and placed under his head.  "Sleep well, Kitten," she whispers, then stands again.  Without further ado, she walks over to the bucket Catalin filled and picks it up, pouring it into the pot next to the fireplace to begin making a meal.

Catalin and his twin sister begin crossing the largely deserted street.  He rubs at his eyes tiredly with his right hand with his left still in hers, her now carrying the bag with their groceries in it.  He stumbles and she catches him, and she has them stop so he can catch his breath.

At this point Corelia catches sight of someone staggering in their direction and ducks behind her brother, peering over his head at the woman.  When it becomes clear that she seems to have some kind of problem with her head, she points out the figure to her brother, who removes his hand from his eyes to begin swirling it.  "I'm aware," he says back to her.  "Please, I'm tired.  Can't we just-"

"No," she says back to him quietly.  "You wouldn't help that man, you can at least help her."
"But-"
"No."  Corelia begins gently herding her brother towards the woman, and he shakes his head resignedly, rubbing at his eyes again.

It had been a good day at the market, but being a good day isn't enough to bring a smile to Catalin's face.  He never smiled in public.  Like dropping your pants in public, it was just something he didn't do.  His emotions are something for his eyes and his sister's only, even though he knows she would prefer it otherwise.

But that's even if he was in a mood to smile when they were alone.  As it stands, he never is after a shopping trip.  So much noise, so many eyes.  He pulls his hood farther along his face to further veil his face in shadow.  On his right hip he wears his water flask and opposite that the bag holding the food and supplies they just bought as they walk their way to the single-room shack they call home.