Chapter 25:

  Leaving the orphanage Eli felt pride settle in his chest. The Adler region wasn’t the biggest, and it wasn’t one of the core regions, but since the Rodrigos took over they had never had an issue with population growth. People flocked, Villages grew, families stayed. Not by chance, but by choice, and a lot of it began here, in places like this orphanage. Their family took stewardship seriously. When Eli looked into the eyes of the children he saw grief and loss, but he also saw hope and determination.

  We can’t bring back their families, but we can make sure that even those people with no support system would not be left adrift.

  ~

  By midday, Eli and Sela were back to Lira. The house crest on the side of the vehicle did as much to encourage people to move out of the way as the awakened beast pulling it. Stalls crowded the streets and rose from tavern chimneys as the day pushed into the height of activity.

  Inside, mother and son debriefed about their visit to the orphanage. The conversation switched from what too look at during an inspection to what Eli noticed as someone who was mostly an observer throughout the process.

  “Let us break down what we saw and what we discovered. Shall we? What conclusions can we make?” Sela asked, watching Eli’s face carefully as he turned away from the window to focus on his mother.

  “The boy with the toddler; the little one was his little sister. Their father gave them up when their mother passed away.”

  “Better to surrender them than neglect them,” Sela nodded, and something dark flickered over her expression before she refocused on Eli. So, the boy, how would you evaluate him?

  “He was very patient. He was also very good at managing emotions and multitasking.”

  “However?”

  “However, is that just with his family. How far does that patience extend. Is he good with people or just with his sister. Is he defensive, protective, does she motivate him or is she a weakness?” Eli trailed off when he noticed his mother looking at him. Perhaps he had said too much. He gave her a half smile, and she just squinted at him before nodding.

  “All good insights,” she said slowly. “What about the other kids, what else did you notice?” She asked.

  Now Eli was trapped in a bit of a dilemma. He’d already said too much, and there was no way to roll that back, but if he kept going, if he appeared too competent then he knew he would be dancing over that thin line between surprise and suspicion, curiosity and concern. So, what could he do? Silence at this point would be just as suspicious, if not more so. He needed to flip the dynamic. To make his statements seem like guesswork, or to at least re-introduce reasonable doubt into his conjectures.

  He had always been a competent diplomat, but statecraft and deception were never his forte. He reiterated to himself the need to spend some time with Master Moss, the head of their Shadow Guard, while he racked his brain.

  Maybe the answer was simpler than he believed. When in doubt ask questions. So that’s what he did. His observations went from statement to conjecture, and it was that subtle uncertainty that eased his mother’s suspicions.

  “The girl who stopped the fight seemed steady, but was she really brave?” He did not elaborate. “And the person with the slate, what were they working on?” Then he turned to his mother. “Is the house sponsoring artists?” He asked. What he was saying was still obviously insightful, but not nearly to the same level. His apparent conclusions were just far enough off the mark that he could be considered generally observant instead of professionally so. His mother smiled as they continued the conversation.

  “Yes, it is difficult to get a good read on people from brief glimpses or solitary interactions. It is why empathy mages are so sought after. Even those with weak affinities are coveted after – sometimes even preferred. People have layers, even children.” She smiled, pulled her son even closer to herself, and gently brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. Eli scrunched up his face but didn’t protest.

  He thought about Crow, and about how he could sense the boy’s natural mana despite him being unawakened. If he wasn’t mistaken, one such empathy mage was about to walk directly into his hands. He wondered how he would explain that away to his parents, but that was a problem for future Eli.

  “Oh, my little star. Do not think so hard. You have time.” Sela said, running her fingers through her son’s hair. “Come now, tell me more of what you were seeing.”

  The conversation wound on as they made their way through the town. Despite the earlier gaff, Eli found himself enjoying the moment. He had missed his mother. Her warmth and her wisdom.

  As they turned toward the keep again, Eli turned to his mother.

  “Mama, Aria is in town,” he hedged.

  “She is,” Sela agreed.

  “We could have lunch with her.” It was a leading statement, and Sela just smiled at her son.

  “What have you done?”

  Eli just pressed his lips together and pointed. There, on the side of the road, at the very edge of town stood a little girl with light brown skin and a curly mop of hair.

  Sela just looked at her son, her son who was making it a point to look anywhere else.

  “You are something else, my star,” she said, but Eli could hear the smile in her voice. Sela sent a message to the driver and the carriage stopped just in time for Aria to be ushered inside.

  She offered Sela an awkward bow that almost had her toppling over in the confines of the vehicle, however her proud, beaming grin towards Eli was all the confirmation Sela needed that her son had a hand in the ‘spontaneous’ appearance of his best friend.

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  “Hello, my lady,” she said. Her voice quiet, but genuinely pleased. It was a long way from the utterly meek greetings of months past.

  “Hello, little Aria. I take it your rounds went well?” Sela asked. Both Eli and Sela caught the grimace that flashed over Aria’s face before she buried it behind a more subdued but still genuine smile. She just nodded her head.

  “Mother, would it be all right if Aria stayed over again?” Eli asked. At that question both Eli and Aria turned to look at the Lady Rodrigo with the same look of anxious expectation. Sela couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head.

  “I suppose you have both done well today.” She nodded, and the children both cheered before she quieted them down again. “If we are going to make a habit of this, then it is a good idea to arrange some things at the keep.”

  At this, Aria flushed, her face turning anxious while Eli brimmed with delight.

  “I don’t wanna be a burden,” she said at the same time Eli said: “That is brilliant, Mama.”

  Sela just shook her head before sending another message to the driver. At that the carriage turned back into town.

  “Let us have a midday meal out. What do you say?” Sela said. It wasn’t really a question, but both children replied in the affirmative anyway.

  ~

  There was only really one upscale eatery in Lira. It was located in Hightown and catered more so to the wealthy merchants who frequented the border town as well as to the occasional guest of higher station. The restaurant smelled of broth and bread. They were given a private table on the upper floor that overlooked the rest of the eatery. Sela ordered for all of them, preventing Aria from agonizing over a menu and her son from deviating from his set diet.

  Over the course of the meal Aria relaxed by degrees, the lines of tension softening from her face as Eli regaled her with a comically overblown recounting of his great adventure to a neighbouring town. The obvious exaggerations had both children giggling as Sela played along with her son’s theatrics.

  At another table, a group of Hightown folk ate. While the adults gossiped quietly, their children had no such tact. The children whispered and giggled, every so often glancing their way. Aria, the clear outsider in her simple attire, ducked her head in embarrassment. Eli noticed, but aside from reassuring his friend, and reminding her to keep her chin up, there wasn’t much he did but continue eating, and encouraging her to enjoy herself. He knew what they saw: butcher’s daughter at the young lord’s side. He didn’t care, and he would work on making sure that neither would she. Soon her status would be so far above them that they wouldn’t be able to glimpse her feet looking up from the ground.

  Unfortunately, the outing couldn’t last forever. By the time the carriage was pulling into the keep courtyard, the sun had dipped low. Eli knew he would not be lucky enough to skip his mundane lessons, and he was pondering the loss of his free time as a worthy sacrifice to pick up his friend and enjoy a meal out with his mother.

  Both Sela and Eli were surprised when they pulled up to the keep only to find another carriage in the process of being valeted. This alone would not be surprising or cause for alarm except the vehicle that stood waiting, polished and marked with a crest Eli half-recognized, was not ordinary at all.

  The vehicle was a rune-carriage. That absurdly expensive capital city exclusive that ran on enchantments and mana gems and did not require a beast to pull it at all. His father had once called the things wasteful, which was undoubtedly true, but it was also an incredible master craft, and a status symbol beyond mere wealth. A symbol, and a statement, that had made its way to the Rodrigo Keep.

  Sela’s gaze sharpened at once.

  “Elias, go on to your lessons, and take Aria. Use the garden way,” Sela said, her gaze fixed on the entrance of the keep.

  The garden way meant they would be entering from a different section of the keep, and so long as nothing truly outside of expected norms occurred, Eli, Aria and the mystery visitor would never cross paths. Nodding his agreement, Eli watched his mother head into the keep through the front. He marked the insignia in his memory before he turned to descend the carriage himself. One of the attendants helped him down, and he in turn moved to help Aria down.

  She shifted, her foot catching as she waffled between reaching for his hand and getting down herself. In her indecision, she failed to secure any handhold and ended up stumbling as a result. Reaching forward, Eli rushed to steady her. That is when he grabbed her arm.

  Immediately she flinched, hissed and jerked away. The moment her feet were on solid ground she was twisting out of his grip.

  Eli froze. Loosening his hold, he refused to let her squirm completely away. He blocked her body from prying eyes as he very slowly, very deliberately pushed back the cuff of her long sleeve.

  Aria tried to pull away, eyes wide, but he didn’t let go.

  On her arm was a dark handprint. It was a mottled, discoloured, reddish thing with shades of green and blue creeping in on the edges. It was ugly, and wrapped all the way around her forearm, overlapping in some places, and it was impossible to miss, standing out as it did in stark relief against her normally cool toned skin.

  Aria’s lips trembled. Tears pooled in her huge eyes as she looked up at him through her lashes. Saying nothing he gently tugged her sleeve back into place, smoothing his hand gently over the fabric before he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her small frame as she held on to him like a baby cling bear, her face pressed into his neck.

  The scene might have been almost endearing if he couldn’t feel her hot tears wetting his skin and soaking into the collar of his shirt. He carried her through the keep and around to the garden path, away from prying eyes.

  Inside, his heart pounded with impotent fury as rage surged hot and wild. He pulled deep on his core, empathy magic seizing hold, draining the fire to fuel cold clarity.

  Somehow, as he walked, his steps stayed firm, somehow as he moved, his mask never cracked.

  Aria wept silently against him, and he only held her tighter, swallowing the bile that threatened to escape. This had to stop. He had to stop this, but how. What could he do now? He could tell his parents, but all of the things that made them excellent rulers would hinder them from taking action. They couldn’t simply imprison people on a hunch or remove somebody’s child from their custody without due cause. Not unless they wanted to open themselves up to potential political backlash that could weaken their position, force them into making unfavourable concessions, or prevent them from taking certain future actions.

  There was no chance they could step in quietly, not with how public his and Aria’s friendship was. Had he been too hasty approaching her? No, he had not been aware of the butcher taking such actions against Aria the first time around, if it was indeed the butcher. Though he couldn’t think of anyone else. He had no past-future knowledge of this, and it was not something that he had dealt with on a personal level either. Aria had never mentioned anything like this to him, and they had been close…

  Had he caused this? What could he do?

  He tried and failed to wrangle his anger into something more productive as he held his best friend and tried to soothe her.

  Whatever he did couldn’t be too public, and if it was, it had to be at least nominally above reproach if he didn’t want it to blow back on his family and their interests. It was a simple calculation, the one or the many. As the Rodrigo scion, he had to choose the many. As Elias, the archmage who had returned from the end of the world and vowed to do things better, Aria was his one. He would choose her every time. She was his best friend, his favourite person. There was no way he would allow her to suffer when he could do something. Why have power if he couldn’t use it. Why be strong if he couldn’t protect the things that were important to him.

  He walked through the garden and made his way to a secluded alcove. Mme Okoro would have to wait. Sitting down, he tilted his face into the sun and held the little girl as she wept. He refused to let her continue to suffer, not when he could prevent it. He couldn’t protect her from everything, but this was just a nasty, pathetic, mundane man. He just needed to figure out the how.