32.

Wash the blood from yourself and have a rest

It didn’t take long for Yana and her mages to clean up the rest of the fleeing nobles. The ones who had run had gladly been captured and taken away. The ones who were left were in no state to resist.

He sat in a temporary residence Thelo had set up for him near the stadium, staring out the window at the lights of the nighttime city after having bathed and changed. Aster had returned to Helwin already, so he was left alone in the room with Ian who, although no longer covered in blood, was still eerily determined to follow him. He was next to Dominic at the window, looking out wordlessly with him.

The uncomfortable silence was finally broken by the sound of someone coming through the hall and opening the door. They glanced over. Thelo had returned, marking the operation as finally complete.

He looked up, noticing Ian’s presence in the room.

“So this is the one you told me about?” he said.

His expression suddenly worsened after a second, and he put a hand over his nose.

“Oh, wow,” he mumbled, “you’re…covered in violence.”

The boy had bathed and changed clothes, but it was apparent to anyone who could sense mana that he still reeked of blood.

“Why did you bring him here?” Thelo asked, walking closer and slowly lowering his hand. “I thought you said you didn’t want to take care of him.”

“I don’t,” Dominic replied. “I was thinking of letting Yana find something to do with him.”

Thelo took a seat at a lounge a bit away from them.

“The royal mages are always on the lookout for talent,” he agreed. “His age will probably pull at her heartstrings too. That could work.”

His gaze traveled to Dominic, scrutinizing him carefully.

“Why’d you do that?” he asked suddenly.

“Do what?”

“All of…that. It turned out fine, but I didn’t expect you to free everybody.”

He leaned his chin on the palm of his hand.

“I didn’t take you for the type of person who’d try so hard.”

“Did you expect me to just single out the countess and drag her out?”

“That was possible,” he replied. “I also thought that you might put everyone there to sleep at once.”

“I told you I needed to make noise for the king.”

Thelo laughed dryly.

“Well, that certainly counted as noise,” he remarked. “That was probably the noisiest thing he’s heard in decades.”

“Has Yana returned to report to him yet?” Dominic asked.

“Not yet. There’s cleanup work yet to be done at the stadium, but that has nothing to do with us now.”

Dominic’s eyes drifted towards the door as he felt a presence quickly approaching.

“I think Yana’s skipping the cleanup work too.”

It burst open, the mage stomping inside.

“I have a lot to say to you,” she said, moving towards Dominic.

“Don’t we all?” Thelo added with a sarcastic smile.

Before she could get too close, Ian stepped in front of him, glaring up at Yana. She looked at the boy, confused.

“Ian,” Dominic said, “sit down.”

He hesitated a moment before slowly backing away and returning to his seat. Yana watched him all the way, her previous surprise having turned into interest.

“Who’s this?” she asked. “Ian?”

“A slave I freed from the arena a couple weeks ago,” he replied.

“A…servant?”

“A fighter.”

Her expression tightened with emotion.

“Oh dear…”

She knelt down, taking Ian’s hand in hers. He tensed at the touch, but didn’t pull away.

“You’re going to be okay now, sweetie,” she said. “I swear.”

Ian didn’t know how to respond, only staring back at her with those clear green eyes.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about him,” Dominic said.

“Tell me anything.”

“Can you take care of him?”

She looked over, eyes widening.

“Me?”

She must have assumed that Dominic had already become the boy’s guardian.

“Yes,” he replied, nodding.

“He seems to like you, though.”

“I can’t provide the help he needs.”

No matter how much Ian clung to him, he wasn’t someone who could take the time to mend all the trauma he’d accumulated. Not to mention, there was the real possibility that Dominic might not even be on the continent for much longer. He wasn’t going to bring a child who wasn’t even mentally stable anywhere with him.

“I’d like you to take him, if you can,” he said. “Or find him someplace that can help him.”

“I’ll take him.”

Yana’s reply was immediate and resolute.

“He’s a strong reinforcement mage,” Thelo added. “I’m sure the royal mages will welcome his talent.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

She looked up at the boy.

“What do you think, Ian?” she asked. “You can come with this old lady, if you want.”

He hesitated, briefly glancing up at Dominic. Dominic just nodded softly towards him. Go ahead. The choice is yours.

“…Name,” he murmured, turning back to Yana. “Your name.”

She smiled.

“Yana.”

He repeated it slowly, letting the sound roll off his tongue.

“Yana.”

He pursed his lips, still unsure of whether or not he liked it.

“Will you come see me?” he asked, turning to Dominic.

“Eventually,” Dominic replied. He would certainly end up in the capital at some point to speak to the king, but the mages would return before then. “Yana will go first, and I’ll catch up with you later.”

Ian frowned. He looked back down at the calloused hands gripping his, and slowly nodded.

“I’ll go,” he said.

Yana’s expression brightened, and she threw her arms around the boy.

“I’ll take good care of you,” she replied. “I promise, Ian.”

Yana parted from him, but he still held onto the edge of her cloak with a hand.

“When will you be leaving?” Thelo asked.

“Soon,” she answered. “Probably tonight. The others are almost done cleaning up.”

“Alright. Dominic should start heading back then too.”

“Ah, hold on a second,” Yana interjected. “I forgot that I had things to ask him before we started talking about Ian.”

She turned to him.

“Count Haema is furious,” she said.

Dominic raised an eyebrow.

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all, in fact I’m really enjoying this,” she admitted with a slightly bashful smile. “The problem is that his army is far harder for us to deal with than arena slaves. It’s good that they’re freed, but trained soldiers with no connections, no education, and nowhere to go could be a big problem.”

“Are you worried about crime?”

“Partially. But there’s also the possibility that they’ll just end up being conscripted again into basically slave-like contracts anyway.”

“The royal forces can’t take them?”

“There would be even more unrest among the dissenting nobles if we do.”

Dominic glanced over at Thelo.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Thelo put a hand to his chin as he mulled it over. A smile slowly spread across his face.

“I think Helwin could take care of them,” he said, the look in his eyes turning slier by the second. “They would undoubtedly come if I mention your name. We practically don’t have a military to begin with, so this would solve that issue immediately.”

“And of course you’d treat them well,” Yana added, giving him a pointed look.

“Haha, of course!”

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” she mumbled. “We’ll have to let the soldiers decide for themselves in the end, but I’ll report it as that.”

Thelo smiled as he nodded.

“Naturally.”

He was glowing at the possibility of finally having a military in Helwin. Dominic sighed and stood.

“I’ll be going back first then,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything left for me to do here.”

“Go safely,” Yana replied. “I’ll take good care of Ian.”

He nodded to her, then glanced over at Thelo. Thelo shot him a smile.

“Go on,” he said. “And have the butler draw a hot bath for you. I didn’t want to bring it up earlier because you seemed to be in a bad mood but…”

His gaze flicked towards Ian for a split second before moving back.

“…you reek of blood too.”

Dominic turned away.

“I know.”

He headed for the door, taking a deep breath once it clicked shut behind him.

He had left it behind already, but the stench of Maylia Arena refused to let go.

∞

That night, Dominic couldn’t sleep. Even though he got back late, no matter how much he tried to settle into bed, he found himself on edge. He couldn't even use a sleep spell to fix the problem because they didn’t work when self-cast. He rolled around unsuccessfully a couple more times before giving in to his restlessness and taking the only logical next step.

He opened the window and leapt out.

The night air was warm, summer having properly descended onto the coast. Blades of wild grass scraped against the soles of his feet and brushed past his ankles, this part of the estate’s gardens having been left to its own devices since Thelo became the lord. He always said he’d get to it eventually, after he got through the ten thousand more important problems Helwin had first. Dominic continued through the greenery, feeling as the shade of a tree was cast over him, covering the stars.

He leaned his back against the trunk and slid down, exhausted but unable to sleep. The scents of the night washed over him, a wave of cool mana cutting through the humidity of summer by the ocean. Green leaves and broken grass stems. The dry smell of bark, lichen creeping over it in little white patches. Soil, mud, moss, the faint babbling of a brook. It wound through the trees, barely enough water to even wet their roots, trickling away through the rounded pebbles of the streambed to a place Dominic couldn’t see.

A black beetle crawled onto his thigh, and he placed his hand in its path. He felt the pitter-patter of its tiny feet as it marched onto his skin, unafraid of his size, unknowing of how small it was in comparison. Bugs had distinctive scents, but they never actually gave off any mana. They were just too insignificant in the eyes of magic. Yet it still roved on, unperturbed, making it all the way to the tip of Dominic’s index finger before deciding against its latest endeavor.

The beetle lifted its elytra and took flight, buzzing off into the trees, merging with the other sounds that ruled the night. Crickets and cicadas. The song that defined summer, both here and in Vaine. A symphony made up of insignificant things.

Dominic closed his eyes. He considered, for a moment, returning to the lighthouse. He could do it. It wasn’t far. But just as quickly, the thought evaporated.

He stared up through the black silhouettes of tree branches. The sky was clear, completely devoid of cloud cover. The scent of salt and ash drifted in on the breeze. He didn’t want to go back into the fog. Not now; not for tonight.

From between a crack in the branches, a bright, white object glowed. It was shaped like a deformed diamond, aligned diagonally in the sky, floating there awkwardly as if it was only a passing shard that had been chipped off of a bigger star.

Uliana was full today. Dominic stared at the small moon, and wondered if Ian had seen it yet.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was already dawn.

∞

By the time he got back to his room and properly cleaned himself up—despite it being barely past sunrise—Thelo had already called for him. He had probably ignored going to sleep entirely and instead worked all night. He simply handed Dominic a letter, tied using an expensive silk ribbon, without looking up from the papers he was scribbling on.

“From the king?” Dominic asked.

“Mhm. Take it.”

“I can’t read.”

“It’s going to be an invitation, regardless of the words that are actually there.”

He took the letter, undid the seal, and unfurled it. Thelo glanced over momentarily, then nodded as he looked back down to his work again.

“Yeah,” he said. “An invitation. Congratulations. You got the audience you wanted.”

“When is it?”

“At your discretion.”

That was strange, especially for a monarch who was obviously going to have a packed schedule. Dominic stared at the letter a moment longer, then folded it twice.

“I’ll leave quickly then,” he said, placing the paper into his sleeve.

“Go ahead. Put in a good word for me.”

“Do that yourself.”

Thelo snorted, then glanced up at Dominic. He studied him for a moment, eyes flicking up and down.

“That’s weird,” he remarked. “It hasn’t even been a day.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“The stench of blood is gone.”

His paused for a moment. He hadn’t even noticed himself. A calm smile spread across his face.

“I wash myself of these things quickly,” he replied.

Thelo stared at him, then chuckled dryly.

“I don’t know if I should be impressed or afraid.”

He turned back to his work, and Dominic left his office, moving down the hall. Aster, who had been eavesdropping from outside the door, trotted up to him and kept pace.

“Are you going to the capital next?” he asked.

Dominic nodded. The boy glanced up at him warily.

“…Am I coming?”

He stopped in his tracks, watching as Aster passed him by a step, then looked back.

“Brother—?”

He roughly put a hand on the boy’s head and ruffled his hair.

“Go pack,” he said. “We’re leaving right now.”

Aster stared at him for a second before the words finally registered. His expression brightened instantly, a huge smile spreading across his face.

“Yes!”