Kain followed Mrs. Fortem into what he assumed was her private living room. It was huge, much larger than the one in his bedroom. It may have been bigger than the room itself. There were two seperate seating areas. One faced a fire pit and the other surrounded a white piano. Each seating area had its own style, art, color palette, and chandelier. Mrs. Fortem strolled to one of the couches by the piano and sat down. Kain didn’t follow suit, he opted to remain standing to the side of her.

She called him over, “Kain my dear, have a seat.”

Kain wasn’t keen, “There’s no need Mrs. I’ve been laying down for—”

“Nonsense, to leave my guest standing would bring shame to my house.” She clearly wasn't having it.

Kain didn’t back down however, she was giving him an odd vibe. She clearly wanted something from him. He could make assumptions as to what it was, but it didn’t matter. He wanted nothing to do with her, dealing with her husband was the far safer bet.

“I must insist. After being asleep for so long, I would like to take this chance to stretch my legs.”

She was about to retort, but Kain quickly continued, “Plus. I’m merely a child you were generous enough to lend a helping hand. Considering that, It would be rude of me assume the role of a guest.”

Mrs. Fortem smiled, “Is that so?”

She got up from the couch and stood in front of him. Kain was torn between appearing stoic or elusive. Being stoic would put a clear wall between them, something he would very much like, but it ran the risk of making her sour. He may want nothing to do with her, but he still needed her husband. His powers had no upside if they couldn’t be used. He could very well find another malsir to teach him, but he wasn’t willing to roll the dice on what the cost would be. They already had what appeared to be the beginnings of an amicable relationship, there was no need to overly jeopardize that. As such, he chose to be elusive. He’d play her game, but only just. He’d still keep his distance. Mentally that is.

While Kain was configuring his approach, Mrs. Fortem was feeling his shoulder blades. He was standing with his hands crossed behind his back and the his posture was accentuating the broadness of his shoulders. He wasn’t particularly large, for an Imurian he was only slightly taller than average, but to Mrs. Fortems surprise he had quite a bit of muscle. Whether it was from birth or his willingness to do manual labor, Kain was rather athletic. The muscle Mrs. Fortem was feeling in his chest wasn’t bulky, but lean.

She lifted her hands off his chest, lightly smirking in the processes, “Is calling yourself a child not a bit mischievous?”

Kain smiled awkwardly, “I am only 16 Mrs, by la—”

“By our culture you’re already a man.” She let out a big smile, “You would have trained your whole life for the day you would stand on your own and at the end of this year you would have been kicked out to do just that.”

Kain coughed, “I apologize, I do not know much about our culture. The schools here do not teach it sadly.”

That was a lie. He had a friend named Jon and his parents had quite a few books about the Imuru Empire. There were a number of Imurian books in the library as well. Beyond just reading about it, he’d heard many, many stores about life there too. His mother was the main narrator, but she had a host of friends that would share their own anecdotes. He was far from lacking in knowledge about Imurian culture.

“Sad indeed.” The smile on her face faded for a moment, but only a moment, “But fortunately your mother was versed in our culture. She’s raised a remarkable son.”

Kain chuckled softly, “You flatter me.”

“I do no such thing. You’re strong, well mannered, and exceedingly bright. Your mother’s clearly been prepping you to stand on your own two feet.”

“Your words are too kind, thank you.” Kain slightly bowed his head, “But neither of us are ready for that. I’m still my mother’s son.”

Mrs, Fortem quickly replied, “And you always will be. Eve—”

What’s she getting at?

…

Kaige?

…

KAIGE!

Huh? What? What do you want?

The hell are you doing?

Analyzing some things

… What does that mean?

Ugh. The walls are—

Actually nevermind, how much of our conversation have you paid attention to?

With who, her?

No. The piano.

Cute. None of it.

Seriously?

I apologize I’ve been preoccupied with something a bit more interesting than a woman trying to wed her daughter.

What? The Fortems don’t have a daughter.

They most definitely do.

No they… how do you know?

They came to visit you. A lot.

How do you know she was her daughter? Surely their sahir can’t tell you that?

No, your ears were all I needed. Unless she has random girls running around call her mother, they—

Cutting off the conversations he was having with both Kaige and Mrs. Fortem, the door opened. Kain was rather thankful, he wasn’t enjoying the direction either conversation was heading. He quickly realized however, that whoever the intruder was didn’t knock. The list of people who could get away with such a thing couldn’t be long. Having been facing away from the door, he couldn’t see who it was. He hoped it was Mr.Fortem, but before he could turn to have his hopes crushed he heard their voice.

“You called mother?”

—————

Maleek was furious.When his wife had asked to meet Kain before he talked with him further, he should have known she was up to something. At the time he thought she merely wanted to meet the boy he had such high hopes for, but he was wrong. Very wrong.

They’re daughters hadn’t been seen by anyone outside their estate in almost two decades. 16 years ago, a year after his oldest daughter was born, a group of men had attempted to kidnap her. Her nanny had taken her outside to give her a bit of fresh air, she did so every morning. It had been apart of their morning routine for a few months when the attack happened. Maleek had been an influential figure in Bruyn for many, many years. The men had hoped to ransom the girl for a part of the wealth he had grown in those years. They failed, but how close they came to succeeding haunted him.

Keeping them hidden had worked out quite well over the years. He had the resources to hire private tutors so they never lacked for education and most of the town only knew he had sons. Until they were legally an adults, he wished for things to stay that way. Yet, his wife had risked it all just to introduce them to Kain. It was infuriating, but he calmed himself. Kain was walking a few strides behind him.

Maleek turned his head to check on him, they had walked in silence since he took him from his wife’s living room. Peeking over his shoulder, his eyes were greeted with the sight of Kain staring stoically ahead. The sight didn’t last too long though, Kain’s eyes quickly moved to meet his.

Hmm. So this is what his eyes look like naturally.

“Yes?” Kain was wondering why Maleek was staring right at him.

Maleek turned back to facing forward, “Oh nothing. Um.” He paused. “So your eyes, they’re back to normal I see.”

Kain didn’t respond immediately. Maleek felt the urge to turn again, but he quelled it. After a few more steps of silence, he replied.

“Not exactly.” The reply came out stuttered, “I’m not sure how common grey eyes are, but mine were brown.”

“Oh. Well, it makes the white hair seem less out of place.”

Kain sighed, “That’s not exactly a good thing.”

Maleek smiled, “You could just cut it off. The hair I mean.”

“And go bald like you? Never.”

Maleek chuckled this time, “Youth.”

They were close to his office now. They didn’t really have much to do when they got their though, his biggest concern was out of the way and discussions about meeting his daughters would have to wait for another time. He wasn’t presently prepared to start that conversation. Reaching the door of his office, he saw two arberdirs standing beside it. One of them was Glacia, he had instructed her to wait there for him. She was the one that broke the news that Kain and his daughters were both in his wife’s office.

“Glacia, take the rest of the night off. I’ll have Joanna check in early.”

Glacia was stunned, “But..bu—”

Maleek silenced her, “No buts, thats an order.”

Glacia struggled to agree, but under the stern gaze of Maleek she soon folded, “Yes sir.”

She saluted him and walked off. Maleek turned to face the other arberdir, “Go call Joanna for me.”

She saluted him and walked off as well. With no one but Kain left in the hallway, he turned to face him. He didn’t have anything he particularly wanted to say at the moment, but he had to fill the time until Joanna arrived.

“Well. With the issue of your eyes already solved, I don’t have any pressing issues to discuss. Do you?”

Kain replied instantly, “There are somethings I want to talk to you about, but nothing I’d call pressing.”

“Well. We have a few minutes to kill, ”

Kain shrugged, “Okay. You seem to have a lot of arberdirs around, why is that?”

Fyk.

Maleek lightly bit his tongue. The question Kain asked was innocent enough, but the honest answer to it would directly relate to his daughters.

He had to tell a bit of a white lie, “That's a long tale, but I suppose I can share a part of it”

Maleek told Kain a story of how Imurian women that crossed the border to the Alden Empire during and in the aftermath of the fall of the Imuru Empire were heavily abused. He told of how they struggled to find jobs and find homes, of how they lived under constant fear of physical and sexual assault. He told a very grim tale. In trying to aid these women, he gave them a job to work and a safe place to stay. It was his duty, his obligation. It was fairly true too. While many points were exaggerated to capture Kain’s attention as well as push the conclusion of his tale further back, they were grounded in truths.

Fortunately, Joanna showed up before Maleek reached the conclusion of his story. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ah Joanna! It appears we’ll have to continue this another time. Joanna you will be starting you shift early today, show Kain to his bedroom.”

“Yes, sir.”

She saluted, Kain said good night, and they both headed off. Maleek sighed as he watched them walk away. As soon as they were gone he turned towards his arberdir.

"Call my wife for me."