“So…” Alex asked, staring at the body on the floor, “That’s a cop?”

“She worked for the prison,” Xaxac said.

“Yeah, that’s a cop,” Alex said.

“Then yeah, I reckon,” Xac said.

“Your master done busted her head in,” Alex said.

“I sure didn’t think he was strong enough to do that,” Xac crossed his arms in puzzlement, “Must not take much. It can’t take much. I mean, I’ve done it before on accident.”

“Y’all are wild,” Alex laughed, “Y’all are… absolutely buckwild… this… this just ain’t gonna do… I ain’t havin this… I want a drink! I want a drink right now!”

“Hush!” Xac snapped, “Stop it! Why you actin like you ain’t never seen this before? You watched the cage fights-”

“That’s an elf!” Alex shrieked.

“Alex!” Agalon demanded as he led Takashito back into the room, “We need to talk, darlin. Ky’s already real upset. You know that, right?”

Alex nodded.

“So let’s stay real calm,” Agalon advised, “And not scare him no more.”

“They will never let me out now,” Takashito said, “...it was all for nothing. Your Grace… Agalon… I could have gone with her…”

“I need you here,” Agalon explained calmly, “I need you to train my little wonder rabbit until he can do all them fancy flips like y’all do.”

“They will not let me stay here!” Takashito explained, “They will never let me stay here now! That is over! They will take me back and I will never see the light of day again!”

“Calm down!” Agalon demanded, “Ever’body calm down and let me think!”

“Ya know, master,” Xaxac said, studying the body, “we might could just… disappear this little problem, ifin it’s a problem.”

“What do you mean?” Agalon asked.

“You know where we bury folks? I mean… back when I used to work on the fields?” Xac asked.

“I never oughta had you out in them fields,” Agalon said, “That was a mistake. You always shoulda been in here with me. Wouldn’t do that again.”

“What I’m sayin,” Xac tried to explain, “Is the potter field, you know what I’m talkin about?”

“Oh!” Agalon said, as if a light had gone on in his brain, “The potter’s field… yeah, darlin, I know where that’s at. I sure do know where that’s at. Don’t nobody ever have no reason to go lookin through a slave’s graveyard...”

“I ain’t never seen no elves out there,” Xaxac said, “All I’m sayin is, I ain’t never seen no elves out there.”

“It sure is a shame,” Agalon said, “That she just up and left like that. I asked um to bring more than one guard. I did always think, though, that she’d do some kinda foolish nonsense like abandonin her post. She was all the time half-assin everythin. Y’all remember when she plumb forgot to let me sign that incident report? She never give a shit about that job. Can’t nobody be surprised she up and left when it got hard.”

“Don’t surprize me nary bit,” Xac shrugged, “I am sorry about your back though, Aggie. Wanna lay down an’ let me rub it?”

“...during the war…” Takashito said, “...that night when… the skies opened up and the sea thrashed in a rage, and the ocean rose to swallow my home… I… the uniforms looked so… so much like…”

“I could see that,” Agalon said, “To an outsider.”

“They… I was defending myself… my home… my friends… but they… put me in that prison… they… but you…”

“Nothin ain’t gonna happen to me,” Agalon said, “I got this all figured out. I can’t keep a rug in here, I swear to Thesis. Honey Bunny, you reckon you could roll this rug up?”

“Yes master!” Xaxac said and wondered why he had such a difficult time caring that Ara was dead. Was it because he had never liked her very much? Or was it that elves and humans were not as different as they believed? Because Ara was dead, and Kyrtarr’s parents were dead, and one day everyone who knew them would be dead, and it would be like none of it ever happened.

It just normally took longer.

But not all the time.

Ara didn’t look much older than Lorsan, Xaxac judged as he rolled her youthful form into the rug.

“Nothing will happen to you…” Takashito repeated, “Over a century in that place… and nothing will happen to you…”

Xaxac heard Lee moving through the hall, but apparently no one else did because when he knocked on the door they all jumped.

“Master!” Lee proclaimed.

“Yes?” Agalon asked.

“Your packages are here. I reckon it’s the stuff for the mask festival.”

“Great,” Agalon said cheerfully, “Do me a favor though and set them in Ky’s room. I wanna open them with him.”

“Yes, master,” Lee said.

“Roll that into the bedroom, darlin,” Agalon said, “I’ll deal with all that mess once it gets dark.”

“But are you not having guests arrive throughout the day?” Takashito asked.

“I’ll deal with all that mess once it gets dark,” Agalon repeated exactly in tone, volume and cadence.

Xaxac rolled the rug into the bedroom in silence, trying as hard as he could not to think of its contents. It was getting so much easier not to think about anything that he felt his mind wandering. He was going to Aggie’s party. Did that mean that he had a mask? He had never been to a party before. Not to an elven party; he had been to the celebrations humans sometimes had, but he expected that this would be a bit more than singing and dancing around a bonfire. He probably wouldn’t have a mask. He didn’t know how much he would be allowed to do. Alex had said that elves frequently stuck the pleasure slaves together in a room and forgot about them.

“Look at me,” Agalon said once he had entered the room after his breakfast with Kyrtarr, “Both of you, look at me. Ky’s been through enough. We ain’t gonna add to that stress nary bit. Y’all understand me?”

“Yes master,” Xac said obediently, bouncing on his feet a little with his hands behind his back.

“Alex,” Agalon said, and Alex stared at him. He had not moved from his position on the couch.

“Yes, Mister Agalon,” Alex said quietly.

“Good boy,” Agalon laid a hand in his curls and scratched, but the look on Alex’s face before he caught himself and smiled told Xac he did not like it as much as he did himself. “I’ll get you some coffee. You’ve got a whole day ahead of you.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Alex said, and waited until Agalon had turned from him to stand.

Xac caught his eye, opened his eyes as big as he could, and tilted his head. He hoped Alex interpreted it as the warning it was. Then he threw himself onto Agalon, clutched his arm and snuggled into his side.

“I ain’t never been to a real party before!” he exclaimed, “Are they fun?”

“You’ll be entertainin, darlin,” Agalon explained as he led Xac into the hall towards the door of the guest suite where Alex and his master always stayed, “Every landowner in the district, and some of the merchants are comin. A lot of um have pleasure slaves.”

“Neat!” Xac said.

Alex said nothing.

Agalon opened the door and stepped inside. Kyrtarr was sitting at the sofa, drinking a glass of wine and staring at a painting on parchment he had apparently brought with him to stare at, since Xac had been in the room several times and never seen it before. It reminded him of the painting in the foyer of Agalon and Lorsan, except that it was done in a different medium, graphite or charcoal by the looks of it, and depicted three people rather than two. They were all earth elves, and Xac thought they were a family; a man in military regalia, a woman in a large, billowing gown, and a little boy.

“How are you holding up?” Agalon asked as he sat next to him and threw an arm around his shoulders.

“I knew it was going to happen,” Ky said, and Xaxac thought it was strange that there was no emotion in his voice until he remembered how he had felt in the cage. Sometimes, Xaxac thought, there was more pain in a person than they could reasonably be expected to feel, so they felt nothing.

Alex sat on the floor by the sofa at his master’s feet, so Xaxac was left to hover awkwardly in the middle of the room. He elected to tune out the conversation, on the idea that nothing he could say would be necessary or desired, and instead walked to the table and busied himself with pouring drinks for everyone. As he watched the wine flow he thought of Lee. Lee was always doing something, and Xac briefly felt a connection to him. When something is none of your business but still requires some kind of participation, the best thing to do did seem like it might be to stand silently behind everyone and hand them wine.

“-be a week, at least,” Kyrtarr was saying when Xaxac tuned back in to the conversation, “To bring her down from Sage Lake. I... hate to think what she’ll look like. But we gotta bury her on the family plot, Kai, we got to.”

“You’ll have an easier time once the funeral is over,” Agalon promised, “That’s how I was. It’s important to feel that closure. It’s… time heals all wounds.”

There came another knock at the door, and Agalon asked, “What?”

“Master,” Lee said, “The Loraxians are here.”

“Get ‘em settled and tell ‘em where we’re at,” Agalon ordered.

“Yes, master,” Lee responded with his ordinary civility, and left, probably to do as he had been bid.

“I can’t be actin like this in front a’ that little girl,” Ky said, “I ain’t ruinin her engagement. She deserves better. It’s her big day.”

“You got every right to act however you want,” Agalon said as Xac handed him a glass of wine, “You’re goin through it, right now. Can’t nobody blame you.”

“I just… I want to get my mind… off…” Ky said, “I want to enjoy the party.”

“Can’t be blamed for that, neither,” Agalon said, stood, and picked up one of the boxes that had apparently been delivered to the room, “Wanna see my costume? Sneak peak? I couldn’t really think of nothin, so I guess I’m gonna be a ghost. It’s mostly face powder and chains.”

But it wasn’t. As Agalon dug through the box, he produced a full military regalia that looked very much like what he wore in his portrait, except it was all white, and covered in a fine, dusty powder that seemed as if it wanted to flake off everywhere when he picked it up.

“Oh, damn,” he said, “Sambrees is a pure genius. Open yours, Honey Bunny.”

“Is it mine?” Xac asked as he moved to the other box, picked it up, then went to sit at Agalon’s feet on the floor with Alex.

Inside the box was not much fabric, but an ornate mask certainly held his attention. It would cover half his face, from the nose up, and held a long pair of ears, all carved of some sturdy, white material with gold accents to represent the details. The costume itself was small and mostly accessories, only a pair of pants and gloves, really, in the same color, with a round, fluffy tail attached to the pants.

“I’m a bunny!” Xac declared in joy, “I love it! I love it so much!”

He jumped up and threw his arms around Agalon’s neck, “I love it so much, master! Thank you!”

“I thought you would,” Agalon giggled and hugged him tightly.

“That’s cute,” Ky said and cracked the first sincere smile Alex had seen on him since he received the scry.