Little Jusis made a sad noise as the door closed. The little guy had clearly taken a liking to Minister Pauline, but since it was borderline insanity to get a nation’s head of state to play babysitter, there really wasn’t much Gaius could do about it. After all, the Lorenze family couldn’t run of the risk of having a diaper accident happen while Minister Pauline was carrying Jusis around.

He made another sad noise that tugged at Gaius’ heartstrings, and Isabelle reached out to cheer the little fellow up.

“There, there,” said Isabelle. “She’s pretty, I know. And they’re probably slightly bigger than your mum’s, so…”

Gaius rolled his eyes. “You’re talking to a toddler, Isabelle. Why are you bringing up her…”

“Breasts?” Isabelle asked. “We’re in a private setting. Don’t you think you’re a bit too squeamish with words related to the human body?”

Gaius took a deep breath, and then gave up. It was probably his delicate sensitivities or something. He took a mental step back, and then assessed everything from Isabelle’s point of view. From how she probably saw it, it was only lewd if the speaker intended it to be lewd, so…

“You have a point,” Gaius conceded. “Maybe it’s people like me that, in part, help in objectifying women through making certain issues seemingly taboo, when they actually aren’t.”

“Philosophical,” Isabelle replied. “But around there. Good job!”

After thinking about it for a while, Gaius decided to roll along with his newfound revelation. She was right in multiple senses, after all. For expectations to occur, there had to be some underlying, attendant observations that went with it. Objectification needed trepidation; desire was in the mind.

In the world of Orb, where desires and all things related to the mind was amplified, this was probably an axiom of sorts.

Jusis, who had listened through their conversation while rubbing Gaius’s head, tugged on his hair and pointed him to the dining table. He followed up with some rather inaudible gurgles, presumably a threat to drool on Gaius’ hair if he didn’t comply. It was a grave threat, one that the Lost Star had no choice but to accede to, and before long, a little toddler was tucked into his extra-special chair.

“What a slavedriver,” said Isabelle, a grin on her face. “Give me a five, Jusis!”

“Why on Orb are you encouraging him?” Gaius sighed, before engaging the little fellow in a game of peek-a-boo.

They spent the next thirty minutes entertaining Jusis, who was still sad at the departure of Minister Pauline, before flopping onto their backs in a coordinated display of exhaustion.

“What happened to the vitality of youngsters?” asked a creaky voice. “You two are disappointing. What, spent too much time awake last night?”

Isabelle rolled over onto her chest. “Oh, grandmother. Just tired, I guess.”

“Toddlers can be hard to look after at times,” Gaius added, trying to maintain an unruffled visage. “Especially one as lively and as demanding as Jusis.”

“Wimps.” Madam Amelie picked up Jusis, who was now waddling circles around the two of them — the little fellow wanted to walk after three minutes of sitting in his chair, so Isabelle had brought him down. “Right, you two are heading out tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, grandmother. Just as we enter the month of June, in the hopes that a new month might give us new hopes and leads,” Gaius replied. “We’ll be going to Ark City to look for Isabelle’s mother. Do you have any instructions for us?”

“Actually, yes.” Her wrinkled eyes glittered. “Isa, your elder sister is actually in Ark City too.”

“Lia’s in Ark City?” Isabelle asked. “What’s she doing there?”

“Presumably the same as you, but how she arrived at the same conclusion I have no idea,” the old lady replied. “However, you two have something she doesn’t have, and that is the Canvas of Memory. It has many functions, and one of them is to locate people whose names are written in it.”

She paused for a moment. “Gaius.”

“Yes?”

“I recall giving you a small manual for its use,” she replied. “So what’s with that confused look on your face? Did you not have time to read it? Or were you too busy?”

“I’ll read it later,” Gaius replied meekly.

“Hmph. Enjoy your couple life all you like, but remember your priorities.” Isabelle’s grandmother tutted twice. “And you, Isa, don’t go spoiling him. Make sure he does what he has to do first, before you two have fun or anything. Understand?”

The two nodded like chicks pecking on rice.

“Good.” The harsh lines on her face softened slightly. “The intelligence from the Information Brokers have also arrived. Take this, and then look through it too. The new Ark City is…quite different from the one you — and the rest of Orb — used to know about. Be careful.”

“Yes, grandmother.”

“Understood.”

Madam Amelie clicked her tongue once more, and then walked off, Jusis in her arms. A few seconds later, Isabelle rolled onto her back and joined Gaius in looking up at the ceiling in silence. Unlike the ceiling at home, the ceiling of the Lorenzes was painted in a boring white; it wasn’t anything to look at.

“Say, what do you think she’ll be doing when we find her?” Gaius asked, his eyes on the ceiling.

“Mother…knowing her, she’s probably running a library or something.”

Gaius, who was the Library of Ancients’ master, coughed twice. “What makes you say that?”

“She likes to read, to make artefacts, and to play fun games with us,” Isabelle replied. “I was very small when she vanished one day. It was…I’m not very sure how to describe what I felt back then.”

He reached out to pat her head. “We’ll get those days back for you. Besides, your sister’s going to be there too. Who knows? She might have found your mother by the time we arrive at Ark City.”

Isabelle held his left hand and brought it to her chest. “You say the nicest things.”

“A couple can dream, right? It’ll be nice if she was at the city gates with your elder sister, just waiting for us to show up.” He squeezed her hand. “There’s enough tragedy in Orb already. It’s time for the heart-warming stories — for ourselves and for the future.”

Isabelle sat up. “Let’s go study these documents then.”

“Can we rest for an hour first?”

“Thirty minutes.”

“…Good enough.”