So it went as it goes.
Did Aureum follow Hiems' advice? Kinda.
Aureum tried to talk less. Despite the pressing matters at hand, she tried to let the little girl just be.
She also tried to relax. Which in practice meant she took tag more seriously. Against an eight-year-old, but whatever.
It was an attempt at sincerity. She couldn't fake it, so to her that meant taking it seriously. Not to the death, but Aureum allowed herself to use the body she had trained. Vitreum usually lost.
But this didn't dishearten her as Aureum had feared.
"Arghhh!"
Aureum pulled away at the last second, dodging Vitreum's little hand.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
The little urchin made another leap and grabbed at Aureum's cloak. Successfully dirtying Aureum's favorite attire.
Vitreum's pale face was covered in dirt as she beamed up at Aureum. So proud in that minor accomplishment. All the momentary anger Aureum had melted away.
Luckily, Vitreum had taken to the harder version of tag.
"Good job," Aureum said. "Shall we go wash up?"
At this point, the game had morphed into a "touch-Aureum-once" game, since that took a considerable amount of time for the girl.
Vitreum, breathing hard, nodded. She was all mischievous giggles at how dirty she was. Aureum led her to the well close to the training grounds. It was probably for one of the courtyards, but that didn't change its utility.
So far, Lord Maledic hadn't said anything, but Aureum already dreaded that meeting. She tried to make the girl presentable again, as much as possible, but Aes was always nearby.
"Mom would have never let me do this—
Aureum hadn't cut her off. Vitreum had bitten down on her words.
"Well, I'm not your mom," Aureum finally said. "We can do things she wouldn't let you do."
As long as the lord of this entire manor doesn't come down on me like a hammer, anyways.
"Hehe," Vitreum giggled again.
Aureum pulled the bucket up from the well and dipped her hand in. She wiped dirt away from Vitreum's face as she thought.
Do I push here? Or do I wait more?
It was Aureum who stood there. She tried to push.
"Vitreum, about your mother… do you want to talk?"
She was also direct in how she asked about it.
Vitreum's giggles stopped instantly.
"We can just talk about my mother if you want to instead," Aureum tried to backtrack.
"Why would we talk about your mom?" The girl asked.
"Well, I want to," Aureum said. "I miss her."
Aureum finished wiping off Vitreum's face and stepped back.
She considered the questioning a lost cause already.
Yeah, her dress is still a mess.
It wasn't as bad as in Fluentem. The dress was nice, but not overly fancy. There was hope it wouldn't hold the stains.
The servants might still want to kill me.
"I don't know how…" Vitreum murmured.
"How to what?" Aureum said. "Talk about your mom?"
Aureum froze as soon as she said the words. She'd spoken as soon as the answer occurred to her.
Delicacy! Don't I have any?!
But Vitreum just nodded. She looked like she was about to cry. Her hands were fists at her side as her face scrunched up.
Aureum found immediate regret. She shouldn't have tried to force this.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to—
"HOW CAN SHE FORGET ME!"
"Uh—
"I CAME ALL THE WAY BACk for her… and she… she didn't even look at me!"
Aureum held her hands out as if she could physically stop what was coming. She couldn't.
"WAAAhHHHHHH!"
She cried almost as loudly as Gemmo. Aureum pulled her into a hug. Aes came running.
"I don't wanna like her anymore!"
Aureum patted Vitreum's back. Aes hovered at a distance. Aureum shook her head at him.
"It's okay. It's okay."
"I don't wanna. I don wanna. I don't wanna. I don't wanna!"
Aes half-circled. Looking at the situation from this direction and that one.
He was trying to figure out what happened. Aureum didn't have much time.
Aureum found herself trying to rock the eight-year-old a little. The girl's words were muffled into her shoulder.
"You don't have to," Aureum said. "You don't have to…"
Aureum stopped her reassurances. If it was that simple, Vitreum probably would have tried it already. She was a kid, but she wasn't stupid.
Aureum sighed.
Vitreum continued to cry for a little longer.
The girl let out a big sniff before complaining.
"It's not fair!"
"I'm sorry, Vitreum."
"If she doesn't like me, I should be able to not care about her. It's not fair."
"A lot of things aren't. But… in a way that makes things fair."
Vitreum quieted a little.
"What?"
Whatever nonsense Aureum was saying at least confused Vitreum enough to stop crying for a moment.
"It might not be fair that you loved someone without loving them in return, but love is fair. When somebody loves you, really loves you, then they won't be able to stop loving you when they want either."
"…Really?" Vitreum said, a little bit of hope in her voice.
"Actually, I don't know either," Aureum said.
She looked up as Aes started to approach. That probably wasn't good.
"I'm loved by my family, but it's not like that's perfect either," Aureum said.
"I want to be loved too."
Aes now stood overtop of them.
"You will be," Aureum murmured into Vitreum's ear. "You're very lovable. There's not a chance you won't be loved."
"Miss Aureum."
"Mr. Aes."
"Is everything all right?"
Vitreum was completely quiet now. Maybe it was the seriousness of Aes' tone. It made Aureum feel a little better.
Vitreum was being allowed a lot of legroom to get into trouble, but she wasn't being ignored.
It was just a problem for Aureum that now she would have to explain everything to the girl's guardians.
"Yes, everything is all right. Vitreum is safe, but I think I poked at an open wound… not literally."
"I'll be taking her."
It was not a question. Aureum lifted the girl a little as Aes bent down to pick her up. He didn't look angry. He mostly just gave off an expression of grave concern. He looked over the girl and relaxed only a little when he saw no obvious injuries.
The girl, for her part, buried her head in Aes' shoulder.
"Let's go to Lord Maledic."
"Of course."
I should have told her that she is already loved…
But Aureum didn't want to give false hope. Even if the chance of it being false was small.
So much hesitation. Even in the smallest of steps.
Until the moments came that she had no hesitation at all. When there was no more patience left to endure anything.
———————————————————
"My grandchild was crying. Why?"
Lord Maledic was as ornery as ever. Aureum kneeled this time without hesitation. He didn't ask her to rise.
"I asked about her mother," Aureum said.
"That's it? Besides dragging her through the mud?"
"We were playing tag."
"Never seen a game of tag be so hard before. Are you trying to train her in how to lose? Her dress is streaked. Not to mention her face."
"Well, maybe it's been a long time since you've played it. You get dirty." She paused, but her impunity didn't result in her death. "You knew about that already, and you allowed it. Aes has been watching us for days."
"Perhaps that was a mistake. Go on."
"That's all I did. I played tag with her. I asked her about her mother. She cried. I hugged her. That's it."
Maledic tapped his fingers.
"Did she say anything about her mother?"
"Only that she ignored her. I can't say for sure, but since that seemed Vitreum's loudest point of hurt, I doubt anything else happened."
I hope that was all.
"It matches with what Aes told me. You may go."
Aureum stood and turned, a sneer on her face.
Yeah. Matches with what Aes told him, huh?
She walked out with her head bowed, her shoulders shaking a little. She closed the door behind her and was escorted by some guard she didn't look at in the face.
"Hahaha…"
All this time she thought if she got Vitreum to talk, she would be able to… guilt-trip Maledic into letting them leave or something. Stupid. It's impossible to guilt-trip someone who doesn't think they're guilty in the first place.
And while she was on a goose chase, Maledic used her as a blankie. A little comfort toy for his favorite grandchild.
"By Bonum, I hate them all."
At that second, she meant it. Even Vitreum.
The guard glanced at her for that. She ignored him.
This is enough.
She was led back to the room and entered. Hiems sat there, doing some more reading. The guard left.
"Gemmo is gone?!"
"With Spesavia," he said. "What's wrong?"
Aureum shook her head.
She mouthed, "not now."
Maybe she had messed everything up to get to this moment, but she was learning.
Even though she was about to dash it all with her own hands.
Now to give him some warning.
"Do you remember how things were in Fluentem?"
"There was a lot that happened in Fluentem."
Aureum felt herself smile. What a dry understatement.
"Yeah, there were a lot of drastic things going on… Things that needed drastic action…"
She looked at him. His eyes looked at her drily. Not exactly mad, but not happy either.
He seems to understand.
But Aureum waited another few moments to let her point hit home. The next thing to do was to muddy the waters.
"Just like those times, we can get through anything."
"If we're patient," Hiems said.
"Should I remind you I'm not very patient?"
Aureum was tense. Each word was like a bow's string being pulled back.
"I'm trying to remind you," Hiems said. He took a long, slow blink. His opened eyes had clarity. "Should Gemmo be tucked in tonight, or are we waiting?"
"…What?" It took Aureum a moment. "Of course, I'll go pick him up from Spesavia. Tonight."
She left in a hurry. That was the most important thing after all, Gemmo. In the middle of everything else, he had fallen out of priority.
Aureum's steps were a little shaky.
He was able to respond immediately as if he always knew we were being watched.
Aureum couldn't sense anyone nearby, but she hadn't even when Aes was around. That was her mistake. She placed too much trust in her strength to sense the wind.
How many things have I said?
She didn't think she had ever said the full truth, but Hiems had easily seen that there was something odd with Gemmo and made a few comments.
Would somebody watching pick up on that? Or would it get lost in all the other details? Wouldn't Spesavia be their highest priority?
Whatever they knew, Aureum had made her decision. But panic was setting in. What if her decision was too late?
Her steps became hurried.
Gemmo.
Whether the little boy could become some sort of weapon or not in the future was beyond the point.
If he were to become a weapon, Aureum would not leave him to Lord Maledic. For spite, if nothing else.
If all he ever became was a slightly odd boy, she doubted Gemmo would get the same favor Vitreum had. Once what Spesavia knew of him was known, Lord Maledic would never let him go.
He might not even let him live. But that had all been obvious from the start.
The question was how to get out.
———————————————————
Hiems had not spent his time only on studying his condition or the dangerous teasing of Aureum for information. He had spent any free time on walks.
Sometimes with Gemmo, and sometimes without him.
Sometimes all he did was walk, most of the time, in fact, and other times…
Other times was the search for the way out. This wasn't a simple task like looking for a hole in a wall. There were no holes or hidden doors he knew of to use.
Much of why he was allowed to walk at all was because of the confidence the guards had. Yet he looked anyway.
He figured out the guards' times for switching, how they paired themselves up, and what the routes were. An endless puzzle of observation broken time and time again by Hiems' lack of time or human imperfection. It wasn't as if every guard was perfectly on time.
Or that was how it should be.
One good thing about the proficient training of the Hidden Manor's guards was that nearly all of them did run like clockwork. Of course, the disadvantages of their ability were numerous. There were no holes in their routes.
But a few things could be done to make holes.
Like messing with that odd kitchen of theirs.
Maybe it was out of efficiency that most had their meals brought to them, or something had happened with the traditional way of meals to make this necessary. But having meals brought directly to most individuals made it easier to target them singularly. The goal was to have only a few guards drugged without alerting the rest.
Unfortunately, Hiems' studies were far from done.
He didn't dare write down a list, so it had to be done by memory. And he wasn't fortunate enough to get the chance to know the habits of each of the most troublesome guards' meals.
Even worse, tonight was the week the guards reassigned shifts for the week.
It would be more than guesswork to try and drug them for the evening. It would be a miracle.
He didn't even have enough plants from around the many courtyards, and he hadn't come up with a perfect solution for how to drop it into their meals without being detected. At best, he could do a few.
As much as he would like to voice his concerns and mounting outrage to Aureum, he didn't have that option. There were constant eyes on them.
As soon as Aureum left, he got moving.
It would be an endless day. Countless hours of tedious planning would either shatter in this unexpected night or be patched together by mere chance.
Nothing to do but start.