Ortis set his hands on the table.
"The information part of this conversation," he said, "is done. What comes next is for adults."
He looked at Elias. At Jamie. At Aina.
"You three. Out."
Jamie was already rising, her hand finding Elias's sleeve. She pulled at it—a small, insistent tug—and Elias let himself be pulled.
Aina rose without a word. Her chair scraped against the floor once, then she was moving, her back straight, her steps measured, her face already composed into that mask she wore for the world.
Elias was the last to leave. He pushed Jamie ahead of him, her fingers still hooked into his sleeve, and pulled the door closed behind them.
The last thing he heard was Ortis's voice, lighter now, almost casual:
"Now—what do we do with the children?"
They took a few steps down the corridor.
Then the voices started.
Not loud enough to make out words, but loud enough to carry. Alaric's baritone, sharp with something Elias had rarely heard in his father's voice. Beth's voice, cutting through, higher, insistent. Wilcris's, nervousness was gone as he too tried making his voice heard. Elara's, calm but firm, trying to mediate. And beneath it all, Ortis's lazy drawl, the anchor around which the argument swirled.
Elias stopped. Jamie tugged at his sleeve again. He gently freed himself.
"I'll catch up," he said.
Jamie looked at him. Her eyes flickered toward Aina, then back. She shrugged and stalked off down the corridor, her footsteps fading into the muffled sounds of the argument behind the closed door.
Elias walked toward Aina.
She heard him coming. He could tell by the way her shoulders tensed—just slightly, just enough. When he caught up to her, she didn't even turn her head. Her expression was the same as always. Cool. Distant.
But inside, something fluttered.
'He came to me. After everything—after Jamie, after the dinner, after all of it—he came to me.'
"It's been a while," Elias said. "Since we talked. Just us."
Aina's eyebrow rose. "If you wanted to speak with me, you would have come to find me all this time."
Elias was quiet for a moment.
She was right.The weeks had blurred together—Jamie's silence, the weight of her grief, the slow, patient work of pulling her back. He had let other things slide. Other people.
"You're right," he said. "I should have. I'm sorry."
Aina's expression did not change.
'Awwww, he's so cte I wish i could hug him.'
"Why are you here?" she asked.
Elias leaned against the wall beside her. "No reason. Just—wanted someone to talk to."
He glanced over his shoulder in the direction Jamie had disappeared.
"Jamie still hasn't said a word. But she's opening up. Slowly. It's..." He paused, searching for the word.
"Progress."
Aina's jaw tightened but her face did not change.
But Elias saw it, there and gone so fast he almost thought he'd imagined it.
"Anyway about this evenings topic, what do you think?" he asked.
"About all of it?"
Aina glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. "Is that why you wanted to talk to me? To ask my thoughts on my father's lecture?"
Elias shook his head quickly. "No. I mean—yes, but not just that."
He hesitated, then decided to be honest. "You were bothered by something. Before dinner. I saw it."
She did not move.
"I couldn't just ask," Elias continued.
"That would be—" He waved a hand. "So I thought I'd pass it through somewhere. And what better excuse than tonight's revelations?"
Aina was quiet for a long moment.
Then she said, "I see."
Her voice was calm. Measured. The same voice she used for everything.
'He noticed!'
They walked in silence toward her room. When they reached the door, Aina reached for the handle and opened the door only to close it faster than she meant to.
Elias took a step back, startled.
"I-Is something wrong?"
Aina's composure was absolute. "I need air. The evening is... cool."
She turned and walked back down the corridor. After a moment, Elias followed.
They stood in the courtyard, looking up at the moon.
The raised voices from the dining room could still be heard although they were more muffled now.
Aina's face was serene as she gazed up at the cloudless sky, enjoying the fact that it was just her and Elias.
Elias glanced at her. " So about your father, I mean Uncle Ortis."
Aina's lips curved—just slightly. "Oh he's always like this. Arrogant. Lazy. Impossible."
She paused.
"Despite how he acts he's quite caring and clingy to those he loves. He's composing himself tonight. You should see him when he's not."
Elias thought of Ortis lounging in his chair, his hands behind his head, his voice light as he spoke of world-shaking powers as if it was another tuesday.
"I don't see it."
Aina's smile flickered—there and gone.
"You will"
Elias shrugged.
Aina was quiet for a moment. Then she said: "He's the reason I wear...wore the maid's outfit."
Elias turned to look at her. "Hmm, now that you mention it, you're not wearing it today."
"Obviously."
"Why did you wear it though?"
Aina's gaze was fixed on the moon.
"I have three older sisters," she said. "They were always at each other's throats. Trying to prove themselves. Trying to be the one who would inherit the distinguished House Mellou."
She paused.
"Then I was born. A child with two Traits."
Elias said nothing. He waited.
"They wanted me on their side. Or they wanted me put in my place. It was difficult to tell which sometimes." Her voice was even.
"My father gave me the maid's outfit as a joke to cheer me up after one such...encounter. Something about being a sigma, unbound to the orthodox."
She looked at him.
"I wore it because I wanted to be my own person. Not their sister. Not a potential heir. Just... me, my fathers daughter."
Elias looked at her. Really looked.
He thought about his own mind. The memories that didn't belong to this body. The years of experience that let him see the world the way he did.
But Aina didn't have that she was just a ten year old.. Neither did Jamie who was also still a child. And yet they carried themselves like people who had already lived long eventful lives.
'Maybe it's the Ascension,' he thought. 'The soul grows through the stages. The mind grows with it. Spirit and flesh, advancing together. Maybe that's why they seem older than they are. Why we all seem older for mere children.'
Aina was quiet for a moment.
"I'm going to leave with my father."
Elias turned to look at her.
"Huh?"
She did not meet his eyes. "The attack on this city showed me something. My inadequacy."
"Wait wait wait, what? You think...Come on now, don't be unrealistic. Even If you are older than me, your still a child," Elias said.
"Age has nothing to do with it." Her voice was calm.
"I couldn't find you. I didn't know what was happening out there in the city. I couldn't even help Aunt. I couldn't do anything. What use are two Traits if you can't use them?"
Elias opened his mouth to argue.
"I'm going to enter Fazhan University," she said.
"I'm going to become stronger. Then—" She paused and looked back at the moon.
"Then I can wear my father's gift again."
Elias still had a lot to say but kept quiet when he saw the resolve in her face. Her emerald eyes, catching the moonlight, bright with something that was not quite determination and not quite hope.
Something else. Something that would carry her through whatever came next.
"Good luck," he said instead.
Aina looked at him. Her expression did not change.
But her voice, when she spoke, was softer than he had ever heard it.
"Luck? Who do you think you're talking to?"
By that time, the raised voices from the dining room had faded to nothing.
"Hmm, seems the adults have come to an agreement." She observed.
"Let go back inside, it's getting late."
She turned and walked back inside. Elias followed.
At her door, she stopped.
"Good night," Elias said.
She nodded. Once. Then she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
The moment the door clicked shut, she leaned against it. Her hand pressed against her chest. Her heart was racing and a big grin on her face.
She pushed off the door and crossed the room in three strides, landing on her bed with a soft thump. She grabbed her pillow and burried her face in it, giggling hysterically.
Elias walked down the corridor toward his own room.
He passed Jamie's door. It was open. She was inside, sitting on her bed, eating something she had clearly stolen from the kitchen. Her cheeks were full, her eyes on him as he passed.
He smiled.
She did not smile back. But she also didn't look away and instead made a gesture and cold energy slamed the door shut
He continued to his room and sat on his bed.
'She has so much ego,' he thought. 'For someone so young.'
He thought about Aina's face in the moonlight. The resolve there. The certainty.
'If I had that kind of resolve, maybe I wouldn't be here. Maybe I would have chosen something else. Maybe I would have—'
He shook his head.
He didn't know. He would never know. That was the thing about choices. You made them, and the other path disappeared.
He climbed into bed.
The ceiling was dark. The house was quiet. The adults had stopped arguing. Jamie was eating. Aina was somewhere down the hall, probably already asleep.
'Maybe Ascension does do something to the mind,' he thought.
He thought of Aina, planning her future and of himself, remembering a life that didn't belong to this world.