They were in the back garden.

He had little time to research Arjun's communications with Cascur, and in a ploy to keep Nova from constantly begging for his attention, had brought him along. He vaguely remembered playing there when he was small, and it was disused; surely it would be of more interest to a child now that he had had Ardnand properly maintaining it.

She stood next to him, just shy of the shade from the umbrella over his table.

" You're still trying to discern which part of Sector 31 contains the original Terran solar system?" she asked.

" Wasn't your son supposed to be here to watch him?" Ifrit asked in turn. It wasn't any of her business what he was doing; she was a maid. She had never been particularly pious anyway, and wouldn't understand the intricacies of his research.

" He said he didn't want to come," she replied.

" You should discipline him more stringently," Ifrit told her, turning the page of his book. It didn't matter that her son hadn't come; Ifrit had already discerned that the boy didn't like him. It just meant he'd have to keep a closer eye on Nova himself.

" Don't you spoil Nova excessively yourself? I'm not sure I've ever heard you tell him no," Ardnand said. It was the first time he had ever heard anything like that from her. Somehow, it irritated him. It was too familiar. He would've replied to her, but as his eyes wandered over the garden, he could not see his younger brother.

" Just a moment," he said. He closed his book, and got up. Only the far corner of the garden wouldn't be visible from his seat; the part that adjoined Lorn's trophy hunting forest.

He stalked over to it, looking over the flowerbeds and topiary for the lya- his grey clothes, his pale skin, his black hair. The child was still small enough that he could be injured by wild game if he wandered into the forest.

Nova was laying on the ground, half under the shrubbery that bordered the garden off.

" Nova," he called. The child wiggled out from under the bush, leaves in his hair. Ifrit leaned down over him, holding his shoulders.

" Brother-" Nova began plaintively.

" Didn't I tell you not to wander off where I couldn't see you? I told you that the imperial forest is off limits," Ifrit scolded him. " You could've gotten hurt if you went in there. What would I say to Mother? I thought you were an obedient child!"

Nova, teary-eyed, parted his clasped hands a bit.

" But it was hurt," he said.

He was holding a small remslach; it couldn't have been more than a week old, shivering, with a bloody hind leg. He surmised that its nest had probably been raided by a predator, and it had somehow survived.

What did it matter? All things died. It was the natural way for those unsuited to life to perish- he should've told him to discard it, to put it back, to let it die. Perhaps he should've even taken it from his hands and killed it himself. Slit it open and let everything inside fall out.

He held his hands over Nova's.

" I'll help you take care of it," he said. " Its mother is probably already dead. But tell me next time before you go somewhere I can't see you, okay?"

When he escorted Nova back into the palace, Ardnand was giving him a look, like he was a stranger, like she was frightened of him.

Why was that?

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