He made to run after Olus, but the boy was fast and gone even before Aleci was outside the door. He frowned, making his way from one corner of the villa to the other, half wondering if he should check his childhood hideouts. But Olus wasn't there long enough to find them. It suddenly occurred to him Olus probably ran to his grandmother, and Maera, in all likelihood was probably with Finne in the bedroom. When he made his way there he saw Maera standing outside the bedroom, unfinished tray of cold food in hand, her eyes on the half open door.

"It's probably—" started Maera when he saw her.

He hesitated, wanting to hear her out, but the sounds of someone crying coming from his half opened bedroom door was more concerning. Peeking through the door he was half relieved to see it was Olus. The boy was sobbing in Finne's arms, burying his head in Finne's chest. Finne was rocking him, murmuring something to the boy under his breath. When he met Aleci's eyes he gave him a tired half-smile. Aleci hesitated, then mimed himself walking out and closing the door. Finne nodded.

"Eh," he said, struggling to find the words to say to Maera, "Did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to make your grandson cry."

"It's got nothing to do with you Dominus Aleci." Maera said, reassuringly.

"Did your grandson know Finne from before?" said Aleci, blurting out the only explanation that made sense.

Maera's eyes flickered to the door and then back again to him. She mulld over her words, "My daughter married a merchant and they often made trips to Imruk. Against my advice you see. I suppose it perhaps they did meet each other." Then in a rush as if she was spurring the horses onwards, "Why don't you ask him yourself, Dominus Aleci? He has never been talked much to me about his family."

"I still don't understand how he would know Finne," said Aleci. It was too simplistic an explanation. Finne didn't speak much of his family but he knew just from the way Finne kept to his rooms and the training grounds that he wasn't free or used to roaming around freely.

"You ask him yourself," Maera repeated.

Which meant she didn't know so he decided on a different line of questioning, "What did he say to Finne when you came back with him? You weren't happy with what he said."

"He said some words that I felt were beneath him," said Maera.

From Aleci's limited knowledge of the boy and of children in general, that did sound likely. Maybe Finne had the same sort of experience, perhaps even more. And wasn't he Aleci's age? "Did Finne tell you if he ever had children?" said Aleci, thinking of the tablet drawing, "He drew a little girl once, on the wax tablet."

"I don't know," said Maera, quickly, glancing at the door, she lowered her voice, and motioned for Aleci to step away. "I did not say this to him, but marrying such close families together always lead to trouble."

"Trouble?" prompted Aleci.

"Men don't like to hear it," said Maera, and there was a conspiratorial smile on her face. "I am glad that you seem to not have this problem. But well, sometimes it is the case that the problem lies not, shall I say, with the mare but with the stallion."

"Oh," said Aleci, and he knew his face was red. She was extremely blunt, Maera, and he didn't know what to make of her.

"Well, you don't have this problem, so I don't see why you should be embarrassed," offered Maera kindly, "I will fetch Finne something else eat if he can stomach it." She paused, "I presumed you talked with my grandson before he came running? I would convince him to leave your bedroom but... I would very much beg a favor of you, Dominus, to allow him to stay a bit longer. It took him this long to apologize for his sharp-tongued remark, and I'm trying to wean him off his ill-gotten habit."

He could refuse. Olus wasn't his child after all, there was no reason to tolerate the boy's presence in his room. But if the child was fond of Finne, and Finne was of him then Finne wouldn't take kindly to him tearing the child away. He sighed deeply, and then looked over to where his childhood bedroom laid abandoned. Well, that was a rather simple solution.

"He can stay," said Aleci, and Maera looked relieved. She made to leave but Aleci held out his hand, "Wait, is it customary in Imruk for husbands and wives to share a bedroom? I thought Finne wanted his own but he told me to stay with him."

Maera blinked, and then mused aloud, "If he hadn't said anything then he must like your company."

"What?"

"Well, I'm glad that your marriage is going well, Dominus Aleci. Would you like me to fetch you anything from the kitchen as well?"

"Whatever you can carry," said Aleci, struggling to recover from the whiplash, "I'm not that hungry."

He watched her go, humming something under her breath as she walked away towards the kitchen. Then he took a long breath and opened the door. Olus was wiping at his eyes and Aleci decided it was probably best to ignore his red face and puffy eyes. "Do you want to finish the game?" he said, brightly, "You ran off before we could see who was the winner."

"I am," sniffed Olus.

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"Why don't we try again hm?" said Aleci, "I have a game here, how about a rematch?"

He glanced at Finne discretely and saw what he thought was surprise followed by a soft smile. It looked good on Finne, the smile. But first things first, the game, there was a wooden Latrunculi board folded up at the bottom of his clothes chest. He pulled it out, opening the copper clasps to take out the colored stones.

"Do you want to set the board?" he asked, and Olus nodded eagerly.

With Olus otherwise distracted he turned to Finne, "Do you feel better?" he said gesturing, "You were sick last night?"

"It... happens. I am fine." He looked curiously at the board and then and Aleci, "You played Latrunculi with Olus?" Finne shook his head, "He likes winning. I warn you now." It was one of the longer, unprompted sentences Finne had ever had with him. All it took was a child Finne was fond of.

"I was going to win—" Aleci began, teasingly.

"No!" exclaimed Olus, and his brows furrowed in anger, "I am!"

"That's why we're playing again," said Aleci, patiently.

Finne shrugged his shoulders, "He will play until he wins," he said.

"I always wins," said Olus.

"Win," corrected Aleci and decided he wasn't holding back this time.

The spectacular tantrum Olus threw when he lost to Aleci could be heard by the deaf.

"I told you," said Finne smugly to Aleci, gingerly eating the honeyed oatmeal Maera bought up earlier, „Olus, pull yourself together, you know you'd lose eventually."

„No!" shrieked Olus, pointing accusingly at the board„No, no, no, no, no, no! I want a rematch!"

„He doesn't understand your Imrukian, son."

„I want a rematch!" demanded Olus, breathing in angry huffs.

"Please," said Finne.

„I want a rematch, please, Dominus Aleci." said Olus, smiling too brightly.

The boy won the next round, but barely, and that was enough for him to demand a new game. Usually he would concede and end the game, but it wouldn't hurt to continue, Finne seemed to enjoy watching them.

"Do you play?" he asked Finne while waiting for Olus to put the pieces into place.

"No," said Finne, making a move to cover his ears, and nodding pointedly at Olus.

Aleci laughed softly under his breath. It seemed that keeping Finne amused and distracted kept the nausea at bay. At the very least, he hoped so. His game with Olus continued until Maera brought up their dinner. The boy was a quick study, after three games he figured out Aleci's pattern of moving his pieces. Olus pronounced himself, prematurely as the better player upon this win. The joke's on the boy, thought Aleci, privately amused, he had played this game one two many times to only have one strategy.

The older woman made to take Olus's hand into hers, but Olus pulled away, "May I eat with you Dominus Aleci? Because I win?"

From the corner of his eye he could see Finne rolling his eyes at Maera, who shook her head in amusement.

"Why not," he said, and the boy grinned, sitting himself by Finne's side.

There was the spiced meats he liked, bread rolls, and plate of fried cheese on top of green vegetables. Maera placed a soup bowl in front of Finne alongside his usual cup of tea. Finne looked at the bowl with a vague sort of distaste but not outright nausea. Olus, on the other hand, looked curiously at the spread before him. He was polite enough to wait for Aleci to start first before taking his portion. Olus made a face at the meat.

„It tastes wrong."

„Don't spit it out," Finne glanced at Olus before returning to his meal.

The boy didn't touch the meat after that, leaving Aleci to wonder how the Imrukians prepared their meat. Salted maybe? He wasn't sure if Finne was just unique in his odd tastes. Judging by Olus's enjoyment of the fried cheese, maybe Finne was. Then again Olus grew up in Alyssa did he not? It was making his head spin or, Aleci glared at the wine, it better not be watered down.

Maera cleared up after their dinner, and when she came back to their bedroom to take Olus's hand, the boy shook his head and pulled away.

„I want to stay with you. Why can't I stay with you?"

„Because."

„You're replacing me!" Olus's lower lip trembled and he rubbed his eyes.

Finne sighed deeply, crouching down to pat Olus's cheek, „I'll see you tomorrow. I promise."

Olus looked deeply skeptical at this, he glared at Aleci, earning him a stern admonishment from Maera.

„Fine!" said Olus, stomping his feet. „Fine, I'll leave. You don't want me anyway!"

"Olus!" snapped Maera, sounding scandalized.

„I'm sorry." mumbled Olus, sounding not at all sorry.

"Goodnight Dominus Aleci, Domina Finne." said Maera.

The older woman tried to elicit the same farewell from Olus, who scowled, before giving a forced wide-tooth smile, "Good night Dominus Aleci."

He held out his arms expectantly to Finne, still couched down next to him, and Finne obliged, hugging him. „Goodnight mamaí, can I please train you tomorrow, if you feel better? Please?"

„If you behave," said Finne.

Olus had repeatedly called Finne „mamaí" the entire day. Was it a title or a child's mispronunciation? Finne as a name didn't sound like „mamaí" at all, but well, maybe to a child's ear it did? The first time Olus called him so Finne looked like he wanted to admonish him, Aleci could see him throwing a concerned glance at Aleci. The word itself sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place where he'd first heard it. Besides, what did it matter, he wanted Finne at ease, he'd accomplished it with the villa's loudest winner.

He waited until Finne was in bed before reaching out to hold Finne's hand, the question still clear even in his wine addled mine "Did you have children?"

Finne's hand clenched into fists, and he shook his head.

"No?" Aleci prompted even as Finne stiffened and moved away.

"No."

Perhaps it came natural to Finne, interacting with children. It could be that Maera's daughter had a rich merchant husband after all and Olus was able to visit the inner courts of Imruk. Though the conversations Finne had with Olus seemed closer, more intimate than a caretaker to a child. They even looked similar enough to be related, especially when both scowled or laughed. But then again, perhaps the boy's father was a relative of Finne somehow?

"Sleep," said Finne, suddenly, gripping his arm to possibly quieten his restless tossing, "Sleep."

"I can't just sleep on command," protested Aleci, "like you."

There was a heavy sigh, "What do I do? To help you?" said Finne.

They've put out the candles, the darkness of the room made it difficult to read Finne's face.

"Come closer," said Aleci, extending out his arm to Finne, "Please?"

Finne moved closer with the cautious hesitation of one approaching a lion. "Here?" he said, resting half his head on the pillow, half on Aleci's upper arm. His face was turned away, but Aleci could feel his soft, rapid breaths against his skin.

"Yes," said Aleci, moving himself closer to Finne, his chest almost flushed against Finne's back.

Finne stiffened, and Aleci said, reassuringly, "I don't want anything from you," he paused, "Should I move away?"

"No," said Finne, and Aleci could feel the rustling of bed sheets as Finne curled in upon himself. His breath hitched when Aleci put his arm across his stomach but calmed after some moments.

"Good night, Finne," said Aleci, refraining from rubbing soothing circles with his hand.

"Sleep," Finne replied with a yawn, sounding only half-annoyed.