“This might not even work. His injuries might be too––” But the Caretaker was interrupted as Captain Hame’s head moved.

“Ahhh,” the Captain groaned in obvious pain.

Ghar stepped up so that he was standing just outside the open doorway of the Remaker.

“Hame, can you hear me? I have some questions for you.”

The Captain groaned again, but this time he opened his eyes. “Excellency? W–what happened?”

“That’s what I want to know. You went to my son’s room. Why were you even there?” Ghar demanded in a curt tone.

The Captain sank his head back into the Remaker and closed his eyes. He was quiet for a long time and Ghar feared he might have fallen unconscious again.

“Captain?” Ghar prompted him.

“He tried to attack you, Sire,” Hame finally responded with his eyes still closed. “I just wanted to let him know that wasn’t acceptable.”

“And what does that mean exactly? You do realize he had large piece of glass in his side. Did you do that?”

Hame opened his eyes and lifted his head, a hard look in his eyes. Ghar knew it well, he’d seen it often enough over the years. It was the look the Captain usually used to meet an enemy head on.

“Excellency, you must believe me that I had not intended to do any harm to him. I just wanted to scare him a little. Let him know I was watching him in case he wanted to try what he did last night again.”

“And yet that’s not what happened,” Ghar’s voice was thick with accusation.

Hame’s jaw tightened. “I went to his room. He was taking a shower. I waited for him to get out. I used my Dome-ni to push him against the back of the shower. I delivered my warning and I fully intended to leave. That’s when your son lashed out at me.”

“Well, you did assault him in the shower. What did you expect to happen?”

“I didn’t expect him to know quat-lo.”

“So then you can confirm that he knows the discipline?”

“I can. He’s quite skilled too. Remeer must have taught him.”

Ghar nodded at having one mystery solved at least. “I would image as much. What I can’t imagine is why you would confront my son like that at all? Or did you not hear me last night when I told you to leave him alone?”

Hame lifted up his head and a hard light shone from his eyes. “I am your Protector, Emperor. It’s my job to take every threat against you seriously, even if you don’t consider it something to be concerned about.”

“Not against my son you don’t! And not after I told you to stand down!” Ghar’s voice vibrated with his anger.

It washed through him in waves as he glared at his Protector. A man Ghar had trusted with his life time and time again. Never once in the last thirty years had Hame’s loyalty been called into question. And now… now, Ghar could barely stand looking at the man before him.

There was a long silence before Ghar could trust himself to speak again. When he did, his voice was back to its normal coolness.

“Put him back under,” Ghar nodded to the Caretaker.

“Excellency, I only had your protection in mind,” the Captain tried to say, but the Caretaker hadn’t wasted any time as he moved past Ghar and put the device the Admiral had given back to him at the side of the Captain’s neck. Ghar made a point not to look back to the Captain as the sedative quickly began to work.

“And that’s precisely the problem, Hame.” Ghar said, but he doubted the Captain even heard him. The man already unconscious.

Ghar abruptly turned from the Remaker and marched out of the room in disgust. He motioned to let the Admiral and Dur-rele to follow. He didn’t stop until he made it to his office two floors up from his Protector’s bedchambers.

Once in his office, Ghar took a seat behind his desk with a heavy sigh. “At least we know Adar didn’t start this.”

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“But he sure finished it,” the Admiral replied as he came to stand in front of Ghar’s desk. Dur-rele lingered in the background like he wasn’t even sure he should be there.

“I don’t want to hear it from you too, Ko-tus. The Captain was out of line and he knew it. I told him to stay away from Adar. And maybe it is a good thing my son knows quat-lo. At least he can defend himself, even against Protectors.”

There was a sound of exasperation from the Admiral. “Emperor, you can’t be serious. Quat-lo isn’t some regular fighting discipline. It’s meant only for Protectors for a reason. You can be sure the College will have something to say about this.”

Ghar waved a hand. “I don’t care what the College says. We didn’t train him, Aragon did. And Adar probably had no idea the significance of what he was learning. They can’t fault him for that, and if they try, I will have something to say about it.”

The Admiral scowled, but instead, brought up the question Ghar was thinking himself. “I wonder though how your son showed himself very capable at quat-lo, but nothing else of Ethia. He didn’t even know Enic when I picked him up.”

Ghar absent-mindedly tapped his fingers on the stone top of his desk as his mind pondered the question. “I have a thought about. Adar has two adaptable locks. We’ve had two Mind Benders confirm it. It would make sense that one is a training lock. I wondered why Aragon had put so many in Adar’s mind. If he wanted to simply erase my son’s Ethian past, one would have sufficed.

“The lock probably released when Hame attacked him, and it did so then and not last night during the encounter with my other guards because Adar correctly perceived Hame to be a much bigger threat. And knowing Aragon, he put a trigger on the lock for it to release in the event of such a deadly encounter.”

“The Prince still attacked the Captain,” the Admiral pressed again.

Irritation irked Ghar that Ko-tus was still trying to paint his son as an enemy. “Yes, but not until after Hame did so first. Come now Admiral, if someone ambushed you while in the shower, you’d have done the same.”

“Not against Hame. That’s just foolishness. Not even I’m not that good in hand to hand.”

“Perhaps, but it’s clear that Adar is still learning his way in Ethia, and the boy seems to have a temper. I do appreciate what you are trying to do, Ko-tus, but Adar is no threat to me. Possibly to himself if he’s picking fights with the likes of Hame, but certainly not to me.”

Ghar watched the Admiral carefully to make sure that his words had sunk in. He still didn’t look happy, but after a moment he nodded as if dropping the matter.

“However, you are right about one thing. This does change things, especially after hearing what Hame had to say. I’m sure word of this little incident is already spreading like wild fire. We will have to consider our next steps carefully. How are you doing with the search for Adar’s Protector?”

“I have compiled a list of ten Pledges that I think will be suitable for the the Prince. I still need to thoroughly vet them. I was going to present the possible Protectors to you in two days.”

“Excellent. Adar should be back on his feet by then. Plan on joining us for breakfast in two days time. I will see you then unless something else comes up.”

“Of course, Excellency.” The Admiral bowed his head. He then hesitated a moment as if he was going to say something, but then seemed to think better of it and turned on his heels, quickly exiting the room.

Yes, things were going to have to change––one change in particular. Ghar didn’t like it, but he couldn’t have his people undermining him. And he most certainly couldn’t have people thinking that his personal protection was weak. That would give people ideas and he couldn’t have that, not with all the enemies he had.

“Dur-rele, I want you to find Master Kiev, and ask him to come see me. I have some things to discuss with him.”

His aide bowed low, and then turned to leave.

“And Dur-rele? Keep in contact with Adar’s Caretaker. I want to know his progress.”

“Yes, Excellency.”

The aide left Ghar alone with his dark thoughts and the next steps he would have to take. It unnerved him that his son had come close to death in a few short weeks of each other. It was becoming clear that Adar needed a Protector sooner rather than later, no matter what Ko-tus might think or say.

And even though he had rebuked his son for using his fists to solve problems, a part of Ghar was glad he at least had that kind of training. It pained him to even think it, but Ghar was grateful to Aragon for taking such measures to protect his son. It had probably saved his life, even if his son’s hotheadedness had caused the escalation with Hame.

Ghar let out a heavy sigh. That boy was going to be more work than he originally thought. It didn’t help that his son was still probably feeling upset at Ghar for the threat against the planet he had grown up on, and that was probably the reason Adar had lashed out so violently against Hame.

This was all Ghar’s fault. Not Adar’s. Not even Hame’s. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed Adar so hard last night. Ghar’s head ached. There had been a time in his life when he would have never felt like he had made a mistake or felt a doubt about his actions. But lately, it seemed like he was faltering more than he was comfortable with. Maybe he was just getting too old for all of this.

Maybe. Which made it even more important to get Adar trained so that he could eventually take over. The Empire needed him more than he could possibly know. But he was still young and his previous life so very fresh in his mind. Ghar realized that maybe he needed to adjust his plans a little to account for that. Maybe time was what Adar really needed.

A beeping sounded at his door, bringing Ghar from his thoughts.

“Enter!” Ghar commanded.

The door swished open and Master Kiev strolled through the entryway. Ghar waved for the man to come and stand in front off his desk as his mind quickly recalculated his plans for his son.

“You wished to see me,” the Master said with a fist to his heart.

Ghar gave the Master a half smile. “Indeed, I think you might be able to help me with a problem, Master Kiev.” Ghar stood up from his desk and moved to the lounging area in the center of the room. “Come and sit. We have much to discuss.”