"Oh, hello Tryst. I'll be with you in just a moment," Matius said, turning his attention back to his four-year-old son, Trevor, who was sniffling. "Hold still, it's just a little cut, you know you shouldn't have been running around the house with a blindfold on."

The boy hiccuped. "We were playing blind man."

"A game for open fields, not furniture filled houses," Matius chided as his hand glowed and the small gash on the boy's forearm vanished.

"Now go play gobbles with your brother, here," Matius grabbed a walnut from a bowl and muttered, the nut morphing into a perfect sphere, brown with black specks, "see if this one's a winner."

Trevor took the marble with delight and ran off waving it to show his brother. Matius stood up and gestured to a chair. "Alright, what have you been up to?"

Tryst pretended to be offended. "What, I can't come just to chat?"

"Not with that mischievous glint in your eye." Matius smiled good naturedly.

"Alright, you got me. I've just gotten back from Fenrin's."

"How is he and Fiona?"

"Fine. Her and my Libby are already tight as clams but I got around to chatting with Vai."

Matius reached back and cracked open a walnut. "Oh really? How'd that go? I hope you were nice, he's in a new place without friends which can't be easy."

"You're too soft hearted, Matius. Vai can't be that weak if he's lived with the queen for so long."

Matius sighed and munched on the walnut. "So you weren't nice."

"I just chatted with him...well, rather at him. He clammed up pretty quickly."

Reaching back, Matius handed the bowl of walnuts to Tryst. "You hungry? You've mentioned clams twice now."

Tryst pushed the bowl away irritated. "Matius, be serious."

"I am." He started cracking another walnut. "I just don't see the benefit of you terrifying the poor man."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. You can't keep thinking of him as a poor slave, bullied around by Lyra. He's not like Echa or Anwen. It's not that he's pathetic because he's a slave, he's pathetic because he's not."

"What do you mean?"

"He's proud of his position. There's nothing he wants more than to go back to being her plaything. He's upset because she sent him here to babysit her daughter. Which begs the question of how he feels about Fiona."

Matius started. "You don't think..."

"I asked him up front, with Fenrin there. He said it was ‘his mission to protect her’ but the way he said it...I don't think Fenrin noticed, but I have a feeling Fiona doesn't mean much to Vai. If Lyra were to order him to leave her to die, he would."

"How can you be so sure? That's an awfully cruel accusation."

Tryst tapped the table irritated. "Look, I still don't know exactly what makes him tick, there's a piece of the puzzle I'm missing. But I know enough to know he's a threat and smart enough to take advantage of kind hearted people if he must. Don't underestimate him. Lyra is the only thing he cares about and he's only here because of her. There's a bitterness though I don't get. He tolerates Fiona, but something about her upsets him. I need your help figuring out what."

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"You think it could be important?"

"He's singularly minded, unhappy, and conflicted. You know as well as anyone what a dangerous combination that can be. I don't know why yet, but he has the eyes of a man with nothing to lose and that makes me all sorts of nervous."

Matius pondered this. He did take Tryst's observations seriously, the man had a knack for figuring people out quickly. "Tell me what you're missing."

Tryst leaned forward. "I know he's unnaturally loyal to a tyrant of a woman who no doubt abused him. That means he's either insane or in love. If the former, well that's trouble, the latter then why is he so stiff about it? Given his nature, I suspect he's in denial, but is that a conscious choice or is there some other reason he's shut himself off to the idea? Second, if he adores Lyra so much, why not her daughter?"

"Perhaps he's jealous of the father?"

"Thought about that. By all accounts, there's no love lost between the king and queen. It's a political marriage, nothing more. Fiona doesn't act like the child of two parents who love each other."

"It's true, she doesn't know her mother very well either. That was clear enough when she handed her off, poor girl seemed confused by her mother's brutality. Still, perhaps Fiona serves as a reminder to Vai of another man."

"Maybe," Tryst said doubtfully, "but he doesn't strike me as the petty type and he obviously has no qualms about sex. Seems an heir to the throne is an obvious business matter. Plus when the queen had to send that heir away, she picked Vai to watch over her daughter. He should see that as a complement. So why is he so bitter?"

"Isn't it because he'd rather be with Lyra?"

"Yes, but there's more than that. He's obviously trained not to show emotion but he's slipping left and right. There's a lot going on in that golden head, even Fiona is picking it up. Don't know what she's been saying but she's been gossiping to Libby about it. My girl's ears prick up anytime Vai or Fenrin are mentioned."

"I'm still confused about why any of this matters," Matius said brows furrowed.

"Because or what he is. Imagine for a moment, you have one job and you're damn good at it, but life's moving on and you can only get worse. Finally you're reassigned to a place where your only company is someone who once tortured you and someone who is a constant reminder of some unpleasant love affair. He's getting older and I doubt the Tiger Queen is the sentimental type. He knows this is the end and his devotion has been rewarded with the world's worst assignment. He's a dedicated man whose whole purpose has been unheaved. The natural response would be to throw everything into his last orders."

"So he protects Fiona, I don't see the problem."

Tryst pinched his nose bridge. "We don't know if that was his order. Do you honestly think Lyra really just wants her daughter protected?"

Matius's eyes widen finally catching Tryst's drift. "You think he's also a spy."

"Obviously, and for all we know he's supposed to do more than spy. So unless we know exactly how desperate he is, we won't know how far he might be willing to go if things start to go south."

Nodding, Matius rubbed his chin. "I see. I wish we knew Lyra's timetable. No doubt things will get interesting when she comes back for Fiona. I get what you mean by missing pieces. They all seem to me to lead to one person."

Tryst cocked a head and Matius said, "I've got a theory, but I'll need Fiona to be sure. It'd be too much of a risk to take without more solid evidence."

"Now who's being confusing," Tryst said irritated.

"I don't want to say anything yet. Give me a few days. Until then, leave Vai be. If he is as unstable as you suspect, he'll need time to recuperate."

"He'll have no choice but to see me. I'm not letting Libby near him without me around."

"Fair enough."

Tryst sat for a moment watching Matius before standing up and leaving the mayor’s husband to his thinking. Matius was still in the kitchen pondering when Jayln came home. One glance at his face and she took his hand and said with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Tryst and I were considering what to do about Vai."

"The Aryi?" Jayln said, surprised. "Is he causing trouble?"

"In a way," Matius smiled at his wife, "but I think I've got it handled."

"If you're sure, but let me know if anything major changes."

"Naturally." Matius kissed her and turned away, outstretching his hands dramatically. "Alright, I'm off to win the heart of a princess."

He winked and Jayln rolled her eyes, although she smiled as her husband melted and the curtains swooshed.