They sat in silence for awhile before Finne said, "Would you like to help me lift the floorboards? I haven't the chance to check if it's still there."

Aleci nodded, and Finne motioned for Aleci to follow him. He crouched under the table and slowly tested the wood, before finding a loose board and motioning for Aleci to life the other end. It was a wooden box, Aleci observed, with a peculiar sheen to it, unique to Imruk. They were masters at woodworking after all, and he'd seen plenty of their skill while sipping tea in Maera's sitting room. Finne let out a breath.

"It's still here," he said, sounding disbelieving as he lifted the box and placed it upon the table and sitting down on the chair next to it with a thud.

It was reverently opened, and Aleci let out a low whistle of appreciation at the sword he saw. It would be a bit too big for Edon, but in Finne's hands it was a short sword. The pommel was shaped like a cat's head, with gleaming amber stones set for its eyes. One could even say it looked like Caesarion, Aleci thought. There was no rust on the sword, for all the years it lied underneath the wood.

"That's a peculiar place to hide a sword," Aleci observed.

"It was a stupid idea," Finne said quietly, running one finger up and down its hilt. "I was ten and convinced that it would bring my mother back," he closed his eyes, "She told me a story of how a girl with no possessions of her own buried four pots of ash under her bed and the next day found herself with things to go to the high chief's celebration. I thought it would work in reverse as well." He laughed harshly, "The gap under the bed was too small for me to crawl under so I decided the table would do. Maybe that's why it didn't work, it was under the wrong object!"

Aleci glanced away, a pit in his stomach. There had been many times when he'd stormed out of his childhood home, angry at whatever chastisement his mother had given him. But she had always been there to welcome him back. He frowned, a noise by the door catching his attention. There was a scratching at the door, Finne hadn't noticed, so Aleci stood up, cautiously making his way over. It couldn't be anything too dangerous, Domerc kept a strict watch. His left hand wavered on the door knob, before reaching hesitantly for his sword. The door was barely opened before a furry blur darted in. Caesarion shook his massive body, spraying droplets of water on the wooden floor before padding over to Finne and shoving his ugly head into Finne's arms. Finne looked up, startled.

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"You… you said his name was Caesarion?" Finne said shakily, his hands stroking the cat.

The little bastard was purring, amber eyes looking luminously at Aleci from under Finne's arms.

"He doesn't answer to anything," Aleci offered, "I thought Caesarion suited him."

Finne pulled the cat into his lap, his mouth in a thin line before he took a breath and said, "Your men spoke of camp wives."

Mercus, Aleci thought, internally groaning. "Oh?" Aleci replied, his tones light.

"Were you looking for one?"

"No," Aleci said shortly, "I don't keep company just for the road." That was what the Magisters did, the last one Aleci served under ran off with his two wagons full of women, leaving Aleci to face the Jochu riders. "I offered to take you to the Capital and I will do that. There's no need to change our agreement."

But you wish to, muttered the rebellious voice in his head, you wish to because you are selfish. Then it laughed in Kaeso's voice.

"They pointed out it wasn't... all sexual," Finne said quietly, "a companionship for the road. Didn't you request it from me when you asked me to play for you?"

If Mercus took his skills in driving horses and wagons into Aleci's life, and placed it into anything martial, no doubt the man could rival Aleci himself. Aleci opened his mouth, closed it, then stuttered, "I said it was spontaneous! I wasn't thinking of anything of the sort!"

"You weren't," Finne sounded disbelieving.

"No!" Aleci exclaimed.

Finne blinked, "No?" he repeated.

"No," Aleci insisted, running a hand through his hair and trying to find his words, "it is not honor or Mytea what have you. I won't do it because I am not an extortionist."

"I don't understand," Finne shook his head. "What does extortion have anything to do with this?"

"I have seen," Aleci's hands twisted on his tunic, "men who claim it is honor or the command of a God that keeps them from submitting to their baser nature. Things such as extorting the favors of a luckless man or woman, or-" He struggled to find the words, "beating the daylights out of someone. If their honor can be closed off at a whim and their deeply, held beliefs as well, then they do not deserve the comforts of civilization."

"What would you do then, with such men?" Finne said softly.

"I can't touch the worst of them," most of them sat high in their white marbled villas, Aleci grinned wolfishly, "I told you, if they don't behave like men, like people, without the falling into excuses then I am more than willing to cast them out. Do they not do the same in Imruk?"

"They," Finne began, then shook his head, "perhaps they once did. Not anymore."

It was a rhetorical question, Aleci knew very well why Maera and her friends came to the Capital and Finne's response only confirmed it.

"Shouldn't it be the community that casts them out and not the chiefs?" his traitorous tongue said before he could stop it.

"You are a strange man," Finne observed, wide eyed, "it is not done."

Now that was a line he hadn't heard in months. Aleci grinned at the memory of Maera's dumbstruck face, leaning back on the bed. "Would you play for me again?"

There was a pause as Finne took in his words, "Yes," he nodded his head, "I would."

The only one who didn't agree was Caesarion, who was placed on the ground as Finne went to fetch the instrument. The cat held his tail high in the air, padding over to where the children slept. If only cats could pout, thought Aleci, smirking at the look of indignation the beast sent his way.