The second house was quieter than the first. A father this ti, a broad man in his forties with the build of a forr field awakened and the careful stillness of soone who had learned, sowhere along the way, to take up less space than he naturally occupied. His son sat on the sofa beside him and looked at Aris with enormous dark eyes and said nothing for the first ten minutes of the visit.
His na was Mark, and he had apparently told his father, the morning after the incident, that the pretty person who went into the bad door was going to be fine because he didn’t look worried.
Her father had relayed this to Aris with the expression of a man who had found this both comforting and sohow the most concerning thing his child could have said.
"He has good instincts," Aris said, giving the kid a warm smile.
"He’s eleven," his father said.
"The instincts are still good."
Mark, who had been listening to this exchange from his position on the sofa with the focused attention of a child who had been told not to interrupt, looked at Aris with an expression that had decided sothing.
"You went in because soone was lost," he said, a statent more than a question.
"Yes," Aris replied.
He nodded once, with the gravity of soone confirming a hypothesis.
"That’s what I thought, Xiaolan wouldn’t believe ." he said to the general audience, and returned to the book he’d had open on his lap the whole ti, apparently satisfied.
Her father looked at Aris with the expression of a man who had been living with this child for years and still sotis found him surprising.
"He’s been fine," he said, quietly. "I think he just needed to know you ca back out."
"I did," Aris said.
"Yes." The man looked at his son with a tired smile. "Yes, you did."
***
The third house was the smallest on the street, set slightly back from the road behind a garden that had been allowed to do what it wanted and had responded with enthusiasm. The gate was slightly crooked, a rare sight in the crown district. The doorbell made a sound that suggested it had strong opinions about being rung.
The woman who answered was young—younger than the others, mid-twenties perhaps, with paint on her hands and the slightly distracted air of soone who had been in the middle of sothing and had organized themselves for the visit but not entirely finished doing so.
Behind her, barely visible around the door-fra, was the smallest child Aris had seen in the neighborhood. Four, maybe five, with hair that had been winning their argunt with gravity.
The child looked at Aris.
Aris looked back.
The child reached out from behind the door-fra, with complete seriousness, and waved.
He raised his hand and waved back.
The child—a boy, he thought, though the hair was inconclusive—made a small satisfied sound and disappeared back around the door-fra.
"That’s Miu, my son, Co in." the mother said, with the tone of soone who had stopped trying to predict her child and had found peace in that.
"He’s been completely fine. I think he was more worried about you than about what happened." She paused as they walked in. "He kept saying the pretty boy probably went to help."
"He was right," Lyra said, before Aris could say anything.
The mother smiled. "He usually is, sohow."
She glanced back into the house.
"He made you sothing. He’s been insisting we give it to you when you visited. I hope that’s alright."
A mont later Miu reappeared in the doorway, now holding, with both hands and great solemnity, a piece of paper.
He walked up to Aris in small trots and held it out.
He crouched down to take it at his level.
It was a drawing. Crayon, like Xiaolan’s, but the style was entirely different—looser, more instinctive, the figures simplified to their essential qualities. Two stick figures. One large, one small. The small one had silver scribbled hair and was holding the large one’s hand, leading them toward what appeared to be a door, rendered in yellow, which he assud was the gate.
The small figure had wings.
He looked at the drawing for a mont.
Miu watched him look at it with the patient expression of an artist waiting for a response.
"It’s very good," he said giving him the brightest smile he could muster.
Miu nodded, as if this was the expected answer, and went back inside.
He stood up slowly.
Lyra was looking at the drawing. Her expression was doing sothing she wasn’t quite managing to keep off her face.
"Don’t," he said, for the second ti that morning.
"I really didn’t say anything," she said.
He folded the drawing carefully and put it in his pocket.
They walked ho, having spent another ten minutes chatting with the mother.
The walk back ho was comfortable enough, Aris walked by Lyra’s side now, already having morized the way they ca. It was one amazing thing about being an awakened, you rarely had to worry about small things like this.
"That went surprisingly well." Aris said, hands still in his pocket.
"Xiaolan is going to be expecting you again."
He let the small smile that tugged at his lips blossom, not holding it back in Lyra’s presence.
They didn’t discuss anything else until they reached ho.
It was well past into noon when they arrived, the sun blazing hot on top of their heads. Regulus was sitting outside, most likely taking a breather after an intense workout since Lyra wasn’t there to scold him.
"You look relaxed." He noted as Aris walked up to the front door.
"I always look relaxed."
Regulus humd in return, not saying anything as Aris entered inside the house.
He plopped onto the couch in the living room, Lyra taking a seat on one of chairs.
"You’ll be starting dungeon runs again tomorrow, we need to get you gear for that."
Aris made a muffled sound in response, face buried in a pillow.
"I’ve already prepared your armour, and so options are available for the weapons including bows."
"The weapons won’t be needed."
"You are not going inside without a weapon."
Aris raised his head, looking at Lyra.
"I still have Veriteas."
Lyra blinked. Once. Twice.
A long mont of stillness as she processed the information.
"Oh.."
"Yeah." His voice now muffled since his head was buried back into the pillow.
"Alright then, I’ll go get the armour ready."
"Take care."
The soft click of the door closing could be heard as she left.
Aris took in a deep breath, letting his body relax as he slipped into a short sleep.
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