It's not the time to be distracted, Aureum thought.
It's the time to act. So get yourself in order.
She scowled down at her reflection in the lake.
It wasn't very fearsome. Luckily, she didn't need to be fearsome. She forced a smile.
Vitreum, let's do our best to be friends~!
"Miss Zizan!"
"Ah, Mr. Aes," Aureum said. "Vitreum! Hi!"
"Aureum!"
The little girl threw herself at Aureum's waist. The large man stood a little behind the bundle of energy.
"Save me from my classes! I'm dyyyying!"
Oh. Maybe that's why reading to her failed.
That was fine. Aureum had something different in mind today.
"Ohhh noooo. You can't die today. Come on, stand up. Do you want to come train with me today?"
"Don't want to."
I forgot. This brat!
"Why not?"
"Sounds like work," Vitreum said.
"Well, it is," Aureum admitted.
So they were at an impasse immediately.
Well, it's not like I didn't have some idea of a backup plan, with everything else going sideways these days.
"Then can we start with a stroll? It won't be as fun as going to the market, but we can talk about what else you might want to do in the meantime."
Vitreum stared up at Aureum with an expression she couldn't read. Then the girl nodded.
They walked. It was nice to be able to go down the pathways where people were for once for Aureum, but Vitreum was quiet. Which put Aureum on edge.
"We didn't talk that much last time. How is His Majesty Snowfluffles?"
Vitreum pouted.
"Fine."
Now Aureum knew there was a problem here. What was it?
She'd been fine two minutes ago.
"So you're studying now," Aureum said. "Is that difficult?"
"Not really."
Aureum stopped. She bent down towards Vitreum to look at her face. She tried to smile.
I'll be friendly. Friendly.
"What's wrong?"
Vitreum looked at the ground. The girl took her time to reply, but Aureum wasn't moving.
"I thought... I thought things would be the same as back then with you guys here. But it's still different."
Aureum felt her smile slip.
It is different.
Back then, she would have called Vitreum a brat with abandon, away from everyone who might beat her for such a slight. Here, even the servants would turn on her if she didn't title the little "lady" right.
We weren't really friends back then. Right.
Vitreum was a child, and Aureum had treated her like one. Yes, she gave Vitreum special care, but no more than any other kid. She didn't exactly treat her like a superior, more like an inferior.
Well, she was a kid, and everything was a mess. I couldn't have long discussions in the moment of why she should listen to me. I just needed her to listen.
Actually, there might have been time on some occasions.
Does she want that again...?
The problem was, Aureum didn't want to die. Having to explain that "No, no, it's really quite good for Vitreum to learn to act like a human being instead of being entitled to the world" to Lord Maledic wouldn't go over too well.
Especially with Aureum doing the explaining. Her attempts at diplomacy so far came closer to starting fights than finding peace.
"Yeah," she said. "Things are gonna be different now."
But Aureum didn't apologize. Things were different, but Aureum had bent a bit too far.
If even a kid is pointing it out...
What did it take for Aureum to bow down to power?
A bare minimum of respect for the one receiving it with at least three lives she cared about on the line, and she found herself easily catering favor with a brat.
I would have done it for the lord's dog, let alone a kid.
"Tell me about how you're doing," Aureum said. "I wanna hear about how you're using what you've been given."
Not the smoothest topic transition, but Aureum couldn't leave Vitreum hanging forever.
"Mostly I have to learn 'my letters.'"
The girl's voice changed like she was imitating someone.
"I hate it!"
The little girl stomped her foot.
"Come on, just accept that it sucks and move on," Aureum said. "It'll pay off in the long term."
"How?"
"Well, once you learn to read, you can read whatever you want."
"I don't want to read fairytales anymore."
"It's not just fairytales in writing. A lot of important things can only be learned through reading."
"I'm going to be rich, right? I can get someone else to read for me."
"Don't be a fo—Don't be silly. If you rely on someone else to do that all the time, you'll have to trust them. Do you want to trust someone with what you get to learn forever?"
"..."
That probably went over her head.
"For now just learn it. You can decide if it's worthless or not later."
How's that for acting like your ornery aunt, huh?
"It doesn't change that I don't want to!"
Her voice was loud, but her head looked at the ground.
Aureum's momentary feeling of victory was shattered.
"Forget it, forget it," she said. "There's got to be worse things, like learning numbers."
Wait, does a girl with a lady's education need to learn numbers?
"I like numbers! We get to do the questions with quinque!"
Apparently, the little twerp liked counting money. At this age.
Aureum had forgotten that the Lapis' were known for their wealth. Lord Maledic and the Hidden Manor didn't give off the impression of merchants, but they were very wealthy.
Even if Vitreum wasn't related, she certainly had the heart to be a Lapis. Aureum had never had fun with numbers at her age.
"You're a strange little th—girl, aren't you?"
Vitreum had hunched down to look at something. It was a little frog, breathing fast as small things did when large things approached them. The girl grinned up at Aureum like a little gremlin.
"Yep!"
Then she chased after the frog that had catapulted itself ahead into the weeds.
Aureum followed behind at a leisurely pace. She didn't feel like getting grass stains on her robe, thank you.
They continued the days like this. Aureum would suggest an activity, like chess, checkers, tic-tac-toe, flower arranging, and so on. Vitreum would either outright reject, or only endure these activities. With many, many complaints.
"What are you trying to do to the girl?" Hiems asked. "Turn her into a socialite?"
He had been requested for advice. Since Vitreum frequently asked about him, Aureum thought it might prove useful.
Also, who else was she supposed to ask? Spesavia was as bad as a cat. She came by when she wanted to.
Gemmo was sleeping next to her. They and Hiems sat across from each other at an old little table. It was in one of the many paths in a mostly forgotten courtyard. The manor wasn't the biggest place, but it was big and old enough that some parts weren't used.
Aureum was trying to act serious, for the moment. She sat straight and leaned forward. At the same time, Hiems tried to downplay anything serious going on. He was reading a book that looked like some sort of medical textbook and not appearing to pay attention to her.
"I just don't want to play tag again..." Aureum admitted. "And again... is tag between two people really that fun to begin with?"
Whenever what Aureum tried failed, the two usually ended up playing tag. Which seemed to make the girl happy, at least.
"If you weren't willing to play her games, why did you even begin this?"
It had been weeks of this.
"Come on, help me. How am I supposed to gain her trust without talking?"
"That's nonsense," Hiems said. "Talking doesn't create trust."
He looked up at her and held the stare. This almost guaranteed a quick response.
"I'm just not good at playing," Aureum said, as she looked down. "It doesn't serve any real purpose..."
It was a weak excuse.
"You aren't supposed to be 'good' at playing," Hiems said. "And you're not supposed to be thinking about the purpose of it."
"But that's all I think about now," Aureum said.
She may have spoken lightly, but she wasn't far off the mark. She still trained her spear and her layering every day. These daily rituals had two goals in mind.
To punch Maledic and kill Caducus.
It felt like a joke. It was basically a joke. There was no way she would ever get the chance. Somebody else would probably get there first.
"I expected you to be playful," Hiems said. "Free. Weren't you like that when we met?"
Aureum shrugged. She had been all of that, and it had left her upriver into rapids.
And down a tall waterfall.
And into rocks below—
"Do you think this helps?" He asked.
His voice sounded doubtful of that.
"Yep," Aureum said. "It calms me down. When I don't focus on something... I get tired fast."
"After all the training I've seen you do, the first thing you do is crawl into bed afterwards. Maybe you should try tea instead."
"Maybe 'weary' is a better word...? It exhausts me to be without focus. But this isn't helping me."
"You need to play to become a friend to Vitreum. From the sounds of it, you haven't really been playing."
"What pointless advice," Aureum said.
She understood what he was saying. In most circumstances he would have a point.
Don't be such a hardass. Relax. Blah, blah, blah.
Aureum had said such things to her sister, Felixia, a few times.
But here and now she needed the kid to cooperate with her in as timely a fashion as possible.
"I don't think Vitreum wants a friend..." Aureum muttered, in between rubbing her face. "I think she wants a replacement for her mother."
Hiems eyes narrowed before he nodded.
"You might be right."
"Let's hope I'm wrong. I'm not allowed to be her surrogate mother. I don't think."
I'm planning to leave as soon as possible anyways...
"Then get somebody else to do it," Hiems said.
"Eh."
Aureum hadn't even thought of that.
"What about the credit? How am I supposed to prove I'm useful to Lord Maledic if somebody else is doing it?"
"...Then do it yourself."
Aureum stared at him while he read his book. She rested her forehead against the heels of her hand.
"Who could I grab? I'm against Spesavia, and would any of the servants do?"
Hiems tapped the table a few times.
"I'd tell you to look... but I know of a few of the maids. Maybe we can find somebody who would want to. But I half expect Lord Maledic is already doing that. It was a joke. All I really think you need to do is to relax around Vitreum."
"Ah, yes. Children are sensitive little creatures. Come on. If people can be lied to, so can kids. Easier even."
"Yes, but you're an awful liar," Hiems said drily. "So bad that even kids pick up on it."
It pulled the wind out of Aureum's snarky sails. Hiems continued.
"There's no reason to lie here either, so you're adding to the mess of the situation—
"Ha."
Aureum couldn't help it. It was ridiculous that Hiems, Mendax of all people, was telling her not to lie.
He stopped, and his green eyes watched her. Not amused were they, not at all.
"I meant—
He cut her off this time.
"You at least want to protect Vitreum, Aureum. Even she knows it. So instead of trying to play games or to get her attention, just listen and pay attention to her. You've already got her trust. She asked for you. You just need to give her time."
Hiems leaned forward, ignoring the book as it touched the table.
She waited, but he didn't say anything more. He pulled himself back.
He didn't look away, though.
That's how the days between the two had been. A wild ride where in a moment a calm breeze could twist into something else.
Despite avoiding it, she still didn't know all that she was feeling. Anger, desperation, or just need?
Each time she let the moment pass. It felt like they were getting farther from each other.
"I'll try to pay attention to her," Aureum said. "It's just a little hard with everything going on."
"I think you can make time for hard things. Even with that, you can still spend most of the hours of your day training away."
"That's not fair," Aureum said. "There's nothing wrong with training."
"And I'm not trying to accuse you," Hiems said. "But you can train and spare a few words...
He let the sentence drop right there, as he frowned and looked away.
"You'll be fine on time. Don't worry about it. It's just your favorite thing. Focus. You need to focus on what's in front of you. For Vitreum."
It was strange to see him slipping in his words. Aureum swallowed.
At least she wasn't alone in the weirdness.
"For Vitreum? Really?"
"Ah, I'm done with this."
Despite his words, Hiems's tone was calm, and his rise from the table was slow. It made it easy for Aureum to follow him. She grabbed the sleeping Gemmo, who seemed to have no comprehension of what was going on around him, before she got up herself.
It was because he did things like this that it made things easier for her. Not easy. But easier.
"Do you think we can beg an extra roll from our favorite cook?" Aureum said, as she caught up with him.
"No, but we can try."