Right?
That probably was what the kid was talking about, right?
'Uh... No problem,' he said, his mind suddenly, stupidly blank.
Back at the magic tower, when he'd first heard those words, he'd jumped upon them in a bid to dig up more information.
Was Rin a prince? Was a fight for the crown the reason behind the murderous rivalry with (or rather, from) his brother?
But then, what was he doing as a disciple at the (no offense) decrepit tower of a banished noble?
Had he also been banished similarly? Was he a deposed prince?
Or perhaps, an illegitimate child, who'd never been given a title at all?
Or were all of his assumptions incorrect, and was Rin only distantly related to the royal family, as the cousin of some uncle of some royal spouse?
Arin didn't know. The white-haired tower master had shut him down before he'd even gotten the first few words out of his mouth.
*
'Hey, why not? Don't you think this is something I should know about?'
'You should, indeed,' the man had said, with the gentlest of smiles upon his exquisite face. 'But not yet.'
Arin had only looked at him, mouth hanging slightly open. At that point, he hadn't even had the energy to argue anymore.
Trying to get a straight answer from this man was like trying to win a wrestling match against thin air.
But then, why even mention it at all?!
*
'Calm down, Siel. You needn't be so troubled,' he said presently.
The younger tower magician continued to look up at him worriedly.
Arin sighed.
To be honest - and if he was indeed correct about the matter Siel was referring to - he himself hadn't even known that it was supposed to be kept secret.
After all, hadn't that ponytail girl... Varida, or something? - spoken openly about the situation with Rin and his brother?
Because of that, he'd assumed that knowledge of Rin's family and circumstances was commonplace. Unless...
Was that lady one of the very few people in the know?
Or was Siel worrying about nothing?
Or... was Siel talking about something else entirely?
Too many questions, dammit!
Not for the first time, Arin had a strong feeling that managing his life in this world would've been a thousand times easier, had he met a more cooperative - more normal - mentor.
He sighed again.
It was like that damned white-haired man was actively trying to make everything more confusing and exasperating to deal with!
His momentary annoyance must've shown on his face, because Siel suddenly started speaking again, voice, thankfully, still hushed.
'I promise, it was never my intention! I merely discovered it by accident and -'
'Siel. Quiet. It is fine.'
Arin relaxed his features and hoped he looked reassuring in an uncaring way.
He wasn't even sure why he was still bothering with that. He'd slipped up so many times that he might as well start openly emoting like a clown now, Rin's personality be damned.
Maybe that's the 'identity' the kid had been talking about.
His real identity as a secret dumbass.
...
Arin tapped the stressed boy's tense shoulder.
'Don't mention it anymore,' he said, mentally congratulating himself for coming up with such a good response.
Neutral, measured, and signalling the end of this conversation, before he accidentally said something stupid!
'Let's talk about the more important things,' he added after a moment.
Siel looked at him searchingly for a couple more seconds. Then, probably satisfied that his 'senior brother Rin' wasn't going to be beating him to pulp - or whatever he'd been afraid of - anytime soon, he exhaled slowly.
'I - I understand. What we were talking about... Oh.' A small frown appeared on his brows, and the corners of his lips tugged downwards. 'But then... I don't suppose you would be willing to have yourself heralded so...'
'No. But also, Siel, I don't think that's something I'll need to worry about,' Arin said. He'd had a moment to think about it.
And he now had a feeling that things wouldn't be playing out quite the way the boy had been hoping at first.
'Why do you say that?' the boy asked.
Arin just shook his head. 'You'll see...'
Ha!
His turn to be mysterious!