Janius had his eyes on Julan. He patiently let the boy finish while he kept still in his seat. Janius had plenty of patience for Julan, even under this kind of stress. His response was calm and sympathetic. "I understand what you are saying, son. The matter is not whether I like my father or not -- I would help Aurana either way." He lowered his voice. "You have not met your grandfather Remus. You do not know him like I do. He is a sharp man, but he does not enjoy being proven wrong, least of all by myself. I cannot see our speaking together resulting in anything more than walking away disliking one another more than we did before, with no benefit to Aurana's life."

Meanwhile, Aurana was looking into the fire with a sad frown and redness in her eyes.

Rhazii's eyes were darting between Julan and Janius. He breathed in to retort and quickly backed off. He cleared his throat to play off his drawn attention.