"He was..." Fendros had to breathe to gather himself. The trauma of the event that resulted in Rhazii's scars was difficult at first to find a lie about. No matter what, Fendros knew that he would feel just as much shame about the scars. "When he was a baby, both Ahnasha and myself had to leave him in the care of a maid while we secured a business deal in...Cheydinhal." Fendros was improvising as best as he could, but at least his delivery seemed convincing. "It was only meant to be for one night, but...that one night was when some oil was spilled too close to a fireplace. The entire building went up in flames and we were not able to get Rhazii out until he was badly burned. No one died, thankfully," Fendros shifted uneasily as that last sentence was probably the biggest lie. "We were just thankful that Rhazii lived, after the healers saved him. It was a difficult time for us all." Fendros sighed, "It was a mistake that we shouldn't have made, but it is in the past now. After that, we never left Rhazii alone with someone we didn't know well."

Rhazii glanced up at Fendros numerous times during the explanation. What Fendros was saying did not sound exactly like Rhazii had heard it when he asked his parents before why he had marks on his face. Everything had been confusing ever since he walked up the stairs.

Now that it appeared as though things were calming, Fendros tried to steer the tone of the conversation to lighter matters. "I apologise if we interrupted if you were about to have dinner. I hope we aren't being a...an inconvenience, I suppose." Fendros let out an uneasy laugh. He was simply speaking out of politeness, but the ridiculousness of saying such a thing after presenting a nine-years-presumed-dead member of the family was not lost on him.