Lucien had been quite happy with the way taking in Aurel had turned out. There was a sense of pride in the Frenchman in seeing how far the boy had come when they had found him. He was certainly more confident than he was before, and his eagerness to learn almost reminded him of himself when he was younger, yet there were things that he and Faolan could do quite happily together, which was nice to see. Their bond over hunting and fishing had helped them grow closer. He was glad at least someone shared Faolan's enjoyment for hunting, as the Frenchman had never.. really had a knack for it. 

Explaining Faolan's situation vaguely to Aurel had not been as difficult as he had thought. He had been accepting of what Lucien had told him, though he could see the worry reflected in the child's eyes upon the mention of danger, but the promise of telling him when he was older had seemed to be enough to keep him from asking more questions. 

The job they had now thankfully allowed him to bring Aurel with him, though he had taken note that he was a little more reserved and quiet around the boy he was tutoring. He had explained to the couple that Aurel was a bit.. sensitive about his appearance, because of a condition he had contracted as a child. They hadn't been too hard to convince, so thankfully it had prompted them to not ask too many questions in regards to it. He had made sure to tell Aurel to call him 'Uncle' in front of these people, as he had decided to go with the story that his sister had sent over her son to him in fear of him getting caught up in the war. He had never been too fond of lies, but he told them this would be necessary to keep him safe, and the boy had agreed, understanding that this was important. 

Aurel was the happiest out of all of them. The boy had lacked many good experiences in his life.. and he could say that in these five weeks they had all spent together.. that it was the happiest he had been in a long time. He was so proud of the fact that he could run around like he used to.. though he occasionally get looks from Faolan when he didn't want to eat his vegetables or he didn't eat as much as the Irishman wanted. He couldn't help it.. he just sometimes couldn't bring himself to eat as much. Lucien was always at least a bit understanding, though he did side with him on eating more vegetables. He was willing to try to best to do so but.. it just wasn't as good. Throughout the time that had passed, some of the snakes had decided to leave. They had lingered for a while because they had wanted to make sure he was well taken care of, and now only four remained, along with his the brown striped snake that was always at his side. 

The boy had also used up quite a bit of pages in the sketchbook Lucien had given him. After seeing some of the sketches Lucien had done, he sought to improve his skill, hoping to maybe someday reach his level, but obviously he was nowhere near it, but at least his scribbles had become easier to discern. Trees now looked like trees, and he was still working on trying to draw people properly. That was what the boy was currently doing, sitting on his cot and doing his best to draw Lucien and Faolan. He had been drawing the two side by side, but had paused before going any further, glancing up at his two guardians. Watching the two men, Aurel had thought on more than one occasion that the two were really close, but it hadn't been until one of the snakes had made a comment about them that he had began considering other possibilities. This was what prompted him to speak up. 

[color=#a7d3d4]"Are you two.. der freunds..?"[/color] Aurel asked. 

Lucien had not been expecting the question, and it had caused him to fumble a little with the book he was holding, but he had managed to keep himself from dropping it. 

[color=burlywood]"W-What?"[/color] He asked, clearly having been caught completely by surprise.