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By the time Varis started moving again, Aaron felt like he’d just sprinted a mile, chest heaving and breathless as he tried to come down from his high. He moved to hang Varis’ coat on autopilot, then rushed wordlessly to the kitchen, having to catch himself on the edge of the counter before fetching one of Varis’ favourite bottles and a thrice-polished stemmed glass. Having filled that, he pulled a large highball glass from a different cabinet, filling it with water from the sink. Varis had never told him to get himself anything before; was it that clear that he’d been neglecting himself? Pssh, of course it was, he was a wreck! He probably looked like he’d spent a week on the street. He couldn’t even remember the last full glass of water he’d drank, let alone the last meal he’d properly sat down to. Only now realizing how thirsty he was, Aaron downed half his glass and topped it off again before heading into the living room, giving Varis the stemmed glass and putting his own on the floor next to him. 

It felt kind of nice to kneel again; in retrospect, it was probably the first time he’d properly sat down in the past 24 hours. At once he felt like he weighed a thousand pounds and nothing at all, a week’s worth of desperate fatigue pulling at the edges of his consciousness as he settled comfortably on the floor, trying to pull his frazzled thoughts together. In a way, Varis’ usual dismissiveness was comforting; it was a little hard to believe that “nothing of importance” happened throughout this whole ordeal, but if Varis wasn’t worried, then far be it from Aaron to doubt him. Still, he was given a chance to sate his hunger for information and he wouldn’t see it go to waste. 

First, though, he’d answer Varis’ inquiry, though he wasn’t sure how proud he was that news of his altercation had already reached Varis’ ears. [color=f0d705]“Were you speaking to the Princess, Master?”[/color] he asked, voice ragged from a week of varied interrogating and shouting. He shook his head. [color=f0d705]“The broadcast was the first I heard of any of this. When I asked Malek what was going on, he only told me that ‘everything was under control’, but wouldn’t take any other inquiries. In retrospect I probably should have trusted him, but at the time…”[/color] 

He glanced away, a little embarrassed in retrospect. [color=f0d705]“I was desperate to find something to do to help, or find some information on what happened. There were people who wanted to question me, too, but Ryner kept the castle locked down. No matter how I pleaded with her, she wouldn’t let me pursue anything outside the grounds. So I… tried to escape…”[/color] 

It was a sheepish admission, but he had to see a bit of humour in it. Now that his mind was clear, it seemed a ridiculous notion; he should have sat still and trusted in Malek, but at the time nothing could have consoled him. [color=f0d705]“I think she must have scrambled the guards, because when they were supposed to be changing shifts they were on full patrol. I ended up breaking one of their noses before they could restrain me.”[/color] 

Aaron shook his head again, too eager for answers to talk about himself. [color=f0d705]“It’s really not interesting. But Master, what happened? Were you ambushed? Did you anticipate it? That body was clearly a distraction; did you plan this?”[/color] Some of his previous urgency returned to his voice and posture, the mage leaning forward as if to give the answers a shorter journey to his ears. [color=f0d705]“Malek wouldn’t take my calls; at the time I couldn’t be sure if his assurance was genuine or just a ploy to keep me from getting in his way. I thought that since I heard about this along with the general public, it wasn’t something planned, but I— I just didn’t know. I kept thinking that if I had been there then at least I could have done [i]something[/i], it isn’t my job to sit on my hands and— no, it doesn’t matter.”[/color]

He shook his head again, taking a long drink from his glass to stop the words from flowing. [color=f0d705]“I’m sorry, Master, I don’t mean to ramble,”[/color] he apologized, cradling his glass in his lap, [color=f0d705]“I’m just so happy that you’re safe.”[/color] 
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