Chapter 237: A Quick Resolve
"Mama, why was the stranger so silent today? Does he not know how to speak with other strangers like me?" Alain asked his Mother who was helping him take off his shoes after they arrived at her chamber. With his white stockings still on, he took a step back to gaze at his tired Mother with inquiring eyes.
"The stranger is... probably shy." Madeline oddly noted, but kept her main worries to herself. "You two seemed to be having a conversation before I came, will you tell Mama what you two were talking about?" She probed softly, her eyes gazing into the Amber-brown ones of her son who tilted his head to the side, as if thinking about it, and he shook his head with finality, his soft, fluffy hair moving with each turn.
"He didn’t speak to me, he came to take back his gem." Uttered Alain who had gone down on his knees at the edge of his bed and picked one of his books that was neatly arranged at the surface. Madeline’s eyebrows creased at her son’s ambiguous response. She glanced at him to see him sketching freely on a fresh page in his book.
"What type of gem?"
"His gem." He answered yet again, and of course, Madeline couldn’t expect her son to give her a proper detail of what he really meant by the gem. Exhaling a weary sigh, it wasn’t too long she thought of brushing the idea aside when Cassian stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and in his hand was a book, whilst the front, obsidian-black cover contained drawings of different types of the moon. Lately, her husband has been spending his free time in the royal library, trying to understand how the eclipse in this realm worked, and she wasn’t surprised to see him show up with a book in his hand.
"Cassian?"
"We’re nearing the month’s end and I think I figured out how this thing works." He said to his wife as he sauntered towards the desk table at a corner, dropping the book on his desk. He turned to look at his wife who had risen from bed and was gazing at him in momentary confusion. With a quick scan of her appearance, he approached where she stood and left a loving kiss on her forehead, then he helped her sit back on the bed after sensing her exhaustion.
"You should rest more often, is Alain the cause of this? Ali... you’re starting to stress my wife, say sorry to her."
"Sorry." He waved his hand apologetically at his Mother whose lips spasmed into a tired, yet warmly smile, but she shook her head at Alain, as if telling him he had nothing to apologize for. Although, her husband wasn’t wrong either, she had been playing hide and seek with him all morning, and finding a child in such a grand Palace can become... neverending. However, she blamed her husband too since those traits were gotten from him.