It had been quite a while.

  Burn had been pying hopscot the liween life ah more times than he could t since popping ience. Just auesday, really.

  Abs 3% energy of a dying sun was one such adventure. But the recovery, now that was the real kicker. He had lost a whopping 50% of his bodily mass. That's right, half his body had decided to take an unscheduled vacation. Talk about a radical weight loss program!

  But for appearance sake, he focused on healing his fapletely and slowly recovered the rest of his body. After swaddling himself in enough bao make a mummy blush, he slipped into his trusty ented armor.

  All set, he rejoined his ente, strutting back like nothing had happened after ing up his to-dos. A sun-scorched, half-disied, bandaged marvel, making a stylish eback without showing the damage he absorbed.

  "I'll be taking a day off. Tell everyoo prep their reports for the day after tomorrow. And what about the outsiders?" Burn casually asked Gahad, who was keeping pace with him.

  "We've got them under more locks ahan a high-security prison. That includes the White Dwarf too, sir," Gahad replied.

  "Good," Burn nodded, as he asded the steps of the Edensor pace.

  As he ehe door, he turned his face forward, and the first thiiced was—

  “Your Majesty!”

  Suddenly, Yvain unched herself at him, arms outstretched like a missile with a hug for a warhead. Before Burn could even process the flying tackle of affean joihe hugathon, practically sprinting towards him.

  It was like being ambushed by a well-coordieam of professional huggers.

  Or maybe it was just him moving at the speed of a sedated snail today.

  "You must be truly worn out if you're not shoving us away," Man observed, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Her hand roved up to his neck, fingers gently expl the texture of the bandage hiding shyly beh his armor. She pulled back after gently stroking his cheek, her eyes pletely emotionless.

  “Ai’s allow His Majesty to rest.”

  Looking down, Yvain was ging to his waist like a baro a ship, his face buried deep in the unfiving chest pte of Burn's armor.

  e to think of it, the boy’s father never came home.

  “Sure!” Yvain raised his face after a long pause, a grin spreading across his face like a sunrise. "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll help Gahad sort out the mess!"

  Yvain, the miniature whirlwind, spun around to Gahad, and tugged the man’s hand away from Burn and Man. A tactical retreat, leaving the adults alone.

  Silence hung heavy between Burn and Man.

  "What do you want?" Burn finally broke the silenoting Man's inscrutable stare. "I'm wiped ht now—"

  "I nning to apany you to bed," Man said.

  "What?" Burn's eyebrows shot up.

  "Escort. I meant, escort," Man quickly corrected, her gaze straying to the bandage peeking from his neck. "Are you able to walk?"

  "I walked here, didn't I?" Bured.

  Man just nodded, "Fine."

  Burn, seeing the versation was going nowhere, turo head to his room. But oddly enough, Man tailed him through the corridors, all the way until he reached his room.

  He was finally ready to embrace the sweet siren call of rest and recovery when Man’s hand lodged itself in the door, preventing him from closing it.

  “What again?” Burn asked impatiently.

  “ you take off your armor yourself?”

  “I put it on myself. I’d say that’s harder than taking it off.”

  Man stared at him for a solid sed before nodding and withdrawing her hand from the door. She nodded and said, “Sleep tight.”

  But weirdly, Burn didn’t immediately close the door. He widehe gap instead. Before opening his mouth, he asked himself why, but blurted it out anyway.

  “Do you need a kiss?”

  Man bli him, momentarily fused. But then, a subtle glint appeared in her eyes. She nodded.

  “Mm-hm.”

  ***

  Rising from the bed the day was a Herculean task. But he had to, given that he had somehow mao mispce a whopping 50% of his body mass.

  Mere Force wasn’t going to cut it, he o embark on an all-you--eat adventure.

  Enter Gahad, his faithful servant, who, with years of experien Burn's peculiarities, had already anticipated his needs.

  And so, Gahad had jured up a feast that would make even the most gluttonous Roman emperor blush. There was an obse amount of food, thoughtfully banced betweehy and heavenly.

  Mountains of roast chi, rivers of vegetable stew, forests of crisp green sads, and skyscrapers of freshly baked bread. The. Lots and lots of meat.

  The table groaned uhe weight of this gastronomic spectacle. If it ossible for food to feel fear, they'd all be quaking in their ptes.

  A feast of biblical proportions y sprawled before him, far exceeding what any mere mortal could possibly e.

  "Woah!"

  Yvain's jaractically scraping the floor. "Yoing to eat all this?" He stared at Burn, who had cleverly disguised his decimated physique under his loose-fitted clothes. " I have just a bit?"

  Burn sneered. Oh, bless his little cotton socks. The boy had finally remembered he was a child and acted his age now.

  "Take as much as you ," Burn said as he initiated his breakfast... or lunch, depending on how you viewed the tig cloontly, he queried the boy, notig the spicuous absence of the usual suspect, "Where's your Master?"

  "Master?" Yvain was making a beeline for a chi thigh when Burn's question halted him mid-reach. "Oh, she mentioned something about an errand. But, before she left, she put me on 'His-Majesty-watch' duty."

  "Hmm, she's not running away, is she?" Burn mused aloud, then leveled a pointed look at the d. "You, stick around until she shows up."

  "Ah, back to being a hostage, am I?" Yvain sighed wearily. "Master will be back. She was in front of your duarding till the crack of dawn. You were probably too busy impersonating a log to notice."

  Huh.

  Was she fretting over his potential demise? Well, they'd all respawn at the checkpoint if he croaked.

  "Isn't it o know someone's losing sleep over you?" Yvain fshed an i grin. "I worry too, you know!"

  Worried?

  Burn found himself retrag his steps, back to when Yvain had nearly tackled him in a bear hug upon sight.

  He recalled Man tailing him to his room, her thinly veiled uhe pretense of ensuring he could still walk and manage his armor.

  The image of her slender fingers clutg the door, her face half-cealed by the sliver of space, her gaze fixed on him... could it have been worry etched in her eyes?

  Burn observed this with an almost detached curiosity.

  Hmm.

  He couldn't remember ever being on the receiving end of a worried gnce before, so he couldn’t be sure.

  She had kissed him, then stepped back to let him close the door. Whether or not she had drained his Force, he wasn’t sure; he had been too spent to perceive much of anything, his Force sputtering and sparking like an overworked geor, straining to keep him alive.

  But she seemed fine.

  "Did she use her Vision energy to recover much quicker?" Burn mused aloud.

  "Master said, when you return, you'll be a plete mess, so she has to be ready to step into your shoes and protect everyone," Yvain expined. "You did kick off a war, remember?"

  "Oh."

  Burn prodded at his temples. Right, the hurdle was the Inkia Kingdom. It was a signifit thing in his memory bank, san might—

  Hold on.

  When had he started sidering these tart of his people?