28 – Playful Uncle

With Anaster and whoever that other person was stepping into the room, Mia bolted up from her seat and took up a lightly bowed position behind me.

Ignoring how my ‘uncle’ followed her movements with an amused smile, I gestured to the seats arranged around the low table.

“Please, sit.”

Anaster stepped further into the room, approaching. Then, when he was almost to the couch opposite where Mia had laid down earlier, his gaze wandered up.

My momentary confusion gave way to realization when both our eyes aligned on the chandelier hanging over the room’s center… which was coincidentally also directly above a certain piece of furniture.

“Want to get rid of your dear old uncle already, little Kalin? Why, I am hurt!”

With a face that genuinely made me feel bad for him, Anaster clasped his hands over his heart. Listening to it still felt like someone was playing steel drums right in my ears. For how loud it was, I was surprised I didn’t hear him at all before he’d almost reached the door.

A mischievous glint overtook his eyes a moment later. Without any further warning, the mighty, fancy mage, likely far over a hundred years old, swan-dived onto the couch. And proceeded to roll around on it.

When my brain stopped making dial-up noises trying to comprehend the tonal whiplash, my eyes caught the massive, shit-eating grin on the man’s face.

I really will go crazy if this goes on.

“That– uh, that was a precaution. One that didn’t turn out to be useful or necessary. Not that it was directed at you, u-uncle.”

“Smart. I’m glad you had the situation mostly in hand before I arrived. Makes me feel all warm to see my little nephew all grown up already.”

“Um… thank you?”

At some point that I hadn’t noticed, a man had sat down on a chair opposite Anaster’s couch. He sat so properly that I only then realized I was still lying sideways on my plush armchair.

A look at Anaster’s body all spread out on the couch made me decide not to sit up straight. Why should he be the only one to relax?

After a few minutes of increasingly awkward silence, during which Anaster waved his legs in the air and inspected every single couch cushion to find the one he liked most on top of his face, he finally spoke.

“That demon isn’t here any more, in case you were wondering. Neither is the ritual. That hostage taker was at least good at one thing. I’ve worked out a deal with these Divine Eye folks, they’ll take those three traitor guards off your hands. I’ll take that stubborn old fool who used to be your steward. Unless you want to deal with him yourself?”

While he was talking, Anaster had stacked three pillows on his head. Now, he was trying for a fourth. The stack wavered precariously, but held. I couldn’t see his face under all the pillows, but his voice was still perfectly clear.

“Did you know that man still insisted you made a deal with the demon? Just started babbling about it as soon as he saw me. Even claimed he called the fake agents on orders of ‘his master’. He clearly tried to spin it as you being that ‘master’, but he wasn’t all that good at it.”

Pillow number five was on top now. Anaster’s arms didn’t reach further, so his omnipresent ribbon grabbed the last pillow on the couch. It then passed the cargo off to his feet and in an honestly impressive display, he lifted his legs off the couch and placed the pillow square on the stack with his bare feet.

Wait, when did he take off his shoes?

They were standing neatly in the place he’d jumped from. Suppressing the need to massage the bridge of my nose, I refocused on Anaster’s words.

“Of course, you would never make any deals with demons. You’re too smart for that, aren’t you, little Kalin?” Even with the ridiculous sight, his words still managed to chill me to the core.

“I w-w-would never. I’m quite attached to my soul.”

“Good, good. Stay attached. Otherwise someone will have to clean up the mess.”

There was a lull in the conversation. I thought the man might be thinking about something important, but was quickly proven wrong. With a quiet “Aha!” his arm flicked out to the side. The metal ribbon flew out towards the other sofa and grabbed one of the pillows.

To prevent myself from having an aneurysm, I spoke up.

“The former steward told me who his real master is. Almost bragged about it, in a way.”

Anaster paused in the act of directing a ribbon-based pillow delivery.

“Do tell me more. I’m ever so interested.”

“He– he said he was an agent for Lady… Lady Annabelle. And he also yelled out both her name and the demon’s when he stabbed me.”

“Hmmmmmmmm.” Anaster drew the sound out for nearly half a minute, going higher and lower over time. Halfway through I was convinced he’d lost his original train of thought and was just seeing what noises he could make for the fun of it.

“I don’t know if he was telling the truth, of course. That might have been a misdirection. Either by him or by whoever actually ordered him around. But I thought you should know. Not like I can do much from all the way out here, in the fringes.”

“I’ll look into it. That girl has always been full of tricks,” was all he said. And just like that, the matter was apparently settled. The ribbon resumed its pillow-delivery.

A second after the seventh pillow joined the tower, just as it started to look unbalanced, Anaster suddenly sprang up from his seat. All seven pillows were catapulted across the room by the force of his movement.

Anaster’s new idea of a seat was kneeling on the very edge of the couch. He leaned so far forward that he had to rest his hands on the floating ribbon to not fall onto his face. His eyes twinkled as he looked in my direction.

No, in Mia’s…

“Speaking of girls, who’s this? She’s dressed like a maid, but you were pretty comfortable together before I arrived.”

At the eccentric – more like unstable – man’s undivided attention, Mia turned stiff as a board. Her heart steadily accelerated.

“Ah, this is Mia. She’s my personal attendant. Those demon hunters left her in a cell before coming to confront me. I allowed her to relax a bit. She’s been very helpful.”

Those silver eyes turned to me. There was a knowing smirk on my uncle’s face.

“Personal attendant, eh? She looks a bit plain, but everyone has their tastes. You are at that age now, huh, little Kalin?” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

“Whoa, no need to give me such a dark look there. I won’t stop you from having a little fun. Just be careful, alright? Most of our family members aren’t as nice as me. I’d hate to have something happen to this fine young woman because some snobbish little brat acting like they’re old and important decided it ‘isn’t proper’.”

I relaxed the frown I didn’t realize had taken over my face.

“Thank you for the advice, uncle,” I ground out. Apparently, anger was helpful in dealing with the man’s presence. Even if the anger wasn’t really directed at him.

“I made the resolution that I’d fight tooth and nail to stop anyone from harming things I care about. Objects or people, doesn’t matter. Even if that ‘anyone’ is part of my own family.” My gaze directed at one such family member was more a glare.

Surprisingly, Anaster clapped in response. “Good resolve. You just have to be strong enough to back it up with actions.”

“Excuse me,” a voice said. I almost flinched out of my skin as my eyes frantically searched the room. They finally settled on a man sat upright in a chair.

Who is that? How long has he been there?!

“Since the matter of the demon has been settled, I think it is time I take my leave. Do not worry about the prisoners or demon hunters, my squad will take care of it. If you find any further traces, Silver Magus, you know how to contact us.”

The man stood and gave a formal bow to Anaster and then me.

“Sure thing, nice working with you Eyes again. Don’t be a stranger now, ha!” Anaster broke down into laughter at whatever his joke was.

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When the door closed after… um? my attention returned to Anaster.

He’d also? stood up and was pacing around now.

His eyes lit up when we crossed gazes.