I paused briefly looking down in the arena after seeing my new friend and my new son appear, but since Blackie felt like he could trust her, I was sure it was perfectly safe.

          “…now that I think of it, I haven’t seen her since she was a toddler and have no idea what her personality is.” Blackie leaned back in his chair as he relaxed to watch the show so I had to turn to look back at him even though our chairs were aligned.

“What?” He met my livid eyes calmly, “She’s the only child of my only actual student. I raised that brat single-handedly.” He lifted his hand, “Even if he failed as a father, which knowing him I doubt, he’d still make her a competent subordinate if he’s brought her in public.”

          “How old was he when you started ‘raising’ him?” I asked mostly out of curiosity to hear more about this mysterious child, “He must have been with you for a while.”

          “I got him after his parents tried to kill him, so he was about 2 or 3-”

          “Aw, the poor baby…” I could already picture a cute little demon baby crying pitifully as Blackie reluctantly picked him up by the collar like he was a cat with a kitten.

          “…hundred. 2 or 3 hundred years old. And in all fairness, he tried to kill them first.”

          “Ah. Yeah, that fits you better.”

          “A snot nosed brat trying to prove himself by killing off the older generation, a tale as old as time. His father was an old enemy of mine so I took him in to teach him so he’d succeed the second time ‘round.” A slight smile slid across his face like a knife. “Good times.”

          …it was safe right? Vel was looking in our direction, desperately trying to get our attention. Blackie waved back with barely concealed glee.

          Well, Babaris wouldn’t let him get hurt, and he did warn her earlier….

          “Do your best, sweetie!” I joined Blackie in waving, only I used both of my full arms to make sure he could see me from down there.

          “Remember to use the poisons I put in your bag!” Blackie called down.

          “And the weapons in I hid in your coat!” Cheerful I motioned to my own sleeves to show where some were.

          “They’re prepared to die in this kind of contest anyway!” The contestants standing on the side were beginning to look a little concerned.

          “They won’t mind a lost limb or two!” The angel contestant, Steve I think, was a talented lower rank fellow I’d helped train a few times, he’d be fine.

          Steve looked at me with such betrayal while the girl was trying not to laugh.

          “…um, Generals…” a new face that resembled the girl but older, and male, came up to us, rather embarrassed. “She didn’t take him down to fight.”

          “Aw.” I sighed, sitting back in my chair.

          “Short on medics?”

          “Yes, sir. Since he’s taught by you we figured he’d be able to help.”

          We watched as Bargrl shakily told something to Vel, who in turn looked torn between relief and annoyance. He grumbled something at her and stormed off to sit next to the other medics, who quickly made room for him as they glanced towards us with mild terror.

          He’s adapting so well.

          “Quenloc.”

          “Teacher. Lady.” He nodded politely to me. I almost blushed, it’d been far too long since anyone called Lady.

          “Such a flatter, have a candy.” I passed him on of my favorites.

          He froze, looking down at the treat as several expressions raced across his face. He finally sent Blackie several glances.

          Blackie seemed to measure the two of us as I felt like I’d done something wrong…did he not like flambe cookies?

          “…I’m going to go with lack of thought. Boney, the brat is a demon, remember the bit about being sensitive to heat?”

          “Oh, right.” I grabbed the cookie and popped in in my mouth, ignoring the steam and whisps of smoke as I passed him a bowl of chilled candied lemons instead. I can’t eat lemons after the lemonade incident.

          “…thank you.” Queny-boy was quite a bit different than what I pictured a parricidal child to be. Well… this is after Blackie got a hold of him. He looked to be around my third’s age, which meant that Blackie must have picked him up after his encounter with my second, but before the fight with my youngest.

          “…do you have problems with directions?”

          “…no?” The assured manner that he started off with was draining from him as he looked less sure of himself by the minute.

          “Good, good.” I patted his hand gently. “just stay away from landmines.”

          Tavy choaked somewhere behind us. Apparently the three of them were done with their “chat” and had come to watch the show… or keep tabs on us. Speaking of which…

          “Is Lacie not going to join us?”

          “Lyciel is currently dealing with a different matter.”  Hearing Tavy dryly chuckle, I felt myself smile a little as well. It was rare to hear him amused these days.

          “Oh?” Blackie locked on to Tavy with narrow eyes, “A matter that needs heaven’s General? Is it a big one?”

          “Not really, just thought that someone should be running around putting fires out while the rest of us keep the bombs company.” The grumbly twin muttered as his brother nudged him. The stronger twin stilled looked remarkably unnerved about something, but he held his tongue.

          “Hm.” Blackie was plotting something, but I felt a little like Olven, we had to follow someone else’s lead for this kind of mind game.

          “The fight is about to begin.” Olven pointed as the human referee signaled the start of the match.

          The angel started, as I taught them, with a sweeping low blow followed by a twist that aimed the edge of his primary feathers right at his opponent’s eyes. The demon countered by stepping back rather than jumping from the blow, narrowly avoiding losing his eyes.

          Failing to win right off the bat, he drew his sword and got into a defensive stance. Everyone from the delegations were here, even the chefs that I could see still in their aprons. Oddly, even though there was room elsewhere, they both sat on the edges of both divisions and were practically sitting next to each other despite being in different sections. A whole stadium of empty spaces…

          …I refuse to believe that child actually thought of a plan that worked.