I knew what he was about to do. I could feel Quen-boy’s fear from the room. We were on the far side of the island that was…volunteered to host the event. The arena was more or less in the center, but it was closer to  the kitchen which was near the sea on the other side.

          Vel was fine, and to be honest I was amused by the whole thing more than anything. Children always have a knack for getting into trouble. Just look at my third…bad example.

          But Blackie, Babaris, it was different for him. It was new to get scared for a child. To be scared for a small, much more fragile life that you want to protect. I doubt he’s ever had something he wanted to protect at all. I thought he could handle it.

          Little Bargrl and the older two boys were still processing what was going on. The poor girl wasn’t even aware of how close she came to losing her eyes.

          Babaris…after his initial struggle, he just froze. I wonder if he knew how similar he was to Bargrl with the glazed confusion in his eyes. I could feel something boiling in my heart in a way that hasn’t happened in a long time.

          He was going to hurt a child. One who might as well have been his grandchild. One who trusts him. A child.

          Even though I knew why. I know why. Yet, for some time now my emotions became harder to control. It was starting to get easier, but the world was getting brighter as I lost my temper for a moment.

          “Aw, Blackie. You are being a bit too mean.” I forced a smile, “Vel is alright. Eye think you’re being a bit extreme to a child.” The last word came out almost strangled despite myself.

          “…right. You’re overprotective of children.” He sighed. His expression went back to normal, but there was a wariness that wasn’t there before.

          “What?” A muffled voice came from a face that was wrapped by a pair of arms, one over her mouth, one over her eyes.

          “I’ve told you, do not get too comfortable around him.” Queny snarled into her ear as softy as he could for how scared he was.

          “…You aren’t angry?” Lacie asked from what he probably knew wasn’t a safe distance, but having the distance likely made him feel better. His expression wasn’t too different from Quen’s.

          “Lace-boy, I’ve told you. A gentle smile at all times!” I used my fingers to demonstrate on my own face. “And nope! Children get scrapes and bruises all the time!” My smile never wavered. “Letting them get hurt sometimes…is part of being a parent!”

          Blackie flinched, ever so slightly behind me. It was odd. Why was it he seemed to notice the small things, yet he didn’t seem to realize that his actions would make me furious? Ah, now I felt like he needed to be bullied more.

          “Can someone get me out of here now?” Vel yelled from his cocoon.

          “Oh, right! Coming dear!” I ran and unwrapped him, probably a little too fast. As he rolled out the door Blackie caught him and set him up right.

          “…please don’t let her do that again.”

          “Aw, but it reminded me of a game I would play as a child with acorn-shaped wood and strings…”

          I smiled as I watched Blackie’s mood finally stabilized completely as he patted Vel down and looked him over.

          “Hey, Blackie?”

          “What.”

          “Do you think that your Quen-boy is feeling the same thing you are now?”

          “What?” Vel dodged a comforting hand as he interrupted.

          “Oh, nothing.” I helped block his escape routes as we closed in to pat the child’s head. Blackie looked at me over Vel’s head

He just raised an eyebrow at me, still confused. There was a quiet moment as Blackie looked at Vel and back at me. His face cleared a bit, but there was no realization dawning. But at least I could tell that this is not something that would happen again.

“We’ll talk more about this later.” I’d take what I could get for now.

          “Fine. First, why is he all the way out here and not by the arena?” Blackie returned to his interrogation.     

          Two of them exchanged a look since Barie still had her eyes covered.

          “We thought you wouldn’t notice is we brought him out here and treated the wounds before you came back. Dad figured you’d go to the kitchen and that this was on the other side of the island and out of your range.” ...I don’t think that dear girl had a good grasp on reading the mood.

          “…Hiding the evidence?”

          “…we just wanted to avoid an...incident.” Lacie said as tactfully as he could, from 50 feet away, under his breath.

          “Quenloc’s idea?” Blackie shifted his gaze.

          “Yep!”

          “Shutup-shutup”

          “...Well, to be fair it was a good plan.” Blackie grumbled. That was as close to an apology that they were going to get. “The only thing you didn’t count on was Boney’s having a better nose than a fu-stupid hellhound.”

          “No, she-” Lacie started to interrupt, but was interrupted first.

          “Go back to the arena and don’t leave. It’s safer for you to be in groups since we still don’t know who is killing people.” Blackie picked up Vel, as if he was going to bring the child with us but set him back on his feet and softly pushed him towards the others. Albeit reluctantly.

          “Angels don’t seem to be targeted, so stay by Lacie, Vel-dear.” Plus, it seemed like Quen-boy was helping the investigation.

          “Don’t get hurt, or this island will be buried with you.” With one last pat, Blackie left with me trailing behind him.

          “…He’s joking right?” Faintly we heard Vel ask.

          There was a familiar plop of someone’s legs giving out, “…I really don’t want to find out.” Queny sounded like he was about to cry again.

          Vel’s blood wasn’t the only scent on the wind, but it didn’t seem like the children noticed. Now that we were closer, Blackie could smell it as well.

          “…they sure know how to pick a hiding spot.” Blackie grumbled as we found the third victim.