"Aunt Adira, I made us supper," Varian greets as he places two plates in front of Adira who was sharpening her blade with a contemplative look on her face.

"And why are you so nice today, small fry?" Adira arched an eyebrow as she placed her sword on the chair beside her.

"Can't I be nice to the only people left in the world who give a damn about me?" He asked.

"Well my brother certainly isn't," the swordswoman shrugged.

"Well whatever your point is, I'm hungry so I'm gonna eat," Varian nonchalantly replied as he plopped down into a chair across from her.

He started scarfing down the food...which was apparently a cake.

"You're eating cake for dinner?"

"Yes, what else would I eat?" Varian asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Adira smirked and shook her head, just grateful that the supper he prepared her was stew and not some form of sweets.

She sniffed the stew subtly before cautiously tasting it. After trying and failing to detect any poison, Adira swallowed and continued to eat at the same pace, pretending to savour the stew. "So you thought I poisoned it, huh?" Varian commented as he wiped the frosting off his face with a napkin.

A small smile was seen on Adira's face at the boy's perceptiveness. "And what of it? It is normal to check if your food is poisoned, no matter where or who you get it from."

The two continue their supper with minimal small talk. Soon, Adira retires to her quarters. Varian saw his chance. You see, when he was bored in the dungeons of Corona, he had invented a synthetic gas. He had named this gas Quirinium, after his father. Now, the day before, he had been experimenting with the vial he had oh so mysteriously gotten. Through the long process of condensating this gas and combining this liquid with a portion of the liquid in the vial and evaporating it once more, all without proper equipment, and finding one of the few wandering servants in the castle to test the liquid in the and this new gas on, Varian had created his very own solution. This new gas he had created combined the memory erasing properties of his original gas, and the apparent mind controlling properties of the liquid. Of course, not forgetting practicality, he had the gas neatly compressed in a small sphere that when broken would release it.

And now, it was time for it to serve its purpose. Adira was the type of person to keep one eye open when she slept, but Varian knew how to avoid the gaze of that eye. Earlier that day he had found a hole near the bottom of the door of her quarters, giving him the idea that today was the right time.  He carefully tapped the sphere so as to start a few cracks and rolled it in with a slight bounce to ensure that it would break further fully release the gas. In exactly six minutes, he would knock on the door. If Adira said something, he would flee. If she was silent he would come in.

Varian pushes the door slightly after what he deemed an acceptable amount of time. He winced internally at the audible creak. He slipped inside and closed the door. He saw Adira lying still on her bed, eyes wide open and a solid purple. "Oh, Aunt Adira, could you bring me to Cassie please?"

"Yes." She uttered in a monotone voice and got up.

Varian followed her even, steady footsteps, and was eventually led to a campsite. Well it was far more fancy then most ones, considering only the horses slept outside, but there was a fire pit and everything. "Do you know any useful information?" Varian attempted before sending Adira away.

"Yes."

"Can you tell me?"  He asked.

"Yes."

"Tell me all the useful information you know!" He instructed, a bit irritated. He had begun to realise this might not have been the best gas to use for interrogation.

"Varian?" He heard a tentative question in the voice of someone who was quite sleepy and unsure if they were seeing something real or still dreaming.

Varian cursed under his breath and instructed Adira, "Go back to your quarters. You forget everything that happened tonight."