always and forever is forever young
your shadow on the pavement, the dark side of the sun

“Sort of,” Mallos replied as he flipped the pancake expertly. “My children are grown up now.”

He stayed mainly quiet while Grimbaud chatted, smiling to himself. He'd never raised any of his own children. After Gwythr had locked him underneath the Alhambra and taken his identity, he'd created nearly thirty children using Mallos' DNA in what had become known on Shaman as “the Mallos generation”. By the time the Spaniard had been sprung from his underground prison and made it over to the so-called sanctuary planet, all of those children had grown up and some had even had children of their own. He'd managed to be there for his grandson, Tristan, but it was already too late to play a hand in raising any of his own kids. He didn't even know who most of them were, and they didn't seem to want to know him. The only ones who had sought him out were Lilith, who had since gone missing; Mordred, who didn't appear interested in building a relationship; and Morgana, who had rejected him at first but had then later decided that she hadn't. Mallos still wasn't sure how that worked or exactly how she viewed their relationship, but it seemed to be mostly positive. As nice as that was, it would have been nice to have been able to be there when his daughter was growing up.

In spite of her obvious hunger, Grimbaud wouldn't eat immediately. Mallos noticed her glance down at her dog and cat-thing, which was both endearing and mildly bemusing. He knew that there were people who placed the well-being of their animals above themselves, and he knew, factually, the reasons why – but he didn't understand it. Familiars, yes, that was understandable, but common dull animals... Gisli took care of the situation by lying about her food preferences, but Grimbaud seemed not to notice the untruth. While she tucked into her simple meal with relief, Mallos moved quietly over to the meat larder and opened it up for a look. There was some dried pork which didn't look particularly appetising, but on the top shelf were some wrapped steaks which had been placed carefully in a box stamped with the word royals. Mallos supposed that these were for some special dinner for the king and his family. He pulled the entire box out and dumped it on the floor for the jaglion and the dog to help themselves to.

Once the animals and the young girl had had their fill, he stood up again. The increase in general noise from above indicated that the kitchen staff would probably be back soon, and Mallos would prefer not to be here when they arrived.

“Come on,” he encouraged, holding out his hand for Grim to take, “let's go get you cleaned up.”

They couldn't have avoided the kitchen staff entirely, since Mallos didn't know how to get to where he wanted to go without going through the servants' quarters, but none of them stopped them. A few of the staff smiled or giggled, others frowned and shook their heads, but none looked particularly surprised. By now, the entire castle was so used to Mallos doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, that they weren't shocked to find him wandering around the corridors with a young girl, a giant cat and a raggedy puppy in tow when he was supposed to be recovering from mental illness in the infirmary.

As they went, Grimbaud still talking his ear off, Mallos tuned out and turned his mind instead to the problem at hand. He couldn't let the child go back out onto the streets, that much was certain. Equally, there was little he could do tonight to arrange a permanent accommodation for her. He couldn't take her in himself immediately, because she couldn't live in the hospital and the doctors wouldn't let him leave. There was a system of care for orphaned children, but the fuss and the paperwork would probably keep everyone involved up all night.

That could be sorted in the morning, he decided. For now, the kid just needed some rest. Nobody would worry if Mallos was missing for a night, and nobody would think to look for him in his own quarters.

They traversed the winding corridors, only taking a few wrong turns before eventually finding their way to the suite where Mallos normally lived. The door was unlocked, as usual. It led into a reasonable-sized, open area which had been divided into two sections: an office with a desk at one end, and a living area with a couple of sofas and a coffee table at the other. To the right was another door leading off to the bedroom, and to the left was the bathroom, where Mallos led Grimbaud through to now.

“Do you know the story of the bath nymphs?” He asked casually as he leant over to run the bath, releasing Grimbaud's hand in the process.


i can feel you in the silence saying, “let forever be,
love, and only love, will set you free.”