It stops the hurt.

Larkin tried to catch her eyes again as they flitted downwards, away from his face. So she was lying. The guilt had been in her expression, but she slowly began to look panicked. He frowned again, gently massaging the tense muscles in her back with his fingers, willing her to look at him. You wouldn’t have to suffer that way, he wanted to say, if you would look into my eyes.

Stelon did look up at him then, but not because Larkin wanted her to. Abruptly, their danced stopped, and she turned her head in confusion to see what had taken his stare from her.

Something came dangerously close to Larkin. The first thought to enter his mind was that he was again to be subject to someone who’d had too much to drink, but when his eyes landed on Tic, he let himself heave a relieved sigh. Not only because Tic was obviously not drunk at all, but because he was still in Larkin’s reach, still controllable, and hadn’t escaped like he so longed to do.

Larkin’s face maintained its calm expression, gaining back a knowing smile, trying to press a calm into Tic’s panicked heart. It didn’t work the least bit, and from a shocked stance, he began to move back away from the ruler, whose calm was frightening and unpredictable.

He released Stelon and let her step back away from him as he folded his arms gently across his chest, staring sternly at Tic. His eyebrow rose, like he expected Tic to have interrupted his dance to tell him something important. It masked what he knew - that Tic had come to him in accident - but did little to mask the fear on the boy’s face that he knew what Larkin knew. He was trying to escape, and the knowledge that Larkin had of this might diminish the small chance for him to get away at all. Or so he thought.

The girl seemed mildly confused by what made Tic so wildly frightened, and she looked from Larkin to the retreating boy, not sure of what to expect from either of them. The look on the Shrike’s face told her that nothing was wrong, but seeing Tic, she knew otherwise. Stelon stood uncomfortably, feeling out of place now that Larkin’s arms were no longer around her, his attention leaving her completely.

“Tic,” Larkin spoke softly, taking a step towards the boy, unfolding his arms and holding out a hand, like he expected Tic to actually take it. But as if repulsed, he did the complete opposite and drew his hands up against his chest. His head turned sharply to the left, then to the right, refusing this second way to make himself clear.

The sudden, hopeful fearlessness Tic had made Larkin’s smile grow into a grin, and like a striking snake, he moved forward and took the boy’s wrist from his chest. He held it tightly, squeezing once to show that this was real, and that Larkin would always over power him. About that time, the governors and their companions had appeared in the general area, and it was obvious to Larkin that they were looking for the Sink boy.

They were careful when they saw Larkin caught him before they did, and they approached slowly. Aurora was first to make herself noticeable, smiling and touching the tips of her fingers to her chest. She came up behind Tic, but dared not to touch him while Larkin was. She put one hand out as if to prevent him dashing from Larkin’s grip, but knew it was very unnecessary.

“There you are,” she exclaimed brightly, sending Larkin a nervous smile. Tic’s importance was unknown to her, but anyone the man considered good enough to be at his side during such an event was very important, and Larkin very sensitive to it that they were taken care of… and not lost.

“Aurora,” Larkin said, pulling Tic to him, “you’ve met?”