Frost and Flame, Foes in the Dark (book 2)

Chapter 5 Practicality

The wagon came to a halt and Sidastir stepped out, only to be pushed out of the way by Ardeo when he tried to help Akana out of the wagon.

"What's wrong with these siblings? They show far too much open interest in a married couple," though Sidastir and seriously considered drowning the boy in the impluvium in the atrium. The damn pool must have some other use than collect rain water after all. But where would he hide the body?

Akana thanked the beaming boy before he turned and inspected the villa. The house in Relevium was practically shaped, and Akana must have taken a liking to it for he nodded with a satisfied expression on his face. Though, his eyes lingered with a frown on the decorative column for a while before entering the villa.

The villa was not as large as the royal palace, just a stone throw away from the villa but it was far from low class. Entering a hallway leading to the atrium, they could see the pillars around the impluvium with the open ceiling to allow rain to fall into the pool. Marble walls were the norm here and the mosaic floor adorned the rooms with different patterns.

Walking into the atrium, Akana leaned out over the Impluvium watching the blue sky before he looked into the clear pool with a rather satisfied expression on his face. "Useful! You can collect rainwater and save it for dryer seasons."

"True, but I'm fairly sure it's more for decoration," chuckled Sidastir. He felt a chill rush through him when Akana had halted his inspection in front of the large marble statue he had glared at before.

Rattling over, Stella and Calda had arrived at the scene. They stared at Akana like he was directly sent from Lucis himself. Considering the strange appearance of the Auons it was no wonder that they gawked at him.

Pouring some wine for himself, since no one else seems to do it, he watched as Akana tilted his head as he started at the statue. He turned his gaze toward the alcove, that the Relevis called Alae, beyond it. Then turned back his gaze toward the statue.

"Remove the sculpture. It's blocking the Alae," said Akana finally, and Sidastir smiled down into his cup without looking surprised.

"But Dominus, that is an antique statue of worship," Exclaimed Calda, freezing up a bit when Akana turned his gaze towards her.

"Then it is worthless. It doesn't even have a religious worth anymore."

"The statue is too heavy to move," said the old lady, seemingly thinking that this would end the discussion. Sidastir got a bad premonition when he watched his consort raise an eyebrow at the old lady.

"It is too heavy to move for one person. We have three strong men who can move it."

"Three?"

"Young Ardeo, Magnus who should be around here somewhere, and my very capable husband who is healthy enough to move this object."

Sidastir almost choked on the wine at the mention of his name. Akana didn't even bother to look at him and continued briskly his inspection through the villa. Stella and Calda hurried after him as he started his traditional habit of moving objects to make the floor more practical. He removed several decorations and assigned quarters to different people as he inspected them.

Sidastir wasn't really taking notice for he was staring at the damn statue, cursing its existence. He slowly started to back out of the hall, hoping to make a break for it but walked into a gigantic wall called Magnus.

"Have you little darling arrived yet?" asked Magnus with a clamorous voice. Sidastir grimaced when Akana arrived at the scene, preventing his escape.