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((Triple Monday -- Page 1 of 3))
Hector’s irritation was only growing. “I told you, already. She’s not telling me anything about her situation. Probably because she’s worried you’ll try to rescue her and get yourself killed by Gohvis.”

Surprisingly, the Lord Elroy did not get angry at that response. Which was perhaps even more unsettling, somehow. Instead, he merely returned a flat, dead-eyed stare for a moment.

“...Fine,” said Zeff. “In any event, I suppose we can end our session a bit early today. We wouldn’t want you to be too exhausted to attend your royal dinner tonight.” The man turned and started walking away. “You’re free to go, whenever you like.”

“Wha? How do--? I’m still--!” Hector stopped himself. Obviously, Zeff knew what he was doing, that Hector was still trapped inside the soul-strengthened ice.

Maybe he was mistaken, but in that moment, Hector felt like Zeff wanted him to say something in desperation. To beg the man to let him out.

And Hector didn’t want to do that.

Why, though? Was this pride? Or just stubbornness? It was weird, whatever it was, and Hector didn’t like it much. It was putting strange thoughts in his head. In all likelihood, Zeff was just messing with him to mess with him. Or to teach him something, maybe. Not to humiliate him or assert dominance.

Probably.

Regardless, Hector held his tongue as he watched the Lord Elroy walk away. And much like the man had said, it took about half an hour to finally free himself. He was freezing his ass off and hardly able to move after he was out, but he was out.

He materialized himself a fresh suit of warm armor before heading back.

After that, the rest of the day went by way too quickly for Hector’s liking. But then, most days were like that, recently. With so much he wanted to check up on and so many people he wanted to talk to, he was genuinely starting to feel like there were simply not enough hours in the day anymore. It sucked to always be in a rush.

He had a couple of interviews with more of the people Madame Carthrace was planning to hire. He had the reconstruction to help with. He had people coming up to him constantly, wanting to discuss one thing or another.

Independent though they were, the Rainlords sure had a lot of concerns. The tension between House Blackburn and the others worried him most, though. He’d heard about a few heated arguments that had taken place--so heated that they’d nearly come to blows.

The last thing Hector needed right now was the Rainlords fighting amongst themselves again, so he’d been trying to figure out what to do abuot it, but they weren’t making it easy for him. Most of them didn’t even want to talk about it. They seemed to find it embarrassing. Unbecoming of “lords,” perhaps. And whenever Hector was around, everyone appeared to be very polite with one another.