'So, he knows!' Arin exclaimed.
He was back in the white-haired man's quarters, at the House of Grace.
And even though he still believed that the name the man had chosen for his tower was among the stupidest and most tasteless of all possibilities, he couldn't find it in himself to care about that just then. Because,
'That cloaked healer figured it all out!' He pushed his hair off his forehead, pausing his pacing and whirling around to face the tower master. 'I'd had only a handful of interactions with the man, and yet, he still somehow knew that I wasn't Rin!'
'Hm,' acknowledged the white-haired man.
He didn't say anything more, carefully chewing on the bite he'd just taken out of an apple. The rest of the fruit was held in one hand, that he held elegantly aloft as he half-reclined on a long sofa.
This time around, his room at the top of the tower showcased plush rugs and couches, resembling the cozy living room of some stupidly wealthy person's mansion.
Arin frowned.
'Man, they're going to show up any minute to drag me - and your student's body - away, for some spectacular public execution, and all you've got to say for that is 'hm'?'
The white-haired man swallowed. He then dismissed Arin's worried with a causal wave of his other hand, saying, 'Didn't the man say he wouldn't tell? Unless you failed to mention it, for some reason, I don't believe he threatened you.'
Arin took in a deep breath, before exhaling very, very slowly.
'He did, yeah. He did say that,' he said, as though explaining something to a very small child. 'But, did you ever consider that he might've been lying?'
'Mm...' The man before him shrugged. 'No, I don't see why he'd do that.'
He took another bite from his apple.
'I -!' Arin took in a deep breath once again. 'Aren't you the one who'd warned me of dire consequences, should people learn the truth of who I really am?'
'You'd asked me to - to practice being Rin, so that I could successfully pretend to be him in the future. So that I'd have a better chance of not getting caught and killed. Wasn't that the whole point of this assignment?'
The man turned the apple around in his long, white fingers, looking at its pinkish-red skin with his thoughtful, similarly colored eyes.
'And, do you believe you succeeded?' he asked.
Arin's brows shot up.
'Succeed - !? Have you heard nothing I've said at all? I. Was. Caught! The cloaked healer knows that I'm not Rin!'
'Yes, but tell me, what do you think little Siel think of you?'
...
Arin stared at the man in silence for a few heartbeats.
Then, he slumped down into a nearby loveseat, finally defeated.
There was no point in trying to hold on to any sense of urgency; not with this man around...
'He... I don't think he knows. I guess he'd only ever admired his senior brother from afar, and didn't really know him well enough to notice the discrepancies.'
Now, at last, the tower master seemed a bit more interested.
'Tell me more,' he said.
'Uh, I think he just thinks that Rin is a bit nicer and friendlier than he'd thought at first. The kid definitely got more comfortable with talking to me, over the course of our time in Silvershade.'
'He noticed you were different than he'd first believed, and didn't question it at all?'
'...No. At least, I don't think he did.' Arin blinked.
The white-haired man smiled.
'Then, you've succeeded.'
...
Y'know what?
Sure.
He'd 'succeeded'.
Yay.
Clasping his hands tightly together on his lap, so he wouldn't reflexively facepalm, Arin nodded at the man placidly.
'Thanks,' he said. 'So, anyway... Why do you think we can trust what the cloaked healer had said?'
The tower master tilted his head to one side. 'He would've done so already, had he truly wanted to.'
'Maybe he didn't, yet, because he still needs Siel's help with finding... whatever he's been looking for,' Arin challenged. 'Once that's been taken care of -'
'But that child doesn't know, and the healer seems to know that he doesn't. And yet, he hid his doubts from him. If his goal was to report you, couldn't he have involved Siel? After all, there's no reason to believe that he would side with some strange impostor over his own senior disciple.'
...ouch.
He'd like to believe that the boy would at least give him the benefit of the doubt, in consideration of the few days they'd gotten to get to know each other.
Or maybe he'd just feel all the more betrayed by that.
Who could say for sure?
'The man might just be pressed for time,' Arin said. 'He seemed quite desperate to get his hands on whatever he was searching for. Maybe he'll focus on snitching after he's done dealing with that part.'
'Was he not at the village when those officials arrived? He wouldn't have lost any time if he'd wanted to tell them then.' The man said, before turning his head to take another bite.
Arin watched the golden light of dusk shimmer through the large windows. It made everything feel softer, and more relaxed, somehow, even though he knew it was all fake.
In the real world, outside of the man's room, it was late morning.
'Then, maybe he just wasn't certain of it yet?'
The white-haired man's throat bobbed as he swallowed. 'Arin, that healer was certain of it from the very moment you attempted to use a needleworm beetle to threaten him.'
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Arin slouched further into his seat. 'Fine,' he relented. 'You're pretty certain that he doesn't intend to give me away. But what if he wants something of me, in return for keeping that secret?'
The man laughed pleasantly. 'Of course he'll want something in return. That would be why he kept your secret at all!'