In truth, it didn’t really matter all that much to Babis whether or not Uncle Mikael had arrived in the dead of night or in the early hours of the morning. After all, he clearly hadn’t been around when it happened as their grandparents would have made a big deal about their youngest son’s arrival home. It was a testament to how strong the Eliades family bond, given how they were still welcoming him back through those big oak doors no matter how many times he ran off to Taengea to only come back in a few weeks and a split lip. This was the kind of behavior other families would never dream of tolerating and had he been born into another dynestía, he probably would have been kicked out ages ago. After all, not many families were willing to risk having a blot like him on their reputations. Luckily for the older man, the Eliades held themselves to higher standards than just considering what the other households within the Upper Levels thought.

Either way, it didn’t matter all that much. What did matter was that Mikael was home and knowing how he functioned, he would stay for a few days allowing for the twins to pester him to their heart’s content. That was really all that mattered to the twelve-year-old troublemakers. Not the social consequences of their Uncle’s love of the circus.

“I hope he was. Imagine being there Aras!” Babis said excitedly when the topic turned to the subject of the events of the chariot race. It failed to dawn on him just how terrible and traumatic those events they were for everyone who had been there. The whole nasty affair was just completely removed from the boy, more mystical event than the life-altering event. Which was truly ironic in the twins' case. After all, through their mother, the boys held a place in the line of succession to the Taengean throne. They were respectively six and seven dead men away from calling the throne their own, an unlikely prospect, but it was still closer than they were to the Colchian one. Neither boy had any interest in ruling nor were they being prepared to do so given their distance from the throne. However, it couldn’t be denied that there was a stark and gloomy reality behind their boyish curiosity of what had happened that fateful day.

That’s why it was almost stomach-churning how the irony of Babis' gleeful demeanor failed to dawn on him when he continued by saying, “If I were there, I would have killed the Creed before they could do anything. I’d sic Vang on them.” A quiet laugh filled the space as the imagery of a man in dark robes being attacked by their dog appeared in his mind. Of course, with Babis being a child, the daydream was more comedic than anything as he could see the unknown man flailing about as he unsuccessfully tried to shake the dog off. It never even crossed Babis' mind that the man would probably instead just kick the dog out of the way before moving to kill the two distant claimants to the throne who had sent their dog after him. After all, the Creed wouldn’t care if the boys were Colchian through and through. They had noble blood. If those hooded figures ever got their hands on the boys, they were pretty much as good as dead. At this point, many adult’s tones would lower in volume as they debated who could be responsible for such a horrible crime, but Babis and Aras were decidedly not grown-up. That much was proven by their newest game; racing to Mikael’s room to learn more about what happened.

Babis was true to his word and waited for his count to finish before giving chase. Being the more athletic twin, and the one who specialized in running at that, it took the boy almost no time at all to catch up to the weaker heir. Utilizing his well-trained feet, Babis was easily able to move past the other boy and make it to the door with a moment or two to spare. He had barely broken a sweat and he did not suffer from the same staggered breath that Aras did once he also came to a stop. Babis only grinned wickedly at him, like the little imp he was. “I know” He said mischievously. He knew full well that his brother never stood a chance when it came to footraces like that. Just like how Babis would never score higher than Aras on a test, physical activity was his area of expertise. Aras would never be able to hold a candle to his brother to that regard and just like most children, he was more than eager to smugly show it off whenever he could,

As he waited for his brother to catch his breath, Babis considered forcing Aras to be the one to open the door, but as the poor boy wheezed, he decided against it. After all, they didn’t know what kind of state Uncle Mikael was in and he was known to have a temper. It would hardly be fair to put Aras at risk of being the target of their uncle’s angry shouts if he was drunk behind the door. So, once his brother had quieted a bit, Babis lifted a finger to his lips in a motion of silence as he turned to the door and quietly swung it open with a loud creak. Cringing a bit at the seemingly deafening noise, Babis peered into the room.

However, he didn’t see anything as the space was obviously empty. There was no one else in there as Babis opened it a bit more, now not bogged down by the worry of Mikael being worried. The fire was unlit and there was a chill to the darkened room, signaling it had been empty for a while, but the mussed sheets and clothes scattered about made it clear that someone had been in the room recently.

“He’s not in here.” Babis said forlornly, clearly disappointed that their favorite uncle was nowhere to be found. Already sensing what his logical counterpart would say in response, Babis effectively cut him off before Aras even opened his mouth, “Yeah, yeah. He’s probably somewhere else in the house.”

Though, all hope wasn’t lost, judging by the little twinkle in Babis' eye as a new plan began to form in his mind. “Hey Aras,” He said, turning to the twin, “You want to explore here instead?”