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Bodeir walked over to a nearby display table, picked up one of the ornamental balls that was there and started to pace as he rolled it around in his hand. The ball looked to be carved bone of some kind. It wasn’t particularly elaborate, but it was nice enough. Bodeir continued speaking, “I do not fault them for this. In fact, this is exactly what I want them to do in situations like this.

“It is not there fault my son is being difficult, and it is there job to serve him. To give him a taste of what it means to be responsible for men and women under his command… yet he seems determined not to learn any of the lessons I am trying to teach. The biggest source of contention, and the reason he is avoiding you and your absent friend, is that I needed to step in and ensure his safety at the tournament…”

Bodeir let out a long sigh, throwing the bone ball high in the air as he did so, not even looking at it as he juggled it between hands, “You see. He is of the belief that he is old enough to make his own mistakes. That I am being overbearing and interfering with his life. To that… I say… OF COURSE I DAM WELL AM!” Bodeir bit of a growl. “Sorry, this is dangerously close to becoming a heart demon for me.

“My son… he does not understand. I believed him ready to make and learn from his own mistakes years ago. I have given him time and space to grow, where I offered only minor bits and pieces of advice alongside help when requested. I didn’t stop him from doing a number of frankly moronic things, as he was not a child anymore. As he said… he is old enough to make his own mistakes…

“But after nearly a decade of ‘making his own mistakes’ I’m getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to own up to said mistakes. Often times he lies to me about minor things instead of owning up to them. I let him get away with such lies because for some reason he doesn’t seem to think I’d have a spy set up amongst his servants. Yes, just the one spy. I want the others loyal to him, and I try not to order them around…

“But I still put a full spy into his entourage. Their mission was to be as blatant about it as possible while still doing half decent spy work. It’s a retirement assignment for one of my most loyal men. He’s slipped up hundreds of times, been reported by the other servants at least six, and still NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT IT! I mean really, how can my son say to me he’s old enough to do things by himself when he can’t even notice one obvious spy that follows him around ALL THE TIME!”

Bodeir made to hurl the bone sculpture into the wall before pausing mid swing and breathing in deeply, centring himself. A few ‘calming’ breaths later and Bodeir continued with a slight inclination of his head, “Sorry, my son vexes me with his incompetence. I’ve given him so many chances to ‘grow up’ as it were and he has failed every single one. Now, an important dinner for our sect alliance is coming up and the threat of assassination is high. I NEED him to be safe, not just because he’s my son, but also because of the political complications that would occur should he die,”

Bodeir sighed again, “My son doesn’t seem to understand that his death would complicate things. I’d be forced to retaliate, wasting resources I frankly don’t have lest I be attacked by both enemies and allies because they think I’m weak. His death could break my sect… and he is apparently to thick to understand that fact. Instead of accepting that for the first time in nearly a decade I need him to be as safe as possible… he has chosen to be a brat about it,”

.....

“Um…” Kat said, before waiting on a reaction. Bodeir simply raised an eyebrow, waiting for the question. “As someone that really isn’t knowledgeable of sect politics can you explain it to me why it would be such a political issue?”

Now, Kat wasn’t sure if she expected a proper answer. Perhaps a diplomatic dismissal, perhaps a vague generalisation as to the risks involved. Heck, even just a short answer of ‘it’s complicated’ would have been less surprising than the truth. Bodeir burst out into laughter. Full body laughter, as he bent over as chuckles wracked his body. Eventually Bodeir recovered, wiping away a few tears that were not clear, but instead a thick, milky white. “Ah, truly my son is a moron.

“You see, he has not once asked me what the consequences of his own death would be. He has not asked me, asked the servants I have pointed him towards, he has not asked his friends. He has not questioned this at his mother’s grave. He has thought NOTHING of what his death would cost me. And it is truly a grave cost.

“I’ll need to explain a bit of background though, is that ok?” Kat nodded and Bodeir continued, “Right, you see, as a sect patriarch, if something were to happen to my offspring I would be required to retaliate. This is because children of sect masters are supposed to be sacred here. It is encouraged by all the big players. Thievery is fine, and so is some light maiming. Oh sure we’ll send assassins or bounty hunters after them in retribution, but never anyone strong.

“It encourages heirs to grow you see. The problem is… it can’t be taken too far. If a young master, or mistress dies? Well in that case it’s a matter of hunting them down personally, as well as all their friends and family. Brutal yes, but if I did not do so then the other sect masters would attack me, for failing in my duty to defend the ‘honourable sect heirs\'” Bodeir spat on the floor, in the corner. “A bunch of nonsense. Useful nonsense, but nonsense and one I don’t particularly like. Still, I cannot defend myself from so many…

“Thus I’d need to retaliate. Heavily. As my wife is dead and I have taken no second, my retribution must be swift, and practically genocidal. It would be such an unbelievable waste of life and time on my part, but I’d have no choice if I wanted to get my sect intact. Now, this would be fine… if it was just one person. But an assassin? Sent by another sect?

“Well then it’s WAR. A war that’s ‘Terribly personal and I cannot hope to interfere’ or that’s what my allies would say. I was… not the kindest individual when I was reaching for Rank 4. So while I have allies now… some of them have not forgotten old grudges. They would not help me. Of course, whatever sect sent the assassin would allegedly not receive aid either… but under the table dealings would be common, and they’d get great prices on resources from the allies for a time. Totally unrelated to them supporting my son’s assassination of course,”

“Of course,” answered Kat with a nod.

Bodeir nodded, “Indeed. Now, that’s why I need him safe, and I needed a demon to do it. He cannot die. The problem is the blasted brat is trying to make it as hard as possible for me. Sometimes I hate my wife for the problems she shouldered me with…” Bodeir noticed Kat’s wince and waved her off. “I married for love instead of politics. My wife was a brilliant cultivator… much better at it then me. We trained together for decades growing closer and closer until we married.

“When she fell pregnant unexpectedly, she was… overjoyed but a little sad. I should’ve known there was an issue… but she never told me. Simply said she was sad to put her cultivation on hold. Lying bitch. The birth killed her, and she knew it was going to months in advance. It was an issue with her cultivation technique. SHE KNEW it was an issue. She’d known her hole life. Instead of warning me about it, or getting rid of the baby… she gave me a son, and died for it.

“I still love her of course, and I love my son… but I HATE that my wife did not see fit to inform me of this issue. That I was given no time to look for solutions, and that I had to raise my son by myself… and seemingly failed in that task. Still... as I said, I do love her and I loathe the idea of taking another wife. As such… I must do what I can for this foolish son of mine,”