After Derek left, there was silence in the dining hall for a few minutes, with every one left to their own thoughts. Then Peter decided to break the silence.

“Thank you, Kane, for that. I believe he needed it.”

Kane shrugged his shoulders, not finding it necessary to bask under the praise. “It is nothing. As you said, he needed that. It was late, but better late than never.”

He looked at Lucille then, when he felt a proud glow overshadowing him.

“Are you happy and proud of me, cara mia?”

He passed this message through their mindpath, a smile slithering across his lip, when Lucille blessed him with a...