[Kratos doesn't answer Acacius at first. In public, after all, he has to at least maintain the fiction that his and Yuan's relationship is more ordinary; he's been meeting Acacius's gaze, but at Yuan's order that gaze drops with the mild bow.]
Of course, Master Ka-Fai.
[Acacius's face twists at the sound and sight of Kratos Aurion being subservient, and he looks away. Kratos reaches out to smooth his fingers along the texture of one of the plates on display, examining the wares in actuality even while he keeps talking.]
Abalastron was taken last month, wasn't it?
Please --
Has your family arrived yet?
[Acacius closes his eyes and breathes out, and in, and then out again, and this time when he looks at Kratos the twisted guilt is lessened by the frustrated determination.]
They're held up at the border. Their citizenship papers are being questioned.
[A new citizenship, Kratos had learned from some judicious questions at headquarters, extended to families too. Kratos doesn't glance at Yuan -- but he explicitly doesn't glance at Yuan. They have, after all, spoken of favours before.]
no subject
Of course, Master Ka-Fai.
[Acacius's face twists at the sound and sight of Kratos Aurion being subservient, and he looks away. Kratos reaches out to smooth his fingers along the texture of one of the plates on display, examining the wares in actuality even while he keeps talking.]
Abalastron was taken last month, wasn't it?
Please --
Has your family arrived yet?
[Acacius closes his eyes and breathes out, and in, and then out again, and this time when he looks at Kratos the twisted guilt is lessened by the frustrated determination.]
They're held up at the border. Their citizenship papers are being questioned.
[A new citizenship, Kratos had learned from some judicious questions at headquarters, extended to families too. Kratos doesn't glance at Yuan -- but he explicitly doesn't glance at Yuan. They have, after all, spoken of favours before.]