Sothis is the ‘next part’, it begins a few months after the end of the firststory so only a little t

Sothis is the ‘next part’, it begins a few months after the end of the firststory so only a little time has passed. Keep in mind that while the relationshipbetween Jaide and the others significantly improved, it still isn’t perfect.Beforecomplaining that X character wouldn’t act like that because they said and didthis in canon, this is so ooc for them, read the whole thing, I have anexplanation at the end. Also warning, this deals with a subject you might findtriggering.ThestoryThetime arrives for another Mahrajan festival and Ja’far finally feels comfortableenough to visit the festival with his kids. He’s still nervous about it ofcourse, but he wants them to celebrate it with the rest of the island.Thereason why his kids never got to go was because he was either busy with work orAin got sick and he had to take care of him/he was worried Ain would get sickso it was safer having him at home. Ja’far kept a close eye on Jaide to makesure he didn’t sneak out during festival time, which he never did, though outof sheer curiosity Jaide often looked out the window to see what was going onin the country.Kadinon the other hand had the opportunity to go out and enjoy the festival, but whenhe got old enough to be allowed to do so, he didn’t care for it anymore. Kadinknew he’d only feel uncomfortable being around so many adults and kids so hejust remained in his room and tried to sleep through it, despite the noise.Thistime however, Ja’far made up his mind, put aside all his fears, and let himselfforget about work for a bit so he could walk around freely and check outwhatever caught the attention of his kids.Ainand Jaide are super excited when they hear Ja’far’s plan for the evening whileKadin would’ve rather stayed in the palace, ‘til Mahrajan was over, but he doesn’twant to ruin his little brothers’ happiness. Kadin doesn’t have the heart tosay no, especially when Ain takes his hand and starts to list what they coulddo, claiming how much fun it’s going to be, so Kadin goes along with it.Beforeleaving however Ja’far sets a rule for them, they had to hold hands, ensuringthat none of them would get lost in the crowd. While Jaide doesn’t seem to befond of the idea, he grabs Ja’far’s right hand without any complaint. Kadin,acting like a proper big brother, lets Ain to be the other one to hold Ja’far’shand while he takes Ain’s free hand, which makes Kadin more exposed to thecrowd.Jaideand Ain make them stop almost every few minutes, wanting to look at or try outevery possible game they found fun and interesting. While the two of them playand try to win something, Ja’far and Kadin cheer them on from behind.Duringthe night Ja’far tries to convince Kadin to try out something or to at leastjoin Ain or Jaide, he even offers to join him himself, but Kadin refuses. And Ja’farslowly pieces together that Kadin might be bothered by being around so manypeople.SoJa’far just pulls him close without a word and for the rest of the evening, Kadinand Ain switch places. Holding Ja’far’s hand makes Kadin feel the support andcomfort from him, and for him that’s more than enough.Oncethe boys get tired from walking around Ja’far decides to check on the generals whilehis kids rest. To his surprise Sinbad is not as drunk as he expected him to beand he doesn’t even have any woman at his side. So Ja’far feels comfortableleaving his children there while he goes away to make sure every general isokay, even though he’s aware it’s not his job.Ittakes him a while so by the time he gets back, his kids are already fallen asleep.Sinbad is still there, he watched over them while Ja’far was away. Seeing hehad returned, Sinbad offers help with getting the boys into their beds and Ja’fargladly accepts it.WhileJa’far carries Ain and Jaide, Sinbad carries Kadin as they slowly make theirway to the palace. Sinbad attempts to make a small talk, asking if the boysenjoyed their first time at the festival and eventually asks if Ja’far managedto have fun.Ja’farsoftly smiles and answers with a yes, But that’s when they finally get to theboys’ room. He tucks in Jaide and Ain separately and after taking Kadin awayfrom Sinbad and putting him into bed as well, Ja’far returns to thank Sinbadonly to find him wanting to discuss something with him.Sothey take another short stroll around the palace while Sinbad points out thathe needs to visit a few countries that are part of the Alliance. Hearing thisJa’far nods, he already knew that. But it didn’t really make any sense, whywould Sinbad bring this up especially when it was a night when he was supposedto enjoy himself, it was unlike him.Aftera little bit of hesitation Sinbad blurts out that Ja’far should join him sincehe could use a little break from work, he could even bring his kids with him andit’d be like a little family vacation.AndJa’far is immediately against the idea but before he could start ranting about howmany things are wrong with it, Sinbad stops him. He asks Ja’far to calm down,think it and talk it over with his kids, he has a week to decide if they wantto join him or not.Andthe whole week for Ja’far is stressful, he’s unable to get Sinbad’s silly idea outof his mind. He has a hard time deciding what he should do, he wants his kidsto be safe and a vacation isn’t really necessary for him, but on the other hand,it might be an interesting experience for them.Afew things are holding him back, the biggest problem is that neither of hiskids were on a ship before. And knowing how Ain could get sick at any momentand the thought that during their journey someone might attack them and hewon’t be able to protect them, scares him.Hedoesn’t know which to choose, he honestly doesn’t want to do this trip at all.But at the same time he doesn’t want to see their disappointed faces when hetells them they won’t get to go because he says no.AndJa’far doesn’t want to keep quiet about it since he wants to have an honest andtrustworthy relationship with his kids. He wouldn’t want them to lie or keepthings from him so he shouldn’t do it either, but his gut tells him he shouldn’tgo on this so called vacation, but the least he can do is to tell them about it.Ja’fargoes to Sinbad and voices his concerns hoping that’d be enough to stop him fromtrying to convince him, and Sinbad just smiles then promises he’ll always havehis metal vessels on him, saying there’s no need to worry. Sinbad even tellshim Yamuraiha could probably give some medicine for the voyage, so sickness andinjuries are not a problem.Andbefore Ja’far could think of another excuse, Ain walks up to them giving Ja’fara scroll he carelessly left behind in his room thanks to his constantoverthinking and worrying.Sinbadseeing this an opportunity, picks up Ain and tells him they will be going on anadventure and gets him all excited. This makes Ja’far really upset and mad athis king. He takes Ain from Sinbad’s arms and angrily reminds him that he neversaid yes, and walks away without another word.Ainremains silent while he’s being carried away and lays his head on Ja’far’sshoulder in a comforting manner. Not wanting to make him angrier, Ain doesn’tsay a word the whole time, he doesn’t ask anything about what Sinbad was goingon about.Oncehe’s finally put back on the ground he’s told to wait and Ja’far brings Jaideand Kadin into the room as well. With Sinbad telling his dumb idea to Ain,Ja’far feels like he has to explain himself immediately, even if he didn’t haveenough time to properly think of how he’ll bring this up.Butit didn’t matter, sooner or later he’d have to tell them anyway. So Ja’farstops avoiding the subject and tells them what Sinbad had suggested. However, beforehis boys could say anything, he continues with how worried he is, and adds thathe’s really afraid of them getting seriously injured.Beingdone, Ja’far waits for any kind of reaction from at least one of them, andafter what felt like an eternity for him, Ain finally speaks up. He says heunderstands Ja’far’s reasoning and he’s okay with him refusing the vacation,even if it makes him a bit sad.Kadinfeels content as long as he’s with them so his answer is that he doesn’t mind, eitherway is okay. Jaide really wants to go, to see new countries and explore so he answersthat he’d love to go, but it’s visible how stressed Ja’far is, so he quicklyadds that maybe they could do it another time, when Ja’far felt it was safer.Hearingall of this Ja’far pulls them into a hug, thanking them for being understanding.Even though he already knows they are okay with however he chooses, and readyto tell Sinbad they won’t be going, when he does that, Sinbad admits the reasonwhy he is so persistent is because Rametoto is asking for him.Inorder to not to anger Rametoto Ja’far gives in and tells Sinbad he’ll join him,and asks to be dismissed as soon as possible to get someone who can take careof his kids in his place. Sinbad stops him by saying he won’t be needing anyone,since Rametoto is also requesting his kids to come.Andthat makes Ja’far choke on his words and to have even more questions aboutRametoto’s true intentions than before. He doesn’t understand what he could possiblywant from his kids, and not knowing the answer terrifies him more than anything.Ja’fardoesn’t really get it and no matter how many questions he throws in Sinbad’sway, he has no clue why would Rametoto suddenly request such a thing either. Asan attempt to comfort him, Sinbad repeats himself saying he meant what he said,he will protect them.Aftertaking a deep breath and seeing no other option, Ja’far has to agree to join. Hecouldn’t run from Rametoto for forever and it seemed like the same went for hiskids.SoJa’far spends his remaining time packing away, readying his weapons, makingplans and mentally preparing himself. Once he tells his kids they’ll actuallyget to go on the vacation they get excited, but that vanishes as soon as Ja’farstarts to come up with ridiculous rules. And he does it relentlessly.Thethree of them are aware it’s for their own good, but Ja’far is going overboardand that takes away all the excitement. Especially for Jaide since it seemedlike they weren’t allowed to do anything fun at all.Beforegetting on the ship, Ja’far gives them tea which had something dissolved in it (madeby Yamuraiha) to make sure none of them would get seasick on the ship, whichproved how paranoid and scared Ja’far would be for the entire trip, making themwish they would stay in Sindria instead.Neitherof them realize that they’re leaving Sindria the first time in their lives,until they get so far away from the country, it can be barely be seen. Then it suddenlyhits them that they are actually doing this and Sinbad is there to brighten themood, to give their adventuring spirit back so before they know it, the threeof them are just as excited as they were in the beginning.Duringthe first day of the voyage, Sinbad and Ja’far make clear which places they aregoing to visit and in what order; Sasan first, then Imuchakk and at last,Artemyra. While Ja’far makes clear his own rules, Sinbad promises to himself tokeep an eye on Jaide.Sincemany years ago Ja’far stopped talking about his problems with Jaide, how muchhe was misbehaving, Sinbad doesn’t know they already took the first few stepsto fix their relationship. So Sinbad promises to himself to make Jaide behavefor everyone’s sake, so everyone could enjoy this trip.Duringthe voyage Ja’far constantly worries, wondering if he should’ve asked Sinbad tobring another general to come with them for safety reasons, but once they getto Sasan without any incidents, he’s relieved.Thenanother thing starts to bother him when they arrive, Sasan is a very closed offcountry which isn’t something that can be considered exciting. Or at least hedoesn’t think so. Once he sees Ain pointing out the traditional clothes they’veseen Spartos wear / in the books during the lectures and talk about theattractions they read about, Ja’far just smiles.Hisboys don’t seem to be put off by the country’s distaste for outsiders. Ja’farthought Sasan might be too stern to be considered interesting, but thanks tohis teachings his kids already knew what to expect.Afterthey unpack in the hotel room they’re staying at, the five of them walk andlook around the area for a while, but Sinbad and Ja’far have to take care oftheir duty as king and his right hand man. So leaving Kadin in charge ofeverything, Sinbad and Ja’far leave them at the hotel to go and meet withDarius.Themeeting lasts longer than expected, and Ja’far gets really anxious, he wondersif he should’ve stayed behind. He really Hopes Jaide listened to him, anddidn’t wander off. Sinbad notices Ja’far’s mind is somewhere else so he tugs onhis sleeve to snap him out of his thoughts, after that Ja’far tries to payattention, even if it’s really hard for him to do so.IfJa’far could’ve, he would have run back to the hotel the moment the meetingended. But Sinbad quickly suggests bringing back some food since it was alreadytoo late to go out and eat, and Ja’far agrees.Sothe both of them go around the market to get something and after someconsideration, Ja’far chooses something small and sweet they could eat afterthey were done with dinner. Usually, he’s really careful about what he gives hissons and makes sure they eat a lot of healthy meals but sometimes he gives in,like this time.Thenext day for Ja’far is way calmer, he gets to be around his kids, and for oncewithout his work being in the way he’s able to spend an entire day with them. WhenSinbad starts drinking Ja’far scolds him, but after promising he won’t over doit, Ja’far to lets him be and relaxes.Onanother day they get allowed to take two horses and explore the country. Eventhough Sinbad tries to convince someone to join him, pouting as he says he’sgoing to feel lonely, Ja’far refuses to let either one of his kids ride withhim. With Ain and Jaide not taking up much space, the four of them couldcomfortably ride together. Once they see how horses behave around Sinbad,they’re glad Ja’far refused, so they can laugh at Sinbad’s misfortune.Asthey’re getting ready to travel to their next destination Ja’far begins to growanxious again. Not only because the weather is really cold in Imuchakk and hisboys were never exposed to that kind of weather before, but because this is whyhe had been forced on this trip. And he still couldn’t figure out what in theworld Rametoto could want from them.Sofor the most of the voyage Sinbad is trying to calm Ja’far down while heworries about various things. If Ja’far isn’t pacing around, then he’s teachinghis kids how to behave in front of royalty, teaching them about properetiquette and what they can or cannot say.Oncethey get to Imuchakk, the three of them are amazed how different this countryis. At first they’re just looking around curiously, in awe, since this is thevery first time they’ve seen snow, and Ja’far is just glad none of them seem tobe fazed by the cold weather thanks to the clothing he got for them.Butsooner than he wanted to, they had to meet with Rametoto. First, only withSinbad and once they were done talking about the Alliance and matters that wererelated to it, Rametoto asks if Ja’far brought his kids along. He nods automaticallyso Rametoto asks him to bring them to him, and without a word Ja’far obeys.Whathe didn’t see coming was that once he came back with them Rametoto woulddismiss him and Sinbad, requesting to be left alone with his kids. Even ifJa’far was ready to raise his voice and say no, he’ll stay, he gets pulled awayby Sinbad and he’s forced to wait. So he wordlessly places his head into hishands, defeated.Sinbaddoesn’t know what else to do, so he just gently rubs Ja’far’s back reassuringhim it’s going to be okay, Rametoto wouldn’t hurt them. Ja’far just remainsstill, not reacting in any way and Sinbad hopes that he’s right.Whileback in the room with Rametoto the three of them get down on one knee and greethim formally just like how Ja’far taught them. They introduce themselves, but Rametotoquickly asks them to rise and they do so after sharing a confused glance.WhileRametoto makes his way down the stairs slowly to take a closer look at them,Kadin steps a bit forward, putting Ain and Jaide slightly behind him in aprotective manner. Not enough to be noticeable, just enough to make sure theycould hide behind him if needed.Once Rametoto finally reaches the end of the stairs the three of them freeze up. Theywere around Hinahoho plenty of times but this man in front of them was huge andterrifying looking. Unexpectedly, he crouches down and extends his hand, tellingthem he’s glad to finally meet his great grandchildren.Andthat statement confuses them even more, Ain immediately asks what does he meanby that, and before Kadin could beg for forgiveness because Ain just spokewithout permission, Rametoto asks them if they know about Rurumu.Sincethey never heard that name before they just shake their heads confusedly, soRametoto asks them to follow him and takes them to a room where’s a painting ofher. As they look at Rurumu, Rametoto tells them she was his daughter, thenafter some pause he adds that Ja’far is her adoptive son.Thismakes Kadin remember a specific night, when Ja’far had said something about himbeing adopted, so he timidly admits that Ja’far did mention it to him but neverreally told the whole story. To Ain and Jaide the new information comes as asurprise.Rametotomakes them sit down and tells them a bit about Rurumu’s life. Soon they all getcomfortable around him as he softly talks to them. He doesn’t go into detail ofhow or why, he just tells them that Rurumu shaped Ja’far into the man he is nowand he also shares a few short stories with them about Rurumu and Hinahoho, andhow they got married.InterruptingRametoto, Jaide suddenly says, mostly to himself, that if Ja’far was adopted byher and if she was Hinahoho’s wife then that would make her and Hinahoho theirgrandparents. And it slowly dawns on the three of them they’ve been callingHinahoho ‘uncle’ all this time and it’s really weird to think of him as theirgrandfather all of the sudden.Butthen Ain smiles and laughs, saying they have a bigger family than theyexpected. While they didn’t really process everything because it’s a lot totake in, Kadin and Jaide just smile back at him.Chuckling,Rametoto thinks about how much Rurumu would adore them if she were alive. Heknew even if Ja’far wasn’t biologically related to her she loved him and she probablywould’ve thought of his kids as if they were her own grandchildren.Rametotosays that they’re part of the Imuchakk family, and they’re always welcome inthis country, but they should probably go back to Ja’far. It didn’t go unnoticedby Rametoto how scared Ja’far was to leave his kids alone with him and he didn’tplan on keeping him away from them for so long.Asthey’re leaving Ain decides to turn around and hug him. He thanks Rametoto fortelling them about their grandmother, promising to visit her and to give herlots of flowers. To that Rametoto can only react by patting Ain on the head,awkwardly.OnceSinbad notices them in the distance he pokes Ja’far’s side. And the minute hesees them, Ja’far is already up and running towards them. He pulls them into ahug without any explanation and doesn’t let them go for a while. Ja’far’sworries aren’t really gone but he’s relieved to see his children again in thatmoment, in one piece.Afterthe eventful day they just had, the three of them quickly fall asleep and Sinbadsoon follows in suit. For Ja’far it takes more time, he just looks at hissleeping boys to finally convince himself they’re okay, everything’s fine,repeating this in his head over and over again until he falls asleep.Onanother day he hesitantly lets the three of them go out to enjoy the snow and playaround. Ja’far and Sinbad aren’t that far away from them, just enough to givethem some space and freedom to make it easier for them to bond with the otherchildren who had taken interest in them.Rametotosuddenly joins the two of them and notices Ja’far still looks worried so heasks about it. Ja’far replies quickly that he’s fine, then he quietly confesseshe hopes none of his kids get sick because the cold is still new to them.Ja’far doesn’t say it out loud but he’s mostly afraid of Ain getting a highfever.Snappingout of his thoughts for a second Ja’far asks with a sudden burst of confidence,why did he want to speak with his kids so badly. This question has been nagginghim for weeks now, he needed to know the answer. And Rametoto’s face just getssour, he doesn’t say anything for a while.Aftera long pause Rametoto finally starts to talk. He confesses that it took him along time to accept that Rurumu was actually gone, and he couldn’t care lessabout Ja’far or his kids. But the thought that Rurumu cared, and she cared somuch about him, he couldn’t bring himself to ignore how important they were toher any longer. He couldn’t pretend anymore that he was okay without her.Ja’farweakly replies, if he doesn’t care then he didn’t have to force himself justfor Rurumu’s sake. Hearing that, Rametoto gives him an honest, but barelyvisible smile and tells Ja’far now that he met his kids, he couldn’t help butto care. Once they weren’t intimidated by him and had the confidence to speakup, he could see what kind of people Ja’far had raised. So Rametoto tellsJa’far his mom would be very proud of him, and Ja’far can only whisper a barelyaudible thank you as a reply.Whilethey’re talking Sinbad turns around to check on the kids and he can only seeKadin and Ain. With no trace of Jaide, Sinbad decides to take it upon himselfto look for him. He doesn’t let Ja’far know about it since he already hadenough stuff to deal with, so in the middle of Rametoto and Ja’far’sconversation he slips away without being noticed.Itdoesn’t take a long time for Sinbad to find Jaide, but that doesn’t mean hewould let this go. He grabs Jaide’s arm in case he wanted to flee, then scoldshim harshly. It’s unintentional, since Sinbad doesn’t really have any experienceof how he should be handling this kind of situation.AndJaide doesn’t understand what he had done, he wasn’t far away from his brothersor from Ja’far so he’s confused, and the scary look on Sinbad’s face, his harshwords, aren’t helping him understand what he had done either.Hecan feel himself tearing up and that’s when Ja’far steps in and asks what they aredoing. Being caught off guard, Sinbad lets Jaide’s arm go and not thinkingtwice about it, Jaide runs behind Ja’far.Sinbadexplains to Ja’far that he couldn’t see Jaide so he assumed he had ran off,therefore he just done what had to be done. Looking down at Jaide, Ja’far cansee his shoulders shaking so he picks him up and asks for his side of the story.Witha trembling voice Jaide explains how they were planning on making a snowmanafter hearing what it was from the other kids. He started rolling up a big snowballas a start but he wasn’t paying much attention, he didn’t mean to get out ofsight and he’s really sorry. After hearing this Ja’far tells him he hadn’t doneanything wrong and hugs him close while shooting an angry glare in Sinbad’sdirection.Forthe rest of the day Jaide remains close to Ja’far while trying to be as faraway from Sinbad as possible. When Ain tries to get him to join and listen toone of Sinbad’s stories he remains on Ja’far’s lap, hiding his face away so hedoesn’t even have to look at him.Oncethe boys are in bed, Ja’far scolds Sinbad for treating Jaide in such a way,Sinbad answers how he just wanted to help since Ja’far used to complain a lotabout Jaide. Even though Ja’far appreciates his efforts, he asks Sinbad toleave it to him to decide when to scold his son and how.Afterthat Sinbad becomes aware of the fact that the relationship between Ja’far andJaide isn’t the same as before. The Jaide he knew wouldn’t run to Ja’far, hewould run and hide far away from him. Thinking back, Sinbad even recalls Ja’farmentioning it years ago that Jaide wouldn’t talk to Ain and barely wanted totalk to Ja’far. But now he seemed to be perfectly comfortable around his family.Witheverything pieced together, Sinbad decides to make it up to Jaide by taking himand his brothers out to actually start building the snowman. Sinbad manages toget Jaide to join them, despite him wanting to remain inside to help Ja’farprepare food for the voyage. Ja’far knew what Sinbad was planning, so he kindlyrefuses the help in order to let Sinbad do his part.Beingforced outside, Jaide tries to avoid eye contact with Sinbad, and stays asclose as possible to his brothers to avoid scolding. To make things lessawkward, Sinbad tries to make everyone laugh and without meaning to, Jaide accidentallygiggles then covers his mouth. Noticing this, Sinbad keeps it up and it endswith him tackling Jaide into the snow making him laugh out loud.Afterthey finish the snowman they have a small snowball fight before Ja’far callsthem in for a warm cup of hot chocolate. Even though Ja’far keeps mutteringabout how childish Sinbad is while drying everyone’s hair, he couldn’t behappier that the two of them made up.Onceit’s time to leave, Rametoto comes to say goodbye personally and the three ofthem, especially Ain seems to be sad to leave. The moment when the ship startsto move from the port, Ja’far is able to fully calm down because they werefinally through the hardest part of the trip, and it went well.Sowhen he hears Ain cough he feels upset for letting his guard down. Ja’far keepsa close eye on him in case he gets worse and starts to set up a couple of thingsto be prepared, like medicine, washcloths and a bucket etc., to his surpriseAin only caught a common cold, nothing more.Givinghim tea and keeping him in warm clothing seems to improve his condition andsoon his runny nose is no longer an issue. When they get to Artemyra, Ain’sonly problem is that his throat is a little sore from coughing so much, otherthan that, he’s fine.Whenthey arrive, Kadin freezes up on the ship and Ja’far immediately takes notice.So he crouches down and asks if he’s okay, does he need a minute and Kadin justanswers that he’s really nervous, that’s all.Understandinghow much this place meant to him, Ja’far tells Sinbad to go ahead with Ain andJaide, letting Kadin take his time to calm his nerves. Once Kadin feels ready,Ja’far offers his hand and Kadin appreciates it, but he wants to be brave, afterall, he couldn’t be a coward in his motherland.AndKadin knows he can’t keep holding onto Ja’far for forever, so he refuses. Thishurts Ja’far a bit, but he can see why Kadin might want to do this on his own,so he decides to back off. But he also makes sure to pay close attention toKadin in case he did need support.WhenKadin first sees the country he’s amazed and keeps looking around, trying totake everything in all at once, the people, the birds, the sights, the smells,everything. It’s impossible, yet he couldn’t get enough of it. Sinbad meets upwith them to show where they’re staying at and while Kadin follows Ja’far tounpack their things, he’s still looking around frantically.Justlike before Ja’far and Sinbad have duties related to the Alliance, so they go tosee queen Mira first. And Kadin is so excited he can’t even sit still, he pacesaround the room and looks out the window every so often thus resulting in him forgettinghis promise to watch over Ain and Jaide. And Jaide is less understandingtowards his behavior than Ain is.OnceJa’far gets back, he asks them to come with him because they just got a tourguide, they can go around and explore together. It was offered by Mira aftershe heard Ja’far brought his kids, and he accepted it without thinking muchabout it since he knew Kadin would love it.Thetour fascinates them, especially Kadin, who keeps asking a lot of questions. Atthe end of the tour Sinbad points out to Ja’far that a man had been followingthem around for quite a while now. So Ja’far gets more cautious, and the two ofthem start discussing what they should do, but before they can actually doanything, he walks up to them, offers a hand and introduces himself.Theman, Perseus, tells them that the boy they have with them, with the blond hair,looks similar to his wife. Ja’far doesn’t know what to say, so Sinbad speaks upinstead of him, and asks for proof. But once he pulls out a small painting ofhim and his wife, it’s crystal clear to see the resemblance between Kadin and thewoman on the picture.Ja’farasks Sinbad to leave the two of them alone to talk, and Sinbad knows Ja’faractually meant that he should take the boys far away from this man as fast aspossible. Staying behind with him, Ja’far hears out his story. Hetells Ja’far that his wife had a close friend she wanted to visit, but hecouldn’t leave, so his wife had to go alone. She was pregnant at the time, shenever returned home and he didn’t know what happened to the child. Ja’far doesn’tbelieve him until he says the baby was supposed to be a boy, and together theydecided on the name Kadin.Perseuslaughs it off, and asks Ja’far to forgive him since he got off topic. AndJa’far knew what he wanted next, even if he hoped that wasn’t the case, he wantedto meet with Kadin. To that request Ja’far can only reply with, while trying tokeep calm, that he wants to discuss this with Kadin first to let him decide whathe wants, then if he says yes, they can meet. Perseus accepts it, and leaveshim be.WhenJa’far gets back to the hotel, Sinbad basically interrogates him. And Ja’far doesn’twant to believe what just happened, he doesn’t even know if it was real, hejust answers every question in a monotone voice since he could barely processwhat any of this meant.Sinbadasks what Ja’far wants to do but he doesn’t know either, he considers lying to Perseus,but he doesn’t want to keep this from Kadin. It wouldn’t be fair nor does hewant to lie to him, so he ends up talking about it with Kadin, alone, askingwhat he wants to do. And of course he chooses to meet with his father.SoJa’far has no other option but to meet up with Perseus once again, bringingKadin along. Kadin is really nervous about the meeting but Ja’far’s there toease his fears. He gives father and son some space, but stays close to themjust in case. Seeing the two of them get along so well with each other, makesJa’far feel horrible, but he swallows that feeling down.Aftera few days, Ja’far doesn’t think he has the right to intrude and to get in theway of them getting to know each other anymore, so he lets Kadin go. Both Ainand Jaide seem to notice something’s up, and Jaide doesn’t find it fair thatKadin gets to go exploring by himself while he can’t. He finds it odd thatKadin even got permission to do that in the first place, but he stays quiet aboutit to keep Ain company.Evenif he wanted to, Kadin couldn’t have described the happiness he felt at themoment, he never thought he’d have any living relatives. And yet, despite allodds he met his biological father and on top of that, he could learn aboutArtemyra. From his own father. Perseus calmly answers and explains Kadin’seager questions. WhenKadin asks about his mother, what she was like, it seems like the friendlyatmosphere shifts in a second. His father tells him in a very low tone, tonever ever mention her in front of him. And Kadin thinks it’s his fault forasking because Perseus might still have some trouble accepting she’s actuallydead. The mood after that changes back, like nothing ever happened so Kadindoesn’t give it a second thought.Atthis point Ain and Jaide already picked up on how much time Kadin was spending awayfrom them, he barely even said a word to them ever since they set a foot inthis country. Ain tries to be understanding, since it was only natural forKadin to be interested in Artemyra. But to Jaide it’s clear how much Ain wishesKadin would spend some time with them too, so Jaide is upset with Kadin formaking Ain feel bad.Afterthat Kadin is a bit hesitant to meet with his father, he wants to, but hedoesn’t want to say something that might upset him again. Ja’far walks in onhim while he’s staring down at a book he’s holding in his hands, lost inthought, and Ja’far asks if there’s something wrong. Kadin doesn’t know what tosay, so Ja’far lets out a sigh.Hetakes the book away from him, takes Kadin’s hands into his and starts with thathe loves him dearly. Continuing, he says it’s fine if he wants to know abouthis father, but now that he has a real parent, he has the option to stay here.After taking a short pause Ja’far assures him he won’t be angry with him, hejust needs to know if he decides to stay. And Kadin softly smiles and thanksJa’far before running off to meet with Perseus.Ja’faris unsure about how he feels about this whole situation since all of thishappened too fast for his liking but he gets snapped out of his thoughts bylight knocking on the door. At first, he thinks Kadin came back but afterpushing it open, he finds Jaide and Ain standing there with distressed looks intheir eyes. Then Ain asks in a wobbly voice what that was about.Assumingthey heard their conversation and want answers, Ja’far tells them everythingabout how Kadin found his father. Ain starts to beg to Ja’far not to let Kadingo since he was part of their family now, and this reaction makes Ja’far feeleven worse. He pulls Ain onto his lap, then motions to Jaide to come closer anddoes the same to him as well. Then, he rubs both of their backs comfortingly,in silence.Aftercollecting his thoughts, he explains that he isn’t, and never will be thebiological father to Kadin. He’ll always be a part of their family, but hedeserves to know the truth and deserves to decide who he wants to stay with.Ja’far’s voice cracks when he tells them that he wants Kadin to be happy, evenif he can’t be the one who makes him happy.Lookingaway for a moment from his boys to blink away the tears, his eyes land on atable where he put the book Kadin was holding in his hands, which he probablymeant to take with himself to show his father. And for some reason, somethingtells Ja’far he needs to go and give him the book.Asmuch as he wants to stay with Ain and Jaide to comfort them, he isn’t sure why,Ja’far just has the overwhelming urge to go after Kadin and use the book as anexcuse. He assumes it’s because he left a lot of things unsaid. Ja’far wantsKadin to know he wants him to stay with them, that he wants him as a son. Heneeds to let Kadin know how much he meant to him. To them.SoJa’far hugs Ain and Jaide close to him for a couple of minutes before lettingthem go, promising to hurry back. But that doesn’t stop both Jaide and Ain frombreaking down. But with Ja’far gone, Jaide tries to keep it together for Ain’ssake.Eventhough Kadin realizes he left the book behind, he doesn’t want to go back forit. He doesn’t have a lot of time he could spend with his father before theywould leave, so he wanted to be with him as much as possible. Kadin knew hecould just remain here but he wasn’t sure about staying. On the way he thinksabout Ja’far’s words, he didn’t realize he could choose what he wants untilJa’far said so.Kadinquickly apologizes for being late which is forgiven after a pat on the head,and Perseus asks Kadin what he wants to learn about Artemyra. Kadin answersthat today he wanted to tell stories to him, about Sindria. He apologizes againfor forgetting the book since he can’t show pictures, but he gets interruptedby his father saying he isn’t interested in that country anyway so it’s okay,and Kadin just goes silent.Abit later his father brings the topic of staying in Artemyra with him up andKadin shyly tells him that he haven’t decided yet. At that his father snaps athim, telling him that of course he’ll stay with him and Kadin is so surprisedby that tone of voice, he starts to stammer about how he needs to speak aboutthis with Ja’far which seems to irritate his father even more.Perseusgrumbles how Ja’far probably already realized Kadin belongs here, to him, andwhen he tries to take Kadin’s hand he moves away from him on instinct, which isthe last straw for his father. Kadin watches as his father’s hand gets raised upin the air, and in his fear Kadin is unable to do anything, he just closes hiseyes and waits for the impact.Whichnever comes. When he finally finds some courage to open up an eye, he can see thatJa’far got between them, shielding him from his father who was about to hit him.Ja’far angrily asks Perseus what he was about to do to Kadin, and the onlyreply he gets is how he has nothing to do with this, he’s not his son.AndJa’far yells at him, telling him he legally adopted Kadin, so he has everythingto do with him. After that Ja’far pushes Perseus away from them with a greatforce, making him land several feet away on his back. Then Ja’far coldly addshe can say goodbye to Kadin and takes his hand and drags him away since Kadinseems to be too shocked to move on his own. Kadin doesn’t miss Ja’far slidingback something red under his sleeves but that isn’t important to him in thatmoment.OnceJa’far feels they’re in a safe distance he stops and checks on Kadin, asks ifhe’s hurt anywhere and Kadin shakes his head without a word. It’s clear howshaken up he is, so Ja’far tells him he’ll be taking him right back to thehotel then he’ll go straight to queen Mira to inform her about this. But Kadinblurts out a no, and then quietly mumbling he adds that he wants to go withJa’far.Notbeing in the mood to argue with him, Ja’far takes Kadin with him to queen Miraand explains everything. Then after an uncomfortable silence, Mira admits thatthis isn’t the first time she heard this about that man, one person came to herand said something similar many years ago.Sheexplains that woman, presumably, was Kadin’s mother, pleading for help. Nomatter how much Mira wanted to lock him up, Perseus was an amazing actor backthen, and still is. He’s able to deceive anyone and everyone around him, leavingzero evidence, so Ja’far had nothing to back up what he just told her was true.But even so, Mira wants to believe Ja’far’s words therefore she passes on whatshe heard from kadin’s mother, long ago.Shecame to Mira saying how much Perseus has changed and started to hate Artemyraback when the country made an Alliance with Sindira. He occasionally caught aglimpse of how the outside world treated men when trading ships began to comeand go, and his hatred grew from there.Andcomparing it to how he got treated in Artemyra, he got furious. He didn’t thinkit was fair that Artemyra was the only place where men were below women, and hedespised this kind of life. Then after a couple of years his hatred turned intoaggression.Andsoon his wife fallen a victim to it. He started beating her when she couldn’t immediatelygive him what he asked for and if she dared to say he wasn’t right aboutsomething, even if it was just an insignificant thing. It never mattered if hewas in the wrong, he’d turn the tables on her in one second.Aftersome time Kadin’s mother had enough. She confronted Mira, who couldn’t takeaction since she couldn’t prove she was in the right. She had no visiblebruises because after she learned how to act in front of that man, he no longerhad any reason to hit her. It also took her a long time to speak up about it sothe scars had plenty of time to heal. But Mira believed her every word, andoffered a different kind of help.Withthe queen’s support she decided to leave behind Artemyra, she finally acceptedher husband wasn’t the same sweet old self, he became bitter and abusive. Itwas really hard for her to accept this, but she knew there was no point inhoping he’d change for the better. And she wanted, no, had to protect the babyfrom the cruelty she experienced.Sinceshe was already close to giving birth, she had to act fast. Her choice ended upbeing Sindria, thinking it would be the safest country to raise her child inand the quickest to get to. With Mira’s help she was able to sneak onto a shipwithout a trace and escape, and after arriving to Sindria she gave birth to herchild.Shewas told she didn’t have much time left, and for her that didn’t matter. Allshe wanted was to make sure Kadin had a place to safely grow up. Talking withthe nurses and doctors, she was convinced the orphanage was a good place forKadin and he’d get a nice home when he got adopted.Soonce she was sure Kadin would be fine, her will to fight against death subsided.After that she felt herself grow weaker and weaker each day, however she got tohold and say goodbye to Kadin and wrote a thank you letter to Queen Mira beforepassing away.Miraexplains that Perseus never left Artemyra behind because he was too afraid ofleaving the steady job and home he had, so he never tried to go out into theworld to search for his wife or for his son. And Mira is glad for his cowardice,because she couldn’t have stopped him.QueenMira apologizes for not being able to protect Kadin or to warn Ja’far, but shewouldn’t have known that woman’s son was Kadin and he got adopted by him, soJa’far refuses to accept it.Afterthat Ja’far asks what they can do then, can he keep Kadin without worrying hemight be taken away. The queen tells him the only thing she can do for now isto keep an eye on his father by claiming him as a suspect, to keep a guard onhim at all times. Which is an improvement compared to before, even if it didn’tseem much.AndKadin is enough evidence for that, he seems shaken up and Mira reassures Ja’farthat it’s obvious to her who Kadin feels more comfortable with by the way heclings to Ja’far. She tells him if anyone wants to take Kadin away from him,then he can send them to face her first. Then she softly smiles and tellsJa’far, in Kadin’s mother’s name how thankful she is for Ja’far taking a goodcare of Kadin. Ja’farisn’t so sure if he actually did a good job but despite that, he’s really gladfor what Mira had done for him. But he needs to find Sinbad to ask him to changethe plan and get out of Artemyra as soon as possible, so he leaves afterthanking Mira.Aftertalking with him about the matter, Sinbad admits they can leave only a fewhours earlier which doesn’t make much of a difference, so Ja’far has no choicebut to accept that. Despite what he just said, Sinbad decides to go and seewhat he can do.Evenafter talking with Queen Mira and being away from danger Kadin keeps clingingto Ja’far. No matter what he does, where he goes Kadin follows him, not likeJa’far could blame him for that. Instead,Ja’far blames himself, for allowing himself to be fooled by that man, tellinghow stupid he was to let Kadin go alone. But despite that, he’s really gladnothing serious happened to him. He honestly feels more horrible about the factthat Kadin looked forward to this and now this experience will be foreverburned into his mind, possibly haunting him for a long time.Totake his mind off of all of this Ja’far starts packing everything away, leavingKadin alone for a little bit after he manages to reassure him he’ll be done inno time if he wasn’t clinging to him, promising Kadin he could hold onto him asmuch as he wanted to after that.WithAin being passed out from crying so much, only Jaide notices Kadin is back andhe’s surprised since he had been running off to meet with his father everychance he got. Curiously, Jaide asks why he’s here and he knows he shouldn’t beso harsh, but he’s really angry with him. Kadin just keeps staring blanklyahead, as if he didn’t even hear him.SoJaide just sneers, and asks him how could he forget about them, but when hestill doesn’t get a response he loses his patience and raises his voice tellingKadin how much he hurt Ain. At that, Kadin finally stirs by wincing, butdoesn’t react in any other way. Jaide not being able and not wanting to dealwith him in this state anymore walks away as he tears up again.Healmost runs into Ja’far who tells him that it’s okay to be mad, hurt or upsetbut taking it out on Kadin isn’t the solution. Jaide doesn’t care about whatJa’far just said, he goes back to where Ain is and lays down next to him. AndJa’far begins to feel more and more tired, he didn’t have enough strength todeal with this, but he had to endure.Sinbadtries to think of a way they could put Perseus into jail for good together withqueen Mira, but even he has to admit defeat. Though, Sinbad manages to get aship which leaves in an hour and Ja’far is really thankful for that. Ja’far admitshe wants to get home as soon as possible to end this trip and Sinbad sourlyapologizes.Onthe ship Ain and Jaide are mostly silent since they’re exhausted from crying,but the two of them noticed how off everything was with Ja’far looking more tiredthan usual and Kadin still not reacting to anything. So Sinbad tries to distractthem even though it’s clear there’s something terribly wrong. While Sinbadlooks after Ain and Jaide, Ja’far watches over Kadin. And during the firstnight on the ship neither Kadin nor Ja’far is able to sleep.Ja’farcan handle sleepless nights, he’s used to it, he’s more worried about Kadin. Evenif he doesn’t complain, he keeps yawning every so often and closing his eyesfor a few moments before opening them again. Ja’far is afraid Kadin might fallover and hurt himself, but with the secure grip he has on Ja’far’s clothing,he’s able to keep his balance.Thisdoesn’t go unnoticed by Ain and Jaide, even if they haven’t known Kadin alltheir lives they knew what he was like by now. And he never clung to Ja’farlike that. Nevertheless, Ain is really happy Kadin chose to come back with themso he walks up to him and starts to talk to him, but he has no luck getting aresponse either.AllJa’far can do is to ask him to be patient with Kadin which Ain doesn’t reallyunderstand but then he gets pulled away by Jaide who convinces him to leave thembe. Ain lets himself to be dragged away by him and the two of them stare at thewater in silence.Suddenlyout of the blue Ain admits he was scared if Kadin left, everything would go backto how it was before he came, then he turns to Jaide and confidently says thathe’s really glad he comforted and stayed next to him. Jaide just looks away inembarrassment and mumbles quietly how it was nothing.Thenas the two of them start to guess what could’ve happened to Kadin, Sinbadcreeps up on them, scaring them without meaning to. They immediately recoverfrom that and start to bombard him with questions, and Sinbad knows heshouldn’t be the one telling them, but he does. Hekeeps it simple, child friendly and gets straight to the point, he tells them Kadin’sfather was horrible, controlling and he hurt Kadin. Only mentally, but he wasplanning on hurting him physically too. Knowingthis, a part of Jaide feels bad for raising his voice at him, on the other handhe doesn’t fully regret it. Kadin did ignore them and hurt Ain, and even thoughJaide is aware it’s not a good thing to blame Kadin after what happened to him,but he’s hurt too.Duringthe second night on the ship Ja’far feels like he could finally get some sleep,but he forces himself to stay awake waiting Kadin to be the first one to dozeoff. It doesn’t seem to happen, and Ja’far doesn’t want this to go on anymoreso he lies down next to him. Kadin immediately snuggles up to him and it only takesa second for him to finally fall asleep. And Ja’far is relieved, he strokesKadin’s hair as he drifts off too.Oncethey get back to Sindria Ja’far feels like he had been away for years even ifit was a month long trip. As they get down from the ship Ja’far tells Sinbadhow this vacation was a mistake in a broken voice which makes Sinbad feelincredibly guilty, because he promised he would protect them, yet he failed.Forthe first few days it’s impossible to get used to the routine they used tohave. Since Kadin basically became Ja’far’s shadow it was hard to ignore whatjust happened. He’s aware Kadin is just scared, but to him it’s a constantreminder how he failed to look out for him. Furthermore, Ja’far is aware ifKadin would be left alone during the night he wouldn’t be able to sleep, so helets him sleep next to him so they’re never really apart from each other.Asmuch as Ja’far wants to break down or get angry, to punch something, instead ofthat, he decides to talk. And he tries to get Kadin to do the same, even ifit’s only a few words. But Kadin doesn’t want to so Ja’far stops expectinganswers, and just keeps talking. One day he asks if Kadin wants to help withmaking lunch instead of just watching.Andto his surprise he does, so Ja’far starts to teach him, and it quickly makesKadin feel at ease. Somehow it calms him and asking how or what he should donext gives both of them something to talk about. Ja’far is so glad to see somehealing signs, like Kadin smiling or paying more attention to what washappening around him instead of being stuck in the past.Though,one thing bothers Ja’far. The fact that now Kadin often referred to him as dad.Which wasn’t a bad thing, but knowing he was only called that because of whathappened made his stomach turn. Before all of this, Kadin would only refer tohim as dad only by accident, otherwise he would get his attention without wordsbecause he’d be still uncomfortable about calling him that. On the other hand,it makes Ja’far incredibly happy to hear him say that one word.Afterwhat Sinbad told them, Ain and Jaide didn’t know how to act around Kadin, andJa’far’s request made it crystal clear to give him some space and time. SoJaide and Ain keep their distance from him. But when Jaide hears Ain crying overand over again when he thinks nobody is near, he feels helpless. Jaide really wantsto do something about it, but he can’t.AndAin tries to hide the sadness he feels. But he’s bad at it, it’s clear to seehow much he was hurting inside yet he was trying to smile through the pain. Buthe couldn’t fool Jaide, he spent a lot of time crying so he became really goodat hiding the fact he did, he also learned to notice the signs of how someonewho just cried looked and sounded like.Sinbadfeels responsible for all the pain the four of them experience, so he tries hisbest to make things easier for Ja’far. Whether it’s work or just simply keepingAin and Jaide company, he does it. He visits Ain and Jaide frequently and giveshis all to make them smile. In some way Ja’far appreciates it, but wishesthings would go back to normal.Andit seems like things are getting better, Kadin starts to talk more and he stopsclinging to Ja’far so desperately. Until one night he suddenly starts crying,and Ja’far quickly sits up and asks what’s wrong, frightened. He couldn’t imaginewhat could’ve happened since he’s been with him the whole day.Notknowing what else to do Ja’far hugs Kadin tightly and lets him let it all out.As Kadin wails and trembles Ja’far tries not to do the same, he just holdsKadin until he stops from exhaustion. Then Ja’far wipes his face before laying himback down. After that Kadin falls asleep quickly, but for Ja’far it takes along time, he barely gets any sleep because this was the very first time everKadin cried, actually broke down in front of him. And it scared him.Ja’fargets some sleep, not much, but it’s enough for him and when he wakes up, hedoesn’t see Kadin next to him. Panicking and being paranoid after what happenedthe night before, he rushes to get up and starts to look for him and he findshim surprisingly quickly, in the kitchen.Kadinwelcomes him and tells him to sit down and Ja’far obeys, then Kadin places infront of him some breakfast he made and encourages him to actually eat not juststare at it, smiling. Ja’far snapping out of his confusion, begins to eat.Thenonce Ja’far got ready for the day, he walks back to the kitchen and waits forKadin to be done with the dishes, and as Kadin announces he won’t be going withhim this time, Ja’far gets concerned. He places his hands on Kadin’s shoulders,looks into his eyes and asks if he’s sure.AndKadin nods, a bit unsure, so Ja’far tells him he doesn’t have to force himself todo anything, adding if this is because he feels embarrassed about breaking downthen he needs to know it’s okay to cry every so often, Kadin softly smiles and answershe knows. Seeing that he already made up his mind Ja’far just sighs, hugs himand only leaves once he made him promise if something’s up then he goesstraight to him.Ainand Jaide, at this point, being used to waking up to their breakfast alreadywaiting for them at the table with no Kadin or Ja’far in sight, find it odd tofind someone there. What’s even odder is that it was Kadin, without Ja’far.Thefirst time, after such a long period of time, Kadin talks to them. Even if it’sjust a simple question about what they wanted for breakfast, Ain is thrilledand happy to have him back so he wants to keep talking to him. Ain asks what hecan make and Kadin lists what he already learned, and Ain even wants to watchhow their food gets made.WhileAin is busy admiring Kadin’s new skills and asking a bunch of questions, Jaidejust sits at the table and remains quiet. The only time he speaks up is whenhe’s asked what he wanted to have for breakfast. He hasn’t come to terms withhow he feels about the whole situation. Andthe day goes uneventful, Ain and Kadin catch up and spend a lot of timetalking, dodging a certain subject while Jaide sits in the back listening andthinking. He doesn’t bring up in any way what happened and seeing Ain actuallybeing happy, he doesn’t even want to, but it keeps nagging him anyway.Ashis usual daily routine Sinbad takes time to check on Ain and Jaide, but hedidn’t expect Kadin to be with them too. However that doesn’t stop him fromjoining the three of them. When Sinbad arrives and starts to talk, Kadin fallssilent.Ittakes a bit of time, but Ain picks up on Kadin’s sudden change in behavior sohe asks him if everything’s okay, it seemed like Kadin completely tuned themout and stared into empty space. After calling his name, Kadin notices Ain askedsomething so he smiles softly and asks Ain to repeat what he said.Butat this point even Jaide and Sinbad noticed something’s wrong since Ain had torepeat his name loudly multiple times to catch his attention. Trying to savethe situation, and to make Kadin feel comfortable again, Sinbad pulls him intoa half hug and quickly changes the subject. It makes Kadin stiffen, but hedoesn’t fight it and stays put.WhatKadin wasn’t okay with was when Sinbad quickly raised his arm and his voice tosound more dramatic as he continued his story. He knows Sinbad is a good person,he would be the best person to go to if he were in danger, but Kadin couldn’thelp it. Those few actions made him terrified so he slips out of Sinbad’s graspand bolts out of the room.Kadinescapes so fast, Sinbad isn’t able to stop him, and he doesn’t really know whathe had done. Still, he’s incredibly upset with himself. Ain feels like he couldcry and as if knowing how he felt, Sinbad instantly starts to stroke Ain’s hairand mutters an apology. They seemed to be so happy before he interfered, so oncehe made sure at least Jaide and Ain were okay, Sinbad leaves to make sure hewon’t make things worse.Kadinfeels guilty about reacting the way he did, He knows Sinbad didn’t mean anyharm and hopes he is able to forgive him. And the same goes for Ain since Kadinis aware he must’ve hurt him for leaving them once again. He just needed to getout of there so he keeps running and doesn’t stop until he reaches Ja’far’soffice.AndKadin doesn’t need to say anything the look on his face is enough for Ja’far,so in response Ja’far spreads his arms for him. Kadin doesn’t waste any timeand runs to him, and they spend the rest of the day together, with Kadinhugging Ja’far while he worked. Ja’far knew it would’ve been too good to betrue if Kadin had recovered that quickly.Inthe evening Sinbad visits Ja’far, and apologizes for scaring Kadin, which makesJa’far incredibly angry. It’s obvious that Sinbad never had ill intent towardshim, but Ja’far had enough of the whole situation and lashes out on him.Ja’faryells at him for not paying enough attention, and while Sinbad tries to calmhim down because he’s aware Ja’far is just acting out of stress, he continues. Sinbadis honestly hurt when Ja’far reminds him of his mistakes, and blames him fornot turning Rametoto down, claiming everything is his fault.Sinbadasks Ja’far to stop which only makes Ja’far want to continue even more. Hetells Sinbad that he can go back to drinking and to his women leaving all thework for him, because it wasn’t like his sons needed any attention afterexperiencing something they couldn’t handle on their own or anything.Andthat cuts Sinbad deep, he knows he skipped work many times in the past, butever since they got back he did everything to make Ja’far’s life easier. SoSinbad counters with how Ja’far had been neglecting Ain and Jaide lately and tothat Ja’far answers that wouldn’t be the case if a certain someone hadn’tforced them on a trip.Theykeep arguing loudly to the point Ain and Jaide peek into the room to see what’sgoing on, the ruckus even grabs Kadin’s attention, he gets up from bed andstays in the doorway watching the scene before him.Ja’farisn’t sure why, maybe because his kids were present now, maybe he realizedSinbad wasn’t at fault or he just exhausted himself, he stops. Although hewhispers he’ll be heading out, the four of them can hear him loud and clear.Sinbaddoesn’t bother to stop him and instead, focuses on the boys. He lets them knowthat everything is fine, Ja’far just needs some time to himself. Then heannounces that he’ll be staying with them until Ja’far comes back if that’salright. The last part is directed more at Kadin, asking if he was okay withhaving him around, and he gives Sinbad a small nod.Sinbadwants to keep an eye on all three of them so he suggests sticking together. SinceJa’far isn’t there anymore and Kadin needs someone else’s comforting presence,he agrees. They all get into Ja’far’s bed to cuddle while Sinbad pulls up achair next to the bed and tells them stories. This time he’s more careful so hewouldn’t scare Kadin this time.Duringthis Ja’far goes around the palace with no clear goal in mind. In the end heends up in front of Hinahoho’s chamber and knocks on the door. Hinahoho hearshim out, offers his honest opinion and advice. And talking over things helps Ja’far,a lot.Afterthat Ja’far feels much better, and returns to his room with a much clearer head.He’s surprised to find everyone still there, but he’s not unhappy about it. Hisboys are sound asleep and even Sinbad nodded off.Ja’fargently shakes Sinbad awake, and puts a finger to his mouth signaling to bequiet. The two of them leave the room and Ja’far sincerely apologizes for hisbehavior. Sinbad does the same and decides to do Ja’far’s work for the rest ofthe week. Ja’far tries to protest against it but Sinbad asks him to let him dothis for him and his kids.Notknowing how else to reply he accepts and once Sinbad leaves, Ja’far slips intohis bed next to his kids. The next day he notes how Kadin attempts to spendmore time around his brothers. And he’s really glad they aren’t back to squareone.Aintries to cut back on his constant talking and Jaide keeps silent. This makesKadin feel like they are all treating him as if he could break any second ifthey said the wrong thing. So he gently tells them that it’s okay to ask himabout what happened, and since Kadin basically allowed him to do so Jaidefinally asks, once again, how could he forget about them, before he could stophimself.Ainimmediately grabs Jaide’s arm and asks to change the subject. He’s reallyafraid of Kadin turning away from them, but for the very first time, Kadinshows them an honest smile and then repeats that it was okay to ask.Butthe smile soon fades. Instead of looking for excuses, Kadin confesses that hedid forget about them. Hearing this, Ain buries his head into Jaide’s shoulder,he’s not sure if he’s ready to hear what Kadin has to say.Kadinisn’t sure how to feel about Ain hiding his face away from him, but hecontinues with how sorry he is for neglecting them. He tells them if he could,he would make it right. Kadin explains since he was an orphan he didn’t thinkthere’d be anyone left of his biological family, so learning about his fatherwas a miracle.Along forgotten childish dream of finding his parents was still within him afterall those years. He wanted to call someone who was just as amazing, caring, andloving as Ja’far was, his own. And he searched for those qualities in hisfather while Ja’far already had them. He really wanted his own father to belike that.Kadinasks that if being related by blood is important, because he doesn’t want to berelated in any way to that man. He doesn’t want to turn out like him, he’sterrified of the thought. While Ain already gathered the courage to look athim, Kadin loses his and averts his gaze.Hetakes a deep breath and asks them to believe him when he says he didn’t want tostay there, even before finding out his father was abusive, he still wanted tocome home with them, then Kadin goes silent. He doesn’t know what else to say.Ainand Jaide look at each other in silence then scoot closer to Kadin. Ain isn’tsure what to do or say so instead, Jaide puts his hand on Kadin’s shoulder and softlytells him that Ja’far is his dad too, he shouldn’t look for anywhere else for afamily when he already has one.Jaideapologizes for the things he said back on the ship and then shyly asks if theycan hug him which to Kadin can only reply with a small please. The three ofthem stay together like that for a while and Kadin feels at peace. Jaide andAin promise him they’ll keep him safe.Butit doesn’t last long because Ain breaks away from them saying that they have toget flowers. Kadin and Jaide stare at him, waiting for some kind of explanationwhich -- source link

More pics about