PeaceMaker

Dominic followed Kalmin as he led down the hallway, away from the dining chamber in silence with Litian following closely behind them. 

"Where are we going, Kalmin?" Dominic asked. 

"You'll see in a minute your highness," Kalmin responded as they turned the hallway and led them to the staircase of the floor.

Dominic held back his questions as they walked down the flight of stairs to the second floor. "I hope you won't take too long leading us." 

"I would never want to tire you out, your highness, just give me another minute or two," Kalmin responded stoically as they walked down the last two steps and continued down into the hallway. 

"Ok then…" Dominic replied. 

He followed Kalmin as he thought about what he might have to say and why he was taking these many measures to get away from the room in order to talk about it. 'Is it something about what was said in the meeting that he might have to add on?' Dominic pondered, 'but then it was, he would have just said it in the meeting, or in the dining room and if he didn't want to say it while eating then talking outside would be enough. But we're not, so it isn't.' 

Dominic looked up at Kalmin's head as he led them through the second floor, to another staircase on the other side of where they had entered from. Then he led them up it to the third floor again, on the opposite side of the dining chamber. 

'What is this roundabout walking…' Dominic thought to himself. 'It's been about 5 minutes now of this speed walking and we're just going back up to the third floor?' he sighed, 'is he just making us walk around for nothing?'

He looked up at Kalmin before pushing away the thought. 'No… he wouldn't do that, he's Kalmin. He must have a reason to do all of this,' he noted, assuring himself in following Kalmin. 'But seriously it's been a while and we still haven't reached our location? Did he get lost or something? And why did he use that staircase on the way here?'

The staircase they had walked up with wasn't a normal one but one disguised as a room of the many rooms on the floor. One that was rarely used just for normal moving from place to place. It was a shortcut though that led to the same 3rd floor that the normal stairs would have. 

'Does this have to do with why he pushed Boris away?' Dominic thought to himself, 'normally there is no better person to guard me than Boris so making him stay back just to have another person guard me is very unusual…' He looked up at Kalmin again. 'It has to do with Boris, doesn't it?'

Finally, Kalmin led them down the hallway to Dominic's office, still walking in silence as they passed Dominic's painting and a couple of greeting maids. 

'All of this just to take us to my office?' Dominic pondered as he rolled his eyes, 'we could have just walked around the third floor and gotten to my office. Going down to the second is unnecessary.' He was about to continue criticizing Kalmin when he realized a reason in which he might have been doing the round-about walking. 

Kalmin stopped walking when they reached Dominic's office and pulled open the doors to it, letting Dominic and Litian in. He followed in after them and shut the doors behind him. 

Once inside, Dominic walked to the couch and flopped down, emerald eyes gleaming as they looked up at Kalmin in anticipation. "It's been 10 minutes Kalmin," Dominic recounted, his head tilting to the side as he watched Kalmin walk to the couch parallel to his and sat down. 

"I apologize, your highness," Kalmin bowed his head, "I wanted to do a bit of walking first…"

Dominic raised his dirty-blonde eyebrows before nodding. "Yes, you did." He waited for Kalmin to get comfortable before continuing. "Are you ready to start now?" he asked as he turned to Litian and directed her to the little cushioned chair beside the couch Dominic sat on. 

"Wait-" Kalmin called out as Litian prepared to sit down to which Dominic and Litian immediately turned to him in confusion. "Wait a moment…"

"Yes?" Dominic asked impatiently.

"Could Head Commander Litian please… exit the room?" Kalmin suggested. 

"Huh?" Dominic murmured slightly, turning to Litian in confusion. "You want her to wait outside?"

Kalmin turned from Litian back to Dominic, his head tilting to the side as he shot Dominic a look. "No your highness, it might even be better if she doesn't wait outside at all."

Dominic's face scrunched up in perplexion. "What do you mean? She's supposed to be-" his words were cut off when he caught Kalmin's gaze. 

'Complete privacy,' were what his eyes were urging, 'complete.'

Dominic glanced at Litian and then back to Kalmin before letting out a sigh. "I'm afraid that is true, Litian, I apologize for taking you around this entire walk and then sending you away." 

Litian peered at Dominic for a moment before looking back at Kalmin. She could sense the urgency in his eyes too and when she looked back at Dominic, a similar apologetic gaze was in his eyes. "Are you sure your highness?" she asked, locking eyes with Dominic. 

Dominic turned to Kalmin before nodding his head. "Yes, Litian. You can go back to the dining chambers. We'll be back in a while after this conversation.

Litian nodded her head and bowed, turning away from Dominic and Kalmin and walking to the door, pushing it open. "I'll be taking my leave then, your highness," she bowed deeply before closing the door. 

She stood as the door slowly closed, Dominic and Kalmin disappearing behind the door until it finally shut and she let out a sigh. 'I wonder what they're going to talk about..' she thought to herself as she turned in the direction of the dining chambers. 

She was about to begin walking towards the dining chambers when she stopped and turned around, heading in the direction of the staircase to the second floor. 'I shouldn't go back, he'll immediately come looking for him,' she thought as she walked away, '...I'm not hungry.'