31. Auslin

Chapter 31

Auslin

T wo days away from Kitsuki had been torture. Their time apart served as further evidence they were supposed to be together. Even if Kitsuki was a different person than the Kitaro he had known in the past, it didn't matter to Auslin. He didn't want to spend one more day without Kitsuki in his life. He longed to return to his side as his mate.

It was by chance Auslin came across Bancho in the stone garden. The older mage seemed to be lost in meditative thought, so Auslin hesitated to interrupt him.

However, Bancho greeted him first, patting the bench beside him. "Welcome, young Auslin. At last, we can finally talk."

"I have a lot of questions," Auslin admitted as he sat next to the man who had raised him. "Why did you never tell me Imeyu was my father?"

Unlike Kizoshi, Bancho gave Auslin direct answers. "I respected Imeyu's wishes to keep you protected here under my watch. It was not yet time for you to know who your father was."

"But why tell Kitsuki and not me?" It had bothered Auslin since it happened.

Bancho tilted his head in silent apology. "Forgive me for doing as I was once instructed so very long ago. I never wished to deceive you."

"I'm not upset," Auslin reassured him. "I was more confused than anything else."

"Is it truly confusing when you consider your immense powers?" Bancho asked.

"It's not exactly the logical conclusion," Auslin dryly replied. "Are you really the same Roltan I knew in the past?"

Bancho chuckled. "Little did I know then that you would come under my care so far into the future."

"But I've never felt any shifter energy from you at all." Even knowing, Auslin still couldn't feel any.

"I am so low-level, only the extended lifespan has been of any benefit to me."

Auslin sighed. "I would give anything to extend Sephen's life." The thought of his brother dying made it hard for him to breathe.

The elder mage leaned forward on his cane. "Age is nothing more than time's wounds. Defeating it is nothing for a Divine healer of your abilities."

"Really?" Auslin made an impressed noise. "I guess I never considered it before."

"There is an easier way, but it is something Sephen will have to find for himself."

Auslin couldn't figure out what the older mage meant. "I don't understand."

"The things which give your brother so much meaning in his life will eventually give him life itself," Bancho said.

It was the kind of thing Kizoshi would normally say to baffle him. "Are you talking about Reskin?"

"I am indeed," Bancho confirmed with humor coloring his tone. "It is not a coincidence your brother lives for Reskin's words."

"What makes you say that?"

"Have you met anyone who makes Sephen's heart sing as much as Reskin?" Bancho asked.

The answer had grown more complicated now that Kisano was in the picture. "Besides Liros, there is one other person I can think of who excites Sephen the same way."

"And there's your answer." Bancho nodded sagely, as if his response somehow explained everything.

"It's an answer I don't understand," Auslin confessed with a sheepish laugh.

"In the past, you lived as Vanra to hide Auslin." Bancho's pivot in the conversation confused Auslin further. "Kitaro unknowingly hid Kitsuki from you. Reskin has always hidden in plain sight, but your brother sees through him without understanding. The same is true for you as well, to some extent."

There was a lot to unpack in Bancho's comment. Auslin struggled to connect the relevant pieces. "You can't possibly be saying Kisano is actually Reskin."

"No?" Bancho asked with an amused chuckle. "Would it not make the most sense?"

"But that's…" Words failed Auslin. Remembering how much he had gushed about Reskin to Kisano without realizing it was him mortified Auslin. The only person who would be even more embarrassed than him would be his brother. "Are you serious?"

Bancho radiated amusement. "We have long enjoyed a close relationship with the Ariake clan, which is why we are likely the only human temple with a complete collection of Kisano's Reskin works."

Auslin groaned. "Sephen will absolutely die of humiliation when he finds out."

"I am quite confident he will overcome it," Bancho predicted with a laugh.

While it was probably better to hear from Kisano himself, Auslin wanted to protect his younger brother by giving them the time to process the information before he had to see the shifter again. "I have to tell him."

"As they say, love conquers all." Bancho smiled as he leaned back against the bench. "I suspect knowing will only draw them closer together."

"How do you know so much about them?" Auslin asked. He seemed to know as much as Kizoshi.

"I may be blind, but I see much," Bancho commented with another chuckle. "It is yet another benefit to having been blessed with such a long life."

Auslin smiled gratefully at the man who had been a father to him. "I'm glad you told me, even though I have to go break the news to Sephen now."

"Best wishes." Bancho remained where he was as he continued smiling at the statue of Imeyu with unseeing eyes.

With another appreciative word of thanks, Auslin left in search of Sephen to tell him about his idol and crush being the same person.