It was small, and bare, and there were a half-dozen beds crammed in together with hardly room to walk between them. Aidan scanned over the boys sleeping there and quickly picked out Damien. It wasn't too hard as he was the only aerian in the room. He slowly, quietly, crossed the room to his son's bed. A floor board shifted and groaned under his foot, but that was the only sound he made. He knelt in the narrow space between beds and looked at the boy. His eyes were closed and he was sleeping deeply. His cheeks were tear-stained as if he'd cried himself to sleep. Aidan wished he could have come sooner, could have spared the boy what he had undoubtedly suffered. But he was here now.

"Damien." He whispered it softly but intensely. "Damien, wake up."

Damien shifted, blinked, and then his eyes snapped open. "Dad?" His voice was soft too, and startled, almost disbelieving.

"Yep."

"What are you doing?"

"Breaking you out. Come on."

He threw off the covers and got up, his eyes lighting. "You came for me."

"Of course I did." Aidan wanted to just hug him and not let him go, but they needed to get out of here first.

"Your dad came," said a soft voice behind Aidan. He looked behind him and saw another boy sitting up and looking over at them.

"Yeah!" Damien grinned at the other child.

"Wish I had a dad," the boy said softly.

Damien's face fell. "I'm sorry Marc."

"It's okay. I'm glad your dad came for you. Good luck."

"Good luck to you too."

"Let's go," said Aidan. He felt for the other boy, but he couldn't adopt the whole orphanage. He put the child out of his mind and went quickly but quietly to the window. "Out this way. Can you fly from here?"

Damien looked out and nodded.

"You go first then. I'll follow. Go straight to the edge of town and land when you reach the forest."

"Right." Damien climbed up into the window. He glanced back once, and Marc waved at him. He waved back, and then he was gone out the window. Aidan followed behind him. On silent wings they glided through the night, following the streets rather than trying for altitude. Soon trees loomed up ahead of them, and Damien dipped down to land. Aidan landed beside him, and caught him up in a hug, unable to wait a second longer. Damien hugged him back. "Dad. I missed you. I was so scared. They said you weren't really my father. They said I was an orphan."

Aidan hugged him harder. "Well they were wrong."

"What are we going to do now?" asked Damien, suddenly looking uncertain and afraid. "I... I can't go home." He looked like he might start crying again.

"You can come home with me," said Aidan. "It's a long trip, but we can make it."

"Really?"

"Really."

"And... and your wife isn't going to mind me? I thought she didn't... didn't like me very much."

Aidan smiled. "She does like you. She told me when I left to come get you that I should bring you back with me."

Damien smiled back.

"It's going to take about a day to get from here to Aerievale," said Aidan. "That's the first part of the journey. You're going to need food, I'm sure, so I don't know if we can set out tonight." He ran his hands through his hair and tried to think. He had gotten as far as getting Damien out, but he hadn't really thought about what came next. "We're too recognizable around all these humans to stay at an inn, somebody might notice you were missing before we could go, but there aren't going to be any stores open this late, and I didn't bring much money anyway." He sighed, then chuckled. "Guess that means I'll have to relapse back into my old bad habits and steal something." He looked down at his son. "I should probably have you stay here, but I don't want to let you out of my sight. So come on."

Damien looked a little bit excited at that as they walked back into town. "You're going to steal something?"

Aidan chuckled. "Yes. I try to avoid mentioning it, but when I was younger I was a thief. That's what I did, I stole things. It's generally not a good idea, it got me put in jail several times, and almost killed several more times, but..." he shrugged. "I liked doing it."

There were few people out after dark, thankfully. Aidan continued along until he found a building with a sign saying "General Store" on the front. The door was locked, but carrying his picks in their hidden pocket in his boot was as automatic as carrying his daggers, after all this time, so it took him less than a minute to get it open. He gestured for Damien to go inside, and then followed, shutting the door behind him. Damien peered around uncertainly. To his eyes it was pitch black. But Aidan could see clearly enough. He took only what they would need, bread and cheese and a few apples, and a light pack to carry them in. Then they left and Aidan locked the door again behind them. Aidan put the pack on. It wasn't made with aerians in mind, it rubbed against his wings some, but he spread and folded them experimentally, and found that at least it wouldn't interfere with flying. He led the way, with Damien trotting at his heels, to the center of town, and from there found the trade road going south, towards the mountain pass and Aerievale beyond.