Written for Fief Goldenlake.

After making sure Beka was settled comfortably, Kora returned to the little house. She hesitated briefly, tempted to simply flop into her own bed, but knew Rosto would be long gone by the time she re-surfaced. If he wasn't gone already, of course.

By some god's grace - probably the one who had sent Beka the most talkative constellation ever conceived of - Rosto was yet abed, flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Aniki was nowhere to be seen, though Kora knew the two had spent the night together.

Kora slipped through the door, closing it behind her. Rosto's eyes were on her as she turned around, though he didn't speak as she crawled into bed beside him.

Thankfully, today was Court Day, though that was precisely the routine which had caught Beka out. Court Day meant Ersken was elsewhere, and so he wouldn't be around to misinterpret Rosto's arms curling around her, or Kora fitting into his embrace like she'd been there hundreds of times before. She hadn't, as it happened. Rosto wasn't the sort to enjoy this, which was how Kora knew he'd really been shaken by the events of the morning.

"You could always let the Dogs nab them," she said, her voice hushed so as not to attract Aniki's attention, were she around. She knew he'd have seen the two sets of prints outside the front door as well as she.

"I could," he agreed, and though his tone was serious, he wasn't considering it.

"I could force a confession. Nice and tidy."

He shifted restlessly, tucking her underneath his chin. Her arm, underneath, was beginning to cramp up already, but she pressed her face against his chest and said nothing of it. "You could."

"Beka won't forgive you if you douse them."

"No," Rosto said, so quietly that Kora probably would not have caught it had she not been tangled with him. And there it was, just as she'd suspected. "But she'll be alive to not forgive me."

Kora nodded, not having expected anything else. The sound of the door closing in the next room heralded Aniki's return to the house; they were all too spooked for the moment to use the conventional exit. Habit was a bad thing to slip into, and yet they were all guilty of it.

Briefly, she wondered if confessions and legal justice would be enough for her, if Ersken had been the rushers' target. She suspected not; a life on the streets with people whose lists of crimes were as long as the River Olorun had taught her to be suspicious of the law. Justice was always best when you dispensed it with your own two hands.

Innocent of her thoughts - perhaps assuming that she was disapproving of him, an unhappy sideaffect of her relationship with a Dog - Rosto pleaded, "If I let this go, who's next? You? Aniki? Ersken? Word will spread that the Rogue cannot look after his own, and then we will all suffer. Kings exist to protect people, even if-" He cleared his throat. "Even if I have to give up Beka's - friendship."

He was right, of course. He was still new in the role - still relatively new to Corus. Rushers had a mind to talk, if you let them. Satisfied that he knew what he was doing, Kora unknotted herself from him, sitting up in his bed. "Just don't go and get yourself caught," she advised, ruffling his hair. "I'm too used to your pretty face now, love."

Rosto smirked, and the twinkle returned to his eyes. "Wouldn't dream of it."