I smiled as I leaned on the balcony, watching the scene below. Elpis was laughing in the garden, trimming Cole's hair to get it out of his eyes. He looked so confused by it, but let her go to work. Really, they looked a lot like a mother and child.
"Lady Adaar!" I glanced up to see Sera approach, frowned when I noticed how tense she held herself.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, straightening to face her. Was there an emergency? Were Cullen and Josephine arguing again?
"Why is Lady Trevelyan so nice to it?" She jabbed a finger down and I remembered how Sera hated Cole, and refused to talk to him. "It doesn't make sense!"
Ah, I knew those words. 'Why is Lady Trevelyan so nice to that thing? It doesn't make sense.' They'd been said before. Many times, probably. "Because she's kind."
"Huh?"
"…There was once a strange girl with horns," I whispered after a moment, turning my attention back to the scene below. But I was no longer seeing Elpis and Cole. No, I was seeing a similar scene from long ago, when the world wasn't quite as chaotic and broken. "Abandoned for her powers, she wandered, lost and hungry. But when she was close to death, an even stranger girl offered her hand and smiled."
"Lady Adaar?"
"Sera, she has always been this way. Kind to those others reject." I turn to smile at the archer. "To her, everyone deserves kindness. She'll probably even be kind to the bastard who started all this in the first place!" But that was why I was here, and why I accepted being in charge. I would not be kind. I was the steel to her silk, fire to her water. Just as I swore that rainy day so long ago. "That's all."
"…I see." And Sera just walked away, not bothering to say more. I wasn't sure if she agreed, but at least she had an explanation. Now then, what should I do-
"Lady Adaar!" And there was Josephine, quickly descending the stairs. "Lady Adaar, you're needed in the main room," she told me easily. "There are meetings."
"I'll be right there," I reassured. She smiled and left, certain I'd follow. I lingered just a bit, though, to see Elpis laugh and inspire a small smile out of Cole, and wondered if I should've told Sera the other reason Elpis was so kind.
Kindness was a good way to make potential betrayers hesitate, and Elpis, being a noble trapped in political games until magic freed her, knew that. She used that, to make things easier for me. Just as I protected her from the ones who didn't hesitate.
Ah, but no matter. Sera could figure that out on her own later. I had an Inquisition to run, so I'd better catch up before Josephine scolded me. Again.