Sorry I'm late again! I opened this chapter to post it on Wednesday, but then realized I hadn't edited it. At all. So, yeah. I'm stupid. But what else is new? :P

Thank you all for your reviews, guests and members!

Blessed

Driniah had resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never sleep again. World leaders, even those in their third trimester of pregnancy, could not rest while at war.

Still, she did the best she could, reclined on a couch in the library with a cup of warm herbal tea in her hands. She kept her swollen feet elevated on a footrest as she waited for news.

First her son was kidnapped, and now an assassin in her home? Driniah thanked the First King that Cole had managed to subdue the attacker. She couldn't imagine how he'd done it: he was so small and quiet, and no older than twenty winters. Not to mention his spinal injury! How had he done it?

He was the Dark Knight for a reason, Driniah reminded herself. Perhaps his age and small stature caused his opponents to underestimate him.

Cole came into the library, holding his cane in his left hand.

"Cole!" Driniah set down her cup and stood. The action took far too much effort, and she swayed for a moment, lightheaded. "I'm so sorry-"

"Don't." Cole smelled strongly of liquor. Had he been drinking? "There's nothing you could have done to prepare for this, so don't apologize."

Driniah nodded. "What's the damage?" she asked, looking him up and down. He kept his right hand tucked in his pocket. Driniah thought she'd seen a bandage on it when he'd arrived home after Kai's kidnapping.

"Miraculously, there is none," Cole said. "Only six soldiers shot with tranquilizing darts. I've been told that they're fine, and will wake up soon. The assassin is still unconscious. He's being held in the spare bedroom down the hall. The doctor isn't sure when he'll wake up. Could be minutes, could be hours."

"Okay." Driniah glanced at his hand hidden in his pocket. "And how are you?"

Cole blinked, as if surprised by her concern. "I'm fine."

"How did you do it?"

"What?"

"You'll have to forgive my frankness, but you're not in peak form, and he had the element of surprise. How did you capture the assassin?"

"If I gave a truthful answer each time I was asked that question, I would not be alive today."

"Oh." Driniah looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"I broke a bottle of whiskey on his head."

Driniah looked up and saw the amusement in his eyes.

"Are you disappointed?" he asked with a small smile. The expression looked strange on his usually stoic face.

"What?" She rubbed her forehead, unsure what else to say, and chuckled. "No. No, no."

"The bottle looked expensive," Cole said. "I'm sorry for breaking it."

"Breaking it? Hosts, Cole, that bottle was the least of my worries! I'm just glad you, at least, are okay. If anyone else had been taken…" She faltered.

Like a candle in the wind, Cole's little smile flickered, then snuffed out. The sudden silence became oppressive: Driniah hugged herself and looked away.

There was a knock at the library door. The doctor, a middle-aged man with disproportionately large, round spectacles perched on a thin nose, entered with an escort of two soldiers. "My lady," he said as he bowed. "Blessed. The assassin is awake."

Cole shoved his way through the door even before the doctor finished speaking. Taking a deep breath, Driniah picked up her cup and followed.

The assassin was a hawkish man with short blond hair and steady, self-confident brown eyes which Cole met with equal strength. The left side of his head was wrapped in a bandage. The scent of whiskey was stronger on the Priest than on himself; Cole steeled himself against the trigger. He couldn't fall into that trap. He needed to find Kai, and he couldn't do that drunk.

"Bishop Siara," Driniah whispered. "Nobody told me the assassin was a Priest!"

Cole hadn't realized she'd followed him here. He glanced about the bedroom and counted eight soldiers. Iam and Josi were here as well; the latter stood to the side, arms crossed, making herself as small as possible. She hadn't been herself since her Bird was shot.

Cole squared his feet with his shoulders, planting one hand atop the other on his cane. As much as he desired to take this assassin in both hands and squeeze his very soul from his body, he couldn't afford to lose his head.

"I know that you are part of a group of Priests attempting to kill the Blesseds," he said. Most in the room gasped- this was the first they'd heard of the plot. "I know that you believe us green-eyes no longer hold the power of Mena. I concur with you wholeheartedly. But that is where our similarities end, because I am an unapologetic unbeliever."

"You talk like a schoolboy trying too hard to sound smart," Siara said.

"I apologize, are my words too big? Here, let me dumb this down for you: I know what you're doing to the Blesseds, and I know why. What I don't know is why you took Kai alive."

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Dark Knight."

"I think you do, if you want to live."

"Ah," Siara smiled. "There's the Dark Knight I was expecting. Where was that attitude when I interrupted your pity party earlier?"

"That's quite enough, thank you," Cole said evenly. He would not give this bastard the reaction he desired. "Where are you hiding Kai?"

"Oh, we're not hiding him," Siara said evenly. "He's dead."

"He's lying," Cole said sharply, cutting Driniah off mid-cry. "Siara, your tricks won't work here. I am a master architect, and I will build you a world of pain if you do not comport yourself."

"There's nothing you can do to scare me," Siara said. "I am a Priest. Nothing of this world can harm my soul. And there's no point, anyways. When I'm not back by dawn, they'll realize what happened and move Lord Kaytake to a new location. So even if you did break me, my information would be useless."

Cole steeled his jaw. "Iam."

"Yessir?"

"Precisely how and when did this man get through our defenses?"

"The first two soldiers were discovered unconscious just after two AM, sir," Iam said with a sharp right hand at his breast. "On their patrol outside the garden wall."

"After that?

"Two more at the garden doors, minutes later."

"Did you find his horse?"

"We did not, sir."

"Siara." Cole turned his attention back to the Priest in the chair. "Where's your horse?"

Siara's eyes darted nervously between Cole and Iam.

"I'm starting with the easy questions," Cole said. "Or is this one too hard for you?"

Siara glowered. "I did not take a horse."

"See? That wasn't so bad. Thank you."

Siara spat on the carpet.

"Now that you're warmed up, I'll ask you again." Cole put on his most intimidating face- it seemed to work, because Siara quickly looked away. Cole stepped up to the Priest's chair and grabbed his chin, forcing him to make eye contact. "Where are you hiding Kai?"

Siara jerked away. He gritted his teeth, glaring.

Cole looked down quietly for a moment longer, then spoke. "All right," he said. "I'll give you some time to remember. Iam, Josi, Driniah. With me. Soldiers, eyes on the prisoner at all times. Don't let anyone within five feet of that door without my permission." He paused. "Do you think I'm kidding?" he asked. The soldiers, confused, did not answer. "Five feet. Get a ruler. Block off the whole hallway if you have to."

A chorus of "Yes, Blessed"s followed the order. Cole wasn't fond of the title, but he was smart enough to recognize an advantage when he saw one. He would play the part, just so long as it meant getting Kai back.

He left the room, the others trailing behind.

"Well, that went well," Josi muttered as she shut the door.

"What will we do?" Driniah asked frantically. "You heard what Bishop Siara said! If we don't get the location before sunrise, they'll move Kai and we'll be back to square one!"

"Oh, I'm sure the other Priests already know that we have Siara," Cole said. He motioned for them to keep following him; he needed to see the maps in the library. "They're bound to have spies in Sheshin Keep, reporting our every move to their commanders."

"That's impossible," Iam said.

"Nothing is impossible, lieutenant. Stay alert; we don't know who else the Priests might want dead." He looked to Driniah, who walked beside him. "From what Siara has told me, it's safe to surmise that they want to destroy both the Blessed and Patriarch bloodlines. This is consistent with everything we've seen so far: the Southern Lord Rector killed Kai's father, and attempted to kill Zane as well. Lord Selei Julien is dead- allegedly from the plague, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was actually poisoned. Kai has been taken. I'm not sure why he's still alive. Maybe they want to question him about the South's war strategies, or they're saving him for a public execution after the South is exterminated."

"How do we know that Kai is still alive?" Iam asked. "He may already be dead, and this Priest is leading us on a wild goose chase."

Cole froze in his tracks just outside the library door, and Driniah took a sharp breath. The color drained from the Lieutenant's face as Cole turned slowly to face him and spoke in a quiet, cold voice.

"Then we still find the vipers' den and kill every one of those sons of bitches."

He threw the door open and held it for Driniah, who entered hastily, looking paler with each passing minute. The others followed her in, and he shut the door. "Iam, have you questioned the cabs?"

Iam cleared his throat. "Yes, actually. I sent a few men to check shortly after Siara was captured. There aren't many working at this hour, so it wasn't difficult to track them down. Even after flashing some badge and offering them large sums of money, all of them denied servicing a man of Siara's description between the hours of twelve and two AM."

Cole blinked with surprise. "Oh," he said. "Well done, lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir."

"None of this means anything," Driniah said despairingly. She sank onto a couch and put her swollen feet up on a footrest. "Without the location, we're lost."

"Not necessarily," Cole said. He went to the large table near the fire where a number of maps were already laid out. A map of the South, a map of the separate districts within Sheshin, a map of the entire country. Cole pored over the map of Sheshin. He fished a pencil and protractor out of a drawer and drew a circle with a six mile diameter around Sheshin Keep.

"That close?" Josi asked.

"Yes. If the Priest didn't take a horse or cab, then he must have come on foot. The average person walks three miles per hour. Add to that because the Priest did not travel as the crow flies, and because he may have walked a part of the way through deep snow. Also, Kai was wounded when they took him away. If they cared to keep him alive they can't have gone too far."

He checked the clock: nearly six in the morning. "This time of year, the sun rises just after eight-thirty. Siara came to my room around four, two hours after he took out the first soldiers in the garden. He would have given himself at least that much time to get out after the job was done, and he would have given himself plenty of extra time in case things went wrong, so-"

"Slow down, please," Iam said. "So us dimmer minds can keep up."

Cole pressed his lips together impatiently. He drew two more circles with the protractor. One with a four mile radius, the other eight. He pointed to each of the three circles in turn. "Assuming he traveled entirely on foot, this is our search radius. The inner circle is the area of greatest probability. Iam, did Siara leave any distinct prints around the keep?"

"Yes, sir. He made his own path through the snow. My men tracked him to the creek a mile south of here." Iam pointed at a small, meandering line that eventually met with the Leirin River several miles west of their location. "That's where we lost him."

"The creek is frozen?"

"No."

"Where's the bridge nearest where you lost Siara's tracks?"

"A quarter mile east of there. We checked it already, but the bridge sees too much traffic. I've already sent men to the highway to search the backroads, but-"

"Send them south," Cole said.

Iam paused. "The area north of Sheshin is less populated," he said. "We assumed the Priests would take Lord Kaytake to a secluded location, where they're less likely to be spotted. Within your third circle, or even beyond that."

"They would likely take him to the southern side of town," Cole said firmly. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. The Priests are not fools. They would realize the wisdom of hiding in plain sight, right in the heart of town where they can still stir up riots- and attempt assassinations." He pointed to an area just within the first circle. "Concentrate your search in the port district."

There was silence. Cole looked up from the map. "Well?" he demanded.

Iam shook his head, smiling faintly.

"Do you have something you'd like to say, Lieutenant?"

"No," he said quickly, and glanced at Driniah, who returned his look.

Cole had not the time nor the will to understand what this meant. He turned instead to Josi, who shadowed them, eyes on her feet. "Josi, your first priority is fixing your Bird."

"I don't know if it's possible without-"

"I heard that you fixed Zane's wounds from his attempted assassination in a matter of hours. Don't tell me what you can or cannot do. Just do it."

Josi went tight-lipped. "Yes, sir."

Cole gave her a terse nod. "Iam, send your men to patrol within these circles. They must be thorough everywhere, but I want you to concentrate your efforts within the innermost circle. Particularly the south and southwest. I want you to delegate this task to your men. You will control the operation from within the keep, so that you can help me root out the enemy spies."

"Yessir."

"Josi, Iam, you are dismissed."

Iam gave a sharp salute, hands on breast and sword, and rushed from the room to carry out his orders. Cole nearly snapped at Josi when she followed Iam out without saluting, but caught himself.

"I…apologize, Lady Kaytake," he said. "I overstepped my bounds."

"Don't apologize!" Driniah said. "In truth, I should be thanking you."

"Why?"

"Why? Cole, you accomplished more in ten minutes than the rest of the South did in as many hours! You are brilliant."

"There are many men in your life deserving of that sort of flattery, but I am not one of them," Cole said. "It is still early; you should go to bed. Try to rest for a few hours, at least."

"No," Driniah said. "I can't, I…" She showed him her hand, which trembled uncontrollably. "I pray to Mena and all the Hosts that he was lying about Kai."

"I know the Priest was lying," Cole said. "We'll get him back."

"It's not just Kai," Driniah admitted. "I've lost my daughter, too, and my husband. I can't help but wonder if he-" Her face twisted with pain; she took a moment to breathe and compose herself. She started to stand. "I'm sorry, you don't want to hear that. I'll just go."

"It's okay," Cole said.

"No, I should go."

"Sit down; even if you can't sleep, you should stay off your feet."

"…Thank you." Driniah settled herself again. She sipped at her tea. Poised, though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. Quiet, though it was clear she wanted to shout. She wore the mantle of Lady of the South alone, with all courage, even as it crushed her.

"You were talking about your husband," Cole prompted.

"There's so much," Driniah said softly. "Too much. It's…really, I won't put it on you. That's selfish of me."

"It's not selfish. I'm listening."

Driniah smiled faintly. "I didn't at first, but I'm beginning to understand."

"What?"

"What Kai sees in you."

So Kai hadn't cleared up that misunderstanding. Cole flushed.

Driniah drank again; the cup rattled faintly against the saucer. "I was so angry when Raen sent Kai away-"

"Raen?"

"Kaytake's first name, sorry. There was no real reason for him to shut Kai out, not after Nya died. This is a time for us to be closer together, I told him, not a time to tear us apart. But Raen was so obsessed with appearances. Kai became familiar- maybe too familiar- with not only Overlord's slave, but with his Dark Knight. Kai also spoke of Cyrus. It was all too much: Raen told me again and again that it had to be done. If he didn't break all ties with Kai, the tensions would only grow between the South and the North-Middle. It didn't matter that, from a political standpoint, he was correct. I was too angry to see things his way. I shut him out; we slept in different rooms. We didn't speak for weeks.

"I still don't agree with him, but Hosts, if I could go back in time, I would do it all differently. If I had just held my tongue, he wouldn't have-"

"Don't," Cole said.

But after so many weeks of holding in these horrid thoughts which had swelled inside her like a cancer, Driniah would not- could not- be stopped now. She gestured wildly with her free hand. "I know now that the Lord Rector killed my husband. But I can't help but wonder why he left in the first place. He looked so sad. What if-"

"Please, don't do this to yourself."

"What if he went to the mountains to kill himself because I was so cruel to him, and it was just odd timing that the Lord Rector-"

"Driniah," Cole whispered. "Don't."

"Did he struggle when the Lord Rector killed him? Or did he just…hand over his sword?"

Cole caught her hand, and she finally stopped, eyes teary.

Guilt was a guest who too often overstayed their welcome. A slippery slope which Cole had been tumbling down for so long that he didn't know how to stop himself.

He deserved his guilt. Driniah did not.

Cole took the teacup, half-empty and long since cold, from her hand and set it on the table by her feet.

"Two months ago, if you had asked me if I would like to change the past, I would have said yes," he told her. "I'd lost my family, and worked every day against my will to hurt others. I wanted to end it, but- Hosts, Driniah. I look back on it all now, and while these scars are forever, it does get better. Without the choices I've made, I would never have met Kai, or Sage, or Vara, or Chedva. I won't presume to take credit for any of this, but because I unconsciously chose the path I did, Overlord is gone. So is my mother, but I'm grateful to have Father and Sage back. I have a family. I…" He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't know these people. I'm not making any sense."

"You're saying that it gets better," Driniah said.

Flustered, Cole did his best to quickly untangle his loose threads of thought. "I'm telling you not to look back like that. No amount of wishful thinking will smooth your scars, or change anything you wish you'd said or not said. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and work toward a better future."

Driniah looked into her cup as she considered this. "And you?" she asked after a while. "Have you found your better future yet?"

Cole glanced off, out the dark window, and shook his head faintly. "Almost," he said. "Once Kai is found, and once this war is won. When my family is home and together again. Then things will get better."

Driniah wiped her tears. She saw the makeup on her fingers and sighed, burying her face in her hands. Trying even now to hide herself, after her mask had cracked.

Cole eased himself onto the couch and laid a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get Kai back," he promised. "So help me, skies above and oceans below, I will not rest until he's home again."

Javan came back to Kai's room an hour later, bearing a tray of food and tea. Behind him came his acolyte, Iri, straining under the weight of a cushioned armchair.

"Right there," Javan said, motioning to the fireplace. Iri set down his load and grimaced, stretching his lower back. Javan set the tray on the bed. He untied Kai's hand. "I would prefer if you stayed in bed," he said. "But I have a chair for you."

Kai's shoulder, turned upward toward the bedpost for so long, protested when he rested his arm over his belly. He rubbed his wrist. "I didn't mean to elicit any sympathy from you," he said. "But since I'll finally be able to get up to piss without permission, I guess I can't complain."

Javan gave a tight smile and untied the knot on the bedpost. He coiled the rope around his own hand.

"Will that be all, Elder?" Iri asked.

"Yes, thank you." Javan motioned curtly and the acolyte left the room.

"Was that the truth?" he asked when they were alone. "What Overlord did to you."

"Yes."

"If you weren't trying to elicit sympathy, what were you doing?"

"Mostly trying to shake you," Kai admitted. "Don't ask any more questions about the tattoo, or anything that goes along with it. I want to share even less than you want to hear."

"I understand. I'm sorry." Javan sank onto the edge of the bed. "I'm also sorry for leaving like that, I just... Mena preserve us."

"Surely you're not that upset about my mark," Kai said. "I'm only a prisoner of war."

"You do the Priests a great disservice," Javan said. He pulled the coil of rope off his hand and tied the ends together. "I uh…have a sister. She was taken on one of the Dark Knight's first raids."

"Ah."

"She's home again. She appeared on my father's doorstep without warning last deadthaw, with the same mark as you."

"How?"

"We don't know. She was too quiet; she didn't tell us what had happened to her in the West, or how she got home. She still hasn't."

"I haven't told my mother anything, either," Kai said. "Somehow, you're the first one to hear."

"I'm sorry for forcing you to share."

"You didn't force me to do anything. I could have simply said I, like my wife, had the distinct honor of being Overlord's personal whore, and left it at that."

"I…both of you," Javan said, at a loss for words. He struggled to keep Kai's gaze.

"Maybe we are fortunate," Kai said. "At least we only had sex with one man, as opposed to a dozen, on any given day."

"So that's what happened to my sister," Javan whispered, visibly shaken. "What was their life like?"

"The women stayed in the brothel aboveground until Lord Keith took over. I think they lived there until they either were with child, or had otherwise determined that they could not have children." Kai took a deep breath. "Do you really want to know?"

Javan hesitated only a heartbeat. "Yes."

"Then it is on your own head. But I have a request."

"Yes?"

"Don't treat your sister any different for it. She probably hasn't told you because she's ashamed, but also because she's scared you would pity her. I don't want to be the one to make her nightmare a reality. Prove her wrong."

Javan nodded. He took out his notebook, then paused. "Kir'si has been home for three seasons and she still won't even tell me what kind of food they eat in the West. You were there, what, two weeks ago?"

"Overlord has been dead for over a month, but I understand your meaning. I can talk about what society was like above ground." He considered it. "Under one condition."

"Yes?" Javan looked wary but eager.

"I want the Priests to stop stirring up trouble in my realm."

Javan smiled sadly. "I am the head of this safe house, nothing more. You'll have to negotiate with Siara when he returns."

"Where is he?"

"Nowhere that concerns you."

"Yeah, right."

"Don't push this," Javan said firmly. "I'm sorry, Lord Kaytake, but I have as much power to stop this war as you do."

"But would you, if you did?"

Javan hesitated.

"If you had the power to stop the massacre," Kai said. "If you could stand between the soldier and the innocent child. Would you?"

Javan opened his mouth; closed it. His sharp jaw flexed. He looked to the fire, quiet for a long while.

"When Overlord took over the West, he razed it until not one building stood," Kai said. "But he did not commit total genocide. He kept the useful ones alive. The ones who would obey his word as law; the ones who would listen to him without question."

"Don't!" Javan snapped. "Please, do not compare the Priests to Overlord. We are not like him."

"You aren't-" Kai scoffed. "Overlord created your religion! He hated the Way-believers and wanted them dead, even more than you do. Even after death, he lives in you while you carry out these orders-"

Javan struck him.

Kai's head hit the wooden headboard with a terrible crack; his vision went black for too long. When it returned, Javan loomed over him, his eyes dark and terrible. Kai stared, wide-eyed, breathing ragged and hard despite the pain and the tight wrappings around his chest.

"My patience has reached its limits," Javan said. "You forget who's in control here. I have permission to hurt you if you don't cooperate." He leaned in, and Kai scooted backwards as far as he could go.

"I'm sorry," Kai said quickly. "I-I'm sorry."

The anger slowly bled from Javan's face. His brows pinched; he leaned back in his chair, pensive as he picked up his pencil to write another note.

Kai gradually regained his breath. You coward, he scolded himself. You coward! Some Lord of the South you turned out to be.

But how could he help but respond this way, after all that had happened? It didn't help that he felt a great deal like a caged animal: observed, prodded, provoked- and then punished when he dared to push back.

A sharp knock at the door startled both Kai and Javan. The Priest pocketed his notebook as another knock came, louder than the first.

Javan went to the door and flung it open. "What is it?"

"Elder Javan." A frantic voice. "I have news regarding Siara. He-"

"Not here," Javan snapped. "In the hall." He slid out the door and shut it.

The moment the Priest left, Kai threw off his blankets. Quickly- but carefully so he wouldn't aggravate his wounds- he threw his legs over the bed and ran to the door. He pressed his ear to the wood and listened.

Not even a whisper reached him. But then, in all the time he'd been here, he hadn't heard so much as a footstep outside this door. This room was remarkably soundproof.

Kai cursed and turned from the door. He snatched a soft coverlet from the bed and wrapped it around his half-clothed body, then hobbled to the chair Javan had left for him.

He stared into the fire, tired and trembling, and waited for the Priest's return.

"Bishop Siara was captured," Kit said.

"How?"

"I don't know the details, Elder. Only that it was the Blessed's doing. They are interrogating the bishop as we speak." The young Priest grabbed Javan's arm earnestly. "Until he returns, you're in command. What do we do?"

"How hopeful are our chances of rescuing him?"

"According to our spies, not very. The Blessed is on to us: he warned Lady Driniah and Lieutenant Iam that there are people on our side in Sheshin Keep. The lieutenant has taken extra precautions to make sure the bishop is only watched by Borg's abominations."

Blast! Javan closed his eyes. So, until the South was completely under their control, there was no chance of getting Bishop Siara back alive. And until the bishop was back, Javan was in charge.

This was precisely the responsibility he'd been hoping to avoid. His job was to follow orders, not give them. Even if the South were comprised entirely of Way-following heathens- which it wasn't- this would be far too much responsibility for him.

Kai's cold accusations haunted him. Can I do it? Can I stand to the side and watch as the Middle-North burns homes and graves, kills unarmed men and women, murders their children?

The Way contained, destroyed, perhaps for good.

Six hundred winters of hunting and killing the heathens. Death upon death upon death. If they could commit just one final atrocity to end the killing forever, wasn't that worth it?

You cannot purge a disease from a forest merely by chopping down the bad trees, they'd all been told. You must destroy them entirely. Dig up their roots, burn them until only ash remains.

"Elder?" Kit spoke hesitantly. Javan reopened his eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "What did you say?"

"Where should we go next? We can't stay here."

Javan looked behind himself at the door to Lord Kaytake's room. He worked his jaw angrily.

"No," he said at last.

"…Elder?"

"You heard me. No. Bishop Siara will not betray us. I am not willing to give up our only remaining safe house within the city. We need to be here, and here we will stay."

Kit looked askance.

"Who else knows about the bishop?"

"No one."

"All right. Give the others this message, word for word: Bishop Siara has been taken prisoner. Elder Javan is in charge. Our location is safe; resume your duties as usual, but maintain constant vigilance."

"Yes, Elder." Kit touched her third and fourth fingers to her forehead and retreated to follow his orders.

Javan breathed a sigh which lifted a great weight from his shoulders, and looked to the ceiling. If the South comes, they come, he decided. If they don't, they don't. Mena, our Blessed First King, I give this to You. I am absolved of any responsibility or guilt regarding the fate of the South. So be it.

It shouldn't have happened, but I really wanted to see how long I could keep Kit's gender secret in this scene. Just as a fun experiment. And whatever, it's fanfiction. I'll let things like that slide while I still can.

I found it so fascinating to watch Cole make that sudden and seamless switch from familiar Dark Knight to a new Blessed persona. The kid's a master of many faces. This new mask seems to fit him better than most, perhaps due to the rigorous and thorough education his father put him through as a child.

Thank you all for your support! I'll see you in two weeks.