Jorge's door opened and the shape of Marielle, his future queen, slipped inside his room, carefully. She had insisted that her place was with him at Bastion Brèche. There was no denying her.

"You don't have to sneak, mon papillon, I'm awake."

"Oh. Again?"

"`Again?`", he imitated her with annoyance, "Marie, I'm going to war. I'm really, seriously nervous.", a little meekly he added, "And freakin' scared."

She nodded, which he couldn't see in the twilight, then said, "You'll be fine, Joh. Your guard's the best around and you told me the elves lost a lot of people. They can't stand up to you."

He sat on the edge of his bed and she joined him there.

"Not worried about the Bruisers", he said, petting her thigh through her nightgown, "It's the other kings that piss me off. The Katolin brat, especially. Augh! He's such a well spoken little dolt!"

"Pfft", Marielle went, "He's what, twelve?"

"Yeah somewhere around there. Almost feel bad for him; he looked like he needed about a month of sleep when I went to stab him yesterday."

Marielle slapped his chest, "Sacre bleu! You did what?!"

He laughed, "Don't worry, I wasn't actually gonna shank the kid! Just tried intimidating him.", he chuckled, "Totally failed, though. His hot aunt kicked my butt around the courtyard. I feel like a tool about that one."

"She is a sexy, buff granny", Marie admitted, taking a reassuring kiss from Jorge as payment, "So what are you going to do?"

Jorge sighed, "Y'know, people keep asking me that expecting me to have this great answer somehow. Ezran gave me this whole lament about reading my mail. I don't know how they do this every day. When do they chill? When do they take care of themselves and their families? Like, Marie, I love you, I wanna spend time with you; How do I do that if my work always comes first?"

She shrugged, petting his face, "All I know, babe, is that I don't want you to get killed today."

"Yeah", he said, grimly, "Wish I could be as forgiving as the other two sometimes. Would make life a lot easier."

"What do you mean?"

"Xadia killed their parents too. I don't get how they can be friendly with them now. They're just taking the easy way out. It's not like I wanna go to war, I just don't wanna be trampled on without clapping back!"

"They're kinda weak", Marielle agreed, "But can you blame them? They're just chil-"

There was a careful knock at the door and Marielle wordlessly dove under his bed. It wouldn't be acceptable to be caught here like this before they were officially wed.

Jorge waited for her to vanish in her usual hiding spot, then put on a morning robe, trying on his annoyed look in the mirror.

Satisfied, he tore open the door.

"Whaddaya want, bud?", he chastised the Magistrate who had interrupted their alone time.

"Majesty, I apologise for waking you"

"Sure. What's up?"

"As you'd ordered yesterday, I've spent my night completing an indection ritual over the site of your parents' murder, and - Well, see for yourself."

He handed over the shoulder blade of some tiny animal. Etched into it was a rune, dark and purple. The king glanced at it, then back at the Magistrate, not quite sure what he was looking at.

"Dark Magic, Majesty. Not primal."

Jorge shook, then threw the bone in a corner. "So! He was right! Bon sang! Should've tried this earlier!", he then swore at himself, "Esti de câlice de tabarnak, c'est pas possible comment que t'es cave!"

Deflating, he placed a hand on the Magistrate's shoulder which made the official flinch.

"Dupont", Jorge started, "Thank you so much for your hard work. Get some rest."

Turning to walk back into his room, the king's mien dropped into an annoyed frown.

"I have a massive pile of ravens to eat."

The magistrate kneaded his hands for a moment, then suggested;

"Crows, Sir?"