Judging from their late-night encounter, Kaya knew she had been correct on all her assumptions about Zmeya's unannounced visit. Unfortunately, she felt no pleasure at the victory, only an even more seething hatred for her former lover.
Surprisingly, it had been her demonic counterpart that had best understood the dynamic of Zmeya and Kaya's relationship. After all, who better than a being who resided alone in a volcano for centuries at a time to understand the (sometimes twisted and convoluted) relationship between two souls so lonely as Zmeya and Kaya. They had been drawn together by how alone they each were in their worlds. Even though Zmeya's emotional isolation had been by choice, Kaya had been taught the hard way to never let anyone close enough for them to be used against her as a weapon.
After sending Vesuvia's volcano out of dormancy, she resided there for a while, learning all she could from Orinda how to control her power. Her father had finally decided he'd had enough embarrassment from her and eventually tracked her to the mountain. While his retainers cowered in the face of her new power, her father, a tall, brutish man, had the gall to demand that she return home and marry the man he had picked for her. She refused.
That was when Sofiya finally was made useful to Kaya's father as his trump card. Knowing that his daughter cared about her maid more than anything, he threatened to end Sofiya's life if Kaya did not cooperate. Orinda, of course, had urged her to simply kill them all and 'just be done with it', but Kaya knew what the long term consequences would be. At the very least, Palladon would be thrown into chaos when its current, widowed ruler and the only surviving heir to the throne did not return home. Even if Kaya hadn't cared about the kingdom itself, killing the tracking party would only guarantee more interference from people, this time coming to kill her instead of taking her back to Palladon.
So Kaya consented, and she was all but taken back to her homeland in shackles. Sofiya regretted that things had gone the way they had, and apologized profusely for ruining Kaya's 'chance at true freedom'. Kaya never blamed her, though. Her deranged father was to blame.
Once back in Palladon, her father wasted no time in trying to force Kaya to cultivate her power into a lethal weapon of war, one he would be able to command at will, a battle dog he could send forth and call back as he pleased. Even though Orinda would have been more than happy to once again live an existence entailing constant bloodshed, she and Kaya shared a rare moment of agreement when they were dead-set against being anyone's lapdog.
Of course, that led to her father finally getting fed up with her resistance and one day, decided to fetch the 'one person that will make you fight like you mean it'. Sofiya was once again threatened, and it was then Kaya realized that, even though none of it was Sofiya's fault, the girl would never truly be safe until she was far away and out of Kaya's life forever. Sofiya was sent away, in the dead of night, and Kaya never saw her again.
From then on, she supposed one could say she became her father's battle dog, but on her own terms. He chose who she was fighting, and she would choose the where, when and how to dispose of the enemy. It was a monotonous existence that went on for so long she forgot what she was missing in life because it had been so long since she had even a glimmer of happiness.
Zmeya had come into the picture after her father had remarried. Her stepsister, Catherine, had also been an only child, and she had been such a sweet girl, that if Kaya had remembered how to be caring for anyone, it would have been her. Zmeya had been a duchess, married to a foreign dignitary, and sought to increase her power and influence in Palladon. Like her first meeting with Elsa, Zmeya at first displayed nothing but a warm, accommodating persona that had everyone, even Kaya, fooled.
Despite Zmeya's charming demeanor, Kaya had not been inclined to like or dislike much of anybody since Sofiya's departure years ago, and later learned that Zmeya's true nature was something similar. So it was no surprise that, when the two of them eventually started being physically intimate, neither had any particular attachment to the other.
Or so Kaya had thought.
"She was nothing but polite and accommodating. I have no idea what you were getting so worked up over."
Kaya hadn't started to see red in the conversation...yet. But Elsa was just not seeing reason.
"You have absolutely no reason to go to the capital of Palladon." Kaya said. "She can't force you to go."
"And what about peace negotiations?"
"Has she given you any indication what she wanted was war?" She sighed. "You said it yourself; there's nothing she could gain from conquering Arendelle."
"I can't afford to risk offending her. She's one of the most powerful rulers in the world."
"I don't need you to tell me that."
Elsa couldn't figure out why Kaya was so on-edge. Zmeya really had been nothing but cordial and friendly...And the Empress hadn't acknowledged the captain at all during her visit. In fact, there had been no evidence whatsoever that they had known each other in the past. Elsa had thought she'd be relieved when Zmeya left, at least Kaya would relax once the Empress had left to return home.
Needless to say, Kaya had not relaxed. If anything, she seemed even more paranoid of a sinister plot against Arendelle concocted by the Empress of Palladon.
"You're not going to change my mind, Captain..." Elsa searched Kaya's golden gaze. "You know that."
Kaya hated to admit it, but it looked like Zmeya was going to be closer to the mark than she ever imagined. Elsa really was going to regret not listening to the commander of her guard...She was going to make everyone in Arendelle regret she hadn't listened.
"I'm not going to risk war because of your conspiracy theory, Kaya." Elsa said in an uncharacteristic display of arrogance. "All of the soldiers that you've worked so hard to train would be going to their deaths if we went to war with Palladon."
"So be it, then."
Elsa gasped softly.
"How can you..." She made a frustrated gesture with her hands, signaling she was just about at the end of her rope with her captain.
Kaya stared hard at Elsa, trying to come up with some way to make her see that, just like any of the soldiers she'd trained for the queen, she would die for the woman. They would be walking to their deaths, but they would do it willingly, because that is what a soldier did for their monarch.
Kaya just never thought that her train of thought would be cut short by such a small, but nonetheless damaging comment as what Elsa said next.
"-be so...so heartless?" Elsa's voice took on an almost pleading undertone.
It was like being murdered with a sewing needle. The weapon was small, seeming to be relatively harmless, but with the right amount of precision and force behind it, it could be turned into as lethal a weapon as any axe or sword.
To most, the comment would have meant less. They might have seen the comment for what it was, an attempt to convey the frustration the queen had to be feeling at her captain's obstinate nature.
But not to Kaya.
Being the host of a truly merciless and cruel being, it was a sore spot for her to ever be accused of a heartless nature...
And after all the trouble you go to, to even be considered remotely *human*, just like anyone else. Orinda clucked her tongue.
Elsa knew immediately that she'd said the wrong thing. The fire user's face shut closed as firmly as the gates to her palace years ago, after accidentally getting Anna in the head with her magic. She could tell there would be no going back from that comment, and though she felt appropriate guilt for her words, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Kaya that would make her so vulnerable to a scathing comment about the heart.
Finally, the captain spoke. "If you wish to go to Asuria, fine." Kaya straightened, making an effort to keep her expression neutral, which wasn't something she had to do often. "I am nothing if not loyal, despite what you think."
Elsa had said nothing about disloyalty, but her guilt for letting her temper run away with her kept her silent.
"I shall escort you to the capital...But consider that my resignation." Kaya turned and strode to the door. "I won't stay somewhere my opinion is brushed off as if it meant nothing. As your captain, I'm aware I have no right to try to counsel you on the best course of action...But as your friend..." She almost choked on the word, and she shook her head as she turned fully back to the queen one last time, bowing as she did. "I would have hoped you had come to trust me more than that."
Elsa, who had stayed silent through Kaya's words, finally regained her ability to speak only after hearing her study door shut with a click! Sinking into her office chair with a heavy sigh, she ran a shaky hand through her hair, all the while hearing a single thought echo through her mind over and over.
What have I done?
