Silent Lamb

by xeveningx

In silence lay secrets that have haunted her for years and she's ready to give up everything in order to take them to her grave. At this point,there's nothing to make her waver.Or is there? In the end,it's her choice: unravel the truth and destroy everything she's come to love, or forever be the scapegoat and lose herself in the process? (Rated M for themes.)

12. Opened Floodgates

Chapter Twelve:

Opened Floodgates

---

Dawn came within a few hours, the sun rising and kissing the lands of Balbadd, yet Kouen felt there was a qualm infesting the sanctuary that was his study. Despite the usual calm that such reclusive ambiance brought to him, Kouen couldn't fully enjoy it like he usually would. Unease gnawed at him and did so the most the few minutes prior to sunrise.

"B-But I assure you that it will be done before morning. I'll work to have it done by the usual time."

Usual time—surely he understood the underlying meaning of her words correctly. It had been a little less than four hours since Ceara left with Masami. He had yet to understand why she had lied about work but Kouen could tell that fear had something to do with it. The horrified look in her eyes—he'd seen it before as a mere ghost in her gaze, lingering and never receding. After finding out the truth, he assumed that fear had been about being discovered. And he had been right for the most part. Yet there was a small part that hadn't been accounted for until last night. That fear had been prominent the moment Masami barged in.

She's scared of Masami.

What he wanted to know now was why?

"My brother and king?"

Raising his head from the scroll he'd been reading for the past ten minutes, Kouen met his younger brother's eyes. Unlike his that resembled their father's more, Koumei took most after their mother. Every time Kouen saw his brother serene or concerned, he could almost see their mother's earnest gaze portrayed on Koumei. He could see those same eyes now as Koumei stared wide-eyed and somewhat puzzle.

His head tilted, Koumei spoke up. "You stayed?"

"Couldn't sleep," Kouen simply replied. "You've woken quite earlier than I expected you to."

"Yes," Koumei agreed, massaging the back of his neck. "I wanted to get preparations started." At raising a questioning brow, his brother didn't waste time and explained what he meant. "The Reizei siblings will arrive tomorrow."

"Masami already arrived."

"She did?" Koumei asked rather surprised. He tapped his chin a couple of times with his finger, brow furrowed in confusion. "Odd. The ship that she was supposed to come with isn't set to arrive until three more days."

"It hasn't docked?"

Koumei shook his head. "None of the reports I have say it has."

That didn't bode well and it certainly made Kouen's uneasiness from before grow. How had that woman gotten to Balbadd without their fleet? By all accounts, it shouldn't make sense. Eager to put an end to this ever-growing qualm, Kouen stood and motioned for Koumei to follow him. Puzzled, he obliged and walked beside him as Kouen exited the study and led the way to Ceara's chambers. Despite Koumei's queries about his sudden behavior, Kouen remained silent and instead focused on settling what irked him so much.

The instant they turned the corner, it appeared Koumei understood where they were headed."Eriu's?"

"Reizei Masami came and the two left the study last night," Kouen explained. "Eriu lied to me—fabricated an excuse in order to leave. For what or why exactly, I do not know." But he had his suspicions—for a while now, actually—and for once, he hoped to be wrong.

The detail that had been assigned to her being notably absent from their post was the first red flag. He heard Koumei muttering his puzzlement as well. Bringing himself to it, he opened the doors to the receiving room and found it empty. Not surprising but that wasn't enough to settle his mind which prompted him to barge into her room. Surprisingly, it was just as empty as the antechamber was; everything seemed in order except for the thin drapes of the canopy bed covering it all around and the scent of smoke in the room. It was Koumei who pointed it out, having heard a noise near the bed, which prompted both to approached it.

It took Kouen pulling the drapes apart to find Ceara in her horrid state—hanging by her wrists tied up on one of the canopy posts, her body barely covered with the stained sheets from her bed but not enough to hide the numerous wounds that marred her—proved the worst of his suspicions. Turning sideways to Koumei, Kouen could see the shock that he hid well in his brother's eyes but quickly snapped him out of it.

"Bring the healers and guards." Koumei didn't hesitate at his brother's stern orders and left the room to find what he'd asked for. Turning back to the young woman that hung injured, he unsheathed his sword and brought it up to cut the ties. Once free, her body fell limply, making Kouen lean in to support. At the mere contact, though, she began struggling, frail as she was, kicking and slapping him away. The hits were nothing but harmless punches yet she kept fighting. She didn't want to be touched. Regardless of that, he tried to placate her to see if her injuries were as bad as they looked. As he did so, he felt the heat seeping from her body; it baffled him seeing how pale she was, too. Drawing the sheet slightly back, he was able to assess her wounds better. Most were shallow cuts, although numerous, with only a couple deep enough to cause some major blood loss. Those didn't worry him much as he laid Phenex's metal vessel near her body to begin healing the wounds. What did concern him was the way her barely opened eyes were fleeting around, unfocused. Despite the shock that finding her in such state had given, Kouen had noticed that she had been somewhat conscious. She'd been talking and looking around the room, but those were mutterings to herself and her eyes seemed to be scanning everything around her. He could deal with wounds, but whatever was happening to her internally, he wasn't so sure.

"My king."

"What happened?" he asked aloud.

"My apologies but I cannot heal her completely."

"How is that possible?"

"I've healed her wounds—most blood loss has been stopped as well—but whatever is causing her fever and hallucinations, I cannot stop."

Hallucinations; it did explain the erratic mutterings and fleeting sight. "Do you know what is causing them?"

"No," she said with a murmur. "What I managed to discern was it's overall toxicity. It's a rather powerful poison."

Poison again. What bothered him most was that Phenex, a djinn, could not heal such human borne weapon. "Heal and ameliorate what you can for now, Phenex." The djinn obliged and the coral-colored bird sprouted from his ornament as she began healing what she could.

Her wounds had healed for the most part, leaving the scars of the gaping holes that had been left on her hip and thigh, but the fever and hallucinations weren't subsiding or lessening. If anything, they were worsening. It was after minutes of his constant healing that he heard the doors of the room open again. Instead of it being Koumei and the healers like he had hoped for, Masami stepped forward gasping at witnessing the state of her sister. The woman started screeching and crying loudly and the noise at such time was greatly irritating him.

It wasn't until she started approaching the bed that he finally paid any attention; stopping the healing, he turned about to set her back. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide and glassy, but something about her still bothered him.

"W-What's happened?" Masami cried out unable to catch a good glimpse of Ceara as Kouen stood between the bed and her. "You were healing her, w-weren't you? What happened to my sister?"

"She was attacked," he offered. Nothing specific, not like he knew any, but he needed to word his sentences well if he wanted to test his suspicions. Understandably, Masami gasped and the tears began to fall. He didn't bother with her and instead turned to begin healing Ceara again. "What time did you leave her last night?"

"T-Time?" Masami hiccuped for a while, thinking, until she replied. "I was only here a-an hour or two."

"Why are you here this early?"

"I wanted to take her to breakfast," Masami answered sheepishly but with the answer quite at the ready. "Why are you asking me all these questions instead of finding the monster that did this?"

"We will." Kouen glanced over his shoulder at hearing Koumei's voice ring through the room. Accompanying him were Chu'uun and a group of healers with the latter group hurrying to the bedside. Kouen ordered them to take her to the infirmary ward, telling them what he found with Phenex, but the moment they tried to touch her, Ceara began acting out. The healers stepped back as she started throwing weak punches and feeble kicks at midair. All her hits were aimless and frail but just as incessant as before.

Kouen clicked his tongue and laid Phenex's ornament close. The coral-colored bird appeared once more, its wings cradling her head and soothing whatever pain she seemed to have. It calmed her enough for her to stop struggling but her muttering continued just as unintelligible as before. Once calm, the healers took their chance to work on lessening the fever that ravaged her mind.

"Please, help her!" Masami cried wanting to walk forth to the bed.

"Stand back, please," Koumei told her politely. "They are working, so let them. Panicking won't help here."

She grunted and stepped aside, giving her back to them. At doing so, Kouen spotted a glint of silver that stuck out from her sash; a piece he recognized.

"That hairpin." Hearing him speak, both Koumei and Masami faced him confused at what he meant. "Why do you have it?"

"Hair…" her hands went behind her back a second before frowning. "She gave it to me as a gift."

"That's not possible," Koumei told her. She eyed him wearily and as response, Koumei looked askance at his brother. He'd spoken out of turn but both Kouen and he knew a lie when they heard it. And whatever web Masami was trying to weave, it wouldn't pass by them. It would only serve to entangle her more.

"What is this you're implying?" she asked, fingers slightly fidgeting at her side.

Kouen had to think for a second about what to say next. If his suspicions were correct, and knowing the temper of both women, a simple insinuation would be enough. A risky twist of words if he was wrong which he could deal with. But if he was not...

"No more lies," Kouen spoke out turning to Masami. "I know what that hairpin is and I know for a fact that you would need to pry it out of her dead hands before she gave it away." A sudden glint passed Masami's dark eyes as they narrowed at his approach. "And from the looks of it, she is at that doorstep."

"Your highness—"

He didn't let her contend with his words. "Poison was used to do this to her. Just like it was used before the Baise expedition. For Baise she refused to name her assailant; it wasn't until afterwards when she recounted the circumstances of that hairpin, and some persuasion, that she confessed the abuse had been ongoing for a long time." As he was now, Kouen stood before Masami who was now backed against the dresser in the room, the items on it rattling as she bumped into it. "And she named her abuser."

There was silence in the room even with the healers worked diligently to lessen a fever that wouldn't come down. Kouen didn't relent his stern glare at the woman before him, her eyes fleetingly scanning his expression. The front lasted a fraction of a second before the worried facade shattered, replaced by a face of pure ire.

"You knew?" she said through gritted teeth. It wasn't until that anger settled and broiled in her that she had the gall to step forth and shove him aside, barely moving him an inch with the attempt. "You knew and you haven't executed her!?"

There it is.

Sometimes he hated being right.

"She's a valuable asset for the west front," Koumei spoke up. The fact that he didn't sound nor looked confused about what she and Kouen spoke of only served to add fuel to her anger.

"Valuable?" she spat in disgust. "She killed my sister!"

"And her trial will be delayed until after the conquest of the west is done," Kouen told her. But at being called over by the healers, he stepped back and left Koumei to deal with her. Ceara needed to be transferred quickly, they informed him, to be examined by magicians.

"Whatever it is, we cannot heal it, your highness," one of them told him.

"Then do what you must," he replied.

"How can you say that!?" Masami exclaimed, stepping forward yet again but being stopped by Chu'uun from approaching any of them any further. "She's a murderer and a menace! She should die!"

"That's not your decision to make," Kouen told her.

"And neither was it in your right to inflict such punishment," Koumei added. With a swift nod in Chu'uun's direction, the Household Member reached out to Masami who jumped out of his grasp and glared back at the two brothers.

"She's property of my household!" she told them. "I have every right to do with her as I please."

"Whether it be a servant or a slave, it is law that neither shall be inflicted punishment upon by their masters." Masami glared daggers at Koumei while he appeared not the least bit repentant of his accusations. "As such you will be punished."

For an instant, Kouen saw a flicker of panic rush through her eyes as she stared at his brother. It wasn't until she turned to him and locked his gaze that something akin to hope filled them. "You can't punish me. I'm still your fiance. You can't have the First Prince's fiancee jailed or executed!"

Kouen couldn't keep the scoff that left him and neither could Koumei hold back a long sigh before turning to her once more. "The argument you pose is null. You are correct that execution is farfetched. But as for you being unable to be imprisoned due to being my brother and king's fiancee...you couldn't be more wrong."

"W-What?" she stuttered in complete disbelief.

Having had enough of this roundabout and wanting to have all this over with, Kouen spoke up to put one last nail on the coffin. "The head of the Reizei Household negotiated a new agreement. In exchange for negating the marriage and for their sister to have a choice on whether to remain as General of the Southern Armies or not, Sousei, as head of household, ceded the Eastern Isles to the Kou Empire. You and I are no longer tied by compromise or obligation."

The hope was completely erased from her eyes at those words. With her guard let down, Chu'uun was able to grab her by the forearm and keep her at bay until Koumei gave his orders. Kouen busied himself on what a healer told him, while the others struggled to get Ceara to remain standing. She was most lucid than before; she'd stopped muttering and fighting back seeing as they had lowered the fever enough for her to listen to them. Whatever poison was in her system, they would need to identify it and cure it, the healer told them. There was no telling for how long it had been in her but the sooner they could treat her, the better chances there were for her to survive. Those news, despite the bleakness, were good. So long as there was a chance for her to make it past this, they were good.

The quiet, however, didn't last.

"...use," Masami muttered under her breath. "So long as she's of use to you, she lives." She chuckled before trying to pry Chu'uun's grip from her forearm. Rage filled her eyes again but the pain in them made them tear up. When she couldn't relieve his grip, her free hand went behind her and dropped the hairpin onto the floor. "Then let's see how much use she is without these!"

Before anybody could stop her, Masami stomped as hard as she could on the old hairpin effectively breaking the silver piece. An instant later, a loud cry rang through the room as Ceara pried herself from the healer's hold. The strange surge of strength she got, managed to take her to where Marbas' vessel laid forgotten alongside Beleth's. Once in her hand, half her body changed into her equip a second before she lunged at Masami, throwing her against the dresser and smashing the woman's head against the mirror's glass. But the strength she got left her as quickly as it came as did her equip; still conscious, Masami shoved her away and fell down to a sit as the blood flowed. Ceara, still somewhat lucid, cried out while writhing in pain, shouting incorrigible sentences at her as tears marked her face.

Tired and sick of what was allowed to happen under his own watch, Kouen ordered for all to be cleared out the room. Chu'uun took Masami away to be treated and later imprisoned to await judgement as per Koumei's orders. Kouen helped the healers subdue Ceara to take her away despite her protests and her fever rising once again. She clawed and fought against them, tears streaming down her face and teeth grinding, as for once Kouen saw a pure, deep-seated hatred showing in her eyes.

Even in the infirmary, she kept struggling against the healers even after being tied down to be treated. Afraid that subduing her with drugs would aggravate the poison, Kouen found himself using Phenex to put her to sleep. It was only then that they managed to start work on her. Knowing that leaving it to them would be best, he exited the infirmary only to be met by Koumei.

"How does it look?" Kouen asked him.

"The hit cracked her skull." Koumei shook his head before massaging the back of his neck. "But aside from the pain, she will survive. What of Eriu?"

"Weak from blood loss, delirious from the high fever. Nothing concrete otherwise." Kouen crossed his arms before his chest and stared out at the palace grounds. Everyone was busy, trying to help her and what afflicted her, but even those who'd heard Masami's outcry had no clear idea of what accusations she had thrown around. "I healed what I could with Phenex but something else is causing her hallucinations and fever."

"Poison?" Koumei suggested.

"I'm assuming from what Masami said."

Koumei lowered his gaze for a second, thinking, until a thought came to him. "Did Eriu really accuse Masami of poisoning her?"

"No." Kouen sighed and looked his brother right in the eye. "I had previous uncertainties and saw it fit to pursue them at that moment."

"You took a huge risk accusing her," Koumei replied. "Had she not burst mad like she did, this could have ended badly."

"It didn't."

"Right." Koumei gazed back to the door of the infirmary. "But Reizei Masami's move does cripple her, both physically and on her usefulness. As she is now, Eriu cannot fight. Not mentioning the theatrics Masami threw destroying one of the metal vessels."

"Where are the others?"

"Safe with Seijin," Koumei replied. A tapping of approaching footsteps made both turn to catch said boy and Ka Koubun following Kougyoku as they ran breathless towards them.

The three stopped before them, Ka Koubun a few steps behind and somewhat out of breath, before bowing and saluting them. It was Kougyoku who didn't lose a second to inquire of what had happened.

"Nothing that should be of your concern, Kougyoku," Kouen assured her but it did little to calm her anxiety.

"May I go in?" she asked instead.

This time it was Koumei who answered her with a more soothing smile. "You can't. At least not now. She's still in a perilous condition; you must let the healers do their work."

Her shoulders slacked as her gaze fell. Seijin patted her shoulder for small reassurance before turning to Kouen and Koumei. "If it is no problem with your highnesses, may we await for news?"

"Do as you please," Kouen told him. Kougyoku gave them a small, tight-lipped smile before bowing and racing to the waiting room with Ka Koubun hot on her heels.

Seijin however stayed behind and spoke through gritted teeth, "What was done to my master is a most despicable thing." Raising his face, the boy looked at the two in the eye, pleading for an answer. "But I can't understand? Why would Lady Masami—"

"Don't think too much about it, Seijin," Koumei told him. "It's of no use."

"Y-Yes." The boy looked at the infirmary door before nodding. "You're right. Right now what matters is seeing that she gets better." He met them with renewed determination. "And rest assured, your highnesses, I will keep Beleth's and Marbas' vessels safe until she wakes up again." With that said, he left and followed after Kougyoku's wake.

Kouen promptly left thereafter with Koumei following after him. This time they arrived at Kouen's bedroom where he busied himself with changing from the slightly bloodied clothes he'd gotten. Koumei sat at the side, the look on his eyes telling Kouen that his brother was deep in thought.

"What's the matter?"

"Mm?"

"You're never this out of it," he explained as he finished dressing, placing his sword at his side. "What's bothering you?"

There was no hesitation and Kouen expected no less. Between them there was nothing but full disclosure. "The timing." Given the thought, Kouen could see why it filled his brother's mind but allowed him to talk on his own. Listening was what he did best, and listening to Koumei often brought out good outcomes. "The summit meeting is in a few weeks. With what's happened, and seeing how there's no telling how long it'll be until she recovers, she can no longer come with us to the summit meeting like we had planned."

That was true; they had planned to take her as part of the convoy to the summit. It wasn't in their best interest to leave her behind by herself while they were away. Despite the small show of confidence they had demonstrated, they had agreed that the best course of action was to keep that trust at a bare minimum. And that also implicated keeping his own head on what mattered and not on what he wanted. It was why taking her with them where she could be watched was the better option—it was what they had decided on. This greatly dented that plan, however.

"Not only that." Koumei took a moment to gaze at the floor lazily as he continued talking. "This attack seems planned: the limited contact with Shika we've received, the twins arriving tomorrow, and even Masami's own untimely arrival. This just appears too thought out to not have been arranged."

"Interrogate Reizei Masami as soon as she recovers," Kouen told him. "Inquire about how she got to Balbadd and the poison."

Koumei nodded. "I'll also ask how long this abuse has been going on and just how long she's known about Ceara of Eriu posing as Reizei Kohaku. After all, if she knew, no matter for how long, then she's just as guilty as we are."

Guilt. That seemed to be something a lot of them carried nowadays. But that changed nothing.

"Guilty or not, it does not matter at the moment. What does is finding out why, how, and who instigated this. And I want all this information before our departure."

"You will have it," Koumei assured him before standing up. With a swift bow, his brother left him to himself in his room. As Kouen was about to leave, the image of Ceara's maddened glare shot through his mind. But beyond that ire, he recalled seeing the grief that marred her from having seen the hairpin—a possession dearest to her—shattered to pieces.

Irreparable—he knew that much the moment the frail thing broke. Scouring through a small box he brought wherever he was, Kouen sought through the items to find a small pouch. Opening it, he dug in with his fingers and pulled out the first piece he touched. What he drew out was a broken piece of a carnation hairpin—the other half of the set that Ceara had lost. The piece he held in his hand was what had been given to him; it belonged to the young man that saved him. Cael had held onto it so tightly while fighting that he broke it, the pieces recovered by Prince Hakuyuu and given to him.

"Don't forget their sacrifice, Kouen," he had told him. "Their lives matter just as much as yours or mine. They fight alongside us, they suffer like us, and one day we will die like them. Don't forget why we fight, Kouen, because if you do, their lives—and most importantly, their deaths—will have been meaningless."

Kouen had kept those words in mind ever since. He turned the broken piece in his fingers, debating what to do. Silver—silver pieces. Metal can be melted—reforged to serve a new purpose. And with her original hairpiece and metal vessel broken and unusable, she'd need a new one.

It should do.

---

What a tragedy.

Kougyoku couldn't remain still even as she sat in the waiting room adjacent to Ceara's. Only a few hours had gone by, breakfast time had come and gone, and no word or healer had left the room. Even after sending Ka Koubun to help with his Household vessel in whatever he could, there was nothing to be said about her condition. At times during the past couple of hours, Kougyoku flinched at hearing screams coming from behind the closed doors. And she knew for a fact that they came from her friend.

The doors to the waiting room opened and Kougyoku jumped out of her sit to find Ceara's vassal, a boy she knew as Seijin, walk in with a tray in hand and someone following behind him. With a small smile, the boy set the tray of tea and food beside Kougyoku's chair before bowing.

"You must eat, princess," he said. "It'll do you no good to starve yourself with worry."

"Mm." Picking up the pot and serving herself a mere cup, Kougyoku stopped briefly as the person who'd followed behind Seijin, a girl, pointed towards the sickroom. "Who is this, Seijin?"

"A magician, your highness." Seijin motioned his hand to her and she—girl surely no older than fifteen—bowed in her direction with a candid smile. The girl bore the clothes reminiscent to that of Kouha's magician vanguard, her hair a light shade of lavender and her eyes a bright shade of gray. Tucked between the folds of her clothes was a small metal wand encrusted with tiny pearls. "She's from Balbadd and joined Lord Kouha's vanguard of magicians."

"Parthevia originally, your highness," the girl corrected with a soft voice. Her cheeks colored a bit letting the paleness of her skin come alive. "My name is Parisa. It's an honor to meet you, princess."

"Yes, of course," Kougyoku muttered a bit confused. Turning to Seijin, she furrowed her brow and, as if knowingly, the boy answered her unasked question.

"Parisa is a magician that studied at Magnostadt before the war. Well versed in Life magic and plants."

"I still don't understand—"

"What's plaguing General Kohaku's health," Parisa interjected, fumbling a bit at interrupting Kougyoku but continuing when urged. "I'm well versed in poisons, your highness. Maybe I could help with the general's situation."

Not wasting time, Kougyoku walked over to open the door. Not prepared to see Ceara writhing in pain while bondaged and cursing to all high heavens, she turned aside to take a deep breath. But even that unsettled her stomach as nothing but alcohol and bitterness filled her nostrils. The healers and Ka Koubun halted in their work as they turned to their princess. Kougyoku took one step forth to introduce Parisa and voice her request.

"Allow her to help you."

"Your highness," one of the healers said. "With all due respect, your highness, we can do this. There is no need for a barbaric, not to mention foreign, magician to aid. We already have this under control."

"I dare object, seeing as anegimi is still suffering," Kougyoku replied sternly but a glance at Ceara's condition only served to remind her that right now it wasn't about who was right or wrong; it was about getting her better. "Just allow her to take a look at her. That's all I request."

The healers looked at each other before turning back to Kougyoku and bowing. "If that is what the princess wishes." With a nod, Kougyoku urged Parisa forth. Having confidence to work, the girl tied her hair up and took out her wand before standing beside Ceara's bed to attend to her.

Kougyoku turned to Ka Koubun as Parisa began her work. "Give her what she needs. Even if this ends futilely, we will hopefully at least gain some sense of what we're fighting." Ka Koubun nodded and listened to Parisa as she began listing off things that she needed for her examination.

With that set, Seijin accompanied her back to the waiting room where he served her food and a new cup of hot tea. Kougyoku sat and accepted the cup, feeling the warmth of the tea calming her upset stomach.

"Thank you, princess, for allowing this."

Kougyoku nodded with a smile. "If it'll help anegimi, I think we should try it." And she hoped that such an approach would help Ceara. As her friend, she wanted to aid in whatever way possible. And although she knew it was none of her concern, Kougyoku wanted to know why someone would do this. More specifically, she wanted to know why Masami would do this. Did she know the truth and hate Ceara because of it? If she did, then Kougyoku could fathom an idea as to why. But even so…

Harming another to this point, there was nothing just about it. Justice should be served, yes—even Kougyoku as absent-minded as she sometimes was recognized the kind of crime that the usurpation Ceara of Eriu carried out was. It was a crime and as such should be dealt with justly. But this—this wasn't humane. This was just vengeful and she felt that nothing good would come from it. For neither of them.

With such thoughts in mind, Kougyoku remained and for the first time in a long while prayed. She prayed to whatever god her people believed in—even to gods outside of her empire—to let everything be well in the days to come. She prayed for Ceara's recuperation and for her own patience of mind. The latter because, for some reason, Kougyoku felt she would need in the future.

---

"How does it look?"

Parisa didn't lift her head or concentration from the patient before her even after Seijin's call. It had been about half an hour since she began treating the young general but this had turned out to be a much tougher case than she first thought it would be.

"I can't say yet," she replied honestly. After doing her preliminary analysis of her current state, Parisa had found out plenty. Some facts the healers had already gotten: the cuts and wounds she had received had been the entry point of the whatever toxin plagued her body now, but since they were closed, there was no way of examining them for residue. By helping her, the First Prince had cut them off of a great source of knowledge. They had also constructed a vague timeline for her exposure; again, because of the fever, muscle paralysis and hallucinations, they had little to go on, but they had managed to mark her exposure within the last nine to twelve hours.

That itself, though, sounded quite inaccurate to Parisa. Because of the general's current condition—her fever spiking to high levels and her hallucinations worsening at times— an exposure this high lasting longer than eight hours would leave damage. The only way to prove prolonged exposure and damage was to assess her mental state. But since the patient in question was non-responsive there was no way to assure themselves of that outcome. And she had the inkling from the small intervals where her hallucinations were briefly gone and she would ask coherent albeit misplaced questions—sometimes about her siblings or about her djinn—that the general hadn't been that affected, if even, by a long-lasting high fever. That could very well mean that the fever wasn't the underlying cause but a symptom like the hallucinations and previous paralysis were.

Those were good news since it was better for them to be able to treat a symptom without fearing they would lessen her own body's reaction to whatever was inside of her. Bad news was that if the fever, muscle paralysis, and hallucinations were mere symptoms, something else was causing them.

Talking this out with Seijin, though, gave her some insight. "She's been poisoned before?"

Seijin nodded. "Some kind of plant original from Shika's shores."

"That's good."

"That she got poisoned?"

"That she's been exposed to others," Parisa corrected with a wave of her wand. From the vines wrapped around her wrists, a small piece grew outward until tiny blossoms fell from the overgrown plant that hung from her left pinky. Plucking one of the blossoms, she ripped the petals off and took the small seeds into a small bowl of water. Boiling it with a wave of her wand, the small seeds broke open from the intense heat, releasing an oil into the water that took a while to mix together. Parisa stirred the mixture until it became mildly thicker before taking a small spoonful. With Seijin's help, she got to open the general's mouth for her to force the mixture down her throat.

"What did you give her?"

"Medicinal flower that I keep handy," she explained. "It'll help with the fever and the weak muscles that suffered from the paralysis."

Seijin nodded as she told him this but was still caught on what she had said before. "Why is it good that she's been exposed before?"

"It strengthens her against any future exposure, including this one. Treating the symptoms that worsen it and having that in our favor gives us more time."

"Time for what?"

"To find out what toxin she was exposed to," Parisa told him.

"This isn't a toxin," one of the healer's said to them. "We have already thoroughly inspected her and found nothing of the like."

Turning back to the healers who had stood by, she faced them sternly. "Whatever this is, it's a toxin. I don't know how neither you nor I can detect it, but it's in her. It's ravaging her body and plaguing her mind."

It was the man that stood out from the others, the princess's vassal, that spoke up then. "But she's been in our care for almost three hours now. Had it been exposure to some toxin, the symptoms would have lessened. Instead, they've done the complete opposite."

"I know," she agreed. "But none of them point to a single cause. They're disparate effects with no common cause. We need to search the room where she was found. Despite being so unequal, my timeline and yours fall in some common ground: about four to five hours prior to finding her."

Seijin turned to the ceiling, losing himself in thought as he muttered incoherently under his breath. It wasn't until he recalled what he wanted that he turned back to them. "According to Prince Kouen, my master had already retired to her bedroom by then."

"We must search the general's bedroom, then," Parisa told him. One of the healers spoke out then, a small man with his back hunched over, mentioning that the Prince had also told them the same: this was some kind of poison. Which what prompted their search for one, but at finding nothing there wasn't much they could do but keep treating the symptoms. The young girl nodded understanding their place. "If Prince Kouen, who carries Phenex, concluded what I barely can with my own magic, then I think it's worth searching that room for any remnants of whatever could have poisoned her."

"Then while that is being done," the princess's vassal told them with a raised fan, "we shall continue treating her spiking fevers and muscle paralysis."

Parisa thanked him and turned to Seijin, "Please take me to that room." Without a moment's hesitation, Seijin broke into a sprint out of the room, excusing himself and Parisa as they bypassed Kougyoku. With the sprint they took, they got to the room that had left guarded so that no one could tamper with it. Thankfully, Kougyoku had followed out of curiosity and with her there, they were allowed access. At telling the princess what they were looking for, the three began to look around the room and antechamber.

But after wasting almost half an hour searching through every nook and cranny and finding nothing, the three were quickly losing hope.

"There's nothing here," Kougyoku said a tad bit out of breath from searching so diligently.

"Nothing," Seijin repeated and walked back to the bed. The sheets and bed had been left intact from that morning and were now dirtied with maroon stains. But aside from that there was no other mess, no signs of much blood. "The two deep wounds—they were on her stomach and thigh, weren't they." It wasn't a question but Parisa nodded all the same. "How much blood would she have lost had those injuries gone untreated for hours."

"She would've lost too much to survive," Parisa told him.

"Then why is this room so relatively clean?" Seijin asked with a raised brow.

Both Kougyoku and Parisa raised an eyebrow, the latter girl gasping at understanding. "Clogging. The blood was flowing out of the wound but if the poison was directly on it then one of its properties could have stopped the bleeding from being fatal."

"The poison saved her from bleeding out?" Kougyoku asked barely catching what Parisa said.

The young magician nodded vehemently. "A poison that causes paralysis, hallucinations, fever spikes, and slows bleeding."

"Do you know what plant it is?" Seijin asked hopeful at hearing Parisa's voice so uplifting.

"No," she deadpanned. "But there's only a handful that could cause that set of symptoms so quickly. We can treat her for all of them to delay the effects but we still need to know the exact toxin. Otherwise we'll just be shooting blanks at what's causing everything."

With a click of his tongue, Seijin narrowed his eyes while glaring at the floor. "We need to get that information from Reizei Masami."

There was a quiet after the name was called. It was Kougyoku that raised her voice to give her opinion on that matter. "She won't speak. Masami has recovered from the injuries she suffered but she refuses to say anything. At least that's what Koumei onii-sama said after going to interrogate her."

"We need to know," Parisa told her and Seijin. "Treating for everything will cost time and that's something we don't have."

"Can it wait till tomorrow?" Seijin asked.

"Twenty-four hours after exposure?" The young magician pursed her lips and shook her head to herself before lifting it to face him. "If treating the handful slows the effects she's already suffering from then I'd say...dawn would be pushing it."

"Then let's pray that they slow it down and that they get here before then?"

"They?" Parisa repeated with a furrowed brow.

It took Kougyoku a second to understand and it showed on the princess's face. "Sousei and Suisei."

Seijin nodded and took a deep breath. "If anybody can convince her to speak, it's them."

---

Stop.

Please, stop.

Just...be quiet.

Her eardrums rung constantly—hadn't stopped.

Her head spun, a blurry room swayed, and it hurt.

Moving did nothing. So she didn't move. Or did she not feel it? But what else could she try to do? All she wanted was for everyone to just—shut—up.

A bittersweet chuckle filled her ears and made her plea to have them cut off. She didn't want to hear her or anybody anymore.

"Tough luck, Speirr. You have us now."

Something touched her—cold like ice—and it hurt. I don't want you. Another touch—just as icy cold, just as painful. I don't want you!

Another cackle came to them and she screamed—did she?—clawing at the figures that danced around, always near but never near enough.

"So let us keep you company."

A small quiet hush came and drowned everything else. Suddenly she sunk underwater, drowning, but still breathing. Her head hurt even more; it felt ready to explode. The hush came again, drowning away any noise left.

Soothing; suffocating.

"No good deed goes unpunished, Ceara. Remember that because yours aren't the exception, and they're just as fragile as you are."

A scream left her then, she was sure of it this time. Claws took hold of her thrashing body—their touch this time like scalding fire pressing against her skin only making her struggle more. The inside of her throat burned as she tasted iron, and panic got her to thrash harder.

She wanted out.

And she wanted out now.

"Fight all you want," the two wraiths cackled, accompanied by a myriad of others that clouded the small light that had been lighting everything around her. "Nothing will change—you can't change it. No matter what you do."

"Fight it. Change it. No matter what."

"P-Ple—ase." Was that her voice? It sounded foreign, distorted, and yet familiar. But above her voice, the cackling, and her own crying, she couldn't tell. "S-St...op."

Just be quiet.

---

Sousei needed to get out of that room. Pulling Suisei out with him, both twins stood in the antechamber of the sickroom where their sister thrashed in pain while shouting incoherencies. Kougyoku came closer to Suisei as the older twin cried into her hands, panicked and fearful. Sousei couldn't blame her—Kohaku had just recoiled from their touch, screaming bloody murder.

Prince Kouen had not meant his words lightly: she wasn't in her right mind—this wasn't their sister.

Struggling to swallow back his own tears, Sousei took a deep breath before he turned to both Imperial princes. It had stricken him as strange when Household Members of theirs had been waiting at Balbadd's borders to receive them that night. Arriving a bit earlier than scheduled, Sousei could guess nothing good would come of them expecting them there.

'Nothing good' didn't even begin to scratch the surface of what this their arrival to the palace, they had been immediately taken to the two princes who briefed them on what had happened and spared them no courtesy or compassion.

Masami had attacked Kohaku. Kohaku was in critical condition and spiraling down fast. And the only one who knew how to help her was their eldest sister who now was imprisoned in a room tightly secured. Appearances needed to be kept, or so Koumei told them, because the termination of the marriage had yet to be publicly announced. It wouldn't do to have Masami jailed like a common thief but that wouldn't mean that what she had done wouldn't be dealt with.

"Did she say why she did this?" Sousei asked dryly. It took him much to find a voice to speak and this was the best he could come up with.

"She's taken to her silence," Kouen explained. "When we asked about the poison, she made only one request."

"What was it?" he inquired.

"To speak with you and Suisei alone in exchange for all the information of the poison that she possessed."

"She's dangling her life on the line for that?" Suisei exclaimed, choking mildly on her own tears. "What the hell are we waiting for then?"

"A good question," Sousei said calmer than his twin sister. "Why did you not take us there as soon as we got here?"

"I know your sister would not want you to speak with Masami," Kouen told them.

"Her opinion is void on this," Sousei told him. "We will listen to what Masami has to say. But only after she tells us what she knows and as soon as Haku-nee recovers."

"She won't accept those conditions," Koumei added.

"She'll have to," Suisei growled through gritted teeth, her fists balled by her side. "Otherwise she can hang for all I care."

"Suisei." At Sousei's stern tone, his twin averted her gaze and instead took to Kougyoku like an anchor. "Frankly and with a due respect, what any of you think doesn't matter. She will accept my terms or I will obtain the information my way."

---

Understanding, Kouen took them to where they were keeping their sister. Where all this was concerned, he had few words to give. Suisei, much like Ceara, seemed too overwhelmed by her emotions to think straight, although she did have the right idea if he would say so himself. Sousei, however, had his head screwed on better but only by an inch. That underlying threat on his last statement had been more than clear and he was somewhat surprised that he could voice such hostility towards his own flesh and blood.

It wasn't strange just unexpected from what he knew of them.

He stopped briefly before the guarded room's antechamber. The guards informed them that Masami was there right now and had done nothing but dawdle around in meaningless conversation with any who approached her after Koumei's interrogation. When Sousei took a step forward to enter, Kouen stretched out his arm to stop him. "If you enter, bargaining your willingness to listen would be meaningless." Sousei understood and let Kouen enter alone.

The young woman sat primly against a cushioned chair while staring out of the window at the night sky over the palace garden. Wearing simple clothes rather than the elegant ones she was usually seen wearing, the casual dress didn't seem to bother her in the least. Neither did the ropes that bound her wrists, keeping them together and her restrained. She posed no danger to him either way but it was all protocol.

"Evening," she said unexpectedly before looking over her shoulder. "Oh, you. What do you want?"

"I'm here to speak on your siblings' behalf."

Her dark eyes narrowed at him and she stood from her sit. "Suisei and Sousei are here?"

"Arrived a few minutes ago," he told her. There was no point lying to her, not when only she had the information they needed. "I relaid your request from before. And—"

"And?"

He sighed at the interruption but continued nonetheless. "And both are willing to listen in exchange for the information you have first. And they will come to you after she shows signs of recovery."

Masami scoffed and turned halfway towards the window. "What kind of fool do they take me for? They know me better than that."

"Apparently not."

She clicked her tongue and glared his way. "You have no say in this. None of you do after what you've let pass. They should know the truth behind my actions. Whether she dies or not doesn't matter."

"It matters to the empire's poweress," he corrected her. "You interfered with that and it makes it our business. Now, whether or not you accept the terms given to you is your choice, but your brother did say he would attain the information his way if you refuse to cooperate."

"His way?" she chuckled. "His threats rely on powers that aren't his. And as she is now, I doubt any of her Household Vessels work. He can threaten me all he wants but my answer is no. They listen now or she dies. I have no qualms of letting the little wretch kill over."

The doors of the antechamber burst open when she finished that sentence and Sousei sprinted in followed Koumei, Suisei, and Kougyoku. Kouen knew he should've let them behind in the sickroom; at least there, they wouldn't have caused problems.

"Tell us what you used on her, Masami," Sousei growled.

"Or what?" Masami retorted. Sousei didn't bother with words to answer her. Instead, he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her. Masami glared at it and then at him. "You dare raise that against me?"

"You leave me no choice," he told her, his hold tightening on the grip of his sword.

"Tell us," Suisei called with a loud voice. "What did you do to Haku-nee? Why did you do this?"

"I did it for you!" she yelled, stepping forth. "To protect you from that—"

"Enough!" Kouen shouted at the top of his lungs freezing everything in place. Turning to the group that had barged in, he barked his orders. "Leave, all of you." The tone itself told them he meant it. Koumei urged Kougyoku and the twins to follow him out. The twins glared at him for a second, equally confused and annoyed, but followed nonetheless. Once they were gone, Kouen turned to Masami and swiftly unsheathed his sword.

"W-What?" Masami scoffed but her stutter showed her underlying fear. "Are you going to threaten me too?"

"I've lost my patience with all of this," he confessed truly angered.

"That the lying whore you picked is croaking?" Masami chuckled at the absurdity of his words. "What a blessing in disguise."

"And I've lost my patience with you." Plunging his sword onto the ground, Kouen called upon Phenex. "Ring of Admonition." Despite no previous egg having been implanted in her, the Ring functioned all the same. The bloodlust and deep-seated hatred Masami held activated a small, immature ring around her head. The instant pain that she felt made her fall to her knees, grabbing at her head and shrieking. "Tell me what you used." Through gritted teeth and pain, Masami spat at his feet. The ring only grew as did the pain. "Now or die suffering from your own hatred."

"I-I'd rather d...augh, die!" she managed to groan out.

"Then so be it."

But before he could fully let Phenex cast the ring on her, the powers of his vessel flailed as some energy ruptured through. It was short—he felt it pass through the room even—but it'd been forceful. Immediately after, Phenex deactivated and the ring around Masami's head crumbled, letting the woman breath as she laid on the floor. Despite the ring having broken, though, she still writhed in pain caused by something that Kouen couldn't see.

That fact alone was unnerving but he decided to take the opportunity in stride. Kouen raised his sword once more and plunged it down beside her head, "I have no qualms on killing you. Tell me now or I will let you die this time."

She was silent, choking on her own spit as she struggled to breath. But once she could something felt off. Kouen couldn't discern what but the woman that had been so fervently adamant to remain silent spoke through gritted teeth. The anger and madness was still clear in her eyes but something seemed to compel her to speak the words she did.

"B-Brugmansia." He narrowed his eyes at her. She bit her lip but a pain wracked her until she spoke up again, this time with pain and tears in her eyes. "The flower—it's from the Dark Continent."

"What else?"

"T-That's all—I know! I swear!" The pain that had been plaguing her body then left as she took a hefty breath in before coughing vehemently.

"You better not be lying to me," he warned but took what he'd gotten and left the room. Telling the guards to attend to her, he occupied his mind with the information he'd gotten first. Reaching the sickroom, he found the group from before there. Ignoring them and heading inside, he saw the same scene he'd seen for the fifth time that day. Still as unpleasant as the first.

"Brugmansia, a plant from the Dark Continent."

The magician assigned to attend stopped in her tracks, her eyes narrowing at that information. It took a few seconds before she trotted off to a few books she'd gathered to get antidotes from. "There's little archived about Brugmansia. Flora from the Dark Continent isn't that well known."

"Can you make an antidote for it?" he inquired.

Parisa didn't hesitate to answer. "I will." Leaving that for what it was, he left them to do their work and returned to the group outside who stood anxious and ready. He only gave them what he'd obtained in order to calm their tension. "They know what's causing it. It should be easier to treat it now."

A collective sigh of relief swept across the room amongst the youngest ones. Koumei however seemed to read him like an open book. Motioning for his younger brother to come out with him, the two left the room as he led them out to the northern part were most barracks where at, and where, out of his own soldiers, some of Kouha's own vanguard had remained behind, including magicians.

"What happened?" Koumei asked as he trotted after his brother.

"I used the Ring of Admonition on her."

That didn't appear to surprise him like Kouen thought it would. "That explains why she conceded."

"It wasn't the Ring that made her yield," Kouen told him and stopped in his tracks, making Koumei stop before him. "Something neglected Phenex's powers and broke the Ring of Admonition—something else made her confess."

This time, Koumei's shock mirrored the unease he'd felt the moment it happened. "That's not possible."

"Apparently it is because it happened." Kouen motioned back towards the barracks where Kouha's vanguard was. "Take the vanguard of magicians, disseminate them across the palace perimeter. I want a shield capable of detecting magic coming in or out of these walls. Whatever did this, negated Phenex's magic with magic of its own and breached our security."

His brother didn't hesitate to oblige. "At once."

This wasn't normal. And it only made Koumei's words from before ring that much truer. This wasn't all a coincidence. This was too timely to be mere happenstance. No, someone was toying with them—causing all this. And he wasn't about to allow that, not on his watch.

Whoever dared flaunt themselves with such gall against the Flame Emperor would soon learn what dealing with him meant.

---

Dawn came but not much sunshine came through the open window. It was cloudy, the faint light that breached the clouds showering the courtyard and barely illuminating the inside of her sickroom. Seijin had left it open—or had it been that little magician girl—because she had asked, having wanted to taste the air from outside.

Ceara didn't know for how long she'd been awake now—an hour, maybe two—but the time felt skewed in her head. At times her wakefulness seemed to extend by the days when it had only been a few hours; at other times her sleep would seem no more than hours when in reality she'd been asleep for most of that day.

Four days had already gone by according to her vassal and her mind remained scattered, still largely lost and dazed. Trying to piece together only brought parts to her mind, parts that never seemed to fit together.

She remembered what brought her to this plight or more like who. She hadn't heard anything about Masami just that she was imprisoned. But that was when she heard anything at all. Because of her constant spells of lethargy, she barely saw anyone. It had been luck that on the few times she'd woken up in the middle of the day, somewhat capable of understanding the time and place of where she was, that Seijin was there. He was the only one she'd seen so far and she was saying that with the little certainty she still had.

In spite of the incessant pain from before greatly lessening, her mind had yet to recover into any decent shape. Time fled her as she lost chunks, she slept more and remained awake less, and the mirages...

"Mirages?"

Ceara's breath hitched at hearing Kohaku's voice and completely stopped when, at lifting her head, she saw the specter at the foot of her bed. Not wanting to listen, she hurriedly covered her ears and cowered back until her back hit the wall. She curled and buried her face against her knees but nothing seemed to deter them.

"Come now, Ceara," it said in Kohaku's sweet voice. The sound of it, however, hurt her ears. It sounded similar but not exactly. She could tell with certainty that this wasn't Kohaku. It wasn't her. "We're here; we're real. Why can't you accept that?"

"...you're not real…" Ceara muttered through gritted teeth, biting the inside of her cheek as distraction. "...you aren't real…"

"Shh, Speirr." Cael, but his voice sounded distorted. It wasn't him. "Rest; sleep. Let us accompany you."

"Leave me alone…"

"We won't, little Speirr." Hakuyuu. But it was that same gurgling and guttural noise from the wax carcass. Ceara didn't want to see that grisly thing again. "Because without us, you'll end up alone. And you know that. That's why you beckon to us. That's why we answer."

"...I don't..." she muttered, her voice cracking as a sob escaped her. She just wanted quiet.

Please, just—

"How about letting us have some peace and quiet for a moment?"

A lilting voice she didn't recognize bounced in her eardrums, one that didn't sound distorted or full of ill will. Opening her eyes she hadn't realized she'd shut, Ceara lifted her head to see a young man making his way across the room and around her bed to reach the bedside table that held the medicines and food that was brought to her.

His long golden hair was plaited loosely at his nape and tightened neatly into a fine end that ended around his knees. Vibrant yet solemn amethyst eyes gazed her way while he gave a warm tight-lipped smile to her. The warmth and lightness of his presence grabbed her attention and soothed her; it certainly took away from the large burn scar that wrapped around his neck, almost like a pair of hands gripping it tightly. He wasn't any of the healers she'd seen in her times awake, at least none that she could remember seeing. But the fact that he was so peculiarly dressed also caused her some uneasiness.

Despite all this, though, her skeptical mind rose to be heard: You're sick. You're not better yet. This is another hallucination. It isn't real.

But her lips and voice still worked in accord against her mind. "...who…"

The man smiled, raising a hand to halt her quiet question. Reaching out to the bedside table, he took a glass and filled it with water. With a small touch of his fingers against the bottom of the glass, Ceara watched as the water cooled with small bits of ice beginning to form in it. Once done, he passed the glass to her but Ceara refused to grab it. It would just disappear.

He smiled and chuckled before reaching gently for her hands and wrapping it around the cool glass of water. "Drink. It'll do you good."

What's happening to me?

Maybe it was a real person, but not the person she saw. Maybe she was just imposing the blond man's face on somebody else—someone real who was actually there. She couldn't understand why her mind would choose a face she didn't recognize, though. But that excuse, whether true or not, was easier to believe.

Looking down at the glass and crystalline water, she took a few sips liking the coolness that soothed her sore throat. Sip by sip, she finished the glass with sigh.

"Thank you," she whispered, her throat hurting a little less.

"My pleasure," he replied, taking the glass as she gave it back. Setting it aside, he walked closer to the edge of the bed before taking a sit at the opposite end of where she sat. "How do you feel?"

"Strange," she replied. "I feel...weak, no matter how much I rest. I see things, too. Am I going crazy?"

"No." The lilt in his assurance along with his smile placated some of her restlessness. "Your body and mind both suffered greatly. Even if you were only exposed for one day, Brugmansia is a potent poison. It could have killed you."

"Why didn't it?"

"They figured out how to treat you," he told her. "You just need to rest for now, Ceara. Sleep and get better. There's much to be done once you're well again."

Ceara's brow furrowed at the odd statement. "What do you mean?"

The warmth that had sparked in his eyes dulled, his smile leaving his lips as he pursed them. "Threats are rushing to destroy what you have built. This—this was but a welcome. You must rest and recover as soon as you can."

Cryptic as the message was, her muddled mind couldn't decipher what he meant. Shaking her head, Ceara held onto it and buried her face against her knees as she tucked her legs closer.

This isn't real. It is just another hallucination.

But the warm hand she felt stroke her head told her otherwise. Afraid of how this could mess with her mind, playing with her sense of reality, Ceara shut her eyes tightly and refused to lift her head. Nonetheless, her ears still heard his lilting voice.

"I don't mean to rush you," he whispered. "But you must recover. You must act fast or you will regret not having done anything against those that threat what you've built and love." The hand lifted from her head and all at once a small pressure left her chest that let her heart beat normally. Raising her head, Ceara found herself truly alone for the first time since she could recall—no blond man, no wraiths.

It was finally quiet.

And she'd just imagined it all.

Holding tightly to her head, Ceara balled herself under the sheets of the bed and sobbed. She wanted to get better. She wanted to be sure of what she saw with her eyes as her ears failed her for the first time. Everything sounded real, not everything looked that way, though.

Not until this one.

It isn't real. It isn't real.

She repeated those words in her mind, shutting herself out from everything else on the outside. Repeating it didn't conceive her any sleep but it at least kept her better company than the voices that haunted her.

---

"You're really going?"

Sousei sighed for a moment as he turned up to face his twin. She was furious, as was he, but Sousei was better at controlling his emotions than she was. Understandably so, too. Even nine days after having returned and taking care of Kohaku after her poisoning, their sister was still not completely healthy.

Physically, yes. She could walk again and did so inside the confines of her sickroom and always supervised by a healer. Mentally, however, she was far from well. The poison had been removed from her system as much as magically possible, but the small remnants still afflicted her. Most of the times now, she was aware of who they were and what they were doing there. On the rarer times, however, she cowered and shouted for them to 'leave her alone' saying that she wanted the room to 'be quiet.' It was like a different person each time.

But the magician that had been in charge of the poison extraction and her treatment, young Parisa, had told them that at most it would take a few weeks for whatever was left to fully run through her body. Once gone, whatever remained would be repercussions from the damage done. That could range from mild to frequent but they could be dealt with.

She said that what was important was their sister had survived, and he agreed. Now that she was relatively better, however, he and Suisei had a bargain to uphold.

"We owe her nothing."

Sousei sighed as Suisei brought that up for the tenth time. He wished it could be that simple but something told him that it wasn't. His gut urged him to talk with their eldest sister because despite what she had done, she was still family. Part of the broken one that they still had left.

"We owe her Haku-nee's life, Sui," he corrected her. "Had Masami not confessed, Kohaku would have—"

"Had Masami not assaulted Kohaku, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place!"

Brilliant point.

But inconsequential from where he stood. As head of their household, Sousei had to deal with this issue. Ameliorate as much of the problem as he could. Hopefully avoid any plans of execution the imperial princes could have come up with, too. He definitely had his work cut out for him.

"Agreed," he confessed. No matter how unbiased he wished he could be, Sousei still struggled with keeping political and familial issues separate and that they were practically one and the same didn't help his case much either. His agreement came from a slight slip of consciousness; that had been Suisei's younger brother talking. But he couldn't be that baby brother right now. Right now, he needed to be that pillar of authority that he had been bred to be. That pillar of authority that he abhorred being. "But I won't sully the trust placed on me. She held her end of the bargain—how or under what duress shouldn't matter—and we will do the same."

"Don't expect me to follow with whatever morals you grew overnight," Suisei retorted with a frown.

"I don't expect you to," he replied. "It's an order." She gasped at that sentence and her anger tripled. The state she was in, however, didn't allow her to speak clearly. "Believe me, I hate this as much as you do but we have a duty to fulfill."

Suisei raised a finger but lowered it when Sousei gave her a grim tight-lipped grimace. "I hate this. And you for making me do it."

"It'll be harmless," Sousei assured her. "Whatever Masami says won't ever justify what she's done."

His sister scoffed and nodded, "Damn right."

That bridge having been crossed, Sousei sheathed his household vessel onto its scabbard by his hip and urged Suisei to follow him as he left the room. It was early in the morning and a good time to get this talk over with. Nobody would overhear except maybe the guards stationed outside the room. Even that could be easily nullified by Sakhiba Shafarat making the room soundproof. Nobody but them would hear whatever it was that Masami wanted to talk about.

The guards swiftly let them in once they arrived at the room. The two passed the antechamber and entered the room to find their sister simply sitting by herself drinking a cup of tea as if nothing was wrong with the world—as if she hadn't attempted to kill their sister a week ago.

Once she saw them, Masami dropped everything—the cup and every facade she had worn—as her eyes turned gentle like he had always remembered them being. Her hands free, she stood and lovingly reached out to them but neither took to her invite. They weren't in the mood.

The smile that had appeared out of nowhere dulled but didn't completely disappear. Taking her arms closer to her body, Masami nodded and tilted her head. "Thank you for coming."

"A deal was made," Sousei explained, not wanting for this to be mistaken as anything but political. "We were taught that a Reizei always keeps their word."

"As it should be," she complied peacefully. "You would do father proud."

"Which is the least that could be said about you," Suisei interrupted but swiftly got reprimanded by Sousei.

Masami's smile completely disappeared and she pursed her lips. "I did what I had to to protect you."

This time, he had to keep Suisei from speaking by placing a hand on her arm and physically pulling her back. "Protect us from what?"

"Her lies." Masami shook her head at seeing their puzzled expressions and motioned them to the vacant seats before the small table where she had been having tea. "This...won't be easy for me to tell you, much less for you to hear. I know you won't believe me but I have more than enough prove. And I'm sorry that I am the one who has to tell you this."

Hearing this, the stern yet genuine tone of her voice, alarmed Sousei and made his stomach turn. "What are you talking about?"

Masami sighed defeated but took a sit before lifting her head to address them both. "The truth...of who you've believed to be Kohaku for all these years."

---

"You sure you're okay to walk?"

Ceara scrunched her nose at Seijin's overprotectiveness and dismissed it with her a wave of her hand as she walked over to the windowsill of the sickroom. The boy sighed and came over to her, telling her of the progress Parisa saw in her.

"I'm okay, mother," Ceara replied, grinning at the distasteful frown the blonde gave her. "I can walk just fine, Jin. It's just my head that's not screwed on right, right now."

"You still…" he motioned his head to the side unable to finish his sentence.

"See things?" she finished for him. When he nodded, she reciprocated the gesture. "At times. They're less frequent, they still don't let me sleep well, but they are...manageable."

What she neglected to mention was what was making them so manageable: a kind smile and warm amethyst gaze that she kept seeing. A young man—surely, a figment of her mind—that talked to her when she sunk to her worst lows. A kind man that quieted the ghosts that plagued her and all the same urged her to hurry because there was no time to waste.

"Act before they do," he'd said the last time her head had conjured his image. "Don't let them dictate the course of this. Beat them to it and corner them down before they do this again to you, or worse, to those you care about."

That warning struck her deep, especially when she had suffered years of previous abuse so others wouldn't be hurt by the truth she fought to kept hidden. But everything teetered on a thin lifeline—a line that felt taut, just ready to snap.

Seijin's mindless talk about how in a few weeks the Summit meeting would take place in an island between Reim and Magnostadt—neutral grounds—got her mind to wander. There, all would be equal with no metal or household vessels or magicians to speak of, but Ceara doubted either of the three global powers would go without a shield to fall back on. She knew for a fact that Kouen wouldn't dare arrive barehanded; how he would actually avoid that was beyond her. And although she had only seen the king for a few minutes, Ceara had the feeling that neither would Sindria's king, Sinbad. Those two—they appeared much too similar to not know one when knowing the other.

Ceara wanted to attend. Despite the obvious power struggle that would ensue from having Sindria and Kou gathering in supposed 'neutral grounds,' she yearned to know, too, what the young magi, Aladdin, had promised to tell them both. But as things stood, she wasn't too sure whether she would be allowed.

The Imperial family already suspected her, no matter how amicable they still appeared to be. She wasn't enough of an idiot to not notice that. Ceara was still being held by an invisible string—one last one after the rest had been severed. But it was taut and plucking it further was something she didn't wish to do.

This whole mess is still salvageable. Somehow...it has to be.

"It's mendable." Ceara touched the red-feather pen that hung low from behind her ear at hearing Beleth's calm voice, his presence soothing. "We'll find a way."

"He's right." Her fingers brushed against the bracelet encrusted with bone that so warmly sat against her wrist. It almost felt like Marbas held her hand tenderly. "So rest. You're still not in your best shape."

Rest. She wished she could. But a lot of things were flooding her mind at the moment—the hallucinations, the summit meeting, the twins, and Murmur. Falling from her bracelet, her hand clutched at the small velvet pouch that hung at her hips. Feeling through the fabric, she could discern the pieces of her hairpin. Broken in pieces, the eight-pointed star broken in half and visible.

Murmur…

"It will be all right, lamb," Beleth assured her. "He is there. However, a new metal vessel must be found for him."

Marbas hummed, her tone making Ceara imaging a smile on the beast girl. "And then he'll be back in a jiffy! Just find something as valuable for him to transfer to."

Valuable. There wasn't anything as valuable to her as Cael's gift, the one piece she had left of his memory.

No. Not the only thing.

"His letters."

"Pardon?" Seijin called but didn't have time to ask again when Ceara sprinted out of the sickroom to her old chambers.

Her journal. It wasn't in the study. It had been the one thing she hadn't brought with her because it was hers to keep. Her own private thoughts and regrets. Ceara had hidden it in her room but had completely forgotten about it. But her anxiety only seemed to escalate as the guards before her own room did not allow her entry. They apologized profusely but denied her entrance all the same, and she was becoming more paranoid as she pleaded for them to let her in for just a few minutes.

"What is the meaning of this?" For once in a long while, Ceara was glad to hear Kouen's baritone voice behind her. Spinning on her heels, she ignored Koumei's presence and simply focused on him.

"I need to check on my journal," she told him. "Tell them to let me in."

"Journal?" Koumei asked with a furrowed brow. "I'm afraid not. That room is still being investigated, as is Reizei Masami's, for anything—"

"It has my brother's letters!" she cried out not caring that the guards or Seijin overheard her. "Please, let me in."

Kouen sighed in frustration but with a single nod of his head, the soldiers backed away. Thanking him profusely, she rushed into the room and went directly to a small board on the floor beside the foot of her bed. Dislodging the floor board from its place, Ceara's breath caught when she found nothing underneath it.

"Young miss?"

Ceara ignored Seijin's query as she shot up, her head turning every which way in an attempt to find her journal. Everything still laid trashed. Since they were still investigating it, she supposed, they hadn't moved a single thing from place. She paced the room, her eyes scanning every which way, searching for the leather bound book.

"Here."

Spinning around, she trotted over to Kouen who had his back turned to her. Ceara walked quickly around him expecting to find the journal in his hands but instead only saw a pile of mostly ashes in a metal box, a ripped up journal haphazardly lying next to it. Kneeling before it, Ceara frantically skimmed through what was left of the book. Some pages were ripped, other torn, but there were no loose papers. No matter how much she shook it to let any out, the journal had nothing. Her hands darted out to the bin and dug through it, her hands tainting black as she sifted through the ashes, until she found pieces of legible paper.

Charred fragments of letters. Unable to believe it, she clutched the largest piece she'd found—a piece of parchment with '-eday. Prom-'—and gritted her teeth.

"...she burned them."

"You don't know that."

Rage filling her, she faced Kouen to protest the absurd excuse. "Who else would have?!" she shouted at him. "I never told anybody about his letters. These were mine! And now…" She felt her throat constrict as she fought desperately against her tears. "They're—"

"Out of the way!"

Shocked and startled by the commanding voice that came from outside, Ceara saw the door of her room burst open as Sousei and Suisei stepped into the room. Her previous anger vanishing into thin air, worry came to her expression at seeing them so upset, both of their eyes red and puffy. What she failed to see until it was too late was the fact that they had ignored everybody else in the room and simply made a clear way to stand before her. The shock from that realization came just as both of them called out one question to her at the same time. "Who are you?"

Her blood stopped cold in her veins. "...what?"

Suisei was the one to shoot out first. Her emotions being much more volatile, she took a step forth and cried out, anger boiling underneath her words. "Are you really Haku-nee?"

Ceara's grip on the small piece of paper tightened, her heart beating loudly against her ears, almost deafening her. "Where did you—"

"Masami," Sousei replied, his eyes narrowed, suspicious. "She told us what she did and why she did it. And she told us about who you are and who you aren't." For a brief second, his anger set aside, he faced her with a gentler gaze. "But it's not true, right? You are Kohaku...aren't you?"

Her hand shook as both of them stared her down, their dark eyes angered, confused, and pleading. They wanted an answer; they wanted the truth. But when she opened her mouth, nothing came out; her voice, just like everything else, didn't seem to be working. Even as Beleth and Marbas' familiar warmth cradled her, she still felt frozen, unable to speak or even move.

"It will be all right, my king."

"Be brave, Ceara."

But...I'm scared.

Terrified that it would be just like when Masami found out.

Out of nowhere, a hand reached out and touched the small of her back. Blinking out of her stupor, she felt the warmth from Kouen's hand encouraging her. The fear didn't disappear, she wasn't able to move, but at least her voice worked again.

"I...—my name is...Ceara of Eriu." Her eyes stared at both of them as every emotion left them and was replaced by utter disbelief. "I'm—I was your sister's, Kohaku's, vassal. Her friend." Gripping the piece of paper tighter, her knuckles turning white as she held her own hands together, and leaning slightly back against the hand that held her in place, Ceara voiced the answer they deserved to hear. "I'm not Kohaku. I'm not...your sister."

"Don't lie!" Suisei called out, tears finally falling and tearing at Ceara's heart. "One of you—one of you is lying!" The outburst didn't make sense to Ceara, but Suisei didn't seem to be making sense to any of them. Sousei brought her closer to him to console her and quiet her tears.

Holding his own back, Sousei had to take a few breaths before lifting his head to ask, "A djinn. Masami—she said that you would have another: a third djinn that Kohaku shouldn't have."

Touching the velvet pouch at her hip with shaky hands, she opened it and drew out one of the larger pieces, a part of the carnation, and held it with the eight-pointed star visible to them. Sousei didn't seem shocked but did grab tightly onto Suisei before whispering something in her ear. Ceara didn't understand despite being able to clearly hear his words; it was their language. But whatever Sousei had told her only made her cry harder as she held onto his back.

Sousei lifted his head from the side of Suisei's to face her, "...since when?"

Despite the sting that bothered her eyes, Ceara didn't look away from him. Even as she struggled to breath through her small whimpers, she answered quietly. They deserved to know. "The fire at the house. She—Kohaku died protecting me." It wasn't until his eyes widened in shock that she hung her head in shame and pain, "I didn't have the heart...to tell you. Any of you. I'm sorry."

"...s-sorry?" Suisei raised her head from Sousei's shoulder and cried out, "You're sorry? After lying to us for all this time!"

Panic raised her voice as she took a few steps towards them. "I didn't mean for it to happen! For any of this! I wanted to tell you; I did!" She stopped just in front of them as they held onto each other. "But everything just happened so fast. Before I knew it...things just were."

"And you lied. To all of us." Sousei gritted his teeth as tears fell down his cheeks. "Father and mother died knowing nothing."

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "But even so, even despite the lies, I always loved you. You became my family. I have loved you and I always will. Nothing will change that."

"You're n-not our sister," Suisei sobbed, a few hiccups rushing out as she cried on, and the statement hit Ceara hard. Anger took control of her then as she snapped at the princes that stood behind Ceara. "And you? You knew and did nothing."

Kouen was the one to reply to the accusations. "We only discovered this recently during Magnostadt, but as we told Masami, she is an asset. Nothing will be done until after we have utilized her powers. That entails that her identity must be kept hidden which is why we will give you the same order given to the witnesses at Magnostadt: this will not go beyond us."

The looks in their eyes told Ceara the deep-seated anger towards Kouen at forcing them to do such thing. They didn't want her to go be known by Kohaku's name anymore. What was worse, she knew they wouldn't want to be anywhere near her, much less stand beside her in the battlefield. But they couldn't say that.

"Fine, but in exchange release Masami." Sousei's request came out of nowhere as he stepped out from Suisei, the two standing side by side.

"That's not acceptable," Koumei replied to him. "She still committed a crime."

"And she didn't?" Suisei called out, pointing at Ceara. "If Masami is guilty, then so is this...Ceara. She killed Haku-nee. She should share the same fate."

At hearing that, Ceara couldn't keep herself from whimpering but did quickly quiet herself. She didn't have a right to cry, not when they were the ones justified their anger.

"And like I said previously, that judgement will be withheld until after she's deemed unnecessary to our cause." Kouen stood his ground against the two. "I understand your ire and grief, but I will not throw away a weapon that could be useful for my conquest of the west."

The three fell suddenly into a deadlock. They wanted for her to expose to truth and for the overdue execution. Kouen wanted to keep the resource that could serve him.

"Then let us have this instead." Sousei addressed Kouen, the young boy standing before his commanding general in utter defiance and yet still composed despite the streak that his tears had left behind as he wiped them. "Release Masami and we won't call for the truth to be known or reveal it ourselves. We will even lay the notion of an execution to rest."

"What?" It amazed Ceara that Suisei was just as shocked about the proposition. What's the meaning of this?

"Sou—"

A swift hand raised her way, quieting her protests. Instead, he gazed up at both Imperial princes before asking, "Will that suffice to have her released to us?" Koumei turned to Kouen who, after a minute to mull over the options, accepted.

"But Sousei!"

"No, Suisei. Freeing Masami is our priority. But I do agree with you; she should be punished." A crooked smile came to his lips—grief and bitterness etched on his expression—as he unsheathed his sword. He took a glance at the sheen of the blade before going around Kouen to toss his household vessel at Ceara's feet. Her breath hitched at hearing the metal clanking against the wooden floors until it stopped. Once it did she met his eyes that didn't leave hers, a deep cobalt staring right into her. "We hereby forfeit our right for imperial punishment against the woman who murdered our sister. And I also forfeit my position as captain of the Southern Subjugation Army so long as she remains its general." Sousei's gaze shifted slightly to Kouen, "I hope you find that acceptable."

Ceara couldn't believe the words Kouen said then, "I do."

"I don't." Suisei's outburst echoed through the room as she turned to her brother. "She shouldn't be let go. Not after all the lies."

"Killing her won't stop our pain, Sui," he whispered to her with a hand gently laid against her cheek. "It'll only stop hers. Our mercy, on the other hand, she doesn't deserve. Which is why—"

"...it's the worse punishment…" Suisei whispered under her breath that despite being only an exhale, Ceara heard every word of. Resolved, she reached behind her neck and unclasped the zircon-silver necklace, tossing it at Ceara's feet—her heart jumping as metal hit metal—and absolving herself of her position as captain as well.

With that done, Sousei addressed both princes, "We will keep our word. Now keep yours."

Kouen nodded and looked over his shoulder at Koumei. "Release Reizei Masami of her imprisonment and charges. There will be no persecution against her."

"Yes, my brother and king." Koumei stepped forward and told the two of them to follow him. Without another word, only a sidelong glance from Sousei, the twins left and with them Ceara felt something being ripped out of her.

The doors hadn't even closed behind them when she felt her legs weak. Stumbling down, she grasped onto the sword and necklace—her gifts that they had turned into their worst weapon against her.

Her mind felt broken again. This time, though, it was out of a mixture of grief and confusion. All these years, Ceara had expected nothing short of pure hatred. She had expected them to be like Masami and hate her for what she had done. And they had...until they didn't.

Sousei had been right. Ceara had always expected their hatred, their insults, and for them to curse her to the high hells. Not this sparing.

Not something I don't deserve from them.

And this—she wrapped one arm around the blade while holding the necklace in another hand, tucking both closer to her chest—this desertion she hadn't ever imagined. The gifts they had earned from her djinn because of their loyalty and trust—for Sou and Sui to forfeit them...

It's gone. There's nothing left of me with them.

Neither in their minds not their hearts. They made that clear.

"Ceara."

The sound of her own name revolted her and she recoiled from the hand that touched her shoulder.

Get out.

"...get out…"

"What?"

"Get out!" she shouted, holding the blade so close to her that she felt the tip dig into her side. It didn't pierce through but still hurt, like everything else did. Ignoring the tears that fell down her face, from both bitterness and sadness, she stepped back away from the two that remained in the room and glared at Kouen as he remained the immovable wall that he was. She hissed the words under her breath and stood back until she hit the post of the canopy bed. The prince didn't answer her nor adhere to her demand, he only stood there. And it was getting tiresome.

"I said get out!" she shouted, her voice reverberating. Strangely, she felt the air around her ripple and her eardrums ache as her voice augmented in volume. Must've been Beleth's power accidentally activating.

"My king, it wasn—"

"Fine," Kouen finally replied, turning away from her to head to the exit. "Seijin." The boy jolted at the deep voice that commanded him now but spared a glance at Ceara as she pressed against the bedpost. He opened his mouth but was shut when Kouen repeated his name, this time in a much harsher, sterner tone. Obeying, he lowered his head briefly at her before trotting after him.

Finally alone, Ceara couldn't help but fall apart in an instant. The last thread that had been so tautly strung had finally snapped and with it so did her family. All this time, she had feared this would happen, but no amount of fear or worry could have ever prepared her for this.

"I'm sorry."

"...fuck off," she snarled, recognizing well by then the lilt of that man's voice.

He didn't however. Instead, she heard his steps grow closer and stand beside her before falling as he sat beside her. A warm hand came and wrapped itself around her shoulders, bringing her head down against a warm body. "You're in pain and I understand that you wish to be left alone. But right now, you mustn't be."

The words, despite their vagueness, made her doubt why he was even there—why she was even hallucinating after a day of not seeing anything—but his warmth and tight hold soothed her. Just the proximity and care of another person was enough to give her some leeway to let go.

And she did, crying at the top of her lungs until her voice became hoarse. All the while, he sat beside her simply being there. By the time she could no longer weep from how her throat hurt, she undid the tight hold she had on the household vessels left to her. Reaching out with her hands, she brushed her fingers across the steel blade and bright blue zircon.

"I tried to warn you, to urge you so you would understand," he began as he retrieved his arm from around her, "things like this happen when you don't take action. You refused to take that first step—you're reactive—and it cost you."

No. She had this coming since long ago, even she could admit that, but another part of her couldn't help but agree with him. Masami took every initiative to make this a complete fall for her: incapacitate her and get to the twins first. Kouen had been right, prolonging things out of fear was the worst thing she could have done.

"Learn from this, Speirr," the man told her, tilting his head to give her a sidelong glance.

"I had this coming, though." Ceara felt stupid answering a hallucination. "And if they believe this is best, then I won't deny it from them. No matter how much it hurts me."

"You shouldn't have to suffer simply because you love too much," he retorted.

There was no answer for her to give to that. Not one that she wouldn't regret later, anyway. As much pain as she was in, Ceara couldn't fathom how part of her logical mind told her to just be quiet. And she did and for a few minutes everything, including him, was silent.

"I see you still doubt what I say despite what's happened," the blond man responded with a heavy sigh. As he stands up, his golden plait flows back and forward behind him, and again when he turns about to bend before her. "But that's all right. I won't let you suffer alone again, Ceara, but you have must learn sooner or later. Preferably sooner."

"Just leave me be."

"If that's what you want, then I will. But if you ever want my help, rest assured, call me and I will answer."

"Call you?"

"Yes," he said and reached his hand, managing to brush the tip of his forefinger against her temple. A strange electricity surged through her whole body, like a small shock that came and left, before a single name popped into her head. "Just call my name and I will come help you anyway I can. All right?"

Ceara felt idiotic for answering but felt compelled to as the man's silhouette began to lose color and become transparent. "I will, Rakah."

Rakah grinned, a glint coming to his amethyst eyes a second before he became fully transparent and the light refracted, breaking his form and vanishing. Staring at empty space with wide-eyes, Ceara couldn't fathom what she had just seen. She wanted to think herself crazy, that the poison had damaged her brain permanently somehow, but every time Rakah appeared, it seemed less likely.

And yet he'd been there, more than once.

Just forget it. I won't ever call whoever or whatever that man is. And Ceara swore she wouldn't. Forgetting about everything, she stood and laid in the bed of what used to be her room, not caring for the sheets dirtied in dried blood—her blood—and cried, holding onto the household vessels that no longer held power and thinking of the brother and sister that left her.

---

Kouen absolutely abhorred meddlesome issues that interfered with his plans. In the last week, it had been the poisoning with Ceara. That morning, it was the Reizei twins' recusal as captains. Now, as the evening came to settle over Balbadd, it was Reizei Sousei, head of his household, that brought him a new problem; the youngest son of the late General Koujiro prostrated himself before Kouen, only standing when told to do so.

The boy seemed to still be downtrodden about what had occurred but a few hours ago, the news that had turned both his sister's and his own life upside-down. That same boy, however, appeared as composed as could be. All except for the redness of his eyes that belied his actual emotional state.

"I apologize for our sudden recusal from the army, especially with the Summit meeting so rapidly approaching."

He dismissed the issue with a wave of his hand. "I allowed you to do as you did frankly because without those household vessels you are like any common soldier." There were always citizens of Kou willing to join his army and two lost kids wouldn't put a dent on that number. The morale of those that fought with them, though, would be another issue itself. One he would deal with later. "But I digress. You aren't here just to apologize, I'm assuming."

"Yes." Sousei took a step closer to Kouen as he sat at the head of the council table after the last war meeting of the night. "His highness, Prince Koumei, assured us that Masami would be released by the morrow. But what I came to request if for your permission to return to Rakushou."

"Why?"

"Your highness, regardless of what's occurred, neither Suisei nor I wish to forfeit completely from your army or purpose," he explained. "We wish to fight to unite the world as you have said. However, after what you hid from us, we cannot so readily do so. Are you still adamant on not punishing Ceara of Eriu?"

"As I made clear to you before, she is a valuable resource as a multiple dungeon capturer." Kouen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, not knowing how many times he would have to repeat himself for them to understand. "And as we agreed upon, you've forfeited the right for Imperial interference where she is concerned."

"I am aware," Sousei replied with a crooked smile, lowering his head with a small scoff. "In all honesty, Prince Kouen, I don't think I would have been able to stand her execution even if it had been the right thing to do to get Kohaku some justice. But despite there being a part of myself that doesn't want to see her harmed, I can't readily forgive nor forget the truth of the fact that she lied."

Something about Sousei's words piqued Kouen's interest and he decided to pursue this. "Is that what you're upset about?"

The youngest twin stiffened for a second before coming back to his normal stance. "Yes. This whole situation, I feel, could have gone several different ways had she only decided to speak to us about the truth."

"Killing a friend and taking her place isn't exactly the easiest topic to open with."

"I agree." Sousei raised his head and shook it, "But still…"

He knows more than he lets on.

But he shelved that idea for later. At the moment, it mattered more to settle this as quickly and cleanly as possible to put his attention were it mattered most. "If that's all you request, then go ahead. Fleets are constantly leaving from Balbadd to several of Kou's ports, including Shika—I'm sure some are leaving tomorrow morning. From there, it'll be a few days to Rakushou. Just ascertain yourself that neither of your sisters will speak of what you know."

"I will, you have my word on that," Sousei assured him. "Then we will depart on tomorrow's earliest fleet home. We shall return to the fronts with your army once we have settled our issues. I thank you as head of the Reizei Household for this time."

"Don't," Kouen responded. "I am doing this out of courtesy; you yielded the Eastern Isles without pushing the agenda of your family first as your father attempted to before you. You are capable of seeing the larger picture which we're fighting for and I respect that."

The young head of household bowed and thanked him one last time before excusing himself. Kouen had a moment for himself then; a respite that was made quite short as Ri Seishuu entered and bowed before addressing his reason for breaking his peace.

"The silversmith's assistant came to deliver what you ordered, young master." Seishuu withdrew a small hexagonal box from the folds of his clothes before placing it before Kouen. The box had appeared dwarfed in his Household Member's gigantic hands, but in his, as he opened it to examine the piece that laid inside, it was just the right size.

Closing the box again, Kouen stood up, thanking and dismissing Ri Seishuu, before heading towards the west part of the palace. Surely, even after the hours that had passed, Ceara would not have moved an inch from that room. Despite having wanted to stay and assure himself that she would be fine, her volatile emotions drove him against that. After such heavy-handed blows, one after the other, the girl was more than devastated. And with how vehement she was about being left alone, Kouen thought it best to comply with her for once. But as things stood, he could only let her dwell in her grief for so long. She needed to return to her sickroom as well, seeing as she had not completely recovered.

The guards stepped aside the instant they saw him, informing him that she had indeed never left the room. Not bothering to knock, he came in to a slightly differing scene from when he left her. Instead of the floor, she sat on the bed, giving him her back as she leaned against one of the bedposts on the foot of the bed. From where he stood, Kouen could see her hands resting upon the blade, the blue zircon necklace beside her, as she rested her head and stared at the ceiling.

"If you're here to patronize me, don't bother," she whispered, not bothering to turn around. "Whatever you might tell me, I've thought over about ten times."

"Then I won't." Taking his full strides to reach her, he sat across from her, leaning against the headboard. "How are you—"

"Feeling?" she finished, refusing to look him in the eye still. "Curiously enough, I don't feel anything anymore. At first, I was just devastated, grief-stricken, and then after I kept repeating in my head what went wrong, what I could've done to make it better, I realized that there was nothing I could have possibly done that would have changed anything. That spiraled me down a never-ending hole of...well, disgust and despair, frankly."

"You're still there by the sound of it," Kouen pointed out.

"Astute observation," she drawled sarcastically before lowering her head to finally face him. Kouen could see the dry streaks of tears and the redness of her eyes as she glared at him. "Now that that's out of the way, how about leaving me to my hopelessness?"

"You need to return to the infirmary," he simply replied. "The magician healer needs to see you. You haven't recovered completely yet."

"I don't feel like going back." Her gaze fell against the steel blade that she let her hand slide against, the smoothness gleaming in the dim moonlight that spilled in through the window. "I'd much rather stay here and wallow."

"And die." Having no denial from her, Kouen assumed he had guessed the right answer. Predictable, especially with how her emotional state was at the moment. "Don't waste yourself like that. It won't help anybody."

"Right." Ceara scoffed and shook her head, "You still need me for conquering the west, right?" Her cynicism suddenly vanished from her expression as she frowned. "Tell me, once that ends, what will you do with me?"

"More than likely," he said, wanting to be truthful, "you will be imprisoned."

"No execution?"

"No."

"Shame," she breathed against her sigh. "It'd actually give me something to look forward to."

Acrimonious, nihilistic, and suicidal: like there wasn't enough to deal with already. Kouen knew from before that dealing with her was hard when she fell to her lows. Now it would be much more difficult to dig her out of it. But he would try.

"The twins and Masami are returning to Shika on a fleet first thing tomorrow morning." Telling these news bought him her attention as she lifted her face to meet him. "You wish to see them off?"

There was a pause before grief stole into her gaze. "For what? They'll just curse at me and hate me all the same. Besides, I don't want to see Masami. She'd only gloat and that's the last thing I want to see."

"Then merely watch from afar," Kouen suggested. "See them off that way and ensure at least with your own eyes that they'll be heading there safely."

"Are you inviting me to go?"

"If that is what you want, I'll have Ri Seishuu and Kin Gaku escort you as per protocol."

Her brow furrowed then as she brought her knees closer to her body along with the sword and necklace. "Why?"

"You're grief-stricken in a way I've never seen you before, excluding Kohaku's departure."

He sighed and leaned forward. The bed was small enough, and him overtly larger, that it was easy to reach her. He took the zircon necklace first, undoing the clasp and wrapping it around her neck, before clasping it closed after a bit of a struggle. The zircon fell just above her chest, the blue of the gem contrasting against her eyes. Standing up, he strode forward and helped her to stand, careful to maneuver the sword she held tightly onto. Undoing the belt strap from his own sword, he laid Astaroth's metal vessel upon the bed as he adjusted the leather belt to her size. Once done, he wrapped it around her hips without much protest from her. If anything, Kouen could tell she was just puzzled at what he was doing. She wasn't the only one. He took the hilt of the sword from her hands and took it before carefully putting it in place without a sheath.

"But Sousei and Suisei are alive still, Ceara. Which means you still have a duty to protect them."

"What's the point," she protested, reaching to caress the necklace that fell upon her chest and the sword that laid snugly at her right. "They don't want to have anything to do with me."

"And I have seen you be more stubborn than a mule where their safety is concerned, whether they wanted it or not. Does it really matter now that they don't want you or your protection? Does that fact make you care for them any less?"

The question didn't seem to deserve any thought. "Never."

"Then I fail to see what this whole problem is about." Kouen took Astaroth's vessel in one hand while digging with the other underneath the folds of his clothes. "You or what you feel so strongly about won't change no matter what others do—even them. I understand you're grieving after what's happened but being here won't help them or you with whatever may happen. Fighting for us will ensure their safety, and isn't that what matters most to you?"

"Yes."

"Then fight with all the power you've obtained to protect them," he urged her before taking the box out and showing it to her. Her eyes widened a bit at seeing the odd box he placed in her unexpectant hands. Confused, she glanced up at him a couple of times before he became irritated. Taking his hands, he grabbed the box from underneath, covering the one hand she was using to hold it was well, while the other opened the box.

In it was a finely made hair comb. It was silver, she could tell, and although small the flower she saw decorating the center of it was a silver carnation with light touches of reds and pinks. Swirls came out from underneath the silver flower, encrusted with tiny pearls colored a slight metallic green and blue.

"Keep it," Kouen told her, taking it out and placing it in the palm of her hand. "Use it for Murmur and regain that power you obtained for yourself. That power is yours and no one can take it away from you."

There was a brief pause as she stared at the small piece. Aloof as could be, she closed the box and whispered, "I will. Thank you, Kouen." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before continuing, "For this and for coming for me."

"Are you going to go back to your sickroom?" he asked and she nodded. As if reminded of something, Kouen saw her brow furrow as she took a minute. "Is everything all right?"

"I think so." She sighed and frown before facing him. "It's just that I'm still having hallucinations and it's worrying me."

"The magician that's taking care of your treatment—"

"Parisa."

"—she said that the poison's effects could last for at least two weeks," he assured her. "For you to have a few hallucinations shouldn't be that alarming."

"But I'm seeing things that don't make sense." Her hand reached to her head and brushed through her hair as she tried to calm herself for a second. "Dead people, sure I get that, but strange men that I don't know or think I kn—"

"Strange men?" he repeated.

"Well, one in particular actually." The correction didn't help the small irk that came to be in him as she continued her description. "It's weird because...he seems too real to be a hallucination."

"It probably is."

"You think so too?"

"If you don't think about it for a while, then it should go away, Ceara." Reaching behind her, he took her by the small of her back and urged her forward so that she could get to the sickroom. "Your mind isn't in the best condition, neither are your emotions—that could be affecting your health overall. Just go rest and let Parisa work on you."

"Y-Yeah," she stammered a bit unsure but taking his word for what it was worth. "I'll do that."

Kouen took her all the way to the sickroom and left her in the hands of the healers and Parisa before leaving. Despite leaving, though, he still couldn't forget what she had said about her hallucinations.

One too real to be fake; a strange man in particular. If he didn't know better, Kouen would say that she actually had contact with the bastard that was fooling around in his territory. If so, then he would personally hunt and strike him down. Nobody would infiltrate his base of operations without a care and not pay for it.

---

"Don't go far." Ceara glanced over her shoulder at Ri Seishuu and nodded, pulling at the cowl over her head to hide her face better.

She was grateful that Kouen had told her about the twins leaving but she would have appreciated some faith that she would return. Although she liked both of the household members, the fact that they were assimilated actually made it hard for her to walk around incognito. Already at the ports, it amazed Ceara that Balbadd was in such a rush so early in the morning. People, from sailors and merchants to locals, meandered the streets, overflowing them to the brim. From what the two household members had told her, Sou and Sui would leave with a fleet headed to Shika and from there they had been instructed to return to the Kou Empire's capital.

It took a couple of minutes but she finally found the ship that was almost finished loading by the looks of it. Ships were constantly coming and going, and as she tried getting a better look of the entourage sent with her family, Ceara couldn't quite see them as more people flooded through the port. Stepping out into the crowd, she overheard Seishuu's and Gaku's calls but ignored them all the same. She wouldn't go far anyway, just close enough to see them leave. Shoving through the people that walked against her, she pushed up against a building's wall near an alleyway, climbing over stacked crates to get an overhead view.

Standing up there got her a good bird-eye's view and she watched Masami and the twins from afar. All of them looked tired, devastated, grieving. Much like she had been. Yet it pained her that they would part on such horrible terms, with her unable to explain herself or refute any of Masami's bogus accusations. Sousei and Suisei had denied her that chance—they wanted to know nothing of her—and no matter how much that broke her heart she would oblige with their wishes. It was the least she could do.

"Sad to see them go."

Startled to hear him there, Ceara looked over her shoulder to see Rakah standing a few crates down but tall enough still to look over and see the same scene she did. Cloaked in a heavy dark coat, most of his figure was hidden but she would recognize that lilting tone anywhere. But as she had assured herself by telling Kouen about him, Rakah wasn't real. Just another hallucination.

"You're not real."

Rakah chuckled, throwing his head slightly back before looking up at her. "Still on that bandwagon, huh. When are you gonna face the truth? I'm as real as you are, Speirr. And like you, I understand how unfair this is."

Unfair?

"I've seen the things you've done, what you've accomplished. You've saved so many and given so many hope, and you do all those things simply because, well, good needs doing, right?"

"You don't know why I do the things I do."

He chuckled loudly at that, holding onto his side. "Come on, it's plain as day. Sure, you regret what you've done—killing off the girl—but wouldn't taking care of that family of hers be penance enough? And you did! For thirteen years, you took care of them as she should have and that should have been more than enough to calm that guilt of yours. So why do the orphan houses or even those soldier memoirs? They don't repent for anything."

"They're for others."

"Charity," Rakah scoffed and climbed another crate to come closer to her. "Admit it, Speirr, you do good out of your own volition, it's comes naturally for you. But that makes you predictable, and it's because of that—" Stopping briefly, he lifted his arm to point out towards the docked ship that was boarding the few passengers it would take, including her family. Ceara watched from afar as Masami boarded the ship with one twin in either arm before disappearing to the inside. "—that she's strolling out of here, free of punishment for what she's done, with them in tow."

"It's their choice," Ceara refuted but had a hard time believing her own words as her hands grabbed onto the edge of the crate before her.

"And yours?" he asked, curious. "Are you going to stand here and let her take them away like that, after all she's done to you? If you're fine with them hating you, then okay, you win. But you aren't, are you?"

No, but it's not up to me what they feel or think.

Unable to voice that thought, however, left Rakah another opening to speak. "I warned you countless times before to act before she did. Ofttimes the people who do the worst end up with all the good in the world. My case in point, you did everything right and yet she's the one walking out of here with the two people that have mattered most in your life."

His words riled Ceara to a point where she couldn't keep quiet anymore and before she knew it she snapped at him, turning about to meet his amethyst eyes with her stark blue ones. "Yes, it's extremely infuriating that after all she's done to me, threatening to hurt them and using me to get what's she's wanted, they leave with her. It's fucking frustrating that I can't go up there right now, and tell them the truth; convince them of what is right. And what annoys me the most—" Her voice lowered as she spoke through gritted teeth, trying at the same time to keep back her bitter tears, "—is that I keep thinking that I deserve this."

"And the worst part is that you don't see how wrong you are to think that and how right it is that you feel all that," Rakah told her, stepping closer until they stood in equal footing, making her lift her head to look at him. "You've been selfless long enough, Ceara."

"Don't."

Murmur? His voice was weak, forced almost, but she could hear it. She could even feel how much magoi it was taking from her for him to say a few words.

"You promised—love. No matter what…"

Promise?

That's right, she promised him…

I promised to Sousei that no matter what they think of me, even if they hate me for all I'm worth, I would always love them.

"But hating her for everything won't solve anything," Ceara confessed, lifting her head and wiping at the angry tears that had surfaced. "Sousei and Suisei made their choice as did Masami, just like I made mine years ago. And I decided that, no matter what they do, I'll love them all the same."

"You're leaving things up to chance in other words," Rakah groaned, clearly irritated.

"No, leaving things that concern us to them isn't leaving them to chance. I leave them in the hands of people I trust." Taking a page from the months of training, Ceara took a deep breath to calm herself from the bout of rage that had sprouted out of her before addressing him again. "Masami won, and I'm not happy about that. I am actually angry beyond belief but I won't go after her. She hurt them by telling them the truth; in reality, though, I would have done no different. They will come to accept and form whatever ideas they will, and I can accept that of them. Masami won't be punished but now that she has everything she wanted, there's no reason for her to antagonize me or those I care about anymore. As for me…"

I'll hurt for a very, very long time. And it'll be sad...to be alone again.

"I will go back to how my life was before them—" I have to learn to live alone again. "—and I'll survive without them by my side. Just knowing that they will be safe, I think is enough for me for now. Besides," Ceara smiled, feeling her grief anew, as she watched the fleet leave the docks, before climbing down the craters to the ground. Turning back up to Rakah who still stood above her, she simply gave him a small smile. "You said it yourself, I do good because good needs doing. I don't know how long it'll be before Kouen and the rest decide to make this public, but until they do, I have much of my work cut out for me."

"Don't do this to yourself, Ceara," Rakah warned her. "You're underestimating the situation— undermining what horrid things people are capable of doing to themselves and others for no reason—and that error can cost you more than you think. People like Masami, they don't stop at just hurting you; you're a fool if you think that. If she has the chance, she'll destroy you."

"Then let her," Ceara replied. "Let her hit me as hard as she can. I'll do what I've always done and hit back harder. So long as it's me she's aiming for, then it's fine. I'll handle her better next time." Giving her his back, she waved. "Goodbye, Rakah."

Ceara didn't bother looking back, knowing he would be surely gone, and instead walked with the crowd to find her escorts. The task itself wasn't hard as the two were frantically looking over the crowd for her. Reaching out to wave, she made her way to them, the two giants reprimanding her for leaving their side.

"I wanted to see them leaving," she replied and side-stepped them to head back to the palace. "They're on their way home now."

Home.

To where Kohaku and Cael rested, to where their parents passed and rested as well, to where their lives were made. Home where she lost it all and found something else in return: them.

And I' won't be digging any more graves for those I love. I'll regain Murmur's power and have the three of them always with me. I'll use everything and anything I have to to protect them from whatever comes our way, no matter what I have to do or who I have to fight.

---

A/N:

Almost a whole month! Damn, I took my sweet time cx I legit wrote this chapter in chunks, twitter can attest to that slow-ass progression but I've done it! A bit underwhelming, I must admit (especially in the reveal), but it worked out :) There were so many breaks because of everything that was happening but it needed to happen. Some old characters, some new; one won't have much to do with the plot, the other will, and I'm pretty sure you guys are smart enough to guess who.

Lots of emotions and stuff happening, for sure. A couple of chapters ago, back when Kohaku got released, I finished the first part of the plot I'd written. With these past couple or three, I went through a backstory and through the first piece of the second part, so we're in the midpoint! (if my math is correct). Some of you may question, "well, everything's out in the open, right? What more could you possibly do?" Well, you'd be surprised! There's much I could do, plan to do, and why this chapter ended the way it did.

Because of certain things pointed out by my readers and others who enjoy my writing, I was made aware of some good criticisms that I've had to fix about my plot. Moreso about the paragonness of the character I created. Well, as things turn out, the fact that she ended up as a paragon, although not completely planned since the beginning, will serve a purpose! Because, let's face it, when someone thinks they do good and right because that's who they are and what they do, it's much harder to throw them out of their stubborn-sit and convince them otherwise. Paragons are scary little shits!

(Sorry if this whole spiel was a bit to into my mind and writing process -w- )

Anyway, with that whole talk over with (honestly I just needed to let that off of my chest cx). It's time to give some thanks where thanks are due! :D First to the wonderful people that Followed and Favorited.

- NeverStory

- E. M. M. 030996

- XxLostInTheMusicxX

- Crimson Killer

- Premium. Carbonation

- Arithus

Now to reply to the reviews that I couldn't answer to :)

- Esme: Haha, thanks for that cx It's hard to get those reviews but so long as I know people read it, it's something for me. Sorry it took so long to update too. And wow, Holland! That's amazing :D

- Guest: Frankly, I have to thank you very much for the review and constructive criticism. I'm glad at least some thing's got you onto this story and I was a bit afraid that Kohaku/Ceara would rub off as that. I cannot say it was completely accidental either but I will do what I can (without damaging my original backbone of the plot) to fix this problem. Thank you, truly, for what you said, and I hope it didn't completely deter you from continuing to read this story.

That's all this time folks! Since I'm on a little break before summer session starts, I will be working more on these stories. The series of writing for Magi I want to write will be worked more on c: If you guys don't want to wait so long for updates, check up on my twitter ( xkeyoftheabyssx) for small ones on progress I make on each chapter :)

That aside, I wish to thank you all who read, favorite, follow, and review the story c: You truthfully will always make my day and are the ones that make this whole thing worthwhile :) Love you all! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next update.