The courtyard outside Elsem Castle bristled with steel.
Army of Kaine soldiers assembled in ordered rows before the gates. Banners of salient red wings shifting in the wind. Above them, Soul-soldiers lined the battlements, watching.
Neither side moved.
Satorii strode through the castle's halls in a hurry. With her, a bodyguard in full Kaine leathers — silent, helmeted.
Servants peered as she passed. Guards quietened.
She entered the council hall.
Inside, not the Elsemer High Council but Isla Kaine awaited.
Her mother.
That high, blade collar signature to her typical dresses — always humbled Satorii.
Reuben stood beside her.
"Mother." Satorii called, voice tight.
"You sat in this council and still did nothing." Isla scolded. "They arrested your brother, and you did nothing."
Satorii faltered. "I didn't know—"
"Then you were blind." Isla stepped forward, her voice cutting sharper. "Ignorance is a luxury you have hidden behind for far too long, this child. You hide behind your titles, your seat, your name — yet when it matters, you remain useless."
Satorii lowered her gaze.
Reuben stepped in, "Mother, please. This was not her doing. The order came from the Crown. I carried it out."
Isla's tone softened as she turned to him. "You did what was required of you. As your father raised you to."
Satorii's head lifted then, something bitter surfacing. "Of course. You never blame him. Or Fredder. Only me."
The slap cracked through the chamber.
Satorii did not move. Her head turned with the force of Isla's smack, but her posture held. Her eyes remained dry. Unblinking.
Isla raised her hand again.
It stopped mid-air.
Satorii's armored bodyguard had caught her wrist.
Silence fell.
Reuben stepped forward. A threatening presence without need for word.
The bodyguard released her at once, then removed his helmet.
Brimmah.
"I will bear any punishment meant for Lady Kaine," he said.
The second slap came faster.
His head snapped to the side.
"Touch me again," Isla said coldly, "and you will lose that hand."
Reuben intervened. "The trial will begin shortly."
Isla turned without another word and walked out.
Reuben lingered only a moment — just long enough to glance at Satorii — before following.
The doors shut.
Satorii stood motionless. Her whitened face showing no emotion as usual.
Brimmah turned to her. "Are you hurt?"
"Your duty," Satorii snapped without looking at him. The anger tightening her voice didn't affect her emotionless mask, "is to protect me from threats. Not interfere in matters that do not concern you!"
She turned sharply—
Then stopped as she recognised a faint smear of her white maquillage on his cheek — transmitted by her mother's slap.
Her hand rose instantly, covering the side of her face where the maquillage had been struck and damaged.
"Don't look at me," she squealed, urgent. "Turn around."
Brimmah blinked, confused — but obeyed.
He turned his back.
Her movements were quiet. She drew a lacquered case from beneath the inner fold of her sleeve.
It opened with a soft click. Inside was a mirror, pigment and face brushes.
Not a stroke wasted as she began repairing her damaged maquillage.
Brimmah could hear her moving, though he could not see what she was doing.
When she spoke again, her voice had steadied. "You should not have come. It was a mistake allowing it." She said. "You are still wounded and should be resting."
"I have rested enough. I could not remain idle knowing you would walk into this alone."
"Still. And you should not have interfered," she said, quieter now. "Now my mother will take notice of you. That is not… a good thing."
"A shield that fails to stand between its bearer and harm — is no shield at all. You saved my life when the world itself had forsaken me. There is nothing I would not stand against for yours."
A while of silence fell.
"Then…" her voice hesitated, "Did you see anything?"
"See what?"
"…Nothing. You may turn around."
He did.
Her maquillage was pristine again.
But something looked different about her face, Brimmah thought.
For the first time, the heavy maquillage didn't make her face appear soulless — because she was smiling through it. It was his first time seeing her face display any emotion whatsoever.
She pointed at his cheek where the smear of her colour still remained. "Could it be that you too fancy face-painting?" She teased.
Brimmah stared at her. The smile, the tease from her — just didn't fit. He wiped the faint stain, still watching her — speechless as though trying to place a stranger in familiar form.
A knock at the door cut through that moment.
In an instant the warmth drained from her face. She was back to the soulless-looking Lady Kaine.