In preparation for Veric and Cynara’s visit, I took a quick shower to put my emotional state in order and refresh myself. After roughly drying my hair, I changed into a silky white shirt that felt like something between a dress shirt and a very fancy pajama top. I paired it with one of the looser slacks in Acacius’ closet, then slipped on the cloth slippers I’d gotten a while back for wearing indoors.

I took a moment to wipe up the blood in the bedroom, incinerate the towels, and rinse the ashes away in the sink. If it got clogged I’d just have to deal with it later. Then I opened the windows to air out the dorm and put on a kettle of water for tea. 

Switching to the 6E frame, I gathered heat around my body, particularly by the forehead and hands, to fake having a mild fever still. 

By the time I heard knocking on the door, I’d set the pot of tea out to steep and was ready to face the day. 

So I really should have expected that Luka would be outside the door with Veric and Cynara, too. 

I gave him an unhappy look, which was something I was sure I’d do in this situation even if he hadn’t stabbed me and then wrung a favor out of me, before turning my attention back to the other two. 

“So what do you want?” 

“Not even a hello?” Veric said. 

I clicked my tongue, but begrudgingly let them in through the door. 

After setting out a fourth cup on the table, I sat down at my favorite seat next to the window and poured tea for everyone. Annoyingly enough, they made themselves quite welcome. Veric sat across from me, and Cynara next to her, which left Luka to take the last seat next to me. 

“So why are you here?” I repeated once everyone settled in. 

Veric said, “I figured I’d check on you in person since you’re so hard to talk to already.” Wow. “Let me fill you in on what happened at Veratrum Row.” 

“I don’t need your personal report…” 

Veric kicked my shin under the table. I hissed dramatically. “Be quiet and listen.” 

I rolled my eyes, pretended I didn’t see Cynara staring at our interactions, and took a sip of my tea. 

Veric gave me a brief rundown of events from her perspective. Apparently, Luka had tagged along with her because his schedule was free today. When they saw the storm above Veratrum Row and the impending flood, they briefly split ways: Veric to deal with the water source, and Luka to evacuate anyone nearby. He’d only gone to rejoin Veric once other well-meaning people in the area took up evacuation duty as well. 

Cynara and Luka had actually crossed paths because of that. I hadn’t expected her to be on her way home at this time, but she’d left her ladies’ gathering for reasons undisclosed, and he’d warned her away. 

I guess even Etienne’s information packet of habits and schedules couldn’t predict human caprice. 

Principal Sun, Veric explained, had left the area as soon as she confirmed the attacker was gone and that everyone was mostly alright. The Atmospheric Chancery had closed down both Veratrum Row and the area around the Dragon Shrine to look for traces of the sacrificial flow frame. The Ministry of Security and Investigation was cooperating with them closely. 

Luka said he saw Artunis Sattari in the area; perhaps they were adding to their dossier on the Order of the Black Sun and looking for hints of Tiziri’s involvement as well.

If nothing else, the scale of this incident was huge. 

Having finished her summary, Veric looked at me expectantly. 

“So what do you think?” 

“Of what?”

“The attack.” 

Well, it was my own fault for taking advantage of her belief that I was a prophet, but I still didn’t like when she expected me to know things. And more than that, to tell her. 

“Didn’t you say it was the Order? We already knew they existed and were plotting against Iyiria. That’s not new information. I wouldn’t have expected them to launch a strike against Veratrum Row, though.” 

“That’s not how it looks to others,” Cynara muttered into her cup. “It looks like you thought something would happen and didn’t warn anyone. Or should we take it as a coincidence that you asked Veric to head over today?” 

Veric nodded in agreement, crossing her arms. Luka was silent.

I curled my lip. “This isn’t another prophet accusation, is it? Just because I have opinions on what the future might hold?”

“More because you have accurate feelings,” Veric remarked. 

“You don’t need to have prophetic abilities to know what will happen, okay? It’s called having information and then acting on it to bring about the results you want.” On some sadistic impulse, I met Luka’s gaze and indicated at the other two with my chin. “Right, Luka? Back me up, here.”

Veric narrowed her eyes.

Luka, after a long pause, said in a very neutral voice, “You definitely had an idea of what would happen today.”

“Why in the world did you think Luka would agree with you?” said Veric.

“Why are you taking his words as an agreement with you?” I argued. “Maybe he’s saying he believes in the capabilities of my information sources.”

“What information sources could you possibly have?” Cynara said in disbelief.

“Clearly someone more involved than yours.”

“But not enough to prevent a bad outcome.”

“What bad outcome? Didn’t everyone survive?”

“The whole neighborhood is destroyed! Was that the result you wanted when you told Verica to come ‘check in’ on me?”

“Maybe it was,” I said bullishly. “Maybe I did want Veratrum Row to be blown apart.”

“You liar. You can’t admit the truth even when everyone already knows.”

I opened my mouth to make another inflammatory remark.

“Acacius.”

I looked to my side, where Luka was staring at me seriously, fingers tightening around his cup of tea.

“Can you…just stop?”

“…”

Way to spoil my fun.

But seeing the subtle tension in his body language, I had to concede that maybe I was tormenting him unduly by making him my accomplice in deceiving everyone, including his best friend. And I did owe him.

Still… it was a little funny how he couldn’t handle it.

I didn’t mock him for it, but I did have to take a moment to hold back a smile. 

Turning back to Veric and Cynara, who had been watching us in complete silence, I spoke a little more honestly.

“Regardless of what anyone believes, I didn’t expect that things would become so dangerous today. Maybe I would have done things differently if I had known. So… I’m glad that everyone is safe.”

Luka lowered his gaze to stare at the tea like it was the most riveting thing in the world.

“Now that we’ve all confirmed each others’ well-being,” I said, “is there anything else to talk about? Because if not…”

I was going to say that we should just end things here. But in my pause, Veric glanced at Cynara hesitatingly before acting like she hadn’t, and Cynara looked away from Veric subtly as if overcompensating for her awareness of her.

Did they have a topic they didn’t know how to breach in the company of the other?

In concession of my bad deeds of the day, I completed my sentence with, “…I’d like to talk to Cynara alone before she goes.”

Cynara nearly jumped out of her seat. “What? What could we possibly have to talk about?”

“Don’t act like a thief who was caught stealing.” I gestured for Veric and Luka to get up and shooed them towards the door. “If you two still have something to talk about with me, then wait out there.”

Firmly shutting the door behind them, I went back to the kitchen where Cynara was still sitting there with her fists clenched over her knees.

I sat down across from her and looked at her without saying anything. A little pressure tactic to make her go first.

“…You’ve changed your taste in tea.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Have I?”

She flushed. “Well… you used to drink the mintier stuff, that’s all.”

Huh. I hadn’t found anything like that in his room. If I had his taste buds, would I like it too? 

Not that this was the time to contemplate that. 

“Now that the house on Veratrum Row is destroyed, what’s your plan?” I asked. 

Cynara shrugged half-heartedly. “Graves should have a safe house around here I can use, if I don’t find a hotel I like.” See, there was barely any reason to feel bad for anyone who’d been living there. They’d be fine. “I’m not sure what everyone else has in mind… so that’s why you should be sure to attend the Fellowship of the Silver Wing tonight. Yugrazal said to remind you.”

“Yugrazal did?”

She nodded. “I saw her in the aftermath of the attack, assessing the damage. Since the Order targeted us this time, Yugrazal wants to strategize a coordinated response from the Six Families.”

Oh, this I had to attend.

“They won’t mind someone coming while they’re still a little sick, will they?”

Cynara’s eyebrows furrowed. “…You’re sick?”

“I didn’t say that. But if I was?”

“That’s the second time this school year already. What did you do?”

“Why are you blaming me?”

Her expression sank. “…I guess that’s true.”

Wow. What button had I pressed this time?

“Speaking of illness,” I said. “Have you or Linden gone to see the Saintess yet?”

Cynara looked away. She gave a single, jerky nod.

“What did the Saintess say?” I pressed. “Can she be of any help?”

“She’s the Saintess. Of course she can help.”

I nodded in acceptance.

When no more questions were forthcoming, Cynara frowned and glanced askance at me. “Don’t you have anything more to say?”

“Like what?”

“Like what she wanted from us… and what we’re going to do. What’s going on with Linden. Anything.”

“Okay. What’s going on with Linden?”

“Don’t say it in such a perfunctory way.”

She was never happy no matter what “Acacius” did.

“And anyways,” said Cynara, “why did you ask us to do the Saintess a favor? You know what she asked of us is — basically contrary to everything that the Six Families, and our Duval family, all want… right?”

I looked at her, then gave a patronizing half-smile that I was sure would drive her up the wall.

“And yet, of all the aristocrats, and of all the next generation, who do you think is the closest to the Saintess and the Saintess candidates right now?”

With her overactive imagination, it was fine to just let her believe this was all part of some larger scheme.

Entertained by that thought, I hid my smile with a sip from my teacup. Cynara stared at me like she wanted to crack my head open and see what was inside.

“And what’s going on between you and Luka?” she demanded.

I nearly choked on my tea.

“Why are you asking about him?”

“Didn’t you nearly get him killed by Father this summer? Why are you suddenly listening to him so well?”

Okay, that was an exception. “Things change. I can be nice to my friends.”

“You don’t have friends.”

Ouch. If I was Acacius, wouldn’t that have hurt my feelings? — Either because it was true, or because his own sister didn’t know about his one close connection with Zaire…

“True. I don’t want friends,” I agreed. “So let’s stop talking about me and start talking about you. You started your first year at Nithemoore early. How are things going? Made any friends yet? Having trouble because of age and personality differences?”

She scowled. “Any ‘personality difference’ I have can’t possibly be worse than yours.”

“Still not hearing you name any friends.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

Diversion tactic successful. But with the way she’d avoided giving any answers, I was actually kind of worried about her social life now.

With nothing else to talk about, I saw Cynara to the door.

It looked like Veric wanted to pull Luka in to talk with us together, but Luka pushed himself off where he’d been leaning on the wall and said to Cynara, “Where are you headed?”

“Um… the transit circle.”

“I’ll walk you there.” He nodded to Veric. “Be back soon.”

Cynara looked startled, but she accepted with a nod. Just what did he want talk about?

Looking as nonplussed as I felt, Veric waved goodbye to them before coming to sit in my dorm kitchen with me.

Naturally, the first thing I said was, “So, you had a chance to chat with Cynara, right? How is she doing? Has she made any friends at Nithemoore yet?”

After a pause, Veric shook her head. “I don’t know. We mostly talked about the attack. And about you.”

“Me?” I said, like I wasn’t the one who had messaged for her to connect with Cynara in the first place.

Veric gave me a flat look. Placing her elbows on the table and weaving her fingers together, she leaned forward to peer at me intently. I couldn’t help but straighten up a little because of how serious she felt. 

“Acacius,” she said. “Why did you send me to Veratrum Row today?”

I played dumb. “What do you mean?”

“If you wanted me to ensure Cynara’s safety, you could have asked me to keep her from going home from school today; if you wanted me to prevent the attack at Veratrum Row, you could have had me go there earlier, or explicitly named the danger. Instead, when I went over and saw the storm over Veratrum Row, I found myself facing a choice.”

Her striking magenta eyes were fixed on me as if wanting to pierce through me.

“I could look for Cynara and move her to safety, satisfying the trust you had placed in me — or I could abandon your interests and move to help as many people as possible.”

Ah.

“It’s only because Luka was there that I didn’t have to choose between the two. However, for a privately entrusted matter like this, you didn’t expect me to bring someone along, did you?”

Because of my second vision, where Veric had fought against my staged terrorist attack alone, I knew what she would have chosen. But… 

I hadn’t meant to put her in that position.

“I’m not a schemer like Roxana, but I’m not completely unaware of how nobles operate,” Veric said. “I am your equal, not your chess piece, and I can be your friend, but not your subordinate. So that’s why I’m asking you. Was today a test to see if I’d prioritize your desires over the well-being of others?”

I was happy that Veric was capable of seeing the dangers around her, but her approach had me caught between laughter and tears.

“And you thought that, if I was that kind of person, that asking me honestly would yield an honest response?”

“I believe that you are someone who responds to sincerity with sincerity,” she replied. “Even if the other person might not recognize it as such.”

Not for the first time, I wished she wouldn’t have such a high opinion of me.

I’d miscalculated how my actions would be perceived by her. Since she had the courage to face me directly, then…

Even if it was hard, I guess I would try to show her a little of myself, too.

“Veric. You know I’m not a very good person.”

Clasping my hands underneath the table, I forced myself to meet her eyes, where concern had suddenly carved a furrow between her brows. I didn’t know what to make of that, so I just kept talking. 

“To be honest, as long as Cynara was safe, the rest of Veratrum Row could have gone to hell today and I wouldn’t have shed any tears. But I know that you and I have different values. After all, in KP-04, after Tiziri took me away for her ritual, you decided to come back for me.”

“It wasn’t just me.”

“It was you,” I said. “Luka followed you, and Roxana capitulated because it was two against one. Am I right?”

Veric didn’t refute. Judging by her expression, though, she wasn’t eager to let me think I was right.

“I don’t share your convictions,” I said, “But I admire them. I also think the world isn’t a place that would often reward you for holding them. So when I sent you to Veratrum Row, it was just… an opportunity. I didn’t need you to choose my interests, or what you thought I’d want. I just thought that no matter what you came across, you would do what you thought was right. And you did.”

“…”

“I don’t want to talk about any theoretical prophetic abilities… or other information sources… and how accurate they are. But I am sorry that you thought you had to choose between me and what you thought was right.”

I paused for a mouthful of tea to help my dry mouth. When I put it down, I looked away from her, out my dorm window.

“I’ll admit that I didn’t expect Cynara to be on her way home today during the attack. That’s not her usual schedule.”

Silence ticked by as I waited for Veric’s judgment.

Even if it didn’t come down in my favor, though, I didn’t need her to like me. It wasn’t like I’d done all this expecting her to say, “Thank you, you’re such a good person,” right? It was just… because I wanted to. 

Finally, Veric let out a sigh. 

“In the future, you don’t need to use vague excuses to send me somewhere. If there’s something I need to be prepared for, I’d like more warning for that, too.”

I felt sorry for it, but it wasn’t very likely I’d follow that second request. For a straightforward person like her, her natural reactions were the best.

“If you can’t explain,” Veric continued, unaware of my thoughts, “just make your request and tell me if you don’t want to say why.”

Was it really that simple for her? I smiled wryly.

“You know, the number one rule about hiding something is to never reveal that you have something to hide in the first place. Otherwise, it becomes possible to guess its nature by the absence.”

“So, you won’t do it?”

I glanced at her serious gaze, then looked away again.

“Don’t you think you’re asking too much from a liar?”

Veric let out a huff of laughter or exasperation and refilled my cup from the teapot.

“Your sister said something like that to me too. That you’re a liar with no good intentions, that you won’t ever explain anything. But from an outsider’s perspective, well… Aren’t you only those things because she treats you as such? At least so far, as long as I’ve approached you with sincerity, you haven’t let me down yet.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

She really didn’t have a clue…

“Veric, that kind of honesty only works when you already have some kind of trust with the other person. Could you talk to Roxana the way you just talked to me?”

Veric hesitated. “I’m sure I could.”

“Heh. Whose turn is it to lie now?”

She flushed a little. “We just… don’t have that kind of relationship.”

“Right? Honesty requires trust. So just because you can approach me like this doesn’t mean others can.”

“But how can anyone build trust with you if you’re never honest about anything?”

“Why do I need their trust?”

“At the very least,” she said, “if you didn’t withdraw from the world so much, I think you might be happier.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

What does the world have that’s worth knowing, maybe. But wasn’t this a different world from mine?

Underneath all the aesthetics and the set dressings, how different could it really be?

Being someone who’d already come to hate the world once, I didn’t know if I could take another failed attempt at loving it again.

“Is this how you got your [Braveheart] title?” I said. “By challenging the Great Dragon like this?”

Veric cleared her throat awkwardly. “Yeah, well… something like that.”

“How often do you see the Dragon, anyways? As a Saintess candidate, it must be more often than the rest of us, right?”

“Actually, not really. The Great Dragon doesn’t like being disturbed by anyone outside of its big ritual appearances, even by us.”

“Really? I saw rumors that people outside the Shrine have close dealings with the Dragon, though. For example, the principal of Nithemoore Academy…”

“Oh, that rumor.”

Veric leaned back in her seat and ran a hand through her hair, pursing her lips.

“That one might have some substance,” she said finally. “Every year, Nithemoore’s principal leaves the school to spend the month of the Dragonsday Festival at the capitol. And Nithemoore Academy is the only place besides the Dragon Shrine that the Great Dragon explicitly sponsors with its hoard. There’s probably some sort of historical agreement there, but no one knows what it is.”

“Really? Not a single clue?”

“Well…” Veric hesitated. “I might have a guess.”

She fidgeted with her hands, gazing out the window as she gathered her thoughts to speak.

“According to Iyiria’s founding myth, after meeting King Yiannis, the Great Dragon was so moved by his heart that it pledged eternal friendship to him, promising to safeguard the kingdom of peace and prosperity that he had envisioned for all time. But that’s not quite true. The Great Dragon… actually has no great love for Iyiria. So to gain its help, King Yiannis was the one who made a promise to her.”

“A promise?”

“Yes. As the Hierarch of Sorrow, the Great Dragon can sense the pain and sorrow of all living things. But — empathy isn’t the same as love, is it? The Great Dragon’s attitude towards life is actually…”

She trailed off. But I could fill in the blanks myself.

“The Great Dragon came to Iyiria during the Wars of Purification, because so many people’s ability to feel pain and sorrow had been wiped away completely. For the Great Dragon, maybe that state of artificial relief suited its tastes better. But King Yiannis persuaded her otherwise. He said that pain and sorrow were actually necessary functions to enjoy life; that they told us when things were wrong, and pointed us to where things must be changed.

“The Great Dragon said that since change was eternal, then pain and sorrow would never end. Then what was the point of struggling?

“King Yiannis said that even if the struggle might never end, striving towards a better state was its own pleasure, too. So, if she lent him her help, he promised her that he’d show her a world where it was worth it to struggle.”

“And then King Yiannis died,” I said.

“And then he died. But the Great Dragon didn’t leave just yet. Your legacy doesn’t end with your life, after all. So every year since then has been part of King Yiannis’ promise to the Dragon — another year to prove that the kingdom they created together was worth the fight. And it has been observing Iyiria ever since.”

So, considering my vision of Crescent Sun’s paradise, and the fact that Veric had a title called [Braveheart Who Challenged the Dragon’s Tears], it seemed like Veric had pledged to fulfill King Yiannis’ promise in his place. That was pretty crazy. What gave her that courage? 

“The Great Dragon has had a lot of patience for Iyiria, hasn’t it,” I said. “Especially since there were so many suspicions around King Yiannis’ death.”

If I were in its place, I might’ve blown Iyiria to pieces right then and there.

Veric was solemn. “Iyiria is like the seed that King Yiannis and the Dragon planted together, and a tree does not bear fruit in a day. If I was the Dragon, I would be reluctant to give up on my friend’s legacy, too.”

When she put it like that, it made sense. 

I caught myself touching my shoulder, where [Sage of Red Dust’s Foolish Disciple] was, and let my hand drop.

I guess I couldn’t say anything about the Dragon’s choice.

Veric reached out and squeezed my hand on the table.

“So, you have to do the same, okay?”

“What?”

“Don’t give up on the world. Keep watching. And… wait for me to become Saintess. I’ll prove to both you and the Dragon that the world can get better, and that it’s always worth struggling to live in it.”

Ah, Veric…

Did she understand exactly what she was asking of me?

But still, I looked down at where she’d intertwined her fingers with mine.

“…Okay,” I said. “I’ll wait for you.”

Chapter 63 Chapter 65