Bringing the bodies to the respective families and serving them half truths about the killers’ identities, Keela spent all night cleaning up the mess. After feeling hypocritical while holding crying parents, she burned the cultists bodies outside the walls, where no one would be bothered. She then bandaged her wounds as best she could, checking for any that might pose a danger to her life. The entire time, Tessa followed, out of fear for her life, seeking protection.

“Keela?” she perked up, trying to grab Keela’s attention.

“Yeah?” replied Keela, wrapping up a cut on her forearm.

“Can you explain what just happened? The archer lady, why did she punch you?”

“Because I was a fool and lashed out in my rage. I deserved it.”

Tessa paused, looking at Keela with pity in her eyes.

“You can go back to your family. It’s okay if you don’t want to see me again. I understand”, said Keela, putting the medical supplies back on the shelf where she took them.

“I was wondering if I could come with you…” started Tessa, sheepishly putting a foot forward.

“Don’t. It’s not worth it”, abruptly cut Keela, coughing into her elbow.

“But…”

“No. Train to get stronger yourself but please don’t rely on me. I couldn’t save Bea and Ethan fell on the wrong side. Just… just go back to your parents.”

“Keela…”

“Enough!”

Slamming her fist on the table, Keela turned back towards Tessa, her eyes letting loose streams of tears down her dirt covered cheeks.

“I’ll take you there but please… just go…” she said, wiping off the tears.

Tessa resigned to the decision, Keela getting a portal open to an alley near her house. Going through, Tessa opened the gate to the house, looking back at Keela as she entered.

“Are you sure?” asked Tessa, holding Keela’s steeled gaze.

“Yes”, simply nodded Keela, her nails nearly digging into her forearm behind her back.

“Alright…”

Running towards Keela, Tessa jumped in her arms, hugging her tightly.

“I’ll miss you”, she said, burying her face in the dirty blood soaked dress.

“I’ll miss you too kiddo”, replied Keela, wearing her old accent for a second, pulling away from the hug and patting Tessa’s head, ruffling her hair.

Tessa went through the gate and didn’t turn around as Keela went back to her castle, wiping the blood dripping from her nose. As she arrived in the meeting room, only Velka was at the table, Saphielle having likely shut herself off in her room, understandably so. Seeing the deplorable state Keela was in, Velka shot up from her seat, rushing over to Keela who slumped in a chair at the table, rubbing her temples to stave off the headache.

“W-what happened? What? Who did this to you? Why? Is everything okay?” stuttered Velka, showing a glimpse of who she was before hell had blown over; this almost motherly figure, caring and worried.

“I’d rather not talk about it, I haven’t slept and I haven’t had a good evening yesterday either”, replied Keela, letting out a sigh as weary as she looked.

“Well, can I at least know if they paid the price for doing this to you?”

“Well the wounds and the psychological damage were two different people. The psychological damage will likely never be paid for. The wounds? Yeah, I mean, I deserved it.”

“Then… who did this?”

“She should be here any minute.”

Right as she finished her sentence, Saphielle showed up at the end of the hall, papers in hand, her cracked glasses on her nose, bandages covering the small cuts she had gotten as she had flown through the wall. As she saw Keela, her face showed she was irked by her presence but kept her professionalism. Sitting at the table, she set her documents to the side, crossing her legs and giving a deeply disapproving look to Keela.

“You didn’t sleep, did you?” she asked, still showing worry despite the slight annoyance.

“Too many bodies to burn and… families to lie to”, replied Keela, going to bite her lip but stopping herself when she remembered the split.

“You could’ve left them there.”

“Not on that estate. I like to keep it somewhat clean.”

Silence weighed down on the room, interrupted by the flutter of leaves and birds chirping to the morning sun.

“Listen… about what I said…--” started Keela, looking to the ground with shame.

“Don’t. Save it. I lashed out too but we’re both going to get over it like adults and get back to work; this country won’t run itself”, replied Saphielle, raising a hand as a signal to shut her mouth.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.”

“Well, apology accepted with a slight bitterness in the background. I’m a bit regretful that I hit the face of our public figure so much.”

Both of them laughed slightly under their breath at the comment, only to be interrupted by a confused and a smidge annoyed Velka.

“Will either of you tell me what happened yesterday?!” she yelled, leaning on the table with both hands.

“Only if you promise not to panic. I don’t want to bring any unnecessary harm to you right now”, replied Keela, pausing mid sentence to cough in her elbow.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Yesterday… I was invited to bargain with a group that had taken the kids hostage. And… well… Bea and Ethan didn’t make it.”

Velka looked off in the distance, the revelation catching her off-guard. The shock was clearly slowly letting place for her brain to process the information bit by bit, even if ever so slowly.

“Is… is the culprit dead?” she asked, her tone slightly shaky, a motion matched by her hands that she failed at keeping steady.

“Well… Ethan killed Bea and… Saphielle put down Ethan before he killed me”, replied Keela, bracing for impact.

“What about Tessa?”

“With her family.”

Velka paused, looking off to the side for a second. Her hands stopped shaking as she got up.

“Well, if it’s dealt with, nothing I can do about it. I’ll be off, I have an inspection to do”, she said, quickly turning heel and marching to the courtyard at a suspiciously fast pace.

Looking at her empty seat, on the table, Keela noticed the flask she needed for the day and gracefully accepted it. Getting up, she headed towards the bath, leaving the tensions behind to hopefully clean up her mind as well as her body. It was going to be a long day.