“Why do I feel like everything’s spinning out of control?”

“Beats me. If you think so, then go fix it already.”

It had been almost a week since the Equinox and the end of the advanced classes’ midterms, but only in a few more days was the start of the morning classes’ midterms. This exam period would last almost two and a half weeks, essentially one every other day on average. But for the Eternians and the students out of Class A, it was hardly a challenge for them—for different reasons, of course.

Kato and Alice were idling through the remainder of their lunch hour on the balcony of the third floor overlooking the atrium. The rest of the Elites were either studying somewhere for their exams, or they were rehearsing for the drama department’s show. They didn’t even spend time eating lunch all together, with Mayumi and Caius leaving right after the third period bell. Without the full crew, they also dropped by student council and the Jupiter sisters less often, and really only these two had any spare time and patience to do so. It had been like this for a while now, and there seemed to be no end in sight for this arrangement, thus Kato’s anxiety.

“If I knew how to fix it, I wouldn’t be just sitting here.”

“There you go. You have your answer, so stop complaining.”

“Complaining about things beyond your control is part of being human.”

“Sure, but complaining about things beyond your control to me is not a human right.”

While that seemed callous and very Alice-esque, this was the fifth day of Kato’s feeble bemoaning, so it wasn’t because Alice was short on patience. It was a miracle that she could keep a lid on her bottle for this long. Kato sighed.

“In that case, have you gotten any info on your enemies yet?”

“No, not yet. I only asked my brother and uncle to look into it the other day, and I don’t expect them to get back to me for a while.”

“And while we’re waiting, you’ll have to sit next to us at all times.”

Though she was already spending one hundred percent of her time with the Elites, still, the threat from the faculty, or those secretly supported in the shadows by the faculty, was unpredictable. While physical coercion was unlikely, they lived in an environment created by and for society’s underworld. Both of them knew what it meant to be a gangster, no matter how civil things seem on the surface.

“I’m already doing that, right? Besides, you’re my personal bodyguard to start with.”

Alice leaned back into the railings, looking back at the glass wall that was the library in front of them. Her beautiful form drew eyes of various dispositions from every student that passed by them. Most were harmless, just admiration or mildly amorous; though there were one too many gazes aimed at her, let’s say, really nice ass, which was why she turned around in the first place.

“That was just the one job.”

“And it continues, because of your own intervention. You reap what you sow, Kato.”

“If I may, Miss Alice, but your decision to side with Class F was on impulse, no?”

It was Alice’s turn to sigh.

“Do you think Mira was able to read this far into the future?”

“What do you mean?”

“That Mira set me up with you, expect me to side with your class, and throw the PSC into disarray in order to oust Gil and install Donovan as the school’s security chief.”

“Does it make you feel like a conspiracy theorist? Or betrayed by your best friend?”

“I should be asking you that. While I’m miffed by that possibility, she’s done you guys in more than she did me. I did what I did because I thought it’s what’s best for me, and I still think so now. For you, on the other hand, it’s not as black and white as that, is it?”

Kato took in a deep breath as he hung his head and arms over the ledge, away from her. Alice’s words were true and they hurt, but he didn’t want to show that to her just yet.

“That, I’ll have to settle it at some point. We all have to.”

Alice raised an eyebrow.

“And what will you do if she admits to exactly what we’re speculating?”

“…I’ll think about that when I get there.”

“You don’t know, huh? I’m not blaming you here. I wouldn’t know what I’d do either.”

Chatter and noise from the atrium below that radiated upwards, and the tall, fully-leaved trees jutting up from the ground floor, absorbed their quiet voices that were otherwise out in the open.

“Then how do you feel about Gilbert and how he’s involved in this? He’s your ally once again, even though he’s sworn not to be.”

“Nothing. I know from the start he’s a pragmatist. That was only a declaration of not being emotionally taken after me.”

“And?”

“And what? I still have the hots for him? For the record, I never had any to start with.”

“Not that. I mean what you think Gilbert’s intentions.”

“What? The conspiracy that Gil wanted to oust himself from the PSC as soon as possible? In order to put a wrench into Mira’s and the faculty’s plans? I think that’s a stupid reason. Being Marshal is a very privileged position. He won’t hand it over that easily to his enemy, assuming that enemy is Donovan.”

As uncooperative and harsh a human being she was, she was placed in Class A for reasons beside her connection to Gilbert. More than a year of being Gilbert’s fiancée would give her enough inside perspective on things around school.

“Exactly. I didn’t believe him when he mentioned that, and I don’t think he intended to send you over to Class F so I can guard you in his place either. While it’s true that that’s a good reason, I loath to think that this was ever his intended first course of action.”

Alice combed her fingers through her voluminous hair.

“So, what would the other reason be?”

“Something happened on the backend. Something moved behind the scenes enough for him to budge on it. Or rather, he was forced to make this decision based on a new forecast as a result of that change.”

“And we don’t know what happened behind the scenes that made Gilbert’s position untenable.”

“Oh, we do know. Well, we have a clue.”

“What—?”

It only took a moment for Alice to remember it, but Kato answered anyway.

“Karl’s got back to me this morning. Remember I asked him to look into Mayumi’s mom?”

“Yeah. Was it really because of Mira?”

Right after the von Habsburg household all returned home, Evie immediately explained the situation around Mayumi’s past and Mirabelle’s interference, much to the shock of Alice. Kato, who was already half-prepped by Gilbert, was instead unsettled by Mayumi’s half of the story, essentially corroborating Gilbert’s assertions about Mirabelle.

“Satsuki Clarisse Hanamiya. Forty-four, Yue, born in this city to middle class parents working for Eternia. She was a top achiever, and while she was in school, she courted one of the sons of the Liguro family, Vincent Liguro. With his family’s influence and her abilities, Satsuki very quickly joined the nomenklatura even before they were set to marry. However, it emerged that Vincent was seeing another woman behind her back, and even more absurd, he got both women pregnant at the same time. Eventually, Vincent chose the other woman as his wife and irreparably destroyed his relationship with Satsuki.”

Alice nodded. They already knew by now that those children were precisely Mayumi and Stephen. Their physical similarities only increased as one studied their faces more closely, and their hair were of the exact same quality.

“Satsuki’s a very logical and stubborn person with little empathy for others, a result of her experiences and her independent-minded parents’ conservative influence—another way of saying she never received much love from her parents, and it affected Mayumi in certain ways too. Her harsh personality produced excess pride and spite, and since Satsuki felt betrayed by her lover, she sought to ruin him within Eternia. It was stupid to fight the Liguro family, but whatever they fought over, it brought both of them the ire of Eternia’s bosses. They were expected to behave as nomenklatura, after all. You knew what happened next. I indirectly got her mum expelled from the nomenklatura.”

“Okay, but where does Mira come into the picture?”

“Their decision to expel her was based on a number of testimonies, but the critical one came from Keith de Lafayette, Gilbert’s uncle who was the heir apparent of the Lafayette Group. He died suddenly to unfortunate natural causes, and Gilbert was pulled up from the weeds to succeed him.”

Alice remained silent. She showed nothing but a glazed expression.

“Mira was somehow able to overturn that testimony and invalidate the brass’ original verdict. So, while Satsuki won’t be restored to her nomenklatura, she’s no longer persona non grata and essentially rehabilitated.”

“While we don’t know those details and we’ll probably never know, it did have knock-on effects, and the effect on Gilbert is what’s mysterious. If he thought his uncle’s legacy was a nuisance, then whatever Mira did should’ve benefitted him and him being Mira’s ally makes sense—but then there would be no need to give up the PSC. On the other hand, if he was on his uncle’s side, so to speak, then Mira should’ve made an enemy out of him if it did force him out of the PSC, yet he still claims Mira’s a friendly force to both him and Mona. In both scenarios, there are parts that don’t make sense.”

“Well, at least we know it’s very likely that Mira triggered something in Gilbert’s surroundings that made him move the way he did.”

“All but confirmed, basically. Do you have any clues from Gilbert’s side?”

Alice turned closer towards him, who was still hanging over the ledge.

“Unfortunately, no. I asked to be kept out of their power struggles, and he kept that promise.”

“Damn, useless.”

“If I wasn’t this kind of a person, I wouldn’t be standing next to you right now.”

He tilted his face towards her elegant form. He did feel really lucky to befriend Alice. He thought her way of thinking was, in some ways, a mirror of his own, sharing similar values and convictions. As unlikely as their demeanours suggested at first, they got along very well—a little too well to the people around them.

“Even with this, we’re no closer to solving the problem.”

“Solving the problem? You think you can solve the problem? It’s about surviving the onslaught, not solving the problem. The faculty is looking for an opportunity to make an example of me, and that’s not gonna change.”

“I know. And I still don’t know whether to believe in Gilbert or not. If he has a stake in this as Satsuki’s situation suggests, then he’s likely a power player here too, albeit a weaker one in his current state.”

“That I’m sure he is, but what choice do you have? Have Mayumi and the rest of Class F to put a full stop to the current anti-neutrality protests? It’s too late now. The dissent is in full swing, and even without us down there making the rounds or performing, the chants and confrontations aren’t stopping. It spread utterly and completely to the lower classes. Look.”

She pointed below at the crowds gathered at the ground floor of the atrium. It was exactly as she described: chants and staring contests between the outnumbered PSC and the laymen. No one had thrown the first stone yet, but in recent days almost every lunch period devolved into a series of clashes between the protestors and the PSC. Pens, chairs, clothes, and even textbooks lay on the ground after the battle, and only the bell saved the fight from escalating into violence.

“It doesn’t help that Mayumi is starring in Auxirian Idiot as the main character. She was casted as a revolutionary while she already is one, and it’ll only galvanize the masses further, Kato. Everyone’s looking forward to the musical.”

That was also very true. At a concrete pillar not too far from them was a poster advertising the drama department’s performance of Auxirian Idiot at the golden hour of the approaching talent show. A glamorous Mayumi put on a brave and determined grin at the poster’s audience, her one visible eye sparkling in the dark backdrop of the 60s-style paintbrush canvas. It was hard to not be captivated by her effable face, which she consistently disbelieved despite evidence to the contrary.

“So the revolution will continue, even without Mayumi here in person. I guess I was right after all. She led our school down the path of destruction.”

“It’s still okay for you if everything goes as the faculty planned, isn’t it? It’ll happen and things get a little tighter in terms of freedoms, but that’s about it. Compared to real high schools, us students aren’t supposed to have all of this power anyway.”

“Well, yes, I don’t really care about the school’s rules one way or another. What I’m worried about is that it’ll be the excuse to take you away from me.”

Alice instantly blushed, but was aware that he was merely speaking frankly and loyal to his friends to a fault. She duly admired that part of him, and at the same time unaware of herself, she held the same loyalty for her own close friends.

“W-what, you miss me already?”

“Think of it from my perspective. Why else would I be coming to school for? To hang out with the people I care about.”

It was so obvious but it didn’t click until he said it out loud. Everyone had a reason for attending the Eternian school, Korolev Senior, but Kato’s reason was definitely not the reason for almost everyone else, which was why it slipped her mind. Even for herself, she was initially here only due to her now-broken engagement to Gilbert.

“Well, that’s not a very common reason to come here. You’re one of a kind.”

“Same could be said about you. It’s also your reason to be here, right?”

She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling settle in her chest. He understood her, but only because he felt the same and she had half-admitted as much. Yet, she was still overjoyed by that, even if it was purely coincidental and woefully insignificant. She never dreamed that her heart would ever react in such an innocent manner—as if she was a pure-hearted maiden—but here she was, denying it with all that her willpower would allow. There was no need to answer, though she did want to pry into one more thing that she couldn’t take her mind off of recently.

“Did anything happen between you and Bianca?”

“Me and Bianca? What kind of thing?”

She stole a glance at him from the side, and he was unperturbed. His focus was on the ruckus on the first floor. Apparently, a shouting match was escalating as students from Class D and E had confronted the protesters from the lower classes of both their noise and their political views.

“The Act of Neutrality only serves to prevent violent politics in the public domain of the school! You can be as political as you want inside of your own classroom! What gives?!”

“Did you even read the articles to the drafted Act? It specifically mentions banning anti-Auxirian rhetoric! There’s nothing neutral or protective about it! It’ll erode our ability to speak out when we really need to!”

“We’re in a place of education, not in the streets! Look at what you guys did and are still doing! If you want to disturb a communal place of learning, go do it somewhere else!”

“And it’ll be the Public Safety Committee who’ll determine if someone’s speech is anti-Auxirian! Do you not see the danger in letting the PSC to determine if words coming out of your mouth will end the academic career you feel so strongly about?”

There were some philosophical exchanges, too.

“This is Korolev and Eternia! This school and society has rules and order for everyone to abide by, and everyone’s allegiances are as clear as day! Those who work against the order like you are mere traitors!”

“The order is not one monolithic gospel to adhere to! Society marches forward with progress and development, and if we don’t rise up to meet new challenges, then the very order you claim to pledge allegiance to, will fall to these challenges!”

“You dare to challenge the existing order? It’s because of the existing order that you were born in an era of peace and prosperity, along with the entitlement you have for these things you take for granted! You have no idea how much work and effort went into running a stable society by your forefathers and their successors, because you’re one of the unwashed masses who have zero knowledge or experience in maintaining this order!”

“If the existing order becomes something that no longer serves the people it’s supposed to serve, then to hell with it! You’re the benefactor of the system, so of course you’d say that! What of the outcasts who aren’t allowed to benefit from the system? Let them die? We’re human beings!”

And of course, as with any uncontrolled mob, it broke down quickly.

“You faggots are just a bunch of brainwashed Yue separatists who want to break away from Auxiria! You were born on Auxirian territory and speak a native Candoran language! No patriot will forgive your treachery and insolence!”

As an aside, all the major languages of the continent of Candor had official recognition in one capacity or another, hence why public education continued to be carried out in their region’s historical languages, rather than strictly imposing Standard Candoran. In the long-term it worked against cultural assimilation, essentially reinforcing separate ethnic identities, but it maintained the short-term stability of the confederation. In any case, it was spun in a different way in Auxiria proper, Candor being presented as a brotherhood of languages and cultures rather than the supremacy of a single ethnocultural group.

“Yeah, and fuck you bastards sucking up to the Auxirians because your wealth and power depends on them! You’re the treacherous lapdogs of a foreign master here, not us!”

While Kato was an avid reader and thinker of political thought as much as the next young man who had innocent ideals of the world that they wanted to wish upon their home country, he barely blinked at the rowdiness of the crowd below. Alice was definitely not interested, even if she understood the nuances of the current political discourse; a result of a privileged education.

“That night, you used the room we booked at Livia Tower to get yourselves up to the roof. I don’t think you did that in order to run into Gilbert and Mona, right?”

“Well, yeah. I thought we’d watch the rest of the fireworks up there. It’d be a shame to let the money go to waste.”

“Then what did Bianca say about it?”

“Nothing much. Like I said, we just made use of it. It’s the last Equinox we’ll have together, after all.”

Alice was suspicious at his dodges. Despite that, she was surprised at her own calm, too. She expected herself to shake with anxiety, but instead her curiosity overwhelmed the mild jealously that was sat in the corner of her mind; that was because she had another card to play, another button to push.

“You sure about that? Bianca’s essentially your… someone very significant from your past, right? Teto wouldn’t have sent her to you otherwise.”

To be perfectly honest, Kato was half-spacing out during their whole conversation, now watching the masses clash and the PSC intervening to separate the two groups. Now that Alice spelled it out loud, he was reeled back to the present, standing physically and mentally next to the gorgeous specimen of a blonde, wavy-haired supermodel. She was just missing one very important asset, he thought.

“Where did you just stare at…?”

He finally noticed her cheeks glowing crimson and her bellicose expression was clearly a ticking time bomb about to blow up in his face. He stole a glance at her chest for merely half a second and she noticed immediately. He had to hand it to her.

“N-nowhere. It was nothing. And I’d explain Teto’s decision like this: she’s more than just my twin sister. We’re almost the same person, if you can believe it.”

The fuming from Alice halted with a slam of the brakes. It wasn’t often that you lived together with your close friend and his younger sister, so actually Alice had a good bearing on what kind of person Teto was, and strangely she was extremely fond of Teto. It didn’t occur to her why that was the case until Kato said as much. Teto was more than a just spitting image of him.

“Your twin sister?”

“Yes, she’s my twin. She’s as old as I am, technically, but her body is a year or two younger.”

“How? Why didn’t you explain this to me in the first place?”

She blurted out her thoughts as she got annoyed at this seemingly crucial detail about his family that Kato declined to share with her for weeks now. She was about to approach him menacingly, but he also got up and away from the balcony to match her posturing, to which she instinctively stopped at it.

“Because while it’s interesting, it’s also an insignificant detail once you know it. There was a serious complication when we were born, and she was put into cryogenics for a year or two, until they fixed whatever was wrong with her. Obviously, I’ve become the older sibling, physically speaking.”

“…what are you, anyway?”

She shook her head with disbelief, thinking her own life was absurd enough, but the Eternians never ceased to amaze her. Kato shrugged.

“We were raised to become Hearts. There’re gotta be catches somewhere.”

“But you were orphaned before Eternia picked you up, no? We’re you born with a silver spoon, too?”

He rubbed his chin at the sharp observation. No matter, their backstory was already corroborated by the Elites and Karl.

“Of course. Apparently, our parents were long-serving clerks to a local seigneur, so they had a lot of privileges. But when the West Yunia Company went under, a lot of the gentry suffered and even saw armed unrest, including wherever I was from. The seigneury was caught up in it and most of the lord’s family and employees died, including my parents.”

What Kato recounted was actually a true story, but for Evie, not for Kato and Teto.

“I see.”

That financial disaster happened not very long ago. The Hellenic West Yunia Company defaulting caused a wide-reaching economic crunch felt almost everywhere in Candor and Eiria. The disintegration of a grand aristocratic cartel—as the West Yunia Company and its partners really was—and the collapse of the economic system upon which everything rested ignited widespread violence against the business-owning nobility, who bore the brunt of the discontent because of this guilt by association. By this and the aegis of Eternia, the new bourgeois class of property owners, like Alice’s family, escaped much of the physical destruction laid upon the nobles, though just as many families lost their wealth all the same.

Stories like Kato’s were not uncommon and there were few who didn’t suffer from the greatest economic collapse in recent history. Livia and Lien were one of the few, which attracted migration and fleeing capital in search of safe havens. This siphoning of skilled labour and money allowed Livia to stay afloat and even thrive during the disaster.

“And you know the rest. We escaped that burning house and ended up as orphans.”

Kato pointed to his head as he continued.

“Anyway, we were supposed to be the same person, so we share the same soul—or so I’m told. Because our soul was split apart, Teto got the weaker half at birth, so she was put into stasis until she recovered. We don’t have to worry about all the theories, but besides sharing a soul, we also share our collective experiences and memories.”

“Isn’t that really disruptive? That’s the same as having another person in your head.”

“You get used to it. You can consider the two of us being split personalities. That’s the closest explanation to what we experience. We don’t share specific memories, except for a few here and there, but mostly it’s the experiences and feelings towards them that are shared.

“For example, if I make a really good friend with somebody, like you, Teto also feels the same friendship between you and me, and has my understanding and perspective on that friendship. Likewise, I feel like I know her close friends just as much as she does, even though I’ve met them briefly and only a couple of times. This is the collective experience we share.”

Alice’s head was spinning. It was all too farfetched for her to retort.

“She won’t know many of the nuances or details, nor do I know the minutiae of Teto’s daily interactions with her friends. Some of her memories can stick, especially if they’re strong, but most of the time it’s actually hard to recall any specifics unless she or someone else thoroughly recounts it for me. For example, she’ll know that I’ve had this conversation with you, but all she’d know is that I explained this situation to you, and likely won’t have any context as to how our conversation got here and where it went afterwards.

“To answer your question, I think Teto felt a big change in my side of our shared memories. Remember, it’s not just the knowledge of the experience that’s shared, but also the feelings and emotions too. In fact, it’s mostly those, and not much of the knowledge. Given how I was feeling at the time, she probably thought the best person to send to me was Bia.”

“Why was she the best person to send, and not me?”

Alice let slip the last three words that were her inner thoughts, but it was too late to take it back. Her face instantly burned with embarrassment, prompting her to turn to hide it. On the other side, strangely, Kato turned his attention back to the ruckus on the ground with a satisfied expression, as if he got what he wanted.

“Honestly, the best would have been Teto, but I know why she’s distracted from us right now. That night, her group of friends dispersed acrimoniously, too.”

Hearing his non-answer, she wanted to take that burn back. Badly. And in her fury, she blurted out another impulsive objection.

“Then why wasn’t I choice number two?”

Kato smiled wryly. Shouts and a loud bang reached their ears, but neither of them was distracted by it.

“What other answer can I give, except to say that you should’ve been number two?”

Only then did she realize how stupid her question was, because there really was no other answer regardless of its truthfulness, yet irrationally she wanted to hear it all the same. Something dropped in her stomach as she subconsciously recognized that Kato was still hesitant to open up to her about deeper parts of himself; parts that concerned his true feelings for the girls around him.

“So, that’s why Teto sent Bianca to you.”

It was because Kato could open up to Bianca in a way that Alice would struggle to do so. This realization left a sour taste in her mouth as she was emotionally unwilling to accept it, and the frustration was clearly colouring her porcelain face.

“If it wasn’t for the long history between us, I think it was best to send nobody.”

She was reminded that she had only met this diehard group of friends really, only several weeks ago, and instantly regretted the thinly-veiled jealously that she displayed. She was now infinitely ashamed of herself for the emotional rollercoaster she took herself on, and buried her face in her hands.

Then, another thought occurred to her. In the midst of her busy head-spinning everyday life, she allowed a very important detail to slip her mind—though it was more likely because she had only seen her once since the end of the last school year. She was almost certain that there was something going on between Mirabelle and Kato, but it was Bianca who had a past involvement with him that everyone recognized. How was that possible?

“I made a fuss about it to Teto at the time, but now that you explained it to me, I think her judgment is correct.”

“Hah?”

“What?”

Under her own pressure, again words came streaming out of her mouth before she was able to think twice about it. Actually, it was a protective reaction to that pressure, almost as if she was afraid of something—afraid of herself.

“Her judgment is a reflection of mine. And while it might have been something I wanted, I’d never assume it’s correct.”

Kato shook his head amusedly as he gave her a lopsided smile, somewhere between disbelief of and belittling her opinion of his little sister’s judgment.

“That makes three of us, then. Why not? Bianca seems receptive of you, even if you have some history with her. Looks like a good time to patch things up and move on. Closer, too, if you want.”

He sighed.

“No one’s told you yet, right?”

“Actually, Evie explained this to me the other day.”

“Then you should already know the end of that story. The lesson learned is to maintain the status quo within the Elites, and that’s what I’ve been striving for.”

He didn’t tell her it was something he promised Bianca he’d do. That part, he didn’t want to mention.

“But clearly, the rest of the Elites aren’t doing that—especially Mayumi, even though in the end she failed her mission.”

“And where has that taken us?”

He twirled his finger in the air, highlighting the isolation of the Elites for the past week.

“If that’s the way you’ll do things, then you’ll always be a move behind everyone else. Rich for someone who asked me to not leave any regrets by taking action, but you’re making the same choices I had.”

“I see your point, but I’ll bite the bullet on this one. I’ll regret it when the time comes.”

Seeing him withdrawing from the topic and turning his eyes down towards the noisy crowd again, Alice was roiled with a mix of anxiety and uncertainty. She really wanted him to pursue this loose end in his life and not be emotionally held down by it forever. She really meant it, even if meant that Kato would start to drift away from her. But of course, that worked against her desire to become Kato’s closest one, which she found out recently to be a daunting, near impossible task.

Truthfully, she acted like this because she was afraid of what the consequences of becoming closer to Kato were. It was easier on her heart to keep the status quo around her, while quietly watching the world change around her—the easy way out. She already realized the contradictions in her words, because she knew she’d also regret sitting idly by. She laughed ruefully.

“Then, what will it take for you to make a move? A coup by the faculty?”

“How does that have anything to do with Bia?”

“Not her, I’m just talking about you. From what we know, Mira’s acting upon the will of the faculty, or so it seems. At this rate, it’ll only put us in opposition to Mira. You don’t think you won’t have any reservations when you have to fight against her? And what the fates of her sisters, including Bianca, will be?”

“…”

Like earlier, he didn’t know the answer to that question. However, he got a sinking feeling that he was slowly being dragged into the fight that was the power struggle in this school and what this represented in the real world. If he couldn’t prevent his participation, then he’d need to steel himself to be ready for it.

The scene below only served to solidify this assessment of his situation, so Alice was probably right. There was a world where Class F would come into conflict with the faculty’s agenda—if they weren’t already—and he and Mirabelle might end up on the opposing side of the conflict, not to mention Bianca and the rest of the Jupiter sisters. He sighed at the possibility of it, and the fractures that could bring and have already brought to the Elites. The path to return to peace was diminishing with each passing day, so he could only patiently await its reckoning and brace himself for the eventuality of his own intervention. He had responsibilities to attend to and things to lose in this fight, after all.