Yellow light poured from the windows into the night when Kyen reached the common hall. Keeping his head down, he entered. The normal racket of voices had quieted to peaceful murmurs as the well-fed warriors sprawled about their mats. Edging around the perimeter, he made his way to the fire where Gennen sat with Nella, Oda, Wynne and Inen. Adeya was wrapped in a blanket beside the blademaster, a mug of tea in her hands, staring into the fire.
Nella stood when she saw Kyen enter the light and started to dish him a bowl from the cauldron over the coals. He accepted it with a soft “Thank you,” and sat next to Adeya.
Gennen shot him a look but said nothing.
Silence fell between them.
Wynne glared at Kyen with open disgust.
Odallyan yawned.
Inen looked unimpressed.
“A fiend breached the hold today,” Gennen said to the fire. “No doubt, sent by Ennyen. It nearly killed Princess Adeya.”
Kyen looked up, turned to Adeya, but she kept her eyes fixed on the flames while her tea cooled in her hands.
Gennen leaned across her, saying to him. “Won’t you reconsider? Train with me, Kyen!”
He met the blademaster’s eyes for a long moment then looked away. “No, with respect, blademaster.”
Gennen breathed out a growl but settled back into his seat to glare at the coals.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having Ennyen as king,” said Oda, lounging back.
“He’s working with fiends, Oda,” said Inen.
“Do you think that will matter to the Blades of Avanna?” asked Gennen. “They’ll follow anyone who promises them a battle.”
Wynne slammed down her bowl so hard it cracked in two. “I won’t follow Ennyen. Even if he is king! I hate fiends!”
“That’s the third bowl you’ve broken, Wynne,” said Nella.
“I don’t care! If Ennyen takes the throne, I will revolt! Even if I’m the only one!”
“Gennen.”
Every face around the fire, including Kyen’s, turned to Adeya when she spoke. Lifting her eyes from her tea, she met his pale gaze with her aquamarine one. “If Kyen won’t finish his training with you, will you train me instead?”
Wynne, Oda, and Inen erupted:
“She’s a mainlander!”
“It’s against tradition to train a mainlander!”
“Can a mainlander like her even lift a sword?”
“Your forefathers were all mainlanders!” Gennen shouted back. “Blockheads!” He calmed himself to address Adeya. “I’m not sure if you know what you’re asking for, princess. Do you know what’s required physically, mentally, to be a Blade of Avanna?”
“I don’t,” she said. “But I’m tired of being chased around. I’m tired of being rescued. I’m tired of feeling powerless against the fiends. When Ennyen comes, I want to be able to defend myself.”
“You? Fight Ennyen?” said Oda.
Wynne broke out laughing so hard she fell over backwards.
Inen shook his head in resignation.
Gennen, ignoring them, puffing silently at his pipe, regarded her for a long moment. At last, a wry smile rose to his face. “I will.”
“Gennen! You can’t!” Wynne whined.
“She’ll take all the secrets of Avanna to the mainland,” said Inen.
Still ignoring them, he smiled as he said, “Dawn on the training ground, princess. We start tomorrow.”
“Heh, heh, this’ll be fun to watch,” said Oda.
Kyen hung his head over his bowl and kept eating without a word.
Gennen rose with a loud yawn and a stretch while Nella stood up beside him. “Get to bed, you idiots,” he told his three warriors before heading off into the dark with his wife.
Growling to herself, Wynne hopped to her feet to leave, Inen joined her, and Oda, yawning, followed them both.
Adeya shrugged the blanket closer around her and sipped her tea.
Kyen set aside his empty bowl.
A flame wavered over the yellow embers, casting a thin glow.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she asked.
He drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
“After everything we’ve been through, and you never told me you were born to a royal family?”
“It never seemed worth mentioning,” he replied. “A prince without a kingdom isn’t of much consequence.”
“But the throne of Avanna is yours. All these people, the remnant of Avanna, you’re their king!” she cried.
“I’m no king. I’m not even a prince, not anymore.”
“But Gennen said you defeated Ennyen.”
“He told you about that, did he?”
“How can you not be a prince if you won?”
“When a Blade challenges the throne, it’s a duel to the death,” he said. “When I didn’t kill Ennyen, the throne couldn’t be settled on either of us.”
“Gennen seems to think you’re still the rightful heir,” she said.
“It’s hard to tell what Gennen thinks,” replied Kyen; he glanced at her. “Are you really going to train with him?”
Adeya fingered the lip of her tea mug, sighed, and said, “Yes. Your wounds aren’t healed enough yet to be training me. I see no reason why I shouldn’t keep learning if I can...”
“Gennen is a good blademaster. You’ll do well.” Kyen drew up a knee to his chest and propped his chin on it.
An ember in the fire popped, spitting a few sparks into the darkness.
“Kyen,” she began. “Why… why did you fail the Retributioner’s Test?”
“I don’t know. It was a long time ago, and I don’t like to think about it,” he said.
“There’s more to it, isn’t there?” she asked.
“Talking about it won’t change it,” he said. “And remembering doesn’t do me any good.”
Adeya huffed.
They both watched the coals wavering, deepening from yellow to orange.
“With the fiend,” Kyen spoke up. “Are you alright?”
Adeya’s eyebrows rose as she eyed him. Then she lifted her chin, saying, “Talking about it won’t change it.”
Kyen looked at her, wide-eyed.
She rose to her feet, brushed out her skirts, and settled the blanket on her shoulders as if it were a cape. “And remembering doesn’t do us any good.”
He stared after her, open-mouthed, as she walked away with her nose in the air. At the grass mat, she paused to look back.
“Good night, Kyen of Avanna,” she said, before slapping the mat aside and disappearing into the room behind.
Kyen kept staring as the mat settled back into place. He shut his mouth. With a sigh, he returned his gaze to the fire. There he sat, chin propped on his knee, his stormy gray eyes staring into space. He remained there as the last embers died into darkness.