Moments earlier, the Flint Patriarch stood below Atheron's dais with the Gate charter waiting beside the throne.
'A missing daughter makes mineral rights easier to discuss, provided the search keeps its riders outside.'
"Once my house retrieves the rift core, Your Majesty, I trust the eastern jurisdiction transfers as agreed."
"Retrieve it and the jurisdiction is yours," Atheron said, his hand tightening on the throne arm. "Two parties are still out, the escort report reached me at dawn, and nobody has brought my daughter home."
"My knights can widen the search tomorrow, Your Majesty... losing Her Highness would leave every house poorer."
'Some losses start a succession crisis, and the other houses gain more from it than they'd ever admit at prayer.'
The herald's announcement cut him off, and the Patriarch turned toward the doors, expecting yet another exhausted searcher with excuses. Didi entered first, and her return ended the convenient hope that a missing heir might stay missing a little longer.
---
Hajin kept his second step inside short while Atheron came down from the throne and caught Didi in both arms.
Her father pulled back just far enough to find the bruise above her temple, "You're here, thank the gods... let me look at you."
"I'm home, Father," she whispered into his shoulder, the blanket crushed between them, "there's more to explain, but I'm home."
'Her father first, his throne second... huh, courts never do it in that order.'
"And these two, who look like the road kept half their clothes?"
"My saviors, Hajin and his companion Juna," she said, stepping aside to present them, "they dragged me out of that forest alive."
"Who taught you to stand in a royal hall like that?" her father asked, eyeing his uneven stance and the sword at his hip.
Hajin bowed only as far as his fractured ribs allowed, "Mostly people who hit harder than they taught, Your Majesty... the posture stuck, the manners didn't, sorry."
Juna's fingers stayed hooked on his belt, and the bow tugged at the bandage under her clothes.
"He carried me two miles on broken ribs," Didi snapped, lifting the blanket as her father studied the dried blood, "if there's mud on him, I'm the reason."
"The physician will see all of you, but first," he said quietly, his hand finding her shoulder, "Gazel, I know what the report said about him."
The blanket sank as that name reached the one place her composure could not guard, and she gripped her clasp. Hajin kept his own hands still and gave her the same quiet she needed before anyone asked who came back.
"He was one of the finest men this kingdom ever trusted with a life, and we'll honor his oath."
"He died protecting me after I gave him every reason to leave," she choked out.
"I could have just taken the horse when he told me to... the stupid horse..."
"He chose his oath, and we don't make that small by calling it the price of yours."
She scrubbed beneath one eye and turned toward the ministers, "Eleven names beside his on the memorial, every one of them... I won't let it say less than what happened."
"Twelve names," her father agreed, nodding to the nearest scribe, "and their families hear it from us before the city turns their loss into entertainment."
'Not one joke right now, so don't you dare sound happy to be alive.'
Pressure rolled across the floor without a single weapon leaving its sheath, and every minister found his own hands fascinating. It closed around Hajin's shoulders and dug into his cracked ribs, squeezing every breath down into a thin little wheeze.
'Fuck... is this hello, a warning, or is he testing whether I'm the guy who survived all that?'
Atheron stepped with one hand open, and Hajin moved back before those fingers reached his shoulder, never touching his sword. Juna followed that step as the nearest halberd shifted, and nobody could pretend they missed which instinct answered him first.
"Sorry, Your Majesty," he blurted, whipping both hands behind his back, "I'm covered in dried blood, I'd hate to ruin your clothes."
The pressure vanished, and Atheron waved the halberds back before laughing loud enough that Didi looked up.
"Quick instincts, and worried about my laundry... the tutors could learn something from you."
"They got more practice teaching than I got standing still," Hajin said.
"After enough unwanted hands you pick up which way buys a breath... I can stay put, if nobody else tries to help."
"Do that, then, before the physician has to chase you."
[ ashley(mod): he moved before the king touched him, everyone breathe before typing ]
[ CringeSlayer91: survival first, apologize with the nearest household problem afterward ]
[ NewViewer_02: dodged a monarch and made it about a bath, that is a remarkable recovery ]
'Laugh later, chat... he can still wreck my day without raising his voice.'
Atheron touched his chin, studying the space his hand found empty, "A good heart, too... but a man set on looking ordinary ought to have duller currents under the surface."
"Father, he carried me out of that slaughter and kept us warm all night," Didi cut in, "let him see the physician before you size him up."
"Curiosity, not malice," he said, lowering his hand, "an old warrior just wants to know whose hands brought my daughter home."
'He noticed something... and I'm not giving him free answers.'
---
The Flint Patriarch pushed mana into his eyes while the royal pressure tested the son before the throne.
He read his son's channels directly, and paths that failed in every family trial now carried mana without a break. Royal favor settled around that repaired circulation, and one royal question could suddenly make the old decree very inconvenient indeed.
'Three years on the streets, and he opened what we couldn't force open at home with tutors watching.'
Hanae's currents crossed his memory, the quiet power his servants always mistook for nothing more than calming songs.
'Her songs, his channels... the same currents, in a body the scholars swore would never manage a spark.'
Sending a man to remove him now meant explaining why a king lost a guest right after granting him protection. So he let his gaze settle quietly on his son's wrist instead, while Atheron turned back toward his grieving daughter.
'First learn what changed... then keep it where the family can count its worth.'
---
Hajin caught the settled donation at the edge of the feed once the royal conversation let him breathe.
[ Donation settled: ashley(mod) | +500 Credits | Wallet: 100,915 Credits ]
[ ashley(mod): that room went quiet around him, the king earned his title before anybody explained it ]
He swallowed his thanks into a small smile, since talking to invisible people in court sounded suicidal.
[ Stream: Active | Viewers: 187 | Soul Energy: 94 | Fragment Recovery: 0.012% ]
[ Ring progress | 64,995 / 500,000 ]
[ Juna Wing progress | 15,000 / 300,000 ]
'Progress didn't move, but more people are watching and the recovery number finally changed... about damn time.'
Juna unhooked her fingers and leaned against his elbow, one ear still turned toward Atheron, "That face again... did the voice in your head find you something new to worry about?"
"Somebody sent a gift, and somebody said His Majesty looks scary," he muttered, "I'm not arguing with that in here."
"Opinions and money... at least they're useful, even if nobody sent meat."
"Generous opinions," he murmured, glancing at the nearest minister, "keep it down, everyone's listening."
"He smells like the forest before lightning," she grumbled, nose wrinkling, "let's talk somewhere he can't hear us."
Hajin followed her glance and found his father watching them from beside the lower step of the dais.
"Stay close... half this room's deciding where we get to stand."
"Obviously," she huffed, tail swishing once.
The Patriarch's stare offered no welcome, while Atheron watched the space between them with growing interest.
'Yeah, he remembers me... let him wonder why that bothers him before I say anything.'
Hajin kept his hands steady as Atheron returned toward the throne without ending the audience.