After one of the longest-running Council etings in the last few decades, the Elders of the Iron Council finally walked out with exhausted looks on their faces.
And...
The only one left inside was...
The Matriarch.
She, just like the rest of the Elders, was exhausted as well, but unlike them, she couldn’t leave.
After all, she still had to... et him.
And just as she thought about telling soone to call Kael, he walked in, surprising her for a mont. Soon, however, she recalled who this person was and how many tis he had done the sa thing in the past and just shook her head.
In the end—
"You are here."
The Matriarch spoke as she looked up the mont the door opened, and a... small, controlled smile—the kind of smile that belonged to soone who seed... too exhausted after carrying all the responsibilities on her shoulders.
Kael paused just inside the doorway. Snow still clung to the edge of his boots. He had removed his cloak, but the cold had followed him anyway, hiding in his hair, in the sharpness of his breath and... in the faint stiffness of his shoulders.
The Matriarch didn’t rise, she didn’t have to. Kael too gave a small, wry smile and nodded.
"I am."
Morvain studied him for a heartbeat longer than would be considered polite. Then her gaze shifted, not to his face, but to the space just behind him—like she expected soone else to walk in, but—
"She isn’t here."
Kael spoke, knowing exactly who she was looking for.
"I am surprised she let you co et alone."
Morvain raised her eyebrows, surprised.
"You aren’t going to eat ."
Kael laughed softly and Morvain—
"She certainly thinks so."
She laughed as well.
Kael didn’t say anything, he could already sense the tension in the room, the tension between Morvain and Lavinia, but he didn’t wish to comnt on that right now.
After all, there were far more... concerning matters to deal with.
"The Elders talked about you after you left,"
Suddenly, Morvain comnted. Kael’s expression didn’t change. If anything, it beca stiller, and at that reaction, Morvain’s smile twitched and a soft chuckle slipped out of her mouth.
"Of course, you must already know that."
Kael didn’t say anything.
Morvain shook her head as if she had expected nothing else.
"Yes,"
She murmured, half to herself.
"I should stop thinking I can catch you off guard."
Once again, the room turned silent.
It wasn’t... awkward. Not in the way strangers were awkward. Awkward in the way two people were awkward when they both knew too much—when saying the truth out loud would make it real in a way neither wanted.
Morvain’s fingers tapped once on the arm of her chair. She opened her mouth as if to say sothing else.
Then she closed it again.
Kael watched her. He understood there was sothing she wanted to say, but he didn’t press. He just stared at her with a calm but... hard gaze. After all, he had no intention of comforting this woman, not her—it would be... too disrespectful.
Morvain would be able to take care of herself on her own.
Seconds passed just like that.
Morvain’s eyes lowered. Her smile faded. For a mont, she looked older than when the eting had begun and finally—
Kael broke the silence.
"Have the rules been established?"
He asked.
Morvain blinked once, as if the question pulled her back into motion. She then straightened slightly.
"They have,"
She said.
"We finished them."
Kael nodded.
Morvain’s gaze drifted to the table beside her. A stack of pages rested there, neat and aligned. The ink was still fresh.
"But,"
The Matriarch added quietly.
Kael didn’t ask. He waited.
Morvain exhaled through her nose—almost a sigh, almost not.
"I said it before,"
She murmured.
"Making rules isn’t a problem. Implenting them is."
Kael remained still.
Morvain continued in a steady voice.
"Even if Velmourns agree,"
She said,
"The Stonefangs might not. Or they might... in words. And then forget the mont blood rises in their heads."
Kael’s head tilted slightly.
"Are the rules fair?"
He asked.
Morvain’s brows lifted at that—just a fraction, like she hadn’t expected that to be his first concern.
Then she nodded.
"Yes,"
She said.
"They are."
She reached to the stack of pages and slid the top one forward without handing it to him yet. Her hand hovered above it, fingers spread lightly, like she was holding the paper down so it wouldn’t run away.
"No part of it ntions ’Velmourn’ or ’Stonefang’,"
She said.
"Not once.
Not in privileges.
Not in restrictions.
Not in punishnt."
Kael’s gaze dropped to the page.
Morvain’s voice sharpened slightly.
"The rules are the sa for every person behind the Wall,"
She said.
"Sa rights. Sa limits. Sa punishnt.
That will never change."
Kael looked back up.
Morvain t his eyes.
"And I gave my word,"
She added.
"I will not go back on it. I will do my best,"
She said. "For the sake of Velmourns."
Kael nodded with a heavy look on his face.
Morvain’s gaze flickered away for a mont—toward the window, staring at the dark, nightly sky.
"But,"
She said again, and this ti the word sounded heavier, like it carried regret.
"The ti we had was too little,"
Morvain admitted.
"We did what we could. We covered food distribution. Housing. Work duties. Curfew. Weapons. Fighting. Theft. Assault. We covered trade and movent. We even covered the smaller things that beco large when people are angry."
She swallowed.
"But there will be situations we didn’t think of,"
She said.
"There will be gaps. There will be monts where both sides will look at the rules and say... ’This doesn’t fit what happened.’"
Kael nodded once.
"Mistakes can happen,"
He said.
Morvain’s eyes narrowed slightly, like she was trying to read whether he truly ant it, or whether he was simply being polite.
Kael continued before she could decide.
"This isn’t the final draft,"
He said.
"It will change."
Morvain’s shoulders loosened a little, as if feeling... relieved.
It felt quite strange how the words of a... child younger than her son affected her mood.
Kael’s voice remained calm.
"We will polish it with ti,"
He said.
"Until the Velmourns and Stonefangs are united."
Morvain blinked.
Her eyebrows rose slowly at that one word.
"United...?"
She repeated.
It wasn’t disbelief that made her say it. It was the sheer weight of what it ant.
She leaned back slightly, eyes fixed on Kael’s face, searching.
"The Stonefangs and Velmourn,"
She murmured.
"Two sides that have been enemies for... generations.
To... *unite* them in such a short ti..."
She didn’t say it was impossible. She didn’t say it wouldn’t happen. But... the doubt was there, sitting between them like a third person.
Kael’s mouth curved into that sa wry smile again.
He understood her.
He understood because he felt it too.
Even he knew it was unlikely.
But that didn’t matter.
Not anymore.
Not when everything depended on this working successfully.
"We don’t have the luxury of what is likely,"
He said quietly.
"Only what is needed."
Morvain stared at him for a long mont.
Then she let out a soft, breathy sound that almost counted as a laugh.
"You always speak like you’re already walking on tomorrow,"
She muttered.
"Especially now...
Ever since you returned from the Shrouded Wilds."
Kael didn’t answer.
Morvain’s gaze softened a little; she tilted her head slightly.
"So,"
She said, her tone lighter on purpose, as if she was trying to break the weight with a thin knife of humor,
"What do we do next?"
At those words, Kael just stared at her, as if waiting for her to tell him that, and Morvain—
She smiled in amusent.
"Don’t look at like that,"
She said. "You already know, don’t you?"
Her gaze lifted again, intentionally, like she was pointing without pointing.
"After all, your ’eyes’ watched the eting play out even after you left,"
She said in a... practiced casual voice.
"You know every argunt. Every fear. Every insult they swallowed before they dared speak it."
Again, Kael didn’t say anything.
Yes, his Ants obviously saw the eting. If he wanted, he could have every detail regarding it, but...
But he truly did not know what was discussed; he didn’t bother asking.
He... trusted Morvain.
Morvain clicked her tongue, not liking his silent reaction, so in the end—
"Rules are prepared,"
She spoke as her smile faded again as she tapped the papers once.
"And the people have been inford,"
She added.
"They are to gather at the square early in the morning."
Kael’s gaze sharpened at those words.
"All of them?"
He asked.
Morvain nodded.
"Every single one,"
She said.
"Mandatory."
Kael inhaled slowly.
"So we address the people in the morning,"
He said.
Morvain nodded again.
"Before you bring the Stonefangs,"
She said.
There was a pause.
The air in the room felt colder.
Morvain’s eyes lowered, her voice quieter when she spoke again.
"We need to inform them first,"
She said, and the words carried more than aning.
They carried... dread.
Because she didn’t an just "inform."
She... she ant face them.
She ant stand in front of ten thousand Velmourns and tell them that the enemy tribe would walk through their gates.
She ant watch faces change.
Watch fear beco anger.
Watch grief beco... bla.
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