"Some truths are bitter herbs—hard to swallow, leaving a lingering, unpleasant taste. But it is in the bitterness that the deepest flavors are often found, a foundation upon which a more complex, honest meal can be built."

  — The Culinarian's Chronicle

  "Hello, Lysetta," Leo said, his voice also even and devoid of surprise.

  The name, spoken with such quiet familiarity, was a shock that broke the spell of the room. Rix and Yin froze, their heads whipping from the mysterious intruder to Leo, their eyes wide with confusion. The Archmagister’s hand went still, and the air around her crackled with the contained power of a spell waiting to be unleashed.

  Leo took a half-step forward, placing himself between Lysetta and his companions. "It's alright," he said, his voice low and calm, addressing Yin and Rix without taking his eyes off the newcomer. "I don't believe she's here to cause trouble, if she was it certainly would have happened immediately. We should talk. Not here." He finally turned to Yin and Rix. "To the workshop?"

  Rix and Yin exchanged a look. Rix shrugged, her implicit trust in Leo’s judgement plain to see. Yin simply nodded, accepting this strange twist with grace.

  The walk back through the hallowed halls of the Academy was a tense procession. The four of them drew more than a few curious stares from passing students and faculty in the corridors. The curiosity lasted only until they met Yin's authoritative glare, at which point it was instantly replaced by averted eyes and a respectful bow as they hurried past.

  When they finally arrived at Rix's apartment, the heavy brass-plated door hissed open to reveal the impossible courtyard where Bocce was dozing in the patch of grass. The sound caused him to stir, and he sleepily lifted his magnificent head. His amber eyes blinked, focusing first on Rix, then Yin, then Leo with drowsy recognition. But when his gaze finally settled on the silver-haired woman standing beside them, his entire demeanour changed.

  A series of loud, joyful chuffs and caws erupted from his chest. He scrambled to his feet with an uncharacteristic lack of grace and bounded towards her, practically knocking her over as he nudged her affectionately with his massive head, his feathers ruffling in a clear display of delight.

  Rix stood frozen in the doorway, her jaw slightly agape. "Well," she muttered, a note of casual jealousy in her voice. "I see how it is." She moved away from the happy reunion, busying herself with refreshments. "Tea? Water? Something stronger?"

  Lysetta, laughing as she scratched under Bocce's beak, looked over at Rix. "Stronger, if you have it."

  Leo, who had been watching the scene with a quiet, unreadable expression, finally spoke. "I'll take one as well."

  Rix returned with two dark brown bottles beading with condensation and set them on the table with a pair of glasses. Rix popped the bottles open with a satisfying hiss of contained pressure handing them out. Lysetta poured hers, the liquid a deep and brilliant amber, the colour of preserved sunlight. It formed a creamy head in the glass, the tiny bubbles releasing a clean scent of hops and something else, something vaguely sweet and wild, like mountain honey. Leo poured his own, taking time with the simple act—a grounding ritual in the complicated room.

  They settled around the low table in the courtyard. Lysetta took a seat opposite the trio, a wry smile on her lips as Bocce immediately rested his massive head in her lap and let out a contented chuff. Leo found himself flanked by the two women of Highforge; Rix sat close enough that their shoulders touched, a reassuring warmth against the cool night air, while Yin sat on his other side, her posture straight, her expression a mask of calm authority.

  It was Leo who finally broke the silence. "So, how did you find me?"

  "Not hard," she replied, scratching the great bird's neck. "Not many ten-foot-tall black birds riding in and out of Highforge."

  Leo grunted in acknowledgment. "I suppose I should make some introductions," he said, his voice flat. He gestured to the newcomer. "Rix. Yin. This is Dekurian Lysetta lyn'Vulpus, Gakálk áwbtéja." He paused, letting the weight of the Krev'an title settle in the quiet courtyard. "The Shadow of Death."

  Yin's expression hardened, her calm demeanour cracking, her role as the highest ranking official in Highforge returning in a wave of cold fury. "A Death Dealer," she said, her voice sharp. "You are aware that the Krev'an jurisdiction does not extend to Highforge? This man is under the formal protection of the Academy."

  Lysetta smiled, a disarming, predatory expression that revealed teeth just a little too wolf-like. "I'm not here to kill him, though I doubt I could," she said, her voice smooth as silk. "I'm here to deliver information. I owe Leo my life, and I am here to pay the debt."

  Yin turned, addressing Leo directly, her gaze incisive. "Leo, how is it you know this woman? She said you saved her life?"

  "That's her story to tell, should she choose, Archmagister," Leo replied, his face betraying no clues.

  At the use of the formal title, Lysetta's crimson eyes slid from Leo to the young woman beside him. "Arch... magister? You're what, twenty years old?"

  "Twenty-three, actually," Yin replied coolly, her hand moving to her neck where a simple silver chain rested. With a touch, a small, intricate seal hanging from it flared with a soft, silver light—the unmistakable mark of her office. "And yes. I am."

  Lysetta leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she studied the glowing seal. Her left pupil seemed to shift, its shape subtly altering as she focused. "Well," she said, leaning back with a smirk. "I suppose I can't deny you the story."

  She took a long drink, her gaze distant. "The Dominion's Azurean Campaign was… efficient," she began, her voice losing its earlier edge. "My village was unimportant. A small fishing town in the foothills of the mountains that bordered Drakonia to the east and the Azurean Sea to the south. That little corner of the world was strategically worthless, save for a useful deep-water port. The war machines tore through it in less than a day and moved on."

  "What kind of war machines?" Rix interjected, her curiosity overriding any sense of tact. "Siege-class golems? Aether-cannons?"

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Lysetta's crimson eyes snapped to Rix, cold and sharp. "They were big, they were loud, and they turned my home to ash. Is that enough for you?" She turned her gaze past them, drifting back into her memories, dismissing Rix entirely. "I remember the smell of burnt wood and the silence after they were gone. I was fifteen, nearly sixteen, hiding in the ruins of our smokehouse when the Krev’an moved in. Three soldiers cornered me—a feral thing in rags, wielding a sharpened stick. They weren't there to 'secure territory.'"

  She let out a humourless laugh. "Standard procedure was to execute any survivors who showed resistance. I was worthless, another mouth to feed or a potential insurgent to put down. But he," she nodded towards Leo, who was staring into the middle distance, "saw something else. He walked up to me, this towering figure in black iron, and he didn't see a threat. He saw a survivor. He dismissed his men and gestured for me to follow him to his command tent. I feared the worst. But inside, he ladled a thick stew into a bowl—the first real food I’d had in days. He gave me food, clean clothes, and then a name, because I did not have a Krev’an one. He told me his previous steward had been killed in the fighting. He needed a new one, and I was about the right age. Just like that, he made me his steward, raising my station from nothing to ranked with a single command."

  She looked at Leo, a complex emotion flickering in her eyes. "I stewarded for him through the entire Azurean Campaign. I maintained his armour, kept his blades sharp, managed his rations, and I took care of this one," she said, giving Bocce's head an affectionate scratch. "That was back when he was half this size and twice the trouble. In return, Leo trained me. He taught me how to fight, how to read Krev'an battle maps, how to survive on my own. When I was old enough, he sponsored my commission. I received the rank of 'Dekurian' and became one of his officers. I was with him all the way to Svordfj?ll." Her voice faltered for a fraction of a second. "I lost him in the… desolation. I was one of the few survivors. With my training under him, with the rage I carried, I petitioned the Crimson Council to induct me into the Death Dealers. It was the only way. It gave me the clearance, the resources, to hunt for a ghost. I've been looking for him ever since."

  She fell silent, the story hanging in the air. She then pulled a data-slate from her pack and placed it on the table. Its surface was scarred, and it pulsed with a faint, sickly light.

  "The official story is a lie. High Command buried the truth deep. They couldn't hide the desolation, so they blamed it on an 'experimental weapons system malfunction.' Kentarch Leonus ak’Sorvus was officially listed as 'Missing-in-Action, presumed deceased,' a footnote in a technical failure report. When I started my search, I expected his records to be sealed. But they weren't just sealed; they were gone—removed from every active roster, every patrol log. It was the cover-up that told me something sinister had happened. It wasn't a tactical decision; it was a purge."

  She tapped a finger on the corrupted slate. "I recovered this from the wreckage after Svordfj?ll. By the time I was able to dig this up from a decommissioned server, he was already a ghost. As far as any standard patrol is concerned, the man they're looking for was never there to begin with. This," she said, her voice dropping, "is the truth. It's the last copy of his actual personnel file, and it's all I ever found. I’ve never been able to crack it however."

  "May I?" Rix asked, already reaching for the slate.

  Lysetta hesitated momentarily, as though relinquishing the slate would be giving up something truly dear to her. “Be careful, it’s all there is.” She said as she passed the slate to Rix.

  She turned it over in her hands, her brow knitting in concentration as she tried to interface with it, the cracked screen and corrupted data streams making it nearly impossible. Leo watched her lips tighten in a familiar line of puzzlement and frustration. With a sharp huff, she took the slate over to her workbench, pried the casing open with a delicate tool, and began connecting a series of fine cables from its inner workings to her own large-screen terminal.

  Lysetta turned to Leo, watching him watch Rix with an amused glint in her eyes. "Busy little thing, isn't she?"

  Leo ignored the barb, his own question a quiet demand. "How are you here?"

  Lysetta took a slow sip from her glass. "I have a mission pass. Solo, unrestricted."

  Leo's eyes narrowed slightly. "Orders?"

  "Infiltration."

  "Of?"

  Lysetta's eyes slid towards Yin, who was watching their exchange with a guarded expression. "The Academy," she said, shrugging.

  Leo's question cut through her casual tone. "To what effect?"

  Lysetta smirked into her glass. "The new Archmagister is an unknown quantity. Young, powerful, Solarian by birth. High Command is… curious. Official intelligence is hazy. They can't get a clear read on your political leanings, Archmagister," she said, her eyes locking with Yins. "They know you're powerful, but they don't know if you're a pragmatist or a patriot.”

  "My only allegiance is to the charter of this Academy and the continued neutrality of Highforge, Dekurian," Yin stated. "My personal sympathies are irrelevant."

  "The Dominion does not agree," Lysetta shot back with a grin. "Apolitical as you claim to be, when you speak, kings and countries listen. High Command wants to know if you're a problem." She leaned forward, her voice dropping, the amusement gone. "But understand this. The Krev'an don't do half-measures. The fact that I am even standing here means you are already being observed, Archmagister." Her eyes flickered from Yin to Rix, then settled on Leo. "All of you." She leaned back, taking another long drink for effect. "Of course, with the annexation of the sub-Solarian territories already underway, I suppose this mission was over before it began. And now the woman I was sent to spy on is protecting the man I've been searching for my entire adult life. So, suffice to say, I have failed."

  Leo took a deep breath, a hopeful note entering his voice. “Now that you’ve found me… are you staying, Lys?”

  “No,” she said, shattering his hope. “I can’t. I’m a Dekurian of the Death Dealers. Too well known to just… disappear. You ran to a life of anonymity. I was forced onto a different path. You know what they do to deserters, especially ones like me.”

  "So you'll return to Drokthūr? Report your failure?" Leo inquired.

  She nodded. "I have to. But with the new war, I doubt they'll do much more than dock my pay and put a black mark on my file. They need every soldier they can get."

  “And then Solaria?”

  “If the Dominion commands it, I won’t have much choice," she replied, her eyes locking onto his.

  The disappointment that flashed across Leo's eyes was obvious to all. From the workbench, a sharp curse cut through the quiet. “Scrap! Yinny, come take a look at this.”

  Yin stood, excusing herself with a nod, and walked over to where Rix was hunched over her terminal. Their excited chatter filled the space, throwing the silence between the two soldiers into sharp relief.

  Leo looked at Lysetta, his expression etched with a quiet sorrow. “I’m sorry, Lys.”

  Her face twisted, the mask of the cold-hearted Death Dealer cracking for a moment. She bared her fangs in a silent, wounded hiss. “I would have come with you," she whispered, her voice a low, venomous thing. "I would have followed you into the Void itself. But you abandoned me, Leo." She straightened up, her composure returning like a slammed door. "I will keep your secret. I'll throw the Krev’an off your trail. But with this," she gestured to the information she'd provided, "and the data-slate, consider your debt paid.”

  Leo was silent for a long moment, the weight of her words settling between them. He finally met her gaze, his own eyes filled with a monumental sadness. "I never saw it as a debt, Lys," he said, his voice quiet but clear. "I saw it as a promise I failed to keep." He looked down at his own hands, then back at her. "Svordfj?ll changed me… I don't know how to explain it. I just had to run before I destroyed anything else."

  The raw vulnerability in his voice finally broke through her hardened exterior. The anger in her eyes softened, replaced by a flicker of the same sadness he wore. "You think I didn't run, too, Leo?" she said, her voice barely a whisper. "We all ran from that fucking mountain. I just… ran in a different direction."

  A simultaneous gasp came from both women at the workbench.

  “Leo,” Rix called out, her voice tight with a shocking urgency. “You have to come and see this!”