As the time stuttered back into motion--the knights' minds seeming to struggle with comprehending what had happened--chaos ruled. Beyond Kain's sight, he could hear them stumble to a stand still. Voices overlapped as panic and awe spread like wildfire.

"It's the goddess! Do you think--"

"--fates alive, I don't bel--"

"Lady Tai--"

"Silence. I don't want to hear a word until I ask. And I won't ask until I know the champion will live."

The champion?

And just like that, a tense quiet took the field.

The goddess turned to face them as Isidor placed his hands on Kain's shoulders. When the witch had arrived, Kain had no idea. He only knew that the second Isidor pressed down, Kain's numb legs gave out.

The seconds jumbled together. In one moment, it was just the two of them and in the next his allies pressed in on him from all sides. And, beyond them, Taisol stood, watching the drama unfold with her eerie, light yellow eyes. They were all Kain's hazy mind could focus on.

The split pupil reminded him of a hawk.

"Is he--" Melitta demanded.

"He's fine," Isidor cut in, gritting his teeth. "Or, will be. Help me pull off his armor. I need to look for an exit wound."

The words startled him to attention. An exit wound?

Right. He'd been shot.

"I can do it myself," Kain protested.

He batted away helpful hands, before fumbling with the clasps. As he worked, his gaze never wavered from Taisol. Thoughts tumbled over each other in his head, struggling to click together past the haze rapidly taking his thoughts. Why was she there? To help?

To condemn them herself?

Mara had killed one of her favored. It wouldn't be unbelievable for the goddess of justice to step in and deal with king-killers herself. Black spots threatened his vision and it wasn't until Callias pushed his fingers away that Kain realized he'd quit moving. His eyes found Melitta. Her expression twisted his stomach into knots.

Why was it that every time he looked at her after the ball she always seemed on the edge of tears?

"Melitta..."

"Do as you must, Isidor," Taisol said. "No one will take a step past my barrier."

Anything Kain might have said disappeared from his mind. The goddess knew Isidor? That made four gods that the kid had met.

Isidor swore, but--for once--said nothing else. His palms pressed to Kain's back and suddenly he could think of nothing else. After the initial impact, the feeling had nearly disappeared from his mind. That momentary respite ended as Isidor's fingers dug into the wound sending streaks of pain through his back. Kain doubled over and someone else' hands caught his shoulders.

"Stay still," Callias urged him.

"Easier said than done," Kain gasped.

"I don't need to search," Isidor muttered. "It's here, didn't make it very far past the armor, thank the gods. Steady him."

Time shuttered again in the moment that followed. A sudden, sharp tightness pierced the small of his back. He may have shouted--he wasn't certain--before a haze covered everything. Hours fit into seconds.

Then, reality shifted as Melitta patted his cheek and Kain realized he was no longer supporting himself. Without awareness of the shift, he'd somehow ended up half draped against Callias' shoulder. The merman's hands gripped Kain's arms like braces as someone--Isidor?--continued to dig their fingers into his burning back. Melitta tapped his cheek again, forcing his eyes to her. She offered a small, empty smile.

"Focus on me. We need you awake. Isidor can't heal you all the way. Not right now and with everything that's going on. But, Lady Taisol won't continue without you. So, as much as it hurts, we need you to focus. Okay? If you pass out completely, I don't know what will happen."

Thoughts escaped his brain like a sieve. A few barely connected strands managed to linger, however, as he brought his hand up to grasp hers.

"Focus on you," he repeated. "I can do that. Always."

Callias cleared his throat. Some of the haze fell away as embarrassment warmed Kain's mind. He might have said something--anything, really--to distract from their show of affection, but his mind snapped from the issue as Isidor's magic stung his back. A hiss of pain escaped his lips despite his best wishes, and he could feel how Isidor tensed.

Then, finally, the witch's fingers fell away. How much he'd accomplished, Kain couldn't judge. All he knew was that the stabbing sensation had begun to fade to an aching numbness. His eyes fluttered as tension fell from his muscles. But, a whine from Natia, and another tap on his cheek forced him to focus. And when he could see her face again, the haze fled.

The pain in her face hurt more than the bullet.

So, Kain did what he always did. He allowed a smile to creep onto his lips, forced amusement amongst their spinning, tense surroundings. It wasn't the time or the place, but he couldn't help it.

"Are you sure you want a hero?" he joked.

She snorted. The emotion in her expression eased, but didn't disappear. "I want you, heroic and selfless or cowardly and selfish. It doesn't matter as long as it's you, alive."

Callias' grip on Kain's shoulders faltered. "Mel--"

"Later, Calli."

The question of whether Callias would argue or listen became pointless as Isidor thrust his hand against Kain's back once again. His vision blurred as Callias tightened his grip. The familiar sting of a witch's healing heated his skin, before fading just as quickly.

"That's the most I can do," Isidor rasped after the last of the sting fell away. "He won't die, and the moon should make him mobile within a quarter-hour. Not that he should move, just that he'll be able."

Kain straightened himself with Callias' help. His eyes rose to the goddess, who had neither moved, nor spoken, beyond her last order. Soldiers shifted uneasily behind her.

"Lady Taisol?" he guessed, pushing himself up.

"I said you--oh, nevermind," Isidor groaned.

The goddess inclined her head, eyes skimming over their party. "Kain Noumae."

Her massive wings lowered, giving him a clearer view of the shimmering barrier that surrounded their party. The knights had backed away at some point, putting a good fifty feet between them and the goddess' magic. As she ruffled her feathers, before settling her wings against her back, he found himself unable to blame them. Given the chance, Kain, too, would put distance between him and potentially angered goddess.

"I believe the healer told you not to stand."

His face flushed. "That...I thought it would be disrespectful to talk to one such as yourself while you stood and I sat in the dirt."

"I suppose it would," she replied, amusement overtaking her almost scolding tone.

Silence fell for a moment. A dozen questions of why she was there, why she had saved them, and so forth sailed through his mind, but he couldn't summon a single one to his lips. What if questioning her was what summoned her anger? Was it better to wait until Taisol was ready? How long would that take?

"Milady Ta--" Eleni began. Her strong, confident tone caught Kain's attention seconds before the lead knight attempted to muffle her.

"Can't you just stay silent?" he hissed. "You've done enough, Dame Eleni."

"Let her be," Taisol ordered.

Triumph flashed in the woman's eyes. She pushed away from the knight, before dropping into a curtsy.

"I greet the sun," she murmured demurely.

Taisol waved her hand. "I am sure you did not call my name to simply greet me, child."

Eleni raised her head. Disbelief left Kain dumbfounded as tears swelled in her eyes. Isidor snorted.

Rhode looked as blank as ever. As if everything that had happened was simply too much.

"I want to ask for the right to justice," Eleni explained. Her voice cracked. "To execute those who k-killed your king, the child of sun."

Taisol tilted her head, a thin smile overtaking her lips. The rustling of feathers touched the silent air as she seemed to consider the matter. Her arms folded over her chest, pointer finger tapping a slow beat against her forearm.

"I would allow it," she began, and Kain's heart sank. "...but, I'm afraid that would be difficult."

"Milady?"

"The murderer of your last king, the one I acknowledged with a blessed reign as tradition dictates, was killed tonight."

Confusion took the faces of most present. Kain, however, was nearly swept away with the weight of his relief.

They wouldn't be punished. Taisol knew what Alekos had done. Of course she did.

And she didn't approve.

"That means...Alekos' reign wasn't blessed?" Rhode asked in a quiet, shaky voice. "You never acknowledged him?"

Was that possible?

It was the one tradition shared by every monarchy that Kain knew of. When a new leader was crowned, they spent a night in prayer to the patron god of their bloodline. During the ceremony the following day, if the god approved, most would offer a blessing in turn. Kikin didn't, of course, nor did Shinnah or Doroi. But Taisol always did.

How had Alekos managed to conceal it?

Taisol's eyes shifted to Rhode. For the longest minute, she simply stared. Before, once again, offering a soft smile. Only this time, it was edged with age and sadness.

"You were too--occupied, at the time, to know, but...the false king offered no prayers, nor did he hold a public ceremony. It was cited as being too much of a risk following the assassination of Akai. His crowning was private, and his false prayers nonexistent."

How arrogant did you have to be to ignore a god to whom your entire bloodline owed their power?

Or, had Alekos assumed that due to his unjustified treachery, he wouldn't receive a blessing? If that were the case, Kain could see why he would do his best to avoid the ceremony. The power that he could potentially receive if the god didn't care wasn't worth the backlash that would come from her silence. The private ceremony likely would have been easier to achieve after the closed coffin funeral where they supposedly burned the body of Rhode's son. With the public under the impression that the crown's enemies were willing to kill a newborn, the king's caution would seem reasonable.

And make his crowning look even more tragic than it already appeared to be.

"Then, why are you here?" Eleni demanded. The crocodile tears seemed to be swapped for true emotion as they streamed down her face. Kain's heart twisted. He knew nothing about the woman beyond her attempts to harm them, but the grief on her face was real. Whatever he thought of Alekos--not everyone had hated the king. "Why now? Why after all this time are you condemning him?"

Had Eleni known?

How close were she and the king that she even knew what he had done? And--how had he not heard of her at court, or noticed her beyond a passing glimpse at the banquet? Why had Alekos buried someone this close to him amongst a quickly changing range of noblewomen?

Taisol's smile fell. A warning reflected in her gaze. It seemed to go unrecognized on Eleni's part, the woman too caught up in her emotions.

"Ale is dead! You can't condemn him after. That's not fair. What will--how will anyone--"

She cut off as the lead knight once again caught her in his arms. This time he didn't even need to muffle the woman. She simply turned into his chest, burying her face against the hard surface of his armor. Kain could't help but look at Mara in that moment, wondering what she might think seeing the results of her actions.

The duchess looked like a ghost.

Had she not considered that Alekos would have loved ones, too? How, given the charisma he had welded in life? What had the king looked like in her eyes?

"Lady Taisol--" the lead night began, hesitation clear in his expression. "Dame Eleni, she--"

"I will ignore her disrespect given the weight of her emotion," the goddess interrupted. "I am not as unreasonable as to expect her to be calm."

Tension fell from the knight's shoulders. Taisol turned her attention back to their group as Eleni seemed to crumple to the ground. Whatever had been holding her grief at bay was gone. The residual pain in Kain's back seemed to grow stronger at that moment. When the tears were dry, would she look for a gun again, vengeance on her lips?

Or were Taisol's words enough?

"Kain Noumae," she began. He straightened to the best of his ability, ignoring how his legs trembled. Her smile turned wry. "I see my family chose well."

"I--yes? What?"

"I would not have it known that you did this. Your future would be stained with blood before it should be."

Kain's mind went blank. There was a chance he had misunderstood--but, was Taisol willing to ensure that no one believed Kain's party had killed the king?

They wouldn't be stigmatized?

Why? Because Umae had blessed him? Because he was a prince?

What had he done to earn her favor?

A hand gripped his arm, and he turned to find Melitta at his side, fingers curled over his forearm in a tight grip. Her expression was too complicated to decipher before the goddess continued, her soft voice echoing beyond the volume should have been capable of.

"It is the most I can do for you."

"Th-thank you," he stammered. "But, I haven't--"

"And I ask a favor in turn," Taisol continued, ignoring him. "As I said, the death of the imposter--" Her eyes shifted to Mara, something that didn't go unnoticed by the crowd of knights behind her. "--is something I have wished for. But, there is something I wanted more. I want my blessed child on the throne. It is his.

"That child has experienced much he never should have. He was forced to endure another family as his own--but, without affection or love. Instead, it was slavery they offered. Then, when he shed that, they severed the hands that others extended, the family he found. If she had not done what she did tonight, if she had not ended the deceiver, he would have. My love saw it coming one day, before his future became clouded in mangled fate.

"It is my will that he know his mother, his grandmother, and the throne he was born to. Place my child on this throne, Kain, and when you one day know your own, I will acknowledge you."