Kings Game

Chapter 77 - First Blooms

(1)

Several days later, and in the absence of the Kings raining fire down upon them, Kell let herself relax. Nul had recovered quicker than expected, likely due to the fact that Karyn had bullied Nul into eating real food for a change. She even convinced them to have multiple meals per day.

In between the forced feedings, Nul sequestered themself away in their workshop, pouring over the stacks of tomes they had copied from the archives. Kell didn't know, or even understand, the specifics, but Nul was as happy as Kell had ever seen them. They had already started drawing out the King's etchings on great sheets of parchment paper tacked up all over their workshop.

Darling and Karyn had continued on as though nothing had happened. Darling attended meetings, spent late nights pouring over reports and ledgers, and hosting dinners to solidify new relations which, somehow, now included Commander Orlas, General Ahndor, and occasionally Queen Al'Feare.

Karyn had effectively become Darling's shadow, acting as equal parts assistant and advisor. Given that Kell was officially Uhlara's representative Champion, she had become Darling's de facto bodyguard. Kell wouldn't have worried much about Darling's safety if it weren't for Roran's escapades with the agents of Uhlara and the Esmun Republic.

Lately, Roran had been getting back to work for Pelkha and the Kings, though most of that now revolved around babysitting the Prince and attending meetings to suss out what the infiltrators were actually up to. Roran had briefed them a few times on the popular theories but, from what Kell could gather, nobody really knew what was going on.

So Kell pushed it to the back of her mind and focused on spending time with Karyn and Darling, enjoying the togetherness before it came to its inevitable end.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" asked Darling when Kell finally broke the news to her.

They were in Darling's office, a normal sized room that felt small due to all of the large furniture inside, including an oversized couch, polished wooden coffee table, and two desks, one for Darling and one for Karyn.

"There are a couple of things we need to go find," said Kell. "Put away the puppy eyes, we're not leaving soon. Nul still needs to figure out how the King's Crowns work and Sarah is collecting information from her people. It will be another month or two before we're ready to head off."

"And you'll be searching for crowns of your own?" Darling asked. They had given her a brief rundown of their situation and their plans, but a lot of the details had been left out.

"We call ours blades," said Kell. "You know, as in-"

"Assassination, yes, I see. And you need to leave to find them?"

"Nul has to forge them out of remnants, powerful ghosts that are still lying around in the world. Sarah's people hunt them but...lyhlims aren't exactly combat oriented, so the stronger ones are left to rot. we'll be going after them either to turn them into a blade or put them to rest."

"And you can't do that here?" Darling asked, her voice hopeful.

"The only remnants around here are in the arena, and we're responsible for a good number of them. I don't think getting them to work with us is the best idea."

"Okay," said Darling, deflating. She glanced over at Karyn who was skimming through some documents. "Karyn and I will have to manage without you."

Kell glanced over at Karyn, who hadn't so much as paused in her review.

"Karyn will likely be coming with us."

"Oh? Is that true?" Darling asked.

Karyn finally looked up from the document. "I'm not sure. We don't need to make any hard decisions right now. Still working on other problems."