Kai.
I froze mid-step, motionless for a heartbeat. Sasrir's shadow flickered beside me.
"Please… there must be someone I can talk to," Kai's voice floated over the open courtyard, calm but tight with frustration.
A Guard's voice—stern, low, almost clipped—countered him. "Mr Nightingale,I don't have anything else I can say to you. This type of stuff...nothing ever comes of it.
I blinked. That was… unusual. Usually, the Guards were either brash or dismissive, sometimes outright hostile, especially to outsiders. But this one? His tone held a subtle respect, tempered with hesitation. And then I noticed the small tell: the way his hand lingered on the hilt of his halberd, the slight pause in his breath, the faint rise and fall of his shoulders. He knew exactly who Kai was. Recognized him instantly. And yet, he could not, or would not, budge.
Kai's voice cracked. "Please, I'm asking you personally. Do you have any idea what this means? This isn't right, this isn't moral, we can't just let him get away with it!"
The Guard shook his head, politely but firmly. "I'm sorry, Night. Tessai and Gemma protect their own."
I glanced at Sasrir. He gave nothing away—his usual inscrutable expression, though the way his shadows flickered around his shoulders told me he was reading the situation. He was thinking.
I crept a little closer.
"…This isn't just a request! I can't just—" Kai's words cracked, and for the first time, I heard the strain in his voice. Deeply upset. This wasn't just a routine squabble over a favor. This was personal. Something important was at stake. He muttered something I couldn't hear underneath his breath, and then looked at the Guard with a steadied gaze.
"…I know ywhat the Host is like," he said finally, almost to himself. "But this affects everyone. Please."
The Guard's response was the same polite refusal, but I caught a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. Kai's reputation wasn't just legend—it commanded attention even here, in the middle of the Forgotten Shore. But the rules of Bright Castle? Even Kai Nightingale had to bow to them.
Sasrir shifted beside me. "Do you want to intervene?" he murmured.
I shook my head. "No. Let him make his case. I want to hear what he's so upset about."
Kai's hands were clenched at his sides, sleeves wrinkled from how tightly he'd been gripping them. His voice dropped lower, almost pleading: "You don't understand… if I can't reach them soon, things could spiral… there's no one else who can—no one else—"
The Guard's hand remained steady on his halberd, but there was a tension in his posture now. He wanted to comply, I could see that. He was trying, just like I'd seen soldiers do when faced with impossible orders. But the rules had been handed down. Rules weren't something you bent for even the brightest star of the Dream Realm.
Kai's jaw tightened. His normally perfect composure cracked in tiny increments—slight tremors in his shoulders, his lips pressed too tightly together. I could almost feel the desperation radiating off him.
"…I'll come back another time," he finally said, voice quieter now, but still sharp with frustration. "I'll wait as long as I must—but…" He paused, shoulders slumping, hands dropping to his sides. "…I can't just ignore this. Not this time."
The Guard gave a small, almost imperceptible nod of his head, rigid in obedience, and repeated himself: "I'm sorry, Kai. I wish you luck."
Kai's face was taut with emotion, but he didn't argue further. I straightened, brushing dust off my sleeve. "Well… let's go see how he's doing. From the sounds of it, he intends to pick a fight with the Host all by himself."
Sasrir inclined his head, shadows shifting along the courtyard stones. "Agreed."
And with that, we stepped into the inner courtyard, toward Kai, toward whatever storm had brought him to this point.
Sasrir and I stepped forward together, closing the space between Kai and the Guard. "Hey," I said, raising my hands slightly, trying for calm, friendly energy. "What's going on here?"
Kai looked at me, eyes flickering between annoyance, frustration, and… something else. Recognition. He knew us from our encounter in the Coral Labyrinth the day before, or maybe he had caught up on the rumours going around about Sasrir and myself. Either way, we were in Kai's eyes.
But that didn't mean he trusted us.
"I… I can't say," Kai finally muttered, voice low. Not refusing, not lying exactly—just… unable to speak.
I raised a brow. "Seriously? That's it? Come on, Kai, you can trust us."
He shook his head slightly, shoulders tight. "…I really can't. Thank you for your concern, but this doesn't involve you, and I don't want it to."
I frowned, glancing at the Guard. "And you?" I asked, stepping just a little closer. The man's posture stiffened; his hands gripped his halberd lightly.
"I… I have nothing to add, sir," he said. Polite, disciplined, but closed off. That was one thing about these Bright Castle Guards—they were trained to obedience first, judgment second. Even when they wanted to speak, most wouldn't cross the line.
Kai sighed softly, a sound that carried more weight than words. He straightened, took a slow breath, and… walked away. Not angrily, not in defeat—just deliberately, purposefully, vanishing toward the inner courtyard. His steps were quiet, but every one of them seemed measured. Like he was trying to make a point without saying a word.
I blinked. "He… just left."
Sasrir tilted his head, shadows flickering across his face. "Apparently."
I groaned, running a hand through my hair. "And the Guard? He's not going to say anything either. Brilliant. Perfectly helpful."
Sasrir shrugged, leaning against the edge of the gate. "Not our problem. Whatever this is, it's nothing to do with us, just as Kai said. Let the Castle handle its' own issues, we just need to focus on putting food on the table.
I followed Kai's departing figure with my eyes, already spinning possibilities in my head. Something was wrong—something big. His expression… it was belonging to a man deeply frustrated, who had recently encountered either a tragedy or a dead-end. Maybe even both. If he was looking to speak with Tessai or Gemma, I could roughly guess what had happened, too.
I sighed, brushing off my cloak. "Fine. Let's go inside. He didn't want to talk, and the Guard isn't going to help. Nothing to do but carry on like usual."
Sasrir's shadow followed me as we passed through the gate, but I could feel his quiet assessment of the situation. Calm, precise, clinical—the way he always was when the playful banter ended and the real world intruded.
As soon as the massive doors closed behind us, shutting out the courtyard and the fading light, I leaned against a wall, already running through ideas.
"Alright," I muttered under my breath, mostly to myself, "if Kai isn't going to tell us, then we'll figure it out ourselves. Something's up… maybe we can get a lead before he has to deal with it alone. Or…" I smirked despite the tension, "…maybe it's a good excuse to stir things up a little."
Sasrir didn't respond—he never did when I muttered schemes like that—but I knew he'd heard. He ould interject and complain if I was planning haphazardly, or without proper direction, but for stuff like this he knew I was always serious.
I just had to make sure I didn't overstep, didn't annoy ay of the big fish. Not yet.
Because whatever Kai was facing… I didn't want him handling it alone. And if I could have a little fun along the way… well, why not?