The Drayvar manor felt strangely empty without Varen and Rylan.
Not physically empty. There were still more than two hundred people living and working within its walls. But in a subtler way. As if someone had removed two central pieces of a mechanism and now everything was spinning slightly out of balance, searching for a new rhythm.
Kael noticed it first at breakfast on the second day.
Elyn arrived later than usual with dark circles under her eyes that makeup didn't completely hide. She sat in her usual place, to the right of Varen's empty chair, and looked at Rylan's empty seat on the other side with an expression Kael couldn't quite decipher.
Worry? Anxious pride? Loneliness?
All of the above, probably. For the first time in fourteen years, her favorite son was out of her reach. Out of her control.
Lyssara entered exactly five minutes later, which was unusual. She normally arrived whenever she pleased with no predictable pattern. But today she had arrived deliberately late, testing what would happen without Rylan there to occupy all of Elyn's attention.
Elyn looked at her. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Good morning, Lyssara."
"Good morning, Mother."
Lyssara replied with a perfectly polite tone as she sat in her usual place.
But then she did something Kael had never seen her do before: she took the bread from the central basket without waiting for Elyn to eat first.
It was a minuscule violation of family protocol. Technically the wife of the house ate first, then the children in order of importance. But it was so small that mentioning it would be petty.
Elyn said nothing. But her fingers tightened around her knife.
'Interesting,' thought Kael, watching the exchange. 'Lyssara is testing boundaries. Seeing what she can take now that Rylan isn't here to command all of Elyn's attention.'
Sareth arrived last as always, sliding into his seat next to Kael with silent movements. But something was different. He had a book under his arm. Nothing unusual in itself. But it was one Kael didn't recognize. Thinner. Without the characteristic dust of the library's ancient tomes.
"New book?"
Kael asked quietly as they were served.
"I found it on the back shelves."
Sareth murmured with a tone that sounded almost guilty.
"It's about... uh... basic military tactics. I thought it might be useful to understand how battles work. You know. For historical context."
It was a lie. Or at least not the whole truth. Kael could see it in the way Sareth avoided his gaze and how his fingers caressed the book's cover with something resembling nervous hope.
'He is trying to learn about war,' Kael understood with sudden clarity. 'After what we talked about. He is looking for his own way to be useful.'
He didn't know whether to feel proud or guilty.
Breakfast continued in tense silence. Elyn ate mechanically with her mind clearly elsewhere. Probably imagining every step of Rylan's journey, every presentation, every possible disaster. Lyssara read, but her eyes moved too quickly over the pages to truly be absorbing information. She was watching. Waiting.
And Kael ate his hard bread, cataloging every small change in the family dynamic while wondering how he could use them.
'But use them for what,' he reminded himself. 'I still don't know what I really want. I only know I want... more. To be more. To matter more.'
'But matter to whom? For what?'
He had no answers. Only a vague, growing hunger that he couldn't quite name.
After breakfast, while Sareth went to his music lesson—now private and solitary without the possibility of Kael accompanying him—Kael headed toward the training yard.
Not to observe from the balcony this time. But to be there. On the ground. Among the soldiers.
Master Torin was supervising a formation exercise, shouting corrections to a dozen guards practicing synchronized movements. His voice resonated in the yard, brusque but not cruel. The kind of discipline that came from decades of experience.
Kael stood at the edge, waiting. Not interrupting. Just... present.
It took Torin five minutes to notice him. When he did, his eyebrows lifted with genuine surprise.
"Young Kael."
He approached with heavy steps, looking down at the small boy.
"Do you need something?"
"I want to learn."
"Learn what?"
"To fight."
There was silence. Several of the guards had stopped their training to listen. Curiosity was clear on their faces.
Torin rubbed his jaw as he considered it.
"You are young still. Eight years old?"
"Yes, Master Torin."
"Did your father approve this?"
"My father is not here."
Kael pointed out the obvious with a neutral tone.
"And I don't think he cares one way or the other."
It was brutally honest. Probably too honest. But Torin was a man who appreciated frankness.
The weapons master let out a sound that might have been a laugh or a grunt.
"Fair enough."
He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Why now? Rylan has been training since he was seven. You never showed interest before."
"Because before I was too young and it didn't matter."
Kael kept his voice steady.
"But I am eight now. And if I wait longer I will be even further behind everyone else."
"Your Resonance Ceremony was moderate."
Torin didn't say it cruelly. He was just stating facts.
"With luck, you will reach Fifth Layer Apprentice. You will never be an exceptional warrior."
"I don't need to be exceptional. I just need not to be useless."
That seemed to resonate with Torin. The old soldier studied Kael with eyes that had seen too many battles. He evaluated not only his body but his determination.
"Very well."
The decision came out after a long moment.
"But under my terms. No special treatment for being the Grand Duke's son. You train with the initiates. You do every exercise they do. You fall, you get up. You cry, you leave. Understood?"
"Understood."
"And I will speak with your stepmother. If Lady Elyn objects, this ends immediately."
Kael nodded, though he doubted Elyn would object. To her, he was so invisible she probably wouldn't even notice he was training.
"Show up here tomorrow. At dawn."
Torin pointed to a group of younger boys in the corner of the yard. None older than fifteen.
"You will train with them. If you survive a week without quitting, I will consider teaching you something real."
"Thank you, Master Torin."
The man grunted and returned to his class, immediately shouting at a guard who had dropped his formation.
Kael stood there for a moment longer, looking at the initiates. They were sons of knights, minor nobles, of second wives. Not heirs.
'My people,' he thought with a mixture of irony and something resembling satisfaction. 'The invisibles. The ones who have to earn every inch.'
He turned to leave and almost bumped into Lyssara.
She was standing right behind him, so silent he hadn't heard her approach. In her hands, she had that same book she had been "reading" during breakfast.
"How long have you been there?"
Kael asked with a controlled voice.
"Long enough."
Lyssara tilted her head, studying him with that characteristic intensity.
"Physical training. Interesting choice."
"I need something more than words."
"Weren't words enough with Aldric?"
Kael felt a flash of irritation. Of course, she had been watching him still.
"Words work when you have information. But information only comes from being in places, seeing things, being strong enough to survive if you get caught."
"True."
Lyssara walked toward the edge of the yard, watching the guards train.
"Though I wonder if you will survive Torin. He is... intense."
"I will survive."
"Confidence or desperation?"
Kael looked at her. There was something different about Lyssara today. Less guarded. As if Rylan's absence had removed a layer of necessity to pretend.
"Why are you talking to me?"
He asked directly.
"Normally you just observe."
Lyssara turned to him with an expression that might have been amusement.
"Because you are more interesting than my books. And because right now you are the only person in this manor who seems to be trying to change something instead of just accepting their place."
"And you? What are you trying to change?"
"Everything."
She said it with such simplicity that Kael almost laughed.
"But patiently. Rylan is the heir now. But heirs die. Or they fail. Or... they just don't turn out to be what everyone expected."
There was something slightly ominous in those words. Kael wasn't sure if it was a threat, a prediction, or just an observation.
"Do you think Rylan will fail?"
"I think Rylan is exactly what he seems to be: strong, honorable, predictable."
Lyssara shrugged casually.
"And in politics, being predictable is eventually fatal."
She walked away before Kael could answer. Her dress whispered against the stone.
And Kael stood there, processing the conversation while wondering if he had just made an ally or if Lyssara was simply studying him like an entomologist would study an interesting insect before pinning it with a needle.
'Probably both,' he decided.
The afternoon found Kael looking for Sareth. His brother hadn't appeared at lunch, which was unusual. Sareth was many things: shy, nervous, constantly scared. But he never missed meals. Food was one of the few predictable comforts he had.
Kael checked the obvious locations first: Sareth's room was empty, the dining hall empty except for cleaning servants, the study parlor abandoned after the morning lessons.
Which left the library.
Of course.
Kael walked through the familiar hallways. His steps echoed softly against the stone. The secondary library was in the east wing, far from the hustle and bustle of the main areas. It was a refuge for those who wanted not to be found.
Or for those who had nowhere else to go.
He pushed the door gently, expecting to find Sareth alone, buried in some dusty tome about imperial history or abstract philosophy.
What he found was... different.
Sareth was sitting at the long table in the center. Yes. But he wasn't alone.
There was a girl with him.
Kael stopped on the threshold, genuinely surprised. In all his eight years, he had never seen Sareth voluntarily interact with anyone outside the family. And certainly never with a girl.
She was perhaps thirteen, with brown hair pulled back in a simple braid and a round face that still held some childish softness. She wore simple but clean clothes. The kind of clothing worn by the children of high-ranking servants. And she had an open book in front of her, though she clearly wasn't reading.
She was laughing.
Sareth had made her laugh.
"...and then Master Corvin fell asleep."
Sareth was saying with a shy smile Kael rarely saw.
"Right in the middle of explaining the Third Consolidation. He slumped over the book and started snoring."
"Seriously?"
The girl covered her mouth, but her laughter escaped anyway.
"And what did you do?"
"Kael drew a mustache on his own face and tried to wake him up acting as if nothing had happened."
'Wait,' Kael thought. 'Is that what that story is about? I was trying to see if Corvin would notice. It was an experiment.'
But seeing the girl's laughter and the way Sareth lit up with her amusement, he decided not to correct the record.
"It must be difficult."
The girl said this as her laughter faded to something softer.
"Having to learn with someone so boring."
"It's... it's okay."
Sareth shrugged. His usual shyness returned.
"At least the books are interesting."
"Books are always interesting."
She agreed with genuine fervor.
"I work in the main library with my parents. Well, I help them catalog. Sometimes they let me read during breaks."
'Ah,' Kael understood. 'One of the librarians' children. That's why she's here.'
He decided he had observed enough.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Sareth jumped as if shot. He turned with wide eyes and his face instantly reddening.
"K-Kael! I... we just..."
The words tumbled over themselves.
The girl was also startled but recovered faster. She stood up, nervously smoothing her dress, and made a small curtsey.
"Young Kael."
Her voice was polite but trembling.
"I am Carmen. My grandmother is Ama Maren."
'So she is Maren's family,' Kael noted. 'Interesting.'
"Carmen."
Kael repeated the name as he walked toward the table.
"What are you reading?"
"I..."
Carmen looked at her book.
"History of the First Empire. For my education."
"Your education? Do the librarians' children receive formal education?"
"My grandmother insisted."
A touch of defensive pride appeared in her voice.
"She says an educated mind can open doors that birth keeps closed."
'Wise woman,' Kael thought. 'Ama Maren was always smarter than people gave her credit for.'
"And Sareth was helping you?"
"I... she had questions about the Consolidation Wars, and I... was just explaining..."
Sareth got even redder.
"Fascinating."
Kael slid into the chair on the other side of Carmen.
"And meanwhile, you were sharing stories about Master Corvin. Who, by the way, never fell asleep. He was pretending to see how long it would take us to realize he wasn't paying attention."
"Was he?"
Carmen blinked, confused.
"No."
Kael admitted this with a small smile.
"He really fell asleep. But it sounds better to say it was a test."
Carmen laughed, and Kael saw something in Sareth's face he hadn't seen before: annoyance. Real annoyance directed at him.
'Interesting,' he thought. 'Sareth is defending his territory. I never thought I would see the day.'
"So Carmen."
Kael continued, deliberately ignoring Sareth's warning glare.
"What else do you do besides study boring history?"
"I help in the main library."
A little confidence returned to her voice.
"Cataloging, cleaning, archiving. And sometimes I read the sections that are not open to the general public."
"Restricted sections?"
Kael's interest genuinely sharpened.
"What kind of books are there?"
"Mainly private family records. Old correspondence. Some military treatises. Nothing exciting."
She hurried to add the latter.
"Just documents that need to be kept but not... shown."
'Information,' Kael thought. 'She has access to information no one else sees. Including things that could be... useful.'
"And they let you read them?"
"Sometimes. If I am bored and my parents are busy."
Carmen shrugged.
"No one really pays attention."
'Of course not,' Kael thought. 'Because no one pays attention to the servants' children. Just like no one pays attention to us.'
He was about to ask another question when Sareth cleared his throat. Loudly.
"Kael, didn't you have to be somewhere?"
The tension in his voice was obvious.
"I thought you said something about... uh... that matter with Master Torin."
Kael looked at him, clearly seeing what was happening. Sareth wanted him to leave. He wanted time alone with Carmen. He wanted...
'Oh,' he understood with sudden amusement. 'My brother has his first crush. How adorable. And how completely inconvenient for him that I showed up.'
He decided to be merciful. Mostly.
"You are right."
He stood up, preparing to leave.
"I need to check the training schedule for tomorrow. Carmen, it was a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise, Young Kael."
"And Sareth."
Kael added this, leaning down to whisper as he passed.
"The military tactics book you were 'reading' this morning is upside down in your lap."
He saw Sareth look down in a panic. Realize Kael was right. And turn a shade of red that was probably medically concerning.
Kael walked out of the library with a small smile.
'So Sareth finally found something, or someone, that matters to him besides books and survival. Good for him.'
Though as he walked down the hallway, another part of his mind was already processing: 'Carmen with access to restricted documents. That might be useful someday.'
'But for now, I will give Sareth his moment. Everyone deserves to have something that is just ours.'
'Especially the invisibles.'