[*]
His eyes, dark as lacquer, flickered with a somber, ghastly fire.
The young man's eyes were usually exceptionally clear, but now they seemed veiled by a black fog.
After a long moment, he said in a low voice, "So it's a dead end."
A heavy silence fell, broken only by the CRACKLE and POP of the embers.
"Little General," Amy clapped her hands lightly and grinned at him. "Didn't you want to serve the country with utmost loyalty, to repay it with your life? Why do you seem so afraid now?"
"If I were born in a chaotic era, alone with nothing but my own flesh and blood, my death would mean little. But now, with my family and country in peril, even if I'm willing to die in service, I fear it won't be enough to prop up a collapsing dynasty."
