Off they went as the sun rose, each toward their own path.
Away went Bren and Ysse down the southern path, shrinking into the misty light. One glance back - that tiny, careful nod from Ysse, her way of saying what words could not hold. Bren lifted his arm, palm open ahead, Kael noticing it right away. Like the princess once did, he almost said - but stopped. Hers reached toward a story drawn by another's voice. His aimed at dust, stone, a route decided on his own.
After that, silence took over.
Out there among the trees, he stayed beside Orren, then Auren, plus what was left of the package. The morning hung still, sharp with cold, heavy like decisions already made can be.
Checking the map again, Orren spoke about the northern ports. A habit, really - he didn't require it. The path stayed fixed in his mind.
"Yes," Kael said.
Auren handled the horses. That kind of help came with knowing a general - something Kael hadn't quite gotten used to yet. Papers too, prepared ahead. Travel permits good for crossing eastward, valid enough should someone check. Though checking seemed doubtful now, attention pulled elsewhere by treaty work already underway.
They rode north.
Back they went, skirting the war zone instead of entering it, tracing the border where cleanup had started - figures spotted on far slopes, first signs of salvage crews arriving after soldiers pulled out, creeping forward like water filling empty space. Cold fury settled in Kael as he looked, not wild but quiet, shaped into something that served him, not burned through him.
It was already in his hands, that paper he'd been waiting for.
He had the testimony.
It was his list they came from.
He was going to the northern ports.
High up, along a narrow road, he looked down on the second morning. A dip in the ground lay below, shaped like a shallow dish. Trees edged one side, a rise held the other. Distance turned memory into landscape. No sign showed what occurred there before. Earth holds no memory of blood. What happened stayed gone.
For just a breath, the horse stood still. Then nothing moved.
He paused next to the man. Not a word about reasons. Just stood there.
Out across the low land, Kael stood still. Sorin - that name slipped out soft, like breath meant for wind to take.
Northward he went on horseback after that.