Ayame came down from her family's graves while holding Quinlan's arm, unhurried, while the snow filled their footprints behind them, and found the duchy waiting for her at the bottom of the hill in the shape of a single exhausted captain.
Captain Rin stood outside the low gate of the burial hill with her helmet under one arm, planted at an attention so rigid it was clearly holding the last of her composure up.
High behind them, a thread of incense smoke leaned off the hill's shoulder, marking where Kaede knelt.
Rin bowed to the two of them, low, and held it one breath past protocol.
"My lady... My... Lord..." The words came out level through visible discipline.
She straightened, looked the conquerors of her duchy in the eye, and asked for a chain of command the way drowning people ask for rope.
"What are my orders?"
Quinlan, instead of answering, looked at Ayame.
Ayame tilted her head, and the grin arrived a heartbeat later, small and entertained.
"Why are you asking us?"
