"Do you know how my family came to be at the Camelia?" Lord Yin asked gently.
Eirian gave him a flat look. "Why would I know that?"
"We discussed a bit of it, briefly, on the way to Tira Lian."
Eirian racked her memory; she did vaguely remember Lady Yang and Lord Yin discussing the history of the Camelia and their families. Lady Yang stuck out more; she was much louder than Lord Yin and much more forceful. Harder to ignore. "Ah, yes. The Yangs are from the East, are they not? But not your family?"
"They are, and we are not." Lord Yin didn't seem overly insulted. "We are from the West by way of the North."
"Beyond the Spine?"
"No, the lands northwest of the White City."
Eirian blinked in surprise. "You're from the Long Fall?"
"Around there." Lord Yin glanced at a painting hanging on the wall of a great waterfall. Eirian hadn't noticed it before. "It was only a group of scattered villages at first, but it started to coalesce several hundred years ago. During the Age of Warfare. That is when most of the current kingdoms came into existence."
Eirian fought down the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm aware."
"My family left when their village decided to move and join the others. I don't know why they didn't stay; they did not bring more than the clothes on their backs, and no one wrote it down. They didn't write down anything about the journey to Sorrow either, even though it took several years. They came to the Camelia by way of the northern borderlands."
"Quite the roundabout."
"They were wanderers for a time. Skilled enough with sword and shield that they amassed a small fortune before they arrived. The Camelia was still trying to recover from the fall of the Arnheims and the rise of the Ye bloodline. There were many gaps, including in the guard. When my family arrived, it did not take long before they negotiated joining."
"That was an interesting time for the Camelia." Eirian had read extensively about it in the Histories, but she didn't recall any special mention of the Yin family.
"It was a hundred years before we became a major house, and things were relatively quiet until the Tingling invasion. My family was known for their steadfastness. Sturdy swordsmen who did their duty and who kept their honor. We developed a reputation as teachers, as mediators. We are all pacifists at heart, I think; we fight for survival, not for enjoyment."
Eirian gave him a vicious smile. "I enjoy a good fight."
Lord Yin did not look surprised. "When my ancestor held the gate, I believe he did it because it was his duty, because he wanted to protect those inside the walls. Not because he wanted to fight. Not because he wanted glory. We would have been content to remain a minor family, but that was not what fate wished."
"Okay." Eirian couldn't keep the disbelief out of her voice. "You seem to have taken to it well."
Lord Yin frowned. For the first time, he actually seemed upset by her words. "We take our responsibility seriously."
"You have a responsibility to justice."
"Which Lord Zhao is not immune from just because of your fondness for him." It was the first time he'd come close to snapping at her. Or at anyone, and he still managed to sound apologetic and almost tired.
"I agree." And she did. No one of any rank was immune from justice. "But accepting the easy answer is not…the answer." She frowned in disgust at herself for letting it come out like that. "We need to go through with the investigation, regardless of where it leads."
Lord Yin seemed to relax at that. "We agree on that. What makes you so sure Lord Zhao is innocent?"
"What makes you think he's guilty?" Eirian countered.
"As I said, too many coincidences."
"And yet I say, it's too obvious."
"Then we will have to agree to disagree and see what happens."
"Apparently." Eirian drawled.
***
It took hours to reach the end of the tunnel.
Yuze had never been so happy to be able to stand up straight. It seemed like all of him cracked as he did, and it took a few seconds for all of his muscles to readjust and sort themselves out. Kai Low groaned as he did the same.
The tunnel ended in a small room, too small to be for anything but the tunnel and utterly empty. The wall across from the tunnel was wood, with a door in the center. It wasn't new, but it wasn't old either, and the door was in very good shape, so they must not have used it very often.
Yuze pressed his ear to the door, over the gap where the door met the wall, and listened.
"I don't hear anything."
"Try the door."
Yuze sneered at him. "Really?" What did Kai Low think he was going to do next?
Kai Low's lip curled as he drew his sword.
Yuze drew his own before taking hold of the door handle and gently pulling, doing his best not to make a sound as he did.
The door didn't budge.
Yuze paused, listened again to make sure, before pulling harder.
It still didn't budge. He handed Kai Low his sword and pulled with two hands.
The door creaked, a small cascade of dust fell, but the door didn't open.
Kai Low peered through the gap. "Pull again. With strength this time."
Yuze huffed. One of them was still healing, but he didn't point that out. Instead, he adjusted his grip and pulled until his shoulders ached.
"Ah, there is a bar." Kai Low announced, long after he'd actually spotted it.
Yuze released the door with a huff and glared at him. "Wood or metal?"
Kai Low shrugged. "Dark."
Yuze sighed and shook out his arms. "Do you think we could lift it through the gap?"
Kai Low scoffed. "With what?"
Yuze took his sword back and waved it in his face. "A sword, genius."
Kai Low scowled. "No. It was too big."
Part of Yuze wanted to have Kai Low pull on the door so Yuze could see for himself, but the odds that he was lying or wrong were low enough that it just made him feel petty.
And now they had to turn around and make their way all the way back. Yuze groaned and sheathed his sword. Kai Low didn't look any happier as he did the same.
"Now we head back?" Kai Low slumped as he headed back into the tunnel and Yuze steeled himself for another few hours of heated silence and air that tasted like wet dirt.
~ tbc