The walk back to the Citadel was a blur. Elara's words echoed in Kaelen's mind, a gentle but persistent counterpoint to the harsh lessons of Valeria and the sly manipulations of Isolde. "She does not own your heart. Guard it well." He had done the job, but he had kept a piece of his humanity. It felt like a small, secret victory.
He slipped back into the Citadel the same way he left, a shadow returning to its cage. His room felt different now. Smaller. The walls felt less like protection and more like the sides of a box he was trapped in.
Sleep would not come. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, going over every moment. The desperate couple. The medical kits. Elara's sudden appearance. Had she been following him? Or, as she said, could she truly sense the conflict in his energy? The thought was unsettling.
The next morning, the summons came not from Isolde, but from Valeria. The message on his door panel was simple and direct: "Report to Training Chamber 3. 0800."
When he arrived, Valeria was already there, waiting. She didn't look angry. She looked… disappointed. That was worse.
"Close the door," she said, her voice flat.
The door hissed shut. She didn't move, just looked at him with those flinty grey eyes.
"The logistics official. Jerold. He reported a break-in last night. Some stolen supplies were returned to a shrine. Interestingly, not all of them. He also found a small amount of currency he claims wasn't his." She paused, letting the words hang in the air. "The description of the scene suggests Umbral energy was present. Faint, but detectable to a skilled sensor."
Kaelen's blood ran cold. He said nothing.
"I am not a fool, Kaelen," she continued, her tone still dangerously calm. "I know Isolde contacted you. I know she called in her debt. I told you her favors were chains."
She took a step forward. "You compromised a mission. You showed weakness. In the field, that hesitation gets you killed. In the city, it makes you predictable. Isolde now knows she can manipulate you through your emotions. You have shown her a key weakness."
Kaelen expected yelling. He expected punishment. Her calm analysis was somehow more frightening.
"Why did you do it?" she asked, finally showing a flicker of curiosity. "You had your orders. You completed the objective. Why alter the plan?"
Kaelen met her gaze. "The man… he wasn't just a thief. He was stealing medicine for his sick wife. He was desperate."
Valeria's expression did not change. "And that matters to the mission how? His reasons do not change the crime. His actions weaken this city. Every missing medical kit could be the difference between a soldier living or dying on the wall. Sentiment is a luxury, Kaelen. One we cannot afford."
Her words were hard, cold logic. But for the first time, Kaelen found himself pushing back. Not with anger, but with a quiet certainty.
"Is it a luxury?" he asked. "Or is it what we're fighting for? You told me the reward was life. More years to live. What is the point of those years if there's nothing human left in them? If we become just like the things in the mist?"
Valeria was silent for a long moment. She studied him, and for a second, he saw something in her eyes—not approval, but a faint, grudging recognition.
"A noble thought," she said finally. "And a quick way to die. This world does not reward nobility. It rewards strength and results." She turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Your punishment is this: you will join the wall patrol tonight. You will see firsthand what happens when supplies run short. You will see the cost of sentiment."
After she left, Kaelen stood alone in the training room. He felt conflicted. Valeria was wrong. He knew she was. But her warning about showing weakness to Isolde was right.
Later that day, as he walked in the Citadel's garden, he found Elara. She was watering her strange, glowing plants.
"The Commander knows," he said quietly, standing beside her.
Elara didn't look surprised. "Of course she does. Little happens in this city that one of them does not know." She set down her watering can. "And?"
"She said I was weak. That I showed Isolde how to manipulate me."
Elara smiled her sad smile. "There is a strength in mercy that hard women like Valeria often forget. You showed Isolde you have a conscience. That is not a weakness. It is a piece of information. Now she must decide if it makes you useless or more valuable to her. You have made her game more complicated."
Her perspective was so different. It made his head spin.
"Valeria also said sentiment is a luxury," he added.
"Is it a luxury to be human?" Elara asked softly, touching the petals of a glowing flower. "Or is it the only thing worth saving?"
That night, Kaelen reported for wall duty. He stood on the cold, high battlements, looking out at the endless, churning mist. He saw tired soldiers with patched-up armor. He heard a medic complain about the low stock of blood-clotting gauze.
He saw the cost.
But he also saw two soldiers sharing a joke, a moment of warmth in the cold. He saw a young woman look at a picture of her family before staring back into the gloom.
He saw what Valeria fought to protect. And he saw what Elara meant was worth protecting.
He understood both of them a little better. And he felt more caught than ever. Valeria's path was hard, but clear. Isolde's path was shadowy and tempting. Elara's path was kind, but seemed impossible.
He was learning that trust wasn't about choosing who was right. It was about choosing which "right" he could live with. And he wasn't sure yet.