Hundreds of miles away from the Abandoned Kingdom, from the Eastern Forests, from the Noctis Mountains, and from the Highland wastes where Shenric fell in battle, a woman in her early sixties was being led into an inn by two Faceless Soldiers.
The main room of the inn was well lit and inviting, filled with warm shades of brown. It had been carefully arranged for her arrival. At the center of the room, upon a carpet, sat a dark-robed figure wearing a white mask. His hands were folded in front of him as if in meditation. A teapot rested beside two ceramic cups.
With a small gesture of his head, the two Soldiers guided the woman toward the carpet before stepping away, remaining close enough to keep watch.
"Please, take a seat," the robed figure said. "I would be honored if you sat with me."
The woman lowered herself carefully, never taking her eyes off him.
"Perhaps this will be a pleasant change of scenery compared to where you have been staying recently."
"I know who you are," the woman said.
"Yes, yes, I suppose there is no hiding it. Please, help yourself to some green tea."
He filled both cups.
"Why would a Faceless Soldier drink tea?" the woman asked. "I know how they condition you. Why would someone like you do anything resembling a human act, given the state you're in?"
"Even the Western Leader has moments when he needs someone to speak to. Don't you feel that we are meant to rely on each other and help one another whenever we can?"
"Please do not speak to me as if we have something connecting us."
"Very well."
The Western Leader gestured lightly toward the tea set while remaining seated.
"It is truly of the highest quality," he said as he drank.
"I'm pleased to hear that. And it's a nice place out here in the fields, is it not? This could be your home. It could be like this every day—if you simply chose to forget."
"Forget? You're telling me to forget that you people killed my son?"
"It has been a long time since you last saw Shenric of the Qiren Clan. If you had witnessed the things he had done, perhaps you would have hesitated before calling him your son."
The woman threw the tea into the Western Leader's mask. He remained perfectly still.
"Are you saying we were unjustified in what we did?"
"It wasn't just my son! You killed all of them, all because they decided to listen to what he had to say. You had no right to take all those lives."
"Those lives were planning to demolish the Realm you currently live in. It is not a pleasant thing to take another life, or to take their freedom. But if doing so prevents greater harm and suffering, then the existence of us Faceless Soldiers is justified every time.
"If their actions affected only themselves, perhaps re-education would have been sufficient. But they were a danger to the world, to what is right."
"And who decides what is right? Your owners?"
"The Lords decide."
"So the Lords know everything?"
"They know what is best for the Realms."
"The Realms are not their playgrounds. They are territories made of people. You believe your Lords are justified in hurting people in the name of protecting them?"
"Of course. If you truly know what is best for someone, then there will come a time when you must intervene, against their own judgment."
"So you're saying it is right to force people to act in their own best interests?"
"Yes. That is correct. Look at your son. If he had accepted our re-education program, he would likely still be alive today, living as a productive member of society."
The woman narrowed her eyes, searching for the true purpose of this meeting.
Was she being baited into revealing something?
"You are not a parent," she said. "You have no right to force people to act in their own interests. People can judge their destinies for themselves."
"Is that so?"
He leaned slightly closer.
"You remember how you were first apprehended, don't you?"
"Yes."
"It did not happen with us breaking into your home, nor by following you for months. Who was it that handed you over to us in the end?"
The woman fell silent.
"It was your husband, was it not?"
He spread his hands calmly.
"You see, there is hardly any need for us to intervene in people's lives anymore. The people do our work for us. That is how it has always been."
"I don't want to speak to you anymore. Just tell me what you want so we can finish this."
"You are not fully part of the Shadow Clan," he said. "I believe it is still possible to have a dialogue with you. You have not yet lost the ability to see what we do for others.
"The Lords are not monsters. Under them, people have jobs, homes, lives. Yes, it comes at a cost. But a Realm is not an individual, nor are its regulators. It is impossible for a Realm to love everyone equally.
"Choices must be made. Utility must be calculated. Sacrifices must be chosen.
"One unfortunate sacrifice is truth."
"That… is nonsense."
"How so?"
"You believe there is something noble in stealing the truth from future generations?"
"You believe the truth would free the world from its burdens. But what if the truth is maddening? What if the truth would make people burn their homes and slaughter one another?
"What would you think of us then?"
He tilted his head.
"Perhaps if you understood the truth, you would see that what we do benefits everyone."
"People were born to be free. My son was born to be free."
"But not all people deserve to be free."
"I have nothing more to say to you. Take me away from here."
Shenric's mother was led out of the inn by the Soldiers. Only the Western Leader remained.
By nightfall he returned to the Soldier Castles, where the higher members of the Abrahamic Path dwelled.
"So," the King's aide asked, "what should I tell the King?"
"The matter is resolved. There are no major uprisings in the Western Realm."
"Good. And what of Lian of the Qiren Clan? What did she tell you?"
"Shenric's mother? I did not question her. She has already endured constant interrogation by Mentors and Conjurers, and she withstood it all.
"So instead, I observed her character. I wanted to understand what kind of person she was."
"And?"
"I could see in her eyes that she knew nothing of Shenric's work."
The King's aide lowered his gaze in thought.
"And I also saw," the Western Leader continued, "that she does not possess the Eye of Sophia."
"Very well. Still, it would be wise to observe her for a while longer."
"Someone will approach her while posing as a member of the Shadow Clan. A low-level operation, but sufficient to determine whether she hides anything."
"Good," the aide said. "Very good. The King will be pleased. He says it is especially important that there are no disturbances in the Kingdom now, given what is to come.
"You may go."
"Thank you."
The Western Leader rose and walked away.
"By the way," the aide said.
The Western Leader turned.
"The Supreme Leader contacted me. He asked me to inform you that he has begun the attack on the Shadow Clan members in the Eastern Forest. He intends to leave none alive."
"Very good. If I can be of assistance, please let me know."
The Western Leader departed into the darkness of the castle complex, where Faceless beings lived, trained, and sat in deathly silence.
He crossed the bridges and passed into the cut forests that surrounded the land. Far out he went, deep into territory no one else visited, ensuring that no one could see him.
After hundreds of years, he had mastered the art of moving unseen.
When he was certain he had not been followed, he stopped.
He closed his eyes and focused.
His Higher Self rippled, and then shifted into another form.
Now his task had to begin.
Why had the Supreme Leader chosen to address him personally?
Could it be?
Did the Supreme Leader know… that he was the Hawk of the Shadows?