Aligned For You

Chapter 11

CW: Rape mention, descriptions of violence, mention of death

As they got into the hallway, Caius stammered out, "S-so...b-beautiful morning, i-isn't it!?"

So, Caius decided to follow. Saved him the time of wandering around until the General finished breakfast and got the whole thing going. Felix turned, but before he could get a word out...

Felix squinted at Caius. What was his deal? Nervous about being poisoned again? Considering what had happened before, not an insignificant thing to be worried about.

"...it is," he started slowly. The nice thing to do would be to try and assuage Caius' worries, but...he didn't really want to be nice to the monster. "...Your head secretary said it's really hot in Luminary this time of year. Do you think your sparring will be outside to take advantage of the weather? We don't have a dedicated space for such things in the castle, obviously."

No one went waving swords or any other weapons around like a maniac. Frowning, Felix continued on a bit quieter. "...you should apologize to Waku-mi when you get the chance--and not that...rolling around on the floor thing, or whatever you were doing before. She was scared shitless when MacKenzie tore you away from her."

"Who?" Caius asked, genuinely confused. Beyond informing him of the servant outside the door keeping watch, MacKenzie and Alonne had failed to mention anyone else involved in the confrontations last night. The second part of Felix's statement registered, and all thoughts of Felix's earlier flirtations left his mind as Caius frowned, his heart sinking into his stomach. "Tore...oh no, did I hurt someone last night? I mean, beyond MacKenzie?"

Caius tried to remember, but honestly, it was all darkness after Felix had taken him to get some water, and even that memory was hazy and vague. What a mess...

Caius walked by Felix's side, arms crossed around his chest as he tried to think. "No, don't worry, I wouldn't. Submission Bows are really only reserved for when criminals are receiving their sentencing verdicts and as a final attempt to diffuse a really dangerous conflict. You know, if someone's going to kill you and there are no other options, that's a way to express that you know you are entirely at their mercy. For someone like me to do that to anyone beyond my equal would be extremely uncomfortable for both parties at best, and openly mocking at worst. Not a good apology at all," Caius said, rambling on because he found himself enjoying getting the chance to explain some of his home customs to someone.

It hadn't occurred to Caius that Felix might not know what a Submission Bow was until Felix had just said that, but, well, he wasn't super worried that his point hadn't still come across. Even if Felix hadn't grown up with them, the humiliation of splaying yourself out in public like that, putting yourself at the mercy of whoever you were having a dispute with...certainly that sincerity of an apology was a universal concept, right? The Diceans probably had their own version of it. Caius would have to find out what it was, in case anything that bad ever happened again.

Still, if he had harmed someone else then...some sort of repentance needed to be made for her sake. But simple verbal apologies were such an insult...hmmm...

"I don't suppose she likes to spar?" Caius asked, chuckling as he rubbed the back of his neck, his whole upper body stiffening in pain as he did so. "She could join us, get some licks in for her troubles. I'd hold back appropriately!" Caius laughed, shaking his head. 

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding...unless of course she actually would like to do that," Caius said, looking around the castle. "I'll probably just end up giving her some gold. What do you think would be an appropriate amount, based on the incident? I don't remember it, so I'd appreciate your assessment."

"As for where the spars will take place, don't you all have a courtyard or anything like that? Any grassy area with enough space around here would work well, really."

"Waku Harai, she's one of the housekeepers here. Was soooooo excited for your arrival, and then her first meeting with you was you threatening to cut her in half with a sword." Felix scoffed, but he wasn't the monster here. "She's alright. I calmed her down and you only managed to shake her around a little by her arm before we got there."

Despite being even shorter than he was, Waku was hardier than Felix. She didn't even have a bruise when he talked with her after dinner.

Against his wishes to keep shutting Caius out, Felix's expression bled more of his curiosity than disdain. A...submission bow? Weren't all bows submissive, to a point? That's why bowing wasn’t a custom--it’d been a weird shock to hear that it was a common etiquette thing for Luminaries. It was...weird to defer to people that way when no one was any better or worse than anyone else. 

And, if you were about to be killed, wouldn't the killer just go through with it regardless? Why would you just accept it instead of fighting back?

Felix furrowed his brow, looking up at the truly foreign prince. "It was uncomfortable for me too, ya know. Something like that wouldn't be a good apology to anyone."

Caius had said something about that before too, that just talking wouldn't be a good apology, but... With a sigh, Felix rolled his eyes. "Or you could just talk with her. Let her know that you aren't a rampaging, murderous beast. I already explained that you weren't in your right mind--as if that's much better--so, just. Make your words more than words. Commit to them, if you really are sorry."

The best apology was changed behavior, after all.

"...she might take the gold, though. Not many people sayin' no to free money."

Humming at Caius' assessment, Felix planned to take their meandering walk around to the back of the castle. It wasn't as extravagant as the city garden, but there was a spacious backlot for events, surrounded by well-tended plants.

Caius felt extremely confident that wherever Felix brought him for the sparring practice, both MacKenzie and the General would be able to find them almost immediately if they so desired it. This confidence probably came from a place of naivete, as what was true in his own castle didn't necessarily translate here, but Caius didn't think things through enough to consider that, so he didn't worry.

Caius frowned, considering Felix's argument, his expression uncomfortable. He was trying to woo Felix, get the guy to like him, so...he should probably just smile, nod his head, and agree with the young prince's advice...but...

"Just...talking to her?" Caius said, increasingly uncomfortable as he tried to imagine what that conversation would look like. The scene felt familiar, in the worst ways. The sort of 'apologies' he had witnessed from other nobles growing up that had always upset him. "What, take her aside and say something like 'Oh, so sorry about threatening your life yesterday, such an inconvenience, I'm sure! Please d~o forgive me, person I have complete power and authority over." Caius placed both hands on his cheeks in mock shock as he finished, "Whaaat, you dooo? What a surprise, ho~ho~ho~!"

Caius suddenly remembered that Felix didn't handle teasing well and dropped the act, clearing his throat as he just continued, "Sorry. I mean, you know...an apology like that would be...I don't know. It's the sort of thing my mother would say..."

Ah, shit, where had that come from? Now the prince was going to get the wrong idea. Caius, pull it back! "Not that my mother is a cruel person!" Caius said, holding his hands up as if he were trying to literally wipe that image of his mother out of the air. "She really is a wonderful and capable queen! She's just...not very good with servants...but lots of nobles aren't! My cousin used to say that was the biggest hurdle for any person of status, just, trying to communicate with those beneath us in any meaningful way."

Mind, Kaed had always seemed effortless in it, herself. Just like in everything she did. Caius had gotten a lot of inspiration growing up, watching as his cousin just...seemed to lead the people around her with the ease and grace of a pastor preaching to a group of already devout believers. She even looked like a classic example of a Tua Saint, as all of the saints had always been beautiful women...which was funny because Kaed was one of the few people Caius had ever met who just straight up didn't believe in the religion. It was the one point they had always disagreed on. But otherwise, Kaed was perfect. A true hero! Everything Caius aspired to be!

Shit. What had he been thinking about? Ah, right. Nobles talking to common people.

"Though, I guess that's not true everywhere-" Caius admitted, watching as yet another servant walked by, giving Prince Felix a warm nod, or a wave, "Your family seems to have mastered it. How'd you do it?"

Felix sent Caius a bewildered look at the mock 'apology' he acted out. That...wasn't an apology at all. Why would anyone say something like that--who would think that was a good way to apologize?!

...the queen of Luminary, apparently. That...made a lot of sense, actually. With how all the Luminaries--all of them--had been acting, it made sense that the leaders would be... Well. Antiquated. In Naomi's words, barbaric.

"...Caius, if you say something you don't mean, of course it's not going to go well. Even if you're a good actor, Waku-mi will be able to tell, though I think anyone would, saying something dumb like that," Felix started slowly, dropping the honorific on Caius's name. Maybe unintentionally. "Just, you know, be sincere? Her only impression of you is from when you lost your mind--give her something to actually base her opinion of you on."

"The point isn't forgiveness. It's to acknowledge that you did something wrong, even if you didn't mean to. It's to show that you're not going to sweep everything under a rug and pretend it never happened--that you're going to try to be better." Felix had something to add, some exasperation like 'geez, have you never apologized to someone before?' but...Caius probably hadn't. Not properly, judging by what he thought was a proper apology.

There was just...so much about Luminary customs that made no sense. That seemed backwards in the worst ways. Everyone in the castle was told to be gentle with their guests, but...Caius wasn't just a guest. He'd be staying there.

Felix pursed his lips for a moment before sighing. "Look, I'm not supposed to talk about this yet, but you asked, and I really don't care if I hurt your feelings or whatever."

"First of all, we're not 'nobles' and they're not 'servants'. We're all just people. Aiichi is the leader of the people, and I'm being taught to take that role over someday. Everyone who works in the castle is just that--people who have been hired because there's no way we could do everything ourselves. Everyone in the castle, everyone in Dicea? We're all on the same 'level'. Aiichi has the best mind in the country to allocate funds and labor, to set standards, so that's why he's the boss. He’s taken that sacrifice to dedicate himself to the country. However, no one person is perfect, so anyone can come talk to him about changes or ideas or even just to chat and broaden our perspective."

Felix laced his fingers behind his head, finally getting all that off his chest. Stuff he'd noticed that he'd wanted to shove in the Luminaries' faces. Looking at Caius with a critical gaze, Felix scoffed in the back of his throat. "Honestly, how you talk about people as if they're beneath you is pretty disgusting."

Caius...and his kingdom's practices...were disgusting?

Certainly, things were hard. Sometimes terrible choices had to be made for the good of the kingdom. Sometimes hard lines had to be drawn between classes of people. But those things happened because it was for the best for everyone. His father didn't enjoy the iron fist he had to wield, any more than Caius enjoyed watching him do it, he was certain. But if the king didn't, the people his family had built up for over a hundred years would fall into anarchy, into ruin. Just like everywhere else, right?

The Oswell family was just another family? No different from the staff and the common folk and the urchins? What? How...how would that even work? Who picked the Oswell family to lead then, if not by inherently blessed blood? How did you keep the people in line if they really thought anyone could be the leader if they were capable enough? Certainly the common folk would prefer to live in this castle, rather than work in its kitchens. Why would they ever allow it if not compelled by some higher-order, or under threat of violence? The Oswell family had to be using one of those, certainly.

...that...had to be how it worked.

...Right??

Caius looked down at his shoes, and when he didn't find any answers, looked up at the ceiling. Nope. Nothing there either. Hmmm...he didn't understand. Not really. But, well...if Felix really believed that...maybe Caius could just pretend to understand until he actually did. And maybe one day it would just click for him like sometimes his classes did. But there was no reason to make Felix any more...'disgusted' with him than he seemed to already be by arguing with him any further. The wedding was in three days. He didn't want to marry someone who hated him. He had to make choices.

So, he said, "I'm sorry," with a smile, and went on to say, "I'll...I'll try to be better. The Dicean Kingdom really is beautiful. Its people seem happy. If...if there's a better way to lead, I can learn it. I swear it."

Felix didn't mind the silence that followed. He may have said he didn't care if he hurt Caius' feelings, but...well, having your entire way of life criticized wasn't something you could just say 'okay' to and continue on with a smile. The more he learned about Luminary, at least in the way of social conventions, the more he just...felt sorry for the people that lived there. Felt horrible for the people losing everything in a war they had no stakes in. No input. No choice.

A life with no choices was a horrible thing...

Felix looked over when Caius finally spoke. And...couldn't believe what he heard for a moment, his eyes widening in surprise. It was surprising enough that the prince was considering what he'd said, but then to not argue it? To not bring up the points of his own kingdom to prove that their way was better?

He was...willing to learn. To put his ego aside for the sake of someone else.

A flush spread out from Felix's cheeks as he fumbled to find something to say. "...ah...well... We try our best. Nice to know you will too."

Right about then, they stepped out of the castle into the backyard, greeted with a large grassy plane surrounded by flowers and simple crops. The wind was present but not too harsh, but still Felix looked to the side, rubbing a cheek.

As they stepped out into the grass, Caius wasn't surprised to hear Alonne call out from some distance behind them, "Prince Caius! We've got the equipment!"

As Caius looked back, he saw it was Alonne and MacKenzie at the forefront, both of them carrying a variety of weapons in their hands. Behind them, just a bit, was the General, as well as the two same Luminary Guards he was traveling with before, two steps back, one of them carrying a large first aid box. Walking alongside the General was Secretary Ragna, who was cheerfully waving at Caius as she chatted quietly with the General.

MacKenzie and Alonne put down the weapons in the grass; rapiers, shortswords, longswords, daggers. Caius guessed that MacKenzie hadn't been certain what kind of weapon the General might feel like using and had just brought everything she could find. All of these weapons, while dangerous in their own ways, were slightly blunt and had nicks and cracks in them that suggested they had been used too often for ceremonies or serious combat. Caius saw the saber and was almost giddy at the sight of it. His official, ceremonial sword was a short sword, which were very practical weapons, but man...sabers looked soooo cool. Cutlasses too!

Caius gave his friends a wave as he looked over the swords, feeling himself getting excited. Oh! Oh wow, MacKenzie had brought out a hook sword too? Wow, did she want to use that herself, or was she just sort of hoping the General actually wanted to kill him today!? It was so cool looking, but hopefully no one was going to actually pick it up. Still, you had to admire that sturdy twisting end...

Honestly, he just really liked curved swords. He wanted so badly to get his hands on a Dao someday! Man, really see what a heavy, curved blade like that could do against armor and shields and-!

...Uh. Maybe Felix wouldn't like that stuff. It'd probably be better to not fanboy about weapons in front of him. Besides, these were revenge sparring matches. Probably wouldn't be that much fun anyway.

"What are you using, MacKenzie?" Caius asked, "You sticking with daggers?"

MacKenzie shrugged. "They're effective," she said, "Gonna pick the Stilettos."

"Brutal," Caius said, grinning at her with a thumbs up. He wouldn't bother asking the General what he would pick. It really depended on how upset the guy actually was at his display earlier. Just to put it out there, Caius took off his shortsword and picked up the saber, swinging it for weight as he glanced at Felix.

Should he invite him to spar? For the fun of it? Felix had seemed so interested when he was Phe, for a moment there...no, that was a terrible idea. He wouldn't bring it up.

"Okay!" Secretary Ragna clapped her hands in delight as she looked over everyone. "I heard we're having some sparring training today! That's so fun! I volunteered to referee, so do try to keep an ear out for my voice, everyone. Ahh," she sighed, looking up into the sky with a peaceful smile. "It's great weather for it too. What fun! Who's going first?"

"Let him and the girl play around a bit," the General murmured, sitting in the grass as the secretary sat down next to him, clapping in delight again.

As all this was going on, Alonne walked over to Prince Felix. "You asked to speak to me earlier?" Alonne reminded him, holding a journal in his hands.

If he'd been surprised before, Felix was absolutely flummoxed now. His eyes bugged as he took in the heap of weapons, knowing for sure that they hadn't found them anywhere in the castle. They had brought all of these from Luminary?! MacKenzie and Alonne had mentioned suitcases. Part of him questioned why they would need so many, but it wasn't an important question compared with the sense of just being cool.

Felix looked over the swords and daggers and blades and whatever else with a sense of awe, though he very carefully kept his hands to himself. It would be mortifying to try and take a closer look, only for one of the guards to swoop in and sequester him out of grabbing distance. Again, Felix felt the pool of envy swirl within him as he watched Caius approach and sift through the weapon pile effortlessly.

But he had a job to do here.

Looking up at Alonne at his voice, Felix grinned with a nod. "I did! The cultural differences are catching me off guard more than I expected, so I was hoping you'd be able to clear some things up?"

He ushered the not-detective over to the side, still close enough to the...sparring arena, he guessed, to be a part of the group, but far enough away that, one, they wouldn't be caught up in the brawl, and, two, they could talk relatively freely. Plopping down in the grass, Felix murmured under a smile, "I tried to do some evaluations of my own last night, but it's difficult when I don't know who anyone is."

Alonne nodded, opening up the journal, which was considerably more full than it had been yesterday, shuffling the pages towards the end of the book. "That's alright, though I appreciate the attempt. Actually, between my and MacKenzie's work last night, and our time to walk around this morning, I've actually managed to narrow down the possible candidates by quite a bit...I think," he tacked on at the end there, lowering his cap a bit. He never liked to talk in absolutes, if he could help it. When he was investigating, people had a bad habit of taking his theories and guesses as the case progressed as the actual conclusion to draw, everything else just collecting evidence to support the hunches. Which was a bad way of investigating anything.

Plus, he...well, of course, he didn't actually like having to suspect the people on his list. It'd have been nice if everyone he narrowed it down to had been, like, noticeably evil or anything like that. Some villain to conquer. But most of them were just hard-working commoners. Some of them were even...

...Alonne wondered if he should tell the prince about his strongest theory...but, if he was wrong...

Alonne frowned, shaking his head. Just focus on the evidence. Let the truth come naturally. If his theory was true, well, they would deal with that bridge when they came to it.

"So, MacKenzie and I made basic bios on everyone possible last night. Then, this morning was about taking as many people out of the running as possible. Who was busy that morning? Where were they? Could they have left in any reasonable amount of time? Who wasn't seen by anyone? Who was seen by someone in someplace they weren't supposed to be? That sort of thing."

Alonne turned through pictures and names, all X’ed out, right up until the last page, where three people were drawn crudely out, with their names and notes about them were written below them. And in the bottom right part of the page were a bunch of little stick figures, with just two words below it.

"First of all, there's Armand Hira. His addition to the list is more motive than opportunity," Alonne admitted, pointing to the man with the pompadour. "He's a fiery young man who joined the guards only a year ago and was really excited to join the war. Felt winning battles and getting promotions would get him a higher status in life. Spent a lot of this trip moaning about his luck, according to the other guards. As for opportunity, he was off duty during the lunch shift, and no one can account for where he was concretely. So, he's on the list, but...it's hard to imagine the kitchen staff wouldn't have noticed him." Alonne shrugged. "So, not exactly a strong candidate."

As he talked, MacKenzie and Caius went out on the field, weapons in hand. They stared each other down, Caius getting into a starting position, and MacKenzie just standing there, arms loose, a model of stillness.

The secretary called out "Go!" and MacKenzie FLEW!

Her speed was unbelievable, and she seemed to glide above the grass rather than running on it, being in Caius' face within seconds, who, while prepared for this, couldn't hide the panic in his face as he tried to keep up with her movement, and brought his sword up to swing down at her. With ease she ducked to the side of it, using her now turned momentum to strike out her dagger, which sliced at the spaces where the armor didn't connect, causing Caius to cry out.

"One point!" the secretary called out cheerfully as Caius recoiled too late, readjusting himself to stand against MacKenzie again as quickly as he could, blood glistening down his armor. "Nice work, Miss MacKenzie!"

"Hey! Fix your stance, Prince Caius!" the General barked out, looking annoyed, "There wouldn't be openings in the armor if you bothered to stand in it properly!"

Alonne's journal was, well, incredible didn't even begin to cover it. A well of thoughts and observations, unfettered by any convention. Felix felt an itch to scour the whole thing, the same way he felt whenever he found a new book, but... It was a private journal from someone still living. So, off-limits unless Alonne said otherwise--just getting to see these few pages was enough.

"Armand..." Felix hummed, taking in the caricature. He couldn't imagine anyone excited to join a war, but if it was a means to an end for status... What a sad sort of glorification. Still, being a guard, it was just a matter of waiting for shifts to align to break into his room and conduct a search. Easy enough. Felix nodded. "Can't hurt to check."

Determining who could be their saboteur was important, but Felix still found his attention shifted to the spar, at least a little. MacKenzie seemed as dangerous as he'd guessed, but it was still amazing to see her zoom like some mythical figure. Like what he'd discovered in the moments he still had hope in the "lesson" he'd had with Caius, she was comfortable in combat. Seemed to suit her more than awkwardly bowing, anyway.

He grimaced as Caius got hit, turning back to the journal at the sight of blood, feeling a bit sick at the sight. What kind of friendly match drew blood? Maybe he'd been lucky to only be shoved to the ground. Caius would've had a much bigger problem to deal with otherwise.

"And the next?" he prompted Alonne.

"The next one is Alani Kapule, and again, this is..." Alonne tried to figure out how to word it in the most neutral way possible. "...it's motive and opportunity, but in direct conflict with her character profile."

He pointed to a simple picture of a woman, maybe edging her thirties, wearing a healer’s robe with long, frazzled hair. Alonne had also drawn in her nervous demeanor and wringing hands because honestly, it would be easier to spot her in a crowd knowing that was what she would look like.

"The opportunity is easy," Alonne explained, pointing to his notes below her. "She's one of Secretary Ragna’s most trusted medical staff--Secretary Ragna used to work in medicine before getting scouted for the secretary position--and thus was instructed to keep three teaspoons of the Checker Pollen contained and traveling with her. She's the reason we even could make any cures in the first place, as disease is her expertise, so it was decided she could be trusted to handle it carefully enough to warrant the risk. The idea was that when she made the return trip to the Luminary Kingdom, she could use her research lab to better understand the disease since the Ganron Kingdom won't share medical research with the Luminary Kingdom."

"So, she has opportunity in access to the poison, and while she was said to be admiring your medical wing on the other side of the castle when things were going on, no one was specifically with her, and can confirm one hundred percent that she was there the whole time. So, there's room for her to have traveled in that timeline."

Alonne tapped the journal with his pencil, considering his next words carefully again. It would be easy to see her as the most obvious suspect with a motive and private access to the pollen, along with time to do it, but Alonne had many opportunities to speak personally with the nurse several times on the trip and it just seemed...

...unlikely.

"Her motive is simple enough. About ten years ago she was living in the Dicean town Liddington, one of the early border towns that the Luminary Kingdom had invaded, with her husband, a guard whose name I believe had been Samuel? They lived in the emissary we had put up as the headquarters for control there. She was a healer, he was a guard. Anyway, all that to say is that when the Dicean Army did the counterattack to reclaim the town and burned down the emissary, they got caught up in the whole thing. Her husband got locked in one of the burning rooms and died, and she was raped by a Dicean soldier. Thankfully she was left behind alive and was ultimately able to escape the building before it completely burned down. So, a happy ending there at least."

There was another "Go!" from the secretary, and Caius and MacKenzie went at each other again.

"This was all ten years ago," Alonne continued, "but it would be naive to say this incident alone wouldn't count as a motive to keep the war going. Revenge for her husband and all that."

Alonne thought about not saying it, about leaving the evidence there for what it was...but his conscience wouldn't let him. He turned to the prince and said, "Prince Felix, I know all of that sounds very incriminating for her, but I really don't believe she did it. Her nine-year-old son, Damien, was from that incident, who’s traveling with us now. She loves that kid more than anything in the world. I just...it doesn't match her character to risk the future of her child over a death that happened a decade ago." 

Alonne lowered his cap over his eyes, suddenly embarrassed at his insistence. What if he was wrong!? He wasn't infallible, but people had a terrible habit of just...believing him. Even when he didn't feel confident. Should he not be saying this?

"I-I'm not saying it's impossible, of course...heh. Sorry. I guess all I'm saying is I have a hunch it wasn't her," Alonne sighed, "For all that's worth."

Caius had managed to get a point! Admittedly, not with his sword, MacKenzie was too fast for that, at least as far as Caius' skillset was concerned. But as she had gone in for another nick at his skin, Caius had thrown out an arm, grabbed her by the mid-section, and hurled her down on the ground, MacKenzie losing control of her breathing on the impact. While she was down, Caius just managed to get the blade above her stomach, showing an obvious example of being able to bear the blade down without actually doing so.

"Point to the prince!" Secretary Ragna called out, clapping at the display. "Last point for the match!"

The General seemed to consider the display, trying to work out exactly what advice to give, before shouting to MacKenzie, "Girl! You went too high! Unless he's off-balance, you want to keep your core low when you go in for a move like that!"

MacKenzie, who had known this and was annoyed she had underestimated Caius' footing, turned to the General and did a small bow. "Thank you, General!"

Felix frowned a bit looking at the doodle of the nervous woman. If she was already known to have Checker Pollen, then...searching for it would be a moot point. Since she wasn't seen committing the crime, the only firm evidence they'd get would be her letting something slip. Quite a bit more difficult.

However... He visibly deflated as Alonne went on to describe that incident at Liddington. It was shameful for the entire country, and one of the only times he'd ever seen his father visibly angry. Hit too close to a sore spot, he figured. Felix had only been ten at the time, not even having a hand in any affairs--even if he'd never had a hand in war affairs period--but he still felt the responsibility of the tragedy.

Quiet for a long moment as he considered Alonne's vouch, Felix twirled a few pieces of grass around his finger. "...what about her son, then? Damien. If she has reasons for revenge, then so does he. And, if Alani has possession of the pollen, it'd be easy for him to get, correct? Would he have had the opportunity to sneak into the kitchens?"

It wasn't the time to joke around and ask for MacKenzie's character witness, because she took care of all the children, right??? Not when it was his fault for the motive in the first place. Maybe he'd bring it up later when he didn't feel as sick.

It was tempting to look over at the spar again, but...he'd already seen Caius make MacKenzie bleed once. Didn't need to see it again. Not when he was already feeling this woozy.

Alonne visibly winced. Ah, yes...that had come up sooner than he would have liked. But, if the prince had come to that conclusion as well...what more could be done but confront it?

"I don't think by himself he could have done it," Alonne said, reading over his notes again. "Two people saw him running around fairly far from the kitchens around the time the incident happened. In fact, lots of the kids from the party were apparently running in every direction. According to the ones I spoke with, the children had been enamored with such a big, new building to explore, that they all got together to play a game of hide-and-seek that morning...which leads to option number four."

Alonne used his pencil to point to option number four, with all the little stick figures. Written above them: The Children.

"There are seven children in total that came on the journey," Alonne explained, reading the list of names aloud. "Damien, Timothy, Keenan, Praveen, Regina, Lorin, and Monica. They’re all children of party members who had to come on the journey, with the exception of Timothy, who came as a representative of the War Drummers. Because the children were running everywhere, and because like you said, one of them has easy access to the pollen...out of everyone on this list, there's really only one kind of person here that a group of busy kitchen staff would just entirely ignore while going about their work..."

Alonne didn't like it. He was getting a better read on Dicean culture and Prince Felix himself the more they investigated everything, but there was still a part of Alonne that was worried that Prince Felix would just get tired of this at some point and just punish all the suspects en masse. After all, you would definitely get the target, if you didn't mind catching a bunch of innocent people in your net too. God knows Alonne had seen it play out that way enough times...

"Our third adult that could potentially be a candidate is Secretary Ragna," Alonne finished. "For a lot of the same reasons Miss Kapule is a suspect. She knows about the pollen and has access to the reserves we brought. It would have been tricky for her to poison the glass and attend the lunch at roughly the same time, and she has no motive to do it that I could ascertain. Honestly, her wealth would probably be the easiest method to getting the glass contaminated: money is a powerful motivator. Everyone in the kitchen could be in on it if the money was good enough and the pressure to remain silent strong enough. But that's purely speculation, and not super likely either."

Alonne didn't look up as Caius screamed, having seen MacKenzie prick Caius in the back of the knees to get him on the ground dozens of times by that point. As Caius collapsed, the secretary shouted, "Point! Match goes to you, Miss MacKenzie! Great job!" While the General just shook his head in obvious disappointment, standing up and going to grab the rusted over and chipped broadsword.

"So, really these are all the most feasible suspects," Alonne finished. "If it's someone outside of this, they've done an amazing job covering their tracks. It'd have to be a professional honestly, and I think MacKenzie would have sussed a professional out by now."

Felix sighed deeply, feeling the urge to go back to bed again. If it was the kids--seven of them--then... Ugh. If they even realized what they were doing, it was all too easy to imagine them being angry at the big, scary enemy nation they would've been at war with for their entire lives. Nine was old enough to understand death, right? Fuck.

He hummed flatly at Alonne's outline of the last suspect, the woman behind them. He didn't think any of the kitchen staff would betray the chance of peace for a little extra money, but, well...he didn't really know any of them. It was hard to say.

"...of everyone, I think we can put off investigating Armand for now. With everyone else having such easy access to the pollen, it's less likely for him to have done it when he has an extra step. However, the only piece of evidence we'd be able to gather from this point would be personal accounts and hoping that something doesn't line up, or they let something slip. Not exactly a walk in the park."

Felix turned to regard the secretary, only to catch the last point in the match and flinch at what he saw. Uuuugh... He had to close his eyes and turn back around, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth as he breathed carefully. "...the secretary... She's going to be...difficult to question without her catching onto anything. Though...she was t-talking to Hyde before lunch, so I could ask him..."

Get ahold of yourself, Felix! Now's not the time to prove everyone's worries right!

"For the kids...if MacKenzie actually is as good with them as you say, she might be able to get one of them to admit something. They can't all be equally invested."

...

...

"...we..." Alonne coughed into his arm before lowering his cap as far down as he could, "...may have exaggerated...MacKenzie's role with the kids."

MacKenzie, mechanically, cleaned off the blood from her daggers using the grass beneath her feet before placing them back into her skirt. As the General and Caius lined up for a spar, Caius’ left leg still shaking, MacKenzie walked over to the prince and detective, only a few new bruises for her trouble.

"Any progress made?" MacKenzie asked, sitting in front of them, taking out a napkin and brushing some of the sweat from her forehead. "Sorry I took so long. I think Caius was trying to put off his spar with the General, so he just refused to go down that last point until I forced him down."

"I've just finished catching the prince up on everything," Alonne said, steeling his nerves as he said to MacKenzie, "Hey, considering how important it is for us all to work together right now, I was thinking...maybe we should just be upfront with the prince about our positions. I mean, he basically already knows. There's no point in keeping up the act when the secret’s out."

MacKenzie glared at Alonne. "Do you wanna die?" she said, her tone dead-serious. "We've been given orders."

"Yeah, but, like...we've already basically messed those orders up," Alonne pointed out dryly. "Why not just accept we failed and move on? I mean, the fact that we're talking about this in front of him shows we've kind of given up."

MacKenzie turned her hatred-filled eyes to Prince Felix...before pouting, looking down at the grass. "Orders though..." she whined, a shade on her shoulders, weighing her down.

Caius stared down the General, now holding his shortsword since it would work a...little better against the broadsword. Fuck. He was about to die.

"Go!" called out the secretary, joy in her voice.

Felix rolled his eyes--no shit. For how clever they were, apparently Alonne and MacKenzie were reeeeeeeeal dumb about some stuff. He knew who they were, basically. The semantics of their actual titles didn't matter that much. MacKenzie was probably some sort of bodyguard, killing anyone at a word from a 'superior', and Alonne was a smarty-pants, sussing out threats. Not hard to figure out at all.

Sighing again at the killer girl's reluctance, Felix resumed playing with the grass under him. "Hey, Makie-mi, you know the first time Prince Caius ever spoke about you to me, he called you a 'literal stone-cold killer'? Then talked about how you sobbed over spiders, which is just as dumb, in my opinion."

"Tell me who you guys are or not, I don't give a single flying fuck. I know what you can do, I know you care about that self-interested dumbass, and I know neither of you wants this war to continue--that's all I need." Felix sat up, face as blunt as his words. "Figure out who between you can talk to the kids, because, you know, as the heir to the country they've been told to hate their entire lives, I'm not gonna get shit from them. And, honestly, I kinda think Alo-mi is just gonna get bullied."

Felix flopped over onto his back, hands behind his head as he stared at the sky. Hopefully, they'd get a lead somewhere. If not, then investigate Armand, then... Then they'd still be at zero, and the poisoner would have all of the next three days to ruin everything at their leisure. Fu~u~u~u~n!

"Alo-mi..." MacKenzie said, blinking at the prince in astonishment before looking over to Alonne. "You're cute?"

Alonne just shrugged. "Guess so."

"Outrageous. You know the last time someone called me by some cutesy nickname? It's been years," Maki grumbled. "I'm easily way cuter. I have incredibly long ponytails. My outfit's designed to be cute. Prince Felix, you clearly have terrible taste."

Alonne snorted, looking a little more relaxed as he pointed out, "It hasn't been years. That guy in Valenti called you cute. Remember?"

"Who?"

"Ya know. The guy with nine fingers?" Alonne said, looking down at his hands with a wince as he amended, "Well, I mean, he had ten when we met him, but ya know..."

MacKenzie tried to remember for a few seconds...before a wide sneer twisted her features. "Ah," she said, sounding pleased. "Him. That's right. Anyway, the prince is probably right. I may not be a caretaker, but the kids do tend to listen to me if I promise to show them my knives."

"Okay! So, I'll go check to see if Miss Kapule still has all of her doses of the pollen in her medical bag, and MacKenzie will go speak with the kids. Solid plan." Shuuichi looked over at the prince, considering his words before he said... "Felix? Is there anything else you think we should do before we meet up again?"

Caius just had to dodge. It wasn't like MacKenzie's daggers. It wouldn't just be a nick or a puncture wound every time she got a point. The General had picked his weapon because he wanted Caius to move, to jump, to make sure he stood out of the way. Any landed blow, even from the dull blade, was going to break something. Probably Caius.

As Caius rolled to the left, the blade just barely missing him this time, he heard the tell-tale sign of the dirt shifting more than the General had expected. The blade was lodged! This was his chance.

Taking his sword, he dug his nails into the dirt, stopping his momentum. He was close enough to the General where he didn't have to stand. Swinging as quickly as he could, the blade hit the General's leg, deflecting harmlessly off the metal with a loud SCHWIPP! Beyond a bruise, the General was unharmed, but it still counted as impact.

"Point to the prince!" the secretary called out, calling to the General, "What!? Getting old, Yuu?"

The General snarled. He pulled his blade out of the ground, moving to start again.

Alonne was indeed very cute, and would totally be the kind of guy he'd flirt with if he hadn't been, you know. Engaged. Nothing to do with the cutesy nicknames he gave everyone, though, but they didn't need to know that. "I'm getting married to that," Felix pointed over to where he could hear the scuffle, eyes still watching the odd fluffy cloud that drifted by. "And I'm not protesting it. Of course I have bad taste."

"...also girls are icky. Congratulations, Makie-mi, you're saved."

So. Things were as settled as they could be. Hopefully it wouldn't be fruitless. And...already one thing was looking up. A slight smile quirked Felix's lips up as Alonne addressed him without a title. "Just keep your eyes open. It's less likely for you two to be targeted considering the other people in play, but if our traitor starts feeling pressured, you never know."

Felix pushed himself up from the ground and brushed himself off, feeling a little better again as the sound behind him was of metal against metal. Not a cry or grunt of pain. ...they could do this.

"Alright. I'm going to go find Hyde, you two do what you need to. If not before, I should be able to sneak away after dinner so we can reconvene. See ya!" With that, he started skipping away in search of the secretary.

It was like trying to avoid a crumbling building. All the General had to do with a sword that heavy was bring it over his head and then aim its fall, over and over, as Caius dodged and weaved, only once actually managing to deflect the sword with his own shortsword, and even that had been mostly a desperate fluke. Hair matted to his forehead, breathing heavily, his ribs ACHING, Caius finally managed a twist around the General, swinging without really being able to see where his blade was going to go. The sword hit metal...and then kept going.

He heard the General give a small "HRNG!" sound as the blade managed to cut a little bit into the back of his armor, making contact with flesh.

Caius quickly pulled the blade back, dislodging it, and blood came with it. The General shook a little...but took a few deep breaths, straightening his bleeding back and looking back at Caius with something resembling grudging pride. "So you have been practicing," the General said, as from the distance the secretary called the point, ending the spar. Caius had won.

"Of course," Caius said, grinning cheekily at his long-time trainer. "Didn't hurt you there, did I? Terribly sorry," he said, the grin mean now, and as the blade was still covered in the General's blood, he relaxed the blunt side on his shoulder, letting it casually stain him. "Need me to go get medical?"

"Little shit," the General muttered, carefully testing moving his shoulders before scoffing. "You're lucky that cutting off one of your limbs right now would be generally frowned upon. You had a thousand openings. You need to be more aggressive in your attacks. Constantly defending just means your opponent has to wait for an opening, which will inevitably come."

"Right," Caius said, having heard a similar speech from the General several times now. He looked around, seeing his friends off sitting in the grass and waving over at them, before frowning as he realized Felix wasn't there anymore. "Oh," he said, disappointed the prince hadn't seen his victory. "I wonder where he went..."

The General followed Caius’ eye-line and quickly assessed who the young prince meant. Sighing, he went over to the prince, turning away from the others so that any prying eyes couldn't read his lips as the General said to Caius, "Hey...you get you don't actually have to like that little shit, right?"

Caius stiffened, fists clenching. Ah. Okay. So where was this coming from? "You know you shouldn't talk like that, General," Caius warned, looking up at the General from the corner of his eyes. "He's going to be part of the Luminary Royal Family soon, and you've sworn yourself to protect all of them. That's gonna include him."

"Not if you fuck around and get pulled into all this Dicean shit," the General said, not hiding his obvious distaste in even saying the name aloud. "Then instead of their prince joining the Momento Family, it's going to be our prince joining the Oswell Family. And if you don't understand the difference, then I'm gonna have every tutor you've ever had executed, ‘cause they didn't teach you shit."

"...Please don't say anything like that around my betrothed, General," Caius said, his tone deadly serious, an unusual fury in his features...before breaking into a warm grin, Caius chuckling. "It seems I understand foreign relations a bit better than you do, for once. This is a union. Not an invasion."

The General scoffed, clutching his sword tightly as his whole body seemed to want to just...lash out. Blood still seeping down his back as the secretary and Caius’ escorts just watched them quietly, standing in the fields.

"...My loyalty is to the Momento Family, and to you, Prince Caius," the General finally said, relaxing his body as he reached out a hand to place onto Caius’ shoulder, who accepted the touch willingly. "If you find yourself trapped, or overwhelmed, or surrounded by enemies here...reach out. I will come."

"Thank you, General Yuu," Caius whispered.

Then the General walked off. Taking a steadying breath, his body hurting all over, Caius ran over to his friends to find out where they were in the investigation.