Callas had rushed over to Fleurve Cendre the moment a man had banged at his door, shouting that someone had been killed by the Rousseau kids.

Grandma Mary had been sitting by the fireplace in her house when he arrived. She was putting ice on Alfonso's face, and little Allard was sleeping with his head on her lap.

Alfonso's face looked… bad. Bruises had formed around both his eyes, and he could see welts on his ribs through his torn clothes too. Navia would be very upset- the thought came unbidden.

"What happened?"

Alfonso groaned, and pulled his face away from the ice in Mary's hands.

Mary answered. "These two went and got themselves cornered in an alley. Idiot's broken six of his ribs and fractured his skull, but Allard's somehow fine."

Alfonso glared at Mary. "We didn't get ourselves cornered, they came after us! The two were trying to kidnap us, and were going to sell us to a foster home or something. I killed one with a knife I stole from the other, and Allard knocked the other one out. "

If Callas didn't know any better, he would have found the callous tone with which Alfonso informed him of the situation concerning. But he could see the way his eyes ran about the room looking for something that wasn't there, how his hands would shake imperceptibly, and how he would bring up hand to his side, protecting it from something invisible. He was scared, and was trying to hide it. Probably for the sake of his brother.

A Maison Ordalie officer walked in, sighing as he took of his hat. He had an air of apathy and hopelessness about him, born from seeing countless such cases. "The other kid got his vision and slammed the last man into a wall with a Geo construct. We interrogated the guy, and what this kid is saying checks out- a kidnapping ring was selling kids to a slave merchant couple posing as a foster home parents."

"We tried to trace the guy back to the slave merchants' business grounds, but only found their bodies, with all the kids missing. Seems like someone had killed them before we got there. Good riddance, I say."

Callas didn't care about the details. His mind had zeroed in on only one thing the officer said. Allard was a sweet kid that would never hurt a fly. If even he slammed a man into a wall, something truly went wrong. He had a hollow feeling in his chest.

"Alfonso, how did your ribs get broken?"

Alfonso was silent for a while. He saw him gulp, and fight down tears.

"After I killed the first man, the other one punched me to the floor. I stabbed his foot, so he began kicking me." He gulped, and inhaled deeply. " And… he didn't stop. I thought I was going to die." His voice cracked, and he choked back a sob, turning his eyes away from Callas.

"So Allard unlocked his vision trying to save you" Callas said softly. These kids had been through hell, and here they were, still standing. Alfonso and Allard were truly brave kids.

A sob finally slipped out, and Alfonso ran out of the house. Callas had half a mind to run after him, but he let him go. If he wanted to cry alone, he would not disturb the kid. Alfonso valued his space.

He looked around the room. Allard was still sleeping, and the officer had long left, probably for setting a court date for that fuckface. Grandma Mary hummed as she rocked Allard, but she looked like she had something to say.

"What's on your mind, Mary?"

Mary stopped humming.

"Do you know where the two rascals came from, Callas dear?"

Callas opened his mouth to answer, and shut it again. He was confused. How did he not know? Navia had met two years ago for crying out loud!

"I found them back when I was a border officer in the Ordalie. I saw the kid with a bundle in his hands at the bottom of the waterfall near Romaritime Harbour. When I checked the bundle, it gave me the shock of my life. I asked the kid where his parents were, and he didn't know."

So Alfonso's parents left him there with Allard. He cursed them with all his heart, wherever they were. You didn't abandon your kids, you just didn't.

"I brought them here. I asked around for a long while, but nobody claimed them. In the end, I just named them after the guy I was seeing at that time. So here they are, becoming more trouble than they are worth."

Mary took a sip of ale from her bottle and leaned her back against the wall. She closed her eyes, and in a minute, snores filled the room.

He quietly got up from his seat, and set off trying to find Alfonso. He found him twenty or so paces away, sitting in front of a restaurant. Alfonso was glaring at the ground. He went and sat beside him.

Callas watched him wipe his eyes from the corner of his eye.

Slowly, Callas put an arm around the little boy's shoulders- a boy of twelve who should have never gone through what he'd gone through today.

Alfonso did not try to lean into him like the children did, nor did he let go of his emotions and cry like children did. But he did let his shoulders slacken, and he did lean back into his chair.

All hope was not lost. Children should remain children as long as they can, as long as the world allows them to.

Alfonso groaned as he tried to stay awake at his post. The journalist had left at 2 in the morning, and he hadn't been able to sleep a wink since then. Moreover, he had yet to report to the Iudex for his duties today. Today was going to be just awful.

He saw the Traveler rush out of the Iudex's office, like the weirdo she was. No decorum at all. Wasn't she imprisoned the last time he saw her?

She came to a stop beside him. She started to speak, but a nigh-ungodly high voice interrupted her.

"Hey, heyyy! Alfonso, right? Why do you have such a grumpy face?"

The... thing... that was the Traveler's partner was speaking to him. Could he even call it speaking? It was shrieking so loudly that he was sure his ears were ringing. His lips almost twisted into a snarl.

It waved its little hands in the air like an idiot. They were in the Palais, not in the Opera Epiclese! Nonetheless, it would be beneath his station to be impolite.

"Yes, I am Alfonso Rousseau, Gardien de Fontaine. How may I help you, miss Traveler and ...Paimon?"

A frown crossed ...Paimon's face. Seriously, what the hell was Paimon? Some kind of bird, or flying animal? A baby with the superpowers he'd read about in the books from Inazuma with those absurdly long titles?

He found out that he didn't have enough energy to wonder about that. Paimon would remain a mystery for now.

"Why did you pause before Paimon's name? And how did you even know our names? Are we that famous?"

Paimon talked too much. He nodded, just to shut her up. Maybe she won't talk as much if she got her answer.

"You see that, Traveler? Even the Gardien knows our name! Clorinde and Navia have told us a lot about you, Alfonso. I am so mmmph... Mmph!"

He was wrong, yet again. However, it seemed like the Traveler had taken it upon herself to remedy her partner's shortcomings. Paimon struggled as the Traveler's hands covered her mouth, trying to free herself.

"I'm sorry about that, Alfonso. Paimon just gets a little excited when she meets famous people. We'll get out of your hair soon."

She walked to pass him by, but leaned into his ear when she was right next to him. "The Iudex hasn't finished the prized glass of sweet water I got him from Monstadt. Thought I'd let you know."

He didn't have time to respond as she started running again out of the room. His eyes followed her as she made her way out of the Palais. She was very weird, and her point was weird, but there was some truth in it. The Iudex was not doing too well if sweet water had been left alone for so long.

He took in a deep breath, and made up his mind. He knocked on Sir Neuvillette's door.

"May I come in, Sir Neuvillette?"

Sir Neuvillette glanced up at him from his seat on the desk, and motioned him in.

He looked tense.

"Alfonso reporting for duties, Sir. Anything I should be aware of?"

Sir Neuvillette gave a sigh, and his hands found his temple- he was massaging his forehead. Okay, things were bad.

"There's been a change of plans, Alfonso. The foreign diplomat issue had been allotted to Allard, but he's been reassigned. I'll need you to handle that matter. You already know what to do."

Alfonso straightened. "Of course, sir. Anything I should keep in mind?"

He nodded. "A meeting with the diplomats has been scheduled at seven. Take them to the ships coming at the northern docks in a few days after the talks."

There was no helping it, then. Alfonso resigned himself to his fate. He hoped his brother would be kind enough to pick up his drunk ass from the bar the night after.

"If you say so, sir. Forgive me if I'm being too bold, but this is no matter to be so tense about. Is there another issue too?"

Sir Neuvillette raised his eyebrows at him. "Am I that easy to read, Alfonso? Or is it just that you and your brother have an unnatural knack of knowing what the other person is thinking? Allard did the same thing yesterday. We should have put you in diplomacy. "

Was that a joke? Alfonso laughed. "I am afraid it is nothing like that sir, it's just you get a feel of how people think in this job. Allard says talking about something makes it better, and I won't claim to know better."

Sir Neuvillette stared into nothing for twenty seconds, then sighed and sat down. He motioned Alfonso to sit opposite himself.

"Humor me for a while, if you do not mind. Say, if a... good acquaintance of yours were to walk down a path that would lead to tragedy befalling others, would you try and stop it, even on the cost of your relation with th- No, no, that's not what I meant."

Alfonso watched as the man's eyes crinkled slightly as he thought hard, seemingly struggling to find words. He'd seen him once, acting just like this- back during Callas's trial.

Hm.

Sir Neuvillette exhaled, then tried again. "Let me try this again. If a friend of yours were to... suddenly start acting in a way antithetical to expectations, even if they are upholding their duties to the utmost,so much so that you are forced to act against them... would you feel even the slightest amount of trepidation doing so, even if your gut tells you to act otherwise?"

If it was even possible, the Iudex's voice became even stabler, and he stressed on every word, as if he was making a conscious effort to say them. He leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his thighs, his fingers interlocked. " Every piece of evidence points towards what is most obvious, and even their behaviour strengthens your belief. If your mind has already deducted a logical path to take, but your heart tells you that you are committing a grave sin, will you still take that path?"

He finished, and gulped down the sweet water in the glass kept on the table.

"It is a rather …irrational issue, Alfonso. I understand if you don't wish to comment on it."

Alfonso ruminated on his thoughts. He recalled with vivid clarity what his anger-addled minf had thought five days ago. He'd been wrong. Sir Neuvillette's worries were rather human in nature, even if his physiology wasn't quite the same.

He felt the man's gaze slide off him as his silence lengthened. He cleared his throat.

"Sir, I'd like to share a personal anecdote, if you don't mind." He inhaled, choosing his words carefully. "I once had a close friend. I witnessed said friend …commit an act of unspeakable evil, the kind of act that is a point of no return. One that alienated her from everyone she was ever close to, including myself. My mind had been set- I would make her suffer for the rest of her life. But my gut was screaming, screamingto let her in."

Sir Neuvillette raised his eyes to Alfonso's again, and Alfonso smiled an honest smile. " And if there is one thing that I have never regretted in my meagre twenty-five years of existence, it would be listening to my gut then. Because no matter how much one tries, no one is omniscient. No one will ever know the full story. However, the heart often understands things the mind does not."

He exhaled and sunk into the couch. Talk involving emotions always drained him, but if he could help someone else avoid the mistake he almost made that day, he would take ten times this exhaustion and more.

Sir Neuvillette's gaze, however, did not stray this time. " …That was very enlightening, Alfonso. Thank you. Although, that last sentence was something I would expect more from your brother than you. Your vocabulary is much more profound, though."

Allard gave a throaty chuckle. " Pray do not consider me so great, Sir. I have not listened to my heart since. To do so requires much strength, of will and of character. I am very lacking in those."

A frown formed on Sir Neuvillette's face. His voice, previously so soft, was now sharp. " Do not demean yourself and your actions so, Alfonso. The countless foes you have defeated, and the people you have saved; both would disagree vehemently, and I too would not choose a man second to anyone in character or strength to be a Gardien."

Alfonso felt hollow inside. As expected, Sir Neuvillette did not understand. "Thank you for your kind words, Sir. Regardless, to answer your question… No matter how logical the path is, I would always doubt it every step of the way. No matter how dire the situation is, or how close and inevitable the calamity is, each and every person deserves a chance."

If he were a better man, maybe he would be able to tell the Iudex what he truly felt. He wished he could tell him what monstrous strength was required to give everyone a chance. Strength he did not have.

He was not a better man, so he lied.

Because Sir Neuvilette did have that strength, and though he did not know why Sir Neuvillette had asked for his advice in particular, it would not do to lead Sir astray.

"Because after the first, no sacrifice will ever be enough. Because even one person is too much."

Fucking hypocrite.

Sir Neuvillette did not answer, but he did nod at him.

Alfonso had nothing more to say. He stood up from the couch, and took his leave. The talks were at hand.

Allard patted down his coat, and was finally ready.

Sir Neuvillette had told him all that had transpired in the ruins near Poisson- how the Traveler and Navia had gone to explore the ruins on the Harbinger's bidding, and the three stone slates of prophecy they'd discovered. Sir Neuvillette had also told him how he had saved Navia from being dissolved.

He ruthlessly suppressed a surge of panic as he recalled how Navia had nearly dissolved. No emotions on the job. Compartmentalize, compartmentalize. There would be time for this later.

The raft moved with the waves under him, and he moved with it, seemingly tapdancing to avoid rolling off the raft into the sea. He could faintly see the boat's outline in the distance, slightly bobbing. The darkness of the new moon night made it difficult to see, but he would manage.

His raft approached the boat, and he jumped onto the lowered gangway when it was close enough. His boots made little to no sound as his feet flew over the deck. He stopped near an innocuous-looking hatch.

Slowly, without making a noise, he propped it open. With a slight grin on his face, he jumped in.

A female voice shrieked, and a bow's string groaned. Swords chittered out of scabbards, guns cocked and feet scrambled on the wooden floor. A hand struck the lantern alight.

The two kids from the magic show were pointing their bow and sword at him, and Clorinde had her guns ready. The famed Traveler was at Navia's side near the lantern, and a flying baby was cowering behind Sir Iudex.

Who was almost smiling.

Allard swung his hands out by his side and bowed. " Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope I wasn't late for the party. I am Allard, Gardien of Fontaine and your newest accomplice. "