Chapter 2: A Familiar Face

Asa’s eyes stay locked onto the man’s sword, her face screwed into a complicated frown, as she says, “Please get the keys from the inside pocket at his chest,” lowering her sword slightly but not completely.

Toge frowns and glances at the tall man who studies Asa curiously. After a tense moment, however, the tall man indeed turns and goes back into the room to Toge’s surprise, his eyes wide as his brow furrows tightly. Seeing the man acquiesce, Asa lowers the sword and goes to stand in front of the open doors to the throne room and lays eyes on the body of King Inei, his expression stern but with an eerie calmness that stands in opposition to his bloodied form sprawled before his throne. A shaky exhale escapes Asa’s lips and she hands back Toge’s sword, eyes focused on the deceased king as her grip suddenly weakens. This causes Toge even more incredulity, his gaze shifting quickly between the sword and Asa’s expression. Asa looks to Toge and says softly, “I apologize,” before offering the sword in earnest with her hand shaking as it grips the hilt.

Toge sees her struggle and, with a huff and a shake of his head, takes the sword from her without a word and sheaths it again at his hip. With his sword returned, Asa steps into the throne room and finds the tall man kneeling carefully by King Inei’s body. The man properly shuts the late king’s eyes and mutters an apology before he looks in the king’s robes and does, in fact, find the keys Asa described. He stands back up and offers a smile to her as he approaches.

“Are these the keys you’re talking about?” Asa goes to speak but fails to find her voice after witnessing that display, instead offering a nod. The tall man stops in front of her and offers the keys, his expression patient yet focused as he scrutinizes her. Asa shakes her hands to release her fists that had clenched tight unconsciously and takes the keys from the tall man, staring at him in return to his searching gaze. Seeing her eyes trained on him, he smiles once more, his head tilted slightly to the left in kind curiosity.

“Are you a slave?” the man asks.

Asa blinks at his bluntness, finding her voice as she replies hoarsely, “No.”

The tall man’s head tilts even more at her denial, as if invested in figuring out a new, challenging puzzle. “Then why were you in chains?” he asks.

Asa replies flatly, “The king was punishing me.”

Toge and the tall man both reel back–Toge more severely of the two–both at the information revealed to them at Asa’s tone while saying such information, as if it didn’t affect her at all despite being about her. Toge, unable to stop himself, asks, “Why?” and the tall man shoots him a meaningful glance before refocusing on Asa.

However, Asa doesn’t offer anything in response. The tall man and Toge share a look, silently agreeing on something before the tall man asks Asa, “You’re not from this clan, are you?”

To neither man’s surprise, Asa replies, “No.”

The tall man and Toge look at each other, silently communicating once more before they both look at Asa and Toge asks, “Do you want to come with us?”

The tall man shuts his mouth from when he was just about to speak and looks at Toge with a tight-lipped smile that radiates displeasure, their earlier silent communication apparently less successful than it seemed at first glance.

Unperturbed by the quiet interaction, however, Asa plainly asks, “Why? I threatened you.”

Toge’s eyebrows fly up in surprise, clearly not expecting resistance from her given the circumstances even if her reasoning is sound. However, the tall man clears his throat and quickly offers a smile to Asa again.

“We are more than willing to overlook that in this instance. We truly meant no harm upon our arrival, though that may be hard to believe.”

Asa is silent for a long moment before she replies, “I must decline…however, may I ask for your help one last time?”

Toge regards her with confusion while the tall man looks slightly disappointed before quickly schooling his expression. “Of course. What do you need?” the tall man asks patiently.

“You have other men in this palace with you, correct?” Asa asks him.

The tall man glances at Toge before he nods. “Yes, I do. Though, I don’t know their exact whereabouts.”

“That’s fine,” Asa says, “our goals align for the moment regardless. Please let me meet the others and hear what they found from searching the palace. In turn, I will help you search.”

There is a long silence as Asa stares at the tall man and Toge, the tall man’s expression carefully neutral as he thinks quietly, the slight furrow to his brow giving away that he’s carefully considering her request, while Toge’s face is marred by a frown–seemingly for many reasons as he starts to speak, stops, starts again, and stops again before letting out a long sigh. Toge turns to the tall man with resignation and asks quietly, “What do you think, Hoen?”

Hoen hums in thought before he smiles at Asa and nods. “We’d be happy to have you. And please, don’t hesitate to ask anything else. We’re happy to help.”

Toge grumbles under his breath and Hoen turns to him with a smile, though its sincerity is clearly lacking compared to before if his previous attempts to seem polite and agreeable can be said to show sincerity. “Is there a problem, Toge? If I recall, you were the one who asked her if she wanted to come with us back to Sehchoh.”

Toge looks at Hoen incredulously, his voice booming in the throne room as he exclaims, “Huh? I thought that’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

At that, Hoen lets out a sigh and shakes his head. “Nevermind, quiet down,” he says, turning to Asa as he continues, “Shall we go? What is it that you’re looking for… I’m sorry, what is your name, miss? I am Hoen of House Imperia. This is my aide Toge.”

Hoen gestures to Toge as he introduces them both properly before turning to Asa, awaiting her introduction in kind. Asa nods in understanding and says, “I am Asa. Thank you.”

Hoen nods and repeats, “Asa, I see. So, Asa, what is it that you’re looking for?”

“I want to know who else from Naiténoza is in the palace,” Asa states.

Toge huffs out a chuckle, his arms stretched out behind his head, and says, “From what we saw, the palace is probably deserted save for the king. The servants all went running out when the chaos outside started and we didn’t see anyone else on the way up here. I don’t blame them, though, the way those fires were looking. At least some stayed to help put ‘em out.”

Hoen nods as he takes in the information, he and Asa looking across the throne room at the windows to see the blazes indeed lessened. “I see…” Hoen muses aloud, his hand thoughtfully placed at his chin as he thinks.

Asa hums, affirming her understanding, before she says, “Still, I’d like to check just in case.”

Hoen nods, his hand falling back by his side as he turns to Asa. “Yes, we should check for anyone left in the palace. Though, I hope you don’t mind us looking around the rooms for more. We came with a certain objective in mind, you see, and we’d like to see it through–with your permission, now, of course.”

Toge frowns. “At least tell her what–”

Before he can finish his sentence, Asa replies to Hoen, “I don’t mind. Look as you wish.”

Unable to form a reply in his disbelief, Toge simply sighs and follows behind Hoen and Asa as they leave the throne room. Before they fully exit the throne room, Asa pauses and looks behind her at Inei. The two men stop and wait for her silently, recognizing the hesitance in her expression.

“...I’ll be back soon,” Asa says–to Inei, but more to herself–before she turns back around and nods to the men. The men nod back and they all exit, Hoen and Toge shutting the grand doors behind them in a small show of courtesy–as much as the two invaders are truly able to show given the circumstances.

And so the trio go from room to room in the palace, scanning each room and finding nothing of note. Eventually, Asa hears footsteps from the connecting hallway and looks to the door. “Are those your friends?” she asks.

At the question, the two men look up from where they were inspecting various objects in the room and go to the hallway. Hoen turns back around with a smile after seeing the source of the footsteps and confirms, “They are, though one is still missing.”

As Hoen finishes his sentence, the two men appear in the doorway. One of them speaks up with a soft voice, “Hoen, we finished looking in the western–ah…”

The soft-spoken man cuts himself off when he sees Asa in the room behind Hoen, the man beside him with an air of seriousness about him having already spotted her, fixing her with a hard stare. “Who is that?” the staring man asks, his tone curt.

“Her name is Asa, we are helping each other. Tell me, have you found anyone while you searched the palace?” Hoen states calmly, his polite aura from before replaced with an air of pragmatism as he addresses the two new men.

The serious man removes his glare from Asa, his expression becoming listless as he looks at Hoen rather than the stern persona Asa expected. “The palace is deserted,” he says, “We checked the whole west wing and didn't see anyone.”

The soft-spoken man adds, “Jaemi went outside to check on the situation. The fires around the palace aren't as bad as they seemed at first but no one’s returned yet.”

Hoen hums thoughtfully before he nods. “I see. I suppose we'll meet with him outside the city with the soldiers.”

He then turns to Asa, gesturing to the two new men. “This is Shou and Wen.” The listless looking man nods in greeting followed by a small wave and smile by the softspoken man. “They are my aides, like Toge. Jaemi is also my aide, but you may not see him before we part ways.”

Asa nods, her voice low as she hums in acknowledgment.

Toge speaks up, “So has anyone checked the south wing, yet? We should clear the whole palace before we go.”

Hoen nods and makes his way out of the room into the hallway first, saying, “Yes, let us search the south wing and then reconvene with Jaemi and the soldiers outside.”

His aides follow close behind while making conversation amongst themselves but Asa walks in the back of the group, her mind cluttered and body tense from recounting the recent events as they walk to the south wing of the palace. However, her focus is broken by a bird call. It isn't uncommon for birds to fill the gardens surrounding the long strip that is the south wing of the palace and others cannot be faulted for not finding it significant, but this is a call that she has heard many times before yet has never heard here. Her head immediately whips up to the rafters above, her senses as keen as the day she descended from her mountain home to come here, and her eyes scan over the darkness above.

That's when she sees it–a faint glint that she knows all too well. Asa rushes forward and grabs Toge’s sword from the sheath at his hip again, and before he can protest she takes her stance at the front of the group. Quick as lightning, she deflects a throwing knife using the sword with a resounding clang, the projectile lodging itself in the wall and cracking the wooden beam between two windows.

Asa holds the sword up ready to defend again and barks out, “Back away, please,” to Hoen and his aides just in time for a lanky woman with striking pale features–her short hair, round eyes, and complexion almost ghostly–to hop down from the rafters with cat-like grace. Asa’s heart nearly stops, faltering in its rhythm as she takes in the familiar face.

The woman stands and puts her hand on her hip, twirling a throwing knife around her finger with her other hand. She looks Asa up and down with a mocking smirk, her eyes full disdain that Asa doesn’t dare process right now on top of everything else. “Aren’t you cute?” the woman sneers, “You’re protecting them? Have you lost your edge?”

Hoen and his aides go to draw their weapons against the mysterious woman but Asa puts her hand up to stop them, putting herself between the woman and them. The men understand her silent message and take a few paces back, watching the stand-off between the two women carefully, ready to draw their weapons at any time– save for Toge.

“You can’t hurt them, Bam,” Asa implores, “They aren’t enemies.”

“Not your enemies, you mean,” Bam replies nonchalantly, much to Asa’s confusion. Bam saunters down the hall, turning her back to the group without a care, and picks up a discarded polearm, tossing it at Asa’s feet before picking up another one. Asa studies the polearms, conveniently paired at the end of the hallway where Bam was lying in wait, and a thought strikes her with such intense clarity it makes her stomach churn–Bam set this up. Asa doesn’t get to think about why or how before Bam speaks up again.

“I wanna have a talk if you have the time,” she says coyly.

Asa is frozen stiff in shock at her words, and the timing moreso. “But what of Ba’atan, Bam?” Asa questions, “Why haven’t you reported back to me for so long?” Asa’s stomach sinks even further when Bam simply chuckles at her, her gut telling her that she already knows the answer to her own questions. Bam seems to know every emotion running through Asa, despite the only tell being the tension in Asa’s body and the tight grip on the sword in her hands, and she laughs at her.

“Ah ah–you know the rules. Win and I’ll talk,” Bam chides.

With that, Bam smiles at Asa and readies her polearm. Knowing she won’t get any more words out of her like this, Asa takes a deep breath as she stares Bam down. Then, she turns her back to Bam in kind, much to all the men's surprise, and walks to Toge to return his sword. However, Toge doesn’t make a booming exclamation or so much as a sound as he accepts his weapon back, simply nodding at Asa as he acknowledges the resolve in her actions. Asa returns to the polearm on the ground and picks it up, mirroring Bam and readying herself.

Asa says one word to commence the spar, “Strike.”

Bam makes the first move and lunges straight at Asa, her weapon thrusting towards Asa’s neck. Asa blocks the blow, her polearm raised as she steps her right leg back, ready to parry– though before she can, Bam retreats, giving Asa an upnod. With permission to strike, Asa quickly closes the distance and gives a great swing of her polearm down, turning and keeping up the advance with step forward and an upward swing when her first blow is blocked. The momentum knocks Bam back, and Asa uses this to her advantage, turning again and aiming a swift sidekick straight at Bam’s stomach. Bam blocks just in time, but with her stance already off-balance the force of the kick knocks her down. Asa swings the blunt end of her polearm and knocks Bam’s weapon away before pointing the blade at her.

Bam scoffs but knowing she’s been beaten she puts her hands in the air in surrender, spitting out mockingly, “I stand corrected. Your edge is still clearly there.”

Asa doesn’t waste time addressing her words or her tone and asks, “What are you doing here right now?”

Bam says coyly, “Keeping an eye on you.”

Asa frowns and asks, “Do you have nothing else to tell me?”

Bam smiles smugly and says, “Nope,” popping the ‘p’ childishly, making Asa scowl with a scoff of distaste.

After a moment, Asa follows up with, “What of our home?”

Bam keeps smiling, but rather than mocking or smug it appears completely forced when she replies, “Our home is gone.”

Asa is shocked by the news and drops her stance, her face falling completely and the polearm almost dropping from her hands. This seems to bring Bam’s smug grin back and she says, “Your duty here is complete.”

Bam stands up and turns to leave but Asa throws down her polearm and grabs Bam’s shoulder, spinning her back around. Asa demands, “Then what of your duty, Bam? Why haven’t you reported anything to me for months?” Bam stares at her blankly for a moment, her wide eyes unsettling and eerie in their faux-coyness.

Then, Bam gestures between them. “This,” Bam says softly, “is my duty.”

Left only with more questions and confusion, Asa’s hand drops weakly from Bam’s shoulder, her body shaking with dread and denial both. Bam simply smiles at her and says, “You don’t trust me anymore? Go see for yourself.”

With that, Bam turns and walks toward the south wing’s exit, calling behind her, “Your duty here is complete.”

All Asa can do is watch her leave, lost.