Outside, the skies were in turmoil. Thunder rumbled and shook, threatening to break the windows of the castle and tear apart the castle of L'Renouille from its very foundation. Spears of lightning raced through the night, nearing invisible points... like how the arrows of Jowston whistled into the Unicorn Brigade, Ruka noted.

Ruka watched the storm brewing from his black leather chair in his quarters, wearing his newly-cleaned armor. A beautiful display of light, he thought. But I do so miss the battlefield. Once "His Worship" Sasalai gets his priestly ass down here, I can finally return.

He also wondered how Solon fared on the battlefield. For your sake, Solon, you had better be doing well, or you'll have hell to pay...

Suddenly, the door swung open and slammed against the wall, revealing a raven-haired young woman in a pale blue dress with an angered expression on her face, which Ruka recognized to be Jillia Bright, his sister.

She tossed a small object at him then and it dropped to the floor. "I believe you misplaced this, brother," she said icily. He stooped over and picked it up, recognizing it to be a ring with the Bright family crest. This ring was his! But how did she...

"How did you get this?"

"I found it lying around your latest handiwork. Are you losing your touch or just getting lazy?"

His eyes centered on Jillia, narrowing. "My 'latest handiwork'? Whatever you do mean, sister dear?" he asked, using the term "sister dear" to mock her. What is she babbling about?

"Why, dear brother, a little place to the south. I believe it was the camp of the Unicorn Brigade. The same place where you got your newest dog."

He stared intensely at Jillia. How did she know? It must have been the ring...

"I can't believe you'd sunk that low, Ruka. Murdering children!"

Murder? Murder? She knows everything about murder, doesn't she? Doesn't she?!

He shot a furious glare in her direction. "You... would talk about murder?"

"Ruka?" she asked, likely not having the slightest clue about what he was referring to.

"You know... what happened..."

Jillia gave him a look... was it of concern? Or not? "You don't look well, Ruka."

"What makes you say that?" His own words betrayed him... though how, he did not know.

"Get some rest. I'll yell at you in the morning." She turned to leave, her eyes possibly catching a glimpse of an object on his desk... what was she staring at?! Ruka glared at her suspiciously as she glided out the door, closing the door behind her, revealing the small dent that her entrance had made on the wall.

That woman is up to something, he thought with a certain decisiveness. She seems too opposed to the war... even after all that's happened. Could it be that...?

One word fixed immediately to his mind, and it stuck.