Keela sat in the bath, staring up at the ceiling blankly. Across from her sat Velka, sheepishly covered with a towel. Letting out a long pained sigh, Keela sank a few inches in the water, getting the blood out from under her nails.

“This job is going to kill me”, muttered Keela to the air, exasperated at the last few days she had had.

“W-what happened?” asked Velka, scared to know but giving in to curiosity.

“I killed Harold.”

“What? We better tell this to Saphielle as soon as possible she--”

“I heard.”

Saphielle interrupted Velka, turning the corner in a towel and getting into the bath herself. She had foregone the glasses and tied the ends of her hair in a short ponytail, something now necessary with the length it had gained.

“Well, this is unusual”, said Keela, eyeing her bathing companions.

“Admittedly unusual but I figured I’d want to hear it from you personally instead of in a strategy meeting. And there’s no better way to do that than here”, acquiesced Saphielle, sinking in herself, the water’s healing properties apparent in her expression.

“Hear what?”

“New spread fast Keela. You can’t kill a king and expect me not to know.”

“That’s my advisor for you; too damn good at her job.”

Silence sat for a second in the room, the three enjoying the rigidity of their muscles fading away.

“Keela… did you always look this… defined? Is this what you meant earlier?” asked Velka, eyeing Keela’s shoulder and lightning scars.

“I think I do look more… stocky? It’s not the most flattering thing but if it does the job I’m not going to complain”, replied Keela, rolling one of her shoulders.

“Besides this obvious attempt to change the subject, you do realize you’ve alienated the entire kingdom of Dagia, don’t you?” said Saphielle, laying her head back in a rare show of relaxation from her.

“I…” started Keela, looking off at the wall, the reality of the situation catching up to her.

Unbeknownst to her, tears had started streaming down her face as she turned towards Saphielle.

“Was I better before? Is this all going to my head? What am I turning into?” she continued, grabbing her head on both sides.

“You’re turning into your mother”, said Saphielle, deadpan, crossing her arms.

“I’d rather die”, said Keela, looking back up immediately, anger filling her eyes, only to be met by the point of a dagger at her neck.

“Fine by me.”

Saphielle held the dagger loosely but threateningly, pressing the point into the flesh of Keela’s neck. She had stood up in front of Keela who still was sitting down on one of the benches from the inside of the bath. Pearls of sweat formed on Keela’s temple from a mixture of the heat in the room and the sheer tenseness of the situation. Velka stood completely still, dreading making a move.

“I’ve done it before, I can certainly do it again”, said Saphielle, staring down at Keela with a coldness to her eyes that felt foreign to the other two women in the room.

“W-what do you mean?” stuttered Keela, eyeing the hand holding the blade and the person talking to her.

“I’ve killed someone close to me before for the good of this country”, replied Saphielle, her knuckles turning white on the hilt.

“Is it…?”

“Yes. Haela. Haela Aekian. Your mother. It wasn’t an official marriage and was certainly never brought up outside.”

Keela and Velka both stayed silent for a long minute, processing the information that had just been given to them.

“I thought the story was that I killed her?” asked Keela, confused.

“She was already dead when you stabbed her. But no one wanted to desecrate the body of the queen, so none of them touched the corpse after. Your dress stayed clean after stabbing your mother thirty-six times and no one even questioned it. Her blood had long stopped flowing but…” started Saphielle, choking up at the thought.

She paused, looking at Keela with a gaze that felt almost motherly.

“Fuck, Keela, I stabbed my own wife and blamed it on my step-daughter. I’m pretty sure this makes me a pretty bad person. I used this position to keep an eye on you but, honestly, you’re turning out just like her. You can’t escape this… I’ve spread the news already and demonized you to this entire place. There’s no escaping it”, finished Saphielle, nearly choking up.

“Saphielle, you don’t have to do this…” said Keela, fighting back some tears herself.

“I promised… I promised her I would save this goddamn country…”

Taking a sharp breath in, she steeled her arm and looked Keela in the eye.

“I have to. I’m sorry”, she said, her arm muscles tensing up.

Noticing this, Keela looked to the side quickly, seeing Velka had moved out of the bath. Making sure of it, she cursed under her breath and unleashed as much electricity as she could muster into the water. The sheer current made all of Saphielle’s muscles tense up, as she grabbed at her chest, panicking at her heart hurting. Crying, Keela stumbled out of the water, pushing back towards the wall in a frantic backwards crawl. Saphielle reached out and muttered Keela’s name before fainting face first into the water, her heart stopping completely. Silence fell in the room, both of the remaining women realizing what had just happened.

“Why…” muttered Keela to herself, dumbfounded.

“We have to leave. Guards will be here any minute”, said Velka, wrapping her arm around Keela.

Dragging Keela out, Velka made her way through to the changing room, quickly throwing on clothes and grabbing simple attires in their rooms as she made her way, holding on to Keela, to the teleporter room. The moonlight poured through the tall windows of the palace, drawing long shadows on the ground behind the two turned fugitives. Quickly drawing the glyphs on the edges of the teleporter, Velka sighed and moved them away from this place that had now turned so hostile in just a few bad decisions.