THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 322. THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Sagiri woke slowly to the warmth of midday sunlight spilling across the room. For several seconds, he simply lay there staring at the ceiling, unusually disoriented. The light alone told him something was wrong. He never slept this late. His body had long ago learned to wake before dawn regardless of how little rest he got. Yet judging by the position of the sun pouring through the windows, half the day was already gone.

He frowned and pushed himself upright. The movement felt strange. He felt rested and refreshed. Sagiri sat on the edge of the bed and tried to remember when exactly he had fallen asleep. The memory refused to come. He remembered coming into his room, remembered Lira entering the room, and remembered telling her to leave. After that, everything became vague fragments.

His eyes drifted toward the empty room. For a moment, he simply sat there, realizing he had slept so deeply that he could not remember the moment sleep had claimed him. The restless feeling that had haunted him for days was still there somewhere beneath the surface, but it felt muted now, distant enough that he could finally think around it.

Sagiri rubbed a hand across his face and exhaled quietly. It was an unsettling realization. He had faced armies, crossed deserts, and survived things that should have killed him, yet somehow a stubborn girl had managed to do what meditation could not. make him sleep.

He was still dressed in his shoes, which showed just how tired he was. He stood up and walked outside. The wing was silent.

Sagiri left his room a few minutes later and stepped into the corridor. The silence immediately caught his attention. Normally, there were guards changing shifts, servants moving through the halls, or at least distant voices carrying from other sections of the fortress. Today, there was almost nothing. The wide stone corridors sat beneath shafts of sunlight pouring through high windows, empty except for the occasional banner stirring in the breeze.

His footsteps echoed softly as he walked. Sagiri paused once, listening, but heard nothing unusual. Just quiet. He continued forward, his cloak shifting lightly behind him as he made his way through the upper levels of the War Fortress. The farther he walked, the more obvious it became that most people were elsewhere.

It felt as though the fortress had collectively moved toward some other purpose. Not particularly concerned, Sagiri followed the familiar route toward the dining wing. If there was something happening, someone there would know. The scent of food eventually reached him long before he arrived, and as he stepped through the final archway leading into the dining hall, the quiet of the upper wing finally began to give way to the sounds of people once more.

It was time for lunch, and the wing was full of elite soldiers of the general. Sagiri entered deep into the dining wing, expecting the usual noise, and immediately noticed Azir sitting near the end of one of the long tables. Azir was at a table alone instead of sitting at a table with Sagiri’s squad like he always did.

The City Lord had a full meal in front of him and wasn’t eating a single bite. He just sat there staring down at it with his shoulders slumped. Sagiri frowned slightly and walked over.

"Why aren’t you eating?" The reaction was immediate. Azir shot upright so fast he nearly knocked over his chair.

"Azir?" The boy immediately stood up so fast he nearly knocked over his chair.

"I’m sorry!" The words burst out of him. Several heads in the dining hall turned. "I’m really sorry, big brother!" His eyes were already watering.

"I..."

"I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble! I know you’re angry! I know I keep causing problems!" Sagiri stared at him. Azir continued before he could respond. "First, I got kidnapped, then you had to rescue me, then the fortress went into lockdown, then everyone got questioned, and then you stopped talking to me, and I knew it was because I messed everything up!" His voice cracked completely.

"I tried not to go out, but big brother was having trouble sleeping, and I know a place in the outer city that sells good medicine!" Tears were now openly running down his face, making the scene deeply undignified for a City Lord. "Now, Wibo is hurt, and everyone thinks I’m careless, and you hate me?" The dining hall had become suspiciously quiet. Soldiers were pretending not to watch.

They were failing. Miserably.

So that was the reason the boy was out of the fortress? To get him medicine!

Azir wiped at his eyes and looked even more distressed.

"Hate you?" Sagiri wondered, puzzled.

Sagiri stood there for several seconds trying to understand how the conversation had reached this point. Then realization finally dawned. The past two days. His mood. And just in the morning, when he left the roof, ignoring people. Azir had somehow concluded all of it was his fault. Sagiri looked at the untouched meal. Looked at the crying City Lord. Then rubbed a hand across his face.

Azir...."

"I know I’m annoying, but I didn’t mean to make your life difficult! They are chanting outside because of me. I am not stupid, I know I caused it." Azir was a mess.

"Azir, listen to me," Sagiri said now with a stern voice.

Azir started to quit crying, but his tears did not stop.

"A man should not cry. A city lord should not cry even more." Sagiri said, and Azir wiped his tears away, trying as hard as possible not to fall apart. It was rather adorable to watch,

"Only a cruel man gets angry at a good thought. You wanted to get me sleeping medication, and you almost died for that. Shouldn’t I be the guilty one here?" Sagiri said, and Azir snapped his eyes up. Sagiri was feeling rather rested, and he was feeling even calmer now. He was not at all mad at the boy. He had been mad at first, but he wasn’t anymore.

"Big brother..."

"It is true. Now the one on the wrong is the one who harmed Wibo and wanted to kill you. Don’t you agree?" Sagiri asked.

"But..."

"No buts. Don’t cry so easily. It makes you look...undignifying." Sagiri stopped himself. The boy’s innocence was perhaps something that should be protected.

"So you are not mad at me?" Azir asked.

"I will be. If you don’t join me to eat with my men." Sagiri said, and Azir lit up like a thousand suns.