"Everything," Sebastian said simply. "House de la Sang has weapons and technologies you haven't seen. Forces you haven't faced."
"Then we need to be prepared," Ironfist said. "To counter what we don't yet understand."
Sebastian nodded once. "I can help with that."
Boarstaff watched as the council members exchanged glances, their earlier hostility gradually giving way to grim acceptance. Even Thornmaker seemed to recognize the value of Sebastian's knowledge, though his suspicion never fully abated.
"You've given us much to consider," Moonsinger said finally. "We will need time to discuss our preparations."
It was a dismissal, if a polite one. Sebastian understood it as such, rising smoothly to his feet. "Of course."
By the time the meeting concluded, a tentative acceptance had formed, not of Sebastian as a person, but of his utility in the coming conflict. Boarstaff found himself troubled by this distinction, even as he recognized its practical necessity.
As the council dispersed, Thornmaker paused beside Boarstaff. "Your judgment is clouded where he's concerned," he kept his voice low. "Be careful that your... feelings... don't endanger us all."
Boarstaff didn't reply. The words had found their mark. When only he and Sebastian remained at the fire, the silence between them felt heavier than before.
"They fear you," Boarstaff said finally.
"With reason," Sebastian replied.
Boarstaff studied the fire rather than meeting Sebastian's gaze. The question that had been building within him all night finally found its way to his lips. "Did you enjoy killing him?"
Sebastian didn't answer immediately. When Boarstaff looked up, he found Sebastian watching him with an expression he couldn't quite read.
"I didn't feel what you're asking about," Sebastian said carefully. "There was no pleasure in it. No remorse either."
"Then what?"
"Necessity. Clarity." Sebastian's gaze returned to the flames. "When I killed Cassius, I was simply doing what needed to be done, in the most efficient way possible."
"The way you crushed his skull..."
"Was a message to the others. Especially to Cornelius, when he hears of it." Sebastian's voice remained level. "I needed them to understand that I'm not bound by their codes anymore. That I'll fight as I choose, not as tradition dictates."
Boarstaff absorbed this, trying to reconcile the calculated brutality with the Sebastian who had sought connection in the darkness beneath the Tree. Were they truly the same person? Or had Sebastian's transformation created something new entirely?
"The village needs you," Boarstaff said. "Your knowledge. Your strength."
"But you're wondering if I'm a danger to them as well," Sebastian finished for him. "If the violence I showed tonight might someday be turned in a different direction."
Boarstaff didn't deny it. "The thought has occurred to others. And to me."
Sebastian was silent for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice had softened slightly. "I understand their fear. And yours. But know this, what I did tonight, I did by choice. Not because violence is my nature, but because it was necessary."
"And when this war is over? When Cornelius is defeated? What then?"
"I don't know," Sebastian admitted. "I'm still discovering what I am without my father's influence. Without the components that regulated my every thought and action for centuries." He met Boarstaff's gaze directly. "But I know I don't want to be defined solely by my capacity for violence."
Something in his tone resonated with Boarstaff, a vulnerability beneath the strength, a question beneath the certainty. For the first time since Sebastian had emerged from the Tree, Boarstaff glimpsed the person he had come to care for, still present beneath the warrior's exterior.
"Then we'll need to show them you're more than that," Boarstaff said. "Starting tomorrow."
"How?"
Boarstaff considered for a moment. "The warriors will be training at dawn. Not just fighting, but preparing in other ways. You should join them."
"They won't welcome me," Sebastian stated it as a simple fact.
