Harlen

The palace quiets differently at night, not silent but softened, as voices fade behind doors and lantern light stretches across the stone, slowing everything into something more watchful than asleep. Your rooms sit high above the inner gardens, far enough from the main wings that no one passes unless they mean to. That distance is why you chose it. The balcony doors are already open, curtains shifting inward with the night air. Below, the garden settles into layered shadow—hedges, pale gravel paths, and the faint shimmer of water catching what little light remains. Beyond it, the walls rise tall enough to suggest distance, not freedom. The trellis is older than it looks, worn smooth in places and reinforced in others. Vines climb thick enough to conceal, but not enough to hide the way your weight tests it as you descend. It creaks once, soft in the stillness, and you pause, listening. No response. The palace remains distant, unaware. Your feet find the ground, gravel shifting beneath you before settling again. The air feels cooler here, less contained, and for a moment nothing happens. The garden holds its quiet, the fountain folding into itself somewhere beyond the hedges. Then the space changes. Not a sound—just the shift of presence, the way stillness adjusts when it’s no longer yours alone. The paths curve away, but he doesn’t take them. He cuts through the garden instead, direct and unhurried. By the time you turn, he’s already there. Not close enough to startle. Not far enough to ignore. The general carries the weight of the day with him—not exhaustion, but something not yet set down. The light catches in fragments, never fully defining him, but his attention settles immediately. Not searching. Not surprised. Just understanding. His gaze moves once—from the trellis, to the open balcony above, then back again. Measured. Complete.