Harudan stood with Jonin in the stables, watching the stablehands prep the horses. The dogs were ready to go, as were the other guards Jonin had picked to follow him, but the horses were taking far longer than planned. He would have to punish the servants for their slack behaviour the first chance he got.

"I still think it might be better to wait for Nerin to translate the book for you," Jonin said and leaned against the stable wall.

Harudan shook his head. "That could take too long. We need to get rid of the monk now. Get started and when Nerin does what he needs to, I'll send Ignis your way," he said. Jonin's arguments were weak, even he knew that he needed to go. If only he could have gone with more information, but there was nothing else they could do.

The monk was something called the Beast that was Promised, a chosen saviour of the Old Gods, destined to rid the realm of evil. Harudan had read up about it in the books from the library. They said nothing about the crystal, but they said plenty about the Beast. If only that had been what was in the crystal, but according to Nerin, that wasn't the case.

Not that he would actually find out what it was any time soon. Nerin had come to dinner with them the night before, but he hadn't said much to either of them. It was better than the silence and the tears he'd been faced with since they left Huton and would only get better from there. All he had to do was wait.

A hand brushed against his arm. "I'll be back before you know it," Jonin said. His helmet sat in his other hand, glinting in the sun. It gave Harudan the perfect view of his face, the long lashes that framed dark red eyes. It was a rare sunny day and the light beamed down upon him, shining off his hair. Harudan smiled at him.

"You better be. I want you by my side when we win this," he replied and shifted to grab his hand. Despite the sun shining down on them, it was still cold and he could see his breath when he sighed.

"I will be, don't doubt that. I promised you that I would stay by your side and I will," Jonin whispered in his ear as the stablehands walked past them with a horse. "I'll be back as soon as the monk is dead, I swear to you."

Harudan leaned into him. "I'll keep you up to date on the war and Nerin. I doubt Ignis will protest against seeing you," he said and smiled when Jonin laughed. There was a part of him that was worried. Jonin would have to face off against the Princess and possibly Emrick again, which hadn't gone well for him the last time. He was still injured after all, the wound in his shoulder still healing, but it hadn't impeded him whatsoever. Even so, the fact that they'd been able to injure him in the first place wasn't a good sign.

At least they could be certain that the Beast wouldn't do anything. The man was a coward and a pacifist, the worst possible choice for a saviour. But it would go well for Harudan, at least. He didn't have to worry about the monk trying to kill him, just that he would find some other way to stop the war. With his powers, anything was possible.

If they were lucky, they'd never find out the true extent of what the monk could do. Jonin would get rid of him before anything too serious happened. It was bad enough that he had been able to get three of his powers before they figured out the truth. If it hadn't been for Nerin, they never would have. Because of that, Harudan was immensely thankful for his brother at that moment, even if the truth had been forced out of him by using a little girl.

He'd known that Nerin would try to talk to her, someone of his age, who had gone through something awful. It was better that she was from the Sanctum of Ishin, the same place as the Beast, who had avoided Jonin's questions far better than Harudan had expected him to. He knew what his brother was like, he knew he would stop at nothing to make the girl feel better.

All he needed to do was convince Nerin to translate the book. Giving it to him was the first step, a sign of trust. He could have easily given it to any of the people who knew High Visheran, but instead, he'd let Nerin have it back. That way, he would know that he still trusted him. It was all a part of his plan, which would come into fruition soon if he was lucky.

Finally, the servants had the horses sorted and ready to go. The men and women Jonin had ordered to come with him sighed with relief and got their packs sorted. As he watched, Jonin squeezed his hand. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said. It was obvious that he didn't want to go, but they had no choice. Jonin was the best of them, he could find the monk and the others like he had before and deal with them properly. "I am unsure that Nerin is telling the truth in regards to the monk, though."

"What do you mean?" he asked, his brow crinkling.

"Back when I first found him, he killed my people, Harudan, burned them. If he was truly a pacifist, that wouldn't have happened," Jonin explained. He was scowling and anyone else would have thought he was annoyed, but Harudan knew that it was worry pulling at his features.

Harudan ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I want to trust Nerin. He says that the monk doesn't want to hurt anyone, we have to believe him," he said.

"And if he's lying to get us killed?" Jonin suggested.

"He's only a child, do you really think he could think something like that up?"

"Unless they told him to."

He sighed. "Jonin, when would they have gotten a chance to? We have to believe him. Besides, we already had it confirmed for us that he is a monk, which means he is likely to be a pacifist."

"He could kill me in an instant, Harudan," Jonin replied, squeezing his hand so tightly it hurt.

With a wince, he pulled Jonin closer. "It's going to be fine. If he wanted to kill you, he would have done it back at Turian's laboratory or Huton. He won't kill you, trust me" he said with a clenched jaw. Slowly, he cupped Jonin's face. "Kill him for me, kill them all and then come back. We'll win this war together."

Jonin kissed him fiercely, as if he were dying and it was his last chance to do so. It left Harudan winded and wanting more. "I trust you. I'll be back soon," his partner whispered and stepped away to his waiting horse. It was already packed with everything he needed and stayed silent when Jonin came near it.

In only a few minutes, Jonin was gone, his party following close behind him. Harudan smiled at him as he turned and trotted from the stables, not wanting him to see how worried he truly was. Deep down, he knew he would be alright, but that wasn't going to stop him from worrying.

The stables were silent once Jonin was gone and he sighed. It wouldn't take long, a couple of weeks at most, then he would be back. While he was gone, Harudan would focus on the country, the war, and Nerin. It was a lot to deal with, but he could handle it. He was the King after all, he had to.

When he wasn't dealing with Nerin, he was fulfilling what Fentir wanted him to. He went through the requests of the people and granted what he could. He kept an eye on the war, monitoring how close they were getting to Ziya. The northern part of the army was heading up towards the Neverending Sea while General Juna's part had just taken the trading town of Maeve and were marching steadily towards the southern coast. Everything was going according to plan.

Everything except Nerin, of course. Even trying to sort out the whims of the people and feeding them all wasn't as difficult as he had expected it to be. Most understood that they couldn't have everything in times of war, and even those who didn't wouldn't dare to argue with him. Food wasn't that much of a problem. There wasn't as much as there should be, but it was enough to keep everyone alive.

Sighing, Harudan walked from the stables and back into the palace. He needed to speak with Nerin. If he could get him to work as quickly as possible, then Jonin wouldn't have to run around blind with sniffer dogs for very long. It would be harder to use them in such thick snow and if he had a location, then he could find the Beast easier. The only thing was, he wasn't sure if he could tell Nerin why he needed the location. The boy would probably figure it out on his own though.

There was one way he might be able to get Nerin to do what he asked, something he'd had planned for a while but had been unable to do. He knocked politely on his brother's bedroom door but didn't wait for a response before he walked in. His little brother sat at his desk, picking at lunch that had gone cold a long time ago.

"Are you busy?" he asked and Nerin shook his head. "Come with me. Bring the book." Frowning, Nerin grabbed the book from a small pile on his desk and stood. The room with the crystal wasn't far, but the walk felt longer than it ever had.

Nerin walked next to him, his eyes on the ground before them. "Where are we going, Harudan?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I told you that there was something I wanted to show you. Now's the time," he said as they stopped outside of his office. Nerin headed for it, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Not there."

Harudan pushed open the door opposite and an orange glow spilt out into the hall. Nerin gasped and stepped forward tentatively. "What is that?" he asked as he stepped into the room. As it had for weeks, the crystal sat on the table, towering over everyone and everything in the room.

"To be honest, I don't know," Harudan said and sat at the other desk in the room. Nerin circled the crystal, staring at it with wide eyes. "It was at the Sanctum of Ishin when I went to see the Mother. Out of curiosity, I took it with me. I've been trying to find out what it is ever since. Jonin broke off a piece a while back and there was a voice from within."

Nerin stared at him, mouth agape. "There's someone in there?" he asked incredulously and knocked against the edge of it. "It's hot, almost like..."

"Like what?" he asked.

Nerin hesitated for a moment. "Like Isiah's stone. I can't touch it without it burning me, but I can touch this," he whispered, a frown on his face that made him seem far older than he was.

"So you know what it is?" he asked, hope blooming in his chest. If he could get Nerin to tell him what the crystal was, he would have his answers and a way to get him to translate where the Beast was.

But Nerin shook his head and the hope in his chest plummeted into his stomach. "I have no idea. We barely knew what the stones were. But if there's someone in here, then we need to get them out," he said and dropped the book in front of him. "You'll want to use them, won't you? What for?"

"To help, what else?" Harudan said. He had expected Nerin to question him, the boy had always been smarter than he looked. "The Askari have double the numbers we do and if I want to make Minisia the place it should be, then I need all the help I can get. I have the feeling that if we rescue whatever this is, it will help us."

Nerin frowned at the floor and pressed his palm to the crystal, but didn't say a word. Harudan could see it running through his head, what his answer should be. A simple yes or no to helping him, but to Nerin, it wasn't so simple. Whatever the Princess and her followers had gotten him to believe when he'd been with them, it still affected him.

Harudan sighed and stood, giving his brother a comforting smile. "It's alright, Nerin. This is what's good for the realm, even you can see that, surely. The Askari are resistant to it because they've been brainwashed to think that the way they're being treated is the right way, when it's not. They are starving and dying, but I can fix it. I just need to help whatever is in here escape so they can help me. Do you think you could look in your book and find out if there is anything about it in there for me?"

Again, Nerin was hesitant to answer, pulling away from the crystal and walking over to the desk. The book sat between them, waiting to be opened and all Harudan wanted to do was force him, but he couldn't. He needed to trust that Nerin could see the truth for himself and help him willingly. They were the last Oshana's, they needed to work together.

He almost let out a loud sigh of relief when Nerin reached for the book and opened it. His little brother looked up at him with sad eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright," he said. "I'll help you."