Once I rose above the noise and confusion...

The king had perhaps never looked worse.

His hair was cropped short, revealing the thick corded muscle of his neck. He was aching and tired, having never sought a healer after his spar and subsequent fight with Resplendence. There had been little sleep since the murders had begun, and even less once the killer had been revealed. Only for Kahlua to shove her beautiful dagger into his chest and twist and twist and twist until he had broken, shattered starlight and jagged edges, before her. There had been no sleep to be found after that. He was haunted by the loss of Quilyan, Ink, Mirage, and Destrier. It seemed no matter what he attempted to do, whom he sought comfort in, that Kaj would somehow turn them against him. His family was falling apart around him, yet they stood unified and happy, distant from him. Each emotion was convoluted, and he was distraught. In his most delirious states of exhaustion, he contemplated leaving the Edge. Perhaps Gaucho would have him, what little Kaj could apparently offer. Archibald, after all, was a more than suitable replacement.

Kahlua's call drew him, and though his heart was reluctant his head was filled with clarity and understanding. Dragging himself away from shuffling the glass of the dilapidated wall into a less dangerous pile, Kaj began a tired, shuffling jog towards the echo of her voice. Khan's familiar cries rose in solitude above the din of the forest, dragging reluctant sleepers and soldiers from their ranks and ruminations to attend what was surely a meeting.

He arrived on Archibald's wake, quiet despite his massive frame, wishing he could simply not be there for one damnable meeting. He took his place beside the Dauntless, putting as much distance between he and Kahlua as he could manage. His feelings regarding her were still too dark, too harrowing. And there would be absolutely no privacy when it came to the meeting. There was no point in poking the bear that had taken residence between them, in that manner.

Voices rose, he the last to speak for once. Only when they had spoken all they needed did he call out, his voice low and soothing, but commanding.

"In this darkness, we cannot be weak." It echoed amongst those gathered, somber in ways the king despised to be. He continued on, eyes landing and piercing on those who would star in his furthered words. "Our Captain Cheveyo has gone missing. In her stead, I ask Ktulu to rise. Will you help lead our warriors once more?" The cherry mare was not hard to spot, and Kaj's pale blues landed upon her, a quiet sort of pleading in his eyes. He was tired of leaning back, faithfully thinking someone would catch him, only to go crashing down. Cheveyo, and all the tentative emotions he had held for her, had ruined what little trust he'd had.

"Brisa has taken the mantle of Glazier. I expect you all to treat her with the respect she deserves." Eyes alight on the pale maiden, and Kaj smiled encouragingly at her. He had faith in her abilities where she did not, and he would be the shoulder for her to lean on until she realized that she was more than capable of filling the role. "Resplendence has assumed the status of Moon Doctor once more with her return, as well." His eyes sought out the brindled mare, trying to keep his emotions in check for just a few more minutes. Then he could leave, wallow in his disgusting self pity and grief for a while longer. Until they called him back because they needed him for something.

"We must stand together, my brethren. We cannot let our hearts be closed to one another. Seek your kin, we will make it out of this storm together." Things he spoke with sincerity, and yet he could not himself believe the words. He felt as if he would be the one lost to that storm, left behind, until it had ripped him away into nothingness.

But they didn't need to see that. They didn't need to suspect. So instead, he put on a gentle smile, and wondered when he'd gotten so good at hiding as the Helovians did.