We didn't walk far.
Just far enough that the voices behind us blurred into the wind, and the sea became a low, steady hum instead of a witness.
I stopped near a cluster of rocks, arms folded tight across my chest like I could physically hold myself together if I tried hard enough.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then Xylan broke the silence.
"Do you trust them?"
The question was simple.
The answer wasn't.
"I don't know," I said honestly. "I want to. I think. But wanting doesn't make it true."
He nodded, eyes fixed on the horizon.
"She left me," he said.
Not angry. Not accusing.
Just a fact that had been sitting in his chest for years.
"She left me with a man who never wanted a reminder of the sea," Xylan continued. "My father treated me like a problem he couldn't solve. Fed me. Housed me. That was it."
My throat tightened.
"He hated anything that didn't make sense," Xylan said. "And I didn't."
I glanced at him.
He didn't look hurt.
He looked tired.
"At least you knew he was your father," I said quietly. "I didn't even have that."
He turned to me.
"She left me with strangers," I went on. "Kind People, but… not mine. Every birthday felt borrowed. Every smile felt temporary."
I swallowed.
"I always felt like I was waiting for someone to come back for me. And now she did—, and I don't know what to do with that."
Xylan exhaled slowly.
"They didn't watch us," he said. "That part felt real."
"Yeah," I agreed. "And intercepting the letter instead of using it against us… that matters."
I kicked a pebble into the water.
"But that doesn't erase what they did," I said. "Or what it cost."
"No," Xylan said. "It doesn't."
Silence settled again. Not awkward. Just heavy.
Finally, he spoke.
"If we want to take the king down," he said, "we need answers."
"And they're the only ones who have them," I finished.
He looked at me then.
"So we listen," he said. "Not because we forgive them."
"But because we don't have another choice," I said.
The sea surged softly against the rocks.
For the first time, it didn't feel like it was calling me.
It felt like it was waiting.