The Seat of My Heart

15 Why Not Stay?

Things went without a hitch when the time to return to the capital city En finally came. The people that had originally been living in the capital city were settled once again and minister Agur and the other officials started to deal with any thefts that had occurred in this time, making sure to get as many of the people that had tried to take advantage of the crisis to make sure that it wouldn't come to public unrest after the demon had already been crushed just like the king had ordered.

On the other hand, Jusha Lale picked a few people to make sure that the citizens of the surrounding cities were compensated for the help they had rendered to others in these trying times. Between this issue, the million questions regarding how to deal with the corrupted objects in the palace, and making sure that a second demon wouldn't be summoned because of the current, still volatile state of things, he became incredibly busy once again.

By the time most of it had been settled, half a year had already gone by. Summer had turned into autumn and finally, the early days of winter had arrived. The weather outside had turned cold and a faint layer of frost coated the ground, sparkling in the rays of the early sun.

Jusha Lale looked out of the window, seemingly lost in thought. He had moved into another set of chambers after returning to the palace back then. It couldn't be helped. After the illusion had been broken and the demon defeated, there was still the decay that had already happened. While the priests had done their best to ensure that the palace was livable again, the traces just could not be erased.

As the one who had been the reason for his uncle summoning the demon, Jusha Lale just could not feel comfortable at this place anymore. When he had originally returned and looked at that place, the sense of dread that assaulted him made it impossible to stay there. Thus, he used the decay as an excuse to switch to another set of rooms.

Susha Unhuor who had stayed through the preparation and didn't even leave when they had relocated back to En backed him up on the matter so none of the ministers and generals asked any uncomfortable questions and just took this request at face value. It helped further that Susha Unhuor requested to stay close by 'just in case' and finally moved into the set of rooms next to Jusha Lale's.

Yes, even though the zhireng had originally said that he wasn't sure what to do going forward and had indicated that he might start to go on his travels again, he had actually stayed in En since the day they came back here and tried to help out wherever he could. In this half a year, he had not only helped to deal with the decay but also made sure to check the capital city and the surrounding ones for traces of any additional demons but there hadn't been anything.

It seemed that after this shock, nobody had tried to take further advantage of the circumstances. The people were still safe and they would likely be for the foreseeable future. Which ... brought them to the current situation: There was no reason for Susha Unhuor to stay any longer.

The zhireng had come over to Jusha Lale's chambers as early as an hour ago. Originally, he had wanted to bid him farewell. Because if he didn't do so now ... he was afraid he would never get around to leaving this place.

In this half a year, he had grown a little too comfortable with the state things were in. Spending each day with Jusha Lale, having him consult him on how to deal with the aftermath of the demon's summoning, helping him make sure that everyone was safe ... This gave him a purpose in life that he had missed for a long time.

But he knew that things couldn't go on like this forever. There had only been this one demon. There was only a finite number of things that needed to be done to ensure there were no lasting effects, What was he to do now that all those things had been done and the problem had been solved? He couldn't say. It was just ... he actually felt a bit reluctant to go. And the worst thing was that Jusha Lale also seemed reluctant to let him go. Seeing that didn't make things any easier for him.