Say burbled as the air trapped in his belly carried his freshly ingested milk up his throat and all over Kinya's frock. She tried to react to it, but had resigned herself to cleaning up another mess before the impulse even hit. Ka’ren noted the event and took the infant from her, offering a silent chuckle as some form of condolence. His laugh caught on and she snickered back as she stripped her shirt off and dropped it into a wash basin before fetching another.

In the months following their arrival at Lieron, she had grown more and more appreciative of Ka’ren's presence. The remaining rebel leader had every reason to leave, but had instead opted to stay with her in a kingdom that would publicly execute him if they ever caught wind of who he was. For this, she was thankful - even more so as she watched him with her illegitimate child in his arms.

She couldn't lie to herself. For the entirety of her pregnancy, she had hoped that the child was from her few forays in the sorcerer's bed - even if that meant she'd be stepmother to the green-eyed monster that leveled her home. Instead her son was, as promised by the oracle, the product of being raped by the now deceased king of Libris Del Sol.

They had tried a number of things to make the burden less traumatizing for her - naming the boy after Ka’ren's brother for example - but even with all the mental preparation, she had dismayed at the first sight of the famous Siameran shadow that masked the babies brilliant blue eyes.

Kinya had, on more than one occasion, considered ending the infant's life, but he had just enough of her (and by proxy, her mother's) features that she couldn't bring herself to do it. This seemed to be what Ka’ren latched onto and he often brought up the little things that Say did that reminded him of her. Good for him.

She could just leave. The boy wouldn't be wanting for a mother figure in his life. Chiarina, the former Queen and widow of the rapist king, saw her own son in the tiny child and doted on him constantly. Kinya could just let the whore relive her glory days with a surrogate child...

Kinya sighed. That was unfair. Chiarina was just as much a victim as she, if not more so. Not only had her husband committed adultery, but her immediate family had been wiped out directly due to the actions of Kinya and her associates. Now the queen was playing host to those that ruined her without even as much as an inkling of an idea that she was doing so.

"We should leave." She breathed into the air, catching the silence at just the wrong time so that Ka’ren could hear her.

He stopped in his task of cleaning up Say and sighed. "Where would we go?"

To late to back out now. "Anywhere but here. This... this is unfair. Of us. We shouldn't be abusing their courtesy like this."

Ka’ren, who (alongside his brother) had been able to rationalize a whole rebellion against the royals, stood in silence as the baby in his arms kicked it's feet out as if discovering them for the first time. "We should avoid Mizzaltolte. Most of the refugees went there. I don't know if anyone will recognize us, but we shouldn't take the chance."

Kinya was surprised by the response - especially since he had seemed so cheerful since Say was born. "Should we go west then?"

He nodded. "Mostly wilderness and small villages. Frontier life, but we're nomads. We can handle it."

Kinya smiled. Neither of them had ever actually been nomads beyond name, but she wasn't going to bring it up.

Later that night, she claimed exhaustion as she left Say in a handmaiden's care. Then, when they were certain nobody was awake, she and Ka’ren stole off into the night, never to return.