In the depths of night at Castle Star Lake, Thales sat alone atop Jackal Tower's viewing platform, perched high and looking into the distance at Star Lake.
King Kessel and Captain Adrian had returned to the Royal Capital on the very same night, leaving only Sonia and her Starshine Guard, who turned the main castle's banquet hall upside down, causing a ruckus until the wee hours of the morning.
Maillot and Wet Nurse Valencia were of course beside themselves with worry, while the Duke of Star Lake himself had retired to his bedroom early on, claiming that alcohol had gotten the better of him.
("Bullshit! The old lady clearly saw him drinking juice!"—the Fortress Flower, drunkenly clinging to Maillot's collar.)
But Thales alone knew that, compared to welcoming the king's visit, he would rather have drunk himself into a stupor and slept without waking.
