Story:

Mai pressed her hands together and bowed deeply, her voice trembling but carrying clearly across the throne room. "You gave us a chance when no one else even knew we were alive. We will repay this kindness one day. I swear it."

"You will do no such thing," Gideon replied, and there was something almost fatherly in the way he waved the oath away.

"Kindness that demands repayment is merely a debt, and I have no interest in collecting debts from girls who have already paid more than any soul should. Recover. Grow strong. That is all the repayment I require. Though—"

A faint smile crossed his weathered face, "—should you ever pass through Droughtsburg again, I won't object to a hot meal shared at my table."

Beside him, Shannon stepped forward with a small leather folio, her posture impeccable, tone crisp but warm. "Forgive me for adding practicalities to sentiment, my lord, but I've taken the liberty of drawing up documents for your journey."

She extended the folio to Shiro with a precise bow. "Safe-conduct passes for Astonia's border roads, a letter of introduction for any allied garrions along the coast, and the shrine's stipend for the campaign—paid in full, with the wounded's share included. I will not hear of the Yamato Shrine financing its own convalescence."

"Shannon keeps accounts the way other people keep grudges," Gideon remarked dryly. "Refuse her and she will simply follow you to Yamato with the paperwork."

"Thank you, Lady Shannon," Mai managed, clutching the folio with both hands as though it might dissolve. "Truly. You've thought of everything we couldn't."

"Recovering patients should not have to think," Shannon said simply. "That is what the rest of us are for."