Contents
Chapter Forty-Three
Overview
Mikail learns Daysum is dead, burns the evidence, and dispatches coded messages by eagle. While gathering supplies and noting a distant tail, he debates how to tell Sora. At the dress house, seeing Sora’s unguarded happiness, Mikail decides to delay the news until they leave Khitan, hiding his grief.
Summary
Mikail receives confirmation that Daysum is dead. He forces down his grief, burns the letters and decoding key, and focuses on action. He writes and encodes messages, pays for the swiftest eagles, and releases the birds, determined to keep moving despite the loss.
He stocks provisions, arranges winter horses, and senses a watcher shadowing him. Though tempted to confront the spy to vent his pain, Mikail refuses to kill for distraction and stays on mission. He rehearses how to tell Sora, recalling his own history of mass loss and the limits of grief.
Mikail decides a blunt truth may be the only way, then weighs Sora’s likely devastation and the danger they’re in. He resolves to wait until they leave Khitan, believing time and safety will allow her to mourn without jeopardizing their plans.
Returning to the dress house, Mikail finds Sora being fitted and radiant. Unable to shatter her moment of ease, he smiles, plays along with the workers’ assumptions, and conceals his turmoil, vowing to tell her after they depart Khitan.
Who Appears
- MikailNarrator; confirms Daysum’s death, sends coded messages, senses a tail, and chooses to delay telling Sora.
- SoraAt a dress fitting; warmly greets Mikail, unaware of Daysum’s death and his concealed grief.
- Gray-haired bird keeperAccepts Mikail’s generous tip and dispatches his coded messages by eagle.
- Unseen spyShadows Mikail from a distance; observed but not confronted.