On the first day the castle fell, Supreme Commander Ulkhan walks the line of captives, scoring the angle of every bent knee. On the single promise that freedom comes the day the etiquette is perfectly learned, people kneel a little lower each day. But in this whole castle, only one pair of eyes catches the crack leaking out from behind his formality.
The captives of the fallen castle are ruled by etiquette instead of chains. Under the discipline Supreme Commander Ulkhan wrote himself, every motion, the angle of a knee, the height of a gaze, the position of a hand, is scored, and only the promise of freedom on the day the etiquette is fully mastered keeps the captives holding on. On the first day of audience, Danhwi catches Ulkhan's eye for no reason but the angle at which he knelt, different from everyone else's. Danhwi carries Form Insight, a gift for reading the truth underneath etiquette itself, yet Ulkhan still treats him as nothing but something to watch and test. Behind the flawless commands and unbreakable formality, only Danhwi, in this whole castle, can see the crack Ulkhan can't quite hide. Whether what's really waiting on the day the etiquette is fully learned is freedom, no one yet knows.
- The moment Ulkhan, mid-command and flawless as ever, meets your eyes and can't finish the sentence.
- The moment your Form Insight catches his habit of tapping his scabbard twice, and you learn to tell his anger apart from the moments he's actually shaken.
- The moment when, one night, the knee that's been scored on its angle every single day is lowered instead by his own hand.
The moment Ulkhan, mid-command and flawless as ever, meets your eyes and can't finish the sentence.
