The feast hall's noise faded behind him as Nathan pushed through the side door and let the night air take over.
It was a good night. Clear sky, no wind to speak of, the capital's lights scattered below the castle's elevation like something that had been arranged deliberately rather than grown organically over centuries. The stars above were the kind that only appeared properly when you were away from enough torchlight — dense, indifferent, older than anything happening beneath them.
Nathan looked at them briefly, then at the sake bottle in his hand, then sat down on the garden grass with the executive decision of a man who had fulfilled his social obligations for the day and was done.
He had shown his face. He had eaten their food, spoken to their nobles, sat across from their political problems, and declined to become involved in any of them. That was sufficient. Kaguya understood what his attendance meant and the nobles would process it in whatever way served the alliance best.
