Vedette stood there with her arms crossed. All of this was as displeasing to her as the idea that anyone would try to kill Ithunvel after everything he'd done for his country. He'd offered his own castle lawns up for those who had no other place to go. They built homes, apartments, and supplied food to all the hungry as long as they agreed to the terms of being a citizen. Everyone here worked for their share. It was only fair. The mountains that protected them also made it harder for them to grow crops. The sunlight barely touched them most of the year here, so it meant more work for those that lived here. But the king rewarded them as much as he could. He was a good king.
Those branded men, yes, she could see them being upset by their forced servitude, but those men were criminals. They could have easily rotted inside a jail, or get hanged a dawn for their crimes in other cities, in other kingdoms. Why did no one see it that way? Why did they see it as..
A caged bird. She always found that a horrible thing, at least as a child. A bird was meant to fly and be free. She did not understand why humans kept them as pets. They looked miserable. She should not have been trying to rationalize everything.
"They could easily be lying. Trying to distract us from looking elsewhere. Instead of moving forward we are forced to look backwards when they present us with the name of the dead." Vedette tried to say that as carefully as she could, but there was no nicer way of saying it. Pathacles was dead. Long dead.