Kai Low wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he had to do something.
Yuze had returned from the last-minute summons from Lord Ye in a fugue. He hadn't even gone back to his office; he'd come to Kai Low's room and not said a word as he walked past Kai Low and Ran Orlo and took a seat on the lone couch Kai Low had kept.
He'd proceeded to stare at the floor for so long that Kai Low had sent Ran Orlo out to find the Vermeer sisters and stay with them while he figured out what was wrong.
As soon as the door closed behind him, he turned to Yuze. "Yuze…"
The other man didn't move, staring down at the bare floor.
Kai Low slowly took a seat next to him. "Yuze, what happened?" There was a strange feeling in his chest, the desire to reach out and offer comfort. He wanted to, but he didn't think it would help. Yuze had never been particularly open to that kind of softness. Not from Kai Low, at least. Maybe he'd been different with the ass he'd married before.
Maybe it wasn't Kai Low, maybe it was him.
Tentatively, he reached out and put his hand on Yuze's arm.
"Mingzhe confessed."
It clearly meant a great deal to Yuze, even if it didn't to Kai Low. "Mingzhe… Lord Zhao? I thought you said he didn't do any of the things he's accused of."
Yuze gave a laugh that was more broken than amused. "I don't think he did. He just confessed." he sounded confused more than anything.
"Why-" Kai Low stopped himself. Yuze wouldn't be acting like this if he knew why Mingzhe had done it. "So he either did it, or he lied."
Yuze nodded and finally managed to pry his eyes from the floor. He turned to Kai Low and then seemed surprised to see him.
He must have come here without thinking about it. Which was flattering, but also a bit concerning, because Yuze hadn't been paying attention to his safety any more than he'd been paying attention to where he was going. The stone city wasn't safe yet, and Yuze could still be hurt.
"Chenzhou and Eirian think he lied." Yuze's voice was low.
Kai Low nodded. "They love him."
Yuze's eyes pinned Kai Low in place. For a moment, he just stared at him, then suddenly, he flushed, and his eyes darted away. "They do."
"So that must be why he lied." Kai Low commented. "He loves them too."
Yuze flinched, but he nodded. His eyes found their way back to the floor.
For some reason, that made Kai Low angry. "Can you look at me?"
Yuze stiffened. When he looked up at Kai Low, there was a fire in his eyes that was as reassuring as it was scary. "Why?"
"Because it is difficult to have a conversation when you stare at the floor." Kai Low may have been needling him on purpose, but it was only in Yuze's best interest. He did better, was happier, when he was angry instead of sad. It cost Kai Low nothing to tip the scales.
He was mostly confident Yuze wouldn't actually hurt him.
Not seriously.
"So sorry, was there something you wanted to discuss?" Yuze's tone was somewhere colder than the frozen peaks of the spine of the world, but he didn't leave, and he didn't shove Kai Low's hand off his arm.
Kai Low started to sigh, caught the danger in Yuze's eyes, and stopped himself. "You are worried about your friends."
"Obviously." It sounded like Yuze was grinding his teeth as he spoke.
Kai Low fought back the urge to smile. Yuze seemed complicated from a distance, but at his core, he was simple. He cared about his friends and his home. Kai Low didn't care about the stone city itself, but his friends weren't that terrible. He could care about them because Yuze cared about them and because they weren't…the worst people Kai Low had ever dealt with.
They weren't even the worst he knew.
"They are upset?"
Yuze sighed. "Yes. He… he confessed to the High Court. There's no undoing it."
Kai Low took a deep breath. "He must have known what he was doing."
"That doesn't make it better." Yuze snapped and then put his head in his hands, dislodging Kai Low's hands.
"There's nothing that can be done, then?" Kai Low guessed.
Yuze nodded without lifting his head.
"So you are upset that they are hurt? And you can do nothing."
Yuze nodded again, his shoulders shook, and Kai Low was so startled it took him a moment to realize he was crying.
There was nothing Kai Low could do to fix the situation. All he could do was offer whatever small comfort he could.
He put an arm around Yuze's shoulders, didn't comment when they shook harder, even though Yuze managed to stay silent.
Kai Low didn't know Mingzhe; he barely knew Lord Ye, but he knew Yuze. And Yuze was hurt because he couldn't help his friends. Couldn't stop their suffering.
Kai Low understood that feeling. He'd never been able to help Apa. He'd never been able to help Kai San. He'd could barely help Ran Orlo and his other nieces and nephews when they scraped their knees.
He held Yuze as he cried and tried to think of something, anything that would make it better.
But nothing came to mind.
~ tbc