She watches. She can join in if Kohl fails here, somehow. But at the very least she can watch.

And then blood pools thinly on the ground, Straydus's limbs sliced up leaving him slack on the ground. With a knife at his throat, the last two guards behind him let their weapons rest on the ground.

Kohl steps forward, putting Herodin within blade's reach.

"Everyone hates you, you know. Kyros for refusing to submit to the inevitable. Your citizens for putting your pride and lineage over their homes and farmland. Even Beastmen, for claiming to be a leader while hiding in your cave and letting others fight your battles for you. And your soldiers for abandoning them and destroying the people and country they fought for."

"I will not stand here and countenance another moment of your judgment! I have acted for the interests of Stalwart, and if I die today, I die a patriot!"

"I gave you the chance to be a beloved martyr, without even losing your war, and you refused like the most contemptible piece of shit excuse for a ruler imaginable. If the sea-kings of Stalwart could see their sorry excuse for a regent they would rise from the deeps to eviscerate you personally. I have passed some death sentences in my time that haunt me, but not this one. This one is nothing but satisfying."

"Go ahead and kill me, then, Tunon's dog."

"No. You don't get the satisfaction of dying to Kyros's servant. You die at the edge of your country's greatest symbol, by the hand of the leader of its military. Because he jumped at the chance. And because, as they once said in my homeland before Kyros: A king's life belongs to his people."

Kohl raises the Dauntless hilt-up and slides its blade between two paving stones, momentarily upright.

"Captain Mattias. Do the honors."

One of the guards surges to her feet, crying "No!". She moves between you and Herodin, tearing off her helmet. "I won't let you do this!"

She's immediately recognizable as a Northerner, not one of the family of Regents. She looks familiar, but it's hard to place...

Until you notice that Barik and every Disfavored present are stunned. Some started, some went still, but all reacted with shock.

"Amelia?"

Kohl tilts his head, and decides to ignore the question of why she's changed sides for the moment, other than to rest his hand back on Dauntless's hilt. "Why defend him? For Stalwart's people, who he made suffer? Their traditions, which they've given up, and which Kyros would batter with a dozen more Edicts if they hadn't? This Edict must end. Will you protect this shitstain even at that cost? With both your father's men and Stalwart's here to see it done?"

"The Regents have honor! Sitting out the conflict made me see this conquest from a different perspective. Stalwart deserves its independence."

Simulateously, Kohl and Mattias reply, "Had."

Kohl continues, "Had honor. Which this coward sacrificed in the name of his pride. Stalwart will have what autonomy I can give it, under the men who kept its honor. Captains Mattias, Janos, Elia. But if they are to have something better than a wasteland, it will be after 'the bloodline of the Regents of Stalwart comes to an end'. Stand aside, Amelia, or we kill you like the others wearing that armor."

She tenses, but Straydus speaks up, with a resolved expression, and they can see he's almost lost too much blood to maintain it. "Amelia, that's enough. Keep your own honor. I accept my fate."

She meets his eyes, then turns away, dropping her spear. She walks away, passing through a set of doors to the side without another word.

Kohl nods to Mattias and releases Dauntless. "Your right."

He picks it up from the floor, raises it to Straydus's neck.

"Traitor."

"Maybe. But not nearly as much as you, Herodin."

And then a sharp blade cut once, and a head rolled.

And the storm raged on.

And in that confusion, a baby cried.

Everything was still for a moment, as people struggled to understand what this meant.

Kohl was first to react, and he snarled. "Nerat's poxy balls, just once I wanted to carry out a sentence that was entirely fucking deserved! But no, it had to have more fucking complications!" He grabbed a discarded bronze helmet and threw it against a wall, hard enough to dent.

"-An heir?" She wonders aloud.

God. At least she doesn't have to do this one. 

Could she, if she was Kohl?

"It must be. 'Let Our storm rage until the last blade be broken, or the line of Regent falls', was the condition of the Edict. And-" he glances the direction Amelia left in, which also contains the baby's cry, "-I think I see how her change of heart occurred."

He sighs. "One child's life - two lives - against the Edict's continuation has a clear right choice. But this one I won't ask anyone else to make."

The Disfavored are a mix of betrayed and angry, outraged that she broke their traditions and code of honor quite so egregiously. But they're still too stunned to act.

It's not a disaster if she's known for mercy.

"Can we- Could it be changed, the blood, or rather the heritage- Could the line end metaphorically- Some ritual or sigil. Renouncement. If it can't, I'd do it, too, but is it worth an attempt?"

"It is," he says, nodding, "Renouncement. That might be possible. Lantry, you're our historian, any ideas?"

"Hmmm. I'm sure it's happened. Usually it's an heir who would be renouncing power on their own behalf... but when multiple heirs exist and the sitting Regent or heir's parent wants to clarify succession... Wait, of course - Queen Porcia, who supposedly faced assassination attempts on her child. Probably the story was invented centuries later, but that didn't get in the way of it being used to set a precedent; she stripped the babe of any legal claim to the throne, and they used that for disinheriting heirs, removing them from the line of succession. What was the wording - 'formally abdicate, dissolving all ties and holdings'? Something like that."

Kohl looks pleased, and relieved. "Knew keeping a historian around would come in handy." He retakes the Dauntless and sheathes it. "Now, let's hope the mother doesn't decide to put Stalwart's honor above the kid's life."

He looks around, then gestures to Lantry and Eb. "With me. Let's give her an out."

And then they pass through the same door, out of sight.

Phew.

One life saved, one petty tragedy averted. It's already done, in her head. Maybe a bit too hasty, but she has a feeling. Maybe it doesn't weigh on Kohl's mind so much, too, and it could be part of the symbols and stories. Since those are important. Mercy is a possibility.

"Things can always get better..." She mutters.

("Your father won't be pleased with me, but I won't kill an infant I don't have to.")

("I wasn't sure she would count for the Edict...")

("She's not more important than all the citizens of Stalwart. But there's a formula for disinheriting your child, as a mother without formal standing. We'll try it.")

They're gone several minutes - probably the first try didn't work. But then the wind goes quiet, and a white glow bursts out through the doorways they passed through.