The news of the king’s passing hit Juli like a stone wall. As much as she had told herself this day was likely coming, and not far off, she had held out some hope that her father would recover.<br/><br/>As was often the case, the signs of Juli’s emotional state were subtle. She bit her lip, a look of dismay briefly crossing her face before her expression became neutral once more. Only those who knew her well would notice the most troubling indication of her mental state: how she now stopped paying attention to her surroundings and only concentrated inward. Any of Juli’s old soldiers could tell about their Major’s extraordinary situational awareness—always she was subtly watching, listening, assessing potential threats. She did it almost without thinking, and now her natural state of being had been shaken from her.<br/><br/>Juli barely noticed Lorenso’s departure, and failed to see Lenally leave or bother to question if the queen was showing an appropriate level of grief. She felt a sense of loss and anger that the king was gone so soon, but even more anger at herself that she was not nearly as sad as she knew she ought to be.<em>Poor Gerrard...</em>And now she felt guilt that her own grief was based on so impoverished a reason as knowing the man for a month. Her brother’s loss had to be so much worse, having been raised by their father, she almost felt as if she did not have the right grieve in comparison. Even Lorenso had much better cause.<em>To think, if the king had not wanted to meet me as his famous soldier a month ago, I never would have met him at all. He never would have known if I was even alive, if I was male or female. I made no attempt to meet my own father because of pride, because I had to prove that I did not need the man who had ruined my mother’s life.</em>But there was nothing for it, just like the rest of her situation. It seemed she controlled nothing of late.<br/><br/>With Sir Tirgen and Nira situated far away and most of the royal court not caring about Juliette, it was left to the assassin to be the first to comfort her. Had they been alone, Juli might have even taken San’s hand. As it was, she simply replied to him quietly. “Terrible news,” she agreed solemnly. “I’ll be alright, I just... I just need a moment. Thank you.”