Virtue Itself Turns Vice

The fact that Caedes was able to listen to her rebuttal of his perspective of how the Syndicate came to be and not get defensive or combative in response showed her a lot about what kind of man he was and she appreciated his levelheaded response. This is the kind of wolf she had in mind when she told Artorias that she could not cast all of the Syndicate in the same light as Sephiran. It was becoming more and more obvious that the Syndicate Sultan was truly the source of this poison and it had unfortunately gotten his wolves caught in the crossfire. She wouldn't jump to any conclusions purely based on one conversation, but it felt very much like Caedes was truly a product of his environment and not inherently dark hearted the way Sephiran appeared to be. She gave a nod of acknowledgement to his wish to change his skewed perspective, offering him a small smile in response. That was all she could really hope for.

He went on to insist that he wasn't here to rewrite history, but he was here to find a way forward for himself and Mariah and seemed to easily agree to her stipulation that would keep Mariah here in Elysium. In fact, it seemed like he didn't want Mariah to live under Sephiran's rule any more than she did which was a bit of a relief. She didn't want to be hard on either of them, but she had to do what would keep her sister safe. She noticed how his expression softened when he looked at Mariah and that gave her hope. She had seen from her own father that wolves could soften and change with the right heart to lead them so hopefully Mariah could be that for him. What did cause her a bit of worry, however, was the declaration that he would rather die by Sephiran's hand than to let her live in the Syndicate in a way that said that was a possibility. Was Sephiran truly so unhinged that he would kill his own wolves? There was a pause of thought before she told him, "As long as you are with Mariah and you continue to treat her well then I will fight for you also." She looked him in the eye with a genuineness that she hoped told him she meant what she said. "Should it ever come to it, I will protect you the same way I would protect Mariah. You are safe here."

"Avacyn Medacium"