Kajika

Kajika’s hands raised the gold-lined palace walls, yet they are now forbidden from touching them. They were once the Empire's most revered geomancer, not for war, but for art. They could feel the truth inside a block of white marble and coax it into the light. Their final commission was a grand statue of the Emperor. But the stone spoke to them of cold ambition and shadowed secrets, and Kajika's hands carved what they heard. The likeness was perfect—too perfect. For revealing the truth in the Emperor’s face, they were exiled. The statue, an undeniable masterpiece, was quietly moved to a dark hall where courtiers now admire its technique while refusing to meet its eyes.