The timing of the knights' arrival couldn't have been planned more pristinely.
Henry had been in Tenetium for nine days. He found himself enjoying the slow pace of low responsibilities for a while. Without his men there, there wasn't much to do except patrol the lands in the vicinity of the duke's tower and sit in his office reading through the things people were sending him. His meals were slow and lazy and in the evenings all he did was go for walks.
Spending time like that felt therapeutic after the storm he faced in Idona and then in Hydrogia in such a short amount of time. His favorite season, summer, was filled to the brim with seriousness and it had been ruined by the constant heavy emotions he felt for weeks on end.
To be mostly alone and able to sort out his thoughts, he found himself feeling more even-keeled.
However, the illusion that he had moved on shattered in front of him when he received a letter through magic.