There is something so fascinating. So tasty. So juicy and intriguing. About the first nohecharei’s role reversal of sorts in the assassination attempt. All throughout the book, Cala is the softhearted one, seeking to provide comfort to Maia when he can (despite the “we can’t be friends” thing): a defensive position. Meanwhile, Beshelar is more stiff and wary, often scanning for threats against Maia—an offensive position. These traits of each are well-demonstrated in the scene in which Maia reveals his abuse at Setheris’ hands. Cala comes over to button Maia’s sleeve when he is shaky, and Beshelar expresses desire for Setheris to be punished.
In the end, they switch. Beshelar leaps in front of and on Maia to bodily protect him from Tethimar’s blade and take the hit himself (defensive move), and Cala strikes Tethimar down by killing him with a revethmaz (offensive move).
It’s so interesting that when it came right down to it they each changed their mode of fulfilling their duty to Maia. I don’t think it was conscious at all either, since it was such a fast thing. But just!!! Cala is willing to kill to defend his emperor (such a stunning thing from a character who has never shown violence before, despite the readers knowing his role is to guard Maia) and Beshelar is willing to lay down his life for his emperor without directly fighting the threat (it is very notable that he leapt in front of Maia instead of trying to attack Tethimar) and ultimately they will both protect Maia to the last breath—whether that breath is theirs or of the one who dares to attempt to hurt him. No matter what it takes.
I think it shows that they are each letting go of their preconceived ideas of what protecting the emperor should look like; that their preferred ways of doing things (according to their personalities) may not always serve the emperor best, and it is up to them to carry out their duty in the way each situation requires. Of course, they probably wouldn't think about it as becoming more flexible, since they both took the oath of the nohecharis. But it is one thing to take an oath and another to fulfill it, and they have grown over the course of the story along with Maia, adapting to their new life with him and their roles as his first nohecharei. <3