A/N: Hey everyone! As promised, I've revived 100 Themes. New list (though it has quite a few familiar topics), new content. Taking character recommendations but will release the Themes only if that character has been introduced in the main story. Which brings me to...

To those who don't know: This 100 Themes is not for a formal challenge. I've taken prompts from a challenge and will be writing 100 oneshots as stand-alone additions to the main story 'Lost'. Lost is a re-post of a story I took down a couple of years ago with new edits, rewrites, and even some new content. If you read 100 Themes on their own, you will feel very confused. Highly recommended you follow the main story to 'get' these.

If you are a past reader coming back to the world of Lina, welcome back!

If you are a new reader experiencing Lina and friends for the first time, welcome to the chaos!

Originally I was going to go in order but then decided that's lame and will be posting at random with the topic's number before it as a reference point.

NOTE: I'm not John Flanagan. Or John Green. Or John R. Erickson.

Halt/Lina requested by Saberin

077: Freedom

Halt grinned as he came upon his mysterious niece's camp. She moved every few days, making finding her difficult. He enjoyed the challenge, though. It kept his skills sharp. The coals in her fire were still warm. Halt poked at them until fresh flames took hold and put another of her logs on. He emptied his canteen of water into the coffee pot he brought and set it to boil. He glanced back at the tent. Inside his niece quietly stirred. Obviously she knew he was there. She always seemed to know. The sense Halt had thought was trained into him upon leaving Hibernia must be hereditary.

The flap opened just moments later. For once her dark hair hung loose over her shoulders. She settled across from him leaning against a tree.

"Doesn't your wife miss you?"

"She's having dinner with the lord and lady of the castle."

"You don't join her?"

Halt shrugged. "It's a formal dinner. I only permit one of those a year and since I went to two last year I'm clear until the Harvest Festival."

Lina raised an eyebrow. "Harvest Festival?"

Halt nodded. "Remember Samhain in Hibernia?"

Slowly Lina nodded.

"We have Harvest Festival here."

Halt poured himself a cup of coffee.

"You know, Pauline worries about you being here alone."

Lina crossed her arms as she relaxed back against the trunk. "As soon as this is settled I'll move on."

Halt studied her closely. "Why did you want to warn us, Lina?"

Lina shrugged. "I question that myself."

"All you want is citizenship. You could have just crossed the border and made up a history."

"I know."

"You could have gone to the capitol and found our Commandant yourself."

"I know."

"Then why come to me?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Now it was Halt's turn to cross his arms. "If you didn't look so much like my sister I'd think you were lying, you know."

Lina stared back at him. "I saw you when you came to Clonmel. You had friends with you. You wore that same cloak you've got now. There was a young man I thought could be your son."

"You said you faked your death like I did. Did you know mine was fake before you saw me?"

Lina nodded.

"How?"

"My mother told me."

"How did your mother know?"

Lina shrugged. "She knew a lot of things. I never had the opportunity to question why."

Halt took another sip of his coffee. "When I saw Ferris he didn't mention you. Did he know about you?"

"He wanted a boy. I was worthless to him. He probably forgot I existed."

Halt noticed her break in eye contact. Instead she stared down at the fire. "Lina, it doesn't help to dwell on the past. Ferris lost a daughter he could have been proud of. That's his fault."

Lina's attention snapped back up. "You think I wanted to grow up at Dun Kilty?"

"If one thing about you is clear, it's that you don't want to be queen any more than I wanted to be king."

Lina's lips twitched into a slight smile. Halt couldn't help his own grin.

"Where did you grow up?" he asked.

"Just outside of Roscrea."

"Roscrea? That's in Galwegh, not Clonmel."

"I told you the Outsiders were being sized up by the Warriors when your lot intervened. Galwegh was the first kingdom they took over for a reason."

Halt finished his coffee and reached to pour himself another cup. "What exactly inspired you to leave your home? You were brought up with those people. What made you betray them?"

Lina stared down at her feet, running her fingers through her loose hair as she swallowed hard. "There's nothing for me there. I don't do well playing by their rules."

"But why betray them? Why come to those they marked as enemies?"

Lina met his eyes. For the first time since seeing her on the verge of starvation he saw vulnerability in her. "The Sunrise Warriors wanted to unite Hibernia. They had good intentions it's just…they were avidly against anyone with different ideas from them. They saw you Rangers aiding Skandians and felt threatened by that."

"Why?"

"They were turning into their own kingdom…they were doing whatever it took to meet an end goal with no regards to anything else. It was madness."

Halt nodded understandingly. "You still haven't answered my question. Why did you come to help us?"

Lina looked back up to him. "Because of you."

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Don't go pinning your betrayal on me now."

Lina smirked. She looked back down at the ground. "Leaving your home behind is hard."

"I remember."

"I thought knowing at least one person who'd done it before would help."

Halt nodded. "I'm glad you came, Lina. When this is over I'll do what I can to help you start a new life here. Pauline has already started talking about using you with the Couriers."

Lina smirked. "Me? A courier?"

"You have the skills."

"Just not the interest."

Halt laughed "We'll figure it out."

Lina grinned slightly. Once again, Halt saw himself in the girl. What little he gathered of her history made it hard to believe she could be so likeable, particularly by him. Though she struggled to pinpoint her reasoning for helping the Rangers he'd figured it out. She had an inborn desire to protect the innocent and exploit the wicked. He could relate to that characteristic on a number of levels.

"What are your plans for the day, Lina?"

His niece simply shrugged. "Gather more food. Work on my Araluen accent."

"How productive of you."