Knock! Knock! Knock!

"My.. my lord? Are you in there, my Lord?" said a shaking male voice.

Logan groaned in tired agitation. His eyes blink awake, then slowly took in his surroundings. He was still in his room, and the small breaths on his neck assured him that so was his princess. The light that came from the windows was dim now, so he concluded it was nightfall. Another series of knocks rang out in the large bed chamber.

"My King? Are you there?" The voice sounded louder this time. Logan shook off the last bit of sleep in his mind before sliding his arm out from under his sister and sitting up. She shifted lazily in the spot where his back had been, but did not make an effort to rise. The King snortled before slicking back his hair.

"The bastards never come when I'm expecting them to." He muttered to himself. "Yes, I'm in here. Enter." He commanded as he stood up and attempted to straighten his shirt.

The double doors to the room opened and a group of servants entered quickly, supplies firmly in hand. Two male servants balanced a small table between them, hurriedly trying to place it down and get out of the King's bedroom as fast as they could. The men carrying the chairs followed their lead, hastily placing the chairs in their proper places and exiting. Logan folded his hands behind his back as a trio of female servants placed down charger plates, silverware and a candelabrum with five milky white candles protruding from each of its five arms. The last maid to exit lit the candles with a match, while two other male servants lit the two large candelabras on either side of his bed. Logan glowered at one that kept his curious eyes on his resting sister longer than he liked, making the man shiver in dread. He watched with a hard, expecting stare as the remaining helps exited, and the head chef entered, two of his assistants trailing close behind him. The pair placed the covered dishes on the chargers before removing the cover, the chef making a dramatic sweeping bow as they did.

"Enjoy, your Majesty." He said all-too-jolly, before turning to leave, his assistants and the last two servants, a man and woman, followed him out. The two turned and bowed to him with a quick 'My Lord', and promptly shut the door. Logan sighed in a near-agitated manner. He was unsure if he liked his help to be so damned afraid of him or not. However, they certainly worked to perfection under the impression that if they didn't they would lose much more than their jobs, and perfection was never a bad thing in Logan's eyes. He turned to Vanessa and frowned slightly. He didn't want to pry at her for information about her little 'adventure', but he had to. He had to know where those traitors got to, and, more importantly, exactly what had befallen his dear sibling out on the cruel streets of Bowerstone. He reached out a gloved hand to her and rocked her shoulder slowly.

"Vanessa. Vanessa wake up." He tried to sound commanding, but it came out more like a soft request. Regardless, she yawned and opened one eye to look at him. He raised an eyebrow at her before mentioning that dinner was ready, hoping to entice her to get up with food. It seemed to work, since she promptly sat up, eyes wide from the thought of a cooked dinner.

The princess slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed, and was led to the table by her more-awake King. He stopped to pull out her chair like he had been taught in the many chivalry classes of his youth, a gesture that made her smile. How long had it been since someone had done that for her? She nodded a 'Thank you' before sitting down, allowing Logan to push her in. He then rounded the table in a swift stride and sat down directly across from her. He enlaced his fingers at the knuckles and brought them up to his mouth, elbows perched firmly on the table's edge, and he watched her. He watched her face as she excitedly examined the plate before her, taking in every detail he could. Her hair was shiny and bouncy again, and her skin was less-pale and more-peachy now, with rosy hues at soft curves of her face—all thanks to a simple bath. Physically, there appeared to be nothing wrong, but a quick look at her eyes—wide and hungry—proved that idea to be a false one. Logan frowned slightly—he had seen that look many times; the eyes of the less fortunate, the eyes of the needy, the starved, the poor—beggar's eyes. While the idea of the Crown Princess of Albion having them, Logan couldn't deny they were the prettiest beggar's eyes he'd ever seen. He lowered his arms.

"Eat, Vanessa." He commanded with a chortle as he brought his goblet to his lips. Vanessa looked up at him quickly and her face became almost immediately hot in embarrassment from making her rumored-to-be humorless brother laugh at her gawking.

"Yes—sorry." She muttered softly before hesitantly cutting off a bite of the beef on her plate. She bit it off of her fork, and it took a moment to register that it may be the most delicious thing she ever ate and exactly how hungry she was. She began to cut off several pieces of steak and hurriedly ate them, along with bites of potatoes and greens scattered around her plate. Her sudden need to consume startled her companion on the other side of the table, and he slowly lowered his cup from his lips, mouth still slightly open in surprise. A few seconds passed before Vanessa felt her brother's gaze on her once more. She looked up at him, mouth closed, but still half-full of food. The astounded look on his face made her cheeks redden again. She swallowed and hung her head in embarrassment and shame for letting her table manners fail her so. She managed another, softer 'Sorry'. Logan's brows lowered slightly in concern. Was she starving out there all those days?

"Vanessa, it's alright. You're hungry, eat." He offered gently. She looked up at him, still embarrassed by her own behavior. He gave her the most sincere smile he could. "Don't be ashamed of being hungry, eat sister, you need to."

"I'm sorry Logan, it feels like forever since I sat down and ate a nice meal.. it's been mostly meat pie or celery—" He hushed her.

"Don't tell me of your adventures yet, dearest. Just eat until you're full again." He smiled again. Like you should be, he thought bitterly. She smiled politely and nodded.

The meal continued in near silence until both had finished eating. After he finished, Logan pushed his plate to the corner of the table. He then slid a gloved finger under Vanessa's plate and lifted it away from her, placing it carefully on his own, small clatters whispered to life when the porcelain faces met. It was silent again as Logan brought his hands together. He watched his sister again, who was nervously messing with her fingers. They both knew what had to happen now.

"Vanessa." He started. "I know you've been through.. a lot." He tried his best not to sound angry. "—but I need to know, what exactly happened to you. I've kept us in private tonight so you could tell me without the prying eyes of nobles on you—at least until you can get a good portion of these.. events out of your mind and onto someone else's. I need that someone to be me."

Vanessa looked up at him, eyes unsure. She had attempted to make up an account of her travels and 'adventures' without giving away that she was a Hero. She was able to come up with some near-fantastic ways of how she got so far from the castle—she could only hope they would be able to fool her calculating brother—but as far as why she would have been out there fighting and gaining public appeal, the only person she could blame that on was Walter. She knew Logan would never believe it was her that wanted to go out and fight and rebel against him, she hadn't even thoroughly enjoyed combat training, why lead a revolution? Silently she prayed that Logan could forgive Walter for something he didn't even commit. She swallowed.

"I know brother.." A few anxious sighs. "W.. where should I start?"

"How did you escape?" The coldness in his voice chilled her to the bone. She swallowed again.

"J-Jasper.. he.. he had a transport potion." Logan raised his eyes in interest. She continued. "He said he had saved it for a long time, for such a 'desperate occasion'. Walter said we had to get as far away from the castle as we could—and he had a friend in Mistpeak—s-so.." Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She never was good at lying to Logan. She attempted to start again. "The potion could take an excess of five people—well, beings. So we took Marco.. We arrived in a camp—like the ones you told me about, the gypsy camps, but covered in snow—"

"The Dwellers." Logan murmured absent mindedly.

"Huh?"

"Hm? Nothing. Continue." The tone in his voice worried her, as if he suspected something, but she obeyed.

"We met an old man there, Sabine, I think. He didn't trust me because I.. well, I'm your sister." Logan nodded slightly. "He told me to help his people and he'd trust me. He wanted me to—" 'To find the music box' She completed in her head. She couldn't tell Logan that. "—to find his people a food source in Brightwall, and to stop the mercenaries from robbing and murdering them. Walter had a 'safe house' in the mountains.. that's where Jasper is.. and Walter and I went to Brightwall to try and find help. People didn't trust me their either. I had to earn their trust by doing random deeds.. I didn't really want to do anything dangerous—I mostly made pie and stayed at the inn.. the bed there was disgusting.."

"If you weren't fighting how did you get hurt so badly?" His voice was pressing.

"I—I didn't.. I didn't want to.. but this woman, her daughter, she said she had run off—maybe to a wolf cave, I had to help, I couldn't ignore that.. and I couldn't find Walter or wait for him to show up—and I fought wolves with him and Marco on the way to Brightwall, I didn't think it would be overwhelming—"

"Wolves did not shoot you, Vanessa!" He growled. His eyebrows shot up when she immediately rebutted, hands clenched into tiny fists on her lap.

"I'm getting to that Logan—please!" She shot her head away from him, eyes locked onto a spot on the floor. Slowly that spot of pattern on the rug blurred as tears welled up, and finally disappeared when she shut her eyes tight. Logan felt his gut twist in regret from pressuring her to get to the part he wanted to know—apart that he knew must have been painful for her. He frowned, whether it was at her shaking shoulders or his own actions, he was unsure.

"Vanessa, I'm sorry. Please—don't cry.." He slid his left hand over the polished wood, offering her smaller one sanctuary in his grasp. She looked at him, eyes still watery, then to his hand. Slowly, her thin fingers moved to his, and were then consumed under the black leather that bound them. He gave her hand a soft squeeze. "Forgive me, it upsets me to know someone could or would ever harm you.. I'm not angry at you, Vanessa."

"I know.." She had actually been crying for fear Logan didn't believe some of the made-up parts of her story, but perhaps the scared and crying little sister card was a good one to play. Not that all the awful things she had been drug through the past weeks weren't tear-worthy, just that Logan might not prod her with unnerving questions if she didn't try and be brave tonight. She brought her cuff to her eye and rubbed away at her eyes. "I just.. It's been very hard.."

"I know—I'm sorry. Please continue, I promise not to interrupt again." He tried another smile, and felt a little better about his previous actions when she smiled back at him.

"Alright.." It felt good to know he could still be sincere. "Well, Marco and I set off to find the wolves' cave, and when we found it, there weren't many wolves, so it was easy to cut them back and find the little girl. But right after I found her, there seemed to be dozens of the bastards.." Logan tried not to show surprise at his sister's use of the word 'bastard'. "I was able to beat them back enough so she, Marco and I all made it out of the cave, but they chased us down the mountain some, so I told her to run ahead a little and I'd fight this pack of seven or so myself.. That was a bad idea. I managed kill off some of the weaker ones, but a big one knocked me down and got a hold of my left thigh.."

Logan's mouth twisted down in disgust, his fingers slowly squeezing her's again. She looked up at him and gave him a sheepish smile.

"Marco attacked it, and somehow my other thigh got gashed pretty bad in that struggle, but I made it out okay." Her brother's gaze bore into her. "Well, you know, besides that." She gave him another sheepish smile. Logan closed his eyes and a deep exhale escaped his nose. Vanessa's eyebrows lowered slightly. This must be harder for him to hear than she thought. There were very few instances in her life where Logan was upset physically, and each of those times she remembered herself feeling so sick and helpless. He had always been strong for both of them, and she didn't want to see him upset like that again, especially not from her words.

"I'm sorry Logan.. taking it with a little humor is all." She offered shyly. He opened his eyes to meet her's. He wanted to tell her 'There is absolutely nothing funny about you in harm's way.', but managed to hold his tongue and simply nod.

"Anyway.. It was a bit of a struggle down the mountain, but we made it onto the trail to Brightwall. Then.." Her demeanor dampened slightly. "I heard a gunshot—It didn't really.. register at first.." Logan kept his eyes locked on her, hand gripping her's tighter still. "It didn't hurt until a few seconds later but, I had been shot in the arm—my left arm. I turned over towards the forest, and a small group of.. bandits I think, were coming at us. I hurried the little girl away from the area, and they shot at the ground right by us a couple times. I convinced her to run, and she did. I wasn't too sure about fighting, you know, people.. but I had to.."

She went silent then, and unknowingly made her brother's heart jump into his throat. The same thoughts filled his mind; beatings, abduction, rape. He quickly begged Avo that that was not what had happened to his precious sister, and if it had, that the bastards that did it had escaped alive so he could kill them himself. He barely heard her start to speak again.

"I remember shooting one, and he fell.. and then the other—with the rifle. But the one with the sword snuck up behind me.." Logan's heart was bounding in his ear now. "—He struck me in the head with the handle of his sword. I was disoriented for a few seconds, but I—" '—shot fire at him' "—shot him.. I think Marco mauled one of the men that fell, and the one that hit me—I hit him again.." She shook her head, trying to think clearly. "I fell after that. I remember Marco growling and barking, and then a little later Walter was there.. and all the men were dead.."

"Vanessa." Logan's voice was urgent. She looked up at him, but his words didn't come quickly. "I.. Vanessa you weren't.. assaulted—were you?" She stared at him, unsure of his meaning for a few seconds. The worry in his eyes made her eyes widen with understanding.

"No! Oh Avo—Logan, no!" Her cheeks reddened for the third time tonight. The King's shoulders immediately went lax with relief and he heaved out a sigh. He looked up at his sister again after a moment and was met by a look of bewilderment on her face. He returned one of his own, and became a bit frazzled when her mouth twisted into a smile and she burst out into a fit of giggles.

"Oh Logan, is that what you were so concerned about this whole time?" She laughed softly though her fingers. Logan fought back embarrassment from showing on his cheeks.

"It's a legitimate thing to worry about!" He defended. Vanessa placed her hand over his in attempt to calm his legendary temper from boiling over.

"I know it is." She smiled at him warmly. "Thank you for worrying about me. It's good to know you do." Logan relaxed again and tried to smile back. It was very strange to be sociable again. He cleared his throat, his right fist resting on his lip.

"How.. did you return home?" He asked calmly. Vanessa looked at him quickly before dropping her eyes again.

"Walter took me back to the.. safe house. And I was crying, saying how I wasn't meant for all of this, and how I couldn't do it.. Jasper took Walter aside and they talked a little bit before Walter came up to me and gave me a bottle. I thought it was health potion, but it was the transport potion. It still had enough power to send one person somewhere—anywhere. He told me if I wanted to go home, that you wouldn't punish me, it'd be him. I wanted to see you so bad.." her voice trailed off.

"You made the right choice." Logan assured her. "You're safe here." She smiled slightly at him and nodded, but the nagging feeling of abandoning Walter and her destiny still ate away at her. It was silent for a few, painfully long seconds. The sudden movement of her brother getting up from his chair startled her from her solemn thoughts.

"Enough of this." Logan said in a demanding voice. "Come." He offered her his hand, and she took it, allowing him to hoist her up into a stand. "That's enough of relieving the past for one night, sister. Your adventure sounds like you need a lot more than a few hours of rest. Let's go to bed." He said the last bit gently. Vanessa smiled at him again.

"That sounds wonderful." She said through a toothy grin. Logan smirked at her childlike mannerisms again. Why Walter thought to take her to Mistpeak of all places, he'd never know. He led her to the right side of his bed, and told her to get comfortable, and that he would join her shortly. He watched her pull back the comforter and slide into bed before turning to go to his wardrobe. He had recently decided that he didn't trust his servants to dress him any longer, so dressing himself in his pajamas was nothing out of the ordinary. After he had changed into a two-piece, purple silk pair of pajamas, he walked to the small table and blew out the candles on the candelabra. He then rounded his bed and got in on the left side. As Logan situated himself, he felt a smaller being entangle herself up against him. He snortled again, and finished settling in, letting his right hand fall on her left shoulder.

"I hope this is emotionally satisfying for you." He muttered into the dimply lit air.

"It is." He could feel her smile against his collar. "I've missed this."

"I wouldn't get used to this, but I wouldn't let you sleep alone tonight if someone paid me." Logan grumbled before shifted slightly.

"..Thank you, Logan." There was a pause.

"..Anything, sister."