Those few moments honestly started to feel like an eternity. The Knight continued to stare down at the young girl that stared up at him, her hands still shyly wringing at the bow grasped in her hands. Meanwhile, the other servants continued to stare at the two, not moving a single muscle as they watched. Finally, the Knight broke the silence.

"…This is a joke, right?" He said, his voice somewhat faltering in an uneasy crack, as he turned to the others. "Very funny, guys! Fess up, whose idea was this? You forgot a glaring fact; I only have one cousin!"

"Uh-huh…" The Hornblower dryly said, his eyes growing narrow in annoyance. "And when was the last time you actually SAW this "one cousin"?"

"Oh, ages ago!" The Knight admitted, not realizing that his casual nature was breaking down his logic at the seams. "I was what, six, when I last saw him?"

Sighing, the Hornblower simply stood up, walking over to the little girl, as he crouched down slightly, putting on what seemed to be a calmer and kinder demeanor.

"Hey…kid." He said, trying to figure out what to say. "Do you have a big brother?"

"Yes, I do!" She happily said, giving her first grin of the evening, revealing uneven baby teeth in her mouth, with one looking like it wanted to fall out at any moment.

The little girl then set her bow down on the ground and pulled off her hat. Digging into the hat revealed a folded piece of paper, which she handed to the Knight.

"He wanted you to have this! He said to give it to the guy that looks like a bullet!"

"…Thanks." The Knight dryly said, unfolding the letter to read it, while also shifting a bit to avoid the Hornblower, who was trying to peek over his shoulder, only to realize the others had decided to have the same idea, as the little girl started to drag her belongings into the castle's interior.

Hey, Tinhead,

If you got this, my little sis should be at that castle you work at. Look, I need you to take care of her for a while. I have some things I need to get done over here. Keep Archer safe, or it'll be a repeat of that Decemberween when I get there.

X

"…Yep, that's my cousin all right." The Knight said, his voice sounding tight, as he pulled the letter down from his (and by proxy, the others') line of view.

"He can write all that, but doesn't know how to sign his name?" The Chef asked.

"That's HOW he signs his name…" The Knight added, shuddering.

"And what was so bad about this Decemberween?" The Cleric questioned.

"You're not getting THAT out of me." The Knight angrily responded, shifting his focus to him briefly, only to turn back to the little girl. "Okay, since I haven't seen my cousin since I was in the single digits, so, random shot in the air here, you're…four…?"

"I'm seven." She said, suddenly a bit dry.

"…Close enough." The Knight shrugged.

"It really isn't." The Hornblower commented under his breath, but loud enough to be purposefully heard.

"And apparently, I have to take care of you now?" The Knight added, ignoring what the Hornblower said. "Me? Take care of a seven-year-old girl?"

"That's what it says!" The girl, revealed by the letter as the Archer, said, grinning.

"…I can do this!" The Knight shrugged, suddenly shifting into a calmer demeanor that almost seemed overconfident. "I mean, you're just a little kid, how hard can this be?"

"You can hardly take care of yourself, dude." The Hornblower said, somehow combining a snarky nature with a sigh.

"What?!" The Knight retorted. "I take great care of myself! I'm in perfect condition, right guys?"

As if he said a set of magic words, the whole conversation went awkwardly silent. A few coughs could be heard here and there, as the others attempted to avoid eye contact with the Knight, with the Archer the only one still paying attention.

"Oh, come on!" The Knight angrily said in response to the silence, taking the others slightly aback.

"I mean, your room could probably be called a biological waste dump…" The Hornblower said quietly. "And I say this living with the Poopsmith…uh, no offense, big guy."

The Poopsmith merely responded with a squelchy thumbs-up, as the conversation continued to focus on the Knight.

"And I can't recall the last time you actually ate one of the meals I cooked here." The Chef added. "I know the pantry's layout, and I know the King's surprisingly not the one eating that many chips, donuts, and cola. I mean, even though he most likely could…"

"…And I haven't seen you take that armor off in the past…ever." The Hornblower continued from his previous thought. "I mean, there's a person in there, right? Or has he been replaced with a living amalgamation of dead skin putty and BO-infused sweat?"

"Why are you so obsessed with my potential stink?" The Knight asked, almost accusing. His voice soon turned into what could only be called "mockingly sultry". "Why, you wanting to have a whiff?"

"Ew, gross." The Hornblower said, almost sounding a bit defensive, as he shoved the Knight away.

"Don't deny it." The Knight said, sounding a combination of dry and joking, only to flip back to a legit seriousness. "I'm serious, though. I'll prove it to you guys, even! I'll be the best older cousin ever and take care of her! I mean it! Heck, I'll even take care of myself if that proves it further!"

"…I'll believe it when I see it." The Blacksmith said, finally speaking up. "On both accounts."

"Agreed." The Cleric added.

"Ditto." Added the Chef.

"Yep." The Hornblower piped in, nodding, as the Poopsmith gave another thumbs-up in return.

"…I'm sure we have an empty room in here somewhere!" The Knight said, entirely ignoring the others, as he hastily grabbed onto the Archer's bags (with a noise that sounded like he was grabbing too many things at once).

"You got all that, Macho Man?" The Hornblower dryly said, as he watched the Knight clunkily waddle towards the hallways.

"…I'm good!" The Knight called out, sounding strained, as he continued to walk at a slow and uneven pace.

"Whatever you say, dude." The Hornblower responded, sounding like he was grinning this time.

As her cousin continued to struggle, the Archer simply grabbed her bow off of the ground again and started to walk over towards the direction the Knight was going. Before she could start to try and catch up, once again, the Hornblower crouched down next to her.

"Hey." The Hornblower said, still sounding soft and kind like he did the last time he talked to her, but not sounding as "lost" in conversation.

"…Hi!" The Archer happily said, as she tried to peek over the Hornblower's shoulders. The Knight was still stumbling down the hall, but appeared to be out of ear distance now.

"So…I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible." The Hornblower started, as he gave a deep breath to prepare. "…Your cousin's a big ol' dingus."

"…Okay." The Archer said, in a voice that almost sounded like she wasn't fully grasping it.

"And if he does anything to upset you, or hurt you, or…honestly just anything idiotic beyond compare…" The Hornblower continued. "Just know that we're here for ya, kid. I mean, I guess your cousin means well, but…"

"…Okay!" The Archer repeated, still sounding like she wasn't grasping what was said, as she squished herself past the Hornblower to follower her cousin, making the already low-to-gravity herald topple over.

"…Cool." The Hornblower said, sounding entirely nonchalant. "…I think we're done here?"

"…And a-three!"

A loud banging noise rang through the castle's halls, as the Knight slammed side-forwards into a wooden door. While it managed to open up thanks to this, he suddenly lost all sense of balance, combined with continuing to carry the heavy bags, and faceplanted onto the floor. The faint bits of pressure that he could feel through his armor's back hinted that someone was stepping on him in an attempt to get around him. And, as fate would have it, his newly-introduced little cousin was doing just that.

"…So, this is my room? All for me?" The Archer asked, sounding a combination of curious and in awe at the same time.

"I mean, pretty much." The Knight responded, as he worked on attempting to hoist himself back up. "It's not much, it's just one of our guest rooms. Not like we get many guests in the castle to start, anyways."

"…It's awesome!" The Archer happily said, as she unzipped one of her bags, pulling out a purple monster-like doll with an X-ed out eye, thin cat-like ears, and sharp yellow teeth.

"…So, you're all good?" The Knight asked, sounded like he was stumbling on what to say. "You don't need me to help you get ready, or read you anything, or…"

"I know how to do it all by myself." The Archer said, suddenly sounding cold and serious. "You don't need to help me."

"…Oh." The Knight said, suddenly taken aback. "…Okay, then."

A few moments of awkward silence loomed in the air, as the two cousins continued to stare at each other, each seemingly unwilling to make the next step to do anything. Finally, the Knight broke the silence.

"Well, then…" He said, as he started to back out of the doorway. "Bathroom's right across from you if you need to get ready…my room's two doors down."

"…Okay." The Archer said, still sounding slightly cold.

"Well, then…" The Knight said, as he continued to back out. "…Good night."

"…Good night." The Archer said in return, as her older cousin shut the door.

Moments later, the Archer had heeded the advice of her older cousin, and was in the bathroom. Her dress and bandanna were replaced with a dark green t-shirt that was long enough and big enough to act as a nightgown for her, decorated with the slightly faded white logo of a housing agency on it. She had also taken off her hat, and was currently standing on a small wooden stepstool to brush her teeth.

It was quiet in the castle. The only sounds right now she could hear were the sounds of the water running as she rinsed her toothbrush and gently tapped it on the sink's edge to dry it. Free Country was much quieter than the city she had just moved from. She still didn't get why she was here, but she was just told by her brother that it would "be okay".

She pushed away the hair that was covering her eye. Blackened. Swollen. Bruised. She pushed the hair back, so she couldn't see her eye again.

It would be okay. She hoped her brother knew what he was talking about here…