It had been 91 days since the incident at the border. The unit had since then been transferred to a new post in the Katolis territory, as a member of the Crownguard.

From the moment it arrived, existence had been different.

It had arrived to a cheering crowd and many female humans throwing flowers to it. Relying heavily on its psychology routines, it had acted every part the modest soldier as it walked beside the King and Queen, having stated through sign that it preferred walking. It didn't worry about riding a horse, its body alloy composition was more than light enough, but it also needed the time to learn and study more about what its new duties entailed.

Due to the lengthened trip, the unit learned more of Katolis than it would have if they'd gone by horse. It also learned more of its new duties as a member of the Crownguard.

Arriving at the castle, the unit met the two young Princes, Callum and Ezran. Both hid at first behind their mother upon seeing the stranger with their parents. Again relying on its psychology routines, the unit had bent down and given a soft smile, while holding out a hand to them. The younger sibling, Ezran had toddled up to him and nearly fell if not for the unit gently catching him and setting him upright again. It'd been rewarded with the Prince's 'toothless' grin, and his older brother's curiosity.

The unit sat down with a patient look on its face, while the young Princes proceeded to clamber all over it, much to the shock and embarrassment of their parents and another woman in the room. The unit didn't mind, it ran a cursory scan of both young Princes and found anomalies in both. Neither were threatening but certainly outside of the norm where average humans were. Another interesting occurrence to investigate further.

After five minutes, and the children being reigned in by their parents, the unit met the leader of the Crownguard. The unit was then informed by the Captain, Bruiant, that it was in fact replacing him as he retired from service.

The unit only blinked, before its processor thought through their logic: It was the face of humanity as it were, it had scarred the leader of their enemy, it had leadership capabilities that were clearly recognized by its superiors and viewed as the third in command of the Standing Battalion.

When applying logic, human decision-making could actually be quite clear-sighted. Sometimes.

It had shaken the man's hand and given a nod with a smile of acceptance. They had reviewed the other soldiers of the guard the rest of the day and it had won the respect of the soldiers.

In the coming months each of the Crownguard would come to love their new leader too.

The unit, described by many a soldier, was as tough as a sunforge sword for his habit of fighting hand to hand and not with a sword. But at the same time, not a cross word could be said of Captain Revo. He knew his duty and made sure his soldiers understood what exactly was the responsibility they each held up.

However there was one human inside the castle the unit would have a more profound impact on than anyone could expect.

Opeli was busily carrying some books she had borrowed back to the castle library when she walked headlong into something, or someone. She groaned and looked up in surprise to find Captain John 'Thunderman' Revo sitting across from her, already picking up her books for her.

"Captain Revo, I apologize, I didn't see you there."

He opened a book and began writing something in it. Opeli continued gathering her books as he did so, while thinking over this strange man. She had expected a young hotshot after hearing the tales of his 'ride,' but was pleasantly surprised to find the exact opposite.

John proved a thoughtful, mature and intelligent leader and she had no doubt he was the same when he served in the Standing Battalion. He had become something of a maverick for his skills in hand to hand combat, and preferring his hands over a sword. Most of his fighting styles no one had ever seen before, but no one could argue with the results of the strange techniques he had seemingly made up. Take the Crownguard for instance.

The Crownguard, once only considered the pinnacle elite knight unit tasked with the sole duty of protecting the Crown. After John's arrival, he had made them into something so much more. The Crownguard now had training three times a day in various areas of ability besides combat. They now included; tracking, search and rescue, even blacksmithing.

She looked up at an open book placed on top of her pile. She squinted a little at what could only be described as chicken scratch on the page. She had seen the Captain with a book at his side and often wondered why that was. Now she knew why, it was an alternate means of speech for him.

I ApOlogize tOo COuncilOr. i DID NoT SeE YOu.

She looked up at the Captain with a raised brow, as he shrugged sheepishly. She then saw the book tucked under his arm and recognized it as the book she had taught the young Princes from earlier that morning.

He bent down and collected her pile of books, placing his on top. Opeli looked closer at the book he had handed her and realized he had taught himself how to read and write Katolian. He had all the grace of a child with the language, but his later pages showed his improvement, perhaps all he needed was a little help.

She closed the book and stood up, adjusting the hood of her tunic.

"Captain?"

He turned to look at her with those strange red eyes of his.

"If you'd like help with your studies, I'm more than happy to offer you aid."

He smiled at her and nodded, while opening the door for her with the toe of his boot.

Slowly a routine developed between the duo. After their respective duties, both could be found in the library of the castle surrounded by books and loose leaflets of paper everywhere, but the library would always be clean come morning. The two would then be seen at their post fresh as a daisy each day, without even a hint of being hindered from studying the previous evening.

Even when an interpreter was found for Captain Revo, the routine continued between the pair. So much so, that a joke spread through the castle to watch Councilor Opeli's shadow, as it may very well be Captain Revo himself.

Opeli for her part appreciated Captain Revo's company and found in him a quick learner and eager student of Katolian culture. She dared to even consider him a close friend.

Lately though, the Captain had been uncharacteristically absent from their evening rendezvous. He still attended to his duties, but after that he vanished. Many considered that impressive, as his face was known throughout the entire Pentarchy. Opeli tried often to speak with him, but could never find him or keep him in one place long enough to question him. She covered her hurt feelings as best she could, while continuing her duties to the King and Queen.

It was one day, shortly after she had finished giving a report to the monarchs about the state of affairs the farmers were in after Viren performed the ceremony, when Captain Revo entered the throne room. Opeli had never seen him out of his normal Crownguard armor, so she blinked at seeing him dressed in a plain maroon tunic that went well with his eyes, while he had on grey pants and his normal pair of boots that fit him quite well.

The hurt feelings came up again, but she turned and went on to continue, but realized she didn't have anything else to say. Taking in a deep breath, she bowed to her King and Queen before turning to walk past Captain Revo and out the door of the throne room.

Much to her aggravation, he kept step with her.

They were walking across an open air walkway when she couldn't stand it anymore and rounded on him, her voice calm as she vented her frustrations.

"Start talking Captain. Did my company bore you so much that you had to ignore me, or did you learn all you needed from me and couldn't bother to tell me that we finished?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him with crossed arms as he wrote down something in his book.

I am sorry Councilor, but I was working on something.

She eyed the sentence curiously, before looking back at him.

"What something?"

He held up a blindfold to her, after writing something else.

Do you trust me?

Opeli felt like mentally kicking herself as she gripped Captain Revo's hand while he led her down to what felt like an abandoned part of the castle's lower levels.

Then he stopped and undid the blindfold from her face and what she saw made her mouth fall open in surprise at what she saw.

The old empty room, cleaned out, and made to look like a small piece of beach land.

Potted plants along the door way gave the visual of walking out of either a forest or brush. When she took a step forward, there was real sand under foot. She blinked and quickly yanked her boots off, digging her toes into the sand. To her surprise it was warm. Looking up, she saw why that was. Old shields propped up at an angle in the window reflected the sunlight down into the room. The best part to her however was right under the window, a stunning mural of the ocean with a painting of a cloud here and there on the blue skied horizon.

She brought her hands to her face and gave a few happy laughs, before she turned to the Captain and his knowing smile.

"How- Why did you do this?"

The Captain continued to only smile as he wrote down something in his book.

I saw how you looked at the picture of the beach so I made you one, as a thank you for what you did for me.

"And the painting?"

She asked with a breathy giggle, as he again wrote out another sentence.

Prince Callum and I thought it would help complete the scene.

Opeli only giggled more as she threw her hood off and spun around barefoot like a giddy little girl.

"It's perfect."

Without thinking much of it, she enveloped him in a close hug and froze. Worrying that she may have overstepped her boundaries she went to step back, but those fears fell away when she felt his arms encircle her.

"Thank you Captain."

He parted from her for a moment to write something down in his book, there was a solid 'shnick' sound as he underlined something. She gave him a curious look while fighting to keep her smile down as he handed the book to her.

John.

She chuckled at his insistence.

"Thank you...John."

He smiled before scribbling in his book again.

You're welcome Councilor.

She lightly took his pencil and scribbled something in it before handing it back to him.

Opeli.

John's body shook in silent mirth as he nodded his acceptance.

Both King and Queen were retiring to their chambers that evening when they saw something that had both monarchs stopping to blink.

High Councilor Opeli was lightly skipping down the halls of the castle, barefoot and trekking sand. Neither made a single sound while they watched Opeli with varying measures of shocked surprise, until she disappeared around a corner at the end of the hall. Eventually Sarai broke the silence when giggles finally began bubbling up her throat, before becoming a deep belly laugh.

"I never saw anyone look so love struck before since you dear."

She chuckled while elbowing her husband gently, before going off to their chambers. Harrow just stood there, dumbfounded shock across his face. Until his own laughter echoed through the hallways of the castle. He cast one last look down the hall where the Councilor had gone, and remembered that his new Captain of the Crowguard had been with her this afternoon after she had given her report of the farmlands. In all the time he had known Opeli, he had never seen her act like that before.

'Captain Revo, just who are you?'

He thought absently, as he quickly followed after his wife.