Dear 'Guest,'

I thank you for your kindness and time in writing me three days ago.

Kindest regards and best well wishes,

May the Muses sing to you their song and help write the story you have drawn.

44 days after the unit's introduction to the Pentarchy Royalty and the unexpected brawl that had ended the evening it had since been busy acting in its role as Captain of the Katolian Crownguard.

It attended meetings in the morn with the Council and offered advice to the King and Queen. It then would move to the training fields where, upon its request, a board had been erected. There it not only taught battle strategy but pinned up the duties for the day to be completed by the knights from the extraordinarily simple to those of tremendous value. Finally, it would retire to the library in the evening to continue its studies with Opeli.

But even with the most mechanical of individuals, there were still occasions that deviated from the norm. Opeli would drag it to the beach it had made for her and do their studies, it soon found it impossible to deny her this request whenever she gave it a kind smile. During the meetings the regular differences between it and the High Mage, Viren became loudly apparent. Clashing like Oil and Water, Viren would offer a proposal to better the kingdom and the unit would immediately counter with a well-thought-out argument that no one would expect from a Knight Captain. In these exchanges, it unwittingly gained the respect of not only Opeli and the fellow members of the Council but the King and Queen as well. Even Viren would find himself smirking after a good hashing with the Captain. Feeling rather pleased to exercise his mind to the fullest extent that only Captain Revo ever managed to draw out. Not that any were ever around to see it.

Concerning the family of the aforementioned Mage, his son had taken to holding the unit in high admiration. Often others would see Soren performing drills too advanced for his abilities while his father looked on. He was, to put it bluntly, clumsy but he demonstrated a physical talent that none had seen for a young lad his age. No matter how choppy his motions or his footwork, he always finished the drill. If asked why he'd simply say he was making sure he stayed in the Crownguard, but everyone knew the real reason; it was all in an attempt to have his Mage father give his non-Mage son praise like he did his sister.

One day not long ago, after doing one such drill and turning to see his father's nose deep in a book and hardly paying him any attention the younger boy slumped forward a bit his sword scraping the dirt. He made to go and put away his training gear when he noticed his sister come racing up to show their father her latest achievement. He had just set his sword on the rack as he saw his father smile at her when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up into warm red eyes.

From that day forward Soren didn't notice his father's growing absence from his drills. Drills that were now instructed by Captain Revo personally. His footwork and swordsmanship stopped crawling, it was soaring now. It wasn't all strictly physical though. Captain Revo had also taken to educating Soren through a rather unorthodox way; by tying in a form of physical training with the educational pieces Soren grew to be not only an accomplished swordsman but also a smart one.

Opeli had taken to helping the unit teach Soren what he should know besides a sword drill or physical exercise routine. It was because of this that Opeli and Joyce struck up a close friendship and enjoyed watching the Captain as he and Soren sparred while reviewing the day's topic. Opeli's assistants made sure to deliver their afternoon reports to the training area once they knew of her change of routine.

No one knew for sure who started it or when exactly it started. All that was known for certain was this; the knights, assistants, and Joyce saw the Captain and Councilor acting as a father and mother to Soren respectively, and then there were the Councilor's warm eyes when she watched the Captain correct the boy's stance. Thus a betting pool was made. The knights bet the Captain would propose in ten months, the assistants bet the Councilor would be the one to propose in five months. Joyce had bowed out, referring to the fact she was a close friend to both parties involved, but she did smirk at hearing the odds were in favor of Opeli. Deciding better to remain a neutral party, Joyce took to keeping both sides from interfering too much and handling the money coming in from the steady amount of bets on either side.

As it was, the castle settled into a new higher spirited atmosphere, an atmosphere which grew even more at an announcement that the Queen was expecting again. All the people of the kingdom rejoiced except for the Crownguard.

As soon as word reached Captain Revo's ear, he doubled the training, doubled the watches, and rewrote the routes to be observed. Many grumbled from their aching feet and others groaned from new bruises and scrapes from the intensified training their Captain delivered. Still, they took the marching orders in stride when they noticed the Captain himself would be participating in the watches. A fierce spirit surged through every man of the guard to not disappoint their Captain. With gusto, the guard mustered up and tightened up to protect their Monarchs.

This was met with a mild surprise by the Royalty, Council, and the Commonfolk but all relaxed and knew this was simply the way of their new Captain. All felt safer when they slept at night knowing that the 'Thunderman,' was watching over them.

This however was all in preparation. The unit recalled the Elf it had seen that night at the party. It calculated how long it would have to wait before they responded. It wouldn't be long...

Ram, Skor, Callisto, and Andromeda all sat around the table quietly waiting for their leader. Something big must've happened in the Storm Spire for Runaan to summon them so quickly.

Idly the Assassins chatted amongst themselves until two figures walked in, one hooded, the other Runaan with a grim set to his face. He didn't say a word, just closed the door and then dropped the heavy bar across it before uttering a spell of silence. Now the other's senses perked up, Runaan only did that when they received a request from the Majesties. What was this?

Runaan slowly made his way to the table and took his seat. He knew Ethari would have their little one tucked away by now. He sighed to himself as he thought over how fast Rayla was growing and how much he wanted to be here for her, especially now. It wasn't his place to speak, but he knew Tiadrin and Lain. He knew down in his bones they'd die before they'd abandon their post, but what could he say? All he could do was be there for Rayla as she found her way in life while trying to outrace the stigma that was now cast upon her. Perhaps once this was completed, then he'd hunt for the truth. Perhaps...

Shaking himself mentally, he looked up at those gathered over his folded hands. Turning his eyes to the hooded figure he gave a faint nod. Taking the cue, they then pulled back their hood. Andromeda was on her feet immediately and making her way to the Moonshadow Elf.

"My Adoraburr, what's wrong?"

She leaned in to plant a soft kiss on Ilythyrra's lips before wrapping her up in a tight hug. She had been dispatched to the Human Katolian Kingdom on a simple information-gathering assignment, yet she came back looking as though she had marched through the Midnight Desert from end to end nonstop.

Taking a seat beside her wife, Ilythyrra repeated her report that she had delivered to the Spire and the orders that she had been given by the Dragon Monarchs. Personally.

"...They want us to make an example of him. They have asked this of us Runaan."

All eyes turned to their leader as he closed his eyes in concentration. To think that such a Human could exist. Were his eyes like this because of Dark Magic? Regardless, they had been given a mission personally by the Dragon King and Queen, he would be foolish to not see their fear in this or what this Human represented.

His eyes snapped open and zeroed in on Ilythyrra.

"What's our timeline Ily?"

Andromeda was rubbing her wife's shoulder soothingly as she held her close.

"Given the fact we can't approach him with our magic, the Monarchs request a meeting with you and your team in the morning to discuss potential routes and avenues of action. They're prepared to grant you full autonomy with the assignment Runaan, absolutely nothing must go wrong. In addition, his gauntlets must be contained and sent to Lux Aurea for destruction. Get in without being seen, kill and grab, get out just as quickly and silently."

He nodded once and sat back as he locked eyes with his fellows. They all shared a similar look as he met each of their eyes.

'What's the plan?'

He snorted as a wry grin worked its way across his features. What made him think any of them were going to back out?

"Alright, here's what we are going to do..."

Unbeknownst to the adults in the room a younger elf had been silently listening to the hushed discussion and was now listening closer with rapt attention.