196 days since the announcement of the Katolian Queen announcing her pregnancy and the intensified patrols issued forth by the Captain of the Crownguard, the newest member of the Katolian royal family was born; Princess Danicca.

There were fears that the young Princess wouldn't last through the wild night she had chosen to come into the world.

It had been a rather wet and windy night late in spring when Queen Sarai felt her water break. The castle immediately went into a sort of frenzied panic: The King was sent out about the castle loosening knots to help ease his wife's anguish, while the Captain sent Joyce and a handful of his newly minted female knights to safeguard the Queen and midwife. John Revo for his part had the Crownguard assume their preplanned stations both in and around the castle.

They were now both extremely vulnerable and equally vigilant for something that many hoped wouldn't happen. An attack.

To top everything off, as the Queen began to feel her child move the sky opened up at that moment to release a booming peal of thunder. What had earlier been a light puff of wind and rain, had now grown into a full fledged thunderstorm. Everyone hunkered down and tightened their cloaks as the first fat drops of water came down.

The next nine hours were the most nerve wracking. If one were to walk from the outer most wall that seperated the castle and its residents from the forests beyond they would see it in the eyes of the people on guard. Those manning the wall and posts assigned to them by their Captain, would be calm and at ease, but their eyes were as sharp as nails as they kept their eyes out into the darkness of the woods or back alleys. If one went further still into the very castle proper those on guard had an even sharper glare to their gaze and the tiniest flicker of movement or sound was meet with immediate attention.

Then just as daylight crested the stormy night, all in the castle courtyard heard one of the most precious sounds in existence; the cry of a newborn baby.

Yet even then, Danicca had been born extremely early. Far more prematurely than anyone could have expected. Sarai and Harrow with the help of the midwife did their best to help the ailing girl. They were almost at their breaking point when Viren came, offering a risky spell to help save her life.

Harrow was almost immediately willing to accept the chance to save his newborn daughter, the midwife was currently doing her best to keep the child and her mother from becoming any further stressed as she darted around the room. Was this the best choice for his daughter?

Sarai for the first time in her life was torn apart inside. On one hand, she would do anything to protect this new life she held in her hands. On the other she feared for that life being extinguished before she'd had a chance to grow. Joyce's steady support helped keep the Queen calm even as her mind was in turmoil.

A choice had to be made yet before anyone could make one, another person made their way into the room.

The knights assigned to Joyce stood at attention as their Captain came into the room and through Joyce told them all what WAS going to happen: The King would stay with his wife and daughter, everyone else would get out.

As the knights filed out, guiding the indignant High Mage out with them. John turned and wrote down a short note in his book before tearing it out and handing it to Harrow. Before he or Sarai could even read it, John had bowed and left. They both looked down at the note. It was short and blunt.

Believe in her. She will make it. She will be strong, stronger than even me.

Harrow just hugged his wife closer as she cradled their newest member of their family. The two shared a look and nodded at each other as they each placed a gentle kiss on Danicca's head, whispering hushed words of belief in her and her strength. Together, they sat there watching and waiting to see what their little one would do.

Danicca did indeed survive that night and the night after that and the night after that. Her sickness would indeed pass away, though it didn't leave her completely unscathed. Her sight was utterly destroyed as her body fought for the first time.

Danicca (Or Dani as she would later insist on being called.) would say that it was worth it. She would live a life of adventures in the company of truly wonderful people that she would call her family and friends.

And she would always be thankful for the same person that taught her not only sword combat but also how to 'read' and use her other senses to 'see' what was hidden around her. The same person that had told her parents to believe in her for the very first time when she was born. Her Uncle in every way but blood. Captain John Revo.

One day she would assume his post as Captain of the Crownguard, but before that: before she became the first female Captain before she came to be known as the Saintess for seeing all as equals rather than as foes, before founding an orphanage that took in lost children and offering them a place to stay with love and warmth. Before any of this, including marrying her husband a skillful Moonshadow Elf archer and becoming a mother herself. Danicca would go on her first adventure with her older brothers and Uncle, and as she would later say: 'Perhaps the greatest adventure I've ever had.'

Captain Revo led his men through their patrol of the nearby woods, he had selected fifty of his best men for this purpose. It had been just over seven days since Princess Danicca's birth and understandably while the Royals were happy their child had made it, knowing she would be blind for the rest of her life still upset them.

The Captain simply bowed and left them alone as he went into the closest thing that would pass for exile; outer scouting duties.

When he assigned himself the duty for the next few weeks, half of the guard wanted to protest but a raised hand and short speech from their Captain settled the upset knights. To his surprise, several guards had stepped forward when he had asked for volunteers, namely new recruits to accompany him into the wilderness. Choosing a mixture of forty recruits and ten hardened guardsmen to join him, the Captain made his way out through the main gate.

He had just reached the entrance to the woods, and was briefing his men on what to expect with this duty and exercise, when Soren came racing out. His armor and bundle clearly tossed together at the last minute as he dismounted and walked up to him.

Straightening himself to stand up tall, Soren saluted and made to speak before he felt a gentle hand on his head. He looked up and to everyone's surprise the Captain chuckled and continued rubbing Soren's head for a second more before he pulled his hand away and jerked with his chin to the group.

Though he would never admit it, Soren was relieved the Captain had let him tag along.

As John walked off to the side while he let the group of Senior guardsmen brief and split their group into patrols of four, he made plans to have Soren join him while he rotated amongst the patrols and educate them on wilderness tactics. He pulled out a pipe and his tobacco and went through the motions of taking a break as he looked out into the timbers.

Turquoise eyes stared back at him. They widened in shock as they locked gazes with a pair of firey red.

Runaan now knew how Ilythyrra could only remain frozen as he felt the stare being given to him by the red eyes of the Cursed One. He tensed and eased his hand back to his quiver as the two sized each other up. For his part, the Human didn't do anything and that disturbed him greatly. He just stood there, puffing smoke from his pipe, making no move to either alert his group of soldiers or draw a weapon.

He just stood there puffing gently on his pipe, before turning away but his motions were unhurried. He put away the pipe and turned as a young Human male raced up to him and began excitably chattering with him. This interaction struck Runaan dumb as he watched how the Cursed One acted around this younger one. In his mind he saw himself and Rayla doing much the same when the older gently ruffled the younger one's hair.

He was just about to ease back, giving the signal for his group to follow back to the camp. When he looked up and met the red gaze again, the younger Human having gone to rejoin the larger group, the Cursed One gave the tiniest of nods. He knew he was there, but he would not attack until Runaan made the first move.

The Game of Hunter and Hunted had begun.

The unit watched carefully as the Elf disappeared into the brush, its sensors registering a group of six counting the lead it had detected. It began making plans to defend and protect the humans that had joined it. Its logic was simple; they would just get in the way. No other reason.

Besides it gave the unit the opportunity to recreate and test a hypothesis that LEGION had been developing after reviewing the footage of the battle with the Dragon King. Does contact between its exposed endo-skeleton and 'magic' material result in an immediate reaction? And if so why? It would have to wait until the Elf attacked it.

For now it would wait.