Prologue - A mysterious letter
The young girl looks up from her book as she has heard her mother cough again. "Are you alright, mum?" The woman gives a short nod, but an attentive observer could notice that something is off as she replies: "Yes, I am. I will just need to drink some hot tea" The girl titles her head to the side, but then decides to trust her mother. "That's good. Maybe I could have some with you as well."
The older female smiles and is about to reply when someone knocks on the door. "Come in!" the woman calls and a soldier enters. "Princess Caitlyn, a letter has arrived for you," he announces after bowing to the woman in front of him. Caitlyn extends her hand and he walks up to her and hands the letter over. "Thank you," she says and dismisses the soldier.
The young girl watches the scene with interest, and after the soldier has left, she asks curiously: "Who is writing to you, mum?" Caitlyn presses her lips and tries to appear ambivalent, but there is a glim in her eyes as she replies: "I am not sure... probably yet another unimportant report..." She trails off, before offering her daughter a small smile to drop the topic: "Why don't you go and play with your brother, Loxy?"
Loxy pouts a bit, but seeing her mother raise her eyebrows, she slowly gets up: "Fine, keep your secrets." Then a smile appears on her face: "But when I get older, you will tell me about it, right?" Caitlyn smiles, this time genuinely: "Alright, my little flower. One day I will." Hearing that Loxy has no problem with leaving her mother behind.
She hurries to the place she expects to see her brother, and is proven right when she finds him practising with wooden sword. "Sean!" she calls and the boy turns around to look at his younger sister. "What it is, Loxy?" The girl starts: "Can you pla-" but she stops herself, thinking for a while before saying: "Can I watch you practise?" Sean smiles at Loxy, aware of what his sister was originally planning to ask, and replies: "Sure, and when I finish, we can play together." And his statement is awarded with happy squeal.
Note: This story idea was born from the thought that there is more that the relation between Halt and Sean could offer to the story. And in order to spice it up a bit, I decided to give Halt a niece, who would look alike his sister Caitlyn.