Visitors from Araulen

As Loxy slipped back into the castle courtyard, she wasted no time to follow the direction that the two strangers must have taken if they were to announce their visit to the king, which seemed to be an obvious reason for their arrival to Dun Kilty. Near the main tower stood two horses, one of them being a proud battle horse, suited for a famous warrior, while the other one was not as visually appealing, it looked to be a fine horse as well.

The young woman noticed a very familiar soldier at the door, so she decided to approach him. "So these are the horses of the Sunrise warrior and his escort?" Loxy asked casually. The soldier blinked at first, but when he realised who the one talking to him was, he let out a small sigh: "It seems your habit of sneaking out has not changed, my lady." The female smiled: "And I don't expect it to do so anytime soon. Anyway, you have yet to answer my question, Alden."

Alden, who was one of Sean's trusted men and therefore from time to time assigned to look after the young woman in order to offer protection to her in time of need, easily knew that it would be for the best not to attract too much attention ot the royal family member in disguised, so he went straight to the answer: "Yes, a knight from Araulen, carrying such a title has arrived. Apparently, he was sent here by King Duncan on some matter."

Loxy though about it for a couple of seconds. King Duncan has already offered his help during the times when kings of Hibernia were in dispute, so in some sense it seemed logical for him to intefere in some sort of way again, given the dire of the current situation. "From Araulen, you say..." she repeated queitly, before deciding to move on: "Well, thank you for that." Turning around she left for the second floor, as Alden slightly shook his head at her tactics.

As the young woman quickly walked up the stairs, she couldn't help but feel hopeful and also a bit excited. If her assumptations were correct then the visit from Araulen might play a role in convincing her uncle to take some action. When she reached the hall in front of the throne room, she noticed the two strangers standing near her brother's table.

"So, the rumours of the legend arriving to Clonmel seem to be true after all," Loxy said in a light tone. The warrior had turned to face her first. He was tall and his figure was everything you would expect from a knight. The emblem of sun was not only on his shield, but also on his coat, so his promoted identity was impossible to miss. The other figure turned around as well, and if Loxy hadn't focused on his companion, she might have noticed how he froze for a moment and seen the utter surprise in his eyes.

Meanwhile the first man shifted his weight from one leg to another, before answering: "If you are referring to the title of the Sunrise warrior, then that is what I've been called." Loxy nodded in agreement: "Indeed." She took another closer look at him, before admitting with a smile on her face: "However, to be completely honest, I have always imagined my childhood hero to be somewhat older, sir..."

A small smile appeared on the face of the young warrior as well: "My name is Horace, and I apologise for crushing your picture of the hero." Loxy let out a soft giggle: "I can live with that. All I need is knowing that he can live up to his legendary guest." Then her gaze finally fell on the cloaked figure, who had enough time to recover from the shock of what he saw in front of him.

"That's quite a bold statement, coming from a maid," the mysterious man replied with a raised eyebrow, and Loxy's eyes widened as she realised her mistake. Still wearing the servant's clothes, she should have acted more like one of them. She immediatelly took a step back, lowered her head and tried to quickly think of a way to cover her misstep. "I- I am so sorry! I got carried out due to having the warrior of whom I've heard so much right in front of me that I forgot my place, sire!" She secretly hoped that it would work.

"No harm has been done," replied Horace, who was a bit surprised at the remark of his companion, but thought it was in order to keep up the act they started earlier. Loxy lifted her head again, and saw that the man was closely studying her. She felt a bit uneasy under his gaze because it made her feel she failed to fool him, and thus she desperately tried to change the subject to something else.

"Uhm... if it's alright with you... may I offer you both a cup of tea?" Loxy asked, but she cringed mentally when the man frowned. "Sir Horace would much preffer a cup of coffee." The young female was surprised to hear that. There was also something about the man's voice that made it sound familiar to her, but right now she was not in the situation to wonder about it. She looked at Horace and admitted: "Well, as far as I know, coffee is not usually drunk here... but I can see if I can get you some..."

Suddenly the door to the throne room opened and Sean appeared there saying: "King Ferrins will receive you now." It was only then that he noticed Loxy's presence. Confusion and a certain level of displeasure of her standing there in the maid's clothes appeared on his face as he looked at his sister.

Note: And thus Halt and Loxy have met for the first time. It was a bit tricky to find the best way to plan it, but I feel like I might have opted for the right choice. Halt's reactions were also quite challenging to predict, but I tried my best.