A strange discovery
"What are you doing here?" Sean's tone was clearly disaproving, carrying a hint of coldness in it, and Loxy immediately knew why. She promised to keep her visits to the town a secret, yet here she was, parading in her disguise in front of the throne room - literary doing the last thing she was supposed to do.
"I- I am so sorry S- sir Sean..." Loxy replied, stopping herself just in time not to address her brother casually. She bit her lips, only now fully realising how badly she had messed up. "I know I should have stayed behind, minding my own job, but..." She lowered her head in shame. While she was still playing her supposed role, she was actually honestly trying to apologise for her wrongdoing, as she finished quietly "... I lost my judgment after hearing the news and wanted to see the important visitors for myself."
Sean looked at his sister again, and knowing her as well as he did, he knew that in spite of keeping the act, Loxy's reaction was genuine. As much as he wanted to make her stay behind to properly talk sense into his younger sibling, he was aware that it would be beneficial only to him in clearing his emotion. Loxy has already shown awareness of her mistake, and keeping her around any longer could just bring more suspicion.
"Well, maybe you should return to where you should be," he replied as calmly as he could. Loxy nodded and turned to leave, feeling a bit angry at herself for being so careless. Sean turned to the two men who were watching the scene: "I apologise for this inconvenience." Guessing it would be better to change the subject he added quickly: "As I said, the king is ready to meet you. However, I have to ask you to leave your weapons here."
The knight nodded at that request, and the sound of various weapons being placed on Sean's table was the last thing Loxy heard as she followed the path to her room.
After getting to her room, Loxy quickly changed back and sat on her bed. She was feeling down, not as much for being told off, but more for acting before thinking. She left out a couple of loud sighs before she realised that leaving herself open to self-criticism like that was not going to do any good. Therefore, she decided to put herself to at least some use and try to look for some coffee. Obviously, she wasn't planning to be the one to bring it to the visitors, but she could always send someone else. Being half-satisfied of having something else to occupy herself with, Loxy got up and left her room again.
While the young female was trying to find the ingredient that almost no one at the castle drank, a very curious thing was happening back in the throne room. After being called to his uncle's side, Sean had discovered the true identity of the man in cloak. It was almost as if all he knew had turned upside down. His second uncle Halt was alive, right in front of him, and daring Ferris to stand against the Outsiders. And while the young majordomo was still confused at the sudden turn of events, such as the relationship between the two brothers, or how it was possible that the one sitting on the throne could have so little compassion for the people of Clonmel, he slowly became aware of one thing.
The newly met uncle, while he acted harshly, seemed to be much more closer to Sean in the way of thinking, and the younger man found himself agreeing with Halt. By the end of the audience, Sean realised that Halt and Horace might play a key role in possibly getting the kingdom back on its feet, and that itself would be a sufficient reason for him to support them. Moreover, he happened to have another reason, and that was being curious to get to know his other uncle better after believing for so long that Halt was dead.
With the conclusion of the pair coming to see Ferris on the following day and Sean promising to make sure the king keeps his side of the bargain, Halt offered one last threatening remark after his brother tried to weakly oppose the idea of agreeing to Halt's plan. Then just as the pair of visitors were about to leave, the ranger of Araulen turned back to Sean once more. "I almost forgot. Now that the current standings has been cleared, would you do me the honour of introducing me to your sister?"
Sean looked at his uncle in surprise, for he had momentarily forgot about the scene with Loxy from earlier: "How could you tell...?" Halt smiled genuinely as he replied: "She looks so much like Caitlyn that it would be nearly imposible for her not to be her daughter." Sean realised that Halt was right about that. He nodded in agreement: "Alright."
Note: I didn't want to intefere the scene in the throne room because I believe it to be so well written, and I also think it will actually do the story a favour if Loxy meets her uncle properly without the other one being around.
Anyway, I have also done this privately, but I would once again like to thank AreiaCannaid for the continuing support of this story.