Loiya was the first of the three out of the tent. Kaetar heard the shifting and felt Loiya move around before finally leaving. He had to be feeling better, the prince guessed. Nicholas rolled out of his bedroll next and gently prodded Kaetar. "Time to get up, kiddo," the mage mumbled, shaking the prince's shoulder. Kaetar batted his hand away.

"I want to sleep."

"We don't have time for that, remember?"

Right, they didn't. Syrin wanted to leave before Arkit's forces decided to come back with thunder mages. It was bad for them to stay in one place for very long and they stayed long enough. Grudgingly, Kaetar rolled out of his bedroll and Nicholas helped out of the tent.

Once everyone ate, they all packed up and were moving once again. Makken and Mike chose to fly instead of walking and quick frankly, Kaetar didn't blame him. Now that Kaetar considered it though, it was odd that Chifee and Darius ended up doing more walking than flying. It must have been Darius's choice and Chifee followed him around like a lost dog. If Darius decided to go hunting, Chifee went hunting. If Darius decided it was a good time to get some sleep, Chifee followed him into the tent.

Of course, Darius let it happen. Perhaps he felt bad for leaving him behind and kept him around to make him feel better. It wasn't like Chifee would let anyone else rise him either.

Kaetar turned his attention towards Aletta, who was trailing behind Ema and Misha. Ever since she touched the ground yesterday, she didn't seem to think of anything but flying again. She wouldn't stop talking about it – she was beyond happy. Stefan was smiling too and Kaetar guessed that he was happy for her. After all, he knew her better than most of the camp did. Kaetar asked about her and Stefan was quick to answer. She was a raven branded and was always sitting in the tallest places in the desert. According to Stefan, she jumped once and laughed even when a startled Duma caught her. Suddenly, it made some much sense last night.

Aletta wanted a taste of her ancestry, Kaetar guessed. One of her parents could fly and she wanted to fly too. It had to be hard for her to be land bound, knowing that she had family who thrived in the air, and then seeing Darius and even Chifee fly was probably just rubbing salt in the wound. Yesterday, Mike and Makken made her dream come true and she couldn't get enough of it.

They past a village with a commotion. As soon as they entered, Kaetar heard whispers and instantly became uncomfortable. Finally, one of the villagers spoke up. He stood in front of Syrin, stopping him from going forward.

"Are you the rebellion?"

"What of it?" Nasir asked.

"You're not welcomed here. You guys will cause nothing but trouble if we house you here," a man said. Syrin merely brushed it off.

"We were on our way out," Syrin answered. "You're impeding our progress, so go back to what you were doing before."

The villagers didn't say anything. Syrin used his good arm to push the man aside, then continued to moving forward without looking back. Everyone else followed suit, except without the pushing. When they left, Kaetar was the first to speak.

"Is that how everyone thinks of us?"

"It is inevitable that people will want nothing to do with us. They fear reparation from the Crimean army if they take us in."

"Don't we want people to join us? We can't take on the Crimean Army... at least not yet," Stefan said simply.

"Yes, but it can't be obvious. The Crimeans will find out and arrest everyone involved and that will only create more problems. We also have to show the citizens that they can trust us," Syrin explained.

Nasir nodded. "That won't happen overnight. We need to begin making our presence known."

"But in secret, right?" Loiya asked, leaning on his lance. He couldn't be exhausted already – not even Kaetar was tired. He was injured though and it was his first time really getting out of his tent since the battle with Arkit's forces. He might have gotten up before Kaetar did but Loiya as still tired.

"Obviously," Syrin answered, massaging his arm again. It was still wrapped up in its sling. Maybe it was helping. "However, I do find it disconcerting that we haven't encountered very many Crimean forces; just Arkit and the border patrol. They must be spread thin or waiting to ambush us. It's not a good sign."

"It is odd for an army to be quiet. Maybe we're not a threat," Kaetar muttered.

"They're a lot of people up ahead," Nasir said suddenly.

"Crimeans?"

An arrow shot out, nearly hitting Kaetar's foot. Loiya was startled, then gasped as he plucked the arrow out of the ground. The shaft was painted black, which was rather odd for an arrow. There was no reason to paint the shaft unless you were showing off.

"Saira."

"Who?"

Kaetar bit his lips. He didn't see Saira often – she was usually training troops and didn't really care for babysitting. She just wasn't the kind of person.

"She's a rider. My father must have sent her out to find me and Loiya! This is bad!"

"Bad indeed! Come along Kaetar! You kept Daein waiting for an awfully long time," a female voice shouted. Approaching Kaetar was a woman with short, red hair and a freckled face. She wore her colours with a black jacket, complete with twin tail coats, a red pauldron over her right shoulder and metal plating that went down to her elbow. Under her jacket, she a red plate, a black shirt and a pair of grey cotton pants. She wore boots with thick soles, and accessorized with a white scarf are her neck and a red cloth tied around her left elbow.

Behind her was a small troop of about ten soldiers, which were a mix of different classes.

Syrin growled, obviously displeased with the sight of Daeins. "I was wondering where Daein was. It took a while for them to come after you."

"Adrien couldn't just run all over Crimea as he pleased. If that was the case, Kaetar wouldn't be here right now," Saira growled, quickly shooting another arrow. This time, it was aimed at Nasir, who easily stepped out of the way. She merely laughed, her cat-like eyes narrowing on Kaetar. He gulped. Saira made him really nervous.

Loiya jumped in front of him, his knees slightly bent and ready to pounce.

"Seriously, Loiya? You think you can handle me? I'll give you two ten seconds to come join us, and the rest of you guys and continue to do whatever you were going to do."

"Kaetar doesn't want to come with – augh!" Syrin was interrupted when an arrow flew into his right shoulder. He stepped back, struggling to apply pressure to the wound with the same arm the wound was located on. Stefan used his hand instead and had to push Peter away from him. It wasn't safe for him to heal Syrin right now.

"I didn't like that answer," Saira shrugged, preparing to fire another arrow. Before she could, a cavalier appeared behind her, striking her on the head with the back of a rather fancy sword. She crumbled to the ground, causing the other soldiers to turn on him. This fellow had brown curly hair that went down to his shoulders. His dark green eyes fell on Kaetar, making the prince jaw drop. He knew this guy.

However, unlike Saira, this guy used to play with him. He was three years older, yet didn't mind doing whatever Kaetar wanted when he was young. Sure, he had his friends outside and Loiya was one of those friends. However, until the age of nine, Kaetar also had one inside friend and that was Joel. He disappeared and his father refused to tell him where his friend went.

"JOEL!"

"Relax, Kaetar. None of these guys can take me on," the cavalier mumbled, his horse trotting past Saira. He turned it around, aiming his sword at his fellow Daeins. "Take Saira and turn back. I got special orders fro my father to make sure Kaetar was safe, and I will do that by joining him. No time limit was ever specified, so I will take my time and complete the task given to me. GOT THAT?"

"Joel, you can't do this!" another cavalier shouted. Joel smirked, then trotted to Kaetar's side.

"My way is best. This leaves injuries to a minimum – only two here are injured, one on each side. Take it or leave it," Joel stated, pointing his sword at the other Daeins. They looked angry, but one of them lifted Saira off the ground and they left. When it was safe, Stefan pulled the arrow out of Syrin's shoulder and Peter came in to relieve him of the pain.

Kaetar took his opportunity to speak with Joel. Loiya scowled at him.

"I can't believe this. You're back! It's been so long!" Kaetar exclaimed as his childhood friend jumped down from his horse. Joel was taller than Kaetar, which didn't surprise him at all, and had the same sort of figure as Loiya – though if Kaetar had to guess, Loiya probably had more muscle mass at a younger age. Joel wasn't a pushover though. He was confident and seemed to have strategy to make up for his slighter frame.

"It's been a while hasn't it, kiddo?" Joel chuckled, ruffling Kaetar's hair. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Loiya tense up. He clearly didn't trust Joel. "And that's your bodyguard, eh? He doesn't look like much."

"Says you," Loiya snarled back. "If I was bad at my job, he would have been captured a long time ago."

"Stop," Syrin warned. "Joel, if you're truly here to help, then go support the rear. You two can argue later."

Joel sighed, but nonetheless, he jumped back onto his hose and moved to the rear. He was out of earshot for Kaetar, but he saw him strike up a conversation with Arum of all people. It was strange for Arum to even respond to a complete stranger, considering that he didn't seem to trust the people he travelled with for weeks.

"Why did you send him to the back?" Kaetar asked, glancing back to Joel once more. Now it was Nicholas that was asking him questions in the back. He definitely made everyone else curious.

"Because Loiya clearly doesn't like him. If they argue now, then we'll lose even more time," Syrin answered plainly. He never really seem to care if his words angered Loiya or not, he just said what needed to be said.

"We have outrun Arkit and Saira now so time is of the essence," Nasir chimed in.

"You're not going to let go of him, are you?" Stefan asked with a grin.

"Kaetar? He's the financial backbone of the rebellion. Supplying our movement depends solely on him. He also has a habit of persuading others to join us, a little bit of the charm that Ike seemed have possessed. We're keeping him. I trust we understand each other, Kaetar." Syrin glared at him, as if he was daring Kaetar to leave.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Port Toha."

Nasir raised an eyebrow. He didn't seem to know why on Tellius Syrin wanted to head there. It was going to be a long walk in the very least and Kaetar was not looking forward to that. Besides, they ran into one check point on the way there the last time! They couldn't hide themselves again if they ran into the same one. The very thought of Toha made his stomach hurt – the very name of the place reminded him of his stab wound.

"Don't trust me, Nasir?"

"It's an interesting place for you to turn to is all."

He did it again. He was referring to something in the past that only they seemed to know. It was a little annoying since Kaetar really wanted to know what they really had between them. If only the necklace showed more of Nasir, or even Stefan then he wouldn't mind so much. The necklace always had the chance of showing something of them but at the same time, Syrin was old. He saw a lot and thus, the necklace was packed with memories.

"We're going back there?" Loiya sighed.

Stefan chuckled slightly. "Have a little faith in Syrin. His mind is brilliant!"

Syrin didn't respond. Kaetar didn't know if he knew how to.

It was late at night when they settled down for the evening. Syrin's habit of drying food came in handy when Ema came back with only small animals from her hunt. While Joel's horse was happy to graze on the grass, Makken wasn't that sort of animal and got most of the small animals that Ema got. At least Chifee made up for it with all the fruit he found.

Everyone was feeling rather social that night. Some of the rebels were sitting around a fire, the exception being the wise trio – Syrin, Nasir and Stefan – Zeke, Peter, Soren, Rykuu, and Loiya. Though he was used to be practically stitched to Kaetar's side, he was starting to act like Arum, except towards Joel instead of women. Arum was sitting around the fire, but comfortably wedged between Nicholas and Elli. The closest non-Elli girl was Aletta, but Duma and Rylar separated them.

However, that didn't make Arum talk at all. He did tend to be a little chattier when it was just males around and it was a shame that he practically locked himself up when he knew there was a female close by. He had a different perspective on the world and it was refreshing to listen to someone who seemed physically strong and level-headed.

It didn't surprise Kaetar that Soren and Rykuu weren't there. Soren was hardly social. If it wasn't for Darius and Kaetar, Soren wouldn't speak at all in front of anyone but Rykuu. That tiger was a good man but it made Kaetar curious about their relationship. Rykuu did find the boy after his parents were killed and took him to live in a remote home. Did Soren only first speak to him out of necessity but then grew comfortable around him? Perhaps Soren took an instant liking to Rykuu but just didn't feel safe around anyone else.

Zeke wasn't usually around, not because he wasn't social but because he was in another comfortable spot and was quite content there. He didn't seem to mind if his day was boring or if others thought so. He only spoke if everyone else happened to be around, otherwise he was looked happy where he was and he didn't seem to need the conversation in order to be happy. Peter to go find some herbs and Zeke seemed to watch him from his spot. The herbs weren't necessarily needed, but Peter said he would feel better with them around even if he had to go looking in the dark. Battles were unpredictable.

"You can't eat if you think everything is too cute," Ema muttered when Aletta gave her a disgusted look. She was in the process of skinning it, which Kaetar didn't take a fancy to either even though he knew it was dead and it couldn't feel anything.

"Don't you feel bad about eating it?"

"No, why would I? I grew up hunting so... meat is meat. I would feel bad if I killed something like this and didn't eat it. Now that's a waste," Ema answered. "It's almost a shame I can't do much with the fur though. I never did deal with that part."

Duma perked up. "You mean where you come from?"

"Yeah. I grew up in a small village, almost filled entirely with cat laguz so we always hunted and fished. We gathered a little too but a lot of laguz are partial to meat. There were laguz that hunted the animals, like me, and then the others dealt with the skin and stuff. They would make blankets and or whatever we needed. It's not what royalty would ever see or do but it's how things happen."

"That's kind of neat, actually. My cousins grew up farming, so they always just sold their extra stuff to buy meat. I never thought of where it came from," Misha said, eating some of the fresh fruit that Chifee found.

"Where do you come from, Ema?" Duma asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"My village was called Taelug. Most haven't heard of it since it's quite a small village near that stupid cave in Gallia. It's not like Melior or Nevassa – I mean, everyone at least heard of those cities."

Duma seemed surprised, but he was distracted when Rylar moved to settle himself in his father's arms. He was ready to go to sleep and obviously, he was too lazy to go back to his tent. He always winded up sleeping on his father's arm in some way, shape or form. Perhaps Duma was a cat laguz and his son inherited the sleeping trait of all cats. Transformed, Ema seemed fall asleep anywhere, so it didn't surprise Kaetar that Rylar had feline blood.

"I knew someone from Taelug..." he mumbled quietly.

"I don't think I like where this is going," Mike mumbled. He was leaning against Makken instead of sitting beside everyone else. Makken was sleeping and seemed quite happy with it all. He was full of all the meat that everyone else would have gotten had Ema found a deer. Kaetar agreed with Mike though – he didn't like it either. He felt a lot of tension from the direction the conversation turned. Joel scoffed.

"Anyway, it's the nature of war that people know the bigger beorc cities. Both Nevessa and Melior played a role in the last two wars, so you can expect people from all over to be in either of those two cities for battle," Joel explained simply.

"Hey Joel," Kaetar began, looking towards his childhood friend. "Where have you been all this time anyway?"

"Training and studying."

"Wait, how do you guys know each other?" Misha asked, licking her fingers from the juices of the fruit that she ate.

"We were good friends when I was little," Kaetar answered. "He was the only person kind of close to my age that my dad actually let inside the castle. I went outside of course, but Joel was the person I could turn to on most days."

"I was the only one your father could trust."

Duma's shook his head, though Kaetar couldn't tell if it was because Rylar had a bad habit of falling asleep on top of him or if he didn't like Joel's comment. Joel seemed to notice but didn't make a big deal of it, though Kaetar could see him tense up. Maybe his friendship with Joel would create tension, or rather it already did – with Loiya. Kaetar didn't even know why Loiya was upset with his friend; he just wanted his two friends to get along. Why was that so hard to ask for?

"I think I would be slow to accept children I didn't know either," Elli mumbled. "I also hate to say it but I do know that the wealthy also have a hard time trusting the poor when it comes to their stuff."

Elli would know that, wouldn't she? It didn't look as though Arum or Elli really had a lot of money. It showed through their clothing that they had other priorities – they needed food and they needed to stay armed if they were to survive on their own. It was disappointing because they did deserve better. Elli already went through a lot and he was dying to know what sort of childhood Arum had. According to Elli, he wasn't very old when he was already out and forced to make the decision to kill.

If Kaetar had it his way, he would definitely make sure Arum and Elli had a home in Daein. It was the least he could for Arum, seeing how he saved his life. In that regard, it shouldn't be very hard convincing his father that it wasn't a bad idea.

Joel smirked slightly, perhaps he was happy that he didn't have to deal with being poor. Sure, he trained and studied, but he didn't have to worry about where his food was coming from. Since his father was Issac, one of the four riders, he could eat at the castle and no one would think twice about it. Loiya didn't get the same luxury – he still ate in the castle, but it wasn't when everyone else was having dinner. He ate when the servants ate. Instead, Loiya had the luxury of watching everyone else eat while he stood off to the side, lance in hand in case there was something that would happen.

Nothing ever happened.

Ema was biting into her rabbit after cooking it near the fire, chewing rather loudly. Of course, she sounded loud with the silence that took to the air, but she didn't care. She made it clear before that nothing got between her and her meat – nothing personal she said, but it was a laguz thing. They liked their meat.

Mike was the first to burst out laughing and had to lean back on Makken for support. Misha looked at him oddly, but his laughter was contagious and she was the next to begin laughing. Nicholas and Darius were the next to laugh, but Chifee was completely baffled. Rylar opened one eye but quickly went back to sleep quickly. He didn't seem to care so much. Even Aletta cracked a smile and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Chifee asked innocently. "I don't get it."

Joel shook his head. "There's nothing to get."

"It's just that it sounds so funny when someone eats in the silence like that," Mike chuckled. "It sounds stupid but that's what it is!"

"Let them have their fun, they need it," Kaetar answered.

"Anyway, Kaetar, since I'm here, I'm going to need a place to sleep. Is there anyone who needs a tentmate or maybe you have extra tents?" Joel asked in a whisper.

"I think Nicholas could sleep in another tent. He's on everyone's good side and then you just share with me and Loiya. I'm always the one in the middle."

"Kaetar, don't you see he hates me?" Joel whispered back. Mike began talking when Aletta asked him often he flew with Makken, so Mike brought up the fact that he occasionally works with transportation and deliveries – something that wyverns and their rider usually ended up doing in Crimea. It was hard for him to focus on their conversation when Joel was being difficult.

It was a good opportunity to really meet with his fellow rebels but listening to two conversations really took the fun out if it.

"It's not like you two are spending your lives together! It's like, half a night."

"It's stupid to sleep near someone who hates you and quite frankly, I don't really care for him. It's best if I slept with someone."

That hurt a little. Why was it so hard to have two friends actually like each and get along? His fondest memories included both of them and he wouldn't be able to stand if Joel left again or if Loiya left his life.

"But why don't you like him?"

Joel smirked, then stood up and motioned for Kaetar to the same. As hard as it was for Kaetar to leave the laughter behind, the sign that most of them were getting along, he knew it was important to go with Joel. When the started walking together, Joel finally answered.

"I don't like him and not just because it's hard to like someone who obviously don't like you. It's mostly because I can't trust someone so young but so supposedly powerful to be around you. He might be doing alright now but he'll break soon enough and he'll be useless then. And when that happens, then you'll be vulnerable," Joel stated.

Kaetar didn't know what to say – he was not just going to agree with immediately. Loiya kept him alive and relatively unharmed the entire time he was away. At the end of the day, Loiya was his friend just as much as Joel was.

"I wanted to make sure personally that you were okay. I wouldn't trust you with the bravest men in Tellius unless I was among them. Understand? I have to be here, I can't just trust someone else to do it and be able to sleep at night. In fact, the only reason why I'm not sharing a tent with you is because Loiya doesn't like me and that's only more stress on you, kiddo."

"So you still care about me after all these years?"

"I do. You're still the kiddo that made me read you books until you fell asleep and I was the one to carry you back to bed."

"Ah, there you are Kaetar!" Stefan announced suddenly. Kaetar turned his head towards the man who appeared behind him. He seemed to have the odd ability to sneak up on people without them noticing. It was like he was a ghost. "Syrin wants to see you."

"Why?"

"Because he's taking a likening to you," Stefan mumbled. "Joel, was it? You're welcome to come along. I think Syrin wanted to speak to you about sleeping arrangements."

Kaetar still wasn't quite sure why Syrin felt the need to share plans with him. Maybe Syrin actually took comfort in the prince's presence, seeing as how Kaetar was the one with the necklace. That necklace was the best source of history that anyone had to offer. When Kaetar actually saw the events happen, there was no bias, nothing that was changed because of one's fault in memory, and it couldn't be corrupted.

It was history in the purest form. He was actually witnessing events and he wrote down all of them. He always meant to scribble interpretations somewhere but he didn't want to ruin the flow of memories or how others would interpret those memories based on his writing. He would rather keep a separate journal for that.

Nasir, Syrin, Stefan, Joel and Kaetar were all sitting in Syrin's shared tent with Stefan, which made for a rather crowded tent but they could still function. Syrin had a map rolled out on the tent floor, and everyone was sitting around it. There was a single lamp that was being held up by Stefan.

"As I said earlier, we're going to return to Port Toha," Syrin began, pointing to Toha on the map. Kaetar could remember it clearly from the map at the Greil Mercenaries' former base. "The reason for this is because we are currently not suited for long term battles – we have no efficient way of storing and getting supplies like the Crimeans would."

"Yeah, you guys are lucky that you weren't trapped by the Daeins," Joel mumbled, his eyes glued to the map.

Nasir nodded. "The Daeins were not our only concern. We had Crimeans on our trail as well. The only reason why we got to rest at all was because the Crimeans also needed to time to recover and regroup. We were distancing ourselves from the Crimeans when we ran into the Daeins."

"So we race them to Toha. We would have to protect ourselves from attack on the ocean however – are there enough troops to do that?" Joel asked. Syrin nodded his head, receiving strange glances from Nasir and Stefan.

"It won't just be us. I chose Toha specifically because they are sympathizers. Not many of the rebellion would know of it – ask Kaetar for the details. The important part is that they helped us once and they will help us again. I want to make a base in Toha, though everyone will be in disguise once we get there."

"Ah, you want us to blend into Toha's culture," Stefan muttered with a smirk. Kaetar wondered if the swordman's arm was getting tired at all, holding the lamp up to provide light for the others. "So you plan on staying undercover for a while then."

"Yes," Syrin responded simply. "We need to resupply and strengthen our influence beyond Toha. If we have an uprising at the same time but in several areas, we will spread the lines of Crimeans thinner as they will have to respond to all crisis regions. We can use this chance to get to Melior without the soldiers paying attention to us."

"It's not a bad plan, aside from the slowness of it all. However, the biggest problem will be the freaking wyvern. He's huge and suspicious – and by the way, the greatest insult is to keep wyvern and rider apart for a long time."

"We can explain that. Mike could be staying with three months or so and the wyvern is the only way he could get around," Kaetar offered. "We can make up a whole back story for him but I feel like Darius and Nicholas would be better with that. We just have to make sure that the supposed family can keep it consistent with Mike."

Joel raised an eyebrow, tearing his eyesight from the map. "You think they will believe that if they asked?"

"We got nothing else. It's not like we just stuff Makken somewhere for three months," the prince frowned.

"We will have to try it. He should be the only one who needs a history if the rest of us stay indoors and blend in."

"And what about our weapons?" Joel challenged.

"I will be sending word to Toha. The weapons will be concealed inside the buildings, but we would also need to supply everyone with a knife," Syrin answered. He paused and then rolled up the map. Kaetar took that chance to leave Joel in search for Loiya, seeing how Joel had to find out where he was sleeping.

He had to see that his bodyguard was alright but he doubted that he was okay. Loiya wasn't the type to separate himself from Kaetar at all – it was his job to be close. If Kaetar spent the day alone, Loiya was either busy or sick but just seemed to be brooding instead. It was odd for him.

The prince found him on his own, sitting in the grass. He was far away from everyone else and overlooking an empty field with a lance leaning on his shoulder. Kaetar moved closer and sat down beside him. Loiya only acknowledged him by moving over a little bit to give him some more room.

"Are you okay?"

"No, not really," Loiya said quietly. "It's a lot of things and nothing that I'll ever blame you for but... I don't feel like talking about it."

"Then you won't feel better about it," Kaetar murmured slowly.

Loiya didn't respond to that. He was already too depressed it seemed and Kaetar wasn't sure he could pull him out of it right away. Just to think this is all started because Joel came along.

"You know, I was thinking that after all this, you should take some time off to spend with your family. It's been about four years, right?"

The bodyguard lifted his head up, looking at Kaetar for the first time since they set up camp. "Yeah, about four years."

"And Nicholas said something about you having brothers or something like that?" Kaetar asked and was immediately answered with a small smile. Talking about his family seemed to help him cheer up a bit, or at least it got him thinking about something else.

"Yeah, I have two younger brothers. Rhee and Roha. They're twins and they would be about... fourteen right now," Loiya answered. "My mother loves them. I wonder if they'll ever move out at this rate."

"They probably will. They have to take care of themselves eventually, right?"

"Even if they wanted to, my mother might not let them. My dad says all three of them almost died when they were coming to the world, so my mom is really close to them. That's probably why my father could get away with teaching me how to use a lance at such a young age. My mother didn't pay as much attention to me, so my father gave me all the attention instead."

"It became a necessity though, didn't it? You said you were the sole income," Kaetar mumbled. He was in his curiosity mindset now. He never heard Loiya talk this much about his family before. The most Kaetar heard of his bodyguard's family seem to be brought up only around Nicholas and if it weren't for him, he wouldn't know anything.

"It wasn't like my father could predict that. Apparently I come from a long line of people from the Daein military. My ancestors fought in the two previous wars – alongside Ashnard and then by Micaiah – so my father wants me to continue the tradition. He was happy about being in the military but he was honourably discharged," Loiya mumbled, his face wrinkling up. Kaetar understood what the words met. His father was sent home from the base but it didn't hurt his reputation or his family's reputation. He wasn't sent home for being a coward.

It usually came from severe illness or injury. Kaetar could see where Loiya's story was going.

"He was helping out at the base... it was winter time, I think and he offered to help cut some wood for the fires inside the main building. He had an accident with the axe there. He's missing his right arm all the way up to his elbow and last I saw, he still couldn't use his left very well... so that just left me. I was the only one old enough to earn money..."

"And you still have the youth for it. When I was twelve, my father decided I needed a bodyguard and I put in a good word for you. My father wasn't sure about hiring you even after seeing your skills. You were better than the average kid but he wasn't sure if you would last," Kaetar explained. He knew the rest of the story – it was their history together. Though Kaetar's father still seemed to tease him, he didn't fire Loiya yet.

"It still seems like he thinks of me that way."

"I think that will change after all of this. If you can get me through a rebellion than you can do anything. It's not like castle life is too dangerous," Kaetar said plainly. It was true though. Kaetar did feel safe, but Loiya was a last measure. There were several guards, an army that wasn't housed too far away, and the Four Riders. It wasn't like the castle didn't have any of its own defences either. It wasn't easy to get to the family that resided inside.

"That's true. Go figure, it's when you actually leave the castle is when your life is actually in danger. Maybe I can get a break."

"I'll try to get you a paid leave. Maybe a week or so. It has to be tough to be away from your family for so long."

"It is," Loiya answered sombrely. "But I need the money for my family. I don't have a choice."

"I'll talk to my father. You told me a lot about your family so I feel more obligated to help you out. Your family deserves at least that much."

"Thanks," Loiya mumbled quietly.

If you have submitted and OC and you haven't seen them show up yet, don't fret. Joel was the first OC I got and it took him a long time for him to be able to fit into the story. Saira doesn't belong to me either but I think she fits pretty well.

And this is the chapter that's going up before class starts. Wish me luck. v.v