Kaetar kept mostly to himself, summoning Joel and Helena to his room in order to fill out the reports that Syrin wanted since everybody insisted that he only get out bed if it was necessary. Kaetar didn't really feel like arguing with them so he decided to stay but that didn't mean he couldn't work. He just had to be careful to make sure he didn't get any ink on the bedsheets. Helena and Joel were the ones that truly did the inventory for the Daeins while he was the one who wrote everything down. He was busy writing when Syrin knocked on the door.

A raven Kaetar didn't recognize was behind him. She had short, black hair that went just above her jawline. She wore a simple blue shirt with long sleeves and black pants that hugged her legs before being tucked into her boots. "That's the prince? Huh. I expected somebody more... regal I guess," she said with a shrug. Kaetar looked down at himself – he was wearing plain clothing that he got from the other rebels or perhaps a dead body. He wasn't sure where the clothing he got came from, just that sometimes, his got torn to shreds and couldn't be repaired and he as presented with newer ones. All he knew about the clothes that he got it was that it was too plain for Nicholas to have picked it out for him. He was sure that if he let Nicholas chose his entire wardrobe in Daein, he would look great everyday – he found something that Ema was comfortable to fight in, so he could probably find something comfortable for him too.

Syrin rolled his eyes. "Anyway..."

"Right. I've got a letter for you from your dad. Read the important bits out loud 'cause it involves this guy," she said, patting Syrin's left shoulder. He used his good arm to slap her hand away.

"Don't touch me," he said flatly.

Kaetar was handed the letter and he broke the seal. He scanned it quickly. Part of the letter was personal so he didn't want to say it out loud because it didn't involve Syrin and he didn't want to waste his time. He just wanted to find the part that was relevant to Syrin and quickly came upon it. "My father's declaring war on Crimea," he said quietly. "He's personally going to fight."

He figured that Daein would play a bigger role in the rebellion considering what happened to Loiya. However, for his father to officially declare war and involve a larger part of the Daein army was something that Kaetar never expected. He never thought his father would also get his hands dirty and be the one that declared war after a century and a half of peace, whatever peace meant. It could turn out well for his father, being the one who broke the silence and stepped up to the plate when nobody else did or he would be scorned by historians a century and a half later. It would all depend on how it ended but he didn't think his father would care about his reputation when it concerned the rebellion.

Even Syrin seemed mildly surprised but then he smirked. "To have a real army would make things go a lot faster."

"He's probably going to bring the riders too... well, at least Vaughn and Gander," Kaetar mumbled. He frowned when he saw the reason why is father resorted to war. "My father also said that Eero wanted a heron for Loiya's freedom. Since he doubts that a heron would agree... Loiya will probably... be up for execution."

"I thought they would try to execute him when they captured him," Syrin mumbled. "It would do well for Eero to make a display out of him but that being said... Loiya's stubborn. He'll get out."

He supposed that was true. If Syrin was trying to cheer him up, then Kaetar wasn't doing too well. He was starting to get the feeling that maybe he was starting to act the way Rylar did when his father died and he may be making the others be wary around him. He had to be strong and mourn only when there was a body. He could miss Loiya but he didn't have time to fall apart. He had the feeling that Rylar was looking out for him too so he wanted to be okay.

"Anyway," the raven started. "I also left something for Kaetar with my mate."

Kaetar raised an eyebrow. "Your mate?"

"Don't sound so surprised. Do you know any other raven here aside from Darius? You can call me Esther."

Kaetar remembered Darius talking about a mate when he spoke about what sort of future he dreamed of, a future in Daein with his mate and Chifee because the young hawk was determined to stay in Darius' life. Esther must have been hired by his father, like Ummie was, and she must have taken the job knowing that Darius wanted to be in Daein. She seemed spunky, the sort of person that Darius would like. She sighed.

"Anyway, I should go. I want to see Darius one more time before I leave," she mumbled, dismissing herself. She as soon as she left though, Rykuu to her place.

"Syrin, Daevala wishes to speak to you again," the tiger mumbled. He his eyes fell on Kaetar and smiled again as he let Syrin out of the room. "How are you feeling, Kaetar?"

"Shouldn't you go with Syrin?"

"Zara is also there so I can spare a few minutes here," he said, leaning against the door frame. "I am just worried about you."

"I'll be fine. Rylar was right," Kaetar answered with a shrug. "You should go along with Syrin and give Zara a break."

Rykuu didn't look convinced but nonetheless, he left. When Kaetar was sure that nobody was going to come into his room, he read his letter one last time. Loiya wasn't the only person he had to be strong for. His father also mentioned his new little brother. He was happy to hear that everything was fine – his brother was healthy and his mother was expected to be able return to her duties as a queen shortly. He placed the letter down and, did a quick scan of his report to make sure it was all filled out, then with new determination, he stood up slowly. He put his boots on, then found his quiver and bow and made his way out the door. He managed to get out of the fort without anybody saying anything – he didn't dare say he wasn't caught because it felt like Chibuike had eyes everywhere.

He started to always assume that Chibuike knew he was doing something that other people advised him against doing. It was safer to assume that Chibuike knew everything about what other people were doing than it was to try and guess what he knew or didn't know.

The outside changed a lot more than he realized since the Daeins moved in. Close to the fort, there was a structure outside that seemed to serve as a temporary stable, made from wood with fabric tied down to the frames to separate the five horses and apparently Makken from the elements. He saw Joel's horse grazing on hay, probably courtesy of the Daeins. He looked straight at Kaetar, like he was judging him, and whinnied like he caught him but then he continued to eat his hay so Kaetar just walked by him. He also noticed that there were targets set up but he couldn't tell who decided to put up targets – perhaps it was Soren or Rylar. The target themselves seem to made from hay, perhaps from the horses' stash, stuffed tightly in burlap sacks and then tied to lances that were stabbed into the ground.

He might have woken up with no will to argue with everybody's advice but after reading that latter he was determined to push himself farther and farther. When he approached the targets, he noticed Soren there, expertly shooting the targets with all of his arrows grouped together tightly in the centre. He stopped when he seemed to notice Kaetar.

"Hey," he mumbled. "I thought you wouldn't be able to get out to practice."

"Did you set up targets?" Kaetar asked. Rylar looked at them.

"Rylar and I did. I come out here when Rykuu is stuck guarding that prisoner," he said as he shot another arrow. "Aren't you going to shoot?"

"Of course," Kaetar answered with a nod. "You're not going to tell anybody right?"

"No. I know you should be resting but archery isn't too bad." Soren shot another arrow. Kaetar followed suit, hitting a different target and striking near the middle. "I think you should train if you can. You can only rest so much. Let me see your hand." He lowered his bow and held his hand out for Kaetar. Kaetar had no idea what he wanted but he nonetheless put his hand in Soren's. Besides, Soren didn't let himself talk much so he didn't mind entertaining him with whatever was on his mind.

"Is there something wrong?" Kaetar asked.

"No. I just wanted to see how rough your hands are. When we first met, your hands were so soft. Be proud and keep practicing," he mumbled with a bit of a smile.

Kaetar never consider it but the more he though about, the more he ended up thinking of his father's hands. His mother's hands were as soft and as gentle, just like the rest of her appearance but his father had rough hands. It was probably unusual for royals to have rough hands – he certainly didn't have rough hands before he started using the bow, which ended up taking a toll on his hands and the area of skin up his elbows. His father had rough hands but Kaetar couldn't recall him using a weapon at any moment. His father had to have done something to roughen his hands like he did. He doubted that just simple wyvern-riding would do the trick, so his father must have been able to keep a weapon.

But why keep that away from him? He was really tired of his father hiding things from him, waiting "until he was old enough to understand" but Kaetar always thought he was old enough to understand it all.

He noticed that Soren returned to shooting so Kaetar did the same. Whenever he ran out of arrows, Soren was the one who retrieved the arrows the best he could, trying to keep the arrow heads intact so they could be reused. It didn't always work but Soren managed to bring back many arrows for him, that way he didn't have to waste what energy he could devote to the practice on collecting arrows. Eventually, Rylar seemed to find them. He noticed that Rylar had his bow with him, looking intent on using it. Kaetar also noted that his hair was loose, reaching past his shoulders but he still had the braid on his left side, sitting on his shoulder like it was important to him – Kaetar never did see Rylar without it. Even though Kaetar never saw Rylar with his hair loose before, he had a feeling that he would never see Rylar without the braid.

"Hey," he greeted. "Decided to come practice the bow too now? I thought you were feeling kind of crappy."

"You're late," Soren mumbled. "You're usually here a lot earlier."

He wasn't quite sure when Soren and Rylar became good friends. He was aware that sometime after Duma's death, Soren tried in his own strange way to make Rylar feel better but Soren seemed rather comfortable with Rylar around. Perhaps they started bonding over the fact that they were orphaned by Crimea and the archery helped to strengthen a bond. Regardless of why, it was nice to see Soren come out of his shell and to see Rylar really beginning to interact with others positively.

"Yeah, I know. Ema was telling me about her mother... she wants me to meet her after all this. A branded going into a town of conservative laguz isn't a high priority though," Rylar said with a sigh.

"Speaking of which, where is your brand?" Kaetar asked.

Rylar raised an eyebrow, then looked up thoughtfully before pulling a boot off and pulling his pant leg up. It was on the inside of his ankle, appearing like he was scratched there but the biggest difference between a regular scar and his brand was that it was red and the three marks were consistent in width. "It's at least easy to hide with boots. I don't know why Syrin just doesn't part his hair like Stefan does to hide his. Zeke wears long sleeves, Stefan parts his hair, Aletta's brand is hidden because she has to be practically naked to show somebody... apparently," Rylar mumbled as he pulled his boot back on. "Don't take my word for it though! I haven't seen it either... I just don't understand why Syrin wouldn't hide it. I mean, everybody else hid theirs."

"You do know that since you are branded then I'll be disappointed if you don't become better than us," Soren mumbled.

Rylar smirked. "Who is to say that I'm not already better than you two?"

Kaetar had no doubts that Rylar maybe be better than him. Rylar was already at least better than him when it came to fighting since Rylar was in fact faster, stronger, and seemed to have more experience than Kaetar had. When it came down to skill between Soren and Rylar though, Kaetar didn't really know who would win. For one, Kaetar thought that to teach somebody anything, one had to be good at the thing they were teaching, so for Soren to teach Kaetar when Soren was probably around the same age as Kaetar did mean he was good at it. However, Rylar seemed just as capable.

"You two should try to compete," Kaetar suggested.

Rylar raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you already counted yourself out?"

"Well, as you put it, I am feeling 'crappy' so it might be for the best that I just sit this out anyway. I probably shouldn't push myself that much farther," Kaetar mumbled with a sigh. He did want to train and be better, and his intention was to keep pushing him, but if he didn't pace himself, he would inevitably never be able to get that far. He wanted to be strong for his brother, he wanted to prove to his father that the rebellion was good for him so hopefully he could return without much punishment, but mostly he didn't want to lose to Liam again.

Liam frightened him so much. Every time Liam rushed him, he just froze and somebody else had to protect him. Kaetar hardly ever defended himself when it came to Liam and he didn't know why. Even in a frenzy where desperate people do desperate things to saves themselves, he didn't even really do anything in that regard. Liam would only become more desperate to catch and kill him – after all, Kaetar was the one that got away. More than once. The next time Liam tried to come for him, Kaetar wanted to be able to fight for himself.

Rylar seemed to consider his answer like he wasn't satisfied with his words but Soren pulled him away and pointed at the targets with a stern look on his face. Clearly, he was into the idea of a competition. Rylar sighed, then nodded, lining himself up in front of ones of the targets just as Soren did. Kaetar sat down, propping his knees up so he could rest his arms and heads on top of them.

However, Rylar suddenly shot first, missing his target by an incredible distance, or so it seemed until Kaetar noticed just where Rylar shot. Nearby was a blue cat laguz, eagerly running towards them, jumping to the side to dodge the arrow before running forward again. Rylar aimed another arrow but his time but Kaetar got up in a hurry, shouting for Rylar to stop. The cat laguz was familiar and Kaetar was quickly able to remember why. One of the very first things that the necklace showed him was the very same blue cat and so he knew that he meant no harm. It just had to be Ranulf!

The cat transformed, revealing a man with blue hair that held by some sort orange headband. He sported an brown vest and blue pants, but the most notable things about his appearance was the orange fabric around his waist and his mismatched eyes. Rylar lowered his bow as Ranulf held his hands up.

"Who are you?" Rylar asked with a low hiss. Kaetar noticed that Soren immediately tensed up, so he figured that Soren was going to stay silent, his distrust for anybody who wasn't a close friend taking over and closing his mouth. Ranulf grinned. He never got the feeling that he was easy going when he had Syrin's perspective but he felt a lot more relaxed in Ranulf's presence. It was amazing, really.

"I'm just here to see if that high strung leader of yours ever ended up relaxing... and to see whatever happened to Ema and Darius. Skrimir thinks they died or something. They said they were joining the rebellion and said nothing for months!" he said, oddly cheerfully but his hands were still raised. "But I guess that didn't answer your question at all. I'm Ranulf!"

"You mean Syrin?" Kaetar asked.

"Is that what he changed his name to? I hope he knows that's not much of a disguise," he mumbled.

"If he's awake, I'll take you to his room," Kaetar offered. Rylar grabbed his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"Hey, you sure this is a good idea?"

Rylar pulled away, twirling on of the arrows in his hands. Somehow, he made that look menacing. He knew they could trust Ranulf but he didn't know how to explain that Soren or Rylar, who looked at Kaetar like he was crazy for so readily trusting what they thought to be a stranger. However, Kaetar knew that there was history between Ike, Syrin, and Ranulf and while Syrin's reaction to Ranulf would be a mystery until they got there, but he would not harm the rebellion in any fashion.

"I think we can trust him," Kaetar answered. Rylar stopped twirling the arrow and Ranulf finally lowered his arms, placing them on his waist.

"Lead the way!" He followed Kaetar eagerly while Soren and Rylar stayed back. "Any reason you trust me so much?" he asked suddenly, his tone more serious than it previously was. Was Ranulf worried about him being so trusting?

"Syrin told me about you," he answered, unsure of how to really answer his question without mentioning the necklace. "You should call him Syrin though. I don't know exactly why he changed his name but we do have another Soren so it's just less confusing."

He led Ranulf up the two flights of stairs to the upper level, the knocked on Syrin's door. Hearing Syrin answer on the other side, he opened it to find Syrin gritting his teeth as he sat on his bed, his good arm hanging onto his bad, which was out of the sling for some reason. He must have been massaging it before Kaetar knocked. He seemed interested in Kaetar but his expression changed to a mildly surprised expression when he notice Ranulf before he changed it to a smug look.

"So why after all this time you decide to come see me now, Ranulf?"

Kaetar took a peek at Syrin's desk. It was a mess of papers, some he noticed only had a few sentences written on them and were otherwise blank. There was a map that he hung on the wall somehow but there was another on his desk that he drew on. There were arrows and small notes that Kaetar couldn't read from his distance. Syrin was usually so organized but he seemed to have, for part of the day, lost himself to ideas.

Ranulf smirked. "You look surprising better," he remarked. "Not the whole arm thing but you aren't staring me down with daggers anymore! It looks good on you."

"Answer the question before I change my mind and kick you out."

"You've probably guessed why," Ranulf mumbled. "Skrimir couldn't decide for the longest time what to do about the whole thing with Ike's apparent godhood. Nobody wanted to ruin the quiet that Ike created. I couldn't stand not doing more for Ike so Skrimir let me come here to at least check up on Ema and Darius. They haven't sent a report since they joined the rebellion. If it's okay with you though, I'd like to stick around."

"How much does Skrimir know?" Syrin asked.

"That you could be the only behind this for one. He still calls you the 'Little Beorc' by the way," he said with a bit goofy grin. Syrin growled. "He also knows that Ramon has less to do with it than we first thought. But we don't know why anybody thought that making Ike a god was a good idea. He hated being a general."

"And being a lord," Syrin added quickly after. "I can see why he may be more reluctant to be involved then. Laguz seem to be more balanced and less like the hot-blooded fools I had to plan around a century and a half ago. I suppose that's a good thing."

"Ah, Titania would be proud," Ranulf said with a smile, putting a had over his chest. Syrin gave him an annoyed look before sighing.

"Anyway, are you the only laguz that I know from a century and a half ago coming or should I expect more?"

"Reyson wants to come – he just has to argue with Tibarn enough to let him go. Maybe his gladr can help with that arm of yours. What the heck did you do to it?"

"Like it would be me," Syrin growled as he lifted his sleeve, showing Ranulf the gnarled mess of scars that covered his arm. His face softened to a grimace. Kaetar thought it odd that Syrin would show any sort of vulnerability to Ranulf – Kaetar wasn't aware that they really had that sort of relationship but perhaps it really just showed Syrin's age. "It was a bandit attack long ago but obviously, it never healed correctly."

"This would probably be done by now if it wasn't for his arm," Kaetar mumbled.

Syrin rolled his eyes and then stood up. "At any rate, if you're going to stay here, I can put you to work right away," Syrin mumbled, motioning with his good arm towards his desk. He cleared the sheets of paper of the map, expertly moving them into a neat pile on the side of his desk and he bit his lips like he wondered why it was so disorganized.

Ranulf raised an eyebrow at the map.

"Nice work," he mumbled. Syrin glared at him.

"I need you to scout this fort here," Syrin said, ignoring his comment. "I would send one of the laguz I have now but I need them to go elsewhere or to stay here and guard my guest. I need you to see if the fort is abandoned and if not, I need an estimate of numbers but I have no reason to expect that there would be Crimeans there."

"What are you planning?" Kaetar asked. He could see labels beside the arrows that pointed to the towns they have been to before with names beside them. For example, Ema was expected to go to Toha and Rykuu expected to go to the town that he went to when he fled from Saira when she was looking for him in Toha.

"To end this quickly and prevent casualties on both sides," he answered. "I was originally thinking of training the people we converted to the rebellion side but if Daein is joining us, then we don't need their numbers to physically fight. I want them in Melior when we get there and for them to cause a riot. The more confusion and chaos we can make, the better it will be. I'm hoping that between the Daeins and the citizens causing unrest en mass, the Crimeans can be convinced to stop following Eero. If they know they are not truly fighting for their king and would be fighting against they swore to protect, they may in fact join us. Then we can take on Eero in the castle."

That would explain some of it the messiness, Kaetar thought. He was chasing an idea, trying to delegate, trying to come up with ways to make them a reality and somehow down the line, he forgot to keep himself organized. Ranulf seemed concerned as well, perhaps picking up on the same things that Kaetar was seeing.

"I only have to figure out how to get them there," Syrin mumbled. "Either way, our first move is to move forward and get closer to Melior."

"I'll go there tomorrow. I need to yell at Darius and Ema on behalf of Skrimir anyway," he said with a shrug.

"Kaetar, go show Ranulf to their rooms," Syrin said. He looked liked there was more he wanted to say but he waved his good hand dismissively. "Oh, Kaetar, I sent Chibuike out this morning to Melior. Perhaps he can keep Loiya safe."

Kaetar nodded. He could trust Chibuike. If not Saira on her only, then Chibuike would be an asset to her, but only if he got there in time. Syrin didn't say anything more so Kaetar and Ranulf left.

"He's changed a lot," Ranulf said with a grin as soon as they were out of earshot of Syrin. "He's easier to get along with. I didn't think that would happen."

"What do you mean?" Kaetar asked.

"I thought he would close up after Ike's death. He was pretty stressed and high-strung when Ike was around and by the time of the Laguz Alliance, he was only just starting to get better, so I thought he would be worse after his death. I'm surprised he's even here because I was pretty sure he only tolerated us... at best. Not to mention because Ike asked him to. It's curious but I'm not going to fuss about it. There's no reason to question a miracle," he mumbled with a shrug. Kaetar came upon his door and knocked.

"I'm going to go check on somebody but this is Darius' room," Kaetar said, walking away just in time to hear Darius curse as he opened the door to find Ranulf. It wasn't his business to listen to their lecture but he also wanted to see how Zeke was doing. When he knocked, Joel was the one who let him in.

"Joel? What are you doing here?"

"To see how Zeke is," he said with a wince.

"He wanted me to check on his wound," Stefan answered. He was still sitting in the chair, slightly hunched forwards. Stefan at least turned his head to talk to him.

"Okay, you're not allowed to lecture me about getting rest if you're walking with an injury you told me you would get healed," Kaetar demanded as he closed the door. Loiya did the same thing too, hide his own injuries, headaches, or whatever other problem he could have, while gently forcing Kaetar to rest. He was tired of it. "You said you would get it healed to ease my worries! Your words!" he shouted. He didn't know why he was so upset all of a sudden. Maybe the pressure was really starting to get to him.

Joel looked at him sheepishly and Kaetar questioned if he should have gone Joel to get it looked at by Nicholas.

He sighed and laid his eyes on Zeke. The bruising on his face were almost gone and the swelling decreased but his chest was still a plethora of different colours, the bruising there in different stages of healing. He watched Zeke for a moment before Zeke's relaxed breathing suddenly hitched. His weary eyes opened slowly but Zeke was struggling to breathe, gasping for breath. He was breathing deeply for somebody who had broke ribs and Kaetar had to look away from his chest and focus more on his face because he couldn't stand the thought of those ribs moving as Zeke breathed. He could not imagine the pain. Joel saw him and immediately ran out the door.

For once, Zeke couldn't disguise any sort of pain in his face. "Zeke! Zeke, relax," Stefan ordered. "You have many broken bones so don't try to get up."

"...Stef," he said weakly with a smile. "And... and... Kae... tar. Both safe..."

"We're fine. Worry about yourself right now. You need to take it easy."

"Easy, yeah... easy enough."

Peter and Joel returned quickly. Peter had some sort of herb with him that he placed in Zeke's mouth, then brought up a canteen to help it down. He wasted no time in helping or assessing the poor branded. "That should help with the pain. Zeke, do you remember what happened?" Peter asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

"Liam." Kaetar's blood ran cold, especially when Zeke suddenly lost consciousness again. Stefan looked at Peter expectantly.

"He should make a full recovery," Peter said. "His mind seems intact, despite his concussion."

Stefan let out a long sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxing as he did so. As far as Kaetar knew, he barely moved from that spot, staying vigilant for Zeke longer than even Peter did. He didn't know what their exact relationship was but Stefan seemed to have some sort of reliance on Zeke. Zeke was probably one of the steady brandeds, one of the ones that helped establish the colony. "That... that is good news."

"Is he going to be alright with sitting out for the rest of the battle?" Joel asked, sitting down, perhaps in a strange effort to keep himself looking strong and healthy under Peter's watchful gaze. Peter was like a vulture on carrion when it came to injuries.

"Zeke's fine. He likes being bored," Stefan said, standing up. "I'm getting some rest."

"Sleep well. You deserve it," Peter said with a smile. "In the mean time, Joel, you don't look so good."

I didn't notice it was almost the end of May. Oops.

This chapter gave me more trouble than any other chapter I can remember. I tried Kaetar first, then tried Adrien, then did Kaetar again and I hope it's alright. Also, Kaetar did forget his gift but that gives you guys time to guess what it is.

And look, no breaks!