Anna greeted the two of them by waving them in. Natheniel, who was now leaning against the wall opposite to Anna, smiled in their direction. They resumed their positions from last night.

Sharena spoke before Anna could. "Yes, I fed the horses. No, I'm not leaving."

"Didn't expect anything else," Anna sighed.

Natheniel took the book from Sharena and began flipping through the pages. He stopped midway through the book, turned it around so the others could see, and, with a bit of effort, pointed to a note. "I believe you'll find this familiar, Commander?"

Anna read it over. She walked over to a stack of papers, shuffled through them, and pulled out another note. "These are exactly the same." She didn't really give the others a chance to compare, but her expression was enough to tell that she was telling the truth.

"I wrote them both," Natheniel admitted proudly. "One of them was back from my world and the other I wrote last night. As you might have noticed, one looks a bit older than the other." He paused, closed the book, set it aside, and smiled thoughtfully. "Much like the picture of the three of you."

Sharena knew what he was talking about, and he wasn't really referring to all three girls in the room. Just one of them—her.

Along with the picture Natheniel had with the seven (Alfonse, Sharena, Anna, Fauna, Zacharias, Veronica, and a toddler Natheniel; his world's version of the group) of them, there was one other that Sharena never actually saw, but instead was told about later. It was an old, faded copy of something that existed in their own world: a picture of Alfonse, Sharena, and Zacharias shortly before they joined the Order.

"One of them was something I left for my guardians," Natheniel continued. "That's the one you found in your bag, Fauna, and the one Anna's holding right now. The one in the book was written by me about ten hours ago. 'Answers are hard to find in a mess of secrets and lies. But one thing's clear: I'm sorry for everything I'll do.' It was a pretty heartfelt and sincere apology, you know."

Anna frowned. "Well, it certainly didn't sound like it."

"The way you said 'I will do' instead of 'I have done' is kinda unsettling," Fauna agreed.

Natheniel sighed. "Leaving…caused a lot of problems for them. I didn't realize what it would mean for me to disappear from their world—not until it was already done. I'd become a part of that world; if they'd killed me the moment they found me, they could've continued on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. They knew the risks and responsibilities they'd take by raising me, yet they did it anyway. Even after I accidentally killed thousands of men, women, children…killed Tavin's mother…hurt Tavin and Philyra…they all still loved me as much as they did the moment I turned six. Except for Veronica, I think she honestly hated my guts in the end. But, really, it's questionable if she ever liked me at all." He shook his head woefully. "You've all given me so much…and I returned that with making your lives hell."

"My life's already hell most of the time, so…" Anna remarked.

Sharena was lost at Tavin and Philyra. Fauna hadn't told her about either of them. "I've got a dumb question," she warned. Wow, she sounded like a five-year-old. "Who's Tavin and Philyra, again?"

"Right, you weren't there." Natheniel shrugged a little. "Tavin is Alfonse's son, and the heir to the Askran throne. Philyra is Veronica's daughter, and the heir to the Emblian throne. They're pretty close and are more like siblings than cousins."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT. ALFONSE HAD A KID?!" She immediately looked at Fauna with a betrayed expression. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ALFONSE HAD A KID!"

"Gods, you don't have to tell the whole castle," Anna muttered. She walked over to the door. "Don't do anything overly important; I need to go make sure none of the Heroes heard that."

Sharena chuckled sheepishly. "Oh…sorry." With the amount of Heroes here, it wasn't hard to guess that at least a few of them were known for spreading rumors. She could definitely confirm that they did, in fact, exist. Over time and from the advice of others, she learned to be careful about what she said around them to limit what came back.

Anna mumbled something as she left the room.

Natheniel seemed amused, though. "You never changed. I was told you said something similar when you met her. Together, you and Zacharias made up the 'Sharena's Approval Test' and 'Zacharias's Test of Approval.' I think they were eventually dubbed the 'Save Alfonse's Fragile Heart: Exams For Family Acceptance.'"

"That sounds totally accurate," Sharena said, nodding. Anyone who wanted any significant importance in her brother's life had to go through her first, and the moment she finds out he wasn't happy, she'd be dragging him away from the situation he probably wouldn't have left by himself. At least, she was pretty sure she'd do that—Alfonse didn't exactly expand his friend circle very often. Or…at all.

"I'm still stuck on the part where Veronica had a daughter," Fauna admitted. "She doesn't exactly seem like the, um…motherly type."

"The people needed a proper heir," Natheniel replied. "Like Alfonse, she had a child in answer to the requests from her subjects. You actually stayed with her in Embla from the moment she confirmed her pregnancy to the time Philyra was about a year old." He paused. "It's probably hard for you guys to grasp. Believe me, though, Veronica might've given up fighting, but she was definitely a momma bear. Anyone who even so much as thought about hurting Philyra was seen as a threat to her. I, uh, kinda got kicked out of Embla a few weeks before I left because I did that."

"W-what?" Fauna stepped back a little.

"No, no, not on purpose!" Natheniel defended quickly. "She's a sweet kid when she wasn't telling on me; she didn't deserve it. It wasn't even meant for her! Tavin was supposed to get out of the way and she wasn't supposed to jump in there. It wasn't—I wasn't thinking—and—and—" He stopped, staring at both of them with a hopeless expression. "Neither of you believe me. Just like when I did it. They never asked for my side of the story…they didn't trust me. But that's going to change. You're going to hear the truth. Not what Tavin told them. Not what they gathered from Philyra. Just me. Anna needs to get back, though, this is kind of important."

They waited for a while. About an hour of awkward tension, Anna came back. She was informed on what had happened, and Natheniel began his story.

(A/N: There really wasn't any reason for Anna to leave the room.

Fun fact: in an alternative universe, Natheniel's note was the beginning of Disney's Frozen's 'Let it Go.' This is why you don't let half-asleep people write.)