Three weeks had passed since the events that had ripped Prince Richard de Britannia from his life as nobility…and now everything was back to how it had been before, with the exception of the fact that his bodyguards tended to keep a much closer eye on him than they had before. His birthday celebration was in only a few days, and much of the royal family was returning from abroad, coming home to celebrate.

He'd spent a fair amount of time conversing with several scientists, always about those bits of hair that had been stuck to his clothing during the 'incident'. In the end, the conclusion had come back…positive, the DNA tests had shown that the pirate he'd met was the daughter of Elinda Pendragon. This made it all the more infuriating that he hadn't been able to convince her to come back…since the vanishment of the Pendragon Family, all their assets had simply been frozen, maintained, but not really controlled by anyone. If she had returned, all of that would have become hers, in addition to the position of high nobility.

He was snapped out of his thoughts, bringing him back to the garden balcony he stood on as a servant spoke behind him, "Excuse me, your highness."

He turned to face the servant, an older man that acted as a butler to him while he was at the palace, "Yes?"

The man held forward a silver plate with a sealed envelope on it, "I have a letter for you, sir."

Richard sighed, "Who is it from?"

The butler lowered his head slightly, "I apologize, but I do not know…however, I am aware of what you had been researching of late and, well…this letter is sealed with the mark of Pendragon."

Before the old man registered what had happened, the letter had been snatched up from the plate and Richard was holding it up, staring at the wax seal on the back of the envelope, marked with the figure of a dragon.

"Wh-what is this? Some kind of prank?"

The butler bowed slightly, tucking the plate against his chest, "I do not know, your highness, the letter arrived just minutes ago, naturally we ran all the usual checks on it, there's nothing within but a piece of paper, written on in standard ink. Of course, this was all scanned, we have no knowledge of the contents of the letter."

Richard didn't look at the man, still staring at the envelope. Finally making up his mind, he broke the wax seal and opened the envelope, sliding out a simply piece of lined paper, a short note written on it in neat print.

'To: His Highness Richard de Britannia,

Your highness, after considerable thought, I have decided to agree with you and come forward. If you still desire to assist me in reclaiming that which is mine, I will be at the entrance to my family home from three to four o'clock today.

Sincerely,

Arturia Pendragon'

He re-read the note a total of five times before it fully processed. Each time through the note, his face lit up brighter and brighter, then he looked up at the butler, "What time is it?"

"Two o'clock, your highness."

He stiffened, "I need transportation, immediately."

"Yes, your highness."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Immediately didn't end up happening, and in the end it was nearly four o'clock by the time the car, complete with convoy of security vehicles and armed guards, pulled up in front of the sealed gate to the Pendragon mansion.

As soon as the cars came to a stop, Richard stepped out, looking around; then he stopped short. As he stood there, all the guards piled out of the vehicles, starting to arrange themselves. But what was clearly the center of attention was the person standing in front of the gate…it wasn't who he was expecting.

Standing there was a massive man, standing about six foot, ten inches and being nearly four feet across, shoulder to shoulder. Gray eyes studied all the guards as they circled around, arranging themselves, many of them looking at him nervously and looking at the prince for cues.

Getting over his initial shock of the size of the man, he walked forward, looking up at him, "Excuse me, sir."

The big man looked down at Richard, waiting.

"I…received a letter today from someone telling me to meet them here, was that you?"

A little smile cracked the man's face, and he spoke, a surprisingly gentle voice from the big man, "No, your highness, my name it Iraneus Jacks, I am the acting guardian of Lady Arturia Pendragon. She is the one who sent you the letter."

At that, a very familiar person stepped out from where she had been, completely hidden behind the big man. Nothing about her had changed from when he'd seen her in the veil, still dressed very casually, still having all those steel earrings in, and still wearing her cheerful, whimsical smile. "Hey Richard, how've ya been?"

His mouth fell open, he'd been certain she was the one who'd sent that letter, but it still surprised him to see her, "S…Ser." He cut off, remembering what name she was using now, "Arturia…Wh…what're…hi, I've been well…how about you?"

Her smile spread a little, "You can still call me Sera, since that's what you're used to. And I've been good. So uh…" she leaned to the side, looking at all the soldiers that were with him, "Got enough of an escort?"

Richard glanced back at all the gun-toting men behind him, "Y-yeah…they're actually why I was so slow getting here."

Sera let out a little laugh, "That's a pain, all the escort I need is Jacks here." She nudged the big man with her elbow and he smiled down at her, patting her on the shoulder, his hand completely enveloping it.

She glanced up at Jacks, her gaze carrying a message, and he stepped backwards, giving her some space. That done, she stepped forward so she was only inches away from Richard and placed her right hand on his right shoulder, pulling her face beside his and whispering into his ear, "I'm taking you up on your offer…but rather than take the full pardon, I'm making it so I don't need it. Here's the story, after the incident with my family, my parents wrecked in the veil and I was raised not knowing my heritage. My parents died when I was young, and Jacks took care of me from there until I was old enough to claim my birthright. When I was leaving you all at the fringes of the veil, I overheard you say that you were led out by someone who just lived in the veil, so we'll go with that. Unless a story you told already contradicts this, after the soldiers rescued you from the pirates and got lost in the fog, I found you and led you out. Oh, and to conceal my identity I grew up with the name Sera Dering, rather than my proper name, Arturia Pendragon, so that's why Jacks calls me that, and why you know me by that name…got it?"

Richard nodded, then asked, "But…how did you find out for sure that you really were who I thought you were?"

She tapped her ring finger against his shoulder, "This…my Dad said I had this with me when he found me. It's how he knew who I was."

Richard looked down at her hand to see the gold signet ring on her hand, instantly recognizing the seal of the Pendragon family. "You have their seal? Wow…and well…I kinda had some tests done…using a bit of your hair that ended up stuck on my shirt…we have medical proof that you are the heir to the Pendragon family."

Sera let out a little laugh, then stepped back, "So, you're the one that's familiar with the way this all works, that's why I came to you first…what's next?"

Richard turned to the side, thinking, "Well, I don't remember there ever being a case of a family that was thought to be dead having an heir turn up after this long…at least not once since I've been alive. But, in the end, it's my father that will need to confirm all of this, so you'll need an audience with him…so I'd say that we could probably just skip straight to that, I'll get you an audience with Father, and I guess we can figure it out from there, I'll need to have the genetics tests run directly on you at some point, just so that there's no confusion."

"Well, sooner the better, I think…don't suppose we can go now, do ya?"

"Now?"

"Well, yeah…it's not like I have anything else to do around here."

"Um, it takes time to get a hearing with the Emperor, you can't just walk in and start talking to him."

"Really? That's weird, but you're his son, right? So it shouldn't be a problem for you."

"It's not like that, really, I mean, sure, I'll probably get priority over other nobles since I'm a prince, but he's the Emperor of Britannia before he's my father."

Sera gave him an incredulous look, "That's…that's crazy! Dad would drop whatever he was doing if I needed to talk to him."

"I know…I wish it was like that…but that's how things work in the Britannian royal family."

"Hmm, so do we need an appointment to get those tests run on me too?"

"Oh, no…I'll just talk to the scientists that tested it for me in the first place, they should be able to take you whenever."

"Well, lets go then."

Richard nodded, then turned to the man that was clearly the highest ranking officer there with him, now speaking loudly enough that everyone around could hear them, "Captain, you will now escort myself and the lady here to the Royal Hospital, along with her escort as well."

The soldier saluted sharply, "Yes, your highness!"

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sera's eyes roamed around the hallway as they walked down it, seemingly taking in everything there was to see and actually seeming quite impressed by the fact that the buildings weren't made out of old busted ships.

Richard spoke, snapping her out of looking around, "Here we are."

She looked ahead of them to see a pair of solid doors marked with assorted warning signs that clearly stated that it was to be accessed only by authorized personnel.

After tapping a code into the control panel next to the door and waiting for the door to slide open, Richard walked through, motioning for Sera to follow.

She stepped through, looking around at the immaculate room and the massive collection of scientific equipment that was all over the place…most of which she had never seen before.

Much unlike previously, where everyone that had seen Richard had bowed or saluted, pretty much everyone in the room ignored them, some giving a slight glance to see who had come into the room, but most not even looking away from their work.

One of them, however, split away from his work, an older man with a grandfatherly look about him despite being dressed in a long lab cat, and walked over to the two, "Your highness, what can I do for you today?"

Richard smiled at him, "Do you remember that hair sample I had you analyze for me a few days ago?"

"Of course, your highness, I still can't believe that there is an heir to the lost Pendragon family still alive…oh how I wish I could have met her. But, if I may be so bold, your highness, who is this young lady?"

Richard smirked slightly, "The girl that the hair you tested belongs to, Arturia Pendragon. She decided to come here to claim her birthright and I need you to rerun your tests, specifically on her, so that we can prove her identity."

The older man stared at the girl, his eyes widening, "Why…you…you're the very image of Lady Elinda Pendragon…I-I'm Doctor Isaiah Durack, a long-time servant to the Pendragon family." He dropped to one knee in front of her, bowing his head, "Allow me to welcome you home, milady, if milady you be."

Sera, however, just stared at him, not really sure how to react to that, "Um…okay."

Richard stepped forward, "Please, Doctor Durack, we need to get these tests run quickly, I've already sent in a request for an audience with Father, having the genetic test results would be a great help."

The older man practically sprung to his feet, "Yes, of course…I already have the genetics work done on those strands of hair you gave me, all I have to do is take a blood sample and ensure that the DNA from the hair matches the DNA in the blood sample. It shouldn't take long at all. Please, right this way."