"Ah. Here you are." Smalls looked up to see Wilfred. Wilfred didn't look in a good mood. "We need to talk." Smalls stood.

"What about?"

"It's…..bad Smalls." Wilfred said, sighing and rubbing his face as they moved out of Lighthall. "Pacer says the wolf patrols get closer every day." Not good. "Their garrison down at Decker's Landing is growing." Perfect. "They seem to know something is up here."

"And Harbone?" Harbone should be the one figuring this out. They're closest to the old capital. Wilfred shook his head, sagging.

"Harbone Citadel won't last much longer, I'm afraid."

"Why not?" He asked, trying not to let his annoyance leak into his voice. "Can't they hold it together just a little while longer? A few more months?" Wilfred looked down.

"That's just it. They don't think it will be only a little while. They think it's more likely we'll all be betrayed, discovered, and….well…..you know what happens then." Smalls' mind raced, trying to find a way to avoid that conclusion, to bring back hope. But what hope did they have? Even if Smalls was revealed-who in Natalia would want to put all of there faith and trust in a sixteen-year-old kid who was faking half the time? Not him.

"You must plead with them." He finally said.

"I have." Wilfred grew frustrated. "But they….they…." He shook his head, his face a mixture of anger and grief. "They don't trust me."

Silence.

"Wretches." Smalls spat at the ground, bitter and not trying to hide it.

"But you know it must be hard for them. I look just like him." And that matters? Your appearance-what you look like? That matters more than your actions? It was ludicrous and they both knew it.

"It's not fair." He said, staring at the ground.

"I would do the same, if I was them. How can anyone trust me or anyone in my family?" Smalls just shook his head. The thought of someone hating Heather enough to hurt her angered him, and some of the emotion he had bottled up over the previous days simmered.

"That doesn't make it right, Wilfred." He stated plainly. "The fact is, you didn't do anything." Wilfred shook his head.

"And that's the problem, lad. I didn't do anything. Come, it's getting late for breakfast."

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Wilfred said he wasn't hungry, and left. Well, Smalls was, and he didn't care how many dirty looks he was going to get, he was going to eat and that was final. He noticed Kyle out of the corner of his eye, but the other buck didn't seem much interested in him and went on with his (very) loud conversation.

Really, the Savory Den was packed. Smalls had heard the soldiers arriving at something like one A.M. the night before. Then he'd heard the drills early that morning, along with everyone else in the mountain, based on the decibel they were shouting. Most of the soldiers looked exhausted and eyed him warily. Even though they didn't know who he was, his First Warren uniform, like Pacer had pointed out previously, was not doing his conspicuousness any favors.

He was just sitting down to eat when a familiar voice hissed-

"Hey, Smalls,"

Smalls looked up in surprise. It was Evan.

"Huh? When did you get here?" Evan grinned.

"Two A.M. Ronan's still asleep."

"This is all Blackstone brought?"

"Half the garrison is sick." Evan shrugged. "Truff brought who he could. How under-cover are you?"

"No one here knows anything about me."

"Ah. Fun. What'd you do to your back? And-wait, are you on crutches?"

"It's a long story."

"I bet. Can't wait to hear it. You concussed too?"

"That joke is old Evan."

"And still hilarious." Evan smirked. Smalls rolled his eyes. Three times. I was concussed only three times! He told himself. In the span of a year. The more honest side of him whispered. "You almost done eating?" Evan asked.

"I'm still going to be hungry after this." Smalls said, glancing at his plate.

"You'll live. How long have you been here?"

"A little less than half a week."

"Is it as dull as they say?" Smalls shrugged.

"It's better than Kingston, if you know what I mean."

"Anything's better than Kingston."

Smalls finished his food and turned his plate in, before following Evan out the door.

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.

"Did you get my letters?" Evan asked first.

"A few days ago. You wrote twenty in one month." Smalls replied. Evan grinned.

"I had a lot to say."

"I can tell." They wandered into the library, claiming a table shoved into a corner in the back.

"You going to tell me what happened?" Evan asked. Smalls shrugged, but went on with the story anyways.

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"That's…a crazy few days." Evan said, sitting back.

"Did you know about Whittel?" Evan fidgeted.

"Yes." He finally responded. Smalls raised an eyebrow. "I eavesdropped a lot, okay?"

"Good to know." Smalls grumbled. "Never cared to share that information with Asher or I, did you."

"You know now." Evan pointed out. "And how was it affecting you before?" Smalls was forced to admit that it had not been affecting him at all. Smalls sighed. "Oh no," Evan said, his voice fake and over-the-top dramatic, "What on earth has my precious little brother so down?" Smalls rolled his eyes.

"You really need to stop that."

"How come? Does it annoy you?" Smalls ignored that.

"You need to tell Wilfred about Charity." He said flatly. Evan's cheerful attitude faltered.

"Smalls I-"

"Don't want to. I know. You told me. But you said you would, and it's the right thing to do." Smalls' voice didn't allow room for resistance. Evan sighed, and his normally cheerful demeanor dropped.

"I don't know what to do, Smalls. I really don't. It's a mess. Everything at Blackstone is a mess." He put his head in his hands. "Ronan really doesn't listen to me anymore-and his son is apparently jealous of me, though why on earth that is I really couldn't tell you. They won't listen to me." Smalls looked down. Wilfred's similar issues weighed on him. "I…...I didn't mention this, but I probably should have. Charity is Ronan's daughter. He protects her like a maniac and would probably murder me-prince or no-if he found out I was courting her."

"It's a secret?" Smalls asked, exasperated.

"What else was I supposed to do? I'd like to keep living, thanks. You're the only person I've told besides Asher, and he's all against it." Evan put his head in his hands. "Truth is, it's one huge disaster I don't know how to get out of. Charity's scared and Asher's mad, and Wilfred would be too if he knew about it." He looked up, his face pleading. "You can't tell him. Please. I know it's a lot and I know it isn't fair to shove it off onto you, but I really need to think and sort this out without Wilfred breathing down my neck." Smalls sighed. It wasn't going to end well, he knew that, but he knew Evan would do the same for him.

"Alright. I won't say anything-for now. But you can't hide it forever, Evan. Someone's bound to find out." He replied reluctantly.

"I know. I'm…...trying, Smalls. I'm at the end of my rope, but I'll try to climb back up." He abruptly changed the subject. "You've been talking a lot about this Heather, you aren't seeing her, are you?" Smalls flushed.

"No!" He answered quickly. "No, of course not." Evan raised his eyebrows.

"But you'd like to?" He asked, smirking. Smalls didn't reply. "C'mon, I won't tell anyone." Evan coaxed, annoying Smalls.

"I don't want to talk about it, Evan." He said, voice more snappish than usual.

"Confirmed." Evan said, snapping his fingers. "You're in love with her." Smalls' eyes widened.

"What-N-No I'm not." The stuttering at the beginning was so unlike him, that Evan seemed genuinely shocked. Then he laughed.

"She's got you good."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Smalls replied, his face feeling hot and flushed. Evan nodded.

"Okay. Sure. You're not in love with this doe you've spent way more time talking about than the actual adventure, a doe you've actually started stuttering over. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I don't think I've ever seen you this red."

"Stop it, Evan."

"I thought you wanted the truth?"

"This isn't the truth!"

"You're in denial."

"And you're extremely annoying." Evan grinned.

"We've established that. How come you won't just admit it and be done?"

"I-" Smalls broke off, realizing he didn't know why. No, wait a minute, Evan isn't right! This isn't the truth. It's just…And Smalls couldn't come up with an answer to that question. Evan seemed to be aware of his inner monologue, because he laughed and shook his head.

"Denying what you feel is only going to work for so long, Smalls." He remarked. "Mark my words." Smalls shook his head.

"I'd rather talk politics." He muttered.

"This is more interesting." Evan replied cheerfully. That was up for debate.

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AHHHH! Evan's finally here! I can't even describe my excitment at Evan making fun of Smalls. He's such an older brother. Tell me what you think of him in the comments.