"It's better this way, no more sorrow, no more pain."

"You can't lift it, but you can end it."

"They won't have to worry anymore."

These thoughts were all Zael could think about as his fingers tied the rope around the rafter, standing precariously on the edge of the bed, stepping down to gaze at his work... It was truly depressing. he looked down at his arm, disgusted, he pulled the sleeve down. he wasn't going to worry about that anymore. He was going to be released from the pain, he stepped onto the small table underneath the hanging rope, pulling it down around his neck, he stopped for only a few seconds. no, it was for the best. he stepped back and kicked the table across the room, he felt himself drop, finally, an end to his suffering.

"Augh! Gack!"

Zael clutched at the rope around his neck, this wasn't supposed to happen! His neck was being constricted by the rope, he hadn't dropped far enough, it was so simple, he felt the blood flow to his head slowing down and his vision began to fade. He turned to look out the window the beautiful view outside, now at a new perspective from his higher elevation, looking down he saw the bright green flash of the Maid in the Kitchen, presumably bringing up his last meal. So she would be the one to discover his body. he looked up a little. seeing the familiar red flowers in his daughters room, he started to fall into a state of unconsciousness, wait, what was that. a small blur of pink set another plant next to the red ones, they turned and moved, the shiny brown locks being pulled out the window. His Daughter... he had forgotten his daughter...

"No... what have I done..."

He watched the world around him turn black, now regretting his selfish choice. a dark cackling filling his ears.

Zael felt his head being lifted into a sitting position as he awoke. He was Alive? How? He opened his eyes reluctantly to see Edo placing a pillow behind him, Edo jumped back startled by the movement Edo jumped back and reached for a weapon that simply wasn't there.

"Edo, calm down..."

"Milord... I-I am not the one who needs to calm down." Edo looked down at the ground in sadness.

"What do you mean?" Zael stood up, confused by the meaning. "Who are you talking about, WHAT are you talking about!"

Zael stood up, ignoring the bruising around his throat and grabbed Edo by the shoulder, turning his hand over his heart sunk, a small red flower fell to the ground. Edo looked up at him with a lost respect.

"She saved your life... and she isn't faring too well herself."

Damn! of all the blasted things that could happen. why Ariana, In his selfishness, he overlooked those closest to him, he had forgotten about Edo, and he had forgotten his own flesh and blood.

"I'm going to go see her."

Zael turned on his heel. before being stopped by Edo in the doorway.

"Milord, I can't let you leave without explaining yourself. Why would you do this!"

This was unexpected, his personal adviser and friend Edo was showing expression for what was quite possibly the first time. and it was sheer Anger. Zael groaned and ducked under his shoulder walking up the stairway.

"You know exactly why Edo. and I'm sorry."

Tawnya had shed her maids headband and had opted for her bow, she planned on inviting Cooper to go hunting like they used too, but lo and behold, the shit hit the fan... She had arrived just in time to shoot the rope out of the rafters. since then, she had taken Ariana back to her room and was comforting her while Cooper and Thade took care of everything there. Thade was just as serious as her boss when he wanted too. but for now, she was just staying with Ariana until she could calm down. which wasn't gonna be anytime soon. she had been sobbing for an hour before she literally cried herself to sleep, she had awoken since then and was in a sad state.

"Would you like anything to drink?"

Ariana shook her head, no longer crying, but still visibly red.

"No. I'm fine... Just need to calm down."

Tawnya nodded and turned toward the door, as she reached for the handle, it swung open, Tawnya could barely jump back in time as it swung open.

"Ari?"

Tawnya didn't even have to look at the person in the doorway to know who it was, and it was about to get way too awkward for her tastes. She slipped out after the King walked in, closing the door behind her and leaning against the wall in the hallway, leave the Daddy Daughter antics to the people who still have dads...

"Tawnya!"

She turned to her side where Thade had just whipped around the corner, Though he slipped and continued along the other pathway until she heard a loud crash, rolling her eyes as Thade came back around the turn.

"Tawnya!" Thade collapsed at her feet, having ran all the way to the top floor. "Wheres his Majesty!"

Tawnya tilted her head toward Ariana's door, causing Thade to press his hand to the bridge of his nose, before sighing a strange "phhh" sound.

"You are a COWARD!"

Both Tawnya and Thade jumped at the sound of breaking glass from behind the door, along with more incessant yelling coming from the Princess, along with several thwarted attempts by the King to calm her down, which resulted poorly. this continued for far too long, yet neither Tawnya or Thade wanted to open the door and release the beast that is a pissed off princess...

"so..."

Thade broke the silence as he was sitting against the area where the floor met the wall, his hand on his knee, his dirty blonde hair still ruffled from his slip earlier. recalling it made Tawnya laugh a little under her breath.

"It wasn't that funny..." Thade looked up at her, she cocked an eyebrow at him, her bow still slung over her shoulder. "Alright maybe a bit..."

They both laughed until the door was thrown open, the princess, who was ironically shorter than them both, stomped out of the room, wearing her battle attire, still perfectly polished from before, now had a small dent on her lower ribcage, before her father could follow she slammed the door shut. Glancing t the two of them before simply walking away like nothing ever happened. Sliding the door open, they looked in on the panting man inside.

"She's... whoo... gotten stronger... and more short tempered..."

"Well can you blame her?"

The Librarian flipped the pages of the first in a new shipment of books, the excuse was to 'proof' read them, but she was a quick reader, and the new shipment was small. glancing out the Window she saw how dark it was getting, pulling her cloak on as she resumed reading. or at least until her door opened and a man with blue Hair came back inside.

"I heard there was a huge Ruckus outside, I assume you couldn't resist not getting involved?" The Crimson haired librarian glanced up at him.

"Oh Laugh it up, You know I can't understand what your saying..."

Ah Yes, Asis, pronounced like a spring in a desert had shown up a week prior, and thanks to her generous offer to let him stay in the library, she had learnt quite a bit about him. Like how he also wrote, which is what led her to letting him stay in the first place. His favorite color was Blue, like the sky, and the most intriguing bit of information sh had picked up on, was that he was absolutely Deaf. which had misled her for the longest time considering how fluent he was in conversation, which resulted in several days of... antics... between the two.

"And yeah, I saved a life, thanks for asking." Asis stated before taking the spot across from the Librarian.

"Oh, well there's a first." The Librarian closed the book and slid it to the side as Asis pulled the blue tome closer.

"Cheerful as ever Gemini..." Asis called the Librarian by name as he resumed writing in the blue tome, the ink shimmering as the pages filled. "I brought back some coffee if you'd like."

Gemini beamed as he pulled out the small bag filled with small brown rounds, they mocked each other frequently, but damn it, he was thoughtful. taking the bag from his hand, she tested it's weight, a pound... and a half... pure... He even got quality beans... She was going to have to repay him by making it along with a damn good breakfast in the morning.

"yep, You like."

Asis smirked as he waited for another page to dry. Gemini pretended not to her the deaf man as She put the coffee away. whistling an old tune just to spite him as she came back, eliciting an oh so satisfying groan from him. they conversed until the moon began to rise, Gemini was just about to recommend turning in for the night when the door opened, startling Gemini enough to make her jump. Though Since Asis had his back to the door and he couldn't hear anything he just glanced at her oddly before turning to the door.

"Cowardly Dastard..."

A short figure walked in, shivering from the cold night, stepping into the light both the people sitting at the table recognized her

"Ah your Highness! what are you doing here this late?" Gemini stood up and bowed curtly.

Asis however, stayed sitting, glancing at the woman who had killed the brigand earlier. showing no such formality to Ariana.

"Highness?"

Ariana caught eyes with Asis, it took a minute before she recognised him.

"You! your the Man from this morning!"

She stepped forward at him, resulting with an extreme lack of reaction from him Asis simply nodded before resuming to write in his tome, facing the opposite way from her as she tried to converse with him. which lasted several moments before Gemini gripped her shoulder.

"your Highness... your wasting your breath... He's tired and can't hear you..." She snapped her fingers an inch from his ear "you see, Asis is, well, deaf to the world... unless he sees you talking, face to face, this conversation will go nowhere."

Ariana sighed, clearly tuckered out as well as she pulled out a chair. "Of course..."

"Your Highness... may I ask why you are here? it's far too late to simply be taking a stroll..." Gemini took the seat across from hers as she asked.

"Oh... well, you see..."

"Shut up Sly, just shut up. Please..."

Tawnya had already had enough of her younger cousins younger antics, their job was to find Ariana before the shit hit the fan, and all Cooper was doing was slowing her down and dragging them places they had already been.

"Aw Relax, Ariana's going to be fine, you need to loosen up a bit."

"Well Cooper, there will be plenty of time to 'relax' once we make sure she's alright, so please, Shut the Hell up."

Thade finally managed to get him to follow along without whining like a small child. Tawnya was tempted to hug the man already, but there were more important things to do. She had to find Her friend before anything went wrong, and... wait, why is there a crowd over there by the port? that wasn't normal.

"Hey! you guys work in the castle right?" A villager had exited the group and approached them.

"Huh? er... Yes. Why?"

"Oh Grand! We were really hoping for your help, Lady!"

Tawnya stumbled over her words as she chose a response... or at least tried too. she just stammered until Thade interjected

"These two are frightfully busy sir, but I believe I could be able to help?"

The young Villager nodded happily "Well Thanks a ton! It'll be easier to show you though..."

Tawny caught his eye at the last second and gave him a pleading look, which he seemed to understand, as he turned to Sly

"Sly, could you come help write this down for me?"

Tawnya left quickly before Sly could get a few words in, though she could guess what he would be saying, but now she could look for Ariana without any more interruptions. now all that was left was to find out where she would go. The only problem with that... She had no idea where she went or who she could be with... and she calls herself a friend...

It was hard to hear most of her story with the deaf mans snoring, and no amount of yelling or able shaking would change that, but Gemini got the gist of it. Their beloved King had made an attempt oh his own life. It was the first she'd heard of it, though it wasn't surprising.

"Milady... if you'd find it satisfactory, you could spend the night here." Gemini nodded over towards Asis "Whats one more really?"

Ariana opened her mouth to respond, but stopped still and turned towards the door, as she did so Asis got up, surprisingly active despite just falling asleep. Gemini had no Idea what was going on until the door broke open and the splinters littered the ground, several armed soldiers were ransacking the library. Asis tosses her an elegant red tome that she read ever so quickly, singing a line through the mess, opening a pathway for them to get to work. Both Ariana and Asis lunging in from the sides, holding the Library as they attempted to storm in.

"these aren't Bigands!"

"Oh gee! Ya think!" Gemini shouted at the blue haired man as he advanced towards the door, the numbers thinning, though not by much, they were all able to advance to the doorway, noticing the utter chaos of their situation, hundreds, but not quite thousands of people were running up and down the roads, most civilians, but a large number of mysteriously armed soldiers, their insignia unfamiliar, but battle chants were loud and common to them. and of them Gemini deduced one thing.

"For Valm!" wasn't something she'd want to hear again.