A/N: After this, I'll take a brief break from this story to upload the next chapter of 'A Mortal Pain' and 'Morrow Days vs. The World.' I also have a holiday short starring Pravuil and his Most Venerable Mistress planned...

After that, it's full steam ahead with this rewrite!

CHAPTER TWO- MARSHALL DAWN

"You're late."

Sir Thursday's voice was sharp and cutting, like a sword.

"Yes, sir. I apologize," Marshall Dawn said sheepishly, and gestured to a chair. "Take a seat, recruit."

Arthur sat.

Dawn sat next to Thursday, on his right, looking a bit uncomfortable. Noon, on his left, seemed similarly disposed. Dusk, next to Arthur, was the only one of the three who was relaxed.

Probably because he could use Noon or me as shields if it comes to it, Arthur thought.

"Hello, recruit," Thursday greeted, though not kindly. "You better like chicken."

"Actually, I-"

"Shut up! That was not asking for a response!" Thursday knocked on the table to accentuate his point. Noon nearly jumped, startled, and Dawn winced.

"Sorry, sir," Arthur amended.

"You better be." Thursday took a bite of his chicken and chewed angrily. Arthur was surprised he wasn't tearing into it viciously. He seemed to calm down by the time he swallowed, however, and sighed. "Recruit, I'm ordering you now- do not try to take my Key or free the Will. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Wine?" Thursday waved to a glass of dark-red liquid in front of the boy.

"I'm, um, underage, so I don't-"

"I do not allow alcohol in the Great Maze," Sir Thursday said coldly, "or any other type of stimulant for that matter. It wouldn't do to have soldiers in a stupor when the enemy advanced."

"Oh." Arthur took a sip. It was sweet, the taste foreign, though it dimly reminded him of strawberries and raspberries. "It's good."

Thursday nodded.

White-clad Denizens filed in, whisked away their half-eaten plates, and placed a bowl of ice cream in front of them. He noticed Sir Thursday had the largest portion, but had the sense not to comment on it. Arthur tried a bit of it, tasting it on the tip of his tongue. It was strangely warm in his mouth, though when he poked the ice cream still in the bowl, it was quite cold. He didn't bother wondering about it and simply wrote it off as yet another marvel of the House.

Thursday leaned back and sighed, eyes closed, the rage drained from his face. "Dawn."

"Yes, sir?"

"I don't want to go back."

"Go back where, sir?" she asked.

Thursday did not reply.

"Rise and shine, recruit!"

Arthur groaned as Marshall Dawn thrust open the door. "Come on, you have to report to Corporal Gunsworth in fifteen minutes!"

"What for?" he moaned, climbing out of bed. He'd been so nervous after hearing something suspiciously like glass break in Thursday's room that he had slept fitfully the entire night. His window revealed it was still dark out, and he didn't appreciate being woken with having had so little sleep.

"Training. What else?" Dawn grinned at his drowsiness, and noticed The Recruit's Companion lying open on his desk. "Were you studying?"

"A bit," Arthur admitted, "but I gave up. It's a bit difficult to wrap my head around."

"You have a hundred years to learn."

Arthur scowled. "I know."

"Oh, come on, Mr. Grumpy Pants! Hurry up! You don't want to get off on the wrong foot with Corp. Gunsworth!"

Arthur nodded, slightly irritated by Dawn's perkiness. Most superior Denizens were rather rude, but she was pretty friendly. Too energetic, perhaps, but friendly.

"You haven't shaved," Dawn said when Arthur emerged from the Marshalls' private washroom five minutes later.

"But my skin's smooth!" he protested. "I'm TWELVE. I won't have to shave for years!"

"Sorry. Regulations. Even I have to shave." She stuck her tongue out at the thought. "Waste of time, really, but Sir Thursday change it unless the Upper House gives the order, and they have better things to do than go over a rule about shaving." She gently pushed him back towards the washroom's weirdway. "In you go, and hurry up! You're going to be late."

Arthur, grumbling, went back into the weirdway. He hated how off-balance he felt in them as the inky black whatever-it-was he walked on bent and shifted underfoot at the slightest pressure. This time, Marshall Noon was in front of one of the three sinks, soaking his red hair by holding it under the spout. Arthur didn't know how he'd gotten there, because he wasn't there before and the boy would have seen him if the marshall had gone past him through the entrance to the weirdway. Maybe there were more doors or weirdways that led there.

Noon stopped, stood, shook his head like a dog, and then turned to glare at Arthur. "What?"

"N-nothing, sir. Sorry." Arthur slapped some cream on his face, but stopped when Noon cleared his throat.

"You have to frisk it in the bowl, recruit, to make it lather. And use the back of the blade, so you don't behead yourself." He was gone before Arthur could thank him, but the boy followed his instructions and entered the weirdway just as the washroom began to disappear. Dawn nodded in satisfaction. "Good. This way."

She pointed out 'landmarks' for him to remember as they went. "I don't have the time to escort you every day, so you'll need to learn your way around," she explained. "If you get lost, ask a Denizen for directions."

They finally stopped outdoors in a parade ground of sorts. Several groups of Denizens were performing drills or simply marching, but Dawn strode right past them, to a medium-built, short Denizen only half a foot taller than Arthur.

Come to think of it, many Denizens in the Great Maze that he had seen were shorter. Perhaps it was for practicality in battle, Arthur mused.

"Corp. Gunsworth," Dawn greeted, and saluted.

"'Ello, Mars'all Dawn," Gunsworth bellowed, so loudly he accidentally startled a group of Denizens performing a complicated-looking drill. Arthur winced.

"Here's Recruit Penhaligon. He's all yours for the day."

"'E's all mine, is 'e?" Gunsworth grinned. "I'll make a soldier outta 'im, Mars'all."

Dawn smiled, saluted once more, and left.

"S'e's a real doll," Gunsworth said. "Not like all t'ose ot'er 'ig'er-up snobs."

"I guess so, sir. From what I've seen, that is."

"Wot? I wasn't talking to you!" he snapped. "All rig't, recruit, let me see you take ten paces forward."

Arthur wasn't sure what a pace exactly was- one or two steps- but he decided to risk it, and stopped where he'd counted ten.

"Can't you count, recruit? T'at was nine!"

Arthur took another step and muttered apologies.

"Now stand at attention!" Gunsworth barked.

Arthur complied.

The rest of the day passed with Gunsworth bellowing commands, and Arthur following them. He felt like he had learned at least a million different drills, but Gunsworth told him the real number- five. By the time he was excused for dinner, he was exhausted, barely standing. Either Dawn assumed he would be able to get there himself or she was held up, because no one came to show him the way.

Arthur had to ask a grumpy-looking Denizen in what he thought was Horde armor, who waved him off in the general direction of the mess, and ended up sitting down twenty minutes late.

Sir Thursday shot him a look of pure hatred. "What took you so long?"

"I got lost," Arthur admitted.

"Hmph," Thursday snorted, but Dawn said, "Do you like xghsitfh?"

"Um, what?"

"Xghsitfh," she repeated, holding up a plate of bright orange meat-looking food.

"I've never had it in my life."

Thursday narrowed his eyes. "Are you too good for the food at my table?"

"No, not at all!" Arthur hastily speared a lump of the… whatever it was… and shoved it in his mouth. It tasted an awful lot like chicken, but had the consistency of frog legs. When Arthur was only halfway through his meal, Thursday excused himself and strode away, pausing to smash a glass sculpture before exiting.

"He restrained himself," Noon said casually, mouth full. "Must be a good day."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Dusk retorted, mouth also full.

Dawn gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. Arthur laughed, and then she joined in, and Dusk and Noon too, though they still hadn't swallowed. Dawn shot them a warning look that made everyone laugh even harder, and Dusk nearly choked before Noon gave him a Denizen's version of the Heimlich.

"I'm done," Dusk said, slightly red in the face, and walked out of the mess. After a moment, Noon followed him.

Alone with Arthur, Dawn grinned. "Are you up for a little fun?"

"Sure."

"C'mon, let me show you my secret spot."

Dawn's secret spot, it turned out, was up at least twenty flights of stairs. Instead of going through the door at the top of the ridiculously tall tower, she stopped just a hair short of it and waited for Arthur, who by then was at least fifteen steps below her with aching thighs and trembling legs, regretting his decision to accompany her. Once Arthur reached her, Dawn pushed him into the wall.

Except he didn't hit a wall.

He landed on his back in a weirdway, for a moment thinking, as he stared at the inky darkness above and around him, that he was going blind. Then his mind caught up as Dawn emerged and helped him up.

"This way," she said, voice sounding abnormally flat in the weirdway, as if the strange 'walls' were drinking in the noise, only the smallest slivers escaping to be heard.

Arthur followed her, the weirdway taking many twists and turns, like a convulsing snake. They exited into sudden light that was rather dim since the Maze's clockwork sun was nearly set, but it seemed immensely bright to Arthur after the barely-lit weirdway, sending him into fits of uncontrolled blinking.

"Oh, I thought I had more. Oh well."

Arthur turned. "More what?"

Dawn winked. "Water balloons." She was holding too and standing next to an open chest. He realized they were on a low parapet that seemed to have no door and was hidden in a little 'pocket' of the building. From their position, he could see several Denizens milling about below, most noticeably Noon, standing out because of his fiery red hair.

Dawn handed him a water balloon. "This is a water balloon."

"I know that, sir."

"Humor me." She pointed to Noon. "That is my brother."

"He is, sir?"

"Well, not biologically, of course. I just call him that."

"All right." Arthur nodded.

"Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, sir."

Dawn made a throwing motion.

"Oooh," Arthur exhaled, understanding and moving to the edge of the parapet. "Will he see us?"

"Not at all. This is invisible from below."

"Why, sir?"

"How should I know? It just is! Yet another perk of the House. Now, shall I give the count, or shall you?"

"You do it, sir."

"All right." Dawn smirked mischievously. "One… two… THREE!"

At 'three,' they both threw the balloons, watching them smack into Noon below.

"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?" he yelled. "WHERE DO THESE DRATTED THINGS KEEP COMING FROM?!"

Arthur laughed, and Dawn's bell-like tones joined in with his in harmony. He didn't think he'd ever laughed so much in one day with one Denizen, with the possible exception of Suzy, though she was a Piper's Child and he was usually in too much danger to appreciate it when she tried to make him feel better, though he did afterwards.

They bombarded several other Denizens in the same fashion until Dawn ran out of the water balloons. "Let's head back," Dawn suggested. "You need to rest up for tomorrow."

Arthur's smile faded. Back down twenty flights of stairs? He wasn't sure he could do that. "Could we rest a bit first, sir. To gather energy?"

"Sure."

Arthur sat down and closed his eyes. He was certain it was only a second, but when he opened them, Dawn was carrying him, and they were half-way down the tower. He shut them again, deeply asleep, and far into slumber by the time Dawn lay him in his bed.