Roland had several drinks with Hannah as they continued to discuss things, both political and more personal.

And some more drinks…and more…

Now the stories were just any random subject as the duo became somewhat unhinged thanks to the alcohol.

She was sitting on the table, Roland stood in front of her.

"One thing…this continent has over Mantle…the hunting. When I was just a lil prince, I begged my father to take me hunting. Seemed fun…but in Solitas…it's all fucking snow. And my dad didn't want me to be against anything dangerous…so we were out there, hunting fucking penguins!" The drunken prince said giggling like a madman.

Both heirs were united in laughter from Roland's storytelling.

"Your father…took you…to hunt adorable penguins?"

"I shot a little one! His brains spat out everywhere and it got on me. I was bawling like a baby" Roland recalled.

"Oh by the gods that's so sad" Hannah said as she began gulping down the bottle rather than refilling her glass.

"The mother penguin came and beat me up my….the bodyguards had to pull her off me and..Hey they are surprisingly tough critters!" Roland defended himself. Then a knock was made on the door. Roland looked at it annoyed.

"I'm busy discussing politics…stuff!" He said, not being able to think of more official sounding words for it thanks to the alcohol.

"Sir, Kimba has returned from training" the soldier at the door said. Roland suddenly blinked and his expression became more serious.

"Why didn't they say it would be today…" he said, wishing he hadn't decided to get drunk. He was about to excuse himself from his talk with Hannah, but she had passed out on the table.

He walked to the side, there was a coffee machine thankfully. He made himself a cup and quickly scarfed it down. Setting it down, he felt slightly more sober.

He then walked to the door, opening it and addressing the soldier.

"So…where is she?"

"Down the hall to the right, sir" the soldier explained.

Roland walked according to the soldiers instructions. It had only been a few months since he last saw Kimba, but it felt like years.

He breathed in before he opened the door.

On the other side, there she was. A very young girl with brown skin but snow-white hair. She was in a mantle military outfit and had her hands behind her back. She seemed a bit nervous to see him.

"Hello, Prince Roland sir…I have returned from training in Alsius. I am ready to serve" she said.

Roland gave a warm smile to her, before walking over to the white haired girl. Instead of any type of professional greeting, he simply hugged her. She initially seemed surprised and stunned by this, but eventually she hugged him back.

"I missed you Kimba" Roland said sincerely..

"I…missed you too, Prince Roland" she replied.

He finally ceased the hug.

"I am happy to have you here…now that your training is complete, you will make an excellent contribution to the war effort" he explained happily. She nodded.

"Anything I can do to help, I will" the young woman responded. Roland put a hand on the girls shoulder.

"Now…me and Hannah…we came up with some plans you might be able to help with…." He said as he guided her to a room to discuss these matters, with Kimba following the prince.

—--

The Emerald Forest

The 4 knights-in-training were walking through the forest. Rory walked with both hands behind his back to rest his hand a bit. Shiloh seemed to observe and take in the little details of her surroundings, while Qin seemed to dance along the way humming to herself.

Chara was still very suspicious of Qin. The girl with the opera mask was very…upbeat, but that made her seem even more intimidating.

Chara looked over at Shiloh, she hadn't gotten to know Shiloh very well, sense they were distracted by the situation with the dead body.

"Hello fellow team-mate!...I wanted to…talk with you if that's okay" Chara said. Shiloh turned to her, her dead seemed to motion as if it were looking her up and down.

"I am fine talking" Shiloh said

"That is great!...Why did…you decide to become a knight?" Chara asked

"I thought it would be interesting" Shiloh answered bluntly.

"...that's it?" Chara asked, she had become a knight to learn to help people and protect the kingdom, but this other girl had done so just for some entertainment?

"That's the jist of it ... .Lots of people were used to peacetime in Vale, but I was born into a world of excitement. I was raised by someone who had a rivalry with the king and had all sorts of schemes to make Ozymandias' life a living hell. So I just want to find more thrills in life" she explained. Chara had quite a few questions based on that, like who this person who raised her was. But she just avoided that.

"Do you…care about people?" Chara asked.

"Some, in my own way" Shiloh said.

Chara couldn't help but find this peculiar.

Rory listened in on the 2 girls' conversation and pondered the situation as he rested in his own hands, he felt a bit bad for Chara. Chara was basically the only 'traditional' student for knighthood here. Rory knew full well he was basically forced to do this, Shiloh was an amoral thrill seeker, and Qin was….Qin.

He looked over to the dancing girl again, she was so peculiar.

Well, if he was going to be stuck on a team with the girl, he should at least try being friendly.

Against his better judgment, he walked over to her.

"Hey…I'm Rory, I realize we might have gotten off on the wrong foot…hope you don't eat feet too" he joked, hoping that would lighten the mood a bit. She chuckled at it, so it seemed to be working?

He tried to make some more small talk with her, maybe it would smooth things over more.

"You wonder why we're here?" Rory asked

"Ah, so you ponder the gods intentions as well" Qin replied

"I what?" Rory asked

"My father told me there were no gods. And if they were they didn't care about us, that the violence that was intricate to the lives of us mere mortals was proof of flawed design…when I joined the resistance in Mistral, I learned how this was a foolish gesture ... .In every creation myth, it was 2 who created us. Light and Darkness. Through Akion philosophy…."

"Akion?"

"When we help others and spread justice we give worship to Light. When we kill and spread death we give worship to Darkness. I have learned balance! I kill, and mangle and main in the name of defeating the evil that is the empire! I give worship to both of our gods! I have spilled lakes of blood as my holy water in this divine mission….why do you think we are here, Rory?" She asked

Rory looked at her for a solid minute. Giving only slight blinks in response.

"I mean why are we here? Like, in this forest. It seems like a barbaric training method" Rory explained more clearly.

"Oh, probably just a team building exercise to get us to know each other better" Qin answered simply.

"How unfortunate for us" Rory said, wishing he knew a little bit less about her then he did.

I decided to slow things down a bit. Sense I was told by another person that I was having a lot happen at once. So decided to mainly have this be a talkative chapter. Will try having some action next one.