The amber light of evening began to descend upon the desert, and as the wind blew in from the North it brought a prescient chill to those still milling around outside. Kolaran, cold-blooded as he was, began to shrink into his seat. He did so as subtly as he could - though the coming night was a death sentence for him, it wasn’t proper to slouch.

“Cold?”

“Yes master, I do believe there’sss a slight nip to the air.” Kolaran replied, shifting uncomfortably. The look on Sehrti’s face told him that his master was concerned, but whether it was on behalf of his slave or simply for himself, he could not say. It depended on how soured his mood was after the day’s events.

“You, I mean.” The Elf smiled briefly; a fleeting hint of friendship before he was grabbed by the need to reaffirm his social position. He forced the expression into more of a smirk, and waved dismissively with his hands. “After all, you’re no good to me half-frozen. I think we should find somewhere to be.”

“We agree.” a pair of stern voices rang in unison, coming from directly behind Sehrti.

Now the smirk turned to a look of dread. He assumed the voices belonged to guards who had somehow caught wind of his illicit activities. This paranoia wasn’t completely unfounded. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he had been forced to spend a night in a jail cell… but that didn’t mean that he’d go gladly. Sehrti began to consider his options.

If he hadn’t lost all the money he’d had on his person, he could’ve bribed them - his usual and most reliable tactic. The lawmen in Nahreen weren’t particularly scrupulous and would often look the other way for a cut of the spoils. If it had been women, he could’ve tried flattery. The success rate was higher than one might expect. However, this wasn’t an option here. He could run, but Kolaran would be getting sluggish at this time of the evening.

In those brief seconds between hearing the patrolmen speak and turning to face them, he crossed idea after idea off his list until it came to the last item. Sehrti’s only remaining option was his least favourite, because it would involve revealing the true height of his nobility to everyone present. He wouldn’t be able to move freely amongst the commoners in this part of town again, not without being stopped by every hungry mouth on the street. Still, he could find somewhere else to lurk - better than being arrested.

“Listen here friend, do you have any idea who I am—“ he began. Yet as the young Elf spun around, his expression dropped even further. These were not mere officers of the law, as he had first suspected. They were palace guards, dressed in lavish gilded armour and purple silken tabards.

“We certainly do, milord.” One replied, tersely. “You and your lizard are to be escorted to the palace at once.”

His neck turned owl-like between them and Kolaran in disbelief. The Gardu slave offered a slight shrug, as if to corroborate his state of confusion. Of course, neither could anticipate what would be said next.

“Your father, his excellency Ateret I, demands your presence.”