Quillan had grown up as the youngest of six children to a poor farmer and his wife in a small village called Valta. It had been a farming town near the capital which was where they had sold the crops they grew. They weren't far from the place of his birth now, maybe a dozen miles at most, which also meant that they were very close to the capital, closer than comfort would like if this was where Queen Photine had died.

Quillan had been six years old when she died. Although he had been young, that day was one of his earliest memories. He knew the Queen had been giving a speech right outside the capital of Anthe and there had been an explosion in the middle of the crowd; Quillan hadn't been there but the sound the explosion had made he'd heard it from all the way in Valta. He'd felt the ground tremble beneath his small, dirty feet.

The bomb hadn't even been the height of death that day; after the explosion, men had opened fire on the crowd. Chaos and fear ran rampant and death had reigned over all.

People claimed lots of things after that day, the Unmaking, especially about Queen Photine. Quillan had never really believed any of them. But, apparently the one about the Lost Child--the one who'd been saved by the Queen in her last moments and was allegedly the bastard of Photine herself--were true, or part of it was true.

Quillan wasn't sure if Asena was their princess or the part about the Lost Child being the heir to Astos was simply a fabrication. His mind skipped back to the song he had sung the other day while on sentry duty. It had been about the Lost Child--Asena apparently.

The older girl's parentage was a question Quillan was asking himself over and over again as he swung his ax against what had to be at least a fifty year old oak tree. A tried looking Elizeus had not so much told as ordered them to go far into the woods and chop as much wood as they could.

The squad leader hadn't said why and Quillan wasn't dumb enough to ask. The older boy wasn't mean exactly, but he always spoke sternly and curtly. And he has a look that could strike a man dead in a second. Quillan thought as his ax connected with the nearly downed tree and the impact made his arms shutter.

The summer sun beat down on him and his skin felt like a flame had been placed under it. Quillan reached over his head to pull off his shirt. On instinct, Quillan sucked in a big breath of air, still self conscious even though his body had changed and become corded with lean muscle.

He had always been slim, and truthfully still was, though now there was hard muscle beneath his skin and definition in his arms and abdomen.

Quillan was embarrassed when his eyes searched to see if Evony was watching, but embarrassment turned to disappointment when he found her chatting with Aislinn, not even glancing in his direction.

He understood it though, he wasn't exactly a sight to see. He didn't have Elizeus' height let alone his muscles. And, well Quillan saw how Evony looked at Elizeus. He understood it, but that didn't stop the tinge of bitterness that went through his body.

"So," Drawled Arkyn, his ax was on the ground, next to a newly felled tree, and he was reaching his olive hands towards the sky, stretching. "Any idea what this is all for?"

Kainda swiped at strand of blond hair that was stuck to her face with sweat, though she had little hair due to her short pixie cut, and just shrugged. Kainda crossed the distance between her and Aislinn and captured her girlfriend's lips with her own. It was an odd looking kiss since Kainda was six feet tall and Aislinn was nearly ten inches shorter.

"Maybe we need the wood for tent framing." Evony suggested, her full cheeks were rosy from the morning she spent with Aislinn chopping the trees Quillan, Rhosyn, Arkyn, and Kainda cut down into smaller more manageable sections.

"Close. We are building something." Said a voice behind Quillan who hadn't been there before. Evony let out a small, adorable squeak of mild fright and her hand fluttered to her chest, a blush was snaking its way up her neck and face. Which lead Quillan to look at her full chest, he hoped he didn't he didn't flush too.

When Quillan turned he saw why Evony was the same shade as a strawberry, Elizeus was leaning against a tree, an ax held casually in his hand. He was also shirtless and looked way better than Quillan himself.

He expected Evony's face to now be the shade of a tomato, maybe even Rhosyn would blush at Elizeus. When Quillan turned, Evony was indeed tomato-red, but Rhosyn was rolling her eyes in the manner of an annoyed sister and mouthed Show off. He knew that there would be little reaction from Kainda and Aislinn--who only had eyes for each other. Arkyn turned away from the squad leader and began hacking at another tree, Quillan could have sworn that there was a flush on his cheeks.

"There's much work to be done." Elizeus pushed himself off the tree with the grace of someone at ease in his body. Quillan could fake that grace and ease when he was on missions--he excelled at blending into groups and therefore was sent on a few undercover missions--but he rarely had it in his day-to-day life.

Rhosyn tilted her head, considering, the bright red curtain of her hair swayed with the movement. She fluffed out and stretched her wings, a shade lighter than her hair. The wind blew gently, making her fox-colored feathers sway back and forth.

"Will you please stop being so furtive," Her voice dripped good-natured annoyance. "It's super irritating," Her green eyes lifted towards the sky even as the corner of her cupid bow mouth quirked upwards.

She teased and prodded Elizeus in the way Quillan had seen Aislinn and Arkyn do to their siblings in camp--Chaska and Sadira respectively. It was the same way his brothers had teased him when he was young. The thought of his brothers made him cringe and hastily push the thought of his elder siblings away.

Elizeus smiled to himself, not a happy smile but a conspiratorial one. It seemed like Elizeus never smiled out of mirth--save for the hidden smiles when he was with Altin. "Fine." He said flatly and began to divulge the plan he and Daesyn had conjured. Quillan felt his eyes go wide and a smile broke out across his face.