~knock, knock, knock~

Daebru opens his eyes slowly sitting up, "Who calls?" he looks over to the door and grimaces as his voice squeaks a bit.

"It's me Haaru, Galora's brother is requesting us at the manor"

"give me a moment to get dressed, Jude?"

"... yeah sure thing, I'll be out here when you're ready"

Daebru moves around the room careful not to pull any stitches as he gets dressed, Sune moves over to him to help silently holding the chest piece in place, "thanks," he mutters with a soft smile and Sune nods in response, "hopefully it's nothing too problematic and I'll be home in time for supper."

"That would be nice for once" Sune smiles at him, "be careful there, Galora was not pleased with the way the performance went the other day"

"I know, and I will be" he tucks a strand of hair behind his ear as his mind seems to drift to nothing in particular.

A few moments pass and the tapping of an impatient foot can be heard as Daebru steps out into the hall and gives an overly doey eyed apologetic look to Jude, "don't ... I'll not fall for the puppy eyes this time Haaru, you can't woo me with those moonlight eyes of yours"

"They look like moonlight do they?" he purrs up at the woman, roughly in her late twenties, human with a nice ebony chocolate skin tone and eyes black as pitch. She wears simple form fitting dark leathers with a cowl to hide her face upon occasion, "so kind of you love"

"You're such a charmer aren't you?" the woman turns and puts her hands on the wall to either side of Daebru's head, "and just what do you think we'll get up to," she leans in close her lips but inches from Daebru's, "should I fall for you? hmm?" her head tilts to the side and she gives the young man a kiss on his cheek before she pulls away.

"..." he's stunned for a moment, "I'm sure we'll think of something" familiar... why does that seem familiar? his vision seems to waver for a moment as he stares after Jude.

They are greeted at the gates by weary guardsmen, "Identify yourselves!" one barks out at them as he raises up his spear slightly. 

Jude smiles at them, "We were summoned by Brennan Cromwell. I'm Jude and this is the Lady Haaru" she gestures over to Daebru.

"I see... yes we were informed you'd be coming in" he knocks on the gate, "open up, the guests are here" and a smaller door in the large gate is unlocked and opened up.

The courtyard is quite, the few outdoor works lower their heads as the two guards and the guests make their way to the main house, not out of respect, but almost like they're afraid of what will happen if they make eye contact. Jude nods towards the one human among them and Daebru notices the burn marks on their arm and face, fresh from the fires yesterday.

"Brennan will meet you in the office, two doors down on the right of the main hallway" he sighs before turning to head back out to his post, "gods help us," he mutters.

The room is dimly lit as they knock on the door and enter. A few nobles are positioned around the room, and go silent as Jude and Daebru come in, "Ah, they're here ... th-thank the gods you're here" a spindly man in maroon robes stands up from behind the desk, worry riddled over his rather young face. He moves around the desk fiddling with the edge of his sleeves, twisting them with nervousness, "I ... w-we need help" he stutters out, "Ga-Galora ... she's .. she been t-t-t-taken a-and we need you to g-gget her back" he looks around at the other nobles, "w-we can r-r-reward you a sum of f-f-five thousand gold upon her r-return"

"That sounds most gracious an offer of you, and your fellow nobles. She truly is a remarkable woman, and we will do our best to bring her back to you," Daebru steps forward as he speaks and gently takes hold of Brennan's hands, "your sister will be returned to you, I swear it Lord Cromwell"

"B-brennan, p-p...pa... if you will"

"Very well, Brennan. You'll see your sister, and townspeople soon enough. I saw some dragged to the East of here, we'll start out search there, and won't stop looking until we've found them," he reaches up and puts a hand on the man's shoulder, "be strong for her," he lightly squeezes and the man seems to straighten up a bit, imbued with a bit more confidence than he had before.

"Right, I can do that. I can be strong for her," he puts a hand over the top of Daebru's on his shoulder, "be swift" 'prince', his eyes seem to emphasis something, but Daebru can't be sure what.

"We will," Jude steps up and smiles broadly at them, "We should collect our team and gather supplies for the journey. It is sure to take a few days, my sources tell me they were heading towards the mountain range last they saw," she nods to Daebru.

Daebru gently pulls his hand back from Brennan, "it is a pleasure to meet you, hopefully the next we meet shall be a joyous occasion," he smiles before turning to head out.

"... Lady Haaru?"

He pauses by the door and looks over his shoulder, "yes Brennan?"

He seems to contemplate his wording before stating, "I hope your banner flies high in honor someday"

Daebru straightens up a bit at that and nods, "perhaps it shall" and he swiftly moves out of the room, and manor grounds, with Jude having difficulty keeping up with him.

"What was that about?" she raises an eyebrow at the young man.

"I .. do not wish to discuss it ... I still have things to figure out, and do not wish to give anything falsely"

"Of course ... when you're ready then"

Did I hear him wrong? Is my mind playing tricks on me? He looks back at the manor as he turns the corner into the main square, What if I'm going insane? or worse ... my mother is somehow reaching out to me? What'll I do if she finds me? I can't ...

I can't let her find me ...

find the Order ...

Sune ... 

...

JACK ... she can't know about them ... she just can't

"Haaru!" Jude grabs hold of him just before he plows into a merchant coming out of his store with broken boxes

"Apologies, I got lost in my thoughts"

"It's alright, little one ... um ... thank you... for helping me yesterday" he says a bit nervously, "wouldn't think one as small as you could be so fierce a ... a defender" he smiles awkwardly before shuffling off.

"Fierce huh? I thought you went off and hid at the inn ... did you get hurt at all?" she looks down at him with a mildly worried expression

"Just a few cuts, Sune cleaned them up, didn't want to bother the healers with such mundane wounds" he waves a hand dismissively, "shall we get our companions now?"