One afternoon, Casitas and his brother in law Galen exited the castle to wait by the front entrance. The large black stone castle doors closed behind them. There were a handful of guards walking with them as they traveled down the stairs. The two felt overshadowed and overcrowded. Once reaching the bottom of the staircase, the guards surrounded the both of them in a full circle.

“Thank you guards,” said Casitas. “But I do not need your service now. Sir Galen will be protecting me and the rest of you will be guarding the castle like always.”

The guards respectfully bowed and returned to their posts.

“Explain to me again, why I need you to escort me around the town?” Casitas groaned.

“Well, your brother wants you out of the castle for once and I cannot say no to my husband,” Galen smiled. “Also, we need to talk about a few things before my venture tomorrow morning.”

“And why can’t we just do this in my study?” he scolded.

Galen looked up at the castle and noticed Levi at her bedroom window. She remained in her pale pink nightgown with a steaming hot cup of tea in her hands. The way she stood, she was stiff as a statue and her face looked as lifeless as a corpse.

“You need to step out and see your people from time to time,” Galen explained as he looked back at him, noticing he was wearing all his more formal attire. “But are you sure you don’t want to wear a cloak? Many admirers will recognize you easily.”

“Everyone already knows who I am, so there is no point in hiding myself,” Casitas said.

The two reached the bottom of the staircase and were greeted by a pair of guards blocking the main gate. There was a large wall surrounding the entire castle grounds, beyond it was the village that also circled around the castle but was blocked off by an even thicker and taller wall on the other side. The walls were polished black and silver cement blocks that were faded by the snow falling.

The guards bowed and jerked on both of the gate doors aggressively. The gate creaked loudly and opened. On the otherside was a lively thriving village.

The village had buildings tall and short, either stacks of homes on top of one another or small shops with the local vendors. The air was thick with the smell of freshly cooked local cuisine, the sound of children laughing was overpowered by the sound of the silent wind. Everyone here was a Xyiiux with their bright purple eyes and white horns; they wore thick winter clothing of animal pelts, fur boots and warm coats. The ground was covered in footprints of civilians. It was so deep, that the stone paths through the village were actually visible. Casitas felt his nerves calm as he started to walk through the village with Galen.

The two wandered around as many civilians noticed the two. Immediately, they were greeted, bowed and even offered free trinkets. The two were stopped by a small man holding a large freshly smithed metal black hammer.

“My Lord,” the man bowed. “I would be honored if you would visit my blacksmith shop. I have the best weapons for our guards.”

“Thank you for your contributions, but I am not looking for new weaponry right now,” Casitas said bluntly. The man started to pout before Galen stepped in front of Castias to take the kind man's hands.

“That would be great! I will have my second in command come to see your stock tomorrow, is that alright?” said Galen.

The blacksmith's eyes lit up with joy that he began crying. “Thank you Sir Galen! You are truly a warrior with a heart!”

As they started to walk again, more locals kept approaching them. Casitas wanted to avoid everyone coming by, but Galen kept greeting and taking their offerings. It turned into Galen carrying a large straw basket filled with mostly pastries but also handmade jewelry that looks as though a child made it. With carrying so much, Galen was struggling to hold everything so Casitas took a basket out of his hands and carried it himself.

“Thanks,” said Galen.

“You don’t have to take all these things,” Casitas explained.

Galen immediately started eating one of the pastries. “Are you kidding? If I brought any of this home, I wouldn’t get Conall to bed in days. Also, this is the only time I can eat these goodies without Avan eating half.”

“I could just tell my brother-”

“Don’t do that!” Galen worried. “Just let me have a moment to enjoy myself.”

“Is the reason you dragged me out here to eat handmade goodies?”

Galen swallowed hard and his face changed into complete seriousness. “I do want to talk to you about the trip tomorrow. I still want Avan to come with my group.”

Casitas groaned loudly. “Not this again. Galen, you have more than enough healers to come with your soldiers.”

“None of them are as good as Avan.”

“You’ve done this trip plenty of times-”

“And Avan always came with me,”

Casitas stopped himself. “What if Conall gets sick again?”

Galen stopped in his tracks just like Casitas. He turned and glared down at his Lord. The tension between the two was unbearable.

“Then Conall can come with us. He is old enough and you know how bad he wants to be a knight like me. He will be protected with both of his parents with him.”

“Last year Conall got sick and no healer here could help him. He was sick for months before the two of you came back. He only got better because Avan came home. Do you really want to risk that again-”

Galen came charging at Casitas. “Don’t tell me how to raise my son Cas. You know I would never put him in danger. You don’t know anything about parenting.”

“Is Avan okay with this?”

“Actually, he was the one who thought of this,” Galen explained. “We can’t keep him locked up in the castle. I am the best knight, my husband is the best healer. He won’t be alone.”

“This whole thing about bringing Avan was just about bringing Conall?” Casitas asked. He tried to hold back his anger, but it was unbearable. “I can’t allow putting a Xyiiux child in danger.”

“He isn’t just a Xyiiux, he is your nephew! And your brother!” Galen scolded. “Maybe everyone is scared to stand up to you, but I am not.”

Casitas exhaled loudly. “I don’t want to fight about this. Can we discuss this back home? With Avan here?”

Galen grit his teeth hard. “No. We have to talk about this now. My mind isn’t going to change about this.”

Casitas inhaled sharply and tried to steady his breathing. “I cannot risk losing all three of you. Then I will be alone.”

Galen almost saw hurt in Casitas eyes. He reached out to his brother in law and rested his hand on his shoulder, almost feeling it trembling. “How are you alone? Lady Celeste is still with you. When was the last time you saw her?”

“It has been a while.”

“You should visit her more often. I know she misses having tea and treats with you,” Galen teased.

Casitas exhaled loudly. “She is the other reason. You can understand that, right?”

Galen didn’t take a moment to know that Casitas was right. Instead he didn’t push on it even further.

“Sometimes, you do have a soft side,” Galen smiled.

Casitas glared back at him and coldly jerked his shoulder away.

“Before we go back, there is another place I would like to go,” said Galen. The two went further down the stone path. It wasn’t long before they heard the sound of a ruckus coming from one of the small buildings. Casitas started glaring when he noticed the sign at the door that says ‘tavern’.

“I am not going in there,” said Casitas.

“I was hoping to have a drink with my brother in law,” said Galen as he put his arm around Casitas shoulders yet again. “And it is good to have a stress free day before departing.”

Already he was pulling Casitas with him into the inside of the tavern. Inside, it was a brightly lit large room with many round tables that seated Xyiiux knights. All of them are still wearing their armor and happily drinking from large metal goblets. Their faces were flushed from getting drunk with their faces looking pinkish and trouble remaining still, even when sitting. The waitress and bartender immediately stopped serving the knights, the moment they saw Casitas and hurried to the door to greet him.

“Lord Casitas!” said a waitress as she respectfully bowed. “It is an honor to see you at our place of work.”

Casitas remained expressionless as he darted his eyes around the tavern. Everyone was happily enjoying themselves. He could feel all their auras were a bright joyful yellow color. That alone angered him. His face changed into anger as his shoulders began to shake.

“What are you doing!?” Casitas shouted.

Everyone fell silent and turned their attention to their Lord Casitas. He started to march around the room and glare at every person who dared to look him in the eye. Even Galen was getting nervous.

“Most of you are leaving for a dangerous mission very soon and you think drinking is the right thing to do!? I know most of you have partners, kids, loved ones waiting for you at home! You should be spending your valuable time with them. Drinking is to celebrate coming home, not leaving!” he scolded.

The knights remained quiet, some put down their mugs in shame. It was uncomfortably quiet in the tavern. Casitas began walking to the entrance door, before he heard a chair slide out from under the table. A single knight stood up and held his helmet under his arm.

“My Lord,” he said timidly. “We think it is best to celebrate beforehand. Just in case we don’t come back. So make it a happy occasion.”

Casitas coldly turned around to the knight. His footsteps approached him, matching the rhythm of everyone’s shaken pulse. Casitas towered over the knight and stared at him with a blank face. The knight was starting to feel his knees buckle as he tried to keep himself up from his drunken nature.

Suddenly, Casitas quickly snatched his arm out and clutched the knight's throat! Instantly gasping as others backed away from them. The knight's face started turning red and struggling to breathe. Desperately he gripped Casitas arm, but had no comparison to his strength. Casitas arched his eyebrows and snarled loudly as he lifted the knight off his feet and slammed him down against the table! The table rattled and struggled to not split in half. The knight was barely conscious and unable to move the rest of his body. He spit up his own tongue while trying to breathe.

Casitas leaned down to the knight's eye with his hand still clutched to his neck. “You have kids right? Twin girls born a few months ago. You see, I know all of my soldiers and their lives. Like that you are seeing a few women around the village while your wife is washing your armor. If I stain your clothes now, you would have to go home, right? Seeing your family. Maybe I should do that so you can realize what you are leaving behind. Or should I make it so you are too injured to go take this task and spend that time recovering with your family. Although, you don’t want your daughters to see that, do you?” Casitas hushed to the almost dead night. “You see, when I give you an order, you follow it. Understand?”

With the last bit of strength, the knight croaky whispered the word ‘yes’. Casitas loosened his grip to let the man breathe. The knight picked himself up and kept gasping for air, it was as though Casitas had every intention of letting the man die. He was too scared to look at him. As Casitas carefully unclenched his hand and glared at the knight who others tried to help him. Others helped him sit down and gave him a drink of water. Everyone was aware of how ruthless Lord Casitas could be, which is why no one talked back to him.

“By the way, you are dismissed from this task,” Casitas ordered as he walked to the door. “Now, go home to your family.”

Casitas slammed the door behind him, making the building shake.

“I wonder if I should go with him,” Galen wondered.

A while later, Casitas returned back to the castle grounds with the front gates shut behind him. When reaching the steps, he looked up at Levi's bedroom window, noticing she wasn’t there this time. Inside of the castle, Casitas walked down a different hallway away from the path to his bedroom. At the other end of the castle hall, was a wide stone door. Inside, there was a large greenhouse with windows replacing all the walls. The snow was rolling off the glass like rain, being able to see the dark sky. The greenhouse was filled with rows of flowers not seen anywhere in the kingdom. Colors so bright that they were almost like seeing daylight. Casitas carefully walked through the rows until he found a woman tending to a flower. She wore an extravagant dark blue dress and had long raven black hair like Casitas, only longer; down to her knees.

“You will ruin your dress playing in dirt like that,” said Castias.

The woman turned around and her skin was pale like snow and she clutched on a handkerchief with splotches of blood on it. She gave him a weak smile and stood up to him.

“Casitas! I am so happy to see you,” she smiled.

Casitas couldn’t help but show a sign of vulnerability and his face looked sad and heartbroken. “Hello mother.”