"Lycan!" a female voice called.

The young boy dropped the sword without hesitation and rushed over to his mother. Her high heels made distinct sounds as she walked him over to the steel patio set. Lycan looked at his mother, just to admire her tenderness. Her dark brown hair was in a crown braid updo, with a few stray strands framing her heart-shaped face. Bejeweled daisies adorned the crown of the braid. 

"Have something to drink." She pushed a cup towards him.

He eagerly took the pink drink and slurped it up excitedly. His mother would only make it for him as a reward for his hard work and good behavior. Drinking it made him feel satisfied and motivated. 

"Thank you, mama." He beamed.

"You don't have to work so hard, you know," she informed, taking the cup from him. "I just want you to be happy."

Lycan would always remember these words, even long after her death. They didn't have a name for what took her, as it had gone as quickly as it had come. No one knew what started it. But the damage had been done. After her death, Lycan had never been the same. His father, however, didn't seem to be affected at all. Their relationship only worsened when his father remarried the daughter of a Viscount who was 10 years younger and pregnant.

Lycan remembered the conversation with his mother as he watched his father and his new family starting dinner without him: "I just want you to be happy."

And so, he left the Ducal house.

________________________

Those few hours waiting for Irwin to return had felt like days.

After Lincoln had left with the knights, Aris searched for Sae. Grammy had left her in the bakery when she first saw them ride into town. She grabbed her sister by the hand and walked as fast as she could back to the house. She didn't remember what happened after that. Blurs of packing and pacing around the kitchen appeared in her mind as Sae was sitting down, playing with a fabric doll. 

When the sun had set, Aris grabbed her and Sae's belongings and told her sister to light a lantern. It seemed to be a longer walk into town than it felt like now that the sun had set. The little girl tried to restrain herself from going off into the fields to play with the crickets like she normally would. Her older sister had not said a word since they left the house and Sae knew better to ask when Aris was upset– not that she would get a straight answer anyway. Even though Sae was only eleven, she understood better than she let on. She knew how Aris had to bear the burden of being a mother, father, and sister to her for the past eleven years. She knew why they could never use their real names. 

They finally arrived into town after a few more minutes of walking. Most of the lights had been snuffed out with only the light from the stars and occasional lantern to prevent complete darkness.

"Stay close," Aris warned.

As they walked past a small alley, they heard rustling coming from inside. She instinctively pulled Sae behind her as she carefully trudged towards the sound. Sae held the lantern out so that Aris could see clearer. The closer they got, the more human the form looked. A little bit closer and the light from the lantern shown on a sleeping, dirty face.

It was just a beggar, Aris sighed, relieved.

She ushered Sae out of the alley and began heading towards the middle of the square where Irwin had told them to meet him.

Once they reached the fountain, the silver-haired man was nowhere to be seen so the sisters sat down on the fountain, listening to the running water. There were only a few moments in Aris's life where she felt at peace. Being here, sitting with her beloved sister with just a little window of an untroubled mind made her let her guard down, just a little.

Which was a mistake.

The sound of fast footsteps put Aris on alert as she realized she had no time to get up and run. She put her hand on top of Sae's head and pushed her down behind the edge of the fountain. Before the dagger reached her head, she tumbled to the side, its blade scarcely missing her eye. The man wore a cloak but it did nothing to hinder his movements. Aris ducked once again as another dagger was thrown at her head. It struck a wooden stall selling wreaths behind her as the assassin, with a new dagger in his hand lunged for her. She jumped to the side and landed on the hard ground just as this dagger struck true. He turned his attention to a shaking figure behind the fountain and advanced for it. Filled with adrenaline, Aris pulled the dagger out of her arm and tackled him to the ground, landing on her injury. The collision knocked the dagger out of his hand. He got up before her and made his way towards Sae. 

Aris's arm was pounding and her vision blurred but she made out just enough of the scene to move her legs to sweep the assassin's feet from under him. He landed with a thud as she scrambled for a weapon. She clutched the bloody dagger in her left hand and stumbled to her feet. After years of practicing, she refused to accept she had forgotten everything Sir Verin had taught her. She readied her stance and put her arm holding the weapon up, watching the assassin get up as well. He turned to face her, the excess fabric on the hood covering half his face in darkness. 

Maybe I should’ve practiced left-handed combat more often, Aris thought bitterly.

At some point during the confrontation, he had reclaimed two of the daggers he had thrown at her. She only got a good view of him now, but he was shorter than she had imagined; only one or two inches taller than her. He lunged forward, dagger aiming for her chest when she slid to the side. She elbowed him in the side of the head using her injured arm, forcing him to retreat temporarily. She gritted her teeth through the pain that shot through her from the contact. Aris took the opportunity to check up on her sister. 

"Sae!" She yelled. A head popped up from the ledge of the fountain and smiled weakly at her sister.

Aris’s moment of relief was interrupted when the attacker wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet from behind. She thrashed wildly, trying to catch the attacker off guard. She brought her elbow up again to the already bruised cheek and slammed into it. His arms loosened around her and she took this chance to untangle herself and drove her knife into his thigh. As he slumped to the ground, she backed away slowly and walked over to her sister who was still hiding behind the fountain. Aris hugged her tightly and Sae's smaller arms returned it. She held the younger girl with the uninjured arm at arm’s length. 

Upon examination of her sister’s face, Aris’ expression contorted into one of confusion. "How is it that you don't cry when you're being attacked but you do when someone takes your candy?" 

"Because it's my candy," said Sae, as if it wasn’t obvious.

Her smile disappeared as a shadow loomed over them. Aris saw her expression and secretly reached into her bundle to take out her dagger. She turned around just in time to come face to face with a blade. It protruded out from the attacker's stomach as a second wound while he choked on his own blood. The blade was withdrawn as he crumpled sideways and there stood, holding the bloody sword, was none other than Irwin. 

Aris kept a neutral expression as she got up but Sae, on the other hand, was ecstatic to see him. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him with her face buried in his hip. He wiped the end of the sword on his cloak, ignoring the child on his leg, with a serene expression on his face. After he sheathed his sword, he gave Sae a gentle pack on the back and signaled her to let go. Irwin walked over and bent down slightly to Aris’s eye level to flick her on her forehead. 

She reeled back slightly and returned his nonchalant stare with a glare. 

“Have you lost it?” She shouted.

Irwin shrugged and tore a strip of fabric from his cloak. "Just wanted to make sure you haven't completely forgotten everything my father's taught you." He took her arm which was still bleeding and wrapped the fabric around it tightly. 

With that comment, Aris felt her face heat up from shame. She should've easily been able to take that assassin down considering how trained she was and how small his stature had been.

"But you know your leg wound wouldn’t have killed him," the knight pointed out. "Should’ve aimed for a lung."

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry for not thinking as I was just jumped."

"You’re forgiven,” he replied cheekily.

"If you were watching me this whole time, why didn't you help?" Aris changed the topic.

"I knew you could've handled him on your own–" he pointed to the body. "--and you did. Somewhat."

Aris walked back over to their bundles and picked them up as Irwin crouched down to talk to Sae. She handed the child her bag and went over to the corpse. Her friend walked up behind her as she went to examine the man. She pulled the hood back as Irwin covered the child’s eyes.

"Do you recognize him?" Irwin asked, sensing her disbelief.

"He was sleeping in an alley. I heard some noise and I went to check it out but only found him," Aris replied, not taking her eyes off of the body.

"Have you ever seen him before?"

"No-"

"I have," Sae spoke up.

Both pairs of eyes turned to her in shock. Her older sister grabbed her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. "You have?"

She nodded. “He sometimes approaches me whenever you would leave me in the town square. He always asked me for money but I would tell him I didn’t have any. Then he would just kind of stare at me for a little and then walk away. It happened today, too." 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aris asked, getting more worried.

"You already have a lot of things on your mind so I didn't want to bother you. I didn’t think it was important…" Sae looked down. “Are you mad at me?”

 "No.” The older girl pulled her in for a hug. “And you could never bother me.”

Irwin crouched down next to Aris in front of the child. "Sae, when did he start talking to you?" 

"About a month ago."

Aris and Irwin looked at each other and stood up.

"We'll talk about this when we get to the house,” he suggested. “I’ll have someone clean this up before the town wakes up.” 

Aris nodded her head and looked back down at Sae. 

"Can you carry me?" The little girl asked, pouting.

Her older sister looked at her incredulously. "Might I remind you that you're eleven years old? You can't possibly expect to be carried wherever you-"

Irwin picked her up. From over his shoulder, Sae stuck her tongue out at a stunned Aris.