A few days had passed since Shadow and Sage had returned from the outpost. The sun was shining through the window of the dining hall of Castle Star. Shadow sat at one end of the table paper in one hand a piece of toast in the other on his right side stood James as Godwine stood at his left, both wearing three-piece suits on the other side of the table sat Sage instead of her normal armor she wore a pair of jeans and a plain white button-up t-shirt. "So, planning on heading to your own family's estate today."  Sage slowly sipped her soup, looking up at Shadow she took the napkin and carefully wiped her mouth. "Yes, it's been three days now and I do appreciate your maids cleaning and tending to my armor, but I believe going to my home and getting some of my clothes rather than having you buy me some is a better option though I do thank you for the outfits you bought." Shadow took a bite of his toast as he used his thumb to flip the pages in his other hand. "Well, I couldn’t just have you walking around in armor while you were here." " Well, thank you but I will be returning shortly after breakfast."

Shadow and Sage finished breakfast both saying their goodbyes as Sage left for her family's estate as her buggy left the estate a messenger came running up it was a young boy much younger than Shadow. "Oh wow, you're one of them half-breeds nothing wrong with that my neighbors are half-cat." The young boy dug into his bag pulling out an envelope with the royal seal on it. " So, I have a letter for Sir…" The boy squinted as if having a challenging time reading it. "S..SH. Shadow." sorry sir I'm still learning to read and how to get around the city I never knew this place existed I'm from the slums inside wall Hope." Shadow looked at the kid as he took the letter noting the symbol on the kid's bag. Then hearing the kid is from the slums. "So how is it a kid who can't read ends up working for Marigold letter company?" The kid jumped a little. "Well, they liked my attitude so they said I could take the job." Shadow looked to James and Godwine who both circled the boy. The boy got nervous looking at the three imposing figures around him. Shadow opened the letter. "So, you know the Marigold letter company is a noble family's company that works for the royal family and the Bastion Guard they don’t hire people."

  Shadow read the letter while James and Godwine kept the boy circled, not letting him have a chance to run. "So, what I'm thinking is you somehow managed to either A. sneak into a Marigold outpost inside wall hope and stole the bag then made your way through both wall Sanctuary and Purity to get to my estate without being caught. Or B. you took it off a Marigold carrier by killing or knocking him out." The young boy jumped at the word kill. "I swear I didn’t kill anyone I just took the bag off him I swear I…." The boy stopped realizing what he just said." James reached out to grab the boy by the back of his dirty jacket and something moved along his hand making both James and the boy jump. "Hhhheeey, don’t you know not to grab a girl's tail." Shadow couldn’t help but laugh grabbing the boy's hat and pulling it off to reveal a pair of gray cat ears." "So, your neighbors were half-cat I could smell you the moment you walked into my gate you can't fool a wolf's nose." Godwine looked at his grandson, the old man's face breaking into a small smirk. "Honestly James if you're going to be a footman to the young lord you need to be aware when someone is lying to you." The young half-cat girl exposed to the three, her face turned red as she pulled off the dirty jacket her shirt and jeans weren't any cleaner than the jacket, she was wearing she looked up at Shadow as he still laughed lightly at her.

  "What is your name little girl and give me one reason I shouldn’t have you thrown out or put in jail." the young half-cat girl pouted her face still red as she looked away. "Because I can work, and I know the House of Star only employee’s half-breeds." Shadow crossed his arms looking a bit annoyed at the girl. "That is true, but you didn’t answer my question so let me rephrase it for you. Why should I hire you a girl from the slums who hasn’t even told me her name yet." She stomped her foot fist bawled up as she looked Shadow dead in the eye. "Because if it wasn’t for that stupid nose of yours or the fact that your smart you wouldn’t have cared that I stole that bag or lied most nobles are too stupid to even tell I'm not a boy you, big stupid jerk face." Godwine stroked his gray beard. "She does have a point young lord not many nobles would even have bothered to look past the dirty clothes even the few half-breeds like us some wouldn’t even bother to smell her scent to tell if she was a boy or a girl." James kicked a bit of dust off the stone steps leading into the house. "Of course, who would want to smell a filthy little girl like her." "What did you say you, stupid fox." The girl kicked James hard in the shin making him bounce on one foot. "Why you little brat." As James grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt." "You to seem act just like brother and sister if I didn’t know any better, I'd say that girl was a member of the Godwine family herself." Shadow tilted his head thinking as James and the girl argued and fought. "Or a Star." Everyone stopped as he said this Godwine looked at his young lord. "Young lord, are you saying." Shadow tilted his head back and laughed. "That would cause one hell of a power shift don’t you think a new sister adopted by the son of the house of Star that would turn all of Bastion on its heel."

   Shadow laughed at the thought of it for a second before turning his attention back to the younger girl and James. The two stopped arguing as Shadow rubbed his chin thinking about how to make his plan work. "Hmmm in the meantime why don’t we get everyone inside the sun is starting to get hot." As Shadow walked into the house Godwine looked at James and the young girl and pointed inside. "Godwine get the girl cleaned up and get her some food, James get my armor cleaned up and have one of the servants prep the buggy we are headed to the shopping district." Godwine straightened up the tie around his neck as he walked behind Shadow. "Very well young lord I suppose you will be going to the shopping center with the young lady to get her something at least halfway decent instead of the rags she's wearing." Shadow reached for the door to the dining hall. "Well, there is that yes but also I think it is time the lord of house Star had clothes that actually fit him properly." The group walked through the dining hall, the large ebony table filled most of the room, the young girl stopped midway looking at the servants setting food down and cleaning. "I also think it's time that house Star started pulling its weight military-wise again if you can recruit some muscle from the scavenger’s guild and maybe some of the residents of the slums." "Are you sure that is a wise idea young lord?" "It will be fine I will speak to a friend of mine from my training period to become the Master of the Household Guard, Also Godwine I'd like to promote you to master of the keys, we will also need to find a master of the treasury." James's ears perked up. "I might know someone that can help he is a good friend of mine from school." Shadow looked over his shoulder "Talk to him you have leave to find him." The group sat down at the table and began to eat one of the servants poured juice for Shadow, James, and the young girl, and wine for Godwine. "I will make sure while in town to stop at the Rose Quartz smithy to make sure my new troops have the proper armor and arms if you can find enough men to guard the house and enough for an expedition force." Godwine took a bite of the eggs on his plate. "Expedition force are you planning to march to battle." Shadow cut a piece of meat and tore into it with his canine teeth. "We won't have much of a choice if the king declares war on the Theocracy. The attack on the outpost was just the start of it if we might be looking at another great war." "Hmmm if that’s the case I can understand why you would want to have a few hundred men but are you sure it's wise to build a military force without having your own outpost like the other noble families?" Shadow reached for his glass stopping and sitting back in his chair the wood creaking slightly. "Does it matter I'm a Star the Star family holds more power than anyone other than the royal family." Everyone in the dining hall fell silent it was clear that Shadow had no intention of hiding what he was doing The Star Family his family was one of the only sub-human families that held noble power, and he planned to flex that power now that he was the one in charge.

  Shadow looked at the young girl who was busy stuffing her face while everyone else kept talking. "So, I think it's about time you told me your name." The girl stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth stopping and slowly chewing before answering. "Well, most of my friends just call me Lucky because of the whole half-cat." Shadow rubbed his chin as he thought. "Lucky what is your real name?" The girl reached for another piece of bread as she looked at Shadow. "I don’t remember my real name I've always been Lucky because I lost my parents as a baby." Everyone looked at the young girl, Shadow rubbed his chin. "Well in that case I will just have to think of one while we are out shopping." Shadow placed his fork down and stood up "You all finish eating and making preparations for the trip into the shopping distract I will be in the training hall."