It is the middle of the night. The last thing I wanted to do was sit half-awake in my bed. Wondering why I was woken up because of an intruder. "Isn't it just another drunk? Where was he? Near the wall? Or was he by the apple trees?" I murmured, wanting to get back to sleep. After all, only drunk people are stupid enough to climb the wall. But the guard shakes his head. "You are not telling me he reached Pupillus?" I ask a bit more alert now.

"Captain Basin, she was discovered by the archive and apprehended in the main classroom halls." A female intruder? That almost never happens, and she managed to get inside, that is unheard of. "How did she get into the building? Where were the guards?" I enquire while getting out of bed. "We are looking for more wounded..." he starts, but I interrupt. “More? Someone is hurt?"

"Of the two guards who encountered her, one as gotten a knife stabbed in his leg."

"Which guard?" I ask worried. My Luck is on duty tonight. If anything happened to him, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. 

"Sir Clovis, Captain. He has gone to the infirmary. The other guard Locklan, got some bruises in the fight but is else unharmed.-" Thank God Locklan is safe. I don't think I could handle losing him, too. "Sir Locklan has taken the intruder to Hel...I mean your office."

"Why did you bring the intruder to the office? That's not protocol." All intruders go directly to the dungeon, this couldn't just be any person. For a moment, I wondered if it was one of the princesses. But there is no circumstance where I see that as plausible. But if only it had been them, because he tells me the worst possible person it could be, "We took her to the office, because the intruder is Lorelei."

Lorelei? My Lorelei, My Shawty. "Go tell the guards I will be there in a moment," I say while opening the chest. "Yes, Captain."

After getting dressed, I stop for a moment in front of the small mirror hanging on the wall. My back hurts, a reminder that I am getting old. It's far from the only one, my face is wrinkled from age. My once light golden hair is almost gone, and what's left, is greyish. My beard has more hair than my head. Gripping my eyepatch from the shelf, I take a look at my hands through my one good eye. They are covered in scars and calluses. After covering my bad eye, I turn to the door. "I hoped this day never would come."

The Captain's office is on the other side of the citadel. For once, this long walk, feels far too brief. My mind was filled with thoughts about Lorelei, what happened to her, what is she doing here and what brought her back.

Outside the door to my office stand three guards. "Leave, I will deal with this alone," I command them. Fearing my own reaction to the situation, I do not want anyone to witness it. The guards follow my order and start to walk down the hall, except for Locklan.

Honestly, I am not surprised that he wants to stay. "You shouldn't be part of this, Luck."

"I am the one who caught her, I have a right to be included." 

"We both know it's not why you wanna be here." Locklan stands in the exact way he has been taught, with his left heel against the right heel, his legs straight, and his chest raised. "As her captor, I have the right to be here, and if I may say, you shouldn't be alone without backup. Sir." A little smile creeps onto my face. "I thought I had raised you to respect your superiors. It's Captain, not Sir."

Hellvian would have thrown a fit if he had been called Sir, good thing I am not him. "My apologies, Captain, the force of habit." Looking into Locklan's brown eyes, they looked bigger than usual. He wants to be here for the same reason I don't want the other guards around. "Fine you may stay, but keep behind her, It's better she does not know you are here."

"Of course, Captain."

Locklan pushes the door open into Hellvian's former office. It's dimly lit by candles, and a musty smell hangs in the air. By the wall, there are shelves full of scrolls. A wooden desk, and three wooden chairs are in the center of the room. In one of the 3 chairs is Lorelei's unconscious body tied down. Seeing her in that state breaks my heart. She has changed, but not too much. Her once waist-length hair now only reaches her shoulders. Her face is covered in half-dried blood. How deep is that wound, I wonder. Locklan walks over and stands off to the side of Lorelei's chair, just out of her vision.

Before I even get to sit down at my desk, she has already started to stir. Her eyes open, blink a couple of times, then shock spreads across her face. She tries to stand, but the ropes tying her down prevent her from doing so. The realisation of where she is must have hit. It's not hard to recognise the office, barely anything has changed. "I almost forgot how this room looked," she breathed. She doesn't seem fearful of being caught, that worries me.

"It has been a long time, Basin, the eyepatch is new,-" she said smugly. "Why are we in Hellvian's office? And where is he? Don't tell me the old bastard died." Trying my best not to be bothered by her comment, I coldly tell her, "He died less than two weeks ago." Not knowing if it's remorse or sorrow, I see on her face when I tell her that. Choosing to ignore her previous comments, I ask, "What are you doing here Lorelei?" For her to return here is preposterous.

"Well, I was discovered outside the file cabinet, so come up with a guess," she says while rolling her eyes. 

"You risked your life just for some information about your past?" Shocked at the audacity and lagging of care the danger, she knows returning here would mean her execution. That is the price of desertion.

"What were you thinking, that you could just walk in here without getting seen?" I can't help but raise my voice, she ruined her life by running away and now ended it by returning. 

"Well, I did actually manage to get in fine. It was on my way out, I was discovered." She made a short chuckle and leaned back into the chair. "Three years and the routine have not changed at all..." Lorelei's smug face disappears when she hears the thundering sound of me slamming my hand onto the table. "But you still got caught!"

The sting from hitting the table lingers in my hand. Lorelei has turned her gaze towards the ground. Is she ashamed or afraid? Lowering my voice, I continued, "Since it is so important for you to know, let me enlighten you about your past.-" She looks back up at me, waiting for what I have to say. "It was a waste for you to come. Your file is empty. Your original file was ruined. Which means we know nothing about you. "

There is a moment of silence in the room. Maybe she doesn't believe me. It doesn't matter if she do, there is nothing more to be said. Resting my head on my hand, I let out a sigh. "You were the best Lorelei, you outperformed every man your age. Hell, often the older and more experienced guards too. I was so proud of you." It felt wrong using her name, she has always been Shawty to me, the same way Locklan is my Luck.

"If you think, you can convince me to return to the royal guards with flattery, you are mistaken," she hissed. The truth is, even if I wanted to, I am not able to give her a second chance. "It's not flattery, I am reminding you of what you threw away when you betrayed the King. When you betrayed us!"

Standing up, I keep talking while approaching her. "You made a vow to the King, to protect this kingdom, the mark on your chest is a testament to that." Pulling out my dagger, I take hold of her shirt. Cutting it up, exposing her bare skin, right above her left chest. Where the royal mark is burned into her skin, the same place it's burned into me, burned into all of us. A circle with a few leaves. a small crown at the top, and the proud seagull in the middle.

"A mark that was forced upon me. Everyone here is coerced into a life of servitude. For people who don't even care to learn our names." She is pulling on the ropes, her eyes narrowing, sending me a hateful glare. 

"And what if you hadn't been taken in, where would you be? Dead, most likely. Or you might have been selling your body for next to nothing." Anger poured through me. My mouth had become dry, and I was gripping the dagger so hard my knuckles had become white.

"Getting taken into the royal guards is the best thing to happen to someone like you. It was the best for all of us." I stop momentarily. Waiting for her to say something, a few seconds pass, and just as I am about to speak again, a whisper comes from Lorelei. "Just because it could be worse, doesn't mean we should accept the fate of dying for people who see us as nothing!"

"What about us, Lorelei, your fellow guards? We cared about you. We were family!" Locklan, who had stood as still as a statue, took a step back at my shouting.

"You don't care! You wanted to send Neary away!" She shouted back.

"Sending Neary to Daingneach wasn't my choice, but it was for the best, her inability to speak was problematic." Daingneach is a fortress near our border. Where the less qualified get sent to.

Lorelei snorted, "It didn't stop you from training her." I never wanted to train Neary in the first place. Her brother Narin was the one I chose to train. But he didn't want to leave his sister. And I dumbly thought, what's the worst that could happen? Their desertion was what happened.

"I can understand the twins running away, they did not want to get separated, that is the whole reason they were both put in guard training. But why you?" I ask. She looks directly at me when she replies. "After seeing how the Royals treated Lennon. I no longer wanted to serve them. After that, your care was no longer enough for me to stay Basin, and neither was yours, Locklan."

My mouth stands ajar. "How did you know I was here?" Locklan asks.

Lorelei leans back, "At the very least, let me see you before asking questions." 

Sighing, I tell Locklan to come over. As he walks up to my side, he takes his hood down. Revealing his short red curly hair, his face a light brown shade, covered in dark freckles. Lorelei's eyes widened when she saw him "You cut your hair?" Her voice was raised in a pitch. Luck crossed his arms, looking a bit insulted. "It's my hair, I can do what I want with it. Besides, you cut yours too. Now tell me how you knew I was here."

"Who else would be here? Besides I recognised your voice in the hall." 

She being captured alone and her relaxed manner, has bothered me the whole time. Something is up. The twins, they must have an escape plan ready. "Where are the twins?" She smiles at me and chuckles a bit. "Where are the twins Lorelei!?!" I shout. At that same moment, the church bell can be heard, two loud bangs. It's two in the night. "Looks like time is up," she says.

I feel unable to move my legs. I have my eyes fixated on her. She seems blurred, I blink my eye a few times. "What the heavens?" Locklan gulped. It was not my old eye. Lorelei was see-through. I reach out to grab her, but my hands slip right through. And then she's gone.