Despite my eyes being open, the only thing I am seeing is darkness. The first thing my senses pick up is the smell of something metallic, and then I get a sticky feeling on my face. As my vision comes in, the wooden roof of the Inn starts to form. Entering my ear is the muffled sound of Narin's voice. But I didn't quite hear what he said. When I shift my face in their direction, the twins are just a vague figure. My face stings, this wound is going to give me a scar, I am sure of it.

"Thank god you are alive. We became worried when the blood started pouring down your face," Narin says. Neary and Narin are sitting at the edge of the spell circle, which I am in the middle of. It's a carefully drawn circle for a haunting spell. All set up for me to get in and out without danger. Well, mostly no danger. Everything happening to you under the spell will happen to your real body. 

As I struggle to sit up, I get to look down at myself. My body is naked and covered in my blood. It's weird thinking about how I just been laying here naked while the twins looked after me. All the items I brought are now lost at Pupillus, a shame I really liked that cape. 

I get up to clean my wound. Neary follows to help, "Thanks... the mission was a failure,-" I say while she wipes my face with the rag. "I got caught, and worse, they only had Neary's records," I say while throwing on a dress.

They both look uncomfortable. Something is bugging them, but before I get to ask what it is, Narin tells me. "No, they did not have them...because they are here." Narin gestures to the table where files identical to the one at Pupillus are laying.

Confusion and frustration welled up in me, "Where did you get those?!?" I may have said it harsher than I meant. "I was on my way back here when a man called out to me. At first, I thought he was going to attempt robbing me, but then-" Narin paused for a moment. Hesitating before saying, "He knew our names, and he knows what we are doing here." 

My eyes were wide and my mouth ajar. "How is that possible?" 

Narin gulped before replying, "He did not tell me, but he told me he had an offer to make us."

The rag makes a splash sound as I throw it to the ground. "What did you agree to !?!" I shouted. 

"Nothing. He just gave me the records. I haven't agreed to anything yet." Narin tries to reassure me. "But he offered this." He gestures towards the table, where a small bottle with a glowing green liquid stands. "What is that? Narin, if you did not agree to anything, why is it here?"

"He claimed that what is in that bottle can erase our mark." It was as if my mind stopped working. Removing our mark is impossible, we tried. We burnt it, we cut it,    every time the skin healed, it was still there. 

"If it works, why would he even give it to you?" I ask. This is wrong, no one would just give away something so powerful. And how would he even be able to get something like that? He can't. That is why he gave it away, it has to be a lie. 

"We are three, that is only enough to remove one. He gave it to me so we can test it, so we know he speaks the truth."

My disbelief in that potion is big. But still, he must be sure of its ability to let us test it. This could be our freedom. But at what cost? "What does he want from us in exchange for this miracle potion?"

"What he is seeking is some information we have," Narin says. "Information? What type of information can we provide?-" Thinking over that for a moment, I realise what it is he wants. "The only information we have that is worth anything is about the royal guards and the castle." I pick up the files waving them. 

As I continue speaking, my voice picks up speed. "This man figured out who we are and why we are here and then he took the risk to get these, all for us to consider his offer. You do not do this just to steal something."

The files were slammed onto the table next to the bottle. My heart is racing, and my breathing is unsteady "He is brewing something bigger. This might be an assassination attempt." 

I look at the twins, Neary is stroking her hair, and Narin is biting his lip. "I think you might be on to something. But are we going to help?" Narin ask.

I speak while pacing the room. "I do not know. If the potion works, it could be our freedom. But we are talking about the royal family here. We were raised to protect them. Even after all these years, it still rings in my ears. This man, when and where would he want to meet?"

"He did not give me a time, but told me we should meet him in the evening at a place called Men's Blissful Menders."

Men's Blissful Menders, I know where it is. But it is across the city. It would take over an hour to walk there, a risky walk now that the guards know we are here in Mavahofn.

While thinking about the danger, my gaze drifts towards the potion. It holds enough to remove one mark. It is tempting to use it, but what if it's fake? "The potion. Should we test it tonight?" I ask.

"I will do it," Narin insisted.

"But Narin, it could be fake, hell, it could be poison."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Yes, which is why I am gonna do it, He did say it works fast but would hurt like hell."

I chuckle for a second. "You know I handle pain better than you."

"Yeah but I don't wanna see you or Neary in pain, I am doing it."

Neary is standing with crossed arms, a lifted chin and her lips in a thin line. She doesn't approve of Narin testing the potion. I would prefer he didn't either, but one of us has to do it. When I open the bottle, a sour smell comes out. "Last chance to back out," I say. "Just pour it already," Narin replies, from the bed where he is stiffly sitting, shirtless.

You would not think of this small man as strong, but as he sits there, his muscles are very prominent. On his body, there are faint scars, and the royal crest is edged into his chest. I took a few deep breaths before turning over the bottle. The liquid spilt out so fast it almost missed the mark. A low scream came from Narin, which led to groans of pain.

Narin gasps for air, his hands clenching the bedding. Neary comes to her brothers side, holding his hands, trying to calm him. And me, I stare at the green liquid sliding down his bare chest. "The mark is fading," I say in a whisper. For every second, the mark becomes more and more obscure. 

 "Get this off me!" The sudden scream from Narin, makes me look at his face, which is red and full of tears. 

Looking back down at his chest, the mark is gone. So I go and grab a wet cloth to wash him with. As I wash his chest, some of the liquid comes on my hand. A tingle starts in my fingers, which quickly turns into a burning sensation. 

"He did not overplay it when he said it would hurt," Narin groans. His head is in Neary's lap, she is stroking his hair. 

Neary and I have started cleaning up after our spell. The chalk from the circle isn't washing off, resulting in it leaving small white dots on the wood. Narin has gotten comfortable in the bed, wanting to sleep the pain off. We have not spoken about what to do yet. We can remove our marks now, but for what cost?

Getting up from the floor, I walk to the table with the records "Have you read yours?" I ask Neary while picking mine up. "I read it out loud for her while we waited," it comes from the bed. Narin isn't looking towards me. If he hadn't just spoken I would think he was sleeping.

"I am sorry about your mother," I say. 

"I am not. Somehow, I am happy knowing she died. And not abandon us as we thought.-" He turns around to face me. "It was not a lot of information. But it is more than we ever had." 

Looking down at the file, I think of what Basin said, its empty. On it I see the scratch-out name Shawty, under it Lorelei is written, both names are in Basins' handwriting. 

"Are you going to read it?" Narin ask. 

"I am, but I am scared of what it will say." Hesitating, I open it to the first page. As I do, an item falls out. "What is that?" Narin asks. 

"It is a piece of leather. There seems to be something written on it," I say while picking it up. Making out the text is hard. I have never seen letters like that. At least I don't think I have.

"It is hard to read, the letters are quite weird. I think it says Nopeneh or Jiopejien." The text seems familiar, but I can't quite remember. Turning my attention from the leather piece to the file. I get even more confused, instead of the basic information, of who I am, and how I ended in the orphanage, it has a written note. 

I am starting a new document on my apprentice. Since the orphanage was unable to locate her paperwork. The reason it could not be found is due to the fact that the girl claims that she does not know her name. More puzzling is that the orphanage staff does not know her name, either, or how long she has been there. Despite the lack of information, she seems healthy. And have the potential to be a great royal guard.

I was informed she is nine years of age, but I doubt that can be trusted. 

The handwriting was unmistakable, it was Basin's. Which means he already knew what my file had in it. He told me the truth, there is nothing. This is nothing. 

Though it has only been a month, she has already demonstrated the potential I knew she had. She is paying attention in class, puts in work in the training and is can follow along in the classes. I've started referring to her as Shawty. She appears to be acceptable with the name. Further, I have learned from her, that she arrived on a ship, but doesn't know from where. Her accent does confirm she is not from Martraigh. Talking to the orphanage staff they confirmed she was found at the harbour almost a year ago.

As it stands now there is no more information about her, Some of my fellow guards have suggested she could have come with the people fleeing the cursed forest. The time does correspond, her parents may have been lost to the curse. But her accent is not a Ledasgele accent.

The file is clenched in my hand, I am holding it so tight it's bending. My hope that this might provide me with answers to who I am and where I come from has been dashed. My origin has vanished. I put everything on the line for nothing. My throat is dry and my eyes have gotten wet. I was already aware of being found at the harbour, it's my earliest memory. Even though I was old enough to have known something, there is nothing before that. It's as though my memory had been wiped clean.  I try to blink the tears away while flipping to the next page. Maybe there is more, they could have found the file or figured out something.

Earlier today one from the orphanage came with the finally found file. that unfortunately had water damage and is completely unreadable. In it, I found a piece of leather. The leather piece have foreign letters I do not recognise. When I asked Shawty about it, she stated it was hers but that she did not want it. 

The letters on the leather are different from ours. I had to ask her several times what it meant. It was as though she had to find the memory of what it means. Finally, she informed me that it says Lorelei. As I asked who Lorelei is, she replied I am.

It's my name, the leather piece spells my name. Looking at it again, the weird letters лорелей, I don't even recognise them, but they spell my name. But where is it from? The guard's speculation that me being from Ledasgele could be right. After all, the cursed forest started to spread around the same time I came to the orphanage. Even if I were not from there, my parents could still have been killed by it.

I look over at Narin and Neary wanting to tell them what I read. But their still bodies on the bed, means they have both gone to sleep. It is very late, I should rest too. Placing the file down and standing up.I blow out the candlelight. Soon enough, I'll be asleep too.