The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my shield. Myriam's shield. I had left her on a chair I'd placed next to my bed, just as I had at Taro's house, close to where I laid my head. I wanted her to be the first thing I saw in the morning—the one thing still connecting me to the woman who saved me—especially on the day I was planning to tell the world what an amazing person she was.

I grabbed my equipment and left my room, disregarding all the trinkets and memorabilia of my childhood years. Nobody was in the big living room yet. The room itself still held the same level of lighting it had the night before, though I could already hear morning bird-songs coming from the outside. Day had already arrived but the blinds were so well sealed that not a single ray of light pierced through.

Seeing that I was the first one to wake up, I considered my options. I could have gone and woken everyone else up, but I quickly decided against that. I had seen how tired they were, drained mentally and physically. It would do them good to rest for a few more hours, especially my sister… after all I'd put her through, while also carrying a child.

I shifted my eyes toward the stairs which would lead me back to my room. Perhaps there was time after all to take another look at the books I was raised with. I thought I'd also seen a little toy horse that could be transformed into a large rocking wooden horse if its tail was pulled. I wondered if it would still fit me.

However, as soon as I put one foot on the staircase, I realized the folly of my thinking. Myriam was dead. She was killed by Kai and I survived. There was no point reminiscing about my childhood years of innocence. I couldn't possibly be any more different now to that young boy.

After all, I am a murderer now…

Instead, I decided to make myself useful by preparing for the upcoming battles. The shield was a magnificent piece of equipment but I had always trained with dual swords.

The only training I'd had with a shield was whenever I lost one of my swords during sparring sessions with Man and found a shield or piece of metal lying around to protect me instead. I needed to become better at it.

I began by practicing all the stances I had seen other people use when fighting with sword and shield. I repeated the action of pulling the shield from my back while sheathing my sword multiple times, trying to find the best and shortest series of movements. Then I practiced strapping the shield on my back while drawing my second sword.

After only a few tries, I could already see the practice paying off. My movements were a lot more fluid and so I started my fighting routines, though I had replaced one of my swords with the shield.

A couple of hours later, Kard made his way downstairs. He waved when he saw me and went into the kitchen and dining room. Thinking he wanted to prepare something for himself to eat, I continued my final sets of exercises for the day.

As I finished my last maneuver, bringing both of my swords to the front and throwing the shield on my back, Kard appeared with a large tray, filled with all sorts of breakfast delicacies and two jugs. I quickly sheathed my weapons and rested my shield on a sofa before helping him carry the jugs that I now saw were filled with milk and some kind of purple fruit juice.

"You didn't have to prepare all this," I said to him as I placed the jugs on the table in front of the fireplace.

"I hope you don't mind having breakfast here?" he asked, completely ignoring my remark. "I never was one to eat at a dining table."

"This will be fine," I said with a smile, and picked up one of the five empty plates he had brought along with the tray. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he replied waving his left hand since his right was occupied, slicing off a big piece of cheese with his favorite jeweled dagger.

I took a bite of a freshly baked bread bun and immediately regretted it, as it was much hotter than I thought. I tried to open my mouth and inhaled as fast as possible in order to cool the food down, but it still hurt.

"Adel, you need to be more careful," Kard said.

"Like this has never happened to you?" I said, as soon as I was able to swallow my bite. "Magically baked bread is always deceiving."

"That isn't what I mean," he replied seriously. "I wanted to tell you yesterday, but we were all so tired. Kai wants nothing more than to find you and kill you. You have to be extra careful. He probably has agents everywhere."

"I know," I answered, and immediately felt my appetite flee as I remembered my first encounter with one of his agents. "Do you know the avoral, Kard?"

"I think I've heard the name. Maybe in a fairytale or something?" He squinted his eyes and looked upward, trying to remember. "They are half-bird, half-human, right? I think I remember one of my aunts telling me the avoral would take me if I didn't study my spells."

"They're no fairytale, Kard," I said, surprised he even knew this much about them. "They’re living beyond the mountains, exiled there by the Order. And they're definitely not stealing naughty children."

"That much I had figured out," he replied jokingly. "But how do you know they're no fairytale?"

"Because I murdered one," I said, and strangely enough I felt the weight of my horrible act become less heavy.

For a moment, his face revealed his surprise but he immediately masked it and wore his serious expression again.

"Tell me about it," he said putting down his dagger and the cheese he was holding.