“Lin, how could you not have told us this yesterday?”

Valen stands over Lin, an uncharacteristic frown on his face as he glares at the young girl as she sits on the couch with her tail wrapped around her leg.

Moments after the group had been ushered back into the guest room, Valen had yelled at Lin, startling her.

And right now, she is currently crying, her dress wet with tears as Valen berates her for her carelessness.

“*sniffle* I taught eet was a seqwet, ” she says, tears coming out of her face, heartbroken for getting Valen upset.

Valen shakes his head, still frowning angrily at her even though internally he wants to hug her and tell her ‘it will all be ok’.

*sigh*

Valen gets on one knee, his head leveled to hers.

“Lin, you can't be going at it alone. You have to at least tell me your plans. I know you probably wanted to be a hero, to save us all, but you can't be taking those risks. I… I can't stand the thought of losing you.”

“Am sawwy, ” Lin squeaks, looking down, avoiding eye contact.

“Lin, look at me.”

Lin continues to look down.

“Lin… please look at me.”

Lin’s head slowly rises, her teary eyes making contact with Valens.

“You are the most important person in my life Lin, and because of that, I can't be taking risks anymore.”

He stops, making sure she is listening.

“When we were first attacked by the dark elves in that forest, I could have fought them. All it would take is a thought and the entire forest would be up in flames, most of the enemy killed.”

“And that's the problem Lin, most is not all. If even one person survived and they shot an arrow at you… and killed you… I could never forgive myself.”

Valen tightens his hand into a fist,” And that's why Lin, you need to stop taking these risks. You may have thought it was a secret, and it might have been, but, of all the people here, I should have known.”

At what felt like a long moment, an eternity, but was barely a second, Lin's mind finally stops, a realization.

“Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh, um sawwy.”

Like an opening of a dam, Lin's tears start to release, pouring out as she jumps forward, her arms encircling Valen.

Regret, Fear, emotions bottled up, memories of her lost mother, her dead father, of an uncaring sister, of being helplessly caged, all of it forces out at that moment, her pain finally out on display.

No longer able to control himself, Valen encircles his arms around the young girl, tears now flowing out of his eyes as he rocks her in his arms.

“Um sawwy, Um sawwy, um sawwy,” Lin repeats as she attempts to shove her face deeper into Valen's chest, her emotions no longer in her control.

_____

Time passes by as Lin's wailing starts to slow, her energy spent. Eventually it is replaced by soft breathing, the young tigress had fallen asleep in his arms.

Carefully, Valen picks Lin up, moving towards his room, giving the others of his group a quick look.

A group which had watched the whole scene unfold.

Gang wipes the tears off his own face using his robe while Arjun gives Valen a nod while holding his own tear stricken daughter close.

Diva just looks at Valen, a complicated, partially confused look on her face.

Entering his room, Valen removes the covers and sets Lin down, putting the covers on her and letting the girl sleep, contemplating whether to change his clothes or not.

Figuring that she will be fine, Valen exits the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he closes the door, a squealing sound interrupts the group as they turn towards the entrance to the suite.

________

Morendos opens the door, taking a quick look and walks inside the suite, followed by Llarain in her usual customary black garb.

Closing the door behind him, he turns towards the group which are giving him rather hostile glares.

As they should be.

“ I would first like to apologize for putting you all in this political mess.” he starts, taking a good look at the others, especially Valen and Gang, noticing a face reminiscent of someone who had recently cried.

“Next,” he looks towards Valen,” I want to thank you for going along with Llarain's plan, though I would not have used the tigress child to talk to the king. Regardless, your acting was superb, especially the Amazonian,” a smile forms on his lips,” The nobles were fooled quite well into believing that the Amazonian was insulted.”

A smile forms on Gangs lips while Valen scowls at the prince,” we were not told anything about any plan. We woke up, found our weapons and were herded towards your king. The only one who was told anything about a plan is Lin.

Valen turns to Llarain,” and for some reason, she was under the impression this whole plan was a complete secret and she should not share it with anyone.”

The prince, flabbergasted, turns to Llarain, watching the assassin as she finds the blank wall very interesting.

The color drains from his face, realizing that everything that happened in front of the king was not staged at all.

He turns to Diva,” but if so, how did the Amazonian know to act offended?”

Valen places two fingers on the bridge of his nose, giving Diva a quick look,” because she was offended. She really thought her honor was at stake.

Diva, silent and confused, turns to Valen” It wasn't?”

Valen shakes his head.

“ Yes, your honor was not at risk because it would have been fully in your power to take down all of the guards.” Arjun chimes in.

“I… see.”

Still confused with the situation, Diva just nods and goes silent.

“So what happens now?” Gang asks.

Morendos frowns.

“ Now, I will have you all accompany me with my new troops outside the city, where I will allow you all to leave and go on your way.”

“ What of the contract?” Diva asks.

Confused, Morendos looks to the Amazonian,” The mercenary deal? Nothing. My idiot brother wants to send you to help me fight the holy kingdom, but that's my problem, not yours. He doesn't care for your group, he just doesn't want to be looked at as weak by the nobles if he allows you all to leave without some kind of reparations.

Valen nods, having already predicted the actions of the king, more than willing to play his game for the sake of getting out of the forest safely.

A forest he plans to never return to considering how much trouble it is so far.

“ I will assist you prince Morendos.”

All eyes turn to Arjun, a mask of worry and resolution can be seen on his face.

Morendos looks to the light elf,” That will be unnecessary.”

“No,” Arjun says, shaking his head, holding his daughter tighter to his leg,” My wife was taken by the holy kingdom, I can't stand around and do nothing. Every second I wait means she may very well end up dead.”

Morendos, unsure what to say, looks down towards the dark elf child clinging to his leg, remembering that the progeny between different species tends to greatly favor the mother's race.

Another mage would be extremely helpful, especially considering my brother would give little to none to support me.

“ What of your child?”

Arjun frowns, holding his daughter close to him, turning towards Valen.

“ Valen… I have a favor to ask of you,” he pauses, watching as Valen makes eye contact with his own,” I want to leave my daughter in your care for a little while.”

“Daddy No!,” Aisha yells out, looking up towards her father who is sporting a grim look.

Valen, takes a long while, seconds passing before he slowly nods.

“ I will take care of her,” Valen answers, immediately getting a bewildered look from Gang.

“Daddy,” Aisha calls out, looking up to her father, tears starting to form once again in her eyes.

Smiling sadly, Arjun goes down on one knee,” Aisha, I will be going to war to save your mother, in the meantime, I want you to stay with Valen… I trust him to keep you safe.”

Gang closes his eyes, rubbing his temples,” how long will you be gone? How long will this battle last? Where are we to wait for you?”

Gang turns to Valen,” do you even think before you accept requests? What if the battle is a failure and he dies? Are you willing to take care of Aisha forever?”

Valen turns to Gang, his back straight, eyes hard,” I am.”

Gang stares a Valen, watching the confidence oozing out of the man.

“Gahhhhhhh, why am surrounded by idiots,” he says, turning to Diva.” Do you have anything to add to this?”

Diva, blinks rapidly, looking long and hard at the Radonian,” What was your question again?”

Gang shakes his head and walks towards the couch, sitting down and folding his arms,” Idiots, all of them are idiots.” he says rather loudly, not even looking at the group.

After a brief moment, Morendos continues.

“ The battle will not take long, probably less than a month. We have a small base of operations in the northern outskirts of the forest you can stay in the meantime.”

Valen and Arjun nod in acknowledgment, happy to have that problem figured out.

“Good, now that this is over, I will go prepare my troops and will call upon you all when I am ready to depart.”

Morendos turns around, opening the door and leaving.

Llarain walks to the door and stops, turning towards the group, taking a long hard look at Valen.

She nods slowly, then walks outside, closing the door behinds.

As soon as the door closes, the group goes completely silent, not a sound being made.

Just standing there, staring at the door, deliberating on their next action.

“Idiots… I am surrounded by idiots.” Gang voices from his seat.

**********************

Several days later, the preparations are complete and the group finds themselves walking with alongside an army twenty thousand soldiers in size, a mere fraction of the size that the enemy is believed to have.

But Morendos shows very little in a sign of fear. His back is straight, black leather armor covering his body while an enormous bow is strapped squarely atop his back, the crystals embedded on it humming with power.

Passing by the last guard station, Morendos leads his army outside of the underground city and into the forest proper, his soldiers following behind.

“Llarain,” Morendos voices.

Immediately she reveals herself, seemingly coming out of a stretch of shadow, a smirk probably on her lips, though none can be seen due to her face being mostly covered.

“ How was your talk with the counselor. You did mention he will have the plan underway. Correct?”

Llarain nods,” Indeed, it seems that our timing is quite impeccable. The residents of the Holy kingdom are greatly on edge. Apparently, the king has been growing more blood paladins, so much more that they are starting to take their own people for blood crystal production. The counselor says he can get most of the army to leave, but the king is paranoid. He will have most of the blood paladins at his side, which will make taking the palace extremely difficult, especially with our lack of mages.”

Morendos bites his lip, thinking on the altercation. Though the city will be defenseless and his army outnumbers the blood paladins significantly, he is still not sure he can take them out, especially since the palace is enchanted. If the king can hold on long enough, the enemy army would be able to show up and kill him and his men, greatly fueling Blood paladin production.

Such thought quickly pass through his head, thinking how much of a risk this truly is. His bow would allow him to pierce the enchanted armor of the bloody paladins, possibly killing them, but that is only true if the enchanted palace did not protect them.

“It would be in our benefits to ask them for assistance, even promising whatever rewards they so choose,” Llarain voices from his side, matching his own pace.

Morendos shakes his head, taking a look back behind him, seeing the group walking alongside his soldiers from a ways back.” No, I refuse to force them into this war.”

Llarain rolls her eyes,” They are powerful, they killed a Bhargese with such a small group, a beast significantly harder to kill than a blood paladin. That man… Valen, I think he is far stronger than us all, even stronger than the Amazonian.”

Morendos goes silent, staring forward.

“I would not say he is stronger than the Amazonian… I think it is more to say that he has far more potential than her.”

Llarain nods, looking back, her eyes glowing, allowing her to see the group clearly from a great distance away, watching Valen as he holds lin’s hand. She remembers the pictures of the Serafin her master had shown her, of their looks, short ears, and magnificent wings.

He has all the traits except the wings.

“ I still think it would be a good idea to hire them… but at least we have that mage Arjun.”

Morendos nods,” Make sure to keep that one alive, I don't want to be the one to tell his daughter that he had perished.”

Llarain nods, thinking of which assassins under her control she should send to protect the man.