Lydia approached the guard hesitantly. Then taking a breath, started to speak, “Hello, my name is Sar, and I would like to join the Everguard.” She had been told not to use her real name, and make it sound like a name a critter would use. Unfortunately, she had no idea what type of names critters used and had to ask the King himself for help.

He had laughed and told her to use the name, Sar. Sar, she then became. Lydia honestly felt like there was no need for a name change, but she wasn’t about to go around and start defying the king now was she?

Looking at her quizzically the Guard, slinging the unconscious mouse over his shoulder, replied “yup, do you have a letter of introduction from your local judge, mayor, or an Everguard veteran?’’

Lydia, luckily, did indeed have a document like that. The Rat King had written it himself. She was told that it wouldn’t hold up under scrutiny but that no one should be closely scrutinising anything anyway if they were they she had failed. These words didn’t really comfort her, but she had no choice except to forge on.

She once again went over her plans. Befriend the princeling, succeed at anything they threw at her but not exceed. She needed to be totally average, just another rodent-no, critter now, filling the seats. She would go to any events that she was invited too, but if it was a day before a test or something then she would skip.

The Guard grabbed the letter, stuffed it in his pocket, turned around and started walking, “follow me." He grabbed the guinea pig and slung him over his other shoulder.

Following the guard, she entered into the castle of her enemies. He stopped and said, “I’ll be leaving you now. Go left and then right and then left. You’ll find a Capybara there, she will be taking the names of all the new first years.”

She started to turn and leave, when the guard shouted after her, “She’s the Wardens wife. You should get on her good side. It’ll do you good.”

Lydia had no idea who the Warden was or even what a Capybara was, but, following the Wardens instruction, she found herself at a door. She knocked. It was quickly opened by the biggest critter that she had ever seen, it towered over her and all she could do was gape.

The critter grinned, “What? Never seen a Capybara before?”

Lydia responded by continuing to gape. “I’ve…Never seen…”

The capybara laughed, “come inside, we’ll talk about what you want in there.” With those words, the critter turned around and went inside.

Lydia followed her and headed in.

The room was huge, at least by her standards. Then again, you would need a big room to fit a critter like the one she was currently facing. It wasn’t the size of the room that amazed her most though, but the number of books and bookshelves populated it. Every single wall was covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves and each of those bookshelves were stuffed full of well-organized books.

The capybara motioned for her to sit down at a desk that placed in the middle of the room. If the bookshelves were a warm sunny day then the desk was like a tempest. Prodigous amounts of letters, papers, and other files were strewn about it.

Lydia felt sorry for her. It looked like the critter was busy, but Lydia needed to join the Everguard and it seemed like she was the only creature that could. Lydia was sure that there were others who could sign her up but she was the closest.

The capybara motioned for her to sit and sit she did. Lydia spoke, “Hi, my name is Ly- Sar, I would like to join the Everguard.” She mentally winced at her slip up, she was Sar now, a critter. Someone that has lived in the Evertree her entire life and doesn’t know the ins and outs.

The Rat King had given her liberties when it came to her fake identity and she had prepared as best she could. Thinking out all the questions that she could be asked and then answering them. Asking the Rat King’s entourage for help when needed.

The Capybara smiled. “Ah, straight to business huh? I can appreciate that. My husband is like that, admirable, in its own way. As for whether you can join the Everguard, the answer is a yes. Since you came a little bit late I’ll need to sign you up.”

Lydia, no, Sar now, said, “Thank you, so should I be going now?”

The capybara replied, “Don’t want to stay around? That’s fine.” She scribbled on a paper in front of her, “could you please sign here?” Lydia froze, she didn’t know how to write, and she had no idea what a signature was.

She decided to be forthright, “um, ma’am, I don’t know how to write or read.”

The capybara stared at her for a while, “Oh, oh, okay then, um, could you just scribble there, please?” Sar had no idea what thoughts were going through the critters head. All she could hope was that her cover wasn’t blown.

Sar fumbled with the quill and managed to get a few inkblots and even a line onto the paper. She pushed it back toward the capybara.

“Must have been from a more conservative family huh?” The capybara said.

Lydia thought about this and decided not to commit, “strict, is what they always used to say.”

The capybara nodded, and then said, “Alright! All done. Just go out and then go right, left, and then right again. You should find yourself at the cafeteria.”

Sar got up and left quickly. The capybara's questions just showed how flawed her cover was. She needed to think everything out again.

First, though, she needed to learn more about the Evertree.

She headed toward the cafeteria.