"And that's why we left Hallowscroft," Myronel concluded.

  With nothing else to do but watch Sedat sit there, he'd decided to tell her what had happened to set them on their journey. To be honest, he had originally intended it to be him telling the girl of his sister's parentage, but as he'd learned, Edeline had explained that to Sedat yesterday. Myronel wasn't fully sure Sedat understood the weight of the matter, but she at least knew the truth.

  And it hadn't seemed to dissuade Sedat in the slightest.

  "Doesn't make sense to me," Sedat said.

  "What about it doesn't make sense?" he asked, trying to put together a way to better explain it.

  "How can everyone think you're dead? So many people saw you alive. And then a bunch of messages had to get sent everywhere, so they'd have found out then."

  "Those messages take time to reach their destinations, and Hyarch is a large kingdom." Despite that, Myronel acknowledged Sedat had a point. The royal knights, or at the least he'd fought and led men alongside, ought to be aware of his survival. It was growing harder to not think this news had been suppressed in some fashion. That just left even more questions though, ones Myronel wasn't sure he wanted to get into.

  "Can't be that big, yeah? Let's see..." Sedat raised one wing, then sheepishly stopped. "Keep forgetting I...I don't have fingers to count on any more."

  Myronel simply shook his head. "There isn't any way you could measure Hyarch like that."

  "But there's only so many towns, right? They're not that far apart either."

  "It took us nearly two months to travel to here from Kelshir," Myronel stated flatly. Inwardly, he was a little amused.

  "It was that long? Wait. Can't be right. That would mean-" Sedat broke off, looking towards the door of the room. "Do you hear that?"

  Myronel paused, listening carefully. He could just barely make out raised voices coming from downstairs. If it was some sort of argument, they probably didn't need to get involved. Although, they hadn't heard anything like this from them before...it was concerning.

  He was about to go out and check when he heard a thumping sound coming from the stairs. If someone was coming to see them...Myronel immediately thought of Edeline's warning. Aether's blood, she'd been right.

  "Get ready," he warned, bending over and retrieving his sword. Myronel didn't want to fight any of the guard, but he wasn't about to back down from protecting Sedat. No matter what she'd done, she didn't deserved to be cut down like some beast.

  "Ready for what?" Sedat whispered back. Before he could answer, the curtain at the doorway shifted, revealing two figures.

  The first was Takhat. Instead of her usual armor, she was wearing a simple tunic. Indeed, she was nothing like the fierce captain from just a few days ago. Her face bore the look of someone caught in a battle between their exhaustion and willpower. Too worn down to be here, too determined to be anywhere else. One hand held a spear that braced her up, while the other was draped over the second figure.

  It was Senby, looking quite worried as he supported Takhat. It was clear there was no way she could have made it without his help. Wait. Nela would never have let the captain leave in her condition. At best, this mean the two had sneaked out while Nela was distracted. At worst...

  Myronel didn't want to think about the at worst.

  "So it was true," Takhat said slowly, looking over at Sedat. "You were concealing one of the creatures."

  "Hardly," Myronel answered, "Shouldn't you be resting?"

  Takhat laughed bitterly. "I would want nothing more to, but that's only possible if I can trust other people to handle my work for me. Keep everyone safe. And no one is safe with her here."

  So this confrontation really was unavoidable then. "Which is why, once we're done with the Sluice, we were going to leave with her."

  Takhat only grew more visibly angry, lifting up her spear to point forward. "So that you can take her to some other town and have her...have her slaughter the people there? You should know what these creatures can do."

  "We are very aware," Myronel stated. "I won't pretend that I thought this the best course of action myself. But I have seen the armed men of this kingdom aim their weapons at the defenseless and the distressed too many times to stand by and allow it to happen again. Lower yours now."

  "Maybe...maybe he's right." Senby reached over and put a hand on the spear. "We don't know-"

  "Do you really mean to fight me?" Takhat pulled her spear free of Senby's grasp, a motion that nearly sent her falling over.

  "No," Myronel answered. The truth was that it would not be a fight at all. Takhat should not have attempted to come here to begin with. That fact that she had made it spoke to her strength of spirit, but that did little when her body was still battered and exhausted. He could see it in his mind, a hex different ways to end this with one swing of his sword.

  "Wait," Sedat suddenly said, the first words she had spoken since Takhat's arrival. "Senby? How are you here?"

  "You can talk?" Senby looked utterly baffled. Hadn't he been there when they returned to overthrow the royal knights? Myronel supposed the young man must not have been paying much attention. Given what had happened to Takhat, that was somewhat excusable.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Sure can't sing," Sedat replied.

  "Sedat? How...you..." Senby stammered, recognition setting in. "You're still...you?"

  "Kind of. Sound different, don't I? Feel different too. Also, not having hands isn't fun." Sedat rose and spread her wings. "But got to ask you why you've still got yours."

  Senby looked away. "I wasn't there."

  "Trying to escape again." Sedat shook her head. "Just caused us all kinds of trouble. And then you're the only one who made it out whole. Stupid, isn't it."

  "Don't go thinking I don't feel bad about it," Senby told her, "I...what's wrong?" He stopped to glance over at Takhat, who was now shaking slightly.

  "It's a lie. You're lying," the captain said.

  "What?" Senby said, worried, "I told you how I felt about that, remember?"

  "No. That...can't be her name." Takhat's gaze was focused completely on Sedat, barely paying any attention to Senby despite him still holding her upright.

  Myronel didn't know what to think. If it had been Sedat who said introduced herself, he might have thought she'd been deceiving them the entire time. With Senby recognizing the girl instead, that wasn't possible. So now it became a matter of figuring out what Takhat was even talking about. Had she known a different person named Sedat, perhaps?

  "That is her name. She’s...she was one of the other ashabti," Senby insisted. Attempting to plead with Takhat from his position had to be awkward. "I've known her for...years, I don't know how long."

  "She can't be. He promised to find her. Taken away...so you can't be her." Takhat was babbling now, apparently lost in some blend of memory and misery. Myronel couldn't help but pity the woman. She was far fallen from the determined and resourceful captain who had greeted them soon after their arrival, and in only a few days too.

  Curse the royal knights. And, once more, curse that he had once considered himself one of them.

  It did little to address the current problem though. "Who did they take away?" Myronel asked gently.

  The question roused Takhat, and she fixed her gaze on Myronel, tears of fury in her eyes. "They took my daughter."

  Most of Myronel's thoughts fell away, leaving only one behind. He'd guessed before that Takhat's efforts to free the ashabti were driven by something deeper and more personal. This would perfectly explain it, giving rise to the spirit that drove Takhat onward. After all, he knew full well how far mothers would go for their children. Lendra's sacrifice for Edeline was proof enough of that.

  Even so, for Sedat to be the one...that would mean that Takhat would've had to have been around Nela's age, if not younger, when she gave birth to the girl. The other scenario was simply there being two girls both being given the same name. Both were possible, but there was only one person who could possibly answer as to which it was: Sedat herself.

  "Don't think I'm the daughter you've been seeking," Sedat finally said, "Don't think I can be."

  "Then why would have that name?" Takhat shot back.

  "Enough. This was a stupid mistake." Senby stepped in front of Takhat, without releasing his grip on the woman. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into this."

  Takhat tried to push Senby away, but he barely moved. "You're the one making a mistake. I am captain here. Whether she wears my daughter's name like a mask or not, I will...I will cleanse Lasfont of its monsters. Stand aside."

  Myronel stepped forward to try and help. "Don't make this into a fight," he warned. With the state Takhat was in, there was only way that could end.

  At the same time, Senby started to push back, moving the pair back towards the doorway. "You told me that if they found any more survivors I knew, you'd help them!" Senby voice rose, harsh now. "What happened to that?"

  "I'm protecting..." Takhat trailed off. Releasing her grip on the spear, she slumped down to the floor in defeat. "I want to protect the people here. For Lord Lasfont's sake...for everyone..."

  "And who's going to protect them from you?"

  Nela's voice was welcome to hear, a relief that they were at least safe. Keeping hold of his sword, he watched as Nela stepped around him and Takhat to enter the room.

  "You stupid woman." Nela was coldly furious, in a way Myronel wasn't sure he'd ever seen before. "It's one thing to put your own arse at risk when you aren't fully healed. But then you had your men trying to point spears at me and my apprentice."

  Myronel let out a heavy sigh. Even he saw this as a stupid decision. If word got around that the captain's men had been basically threatening children, that would basically ruin any trust most of them had in them. Sure, she was suffering, but so were many here. It was just all the more reason for Takhat to focus on recovering instead of pushing to lead from the front again.

  "So I'll tell you what is going to happen. You can either haul your arse back to that bed and stay there, or I can put you to sleep and have you dragged there myself. Either way, if I see you with a weapon again, I'll be the one showing you what it's like to have a wooden leg. Is this clear?"

  Myronel wasn't entirely sure what Nela meant by that last threat, but it seemed to be effective enough. Takhat simply nodded, and slowly climbed to her feet. For a moment, she stood there, swaying slightly, before looking back at Sedat.

  "Whatever your name is...just know this. You're luck to have people to look out for you."

  "Wait, what's going on?" Nela asked. "Did Takhat-"

  A man rushed into the room, breathing heavily. "Finally...caught up," he managed to say. It took Myronel a moment to recognize him as that alderman's assistant.

  "You're way too slow," Nela complained, "Here, why don't you escort the captain back? And make sure she doesn't try any more nonsense. I'll be there shortly."

  "I'm not..." The man stopped on seeing Nela's glare. "Fine. Just be quick. I have to get back to Ayden."

  Setting the spear aside, Senby again went to Takhat's side. With the captain leaning on him once more, he gave one regretful look back at Sedat, and then they were gone, the alderman's assistant following behind.

  "So what even was that about?" Nela spun back to face Myronel and Sedat. "Give me the short and fast version."

  Myronel could tell Sedat was uncomfortable, but there was no avoiding Nela's question. "Takhat apparently had a daughter at some point, who had the same name as Sedat."

  Pausing for a moment, Nela looked thoughtful. "So that explains it. Why didn't you tell us she was your mother though?"

  While Sedat had denied it, Myronel knew Nela well enough to figure she had picked up on some detail he hadn't. Not the most tactful approach, and it might have been better to wait for Hamond to return, but it was out in the open now.

  Sedat remained silent.

  "For someone who talks a lot, you suddenly aren't saying much," Nela remarked. Myronel let out a quiet sigh. Nela, this wasn't the time, he silently pleaded with his eyes.

  "Doesn't matter," Sedat said sadly, "If she was, that showed she wouldn't give me a home here anyway."

  It was Nela's turn to sigh. "That's the thing though. Home isn't in any one house, or found in any one town. It's the people who open the door and welcome you inside. She may not, but we would. However, that requires you to open up as well. It won't work if you're not honest with us."

  "I know," Sedat said, "Just...she wasn't there when-"

  "Hold it for later," Nela cut the winged girl off with a gesture. "I'm not the one who needs to be told this. I'm not the one taking you in and teaching you stuff. So when Hamond gets back, you tell him all this. You understand?"

  Sedat nodded quietly, a grave look on her face.

  "Then I'm heading back," Nela said, "Jylania's going to wander off if I don't get moving. So...thank you, Ronny."

  Myronel walked over and pulled Nela into a quick embrace. "You be careful, alright?"

  "I'm the one who's supposed to be more worried about you," Nela joked, smiling up at him. "I'll see you later, maybe this evening. The other two should be back then. At least, I hope."

  "We all do." Myronel let Nela go, and watched as she walked back out the door.

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