Gareth nodded and stood. "Oh, ah, if you do not mind..." He accepted the key, and inwardly he remarked about how finding the room on his own would be burdensome. However, even considering how onerous it would prove for Gareth, he cognized that it was better for him to go alone to his own quarters than for Sophia to go alone to hers, given the disparity between their social status. He smiled at Sophia and Walden as they paired up to leave. "Good night, to you both... Pleasure meeting you." Gareth bowed kindly, and wobbled a bit as he left his prostrate position, grabbing the table for support. Clumsy when drunk, he thought himself. Conceivably, he could ask a member of the guard of the whereabouts of the room, for surely someone would be capable of directing Gareth to it. He wondered more, about how he would reclaim his bow, but he sighed. He'd be too shy to approach Redwyne about it, therefore he had to wait until morning when he could ask Walden about it. Unescorted he stumbled away from the great hall in the direction of the Tower of the Thistle, Gareth staying close to the wall so he could lean against it if he found himself tripping.

"Goodnight, Mister Harker. Be careful finding your way back, you have a very important day tomorrow!" Walden said, as he nodded to Sophia, and started a slow pace out of the Great Hall. The lockdown had already ended, and many people had already left for their rooms here in the Palace. Walden slowly made it towards Sophia's room, helping her when needed, and making sure not to walk to fast for her. Eventually, the pair made it to Sophia's room, and Walden pulled out a silver key, unlocking the room for Sophia, "I'll make sure that Redwyne will find a couple of knights to watch your door tonight, my lady. No royalty, even foreign royalty, should have to worry about their safety." He said, with his toothy smile. "I will see you tomorrow, if the God wills it." He added, as he took his leave from Sophia, leaving her to the privacy of her room.

Gareth kindly asked a knight near the Tower of the Thistle about the location of his new room, and he produced the key from his vest pocket, showing it to the knight. The knight promptly pointed him to a long hallway of rooms and living spaces taken up by the members of the Order, and Gareth ventured down the hall until he found a room marked with the same number as on the key. Trying the lock with the key, the door gave easily with a twist of the brass knob, and the half-elf found himself in a medium-sized space, with a bed a few sizes larger than himself. He locked the door behind him and took his shoes off by the door, him stripping his clothes off as he came to the bed. After he had folded the vest, the dress shirt, and the slacks, he fell onto the cushioned bed, and he pulled the neat, cobalt sheets over himself, staring up at the ceiling until he fell asleep to his own thoughts.

Sophia walked alongside Sir Walden, thankful for his company in the walk back to her room. She tried her best to maintain balance, but a few times her intoxication got the better of her. Thankfully, the large man helped her when she stumbled. When they finally reached the doorway, Walden informed the princess that her door would be guarded. She smiled. Even if everything had gone to hell, it seemed there was still kindness and hospitality to be found in the world. "Thank you very much, Sir Walden. I certainly hope so." She gave a bright smile and opened the door, waving to the knight as she shut the door behind her. Inside, she found a very distraught Eva.

"Oh, Princess! You're finally back! I've been so worried, I heard lots of noise earlier, I didn't know what had happened." Sophia smiled and waved off the lady-in-waiting's concerns. "I'm fine, Eva. Things got hectic at the feast..." She tried to think of the best way to put things. She took a deep breath. "A man was killed, and they're saying the people that did it are plotting against the king." She made no mention of the manner of Karl's death, or of their encounter with Thomas. The handmaiden gasped, before running across the room and embracing the girl. "I'm so sorry, milady. Are you certain you're alright?" The servant paused for a moment, looking around. "Your grace, where is Jezin?" Sophia smirked. "He's with a girl." Eva glowered. "At a time like this? Really?" Sophia shook her head. "Don't worry about it, they're putting knights outside our door anyway. Cut him some slack." The handmaiden sighed as Sophia approached her bedroom door. "Good night, your grace." Sophia replied groggily and shut the door behind her.

Jezin looked up, holding back a chuckle at the woman's obvious drunkenness. He stood up with her. "Well, I suppose I could... if you feel up to such a thing." She smirked, walking around the table and standing beside her. The people around them were beginning to file out of the hall. "Yes, it seems they are... I could escort you back to your quarters, if you'd like, my lady." He seemed to be implying something fairly heavily, and chuckled slightly. He reached his hand across the table to the half glass of wine he had poured before and downed the entirety of the vessel. He felt a faint warmness, but was far from drunk. He noticed Sophia and Sir Walden had left, hoping desperately that the princess would be alright for a few hours.

Payton smirked, making her own way out of the hall, using Jezin as a walking support when need be. "What a noble deed for a knight. Helping a drunken lady back to her quarters." She mocked, stumbling and slightly tripping as she went. Payton was lucky enough to have gotten her quarters close to the Great Hall. While the room was not that great, it wasn't that bad either, and she had certainly had worse. The pair did not have to walk long, even in Payton's current state. Payton stood in front of the door, and gingerly opened it, leaning against it slightly as to use it as a impromptu walking support. Immediately, once inside the room Payton removed her shirt, throwing it to the ground. Payton then turned back towards Jezin, revealing her pale, bare chest, and the fact that she was quite the buxom. "Well, don't just stay there, good sir knight. Come in!" She said, with a flirty smile, placing her hands on her hips.

Jezin followed Payton back to her room, occasionally looking behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. Eventually, they reached their destination. Payton rushed into the room ,while Jezin lingered outside for a few moments. Within a few seconds, Payton had removed her shirt. Jezin couldn't help but stare for a moment. She asked him to come in. Something in the back of his mind still told him to turn around, but once again the voice went unheeded. "But of course." He said as he strode into the room, closing the door behind him. He approached the woman with a smile and leaned forward to kiss her, placing one hand on her hip as he did so.

Payton smirked when she caught Jezin, seemingly surprised for a moment, staring at her. She leaned forward in conjunction with Jezin's lean, and her lips met his. She gently placed a hand on Jezin's chest, and pressed him down onto the bed, holding the kiss as she did so. Once Jezin was on his back on the bed, she broke the kiss. Payton then made short work of his pants, throwing them to the side of the bed, as well as her own. She looked into Jezin's eyes, giving a slightly conceited smirk, as he moved to sit herself on top of Jezin's pelvis, and began gyrating her hips to and fro. "You're definitely not as tough as you think you are, sir." She said, sighing as she did so, still holding a conceited smirk, albeit slightly quivering.

Jezin fell back onto the bed. When Payton broke the kiss, his face returned to it's usual smirk. He reached up, brushing her hair from her face and caressing her cheek as she continued to try and hold up her same conceited grin. She seemed to have a bit of difficulty with it at this point. The Lyoki leaned forward slightly, looking her in the eyes. "Oh, is that so?" It had been far too long since he'd felt the touch of a woman. In that moment, all his worries disappeared, if only temporarily. The events of the night seemed a distant dream, a nightmare slowly fading. At the moment he and Payton were the only people in the world. If only that feeling could last.

(Probably should timeskip here :P)

The next day

---

Bells rang across the grounds of the Palace, signifying the beginning of a new day. The gates had since be opened, and people moved in and out of the grounds, completely oblivious to the problems of yesterday. Every trace of last night's problems had been moved, and cleaned up, making it appear as if nothing wrong had ever occurred. Order of the Thistle knights, and the normal Palace guards walked across the many hallways of the Palace, trying to hide the fact that they were in constant patrol, making sure to prevent any kind of incident such as yesterdays. Many of the guests of the midnight feast were now waking up and gathering their things, not even bothering to attend the morning feast in the Great Hall. However, some still stayed behind, albeit a very small number. The King was still under tight security, not allowed to leave the confines of his room until the Order of the Thistle had declared the Palace safe, leaving his absence the only herald of the terrible things that had transpired.

Thomas still sat in his dark cell, exhausted and famished. He had not been able to grab a single actual second of sleep the entire long night, and he had not ate since the morning of the tournament. He sat still, despite all things, in his cell. Back against the wall, knees brought up to his chest, and his bound hands out in front of him. He wanted out of the cell. He wanted to change out of the clothes he was in, and he wanted something to eat. Once again, just as the night before, the thoughts of what others were doing polluted his head, giving him something to think about while he sat in his cell.

Sir Walden sat at a table in the Great Hall, a massive ham sat in front of him, most of it gone, and a empty plate of what appeared to once be pumpkin pie. Walden grabbed his glass of cider, and downed the entire glass. In front of the massive man, sat an equally massive book, which was opened. Walden, complete with a set of small reading glasses, was examining the book in great detail. The books title was not visible, but the contents of the book appeared to be a name for each page, along with a paragraph or two under the name. Once in a while, Walden would flip a page in the book.

Jezin woke up to a stream of sunlight piercing through the window into his face. He sat up in the bed, wiping the sleep from his eyes and looked around. The room was empty, it seemed Payton had already left. For a moment he sat there in slight confusion, before realizing he had spent the entire night there. His stomach dropped. He'd left Sophia alone for the entire night. He lept from the bed, redressing as rapidly as possible and bolted out the door. He darted down the hallways leading to the princess' chamber, hoping that nothing had befallen her during the night. He rounded the corner to the room with great haste, skidding against the floor as he did so. He then looked up to see a pair of Order knights guarding the door. He let out a sigh of relief. Sir Walden had done exactly as he'd hoped. The princess was safe. He walked slowly towards the two men, still gasping a bit. "Good morning, gentlemen, I trust you had no issues?" He gave a slight bow. "Thank you for watching over the princess." He opened the door and entered the room, seeing the princess and her lady-in-waiting sitting inside.

Sophia had gotten very little sleep. The wine had helped her get to bed, but she'd awoke several times throughout the night, her pillow soaked with tears. Eventually, she had given up on the endeavor of a good night's rest all together and had gotten dressed for the morning. She now wore a slim black dress, the collar of which was embroidered with a thin line of gold thread. The sleeves were long and flowing, going so far as to cover the princess' hands. Her circlet still sat upon her head, and the golden medallion hung from her neck, but she had opted out of wearing the flashy wrist jewelry. Her head ached as Eva made an effort to style her hair. Her eyes glanced up as Jezin entered.

"Princess, I apologize for my tardiness." Sophia shook her head and put on a tired smile. "It's fine, Jezin, I'm just glad you're back. We'll be heading to the Great Hall shortly, you should get dressed." The bodyguard nodded, heading for his room. He caught a glare from Eva as he shut the door. He changed quickly, throwing on a long-sleeved black dress shirt and a doublet made of red leather. He changed into a pair of simple black trousers, like the ones he wore beneath his armor, and put on a black dress jacket that was marginally shorter than the long coat he had worn the night before. He paused before leaving the room, grabbing his dagger from the nightstand and concealing it within his coat pocket. He doubted he would need it, but he didn't want to take any chances. He left the room to see the princess fully prepared. He noticed she had added a loose gold-trimmed belt to her attire, with her flute tucked neatly underneath it. The pair set out towards the Great Hall, barely speaking the entire way there.

Gareth woke up to the sound of the bells; he sat up and yawned, arms stretched up in the air as he twisted his body and hopped off the bed. The young man covered himself with the same fitting clothes as yesterday, preparing only last minute for the morning feast. There was time to go back home and change into a fresh outfit, but he digressed, finding that not doing so would be less of a hassle. He locked the door with his key and departed from his quarters with nothing else on his person but his key and the clothes on his back. He passed soldiers, trying to remember the way to the great hall in the labyrinth of a castle, and when he finally made it there, he sighed with relief. Harker looked around the room, and he didn't know where to begin with the morning feast. Good eats, but not as many people were there as were there the night before.

Walden managed to pry himself away from his book for a moment, and scan the room, seeing if Gareth, the new squire, had awoken and made it to the Great Hall yet. Sure enough, he saw Gareth near the doorway. With a giant smile, the man boomed across the room, "Mister Harker!" Waving his hand as he did so. It seemed that Walden's jolliness was not bound by any limit, even if it was early morning. Walden pulled a bow out from under the table he was sitting by, along with a quiver, and held it also in the air for Gareth to see. Walden had acquired the squire's personal weapons late last night from the armory, where they stored most of the guests weapons.

Walden's eyes caught his, and the large man called him over. Being quite submissive, Gareth walked briskly at the shout of his name from the other side of the great hall, a shy smile on his closed lips. As he approached earshot, he spoke. "How'd you know about that?" Harker didn't recall telling Walden about the bow, but the half-elf considered the possibility of asking Redwyne about it. Nevertheless, he was still a little glad to see Walden again—Gareth always appreciated the older man's genial presence. It wouldn't ever bother him, the young lad was sure. He took his seat next to Walden, Harker politely clasping his hands in his lap while he opened his mouth once more. "Ah, alas, it is good to see you this morning."

"I let Redwyne know that a certain half-elf known as Gareth Harker was joining us as a Squire." Walden said with a smile, "He seemed to know that the bow belonged to you." Walden sat back in his seat, taking a bite out of the ham in front of him, while shutting the book in front. The title read 'Book of Thistles'. "And it is good to see you this morning, as well, Sir Gareth." Walden said, putting stress on the word Sir, "If you wish to continue down your employment as a squire of the Order of the Thistle, you might soon find yourself with a knightship." He smiled as he explained the ramifications of Gareth's new position meant.

"Ah, I see." Gareth picked an apple from a cornucopia of fruit and took a small bite from it, and he put it down before him, listening intently to Walden. He chuckled, thoughtfully tilting his head as he ran over his job description. Harker had nearly forgotten that in taking up a position as an assistant of the order, he thereby made himself a squire—this put him on a level of authority just below knighthood, which required that he only participate actively in aiding the administration of the Order and the knights. From that point onward, he had to remember that his full name, with titles included, would then affix the title of 'Sir' before itself to indicate just the field of work he was in. "My... In taking this job, sir, well... I must say, quite the turns my life might take!" With the exuberance of youth and the nervous excitement he placed himself in with new responsibilities, he was quite overjoyed. The duties the Order called him to now, though toilsome, would create a contrast between the life he lead before taking them.

Walden smiled at Gareth's excitement, almost bursting into another fit of joyous laughter when he was ecstatic for his new job, "Just imagine, one day you could even be Sir Gareth Harker the Morningstar!" He said, smiling. As if he had just remembered something very important, Walden pulled a a thick letter from his pocket, passing it Gareth. "That is meant for Sir Redwyne, if you don't mind delivering it to the Tower of the Thistle. It arrived this morning. The deliverer wished it to be given directly to Sir Redwyne, and what better way to finally kick off your duties?" Walden said, explaining the situation. The letter was a dark brown, almost leathery container, obviously from a very wealthy sender. It read simply on it's front 'To Sir Redwyne Cole the Morningstar, Knight of the Order of the Thistle. From Sir Duncan Lace.' Walden took a napkin and dabbed it across his face for a moment, before returning to speaking, "I trust you're up to the most dangerous mission of delivering a letter, eh Harker?" Walden almost couldn't contain himself with the laughter that followed.

Gareth laughed. "Of course, I'll be careful not to die while delivering this letter." He mockingly reassured Walden, and he took the important message into his own hands, both literally and figuratively, and put the bow and quiver on his back. He stood and he bowed, flashing one last smile at Walden. "Well, I shall make haste, sir!" Gareth waved and turned away from Walden, then he made his way out of the great hall, headed to the Tower. The walk wasn't far, for the Tower was within the confines of the palace and lied just by the cliff behind the castle. When he arrived holding the letter gently in his grip, he looked around for Sir Cole, who would be easy for Gareth to spot, him having already met the knight before.

Payton had woke up very early, making her way to the Great Hall long before many other guests. It appeared that most of the celebration-goers had the sense to get out before anything else had occurred. Payton didn't like this, however. Karl Lied, and apparently a member of the Arcarti scouts had died here. This was just a precursor, and whatever her nation was planning on doing, it wouldn't be good. It was likely much more people would die, and a lot more will suffer before the end of whatever this way. If Arcartus had wanted Bard II dead, he would more than likely be dead right now. They were aiming for something far more devious, it seemed.

A knight stood in the same room as Gareth, watching as the young boy clutched his letter, and looked around for someone. The boy was no doubt looking to deliver the message to Sir Redwyne, the only person who had their mail delivered directly to them. "If you're looking for Sir Redwyne, he's at the top of the tower, in the Commander's study." The knight called out to Gareth, with a helpful smile on his face. It seemed that any other Order of the Thistle knight had long left the Tower, or were just leaving, but this knight seemed to stay, and it was evident what he was doing after a moment. A whetstone was in one of his hands, and a blade laid, tipped against the wall, beside him.

His voice rushed to answer the knight. "Thank you, sir!" Gareth bowed in gratitude before the knight, who seemed as if he were sharpening the blade on the wall, and the half-elf quickly ambled from the knight to the stairs with the intent of allowing the knight to get back to his work without any mindless chatter. Up the stairs went Harker until he approached the tower's precipice where he stood before the doorway to the study. With a feeling of shaking in his gut, a fist knocked on the door thrice gently, waiting for the call to enter. He hoped not to interrupt Sir Redwyne in the room, himself given some degree of paranoia at the idea of barging in on someone in the middle of important business. Then again, he considered that he himself was on important business, delivering important post.