Niko

The messenger bird disrupted a particularly boring breakfast with Lucia and Lord Koran– he'd told me to call him just Koran but it honestly just made everything more awkward.

I thought at first that it was a message from Aidan, my younger brother. He'd been hoping to come visit, and promised to send a bird when he'd boarded a boat.

But then I saw the Greencloak seal on the scroll. My heart sped up with a mixture of excitement and nerves. News from Greenhaven was either wonderful or horrible, I'd learned. There was no in between.

"A message for you, milady." The servant hurried to pass it along to Lucia.

She nodded, looking as uneasy as I felt. The bird perched itself on the arm of her chair, looking ruffled as she pulled the scroll from its binding.

"Well?" Lord Koran's question startled me. I'd forgotten he was there for a moment– quite a feat, for his authoritative presence was extremely hard to overlook.

Lucia pursed her lips. "It's from our old guardian, Tyler."

I was so startled by the way she worded it that I missed the next part of what Lord Koran said. It was true, Tyler wasn't our guardian anymore. Yet... he'd been like a father. I couldn't quite get my head around the idea of him being our old guardian. As if... we'd outgrown his protection or something.

"Niko?"

I shook myself out of my thoughts and glanced up. "Yeah? Sorry."

"It says that we are to return to Greenhaven." Lucia repeated. Her eyes searched mine, asking silently if I was okay.

"Oh, really?" I frowned. "Why? And when?"

Lucia sighed, as if annoyed by the answer she was about to give. "As soon as possible. We're being reassembled for some mission."

I scrunched my nose. "Let me guess, no specifications at all."

She shook her head.

Lord Koran, who'd been silent throughout the exchange, cleared his throat and drew our attention. "If duty calls, you must answer." He said steadily. "I can have a boat prepared for the voyage by tomorrow."

"But Father–" Lucia started.

He raised a hand against her protest.

She ignored it, standing up to glare at him. The action startled the messenger bird, who took flight and landed on the table near me. "No, Father. You were far to quick to dump me off to the Greencloaks last time. I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I won't leave you here again!"

Lord Koran's eyes turned stormy as he narrowed them at his only daughter. "You will watch your tone with me, young lady. You have your orders–"

"I will not!" Lucia spat the words with a venom I'd  only seen in battle. "You cannot send me away again! What if I don't return?" Her tone turned pleading. "What if there's nothing for me to return to?"

I averted my eyes, sensing how personal this was getting. The messenger bird was still hopping around the table, so I coaxed it to my arm.

"Reisha is not merely this estate." Lord Koran waved his hands in my periphery. "It is the people. That will never be destroyed. And just imagine, Lucia, how they will accept you as a hero after you save Erdas yet again."

Lucia was scowling– I could hear it in her voice. "I don't want to be a hero."

"I know." Her father's tone softened. "But I've heard how you speak of your adventures, your team. I do not need to be psychic to know you miss them."

Lucia paused. "How can I leave you?"

He laughed. "I have always and will always be with you. And when you return, I will still be here."

Don't make promises you can't keep. The words rang in my mind. But I didn't dare speak them.

"... fine. I will go." She agreed reluctantly.

I finally looked up.

Lord Koran was smiling. "I will alert the sailors. You two had best start packing."

The messenger bird took off as I stood, darting out of an open window. I thanked Lord Koran for breakfast, then followed Lucia from the room.

"You okay?" I asked softly, levelling at her pace.

"Nothing that a ride won't fix." She assured, sighing.

I nodded. "Maybe I'll join you." I'd been training with Jesse, working to get him used to a saddle and being ridden. It was going about as well as you'd think.

She smiled. "I'd like that."

There was a beat of silence.

"Do you think it'll be weird?" She asked at last. "The team, I mean. With... everything."

'Everything' being the fact that we hadn't spoken to either Sasha or Zay, and that we hadn't seen Navia and Sabien in a year. Oh, and not to mention that Tazi had become so driven by revenge that he was almost unrecognizable.

"Maybe at first." I replied honestly. "But we'll settle into the rhythm. They're family, they can't change that much in only a year." I heard the doubt in my own voice, and saw Lucia's eyebrow raise.

"Yeah, I guess." She sounded just as disbelieving as I felt. "Oh well, I guess we'll see."

~

It'd been five days since we'd received the letter, four since we'd said goodbye to Lucia's father and boarded the ship to Greenhaven.

And today was the day we arrived.

Or at least, that was what the captain had estimated. The winds and waves had been in our favour, so we'd made excellent progress so far.

I stood at the prow, butterflies in my stomach and thoughts running wild in my head.

"It's warm out here in the sunshine." Lucia said by way of greeting. She stood behind me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Hello," I chuckled.

She rested her chin on my head– she was still about a head taller than me, despite how much I'd grown. "Nervous?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." I sighed. "I don't even know why, though. It's just the team. Same people who treated my wounds and had my back when they fought beside me. I know them."

Lucia hummed, sending the vibration through my skull. "You knew them. They're not the same people, Nik. They've changed, we've changed. But they're still family."

"Somehow that makes it worse." I pulled a face.

She laughed and was about to answer when a shout from the crows nest cut her off.

"Greenhaven, dead ahead!"

I swallowed. "Either way, it's too late to turn back now."

Lucia blew out a breath through her nose. "Yep."

2/08/21
they have arrived!!! get ready for the next chapter– it'll be wild ;)
i'm trying to stay consistent with updates, but we'll see how long i can keep that up lol
anyway tho enjoy my lovelies!!