The rain just never seemed to stop as they traveled the last leg of their journey. The clouds above swirled gray-green and angry as they oversaw the weary travelers.

It reminds me of Tumville, Sera thought absentmindedly. Has it really only been a month?

That month had dragged on for an eternity, it seemed to Sera. So many things had happened and changed, including herself, that it all seemed a bit surreal.

Now they want to try to convince me I am some kind of long lost royal. Why is it not enough to just exist as myself? Why do I always have to be something to someone? A burden to Annika and the man that gave me up, a liability for Hound and Anjelica, and a harm to Bert and Mina. If I am supposed to be a ruler then why does nobody seem to care what I have to say? Why are all of these stupid questions so hard to answer?

She slumped back into the bench of the driver's compartment. She would have liked to be able to crane her head back to admire the sky, but the retractable canopy stood stalwartly above them blocking both her view of the sky along with the rain. After allowing the steady torrent to wash the bulk of blood off the compartment, they had finally allowed themselves the small comfort of cover.

Sera looked over and saw Hound doing his best to direct the carriage through the mud. He looked tired to Sera's eyes. Relaxed but focused was Hound's favorite way to be.

What is my favorite way to be? Sera questioned herself.

Perhaps it is 'fighting'? I do enjoy the adrenaline. It is also...scary.

Suddenly the image of the red and green eyes of the bear flashed giving her a momentary shock. She adjusted in her seat hoping that Hound did not notice even though she knew that he must have.

No. Battle is not quite the best thing in the world. You fight FOR things after all. Being is not doing things either. Hound just...exists over there like it was his destiny. I feel like a lump of clay in the vague shape of a person. There was so much that I had to learn that I did not know what I did not even know.

I just let people tell me what I was. First orphan, then farmgirl, then Fledge, and now princess. It really never ends does it? It feels like a few of those should negate the others.

Sera sighed deeply.

What would I even want to be called? 'Friend' would be a good start I suppose. 'Trustworthy', 'talented, and 'kind' would be nice too now that I think about it.

At this rate, everyone is going to find out that I have the Everburn. After that, I am not sure if I have any chance of someone seeing me beyond being a possible heir. That will wash away everything else.

She pressed her two index fingers to her temples. Ever since the bridge, she had been getting terrible headaches to her dismay.

What about Anjelica and Hound? If I try to keep them near me and ask them to be guards then I am just playing into Anjelica's fucked up savior complex about me. I cannot assert authority or else I am just what they think I am.That's what the Cranes want and the Cranes have almost broken us apart already. There is no reason for them to keep us together.

So I will just have to find something for us to keep working on. If we never get to Brestoc then we never have to worry about the Cranes. I can deal with demons and Gavels but not politics.

"Have you decided to make a hobby of sitting in tortured silence?" Hound asked with a bit of amusement.

"What?" Sera stammered as she was pulled out of her reverie.

"For the past three days you have been climbing up here and then staring out into the distance while sighing and carrying on. If there is something that is gnawing at you that much then you probably need to talk about it," Hound admonished.

"There is nothing to talk about," Sera replied a bit frustrated, "I am who I am and things are the way they are. Not much some chitchat is going to do to change that."

"Ah," Hound said, "I figured that was what was eating at you."

"Yeah. I am just really not sure what I am supposed to do. With any of this. I made a deal to be a proper partner and person to Anjelica but I have absolutely no clue what that means. I feel a bit stupid for thinking I could take something like that on," Sera explained.

"You do not have to do anything but I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself. Anjelica is the smartest person that I know and she does not make deals that she knows will fall through. Her agreeing to that deal means that she thinks that you are capable," Hound countered. "Besides the fact that you just turned eighteen. Neither Anjelica nor I knew what we wanted when we were that age. We were so blind to how real life worked that we had been friends for almost a decade and active hunting partners for four years before we realized we might love each other. Even then, there were a lot of discussions of how things were going to work but that is a whole different story."

Shaking his head, he reached into his coat and pulled out a small bottle of a purple colored liquid.

"Here," he said while holding it out to Sera.

Sera chuckled a bit.

"What in the world is this Hound?"

"Hair dye," He said without missing a beat. Noticing Sera's confused look, he continued.

"My hair is a bit...uh...noticeable. As a hunter it never really concerned me much because I hardly ever work with people but I bought some dye just in case I needed to be a bit less conspicuous. Just as a precaution. There is no point in me having it if I am not using it and you might actually get some value out of it. It would give you some freedom to move around and explore the city a bit without everyone noticing your hair. We might even find some time for you to go out and actually be a teenager if we get lucky. I will show you how to use it when we get to The Bent Nail."

Hound looked a bit flustered, embarrassed even, sitting there with shifting eyes all unsure. Sera took the bottle and smiled.

"Thank you Hound," She said.

"For the record I do not like how things are changing very much either. It feels like things are starting to move faster right? Its almost as if we are being drawn towards something that is reeling us in like puppets on a string," Hound seemed to find himself again, "Sorry. Weird dreams about the mountain."

Sera was taken aback.

"I thought you said that you have never been to the mountain?" She questioned.

"Exactly," Hound growled.

It was then that the town of Lovelle began to come into view as they approached. Being home to the largest bridge across the River Brave, Lovelle was a sprawling, wealthy city. The buildings were made of fine stone and hewn wood. There was a disturbing orderliness and congruity in the buildings that seemed unnatural against the ramshackle lodgings Sera had seen up until now.

As they rolled into the town Sera was amazed to see that despite the rain and night having long since fallen, the city seemed to still be bustling with people. Torches sat along the walls with metal covers on them to keep them offering meager light to the crowds. Gutters ran along the sides of the streets sweeping away the rain to the river and keeping the streets relatively dry. Hawkers and red robed clergymen both marched through the streets peddling their wares.

Hound and Anjelica had told her a bit about Lovelle during the journey and it had not made much sense to Sera. Lovelle was a place of contrasts. The Archminister, devout in his faith as he was, was also rather radical in his belief that not everyone needed to conform to the Church. You were just as likely to find a brothel as a church building around any given corner.

The carriage and Buck pushed their way through the throngs with some difficulty. They moved at a nearly glacial pace but eventually Hound turned down an alleyway and pulled the carriage into a small lane next to a stable. These structures were connected to an obviously worn but homely looking two story building. A sign hung above the door reading "The Bent Nail Inn" swung with the wind and a trail of water flowed off of its corner. The warm glow of firelight shone out from its green glassed windows looking out onto the small lane.

Hound stomped his foot hard on the floor of the compartment which he knew would send a loud bang into the interior. After a moment, the remaining members of their party began to trickle out. Bert was still sore but he was moving around much more easily which was apparent as he picked up his pace as he made his way to the door. Anjelica immediately started cursing as she held one of her least favorite books over her head for shelter. Mnemina, no covering and seemingly enjoying the rain, walked at her usual leisurely pace. Sera thought for just a moment about tying up Buck before she realized that he had already found the feedbag and was happily munching away. With a chuckle, she rejoined Hound as they followed the group into the warmth of the inn.

The lobby was a homely room with several fur lined chairs sat in front of a roaring fire. The walls were covered by trophies of weapons, pelts, mounted taxidermy, and various town signs that had obviously been stolen before being brought here. A large wooden desk created an alcove where a pegboard full of keys hung. A set of stairs ran up and along the back of the alcove to the rooms of the inn.

Rising up from the chair stationed behind the desk was a woman with a gleaming smile full of joy and mirth. Brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun, an apron sat over a plain shirt and pants, and her face contained the marks of a long life with many smiles.

"It looks like trouble has made its way back through my door!" the woman said.

"Hello Moira," Anjelica said, almost cut off as she was clenched in a tight hug.

A similar hug was given to Hound and Mnemina with Bert receiving a firm handshake.

Moira then walked over to Sera. Looking her up and down, she raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"You two go missing for six months and you come back with a fully grown child?" Moira asked with a mocking tone. "I thought that you and Hound were not in the baby making business Anjelica?"

Anjelica immediately turned a few shades more red.

"She is our ward! We are helping train her!" Anjelica protested while putting emphasis on 'ward' and 'training'.

"You do not need to be embarrassed or make excuses Anjelica. Parenthood is a difficult thing but I am proud of you for taking the next step!" Moira chided while giving Sera a playful wink.

"You must be Seraphina hm?" Moira asked quietly, ignoring Anjelica's rages. Upon her nod Moira continued.

"It is a pleasure to meet you love," She said under her breath so as not to ruin the moment.

"Why exactly do we stay here again?" Anjelica asks Hound as Sera's attention is finally drawn to them again.

"That would be because we give you the best service in town with a heavy hand of discretion. Would you like your normal room? It is nice and cozy so you will have to be okay with not producing any more wards." Moira said smugly.

Anjelica, too embarrassed to protest, just nodded while blushing and shooting quick glances towards Hound.

Moira turned and began to make her way up the stairs with the giggle of a mischievous child. As they passed the nearest door on the second floor, the rattling voice of an old man called out.

"Moira? Who is that that just came in?" the voice called.

Sera peeked inside and saw an old man who was so thin that he almost seemed like a skeleton sitting upright in a bed covered in pillows.

"It is just the strays, Ed!" Moira called out.

"We have not seen them for almost six months!" Ed yelled.

"Yes Ed, we already had this conversation downstairs!" Moira said, a bit exasperated.

"Hello everybody!" Ed yelled as the party passed by which was returned with similar greetings.

The group walked past all of the normal room doors and made their way to the end of the hallway. Moira grabbed a rope that dangled from a hatch in the ceiling. A ladder slid down leading up into an attic space.

Going up the stairs, Sera looked around to see a very dirty attic. Dust and cobwebs plagued the walls and floors. Four beds with basic bedding sat in the side of the room that had obviously been cleaned at some point in the past decade.

A wicked idea came over Sera. As carefully as she could, she pulled one of the huge spiderwebs off of the wall holding it like a blanket in front of her.

"I think I may have discovered the web of lies surrounding these disappearances!" Sera stated victoriously.

"Well you might be doing better than our contact here. I think that he may have had the wool pulled over his eyes," Anjelica said before blowing a spout of air at the spiderweb.

The webbing immediately caught the air and flung back into Sera's face leaving her spitting and sputtering. Everyone, even Sera, chuckled a bit at that.

"We are going to see him in the morning so we should try to get as much rest as we can," Anjelica continued before collapsing onto one of the beds.

The party began to stow their gear underneath the beds and laid on the beds. As Sera stared up at the dusty ceiling she wondered if the spiders even liked living here.