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But regardless of how he felt about it, Hector was certain that they couldn’t just leave after hearing about Chergoa. ‘It’s your sister, Garovel. We have to help her.’

‘You sure? I definitely won’t hold it against you if you’d rather stay out of it. Our involvement might not make much difference, anyway.’

‘Well... uh... I don’t know. Shit. Making the real decisions is your job. As long as we’re working to protect people, I mean--I’m not... I... agh, y-you know what I mean, right?’

‘Ha. Yeah, I do.’ Garovel looked toward the guest room’s other two occupants. ‘What about them? They said they’d understand if you chose to leave with Asad, but still.’

Lynn and Meriwether had their own beds, of course. The Prince’s snoring sounded like it belonged to a man twice his size.

‘Uh... well, it doesn’t seem like they need me. This castle seems pretty safe...’

Garovel paused. ‘You’re really just doing this to get away from Lynn, aren’t you?’

Hector decided not to grace that with a response.

It wasn’t long until morning arrived. Lynn awoke first, popping up from her pillow as if someone had ordered her to attention. She sat there a moment, scanning the room. She nearly looked like a different person without her braided ponytail or her white hood. She’d slept in her eye patch, though.

“Anything happen?” she asked.

Hector just shook his head.

She nodded and carried her luggage to the bathroom in order to shower and change. She took her time, but she was still done before the Prince was up. She started working on her ponytail while they waited for Meriwether to get ready.

“Thanks for taking the night shift,” said Lynn. She was looking at Hector via the reflection in the large mirror that she was using for her hair. “You should get some rest now.”

Hector stood. “Actually, uh... Asad leaves this afternoon, so, uh, I should probably go see Haqq first.”

Her hands stopped, and she stared at him. “You said you would sleep in the morning. That’s why I let you take the night shift.”

He knew that and couldn’t help smiling just a bit. “Yeah...”

She turned to look at him directly. “If you’re really leaving to go fight, then you should’ve slept.”

“Well... I told you I don’t need sleep in order to fight.”

“Hmph.” She went back to her ponytail.

“S-sorry...”

“It’s fine. I guess I just wish that I could go, too.”