A filthy brown cloak, worn gray ankle boots, and a patched linen coat made for one bedraggled boy.
After Old Ancestor exclaimed, "He looks like him. He really does," Annan sat by the fountain in the Manor's front courtyard with Lily in his arms, waiting for Olin to come home.
He was wrapped in a Blanket and nearly asleep when faint hoofbeats came from the darkness beyond the Manor.
Annan set Lily down and sent her back with the Blanket.
Olin and the Guards entered the Manor. The first thing she saw was a figure standing by the fountain.
Out of the corner of his eye, Annan saw exactly the reaction he had imagined: Olin froze.
"Leave us."
Olin dismissed the Guards and dismounted.
Clang!
She drew her Longsword and advanced on the figure.
"I'm not going to tell you Old Ancestor made me do this!" Annan blurted out the moment he saw her draw her sword.
Olin stopped.
"Old Ancestor?"
"How else would I know something so private..." Annan muttered. The surprise he had prepared for Olin had failed. "Old Ancestor said you dreamed of seeing this again. Was it a nightmare?"
Olin silently sheathed her Longsword and headed for the rear Garden. Annan followed and watched her sit on a bench.
The brightly lit Imperial Capital rose in the distance.
"He died in the Lower Hive saving me..." Standing behind Olin, Annan listened as she began recounting her past, almost as if talking to herself.
Her story was simple. Olin had once had an older cousin she had grown up with. He had aspired to become a Knight and protect his country and its people. Then, when they were in their teens, they had stumbled into the Lower Hive, and he had sacrificed himself to save her.
Just