Glade wasn’t having a good morning. After the information bomb Holo had dropped on them the night before he had decided to simply go to bed instead of talking with Riya. It had been a long day and his headache had steadily grown to the point that he just needed to lay down. It made sense that they approach the problem with a rested mind and clear plan.

In retrospect, that might have been a mistake.

“He’s doing what!?!” He heard Riya scream loudly as he was approaching the stables. Looking up in surprise, Glade watched dumbfounded as Riya stormed from the building, past him, and toward the manor with Kedryn chasing after her.

“Now Riya, I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement with the Aldorn Patriarch,” Kedryn tried to explain.

Glade suppressed a groan. As much as he had come to rely on Kedryn, the fact remained that the Corporal wasn’t the most experienced when handling sensitive matters.

Then again, neither was he, which was one of the reasons he had postponed talking with Riya.

There was a brief moment as he watched Riya snarl her way past the house guards, a golden nimbus of celestial magic enveloping her, that he considered not chasing after them. Glade really didn’t want to deal with that fallout, nor did he want to face any more politically savvy Holo’s of the world.

“Who was that?” Glade heard someone stammer near the stable’s entrance. He turned, and was surprised to see a small caravan of wagons and one overly large carriage. A handful of the Patriarch’s stable hands were taking care of the draft horses and mingling with the caravaneers.

“That’d be Lady Riya,” Glade heard one of the stable hands excitedly explain to a man who was obviously a caravan guard.

“Lady who?” The guard asked in a surprised voice.

“Lady Riya,” the stable hand emphasized. “They say she’s one of the Celestial Order’s own healers.”

“What? A spindly elf like her part of the Order?” The caravan guard snorted. “What a load of tripe.”

“It’s true,” another stable hand joined in the conversation. “She and her mage bodyguard broke through the bandit blockade all by themselves! Then she single handedly brought back more’n half of the Patriarch’s own guards from the brink of death, that she did. I seen it with me own eyes.”

“Now look here,” the caravan guard said with an air of self-inportance. “We’ve done met loads of idiots who claimed to be of the Order. Every single one of them were giant pricks with overinflated egos, but you could tell the real from the fake because they wore the Overlord’s Star like it was a badge of honor. Ain’t no one can counterfeit a true Star. So, if she's from the Order, then where in the blazes is her Star?”

“I dunno,” the stable hand said with a shrug. “Maybe she lost it? All I’s know is that she’s here to liberate the Horse Lord from the patriarch. Who would have that kind of authority if not someone from the Order?”

The guard barked a laugh. “I’d like to see her try! She’ll need the Overlord’s own luck if she’s going to take that Horse Lord from Helmund! That four legged beast is the only reason we’re here!”

Glade tuned the rest of the conversation out. He was glad that neither Holo nor Cirea had let slip that Riya was a banished elf. If they had, not only would the staff have gossiped about it first thing, but the entire town would likely have been at the gates with pitchforks and torches. Making a mental note to look into the Celestial Order later, he began striding back toward the manor. He may not want to deal with the Riya or Holo, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

As Glade entered the manor, he could already hear Riya’s yells coming from the ground floor study.

“You will release Lun’Svet into my care immediately!” Riya shouted, her muffled voice carrying through the closed door of Holo’s study..

Glade sighed, glancing at the guard standing by the door.

“May I go in?” he asked.

“Begging your pardon sir, but do you really want to?” the guard asked in return, looking between Glade and the study’s entrance.

“No,” Glade sighed, but nodded for the guard to open the door. He had one idea how to sway Holo into releasing the Horse Lord to them, but it wasn’t going to be pretty. Or kind. He only hoped that the others would understand.

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Ember sent him a gentle wave of encouragement.

As soon as he entered the study, he heard Holo reply with the barest hint of strain underlying the man’s usual silver tongue.

“A thousand apologies, young mistress! You see, once Cirea brought the magnificent creature back I sold the rights to Helmund’s auction house immediately. I knew I could never hold onto such a prize.”

“His name is Lun’Svet!” she snarled, slamming both hands on Holo’s desk as she loomed over him. “He is not some prize to be won, and is most definitely not some mere creature!”

As Glade walked toward them, he took a casual glance around the room. Crixus was sitting in a chair looking for all the world as if he was trying to hide while Kedryn stood uncomfortably next to Riya.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Glade said, drawing the attention from Holo and onto himself. “But I thought the Horse Lord no longer has a name? Or am I mistaken?”

“Master Glade to see you sir,” the guard said belatedly, before scrambling out of the room. Glade really wished he could follow. He really wasn’t looking forward to this.

“Ah, master Glade, it is so good of you to come,” Holo said, rising to his feet with an outstretched hand. Glade couldn’t help but notice the man’s eyes conveyed a huge sense of relief at his arrival. “I was just explaining to Riya here that I no longer own the rights to the Horse Lord, Lun’Svet.”

“I apologize for my lateness,” Glade replied in his usual monotone voice as he purposefully ignored Riya in order to shake the patriarch’s hand. He then turned to Riya, knowing full well she wasn’t going to like the next few moments. “Am I right that the Gen’Sheld no longer has a name?”

Riya’s righteous fury guttered out like a candle in the wind replaced with first a look of confusion that quickly turned to betrayal. For all the world, she looked as if Glade himself had slapped her.

He knew very well what this looked like from her perspective. He had just sided with the person who fully intended to sell one of her people's most revered allies.

“His name is Lun’Svet,” she stammered, taking a step back as tears began forming at the corners of her eyes. “At least, that was his name before…” Riya’s voice caught as she wiped away the tears. “Before his bonded rider… died.”

Tears began to flow and Glade inwardly cursed himself for intentionally causing Riya to break down. For once, Ember wasn’t excited or supportive. He was aghast.

The ache in Glade’s heart deepened as he silently applauded Riya for hiding the fact that her father was the one who had died. She truly was impressive to be able to manage that on top of his false betrayal. Sadly, it was more helpful that everyone else knew.

“That's right,” Glade said in as gentle a tone as he could muster. He wanted nothing more than to console her, but knew she would reject him, which would throw away any chance they had at leaving with the Horse Lord. Even Kedryn was looking at Glade like he was a monster. “But it wasn’t just any rider was it.”

Riya shook her head, whether it was in denial of what was happening or confirming Glade’s statement, he didn’t know. Either way, her action served his intended purpose.

“You see, Holo,” Glade said, silently praising Riya for her genuine reaction and bravery while cursing himself for reopening her emotional wounds. “The rider who fell was Riya’s father. The Ki of house Loshere. The Horse Lord himself chose to strike his own name at such a loss. Why? Because a Gen’Sheld is a sentient being who can’t be bought or sold. Gen’Sheld’s pick who they bond with. Knowing this, can you seriously believe that you have any say in this particular Gen’Sheld’s future?”

He turned back to face the patriarch, who was also watching the proceeding in stunned silence. The others now had confused looks as Glade flipped the board on Holo.

Without giving him time to answer, Glade pressed forward, bearing down on the man with his leveled gaze.

“The answer is no, you do not. We will be taking the honorable Gen’Sheld back to where he belongs,” Glade said, ending his statement with an unspoken threat that was openly conveyed with his gaze.

There was a pregnant pause as everyone tried to digest what had just happened. Ember especially was sending him a mix of emotions that threatened to unbalance him.

From the silence, a slow clap sounded from just outside of Glade’s periphery.

“Holo, you said he was a sight to behold,” the stranger said, still clapping. “But that was down right ingenious! He even had me convinced that we should let the Horse Lord go!”

Surprised, Glade turned to find a man sitting in a high backed chair casually sipping a glass of wine. He had shoulder length red hair and wore finely cut clothing dyed in shades of green that had more embroidery on it than free space. Golden rings decorated almost every finger and a necklace of heavy gold chains hung from around his neck. But what drew his attention were the pointed ears sticking from the man's hair.

Glade knew he had canvassed the room when first came in. It was second nature by this point in his career. There was no way he could have overlooked someone so… flamboyant. Unless there was an unknown skill at play.

He really, really hated this place.

“Gentlemen, Lady Riya,” Holo said, interrupting Glade’s thoughts. “My I introduce Helmund, the master of Helmund’s Auction house. And, much to my continued annoyance, my brother.”

Glade shot a questioning look at the Aldorn Patriarch. Helmand was obviously an elf.

But before he could ask, Riya spoke up.

“Uncle Helmund?”