"Run. Please run. Attacks from both sides. We have truly been forsaken."

-The Siege of Tears Last Wills Report, Page 37

Lucan Duskwalker was frustrated. Who wouldn't be at least a little annoyed to find out that one of your better friends had died, and it was your previous best friend who killed them, put their head in a box, and sent it to your adoptive father? Especially after another incident the day before with the Academy and the expedition. Lucan could not afford to mourn for James, for there was too little time. More often than not nowadays it feels like there wasn't enough time. Too many times was Lucan unable to mourn, too many times he experienced a friend's death. Too many times.

"Kryn, Epsilon, Finne. Let me in." Lucan commanded, facing a small homeless man on the side of the main street of Lower Alandriel.

"Eh? Say that again, my ears are getting old you see." The homeless man said, scratching his ears and picking out a bit of wax.

"You heard me. Let me in."

A silence passes slowly through the air, thick with the dangerous aura of Lucan himself and only made worse by the belligerent attitude of the beggar.

"You know the protocol, Regular, we all have to follow it." The beggar solemnly spoke, his tired eyes looking up at the menacing gaze of the Rogue himself unabashed.

"Damn this... fine." Lucan cursed, but still agreed in the end, "Kryn, Epsilon, Finne. This humble Regular seeks an audience with the Silver Court. Limit, Crown."

"You're requesting an audience with His Silver Majesty?!" The man couldn't help but exclaim, "The rumours saying that you've gone mad have to be true now. Follow me."

Ignoring the beggar's outburst, Lucan begrudgingly began to follow the small man who led him towards an out-of-the-way back alley before suddenly stopping. No matter how many times Lucan had called for an audience, he still found the next section unnecessary.

"Do not resist, Regular."

With a small sharp bite at his neck, Lucan was alerted to a large dart lodged into his artery. It wasn't long before the tranquiliser hit. In a way, Lucan found it ironic that it was only this time that they had gotten the dose for someone like himself correct this time, unlike the other callings where it often took more than one tranquiliser to knock him out. With the sweet embrace of unconsciousness coming, Lucan could barely hear the cackling of the beggar in front of him as he fell to the ground.

"I hope you don't regret this meeting, Rogue."

* * *

"Wake from your slumber, Regular. His Silver Majesty awaits."

Opening his eyes, Lucan let his eyes fall upon a familiar sight. The Silver Court had lost none of its splendour in the years since his last audience, the grandiose amphitheatre encompassing all Lucan could see in the tight and dimly lit cave it inhabited. The light stone ground, carved into tiles, paved the central area, up until the marble seats at the first level. Then it was the eight seats of the Honours even spaced out around the second level, and the sole silver throne at the third, reserved only for the owner of the silver crown.

None of the first level seats were filled, as they were, after all, only for Regulars like Lucan himself, and this audience was of too high of an importance for mere Regulars. Only four seats of the Honours were filled today, their holders wearing white silver lined masks shaped in peculiar and unique ways. Although Lucan knew the identity of none but one of the Honours, their masks always helped him to identify them. And, for this audience, only the oldest and most respected Honours were present.

Thing, as Lucan called them, was seemingly androgynous with no overt gender, always wearing only a close-form light grey suit, tie and shirt with a seemingly random and chaotic mask shape. Tiger wore a darker more formal wear than usual today, her clothing taking the appearance of something closest to business wear, and of course, her tiger shaped mask. Ball also wore a suit similar to Thing but not as uniform in colour, his mask having no particular shape and only taking a perfectly symmetrical shape. Finally, Creep; His Silver Majesty's personal aide. Creep always wore a black flowing dress, contrasting to the whites of everyone else, and her mask's shape was that of a face, but with an eerily wide smile.

"Kneel in preparation of his coming, Regular, for you are about to be given an opportunity usually greater than your position allows." Creep announced, always monotone yet this time with an unusual tinge to her voice, as if she was smirking.

As Lucan prepared to kneel, he took one last look around the court and still could not find him. It seemed that Ellis was not present for this audience; his stupid looking mask shaped like a crying face was nowhere to be found. When Lucan formed his best kneel, Creep continued her usual announcement routine.

"Hark! His Silver Majesty comes! The royal successor, the owner of the Silver Crown, King Icyrion Silver has arrived!"

Stepping into the amphitheatre through a tall silver embossed door behind his throne was a young but tall man, his imposing stature even impressive to someone like Lucan, a sleek white mantle emphasising his form. Icyrion's black hair only emphasised the blinding white of the pure silver crown that sat on his head, a simple design yet still no one could deny its beauty. With a strikingly elegant gait, Icyrion sat himself down on his throne, also made of only silver. Surprisingly, His Silver Majesty looked tired, only managing a sigh to give permission for the Honours to speak.

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"What is the reason for this audience, Regular, and why do you require His Silver Majesty to join us for this hearing?" Thing asked, almost spitting the word 'Regular'.

"Your Honour, I believe to hold someone in the Silver Court in contempt, thinking their actions to be in direct violation of the Court's code." Lucan said, looking up directly at Thing, still kneeling however.

"And this requires the need of His Silver Majesty how exactly? A simple dispute among Regulars can be handled by only calling upon one Honour. You of all people should know this, as someone who has been held in contempt before."

"Your Honour, I do not wish to hold a Regular in contempt of the code, rather I wish to hold an Honour in contempt." Lucan declared, looking directly into Icyrion's eyes. It was only in looking directly at the King was Lucan able to catch a hint of a smile on his face, before exclamations of disbelief came from almost every Honour present.

"You cannot be serious, Regular-" Tiger laughed.

"Retract this claim immediately while you still can-!" Ball shouted.

"You are making a terrible mistake, Regular-" Creep smirked.

The only Honour to take Lucan seriously was in fact the questioner, Thing.

"Who is this Honour you wish to hold in contempt then, Regular? Please describe their mask-"

"The Inquisitor. I want to hold The Inquisitor in contempt."

"W-what? I'm not sure I-"

"Ellis Hang, the bastard with that crying mask."

No words were spoken after that statement, yet everything that could have been said was already answered. The Honours couldn't exactly protest for the innocence of another Honour as if Ellis was indeed held in contempt, then they would be punished as well. They couldn't even protest for his guilt either, ruining their relationship with a powerful fellow Honour and possibly receiving a punishment too.

"Elaborate." Icyrion commanded, quiet but carrying through the entire cave. His Silver Majesty, in saying only those words, had joined in on the feud between two of the most powerful mortals in the world.

"Y-your Silver Majesty, you can't- you can't be serious?" Creep said, half afraid of the consequences of both her lord's actions and possibly her own by questioning her lord's wishes.

"You may leave your questions and lectures to the audience, Aide, I only want this Regular to elaborate on his claim. No, I shall use names from now on: Rogue, are you willing to elaborate on your claim?"

"Yes, your Silver Majesty," Lucan beamed, standing up from his kneeling position, attracting the sneers of the Honours for, at least in their eyes, showing disrespect to King Icyrion, "I believe you are aware of The Inquisitor's 'activities' in collecting suspected people of the streets, and torturing them for information on me?"

"Yes, I have known for some time. How is this relevant to the discussion at hand?"

"I apologise for the delay, your Silver Majesty, I will get to that in a moment. Recently he kidnapped a certain Daniel Raigeki. This individual was, to say the least, quite 'related' to me. In retaliation to this action, I also attacked someone 'related' to him."

"Get on with it. I grow tired of this."

"I shall," Lucan said again, a tad more annoyed now and attracting the Honour's disdain again for omitting the 'Silver Majesty', "Soon after this, he violated the code of the Silver Court. He used his Guild connections to try and settle our disagreement."

"That doesn't break our code though?" Icyrion said, his voice getting clearly bored now.

"That's what I'm about to clarify, yet again, your Silver Majesty. I believe he used Silver Court agents to not only harm Guild Members 'related’ to me but to outright kill someone."

"Now that is a serious claim, Rogue. I respect your initiative in seeking an audience with me on the matter but I'm afraid more investigation than hearsay is required."

"I understand that, your Silver Majesty, I am simply making you aware of a possible situation."

"Now that I am aware of that, I shall also make you aware of this," Icyrion said, smiling, turning to frown, "Next time, don't waste my time with menial matters like this. Court is dismissed." And with that, King Icyrion simply walked out.

At that moment, everyone in the room was left dumbfounded. Every Honour was surprised not only by how much His Silver Majesty had spoken but how he had simply left. Lucan, on the other hand, was surprised it went so well and he didn't have to fight back.

"Regular, I shall make this abundantly clear to you now." Creep uttered, carefully enunciating each word, "Though this matter shall be investigated, you are not to call an audience with His Silver Majesty again."

"Yes, I understand Honour, I-"

"No, I don't think you do, Rogue. You will not call upon His Silver Majesty's audience ever again. With my authority as the Aide of the King and Honour, I will issue you a probation: you cannot step inside the walls of the Silver Court again until twelve months have elapsed. You are also henceforth banned from calling audience with His Silver Majesty until you contact an Honour in advance and only then can we deem this audience appropriate."

"Your Honour-"

"Quiet. You've shown enough disrespect today, Rogue. Get out of this court and stay away from the investigation. You'll know whether The Inquisitor is punished or you will be killed when you're summoned again. Take the Regular away."

"I-"

The familiar sting took Lucan by the neck, and this time it seemed the tranquiliser had been refined. He was only given a few seconds to remark about the tranquiliser this time after all.

* * *

Blinking his eyes open, Lucan found himself once more inside the side alley he was led to initially, though much dirtier and probably a few coins less heavier than before. Despite Lower Alandriel being quite close knit, the feel of the community has changed nowadays. Though the plague had indeed hit it hard, the thought of someone being able to get kidnapped off the streets had certainly sent people deep into paranoia. If someone like Daniel Raigeki, a fairly important person at the Academy, could get tortured and killed, why couldn't some random noble kidnap them for fun and get away with it?

It was a shame for Lucan to see how far the community he grew up in had sunk, but at least Lower Alandriel still had one thing going for it. The Birch Estate was only a few minutes walk from anywhere in the sector.