Aphmau's POV

Later in the day, near to night, David brought my parents into the guard building.

It was standard procedure for Moonlight, that my parents would talk to all new guards.

When they sat down, I glanced to Garroth, even though no one could see. He seemed calm and collected, as he wasn't moving, just sitting there. It calmed me down, even though logically he was probably the same as I was, nervous, and not moving or making a noise due to it and drawing comfort from the other.

Thankfully, we had told William and James about our situations with our home villages, so they both agreed to refer to one of us by a name they made up, depending on who sent a letter to them.

Had it been O'khasis, they would have made a fake name for Garroth, and a fake name for me if it was Moonlight, which it was in this case.

My parents sat down, and my father started talking first. "So, you two want to be guards here?"

I nodded. "Yes." I said, hoping they wouldn't recognize my voice. They didn't. I suppose it did change these past three years enough that no one would really recognize it.

"Let's see, David?" Dad turned to David, who handed them the letter that just got back from the Neapolitan Villages. "Hm, Garroth and Amelia Roberts, a married couple who were William and James's favorite apprentices. Correct?" He asked, looking up at us.

My eye twitched when I heard married, but I have no outward reaction. It was Garroth who replied, though. "Yes, but we weren't aware that we were their favorites."

I shrugged. "Well, it's not exactly something you can just guess, is it?" I replied to Garroth.

My mom chuckled. "You two are good people, I can tell. You can be guards here, and David," she turned to address him, "make sure that they have a shared room."

David chuckled, and nodded. "I had intended to do that, now I know they're married." He turned to us. "Why didn't you tell me? I could've put you in one room from the start."

I had to think fast, and I did. "It wasn't exactly something either of us decided to go around telling people. I mean, who the heck goes around just like 'oh yeah, we're married by the way. Just thought you should know.' That seems a little arrogant, honestly."

Garroth relaxed very slightly, not enough for anyone but me, who was sitting right next to him, to notice. I knew I had made a good excuse. Garroth had always been better than me at excuses, but I knew these people and what they would find believable.

David nodded again. "That's very true."

My parents got up, and left. David led us to a room, and we were left there. Going in, Garroth and I took off our helmets as soon as the door was shut.

"Married?" He asked quietly, shaking his head.

I rolled my eyes. "Those two meddling old coots." I commented fondly.

Garroth quirked a grin at me. "I suppose that kiss on the way here was our wedding then." He joked.

I blushed, and playfully smacked his arm. "Shut up, you."

Garroth laughed, ignoring a small blush of his own. Then it got worse as he looked behind us, and he got really awkward all of a sudden.

I looked back, confused, then I saw it. There was only one bed. "Oh... Oh dear. That's going to be really awkward."

Garroth nodded. "Yeah..."

Glancing at each other, we put our bags at the foot of the bed, and pulled out some pajamas.

"Right," I turned to him. "Both of us will change in opposite corners. No peeking, for either of us."

Garroth nodded. "Absolutely."

When I was done changing, we kind of stood around, neither of us going near the bed, before Garroth seemed to get a little fed up with the awkwardness, and he threw his arms in the air. "Oh for Irene's sake, this isn't anything different from the time we had to use sleeping bags and share a mattress those three times every year at the Academy when they needed to take the beds out to sanitize them."

Blinking, I tilted my head to the side while nodding, in that sort of 'fair point' type of nod. I got into one side, while Garroth got into the other.

We spent some time talking, before going to sleep. The whole time, I absolutely refused to acknowledge the very slight embarrassment at our arrangements.

The next morning, we were shown around the village by a random guard apprentice that I don't know (he must have come after I left), and were informed that Garroth would be, mainly, patrolling perimeters, while I would be the personal guard of Adrian, the Lord and Lady's son.

That I didn't have ant idea about. I had a little brother now. And he was, like, two almost three.

My parents must have just found out about the pregnancy when I left, or sometime in the week after. Around that time, anyway.

I was shocked that I hadn't heard, but I easily accepted the job. My parents were constantly busy, as Moonlight had grown exponentially since I left, and they needed someone to watch and protect Adrian since Nahakra might try something to him, as he was so little.

Going to their house, I really hoped my parents wouldn't insist I take off my helm to be Adrian's guard. That would not be good. Luckily, when I knocked on the door, my mom just smiled.

"Ah, Amelia. Good to see you, come in, make yourself comfortable." She said, answering the door. "Wendell," that was my dad's name, "is out right now, I stayed behind to watch Adrian today. Now that you're here, though, you can take him around the village with you, and go do stuff that you want to do, but protect him. He's all we have, until we manage to find our daughter." Mom looked so sad right then, and I silently crushed the urge to take off my helmet and hug her.

I couldn't... I had a life now, a different one, one I chose, and wasn't born into. A guard's life, not a Lord's life.