Once Ren was laid down and seemed to be fast asleep, Logan stepped out into the hallway of the Cockatrice, with Finnan following after him and Arabella coming just after, closing the door with a gentle call of "Goodnight, Ren," as she eased the door to.

The hall was bathed in pale orange light by candles set in sconces along the walls, brightly illuminating all in sight. And as they left him in peace, Logan remarked about their wizard companion "I hope he feels better come the morning."

Seeing Ren be so sharp and demanding when he asked if they'd heard anything in his mumblings had caught Logan off-guard and made him feel unnerved, especially when it was over something so minor. If Arabella felt the same, though, she hid it immaculately behind her grace and composure.

"I hope so too. But I don't begrudge him for being jumpy and on edge..." she replied. "He did almost lose his life today, after all."

Logan nodded, standing with his legs slightly apart as he folded his arms. "True. And I absolutely don't begrudge him that either," he said. "And to be fair, he was that jumpy when I first met him earlier today..."

Logan now looked back on the boat journey in a bittersweet light – Edwyn had been among the first he had buried while he and Stalk were working outside. While he didn't follow Kelemvor, the Lord of the Dead, he had said a prayer for the sake of all those who had fallen, the halfling ferryman included.

His thoughts must have cast a grim pallor over his face – he figured as much when he saw Arabella's eyebrows pinch and she gave him a concerned look.

"Logan, are you alright?" the high elf asked him.

Blinking a few times, Logan turned her way and nodded. "Yes, I am. My apologies, Arabella. It's just... been a long and trying day, to put it mildly."

His response, surprisingly, made Arabella seem to come over a tad sheepish – she gently entwined her hands together in front of her body and began to play with her fingers as she looked down. In that moment, Logan felt something spike inside him – alarm, fearing he'd hurt her somehow.

His mind raced for something to rectify this, but as the memories of the day swirled before his eyes, all he could recall right now was the battle.

But then it hit him.

"You saved a lot of lives today, including my own," he managed, each word controlled and slightly taught as he fixated on how he spoke. "Thanks for that... cleric."

In that instant, Arabella went from sheepish to proud and playful, beaming at him as she put her hands on her hips. "What gave it away?" she asked him with a cheeky smile. And Logan smiled right back as he told her his answer:

"The spells you were casting – Divine Shield and such," he said. He then glanced down at the necklace depicting the golden heart that Arabella wore around her neck and asked "Is that your holy symbol? Forgive me, but I don't recognize the deity."

Arabella smiled warmly at him, as if she was happy he'd noticed. "Hanali Celanil – elven goddess of love, beauty and the arts."

"Sounds like a deity that suits you."

Logan heard those words, and it took him a moment before realizing he'd been the one to say them! At once, his ears and face burned with embarrassment, and he quickly opened his mouth again. But as he desperately tried to form an apology, his mind was as blank as a sheet of white paper.

Fuck! How useless was he? When he wasn't supposed to speak, he blurted things out, and when he desperately wanted to say something, his head turned up empty as a drum.

To his surprise though, Arabella didn't seem offended. Instead, she giggled and covered her mouth slightly with her hand. "And why do you say that?" she asked, with a coy gleam in her eye.

'Because you're drop-dead gorgeous,' was the line that first came into Logan's head, and he checked to make sure he didn't say that out loud too. 'Because you seem to brighten every room you're in with your presence alone. Because...'

A thousand different compliments surged through his mind before he finally found one he had the nerve to say:

"Because even in the short time I've known you, I can see you're a very kind and loving person."

Arabella smiled as she heard those words and said "It's lovely for you to say that, Logan...", and he was glad to hear that she didn't seem offended. But for a split-second, he glimpsed something in her eyes that he couldn't quite place.

Was that... sadness? Disappointment? Did she wish he had said something else?

Logan smiled shyly at her, his heart still pounding as he backed away ever so slightly. However, the tension building in his chest quickly vanished when he and Arabella both turned to see Finnan running up and down the hallway, body leant forwards and hands held straight out behind him while he made burbling noises with his mouth all the while.

Logan did his best to turn a guffaw of laughter into a modest chuckle – he could see as he and Arabella both looked the halfling's way that she did so with a sort of maternal pride, and he didn't want to make it seem like he was mocking Finnan.

He would never dream of doing so anyways – the little guy was entertaining, good-hearted and was surprisingly skilled in a fight with his druidic magic.

True, he was a little bit... unique. In the same way the ocean is a little bit wet. But Logan would rather be strange and stand out than be boring and forgotten by all.

However, in that moment, the paladin felt his mind flash back a little further, at last able to remember to before the gnoll attack. He recalled his first conversation with Arabella – one that concerned Finnan.

"So how did you and Finnan meet, exactly?" Logan asked. "Forgive me, but you don't seem like the type that would usually travel together."

His question made Arabella's soft voice ring out in a gentle peal of laughter. "True," she replied, and just as she did so, Finnan came walking back over to her. Her turquoise eyes falling upon the halfling with a mixture of sadness and deep compassion, Arabella told Logan the story:

"I ran into him on the roads not far from Waterdeep; or rather, he ran into me. He was in the form of a horse and was fleeing from a cyclops, whose flock of sheep he had released. Crashing into me, the collision shifted him back into his halfling form, and before we could even exchange words, the cyclops was upon us."

Logan nodded, smiling slightly as he listened intently. Freeing a flock of sheep certainly sounded like something a druid would do – Finnan most of all. Glancing down, he saw the halfling press his cheek against Arabella and wrap his arms about her waist, to which Arabella smiled and gently patted his rascally tangle of blonde hair.

"After that..." the high elf continued. "... well, Finnan told me about himself, and after he said that he was driven from his home, I invited him to travel with me. From there, we became fast friends and everything just seemed to fall into place from there," she said with a soft smile.

Logan's eyebrows raised slightly, followed by him tilting his gaze down to look at Finnan. "You were driven from your home?" he asked.

Finnan's big green eyes quavered as he nodded up to Logan in kind. "My mountain," the halfling mumbled. "I used to live inside it and had it all to myself. But then a big scary lizard came in and forced me out."

That pulled at Logan's heartstrings – losing your home was a terrible thing to go though. He knew that more than most. "I'm sorry for you, Finnan. Truly."

Arabella then spoke up and said "I was hoping to ask you about this earlier, Sir Logan, before the inn was attacked. Finnan and I have been planning to return to his mountain and win it back for him. I don't wish to impose - after all we've known you for only a day – but would you be willing to help us?"

'Sounds like a worthy endeavour.' Logan thought to himself, and he was about to agree readily when he remembered that they already had another mission...

"Of course I would..." he replied. "... but we'll have to do it after we've sorted out this matter in Milisevre." Looking down at Finnan, he said "With all due respect, Finnan, a possible attack on an entire kingdom does need to take priority."

He kept the fact that he was still interested in that tournament Elsa had mentioned to himself, however...

Logan's qualification seemed to fall on deaf ears, though – the moment he spoke, the leaf-clad halfling started bouncing like a spring lamb. "Yay!" he yelled before running in and hugging Logan around the waist. "And if Ren wants to help, we have a wizard too! Now all we need is thirteen dwarves, and we can take back the mountain!"

Caught off-guard for a few seconds, Logan soon found himself laughing as he placed a hand gently on Finnan's back. "What's this about dwarves?" he asked, almost unable to believe he was asking that out loud.

Finnan gave him no answer, and when Logan turned to Arabella, her bemused expression told him that she had no idea either – it seemed travelling with Finnan like she had made his mind no less incomprehensible.

"Thanks, Logan!" Finnan said as he pulled away and looked up at the human paladin. "You're not taking my princess away from me though."

Hearing this, Logan couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly – he didn't know if Finnan could read, but it seemed like the little guy was playing up to some kind of childish fantasy...

"Oh, so there's a princess now, is there?" he asked.

Finnan nodded eagerly. "Yeah! She's standing right-"

"Hush, Finnan."

Arabella's words were barely above a whisper, but the tone in which she said them coupled with the way her smile fell caught the attention of both men. "Don't let your imagination run wild now..."

Finnan replied with his usual childish obliviousness, saying "I'm a druid though! Everything about me should be wild!" even as Arabella turned away slightly and gently clutched her upper arms as if she were holding herself. As Logan looked at her, he saw something in her averted gaze that made him think back to when the two of them had first spoken.

Arabella's family name was Moonflower... and as Logan desperately searched through what knowledge he had of the elven noble houses, something suddenly clicked inside his skull and sent a rush of realization through him that struck his heart like a tidal wave and made his pulse go wild with surprise.

House Moonflower... the royal family of the island of Evermeet! Arabella was a princess!

Immediately, acting out of reflex, Logan dropped to one knee. "Your majesty!" he declared. But before he had even reached the floor, Arabella was telling him something:

"No, no no no!" she said, holding out her hands in vehement denial while her voice rose as much as her polite personality would allow. "Please don't call me that!"

Logan tilted his head up to meet her gaze. "Why not?" he asked her, his alarm at this discovery now morphing into confusion.

Arabella sighed and looked at the floor, her fingers fidgeting at her sides. "I don't want anyone to know my status..." she said, her words soft as a breeze and her tone morbid as a graveyard. "The moment anyone learns that I'm a princess, they start treating me like I'm some kind of goddess and whenever I try and to get to know them, they seem scared of me and only tell me what they think I want to hear – I can see it in their eyes."

As the high elf spoke, she gently rubbed her left temple and brushed a lock of hair behind her pointed ear, the strands of beaten gold slipping between her soft fingers like water as she still didn't look at Logan directly. "I don't want them to see me as someone they have to fear..."

Slowly rising to his feet as he listened to her words, Logan felt himself beginning to understand.

He felt not shame in his status himself, and went by 'Sir Logan' to let people know who and what he was – a knight-errant of House Galehaut, a champion of the meek who anyone could look to if they were in need.

But if Arabella was royalty, he could sympathise with why she didn't wish to make herself known. Beyond just her desire to connect with others, even if most people didn't know who House Moonflower were right away, the word 'Princess' would draw ne'er-do-wells and villains like moths to a flame, hoping to extract a king's ransom. Or worse.

Despite Finnan rumbling her secret, Logan could see that the beautiful princess would rather not be known as such, and so he said "I understand. Well, if that's how you want it to be, Arabella... let's pretend this princess Finnan mentions is someone else, eh?"

The moment Arabella heard his words, her gaze shot back up again and her warm, gentle smile immediately returned, her sparkly eyes full of relief. "Thank you..." she told him. However, almost immediately, uncertainty returned and she asked another question. "Do you mind if we keep this just between us?" she asked, raising her hand and flicking her pointer finger back and forth between them. "I'd never wish to be demanding, least of all of you, but I truly would prefer if this didn't become known to everybody."

Logan pondered that for a moment – Technus he could understand keeping the secret from, as well as Stalk. While the kenku had done a good deed with him earlier, given how their kind were known for hearing information and spouting it to the wrong people, it might be prudent to withhold it from him. But...

"Even from Ren?" Logan asked.

Arabella's ears visibly perked up as he mentioned her fellow elf. "Do... do you think we should let him know?"

"I mean, it's your choice." Logan replied. "But I think he knows how to keep a secret, if you pardon my saying." Ren seemed a bit of a withdrawn type to Logan, but at the very least not the type to sell someone else out. Especially someone who had been good to him.

Arabella froze for a moment, her fair skin growing pale and one hand still clutching the opposing forearm, squeezing it as if seeking comfort. Her mouth stammered in a stunned silence, and as her gaze fell a bit, Logan noticed her eyes flicked about almost imperceptibly... as if she was searching for an answer or unsure of what she should say.

'Maybe she just needs time to think about it...' Logan thought to himself, and so he said "Like I said, Arabella, it's your choice. Sleep on it if need be." A burst of exhaustion then shot up through him from his chest to his head, and he found himself unable to keep from yawning. "In the meantime, I'm gonna go to bed. Big day tomorrow, after all."

That made Arabella's gaze perk up, and she quickly said "Of course!" Her full lips quickly returned to smiling as she gave him a nod and said "Sleep well, Logan."

Smirking, Logan then decided to have a bit of fun. Swinging his arm wide, he gave an over-the-top bow that brought his head down to almost Finnan's height and said "As the princess commands..."

Breaking from her usual courtesies for a moment, Arabella rolled her eyes and said, "Stop it, you."

"Is that another royal decree?" Logan quipped, making Finnan giggle. Meanwhile, Arabella's mouth pulled into a smirk and she raised a hand, silvery magic dancing along her fingertips.

"Don't bite the hand that heals you, sir knight..." she teased.

Logan grinned "I wouldn't dream of it," he replied, relieved that their moment of humour left him no longer feeling so crippling nervous in her presence. Looking down at Finnan, he tousled the halfling's hair before saying "Good night, Arabella," and turning to walk down the hall to the quarters Elsa had offered him.