Matters to discuss.

After leaving the training grounds, Hazel settled in her assigned room which was close to the dormitories and took a bath in the shared bathrooms before the others returned. She would have to talk to Finley about that.

The fact that so many men who didn't approve of her made her a little insecure, but she fell asleep as soon as her body touched the mattress.

The following morning Hazel was woken up by the other trainees as they started their day. They were noisier than the prisoners she was used to.

She waited until all of them were off to their duties and there wasn't a single sound to leave her room. She first opened the door a little bit and peeked her head out. After confirming there truly was no one, she picked up clothes to change into and rushed off to take a quick bath.

When she returned, she was surprised to see a young man leaning against the door to her room as if listening in on something.

"Ahem!" She cleared her throat noisily and the man jumped, startled. He turned around and Hazel saw a youthful face, much younger than the men she had encountered the previous day.

"Ah, you must be Hazel," the man murmured with a nervous smile, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes, what were you doing earlier?" Hazel asked, folding her hands across her chest. She wasn't naturally friendly to begin with and the situation she had found the man earlier displeased her.

"Erm… sorry for that," the man struggled to maintain eye contact as he spoke. "I'm Eddie. Well, my name is Edward but people call me Eddie. I didn't mean to intrude, I just wanted to see… no, to meet you."

The man had a friendly aura around him, enhanced by the polite smile on his face. Hazel was particularly good at reading people and she was certain that this young man was very different than the others. She regarded him with a rather skeptical look, making Eddie even more nervous then after a few seconds she dropped her hands and smiled.

"Well nice to meet you Eddie. Do you work here?"

Eddie was more than pleased with her response and he didn't fail to show it with the widening grin on his face. His eyes also conveyed more excitement. From what he'd heard from the other trainees, the woman was cold. She had given him that impression earlier when she caught him red-handed but now she appeared less cold.

"No, no, I'm not a worker. I'm the newest student here. You would be the newest but I heard that master Finley said you're not a student," Eddie responded, posing the last part as a question.

"That's right. Could you tell me where I can find master Finley?" Hazel asked rather than giving a more detailed explanation.

"Yes, of course."

Instead of simply telling, Eddie walked Hazel to Finley's office upstairs, all the while trying to engage her in simple conversations. Hazel tried her best to answer politely but mostly brushed him off with short responses.

"... Don't worry, James is not a bully. Perhaps he's just doubtful because we've never had a female fighter," Eddie defended James as they arrived outside Finley's office.

"Alright Eddie, I'll talk to you later," Hazel said with a sigh, stopping outside the door.

Eddie nodded, "Okay."

Hazel turned the doorknob and pushed the door open without even knocking and found Finley seated behind a huge mahogany desk, buried in some paper work. He looked up when he heard the creaking of the door.

"Hazel."

"Good morning, master Finley," Hazel greeted cheerfully, making herself comfortable on one of the chairs opposite his.

"Good morning. You're up early," Finley pointed out, returning his attention to the parchments on his desk.

"Yes, I wanted to discuss some things with you."

"About what," he asked without looking up.

"About the man I'm looking for. I think they might be two but I'm not sure because there are two different occasions here," Hazel went straight to the point and Finley finally looked up, giving her his full attention.

"You're in a hurry," he observed and Hazel gave a casual shrug.

"I want to get this over with as quickly as possible. I've waited for five years. That's a long time."

Finley sighed, pushed the papers aside and clasped his hands together. "Alright then, what do you have?"

"The second prince of Kragon is my first target," Hazel said, her eyes focused on Finley's face to see his reaction.

Finley's eyebrows shot to his hairline and his eyes widened with surprise, then a deep frown marred his forehead as he looked at Hazel in bewilderment. "And why would you suspect a prince, for anything at all?"

"I was arrested, tortured and humiliated. I have suffered five years in the most despicable prison for attempting to kill the second prince," Hazel paused to take a breath and compose herself because she could feel her anger and hatred laced in her own voice. "Now that I didn't do, but the arrest wouldn't be valid if the prince didn't make the charges himself."

Finley parted his lips intending to say something but Hazel beat him to it. "I did think that if the charges were real, the royal family would have preferred capturing me themselves instead of sending me to prison so the facts aren't clear yet. But that does not mean I've ruled him out yet."

Silence engulfed the room after Hazel's words. Finley had his brows furrowed, considering Hazel's thought on the matter. It seemed like she laid out everything quite well, and he didn't see anything to add. The second prince could or couldn't be a suspect.

He finally sighed in resignation and he scratched the stubble on his chin while reclining back on the chair. "It will be hard to get to the prince. And it'll be harder to get rid of him if that is what you're aiming for," he said in conclusion and a hint of a smile showed on Hazel's face. Master Finley understood everything and didn't turn her away. So that meant he was ready to help.

"I know, but there's a second man. I don't have a name but I have a face."

The two seemed to have an unspoken understanding because Finley retrieved a blank piece of paper from a drawer and handed it to Hazel, then pushed the quill and ink to her.

Hazel didn't say anything and started working on her portrait, her mind drifting back to five years ago when she lost everything she ever had. Despite having seen the man's face from a distance, she had dreamt of the incident many times and could clearly remember every contour and every feature of his face. Finley watched silently from the opposite side, not surprised by Hazel's artistic talent.

After about thirty minutes, Hazel was done with the drawing and leaned back on her chair, nodding approvingly at her drawing.

"Here," she handed him the portrait and saw Finley's eyebrows arch upwards slightly.

"D'you know him?" She asked because recognition and slight surprise flashed across his eyes as soon as he saw the drawing.

Finley sighed for the umpteenth time and smiled in amusement. "This is the same prince you mentioned earlier."

"Oh," Hazel managed to say, then her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "I don't understand. Why would a prince want to send me to prison for no reason? And if it was a mistaken identity, why would a prince want to kill my uncle?" She ranted in exasperation.

"How do you know it was him?"

"Because I saw him. I saw him when I went back home and found the entire place burning. My uncle was stuck in there but when I tried to pull him out he told me to run. He knew there were people after me and before I could escape…" her voice strained with the painful memories and tears stung her eyes but she blinked them away. The image of her uncle struggling to send her away flashed across her mind and she bit her lip then continued, "... That's when he appeared."

'How's this possible?' Finley wondered inwardly as he eyed Hazel. He couldn't tell whether she was just confused or she was so good at pretending that she even convinced him.

"Then…" begun Finley, picking up the piece of paper again to stare at it. "Perhaps your uncle wasn't as simple as he appeared and had some things to hide. Why else would a prince in such a large kingdom notice him in the first place?"