#lorcan 001

Aran hadn't been looking to find anyone. They'd actually been on the way back to their home; even they could get exhausted from the festivities, though they'd had an absolutely lovely night in someone else's bed. As they headed through the forest, though, they stumbled across something that had them stopping in their tracks.

Wolf prints, deep in the ground. They glanced up at the sky. It was still dark, the sun only just rising on the horizon. With a grin, they decided to follow the prints. It didn't take them long to find him: a man only just changing back from his wolf form. They leaned against a tree, crossed their arms, and waited for him to notice them.

But that took too long. After a moment, they cleared their throat. "Rough night? You look terribly rundown." They took a small step closer. "My house isn't too far, if you'd like to clean up. I don't think you want anyone from there," she jerked a thumb back toward Camelot, "seeing you like this."

---

All of Camelot seemed to be buzzing with excitement about the upcoming Samhain festival. All of Camelot, that was, except for Serafina. For someone charged with protecting the king, festivals always just brought more work. And that was especially true this time around. When she wasn't running around the castle, she was running around the rest of Camelot, desperately trying to put everything in order. The festival had to go smoothly. Without a hitch - and without any rumors about King Arthur's health.

So it was a rare sight to see her in the tavern near the noble quarter. Still, even the hardest-working devils needed a drink now and again, and lately she'd been craving something strong worse than ever, hoping it might ward off the awful headache she'd been developing. She ordered herself a drink, and once she had it in hand, she forced men aside to make room for her to sit. She performed in this tavern from time to time, a lute in hand or telling stories from the war, but tonight was not one of those nights. She was so exhausted that she didn't even glance at the person next to her at first. She took a swig of her drink instead, squeezing her eyes shut. But as she lowered the mug, she did turn her head - and a good thing she did, because it was a familiar face. One she hadn't seen in years. "Lorcán?" He looked different, to be sure, much more...well, rundown. But Serafina had a keen eye for faces, so she didn't doubt her memory. "Fancy seeing you here. How long have you been back in Camelot?"

Liliane had been enjoying herself at Hogsmeade; coming with Beau lent an entirely different air to the whole visit, and she quite liked it. But they had split up for a few minutes, and in those few minutes the entire world had gone to hell. There were white-robed people everywhere, and spells were flying, and Liliane was not a fighter. She could defend herself, and she honestly was decent at it, but it wasn’t her favorite thing, and there was so much chaos that she couldn’t focus on anything. She’d run into Lorcan and they were doing all right together, she thought, when she noticed Professor Flitwick.

As well as she and Lorcan were doing, she would never turn down help and she loved Professor Flitwick. But  her relief was shortlived, as the attackers turned on him. Liliane couldn’t tell what they used, but she saw the professor go down. “Lorcan!” Without waiting to see if he had noticed, she began running toward Flitwick; her gaze fell on a nearby pile of rubble, which would be perfect for what she needed. “Oppugno!” A quick wave sent the rubble flying at their attackers but she ignored it, instead directing her attention to the next spell she wanted to attempt - she wasn’t sure if she could manage it, but she had to at least try. “Protego duo!” Dropping to her knees beside the professor, she scanned him to see what sort of damage had been done.

❝Do you want to put some clothes on?❞