As the sun rose across the distant horizon, Claire Faust rose from her slumber. Claire had always been an early riser ever since she was a child. At that time though, she had used it to mess with her siblings. Her pampered brothers and sisters were always late risers, and it was the perfect time to get revenge on them for whatever they had put her through the previous day. Of course, that always ended up with getting her in trouble with her parents. She didn't care though, the trouble she got into was totally worth it. Now, she used it for more substantial pursuits and went about her morning routine. First she donned her armor. It would look to be a somewhat complicated process to anyone who was unfamiliar with the armor. It was simple for her though, as she had done it dozens of times until she could do it in less than a minute or two. She was a guard after all, it was her job to be prepared. As such, she sometimes slept in the armor as well if she had some duty or something to accomplish early in the morning. Next, she grabbed her sword and inspected it, making sure it was as sturdy as the day she first got it. Satisfied, she sheathed it and grabbed her shield. Satisfied, she looked about the room for her companion, Latias. The Legendary was nowhere to be seen, however. Which was odd, Latias would never awaken by herself before noon. Claire simply ignored it, as she was probably up to her usual shenanigans. --- Claire took a deep breath as she took a seat on a bench, the grounds as lifeless as ever this morning, save for the Head Guard, Sir Chau and his Gengar on the opposite end. She said nothing to him, however. In all the mornings they both had trained here, she didn't think she had ever spoken to him once. She doubted she'd converse much anyways, she had better things to do than chat with the Head Guard. Dueling him would be fun, though she doubted she'd ever get the chance to do so. She unstrapped her helmet and sat it beside her, letting her body cool off a little from her morning work out, catching sight of a flash of red from her peripheral vision as she did so. [b]"And where have you been?"[/b] Claire asked without even looking to see who it was. It was obviously Latias. The legendary rarely parted with her, after she woke. [b][i]"Getting you something to eat, silly!"[/i][/b] Latias said with a smile, holding out a sandwich in one hand with some iced water in the other. The package smelled faintly of some sort of berries and meat. Claire gave Latias a critical look before speaking. [b]"You were raiding the palace food stores again, weren't you?"[/b] Claire said with a sigh. A look of shock crossed Latias' face. [b]"You know you could get into a lot of trouble for doing that. More importantly, I could as well."[/b] [b][i]"I-Why would you think that! I wasn't I was doing something nice for you, miss grumpy pants!"[/i][/b] Latias gave her a nervous smile. Claire responded simply by giving the legendary a disbelieving look, obviously not believing her. [b][i]"I...okay, yes I was."[/i][/b] Latias dejectedly sighed, rather easily. Claire sighed and stood, donning her helmet once again and stretching her arms and legs to prevent them from getting stiff. Claire took the iced water and sandwich from her, making Latias give her a quizzical look. [b]"Thanks."[/b] She said, a bit uncomfortably as she began walking towards the grounds exit, water and sandwich in either hand. Latias simply smiled and followed behind her silently, though the pokemon kept feeling like it was forgetting to tell Claire something important. Claire ate the sandwich silently as she walked. It was normal for her to eat like this when walking between destinations, it cut down on time she was standing around doing nothing, or sitting. She had to admit though, the sandwich was very good. She wondered briefly what Latias used to make it, but decided that it wasn't that important. [b]"Why are you up so early anyways? Normally you sleep until noon."[/b] She asked her friend as she walked. [b][i]"Um, well, something seems a bit...off, don't you think?"[/b][/i] The legendary said nervously, causing Claire to furrow her eyebrows in thought. She herself didn't sense anything was majorly wrong, but perhaps she was just missing something? [b][i]"I had this...uneasy feeling this morning. I don't know what it was, but It was what woke me up."[/i][/b] Claire stopped for a moment to think, Latias was a legendary, if she felt something was wrong then she couldn't just ignore it. However, she also had no proof that something was legitimately wrong anyways. [b][i]"Then I decided to eat something while I thought about it! And it went away. Weird, huh?"[/i][/b] At this, Claire simply face palmed so hard it could practically be heard across the grounds. Pointing out that this 'uneasy' feeling was probably her just going more than two hours without food would be useless. [b][i]"And before you make a smart remark, that reminds me! Apparently Zokura's having a meeting or something soon."[/b][/i] At this Claire stopped dead in her tracks and gave her friend a serious look, with a frown. [b]"When was this?"[/b] [i][b]"Not long ago."[/b][/i] The legendary replied. [b]"Very well. Let us head that way"[/b] --- Claire had made her way to the councilors chambers quickly. She couldn't rely on Latias' judgement of time that well, at least not in this case. She could very likely be late - though she doubted it from the look of things and the fact that it was still mostly quiet, meaning most of the guard likely hadn't been roused yet. Latias trailed behind her, humming to herself as they approached the doors to the chambers. Claire pushed them open quietly and stepped inside, somewhat surprised to see Sir Chau here. [b]"Prince. Princess. Sir."[/b] She gave the three of them each a salute as she walked into the room. If Zokura called for all of the guard and her siblings, whatever had happened must have been important. She would find out soon enough, though and stood to the side as she quietly waited on the others, Latias still humming happily as she waited beside her.