Orisian had taken over watching the recruits while Pen continued taking notes. It would be a while before he could leave, at least another few hours, but she seemed content to linger a little too close to him and write just a few, seemingly unimportant things.
Once the recruits had physically exhausted themselves, and were literally too tired to go to the castle's cafeteria, Orisian deemed it time to leave, and they set off for Pen's house.
It wasn't long before they got there, and upon entering, Morning Pen went into the kitchen to get them something to drink, and Orisian stood near a chair with his hands clasped behind him.
Once Morning Pen came back, and gave him a full glass of lemonade, he began speaking.
"Thank you. The reason Emerald Dagger began to despise you is a bit surprising for me."
"Uh-huh. So, what was it?"
Pen sat down, followed by Orisian as he wondered how he should phrase his thoughts.
"You are aware of changelings, yes?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, he said that you were a changeling. He told me that he saw you change with his own eyes."
"Really? Don't tell me you believe him."
"I just find it interesting that you are enlisted as a solar soldier, and Princess Luna seems to enjoy your company. I find it a bit enlightening to know that she also wishes changelings had never been an enemy to the people here."
Morning Pen was getting a bit nervous, and her voice began to break.
"Uh... interesting coincidence, right?"
"You are a terrible liar."
"Oh shit... Your not going to tell anybody are you?"
"Even if I were going to tell someone, they would probably not believe me. Besides, Princess Luna likes you, and I am currently bound to her."
"So you're not going to tell anyone? Oh my god, thank you!"
Jumping up and rushing over to him, she threw her arms around him, spilling her drink and nearly crushing the life out him.
It was a while later, after Orisian and Morning Pen had been talking about seemingly unimportant things, an awkward silence falling over the two. The subject of changelings had almost been forgotten.
Morning Pen had adopted a somewhat sad look bordering on curious.
"So... You are a veteran warrior huh?"
"Aye. A veteran of the King's armies. But, I may become a veteran once more, to a new army."
"So uh... How easy is it to die?"
Orisian let out a heavy sigh before pausing a long moment in thought.
"A question I have asked myself a thousand times. But, I've found that it's a pointless question. The only thing that matters in battle, is how easy it is to kill. And it becomes much easier if you have something to kill for."
"Oh... Well, how many innocent people have you killed?"
"None."
"Really? Princess Luna told me that Celestia said you were from an empire. You had to get there somehow right? So how many nations that weren't against you did you attack?"
"Hundreds. But we gave them a choice. The ones that chose wrong, we conquered."
"Which means you attacked innocent people. I may not know much about war, but I do know that it steals your innocence."
"Maybe it does, but a more correct answer would be that you give war your innocence."
"So... How many innocent people did you kill?"
"None."
"You're kidding me, right? That's impossible."
"No, it's not. Those that went against us knew what they were doing when they took up arms."
"But they were just defending their homes. You can't possibly think that they would have just given up do you? If you were attacked, what would you have done?"
"First off, I would have fought. Secondly, they weren't defending their homes. They were defending the land's lords, and rulers' homes. Tell me, when we bring prosperity, good trade, new crops, animals, and people to help farm, harvest, and protect the lands, whereas, before the lords were having feasts every day while their people were starving and dying of plague and pestilence, can you truly say we were in the wrong?"
"But you can't tell me every nation you attacked was like that."
"Maybe not, but either way, we helped the people we conquered. We should be thanked. And we were. The new citizens of the true empire of Remor gave the King their allegiance, and he gave them hope. More than hope, in fact. He gave them a far better life."
"But, how can you possibly say you were right to attack a peaceful nation?"
"Our ways of doing things may not be the most... Clean way of doing them, but you do not argue with results. And the people learned that. Whatever you say to try and bring any kind of shame to the King, they would counter you. And Kingsmen stand strong alone, but we stand invincible together. We helped each other, and we prospered. When we attacked a nation that wouldn't cooperate, we were just adding to the family the true way."
"Well, maybe that worked. Maybe it didn't."
"When I was last there, it was still working. And it had been working for hundreds of years."
"Well... Maybe that will work with the changelings, yeah?"
"Maybe."
Morning Pen looked down in thought, but quickly looked back up as she began smiling.
"Follow me. I have something I want to show you."
She began moving in the direction of her room, with Orisian following.