Cati walks up with confidence she doesn't really feel, but her mother feels important to portray. She pulls a small suitcase behind her, as a princess should have more than a few changes of clothing, shouldn't she?

She stands near the others to wait while their bags are searched, looking over her shoulder for Ashwin.

Ashwin arrives late, pale and drawn, hand in hand with his twin sister. They cling to each other, even as Ashwin hands over his bag. 

The guard draws out Ashwin's bow. "You can't take this."

Ashwin's look turns hard. "It's a family heirloom.
"It's a weapon."
"It's sentimental."
"It-"

"L-le-let A-a-ash-Ashwin take it!" Nia, Ashwin's normally silent twin, stammers out. 

"It's a weapon when there's arrows," she points out. (She may not be the social sort, but she knows how favours work. And why miss the opportunity to get some practical information on the Auradonites without being the target.) "Don't let him keep the string, if you're worried."

He stares at the ground and feels like he's braced for a blow. They're arguing, not even with an Isle exile (he knows that most everyone does that, but it's largely an abstract kind of knowing) but with their Auradon escort-

Ashwin looks up in shock at Greta coming to his defence. They haven't had much to do with each other, but he still appreciates it. 

"You can take the string. Just let me keep the bow."

The Auradon guard pauses, then sighs. "As long as you keep it unstrung, you can take it. No arrows." He replaces it back in the bag, and moves on to Cati's.

Ashwin presses a kiss to his twin's hair. "Thank you."

Nothing else was untoward, and so the bags are loaded into the car. "Say your goodbyes, we're leaving."

Either they're planning on constant surveillance, they don't really care about the bow and made all the fuss for show or something, or they're sure naive about what people do with rules. She hopes it's not the first one. If it's the third one they got lucky with the kids they picked. 

None of them have anything untoward in their bags, or any goodbyes left.

Ashwin turns towards his sister, and then they're hugging so closely it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. 

Cati watches sadly, waiting patiently to guide Ashwin away from the most important person in his life.

It's sad. He doesn't know what to do, if anything at all. Tries saying a prayer for them to be ok until they're reunited, and be reunited in happiness.

Ashwin presses three kisses into his sister's hair, eyes screwed shut, then slowly backs out of her arms. Their hands stay connected until the last moment, then Nia's remains stretched out, while Ashwin's falls to his side. He turns away, tears already brimming in his eyes, and takes Cati's hand.

Cati ushers him into the waiting car, rubbing a hand comfortingly up and down his back.

He isn't sure if he should - be there, watching, but he doesn't think he's supposed to suddenly leave and also they would see him do that.

He gets in the car.

They also get in the car.

The car starts to move, winding through Isle streets.

Ashwin slumps in his seat, tears tracking down his face. He looks out the window.

Cati squeezes his hand once, then turns to look at their fellows.

"Hey. I'm Catienne. Cati, for short. I know of you all, but I haven't really ever properly introduced myself."

He looks out into the streets; turns back when she starts talking. (He thinks that's correct.)

"Lius."

"Greta." Who else is in the car aside from the Islanders?

"Lisabet." She waves a little.

They've been left on their own in the back, the guard and driver up the front.

"Nice to meet you all. Glad Ashwin and I have some friendly faces for this venture."

"And you!" (Lots of people don't like their servers socializing like this, but Greta doesn't mind.)

"Interesting venture."