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Jillian swam closer, one arm clinging to the splintered piece of wood while the other directed his legs' efforts in the direction of the voices. "Faryn!! I'm... here, I...!!" he called out, his words ending before his thought was fully annunciated. After all, it had been that single moment when he finally... found the others. Found Faryn. A look of intense relief, vanishing worry wrinkles and smile included, filled his features as his eyes rested upon the young Death prince.

"I... Are you... alright...?" he asked slowly, his dark eyes seeming to regain that look of almost feverish worry as his eyes searched out the other for any sign of pain.

**

Sayael smiled and sighed as Jillian litterally swam into view. "Mmm... alright... I'm fine... We need to find Dax, though... I... don't know where he is..." he murmured slwoly, brow furrowed slightly. Though it had been a small time since the princes had been in aquantance... well, Sayael had to admit he was fond of that prince of Ice. They were... friends.

Jillian had began a motion to help the other up as he struggled, his expression worried, but then Faryn steadied himself... and told him to not look at him like that. Jillian immidiately tried to clear his expression of concern... but it was hard when he actually... cared.

The minty-haired teen nodded slowly, deciding not to mention the long (but shallow), stinging cut across his left upper arm. It was conceiled by his ever loose clothing (which now clung to him in its wet condition), anyway, and wouldn[t be visible. However, what was visible was a rather large bruise on his jaw where it had knocked against a piece of splintering wood. "Yes... I'm fine. Much better than I might have been, anyway, because I was near the stairs..." Of course, he didn't explain why that would be such a big problem, because he assumed that the others would know that, had he been only a few steps further back, he would have been burried under the ship.

Voices? Did he hear voices calling or was it just another trick of this dreadful water? The Ice Prince had been kicking his way along in the water for what seemed like forever towards what he hoped to be some sort of salvation. The fear of swimming farther out to sea kept surfacing in his thoughts. But he was afraid of trying another direction in case he were right this time around. He tried to occupy his mind with thoughts of how the others were okay, all coming out of the accident unharmed and very much alive.

Dax was tired, no doubt. From the excess use of adrenaline and now this constant swimming, he wasn't sure how much farther he could propel himself without losing all energy. But that's when he heard it again.. Voices. But these ones weren't calling for anything. Just the use of low, casual tones. His head jerked up, his eyes squinted against the dark, and he could see the faint outline of something.. A small fishing boat, it seemed. A new surge of energy spilled into him as he kicked frantically toward it.

His splashing movements drew the attention of the occupants of the boat as they peered through the darkness to see what the commotion was. When Dax's blonde hair was visible in the soft light of their lantern, they moved quickly to row over to the water-worn prince.

"Hey! You alright there?" one of the two men asked, reaching out for Dax's arm which he glady- no, frantically- took hold of and was hoisted into the boat.

The moment of rest where he was sprawled in the floor of the boat, panting and shivering, allowed Dax to realize just how exhausted he had become. And despite being naturally used to the cold, even he was affected by the bite of the wind that hit his wet skin. He came back to awareness, however, when he felt something cover him. One of the men's jackets. And he kept hearing them ask if he was alright and what had happened.. But would it really be wise to tell them he had come across The Wall? He didn't believe it would be, so he remained quiet on that issue.

"Boy must be too tired to even talk. Let's take him back shore to warm up. Maybe we can get some answers after he's rested up" he heard one comment quietly to the other. It seemed the other agreed for he took position to row.

But there was something Dax had forgotten.. His eyes shot open as he sat up quickly. "My friends!" he said, but it didn't seem he'd be able to give much more detail. His exhaustion had finally come to its brink as he fell back to the floor, passed out, his thoughts tainted with the idea of the others still out there.

He just needed to find his stuff and get the heck out of here. He didn't quite care that he had just gotten shot full of arrows not more than few days earlier (Haar could't really remember after how much he'd been sleeping). This place was just...it was nice and he didn't want to get a real taste of having a life, even if one that of a noble which Haar wasn't and would never truly be.

He'd left his sword in Alti's room but...where were all his other belongings? Taking a few steps backwards, the young commander leaned against the young storm native's bedroom doorway, red eyes drifting through the room in search of- There was his sword...but- Holding a hand to his temple, Haar pitched forward without any real amount of grace and entered the horrifically girly room once more. He'd leave...just as soon as his side stopped screaming at him. He might write a quick message to Ceris or possibly even the king, telling him of the atta- Shaking his head, Haar quietly leaned down to pick up his sword with a frown. The king wouldn't have a clue as what to do and would probably botch something up. He could always send for one of the generals but he didn't think a single one of them had the same ideals as his own and would be much more prone to starting a full-fledged war against the ice kingdom.

And what fire soldier wanted a war in the winter? No, I'll keep to the summer, thank you very much. Perhaps he'd just tell Ceris that he was okay for the most part and that he'd see him at the light festival.

Sitting against the wall, Haar frowned at the pressure against his side before tiredly staring down at the blade in his hands.


[[I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with Haar. confused ]]

[[Well, I'm not really sure if you were expecting me to reply to this, but I guess I should. > >; I figured if Sona asked me to post then I should. sweatdrop ]]

With a weary expression, Ceris nodded, allowing Cain to take Peyton back to Haar's quarters. The blond was dead asleep at the moment, and would be for the next few hours, hopefully. The mage wasn't sure if the teen should be allowed to visit the festival. Ceris realized that Peyton had been very keen on doing so but ...not after what had happened...

Turning towards Xel after tidying up the makeshift bed, the young man smiled a bit, "Hmm, so, how did dinner go?" He asked with an amused expression as the older knight smirked generously.

"Oh, you know~ Riled the poor thing up a bit, but it was for his own good," Xel murmured, patting the mage's back with a softened expression. Ceris sighed before shaking his head, "I guess that's all I can ever expect of you. Oh well... Have you seen Haar at all today? He was supposed to bring Peyton back himself but I haven't-"

Xel shook his head, looking almost troubled. "He took that...foreigner with him, didn't he? But no, I haven't seen him at all since last night," he murmured with a frown.


---------------


"Finally, you're awake."

The soldier propped his sheathed sword against the ground, using it to help himself up. His side was still very fragile, or so it seemed because it killed. With a waver, the red-eyed commander cast a rather perturbed expression upon Alti. "If I have to stay here one more day I will kill something," he muttered, staggering towards the bed with a frown. Grasping the end of the sheets, Haar sat down carefully. "The festival started, oh...somewhere between four to five hours ago. I could've taken you, and then gone back home four hours ago," he explained in a tense tone, fingers running along the highly detailed sheath before he turned to the boy.

"I'm very, very grateful for all that you have done, and your mother, of course, but I don't think I can stand another day here. It's not that I'm here or that I'm with either of you, it's the fact that I've been forced to sit here and do nothing. I'd have a bit of temper anywhere I was made to sit still for three days straight," he murmured, nearly glaring at the boy with a frazzled grin.

Haar's expression shifted to something more tired as he lowered his head. "Yeah. Maybe we should," he said as glanced at the teen. "You know, you're a lot like that b*****d, minus the certain affection he had for me," he added with something close to a grin. "He was probably the most stubborn person ever, and wouldn't take no for an answer... I don't think I could really fought back if I tried anyway. I was pretty beat up then," he continued with a shake of his head.

Rubbing the back of his hand against the jagged scar under his eye, the commander leaned back a bit, relaxing as he turned his gaze towards the window. "Stubborn as hell... He definitely kept me in my place but in the end he was just like any other ice native. I'm surprised he didn't just poison me in my sleep or something..." He added with a bitter sort of laugh.

"Anyway, enough of that. Am I going to have to pry you from that bed?" He asked with a wry grin as he turned towards the teen, leaning over him, red eyes appearing much darker than usual in the low light. "Or will you get up by yourself?"

Mocking a gesture of pain, the soldier leaned onto his back with a wide grin, "Wonderful, now that you're up I have this whole, girly-looking bed to myself," Haar murmured with a short laugh, the movement causing stabbing pain to run up his side. "Nn, I think I could manage much more than you at this point. I'm just in pain, you, on the other hand, have exhausted yourself in a way that I don't think your mother would appreciate."

With a thoughtful look, the soldier continued, "Then again, I don't believe your mother would be very happy with your exhaustion in any case, save for one," he murmured with a smirk, red eyes trailing across the ceiling as he stifled a chuckle.