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[[It's okay. :3 Haha, that's good. x3 Xel amuses me often... Age breakdown(!!): Xel is 26, Ceris is 24, Haar is 20, Cain is 18, Peyton is 15-16 (or so??). I don't care too much about my other characters, but I figure Calix and Cyrus are around Xel and Ceris' age.]]

Ceris smiled gratefully, careful to keep his expression that of one who was bursting with zest and possibly even some small traces of pep. Although he was in his home-kingdom, and it did give him a little boost of energy and allowed him to use more magic than otherwise...Xel had many ways of tiring him out and, well, Ceris hadn't really been expecting to heal someone so extensively so early on in the day. "If you truly want to, that would be wonderful, but it's not exactly needed. We have a stock of food here for patients and the other clerics brought their own meals," he said with a smile as he eyed the two others before returning a gentle gaze upon Shay for a brief moment.

"...If I may be so bold as to ask...what brought you here, Ruehl?" The purple-eyed mage was going to explain that even he had not noticed Haar had even been in the area, let alone injured until he showed up at the cleric's station.

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Xel grinned a bit before turning brown eyes towards the door, "Eh, well I suppose I could try to find Malachai for you. I just saw him not too long ago in the cleric's station with Ruehl and Haar and the apple of my eye," he murmured as he took a final bite of the surprisingly edible dessert. "But we don't have to do this now do we? I mean...those royals don't get much time off and this could take a while. Even a few minutes are precious to them," the knight explained before wincing at the expression both Cain and Peyton were giving him.

"Fine, I'll try and find him, let's just hope he's in a good mood. I wouldn't want Haar finding out the Prince's adopted brother singed his one and only apprentice."

And with that he was gone, off to look for the ever elusive heat-manipulator.

[[LOLOLOLOLOLOL. I<3CerisandXel. 'Xel had many ways to tire him out'? Well... that leaves a lot to the imagination, Tato. xD Oh, goodness. Yaoi can make me ridiculously giddy.. sorry :3]]

Ruehl closed his eyes for a moment. He'd hoped to avoid that question, even though he knew it was probably inevitable. What could possibly sound like a reasonable answer? An answer a prince should give? If he told the truth, he'd sound either unreliable or a complete lunatic. If he lied... he'd have it on his conscience that he lied to one of his best subjects and someone he knew was close to Haar.

"Well, actually, I ha--" Ruehl began to say, but his bright eyes shifted to the two other youths in the room. Panicking on how ridiculous dreaming about someone who isn't your significant other might sound to a group of strangers, the prince took a breath and finished, "-h-hoped. I just... hoped. Was hoping to find him. I ran into Alti in the village and he said that Haar was injured, so I began looking for him after that. Thank heavens he found you first. I was really... concerned." Ruehl's eyes glanced to the wall before back to Ceris with a shrug.

Not a total lie. But the sinking feeling in his stomach was awful... he just hoped it didn't show too much.

Exhaustion. That was exactly the feeling that Dax was overcome with as he trudged through the village's dusty streets. He had dried off since the boat incident, though his hair(which he had pulled back) was still damp. But being cold was the last thing the Ice Prince was. His rescuers, who had taken them back to their home, insisted he wear one of their overly large coats. The fur that lined the neck ticked his cheeks occasionally, but it was a sensation easy to ignore.

After having woke up at one of the men's house, Dax continually refused their urging for him to rest. How could he, knowing his friends could be lost? Or worse..

He had taken what was offered for him to eat before setting out to search the small village. Maybe the others were as lucky as he was.. While he wasn't exactly treated like the royalty that he was, he was offered rather awkward, even a curious type of kindness. At least they hadn't killed him yet, he thought wearily.

Sighing away a yawn, the prince continued on, coming upon the inn where the other resided.

'Stop looking at him' Faryn glared at the woman who blatantly stared at his... subject. Where were manners in this town? Faryn had been standing beside Sayael for sometime so that he could overhear any fruitful information provided... but he was getting sick of it. "We'd be better off asking a rock for information, Sayael," he muttered before walking over to a small seating area in the inn's lobby. Sinking into a chair, he began fiddling with his bandage to wait for the other prince and Jillian to give up the pointless effort as well.

Muertian acknowledged the other's reply with a light nod. He was oblivious to whether the other had expectations or not, but the prince already knew he was to live up to specific expectations for bringing the pleasant seamstress to the festival. Silver eyes scanned over the various items on display in quest for a possible gift. Gifts... were custom for a situation such as this. At least, that was the way Muertian believed life to be. A pet may be too much to clean up after... flowers wilted... dresses and fabric, well Rosaline had plenty of it... weapons weren't really fit for women... Jewelry could be nice. In anycase, he'd allow his guest to decide.

Leaning over to speak in the other's ear so that his words wouldn't be lost among the noisy crowd, he offered, "Please let me know when you see something you like, Rosaline. I mean it." Giving the hand in his a light squeeze, he flashed a smile in his direction.

[[[I know they arrived together and that they were staying-- as in sleeping-- in the same inn... but it wasn't obvious to me that the three of them were literally IN the inn currently. The way Jillian was described gave me the impression he was off mingling with the natives already or something. If that's not the case, I'll have edit my post then. Maybe I just misunderstood something. EDITED.]]

Turning his gaze on the apparently shy boy, Muertian nodded, "Of course we can."

Walking a small distance and then releasing the flower's hand to push open a door to a tavern, he stepped inside to hold it from the other end. He moved to a more secluded table in the dim lighting and pulled out a chair to wait for Rosaline to take a seat in it. "Is this okay?"

The Dark prince shrugged and then nodded before turning and following the other and sitting down in a seat next to him. "This... place. It's odd, isn't it?" Sayael whispered to the other. "The shops and stores and everything... are too similar to our own. I'd always thought when I crossed the Wall this place'd be less... well, I can't say it's normal -- not with the way people're staring at Jillian, but... but it's more normal than I thought it'd be, even if... it's not... very comfortable." The prince winced slightly then, his emerald eyes seeming to retract slightly. It was more of a dull ache now -- not nearly so pronounced as it had been when they first crossed -- but the loss of magic was still... very painful. It was an inner pain -- not something like the wounds they had had doctored by one of the local healers. They couldn't just put a bandage on it and make it all better with some herbs and some luck.

Jillian sighed softly as he watched his friends leave, his dark eyes filled with an unreadable expression. He... hadn't wanted to come in the first place, and now he was regretting more than anything allowing the other to cross the Wall. And with all these people surrounding him, watching him... he couldn't join Sayael and Faryn, because then the people would simply follow him, as they had before. And his friends were tired, and the natives did nothing but annoy them.... The minty-haired youth glanced around himself slowly and sighed once more as he saw nothing but a flock of people, their expressions vacant as sheep's.

The older man had pulled Alti out of the road and into a small cafe, opting to take seats at a more private corner of the building where they wouldn't be overheard. It was private, after all. They had already begun to talk -- quite a bit, really. After all, with fifteen years of seperation between them, they had much to talk about.

"She... died shortly after you were born," Red began slowly, his golden eyes fixed on the other's. For once, Alti's complete attention was being held. There was an expression of almost desperate need for knowledge on his face. "You already know that... Allora is your aunt...." Alti nodded. "Well, there... is a reason for that, I mean I... What I mean is, your mother and I, we... weren't exactly smiled upon. We... married despite the wishes of our families and our Kingdoms.... Her family was more... accepting, and after a time we came to live with them.... But my Kingdom was not exactly... happy with this. And... and after her death, well... we had to hide you from them because they weren't very fond of the idea of a mixed child with such... profound differences. I couldn't take you and pretend you were fully Fire -- after all, what Fire native looks as you do? And I couldn't stay -- my parents had sent men after me..... And after I left, they made sure all connections between myself and the Storms Kingdom were cut off. But... but now....." Red spread his hands across the table, palm up, a smile slowly forming on his lips.

"So... Father....." he said, trying the word out on his tongue -- he hadn't used it in so long.... "How did... I mean.... what... was Mother like....?" he asked slowly, a small flush on his cheeks.

Continuing his weary march, if it indeed could be dubbed as such, Dax gave hardly but a glance through the rather dirtied window of the inn. He was more than ten steps past before he came to such an abrupt halt he nearly toppled over himself. Was his mind just playing tricks on him or had he glimpsed a headful of familiar minty hair?

Dust was kicked up in his stumbling attempt to return to the window as fast as he could manage. With his nose only centimeters from the glass, his eyes locked onto Jillian, but before he could notice those odd stares directed at the diplomat, his excited eyes caught sight of two more of his companions conversing. The immense relief that washed through him almost caused his knees to give out, but he managed to remain upright.

Finally realizing he was doing little good outside, the Ice Prince hastily clamored into the lodging. Hardly hesitating once he was through the door, in a flash Dax ran right up to Sayael and threw his arms around him, almost seeming to collapse on him. "Guys, you're alright!!" he exclaimed breathlessly.