Welcome to Gaia! ::

The boy grinned at Lin. "We have already lost the game, so we might as well challenge ourselves in different ways, no?" he asked lightheartedly.

Daeron chuckled. "Indeed. And do all your friends speak our tongue? Or are you the surprise among the lot of you?"

The boy laughed. "Just me. My town is near the Elysium border, so we must be bilingual. The others are from more central towns."

He spoke to his friends, and the rest of them turned and started running into the city. The boy however stayed with the travelers, and as his friends ran off he grinned at them again. "They have begun their search. Come, we will catch up to them eventually."

He motioned for them to follow him, and started back towards the city as well.

"I have more questions about your game," Daeron told the boy as they continued on. "Are there just the two challenges? Or are there more?"

The boy pursed his lips. "Well, there's one more challenge, but no one has ever won that one so only a few people even try anymore."

"It sounds difficult," Iorlas mused. "But I would think that the difficulty would make it more exciting to try, wouldn't you?"

The boy sighed. "There's this lady, she's different, too, not a Fire Elf, that is. Anyways, the challenge is to stalk her for just five minutes. Just fives minutes! But no one can do it! She always sees us right away! The kids have been trying for fifty years but no one has ever done it!"

He seemed genuinely disappointed, and he jammed his hands deep into his pockets and sighed again dejectedly. "It's impossible."

The boy's eyes grew wide and he nodded vigorously. "Yeah!" he exclaimed. "That's her!"

He blinked and his brow furrowed a bit. "You know her?"

Iorlas laughed. "It's tempting to ask if anyone really does, but yes, we are acquainted with her," she giggled. "She is our guide as we travel the lands."

"I think I know of a way you could stalk her successfully," Daeron mused. "Of course, you'll need some help ..."

Daeron grinned at Lin. "Simple," he said simply. "She needs to be distracted. Her husband would be a good person to recruit for that, I think. As much as she doesn't talk about him much when we're traveling, when she's here she's completely devoted to him. And we'd have to somehow distract Uruloki ..."

"Uruloki?" the boy repeated, confused.

Earendil chuckled. "A friend of hers."

Daeron grinned at the others. "Anyone know if she dances?"

"If she doesn't, it's the first thing I've heard of that she doesn't do," Earendil said dryly.

"To be fair, we don't even know how he helps her," Daeron pointed out. "I mean, sure we know that he's real and that they can separate from each other and that he's intelligent ... but what does he actually do?"

"If he is the one letting her know that she's being watched," Earendil murmured thoughtfully, "we might have to let him in on it and recruit his help."

"Probably not," Earendil grinned. "They're never separated. Hardly ever, anyways."

"Well then I propose that we find her and Ahkshi and invite them to dance with us," Daeron suggested. "We'll be a merry bunch at any rate, and it might give the boy here the chance to get his five minutes Kyrie-stalking in."

"Oh, please!" the boy said eagerly, his eyes lighting up. "That would be so great if it works!"