Essix woke up indignantly to Rollan's heavy footsteps, and thought, "And you thought that thieves were supposed to be quiet." Rather than seeing Rollan himself walk in, he was groggily being held by an older guard by the wrists, wincing with pain from his unforgiving hold.

"Now you should learn not to steal any more rations than everyone gets from the kitchen!" roared the ill-tempered guard as he shoved Rollan back into his cell, slamming the door after him. "Lucky kid," he mumbled as he stomped back up the stairs.

"Ha. Who says he's lucky when he's got me?" laughed Essix, sending loud caws into the air as she ruffled her feathers, looking for more mischief.

"Essix, I told you to be quiet or I'd get in trouble," lamented Rollan, "Anyway, they searched me, but not that well. They missed the stuff in my boots. Here, I got you something extra, after I ran into the kitchen the second time."

Essix retreated to the other side of the rusty cage, away from the loaf of meat that Rollan gently set down for her. "Um, ya, I don't want your charity that you've been stepping on with your sweaty foot for the last half of the hour," she thought indignantly.

Instead of seeing Rollan's face fall as she expected, he seemed to know how Essix felt, and responded, "Aw, don't worry, I kept it above my ankle."

Essix relented to her caring partner, but thought, "That doesn't really help, but I'm hungry," she thought as she gulped the whole chunk of meat down entirely.

"Hmph, and your efforts haven't gone unnoticed," congratulated someone in his rich, dignified voice.

Essix spun around and squawked in terror, but covered... well tried to cover her beak with her wings for uttering a sound when she wasn't supposed too.

Rollan jumped off the edge of the bed and fell onto the hard, fractured, stone floor in shock. "Oof!" he cried, but then hurriedly shoved his boot back on as he pulled his mouth to a guilty, embarassed smile.

It was Zerif, but he wasn't alone. Next to Zerif stood a blond, young boy, a bit shorter than Rollan, looking meekly onward. Zerif noticed where both Rollan's and Essix's gazes were directed at, and cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. My mistake not to introduce him first. Meet my good nephew, Shane."

"More like servant!" Rollan spat, looking at the timid boy's face.

Zerif shot him an irate look, but waved his "comment" away. A wolverine bounded down the stairs and snarled at Rollan and Essix, then circled around Shane protectively while Shane patted him, and shook his mane.

Before Rollan's quick tongue could even ask why Zerif was really even here to see him, Zerif got to the basic details. "So," he continued, "You've finally demonstrated one of your talents. With a bit of training, it could improve greatly. Now I'm assigning you to a mission with Shane here. He will be your partner once you begin to face the dangers, but for a good purpose."

Shane smiled and waved, as he sent Renneg, his wolverine, to fetch something upstairs for him.

"I won't punish you yet," said Zerif, "But you will have to do us some favors for in return. Shane will explain, as he'll give you some of the Conqueror's scraps." With that, Zerif proudly left the room as if he had just been promoted.

Just as Zerif disappeared from their view, Shane tossed a brown sack he had at Rollan's feet. The bag was patched in several places, and fell open in front of Rollan, who gaped in awe.

"Man," Rollan thought, "I should've stolen from the junkyard rather than the kitchen!" As an orphan, Rollan had never seen this much food in his life. It wasn't just the normal stew scraps they had, but also baked goods like cinnamon buns that were untouched.

At that moment, Essix decided to be reckless, and picked the lock of the cage with her talons, right in front of the two boys, and began pecking at the large amount of lettuce leaves and corn bits.

Almost instantly, Essix and Rollan began bickering intensely for the cinnamon buns as Shane explained their mission... to retrieve Arax's talisman. Rollan still didn't understand the purpose of this, "But why do we need all the talismans to save the world? I'm not ready for... hey Essix!" Just as Rollan almost finished speaking, Essix had stolen the last cinnamon bun from his hand.

Shane, the golden-haired boy, sighed as Rollan dived at cackling Essix, and said, "Rollan, do you know what happens to those unfortunate ones who bond without the Nectar?"

"Ya," Rollan paused, and looked down forlornly. He knew exactly what would happen, for his mother did not bond with Nectar around his age, and they both ended up suffering traumatizing consequences. He remembered sitting on the stone steps of his little home as his mother once again shrieked madly and pounded her fists at the brick walls of his house, as her raven shrieked uncontrollably at the top of its lungs in an unmeasurable amount of pain. What he unfortunately remembered most was when he awoke one night out of pain. It felt as if a snake's fangs was biting into his neck, and he tried to call out, but found that his neck and voice was actually being crushed by his mother's hand unknowingly. It seemed like time was being slowed, and at last, she let go of her cruel grasp to find him covered in tears. From there on... she had ... let him go... to another home, but he found himself as an orphan instead.

"Exactly," replied Shane, looking at Rollan's pained face, "The Greencloaks took the Nectar and monopolized it. They used all that lived in Stetriol as scapegoats. They wiped us off every map, and refused to provide us with Nectar. You know the horrors of bonding without Nectar, now think about this entire place without Nectar," Shane looked as if he was on the verge of tears, "And this is why we need the talismans, to destroy that monopoly, to free our people from this horror. I and Renneg, my wolverine here, were one of the lucky ones to live. The Conquerors came to us and gave my family the cure to it, the Bile. They saved us, and this is why we're in debt to them."

Rollan nodded, he could sense no lies in that, but he still felt a small sense of distrust from Essix. He knew though that without the Nectar, he could've ended up like his mother, but he also thought, that it was an overkill to need all of the talismans, but whatever it took to destroy the monopoly. Somewhere in his mind, he was getting excited, "Could they save his mother in time? In... in time before... he would never see her again?" He broke out of his thought, as he made a revolted face at the agonizing taste of the lettuce, "Alright," Rollan replied, staring up at the golden-haired boy, "We'll help."

Essix squawked in utter shock, "They were going to help the Conquerors?! The ones who killed the Four Fallen during the last Devourer War?!"