Whee! Nother chapter! And this is where things get juicy folks! :D Do enjoy!


Zephyrne ran away from the sight as fast as she could, feeling tears stinging her eyes. As soon as she ran far enough away from the courtyard and into the back of the castle, she ripped off her hood and sobbed into her hands. Her long pale blue hair fell down her back like a silk curtain. They were silent sobs, the kind where someone couldn't tell she was crying at all until they looked into her watery eyes and listened to her quiet sharp and quaky breaths.

No one was around her in the back of the castle. The stables of the Unis she stood next to was the only thing present. Still, the thought of being alone and far from the gates wasn't what brought more tears from her eyes. She slid down on the wood until she landed on her rump in one heap.

'I miss her so much…' the Zafara thought sadly. Her usually dull-to-emotion eyes were filled with such sadness as her mind portrayed a time in her childhood.

Zephyrne's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sounds of pets approaching. Her delicate large ears could pick up the clicking and clanking of metal on metal and the sound of flapping wings which meant only one thing.

Draik Knights.

Without thinking, Zephyrne ran into the stables and shut the doors behind her. She prayed to the Faeries that they wouldn't enter, or worse, had seen her enter. But despite the adrenaline rush cursing through her body, the maiden found herself listening in intently on the conversation of the two or three knights passing by. Again, her curious side got the best of her and she peeked open the stable door to see the armor clothed knights flying by towards the stadium. They spoke of the tournament starting in a while, and spoke of this great, "Sir Jeran Borodere". By the way they spoke so proudly of him, he must have been one of the greater knights. They even spoke of his past adventures for a second, nodding their heads in agreed amazement the knight had gone so far from being a simple boy they knew.

As they neared, Zephyrne closed the door a little more. Thankfully, the knights flew by with boastful laughter filling the air and left to the stadium to find a good seating spot. With a sigh of relief, the blue haired maiden closed the door with a quiet click. Still eyeing the door (as though it might burst open to show the king himself) the Zafara walked backwards until she ran into one of the stalls. Whipping around with a sort of squeak, she quickly relaxed at the sight of the snow white Uni staring down at her curiously.

The Uni stared at the girl for the longest time, but focused entirely on her wide eyes. Zephyrne blinked for a minute, finding herself growing curious in the tall creature herself. For a moment she felt they shared the same query mind, both having the same curious thought to know the other of their presence. The Zafara knew enough then to know the Uni looked friendly then gave a shy smile. "Hello there," she said in a half sigh, partially because she was hoping to be in some sort of pleasant company at the moment.

It neighed at her in greeting and seemed to have given her a smile. Zephyrne smiled at the gentle beast and petted its mane. In response, it nudged her at the neck. Its wet nose tickled the delicate skin under her chin and brought out some raspy giggles. She was still upset after all, but meeting this friendly beast made her feel a little better.

"I see Iris has taken liking to you Miss." said a voice from within the stables.

Zephyrne shrieked and turned to see a young blue Lupe standing not to faraway from her, feeding another Uni. She hardly felt his presence in the dark room. The maiden could barely tell what his features looked like (but knew what they were nonetheless with her sharp sight and memorized them into her mind). He wore nothing but simple clothes over a golden mail shirt glinting from the light peeking though the wood boards above. His gentle yellow eyes held a glint of mischief that brought sudden fear in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't thought someone might be in the stables with her. She was far too upset to think straight a minute before.

She must be getting rusty.

"It is rare to see Iris getting too friendly with anyone though. I'm surprised she has acted so gentle to you so quickly," the Lupe spoke in a faint English accent, common for Meridell. He gave one last pat to the purple Uni he was feeding and walked over to the Zafara.

Zephyrne shrunk back from the male, hiding slightly behind the Uni. All the while she was looking at the door in the corner of her eye for a quick escape. Still, if she ran now, that would only bring more suspicions on her part.

The Lupe now stood before her and she hid her face quickly behind the Uni's head, almost forcing its head to hide her own. The act brought an amused smile to the Lupe and he held out his hand while bowing slightly. "May I have your name?" he asked.

Zephyrne blinked. "My name in what?" she said confused.

The Lupe chuckled heartily, which brought a tint of a blush to Zephyrne's cheeks. She had to admit, the Lupe was handsome. And his smooth voice did send a small shiver down her spine. Whether it may be from fear of him in general or excitement, she did not know. Still, his presence was frightening the Zafara maiden more so by the minute. She began to feel flustered and grow a weakness around him. She couldn't even think straight with those captivating yellow eyes staring at her, which in turn made her did her best to not make eye contact at all. She couldn't bear to even look at them for some reason.

The feeling was alien to her, and she felt truly scared of him.

"Allow me to rephrase," he said smiling, "May I know your name?"

The blue haired female blushed even deeper. "Oh! Um…yes," she said with a shy nod and clumsily curtsied in response to his bow. Unfortunately, she lived up to her earlier words to Ginger about being quite clumsy, and accidentally tripped on her dress, thus sending her falling forward crashing into the chest of the young male.

Zephyrne had to blink several times before believing what she had done and looked up at the face of the Lupe, no farther than an inch from her nose.

In the back of her mind, she thought she could hear the faeries above the clouds laughing their heads off at the spectacle. They do enjoy making Pets' lives a living nightmare at times. Zephyrne was just a favorite to them.

"Um…well," the Lupe said awkwardly. His yellow eyes stared straight into her own for the first time and seemed to captivate the Lupe. The Zafara had a tone of blue in them that would seem to magically sparkle in both the dark and light. She knew they were quite beautiful to some Neopets, but never really thought of it much since she liked to hide her face from the world.

Her stare, she noticed, brought a tint of a blush to his furry cheeks. "Now I can't say that a maiden has never thrown herself at me before," he said with an awkward smile.

Zephyrne snapped out of her stupor and jumped away from the male with an embarrassed shriek. "I-I'm sorry!" she said sinking into a more dignified curtsey and bowing her head deeply from him, trying to hide her red face. The Uni beside her gave off a neigh that closely resembled laughter. She sent it a glare and then stood up not looking at the young male. "So very sorry," she said meekly.

A gust of wind blew through the planks of wood and ruffled her long silky blue hair. It was then she realized her hood was down and her face was fully exposed.

With as much composure, and trying not cause any warning or suspicion in her true actions, Zephyrne was about to reach for her hood to pull it back over her face before the Lupe spoke again.

"It's quite alright Miss," the Lupe chuckled rubbing the back of his head. He looked away shyly and went to tend another Uni. Zephyrne did nothing but stare at her feet all the while cursing to herself of her clumsiness. Why she did not take that exact moment to leave made her wonder. She found herself glued to the spot.

"So, are you here to see the tournament?"

The question brought the girl back to reality and she nodded before realizing he wasn't even looking at her. "Y-Yes! I am. I was just….I got lost," she half lied. In truth, she did get lost and didn't mean to get this far out of the gateway. In fact, her original goal was to stay AWAY from the castle!

As they say, she wished to stay away from the lion's den. And now she was practically up in the lion's mouth talking with this mysterious blue Lupe.

"Ah, you must have entered from the wrong gate then," he said brushing the Uni's mane, "No matter. The castle is small and the tournament entryway isn't hard to find."

Zephyrne nodded to this then turned to the Uni beside her. With gentle hands of a nurse, she petted its nose and allowed it to lick her palm. The Uni seemed determined to cheer her up somehow from her earlier actions and pushed its nuzzle into her expose neck again and licked her ear. She giggled lightly and rested her head against its neck in silent thanks. Its soothing breathing vibrated through her ears as she heard its calm pulse.

"I couldn't help but notice though…," the Lupe said walking away from the Uni. He stood in a straight posture with his arms behind his back at a fair distance from the maiden and stared at her with a blank stare. His presence now felt knightly for some reason; odd for a regular stable boy. "Your eyes were bloodshot and puffy. As though you were crying?" he questioned.

Zephyrne's face paled slightly and she turned away from the stable boy, this time grabbing her hood and pulling it over her head completely. "No. You are mistaken," she said in a monotone voice.

The Lupe looked hurt and bowed his head. "Forgive me then," the male said serenely, "It was not my business to pry." He said all this while staring straight into her eyes with a look of hurt shining in those yellow orbs.

"No, it's not that! It's…," Zephyrne caught herself and bit her lip. She forced her features to put up a stony face, but now the memory from before caught up with her again and she was much too upset to even try to hide her rabid emotions. Now the canine Neopet had his full attention on her, his expression grieving with clear concern. She hid behind the Uni again in a sad attempt to hide from his piercing gaze. "I was crying," the Zafara admitted. She played with her blue ear that faded in color slightly like the rest of her fur.

"Well anyone with eyes could have seen that Miss," the Lupe joked, "But I believe my question was WHY you were crying."

Zephyrne managed a small smile at him then darted her eyes away. For some reason she could not understand, she found no reason to lie to the kind Lupe. She also had this deep feeling within her that told her she could trust this stable boy. She glanced at his face to find he was awaiting the answer with the utmost patience. "Well, earlier on…I helped a little girl find her mother and father," she said quietly.

The Lupe blinked. "Well that's nothing to cry over," he said confused. He failed to notice the annoyed look the white Uni sent him, as though trying to voice out its thoughts for him to shut up and let the lady continue.

"I know. But…that girl…she reminded me so much of my sister…" Zephyrne said slowly. She was tempted to say more but chose to say, "It pained me to see her run off like that…," Zephyrne said sadly, "It felt like I lost my sister again."

The Lupe kept silent and then stepped up to place a paw on her shoulder. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have brought up such a sad memory for you."

Zephyrne shook her head. "No, its alright," she said smiling at him, though the smile was strained from sad memories. Fresh tears were gathering up in her eyes and she brushed them away with her sleeve before they could fall. "I hear it is good to let out your feelings and talk about your troubles. I'm just sorry I had to trouble you with mine," she added.

The Lupe shook his head, the blue bangs between his ears swaying at every shake. "No, I do not mind at all. I am glad to have helped in some way," he said with genuine truth lacing his words. "I too feel the same slightly," he said like a true knight. Zephyrne wouldn't be surprised if he would become one someday. He scratched his head in thought, "I…I feel like I had a sister once before…but I have no proof of that." He looked over to her.

Zephyrne asked, "Do you remember what she was like?"

The question surprised the Lupe. "Well, no. I'm beginning to think she was merely a dream as a child. But…"

"But what?"

"I don't know. She felt…so real. Far too real… It's hard to explain really," the Lupe sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, perhaps she was, and perhaps she wasn't, but I believe she was a fond memory of yours either way, correct?" Zephyrne asked smiling warmly.

The yellow eyes blinked and then warmed to a smile as well. "Yes…that is true," he said.

"Then real or not, she was a pleasure and you should keep that thought. Try and not forget something like that," she said, sounding as though she was speaking for herself.

The blue Lupe smiled and grabbed her hands in a comforting gesture. "I will. Thank you."

Right then the two shared a peaceful moment and shared a wonderful feeling together.

The sudden sound of trumpets blowing off startled the both of them. The blue Lupe looked shocked then smacked his forehead. "Bugger!" he cursed under his breath and ran to the haystack in the back of the stables. Zephyrne couldn't see what he was doing, but after a few minutes of something clanking and bashing around, she saw the Lupe running out while struggling to put on a gold armor brass plate on his chest. She gasped out in fright.

"Y-You're…a kn-kn-kn-knight?!" she shrieked.

"Yes I am!" the Lupe said hurriedly without looking at her, but rather hurried over to open the doors then ran to grab the white Uni out of it's stall. "I'm sorry I failed to mention that earlier, but right now I must be going!"

Zephyrne didn't hear any of this as she suddenly felt it hard to breathe. She was talking…to a KNIGHT?! He saw her face and everything too! Her presence had been spotted by a royal guard! Her mission was now up in smoke! How could she have so careless?! Oh she was in for it for sure this time…

"Miss?"

Zephyrne jumped and whirled around to see the knight standing beside the Uni and looking at her with an unreadable expression. In the background of her fuzzy mind she could hear the announcer over the castle walls calling out all the knights coming out into the courtyard. "I never got you name yet," he said smirking slightly.

At this point, Zephyrne's mind was set on a mad frenzy and barely was thinking straight as it was. "Zephyrne," she whispered staring at him wide eyed. She grabbed her mouth in shock and couldn't believe she, as they say, added more oil to the fire!

The Lupe smiled, more handsomely than she had ever seen him yet, and walked over to her slowly, taking her hand in his and kneeling down. "Zephyrne," he whispered before kissing her fingers, "What a beautiful name."

Zephyrne now couldn't speak, breathe, or think at all now. She barely let out some audible squeaks while her face was the perfect picture of shock, red as an apple.

The Lupe gave her a curt nod and ran back to his steed, leaping on the saddle and began to march out the doors. "Good bye Lady Zephyrne!" he called out to her.

The cry snapped her away from her thoughts. "W-Wait!" she cried out running after him. Much to her surprise, she saw him riding the wind and flying away from her and over the taller white walls.

"And coming in from the West side of the arena…," came the loud announcer's voice, "…is Jeran Borodere, the Gold Knight!" After this, the crowd over the walls erupted in such a loud applause that it made the battle cries of war sound meek.

"Jeran…," Zephyrne muttered to herself. Despite the fact that she had been accounted for treason, lost sight of her original mission, met face to face with a knight that could probably remember her upon future recognition, and that she felt mortified in herself…

…she couldn't help but let a smile grow on her face.