A/N: Glad for the large amount of replies last chapter... Well, not a hundred percent. Bleh, I don't really want to complain because I'm glad I'm getting reviews, but... Honestly, over 800 hits and twenty something reviews? XD Still love yah guys, for reading and coming back even though I update on a crazy pattern... Little hint, if it isn't up Thursday expect a Saturday or Sunday update instead. Chapter is the shortest yet- I wanted to end it on this certain part... Also, the story is already over 40 thousand words and has eight or so chapters... 0_0
youdon'tknow: Micaiah is away from all the streams though, so I don't think Yune (um, assuming you've finished the game) could have warned her about it... Seeing as Sothe got warned by Muarim though, and the GM groups all have healers anyway, it won't make a huge effect on them. The Daein people are another matter, of course. And technically Sothe was the one who talked about Crimea not having the ability to rule another country. Of course, Micaiah seems like the kind of person to not be real prejudiced or anything. And killing Meg would have been a little strange to write, at least for me. Micaiah is also a pretty honorable person... Attacking a sick party wouldn't be like her. And it wouldn't be the smartest thing either, because Soren can come up with some pretty brilliant plans... And now that I think of it, I didn't mention Aimee's little party of merchants... Oh well, I got to that in this chapter anyway. Changing things in AU and AR stories are what make them AU/AR. That's also why I enjoy writing them so much, so I can put my characters through their little moments of crap and hell, depending XD
Aran and Laura were thinking about leaving the group, Sothe was certain of it. Not like that would be a terrible thing, but the rouge wasn't completely sure that would be safe for the two of them to go off and try to get back to somewhere relatively safe. Though, thinking about it, no where was really safe for someone of Daein citizenship. Sothe sighed as he looked at Tormod. Sothe would have sworn the sage's mouth hadn't stopped moving since everyone had woken up.
"And so we're thinking that if the rumors are true, Micaiah and the rest of your friends are going to be heading to the desert to get the prince, so that's where we'll be going. And I think we might warn a few of the villages about something fishy in the water, but Aran and Laura and Aimee, maybe Ilyana, will have to do that, because no one would take me seriously, Begnion men are looking for you, Sothe, and everyone would avoid or kill Muarim or Vika. Any questions?" Finally, he stopped talking. Sothe was toying with the idea of asking how Tormod how he could talk for so long without taking a breath, but he didn't. Instead, Muarim was the one who asked a question.
"Little One, I do not think that we will be able to stop into towns. It would be most unwise if the soldiers are still looking for us." Tormod scowled at his father's words. It was true, no matter how much Sothe disliked it. Stopping in every town to warn the people about the water would make it so much easier for the Begnion men to find them... And could they trust everyone in the towns? There had to be one or two in every place that was a stinking rat for Begnion.
"I... I guess... I was just hoping that we could help out the people, show 'em that laguz aren't evil and don't eat humans and all." Tormod was frowning and Sothe, who was walking next to him, gently slugged the red-head in the shoulder. "H-Hey! What was that for?" Sothe smirked as Tormod tried to act all tough, but failed. Mainly because he had to look up to even look into Sothe's eyes.
"You were in a slump. You looked like you needed to snap out of it." Behind the two men, Sothe could hear Aimee talking with Ilyana and Laura about some girl thing. Aran was silent, and Vika was walking behind the group, raven eyes looking over them with a bored look in her face. Muarim led the group, his head tilting this way and that as he scented the air.
"I was not in a slump! Besides, how is hitting me supposed to snap me out of anything?" Tormod complained, waving his arms around, making it look like he was trying to fly without wings. Sothe knew, from experience, that the best thing to do was to ignore the sage until he calmed down and stopped pestering him. Of course, with Tormod's energy, that could take quite a while. Luckily (somewhat) Muarim took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes.
"I smell a group... They have a heavy scent of metal, but leather and wood... And a horse, like they are pulling a heavy cart or carriage. I think they will not be trouble, but if they catch up to us they could be Begnion soldiers and cause problems. I do not think we are prepared for a fight." Sothe nodded. While he was in much better shape then even a day ago, he still didn't feel like another fight. His knees (and pretty much the rest of his joints and bones) ached just thinking about it.
"You're right. Can you figure out how fast they're going?" Sothe asked. It was unlikely, but if they were close enough for Muarim to smell them, maybe he could hear them? Muarim shrugged and Sothe motioned for the others to go silent and stop moving. They were all silent and still as statues for several moments. Muarim then shook his head and a collective breath was let out by the group.
"I cannot tell." Sothe scowled but didn't say anything. Tormod's scowl made him look like a little boy who's favorite toy had been taken away. "I suggest we wait and see. They are close enough so that we should prepare for an attack." Muarim added. Sothe glanced at Tormod, who shrugged. Not like they had a whole ton left to loose.
"Alright then. Let's get ready for all hell to break loose." Sothe muttered. Tormod laughed and grinned at the rouge.
"Not like things can get a whole lot worse." Then the other group broke out of the trees and came within Sothe's sight. He lowered his weapon and stared.
"W-what the heck are you doing here?" Aimee let out a squeal of happiness as she saw her merchant friends. Jorge shrugged as Aimee tackled him in a hug. His brother laughed.
"We heard about a prison break. We couldn't leave Miss Aimee with a bunch of brutes, could we?" He said. Sothe rolled his eyes. Aran, Laura, and Vika, all looked confused. Kurth was frowning, but didn't say anything.
"Bunch of brutes?" Aran asked. "Are you talking about us?" Sothe couldn't help but grin. This was going to take some explaining.
Micaiah was looking way too happy and awake, considering it was dawn, thought Leonardo. It was easy to wake up to annoy Edward, but he was actually really tired. He had spent the entire night wondering if it would be terrible to put his arms around Edward, or if Nolan would wake up, or if Edward would wake up and get mad. He must have fallen asleep four or five hours before Micaiah gently knocked on their door. Of course Nolan had woken up first, and Leonardo had made a silent prayer of thanks to the goddess; he had chosen to not hold onto the brown-haired myrmidon.
Meg was awake; more so then Edward or Leonardo, but less so then Micaiah. She's probably used to it, though Leonardo. She did say something about living on a farm, after all. Didn't farmers have to wake up really early to plow their fields or something? Nolan was about as awake as the armored sword. He was walking behind everyone else, but he was certainly keeping up.
Edward? He was half-asleep, stumbling along more then he actually walked. He leaned on Leonardo every few feet, and Leonardo knew he had a somewhat permanent scowl on his face. Was Edward determined to make it completely obvious they were more then friends? They weren't amazingly serious, when you thought about it. It wasn't like they went on dates, or kissed every few seconds, and the only reason they shared a bed was because there wasn't really any other choice.
Leonardo sighed. At least Edward's lack of sleep (or, to be more correct, the fact he took forever to wake up) ensured he wouldn't talk throughout the entire search of the desert. Just most of it, the archer told himself. They had reached the edge of the desert several dozen minutes ago, but he still wasn't sure what they were looking for. Saying they were looking for the lost prince was all good in theory, but that made it sound like they knew where they were going. Which would be a complete lie, because they might as well be searching for a certain drop of water in the ocean.
Then, as if a spell had concealed its presence until then, the sight of ruins on the horizon. Which didn't make much sense to Leonardo, until he remembered that they had started climbing a sand hill several minutes ago. Catching up to Micaiah and Meg, who were on the tip of the incline, Leonardo sat down on a rock and started to shake out sand that had gotten into his boots. Edward sat down on the rock, back to back with the blond, and looked like he was trying to go to sleep again. Nolan shook his head, causing Leonardo to look behind him. Edward was practically snoring.
"I want to go check it out." Micaiah said, turning around and looking at everyone. The light mage was definitely awake. Her eyes shone with the kind of determination that made up Micaiah, and her entire body stance screamed awake. Leonardo forced back a yawn as Nolan glanced at Edward. The myrmidon was starting to slide down Leo's back. The archer pushed him back, and the myrmidon woke up with a start.
"Huh? Oh, hey. What's going on? Anything happen?" Leonardo sighed, as did Micaiah. Nolan rolled his eyes (which was unlike him, because the man always seemed too mature for something so kid-ish) and shifted his ax on his shoulder.
"We're thinking of checking out those ruins. Are you sure that's smart, Micaiah? If we get attacked we're not ready for it. Well..." Nolan pointedly didn't look at Edward. "I'm ready. I don't know about the rest of us." Edward rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine! I can fight if I have to!" He would have been much more convincing if he hadn't yawned mere seconds after saying that. Leonardo couldn't resist a trademark jab at Edward's quickly dwindling pride.
"You can fight if fighting involves holding a sword, but you're more likely to fall asleep then hit the enemy right now. Micaiah, maybe we could rest for a little and then go? I don't think it would be smart to let only a few of us go, and if the others aren't really ready to get into a fight..." At this point, Micaiah looked swayed. But then, Meg spoke up.
"Well, I could stay with Edward so he wouldn't be alone. The rest of you can go and look around, and if you need us we can figure out some kind of signal." It sounded like a good idea, Leonardo told himself. Except for one small detail.
"No way am I staying with yah, stinking Crimean-" Edward was cut off and switched to swearing when Leonardo whacked him over the head with his bow. Micaiah frowned at the myrmidon.
"Edward, you're learning to deal with Meg, whether you like it or not. Just because she's Crimean doesn't mean she's evil. Honestly... Meg, are you alright about this?" Micaiah asked. Meg nodded her head eagerly; it was clear she had no second thoughts. Micaiah still looked doubtful, however. Leonardo sighed. Nolan started to speak to Micaiah, about making a signal, so Leonardo took a chance to talk to Edward.
"Hurt Meg and I swear I'll break up with you." He muttered as softly as possible. Edward's face flashed to horror, then pain, then a glare.
"Fine." The brunette muttered. Louder, he continued to speak. "Alright. Just go already. I'll catch up on my sleep or something, I won't hurt a hair on Meg's head." Nolan and Micaiah and Meg all looked over and Micaiah raised an eyebrow at Leonardo.
"You can trust him." Leo said cheerfully, patting Edward's head like he was a puppy. Edward glared and pushed Leonardo's hand away. It was obvious the myrmidon was going to be mad for a while, but Leonardo could deal with that. Better anger then killing another member of their team, just because they were from Crimea. Micaiah nodded slowly.
"Alright. Nolan, Leonardo. Let's get going." She seemed hesitant at first, but her pace increased as she started going down the hill. Of course, that might just be the fact the hill was getting steeper... Nolan followed, axes hanging on his belt, his steel ax over his shoulder. Leonardo sighed and followed, taking one glance back at Edward. True to his word, the brunette was fast asleep. Typical, really.
Ike was alright with the distance they managed to cover. It had been bloody hell to wake up Boyd in the morning (it wasn't dawn; Ike had learned his lesson) and Shinon was nearly as bad. Ike could only be thankful Mist hadn't been in the room; the amount of profanity made Boyd blush.
While it was possible they weren't gaining on the Dawn Brigade, Ike felt in his gut that they were. He couldn't have explained it to anyone, and it was nothing Soren would have accepted, but he felt like he was getting closer to the target, and closer to the answer to all his questions. Why were the Daein citizens so careful around them? What was Begnion doing? Why did it look like there were so little Daein men left? Surely the war hadn't taken that much of a toll on the population.
Ike sighed and shifted his bag over his shoulder. Ettard was strapped to his back, and while it was hard to get if he needed to fight, the hero was certain that no one would attack them. Even if they did, Boyd and Mia could more then handle themselves. Not to mention Shinon. The sniper was deadly, even at a close range.
Mist was getting better at healing people, certainly. She still made it clear she was learning under Rhys, but Ike knew she down-played her skills a lot. Rhys had talked with Ike and had made an off-hand comment that the girl could heal pretty much any wound, bar massive gushing wounds. Of course, Rhys wouldn't be much use if the wound was too bloody either, so they were about equal in that regard anyway.
Thinking of people's skills getting better, Ike thought of Rolf. The young sniper was still silent about who trained him, if anyone, but Ike was pretty sure Shinon had trained the greenette. Either way, some day Rolf would be able to brag about his skills like Shinon did now. He was young, sure, and Ike knew Oscar had torn himself up when Rolf's arm had been mangled, but that didn't seem to effect Rolf at all. He still wanted to go out and protect his friends, his family.
Ike supposed that was why everyone fought.
Soren was thankful the cold had disappeared, and that the mild weather had returned. No, he wasn't just thankful. He was full of gratitude, positively beaming (in Soren-terms that meant not glaring) from joy. Bursting from the seams with happiness (thinking slightly more positively), and jumping for joy (walking with a slight spring in his step) it was the most emotion Soren thought he had expressed in a while. And considering it was over the weather, another might say the sage was over reacting. But Soren had spent too many winters freezing in the cold to think that snow was something good, and missing a snowfall was something to be celebrated. Celebrated in Soren-terms, that was.
"Do you think we'll be able to stop in another town and get notes again?" Rolf asked his brother. Oscar was giving his horse a rest, leading it by the lead reins. Titania was leading her horse, which carried a slightly pale Rhys. Soren made a mental note to check up on the priest's condition. If he got sick then Soren would have to make plans for all the possibilities. Usually he would be loathe to do so (even if he was good at it), but now he really had nothing better to do then to lock himself in a room and plan out different situations. Oscar, up ahead, shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask Soren, since he's planning everything out for us." Soren felt his mood drop, just a little. Rolf was not as annoying as Shinon, but he was about as annoying as Mia. On a scale of one to ten, Soren supposed he would be a seven or eight, depending on Soren's mood. Ten being Shinon or Gatrie. Rolf shrugged.
"I dunno. I can wait, I guess." The sniper didn't feel like talking to Soren, who had to be handled like a hedgehog with metal spikes. Gatrie, who was (for once) walking in the front with the others, laughing and patted Rolf on the back. Of course Rolf was much lighter and ended up rubbing his back tenderly. "Gatrie! Ugh..." Gatrie looked sincerely sorry.
"Oh, I'm sorry Rolf. Yah need a vulnerary or something?" Rolf shook his head; good because Soren would have murdered Gatrie if he tried to use a vulnerary on a bruise. Gatrie shrugged and they all feel into silence as they walked.
Gatrie couldn't help but care for Rolf. After all, thought it was known to no one (including Shinon), except Gatrie, Shinon's happiness had a direct tie to Rolf's condition. If Rolf was happy, Shinon was in a more sociable mood. If Rolf was unhappy, or upset, then Shinon was moody and snapped at people more. He also drunk more. The last few weeks after Rolf's arm was hurt, Shinon was a ticking bomb. Gatrie didn't know that pillows could be so deadly.
Considering they hadn't known what to look for at first, it was pretty clear they would need a few bags. Because, down in the ruins, there were piles and piles of gold coins. Leonardo could hardly believe his eyes. He didn't think he'd seen so much gold, so much wealth in one place, ever before in his life. Edward would love this place, the archer thought. The brunette would probably mess around and pretend he was a king, or a lord, or just some kind of noble. Rolling in the gold like it was snow; yes that would be Edward. Nolan was handling things better then Leonardo.
"What do you think we can get for it?" Micaiah asked, her voice soft, but it echoed throughout the cavern and Leonardo, nearly on the other side of the giant room, could hear it clearly. Nolan shrugged, picking up some coins in his hands, and letting them slide down onto the ground again.
"A few thousand, easily." The fighter finally said, moving on to a strange glowing stone. He tapped it and then jolted back, as if he had been stunned. Leonardo was running over and drawing his bow before he knew what he was doing. Micaiah ran towards them as well.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Leonardo asked. Nolan nodded and then rubbed his wrist tenderly. He stared at the stone again and tentatively rested his hand on it again. Suddenly, a blue glow surrounded him and then disappeared, all within five seconds.
"It... It healed my cut. I got a cut when I was setting a tent up, the other day. Its gone now." Micaiah's eyes brightened at Nolan's words. Leonardo touched it himself, and the stone glowed and he was enclosed in the same bright light for several seconds, his vision full of spots. Then it was gone, and he felt better. Stronger, healthier.
"Amazing... We should camp out here for a night, maybe. It's sheltered, at the very least." Leonardo muttered, rotating his wrist and arm to make sure it all still worked properly. Micaiah opened her mouth to reply, and she may have, but a sudden roar filled their ears. Leonardo drew his bow, Micaiah opened her tome, and Nolan swung his ax. They all looked for the source, when yowling reached their ears.
"Laguz of some kind! Micaiah, get Meg and Edward down here! We need to get out of here!" Nolan shouted quickly, swinging his ax at a yellow cat laguz that had suddenly leaped at them. It screeched and Leonardo managed to hit it, silencing it. Micaiah nodded.
"Close your eyes!" She shouted, and the two men did as she said. A blinding white light filled the room, blasting up the cracks in the ceiling. It died down and Leonardo was able to see just what they were up against. Tiger and cat laguz, he thought grimly. Hopefully Edward and Meg had seen the sign, and would be coming to help soon. Or else, he added, they might be a little too late.
Micaiah shouted as she hit a leaping cat with a thani, and Leonardo added an arrow for good measure. Nolan swung at a cat, who dodged out of the way. Its claws raked against Nolan's chest, and Leo pushed him back as he aimed, point-blank, at the beast. It died with a howl, and Nolan nodded his thanks.
"Don't worry 'bout it." Leonardo spat out, as he ducked flying tiger claws and tried to shoot an arrow. Nolan swung his ax and knocked it back. Leonardo grinned. "Call it even?" He asked. Nolan smiled and nodded. Micaiah was up at a ravine, shooting spells at anything in her range. Luckily they could only be attacked from one way, Leonardo thought to himself. Or else they'd be doomed.
"Get them! Rip them to shreds!" The voice would have been scarier if it hadn't been followed up by a yawn that Leonardo assumed was supposed to be a roar. Another voice added in with its own fierce warning and war cry.
"Take them down! No human intrudes onto our turf!" This time, the voice was deeper and louder. Leonardo glanced at Nolan and Micaiah, the laguz attacks stopped for the time being. Nolan was looking around, and pointed towards two untransformed laguz, standing in a corner by a few treasure chests.
"We didn't mean to intrude! Please let us leave; we meant no harm!" Micaiah cried out. Both tigers laughed, and the sound echoed somewhat eerily. Leonardo heard the sound of coins falling, and looked behind him. Meg, panting heavily, and Edward, red in the face, had arrived. Luckily no laguz were near them, but they didn't seem to realize what was going on, because Meg waved and Edward called out to them.
"You signaled! What's going-" Edward was cut off by a roar that made Leonardo grimace from the volume. He saw that one of the tiger laguz had transformed.
"I am Pain! This is my brother, Agony! We tolerate no humans on our land! Prepare to die!" Leonardo could see Edward pale as he realized that he would have to fight through multiple cat and tiger laguz to get to where Leonardo was.
"Edward! Hold your position there! We'll survive their attacks and meet up where Pain and Agony are!" Micaiah shouted. Leonardo thought it might be unwise to shout their plan, but they didn't have much choice. Also, it didn't look like either of the main tiger laguz were going to react or change their attacks at all.
"Kill the humans! Kill them all!" Leonardo pulled his bow back and aimed at a cat. It was quick, and had seen the attack coming, but it screeched as its ear was pierced by the arrow. Micaiah shouted out in her magical language, and a beam of light shot out and killed it. Nolan was grappling with a tiger, who roared in the man's face. Nolan grit his teeth and shoved back, managing to push it off him in time to get tackled by a cat laguz. It ripped his shirt open and would have done more then scratch at Nolan's chest if Leo hadn't been able to hit it with a well-placed arrow.
"Nolan; heal yourself up! We can handle it for a moment." Nolan nodded and pressed his hand against the blue stone, a blue light lighting him up.
On the other side of the rift in the ground, Edward and Meg were having their own problems. While the claws and teeth of the transformed laguz couldn't pierce most of Meg's heavy armor, she wasn't fast enough to hit the cats or the faster tigers at all. Edward was busy avoiding attack after attack to make any but the most haphazard attempts at counter attacks, or attacks in general.
Nolan suddenly swung his ax behind Leonardo, at a tiger that was about to leap at the archer's back. Leonardo looked behind him in surprise, having just skimmed a cat's back. The fighter had tied his shirt back together (hopefully they'd be able to get him a new shirt, or else Nolan was going to have some cold nights) and looked fine, if a little tired.
"A-Are you sure you can keep going?" Leonardo asked, panting as a lull in the attacks appeared. Nolan nodded as Micaiah finished off one last cat. Even though there couldn't have been that many of the laguz, it had felt like forever since the battle started. They were in a worse condition then they had thought, Leonardo thought to himself.
"W-We should... Attack the... Other two..." Micaiah was breathing heavily, having spent most of her air with spells and dodging attacks. She had a long cut down her arm that was already pink, thanks to the healing stones. Leonardo realized, with a start, he was in the best condition out of all of them. He was tired, and would enjoy a good long rest, but he hadn't been hit. Nolan had most of the credit for that, however.
"Leo! Are you alright?" Edward called over, waving. His hair was sticking straight up, which looked funny and Leonardo resisted the urge to laugh or smile. The myrmidon looked alright, and the blond decided that Ed's speed and small size had helped him avoid the attacks. Meg waved over as well, and though her armor was scratched up heavily and dented in a few places, she also seemed alright. All in all, they would live.
"Arg! Humans are harder prey then they look, brother!" One of the tigers (they both sounded the same) shouted. He roared as he transformed. His brother already was transformed and growled menacingly. They both sniffed the air, and the latter growled again.
"Grr... I smell others coming. Agony, come! We will finish these humans another day!" Leonardo exchanged glances with both Micaiah and Nolan. Others coming? Surely they weren't Begnion troops. There was no way news had spread that fast about the Dawn Brigade being in town, and surely they wouldn't have had that bad of timing.
Either way, Leonardo forced himself to stand straight and ready another arrow. Edward and Meg ran over, now that the tiger laguz were out of the way, and stood with Nolan in the front. Micaiah was holding her book in slightly trembling hands. Leonardo put one hand on her's and she looked up, startled.
"I... I know we're not as good as Sothe." Leonardo muttered under his breath. None of the others heard, too busy with readying for another fight. Edward swung his blade to keep his hands loose. Nolan flexed his muscles to keep them loose. Meg had a grim expression on her face. "But... I want you to know that we're still family and family fights to the death for each other." Micaiah smiled sadly at Leonardo, whose eyes scanned the room carefully.
"I know, Leo. We are the Dawn Brigade!" She started to shout, and the others looked back at her and smiled, even Meg. Leonardo let a small smile show, and when Edward saw it the myrmidon's smile grew even bigger. "We are the Dawn Brigade, now come out, whoever you are, and state your intentions!" They all fell silent, but a sudden chirping of a bird filled the room instead. "Yune!" Micaiah shouted. The bird had seemingly disappeared the last few days, but reappearing now? Hopefully that was good.
Yune landed on Micaiah's shoulder and chirped again, and suddenly an amazing sound filled the room. It was sorrow and happiness, pain and hate, but love and care at the same time. It was everything beautiful, and good. Everything pure and noble, true and right. It was everything painful, everything ugly and hate-filled, and everything you wanted to get rid of, but just couldn't. It filled the room, a growing crescendo of sound and light. Yes, light. And then, what Leonardo thought must be the most beautiful sight in the world; a figure dressed entirely in white.
It had two pure-white wings, carefully folded against white and silver robes that didn't dirty, even though the ends trailed on the ground. The figure (it couldn't be human, because no human could look like that) was followed by two others. One was a strong looking (and strange looking) laguz with only some kind of pants on, strange tattoos marking against tanned skin. The other was an elegant, but dangerous-looking woman, with a sharp but lazy looking eye, the other hidden under an eye-patch. She was dressed in layers that resembled silks of some kind. The party of three stopped several yards before the Dawn Brigade. The woman looked at them, then at the winged man.
"Rafiel, do you think these are the people your dreams told you to find?" The entire Dawn Brigade seemed to jump, as if not expecting these strange people to be able to speak their same language. Rafiel, the heron (those white wings... He was a heron or an angel, Leonardo decided), looked at them carefully. The Dawn Brigade had all lowered their weapons, and he walked forward casually, as if their meeting had been planned rather then sudden.
"Yes, my queen Nailah. I believe these people are the ones..." He had a sad smile on his face, like something terrible had happened long ago but he was better now. Nailah suddenly ran to his side. It was obvious she did not completely trust what she must have seen as strangers. "You, with the silver hair... I believe we were supposed to meet. Do you also feel this way?" Rafiel asked, suddenly motioning towards Micaiah. All eyes suddenly rested on the light mage. Micaiah looked a little rushed, but she suddenly nodded with a confident look on her face. She stepped forward so that she was within a long arm's length to the heron.
"I... I... My name is Micaiah, and I think that the goddess has destined our meeting." Nailah looked at Micaiah like she was an interesting new toy, but Rafiel smiled a little wider and a little more happy, like Micaiah's words were something he had wanted to hear for quite some time. Behind the two laguz, the man walked forward, and Leonardo realized that he had a thick, bushy tail behind him. He spoke in some strange language and Leonardo looked at Edward. The myrmidon seemed completely enthralled with Rafiel, and Nailah.
"What is it? Hmm, yes, that sounds like a good idea." Nailah said, after listening to the man. She tilted her head towards Rafiel, who seemed to have understood what had been said but hadn't said anything himself. "What do you think, my prince?" Rafiel smiled again, and looking at it made Leo think that all his problems were gone, if just for a moment.
"I love the sound of that idea. Micaiah..." Rafiel looked towards the light mage, his head slightly tilted towards Nailah. "How would you feel if my lady, her faithful servant, and I, chose to travel with you?" Micaiah smiled back.
"I would be delighted."