"Gah!" Ephraim awoke with a start. "...the same dream again..." He sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He looked up at the starry sky and became filled with wonder and awe in its majestic beauty, and wondered how anything so terrible could possibly come from such a peaceful sight.

It had been four days since he and Seth left Renais, and it was becoming increasingly apparent to Ephraim that even if they did arrive at the border, that whatever advice he may have to offer may come too late. Ephraim knew that whatever was approaching was approaching fast; it would only be a matter of time.

Ephraim could wait no longer. If there was any chance of evading this crisis, it was quickly slipping away. Every night, he jerked awake, sweating and shivering. Each night, the dream went on a little bit longer, but it still made no sense to him. Slowly, nothing began to make sense, from the great vastness of space to the meaningless every day chores.

Seth had been noticing this gradually happening, but made no visible attempt to remedy it; rather, he kept thinking about what was going on around them.

Seth awoke much more peacefully than Ephraim. Even though the sun was nowhere in sight, Seth knew it was already morning. He looked around for Ephraim, but found no sign of him. Looking closer, he realized that all of Ephraim's weapons and horse were gone too. "He left on his own..." He chuckled to himself, realizing that leaving on his own was the logical end to Ephraim's increasingly unusual behavior. Unfortunately, he remembered what Eirika had told him: "I'm worried about him, Seth. Please promise me that you will stay with him and make sure he does not do anything too... rash."

"Well, I promised Princess Eirika, so I guess that means that I have a long day ahead of me." He quickly surveyed the surrounding ground for any signs of which direction he may have gone; however, due to the lack of sunlight available in the area, haste was no longer an option.

They made camp in the middle of a very lush, grassy, hilly plain surrounded on all sides by Weeping Willow trees. During the day, it was the spitting image of what most would call untouched and undisturbed paradise. However, at night, the circle of trees and hills trapped the mind in a prison, with no way in, and no way out. It hardly came as a surprise to Seth and Ephraim had chosen the site, due to how eccentric he had become lately, but made no effort to change his mind.

Each area took several minutes to completely and accurately probe. But after nearly half an hour of combing through all manner of dirt and grass, finally success. A series of worn clumps of grass every few feet gave Seth the direction he needed to begin his pursuit.

**********

"Aaah!" Eirika jerked awake. After what seemed like an eternity, she began to breathe again; heavily at first, then gradually beginning to slow down. Her heartbeat would follow suit. After wiping the perspiration off her forehead and face, she gently laid her head back down to rest. No sooner had she finally managed to calm herself down, that the doorknob to her room shifted and turned. She tried with all her person not to turn her gaze toward it, but still pulled the blanket up to her face, as if to shield herself from something.

"Princess?" A gentle voice echoed through the room.

Eirika slowly lowered the covers from her face, and was extremely relieved to see it was her personal handmaid, Sara. She had just turned fifteen years old, and was nearly a head shorter than Eirika. Sara's light brown hair was fairly long, coming down to the top of her shoulders, but not as long as Eirika's, and always wore a beautiful white dress with green stripes criss-crossing on front and back of the blouse (which had eventually become her official uniform, since everyone in the castle immediately recognized it). "Oh, hello Sara." She sat back up and smiled peacefully, trying to retain her sadness.

"Is something wrong, your highness?" Sara asked, drawing open the curtains to the room, letting in a much welcomed ray of sunlight. To Eirika's surprise, it was already late in the morning. "Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"What time is it?"

"Why, it is almost eleven in the morning. Ordinarily, I would never have allowed you to sleep in so late, but with everything going on, especially with Ephraim, I decided that you needed the extra rest. I do hope I was not out of place for thinking so, your highness." She said apologetically.

"No, no... It's alright right. Thank you, Sara." She smiled again, this time with much more sincerity. "I guess I'm just... worried. I know I asked Seth to accompany him for his own safety, but... still..." Her gaze drifted down toward the floor next to her bed.

"Do not worry, Princess. If I know my brother, Seth will not let anything happen to his highness." She tried to comfort her, bringing over Eirika's clothes for the day and helping her out of bed.

"Hm... I keep forgetting that Seth is your brother. Even though you look very much alike, it always slips my mind." She giggled at first, but then felt slightly embarrassed at forgetting her best friend's own brother. "I... I'm sorry, I-"

"Do not feel bad about it, Miss Eirika. I know that even though we both live here at the castle, we have very different duties, and we are hardly seen together. Sometimes, I forget myself that he is always here." She admitted, tying the back of Eirika's dress down.

"...I'm sorry... I had no idea. I will try to make sure that you are allowed more time to see your brother when they return."

"I am very grateful for your concern, but do not worry. I will see Seth on my own spare time when I can. Do not go troubling yourself with such matters." Sara's heart leaped at the suggestion, but knew it would only cause more strain Eirika's heart if she had to go worrying about something else.

After Sara had finished helping Eirika get dressed, she immediately began to work on her hair. ".....What am I supposed to do, Sara? All I can concentrate on is Ephraim and Seth's safety. But if I do not keep my mind off of them, I'll go mad worrying. But still... Ephraim's dream..."

"Hm..." Sara pondered this. At almost the instant she laid the brush down on the table behind them, she had an idea. "How about a picnic?"

"Hm? A picnic?"

"Of course! You could go horseback riding down to Fallen Leaf Lake, and have a picnic on the water banks. Besides, Cascade Falls empties into Fallen Leaf Lake, and the snow has just melted so it should be rushing with water!"

Eirika delighted at the idea, almost leaping out of her seat, and nearly knocking over the mirror in front of her. "But... there is no satisfaction or joy by having a picnic by yourself..." She reasoned.

"That is true." Sara laughed. "Well, if I recall correctly, Princess L'Arachel is currently in Carcino, which is not too far from here. I am certain that a messenger sent out immediately wou-"

"Actually, Sara, I was... hoping that you might join me. You are my closest friend, after all." She stood up and looked back at Sara. "And besides, it is our brothers that have gone off, not L'Arachel's." She smiled sweetly, all doubt in her mind a distant memory.

"Your highness, I-!" Sara was taken aback by the sudden invitation; nothing had ever happened like this before, so why begin now? Whatever the cause, she regained her composure and responded. "I...- I would be honored to accompany you, princess."

"Well then..." Eirika chortled. "We had better start getting ready.

"Yes, your highness!" She smiled cheerfully, and left the room with an enthusiastic bow.

**********

As Sara had said, the day was an absolutely glorious day for a ride. The sun was directly overhead and offered no blind direction, and a soft, gentle breeze blew from the north. Fallen Leaf Lake was a full hour's ride from the castle, which, ordinarily, was much too far to go out to on merely a whim. But the horses seemed to enjoy the weather almost as much as their riders, and made the journey in half the time.

The snow had just melted, giving Cascade Falls fresh life and vigor, as it sent a countless amount of water down its rocky bank to the lush lake below. Despite the fact that the falls can be heard for a mile around, the lilting sound of the stream racing toward the banks seamlessly melted together with all of the other sounds present.

They at once set out to find a suitable picnic ground, but had to look no further than just above the rim of the lake, closest to them. It was directly across from the falls, which meant that the ground would be much dryer than anywhere else. The wind had blown the trees just enough so that they cast a shadow of the area. Immediately, Sara set out places for all of the food that had been packed for them by the castle chef, along with comfortable towels for them to sit on.

"Sara?" Eirika called, taking her place on the ground.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I think... you were right. This is exactly what I needed." She turned to her smiling. Sara could at once tell that she was truly happy; the first time in almost a week.

"That is wonderful! I feel much better, now that you are happy again." She returned Eirika's smile, with a short laugh afterward.

Sara began to set the area with food, but stopped when she heard the soft but audible sound of rapid steps; most likely a horse. At first, she thought nothing of it, until they both began to notice that it was quickly drawing closer. Instantaneously, she stopped and set out to find out what the traveler wanted.

They walked back to where they had stationed their horses, and saw a young man quickly dismounting a snow white horse. He wore a tattered and torn black cloak over the top of his head which dropped to the ground, and had short white, almost silver, hair. He hurried over to Eirika, who had also come to see who the man was. "Eirika..." He greeted.

"...Knoll? What in the world are you doing here?" Eirika pondered, seeing that he was battered and beaten, almost to the point of passing out.

"Is Ephraim with you?"

"Um, no. Just my handmaid Sara and myself. Why?"

"Well, I guess should explain myself further. You see, I had just stopped by the castle looking for both of you. It took some time, but I finally discovered where you had gone. However, not knowing this particular area, it took longer than I had hoped. Sadly, I was not fortunate enough to find the both of you... because Ephraim was the one I desired to talk to."

"But... Knoll... Ephraim left a few days ago looking for you! He went toward the border to locate your Tower."

"...! As I feared... then I may be too late..."

"Knoll! ...What is going on?"

"....."

**********

"Finally... I found it..."Ephraim thought to himself.

Ephraim dismounted his horse, gazing up at the vast tower before him. He continued to look up to it, even while trying to tie down his horse; but the horse reared back constantly, fearing for its life, until eventually it broke free from Ephraim's hold and ran off back toward the woods. But Ephraim remained mesmerized by the sight and did nothing to catch it; rather, he continued to gaze up at it, and slowly began to fall into a deep sleep.

As his eyes began to close, he could hear a faint sound coming from the tower, and quickly snapped him out of his slumber. He turned toward where the sound had come from, and saw a figure dressed in black slowly approaching him. In an instant, he knew who the figure was: "Knoll..."