Word Count: 24,666/32,011||Chapters: 10/13

Siren moved through the streets of the city, casting about for any hint of wind-based magic. There weren't so many users of that kind that she would be distracted by people who weren't Juudai. There were a few others, but none of those could help with this search. They didn't know Juudai's magical signature.

It would help if I knew it better, she thought. She'd not taught him for all that long, so being able to track him at all remained something of a hit or miss affair.

She paused at a corner, glancing from right to left. Even the Flighted walked on occasion, for any number of reasons, and there were several around here on unknown errands.

None of them looked like who they'd seen from Yubel's memories. Though in truth, Siren didn't expect them to see that person regardless. Anyone wise enough to slip through security the way they clearly had would be wise enough to use magic of some kind to disguise themselves.

Once they were caught it would be easier to reveal the truth, but catching them remained the difficult part.

She crossed the street, still looking for any sign. Part of her couldn't quite stop blaming herself for the situation.

I was there. I should have noticed something about that food.

She'd figured there was something off about Yubel, though it wasn't anything especially bad. If she'd checked the food instead, if she'd had Juudai come with her instead…

King Aodh and Queen Kaien didn't blame her. They'd only come along when she'd asked because they trusted her. And now everyone concentrated on finding Prince Juudai instead of pointing fingers.

That surprised her far more than she'd imagined it would. Perhaps they would start to throw blame around after their son was found. But that still remained undone.

The more she cast around the city, though, the more she wondered if they were even searching in a useful way. It didn't feel right. She wouldn't go so far as to say her magical senses told her anything – wind wasn't that type of magic – but the more she looked, the more something just didn't feel right about all of this.

They believe that this is the work of the Light. She wasn't going to say that it wasn't. She'd learned enough to know that it was absolutely possible. The Light of Ruin targeted Juudai; it always had and always would. All they could do was their best to protect him.

What it wanted to do Siren couldn't guess. Destroy him came to mind, though she didn't want it to. There were other options – from what the king and queen told her, destroying Juudai wasn't all that easy. But no one knew everything that the Light did or what it might try.

A movement caught her attention: a flicker of a shimmering blue wing. Siren knew very few with wings of that sort and wasn't surprised to see Yubel, almost stumbling down the road from the grand temple to the Gentle Darkness.

What were they doing there? Siren wasn't a very religious or spiritual person and she'd never before seen someone who looked as thoroughly transfigured as Yubel did right now. Eyes wide and stunned, their wings shifting back and forth but without preparing for flight, hands clutching and releasing, breath coming in and out, faster and faster.

"Yubel?" Siren stepped closer to them, worry in her voice. She didn't know Yubel very well, but what she'd heard spoke of a boundless devotion to someone that they'd never met before.

Queen Kaien and King Aodh didn't seem bothered by it, though, so she would follow their lead.

Yubel raised their head, staring a little at them. Though they blinked, Siren wondered if they even really saw anything at all.

"Are you all right? Did something happen?" As odd as it might be, Siren wondered if they'd somehow been affected by enchantment of some kind.

No, not enchantment. The closer that Siren moved to Yubel, the more something else pinged her mage-senses. It wasn't something she'd detected all that often, save on two occasions: the times she'd been far nearer to the temple of the Gentle Darkness and the times she'd been around Juudai.

Yubel swallowed, blinked, more focus coming into their eyes. "I… I heard the Darkness."

Well. That explained it. Not everything – Siren wasn't sure if she could even handle everything – but she could understand a little more now.

"Do you know where Juudai is?"

Exactly what the link was between Juudai as he was now and the power that he embodied, Siren wasn't even close to being certain. She wasn't sure if anyone knew anything, really. Just that Juudai held that power and the Light of Ruin wanted to destroy it forever.

Unfortunately, Yubel shook their head, starting to straighten up at the same time. Their eyes focused on Siren as they did.

"I'm supposed to look for something that is and shouldn't be. But I don't know what that is."

Siren wasn't certain of what that meant either. As far as she could tell, what was and shouldn't have been was the prince being kidnapped in the first place. But how to look for it? No clue.

"Can you remember anything else?" She didn't expect Yubel to answer in the affirmative. They'd already gone through everything Yubel could remember about what happened. They'd been too boggled by being in the palace and the chance to meet the prince to really think of anything else.

Yubel started to open their mouth, then closed it again, frowning. Their eyes focused on something else: on Siren herself, in fact.

"You look strange," Yubel said, the words falling out quietly, as if they'd never noticed whatever sparked them before. "You have green magic."

Siren nodded, head tilted. "I'm an air mage. I've been teaching Prince Juudai."

She thought she'd mentioned that to Yubel, or that the king or queen had. After everything that was going on, it was hard to be certain.

Yubel didn't take their eyes off of Siren. If anything, their gaze sharpened.

"Juudai should have green magic around him, then. Shouldn't he?"

Siren nodded, not certain of where this was going. "He'd also have darkness magic. But I've searched and I haven't found any signs of both of them in the city."

"What color is darkness?"

That brought Siren to a complete stop. "Excuse me?"

Yubel stared at them, wings brushing back and forth, as if Yubel only needed another moment to leap back into the skies. "What color is the magic of darkness?"

Siren started to open her own mouth, but nothing came out as what she heard truly sank in. It took her another moment or two to ask what she needed to.

"You can see magic?"

Those who could see magic were few and far between. Even those who worked with it didn't see, not like those did. For them, for her, it was an awareness, a sense in the back of her mind. As Juudai grew stronger in air magic, she could taste it around him, a sense of the wind that wasn't the wind.

One difference between those who used magic and those who didn't remained that those of magic couldn't always explain what magic was to those who didn't. Some words didn't exist.

Yubel nodded, as if it were the most ordinary answer in the world. "I said, your magic is green."

So they had. And it hadn't actually registered with Siren at that point. She considered carefully.

"I don't know," she said at last. "I don't see magic like you do."

But that could be more of a hint or a help than they had right now. She reached to touch Yubel's hand carefully.

"What color magic did you see at the temple?" That would be the color of darkness: the color of Juudai's magic.

Yubel glanced over their shoulder and wings, biting their lip, before looking back at Siren.

"I can't tell. It's… dark. Absolute dark there."

"That's probably it then." She wasn't surprised Yubel didn't have the words. It would probably would have surprised her more if Yubel had. The study of magic, even for those who could see it – if not especially them – could take a lifetime, and Yubel hadn't had that lifetime.

Siren made a note to try and find someone who could teach them, once all of this was over. There was so much that would need to be done then.

Yubel breathed in and shook their head, as if trying to brush off all the internal fuzz. "Then I'll look for the darkness."

"Look for darkness and green both," Siren reminded them. "He's studied enough of my magic to have picked up the color."

Yubel nodded, the tiniest of smiles flickering across their lips. "I know. I couldn't see the darkness when I was with him, but I saw the green." They hesitated. "Should we tell his parents?" Reluctance flavored every word.

"Let's not give them false hope," Siren suggested. She considered briefly. "Perhaps we can search together?"

That didn't get a quick answer either. But Yubel did nod at last. "You can fly, can't you?" Their gaze moved over Siren's wings.

"Of course. I just need a little help." Siren concentrated for a few seconds, murmuring the spell under their breath. Wind spun around, lifting them upward, wings spreading to catch it.

It wasn't easy for her to fly without the magic, though it could happen. Siren preferred not to try, not with how painful it could be. Even now, her wings ached from the few moments of exertion.

But she would deal with it, for the sake of finding the prince.

Yubel leaped to the air as well, wings cupping the wind, then spreading wide, circling around until they rose high over the city. Their gaze shifted here and there, expression becoming more and more worried with each passing second.

They said nothing and Siren wasn't sure if she should say anything herself. From up here she could see some of the small search parties spreading out, doing a house by house search for the missing prince. Word spread out as they did, and with it a rising sense of unease. No one would truly rest until Prince Juudai returned home safely and those who'd taken him brought to justice.

Yubel turned slowly in a circle, moving with great sweeps of their wings, and Siren worked to keep up. She didn't want to interrupt Yubel's searching but the urge to ask questions burned on her lips.

She ran over what they knew one more time, just to see if anything cropped up as odd this time. It hadn't before, but she tried regardless.

There have been visitors, but they all were to people who already lived in the palace, or worked there. And everyone who lives and works there has done so for years, after being investigated by every means possible.

She knew they'd investigated her as well, or she knew that now. There were still those who had questionable pasts, but there were those whose tasks were to ensure that those pasts didn't interfere with their current positions or the safety of the royal family or the kingdom.

It was possible that someone who'd been there all this time had done so for the sole purpose of setting this up, living there in absolute innocence until the proper time. Siren suspected some of the mages such as Holy Elf were dealing with that even now.

How could someone have escaped with a sleeping prince and not been seen by anyone? Magic of some kind would be involved; that was a given. But what sort of magic?

The wards around the palace should prevent that. As far as she knew they would. She glanced at Yubel, a sudden thought sparking. "Yubel," she murmured, "can you see a place where they would have been able to escape around the palace?"

Yubel turned toward that way at once, staring intently. "There aren't that many gaps in the wards," they said, fidgeting. "And the ones that were are being patched."

Siren straightened up. "So whoever did this might still be there." It was a slim chance, but it was a chance.

Yubel started to nod, then shot forward, great wings taking great beats, and Siren followed as quickly as possible.

"I can see better if I'm closer!" Yubel declared as they soared over the city. "But I saw something!"

"What?" Siren's heart leaped up her throat in an equal mix of fear and sick anticipation. If they did the wrong thing, made the wrong move, or were just too late in general, what could happen to Juudai didn't bear thinking of.

"I don't know. It's like a whirlpool of colors. A lot of colors." Yubel stared at the palace, chewing on their lip, wings flicking faintly back and forth as they hovered in place. Hovering wasn't something everyone with wings like theirs could do, but Siren suspected negligible things such as the laws of nature didn't apply right now.

"Where is it?" Siren would have raced for the king and queen right away. This lead grew larger by the moment. It had already been close to a day and a night, and Siren knew the more time that passed, the more likely it would be that something very unpleasant would happen to Juudai.

"There." Yubel pointed to one of the older areas of the palace. Siren wasn't certain if anyone had bothered searching there since this began, since no one lived there and most of it had been walled off from the rest. It looked more than old; it looked ancient, as if no one had touched the area in longer than she could imagine. They probably hadn't.

A sudden snarl leaped forth from Yubel's lips and they rose up even higher, each wingbeat like the crack of doom.

"I saw," Yubel hissed, "I saw the darkness and the green. And then it was gone. Someone ripped it away, like it hadn't ever been there at all."

Siren started to ask a question, wanting more details. But the words died before they could be spoken, as Yubel spread their wings wide and dived downward, moving too swiftly for Siren to properly follow, leaving her to stare in shock for a few moments before she spun and headed to where the nearest batch of soldiers would be. They could inform the king and queen later, if this was a true rescue and not a false alarm.

And if it was a false alarm, Siren did not dare to imagine what Yubel would do after that.

To Be Continued

Notes: Three chapters to go! To the rescue?