Note: EXTREME OOC-NESS FOR A BIT! The OOC shows that they're a family thought :)

The Elphesia Ruins were huge, sprawling over a large area of woods and plains. What were once tall, glorious buildings had been reduced to little more then rubble by time, wind, and weather. The once strong stone roads were now merely broken pebbles that laid between weeds and dirt. There was ruin and beauty everywhere, and the dirt seemed to lament the loss of its once proud heritage.

It was an oddly fitting scene for the three siblings who were wandering down its paths. Kirielle stared at everything with a curious fascination while Narcius complained nonstop about aching feet and a rumbly belly. Karwyn listened to them both with some level of amusement, Narcius complaining and Kirielle asking questions he had to remind her he didn't have answer to.

They set camp somewhere near the entrance to the ruins. Narcius built a fire, Kirielle got the beds ready, and Karwyn kept a look out. He could hear the two of them bickering, working off the nervous energy that had settled in them throughout the day. When Karwyn had shaken them awake that morning they had snapped into consciousness, as if they had been waiting for him to come for a while.

The bag Jeb had left beside the door contained food, blankets, a knife, and matches. So far they hadn't found a need for the matches, since each of them could produce a flame if needed, but they kept them around just the same. It was, after all, perfectly plausible that they may need them if they all fought until they hadn't any energy left. The knife they had used already to fix their evening meal, and Kirielle was now laying out the blankets for each of their beds. It felt odd, so similar to the day they had left Carona. They had had, at that time, little less then the supplies that Jeb had given them.

The biggest difference between now and then was that they were all in good health, and that they all shared a little bit of trust now. they had, to a point, trusted each other before but now it was different. Now they were more like a family then partners in mass murder and betrayal. It kind of felt nice knowing they were not alone anymore.

"Hey, what's the rotation?" Kirielle asked, sitting down on her blankets. Narcius looked up from poking the fire and shrugged slightly.

"Dunno, how about we just wake the person that's been sleeping the longest up when we start getting tired?" Narcius asked, looking over at his other two siblings. Kirielle grinned and nodded her agreement, and then blinked as they heard a strange sound. They both looked to Karwyn who had covered his mouth and was making the odd sound.

"Dude... Are you okay?" Narcius asked, looking concerned. Kirielle bit her lip worriedly. The only time she had ever heard him make that sound was when they had first arrived at the Inn and then he had been half dead. Karwyn removed his hand and she saw a trace of a smile there on his face.

"I'm sorry, but I think that's probably the least thought out plan we've had since this trip started," Karwyn said, forcing the smile to leave his face. Kirielle and Narcius continued to stare at him as if he had sprouted another head. "...What?"

"I didn't know you could laugh," Narcius said, with such blunt honesty that Kirielle started laughing. Narcius looked at her and blushed, turning his pale skin red.

"Well... he never does it! So how was I suppose to know..." He trailed off when he heard Karwyn laughing and after a few seconds joined in. After a few moments everyone calmed back down and Karwyn, by a unanimous and silent decision, took the first watch.


"Man, how big is this place?" Narcius grumbled, after several hours of walking. They had, several times, stopped to rest but Narcius still insisted on complaining. Kirielle suspected he was just trying to draw attention to himself and Karwyn knew for a fact that he was.

"Narcius, stop complaining. You wandered around East Heaven for longer then this," Karwyn said after another hour of complaining. Narcius promptly shut his mouth, but every once in a while both Karwyn and Kirielle could here a mumble of complaint. Kirielle was about to reach over and smack him when Karwyn grabbed them both by the shoulder and steered them out of sight.

"Hey, what-" Narcius reached over and covered Kirielle's mouth. She shot him a glare, and the blinked as he held one finger to his mouth and then pointed back to the path. Mint, Maya, and Rue were all walking down it, oblivious to the former Masters that had been walking it moments before. The three watched the group from the safety of their hiding spot.

"Dear sister, shouldn't we wait for Klaus and the others? Even if we find something, we'll have no idea how to use it without him," Maya said, still holding the tattered remains of the Book of Cosmos as she had been so long ago. The book had gained a rather pathetic look since it had lost its power, and they suspected that Maya kept it with her to use her own magic, the way Mint had her gold hoops.

"Quit worryin' Maya, if we find somethin' we can always bring it back," Mint answered, waving one of her rings at Maya. She giggled and jumped up and down excitedly. "A relic! Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on it!"

Maya sighed, looking as though she might steal the relic just to make sure her sister didn't get it. Kirielle covered her mouth and giggled silently.

"Hey, what's that?" Rue said, pointing at something on the ground. The two sisters wandered over, and Mint picked it up. She was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"Looks... Kinda familiar. Do we know anyone who wears pink gloves?" Karwyn and Narcius both looked at Kirielle, who had suddenly become very red and very quiet. Karwyn sighed silently and looked back at the group while Narcius glared holes into Kirielle's head.

"Pink?" Maya repeated, staring at the glove. "I seem to remember someone wearing gloves like that but..." Karwyn stretched his mind out towards them and slipped inside of Maya's mind. He searched and found the memory she was attempting to call forth. With a simple thought, he placed the memory in the back of her mind, where it would probably remain for some time until it unburied itself.

"No, no, I'm sorry but it seems to have left me," Maya murmured, looking disappointed. Karwyn quickly withdrew, feeling slightly ill. Kirielle and Narcius relaxed slightly as the group continued walking. They had taken Kirielle's glove with them, maybe hoping to run into someone to return it to.

"Kirielle! What were you doing with that thing out?!" Narcius hissed as soon as it was safe, making Kirielle jump a little. She looked won, her expression one of humble humility.

"Well, my hands were hurting and I was worried we'd need to climb some things so I, eh, was deciding to put them on when you spotted them," Kirielle looked at the ground. "I-I'm sorry."

Narcius tried to look mad, but couldn't quite do it with his sister looking so ashamed of herself. Instead he sighed and looked down the path that their enemies had gone.

"Think they'll find anything?" Narcius asked, glancing over at his siblings. Kirielle looked up.

"Well, we're here to try to make sure they don't, aren't we?" She asked, apparently trying to recover from her blunder. Narcius smiled, and Karwyn nodded.

"We'll need to split up. That way we can cover more or equal ground," Karwyn said, walking back out onto the path. To Narcius he said, "Go west," and to Kirielle he said "Go East."

Both siblings nodded and took off without a moments hesitation. Karwyn waited until he could no longer feel their presence and then headed North, in the same direction as Rue, Mint, and Maya. As soon as each Master was a safe distance away from their starting point, they began searching.

Note: Yes, it's a horribly short chapter, I know. However, it happens to be 5:41 A.M. here and I haven't slept yet, so I don't much care :P