Act II

Interlude: Away From the Front Lines

Castle Wyndia had become significantly more boring since the recent departure of the two people who had figured prominently in Luna's life there. She found that despite thinking that Nina was a stuck-up snob, she missed Nina in a strange way that she couldn't quite fathom. It was nothing like the way that the other kids around her age in the Castle missed the aggravating Princess, sure, but it was there and it bothered Luna. Why should she care at all that the Princess was gone?

However, she didn't often get the opportunity to try to figure out herself, or even the changes of the three years since she had arrived. Either she was in class (which she even – Zenith forbid! – found interesting occasionally), out training (which she still liked best) or was being pestered by the other Royal Brat. Though why she couldn't get Prince Kenneth to leave her alone stumped her. She had tried everything short of thumping him.

The worst part was that where the Prince went, so did followers. And because Nina was not present, some that would prefer to follow her were following him as a replacement. It very nearly made Luna sick to think about. Maybe that was why she missed Nina after all. Because anything was preferable to being followed around by a ten-year-old and his posse. Especially when you're fifteen and want nothing to do with said child.

Luna's slack expression as she stared out the window of the Castle to the front grounds seemed to be no hint to the Prince, who nattered on, ostensibly to her, about what he had learned about her particular brand of Ascent in his lessons lately. Of course, it was really to his sycophants about how wonderful/smart/quick or whatever he was. Luna tried to engage herself with the sights of particular citizens of the city going about their business, but they were boring enough that it didn't really help her.

She found, as usual, her rage rising as the toadies laughed at something that Kenneth had just related to them. Probably about himself, but at this point Luna wasn't paying enough attention (thankfully) to be able to tell. She finally turned around, her rage fighting its way through her boredom to take her attention. Why are you listening to this brat? she asked the ones who were about her age silently. It was understandable enough to follow Nina around, as you might be able to pretend to be her 'friend'.

Luna, of course, saw it for what it really was. When she had talked to Ryu about it, he agreed with her readily: the other nobles in the Castle desperately wanted to be on the good side of the Royal Family. She had known it was bad (pretending to be friends is pretty bad), but it ran deeper than even she had expected. She hadn't figured that it would be bad enough to pretend to be friends with the Royal child that was five years younger.

Luna's glare at Kenneth seemed to be having about as much effect on him as her disinterested stare. He continued to talk about nothing in particular, though some of the others were noticing the powerful stare that Luna had leveled at the Royal Brat. This of course, changed nothing about the conversation, since the one person who hadn't noticed the stare was the one who was talking and kept talking. And talking. Some of the others were becoming visibly nervous.

Luna's patience was already thin, but it managed to not become any thinner due mostly to the faces that she was causing on the other kids. She was enjoying something for the first time in a while in the his presence, so she kept it up, trying to see what faces would be made if she did so. Each moment that passed, something else became slightly more amusing, so she was never quite disappointed by the further and further reactions.

Finally, one of the sycophants started tapping Kenneth on the shoulder. A single tap didn't even break the cadence of the monologue he had been keeping up, but after about a minute of semi-continuous tapping, the cadence finally began to falter, and another fifteen seconds of renewed vigor in the tapping saw the monologue come to a close, if merely a trail-off. "What?" Ken asked the guy who was tapping him. The response was a silent indication of Luna's face, to which Ken finally really looked at; then he grinned. "Oh, she always looks like that eventually."

SLAP!

Ken's left cheek was rapidly turning red, and his hand came up seeking to rub away the sudden pain. Gasps sounded all around as the nobles realized that the prince had just been slapped. Tears were welling up in his eyes, and he burst into tears as he tore down the hallway toward the throne room. Most of the others followed quickly, but one remained behind. He was of the same age as Nina, Ryu and Luna. He was in the lessons that they were, as well as training. Like most of the other nobles, he was a Wyndian Ascent like Nina and Ken. His wings were smaller than most of the other Wyndians, but Luna knew that he was a better flyer than any but Nina.

His name was "Oren." He bowed to Luna, who looked completely unimpressed. I know your name, idiot. "I don't believe we've properly met."

Luna huffed and turned to walk in the opposite direction of where the Prince had fled. "I don't believe I wanted it to happen." Her steps were loud in the now nearly deserted corridor. Before she could take more than two, however, she found her arm held back. She spun and called her magical power to her hand, facing it palm outwards to her assailant, who looked rather taken aback at her reaction. "Did you think I was kidding?" she asked in a dangerous voice.

Oren swallowed, obviously fearful of the power that was visible in Luna's hand. This was unsurprising, as Luna had even more magical power than Nina did, which she had proved in a recent sparring match between them. Ryu had watched the duel closely to make sure that neither of them had hurt each other, and that had been enough to stop either girl from actually trying to cause bodily harm. But Luna had won handily, and it was known throughout the castle that the most powerful sorceress in it was the Celestial Ascent.

"I- I'm sorry," Oren stuttered, not really succeeding at sounding anything but scared.

"I'll bet you are," Luna replied, her voice calm. "How about you actually listen to me next time, hmm?" Oren was nodding infinitesimally. Luna decided this was enough of a warning and bled off the magic she had stored by creating light in the corridor. Oren flinched away from it at the same time she let go of him, so he flinched himself onto the floor. Luna stepped over him unconcernedly and headed toward her own room. That was a place she could be alone, since neither Prince Brat nor The Idiot was following her for the time being. She hoped this remained the same for a while.

Unfortunately, she wasn't really expecting what she met when she got to her door. "Jett!" she shouted in part shock and part anger.

The object of Luna's outburst hopped up from her bed like he'd been burned. "Hey there, Wolfie," he said, his tone not indicating that he'd just been startled so badly he'd jumped. "I thought you'd come up here eventually."

"I come up here to be alone," Luna said as she walked into her room and pointed out of it. Clearly a dismissal.

"Fine," Jett said, making to walk out the door, "I guess you don't care to hear the latest news from Tantar then…"

Luna blocked him. "You're insufferable. Spill."

Jett grinned as he headed over to take a seat on the chair next to the desk. Luna figured she'd allow that when he had news. "I'm stationed in Romero; I'll be heading back there tomorrow," he began, "I've been helping man the border with Tantar lately, as their actions recently have upset Romero as well as us, and we've been providing magical help on their border as they've provided soldiers for ours.

"Two nights ago, I was on watch when an Agent signal came, and it told me that there was someone of importance that needed to cross the border quietly…

He rushed down the stairs of the border fort and found himself sprinting outside long before the other guards on his shift had noticed the Agent signal flare. Once he was over one particular hill, he sent up his own flare, a much simpler one. He had to wait after sending up the second signal, though he was quickly joined by three Romeron soldiers, who formed up behind him tense. Since Jett was tense himself, there was little he could do to ease the tension of his companions.

After what seemed like an eternity, an obviously wounded man was carried by two others to the dip in the hills where the four men waited. The wounded man was in Wyndian colors and had the markings of the Princess Guard, while his helpers were in Tantaran colors. The Romeron soldiers didn't flinch, all ready at a moment's notice to gut the Tantarans. Once the Tantarans had placed the man in Jett's care, they collected themselves.

"He has quite a story; you're the Caballo, right?" He barely waited for Jett's assent before continuing. "Take his story and then get it to the King as soon as possible. He's had a rough time of it, and shouldn't be expected to travel any further until healed." The Wyndian Agent undercover didn't wait for any further response. He and his partner went back up the hill and over to the Tantaran side of the border, while Jett turned and carried the man over to the Romeron side.

"What can you tell me?" he asked the man softly. "You'll be in a nice warm bed tonight, and the sooner you tell me your story, the sooner you can go to sleep."

"The Princess… we were ambushed… once we reached the rooms… prepared for her in Tuntar. We scattered… I didn't manage very well… but I did manage to escape… the palace. I was…wounded… during the escape." The man weakly tapped his side, where his armor had buckled in from some sort of blow. There were other cuts and scrapes and it was obvious that his left leg had been slashed badly, but he was not bleeding anywhere visibly.

"Go on," Jett prompted. The entourage had managed to get inside the fort, where there was quite a bit of bustle as the guards who had accompanied Jett to the rendezvous called for medical assistance and the Wyndian mage that was acting as a healer. Jett moved unconcernedly to the guest rooms of the Keep, as no one was staying there at the moment, and the man deserved comfort for making it that far.

"I… didn't manage… to reach the rendezvous… Agent Leah… set… before they… left. I know they left… because one of them… left a sign… for someone… like me."

"Them?" Jett asked, laying the man carefully on the bed in the room he'd chosen. He had left the door open so that the staff the guards were summoning would be able to find him.

"The… Dragon… and his… Agents… are who the… Princess went with," the man said, before breaking into fit of coughing. The Healer arrived, immediately setting to work on diagnosing the man's injuries but remaining silent for Jett's sake. "Leah… was the one… who set the… sign. It told me… that the Princess… had escaped… with her and… the Dragon."

Jett nodded. He had far to go this night.

"…and it took me two days to get here from there," Jett concluded. "Seems like Ryu and Nina survived a close one."

Luna tried to look like she hadn't just been enraptured by Jett's story. "I imagine you've already told the King all this."

Jett nodded. "Yup. First time I'd ever seen the King lecture the Prince in public." Luna perked up, very interested in this news. "No lie. He arrived crying before I was finished, and was told in no uncertain terms to be quiet while I finished. Shocked him silly." Jett was grinning. "I came straight up here afterward; I didn't particularly want to be present when the King started to lay into his son."

Luna giggled helplessly. "Would you believe that I was the one who caused his distress?"

Jett's grin got wider. "Your turn. Spill."