Author's Note: Three PoVs this time, first one isn't that important to figure out, second and third are obvious if you read 'em.

--

"I swear this staff will blind me one day," Arme muttered, as her staff began to glow quite brightly.

"Why are we here. . .?" I asked.

"To find her dad," Arme said. She jabbed her finger Ronan and Lire's direction. Then Arme yelled, "Hey, father of Elesis, we have kidnapped your daughter!"

"Arme!" Elesis cried out. Arme snickered a bit.

"Are we there yet?" Lass complained.

"Yes," Arme said. "But, he's nowhere to be found."

"Father!" Elesis yelled out. Ronan put Elesis down, looking a bit tired.

"Thank you, Ronan," Elesis said, and asked, "Are you tired?"

"Uh, a little," he admitted.

"Why don't we take a nap together?"

"Uh, okay." Ronan walked over to an old tree, its leaves stripped from it, and sat down under it. Elesis walked over to him and sat down next to Ronan, his gaze never leaving her. Elesis leaned against Ronan's shoulder before closing her eyes, her breath slowing and deepening. Elesis was soon asleep, followed by Ronan.

--

I could hear snoring, and it wasn't coming from the sword-wielding lovebirds.

"Ronan's snoring again," Arme muttered while I was setting Lire down.

"No, I think it's Lass," I said. Looking over to him, I saw that Lass was still standing, but when I got closer, I realized that he was asleep. Standing up.

Arme walked over to him and managed to get Lass to lie on the floor, without making him fall over. She turned to me after Lass seemed comfortable on the ground and said, "Shall we see if we can find him?" I nodded and grabbed my ax, slinging it over my shoulder, and began to walk into the forest.

"Where are you, Elesis' father?!" Arme yelled into the forest. As we walked deeper into the Xenian forest, I realized something odd; the snoring that we heard earlier wasn't getting farther away. In fact, it seemed to be getting closer.

"Uh, what's that. . .?" I asked.

"What the hell?" Arme simply answered.

Sighing, I told Arme, "Hold on," waved at Arme, signaling her to stay, and began walking forward. What I saw made ime/i go "What the hell?!"

"What?" Arme called out from behind.

"Uh, maybe you should see for yourself?" was all I said.

The crunch of fallen leaves signaled Arme's arrival, as she stood behind me. What I found was Octus, in his monstrous form. He had scratches, bruises, and all manners of marks on him, as the monster lay on his side on the forest floor. Blood seemed to be trickling out of his mouth. And, uh, there was snoring coming from the outer side of Octus.

"Holy. . ." Arme said, and began to circle Octus from a distance, cautiously. I followed her, giving Octus a small poke as I climbed over his tail.

Then I saw the snorer. It appeared to be a man with black, somewhat messy hair, who appeared to be in his thirties or so. Next to him was a sword that looked similar in shape and size to Elesis', but was decorated in a different manner, including the colors.

"Is that. . .?" Arme asked. She was answered by a snort from the man.

"Ryan, I think you found him," Arme told me. Technically, it was Octus I found but I didn't say that. Instead, I said, "Great. Protect me?"

"Uhm, why?" Arme asked, turning to me. I was on top of Octus' back now.

"Well, it's just that, you're a girl, and I'm a guy," I told her. "There's nothing stopping him from killing me. On the other hand, however, it'd be rude to hit a girl."

"Wait, uh, why would he kill you?" she asked, before saying more sharply, "And are you saying I'm weak?" What?! I never said that!"

"No!" I yelled.

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm scared of him!" I admitted. "He looks scary."

"Well, he doesn't look scary," Arme said. "I bet Elesis will be happy to see him." Meanwhile, the man rolled over onto his side, causing me to jump slightly.

Arme picked up his sword and said, "Nice sword, though. I'll just hold onto this so he can't attack you. Happy now, Ryan?"

"Yeah," I said. I think.

Feeling just a smidgen braver, I jumped down from Octus and nudged the sleeping fellow.

"Hey, uh, Elesis' father? Good morning?" He didn't seem to wake up.

"I wonder how he'd react if I said she was dead," Arme wondered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Nothing, I was just wondering," Arme said.

"Well, try saying something?" I suggested. He was sleeping like a freakin' rock!

"Uh." Arme thought for a bit. "Your daughter's been kidnapped?"

Quick as lightning, the man bolted up, so fast, his foot knocked me over, and I landed face first.

"I was kidding!" Arme said, quickly. I looked up from the ground.

"Huh?" The man looked confused. "Who are you?" Then he narrowed his eyes. "Why do you have my sword?"

"So you don't attack us." Then, ever so casually, Arme said, "I'm Arme."

"I'm Ryan!" I blurted out.

The man looked around, before his gaze wandered down to me. "Oh, did I do that?" He gave me has hand, and I took it, pulling myself up.

"So, did you beat Octus up?" Arme asked.

"Yes." He crossed his arms, as if wanting us to say so otherwise.

"What did he do?"

"Got in my way."

This guy spooked me. I mean, he beat Octus up just for getting in this guy's way?! We beat Octus up because he was trying to ikill/i us! I began to inch away a bit.

"And what are you doing here, exactly?" Arme seemed to like asking questions, but maybe that comes with being a mage. And a smart-ass.

"Well." It seemed like he was trying to determine whether to tell us or not. He did. "I was searching for. . . someone. I can't say."

"Is it. . . your daughter?" Arme seemed to have thrown him off-guard a bit.

"Huh?! Yes, how did you know? Do you know where she is?"

Arme only answered the second question. "Yes, we're friends with her."

"Really? Could you take me to her?" he asked.

"If you promise one thing," Arme said. I wasn't sure if he was the man to be making promises with. . .

"What?" he asked.

"Not to kill any of us."

"Well. . ." He hesitated a bit. "I'll try. I know how to kill a man with my thumb."

I let out a small squeak.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing!" I cried out. I was scared.

"Well, please try not to," Arme said. I added, "Please. And Ronan too."

"Huh?" He seemed confused. "Isn't that the Royal Guard Master's name?" Arme nodded.

"If one of us dies, your daughter will get quite upset," Arme warned.

"Oh." He let out a chuckle. "That's a good reason for me."

"Thank goodness," Arme muttered.

"Let's go back!" I declared, and turned around and tripped over Octus' tail. The heat rushed to my face as I heard Arme snicker and Elesis' father say, "Clumsy one, are you?" Great first impression. . .

I got up and dusted myself off.

"He's usually not so. . . clumsy," Arme said, in my defense.

"I see. Well, Arme, was it?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." Arme, using formalities? This was a first.

"May I have my sword back?" he asked.

"Well, I guess," Arme seemed reluctant to give it back to him, but she did so anyway. He took it back, though he held it backwards. Odd.

"Well, what's your name?" Arme asked. "After all, you know ours, but we don't know yours."

"Oh, my name?" he said. "It's Sieghart. Are we departing?"

I nodded, and lead the way.

"Hm, getting dark out," Arme commented, noticing the lengthening shadows. "Hope the others are all right."

"I'm sure they are," I said.

"Well, only Lire was awake," Arme muttered.

"Lire's strong," I said, a bit of warning in my voice.

"Well, you know she's a bit weak in terms of close-range combat. She wouldn't be able to help the others too well." Well, Arme had a point, much as I hated to admit it.

"I guess we should hurry," I said, quickening my pace. Eventually, I could see the others. Lire was still the only one that was awake.

"I think I see them," Arme said.

"Hm?" Sieghart seemed surprised. "Elesis? Who's that next to her?!" Uh-oh.

Arme cleared her throat a bit and said, "You promised."

"Don't worry, I won't kill him!" I could hear the rage in his voice.

Whispering to Arme, I said, "We should have made him promise not to hurt anyone. . ."

"Don't hurt him either," Arme said. "Elesis would get upse-" In mid-sentence, she stuck her foot out just as Sieghart began to walk ahead of me.

"Excuse me," Arme said, a bit more loudly.

"Hm?!" Sieghart looked up at Arme, glaring at her.

"It'd be just as bad to hurt any of us," she told him. "Especially since you're her father."

"I need to talk to whoever this may be," he told Arme. "It's personal, of course."

"Well, he's asleep right now." Arme sounded so calm. I was scared half to death.

"Does it matter?" I could hear a hint of annoyance in Sieghart's voice.

"Yes, because he is obviously worn out," Arme said, a hint of annoyance in her voice as well. Apparently, she was getting tired of this. "That is due to carrying your daughter a very long distance, so please let him rest."

"Alright," Sieghart said, glaring at Arme. "When he wakes. . ." He stood up and began to walk back into the forest. "I'll be waiting."

"That guy is scary," I said.

"Tell me about it. . ." I didn't realize Arme was as well.

"I don't want to see him angry," I said. Arme agreed with me.

It wasn't until the next morning did we see him again.

--

"Ryan, you fetch him." Huh?

"Ronan, hey, we gotta tell you something." Tell him what?

I began to wake up, blinking at the morning sun that seemed to just fill my vision, and shook my head, trying to chase away the sleepiness. Ronan began to wake up beside me.

"Wha-" he began, before suddenly, something jumped out of a tree and began to drag Ronan away by his cloak. Wait, was that. . . father?!

"R-Ronan?! F-Father?!" I chased after the two of them.

I heard Arme cry out, "Wait, Elesis!" but I didn't slow down. Crap.

As I caught up, I saw that my father had tied Ronan's cloak to a tree's branch and demand, "Who do you think you are, getting that close to my daughter like that?!"

"What?!" Ronan choked out. "Daughter?!"

"F-Father?!" I called out. I was a bit scared at what my father would do to Ronan.

"Are you Elesis' father?!" Ronan managed to yell out.

Arms crossed, my father looked back at me, looking serious. "Elesis?"

"W-What are you doing to Ronan?" I asked him.

The serious look on his face melted as I said Ronan's name. "This is the Royal Guard Master?"

"Y-Yes," I said.

"Oh."

Ronan's face seemed to turn quite a few shades of red as his breath was getting cut off from him. "Blood. . . Rushing. . . Head. . ."

"P-Please untie him!" I said. I still felt too tired to try and get to Ronan, especially after having to run through the forest after the two.

Father jumped up to the tree branch he had tied Ronan's cloak on and untied it, causing Ronan to fall onto his head. "Apologies, Royal Guard Master."

Ronan got up, his face turning normal again as I ran over to him and hugged him.

"Are you okay, Ronan?" I asked.

"Yeah," he muttered, rubbing his head and looking up at Sieghart. I looked up as well, and his face was back to serious again.

"What are you doing in Xenia, father?" I asked.

"I was looking for you," he said, seemingly glaring at Ronan, who was looking a bit pale right now.

"You were. . . looking for me?" I rested my head on Ronan's shoulder as I looked up at Father.

"Yes." He sighed and closed his eyes. "So this is why they told me not to kill him."

"Wait, they said not to kill Ronan?" I asked. He nodded.

"Well, I can see why. . ." I think.

"Elesis, I need to talk to him," Ronan said to me.

"Uhm, okay." I wasn't sure whether or not to leave Ronan alone with my father. "Just. . . Just try not to get hurt!" I got up and began to head back, but as my father landed onto the ground, I ran over and gave him a quick hug first before I disappeared into the forest.