"She has to be somewhere," Father grumbled, hands pressing down on the map in front of him.
Izo stood at the other side of the table in the library from him early in the morning. Mother sat next to him, holding Brother, who had become more clingy in the midst of Sister's disappearance. Two days she had been missing so far.
Prince Takashi was standing near Mother. "I thought you said angels took her?" Prince Takashi asked. "And that if the angel- if Lady Nanashi went to sleep, the Great Hawk Spirit would reveal Hikari's location to us?"
"No one ever said that," Father said flustered.
"Yes, you did-" Prince Takashi began.
"No, not in those exact terms," Mother spoke up soothingly. She shifted Brother in her lap. "I thought that angels might might might have taken her to punish me for not revealing all the messages from the Great Hawk Spirit. And that me going to sleep could give us the chance to come back in contact with the Great Hawk Spirit to apologize and try to get Hikari back..."
"You mean like the message that I should have wed her immediately?" Prince Takashi asked. His lips curled and twitched as the words left his mouth.
"That and another message," Father quipped. Izo's ears perked up at the mention of another message.
"What other message?" Prince Takashi pressed.
Father answered for Mother, "one for me. A private message, and it's delivered and done."
"Keeping secrets leads to too much drama," the prince griped. Quite sensible words to Izo. "So what do we do now?"
"Well, we've been in contact with Lord Jiro, whom the king named Protector of the Realm in the capital until he and the queen return. Lord Jiro has sent Kurama, Yasha, and a few other people to come and aid in the search for Hikari. We've also sent messages to the other countries' capitals for the king and queen so they can know what's going on as well," Mother explained. "We also asked them to research if it's possible for any kind of angel, or even an elf or demon to block someone from sensing someone else." Mother ran her hand through her long, loose hair. Izo noticed three hairs were shed on her fingers when she did that. Two were black, one was grey.
Prince Takashi shook his head. "No way someone can do that. And even if it did, it would be like an elvish ability being a mental one. Like... like my father's ability to read memories." Prince Takashi looked over at Father. "Wait, why didn't you get a mental ability? Most royal elves have them. Except Cousin Jiro. He never had one. Was one of the things his brother would sneak up on him and torment him about."
Father bristled for a split second, but Izo almost did not catch him doing so. The prince did not notice, but Mother did. "That's not important right now," she said. "What's important now is searching through those caves some more. They must extend farther and farther in than we thought. If it isn't angels who have her, it could be a demon or something. I know some of the nomad tribes up in the Northeast weren't exactly happy when Lord Mukuro conquered them. Nor were they happy that Hikari was made her heir."
Prince Takashi huffed. "Well, let's go ask those tribes then."
"It takes a week at least to reach them over the plains beyond the mountain range," Mother explained. "Besides, they prefer to keep to themselves. They won't bother us if we don't bother them kind of thing. We let them have their own autonomy."
"If the caves are empty, we're going there," Father stated. He folded up the map in front of him. "We need to finish searching them," he determined.
Father was heading for the door when Asa came rushing into the room, a partly crumpled piece of paper in her hand. "A note. A note. A ransom note," she panted out.
Father was next to her in an instant, prying the letter from her hands. Mother was up and next to him, reading the letter over his shoulder. She shifted Brother on her hip to make it easier. Prince Takashi read the note over Father's other shoulder. Prince Takashi put his hand over the mouth, shaking his head.
Before Izo could even get a chance to read the note, the blank look in Father's eyes made his stomach drop.