The next day, Adrina was awakened by a servant girl. She told Adrina Lord Folken was leaving for Palas in twenty minutes. Adrina thanked the girl and got ready in fifteen minutes. She was told to meet Folken in the main chamber. Lucky for Adrina, the servant girl had waited for her. She led Adrina to the main chamber. When she entered, she saw Folken and Dilandau arguing.

"You're taking her with you?!" Dilandau shrieked in disbelief. "She's a prisoner! She should be locked in the dungeon!"

"She is my responsibility," Folken said, "not yours. I will dictate what she can and can't do. Besides, if Van sees her, there is a greater chance he will come with us."

"Does Emperor Dornkirk know about all of this?" Dilandau asked.

"No," Folken began, "And if he finds out before tomorrow when I tell him, he will also learn of you almost killing the dragon." He looked over and saw Adrina standing in the doorway, "It's time for me to depart."

Folken walked past Adrina without acknowledging her presence. He continued to the guymelef hangar with Adrina close in tow. A carriage waited for them on the loading platform. Folken climbed in first and Adrina followed.

As soon as they were securely in the carriage, the loading platform lowered to the ground. As soon as the platform touched solid earth, the horses were whipped into motion. The carriage moved off the loading platform and hurried down the streets of Palas towards the castle.

Once they had arrived at the castle of King Aston, Folken exited the carriage. Adrina started to follow, but he stopped her.

"Stay here," he ordered. Before she could protest, he was gone. She sat back down to wait for his return.

About ten minutes later, Folken came back. Instead of getting back into the carriage, he held out his hand to Adrina. "Come," he said, "We're going for a walk." Adrina took his hand and he helped her out of the carriage. They started down the streets of Palas together.

Adrina was in awe of all the wares the bizarre had. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to stop and look at them, because Folken was hurrying them along. They left the bizarre and reached a bridge where two Zaibach soldiers were chatting. They stopped and stood attention as Folken and Adrina passed them.

After they had passed over the bridge, Folken led them down a series of alleyways. Adrina was almost bursting with curiosity as to what they were doing, but she kept quiet. Finally, they arrived at another bridge. They walked across and just as they stopped the carriage pulled up.

"Brother!" The sound of Van's voice behind them made Adrina spin around.

"Van!" she exclaimed.

"Brother," Folken began, looking over his shoulder, "are you prepared to come back with me?"

"Why?!" Van shouted, "Why are you working for Zaibach brother?"

"Folken of Fanelia is dead," Folken replied. Adrina and Van both cringed at his harsh comment. He continued, "On that day, the day the dragon ripped off this arm, I died. And it was Emperor Dornkirk who gave me life again. He taught me how to live." He paused, then added, "Van you are my brother. We share the same blood. I can see into your heart. This world is difficult for a gentle soul such as yours to bare. This world, where man fights against man, no, where every living thing fights to take the life of another. We kill beasts, we kill dragons, we kill men. Fighting begets fighting and the slaughter begins anew. Such is the way of the world."

"Yes, but it was Zaibach who started all the fighting brother," Van spat.

"So then I suppose we fight to end that conflict," Folken mused, "to bring forth a new order. This is a true holy war."

"You mean fighting to bring an end to fighting," Van asked, "I think you'll find that there's no such thing!"

"Van, come with me now, come with me so that we can create a new world."

"Brother," Van murmured.

Oh my God, Adrina thought, Folken isn't doing this because he's evil. He's doing it so that Gaea will be a better place to live. And what's more, he wants Van to help him. He doesn't want to hurt Van at all.

As she thought all of this, she heard a female voice call out "Van!" and Hitomi emerged from a nearby alleyway. Van turned his eyes skyward, as did Adrina. She saw the reason for Hitomi's cry and was about to run to Van, but Hitomi beat her to it. She tackled Van just seconds before a metal claw hit the bridge. It embedded itself in the spot Van had been standing in just seconds before. Adrina was about to ask Van if he was okay, when he spoke.

"I see," he commented, "so this is how Zaibach operates?"

"This was not my intent," Folken informed.

"Is that all you have to say?" Van growled.

"Van, he telling the truth," Adrina defended, although she had no idea if Folken was telling the truth or not.

"Has he turned you already?" Van asked coldly.

"No!" Adrina insisted.

Folken turned back to the carriage, "It's time to go," he announced.

Adrina turned toward Folken, then to Van, then back to Folken. She stepped towards the carriage. "It's for your own safety," Adrina told him after seeing the dismayed look on his face. She climbed in and was followed by Folken. The carriage took them back to the loading platform of the floating fortress.

Once back in the floating fortress, Folken left Adrina, telling her he had work to do. Adrina found her way back to her room and sat down to wait for dinner.

About forty minutes later, a serving girl came to Adrina's room pushing a cart. The cart was set out with food and drink.

"Lord Folken asked me to bring you dinner since he was too busy to join you," the girl explained.

"Thank you," Adrina said. The girl left and Adrina ate her dinner alone. Twenty minutes later the girl returned and took the cart away. Adrina was tired from the day's adventures, so she went to sleep early.

Adrina woke up after hearing voices and running feet outside her room. She turned on her oil lamp and got dressed quickly. She then hurried out into the hallway to see what was going on.

She hurried down the hallway, passing a few doors. She stopped when she heard Folken's voice. She looked into the door she had just passed and saw it was the control room. She entered quickly.

"What's going on Folken?" Adrina inquired as she walked over to him.

"What are you doing awake?" he asked.

"I heard a commotion outside my room," Adrina answered, "What...?" She trailed off as Dilandau's voice filled the control room.

"Found him."

Adrina was about to ask who Dilandau was talking about when Dilandau himself answered her with an ear-piercing scream.

"VAN!"

Adrina's eyes widened and she rushed to Folken. "What's going on? What is he going to do to Van?"

"Do not worry," Folken assured, "Van is not to be harmed."

Adrina said nothing, but the look in her eyes said it all. She was afraid that Dilandau would get carried away and hurt Van. She walked over to the huge window in the front of the control room and looked down. Through the deep darkness of night, Adrina could just make out tiny pinpricks of light. She assumed these were the lights of Palas. As she stared out the window, a bright orange light on the ground illuminated the scene for a brief moment, the faded. During the flash of fire, Adrina had seen two guymelefs. One she recognized as Escaflowne and the other she assumed was Dilandau's. Another orange flame leapt up, this time igniting several nearby structures.

"Be careful Van," Adrina whispered.

"Adrina."

Adrina turned as Folken called to her. "It is late," he told her, "You should go back to your room and get some sleep."

Adrina nodded, knowing it was an order, not a suggestion. She took one last look out the window and saw that a good portion of the city was now burning. She turned away from the window and headed back to the door she had come in.

"Sweet dreams, Adrina," Folken called as she reached the door.

Surprised by his kind words, Adrina stopped and turned back to face him. She didn't know what to say but managed a quick "Good night," before retiring for the second time that night.

The next morning, Adrina was awakened by a servant who told her it was time for breakfast. The servant left and Adrina got dressed quickly. Once she was ready, she headed out of her room and made her way to the dining room where she had dined with Folken her first night in captivity. She was surprised that no one had come to make sure she didn't try to escape. She assumed that Folken knew she valued Van's life more than her won and would never endanger him by escaping.

Adrina walked into the dining room and was surprised to see that Folken was alone at the table. He stood up as she entered.

"Good morning Adrina," Folken greeted and pulled out the seat next to him.

"Good morning Folken," Adrina replied and sat down in the seat that was offered to her. A moment later, the food was set out and they ate their meal in silence. When the food was almost gone, Adrina finally worked up the courage to ask Folken about the battle the night before.

"Folken," Adrina started, her voice barely above a whisper.

Folken's eyes met her own. "Yes?"

"Did Van escape okay last night?" Adrina asked.

"Yes," Folken answered, "Dilandau did not succeed in capturing him."

Adrina sighed with relief. "Good." Folken raised an eyebrow at her comment. "Well, I mean," Adrina stammered, "Good for him. I guess it's not necessarily good for you."

Folken said nothing and stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with Emperor Dornkirk."

"Emperor Dornkirk?" Adrina repeated, a hint of fear in her voice.

Folken nodded and left the room. Adrina picked at the rest of the food on her plate, then left also. She wanted to explore the floating fortress, but assumed that she would only get into trouble is she did. The last thing she wanted to do was cause trouble for Folken so she decided the best thing to do was go back to her room and hope he came for her later.

Adrina made her way back to her chamber by way of the purple coded hallway. Once there, she tried to think of something to keep her occupied. Frustrated that there was nothing to do, she threw herself down on the bed.

"I'm so bored!"

"What is your report Folken? Have you captured the dragon yet?"

Folken stood before the large orb that Emperor Dornkirk's face appeared on. "We had the dragon in our grasp, but he escaped."

"He escaped?!" Dornkirk roared, "How could you let him escape?"

"An Asturian levi-ship came to his rescue," Folken explained, "And then he bested Dilandau in a fight."

"I must say," Dornkirk told him, "I am greatly disappointed by your failure."

"I understand, Emperor," Folken nodded, "but we still have the upper hand."

"Oh?" Dornkirk's interests were suddenly piqued.

"Yes," Folken informed, "When we captured the dragon, he had a woman with him who is still in our possession. She is a childhood friend of the dragon's and he will come back to rescue her."

"And if he doesn't?" Dornkirk inquired.

"Then we catch him anyways," Folken remarked.

"Good," Dornkirk smiled, "Remember Folken, I must have the dragon."

"Yes Your Majesty," Folken agreed. Dornkirk nodded and then disappeared from the screen. Folken turned and quietly exited the communications room. He had barely stepped into the hall when he was stopped by two Zaibach soldiers.

"Lord Folken!" one of the soldiers addressed, "We have word that King Aston wishes to speak with you."

"Why?" Folken questioned.

"We weren't told the details," the soldier replied, "but have heard that he is very upset by the burning of Palas last night."

"Then he should be meeting with Dilandau, not me," Folken stated.

"He requested to speak with you," the soldier repeated.

"Very well," Folken told them and started off down the hallway again.

Adrina lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had just finished reciting the Fairy Tales book to herself from memory, and was very bored once again. She was seriously considering sneaking around the floating fortress to see how long she could go when a knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Come in!" She called as she sat up and smoothed her hair and dress. She wasn't disappointed when Folken entered, his dark cloak trailing behind him.

"Come," he ordered and held out his left hand, "We are going on an outing."

"We are?" Adrina asked excitedly, "Good! I thought I was going to got crazy I'm so bored." She took his outstretched hand and they exited the room.

"Where are we going?" Adrina inquired as they entered the hangar.

"To Palas to meet with King Aston," Folken informed. A soldier opened the door of the carriage and they both climbed in.

"Why are you meeting with King Aston?" Adrina prodded as they made their decent to solid ground.

"I don't know," Folken answered, "but I assume it has to do with Dilandau's attack last night."

Adrina looked out of the carriage window could see the charred remains of the buildings along the waterfront that that white haired psycho had torched while trying to get Van.

The loading platform reached the ground and the carriage started off towards King Aston's castle. The two passengers were quiet throughout the ride. Neither of them spoke until they reached the palace. The carriage door opened and Folken exited, followed by Adrina.

"Come," he called, already heading towards the palace. "King Aston awaits."

Adrina hurried to catch up with Folken and struggled to keep pace with him. He was at least six inches taller than her and had a much quicker stride. They reached the palace gates and were met by a herald, who led them into the castle and to the throne room. Upon entering, the herald called out, "Lord Folken of Zaibach!" then disappeared. As Folken and Adrina approached the throne, King Aston spoke.

"Folken, I'm glad to see you could make it," King Aston spoke.

"I would never ignore a request from Your Majesty," Folken told him.

"That is good to hear." King Aston suddenly turned his attention to the woman at Folken's side. "And who is this lovely young woman?"

"Lady Adrina of Fanelia," Folken answered without missing a beat. Adrina turned to Folken, questions evident in her eyes. She didn't know what Folken was thinking, but Adrina had never been a Lady of any country, much less Fanelia. Her attention was drawn back to the King as he addressed her.

"Well, Lady Adrina, welcome to Asturia," the King welcomed, "And accept my sincerest apologies on the destruction of your homeland."

Adrina winced, but quickly regained her composure. "Thank you, Your Majesty and please let me offer any service I have that could be of use to you."

"I accept your offer," the King told her. He turned back to Folken. "I called you here because there is a matter that we need to discuss." King Aston turned to a servant standing nearby; "Take Lady Adrina to the library. I'm sure she find something there to keep her occupied while Lord Folken and I discuss the matter at hand."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the servant bowed and walked over to Adrina. She turned and looked up at Folken.

"I will come for you when we are finished," Folken told her. Adrina nodded and let herself be led out of the room by the servant. At the doors that led from the throne room, Adrina stopped and turned back towards the throne. She saw King Aston leading Folken through a door that led off of the throne room. Once Folken's cloak clad form had disappeared through the door, Adrina turned back to the servant and followed him out into a long hallway.

Adrina and the servant walked down the corridor, then turned left at the end. They were in another hallway, much like the one they had just come down. The servant walked down and stopped at the second door and stopped at the second door on the right. He pushed open the double doors to reveal a huge room full of books. Every wall was covered with bookshelves that were stocked with books

"You may wait here until King Aston and Lord Folken are finished with their meeting," the servant informed.

Adrina thanked the servant, who smiled and left her alone in the enormous library. Eager to make use of the resources, Adrina hurried to the nearest bookshelf and began scanning the titles for something interesting. She stopped as her eyes fixed onto a dark green bound book spine. She pulled it out and recognized it immediately. It was a copy of the Fairy Tales book that she had possessed back in Fanelia. This copy was in better shape however and obviously hadn't been read as many times as Adrina's.

A sudden and intense longing for her childhood swept over Adrina. She had always been happy and carefree as a child with Van and Merle by her side and Folken watching over them, Folken protecting them. It broke her heart to think that now Folken was the reason she and so many others were suffering. Adrina hugged the book against her chest as a tear trickled down her cheek. None of that mattered now though. She and Folken had been reunited. Since his departure ten years ago, she had prayed every night to see Folken again. She had been in love with him, as much as a six year old could be in love with someone. Now that her prayers had been answered, her feelings from before had come flooding back and were now intensified by the fact that she was older. She had the sinking feeling that she would follow Folken wherever he went, no matter what. That was her destiny.

Adrina slowly placed the book back on the shelf and resumed searching the titles. She finally found one that grabbed her attention and extracted the book from it's place on the shelf. She took the book over to the nearest couch, sat down and began to read.

An hour later, she was so caught up in the story, she didn't even hear the doors open.

"It is time to go."

Adrina jumped at the sound of a male voice and looked up from the book. "Folken! I didn't even hear you come in." She quickly stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, replacing the book and then turning to Folken. He said nothing and turned back to the door and walked out. Adrina followed. They were led out of the castle by a servant, who accompanied them to the castle door and bid them farewell there. When they reached the carriage, two Zaibach soldiers greeted Folken with a salute.

"Lord Folken," One of them began, "we have reports that the dragon has been spotted nearby."

"Where?" Folken demanded.

"The dragon graveyard sir," the soldier replied, "reports are sketchy but we believe he tried to destroy an energist store house."

"Is the dragon still there?" Folken questioned.

"We don't know," the soldier answered, "we have lost communications with the excavation team at the graveyard."

"So he might still be there then," Folken said to no one, "Driver! Take us to the dragon graveyard at once, the soldiers will show you the way."

"Yes sir," the driver agreed.

Folken hurried Adrina into the carriage then climbed in quickly himself. They had barely sat down when the carriage shot off through Palas towards the dragon graveyard.

The ride was a long one, over bumpy roads and rutted tracks. They finally arrived at the dragon graveyard as the sun was dipping low in the sky. The carriage came to a halt, flanked by the two soldiers atop their steeds. Folken opened the carriage door and got out, then turned back to Adrina.

"Come," he beckoned and held out his left hand. Adrina took it and he helped her out of the carriage. "Stay close to me," he ordered, "if Van is still here, he will probably try to rescue you."

Adrina nodded and the two of them entered the dragon graveyard with the two soldiers close in tow. They made their way past a huge building, or rather what was left of it. The building looked as if it had been blown apart from the inside, and recently. A few thin tendrils of smoke still rose from the wreckage.

All around them was evidence of the excavation. Scaffoldings had been set up on the cliff walls and many had partially chipped holes at about eye level. Some even revealed the dusty pink skins of energists. There were also several large guymelefs around, but they all seemed to be unoperational.

As they continued on, Adrina noticed a large fissure that opened in the middle of the excavation area. Two guymelefs and one outbuilding leaned haphazardly into the hole, suggesting that it had been made recently. There were no signs of life anywhere in the graveyard.

"He destroyed the storehouse," one of the soldiers spoke, disturbing the silence.

"And it looks as if he incapacitated all of the guymelefs," the other soldier added.

The soldiers were silent again and the group kept walking. Suddenly Adrina stopped and gasped. The three men turned to her, confused. The woman said nothing, but her face drained of all color as she stared off to the side.

"Adrina, what's wrong?" Folken asked, his voice holding a hint of concern.

Adrina pointed in the direction she was staring with a strangled cry and the men followed her gaze. Laying about ten feet away was a circle of bodies. They were all uniformed as Zaibach soldiers.

Adrina was suddenly struck with the image of finding her mother's lifeless body lying sprawled in her chamber. Adrina's father had taken ill suddenly, much like King Goau and had died less than a week later. Adrina's mother had been devastated and secluded herself in her chambers, only occasionally allowing her daughters entrance. One day, Adrina had taken her mother some food. She had knocked on the bedroom door, the tray balanced on her other arm. Her mother had not responded and Adrina had assumed she was in one of her moods and didn't want to be bothered. She checked the door as she always did, but was surprised this time to fine it was unlocked. Adrina had opened the door and called out to her mother again. She still received no answer and thought she must be sleeping. She had started to make her way into the room when she saw her. Her mother was sprawled on the floor next to the bed, lying in a pool of blood. Clutching loosely in her right hand was a dagger and Adrina could see that the blood had come from her mother's wrists. She had taken her own life. Adrina had dropped the tray of food and run down the hallways screaming. Some of the house servants had finally calmed her down and got the story out of her, but the damage had already been done.

Now, staring at the bodies of the Zaibach soldiers, many of them saturated in their own blood, brought back the terrible memory from the past. Adrina closed her eyes and felt her legs get rubbery. She felt herself start to fall but she was stopped by a strong arm around her waist. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Folken staring down at her, concern etched on his face. Once he saw her eyes were open, he turned to the nearby soldiers.

"Take her back to the carriage and stay with her," Folken ordered. The two soldiers nodded and stepped forward.

Adrina, not wanting Folken to think she was weak, shook her head. "No, I'll be fine." She stood up on her own to prove her point.

"Are you sure?" Folken prodded, his arm still protectively around her waist.

"Yes," Adrina assured, "I'm okay now. Seeing them there like that just...startled me, that's all. I can handle it now."

Folken looked at her questioningly but after seeing the determined look on her face, slid his arm from around her waist. "Cover them up," he ordered and the two soldiers obeyed immediately. They grabbed a few blankets from some nearby equipment that was covered and draped them over the bodies.

"Van must have done this," Folken assumed as the last shroud was laid in place.

"What?" Adrina exclaimed, her eyes wide, "No way. Van couldn't have done this. He's too gentle to do something this horrible."

"He's the only one that could've done it," Folken insisted, "We know he was here."

"Maybe it wasn't him," Adrina suggested, desperately clinging to the hope that Van couldn't have killed those soldiers, "Maybe it was someone who they thought was Van but really wasn't."

Folken didn't answer. Instead, he knelt down and picked something up off of the ground. He turned to Adrina and handed her the object he had picked up. She held the thing he had given her tightly in her hand. It was a snow white feather. She stared down at it in disbelief.

"Do you still believe that Van wasn't here?" Folken asked softly. Adrina said nothing and released the feather. It fluttered away in the wind.

"Lord Folken."

Adrina turned her attention to the soldiers. One of them had walked to the edge of a nearby embankment and was looking down.

"What is it?" Folken asked.

"Another body sir," the soldier replied and Adrina winced, "I think it's the commander of the excavation team. It looks like he fell down the embankment and hit his head on a rock."

Folken nodded, "There doesn't seem to be any survivors here. If there were any, they must've left. I want the two of you to put the word out that we're looking for survivors of the graveyard excavation team. I want to know what happened here."

"Yes sir," the two soldiers saluted.

Folken turned to Adrina. "It is getting late. We will go back."

Adrina nodded slowly and detachedly followed Folken back to the carriage. She was having a hard time accepting that Van had killed those soldiers. He was always so gentle, so loving. Adrina had never seen him hurt anybody or anything. She knew that forcing him into the position of King would have a profound affect on his mind. Now, as far as she could tell, he was a killer. Her little Van, a killer.

Folken opened the carriage door and Adrina slowly climbed in. The sun had gone down as they explored the graveyard, causing a chill in the air and Adrina was glad for the warm interior of the carriage. She hoped the warmth would drive away some of the numbness in her mind and body.

Folken climbed into the carriage and pulled the door shut quickly. He settled himself onto the seat next to Adrina and the carriage started off in the direction of Palas.

Lulled by the warmth and movement of the carriage and drained by the shock of seeing the bodies, Adrina felt her eyes getting heavy. She leaned back on the cushioned seat and before she knew it, she had fallen into a deep sleep.