Naru was sweating more now, not entirely from effort of the magic but also the panic twisting his stomach into knots. He could hear the footsteps far behind them still, painfully aware that they were still being followed.

"What does she want from us?" He whispered to Althea anxiously.

"Well, everyone knows that the peacocks are royalty. As are the tigers. Seeing both in the same group likely raises some alarm bells." Althea explained, but that definitely didn't help Naru's nerves.

"Althea… I can't be captured again" his voice broke with the words.

"I know. I wouldn't let her capture you. Not without a fight, at least." She said in determination.

Naru glanced over to her in surprise again, shocked that she would indeed choose to risk her life for him. It was one thing to say it, it was another thing entirely to do it.

"I should warn you, before this starts," Naru whispered to her, "my magic, if I fight, it's… pretty wild. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Wild?" Althea asked in a soft voice.

He nodded anxiously. "It's… solar."

"SO-" she said loudly, shock making her forget where she was for a second. "You have solar magic?!" She whispered urgently. Then again with the illusion magic it made sense. Solar magic worked with light and energy, but it was incredibly rare.

Naru only nodded, looking entirely uneasy. "My father had fire magic, but solar magic appears once in a while… well, it did. My grandfather had it."

Althea nodded, understanding now. The peacocks were known to be incredibly formidable and now she knew why. Solar magic worked with raw energy, drawn from the light around them. On a warm sunny day like this, his magic would bit limitless. No wonder he struggled practicing after it got dark.

"Well, I have water magic. Mostly with healing, but I can fight a bit. I'm fairly good at dispelling, too." She said, hating how useless she was in battle. She had her water pouch though, so if anything did happen she could at least use that as a source.

Naru nodded, looking ever more nervous as he watched the others disappear into the trees ahead. He let the illusion on them fall once they were out of sight, and it was much easier to just maintain his own.

It was far too long in silence before the footsteps grew closer, both of them tensing as the woman drew near. They were nearly to the forest line when suddenly a blue glow started to make a line around them, quickly arching around them in a circle.

Althea raised a hand to dispel the containment shield, the light quickly dispersing into the air as Naru dropped his spell on accident in fear at the attack.

"Such a pretty bird." The woman cooed happily, her blue eyes sharp as ice beneath the brim of her hat. "You'll fetch a pretty price."

Naru made a small squawk of fear and took a step back with wide eyes, looking like he might try and run. Althea stepped in front of him, glaring at the woman angrily.

"You're not taking him." She growled fiercely.

"Oh, and here I thought you didn't know what they were." The woman said in mild surprise. "Pity. I'm sure they'll pay a price for traitors, too." She said, casting another capture ring around them, fast enough that the line connected before Althea could disspel it. A blue field surrounded them, sending Naru into a panic as his breath quickened.

"Naru, come on-" Althea urged as the woman started getting closer to them with greedy eyes. "Fight back, come on!" Althea looked to the bird, her voice hitching in panic as the seer raised a hand, blue magic forming for another spell. "NARU!" Althea shrieked in worry, afraid he wouldn't do it.

Naru was shaking as he lifted his hands, one hand holding his arm as a golden glow formed in his open palm. It swirled wildly as it collected, the woman faltering as her face fell in recognition.

"Oh sh-" she wasn't able to complete her sentence before a blast of raw energy sent her flying dozens of yards back, the bright flash from the magic making a pillar above them as it went wild. The woman had been knocked out, the circle fading from around them, but now they had much bigger problems

"Come on-" Althea grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward so they were running toward the trees, hoping to find cover as quickly as possible. No doubt everyone in the area had seen that pillar of light and would come investigating. Solar magic was rare even among humans, nonetheless animus.

Naru panted as he ran behind her, not used to moving so fast yet, and they finally slowed when they came to the cover of trees, running a short distance into the forest for good measure.

Naru leaned over against a tree as he fought to catch his breath, his eyes wide as he finally came out of his daze.

"Did you see that? Did you see what I did?" He laughed breathlessly in delight. "I did it! I actually did it!"

Althea was panting as well, but smiled and nodded as she caught her breath. "I did see it, you kicked her ass. I knew you could do it." She let out a breath of relief that it had worked out, but they still weren't out of the woods yet. Literally. "Come on, I told the others we'd meet them at the other side of the forest at sunset. We need to make sure we're far away from here as soon as possible."

Naru looked much more happy as he followed after her, his tail lifted behind him as he trotted after her, waving back and forth with his steps as he twittered softly.

Toran was pacing back and forth anxiously as he waited at the other side of the tree line, Xicro watching him with a bit of an amused look.

"They'll be fine." He reassured the Prince, who didn't falter in his nervous steps.

"What if they were captured? Or worse? I shouldn't have let her go alone." Toran growled.

"She's not alone, Naru is with her." Radica said, looking rather entertained as well. She'd never seen Toran this anxious before, and definitely not for a human.

"Yeah," Toran huffed. "In the state he's in I don't expect him to fight. He's been through too much. Not that I blame him, but-" he looked up as a stick snapped in the forest, unsheathing his sword as Xicro and Radica stood up cautiously.

"Are you trying to get found? I could hear you nearly half a mile away." Althea came out from the trees with a huff, putting her hands on her hips in frustration.

Toran let out a long breath of relief, putting his sword away as they all relaxed. "I was nervous." He muttered defensively.

"Yeah well it worked out." Althea shrugged.

"We saw a beam of light earlier, are you two alright?" Xicro asked as Naru came out from the forest as well, picking sticks out of his feathered-hair.

"Oh, uh… that was me. Sorry about that." Naru said sheepishly. "My magic went a little wild."

"Your magic?" Xicro blinked in shock.

"Yeah he has solar magic." Althea grinned. "Blasted the lady clear back to the road. It was pretty impressive, really." she grinned over to Naru who gave a meek expression and looked away, though his tail opened a bit behind him.

Toran looked between them before frowning a bit at Naru. "well I'm glad you're alright. Let's get going." He said gruffly, turning to walk toward the coast a bit faster than was needed.

"Did I say something?" Naru wondered why Toran was suddenly in such a bad mood, looking to Xicro when he chuckled.

"No, you're fine. Come on, I can't wait to see the water." Xicro said eagerly, walking after Toran. Naru groaned in dismay at the reminder, setting a hand over his stomach as it lurched at even the thought of those choppy waves.