Once inside, everyone crowded around Alecie as she sat on the couch.
"Would you like something to drink or eat?" Mia asked, trying to be a good hostess. Alecie declined her offer as she looked at the now much larger group. There were seven other guys aside from Ryo, Sage, and Rowen and Alecie was having a hard time trying to distinguish which ones where the Ronin warriors and who wasn't. It was all very confusing and she wished that Athena was there to instruct her but she had remembered that Athena rarely made her presence known the earthwalkers and so that meant that Alecie was left to figure things out on her own. After everyone had settled down, Rowen taking it upon himself to sit next to her, she took a deep breath and asked the question that had been on her mind.
"Please, are you the Ronin warriors?" she blurted. Well, that question certainly shook things up. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise as everyone exchanged glances.
"Who wants to know?" Cale asked suspiciously. Everyone turned to her to see her response. The group had already had way too many encounters with enemies that wanted to destroy them and they weren't just going to hand over any information about them unless they had some background information first.
"I am Alecie Lynette Ryder." She said straightening in her seat a bit. "Princess of the cloudrunners, and I have come to ask the Ronins for help."
"The Cloudrunners?" Sakura spoke up leaning forward in interest. Alecie looked slightly taken back that someone else knew of the cloudrunner race, but nodded.
"Yes, do you know of them?" she asked.
"Only what I've heard from my father and read in stories," Sakura said. "I never really believed that they were real."
"Yes, we are very real, and in desperate need of help. So please can you tell me if you are the Ronin warriors that I have heard about?" she asked again.
"First can someone tell me what is a cloudrunner?" Kento asked.
"We are a people that live in the clouds. We live mainly above what the earthwalkers call the Phoenix Mountains, but we can live anywhere."
"Earthwalkers?" Sage cut in.
"People that aren't cloudrunners." Alecie said.
"How do you live in the clouds?" Cye asked. "I mean, how do you stay up there?" Alecie looked at him somewhat surprised.
"Why, we fly of course." She answered.
"Fly?" Rowen asked amazed.
"Yes, every cloudrunner is born with wings and we obviously fly that way." Alecie said proudly.
"Then where are yours?" Sekhmet cut in.
Alecie looked at him then out the window behind him to see the full moon. "A cloudrunners wings will fade in the light of a full moon. So until the sun comes up tomorrow, I am grounded."
"So what do you need help for?" Alanna asked.
"My people are being attacked, tonight. Some strange man called Broadway, otherwise known as the Illusionist is attacking out capitol, Skybax city."
"The Illusionist!" Sakura said with alarm.
"I thought he was dead." Ryo commented.
"No, Seriyu was the one who died." Sakura answered.
"I take it you know this man?" Alecie asked surprised that they had heard of him.
"Yeah." Sakura replied with a scowl. "We know him."
"Then you know how much my people need the Ronin warriors help." Alecie said clasping her hands together. "Please I beg of you to tell me. Are you the Ronin Warriors or not?"
The Ronins looked at each other then to Ryo, silently sending him their opinion by their expressions. Ryo looked at each one then to Sakura, then to Alecie.
"We are." He finally said.
