That morning, Jedite was nowhere to be found in the castle or the surrounding meadows and villages, searches went as far as the ocean and the mountains. If Jedite was in the area, he was hiding, and whatever his reasons, they more than likely were not honorable. The unstable Shitennou had gone AWOL right in the middle of a civil war. This would be less than helpful for the Prince if one of his own guardians had switched sides. Word went out through a private grapevine that if any sighting was made of Jedite, the guards of the area were to be contacted and he was to be dragged unceremoniously back to the castle immediately.
Alexandrite was calmer than usual during the day, she'd been exhausted by night terrors and had constantly woken up crying in a cold sweat throughout the entire night. She spent the morning yawning and rubbing her eyes instead of her usual uncontrollable antics. She was napping under an oak tree with Zoisite sitting nearby as a guard. Her sleep was anything but peaceful, as the night terrors had followed her out into the sunlight. Zoisite looked over at her occasionally, frowning with concern for the child's health. Most people who slept that fitfully were beginning to become feverish and ill. He put a hand on the girl's forehead when she managed to settle for a moment. Her forehead was ice cold.
"Perhaps we should move her inside for the day?" Kunzite suggested coolly as Zoisite remove his hand from the girl's forehead with a deeper frown than he'd worn before checking her temperature. "If she's ill, a healer will need to see her before it becomes worse"
Zoisite shook his head with a puzzled look on his face. "That's just it, Kunzite, she isn't sick. She doesn't have a fever and she's –not- in a cold sweat"
Kunzite frowned over this information as Nephrite finally emerged from the castle, looking as if he hadn't slept for days. "How do the skies look?" he asked the astronomer offhandedly, it was their usual greeting when Nephrite had been locked away in his observatory room.
"Restless. There's going to be trouble, very soon. That streak of light was no comet, it came from the Sol star itself. The stars are fearful." Nephrite's voice was monotone from lack of sleep and being put under extreme duress. "This war is no longer a possible future. It is about to begin"
"Dammit." Zoisite snarled under his breath. "Where the hell is Jedite? If his absence is contributing to this, I'll kill him myself"
"Zoisite, be still, your rashness will be the end of you one day." Kunzite ordered sternly, glowering at his student.
"There are rumors of his sighting already." Endymion interjected, walking up to the grouping. "A man looking like him, but in a different uniform, has been seen in a city far off from here"
The group remained silent for a long period of time as Zoisite stroked the sleeping girl's hair absently. She'd begun another fit and the young man had slipped over to hold her gently so she wouldn't hurt herself against the tree roots.
"…. Do…. you think he's defected?" the young blonde man finally asked the question that had been weighing on their minds through the silent moment.
"Possibly. I want any guards that can be spared to be sent out to that city to find him. Now." Endymion frowned and headed back to the castle.
The three remaining Shitennou stayed behind, each sharing a look of concern. One of them would have to go with the guards, to ensure there was someone present who was skilled enough to take Jedite down and keep him suppressed during the journey back to sentencing for his abandonment of his post. Jedite was the lowest ranked of the four, but that didn't mean he couldn't easily take down many soldiers with basic martial arts and weaponry skills. They were the absolute elites and had been chosen as the bodyguards of the Prince because of it.
"I'll go." Kunzite finally volunteered.
"You will not!" Zoisite retorted. "You can't leave Alexia here while she's having these fits, and you're sure as hell not going to drag her along"
"I'll go then." Nephrite offered. "You can't leave either, Zoisite, she'll only calm down when she's in your arms. I've done what I can for the moment as far as determining the threats, and am unneeded"
Kunzite nodded, accepting Nephrite's voluntary suggestion. "Be careful. He's always been a little disturbed and he's well known for his cunning. He could have traps set up if he's truly betrayed us"
Nephrite nodded solemnly and headed off to the castle to pack for his journey. He knew Jedite was a master of his environment, he could set perfect traps that were meant for easy capture, or he could kill you with them if he believed you were a dangerous threat. If Jedite really left of his own will and had no intent to return, he would be setting killing traps for any of Endymion's men, because he'd know they'd be coming.
Chrysol City wasn't so much a city as a large town. There was a manor for the noble in charge of the area beneath the royal family, but it was hardly a castle. The family in charge here had been friendly with the royal family for generations, and sent extremely valuable gifts to Endymion's naming ceremony. They had constantly made it obvious that they wished their eldest daughter, Beryl, to be betrothed to him. They'd been upset to discover the Prince had other ideas, but they'd made no moves to lead anyone to believe their loyalties had suffered from the choice. That Jedite would find any substantial group of disloyals here and join them, was a fact that Nephrite found very hard to swallow.
Still, the man stayed wary as he patrolled the streets, keeping an eye out for anyone who watched him a little too long, or made it a little too obvious that they were trying –not- to look at him. There were a few more suspicious people than he would have liked to notice for a town of this size… it didn't add up to the usual ruffians and pickpockets. He was getting a bad feeling, but kept with his training and reaffirmed their first impressions by moving on and pretending he took them to be regular bandits who wouldn't possibly attempt to steal from a Shitennou. He kept a hand at his ceremonial sword, just in case someone decided to get brave, but kept his eyes forward, heading towards the larger of the taverns in town.
When he entered, the usual chatter instantly fell to a silence as if the people were all puppets who'd all had their strings cut deftly in a single swipe of a sword. More than half of them were staring quite hostilely at Nephrite, the rest were making it a point to avert their eyes and find something new to be interested in the moment they saw the marks on his uniform. All of this meant one thing to Nephrite. Jedite was here. They'd have no reason to react this way to a Shitennou if he wasn't.
The owner of the tavern frowned at Nephrite as the middle member of the Shitennou came up to him with a serious expression.
"I have reason to believe a companion of mine is here. I don't suppose anyone has seen him?" the earthy brown of Nephrite's eyes was darkened by the temper he held back.
The slightly portly man remained silent, but a serving girl spoke up after a tense moment. "Do you mean the silver tongued blond man"
Nephrite smiled internally. Of course, the women would be the first to know Jedite was in town. He had his weaknesses, after all. "If he was wearing a uniform like mine"
The young girl nodded enthusiastically with a look in her eyes Nephrite knew far too well. "He was such a gentleman…" she paused with a slight pout. "Such a shame he was only here for one night on his way to the castle"
"The… castle?" Nephrite froze.
"Yes." The young girl nodded again. "I think he said something about a meeting with the young lady of the manor." Of course the girl saw nothing wrong with giving that information away, how could telling one member of the Shitennou where another was be a bad thing?
Nephrite excused himself after giving the girl a small gold coin. He'd have paid her more, if he had been certain that the man behind the bar wasn't going to steal it from her before the night was over. The young astronomer walked out into the night and stared up at the sky, studying the stars.
"The night bodes ill. I'm beginning to worry about the safety of Endymion-dono and his loyals…" he muttered to himself, eyes darkening as his pupils widened to take in all the starlight. The moon was turning full, and there were signs of an eclipse occurring within a few nights. His previous astronomical studies had not shown him any signs of a lunar eclipse before tonight, another bad sign. He took a deep breath and began walking towards the Chrysol Manor.