Authors Note- Outcast is one year old today!

Kouichi stormed silently into Takuya's apartments, still firmly holding Izumi by the wrist. "Of all the stupid, crazy, hair-brained, lunatic schemes you've ever plotted, this is the worst!"

"You're ranting in the wrong language, brother," noted Kouji, following behind, and looking around. "Takuya… don't you own any furniture?"

"Shut up." Takuya moved to the fireplace, and held a hand out to the banked fire, calling out his magic. He was rewarded with flames springing up quickly to fill the hearth. "Oh… Wow… Didn't think that would work."

Kouichi blinked at him, totally loosing his trail of thought.

Izumi took advantage of his distraction and jerked her hand loose. "Hey. Stop calling me names in a language I don't understand. And stop thinking that I can't do anything."

"And stop thinking that you're so safe!" Kouichi growled. "Joshua in three days is as good as king until we get back. I can't look at him for long, he's glowing so bright to my magic. He's got something that's old, and powerful."

Izumi snorted. "So he's going to get a shock running into you guys. You've got powers beyond anything that he could have. I'm not afraid of him."

"You should be!" Kouichi yelled at her.

Kouji placed a hand on Kouichi's shoulder. "Calm down. Think of the leaves and streams of home. Let's talk not yell."

Kouichi sighed, and seemed to deflate slightly. "I'm just worried. I'm sorry, Izumi, but you're wrong. You can't see what I can see. What ever it is that's on his side, it's way stronger than us." He looked at Kouji, then Takuya. "Stronger than all three of us together."

Izumi shook her head. "I don't believe that." She gestured at Takuya. "He just lit a fire by waving his hand, and he didn't know if it would work. He's the Warrior of Flames! He doesn't even know his own power and potential, and you are telling me what can and can't be done. You're a general for his fight, and unless you start to have faith in him and yourself, how can you hope to take on whatever it is that the gods want you to fight?"

"She's right." Takuya stood, and shrugged out of his robe. "I don't know what I'm capable of. I don't even know what this sword of mine can do, all I can feel is the magic in it. I'm supposed to be a warrior, but I've no clue how." He looked at Kouji, then at Kouichi. "You've grown up with magic. You understand it. I don't. I'm relying on your advice and guidance. If you tell me that Joshua is in league with something stronger than we are, then fine." He moved close to Kouichi. "We get strong enough to take him down. You've had that bow for over a week, do you know all its secrets? All its power, and how its to reinforce your own? Cause maybe I've not been paying attention, but you've not even drawn an arrow with it." He turned to Izumi. "And I want you to know this. You know nothing about this world, and the battle that's coming. You can try and bluff it out, but it's most likely that you'll get hurt, trying to play the game. But this isn't a game like your petty politicking. This is real. This can and probably will kill people, and you're playing with the ringleader." He held out a hand, making a ball of fire rise from the fireplace, and guided it close to Izumi. "You see this? My power? My magic? Kouichi says that this is nothing compared to what surrounds Joshua, and you want to play with that?" He forced the ball of fire close enough to make Izumi step back.

Kouji was stunned. Has he always been able to speak like that? I feel like I should follow his orders, just for who he is. Is this why the gods chose him? "Takuya… Stop. She's got the point. You might hurt her."

Takuya blinked, then blushed a little, ducking his head. The previous confident demeanour evaporated, leaving his normal, slightly nervous, slightly brash manner. "Yeah. Sorry, I forgot that fire can hurt." He reached out and just plucked the ball of fire out of the air. "But Kouichi doesn't doubt your abilities, he just doesn't want to see you hurt." The fireball collapsed into his hand.

Izumi blinked a few times. "Wow. You know how to argue your point. I can see why the elves agreed to talk." She stepped away from Takuya slightly. "Look, Joshua won't try anything. Can you imagine what would happen if I just disappeared? I'm not just some inconsequential girl, I'm well known by both the nobility and the servants."

Kouichi sighed. "If he's managed to have a hand in making his own brother, the heir to the throne disappear, then he'd have no trouble making you vanish as well. Trying to get his favour just to betray him isn't wise. He's a very intelligent man, and he'll see through whatever it is you try. And as the ruler while the king is gone he'll have far greater resources than before. Please just bide your time until we return. We're recognised as nobles now, ourselves. We can use this to stay with you and back you up."

Kouji nodded. "You may have some skills with the sword, but Joshua will likely attack with magic. That's something you personally cannot fight." He touched Takuya's shoulder. "So wait for us. We have the weapons to fight."

Izumi shook her head. "I can't stand by and do nothing. I'm not some damsel in distress waiting for the brave men to come and save me." She smoothed out her skirts. "But you do have a point. I won't do anything overt, I'll just keep trying to get closer to Joshua." She smiled at Kouichi. "But not too close. Don't want to make you jealous after all." She swept out the room, leaving Kouichi spluttering.

"Wha… She… I… but… Never… er…"

Kouji slapped him on the back. "My poor brother is jealous of Joshua getting all the attention from his girlfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend!"

Takuya giggled. "Must be. You took her as a date to the banquet."

"That was totally different!" protested Kouichi. "She needed an escort, and our mother couldn't escort her and go on one of our arms, so I volunteered to take her!"

"If she was that terrible," said Kouji, "you would have used your position as first son to argue that you should take mother."

Kouichi spluttered a little, then threw his arms in the air. "Fine! Be like that! I don't care." He faced Kouji. "But I'm not the one telling Junpei."

Kouji shook his head. "Junpei will find out for himself soon enough. Izumi is still his friend even if she's not actively pursuing him."

Takuya shrugged. "Let's not think about that for now. We're leaving the day after tomorrow, and there's very little we could do in that time to patch things up."

"We could start it," countered Kouji. "Shutting out an ally might not be wise."

Takuya shook his head. "I wish we could. That we could spend more time with Tomoki. But we're needed in service of our people. Our friends will have to be set aside for now." He made a face. "No matter how distasteful it seems."

Leaving the castle at Lyndora seemed remarkably hard to Takuya for the little time that he'd spent there. In a way the castle was his home now, a place where people cared and accepted him. Of course it wasn't true that his family still hated him, but it was harder and harder for him to remember the shy, confused boy that they'd driven out. It was like he was changing, and while it might be for the better as far as both he and the kingdom were concerned, it made him realise that he no longer quite fit with the small world view that the rest of his family back in Greenfields had.

Although he had been offered to sit in the carriage with Lady Tomoko and the twins, he felt that he would be intruding. After all, just because my family is a hundred miles from here doesn't mean I should disrupt a family that is together. He sighed, and shifted in his saddle slightly. Riding all the way to Whitefords wasn't a difficult task by any means, but he felt out of place in the convoy. Most of them were blue-tabarded members of the King's Men, which may, for all he knew, have included some of the company of men that had captured himself and the twins back at the farm at Applefields. King Elbert himself rode a white warhorse, looking very much the leader of men he was supposed to be. His only concession to safety was that he rode in the centre of the column rather than at the head.

Takuya looked at the fine riding clothes that the king wore, then blushed and looked down. While the king had been generous to Takuya, giving him some money to buy 'clothes, equipment and furnishings befitting a mage' Takuya had refused to spend extravagant amounts. While the chest that he had loaded into one of the wagons carrying luggage did contain fine clothes suitable for court, Takuya had reverted to wearing his old clothes most of the time unless there was an overriding reason. He found that the fine clothes made him uncomfortable, as he was very much aware that he was just a farmer's son, as opposed to a lord like the twins.

That's the amazing thing. They look like they fit.

Takuya had been surprised at the number of questions that the twins and Tomoko had needed to answer compared to the few polite questions he was asked about how he came to be at court. While he had always seen the twins move with grace under pressure, now that they wore such expensive and elegant clothes they seemed to be almost other-worldly. If not for their ears, they would have had many of the Princess's companions swooning over them, thought Takuya to himself. He tried to ignore the sting of jealousy that resulted from the thought of someone else looking at Kouji that way. I haven't spent enough time with him lately. He's just spent so much time with his mother. I don't begrudge him that, he deserves to get to know her as well as if she had always been there for him. He frowned. But I miss having someone I can ask about magic. I keep trying things, and never know if I'll mess it up again. I'd feel better if he was there. He touched the hilt of his sword slightly. And I still know nothing of this. When I practice, it feels like a normal sword… Almost. But there's something inside it, that calls to my magic. I just wish I knew what. He stretched his arms out a bit, and got Chess to trot over to by the carriage.

"Hey, anyone alive in there?"

He was rewarded by the blinds on the window moving up, revealing Kouji's face. "Of course we're alive. Getting bored of riding?"

Takuya shook his head. "Getting bored of riding in silence. All the King's Men talk amongst themselves, and to the king, but not to me." He made a face. "Part of me expects them to try to shoot me with arrows again."

Kouji sighed. "I feel like that too. That's why I prefer travelling like this." He touched his ear lightly. "These make me rather recognisable to other people. It's strange not to be hiding them while in the company of humans."

"You'll never have to hide from either me or your mother, Kouji," said Takuya. "We both know that your ears mean nothing. Besides, who'd dare mock the name Kimura?"

Kouji wrinkled his nose slightly. "Always sounds strange to my ears. My name is Kouji Minamoto, not Lord Kouji Kimura."

Kouichi's face joined that of his brother's at the window. "We'll get used to it, Kouji. One name for the humans, another for the elves, but always the same person." He looked at Takuya. "In truth, I'm a little nervous. We're meeting a grandfather that knows nothing of us."

Takuya nodded. "I can understand that you're nervous. Me, I'm more nervous about the translating for the king. You're sure that the elves wouldn't double-cross us?"

Kouichi nodded. "I felt no deception, and it is not our… their way to invite outsiders just to trap them."

Kouji smiled slightly. "Don't worry, you'll do great, and we'll both be alongside you."

"I hope you're right, Kouji," replied Takuya.