While Shaniqua starts doubting what Tudor is up to, Migs drafts Skylar, Veje, and Tudor for a hunt; one that will impact all of them…

"Yeah, I am in!' Skylar hastily says to get away from an angry Luna quickly and asks while fretting, 'What are we hunting for, Migs?"

Migs releases a sigh of relief. He acts casual like he usually does, but this time to quickly ready himself and the hunting party: "You will see."

Skylar takes on a sluggish posture as he rolls his eyes: "Argh, that is such a dull answer, as always!"

Migs looks around and notices Veje approaching him. He walks towards him, which he does at his regular pace, or dawdling as others would prefer since he does somewhat slower than other Jaquins would. Veje acts this casual, sluggish even as if he doesn't care for the world around him. Yet, he always has this gripped look in his eyes that betrays his motivation to understand what's happening around him. "Migs, where do we go?" Veje asks curiously.

Migs curtly says: "We head west, Veje. There we find what I am looking for. Prepare yourselves for we set out soon!"

Skylar becomes bored. He alternates his view from Veje to Tudor. Both are stretching themselves, clearly doing what Migs is asking them to. Skylar looks back at Migs and says: "Aw, come on Migs! Tell us what we are hunting for! How else are we to prepare?"

Migs avoids eye-contact with Skylar, on purpose. He knows this 'whining' will only distract both Skylar and himself from the current plan, and become delayed… Migs doesn't like to be delayed in general, but especially so when caused by simple excuses like these. A thought crosses Migs' mind as he keeps looking in the opposite direction, the one which they will soon be traveling in: *Verago knows his son better than anyone. Skylar indeed needs to grow up, to become more mature. Especially with this extraordinary task ahead of him. He cannot ignore this, let alone ignoring his father. He cannot simply whine like this with Elena. That is not a royal thing to do! He should learn to abide by the rules a leader imposes. I hope I can aid him in this. I am doing this for you, Skylar.*

Migs spreads his wings. "Wings up, friends! Time to hunt." he says almost fierce due to excitement.
Tudor yells 'Yes!' and starts flapping wings but remains on the ground steady. Veje stands beside him and spreads his wings like Migs does. Skylar waits for a brief moment. "Ready?" Migs shouts.

"Ready!" Skylar, Veje, and Tudor shout back simultaneously.

Excited as Skylar can be about random stuff happening around him or to him, fueled by his juvenile behaviour, so is he concerning the big game hunt that is to take place right now. "Let us give everything during this hunt!" Skylar shouts full of energy.

Migs wants to take to flight when he hears Skylar say this. He retracts his wings, turns his head and slowly asks: "Everything, Skylar?"

"Ah, right.' Skylar says excitedly still but rolls his eyes, 'Veje is with us. He takes it easy… Let us give the most then!"

"Yes!" Veje agrees proud.

Yet, no one seems to take to flight as a brief silence follows. Skylar waits for Migs to spread his wings again but he looks questioningly back at him. All but Veje now starts eyeing one another in an awkward manner before they look back at Skylar. "A lot?…" Skylar now asks having replaced his excitement with reticence.

"Now that is more like it.' Migs says pompously and after spreading his wings changes his tone to an excited one, 'Wings up, friends! We have a big game to hunt."

Migs takes to flight and quickly gains himself altitude. The rest is following him in quick succession. During the flight, Veje goes flying closer to Migs. "Migs, what are we looking for?" Veje asks.

Skylar's overhearing the two and hears what Veje asks Migs. He knows he can easily pull a joke out of it and answers before Migs can: "Probably a slow creature, Veje, so you can keep up, haha!"

Tudor starts laughing and quickly adds: "Hehe, good one! On top of that, it better be crippled as well."

Both start laughing. Veje negligently replies with a simple and unmoved 'Yes'. Flying in the lead Migs hears the boys' chaff against Veje, who in turn seems unaffected by it at all, and cannot suppress a faint laugh. He feels glad hearing Skylar being excited again instead of hearing his nagging. This reminds Migs of something: "Tell me, Tudor. You were kind to come along on this hunt. How come?"

Migs looks back and notices Tudor starting to show the same wide grin he had while persuading Migs in taking him along. Before he can reply, though, Skylar beats Tudor to it: "Hey, I heard that too. Tell us!"

"Ugh… Let me say Shaniqua and Dulce talked me into 'being nice for once', or so they said." Tudor curtly states still finding it unfair he got outnumbered two against one by these females earlier today.

During this conversation, Veje relapses back to his position next to Skylar at his own dawdling pace. Tudor notices and quickly takes advantage of the situation to divert the attention away from him. "Yo, Veje! Keep up, slowpoke!" he shouts so everyone in the party can hear him.

In the meantime Skylar has taken over Veje's previous position and now flies next to Migs, both effectively forming the front of the hunting party. Hearing Tudor yell they both look back. Migs addresses Veje at a firm tone: "Keep up, Veje! If you lose track of us you need to achieve your quota – on your own. With the end of the day drawing near king Verago will not be pleased if you bring your catch in late."

*What quota?* Veje thinks confused and disregards Migs' words.

While they continue flying westward, Nico and Dióntan in the meantime are ready to train some more for the speed race. "You must be as old as my big brother, Dióntan. This means I will be faster than both of you! I will win that race." Nico says with dedication.

Dióntan smirks. Being filled with confidence he replies: "Ha, keep dreaming, Nico! You may be royal but that does not mean I let you win.' Dióntan says confident and holds a moment halfway through his sentence as he realises something, 'Speaking of royal… I am sure my mother told me twice about a royal birth. Then, I am older than Skylar! Ha, thus I am stronger and quicker than him and certainly more so than you."

Nico takes on a playful stance by widening his hind legs and bending through his front ones, effectively forming a play bow. "We will see about that! If you are older than Skylar you are becoming like my dad: big and sluggish." Nico says confident in order to outdo Dióntan and emphasises heavily on the last word spoken.

*Again, two boys clearly showing off to one another…* Luna thinks observing the two from a distance before continuing cleaning both wings.

After she's done cleaning one wing, a female Jaquin lands next to her. "I saw you look at Nico and Dióntan, Luna. They are once more showing off like true boys." she says calm and giggles.

The female startles a bit because of Luna's energetic and loud response. "Hey, I was thinking exactly this, Shaniqua!" she replies but contains herself once she notices Shaniqua's looking a bit worried, 'What is the matter, girl?"

Shaniqua seems reluctant knowing not well how to speak her troubled mind. However, she also knows Luna always has an uplifting spirit, speaking with positive vibes, that she needs right now. "Well, I am not sure how to say this." she starts off and seems lost in thoughts.

"Tudor?" is Luna's only response.

Shaniqua looks at Luna with her eyes full of surprise, as if her mind was carefully read. "Yes, how… How did you – know I was… going to…?" she stammers while looking utterly surprised.

Luna looks at her with a sarcastic look and interrupts her by firmly saying: "Come on. I know how much time the two of you are spending together, especially in your nest. If something troubles you it likely involves him, even though he can be a pain in the neck… Now that he went on a hunt makes me rather certain in knowing what this is about."

Shaniqua releases an uneasy chuckle. She seems reluctant to admit it that Luna surprisingly said exactly what's on her mind. She feels Luna's able to read her like a book. "You are right. I actually wanted to see Dulce about this but you are pulling it right out of me. This relieves me, you know." she says uneasily.

"So?" Luna asks curtly but interested still.

"Uhm, he has gone on a hunt. I have no idea how he is behaving himself… and I always fear something will happen to him. Not that something did happen to him before.' Shaniqua says insecure and sighs, 'I am in love with him. I just do not know how to deal with this."

Luna mildly shakes her head. She startles a bit as she hears Nico yell 'Hey, wait up!' and spots him and Dióntan fly off somewhere. She turns back to Shaniqua. "I guess this is always the case when Tudor is off to somewhere, is it not? I do not know, but maybe you simply do not wish to see him leave. You were this upset when he helped fight against Shuriki. Heck, that was even more dangerous! There, look at Dióntan.' Luna says and waits for Shaniqua to look at him flying away as well before continuing, 'His brother is in that hunting party, too. I do not see him worried. He is having a blast, and faithfully awaits his brother to return which may take longer than expected… What I mean to say is just give him some space, girl. He knows what he is doing. If it makes you feel any better, Tudor always gets himself back home safe. Come on, why not share some more anoki berries with me?"

Shaniqua nods and she looks more calm now, Luna can tell. As if having an epiphany Shaniqua says: "Sounds good! I could definitely need some. Hihi, and you just want some more yourself… Though I have to admit, you are right. I should rely more on Tudor. He knows what he is doing. This actually begs me to wonder what he is doing now…"