Well now. Things have been just a little bit crazy round here... but I finally got the chance to update this one! Yays. Make sure you Review at the end for me please? Let me know what you think and everything... Ok? (might not update til I reach 10 reviews... Havent decided yet... )

Rath looked blankly at the girl, obviously thinking fast, racking his brain for any trace of her. "Never seen her before," he said, after a few moments, studying her and Lykouleon as though this was some sort of big joke.

Kiari walked over to Rath, pulling out a small folded piece of paper and thrust it into his hands. "So you've never seen this before, I presume?" she retorted with mock anger and frustration.

Rath just stared dumbfounded at her as he opened the paper. Reading it in rapid succession, a slight awe fell across his face. "Oh," he said simply, quietly, his voice in monotone. His eyes had a slight glazed look to them as he made to hide the note from prying eyes. "I remember this now."

Thatz stared at the note over Rath's shoulder a moment before snatching it out of his hands, frantic to give it to the Lord before Rath could hide it. He read it aloud:

"Hi Kiari,

Yay! Demon locations! My favorite! And I absolutely agree. Let's go demon hunting together okay? I've never seen you in action, so this should be an interesting site to see right? Though Nadil's head must taste horrible over a barbeque, let's try it anyways. Just for kicks. I'll bring the fire!

The note continued, talking about life in the castle, including little anecdotes about the people within it, including the Queen, Lord, Officers and Knights. Each story was increasingly more irritated in words, though the note closed off in a cheerful way:

Meet me in Draqueen in a fortnight and we'll sneak out together, just you and I. See ya in two weeks!

Rath

Rune looked a little indignant and flustered at some of the contents Thatz insisted on reading aloud to the four of them. Lykouleon looked simply and thoroughly amused, while Thatz was tearing up from laughter at the story about him, though it was crude in nature. "Well," he managed to choke out finally, "That's definitely Rath's handwriting and writing."

Rath was staring thoughtfully at Kiari, his dark eyes shining with that glazed over look. "Sorry I had forgotten," he said sheepishly.

Kiari just shrugged her left shoulder, her crystal green eyes trying so hard to mask her amusement as her body language attempted frustration. "My Lord," she said, her voice dripping with an unimaginable sweetness, "I apologize for my sudden appearance here on your grounds, but Rath did his promise."

Lykouleon had already, apparently, been thinking of this. He held his silence for a moment, simply staring at Rath, contemplating deeply. "Since even before your arrival, Kiari, I have been thinking about sending them after Nadil," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully, as though the very thought could hold a few lives in its hands. "But this task may prove too dangerous for anyone accompanying them."

Kiari scowled, looking again at Rath with a note of bitter resentment. "My Lord," she began, her voice a bit sharper than it had been before. "I have the ability to defend myself should the need arise. Between the Fire Dragon Knight and myself, there's really nothing that the two of us can't handle."

Lykouleon did not bat an eye at this pronouncement, but merely shook his head. "I know of your ability to manipulate and create ice, Kiari, as well as your elfish healing powers. That does not, however, change the danger that lies in this mission. I fear it is too dangerous for you and Rath alone." Rath made an indignant noise at this, but he ignored it and continued, "I would much rather have you and Rath accompanied by Rune and Thatz, mostly as a precautionary measure."

"But my Lord," Rune protested, but fell silent rapidly at the determined look in Lykouleon's eyes.

"The officers, fighters, and I will defend Draqueen, Rune. There is no need to worry," he added, turning back to Kiari, whose crystal green eyes were shut now in thought, her head tilted slightly forward, the tips of her elongated and sharpened ears showing through her black hair. "Will that suit you Kiari?"

She gave a curt nod after a few more moment's thought, troubled by this unforeseen accompaniment. Lykouleon just smiled, excusing the knights with their new orders, confusing though they may be.

The sun fell over another restless night as the four split outside Lykouleon's study: Thatz for the kitchen for a final hot meal made by Cernozura; Rune for a walk around the castle that he was about to leave once more; Rath to look for Ruwalk about a possible additional weapon; and Kiari for the gardens, cursing under her breathe at her misfortune.

It had been the perfect plan to get Rath on his own, and force him to take the pendant. She stamped her black heels hard into the floor, shaking a nearby vase resting upon a pedestal. "What do I do now?" she hissed at herself, pausing a moment at a windowed balcony, staring out over the grounds.

A small bird twittered on the railway at her, hopping towards her as it batted its small amber wings, chirping curiously at this newcomer. With a venomous glare, she waved her hand over it, and immediately it was encased in solid ice, frozen mid-chirp. "Ah poor little thing," she said with a laugh.

"How could you do that!" a voice came from behind her, making her jump and look around in surprise. Behind her, staring at the frozen block of bird with wonder, anxiety, and fear was the blonde-haired knight of water.

She hastily defrosted the bird, which flew off in a hurry, trying to get its chilled body warmed by flapping its wings with a vengeance. She put on an innocent face and turned to face him. "How could I do what?"

Rune glared at her a moment, peering at the bird, obviously attempting to determine if it was alright, uneasy about her actions. "How did you freeze that bird?" he asked, his voice showing no hints of worry, though his eyes did little to mask the truth. "I sense an Elvin aura around you, as does Lord Lykouleon, but no elf or faerie that I know has the ability to ice any thing over."

She blinked, taken about by both his question, and his acute sense in picking up her masked Elvin aura. Thinking fast, she responded slowly, allowing her mind to race ahead, her voice picking her words with icy determination. "Ever heard of the 'one-winged angel'? The rouge alchemist Kharl?" Judging correctly from the look crossing Rune's face, Kiari nodded, her features suddenly mournful. "He forced one of his demon seeds down my throat when I was just a child, giving me the ice powers that you can see. His experimentation on me failed, though, for the most part, and I reverted back to my elfish qualities."

Rune looked surprised. "And he let you live?"

Kiari closed her eyes, almost as though she was thinking a whole long way back, back into her distant past. "I escaped," she said quietly opening her eyes slowly, though they were masked behind her darkened strands. "I don't think he realizes that I'm alive. I was beaten, broken. As I had taken on many demonic qualities and features, I was shunned by my people, and by the villages around there, so I was left to fend for myself…."she trailed off.

"How did you come into contact with Rath, then?"

"When he went to Mt. Emphaza with the witch's fortuneteller. There was one day that she was ill, and Rath walked right into me. Quite literally actually. He saw my demon parts and told me flat out that I would not be allowed to live. That demons like me didn't deserve to be." She looked at Rune with a soft smirk outlining her harsher features. "I fought him off, and he learned why things with me ended up the way they did. He learned about Kharl."

"I see…" Rune said quietly, taking in this newfound information. "Well, I don't agree with you in giving him powerful demon location information, but I can tell that he at least trusts you to some extent." He started walking off, forgetting about the amber bird chirping persistently in a nearby tree. "We're leaving first thing. You might want to get some rest."

Kiari smiled, watching his retreating back, before turning back to the window, searching for that bird to apologize to. She located him finally, perched on the finger of someone sitting in the willow tree.

FireyFlames- Glad you like it thus far... Hope you liked Rath's ...reaction... I guess you could call it.

Krylancelo- Aiya! I miss you soo much! Sorry it took me soooo long to even write one... -.- Things have been a bit on the busy side here y'know? Glad you like so far. And... -wont say what the pendant does- Good guess! We'll all find out soon.

xxDKGurlxx - Yeppers Rath was in it! And he'll be in the next... couple... at least.

And for thought... Question 2: Who could be in the tree?