AN: cheesy plot, but there's always a "found a baby in the woods" oneshot in fandoms:):):)

The hunting trip was going excellently. If Rolf was honest, it was sort of nice to be able to go without his father nodding everyone around, and he had gotten to choose who went with him. Since Queen Celina was a fully licensed wizard now, Bran could leave the Castle, and Rolf had insisted, mostly to annoy the night, that Pogue come with them too. His father was a touch worried about security purposes, but Rolf convinced him they were with a wizard and a knight, and all of them were excellent at many forms of combat. Unfortunately for Rolf, Lilah had convinced Lulath to stay back with her.

They were very successful in Rolf's opinion. They had marked countless birds and three deer; all of which they had given to the villages near by. It seemed appropriate considering the harvest had been terrible this year in these parts of Sleyne, and they had accepted the game meat gratefully. Now they were a day out from any village, and really only could carry birds and rabbits. Rolf himself had four hanging in the bag at his belt and Pogue and Bran each carried three.

Rolf kept looking back at his brother, wondering who that was. Bran wasn't wearing his wizard robes, and it was odd. While Rolf was an inch taller than Bran, now, Bran's slender build made him look like a river weed, especially since without his voluminous wizards robes he looked much less in charge. While Rolf made fun of Bran no matter what he was wearing, he had to say he was at much more ease that he didn't look like he could turn him into a frog at any moment.

"We should camp for the night," Pogue announced, stopping. "Dusk is setting in, and I'm freezing."

They all agreed with the knight, starting a fire. They cooked up their hunt for the day, satisfied to actually sit down on the ground; not straddling a griffin, and to rest their backs against their griffins. Well, Bran, who was very alright with not having a griffin, leaned up against Dagger.

"Miss Kalys yet?" Pogue snickered, and Rolf frowned at him.

"Why would I miss her any more than anyone else?" He asked patiently, Bran and Pogue grinning at each other irritatingly.

"Oh, I don't know," Pogue said airily. "You two are always kissing in closets, and such."

"Good gods, Pogue, that was one time," Rolf rolled his eyes, though the memory was fond.

"Or when you showed up to dinner with a mark on-"

Pogue was interrupted by a shrill scream, and a thin cry. Immediately they jumped up, swords drawn, on guard to head another scream. A cry that wrenched Rolf's heart continued, and he was positive it was a child.

"That sounds like an infant," Bran said grimly, and Rolf dashed in the direction of the crying.

He winced as a branch scratched his cheek, but kept going, hearing Pogue and Bran thunder after him. He jumped a bush, adrenaline pumping in his veins as he brandished his sword against a branch in his way, grinning a touch when he heard it snap back and Bran hiss. He watched, proudly, as Dagger soared above him, Arrow circling with him. Rolf slowed down, quietly stalking through the branches as he neared the screaming, Bran and Pogue catching up to him.

"When did you get so fast?" Bran wheezed, and Rolf shrugged.

"Since Kalys-"

"Shhh," Rolf hissed, not really thinking they needed to be quiet, but not wanting to made fun of again.

Pogue was quite right; he had been much more active since Kalys had arrived, but that was mostly because she was an excellent sparring partner. Not that anyone could know that they would spar in the early mornings of dawn when no one would see them. That would be great ground for teasing that Rolf knew be deserved, but didn't have time for.

Rolf shook his thoughts away, taking another careful step forward. He pushed aside the bushes, cursing at what he saw. This reminded him strangely of Hatheland, only this was more personal. These were his people.

A woman lay there, bruised and bloody, looking like she'd been attacked by something. Rolf's stomach turned when he saw the source of the crying. A baby sat up, screaming, and Rolf crouched. The baby reached her arms out to him when she saw him, and he sheathed his sword, firstly checking for the woman's pulse. When he found nothing, he put his head to her chest, desperately looking for some sort of heartbeat. Her body was cold, though, and Rolf shook his head at Bran.

Rolf tenderly picked up the baby, and she, Rolf assumed by the nature of her wearing a tiny dress, buried her head in his chest. It couldn't have been comfortable considering he was wearing chainmail, but he supposed she hadn't been held for awhile.

"We're miles out from any near town," Pogue said, and they both watched as Bran knelt to do something.

"Looks like an arrow wound," the wizard murmured. "An infected one. It's not fresh."

Rolf ran his free hand through his hair. "Kithage is the nearest village. Let's see if someone can recognize the body, and we can give the baby to relatives."

"We'll have to wait until first light," Pogue pointed out, as Dagger and Arrow landed beside them. "Let's head back to camp for the night. Do you think she'll sleep?"

Pogue motioned to the baby, who had stopped crying and was lifting her head to stare at Rolf. He stroked her cheek with a gloved finger, wiping away the glistening tears.

"I'm more concerned on what she's going to eat," Bran commented. "She probably hasn't eaten in a while. Look at how tiny she is."

It was true; she was very fragile, her limbs clinging to Rolf, as if he were about to put her down. He gave a little sigh at how pitiful the poor thing looked. One of his jobs as the Crown Prince was to visit villages, and that included playing and telling stories to children and kissing babies. He was use to much chubbier babies, and this one was just so small.

"We can mash berries," Pogue decided. "She looks old enough to handle that."

Bran and Rolf looked at him. Pogue just shrugged sheepishly.

"I have ten younger sisters," he said. "I know a thing or two about babies."

Rolf shrugged. "Alright then, take her, won't you, and Bran and I will load up the…well, the body."

But the baby wouldn't have it. Pogue cooed and clucked, but she clung to Rolf as he tried to hand her over, and Rolf supposed it was because she'd been put down and passed around a lot over the past couple of days. Pogue just shrugged and he and Bran loaded the baby's mother onto Dagger, and they trotted back to camp.

"Are you hungry?" Bran asked the little baby, and she just tearfully blinked at him.

Pogue had already begun to mash up the soft berries they had been given from a village for bringing them a deer. Rolf was thankful that it was summer time, and while it was cooling off, the weather wasn't frigid. The baby, who Rolf wished had a name, ate them all up, giving all of them relief. Pogue kept going on and on about how some infants were very particular about eating.

She fell asleep on Rolf after that, and he tucked her amongst a nest of blankets that the griffins had put together, and Rolf wondered if they thought that they, foolish humans, thought they were doing a poor job of caring for the little thing. The griffins, male or female, were obsessed with their babies; and really babies of any kind, considering how they reacted to puppies, and the various toddlers in the village.

Rolf clapped his hands together quietly. "Might as well sleep, then. We'll fly at dawn to Kithage."

They turned awkwardly to their sleeping mats, though Rolf kept having fears that the baby would stop breathing or something, and stayed awake for awhile despite how tired he was. He kept looking over at the peaceful baby beside him, making sure she was alright. He fought with sleep, however, and lost after awhile, falling into a sleep full of nightmares.

He woke up with a start, swearing, when he dreamed of evil bandits trying to take the baby away from them. Light was pouring through the trees when he sat up blinking, and he realized the baby was crying. He panicked when he looked to see her gone from her makeshift bed, his heart racing. Bran was trying to bounce her, but the poor kid just couldn't be satisfied.

Rolf stood up quickly, fussing over the thing, gathering her into his arms. He realized he was acting like Delilah, but after how panicked he'd been at the nightmares, he didn't really care. Bran just nodded at him, and mounted behind Pogue. Rolf sat the baby in front of him, one arm tightly wrapped around her to keep her from wiggling. He was a little worried about her falling off, but he squeezed her tight against him, holding on tightly with his thighs to Dagger. Gripping his neck, they were off.

Off to Kithage, to hopefully return a baby.