Skipping Stones

Finding Prince Lloyd was not nearly as hard as Zane had anticipated. Following his falcon and the deep indents of scattered sand wherever the young man's feet had landed, he eventually found himself standing by the river.

Lloyd stood at the bank with a flat rock in his hand, back turned to the approaching Nindroid. He wound up his arm and threw the rock at the gurgling water. The water swallowed it with a quiet splash, earning a frustrated growl from its assailant

Zane watched from a distance as Lloyd reached for another rock and tried again. It bounced once before joining the first stone on the bottom of the shallow, wide body of water.

A large, majestic brown bird flew down from a nearby tree and landed on the prince's outstretched left arm. It let out a low, mournful call and blinked, concealing its huge black eyes for a moment before revealing them again.

Lloyd ran a hand over its smooth crest affectionately before bending down to pick up another rock. The bird- an osprey- peered at the flat stone as it left its master's hand and went shooting for the water, once again sinking without a bounce. The bird lifted its wings and took to the sky.

But instead of flying into the trees as Zane had anticipated, the brown osprey landed on the ground a ways off and began to move the rocks and sand with its hooked beak. After a moment, it let out a satisfied chirp and lifted a palm-sized pebble into its mouth. It leapt back into the air and dropped the treasure into Lloyd's hand.

Zane was surprised by the bond those two shared. Even Lord Julien had trouble developing a good relationship with his robotic snowy owl. It obeyed orders, of course, but fetching things like rocks without a direct order? It was as if Lloyd's mechanical bird wanted to make its master happy, and did whatever it could to accomplish that goal.

"Thanks," Lloyd murmured to the bird. It landed on his head a second later and ruffled his shoulder-length blond hair. "Ow, get off!" He raised his unoccupied hand and grabbed the osprey's leg. "I don't want to play right now, girl. Sorry."

The osprey landed in the sand again and let out an indignant chirp as it ruffled its feathers. After realizing that Lloyd was serious about not wanting to play, it gave up and began pushing through the sand with its beak, continuing its search for rocks with eager curiosity.

Lloyd threw his fourth rock aggressively, and it shot straight through the surface of the water with a dead plunk before drifting to the bottom. He grumbled angrily as the large bird waddled up to him with its funny stride and presented another rock.

The prince dropped to one knee and held out a hand. The osprey nuzzled his palm with the side of her cheek before proudly presenting its second gift. "Good girl," he praised the robotic bird with gentle scratch under its chin.

Lloyd still had his back turned when Zane finally decided to come closer. "I can teach you how to skip rocks properly," he said.

Lloyd turned his head away from the bird and scowled at Zane. "Wu sent you, didn't he?" He said in a low tone.

Zane's black falcon fluttered down from where it had been circling in the sky and landed beside the osprey. The brown and white bird hobbled away from Lloyd and chirped quizzically at its smaller feathered friend.

"You should show your uncle a little more respect," Zane said.

"Why?" Lloyd got to his feet and threw his rock angrily into the water.

Zane reached down and picked up a stone. "Look," he said. He pressed the rock into Lloyd's palm. "The trick is in the spin. Right before it leaves your hand, give your wrist a flick down, and use your pointer finger to get it rotating like a discus."

Lloyd accepted the rock skeptically and wound up to throw it. "So..." He looked at his hand and repositioned his fingers. "Like this?" He threw the rock with a careful, deliberate flick. The rock bounced three times before disappearing.

Zane nodded in approval. "It was a little slow," he said. "But yes, it was an improvement."

Lloyd sighed and accepted another rock from his osprey. "Good girl," he muttered before chucking the rock with all the force he could. The rock dove into the water with a loud splash.

"Too hard," Zane explained. "You have to find that perfect in-between line. It takes practice."

The falcon watched intently as Lloyd's bird flew to the other side of the river and dug out more rocks, then returned and dropped it at its master's feet. The falcon let out a pleased cry- it liked this game, apparently- and used its talons to dig through the sand for rocks. A moment later, it chirped proudly and drew out an oval-shaped flat stone.

Lloyd turned to Zane's bird and held out his hand. "Good boy," he said. "Give it here."

Zane opened his mouth in objection. "Hey!" He exclaimed. "That's my bird!"

The prince chortled softly as the falcon waddled up to him and gave up his find. "Thanks," he said as he patted the bird's head. "You wanna get more for me?"

It was Zane's turn to laugh. "He's programmed to take orders from no one but me," he stated as the black bird flew off with the osprey to continue the hunt. "Sorry, but I don't think...that..." He trailed off, too shocked to continue.

The falcon came back with two rocks gripped within his talons. They dropped at Lloyd's feet with a clunk.

Lloyd looked a wee bit smug as he picked up both rocks and tossed them across the water. "You were saying?" He teased.

Zane shook his head in disbelief. "How'd you do that?" He asked.

The younger blond shrugged. "Pixal could never figure it out, either," he said. "You know how her bird is. Sassy. It won't listen to anyone but me."

Zane sat down with a grunt and pulled one leg close to his chin; the other one laid stretched out in front of him. "I guess you just have a way with robots," he said.

He stared out at the shining water and watched absently as Lloyd threw more stones. Two bounces. None. Three, then two again.

It was funny how Lloyd was so incapable of staying angry. One moment, he was throwing rocks out of frustration, and in the next he was practicing skipping techniques.

"She really loved you," Zane said finally.

Lloyd turned his head and peered through sweaty locks at his friend's face. "Come again?"

Zane patted the sandy mound next to him, gesturing for Lloyd to sit down. "Pixal," he explained as Lloyd sat down. "She really liked you. But..." He smiled sadly. "She was so...insecure. Since she was a Nindroid, she was afraid that you wouldn't want her. So she wanted to prove herself by catching Jay Walker."

Lloyd's eyes softened slightly. "I see," he said with a faint smile. "She thought that my parents might see her as a decent partner for me if she could prove she was smart enough to catch the notorious Lightning Thief. What a stubborn, foolish girl she is..." The smile dropped. "...was."

Zane could practically taste the bitterness coming out of Lloyd's skin. "You okay?" He asked.

"Of course I'm not okay," Lloyd snapped. "I'm on an island with a couple of wanted criminals, a wounded woman, you, and an old man who seems to want access to my affections just 'cause he's my dad's little brother." He reached behind him for a broad leaf from a bush and began to rip it apart. "Did I mention that the Overlord holding my best friend captive, and that one of those criminals murdered your sister?"

Zane winced. When the prince put it like that...well, perhaps he did deserve a few minutes to boil over and act like a teenager. After all, he was nineteen. He could only use the 'moody teen' excuse for a few more months before he'd be expected to man up and start preparing to take the crown from his father.

Lloyd took a small piece of green leaf between his fingers and tore it in half with a quick jerk. "Did Cole really mean it?" He asked. "The part about...assisted suicide?" His eyes looked full of pain. "Did she kill herself?"

The Northern nobleman realized his it must have sounded in Lloyd's ears when Cole had said that she jumped. "It's...hard to say," he replied. "She was actually trying to escape and swim to shore, and Cole threw that knife into her chest."

"But then she jumped?" Lloyd asked. "She knew that she wasn't going to make it, and she jumped?"

"...Yeah." Zane straightened his leg and pressed his hands into the sand behind him for support as he leaned back.

Lloyd's osprey landed by its master's side and chirped as it dropped another rock. "That's enough," the prince said. "Good girl."

The falcon dropped another rock next to the osprey's and flew away. Zane sighed and rolled his eyes. His bird wasn't very social.

Lloyd turned his head toward his bird and rubbed its cheek with his own. The creature made a noise close to a purr as it fluttered its wings and flew onto master's lap to continue its affections.

"I brought her sword," Lloyd said. "It's in my bag." The bird bent down and lifted his shirt with her beak. The adolescent gently pushed her head away. "No," he said firmly, although he was smiling a little he looked at Zane and explained. "She loves to snuggle with me in my shirt, kind of like a cat. I have a hard time getting her to realize that it's inappropriate to do that in public."

Zane shrugged. "I don't mind," he said. "It's just us out here, anyway."

Lloyd nodded gratefully and allowed the persistent bird to get underneath his shirt. It poked its round head through one of the gaps in the button-up tunic and stared at Zane inquisitively.

The Nindroid reached out and patted the bird's head. The large creature seemed to enjoy the attention. It shut its eyes and continued making the strange purring noise deep in its belly. "She's a sweet bird," he remarked as his calloused hands ran over the feathers under its chin. "I wish father had made mine half as social as yours."

Lloyd snorted. "It's not always that great," he said. "Like you just saw, she can do weird stuff. Especially in public. She loves to show me off to the world, like I'm her pet instead of the other way around." He raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner and gestured to his shirt. "Once, she tried to unbutton my shirt during a parade."

Zane snorted. "At least you'd have no trouble finding women to court," he said. "They would take one look at your toned torso and fall in love."

"Which is exactly why I keep my shirt on," Lloyd said. The osprey poked its head back into the shirt. "It's already hard enough, being an important and conveniently unattached bachelor. I don't want that kind of attention."

Zane nodded slowly. "It's hard when you're the prince," he said. "I have the opposite problem. Everyone knows that I'm...not human...so they purposely ignore me." He folded his hands on his lap and shrugged. "I don't mind, though. Father says that since I don't have hormones, I'm not going to be attracted to those of the opposite gender as easily as others might be."

The osprey poked its head through the hole in the top of the shirt and nibbled Lloyd's ear playfully. The prince's nose twitched, but that was the only indication that he had even noticed. His mind was too preoccupied. "I thought that Pixal was the one," he said. "It...it would have been hard, since she could never grow old and all that, but I thought that we could somehow make it work."

Zane watched the osprey nest its head under Lloyd's chin. The bulge under his shirt wiggled as the bird struggled to get comfortable. "What did your parents think of Pixal?" The Nindroid asked.

Lloyd smiled sadly. "They never gave me an answer," he said. "I brought it up for the first time about a month ago. The look of shock on their faces was priceless, but-ouch!" He jerked his body and winced. "Watch the talons, bud! That hurt!"

As if in response, the bird chirped apologetically and settled down.

Lloyd reached forward to pull off his boots. "Is it hot, or is it just me?" He asked as he set the footwear beside him and shoved his toes into the sand. "How have you survived an entire week out here?"

"It's only been a couple days," Zane said. "Four, at the most. But yes, I agree. It's too hot."

Lloyd reached for the buttons of his shirt and fiddled with them. The osprey began to chirp under his light touch. "Do you wanna cool off in the water for a few minutes?" He asked.

"Would I ever," Zane replied. "But we should probably get back. I don't think your uncle was done with us yet."

Lloyd groaned and threw his head back. "I guess," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Zane stood up stiffly and held out a hand for Lloyd. "Don't bother putting your boots back on if you don't want to," he said. "It's a short walk."

Lloyd reached down to grab his boots. "Don't worry," he said. "I wasn't planning on it. The sand feels too nice for footwear."

Zane reached down and picked up the two flat rocks the birds had dropped earlier. "Agree to disagree," he said as he dropped them into Lloyd's hand. "Why don't you try again before leave?"

The prince shrugged and walked back to the bank of the river. "Sure," he said. "But I want to see you toss one, too." With a quick flick of his wrist, one of the pebbles went flying for Zane's face. "Judging by the way you were talking earlier, you're pretty good at it."

The nobleman lifted a hand and caught it without flinching. "Sure," he said. "I'm okay, but not great."

"All right," Lloyd smiled. "We'll see. You ready?" He tossed his rock with a flick and watched it bounce. After it finally sank, he cheered. "Five bounces," he said proudly. "Can you beat that?"

Zane shrugged. "I'll try," he said. He examined the rock for several seconds before gripping it carefully between his fingers, winding up, and throwing.

Lloyd's jaw dropped as he watched the pebble skid across the surface of the water. "Two, five, eight, ten..." He tried to keep up, but lost count around thirteen. "Good grief, Zane!" He exclaimed. "It just kept going!"

"Until it hit that larger rock," Zane said modestly. "I should have aimed better."