Just to warn everybody I'm trying Nicias's POV so sorry in advance if it's bad.

Chapter Twelve- Falcons in Court

(Nicias POV)

It was early in the afternoon when some of the guard came to me with something about a white viper in the market. I didn't think it was a very big deal but then they told me that the girl looked like she was going to faint. Deciding that we didn't need two people passing out in the market within a day of each other I thought I'd check it out.

Falcons. I stopped and looked around. Three, maybe four…at least three.

I saw two of them over by a flute maker's stand. The pair of them looked like ordinary viper dancers to the rest of the world but I could see the falcon magic that hid them. They were also arguing about who had to pay for the flute that one of them intended to buy.

"I did not wreck the other one. You're the one who left it so close to the fire." One of them was saying.

"Oh, and how exactly was it again that it ended up in the fire?" The other replied. The first's mumbled response was too quiet for me to hear from the distance I was at.

As I thought about how to approach the pair the argument was apparently settled because the first of the falcons seemed to be in a worse mood and the second was being handed a flute case by the amused looking flute maker.

As the second slid the flute case into the bag she had slung over her shoulder a third girl, who looked like a python, approached. I could tell that she had falcon magic, though I couldn't see any hiding her, which led me to believe that she might be of mixed blood.

I got a little closer to see if I hear what they were saying. The first thing I heard was the first two falcons shout, "YOU WHAT?"

"I…uh… kind 'a lost Lil."

The first grabbed the third by the shoulders and started shaking her, "How could you do that? You know how she is with crowds!"

The second pulled them a part, "How about you stop shouting and we go find her then? Quickly." The other two nodded and she turned to the third, "Now then, where did you lose her?"

"Over that way… somewhere." The third pointed in the direction that she had come from.

"Well then, let's go!" The first grabbed the other two and dragged them off in that direction.

I followed them from a ways away.

"Lily!" I heard on of them shout and the first ran to where out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl with white hair fall to the ground.

The falcon caught the girl before she hit the ground. The girls eyes fluttered open again and the falcon breathed a sigh of relief as the other two ran over. The girl slowly sat up and the second falcon helped her to her feet.

"Okay." The first falcon said sounding slightly out of breath, "Audi comes with me and Tris takes Lily back out into the forest to get some air."

"Sounds good to me." The white haired girl said leaning on the second falcon for support and glaring at the third.

"Sorry 'bout losin' you Lil."

"Right. Fine." The girl said looking at the falcon she was leaning on and then the crowd of people that had begun to gather, "Can we go now? Please?" The falcon nodded.

I decided that if I was going to talk to them that now was the time so I approached with the poise of a guard, "Is everyone alright over here?" I asked calmly.

The white haired girl's head snapped toward me. I saw the fear in her eyes before her face grew even paler and she fainted. Luckily the falcon she was leaning on caught her.

The first falcon was instantly in my face, falcon magic flaring around her so strong that I wondered for a moment if the serpents around us could feel it. "What is your problem!" She shouted in my face.

"Um… I'm sorry?"

"You'd better be, buster!"

"Akiro!" One of the others shouted. Well that was one name. The angry one's Akiro.

The falcon that bought the flute walked up beside Akiro leaving the girl who'd fainted under the watch of the python girl, who I was still assuming to be mixed blooded. "Akiro..." She said in a calmer warning tone.

"Tris…" Akiro hissed as Tris moved to her side. Falcon magic moved between them in such a way that it could only have been the bond between Mercy. Araceli's Mercy. I was instantly on guard and the two of them noticed.

"Calm your royal butt down!" Akiro snapped at me. Tris smacked her on the back of the head. I quietly wondered what falcon in their right mind, save maybe Darien, who would tell someone they knew to be of royal blood to calm their 'royal butt' down.

"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else?" The python girl said, now standing holding the other, still unconscious, girl in her arms and looking around at the crowd we seemed to be attracting.

"Yes, let's." I said trying to sound reasonable.

Akiro just growled at me.

I'm really, really, really sorry that I'm a lazy bum and that this took me so freaking long to update and that it's kind of short.

I would like to thank anybody that hasn't given up on me (even though I couldn't exactly blame you if you had.) Oh, and I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed the last chapter.

I'm really sorry that my chapters are taking so long but I've kind of hit a wall (like… the Berlin Wall. Though hopefully I'll manage to get over it without getting shot.) My other story's not exactly doing so hot right now either and I'm also trying (and, at the moment, failing) to rewrite three of my original stories, which kind a' take priority… so again, sorry.

Thanks for sticking with me.

-Ebony-

P.S. I was going to post this yesterday but my dad was swearing at the computer and I was afraid to leave my room.