Lahnia slowed to a walk as she neared her village. The first rays of morning were slowly making their way across the sky, and the crickets began to quiet in preparation of the new day. She stopped at the cliff overlooking Lake Floria, her village across the span of water and up on the opposite cliff that overlooked it. It was a small, peaceful village, with its simple wooden huts scattered around each other. Even from here she could see the little bright dots of color from the flowers her fellow villagers loved to plant around their huts. Her town had always been good to her, a pleasant place to grow up. They didn't deserve her misfortune. Still, she had one thing to do in her village before she left for good.

With a heavy heart she sighed, and continued her way on the cliff towards her village. It was only a five minutes' walk the rest of the way and she soon found herself on the threshold of her village, of her past, of her home. While the night's darkness was fleeting, it was still dawn and her villagers were ones who enjoyed their sleep, so she didn't worry about being seen. She still kept in the shadows the best she could, making her way through the maze of huts towards a particular one that overlooked the water below.

The hut looked like every other, with a few differences. The front of the house was lined with a mix of daisies and marigolds, Myra's favorite. When their mother was still in her senses before their father died, she helped Myra plant the flowers, and they used to have one of the best gardens in the village. Myra still tried to keep it up on her own, but the flowers were fleeting. The year their father died they nailed his favorite hat above the door, so they could still greet him when they came home. As Lahnia walked under the archway she reached her fingers up to brush against his hat.

"Hey dad" She softly said, then reached her hand for the doorknob. As usual, it was unlocked, with no reason to lock it as everyone in the village knew and trusted each other. Quietly she made her way in, and as she looked to the small living room and kitchen a wave of nostalgia hit her. She was home.

Her pointed ears picked up slight snoring in the other room. They had a two room hut, a sleeping room and a kitchen/living room. She made her way towards the other room, and glanced inside. There were four beds tightly squeezed into the room, only two occupied. Closest to the door was her brother's bed, empty and unkempt. He was probably at some girls house or at the only bar in the village, which also served as a trading tavern by day and the town hall on the weekends. She could imagine him now, drunk and snoring on a barstool there.

The next bed was her parents, a queen sized bed where her mother slept, her soft snores floating through the air, the space next to her empty. Next was her sisters bed, and she could see her body curled up under the covers, a little round sphere as she slept. Next to her bed was Lahnias, empty and made, with marigolds on the pillow.

She was touched, knowing that her loving sister put them there, willing her to come home. They probably thought she was dead, after all, she had been gone for almost... a month? Has it really been that long? They had probably assumed that she was killed by a stray evil creature, that her adventuring had finally gone too far. In a way, that was almost true.

She looked down at her peacefully sleeping sister, and slid the other letter out of her pocket. Carefully, she slid it under her pillow, then bent down to softly kiss Myra's forehead. With one last glance at her mother and sister, she left the hut. Quickly she made it out of her village, careful to avoid the few elves who had woken early and were already puttering around the village.

Soon she was back in the forest, dashing through the familiar trees. Now she had to get as far away as possible.

XxXxX

Plazo swung his blade angrily at an unsuspecting tree, ripping it out to swing it at the next one as he walked. After he was done talking to the demon lord Ghirahim he left camp, going into the forest. Without the fear of the demon lord killing him for at least two days he could finally sift through his emotions.

Obviously, he was furious at Lahnia! She betrayed his trust after he told her everything. That was not the only reason he was angry though. He had finally gotten a good assignment, one that involved practically no other demons, no training, and no killing. It was his dream job. Apparently, it was too good to be true. After his failure with being Lahnias guard, if he managed to find her he would probably be reassigned. Granted, he wouldn't put it past the lord to go back on his word and kill him anyway. Either way, his dream job was gone.

That wasn't the only emotion coursing through him. The other was fear, not for himself, but for Lahnia. He had been bracing for his death since he entered training camp all those years ago, so if he died, it wouldn't matter that much. However, he worried about Lahnias fate. If Plazo found her, he doubted the demon lord would let her back in without some form of punishment. How much torture could a young girl really take? If Plazo didn't find her, lord Ghirahim had said he would find her and kill her. Yet when Ghirahim killed people it was always in the most horrific ways possible. Either way, Lahnias future was grim.

Hopefully Plazo could find her before the latter happened, because being tortured would be a lot better than being dead.

As he was agonizing over the facts he was making his way towards Lake Floria, towards her village. Lahnia had specifically said that she wouldn't be there, but where else would he start? It was the only place he knew of where she would go. However, he did know someone who might know otherwise. What was her name again? Melody? Melanie? Mela?

Oh, he remembered now.

Myra.

A/N As usual, please review with comments, questions, critiques, etc. Thank you for everyone who is putting up with me being so sporadic with my updates! :3