Deidon Hold... a massive building with incredible endurance. The old fort stood incredibly rugged and strong... and tall as the two got closer to the building. Already, the huge fort was a bit unsettling to Tai. The feeling of being small, the fact that a lot of people inhabited this place more than the area in Halure in which he lived... man, he was wanting to get out of this place faster than he could breathe. Just looking at Estelle, he felt that unless he addressed this, she'd take her sweet old time in here. However, she beat him to it as she looked at him with curiosity.

"Tai?" he turned his head to look at her as she said, "I can tell that you're uncomfortable here... it seems a lot it's true; you don't like being in a big civilized area..."

"Well, it's not like I'm a caveman or anything..." Tai said, feeling as if Estelle was a bit degrading in that statement, "But I am just a bit nervous when it comes to big areas... So, I'm just gonna say this now, if you have anything you need to do here, then get it over with now. I don't want to rush you here, but... I really don't want to be dragged into side-stuff either..."

"I understand," Estelle said, nodding.

Sadly, Tai felt like he came off a bit too rude there. It looked like she was very distressed and eager to get the trip done or at least be alone with someone she knows better than him. He lowered his head a bit as she looked around and began to walk. Before she got too far away, he grabbed her hand gently.

"Huh? Tai, what is it?" she asked, turning back.

"Estelle, I'm really sorry," Tai groaned remorsefully, " Look, I'm really not joyful around huge groups of people, but that was downright rude of me to say that to you..."

Estelle smiled and giggled, covering her mouth a bit with her other hand. Blinking in shock as he let go, he tilted his head to the left and raised an eyebrow.

"Um... what's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, it's just... I forgive you, but the way you said your apology and how you acted reminded me of two certain friends of mine who are apart of Brave Vesperia: Yuri Lowell and his partner Repede," she said, smiling and holding her arms in front of her, "Yuri is a straight up person who just says what he wants, regardless of how others react to it, and Repede doesn't like being in a place where there are tons of people he doesn't know."

"So, I'm being compared to people you like?" Tai said, slightly smiling, "Wonderful. Great to know I'm a face of memories."

Estelle actually laughed at that. It sort of brought a smile to Tai's face. But why? Was making others happy a good thing to him? He never liked people, but something about helping others made him happy. But at least, Estelle was cheerful again. That was some big bonus.

"All right, let's pass through," Tai said, but as they began to walk towards the other side, past the tents that offered a night's rest, it seemed that there was a huge group of knights.

"Huh? What's going on?" Estelle said, "There's an awful amount of knights in Deidon Hold."

"Well, this continent is owned by the imperial emperor, right?" Tai asked, "So, it would make more sense if the knights would be guarding such an important travel fort to stop monsters like the Lord of the Plains."

"Oh, you mean Brutal?" Estelle asked, tilting her head a bit.

"Wait, that's what that monster's name is?" the young man said, adjusting his headphones on his ears once more.

"Yes, in fact, he was one of nine giganto monsters that the group I traveled with defeated," Estelle said, smiling.

She suddenly saw a look of unbelievable amazement on her new acquaintance's face. He blinked in surprise as the complete power and truth in her words just came up behind him and smashed him in the face.

"Wait... what? You killed off the Lord of the Plains by yourselves?" he struggled to speak.

"Well, not by her lonesom', ya know. We had ta work pretty hard as a team ta pull that unbelievable feat off."

A voice from behind Estelle spoke as its body came towards them. It was an older man who was scraggly-looking on his face, letting his beard be unkept. His huge spiky hair was tied into a ponytail that stood out instead of just laying down against his back. Wearing a purple and yellow coat over a pink shirt and black pants and other clothing, he kept a hold on his short dagger in his coat. Well whoever he was, it seemed Estelle knew him, Tai thought.

"Raven!" she cheered his name, apparently happy to see him.

"Yo!" he said, smiling as he offered a hug, to which Estelle kindly backed up with a nervous smile and a bit twitchy, "What? Still no hug for ol' Raven?"

"It is good to see you again, Raven," Estelle said smiling, "It's been a long time since we've traveled."

"Ahhh, I guess you're just not ready ta understand the beauty of true hugs, yer highness," the man said, shrugging and shaking his head.

He... didn't know why, but something about this guy just made him really smile and happy. He didn't know what it was or why it did what it did, but just having this Raven guy around made him content, as if he met a possible friend or somebody who knew his pain. Tai just watched the two converse a little bit until the man ended up looking at him.

"Ooooh, and who is this young man?" he smirked, rubbing his chin.

"Oh! Raven, this is Tai. He's helping me be escorted to Zaphias so I can visit Flynn," she said, introducing the teen.

"Yo," Tai waved his hand up as he dug the glove-covered arm into his pockets.

"Well, then it's my turn. Allow me ta introduce myself; you are lookin' at Raven the Great!" the man said, announcing his name loudly with a confident smile.

Now, Estelle was expecting Tai to make some snappy comeback to his introduction. After all, all of her friends did, especially on how Raven always acted. But to her surprise, the young teen looked rather pleased and excited to meet him.

"Well, it's an honor, Raven the Great," he said smirking under his hood.

Still baffled by the teen's unexpected turn of social politeness, she turned to Raven and asked, "So, what are you doing here in Deidon Hold? I thought you went back to Dhangrest."

"Well, I did, but then I happen one day ta receive a letter from the one and only Commandant Flynn Scifo, askin' me ta com' help him," Raven said, shrugging with an hilarious sigh, "I couldn't refuse, since Harry as the new Don ordered me ta."

"Wait, is Flynn here?" Estelle asked with a curious face.

Tai's ears tuned in completely; if Flynn was here, he didn't have to take her to Zaphias and go to the hell-hole he feared. Hallelujah, his heart hoped so hard that this guy was here. He looked around to see if he could spot him at all as Raven began to answer.

"Yup, he's over in that group of knights," Raven pointed behind him with a sly smile, as suddenly Estelle ran off, leaving the two males behind.

Tai blinked in shock as she just bolted over there without even telling him. Wonderful, she already is breaking the promise these two made to the mayor. Well, the guy she was going after was already there, so it wasn't that bad. He simply sighed and put his hands in his pockets before a certain Raven got tired of silence.

"So, Tai, where ya from?" he asked, putting his hands on his head.

"Hm? Oh, just over at Halure," Tai said, turning his attention to the man, "All I'm doing is just helping Estelle visit Flynn or whatever his name is and then bringing her back to Halure."

"Oh, really? Sounds like you're not the kind of person who enjoys the beautiful world outside of civilization," he said.

Thinking about what he just said could be true, he answered, "To be honest, that's not the case. I'd love to travel outside of Halure... if this wasn't my first time being outside, and the fact that I have to stick by Estelle at all times."

"Oh? Well, then, Tai, is it? How is the good experience outside into the world?" Raven asked smiling.

"...It's incredible," Tai said, smirking, "It's so free and quiet, unlike people in big places. I love the feeling of it so much. But I'm still really cautious. It's very hard to get used to."

"Ahh, that's what the little princess was like as well. Keep goin' out here for as long as she did, and it'll be like second-nature ta you," Raven replied back to him, as he looked back to see Estelle coming along with a certain knight, "and perfect timin' for those two ta com' over."

As he turned to see Estelle come over, she was walking over with a blond-haired knight whose hair was spiky towards the left. He wore the blue commandant armor and uniform as he kept his royal sword in his sheathe. His cape slowly followed in the wind behind him as he stood next to her once they were there.

"If I can, Tai, I'd like you to be introduced to the commandant of the imperial knights and a good friend of mine: Flynn Scifo," Estelle said, smiling.

"Hello, it's my pleasure to meet you," the man said politely as he bowed his head.

As Tai raised an eyebrow at him, Estelle then looked at Flynn and said, "This is the person who helped me come here to see you. His name is Tai."

"Mhm," he said, nodding to him, a bit catching onto the princess' annoyed sense at the fact he was friendly with Raven, but not to him.

"So, what are you doing here in Deidon Hold with your brigade here, Flynn?" she asked him as he turned to her.

"Well, to be honest, a bit of a urgent problem has arisen from Dhangrest," the knight explained, "Apparently, a group of mercenaries have been going around and committing crimes that have ranged from vandalism to assaults, but they recently have been doing something very strange: stealing blastia and their cores."

The two teens blinked in shock as Tai asked, "Isn't that kind of useless though to worry about that? What's the point of giving charges of stealing if the blastia and their cores don't work anymore?"

Flynn nodded and replied, "That may be true, but the blastia and cores are still property of cities and towns. That's still the same as stealing someone's possessions. And since they came from Dhangrest and there's a rumor that they might be former guild members and imperial knights among them, I asked for the Don's help. I was greatly honored that General Schwann could come back a-"

"Hey! I'm not this Schwann person! I'm Raven! How many times do I gotta tell you youngings?" Raven flinched at this and shook his head, turning away, "Geez, ya kids have a worse memory than I got!"

A question mark could've been seen over Tai's head as he continued to look at the man. Despite the fact that he was confused a bit, it seemed Estelle was still interested in talking with Flynn. Tai soon noticed this and cleared his throat as Flynn looked at him at the same time.

"So, what are you and Estelle traveling from Halure for?" he asked the teen.

"Believe it or not, to see you, Flynn. Estelle wanted to be able to visit you, I guess for catching up and stuff like that," Tai said, shrugging as he closed his eyes.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I won't be able to afford a visit. I was actually going to Capua Nor in order to recruit two knights who happened to be personal friends of mine. I'm sending Raven back to Zaphias in order to get a friend of mine named Yuri Lowell to help us," he said.

"Oh, dang... Sorry, Estelle," Tai said, feeling bad for the girl... who suddenly perked up with an innocent smile.

"Oh, then let me come with Raven! I can visit Yuri!" she cheered happily.

A flinch of fear crept up Tai's spine as he stuttered a bit. Unable to speak and watch the horror unravel, he lowered his head and the shadows covered his face. Apparently being a wise person for once, Raven caught onto his behavior and studied it for a little bit. Flynn slowly nodded and smiled.

"All right, Estelle, you may go with Raven as long as Tai goes with you. After all, Yuri will be overjoyed to see you again," he said.

"Heeheehee, I can't wait to see him and Repede again!" she said happily as Flynn turned to the teen.

"I'm going to leave now and head out. Take care, Lady Estellise," Flynn said as they all said good-bye and he left the conversation.

Estelle happily turned back to the other two, but suddenly caught wind of the negative energy coming off of the boy. She suddenly realized the goof-up she just did as he began to speak.

"So, I really have to go to Zaphias, don't I?" he said groaning, "Damn, this is going to be painful..."

Suddenly, as if an angel came out to help Estelle find a way to cheer him up a little bit, they heard Raven say, "Well, if the Commandant is going ta be headin' ta the port city, it seems that ol' Raven has no choice but ta start headin' to Zaphias."

Suddenly, Tai looked up with interest and possibly muttered 'oh cool'. At least, that's what Estelle thought she heard. Smiling with a cheerful wink, Raven told them he would soon be at the entrance waiting too. With that, the two teens were left to talk with each other a bit before heading out towards the entrance.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skit – Communication

Tai: (head moves down, the shadows covers his eyes, his mouth covered by his hoodie) …

Estelle: (looks down, sad) …Tai... I'm very sorry.

Tai: (grumpy face) Estelle, do you not remember what the mayor said? We're partners; we need to communicate, let the other know what we're doing. I didn't want to go to Zaphias where a lot of people are, but now I'm forced to because you didn't talk it out with me.

Estelle: (closes eyes) I know! I... know. I'm just really sorry. It's just a fault of mine; when I see someone or something that needs to be taken care of or peeks my interested, I get side-tracked.

Tai: (neutral face) Do you do this a lot...?

Estelle: …

Tai: Hey, it's cool. (smiles, Estelle smiles, her head turning to the left) It was an accident in all honesty. I'll let it go. But please, try to talk with me next time, okay?

Estelle: Hehe, okay.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skit – Raven's WHO?!

Tai: (neutral face) So, Estelle, can you tell me about this Raven guy? I'm interested in him.

Estelle: (neutral face) When I was traveling with Brave Vesperia, we went to several places place like Keiv Moc, a forest on the boarding continent. We ran into Raven multiple times before that, but he joined up with us at the forest. He's a very clever and sly man who's able to dig up leads and is a high member of Altosk.

Tai: Altosk?

Estelle: The biggest out of the five major guilds of Dhangrest. But despite his involvement, his other identity is General Schwann.

Tai: (shoulders perk up, head raises up with shocked face, raised eyebrow) Raven is General Schwann of the Schwann Brigade?

Estelle: Yes... but since he's had a bad past with the identity, he tries to ignore his real name and just goes by Raven. He's a very interesting... and suspicious person.

Tai: (interested face) Suspicious?

Estelle: Well... (looks down, sad) He's... a bit of a... womanizer. He tends to lose his cool when it comes to really cute woman.

Tai: (sly face, smirk) Is that so...? Hehehe, well, I'm gonna just have to keep my eye on this guy, then. (neutral face, smiles, Estelle looks surprised) Thanks for the heads-up on him, Estelle.

Estelle: Tai... you really want to be associate with Raven, don't you?

Tai: Maybe, Estelle. (Estelle smiles, her head turning to her left) Maybe...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Raven and Flynn finally make their appearances. Rather strange to have other characters besides Yuri and Repede starting it off, but they will be coming soon. Just all of you wait. ^^ Keep on reading and tell me if you like it. ^^