Wow I've been busy lately. Hurray for school starting soon. Didn't mean to abandon the fic, I just haven't had any inspiration lately.

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The coming days went by slowly to Niira. Coen's condition had not improved, and she wanted nothing more than to stay with him until he was better again. But the last time she had been down to the infirmary, she had been forcefully pushed by out again by Shadow Hunter, who had claimed the area as her own. Not wanting to disturb the rather scary healer any further, Niira passed her time idly wandering around Indels. Not even Princess Diandra's talkative nature could bring her out of her gloom.

What made her even more gloomy was that there was nothing for her to do. Phoenix and his armies had been strangely quiet ever since the fiasco at the old mountain fort. Nobody was brave enough to want to try to sneak down to Volcano Villude to find out what they were up to. Not only was it likely the Fireborn were there, but Phoenix himself could very well be at the volcano. And since the armies had pulled out of everyone's line of sight, there was nothing to do but wait.

And this irritated Niira.

Ereil, the Northlands' earth dragoon, had commented that they could very well be waiting for several months. Since Phoenix and the Fireborn were creatures of fire, the rapidly-approaching winter months presented a large roadblock to their movements and powers. The musteliforms, the bulk of the armies, were not suited to moving in cold weather either. Ereil stated that they were all probably just holing themselves up somewhere for the winter. But even still, trying to waltz in to any of the enemy's strongholds would only be asking for trouble.

This irritated Niira even more. For once, she wished for the warm winters of the Northlands, so that they could attack Phoenix and his minions and end this war.

There was still the issue of the thousands of enemy soldiers. Even if Albert was willing to lend his knights' aid, and if all the dragoons from both continents fought, they would still be heavily outnumbered.

All the dragoons...that means my uncle, too.

Niira was losing count of how many things she had to be depressed about.

Alakyl silently endured her sister's dark mood. She trailed by Niira's side wherever she went, though she said little. Niira was glad for the company, even if Alakyl's desire to huddle against someone whenever a chill autumn blew nearly bowled her over.

Rather than spar with the knights or other dragoons like she usually did, Niira opted to spend her time in the quieter places of Indels Schloss--the upper balconies. Nobody liked to be out on them when the weather grew cold, Niira least of all. But somehow she found comfort in temperatures as miserable as she felt inside.

That was how she and Alakyl were the first to see the stranger approaching the castle.

"Wuff."

Niira blinked. That was the first thing she had heard Alakyl say in quite a long time. "What?"

"Rrr...uff. Up."

The half-blood turned her face to the sky. The day was overcast and chilly, the clouds threatening to rain some time later that evening. To the east, she could make out a dark smudge against the gray sky...and it was coming towards them.

An avian? Flying in this weather? Niira narrowed her eyes against the wind. Please tell me it's not one of Phoenix's... Her right hand clenched into a fist. That was the last thing they needed right now, another one of the fire lord's 'deals'.

But it's coming from the east. Phoenix's armies are to the south, and then some still in the Northlands. Unless...he's moving them. That was another thing she didn't want to deal with right now, that was Ereil's prediction of the enemy hiding for the winter being wrong. How much more did they know about Phoenix would be wrong?

"Wuff says wuff."

"One of Phoenix's messengers, do you think?"

The wolf shook her head. "Act like Serpent Mother's."

"Happy Tail is her messenger to us though."

"Emergency?"

I hope not. The avian was closer now, and Niira could see that he had reddish feathers. "You'd better be right about this." She whistled a few notes, the signal that the messenger had been seen and was allowed to land. As the avian angled toward them, Niira raised her hand and waved a bit to make sure they were seen.

A few minutes later, the red avian landed next to them on thee balcony, his sides trembling as he gasped for breath. His feathers showed signs of wear--he had been flying for a long time without pausing to preen his feathers back into shape. And sure enough, he wore a bandoleer much like Happy Tail's, indicating he was in the service of Serpent Mother.

"I come...fast as I can..." The avian spoke the language of Endiness with a heavy accent. The avians were able to learn languages in seemingly impossibly short lengths of time, but this one had obviously not spoken the human language very long at all. "So fast...told to get help from big city..."

Alakyl watched him quizzically.

"Er...why don't we get you inside first?" Niira suggested, feeling strangely awkward. "Let you warm up before you try talking again." And give me some time to figure out exactly who you need to talk to.

The avian bobbed his head. "Yes, yes...warm please."

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Leaving Alakyl with the newcomer, Niira set off to try to find someone, anyone, who would be in a better position than she to give the avian help. Happy Tail maybe...I guess I should find him so that he can go find someone else. He's better at it than I am.

Her wanderings took her through the throne room, where she was shocked to see King Albert sitting on his throne once more, though he was weakly leaning back against it. He still looked lean and in pain, but his skin was no longer the deathly pale it had once been. He's already able to sit up once more...and Coen still hasn't woken up. Niira fought to keep the tears from her eyes.

Minister Noish and Lavitz were talking with the king. Albert was still the only one to see Niira, and he nodded at her politely. Seeing the motion, Lavitz turned. "Oh... What brings you indoors on this fine day?" The fact that it was her father, not Albert, who spoke indicated that the king was still in a great deal of pain indeed.

"Um...well..." She glanced from her father to Noish and back again. "Alakyl and I were up on one of the high balconies, and this avian just seemed to come out of nowhere, and he's asking for help."

"What avian?" the minister asked.

"I don't know. I didn't ask for his name. He's one of Serpent Mother's messengers though."

"What did he say?" Her father wore a concerned expression.

"That's about it," Niira admitted. "We have him in one of the conference rooms so he can warm up. He's exhausted."

"Well, when he's ready, bring him here."

Niira nodded and, bowing quickly to Albert, backed out of the throne room. As she climbed the stairs to the conference room, she pondered to herself. My father spoke for the king of Serdio. Was that just because he's Albert's friend and they trust one another, or is it because of my father being the First Knight? She turned her concentration back to climbing stairs. There were other matters more important that they had to deal with right now. One being the strange red avian.

She only had to pause once to catch her breath on the way up. These damn castles have too many stairs, she concluded as she entered the room. The avian was busy obsessively nibbling at his wing feathers, trying to fix them. Alakyl watched him from her spot in front of the fireplace. Upon Niira's entry, they both looked at her.

"Get help now?" the avian asked.

"Maybe. Depends on what King Albert decides."

The stranger whistled excitedly and raised his crest, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Yes! Yes! I told to find King Albert!"

"By whom?"

"His soldiers."

What on earth is going on here? Niira stared at him for a few moments. Where did he meet up with knights? She couldn't recall which knighthood might be currently stationed to the east. My father would know. "Well, if you're ready, I can take you down now."

"Yes yes, now."

By the time they reached the throne room, Happy Tail was there as well. He and the red avian exchanged a few whistles and clicks in their native language before getting to the business of the meeting.

"All right then," Lavitz said slowly. "What brings you to Bale?"

The red avian drew himself up and took a deep breath. "Help. We need help to stop armies of Phoenix from coming here."

"You're a little late for that," said Lavitz with a hint of distaste.

"No, no...more armies."

"More?"

"He move some of his Northland army down here." He paused, then, realizing he was being allowed to continue his story, he started up again. "Big army move east across barrens. We could not reach them, but we chase them as they come across water to Endiness."

Reading the questioning look on the Serdians' faces, Niira explained. "The barrens are a strip of land north of the feliform territories. They're just rock and heat. It's where we pushed the Fallen into when they decided to turn against Serpent Mother."

"So the armies bypassed you?" Lavitz asked, looking at the avian.

"Try to go across the barrens without proper preparations is just asking for a death sentence," Niira stated.

The avian bobbed his head. "The Reisch very upset. He try to catch them before they cross the water, but they escape. So Reisch take his army across the water too."

"The Reisch is in Endiness?" Niira stared at the red stranger.

"Yes. We catch them on the shore, but they escape again." The avian indicated some of his feathers, which Niira could now see had not been damaged by just a long flight, but by something far more vicious. "So messengers look for help. I find soldiers east of here, west of a mountains..."

"Twelfth Knighthood," Lavitz commented softly.

"But they say, no help. They say come here, maybe King Albert can think of help, but they say no help."

"And they're right." Albert spoke this time, his voice quiet and strained. "You're asking for our help beyond Serdio's borders." He shook his head. "The Eastern clans would not take too kindly to my doing things in their lands. You're lucky your army has escaped their notice so far."

The red avian laid his ears back, distressed. "If Phoenix's army go far south, they will take boat to the new fortress."

Head around your enemies' territories, beyond their reach, and come out within your own space. We don't dare go down to Volcano Villude to attack them and they know it. Niira growled to herself. Things were not looking good at all.

Albert sighed softly. He had figured this out as well. "There's nothing we can do. That is the clansmen's land. If anything is to be done about this, it will have to be done by them." With that much said, the king sank back into his throne, exhausted.

The silence in the throne room was heavy. Then Lavitz spoke, his voice low. "Send for their aid," he said to King Albert. "The Eastern clans are not our allies, but they aren't out enemies either. There's an invading army on their soil, that might be enough to convince them to help us fight Phoenix."

Albert smirked. "I would, if there was any sort of a common language between us."

Lavitz looked at his king, a smile on his face. "I have a solution to that problem."

The king quirked an eyebrow.

"Well, I met this man at a bar..."