Hello my readers. Managed to get some time out of trying to get ready to go back to school to update. Also, for anyone interested, I managed to upload a sketch of Straton to my deviantart account. There's link to my account in my profile, since I can't seem to put one up that works on here. It's a little blurry, because I'm not good with cameras, but I'll stop complaining.

Chapter 16 - Of Meetings and Misunderstandings

Keane stared up at the young man in front of them, not sure how to actually answer his question. "We, um… well…" he stumbled, not able to think of an excuse that actually sounded believable. The man was still smiling slightly as he looked them over once more, before patting Keane on the head. Well, that settled it, he was completely confused.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," the black haired man said, and Keane could feel Straton ease up slightly behind him.

"You're not?" the blonde asked, sounding a bit surprised, not that Keane didn't feel the exact same way. They'd been so focused on the idea that anybody they meet would want to capture them that this person swooping in out of no where and saying he wasn't going to hurt them was very strange. The teen just laughed and nodded though.

"Of course not. My name's Kazana, and you two are?" Kazana introduced himself, and Keane tried to keep the panic bubbling up inside him from showing. So far this guy seemed nice, but they didn't want to ruin everything if he recognized them from their names. Quickly, he name up some fake names.

"I'm Kaveh, and this is Sargon," the red head mumbled. Kazana just nodded though, not appearing to have any clue that he was lieing.

"So, why don't you answer my first question, just what are you two doing out here in the middle of the night? The next town isn't for another three days on foot in the direction you're going," the teen asked again, and this time Keane couldn't keep himself from flinching. Three days if they stayed on their path? There was no way they would have survived three days all alone with no food or water.

"W-we're… lost," Keane decided finally, figuring that was as much of the truth as anything else he could say. They really did have absolutely no clue where they were or how to get to their ultimet desitination without dieing.

"Well, where are you trying to go?" Kazana asked, and Keane was surprised at how nice he was being. He tried to tell himself he was just being prejudice because he was an anima, but he just didn't expect anyone to try and help them for no reason what so ever. It was because of that he wasn't sure whether or not to to actually tell him where they were trying to go, or just say some close town, and figure out the rest on their own. Of course, figuring it out on their own hadn't worked out too well so far.

Before he was able to decide for himself, Straton answered instead. "Asteria." Kazana raised an eyebrow slightly at that, confusion on his face.

"Why? You know what happened right?" he asked, and the two boys quickly glanced at each other before looking back at the tall man, not entirely sure what he meant. They had a pretty good guess, but decided to just let him continue. "The king's dead, it wont be long at all befor all anima are free!" The two tried to keep any of their emotions at that statement off their face.

"W-we know, but it's just…" Keane started, once again trailing off when he had no idea what else he should say. It wasn't like talking to royals or the other princes or something, he didn't now how to do it…

"It'll still be dangerous, and anima are more accepted as a whole in Asteria anyway," Straton finished for him, which the redhead was very thankful for. Thank goodness he actually got some sleep so he could thnk properly, or else Keane wouldn't know what'd he of done. He could tell that Kazana still wasn't completely convinced, but hoped he wouldn't press the subject too much.

"Alright, if that's what you want, none of my business," he said, and Keane tried to keep himself from breathing a sigh of relief. "So," Kazana started again, catching both of the children's attention, "do you two wanna come back with me to my group? Asteria's a long ways away, and from the look of it, you don't really have any sort of supplies," without thinking, the two boys nodded. Even if going with a complete stranger was a bad idea, staying in the desert to starve and die was a worse one.

The three started off in the direction that the bird man had flown in from. Thankfully, he wasn't flying this time, so that the younger boys could still keep up with him. Occasionally he would glance back at them, mainly Straton.

"So, Sargon?" he said, bringing the younger boy out of his own thoughts. "What type of anima are you?" he asked, causing Straton to stop and stare at him, confusion written all over his face.

"What?" he asked back, not entirely sure if he'd heard the question correctly. He might have still been out of it from the sleep deprivation.

"I was just wondering what kind of anima you are," he repeated, and Straton nodded slowly as the question sank in. Keane was frowning already, instinctively inching a bit closer to the smaller boy.

"I'm not an anima, I'm just with Kaveh," he explained, trying not to worry too much. He seemed like a nice guy after all, he hopefully wouldn't mind if he was just a normal human, especially if he wasn't trying to hurt or capture him or anything. Kazana stared at him for a moment, clearly surprised at that statement.

"But if you're not an anima, why are you traveling with one?" he asked, and this time it was Keane who answered.

"Because he's my brother," the redhead said quickly, still feeling weary about the whole subject. He knew most people were judgmental and thought of anima as less than human, but he had no clue how anima felt about regular people. Kazana simply nodded again though, still looking a bit confused. Keane couldn't really figure out why though, figuring that would have been answer enough. If they were family, of course he'd be traveling with him.

"Huh, and he didn't abandon you or try and turn you into slavery?" he asked, not actually appearing to mean any harm. It still offended both boys rather quickly though.

"No! Of course not!" Straton defended. He didn't know how most anima were turned in, and he guess that family were the ones to do it sometimes, but he couldn't imagine ever doing that. Keane had been the one to save him from slavery.

"Alright…" Kazana said after a few moments, still looking Straton over a bit cautiously, and they started walking again. Keane could tell that the hawk winged teen didn't trust them as much as before, but that didn't matter. They were just going to stay long enough to get their barring and then be off again. He didn't want to put Straton in any unnecessary danger.

After about ten more minutes of walking, Keane could start to see a few people off in the distance. The closer they became, he could see them more clearly. They all seemed to be anima without collars. Like him. It was a strange thought, but he'd just have to get used to it, it wasn't like it was going to change anytime soon.

"Hey Kazana! Who are they?" one of the animas asked once they reached the group. It looked like he was a lizard, or at least that's what Keane would have guessed from the scales and tail. Glancing around, he counted four other anima and several crates of what had to be their supplies.

"Just a couple of kids I found wondering in the desert," Kazana explained, starting to walk over to the crates. The redhead tried not to jump when a… was he a raccoon or a fox? Well, when a blonde boy practically appeared out of no where next to him.

"Hey, what are your names?" he asked happily.

"Kaveh, and this is Sargon," Keane introduced themselves again, and the blonde nodded.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Nasir," he said. "So you're a mouse right, that's cool," Nasir said after looking Keane over a bit, before turning his attention to Straton. "What are you?" he asked, and the redhead wondered just how much this would happen to them. Hopefully not too much, since they actually don't want to interact with others very often, let alone people who'd instantly assume them both to be anima. That could go wrong very, very quickly.

"I'm not an anima, Kaveh's just the only family I have left," Straton explained again, having to remind himself to use Keane's fake name. He was still impressed that he'd been able to come up with them so quickly, hr probably would have just used their real ones, but this was a good precaution for anyone finding out who they really are. Once again everyone was staring at him, and he couldn't help but take a few steps behind Keane. From past experiences, being the center of attention had never been a very good thing.

"That's not a problem with anyone, is it?" Keane asked, already starting to feel defensive of the younger boy. It reminded him of when the other princes would single Straton out for being his friend despite being so low in the rankings. Unlike then though, everyone seemed to quickly back off the two.

"Of course not," Nasir said quickly, although he had a similar confused expression that Kazana had when the blonde explained that he wasn't an anima. "If he's your family that's… fine," he finished, and the two relaxed just slightly.

Kazana walked back over from where he'd been at the crates and handed them each a piece of fruit. Keane blinked slightly as he looked it over. He'd never seen this kind before, he wasn't sure what it was.

"Eat, then gets some sleep okay? It's almost morning as it is," the hawk anima commanded, and the two boys quickly nodded. Huh, whatever this fruit was, it was pretty good, but definitely quite a bit more bland than anything they'd had at the palace. Of course, it probably just tasted so good to him since he hadn't eaten anything in over a day. Once they were finished, Nasir showed them where they could sleep, and Keane noticed that most of the others had already gone to bed. Kazana was still up though, it looked a bit like he was keeping lookout.

"Get some sleep," Keane mumbled to Straton, who nodded and laid down on the sandy ground. The redhead was glad that he seemed to have gotten over the insomnia that plagued him the first few days on their own, and it wasn't long before the blonde was asleep. Keane was still awake though, staring up at the stars starting to fade in the graying sky.

"You should sleep too," he looked up to see Kazana staring at him, sitting on a large rock, his wings still spread out behind him. He wondered if these animas ever pulled in their powers. Keane only had them out to make sure Straton could keep his shoes. Frowning slightly, he decided to ask the question that'd been on his mind for a while now, and wouldn't let him do what the black haired teen had said.

"Why was everyone so confused that he's not an anima? Shouldn't the fact that he's my brother be enough of an explanation for why we're traveling together?" he asked, surprising Kazana slightly, who just sighed after a few seconds.

"How long have you been an anima?" the teen asked.

"A few days," Keane said, not about to give the exact day be became one. It'd be too suspicious. It didn't seem to bother the hawk any though, who just nodded.

"Thought so. It's rare that your family would actually stick by you after becoming an anima. Most of the ones here were sold into slavery by their own parents. You're lucky you two seem close," Kazana explained, leaving Keane silent. It was really that bad… you couldn't even trust your family if something like this happened? Once again, the redhead felt the guilt of his previous lofty position pressing down on his mind.

"Like I said though, you should get some sleep," Kazana repeated, and reluctantly Keane laid back down on the ground. Straton would probably just tell him that there wasn't anything he could of done about the way anima's were treated by their families, especially now that he'd never be king. He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault though. Even if what Kazana said was true, and anima would be free soon now that the monarchy was demolished.

He guessed it was sort of an ironic justice that he'd become an anima. It wasn't like he'd ever of been able to learn just how bad they had it otherwise, after all. His books didn't cover that part of the slave trade.

The more he thought about it though, his books didn't cover a lot of things.

Tadaa, and most of you guessed correct! It was Kazana. Also, kind of random, but Keane's fake name means 'royal' and Straton's means 'true king'. Of course, Keane didn't know that when he picked them. I love picking out names for characters.
Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter, and please review.