The sun began to set. After a while of traveling through the woods, the group decided to camp out for the night.

After they had gathered wood and set up a small camp, the sun had already set. Alissa wandered off into the woods for some strange reason.

Hanpan looked around, but couldn't find her anywhere.

"Have either of you seen Alissa?" he asked Aenea and Tiara.

Tiara and Aenea looked at each other, then at Hanpan. "We thought she was with you," said Tiara.

Hanpan sighed. "Oh no..... not this again!"

"Where could she have gone off to?" asked Aenea.

"Who knows?" said Hanpan. "My guess is she wandered off. She does that from time to time."

"Do you know when she'll be back?" asked Tiara.

"When she feels like it," replied Hanpan. "She does the for some strange reason. My guess is she went off to practice for a bit. She'll be back when she gets hungry. I estimate about ten minutes."

"Maybe I should go look for her," said Tiara. "It's getting pretty dark."

"Not necessary," said Hanpan. "I'll go look. It's one of the few things that give meaning to my life. Plus it's becoming a daily chore."

He shrugged and went off again.

In the woods, Alissa was wandering and looking around trying to find out how close they were to Xiatriz. By the look of it, they weren't that far away.

She looked up at the sky and gazed at the stars. She smiled thinking of how beautiful they were.

~So bright and free they are,~ she thought. ~Free to shine as bright and beautifully as they can. I wish I could be that way. Free.~ Her gaze went down to the ground ans she sighed. "Too bad that can never happen," she thought aloud. "Not with Celestra and Dorchav and their idiot minions following me all the time. I wish for once I could sleep without worrying about being killed in my sleep. It'll never happen. No matter what, I'll always have one of them coming after me."

She then heard a twig snap and was startled. She looked around the area. "Hanpan?" she called out softly. "Hanpan? Is that you?"

No answer.

"Hanpan? Answer me! I know that's you!" she said. "Come out now!"

Still no answer.

"Hans, this isn't funny. Come out right now!"

Again, no answer. Just silence.

She took a breath. "Okay then. If that's how you're going to be, fine then. But try avoiding this without revealing yourself."

She chanted the spell ice shard and casted it in the direction of the noise that she heard. The ice shards flying into the darkness was blocked by a shield of a red fire bird encrested on a gold surface.

Alissa saw the shield and gasped. "Fierstyr's crest!" She quickly grabbed her sword, mumbled some arcane words, and was transformed into warrior battle form. She pointed her sword out into the darkness. "Come out now whoever you are," she said.

Out from the darkness walked a tall young man with short, silvery-blue hair, blue eyes, and wearing silver colored armor. Alissa's eyes widened. ~That guy! He looks like the one that Hans was talking about!!~ she thought.

"Good evening miss," said the young man. "A nice evening for a walk, isn't it?"

"Or a battle," said Alissa. "Who are you? Why were you hiding behind those trees?"

"I don't want to fight," he said. "Especially not a girl."

Alissa glared at him. "And why not? Scared?"

"First," he started, "I don't fight women. Not something any man should do. Second, you don't just fight with a sword. You know magic too."

"Well aren't you a master of pointing out the obvious?" Alissa said sarcastically. "Yes, I know magic. So what? You still haven't told me who you are. So tell me."

"You haven't told me who you are either," he said. "Why should I tell you who I am if you haven't told me who you are?"

"Because I asked first," Alissa replied. "At least tell me why you were hiding behind those trees and why you were watching me."

He sighed. "You're not going to back off with the questions, are you?"

"Not until I get some answers," said Alissa. "You're a Fierstyrian soldier, are you not?"

"No, I'm not," he replied. "I was hired to protect the princess for some strange reason. Not like she needs it. No one would try to kidnap her." ~Not like they would want to,~ he thought. "And as for killing her, she has the protection of some of the best guards, swordsman, and archers around. And if anyone got through them, they'd still have to get through herself. She puts up quite a fight."

"No kidding," said Alissa. "She's the biggest pain in the neck known to anyone, yet all these people do for her what she can do for herself. I don't think it's the protection she's after." She took a breath. "Okay. so if you aren't a Fierstyrian soldier, then who are you? And why were you watching me?"

"My name is Kale," he said. "I was a hired warrior to protect the pain in the neck you were just talking about."

Alissa hid a sigh. ~Oh no.... he is the guy that Hans was talking about. Now I'm in real trouble.~

He smirked. "I'm assuming that you know her well from the way you were talking about her. I don't blame you for thinking that way of her. Everyone who knows her would agree."

"That explains who you are, but not why you were hiding and watching me."

"Well you didn't tell me why you shot those ice shards at me. Geez! I could have been killed!"

"I did that because I thought you were my friend."

"And you do that to friends?" He snickered. "I hate to ask what you do to enemies."

"It wasn't like that at all!" she said. "I was expecting to see a fire barrier or fire wall cast. But instead I saw a shield from the kingdom that's trying to kill me." Suddenly realizing what she just said, she quickly covered her mouth.

Kale frowned. "You didn't tell me your name," he said, suspiciously. "What is it?"

She transformed back to her usual form and sheathed her sword. "I gotta go," she said and started running back to the camp.

"Wait!" He ran after her and grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Who are you?"

She refused to look at him and said nothing.

"Please tell me," he said. "I heard what you were saying to yourself. You said that the princess I was protecting was after you. Why?"

"I can't tell you," she said, still refusing to look at him. "I can't even tell my friends who have been very kind to me in the short time that I've known them."

They stayed silent for a while, Kale still holding Alissa's arm. Then he decided to speak. "You are..... you're that girl that she's been looking for, aren't you?"

Alissa stiffened and her eyes widened.

"You are then. I was kind of afraid of that. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

"Promises....." Alissa said in a soft voice. "Every time I've heard that it turned out to be a lie. I can't trust anything or anyone. Especially not anyone working for Fierstyrian Kingdom." She forcefully pulled her arm away from his grip. "Tell me right now, where did you just come from?"

"Pardon?"

"You heard me. Where did you just come from? Where are you camped?"

"My camp is to northeast of where we are standing. In the forest along the river."

"Perfect," was the last thing she said to him before she ran off to find Tiara, Aenea, and Hanpan.

"This is pathetic!!" said Aenea. "What can be taking her so long?"

"I'm getting worried," said Tiara. "She should have been back by now. It's already dark and we've already eaten. She should have been back by now."

"Well," said Hanpan, "we aren't that far from Xiatriz. Maybe she went there to eat or something."

"But why would she go without us?" asked Tiara. "I don't think she would do that. Where could she have gone?"

Auri meowed. Aenea sat down, gave him some food, and petted him. "I don't get it! Why did she leave in the first place? She didn't even tell us that she was going anywhere."

"You mean she didn't tell you two anything?" said Hanpan.

"Well we thought she was with you at the time. And we didn't know that she was going to be gone this long," said Aenea. "How often does she do this?"

"Umm....."

"Hanpan??!!!" shrieked both Aenea and Tiara.

"I... well.... actually....."

"Well?!" they both said.

"I don't really know. She did this a lot during training." He thought for a second. "Come to think of it, during the entire time that she's been doing this, she hasn't once told me what she was doing."

"We better clear camp and go look for her," said Tiara.

"I agree," said Aenea.

"I don't know," said Hanpan. "I think we should wait a little longer."

Aenea picked up Hanpan, took out a ribbon, and wrapped it around him. "We're tired of waiting. We've been waiting quite a while now. Don't you think it's time to just go out and look for her?"

"Umm...... no! I don't," said Hanpan.

"Auri," said Aenea, "dessert!"

Hanpan shrieked as the cat started to come up to him. He managed to free his arms and legs, but the ribbon was still wrapped around him.

He started running and Auri chased him. "PLEASE!!!!!!" he screamed. "I- I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE EATEN!!!!! I'M NOT EVEN APPETIZING!!!! I TASTE AWFUL!!!"

"You're a mouse!" said Aenea. "Auri won't mind how you taste! Just as long as you taste like a mouse."

"BUT I'M NOT A MOUSE!!!!! I'M A HUMAN BEING!!!!!!"

"Auri doesn't know that," said Aenea. "And you're a form-changer. So technically, you aren't human. No offence Tiara."

"None taken," said Tiara. "Though actually, he's a human form-changer. So he is human. Apparently he just prefers the form of a mouse."

"COULD YOU TWO ARGUE ANOTHER TIME ABOUT WHAT I AM?! CALL BACK THE CAT!!!"

Aenea turned to Tiara. "Were we arguing about what he is?"

Tiara thought for a moment. "Mmm.... no. I don't believe we were."

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU WERE ARGUING OR WHATEVER!!!! JUST CALL BACK THE CAT!!!!!!"

"I don't know. Auri seems to be enjoying himself," said Aenea with a smirk. "Give in and say you'll come with us to look for Alissa and I'll call him back."

"NO!!!! I AM NOT GOING TO LOOK FOR HER!!! SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!! I REFUSE!!!!"

"Then have fun trying to get away from Auri. I'm sure he's enjoying chasing you around. He'll enjoy it even more when he finally catches you."

"WHEN HE DOES, HE'LL EAT ME!!!!"

"Well that would be a shame," Aenea said sarcastically. "Too bad you're too stubborn about all this."

"Please Hans!" said Tiara. "We need to look for Alissa. She could be in danger. Please?"

"OKAY OKAY OKAY!!!!!!!! JUST GET THE CAT AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!"

"You heard him Aenea. Tell Auri to stop."

"Aww!! But it was just getting fun!!" whined Aenea.

"Aenea!" exclaimed Tiara. "This isn't a game! We need his help to look for Alissa."

"Oh all right!" Aenea said. "Auri! That's enough! Stop chasing the mouse around."

Auri continued to chase the screaming Hanpan. "Auri!! Stop this at once!!!" shouted Aenea.

Auri still continued to chase Hanpan. "AURI!!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!" she screamed.

Auri pulled to a halting stop. Aenea walked up to where Auri was. "WHEN I TELL YOU TO STOP, I MEAN STOP!! UNDERSTAND?!" Auri, cowering in fear, nodded. She picked up Hanpan and unwrapped the ribbon around him.

"And I thought Alissa was scary when she was angry," he remarked. "Of course, she's much more violent about things like that."

"Let's start cleaning up," said Tiara.

A dark mist surrounded Hanpan. When it cleared, he appeared in human form. "Okay! I'm ready." They all packed up their things, then put out the fire and went out into the forest.

They walked through the forest for a while calling out Alissa's name and having no luck finding her. It was then that Hans began to worry. They didn't think that she had gone that far into the forest.

"Maybe we should call for Glabdegook," suggested Aenea. "He could help."

"I don't think so," said Tiara. "We shouldn't disturb him for something like finding a friend."

"Again," added Hans. "After all, it was what he did the first time we met him. I think it's too soon to ask him to help us find a friend again after just finding one. We just left that castle a while ago."

"Still," said Aenea. "He could help."

Just then, Alissa appeared running towards them. Because it was dark, she couldn't see very much and ran into Hans and they both fell over. Alissa was panting, trying to catch her breath.

"Alissa?" said Hans. "Are you okay?"

"I'm.... f-fine........Just.... need...... air........" she said, still out of breath.

He got up and helped her try to stand. She was dizzy from all the running. When she finally caught her breath, she grabbed Hans' arm. "Xiatriz isn't too far away. Let's go. Now."

"I thought we were camping out here tonight. What happened?" he asked.

"No time to explain. Celestra isn't there right now. Let's go!" said Alissa.

"But-"

"Come on!! We don't have much time! He could be coming after me as we speak!" She covered her mouth.

Hans frowned. "Who?" he asked in a low, dark voice.

"No one important! Come on!!" She held tightly to his arm and started running back where she had come from, pulling him behind her.

Tiara and Aenea looked at each other and shrugged. "WAIT FOR US!!!" they shouted and started running after them.

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