[Matt]

Captain Crispin

The orange lucain continued galloping into the forest, followed by Lleia. This was the first time he'd been happy since.... Whisper. His gaze never wavered from infront of him, following to scent of descendants of Whitewings. Hew smiled lightly at Lleia, then continued running towards the swans.

[SpringsSong]

Lleiadith

Lleia followed closely after Crispin, her nose picking up the scent of the Whitewings.  She wouldn't know the difference between Whitewings and regular swans, though; but what did she care?  She just wanted out of there.  There was nothing that would make her happier...

A voice in her head hissed, If you're leaving, you'll likely never come back.  Are you positive you want to leave?

...Yes. She said in her mind.  By now, she had reached the edge of a stream.  "Now where?" She asked, looking around.

{10}

[Matt]

Sniffing the ground, Crispin smiled. "We're here." Just then, two large swan's with arched necks and hissing beaks snaked out of the water. Padding over to them, Cripsin's tails wagged playfully. "You're descendants of Whitewings, no?" H said. The swans hissed more, obviously frightened by this large male lucain. Remembering he wasn't in his squirrel form, he changed into King Crispin. "This better?" He said. The swans stopped hissing, and looked at each other. "You're..... King Crispin?" They hissed out in unison. They both gasped, obviously startled. Then they blurted out some alarming news. "You must return to Mistmantle! It' chaos there! The creatures need your rule!" Shocked by this, the squirrel stood in place for a moment. "What about Urchin?' He said in soft worried voice. "He's.... been kidnapped, sir." The female swan said, a small choke of tear at the end. "KIDNAPPED!?!?"

[SpringsSong]

Lleia looked at the swans curiously, and then back at Crispin.  "Who... who is Urchin?" She asked, looking from the squirrel Lucain to the swans.  She hoped that they wouldn't be frightened of her as they had been of Crispin when he was in his Lucain form, because then, she might just be out of a route to escape from Evelon.

{11}

[Matt]

Tearing up in the process, Crispin quietly explained. "Urchin is- was my page. I miss him so much..." A this, he sank down, and looked up gratefully at the swans. "So, will you take us back?"

[SpringsSong]

Lleia listened curiously.  "I see." She said after a long while.  Turning back to the swans, she said, "Please, we beg of you.  Take us to Mistmantle." Her eyes were pleading; probably the only time they'd be like this.

{12}

[Matt]

The swans looked down at the squirrel king and lucain, and finall gave in. "Ok. We shall take you back. Give us.... 24 hours to get ready, and then we'll start the first half of our trip." They said in unison. Crispin looked up, with his eyes glimmering. "Thank you sooo much!" Turning to Lleia, he turneinto his lucain form. "Isn't it great, Lleia? We'll be in Mistmantle! But.... we'll have to come back to Evelon someday. You know that, right? I mean, we can't just abandon our caretakers...."

[SpringsSong]

Lleiadith smiled, and then frowned as she nodded.  "Mine... mine could care less anyway.  I was about to be chained up or something because I dared to tell my grandmother that I thought she was weak and foolish for being in the war with her mate." She shrugged.  "But as long as we can get away now..." She smiled.  "You... you don't think that the people of Mistmantle will mind that I'm a Lucain, do you?  I hope they don't..." She said.

{13}

[Matt]

Cripsin smiled kindly, looking at Lleia. "I'm sure they won't mind. I mean, giant war moles weren't enough to make the down." with a wink, he agreed to the swans offer. "You've got a day." He said. Looking back at Lleia, he sighed. "Mine will miss me. And I'm sure yours will too. I'm just saying, it doesn't have to be for a couple of years, but we'll have to come back someday. Evelon and Mistmantle will always be apart, no matter how hard we try." With this, his tails wrapped around hers.

[SpringsSong]

Lleia nodded.  She looked around warily and thought for a moment.  "A day..." She murmured thoughtfully.  She sighed at last and said, "Well, I can't exactly go back home unless you plan on somehow springing me from house arrest.  That's how much trouble I'm in with my Imperialist family." She said.  "So... I'm not even sure my father will care that I'm gone.  He's always telling me that I should be more like my homey little sister.  I can't.  That's not me." She said.

{14}

[Matt]

"Hmm... well, if you're sure." with this, he gave her a kind smile. Licking her cheeck, he turned around. "Let's get some shut eye before we have to leave." He said, the words thrown back over his shoulder.

[SpringsSong]

Lleia felt herself blush slightly after Crispin licked her cheek.  She smiled as she followed after him, her tails flicking about from side to side.  Little did she know that, back home, her father was not oblivious to the fact that she was missing.  She, however, could care less.  She was here with someone that wasn't like her cousins or her father or her uncles.  He was... someone "special".

[Matt]

Cripsin smiled kindly, wth a slight glimmer in his eyes. Padding on, he came to a large oak, hollowed out by a badger. It's scent was stale, so Crispin climbed in. He called lightly to Lleia over his shoulder. "Over here! We can sleep in here!" Picking up some moss, and shaking any water from it, he made it into the shae of a nest in the corner of the oak. Padding in circles a few times, he settled down to sleep. Keeping one eye open for Lleia, he let th humming of bees lull him to sleep.

[SpringsSong]

Lleia smiled as she followed after Crispin, her footfalls fairly light now.  As she came to the hollowed oak, she smiled as she stepped in after him.  "A little cozy... but it's perfect." She said, leaning over to lick his cheek as she settled in to a curled position next to him, slowly drifting off to sleep...

When her eyes opened again, she inclined her head slightly and yawned.  Where was she again...? Ah, right; Roraldi.  She was in a hollowed-out oak beside Crispin, waiting for dawn to come and for the Whitewings to return so they could go to Mistmantle.  As the sun peeked over the forest, she smiled.

[[I hope you don't mind me doing a time jump. =P]]

[Matt]

((Sorry for the wait! lD))

Crispin yawned lightly. Blinking slowly, the picture of the tree hollow came into focus. He yawned again, and stretched. He licked Lleia's cheek sleepily, then stumbled outside. The large swans of Whitewings greeted him in the sunlight. "Good morning, King Crispin," they both said in unison. He nodded and smiled warmly. "Good morning to you too." He stumbled past, and the swans bowed deeply, then waddled over to their large lake to wait. Crispin licked up a few mouthfuls of water, than turned to squirrel form. He washed his face quickly, then turned back to lucain form. He dipped his head in, and quickly speared a fish with one of his canines. He carried it back to the hollow, now fully awake. Dropping it next to Lleia, he whispered a quiet "Good morning."