[Azura Rayume]

~*~ ~*~

Drake Skyseeker ~*~ Blaise Teirn ~*~ Nula Rahnu

"Do we have to be here?" whined the 10-year-old, arms crossed over his emerald a wine colored tunic. A slightly dented crown sat haphazardly on his messy brown hair, and a scowl adorned his face.

One of his companions, a stern faced blond man, glanced at his charge from the corner of his eye. "I told you before. You have to learn how to use that sword of yours before we go on this quest. I don't want you running into trouble out there and not knowing how to protect yourself."

"I thought that's what you were for..." Drake's voice trailed off in disappointment. He could almost taste the bordom headed his way.

"Don't be like that, little one," clided a soft voice on his other side. His advisor, Nula, almost floated beside him, her blue wings flittering with each step. "Blaise is trying to look after you as best he can. Do not blame him for being concerned."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Besides, you could use your training as an opportunity to search for one of those little Wombears that live around here. I'm sure that would lighten your mood."

The little prince's expression brightened at the thought of finding a Wombear. That was what this quest needed right now: a hunt. "Alright, I'll do it! But only for the Wombear."

[Polaris]

Name: Hitarena (HEE-Tah-re-NA) aka Hita

Wandering through the plains, the sky colored slynx scanned the horizon. His pack jangled with aluminum pans and other utensils bumping into one another; packs of salt were strapped to the outside, and smaller containers of other spices rattled around in the front pocket. Dried packets of fruit and vegetables were the only cushions that prevented Hita's ears from falling off due to the clamor: they were sandwiched between some of the pans. Although most of his supplies consisted of dried but edible plants, he carried some potatoes and strips of dried meat. When he'd picked them up out of his kitchen, he didn't even bother to see what type they were. A small tin of cheese and some crackers had also made it's way into the pack, and two water bottles topped the whole thing off.

Hitarena pushed through the tall grasses towards the group of three. He paused to look at the map he'd been given. "Well..." he trailed off. There were very few landmarks out here... other than the occasional tree. He decided to go ahead and walk a little further; if this was the group he was supposed to meet then there should be a small child with them.

Shifting the pack he carried on his back, Hita strode towards the three. "Hai! You there..." The slynx fiddled with the edge of his shirt before continuing, "Are you the boy king and his advisors?" Arriving beside them, he stood with one hand on his hip, the other free at his side. He hoped they were. If he had to walk any farther with this pack his feet would surely fall off.

{1}

[Azura Rayume]

Drake grinned wildly at Blaise, who rolled his eyes and ignored him, before answering. "Yes. I'm Drake Skyseeker. And..." He looked Hita over, then continued, "...You must be our cook. I'm please to meet you." He nodded his approval.

Nula curtsied politely, saying, "It is a pleasure to meet your aquaintence. I am Nula Rahnu, Drake's advisor. And this is Blaise Teirn, his protector and teacher." Blaise grunted and gave an acknowledging wave. He wasn't one for talking. He'd much rather be acting, training perferably.

[Polaris]

Hita nodded to the three in turn, "Yup, I'm the cook," he guestured to his bag as proof. "And hello Mr. Skyseeker, Ms. Rahnu, and Mr. Terin." He ignored the teacher's lack of a proper greeting, he must be relativly tired also. Hita was simply glad he'd found the right people; he dropped his bag and then went on, "I'm Hitarena, but you can call me Hita."  

The kid had amazing manners for, well, a kid, but Hita reminded himself the child was a king. Nobles and such might be offended if the kid didn't adhere to the rules of such positions. Thank Zu'hai I wasn't born into something like that... Then, a thought occured to him, "Are we going to be staying here or traveling on?" If they were going to be leaving again soon Hita wouldn't unpack everything quite yet, just the essentials.

{2}

[Krystalolive]

Phobos~~Belinda

A red streak ran across the plains. Phobos looked around, little Belinda riding on his back. He glanced at her, smiling. "Can you see anything B?" Belinda looked down at Phobos, smiling.
"Are you always going to call me that? And yes, I see the group over there." Phobos ran over to the group, letting Belinda off before taking his bag from the girl and bowing to group.
"Hello everyone, I'm Phobos, the mapper for the trip, and this young lady is..."
Belinda bowed to the group as well, copying Phobos. "I'm Belinda, the magic user for the trip. Nice to meet you all!" She looked at the group, picking the 'prince' out easy, for he was the shortest, and seemed alittle snobby.
Phobos turned to the prince and Blaise. "Hello, are we going to stay in this area, or are we just all meeting up here?" He put his bag over one shoulder, pulling out a map for the Plains, then glanced back at the two. "Sorry, habit."

[gestaltgirl8201]

Noel Gyrophant

Holly

and Susan, her human trainer

Holly strode easily through the long grass, breathing deeply, enjoying the scents of he old home. She didn't even seem to notice the wieght of the 3/4 full wooden cart behind her, on which Susan was riding, holding a pair of guide reins.

"You see them yet, Holly?", Susan asked. "They should be somewhere around here..."

Holly craned her long neck and looked around. "Yes, I see them," she replied, having spotted the group in the distance. "Looks like they're waiting for us."

"Oh good," Susan said, sounding relieved. "I was worried we might be late, having had to stop at home to get the cart and then on the way here to pick up the rest of this stuff. Well, let's not keep them waiting much longer," she said, giveing the reins a little shake.

Holly increased her pace slightly, and a few minutes later, they came trotting up to the young prince and the rest of the group.

"Hi!", Susan greeted them, waving from the cart's driver's seat as they came to a stop. "I'm Susan, and this," she indicated her young gyrophant, "is Holly."

"Hello," Holly said, nodding her head slightly in greeting. The young gyrophant gave the serraptor with the maps and the slynx with the pots and pans slightly nervous glances, but then turned her attention back to what appeared to be the prince and his companions.

Susan spoke up again, turning to the brown haired, somewhat impatient-looking boy with the crown on his head. "Judging by the headgear,"  she said, indicating the crown, "you must be the prince. Nice to meet you. Anyways, I'm glad we caught you guys before you left. I was worried we'd be late, since we had to stop on the way here to get the cart and some other suppiles." She indicated the tents, blankets, rain gear, extra food (including a large basket of apples), and other stuff in the cart behind her.

Tuning to the slynx with the pots and pans, she continued. "And you can put your pack in here if you want." She indicated the cart. "It'd be much easier than lugging it around on your back," the human added with a smile.

~GG

{1}

[Azura Rayume]

Drake nodded in greeting to each new addition, pausing on Belinda. She appeared to be his own age. He'd never been around anyone his age before. He'd always been under the watchful eye of Blaise and Nula while they trained him in everything from manners to magic.

"Hi," he said, rather childishly. Mentally, he smacked himself. He wasn't supposed to act like a kid. Not around Blaise at least. Come to think of it...

"Blaise. Why don't you check over the supplies to make sure everything's there? Nula, could look over some maps with Phobos here?" He tried his best to make them sound like mere suggestions, but they sounded more like orders.

Luckily for him, the two adults nodded and walked off to their respective assignments. Blaise gave a feeble attempt to strike up a conversation with Susan and Holly on the price of grain and fruit, while Nula hovered beside Phobos, studying his map.

Drake grinned again, motioning for Belinda to come closer. He was planning to get this Wombear hunt started right away.

[Polaris]

"Thanks!" Hita said brightly to Susan's offer. It would certainly be a relief to put this stuff somewhere else. He flicked his blond hair out of his eyes after he'd placed the backpack among the other items. Looking at the apples and other rations appreciatvly, Hita nodded abstantly. "Oh, and I'm Hita, I'll be concocting the meals for this journey."

Another child was coming? And a magic user at that... Double trouble, He thought to himself. This would be interesting. The kid, as Hita now thought of the boy king, seemed a little bit bossy, but innocent. He blinked, and tweaked his vision mentally so that he could see the others' auras. It was a usful trick, but one he kept to himself. He had held the small magic in his eyesight for only a moment; he needed make sure none of the people present were sick and might have a violent reaction to any of the foods he'd prepared.

Letting the curtain of glows fall from his vision, Hita approached Holly. "Hello, if you don't mind my asking, does that little bundle of holly plant on your neck grow like an actual plant?" He couldn't help his curiosity- Hita had never seen a Noel pet before.

{3}

[Yomegami]

The tall grass rustled. For all that anyone who noticed, it could have been the wind. But in truth, the reason was far more sinister.

Doing her best not to get noticed, a female Harbringer watched the group intially meet-and-greet. She guessed that this was the "king" and his subjects. If so, she was on target.

Word of Drake Skyseeker's quest had reached the prying ears of a certain, sinister lucain - Zephyra. If this...thing...was really a prince ready to inherit a kingdom, then it was another chance for her to increase her already growing power.

But, the Dark Angel was not one to strike before she was certain. Not entirely sure this boy had the potential, she had called upon her companions to stalk them and see if it was true.

However, in the Vast Plains, the Malice Wyrm Kajad would be at a disadvantage. There were no shadows that he could hide in, and his trail of burnt ground would surely get him noticed. So, his "daughter", Aerika, was chosen for the task.

And that was what brought her here now, stalking a group that she seriously doubted belonged to anyone royal.

Still, Zephyra would be angry with her if she didn't do the task. And her punishments hurt like nothing else.

Slowly, silently, Aerika continued to get closer, stopping whenever the grass above her rustled a bit too much for her liking. She was thankful that she lacked any need to carry supplies with her, not that she could anyway.

Once she was a few feet away, she stopped moving, and silently eavesdropped on their conversations. From what she could tell, they did not suspect her presence, and talked mostly about preparing for the rest of the quest.

[Krystalolive]

Belinda looked at the prince, then glanced at Phobos, who nodded at the boy with a smile. She almost sighed, then walked over. She smiled, then looked around. "Wow, this seems like something out of a novel. A lost 'king', a group of people who probably won't get along at first, and no clue on where we're going. All we need is some evil witch and this would be like a weird fairy tale huh?" She looked at the prince, smiling.

Phobos glanced at Belinda, then turned to Nula, holding the map where she could see. "I have to say we are around this area here. I heard that there are some weird little bear things around here, and they gather near trees. If this is still right, the closest trees are to the north. Trees would also be good for some shade and relaxing." He looked at the lady, then grinned a sorry grin, hoping he wasn't saying too much again.

[gestaltgirl8201]

"Nice to meet you," Susan replied with a smile as Hita introduced himself. "Nice to know that somebody on this trip can cook; I'm pretty hopeless at it, myself," she then added in a self-depricating tone.  

Then Blaise came up to talk to her and Susan excused herself to talk to the blonde man as he asked her about the state of their supplies, and the price of grain and fruit, as it may be necessarry to stop somewhere and buy more, later in the journy. "Well, we should be alright for awhile," she told him. "I brought along some keystones I've been saving," she held up a cloth pouch that had been sitting next to her on the seat, "if we really need to stop and buy supplies, but from the looks of things none of us are exactly rich. Holly's told me that you can sometimes find fruit trees or berry bushes growing on these plains, so it probably wouldn't hurt to take advantage of them if we come across them."

******************************

Meanwhile, Hita approached Holly, asking about the sprig of the plant that shared her name the grew at her neck. Now, while Holly was still slightly nervous about the slynx and the serraptor, so long as they didn't act agressive towards her, she had decided that she was willing to just accept them as part of the group. 'It'll be nice to be traveling with a group again,' she thought idly as she looked down at the slynx.

"Hmm?" she said, before coming out of her thoughts enough to answer, nodding her head in reply. "Oh, yes. It grows as we grow," she told himlowering her head and neck so that he could get a better look at it. "It's a part of me. The leaves and berries grow back, too, if they get pulled off or something by accident."

Upon closer examination, the spirg of holly started out as what looked like an extra-thick strand of green fur, but about halfway to the leaves it began to chance until it was clearly a plant. "My mother was the only other Noel in our herd," Holly continued, "and my father always said how pretty my spirg was, and that he could tell that when I was fully grown I'd have a big, beautiful one like hers." She sounded a bit pleased with herself at that, as having a large, well-formed sprig of holly was something of a point of pride among Noel pets.

Just then, her ears perked slightly and she raised her head back to its full height, glancing around. She thought that she'd heard something rustling in the grass, but after a few moments of listening, she decided that it must simply be the wind, or else a little grass snake, off looking for a small rodent to eat. She truned her attention back to Hita, didmissing what she had heard.

~GG

{2}

[Polaris]

Hita looked at the plant curiously. It did seem rather odd to have a plant growing out of one's neck, but then again, he was able to take on a human and animal form- it couldn't be much odder than that could it? "Really?" he paused, "That's interesting..." It did seem that they would have some interesting experiances with such a diverse group.

Hita had no idea how he would feed such a large diverse group, since, as he was certain, they'd all have different tastes. He pondered what to make for dinner a moment... they would have a fire wouldn't they? He guessed so. For the children... oh forget it. They're all getting stew. That would be easy enough.  And how about using some of the pre-made sweet bread dough he brought along? He could bake it with some of the dried fruit inside, or, if they happened along anything edible, he could garnish it with that too.

Everyone seemed to be occupied with tasks set to them by the kid, who was playing with the magic-child. Humph. Hita moved over to the cart and sat on the end. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked Holly, "I'll get off when we have to go of course."

{4}

[acf7]

Creamy mane blowing in the wind she raced along the plains toward a black speck amongst the sea of green and brown grass.  Lynn was really excited about going on this adventure with so many other people.  This would be the first time she had ever left the house alone for an extended period of time.

She stopped for a moment on small hill that over looked the group to catch her breath.  Blowing hard she looked at the vast expense of the plains just a little below her.  The Bleached Penticorn could see a small group gathering below of a variety of pets.  There was a Slynx and Gyrophant among the others she noticed.

Her nostrils quivered as a low nicker bubbled up from deep in her throat.  Lynn tossed her silky white mane and plunged down the hill at a smooth canter.  A loud rustling from the tall grass behind her made the mare snort.  She quickly turned around and searched the grass for the noise, but she saw nothing.  Lynn lifted her white muzzle into the air to see if she could pick anything up on the wind. A serpent and...Albie?  She sniffed again and was sure that was what it was.  Scowling she said, "Alright you two, you can come out now."

Two Cobalt Albies appeared from the tall grass from where they had been hiding.  One had a very bored look on her face, while the other was very excited.  "I don't see why you always have to drag me into these things Anoki.  You know I don't like doing these sort of things.  Can we go home now?  Lynn knows we are here so, so much for your plan genuis."  Bena sighed, her brother was always dragging her along on some sort of adventure.  Why couldn't he just leave her home for once?

"I never made you come, you came all by yourself.""Where are you going?  Stop, let come with you so that you don't get into any trouble. *sigh*  Why does he always do this to me?" "Were they not your exact words?"

Lynn interjected just before Bena replied.  "Both of you go back straight home.  I bet you didn't even let anyone where you were going.  And no buts Anoki."

The Penticorn fixed the two with a stern look before turning away.  Ahoki was always into trouble.  Sometimes she wondered if he really should have been born a Chaos Albie rather than Cobalt.

Lynn walked slowly up to the gathered group and bowed before the youngest member.  He had messy brown hair and a crown the didn't seem to fit quite right.  "I'm Lynn, your healer and proud to be at your services."

[1][1][1]

[Azura Rayume]

Blaise looked over the small group, a satisfied look on his face. He'd seen a few tents in the cart behind Holly, so setting up camp seemed like a wonderful idea right now. He claped his hands together, saying, "Alright everyone. Let's get this camp set up." He glanced over at Anoki, Bena, and Lynn. "It's good to see you, Lynn. Could your... um... charges help gather some wood for the fire? Hita's going to need it to cook whatever meal he's come up with." He then proceeded to pull one of the tents from the cart. It stuck, threatening to rip from whatever was sitting on top of it. "Susan, could you give me a hand here?"

~ ~ ~ ~

"I've heard of the bears as well," Nula said in her soft voice. "In fact, they are part of the reason we came here. Drake has been wanting one for a while, so we figured this would be a good place to start our quest. He'll probably be better behaved if he gets this as a treat first."

~ ~ ~ ~

Drake smiled. "Yeah, a fairy tale," he muttered absentmindedly to himself. He'd never really considered that as a possibility. People would hear stories of this adventure and think it was nothing more than one of those children's tales! He gave a slight laugh at the thought.

He shook his head slightly, turning his attention back to Belinda and the task at hand. "Would you like to go Wombear hunting with me?"

[Krystalolive]

Belinda looked at him, thinking of what a Wombear was. 'Wombear.. Oh yeah, the cute little bears!' She smiled when she thought of what it was. "Ok! That sounds fun, and the bears look cute." She smiled, then turned to Blaise. "I'll help." She walked over, looking at the top of the pile, then smiled. She walked up the pile, then unstuck the tent up. "There ya go."

Phobos smiled at Nula, then laughed. "Then I hope we find one huh?" He chuckled, then looked at the prince and then looked at Belinda. 'Little showoff. I know she means well, she's just trying to help, but still. She uses that Snake in her, and doesn't know it. She needs to learn that people can't climb all the way up that pile in few steps and that fast.'