Nanashi really was not paying all that much attention to anything right now, other than the keys of the piano. He knew that LaRae was standing right outside on the balcony but right now she did not seem to be in much of a mood for conversation. She seemed rather content standing outside, just as he was content seated right there. His fingers were still resting on the keys lightly, though he still had not pressed down on them. For all intents and purposes, he was playing the song in his head already. He remembered the sound that every key was supposed to make, so he had no real need to press down on them. Even still...part of him wanted to play the tune anyway. However, the part of him that preferred not to draw attention to himself was winning out easily. He had just closed his eyes for a moment while he ran over the notes in his mind when Nero came close enough that he could have noticed him, so naturally...he had no idea that he was there.

As soon as Nero opened his mouth, Nanashi's eyes shot open wide and he sucked in a startled breath, wrenching his hands away from the piano keys as if they had suddenly burned him. His head snapped in Nero's general direction sharply and his eyes were wide, almost like those of a child who had just been caught doing something that they knew they would be in trouble for if someone saw them. That look faded after a few moments, however, and he let out a breath that he hadn't quite realized that he was holding. Even still, his ears remained laying back as if he thought that he was going to be in some sort of trouble. It was not every day that Nero came around him, and he...didn't look very pleased. Then again, Nero seldom looked very pleased. He continued to look at Nero quietly when he finally got around to telling them why he was here. "...Sorry," he responded quietly when Nero told him that he could stop teasing the piano. Honestly, he didn't know why he was apologizing, but...he was not sure what else to say. He carefully stood up and moved away from the piano bench, averting his eyes away from Nero entirely. "...I'm ready." It was not as though he needed to go and fetch anything form his room. He was wearing his clothes, and the two measly personal effects that he had were tucked safely in his pocket. He could leave just as soon as everyone else was ready.

Nero stared at Nanashi for a moment after he apologized and then shook his head. He hadn’t been surprised by the reaction that he got out of Nanashi. He almost always scared the guy or well, startled in this case and obviously… Nanashi hadn’t seen him coming. He also dismissed the apology… mostly because there had been no point in it to begin with. That… and he knew it was in Nanashi’s nature to apologize for such things. The guy damn near apologized for everything, including his existence. He sighed quietly when Nanashi said that he was ready. “That’s one less person to wait on then.” He commented, more to himself than to anyone. Of course now that he had gotten closer to the piano he was able to see LaRae out on the balcony. She hadn’t appeared to have even heard him or noticed that he had startled Nanashi. That surprised him, actually… considering she pretty much always went to bat for Nanashi. Hell, when they’d first met she had taken darts in her back over him. He sighed a little more irritably after realizing she still wasn’t noticing that he was there. He hadn’t said anything further but he had expected her to see him out of the corner of her eye or at least to sense his presence. She seemed terribly distracted… and he… didn’t really care by what. He turned his eyes away from LaRae and stared at Nanashi for a moment. “…Get your girlfriend and let’s go.” He told him. Though after he said it… he wasn’t sure where exactly they were supposed to go. Selenity hadn’t really given a meeting place or anything like that. He was quiet for a moment while he thought and then shook his head. “…Get her moving and meet us outside the palace. Kyran’s not here so we’ll probably have to stop and snag him along the way… so outside the way we came in will probably suffice.” He told him before turning and starting to leave the ballroom. He supposed he needed to make sure he found Reyes and told him where to go and then found Kanone as well… last thing they needed was a huge man hunt for people all looking for one another… With the size of this place they would probably constantly miss each other.

LaRae really hadn’t been paying much attention to anything. She had been leaning against the railing of the balcony, nearest a plant overlooking all the green of the backyard. If she hadn’t been so distracted by her own inner thoughts she might have noticed Nero speaking to Nanashi… or even Selenity when she had exited the door below balcony earlier.

Nanashi glanced over his shoulder briefly when Nero told him to get his girlfriend and go. He had thought that LaRae would have been paying some attention to what was going on in here, but...perhaps he was mistaken. Then again, he knew that she has been growing increasingly distracted lately, so he was not terribly surprised that she had not said anything. A small part of him was relieved as well. He did not want Nero upset with them...again. "Okay," he responded quietly, although he seemed to have spoken a little too soon. He looked at Nero again curiously when he told him to meet outside the palace where they had come in. "...Mmm," he muttered quietly with a slight nod. He continued to stand there for a moment as Nero started to make his way toward the room's exit and then turned his gaze back to LaRae. After a moment, he walked up behind her and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. A quick glance around the courtyard made it easy for him to spot the others. Ellior was sitting alone on one of the benches near the center of the garden, while Celestine and Aamori were lounging near the gazebo. Celestine, of course, was nowhere near the water, but he did not seen opposed ti sitting close enough for Aamori to enjoy it. Selenity had already found the two of them as well, and was standing there talking to them, so he assumed that she was telling them what Nero had just informed him and...well...him. LaRae clearly had not been listening. Once he was finished scanning the garden he looked back to LaRae again and gave her shoulder a gentle rub. "...LaRae...Nero said that we need to go," he told her quietly. "...Selenity is ready to leave as soon as everyone has their things together." He glanced back down to the garden once and then reached down to take a hold of LaRae's hand gently. "...Come on," he urged gently as he started to pull her back inside. "...Do you need to go and get anything?" he asked since he did not want to haul her outside if she was not ready to leave just yet.

LaRae startled slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head enough that she could see who had touched her. She felt relieved to see that it was only Nanashi, though she wasn’t completely sure who she was expecting it to be considering Nanashi had been the only one with her to begin with. She supposed it wasn’t really true that she wasn’t sure who she was expecting… ever since the party she’d been worried that every time she would turn around she’d find Renzo. She was pretty sure that he was still around… somewhere. Thankfully she hadn’t seen him since that night. She stared at Nanashi for a few moments while he spoke to her and eventually looked back out over the garden when he started bringing up Selenity being ready to leave. Of course now that she was looking again with the new information she saw Selenity with Aamori and Celestine. She glanced back to Nanashi when he took her hand. She wasn’t hard to pry away from the balcony, especially since it sounded like they were leaving. Going on with the mission and looking for the light clan relic was going to help distract her from what had been bothering her. She was happy about that at least. She thought for a moment when he asked if she needed to get anything. She only had a couple things but she had been having Aamori carry them for her since she didn’t have a bag of her own. “…No, I don’t think I need to get anything.” She paused. “…But I should probably make sure that Aamori gets everything and that she can handle getting Zale out of the room.” She told him before stepping away from the railing of the balcony.

[[Skippy…. Because I was told to. >.> ]]

After an undetermined amount of time most everyone had finally gathered outside where Nero had directed. Nero had gone upstairs to get Reyes and Kanone and make sure that they knew where they were going and then had headed to the location he had given Nanashi. LaRae had gone upstairs, most likely with Nanashi in tow and had waited on Aamori and helped her get her things together. Of course while they were getting things together she had shared with Aamori where they needed to go. They had both planned to take Zale with them… mostly because he couldn’t be trusted alone in the room for an unknown amount of time. Then of course neither of them knew how long they would be gone and whether or not they would be coming back. With all of that said, everyone had made it outside to where Nero had suggested they meet… except maybe Selenity who might not have gotten the memo… oh and of course Kyran because they still had to go and get him.

For the most part, everyone was able to get everything together in a timely enough manner. Celestine had already been keeping most of his belongings tucked away where they belonged, so there was little for him to actually put away. Kanone, on the other hand...had to practically repack everything that he owned. Nanashi only detoured back into the bedroom long enough to make sure that Kyran had not left anything lying around, and if he had, he secured it for him. Of course, Celestine made sure that Nobu and Esen were ready, and Kyiri was perched happily on top of his shoulder as they made their way outside. Of course...seeing as Nero had been the one to decide where they were meeting, it did take Selenity a little longer to arrive than any of them probably cared for...and when she did, she did not look very thrilled at all.

Selenity had not intended for everyone to actually gather outside when she has asked Nero to gather everyone up. She had asked Celestine and Aamori to go get their things together and told them that she would meet them shortly, assuming that they would all wait for her. Unfortunately...Nero's orders caused her to miss everyone. By the time she had gotten back to her room, gotten ready to go, and made it down to the guest rooms to tell everyone the game plan...everyone was gone. She had already washed her fact clean of makeup and let down her hair, as well as taken off her uncomfortable shoes, but unfortunately...while she was looking for the others, she was soon enough rounded up and sent back to her room to make herself 'presentable' to be wandering around outside of her room. It took her nearly an hour to escape again, and by then she had been stuffed back into an almost cream colored dress with an oddly shaped corset which oddly resembled some strange, decorative type of armor, although it was clearly nothing but silk. The front was laced down the middle with golden weave, and the sleeves were pointed and stuck off of her shoulders just a little. The dress itself, was long, coming all the way to her feet and billowed around her with every step. It was not quite as bulky as some of the dresses she had worn while here, but there was still quite a lot of fabric for her to contend with. Of course, she had once again been shoved into a pair of high heeled shoes, and half of her hair was nearly piled on top of her head and held in place with small diamond pins. Her face, was not quite so thickly coated in makeup as normal, but there was still a shimmering golden lining around her eyes and her arms were decorated with slender golden chains.

She let out a heavy sigh as she exited the palace through the front entrance and saw everyone, save for Kyran, already standing there waiting on her. ...So much for trying to leave unnoticed. She started to make her way toward the others and then shook her head a little. "...Let's go find Kyran...," she said in a dull, disgruntled voice. She only made it two steps down the front of the stairs before one of the guards tried to stop her.
"Princess," he began, almost uncertainly. "...Where do you think you are going?" She knew very well that she was not allowed to leave the palace without an escort.
Of course, Selenity let out another sigh when she was stopped and looked back to the guard levelly. "To the diplomats office," she responded shortly.
"...Oh," he replied, clearly a little surprised by the answer. "Well...I will escort you then...," he began, although he was rather quickly shot down.
"For the love of Arienh, I have seven escorts already, do I really need another?" she shot back rather heatedly. "Hold your post, you have been given no order to follow me, so there is no need for you to move." That at least, seemed to shut the man up...and left him standing there looking a little like a startled rabbit, but she did not seem to mind. At least he was not terribly insistant.

Nero didn’t particularly care that by having everyone ready to go outside in front of the Palace that it might somehow inconvenience Selenity. As far as he was concerned having one localized place for everyone to meet up and wait was far more efficient than just having people ready to go and sitting in their rooms. It also was not his fault that Selenity hadn’t had the forethought to tell him where to be telling people to meet up, or anything of the like. She merely told him to find them and tell them she was ready to leave… that was it. Of course… if she couldn’t figure out that everyone would be waiting on her somewhere convenient for exiting the Palace… well that was her own fault. He by no means felt that he had any blame in the matter seeing as it was the Princesses own lack of detail and planning that lead to where they were currently… hours later and waiting on an irritable Princess. Once she had managed to find them and fend off the guard that was trying to escort her he merely took to walking, heading out of the Palace grounds and towards the diplomats office. He figured the rest of them would follow, which Reyes did right away and eventually the others as well.

Selenity let out a heavy sigh once the guard had finally opted to leave her alone and then began to descend the stairs carefully. She would have loved to have taken off her shoes right then and there, but she knew better than to even bother with that right now. She still had to uphold her 'proper' image, even though she was leaving the palace. Right now, it was not difficult to identify her as the princess, even if she did use her bangs to hide the gem in her forehead. Her clothes were simply too fancy for the mere every day wear of anyone outside of the palace, or even inside who was not royalty. Once they had gotten enough distance from the palace, she started to direct the others along some of the lesser traveled roads, clearly trying to draw as little attention to them, and herself, as possibly. Unfortunately, the diplomat's office was a decent trek away...at least when you were wearing a rib-crushing dress and a pair of three inch heels. About three-fourths of the way there, she nearly passed out in the middle of the street and had to stop and try to breathe. She had to sit down for a few minutes, all the while looking both humiliated and outraged. Thankfully, there was no one on this particular stretch of road to see her. She was not at all thrilled about being stuck in this dress, not that she had gotten much say in what she was thrown into before she left.

Once she was up to moving again, she finished the walk to the office and asked them to send Kyran out if he was not busy rather than enter the building and risk getting comfortable. She wanted to get this show on the road as soon as possible, even more so now since she wanted to get somewhere where she could get out of his godforsaken dress...not that she had anything with her that she could change into.

Nero may not have known exactly where to go as far as getting to the diplomats office went… but he knew to at least get started walking and sooner or later Selenity would catch up and start directing. Besides… there were only so many ways that you could go and surely if he had started off the wrong way the Princess would have corrected him in an instant. Once Selenity wound up taking lead he continued to stay ahead of the pack, whereas normally he’d fall to the back and bring up the rear. He wouldn’t say that he was surprised when they had to stop so that Selenity could try and catch her breath. She had been trying to move at a decent clip in that flowy dress and heels… so of course she was out of breath. He didn’t have anything to say when she had to sit down and rest, nor did anyone else really. They all seemed to pick up on her mood and knew to keep their mouths shut and their comments to themselves. When they started up again, everyone followed, though by the time that they got to the diplomats office Nero started to move back to the back of the pack like he normally did so that Kyran could resume taking part-lead like he usually did.

Kyran was inside the building for a short while. He had been informed that he had important guests, really important… but he had wanted to finish up the work he had been given before he left to see who had come. By important… and the way that the person had reacted when they told him he could only assume that it was at least Selenity… or someone of her caliber. As soon as he had finished, or well, had gotten to a place that he could stop and someone else could very easily pick up, he left to exit the building. When he stepped outside he was momentarily surprised to see everyone, not just Selenity. “…You look pretty.” He commented when he looked at Selenity, a little curiously. He had noticed that it appeared everyone else had their things… and yet… here she was all prim and proper and dressed up like the Princess that she was, rather than the Hikari that traveled. He hadn’t lied when he said that she looked pretty, but obviously he wasn’t sure he understood what exactly was going on. If they had been continuing on the little travel… they’d need Hikari, not Selenity… and he’d need his things if no one gathered them.

Selenity was glad that everyone had opted not to comment on the way that she was dressed or the fact that she was having difficulty maneuvering the distance in what she was wearing. She definitely was not wearing this by choice, and right now...would not have been the best time for anyone to ask her why she was dressed that way. Once they had reached the office, she waited almost impatiently for Kyran to emerge, and tried hard to ignore the looks that they were receiving...or well, that she was receiving. Most people were wondering what she was going out of the palace without an escort of guards, and why she was with this strange group. Of course...no one approached her or questioned her, but she knew that they were wondering. As soon as Kyran emerged from the building she sighed softly and looked up at him with a look of mild annoyance when he told her that she looked pretty. "Thanks...," she said flatly, in a tone that certainly did not match her prim and proper dress. She sighed and raised her hand to dust her bangs into her forehead and hide the gem at the center of her forehead and then looked up at him again. "Well, the pretty princess is ready to leave." She turned her gaze to one of the nearest bystanders whom she knew worked at the office and, in her own language, informed him that if anyone came looking for her that he was to inform them that she had left with the others. Of course, the man seemed a bit confused and almost startled, but when she assured him that the elder was well aware of what she would be doing, he finally nodded before returning inside. Once she was finished giving instructions she turned back to the others. "Alright...let's get out of dodge before anyone comes looking for me. I have a good idea of where to start...so we are going to want to leave the city from this direction," she told them as she pointed northeast of where they had originally come into town. "Oh, and Nanashi brought your things," she informed Kyran, almost as an afterthought. "I will find mine later."

Kyran was only slightly put off by the way that Selenity had responded to him when he told her that she looked pretty. Then of course the way that she said the ‘pretty’ Princess was ready to leave didn’t improve anything. He had rather easily gathered she was in a less than pleasant mood right now and chose to just keep his opinion to himself as to not set her off further. He kind of wished he had known that she was going to show up here in the mood she was in, he might have held back on complimenting her at all. He had gotten a little lost on that train of thought while Selenity was talking to one of the other men who worked in the office, though he tuned back in with enough time to realize that she was speaking to him in a language that he couldn’t speak. He turned his attention in the direction that Selenity pointed once she had told them that she had a good idea on where to start. That cemented that he was probably going to need his things… and he had left them in the room back at the palace. Her following statement put the brakes on his thinking about running back to the palace for a moment and caused him to look towards Nanashi. He couldn’t help but smile a little as he stepped closer to Nanashi to retrieve his things. “Thanks, Nanashi. That saves me a trip.” He told him quietly as he took his holster and blades first and started to put them on before taking anything else of his from Nanashi. “Well, let’s get going before the size of our little group increases.” He said in a way of letting Selenity know that he was ready to leave.

Nanashi had been standing quietly, listening to the orders that Selenity was giving the man who had told Kyran to come outside. He only blinked when Selenity pointed out to Kyran that he had gotten his things for him. His attention then turned to Kyran and he offered him a weak smile before he offered him his blades. He only responded to Kyran's thanks with a small smile of his own and a silent nod. Right now, Selenity did not make speaking out loud sound all that appealing...so he decided to just stay quiet and patiently hold everything for Kyran until he had his hands free to take what was his.

Selenity waited quietly for Kyran to go and relieve Nanashi from carrying all of his belongings...not that Nanashi was really bogged down with much of his own. The only things that Nanashi really had, even now, were the clothes on his back. At this point, he didn't even have a weapon any longer. Of course...she didn't really see him using it even if he was carrying one. As soon as Kyran let on that he was ready to leave, she nodded her head and started to turn so that she could lead the way. "We will take the back way...hopefully, not very many people will spot us." She had covered the gem on her forehead, but in this outfit it was still evident that she was, at the very least, high up on the social scale if not royalty itself. Of course...getting to the back roads still required the group to get off of the main road and that in itself was going to be near impossible to do unnoticed. Rather than worry about stealth at the moment, she was a little more worried about speed. The sooner they were out of sight, the fewer people would see where they were going.

As soon as the group had managed to get off of the main roads, Selenity carefully guided them through the residential districts. Naturally, the houses closer to the center of town and nearest to the palace were far larger and more luxurious than the ones further away. The closer they came to the outskirts of the city, the smaller and slightly less classy the houses became. Of course, in this territory, even the smallest residence near the edge of the city were still lovely to look at. However, the further from the center of town they traveled, the more out of place Selenity's flowing, formal dress appeared. Eventually, the houses became fewer and further between as they drew closer to the forest. Past the last of the houses was a wide field of wildflowers before the treas started to form the uneven line of the forest. Selenity made it only about halfway through the field of tall flowers before her high heeled shoes started to tangle in the weeds and sink into the soft soil. She nearly fell three times before she finally let out a aggravated growl and snatched off her shoes. For a moment, she looked as if she were seriously starting to think about throwing the damned things across the field, but instead she simply kept them in her hands and pressed on toward the forest. There was a small path through the trees ahead, although it clearly had not been very well used at all recently. Foliage and fallen leaves covered the ground, and brush was steadily creeping into the path. Once they had finally reached the edge of the forest, Selenity paused and motioned for the others to go ahead while she scanned the field and the area beyond it carefully, just to make sure that no one was behind them.

After she was satisfied that they had made it this far without drawing too much attention to themselves she let out her breath in relief before she made her way into the trees as well. Carefully, she picked her way back to the front of the group and continued to lead the others further through the trees before she finally couldn't take it any more. The corset she was wearing felt like it was crushing her ribs, she was getting winded and having difficulty breathing, and on top of all of that, the fragile chiffon outer layers of the skirt were snagging on every little branch she passed. Finally, her skirt snagged on a set out outstretched brush so badly that the pull of it nearly caused her to trip up in the skirt's several layers. She let out a little yip as she nearly toppled and then caught herself and turned irritably. "Alright, I've had it," she growled angrily as she stopped and started reaching behind her back for the laces at the base of the corset and fumbled with them. "I can't walk, I can't breathe, something has got to give!" She finally managed to grasp the strings which were making breathing so difficult and wrenched them free before she took in a deep breath which caused the ribbons to loosen since no one was pulling against them. She let out her breath heavily and then turned her gaze down to the long, tangled skirts of the dress. Rather than try to dislodge them from the brush, she simply took a step back and ripped them free, tearing the fabric in the process. Of course she had no intention of stopping there. She wasn't about to try and navigate this untraveled forest with a trail of fabric hanging around her ankles. She grasped the skirt well above her knees and tore the fabric so that it ripped all the way around her body, and then tore down to the next layer deliberately. Be the time she was finished shredding the skirts, there was only enough left to keep her dignity securely hidden, and that was it. She pulled out of the white, sheer stockings that covered her feet and tossed them aside with the rest of the fabric, of which there was plenty. By the time she was finished, the corset had loosened itself considerably, and at that point, she reached behind her to tie the ribbons back together loosely, only so that it would not attempt to come open too much on her. It really hadn't taken her long at all to completely destroy the lower half of her dress, but even with the uneven hanging edges, the dress still looked fairly nice. "There...now maybe we can actually cover some ground," she remarked as she tossed down the high heeled shoes as well. She couldn't wear them in this terrain, not without breaking her leg, so she didn't see a point in carrying them around with her.

Kyran had kind of hoped that once they all got moving that Selenity’s mood might have improved or at least that she’d have stopped seeming so pissed off about everything. Unfortunately it didn’t really seem to subside, in fact… it only seemed to get worse, especially once they made it into the forest and her dress had started snagging on every little thing. Her little outburst with the shoes had been the first strong indication that things were liable not to get better. He hadn’t really gathered what her problem was until they had started heading for the forest through the field. She was totally not dressed for this type of terrain and although he understood her frustration a little he didn’t really like it or the fact that she was snappish in general when no one had really done anything to her. It wasn’t like any one of them had tied her down and forced her into that dress… she was usually stuck in stuff like that when she was at the palace, or at least that was the way it had been lately. He was a little surprised when she finally stopped and had herself a little fit at the dress. He had seen how annoying the dress was being for her but it had still surprised him quite considerably that she just stopped and eventually started hacking away at the bottom of it. Instinctively he stepped as much in the direct line of sight of her as he possibly could so that he was obscuring her from view of the others. She may not have been completely shredding off the skirt of her dress but she was still hiking it up quite high, not to mention the back of her dress had been undone until the very end… or well, it was untied so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to say that the dress wouldn’t just come completely undone on its own while she was fighting with the bottom layers of the skirt. When she finally had finished trashing the bits of her clothing that made this trek more difficult he cleared his throat slightly. “…We should keep going.” He suggested after he had turned slightly to glance at the looks on some of the others faces. Aamori had looked like her heart had been ripped out, probably because Selenity had pretty much ruined the dress. LaRae and Reyes looked a little amused… so did Nero actually, though he was making some remark under his breath that he couldn’t hear.

Selenity let out a heavy sigh once she was finished shredding the skirts of the dress up to a desirable length. The ends were all kinds of uneven, but even at the shortest point, it still was not uncomfortable high on her. It was all pretty much above her knees, well out of the way, but none of it was short enough to make her feel as though she were too exposed. Now that she didn't feel like she was wrapped up in a death trap, she glanced back up to Kyran and sighed. "Yes, we should," she responded easily. She, too, glanced back to the others briefly and noted the look on everyone's face. Aamori, Kyran, and Nanashi were the only ones who seemed to be bothered by what she had done. Nanashi just looked nervous in general right now. Kanone, on the other hand looked as though he was struggling not to erupt with laughter, and Celestine...well, Celestine was just standing there with his arms crossed staring off into the trees. She took in another deep breath, clearly enjoying her new-found freedom to breathe and let out out slowly before she started to glance around a little. "Alright...," she muttered quietly before she trailed off thoughtfully. "...We are going to have to backtrack a little," she told them absently as she started moving again. At the very least, now that she wasn't all tied up, she seemed to be considerably less irritable. "I hadn't intended to come this way initially, so I will have to go back for my things. Other than that, we are going in the right direction."

With that explanation, she started to guide them back in the general direction of the palace. She knew that this forest connected to the one that surrounded the outer edges of the palace and came around behind the magnificent garden in the back courtyard. Once they were close enough to the palace, she halted the others in a clearing far enough away from the palace that no one should notice them. There was only one wall between the palace garden and the forest, and that was simply to keep larger animals from finding their way inside. Guards were stationed around the perimeter to help keep other dragons from sneaking into the palace, however...Selenity knew their locations and knew how to avoid them, and she also knew just where she had left her things, so she made the others wait while she went to retrieve her bag. It didn't take her more than fifteen minutes to go and return with her little white belt bag strapped around her hips and her composite bow attached to the top. She hadn't even needed to go over the wall, seeing as she had already hidden the bag on this side of it...she had simply had to try and make sure that no one was around to see her pick it up from where she had left it. Now, however, she was starting to wish that she had thought to pack some decent clothes in the thing rather than depend on being able to wear them as she left.

Once she returned to the others, she once against started to lead them deeper into the forest. The further they went, the more the trees thickened. The ground was littered sporadically with masses of the multicolored crystals which had been spotted in other areas in the territory. Selenity had to pick carefully where to set her bare feet while they proceeded. Hours passed, and gradually, the lush greenery began to change a little. Eventually, those strange deep crimson leaves began to make themselves known amongst the greenery as the silvery barked trees began to appear sporadically until eventually that was all that surrounded them. There were some other trees in the area, although they still were not what one would be used to seeing in any other territory. Their bark, too, was silvery white and their leaves a deep greenish blue and their branches decorated with bright red fruits. Already, she was tired, but she was looking for a decent spot to give the trek a rest for a while. Finally, the woods opened up enough to reveal a narrow stream running peacefully through the terrain. Selenity let out a sigh once she spotted the stream and then stopped long enough to look back at the others. "Let's take a break here for now," she told them simply. She doubted seriously that Aamori or LaRae would really mind her choice. The water was crystal clear and so clean looking that even she wouldn't be afraid to scoop some up and drink it. Along the edge of the water were several different types of plants, many of which bore some type of blossom. The flowers ranged in sizer, shape, and color, but one set stood out amongst the others. There were many flowers along the river bank, mixed in amongst the others, which were solid white in color, although their petals were tightly curled in on themselves as if the flowers had not yet come into bloom. Those flowers were tall enough to be seen over the others, but by far were not the most attractive ones to look at, at least not at this stage.

Kyran was at the very least a little relieved to see that the changes that Selenity had made in her attire had kind of lightened her mood. Aside from that he was just kind of glad to get moving once again so that everyone’s mind was taken off of the little stop they had made while Selenity destroyed parts of her dress. He didn’t really have much to say whenever she spoke, explaining that she hadn’t intended to come the way that they had, but they were going in the right direction. He merely gave a nod of understanding when she had spoken and when she had said that she needed to backtrack a little. No one really seemed to mind but that was probably due to the fact that everyone had been off of their feet and doing leisurely things for the past few days. When they finally happened back towards the palace he of course waited with everyone else for Selenity to return, although of course he had offered to get her things for her, not that she couldn’t do it herself but simply because it was sometimes a natural habit to offer to do something for a woman. When she returned everyone was ready to go and it didn’t take much to get them all moving again. As they walked and followed Selenity however he did start to notice that they weren’t such a tightknit little group anymore. As the hours had passed Nero and Reyes had fallen a little more to back, or well… a little farther away from the head of the group. Aamori and LaRae were still between the front and rear of the group, but it was somewhat obvious that everyone had kind of stretched out a little for whatever reasons. He highly doubted that Nero was tired and dragging his feet so he merely assumed that it had been more a personal preference than he was too tired to keep pace.

By the time that Selenity finally announced that they should take a break he was somewhat relieved. None of them had really walked this type of terrain lately and regardless of that it was still a lot of walking and even he was feeling a little worn out. He too knew that the choice of place to stop was going to please at least a couple people in their group… just about the only people likely to not be all that happy were Nero and Reyes and that was only because of the light factor but they did have their shaded glasses at least. Once everyone had stopped they of course started to spread out a little to relax. Aamori immediately made her way over to the stream so that she could sit down near it, of course only after helping herself to a drink from it. She seemed to light up a little just from proximity of the water. LaRae had already looked happy enough but that was due to the fact that they’d been in a wooded area for damn near the whole trek. Although she did seem a little more interested in looking at the flowers near the stream than anything else. Nero did what he usually did… he found a tree far enough away that he could be considered by himself but close enough that he could still see and hear everything and sat down. Reyes of course stuck close to him. Nobu was still beside him since he hadn’t really moved once he stopped and Zale had of course followed Aamori and was just as entranced at the stream as she seemed to be, though he wanted to be in it rather than beside it and Aamori was already having to scold him and tell him to keep out. He let out a quiet sigh and reached down to pat Nobu’s head gently. It was such a change being here right now like this versus where they had been for the past few days, it was kind of nice… but at the same time he knew that the continuation of this trek was going to take a lot out of everyone and peace like this was probably going to be hard to come by… eventually… especially if the last couple relic hunts could be used as any indication.

Selenity half smiled as she watched the others start to spread out around the area. For the time being, she stood where she was and watched while Aamori and LaRae wound up edging toward the river and the greenery surrounding it. Once it looked like everyone was looking for a place to settle in, she started to make her way over to one of the nearby trees and sat down beneath it. It looked to her as though Kyran and Nanashi weren't too sure what to do with themselves, but she didn't particularly feel like standing any longer. As soon as she was on the ground, she started to pull one of her feet up into her lap so that she could wipe the grit away from her sole and rub it out a little. Given the abuse that her feet had been taking from the shoes she was forced to wear, traveling around barefoot with her already sore feet was not exactly the most pleasant sensation. Still…it was better than trying to travel this rough terrain with heels on.

Celestine seemed content enough to branch off just a little from the group as well once Selenity had announced that they were going to be stopping. However, unlike Nero, he gave Nobu a gentle rub behind the ears before he started to wander toward the water’s edge with Esen in tow. He had been walking with Aamori and Kanone pretty much the entire trek, and he still aimed to stick a little closer to her. He did not follow her directly to the water’s edge, but he did find the closest tree to where she had decided to stop and sat Kyiri off of his shoulder. He watched as she scampered up the side of the tree to one of the lower branches and perched on the edge. Soon after Kyiri had gotten herself situated, he carefully flitted up onto a wider branch just below her and settled against the trunk after folding in his wings. Esen opted to stay on the ground for now, and settled next to Kanone, who after looking up at Celestine and shaking his head had thrown down everything that he was carrying and settled at the base of the same tree.

Nanashi stopped moving as soon as Selenity called for them to stop for a while. He let his eyes wander around the scenery for a few moments before he watched LaRae start to move closer to the water. He hesitated for a few moments before he started to move back a little closer, although he stopped well before he was near her and glanced back toward Kyran briefly. “…Is something wrong?” he asked him quietly, looking almost a little nervous. Nanashi, of course, did not sense anything out of the ordinary, but he had been just a little uptight ever since they had left the palace. He was well aware that the odds of then wandering straight into danger wherever they were going. He also hadn’t forgotten what had happened just before they had made it to the palace before. Part of him was afraid to get too far away from anyone for fear of there being another attack by the hunters…but then again, perhaps those hunters had already moved on to a new area.

Kyran had watched silently as the others started to spread out, without entirely realizing that he had just been standing there eyeing them… or well, taking notice of them and their exact locations and proximity to one another. He’d been a little lost in his own thoughts and had been subconsciously watching and taking note, though he became a little more aware of what he had been doing when Nanashi spoke up and distracted him. He had a fleeting thought of awareness and then turned his eyes downward to Nanashi. He smiled faintly and shook his head. “No, nothing’s wrong.” He told him. “Not really.” He didn’t really feel like anything was wrong, it just felt a little strange to be moving again and he said as much when he spoke again. “…I was just thinking that it felt a little bizarre to be setting out again.” He started. “The past few days in the Palace have been rather …lively among of things, I guess and it’s been such a different pace than any of us are really used to.” He paused. “And I feel almost like I’ve been set a little off my guard because of it all and then in my case it didn’t really help matters that I spent so much time working. That made things more normal than anything because it was something I was so used to doing and now we’re back at something new again.” He absently lifted a hand to run his fingers through his hair. “I guess I’m also worried. I’m not sure why but I feel like the task we have to do would have been better accomplished or at least easier on the lot of us if we hadn’t had the long pit-stop into the life of Royalty.” He meant no offense, of course he just meant that he feared some of them who weren’t totally used to the battle aspects of things might have dulled their senses and whatnot by being lavished by the Palace. The only person he wasn’t really worried about or concerned about in the slightest was Nero. Nero was made for this sort of stuff…

Nobu could easily sense the unease in Kyran, especially once he started speaking about it to Nanashi. It had been subtle before when it was just a thought in his mind but once he had started talking about it, it was like giving the feeling life and power and it became a bit easier to read. Usually Kyran was really well kept together and he still was… he was just uncomfortable with the situation. He wasn’t sure he could blame Kyran though… there had been a lot that had gone on the past few days for everyone, especially between him and Selenity. He brushed up against Kyran’s side and nuzzled his head against him a little. “I wouldn’t worry about it. You lot are a lot more capable than you give yourselves credit for. You all will be fine.” He told him confidently as he stared up at him. He continued to stand next to Kyran for a moment before he noticed that Aamori was still having trouble with Zale. He sighed quietly and wagged his tails a little before padding away from Kyran to try and help Aamori curtail Zale.

Nanashi remained quiet while he stared up at Kyran, listening closely to what he had to say. Nanashi was a little worried himself, although he soon found that his reasons were far different from Kyran's. "Oh...," he responded quietly. He continued to stand there for a few moments before he glanced away again. "I'm not really worried about that," he admitted quietly. "...When we first started out, I'm sure everyone felt the same way...but everyone's done fine so far, er...well, almost everyone," he amended. He hadn't been doing all that great. After all, he'd been nothing but a hand full to the lot of them. If he wasn't getting hurt, then he was just getting in the way. He sighed quietly and then looked back up to Kyran with a weak smile before turning his gaze back toward the trees. "...I'm actually kind of glad we're leaving. This is what I'm used to...." He was far more used to being out in the wild scrounging around than he was taking up space in a town where no one wanted him around. Things were a bit different when he was with the group, but even still the road was far more inviting to him than any town or city they could stop in. No matter how nice people were to him, in the back of his mind he knew that for the most part people were only tolerating him because of his current company. He was quiet for a few moments before he turned his head to look at Kyran again. "...Do you think...those hunters are gone?" he asked quietly, finally giving away what was really bugging him about being out in the open again. That was the only thing worrying him at this point. He was afraid that they were going to be attacked again, and he really didn't want to see anyone get hurt. Of course, he thought the hunters were fools to try and take on a group of dragons this large, but he assumed that with that other dragon half as their trump card they had thought they could get away with it. Perhaps they had learned their lesson after that little skirmish.

Kyran let his eyes fall down to Nobu momentarily when he was speaking to him and smiled weakly at the dog before patting his head just before he left. He started to watch him head for Aamori and Zale but he brought his eyes back to Nanashi quickly enough. He listened silently as Nanashi spoke and didn’t offer to speak again right away. He supposed there probably wasn’t a whole lot to really be worried about after listening to Nobu and Nanashi… but he couldn’t help feeling a little …unprepared, he guessed was the best word for it. He was still a little lost in his own thoughts by the time Nanashi spoke again. He stared at Nanashi a little taken back by the question though he recovered quickly and shook his head a little. “…Honestly, I don’t really know.” He responded. He hadn’t really thought much of the hunters since the last time they had seen them. The little jaunt in the Palace had kind of made his memory of them a little fuzzy, at least until Nanashi brought them back up again. “I don’t suspect that they’ll show up again so soon, if at all.” He told him, though he wasn’t totally positive. They had some rare and young dragons in their group after all… so he wouldn’t be too surprised for them to run into hunters more often now than before. But at the same time they might steer clear of the group since the group is so big and there are clearly fighters among them. “I really don’t know…” He repeated quietly. “I hope they don’t become a reoccurring issue.” He said lastly.

Nanashi kept his gaze on Kyran silently while he waited for some kind of answer out of him. It surprised him a little that the hunters seemed to have managed to evade Kyran's list of things to worry about at first. Then again, perhaps he had only remembered because he was still having nightmares about that encounter. Once Kyran seemed to put a little thought into the subject, he sighed quietly and then nodded his head just a little. "...I hope you're right," he responded quietly once Kyran had pointed out that he didn't think that the hunters would show up again so soon. He looked back up at Kyran again almost curiously when he mentioned that he hoped that the hunters would not be a reoccurring problem. "...Honestly...I think they were foolish to have attempted attacking us in the first place," he said quietly. "At the time there were only five of them, including...that girl. They were outnumbered from the beginning, and even with those darts it wasn't really an even match. After the way that turned out for them...I would think they would give up." He paused for a few moments to think and then sighed. "...But...there are probably more of them...and if that girl is still with them then that would probably give an even larger group just enough confidence to be as bold as the last one...," he rambled. He seemed to have already trailed off on his own trail of thought where the hunters were concerned. If there were more, and if that other dragon half was still with them, then he wouldn't put it past them to try again...especially since he was sure that some of them probably had a score to settle in the name of the ones who had died in the last fight. He shook his head a little to pull himself from those thoughts and then looked back up at Kyran again. "Um...sorry," he muttered quietly, looking mildly embarrassed at having just voice damn near every thought that crossed his mind on the subject.

Kyran remained where he was standing and listened silently while Nanashi responded to what he had said. The hunters really had kind of slipped his mind, or at least they had until Nanashi had brought them up again. The threat had been dealt with at the time and other concerns had come up that took precidence over hunters that wouldn't have dared follow them into the light clan's main city; that would have been suicide, plain and simple. Now that they were out somewhat in the open he supposed he should've paid it a little more attention but honestly, he hadn't thought about it. He was surprised at just how much thought Nanashi seemed to have given it, but then... Nanashi had seemed a bit shaken up by the whole thing now that he was remembering it. He let out a quiet sigh and shook his head a little. "No, it's alright." He told him honestly when Nanashi apologized. "I should have given it as much thought as you have." He admitted with a slightly embarrassed look on his face that was fleeting. "Hunters can be a serious issue... I'd like to not have to deal with them again but in all honesty there is probably a decently high chance that we might." He paused. "I don't know that it will be any time soon seeing as I think we're still pretty far from where we originally ran into them... and I doubt they would have traveled to this general area since we're still not too terribly far from the Palace. Right now I think it'd be bad timing and placement for them, but they may be more stupid than I thought." He commented quietly. It was really just all speculation since he couldn't predict where they would show up again, he was just somewhat sure that they would indeed see them again. Humans could be pretty easy to anger and he imagined they would want revenge... it was just a matter of when and where. "I still hope that we don't have a run in with them any time soon, we have enough to deal with without them being in the way." He looked at Nanashi and smiled weakly. "I wouldn't worry too much... we all know they're out there now and I'm sure that some of the others, like you, haven't forgotten about them. We'll be more ready for them next time." He told him reassuringly.

Nanashi glanced up at Kyran again when he told him that he should have thought more about the hunters himself. He really wasn't surprised that the hunters had not exactly been at the forefront of Kyran's mind. After all...Kyran wasn't the one who was paranoid about that sort of thing. He offered Kyran a weak smile when he told him that he wouldn't worry too much about the hunters. "...Yeah...you're probably right," he replied quietly. He sighed softly and absently wrapped his arms around himself and let his eyes wander toward the water. Odds were, if everyone else went to sleep tonight, he was probably going to be awake and jumping at every sound. Taking it easy and not really worrying about things wasn't exactly Nanashi's strongest point. He was used to worrying and used to watching his back, so trying not to do those things was almost like trying not to breathe. He did it without thinking.

After a moment, he turned his head a little and looked at Kyran again before offering him a weak smile. "...Well, we should probably go settle down somewhere," he said quietly, seeing as they were still the only two really standing out in the middle of the open space. With that, he finally started to make his way over to where LaRae was standing.

Kyran could kind of tell that the reassurances he tried to give Nanashi on the topic of the Hunters wasn’t really making him feel that much better. Sure, he didn’t look like he was going to jump out of his skin right this second but he still appeared very much like he was weary, especially now that they were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. He sighed softly and nodded his head a little when Nanashi finally brought up that they should probably go settle down. He watched as Nanashi made his way back over towards LaRae and then let out another sigh as he continued to stand there. Why did things always have to be, or at least seem to be so complicated? This trip would run a whole lot smoother with Hunters being involved and that was hardly the least of his worries. That was however the worry that he was trying very hard to focus on, along with this trip and related tasks. He didn’t need to be out here and distracted by other thoughts that had nothing to do with what they were supposed to be doing. He eventually looked towards Selenity and started to head over to where she had stopped to sit and rest. He didn’t bother to sit down, merely stood silently closer to her. After a few moments he finally opened his mouth to speak. “…Nanashi brought up the Hunters.” He commented if she hadn’t been able to overhear them. “…Now that I think about it, I think when we decide to settle in for the night or even for an extended period of time we should probably do a perimeter search, just to make sure we’re in the clear.” He told her quietly. “We should probably also implement rounds, as annoying as that would be… so that if the Hunters are still out there and looking for us they shouldn’t really be able to get the slip on us and especially not in a large number.” Not that they couldn’t protect themselves without taking the precautionary measures… but it’d still be smarter to be prepared and watching for them than to just ignore the possible threat and let them come whenever they managed to hunt them down again.

Selenity had been watching Kyran and Nanashi while they stood practically where the group had entered this open area, although she hadn't really been able to make out much of what was being said. She could tell that Nanashi looked a little worried about something, but he was talking far too softly for her to hear what he was saying to Kyran. Once the two of them started to separate and Kyran finally started to make his way over to her, she raised her eyes up to meet him. Part of her wanted to ask him why he didn't just sit down, but she didn't bother to quiz him. Instead, she listened silently and kept her gaze diligently on his face while he explained what he and Nanashi had been talking about and the precautions that they should probably put into place. "...I did think on that briefly," she admitted quietly. "However, I find it hard to believe that they would be bold enough to try and attack such a large group of us again. Even still, it would not hurt to keep an eye out for them." She glanced over in the direction that Nanashi had gone and then laid her ears back just a little. "...And it would probably make him feel better," she added as she looked back up to Kyran again. "...That attack scared him more than any of us, I believe. If we don't keep an eye out for them, then he will...and he has to be able to sleep sometime." She sighed softly and pulled her knees back up to her chest once again. "...How has he been doing anyway?" she asked softly, seeing as Kyran had been spending more time with him than anyone that she knew of after that last attack.

Kyran nodded his head a little in agreement when Selenity mentioned that she found it hard to believe that the Hunters would be so bold, a second time. “I agree.” He commented. “It would be stupid of them, but if they want vengeance they’ll be back again.” He added. He couldn’t help but glance in Nanashi’s direction when she brought up how the attack had scared him. The attack really had scared Nanashi quite a bit and she was right, he would need to sleep sometime and if they weren’t taking the proper precautions to try and put him at least a little at ease… well, he probably wouldn’t ever sleep. He lowered his eyes back down to her when she asked him how Nanashi was doing. He was silent for a moment while he thought about that and then, finally started to shift so that he could sit down on the ground. “…I think that he got hit with a lot of things at once, so it’s been difficult for me to really tell exactly how he’s doing.” He started. “We know the attack really bothered him and I don’t really believe that he got any real time to work through that before he got thrown into the Palace and everything that came with that… and I think that was really just a lot of take in.” He paused. “I mean… it was a lot for him to handle while he was still recovering from that attack and once we had reached the Palace I don’t believe things really ever slowed down that much, especially after he was able to get up and move around again without feeling totally and utterly drained.” He shook his head a little. “To be perfectly honest all I really can tell is that yes, he was bothered… he’s still bothered… but he isn’t completely shut in on himself. He still responds and he still talks but I don’t believe he’s gotten over anything involving that incident… but I’m not really sure.” He sighed quietly. “For awhile there my mind was set on other things and I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t being as observant of the other people around me as I should’ve been. It was an injustice to Nanashi, especially and there isn’t really anything that I can do about it now…” He admitted quietly.

Selenity listened quietly while Kyran tried to explain Nanashi's condition to her, not that he really had much to explain. All of the things that he did tell her were things that she could have figured out on her own. It was evident that Nanashi had been talking to others and hadn't shut in on himself, but she hadn't been around him enough to know how he acted when he wasn't being watched by everyone. He seemed the most comfortable around Kyran and LaRae, and from what she had come to understand Kyran was the one rooming with him, so she had hoped that he would have been able to tell her a little more. She glanced over at him when he admitted that for a while, his mind had been elsewhere, and she let out a heavy sigh before looking away again. She knew what he was referring to. "...I can understand that," she responded quietly, "...I believe all of us have been a little...preoccupied. Even LaRae has been acting a bit strange for the past few days...," she observed quietly. "...I just thought you may know a little more. He's closer to you than anyone, except maybe LaRae. If he was going to say anything to anyone, it would be one of you two."