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Ok, I am here!!!! Finally, lol. It sure took me long enough ;P I LOVE the interactions going on (these characters are SO awesome!), and I am going to plop mine in right away. So sorry for the delay! Btw, this maze idea is awesome, @this-is-not-an-alien ! And @mischievous-thwapling , DRAGON-PEOPLE ARE AWESOME! Think I could say awesome again?

I typed out Kiark’s part, but it is SUPER long bc I got carried away, so I will only recap: He was having a reserved argument with his officials, who didn’t want him to go on this mission to recruit the chiefs to their cause, claiming it could be to dangerous and he could be wounded or, at worst, killed. Kiark left the tent, and was going to get something to eat, when two soldiers approached him. One of them, Rosprey, had just learned that his little sister was lost in the forest, so Kiark put together a search party to go and look for her. Right now, he set off by himself to search as well, and he’s busy running things over in his head, trying to sort things out….

***

“I just don’t understand it.” Kiarkus Reni ran a hand through his fluffed-up golden hair and sighed. Absentmindedly snapping a dead stick off of a tree and slapping his hand with it, he tramped through Deko Forest, roving the ground with his eyes for any sign of… whatever a little twelve year old girl would leave behind her. But he wasn’t really thinking about the girl, Yehe; that’s what Rosprey said her name was. He was thinking about the officials who had rejected his plea. “Their logic makes no sense! You would let me ride into a controlled battle (since when is battle controlled?!), but not a meticulously planned trip to go and discuss dire matters in a civilized manner to men who would most likely be on our side? Sure, they may or may not be in agreement with us, but isn’t that what scouts are for? It is important that I go; if I don’t, the chiefs may not believe our cause is strong enough and therefore will ally with the Vulgars! Then where will we be, Bartch J. Rond?”

Curling back his lips, he snarled. It was a bad habit of his, one he had been begged time and time again to break. But he always snarled at folks when they asked him to. The prince stopped suddenly to examine a deer rub on a tree. It was pretty high up, and the bark was scraped almost clean off in that spot. Hmm. Kiark bent down and ran his finger over a clean hoof-print. It was a big one, alright…hmm. But he stood up again and continued on. The girl, the girl, the troublesome girl!  His mind still wandered aimlessly. This time, he was thinking over his soldiers’ sad lack of discipline.

“For Pete’s sake, those Forgesswaiters! So impertinent. Am I a joke to them? Do I give off the air of a fool? Certainly not. But is there something I can do to improve my impression on them? They need to obey me and respect me without severe penalties to force them to do so. But what can I do? What can I change? Do I need to change?”

He lapsed into silence. He had wanted to go alone so that he could talk to himself. Talking to himself let him work things out. But right now, things were just getting more messed up. He gazed up through the overhanging branches, toward the sky, and sighed. He needed to focus. That was rule number one. THE GIRL MUST BE FOUND! That would be a way to show that he was a leader, and that he was someone worth obeying. And maybe give him time to actually come up with a solution for things.

Kiark stalked through Deko Forest, using all the hunting techniques he had ever learned. He glanced at the sun. He would have to go and meet back with the search party soon. They needed hounds. He had found some men who were expert hunters, but they needed dogs. He was about to turn back when he saw a small creek. Kids are attracted to creeks. Hmm. Kiark leaped across. It was a bit wider than he thought, and he landed in a cat-like crouch, his scabbard bumping against his hip. When he stood up, however, he nearly fell over again.

What?

So far as he knew, there were no rain-forests in this part of Banerow — right? He glanced behind him. But Deko Forest was now Deko jungle: tropical plants; huge, emerald leaves dripping clear drops of water; bright pink flowers. It was genuine. He sat down on a handy tree trunk covered with moss.

What?

He sat for several minutes in stunned silence, unsure of what to think or do. The whole world had just changed in an instant! There was a monkey in the tree in front of him, and a large vase like plant full of bugs. Finally, in a slightly shaky voice, he started to slowly talk to himself. “You know, Kiark, maybe you are going mad: just like your father.” He shivered, and shook that possibility off as quickly as he could. “This is… little Yehe could be out here.” He stood up slowly, and ran a hand through his hair. “I need to find her now.” Bringing himself together, he warded off a frighting thought: maybe I’m going mad — like father. NO. He would not even think about that.

He started off very slowly, peeking behind every trunk of every tree and jumping at every noise he heard — which was very often. Half expecting a goon to leap out at him — anything was possible now — he kept a hand on the hilt of his sword. He made sure to step very quietly and to breath sparingly.

He shouldn’t have been startled when he stepped into the small clearing floored with ivy and ferns. Things we weird enough. However, the strange thing was that there was a man in the clearing, and he was sitting at a very out of place desk working with very futuristic and out of place materials — out of place for a jungle, that is.

But strangest of all was the fact that Kiark knew the man. He could recognize that silver suit anywhere, and the shock of gold-red hair. Even after several years. But he didn’t believe it.

Kiark carefully picked his way through the undergrowth until he was standing just a couple of paces behind the man. He cleared his throat. Wylo stood up slowly and turned around — grabbing a knife on his desktop. But when he saw Kiark, his grey eyes widened ever so slightly, and he put the weapon down. They stared at each other in silence, both too flustered to say anything. Finally, the self-exiled High-lord cleared his throat and spoke to his nephew.

“I do not know, Kiarkus. There is no plausible explanation.”

“None at all, and so I did not waste my time in trying to figure that out.”

“Wise choice.”

“Yes; I only let things lie unexplained when there is something more important to worry about, and, case in point, I have a hunch that a little girl has gotten herself lost out here.”

Wylo considered the young man standing before him. So like his father — not only in looks, but also in thought and manner. He began to regret the appearance of the heir of Banerow. Kiark was a sore reminder of his folly. “Alright, then, Kiarkus,” he said. “I suppose we had better get a move on.” The prince nodded.

Wylo’s theory of getting back to his sea-den by way of intense forgetfulness hadn’t worked. It was time to take action, and concentrating was pretty much impossible with another human being standing right there next to him anyway. He grabbed several things from his desk; important, priceless things, and carefully put them in his pockets. The pockets he had secretly hidden in his clothes. He also strapped his fencing sword to his hip. The sheath was silver. No telling what creatures they might come upon; he was just glad he hadn’t met any already.

The prince and the High-lord started off together in the same general direction Kiark had been going after he crossed the creek. They did not talk; each absorbed in each other’s thoughts and wisely deciding now was not the time to sort things out that would most likely never be sorted out.

Kiark plodded in a somehow stately manner, and Wylo strolled as if it were the palace garden. The High-lord took out his pipe and lit it; the smell of sweet-scented smoke mingled with the freshness of the jungle. Then it started to drizzle. Kiark buttoned his trench coat and wondered at his uncle, who kept walking, apparently oblivious to the wetness. And the pipe was still burning just as well as before.

Some strange contrivance of his, Kiark thought.

The princes’s hair was soggy and drooping by the time they heard the first whispers of human voices. Kiark looked at his uncle, who nodded mechanically, and they continued on until they came to a clump of bushes. Peeking through the foliage, they beheld what was surely a castle garden — the castle wall loomed behind the group of people situated beside a small pond. They were talking in separate little groups. The two men took in the scene, and, wordlessly communicating, they stepped into it. It was best to directly introduce yourself instead of trying to sneak up on total strangers.

Wylo had his pipe in his mouth and looked as casual as if he had just entered a dinner party; Kiark carried himself like the crown prince that he was, ready for a fight, and ready if someone offered him something to eat.

“Hello there!”  The prince said when they were close enough to speak without shouting. “I wonder, could any of you be of any help to us? I’m looking for a little girl, about twelve years old. She has silver hair, blue eyes, and a light pink blouse on.”

At that moment however, a strange wall opened up behind the strange characters, covered with translucent letters. Kiark reached to draw his sword, but Wylo put a hand on his arm. They waited to see what the others would do.

***

And I was super duper long!!! AHHH!!! I am so bad at condensing things. Anyway, I will make sure to keep posts shorter after this. Introducing the character always takes longer for me. I apologize for any typos and weird sentences; I went to post it after I finished editing — and then lost it! So I do not want to go back through and edit again.

Also, I decided to change Wylo’s age from when I first brought him to the castle. He is now several years older, having already poisoned his brother and self-exiled himself. Also, I know this is weird, but I in-vision him as a sort of taller and slimmer looking version of Orville Wright, lol. I know, I’m crazy 😛