Àskériàn zoomed through the sky, still pulling the angel along. She had stopped protesting for some time now. They were a quarter of the way to their destination and it was time to form a new plan.

He was still in his dragon form and he glanced down at the angel and instantly, he regretted flying so fast. She was pale, it almost looked as if she had fallen asleep... or half dead. Her wings were no flitting behind her with no muscle support whatsoever, her hair was in knots and he couldn't tell if she was breathing or not...

He shifted into half dragon mode, pulling her into his arms and held her small frame. "Hey. Ardent. We stopped moving." He patted her left cheek with his free hand.

She blinked a few times. "That's. Great." She said, her voice barely a whisper. "HEY!" He shouted. He shook her by the shoulders. "You're freaking me out."

Wrong move.

She gave him a little shove. "I'm fine!" She spat, the fire in her eyes returning. "Just tired. I have never flown that fast, not even in training with Prince Michael." She mumbled.

"Mmm.. well... we've reached our designated point." He said, his gaze drifting to the frozen forest below, the huge mountains of Melaina climbed into the sky, higher than the altitude they were flying. The mountain's gray skin was dotted here and there with occasional green from trees and plants, stretching inward to white snow at the top.

She followed his gaze. "All we need to do now is come up with a plan."

They needed to find the stairwell that would take them upward into the heart of the Gem Kingdom. And then, if possible, find survivors and get any information they could on Alexander.

Àskériàn grunted his agreement. "We can make camp for the night" he said motioning to the sun setting in the distance. The scarlet and orange colors bleeding together. "You look like you could use a bite to eat."

"Food would be lovely." She breathed as she followed his descent, folding her wings in partially to let herself fall at a slow pace.

When they had reached the forest floor, Ardent did her best to gather dried leaves, sticks and kindling while Àskérian built a small mound of them for a fire. When she had collected enough, Ardent slumped down on a stump, still feeling drained from the flight, but all ambition for exploring Alexhand gone.

Àskériàn glanced over at his leader. "Do you want to go back?" He offered.

"No." She said with a shaky voice. "We must complete the mission."

He gave her one last glance before taking in a deep breathe. Then he let it out and with it, flames danced and ignited the pile of wood against the snow-covered ground.

He sat down in the snow next to the stump Ardent was sitting on. His height gave him matched eye view with her. “Aren’t you going to be cold sitting down there?” She asked, eyeing the snow.

Grunting, he reached into the sack he had brought with him and pulled out a watermelon. Although it wasn't an ordinary watermelon. He showed it too Ardent. “Here.”

"What in the world?!" Her eyes grew wide.

"Golden watermelon." He confirmed.

"Where on Gaia did you find this?" She asked in disbelief, taking it from him to examine.

He hung his head in irritation. "You mean to tell me you don't know where it came from?" He already knew what she was going to say.

She gave him a childlike smile. "Eh heh. No."

He planted his hand over her face. (Facepalm) "Honestly. It's your realm and you don't know half the stuff that goes on in it?"

She grabbed his hand with her empty one and pulled it off. "It's kinda hard to keep track of everything. You don't need to treat me like a child." She said in indignation, crossing one arm over the other, the melon still in her grasp.

"Sekke grew them." He said finally.

Her expression softened. "Sekke? Really?" She stared at the melon in wonder.

He smiled. "He has a whole field of them. Honestly, you really need to get control of everything in your realm."

"It's easier said than done." She said, still irritated.

"If you would quit worrying about those who leave, it would be easier." He scolded, taking the melon from her, getting more protests.

He let one go his talons loose, his fingernail sharpening into a black point and his finger changing size to accommodate the weight and sliced the melon into eighth quarters with his talon and handed her one. "If my theory is correct, this should contain components of the realm, which means it will give you the energy you need. I will save the rest for emergency only. We will be reaching the mountain kingdom tomorrow and we can get more food there."

He brought it just to make sure I was, ok? She asked herself. "I say Àskérian, you are proving yourself to be a very loyal knight." She said taking a bite of the golden fruit.

"Meh, whatever. Just eat it." He said biting into his own melon piece. It was sweeter than a normal melon with a sour tang to it and the texture was similar to pineapple, but it was just a juicy as a normal melon.

The sunset morphed into night as they finished eating, the stars shone brightly against their black surroundings with their bright baby blue light, sparkling off the snow. Ardent kept glancing upward, a sense of homesickness for the realm started to grow. It used to be the same way for Gaia, back when she first created the realm with her first wish. It was funny how things had changed.

"Now, here is the plan." Àskérian said getting up from his spot on the ground. "We won't be flying tomorrow at all. We don't want to raise suspicions and we definitely don't want people thinking I am Etah."

"Good point." Ardent said as he placed his cape on her shoulders, earning him a confused look. "And you need to hide those wings. I'm giving you my cape to wear. We don't want anyone knowing your identity. "

Her feathered neko ears twitched. "Uh what about these?" She said covering them with her hands.

He pulled up the hood and forced it down over her face. "HEY!" She exclaimed through the black fabric.

"Already thought of." He said with a grin. His teasing was met with an auburn glare which only caused him to chuckle as he walked around the fire.

"Hey Lorn?" She said, holding onto the cape's hood so that only her hair and face were shown.

"Ardent?" He met her tone when he said her name.

She glared at him momentarily before speaking. "When did you think of all of this?"

"On our way here." He answered. "You always need to be a step ahead of yourself." He explained.

"Smart." She commented.

"I know." He said, placing his hands on his hips. Her eye twitched at his cockiness.

*You can't be serious. * She thought to herself.

He turned then, setting his gaze on something in the distance, beyond the trees. Despite his back being turned, his right side was still visible, his pale features highlighted by the firelight.

She noticed it then, that his eyes held pain in them, something she probably wasn't supposed to see. As an angel, she was in tune with the emotions of others.

*Why? Why do you look so sad Lorn? * She thought, a pang of guilt forming. She hadn't been the nicest person to him. She stood up and threw the cape at him, right over the fire. He caught it without much effort, though startled from his thoughts.

"I'll go with your plan." She said from her side of the fire. "If there is anything you can think of that I can do to help out, let me know." He nodded his agreement.

Sitting back down on the stump, she stretched and yawned, surveying their campsite for place to sleep. She had gotten used to her bed in the palace and sleeping on the ground was definitely not something she was looking forward to. At least the fire provided some warmth, but for how long?

She lifted her arms and called on her energy, a fluorescent box rose up around them, the air becoming warmer. The shield had startled Àskériàn and he turned to stare at her, relaxing only when he realized what was happening.

“There.” She smiled, “That should keep the cold out .”