"Repeat the whole story." Knight demanded Àskérian as he paced the floor behind the dragon prince who was sitting at the Ardent table.

The table streatched along the length of the narrow room, a multitude of maps of Gaia and Ardentia dotted the mahogany surface, as well as decorated the pale quartz walls around them.

Àskérian rolled his dark eyes, crossed his arms over his chest, the whisper of strained leather sounding with the movement. He was pretending not to notice Knight's insitant movements.

Across the table, Lady Seraphina sat with a look of concern plastered to her face, but it was more directed at the tension in the room than at Àskérian.

To her left was Renfred, ever quiet as the mysterious engineer took in the happenings of the meeting, through eyes vailed by the dark cloak. Across from Renfred, was Sir Weslo, the Elven king who was eyeing Àskériàn with a pericing blue side glare.

Next to Weslo was Lady Zoe, her lips pressed into a tight line against her pale face. Lady Storm was next to her, and then Sir Manoj, followed by an empty seat, which was supposed to be Àskérian's, but he had decided to take Knight's seat at the head of the table, which was why Knight was pacing the spot behind him like a madman.

On the other side of the table, next to Renfred was another empty seat, usually taken by Sir Pai who was leaning against the wall behind the table, something he did alot.

The next seat was taken by Sir Sekke followed by Sir Sean, the two seeming to match in age. Twelve chairs took up the space around the table in total.

"I already told you everything. It seemed like it was planned, like the fae knew that we were coming. " Àskérian explained, irritation flitting in his voice.

"Why would the fae be involved?" Welso spoke up, his chin pinched between his thumb and forefinger as he thought deeply about Àskériàn's words. He shot Sean a quisitive look and the rest of the knights turned their gazes on him as well.

"You think I have something to do with this?" He spat, "Are you forgetting there is another fae here, disguised as a human?" He shot Manoj a cold glare. "One that pretends to be a ninja."

"Don't pin point the blame on Hinooki!" Manoj commanded in his deep voice. "She would never hurt Ardent. Noone here has forgotten about Queen Titania. But you have forgotten, or perhaps you don't even know, that Hinooki is the one who trained Ardent in the ways of combat when our leader was a child. There is no way she is responsable for this."

Sean shrugged, his golden and green armor clanging with the gesture. The young knight seemed indifferent to the happenings of the Ardentian kingdom.

Àskérian narrowed his eyes at him. Something about the fae seemed off. The sound of the door latch caught his attention and all eyes turned to see Rain close the door behind herself.

She sighed with what seemed like relief and leaned against the wooden barrier. Knight stopped pacing and faced her. "How is she?"

"She'll be fine." Rain began. "Her body has suffered a great amount of strain, she needs rest."

"That's good news!" Seraphina breathed. Renfred pressed a hand on her arm for comfort.

"Has she woken up?" Knight asked. Rain shook her head slowly in responce.

"It just doesn't make sence." Seraphina began, "If this was a trap and King Alexander is alive, then that means other kingdoms who were attacked must have survivors. "

"If that's the case," Weslo spoke up, pushing back from the table to stand. "Then I'm going back to Arcadia."

"But you can't!" Rain's exasperated cry cut through the remaining tension of the room. "What about the faction? What about Ardent?" She moved closer to her brother in her turmoil without realising it.

Welso placed his hands on his sister's shoulders, which was easy to do since she was shorter than him. "The Faction will be yours. With your rare ability to control more than one familiar, you will be better as its leader than I am. You will be a full Ardent knight, one of the twelve. " He gave her a thoughtful look, "I can't think of anyone better suited to server Lady Ardent than you."

Rain looked away, a blush highlighted her cheeks, but she wore a look of dismay.

"When do you plan to leave?" Knight asked. Welso sighed. "As soon as I can." He winced, knowing what Rain must be thinking, but his sister kept her emotions under control.

"When Rain said Ardent needs rest, do you really think this is going to help?" Seraphina retorted. "You know how she feels about Ardentians leaving the safety of the realm."

"Perhaps it will." Welso answered, turning to the Hamsternick woman. "If I can find survivors of Arcadia, then I can find the missing Melanians and Alexandians." He spoke with confidence.

A light flickered in Seraphina's eye, but she still wore an expression of uncertainty.

"If you need assistance from Omendusk, I would be more than happy to oblige." Manoj offered.

Omendusk was the city of Shenobi, led by Manoj and Master Sheninja, Manoj's teacher in the ninja arts. If there was a city that would be exempted from Etah's terror, Omendusk had a better chance of being it.

"We can share intel and I can offer help with communication here, that way," Manoj turned his gaze to Rain, "your sister can be more at ease with your desicion."

Rain perked up at the ninja's words, hope brimming in her blue eyes. Determination flamed in their depths and she nodded in approval.

"I would like that, thank you. Now that this is settled, I need to leave." With that Weslo turned to leave the room, but before he could open the door, Lady Hinooki walked in with Prince Para in tow.

She wore a puzzled look on her face. "Well, I've given him a tour, but he doesn't want to stay." She announced, looking at her faction leader.

"Are you sure ?" Seraphina asked, "It would be safer here than in Gaia."

Para shook his head. "My people need me."

"He could come with me." Weslo interupted. "I'm going back also, care to join me?"

Para stared at the elf in shock, his bi-colored eyes studying him before nodding. "If it will help me get home, then yes. "

"Well Arcadia isn't too far from Melaina. We are east of you. In the Arcadian forest." Weslo spoke with a curt nod.

"Excellent!" Para's eyes lit up with enthusiam.

"Wait a moment!" Knight's voice broke through the room, catching everyone's attention.

"Our main quest was to seek aid from you in hopes that you would join the Ardent Knights." Knight began.

Àskérian slammed his hands on the table and stood up abruptly, "You mean to tell me he gets to be a knight when he hasn't even had training yet, but *I* have and you keep throwing me for a loop?!"

"Sit down Àskériàn." Knight gritted through his teeth. "There is a good reason for that. There are Melanians here."

Para's head snapped in Knight's direction. "What did you say?" He demanded.

Knight looked to Lady Hinooki. "You didn't tell him?"

She met his gaze with a fierce one of her own. "It wasn't my place. I showed him the important areas of the realm, but we didn't go to the residential islands so we didn't see any Melanians that are here, well besides Varier."

"The people who make up this realm, come from the twelve regions of Gaia. " Seraphina began to explain. "They are survivors of Etah's attacks."

Para was bewildered by this news. "It's the reason we sent our leader and Àskériàn," she shot the dragon knight a thankful glance, "on a mission to Gaia, to see if you would consider joining the Ardent ranks. However, if you are not going to stay, we can appoint someone else as faction captain." She gave Knight a warning look.

"Each faction represents one of these regions, but only those who are worthy can become faction leaders, otherwise known as Ardent Knights. That is why Àskérian, you have not been concidered one of us, officially, yet. You are the first Morain here. "

A hush fell about the room as the two men took in the new information.

"I thought we went to search for the king?" Àskérian spoke first.

"Well yes." Seraphina nodded, her round ears twitching. "It was only part of the reason for the mission."

"I see" Came his reply, his tone more calmer as he relaxed his stance.

She turned to Para. "If you would, we would like concider you an ally in Gaia. Any survivors you find can be sent here until we put an end to Etah. That is the duty of the Ardent twelve. Though our ranks are not complete, we wanted a person of high status from each kingdom to join forces with us to take out the dragon once and for all. Even if you don't stay, we can still increase our numbers with survivors."

"You want me to send my people here, just so they can fight and die?" Para spat.

"No. But what more options do we have?" Her words were grave.

Para began to realise that she was right. "Alright. I'll do it, but only if you promise safe haven and refuge until we fight the beast."

"That we can do." Sekke spoke up for the first time.

"Right, so what's the plan? If I'm going to join you on this, I need more information."

"Here." Para didn't even see the cloaked figure approach him and he had to stop himself from flinching. Renfred held out a small object. It looked like a small figurine, one that looked like Renfred.

Reluctantly, Para took it. Renfred tapped the strange peice and green lights flared to life. "Testing. Testing." Renfred spoke, their words coming through the small item.

Para jumped. "Don't be alarmed. It is a communications device." Renfred spoke evenly.

"I see. Well in that case," Para stuck the tiny peice in the lavender puch hooked to his waistbelt, "sounds reasobable, I'll see what I can do."

"Right." Seraphina turned to Sean and pinned him with a stern look. "You and the other Seelie are not to leave the realm. You risk getting caught out like the other Seelie. Understand?"

Sean got to his feet, the sound of wood scraping against stone rising as he rose from his chair. "In that case, I better go let Den, Doseishy, Andy and Maxx know." With a curt nod, he walked around the table, side stepping Weslo and Para and made for the door.

"We will take our leave now." Welso spoke, motioning Para to follow him with a flick of his head. The others watched as the pair left the room, silence streatched in their absence.

"Welcome to the team." Lady Seraphina strode over and gave Rain a hug.

"Thank you, although it doesn't really feel any different."

Lady Seraphina laughed at the new knight's words. "Well since you were one of her right hand, I suppose not." She glanced over at the two empty seats at the far end of the table. "Still two seats left to fill."

"Actually, there's only one left." Àskérian said nonchalantly. "I've got this one," he placed his hand on the seat he was sitting in before, "that one is Knight's." He glanced at one of the empty chairs.

Knight rounded on him. "Let's get this straight." He growled, "You were in my seat, one of those is yours."

"I don't see your name on it." Àskérian chastised, meeting Knight's gaze.

"Okay. Okay, settle down." Lady Storm chided both men. "Àskérian, you haven't been sworn in as an official Ardent Knight."

"And when can I be?" He asked as if it were obvious he was fit for the position.

Lady Storm exchanged glances with Seraphina. "That hasn't been decided yet."

Àskérian stood from his spot and reached the open door. "Right. Just let me know when I can become one of you. If that is all, I'll be in my chambers. " He shot over his shoulder as he exited the room himself.

Storm winced. "I didn't mean to upset him."

"Don't worry." Seraphina comforted her. "He will get there eventually, but he's still too new right now. "

Knight huffed, "He let Ardent come back here unconsious, he will be working a long time."

"I don't think we should blame him for this." Zoe interviened. "If the fae are involved though, we will have to re-think our strategy. What's more, the fae are devided into two halves, Seelie and Unseelie."

"We don't have enough information right now." Pai cut in. "I think we should lay low until we know more and then," He cracked the knuckles of both hands, the red and blue gems gleaming in the room's light.