The Forgotten Zodiac

Forin sighed and shook his head. "There's nothing to fight. But...when the time comes, I'll depend on you with all of my being. Because what is a swordsmaster with a broken sword? I'm glad...you don't break." Forin sat down on a bench, feeling...awful. "Because something inside me feels...broken. I...I never found my powers again. You know that. I haven't been able to do it since I was split off from my true self. I don't fell empty or weak anymore, but...there's still something missing...there's still...I just..." He leaned back, finding it extremely hard to get the words out.

"You feel as though you are not complete," Vorpal said quietly. "As if you cannot protect those you hold dear without this part you have lost. But when you had this part, it tried to end your loved ones. I believe you are stronger because of this. For what is a poison that only you are immune to? It is a threat to everything else in your life. And that is not a good thing. Then again, I'm like that single poison, too. Only you can safely handle me, if I so wish it. Luen is the other exception, as he created me. But anything else burns, unless I swiftly exude great force to stop myself."

"I know..." Forin sighed. He remembered a number of times where Werr had attempted to pick Vorpal up to move him. Diana had tried, as well; she was the only one Vorpal really stopped himself from burning. Luna too, while Forin was around. "We should rest more," Forin stood, walking slowly back to his room, where the others were already sleeping. He didn't let go of Vorpal, though, holding him tight.

Evening approached swiftly. Dinner passed without much ado, but Werr was quietly dreading the time when Izan would call them again. What would the Emperor say? It wasn't likely that he would agree to the retreat...it just didn't seem likely at all.

Welk stuck close to his friend during this time, being a constant, warm, comforting presence in the boy's life. They were currently in a living room, sitting together. Welk was laying on the ground near a heater (despite being one himself), and Werr was laying against him, both completely at-ease with each other and assured of their place in the other's life. Naybrin was there too, wrapped around Werr's neck and snoring softly. Cynyr was curled up on Werr's other side, letting the boy stroke the scattered white fur on his shoulders. He had had a hard time laying down and feeling comfortable, a fact that was growing more and more worrysome as time passed...

Werr sighed heavily. He was mostly troubled by the fact that in all of their asking, they had come up with nothing. Nothing! His plan hadn't even slightly worked...Cyprus was humming happily in the corner as he apparently stitched something together. At least he had a good day.

"I need to find Lexi," Werr said sudeddenly, standing up. "I haven't seen her in awhile..."

Cynyr moved to get up and immediately let out a pained squeak, stumbling and falling on his chest. "Wh...what?" he said slowly, then creakily managed to get up and stand there, his limbs shaking. Welk scrambled up after them, saying "Cynyr? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the panther said, shaking himself. "Let's go find little miss Lexi."

Welk tilted his head in concern, then shrugged it off and followed after Werr, saying "Let's check her room. I think she's still in there from this morning."

Once they got there, they found her door locked tight. No sound came from inside.

"Lexanna?" Werr knocked hard, again...and again...and again. No answer. Werr frowned at the door, somewhat afraid of what could be happening to Lexi. After a moment more of waiting, Werr reached into his pocket and fished out a pin. He fiddled with the lock, something he had only done once or twice before. But he was apparently skillful at picking locks, because it took a count of five seconds before the door was open. Werr certainly knew how to be a rather skillful thief, something very few knew. But he wasn't the type to do anything of the sort.

Once they door was opened, they found Lexi inside, sitting rather dangerously on the edge of the window. She was staring out into space, her expression frightfully blank and lifeless. She was wearing a long white gown that blew in the wind, revealing her slender, pretty legs and bare feet. Sitting just so on the sil, she could've been a statue, frozen for eternity. But Werr saw her chest move with breath and her wavy hair sweep in the breeze. She was alive.

But something was still wrong.

Werr didn't say anything, not wanting to scare Lexi into falling. He moved forward, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her back inside. "Lexanna, what the heck...what's going on? Are you okay?" He asked her desperately, making her look at him. Tears welled up in his eyes as she still stared blankly ahead. "Lexi, wake up. Please..." He hugged her tightly, closing his eyes.

She was limp in his arms, her expression dead. For a few long seconds, it remained that way, then she suddenly blinked rapidly and shook her head, as if stirred to consciousness. "Wha...W-Werr?" she said, slowly moving her hands up to rest them against his shoulders. "What happened? What's wrong?" She lifted her slender, tiny fingers and pressed them against his cheeks, saying "Why are you crying?"

"You! You're not...something's wrong with you..." He pressed his forehead against hers, crying still. "You keep staring off into space, you could have fallen out of the window just now, you haven't been talking, I...I'm worried for you. So very worried..." He hugged her, fighting back more tears. "Please, tell me what's wrong so I can fix it,"

She blinked, looking completely startled. "Wh-what?!" she gasped, staring in fear at him. "I-I don't know what you're talking about... The last thing I remember was changing into this night gown because I wanted to sleep. I had a bad headache. I was talking to Luna, and she said she would go and get me something to eat, then I laid down and...nothing. It felt like I fell asleep." Tears formed in her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder, staring at the window sill like it was a snake waiting to bite her. She tore from Werr's arms and frantically shut the window, locking it with a loud click.

Then she fled back to her boyfriend's arms, burying her face against his neck and sobbing.

"It's okay..." Werr said softly. "It's alright. I won't leave you again. I don't know what's going on, but it's obviously putting you in danger, and so I can't afford to leave your side again. I won't..." He huggled her tight, closing his eyes and letting out a heavy sigh.

Of course, with this distraction, he didn't even notice that Izan never called for them. Not once.

Nate, milling about the halls near their guest rooms, soon found himself faced with Lennon. "Oh...um, good evening. Did you come to fetch Werr?"

"No." The guard replied. "I was actually about to head home for the evening."

"You live somewhere else?"

"Yes. I take Sundays and Saturday nights off. You'll notice an increase in guards very soon. A rather...sudden increase, at that. And very large. I'm alone here, but I account for at least a hundred men, what with my skills..."

"Yes, I was going to ask about that--"

"That's nice. Now then, there's someone rather...annoying...in this room here. She's locked the door, and seems to be collecting food...while this normally wouldn't bug me, she seems to be with your group, and...well, to put it bluntly, she stole the cake that was intended for my wife and son. As she does indeed have one of your collars, I'd prefer not to use force to get it back..." He waited for a moment, and Nate just blinked at him. "Therefore, if you'd be so kind..." Another pause. "As to...get it...back," Lennon twitched slightly, clearly getting impatient.

Finally, Nate replied. "I suppose...it's the gryphon, isn't it?" He sighed a bit.

"Indeed. Get the cake. I don't particularly care about her, as I said..." Lennon frowned.

"Right, right, right." Nate shrugged, then knocked on the door. "'Scuse me, you kind of have something important to this nice man out here..."

There was a sharp hiss from the room, then the gryphon called "Be gone with you! I'm not about to emerge from this room! Your king gave me leave to come here, and here I am! I'll not budge." She paced in her room, in gryphon form, looking as mad as fire. She had accumilated a lot of food in a short amount of time, and every space in the room was stocked to the brim, most well hidden...but some not. There was an entire stack of food on the bed, not mentioning the spot under the bed, in the drawers, and in the closet. She looked ready for some sort of apocalypse.

"Look, we just want the cake. Then we'll leave you alone." Nate frowned.

"It's got chocolate frosting and strawberry toppings. It looks nice, and that's because I made it for my family!" Lennon hissed at the door, clearly irritated beyond anything Nate had ever seen him. He was actually displaying...emotion. It made sense, though. He was about to be off duty.

"Lennon is getting...annoyed. I suggest giving him the cake before he uses that force he was talking about..." Nate tutted.

She raged and ranted, clearly fighting herself over this decision, then finally unlocked the door.

The cake was sitting in the center of the room, but the gryphon was gone. At least, at first glance. She had crawled under the bed, curling up in the farthest corner. She hissed when she knew Nate had seen her, saying "Hurry up and get out. I want nothing to do with you."

Nate picked up the cake and delivered it to Lennon, who checked it for damages before leaving posthaste. Nate wasn't done yet, though. He got on his hands and knees, peering under the bed at her. "There's no reason to be so afraid. The people who bought you haven't even asked you for your name yet. They've been waiting for you to approach, first." He smiled a bit, then sighed. "Why...are you so intimidated? I know being a slave isn't the best of worlds, but we want to make it better for you. We want to take you home as soon as we can."

She glared at him for a long moment, as if deciding what to say, then finally went with "Let your home be raided by thieves, dragonian, and we'll see how you fare. My father is-...was...the Chieftan of the Gryphon tribe. When people arrived, claiming barter and trade, he let them in. The worst mistake of his life."

She snorted angrily, then said "My family is gone now, scattered to the wind. It was a long time ago, but still. I learned from that lesson. I learned not to trust anyone but ones of my own family. I lost everyone. My father, my mother, my uncle Renatai, my aunt Leera, even their newborn son Jagat. Leaving me alone. I've tried my hardest to locate them, but..." She snorted, then said "And if you absolutely must know, my name is Zelana."

"Jagat...?" Nate blinked, then slowly smiled. "But young miss, we know Jagat. He's a very dear friend of ours. He's married and he has a son of his own. He's currently in Alastor castle with my own wife. You don't have to be alone, Zelana...we're willing to make things better. The scars of the past cannot be entirely healed, perhaps, but if you let us...we can help cover them."

She blinked at him, as if unable to conprehend that there was a member of her family still alive (and with a known location), then slowly, hesitantly, shifted to human form and let Nate take her hand, helping her up. She pulled away at the first chance she got, rubbing her hand like Nate carried some sort of sickness. But the complete distrust had faded a bit in her purple eyes, holding a tad more faith. "Are you certain it is Jagat?" she said quietly.