Searching

Strolling outside Xilo saw some of the others returning from their trip. Raising his hand Xilo waved at them and left them without saying anything. "It's good that they're safe." They calmly waved back without any idea what Xilo was about to do. Watching his back disappear they all headed inside to see the others. After some walking Xilo came to the alley that Lexia had shown him before. Tapping around on the cement wall a bit, Xilo found the switch and pressed it down once he made sure no one was there. With two times now going through this tunnel it was easy to navigate through the third time despite the darkness.

"If I remember right Lexia mentioned something about not being able to enter this place without a show of proof."

REaching the exit Xilo knew that there was an extra little bit of security in place in case someone like him ever found the tunnel. Which was why he had secretly taken a strand of Lexia's hair for proof. "Hopefully this works." Xilo didn't have much confidence it would work but it was the best he could do. When Lexia was crying on his shoulders he had quietly pulled a piece of her hair off of her just in case. Tapping on the wall he held it up towards the wall as he waited for a moment for something to happen. "Nice!" The door began to open even with his doubts about it working.

"Well, now the true difficult part begins."

Without much time Xilo spread a cloak of darkness around him as he exited the tunnel and entered the Castle. Dropping onto the ground he quickly looked around for any people. "No one." This place was a total maze to Xilo where he had zero idea where to go. "Let's check out that courtyard first." Retracing his steps as best as he could Xilo figured that place was probably the centre. That would be his best place to start and maybe find some hints where Landal or even other things might be hidden. Darting between pillars XIlo saw his first set of guards as his heart rate sped up. In the past he had always been confident that his stealth would work and keep him safe.

Now though he was worried if it would fail him and he would be spotted. "Not enough luck would let me escape this place." His was in enemy territory that was on high alert, nothing like before. The three guards approaching him stopped right next time as he held his breath. "Am I caught?" Watching them intently he looked for any hostile movements they could make. Maybe he could take them out fast enough without being caught and escape. Taking out his sword Xilo was ready to attack. That was until he heard a noise coming from them. "Huh?" Two of the guards had begun to laugh as the one in the middle started dancing around like an idiot.

"Are....they slacking off?"

They kept making jokes and being silly without a care in the world that XIlo was right next to them. "Looks like I overreacted." Putting his sword away Xilo gave up caring about them as he walked forward to a familiar set of steps. In a time like this Landal actually had people willing to not do their job and be fools. "Looks like he hired the wrong men." Going up to the balcony he was at before Xilo leaned over the edge. "Some people have returned." Some were practising with each other while others talked and casually chatted. Jumping down Xilo didn't make a noise as he approached the people talking. They were his best at any information and maybe figuring out where Landal was.

Getting close enough to where he could hear them, Xilo's initial fear of being spotted had mostly disappeared. "What exactly are you up to, Landal?" Xilo had watched Landal during his entire speech very closely and there was this feeling he got from seeing him. A man and woman were leaning against one of the pillars talking with each other. From their body language it looked like they were flirting with each other. The man from his attire seemed to be pretty well off and powerful while the woman seemed like a more normal girl. These were the perfect people to listen to, usually when someone was trying to show off and impress someone their mouth was a lot looser than normal.

"How was your day today Lynda?

"It was pretty alright, I wouldn't say it was anything special though my boss got mad at me. What about you, any good news?"

A confident smile appeared on the man's face as he spoke

"Well today I was hired by the minister for a special job"

"Really, what kind of special job?"

Pushing his chest out he felt proud to announce that in front of her

Xilo was also curious what kind of job it was. Leaning in closer Xilo made sure he was paying full attention and didn't miss anything. "Come on bro, spill!" Xilo watched the man's face turn slightly red as he looked at the woman in front of him. He didn't respond right away to her question with the confidence he had before. Instead he awkwardly scratched his hair as he averted his eyes. "dude?" He started to say something but began to stammer on, even the girl he was talking to was starting to wonder what was up. "Aren't you trying to impress her!?!? Grow some confidence!" The girl's smile was beginning to disappear from her eyes.

"Well...he uh said uhm that I was well suited to the....job and that I would do a good job."

Xilo could have sworn he saw a giant question mark appearing above the girl's head as well as his own.

"That's great to hear Derrek, so what are you doing? Are you going on a dangerous mission? Guarding something? Come on tell me I want to know!"

The girl's lip dropped into a pouting look as she tried asking him again. Xilo could also feel himself starting to beg. "Come on man, just tell her. Don't leave us hanging." Xilo could feel himself starting to root for this dude. He appeared so confident at the beginning and now he had turned into an awkward mess. It was a sight to behold but it was also sort of relatable in a way and a lot different then the first impression he had of this scenario. He would have figured it was just a rich kid trying to have fun with someone lesser than him however it turned out to be quite a serious crush with the way he was acting.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you...There's just something else I want to tell you as well if that's alright."

"Of course Derrek, you can ask me whatever."

Taking a deep breath the man faced the girl as Xilo cheered him on in silence in the background. This serious stealth mission had turned into him rooting for love instead so quickly. "You got this!" Even some other people had turned to watch them after listening to them talk. Derrek exhaled as he looked at the girl he loved with all his heart and spilled out all of his feelings in that moment. Getting on his knees he took out a small ring that he presented to the girl as he spoke.

"Lynda, I love you and I want us to be together. I've been hiding it for so long but I can no longer contain my feelings. You're stuck in my head all day and night and I can't get you out of them. Will you please go out with me?"

Small cheers spread around the place as Xilo joined in as well, completely forgetting to look for information. "Why was I here again?" Shaking his head he finally remembered his purpose for coming here as the girl hugged the man and agreed. With all the excitement going on they had completely forgotten to talk about the job he was giving, leaving Xilo to only waste his time in the end. "Oh well." A bit dejected he didn't mind it too much, it was nice to see another couple's love go well. He could always go to other people and have more success there, the first person he listened to wouldn't have all the answers.

"Back on track."