Shall I return

Leo took his time in Gladstone after they finished the job with slaying the cambion. He wanted to make sure that they had plenty of time to recuperate before they moved on to the next town. A part of him debated over the letter that he found on the dead merchant the cambion had killed. The letter was something he could not decide if he should head back towards the palace to deliver it to his father, or if he should just leave it alone.

"I'm sure father already got word about his inside man already..." he sighed to himself as he glanced over at Vorbuk sleeping peacefully on the floor.

Stuffing the letter inside of his storage bracelet he stood up and walked over to the wolf. His foot gently nudging against Vorbuk. The nudging slowly woke him from his slumber as his bright red eyes glared up at Leo questioningly. Vorbuk hated being woke from his sleep; even in his past life he was always the sort that people hated to wake up.

"What do you want?" the wolf growled up at him as he slowly closed his eyes again.

"I think I want to do something, but I'm not sure if it's really that great of an idea..." Leo smiled wryly as he shook his head at the thought.

"Does it have any effect on me?" Vorbuk opened a single eye to glare at him from the side.

"Not really..."

"Then suffer in silence." he yawned.

"You really care so much!" Leo laughed awkwardly.

"Alright, alright, what exactly do you want from me?"

Pinning his ears down, Vorbuk slowly sat up to look at Leo more seriously. He wasn't entirely sure what the prince wanted to do, but he could sense that it was making Leo uncomfortable.

"I think I should return to the palace to check on my father." The crown prince stated out bluntly to get it over with.

"You're wanting to drag me back to your palace with you?" he squinted his eyes as he tried to decipher the situation he was being placed in.

Leo could tell from a glance that the wolf was looking suspicious of his words. Trying to think of a way to better explain himself he scratched the back of his head. His eyes tightly shut while he thought it all over in his head. The speed at which he was thinking was rather quick, but at the same time he felt rather complicated. Thinking about going back to the palace he felt that if he did it would be a pain just to get his father to agree to let him leave again. If he took the wolf with him he wasn't entirely sure either of them could easily leave again.

"We might not have to go inside, but I should probably go make sure that the letter gets there. My father probably already got word about his man he had in the Ethiadan Kingdom, but if he hasn't then it is something he should be made aware of. If he doesn't know things could get troublesome for my family."

"Very well... But I'm not setting foot in the palace myself! I don't quite enjoy the idea of being stared at by a bunch of royal folk. I get enough of people staring already, if I personally went with you into the palace I feel like it would be even more awkward!"

"That works for me." Leo nodded at the thought because he agreed that Vorbuk might have a hard time leaving if his family found out they were traveling together and got him to personally enter the palace. He could even imagine his family trying to use Vorbuk like a weapon and trying to force him into the battlefield against Ethiadan.

"Shall we go than?" Leo asked as he headed towards the door.

Vorbuk followed behind Leo out of the inn. As they headed down the street he listened to some of the conversations going on throughout the street. He could hear many things, but the one thing that stood out the most was as they were making it to the Gladstone gate to leave the town he could sense someone coming up behind them.

Pausing to look around behind him he could see a tall man coming up to them. Studying the man closer Vorbuk tried to get a better idea of who the man was. The man was clearly an elf, but he only looked to be in his thirties at a glance. His hair seemed long and dark and his eyes were a light green. It was like they were studying Vorbuk at the same time as he was studying the man himself.

What is with this guy? Vorbuk thought to himself as he watched the man closely.

"Hello!" The elf man said to Leo as he lightly tapped Leo on the shoulder to gain his attention.

"Uh, can I help you?" Leo felt confused to be confronted by the elf. He had not realized they were being approached at all so he glanced at the wolf with a questioning look in his eyes. The wolf simply shook his head to show that he had no idea who he was either.

"My name is Vulen. Are you an adventurer?" The elf smiled, but something about the smile felt fake to Vorbuk.

Vorbuk couldn't figure out if Leo could sense the smile was forced or not. He wanted to say something, but felt it would be best to leave things alone at the moment. If Leo was smart he should have noticed. If he did not realize it then he would take care of the elf later himself if things got out of hand.

"Yes, I am." Leo nodded as he folded his arms over his chest in a motion that showed he felt to guard himself against the elf. As a prince he was use to being on guard in strange situations. It was normal for strange people to come up to him out of nowhere and a lot of the time it meant things could easily escalate in dangerous ways if he wasn't careful. As a prince it was a normal thing for him.

"Mind if I ask where you'll be heading to? If you don't mind I'd like to tag along for at least part of the way." Vulen smiled again at Leo and took a quick glance at the wolf.

"I'm heading to the capital." Leo stated bluntly while trying to avoid mentioning the palace. If the man didn't know who he was than he felt no reason to blurt it out.

"Mind if I tag along for a while since we're going in the same direction?" Vulen asked again since he noticed the prince had not responded to him the first time.

Leo paused for a moment as he tried to contemplate over the idea. He was not sure who this man was that was insisting on partnering up with him and Vorbuk for the capital, but he had no real reason to reject the man. If they were heading in the same direction then they were probably going to see each other along the way regardless if he said no or not. Slowly the prince nodded in agreement to Vulen that he could follow them and the three of them set off from the town of Gladstone towards Cadirade's Capital so Leo could deliver the letter to the King in the palace.