6 Arrival

The trip from the forest to the palace was a bit unnerving. This was mostly due to the young girl struggling to bite, scratch or kick at the male that held her as a sack of potatoes. Her arms and legs dangled as he clutched the hoodie she wore. No one commented, but they were all clear on who it belonged to.

They just weren't really sure how to feel about this, their kings hoodie...the girl, how did she get it? She was clearly only the age of 9!

Being as neither of the men knew what to say, and Jake himself was to annoyed with the little brats actions of hitting and clawing at his legs or arms, he just kept himself focused on walking back. Taking the now tired out girl towards the gates of the inner part of the palace.

When they had arrived at the palace, the group split up, those who had gathered some plants rushed to inform the researching teams about them while Jake himself had continued to the back entrance. He ignored the lookouts that were placed around the back, walking in without a pause to explain.

'I'm back with the....thief.' Jake then said to Xander, through the mind link they possessed. Xander seemed to be ignoring him, and Jake was about to say something else when finally the king responded. 'Bring them here then.' was all he got back.

Sighing, Jake had no choice but to walk through the halls of the palace with the constant glances of the staff that were running about cleaning or doing other simple tasks.

The girl who had finally stopped struggling was looking around, her nose catching a large mass of mixing scents but could still faintly pull out the one that was similar to the hoodie she'd stolen. Her gaze seemed unsure and slightly frightened, but there was also a light of curiosity mixed in.

Ignoring the many glances tossed at her, the young girl fiddled with the sleeves of the hoodie as she dangled from the odd hold the male had on her. Her stomach ached and felt like it was slightly bruised, though it was more likely due to her increased struggling rather than the males fault. He had to hold her tighter the more she struggled, and hadn't really gone about trying to hurt her.

Now that most of her panic had passed, the girl was just trying to figure out what was going on. She really didn't know why the group of men had come to take her away, nor did she understand where it was she was being taken. This was the first time she'd seen so many people! Her nerves were growing more complex scent that relaxed her grew stronger.

With a few more twists and turns in the halls, Jake finally arrived at the Meeting hall where Xander was sitting. Their was a few other members of the upper court in the room, talking about how to deal with some of the rouges that were requesting assistance. The door opening to allow appearance of Jack to pause the meeting, all eyes moving to look at the small girl being carried by the larger male.

Xander himself had yet to look up a the newly arrived pair, instead he had his eyes closed as he rubbed his temples, his mood clearly still annoyed and having gotten worse with whatever the conversation had been before Jake's arrival.