Jaek

Jaekel looked around at the grove that Talon had brought them to. It was hidden, a bit away from the old roads that ran throughout Nix'Ryl.

The place was beautiful. Tall aspen trees surrounded the small grove, and hundreds of small purple flowers dotted the grass. For a brief moment Jaekel did not want to disturb it.

Rune though went in with wide eyes and a happy smile blooming across her face. She had always loved nature and a quiet looking spot like this must thrill her. Seeing how happy his best friend was made Jaekel instantly happy as well.

"This place is pretty well situated." Talon spoke in a clipped voice. "It's quiet. There is a small stream nearby, and not many people know it exists."

The man hardly looked at them, just calmly walked into the middle of the clearing and begin to pull some equipment out of his bag.

Jaekel knew that Talon was setting up a campfire, and so he went to set up his and Rune's tents for the night. Rune came over to help him, making the chore a whole lot more fun with her cheerful attitude and good spirits.

By the time they finished setting up camp, Talon was trying to get a flame going. He seemed to be having difficulty, and an annoyed expression was sitting on his face. Niliah was nowhere to be seen.

Jaekel sighed, and went to help their new companion. He was not sure that Talon would accept his help.

Before he reached the young man, Talon stood up, looking a bit incensed. "Enough! Stop messing around." There was something stern about his voice.

And the fire he had been coaxing took to the wood, burning cheerfully.

"What was that?" Rune moved closer to Talon, her eyes wide and filled with curiousity.

"Air sprites, mischievous little things." He turned and looked around, worry coming unto his expression, "Is Princess not back yet? I shou-"

"I'm fine, worrywart. I can handle myself, you know." The elf was carrying a bucket of water that she placed on the ground. "Oh, good you got the fire going."

Before long, the girl had pushed Talon away from the fire and just taken it over. Talon watched a while before turning to them, "So… while Princess cooks, mind telling me exactly why you wish to find these artifacts?"

"I don't even know what they are really." Jaekel admitted. "But, my dreams seem to tell me something bad is going to happen."

For a split second, Jaekel thought he saw a look of deep concern cross the man's face, "Like what exactly?"

"I don't know. But I don't dare ignore my dreams."

"Is someone after them?" Talon tilted his head, "The crown of the High King? And the Protector's Staff?"

"You know of them?"

"…" He frowned, "I'm a historian! Of course I know of the three symbols of power of Nireal!"

"Three?" Jaekel frowned, "In my dream there was only two…"

"The third is still in use. When the Catastrophe happened, one of the big three survived. The crown and staff though were left with their last users. Summit and Lucien died and Nireal fell. Sad, really."

Though he spoke of it as being sad, there was no real emotion behind his voice. And his face was carefully schooled so it was impossible to really know what he was thinking.

Jaekel just nodded, "Yeah, well I think someone is after them, from what you know, how bad is that?"

A grimace crossed his face, "Very bad. If they can use them…well, the whole world could be in trouble."

"I see…" The young prince nodded, "What do they do?"

"Well, uh, from what I was told the crown actually increases how much people would listen to you and can even make people obey you. Though I think if you have a certain amount of will power you can ignore it. But still… and the staff has the ability to control the elements, but it would be the more difficult one for them to actually subdue to their use. It's very specific on who can wield it. If that makes sense…"

It did. Jaekel nodded. But he got the feeling that Talon knew more than he was saying. He wasn't sure why he thought this but he did.

He stared at Talon for a moment before deciding to ask a question to sate his own curiosity, "Those two you mentioned… Why did you call him Summit exactly? I mean, that was his second name right?"

"Oh, you know a thing or two about Summit?" Talon tilted his head, then shrugged, "It has to do with familiarity. I did not personally know him so it is proper for me to call him Summit. Only people who actually knew him and had his permission can usually call him by his first name. So, mostly a few spirits now…"

"And the other one of this big three you mentioned would be the High Priestess?"

"Yeah…they were the King, the Protector, and the Priest. Each with their own duties towards the kingdoms. At least from what I've heard anyway." Talon shrugged.

About then, the food was ready to be eaten. Niliah was not a bad cook, far from it. She served them and then sat down by herself.