Rune

After breakfast they started out again. Due to the path they were on, they did not ride their horses. Amrunela walked beside of her prince, but she found herself staring at Talon.

He was different today. Not just his hair color, or eyes. But it went to his very attitude. Which was actually rather disconcerting.

It was hard to put into words just what was different. But he seemed far less talkative. He was not really looking anyone in the eye, and when anyone tried to talk to him he would shift as if uncomfortable, eyes on the ground. And yet… he also seemed to want to be close by, just he did not want to be paid much attention to…

It was odd. He was more relaxed with Niliah. At least he would hold a semblance of a conversation with her, without bolting very quickly.

Amrunela was pulled out of her thoughts by her best friend talking to her, "Rune… stop staring at him. We don't want our guide to become any more uncomfortable, now do we?"

Jaekel sounded slightly amused at her, and she smiled at him. He seemed in fairly good spirits today, and while he had the usual circles under his eyes, he was not as bad as he was a week ago. Worse than yesterday, but they had been quite a bit better than usual the day before.

"I suppose not." She admitted, "But it just seems odd to me… What is with him?"

"Don't know." The young prince sounded unconcerned. He took her hand in his in order to help her over a fallen branch that was in the way. He didn't need to, but she appreciated the fact that her best friend really could be such a gentleman.

He did not release her hand, and she did not pull away. She wondered if he was feeling nervous or scared or something. So she squeezed his hand, hoping to give him whatever comfort he needed.

"Does it matter why he is like this though? I still think he is trustworthy so…"

"…"

She did not say a word but the look that Jaekel gave her told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. He laughed at her, "Sometimes you need to keep your curiosity in."

She knew he was right, but that did not make her any happier with it. It was a part of her to be curious over anything she did not understand. Just like her father she felt driven by a need to know. So, while she knew that there were times when it was better not to ask immediately, it did not make it any easier.

She frowned at him, but did not refute him. Sometimes it was tough being best friends with an oracle. They were so hard to argue with when they were so often right! Though, when she thought about it more, she would not trade her prince for the world. Even when he was so infuriatingly right all the time.

With a shake of her head she continued tredging along. Everything was rather quiet. It was like other than the four of them there was no one else.

Nothing like the semi-chaotic castle she was used to. And for some reason, this made her be quiet. Perhaps it was that she was afraid of disturbing the silence, or of alerting something dangerous to their location.

When the sun was nearly directly above them, they stopped for a midday meal. Amrunela was somewhat relieved. She was famished after all the walking they had done. She figured they all must be.

So she was somewhat surprised when Talon slipped away into the surrounding trees as the rest of them sat down to eat.

"Where is he off to?" Jaekel glanced at Niliah as he spoke.

The elven maiden shrugged noncommittally, "Probably to go speak with the trees or something. I just don't ask. Its his business not mine."

Her tone was dismissive and it was obvious that she would not really answer any more questions about Talon. At least not right now, so Jaekel and Amrunela decided just to eat.

As they ate, Amrunela sat next to Niliah. She kinda hoped that they could become friends and so she wanted to be friendly and open. Instead of just hanging with her prince all the time.

After a while of them eating, Amrunela was pleasantly surprised when Niliah turned to her and smiled haltingly, "Um, Rune, right? I – "

Amrunela blinked. She was not used to anyone but her prince calling her by that nickname. And she realized that they had never really introduced themselves to their new companions. Embarrassed, she answered Niliah, "Well, it's a shortened form of my name, only Jaek – el calls me that really. Um, my actual name is Amrunela, though most people other than my father drop the la. Sorry, we really did forget to introduce ourselves, huh?"

"Don't worry about it." Niliah actually giggled. For a moment she looked only like a young girl. Not like a woman who had lived roughly her whole life. "Anyway, I was wondering what are the kingdoms like? They must be far different than here."

Amrunela nodded, "It is. You can't go a day's journey without at least seeing a town in the distance. We're from Carendlus specifically and well, it's a rather nice place. The people tend to be law-abiding, and they do their best to get along."

"You mentioned your father, are you close to him?" A note of genuine curiosity was in the girl's voice.

"I'm close to both my parents. What about you?"

"I was to my mother. Never knew my father. He died before I was born."

Before Amrunela could answer that, Talon came back. Shuffling his feet, he stammered, "Um, we should probably get moving. It's a long way we have to go, and the quicker, um, that we, uh, get going, the quicker we get there?" His last few words were almost trailing off.