Fanilly's shoulders slumped. Not only were those versed in magic preoccupied, but the manner in which the Earl's mind had been addled was... so strange. He'd become unable to recognize blood, weapons... it was as if those things simply weren't there. Lilianna made the wise decision to notify any approaching knights of their location, and a servant was quickly dispatched for just that purpose. This left Fanilly to try and figure out how she could help with this situation. She knew no magic, but if she could think of any way to help at all... the blonde knight-captain sighed to herself. This wasn't a problem she could solve, but perhaps... If nothing else, she could at least attempt to figure out how such a thing had happened.

"Earl Achter, do you remember anything strange happening recently?" asked the girl, stepping forward as she did. "Anything at all? Even if it doesn't seem out of the ordinary, er..."

She paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to word her next statement. But the Earl was swift to pick up on her intent.

"Ah, if you're wondering about anything out of the ordinary, there was a visitor less then a week ago!"

The Earl's son seemed confused.

"A visitor, father? I can't recall any," he began, "Are you certain?"

"Of course! She was a beautiful young woman, clad in a black dress," he boomed cheerfully.

The look on the face of his son said everything Fanilly needed to know. He didn't recall any young woman in a black dress, and if she had to guess... neither would anyone else.

"Lord Achter, did you father begin acting differently about a week ago?" she asked, turning to face the young man. After a few moments of hesitation, he nodded.

So the two matters were related...

[hr]

Lyrie fidgeted. She had set Avlin's bone, and he was now resting comfortably as it mended, and for that she felt nothing but relief. But now she couldn't locate her cousin, nor could she find any of the other knights she had spoken to previously. Neither the somewhat intimidating mage, or the scary immortal knight, or... or... well, to be honest, there were more then a few who were kind of intimidating. Not in some rough, frightening way, but in a sort of manner that made her feel as if she couldn't attain the heights that they could. She knew it was perhaps bad to think like that, but it was hard not to at times... Regardless, she had entered the town and immediately become somewhat lost.

All she had wanted to do was speak to her cou-the Captain, and ask if there were any other duties she could fulfill. Surely there were wounded here, but what if there were more experienced healers then herself? What if she simply got in the way? What if-

She was pulled from her thoughts when she felt a tug at one of her sleeves from behind.

"A-ah?"

Turning, and looking down, the small girl was greeted with the sight of a child. She looked no older then ten, with black hair and pale skin, and distinctive green eyes. She was clad in a wide-brimmed, pointed traveling hat, and a traveling coat to match. It was of fine make, but seemed out of place for a resident of the town. Still, what else could she have been?

"Oh, a respectable big sister type like you must be with those knights!" she said, excitedly. At this, Lyrie felt herself nearly burning with embarrassment. Respectable big sister type?! What would drive anyone to call her something like that?! She wasn't worth respecting or anything, she hadn't done anything worthy of being looked up to like that...

"... U-um, I'm a healer currently w-working with them, yes..." the blonde said, nervously.

"I heard the pretty blonde captain girl needed all the knights to go to the castle," she said, "So I thought I'd be a good girl and help!"

Her cou-the Captain needed everyone? Lyrie paused for a moment. She knew that Sir Tiral had gone off to the forest to investigate something... she nodded to herself. She'd tell them and then return to her duties as a healer.

"Ah, er, thank you!" said Lyrie, turning on her heel and quickly making to head out of town, "You're a good girl!"

The little girl waved to her.

And smiled.

[hr]

"U-um..." Feeree shifted awkwardly. This was a lot of things the little fairy had clearly never thought about. It was possible she'd never even seen an orc prior to this time. Kopuro was still holding her in a defensive fashion. However, when Fleuri offered the former of the two fairies a feather, she was quick to snatch it up.

"Uwaah, it's so pretty!" she said, quickly distracted from her previous uncertainty as she held it up in both hands, "I wanna use it to make a dress! Or... or a hat! Or... or..."

She trailed off, remembering the situation.

"... U-um... Sorry."

At the very least it was clear she felt guilty about it.

Meanwhile, fairies almost flooded into Indrau's hand, swiftly distracted from any theft attempts at the promise of a gift. At least they tried, but it was clear enough that there was really only enough room for one to stand comfortably soon enough, so most of them relented and allowed a single fairy to land. She was blonde, with bright, blue eyes.

"Feeree told me about her," she said, "So I went looked and I found her again! She was by the big rock with the old ruins around it! Um... humans call it... Old Falthier, right?"

Old Falthier? The ruins were ancient, a relic of Thaln's earliest days. Was it possible the 'dark lady' had made a base there?

Kopuro, at this news, folded her arms.

"Hmph. I'm not going to tolerate mistreating Feeree, even if she's really stupid," the pigtailed fairy began.

"... I... y-you really don't have to try and speak up for me, Kopuro..." protested the other fairy weakly.

"[i]But[/i] it looks like we have a common enemy!" declared Kopuro, thrusting on finger skyward, "That dark lady used one of us to do something really bad, and I won't forgive her for that! Even if it would have been avoided if Feeree didn't act so dumb!"

"... Y-you can stop now, Kopuro..."

"That's right! Just because Feeree can be a total idiot doesn't mean someone can just go taking advantage of her!"

"... Please stop, I-I think they get the idea..."

"She's [i]our[/i] idiot!"

"Kopuro..."

Feeree didn't seem particularly upset, but it was clear she didn't exactly like the way Kopuro was calling her an idiot, even if it was seemingly with the best intentions.