Russell threw a Yeir on the ground, motionless, it's neck twisted in an odd angle.

A while earlier, a thrashing noise had come from the direction of the trap. Russell took Arron and went to check. Vivi hadn't expected the trap to work so fast, much less catch something as big as a Yeir.

It was just the evening but inside the forest, under the Sal trees, it was midnight. The fire burned at the center of the clearing. Vivi sat close to it. Her feet extended towards the fire, the pants pulled to protect from any wayward sparks. She leaned back on her hands.

The princess was at left of her. She had her dress pulled up from her feet too, but unlike Vivi, she was sitting upright.

"What?" Vivi said, seeing Russell looking at her intently .

He pointed at the Yeir, "you do it."

"Oh, so I skin a rabbit while you laze around?" Vivi huffed.

"Don't say that while laying near a cozy campfire," Russell looked about, "And I won't be lazing around."

Having nothing else to say, Vivi stood up. She picked up the Yeir, took a torch from the campfire and went a bit farther from the site. Although she didn't quite hate doing things like this, she wouldn't do it anywhere near where she'd sleep. Especially when there are things out here sniffing for blood.

When she was done and the rabbit looked like a big turkey(she left the head), she came back the campsite and saw what Russell meant by not lazing around. Two tripods stood on two sides of the fire, exactly high enough that the fire cannot fully reach it but can sometimes lick it. Russell was standing nearby with a sharp stick. He looked like a loan collector.

Vivi handed the meat over to Russell. He stuck it on the stick and hung it on the tripod, over the fire. Elli volunteered to roll it.

"Where's the skin?" Russell asked.

Vivi pointed back towards the bush. Russell went back to get it.

Who knows what he's planning?

Vivi relieved Elli of her duty and took the roll. The Yeir was still, somehow, unchanged in the heat of the fire. Not even a ting of brown showed.

When things burn unexpectedly, they turn into charcoal almost immediately. When they are being cooked, they take forever. Why is that?

"Hey, um... Vivi....it was Vivi, right?"

Vivi turned around to see Arron standing behind her.

"About before, sorry for kicking you," Arron tried to make eye contact with her. Failed and looked down, "and pointing a sword at you."

"Oh it's okay," Vivi said looking away from him, "If it were me I'd have done something way worse; like, gouge your eyes out or something." Vivi really could do that. She really could. It went so easily in her head Everytime she imagined it, "And about the sword, you couldn't have done anything with that anyway."

Arron was speechless for a moment, his face frozen midscowl. He was confused, the poor soul. Vivi thought his face acrobatics was praise-worthy.

Then he regained his vocal control, "I had my sword three inches from your eye. I could've stabbed you easily."

It wasn't Vivi to let such a claim go unscathed, "I would've kicked your sword away the second you started moving!"

"I would've picked it from the air and slash at you!" Arron kept at it.

"I would've dodged it and gouged your eyes!" Vivi came back.

"I would've drove my sword through your heart!" Arron mimed... a thing.

Vivi laughed at that insolence, "You wouldn't! You don't have the guts to!"

"Yes I do!" Arron stomped his feet.

"No you don't!" Vivi stomped harder.

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Haah!" Vivi laughed pointing at Arron,"Oh yeah! You admitted it! I win!"

Arron, only now realizing his mistake, tried to talk, "Hey! That was cheating!"

"It's only cheating if you lose!"

Vivi was smirking gleefully when she smelled the scent of roasting meat and realized that her hand wasn't on the rolling stick.

She whipped around to face the princess. She was standing there rolling the meat, watching them keenly.

"Oh, go on, go on." She said  when she got their attention, "Don't mine me."

"So,um, apology accepted." Vivi said looking at Arron .

"Oh, uh, yeah," Finally remembering his original purpose of coming.

Russell came back. He was holding the skin in one hand, a green bamboo stick ,about six feet tall, on the other(how did he cut it?).

He threw them both on the ground, "Found this on the ground. Probably knocked out recently. And since it rained last night..." He knocked the thick stick. It made a weird echoing noise."Water."

The word water pierced Vivi's mind like a spear. Up until now she didn't realize how thirsty she was, or that she was having a headache, and a shoulder ache, and a knee ache, and butt ache, and maybe an eyebrow ache.

All the feelings came rushing in at the sound of that word. She hadn't had one drop since they were on the run, which is more than a quarter of a day (Vivi later knew it as six hours).

"Well, get it out!" Came out of her mouth, was her voice always this broken?

"You're welcome to punch and try!" Russell held the stick up horizontally.

Then he faced Arron and said, "Can you cut it in the joints? Like, exactly at the joints?"

Arron raised his sword from his belt and before anyone could react, slashed vertically. The bamboo came apart in two, smoothly cut exactly in the joints.

Whoop.

Perhaps provoking Arron may not be the best idea.

The rest of the bamboo went down easy. Once each section was separated, Arron took one in his hand and drove the sword through it's mid section. There was a whistle of the air rushing in and a few droplets of water sprayed out.

Vivi snatched it from his hand and started gulping it down. The sweet and cool water flowed through her throat, cleaning what felt like a miniature kingdom of Forthfire, made up exclusively of coal and lime. Water dripped from the sides of her mouth. The cold and clean lines of water on her cheek made her realise how dirty her face, no, her whole body was. And there is no way the bathroom of marianda's kitchen is open now. Her system felt alive, like a watered plant.

Looking around after she finished her bamboo water pot, she found that others were drowning in theirs too. Russell was basically taking a bath, very untactful in this temperature. Arron was trying not to make a mess, but water dripped down his face anyway. Only Elli was absolutely dry and clean, every drop of her water falling into her mouth. She lent Vivi some water to wash her hands.

The meat was burning.

Vivi rushed to it and removed it. The Yeir was brown outside. The edges were a little chared. It was smoking. The smell of roasted meat filled the air, almost tangible enough to take shape. She raised it in the air ,"WheredoIputit? WheredoIputit?"

The princess put a giant Saerparr leaf on the ground,"here."

Vivi let go of the meat. The stick was hot as well. Russell reached for the food, but ended up jumping back, burning his finger tips.

They decided to sit around as it cooled. The cold forest air felt as hot as fire with a hungry stomach. The smell was literally driving Vivi crazy. Arron was nibbling on the roast with his sword. A fine liquid oozed out of wherever he pierced. Probably the fat. Not much is there, because Yeir don't have much fat in their body.

A while later, Vivi touched the tip of Arron's sword and declared, "It's cold."

Everyone pretty much jumped on it. Russell was pulling a back leg, almost succeeding in tearing it apart. Vivi had her teeth in one of it's front legs. Arron was slicing down it's rib cage, apparently interested in it's internal organs. Elizabeth already had a chunk of meat in her hand, probably from the chest. Vivi grabbed the rib cage as soon as Arron cut it, claiming that entire side as her's.

Sooner than later, where the Yeir once was now lay a single bone; the spine.

Vivi was laying down with a hand on her belly. The shirt was pulled up quite a bit, but she didn't care. Arron and Elli in a similar posture. Russell was sitting on a log, rubbing the inside of the Yeir skin to a stone.

Hours can pass laying around after eating. In front of Vivi, Russell finished rubbing the skin and cutting off a small patch of skin from the right foot with his knife. He took a tripod and untying it, he took the vines holding it together. He made to hole on two sides of the patch and passed a vine through both.

"And, I'm off." He said as he threw the thing at Vivi.

Vivi sat up,the thing in her hand. She raised it, "Eye patch?"

"No, slingshot."

"Slingshot? How do I shoot with this?" Vivi turned it around to look at it, "Spin it around and let it go?"

"Bingo."

Vivi looked at the thing curiously. She took a mental note to try it out in the morning.

"Hectic day, huh?" Russell was looking for a chat.

"Yeah, I already miss home." Vivi decided to go with it. Russell really had done a lot of work today. He deserved to rant a little.

"Hey, Vivi, look," Russell was holding something up, "I found this this morning."

Vivi turned to look at him. The object in his hand looked like a coin. Just slightly larger. It was black, and it seemed someone tried to etch a compass on it, and failed to match the centers.

"That's a talisman," Elli said. She was sitting up and looking at them.

"What?" Russell and Vivi asked together.

"A talisman," Elli smiled, as if explaining things to people was something she found entertaining, "you find them in temples of the Elder Colors. That one, I think, is a Proxima Mobus."

Russell looked at the object in hand, "What's that?"

"It's a charm," Elli moved another strand of annoying hair, "It let's you move things close by without touching it."

Okay.

That's interesting.

Elli seemed to notice Vivi's spike in interest and quickly said, "But we don't use it much, because it usually takes a while to start using it. And that," she pointed at the coin, "Would only work for two or three minutes, maximum."

Vivi felt let down. Two or three minutes was very much not enough for all she had planned.

"Are they valuable?" Russell asked, still taken by the coin.

"I think we bought them for three gold coins at the palace," Elli shrugged, "They went into the war."

This time both Vivi and Russell gulped.

Three gold coins was enough to buy a farm, a hundred horses and have a feast there every season.

Vivi spared a glance to the coin. Did Arlo carry one these?

Elli looked at them for a while longer, then she slumped down a little, "I'd show you how it happens, but the process is too long. And I feel sleepy." Then she turned over and huddled.

"Good night," and she was gone.

There was silence. A vaporous, entangling silence that cared not for the nocturnal symphonies of the forest. It took from the ground, and hung with the fog.

At last Russell broke it.

"Think Arlo's okay?"

Vivi had seen this coming. Sooner or later, they had to talk about Arlo .

"Probably, I didn't see any soldiers killing each other," Vivi bit her lip. They both knew this wasn't the answer.

"I mean—" Russell started again.

"I know what you mean."

Silence fell again.

"Yeah," Russell scratched his head, "if we do find him, what do we do?"

"We turn him back. Somehow," to Vivi, saying it made it more solid. It made it a promise, "we turn him back."

"What if he can't be turned back?" Russell tried to push it, "What if he never remembers us?"

"We will turn him back." Vivi's voice made it the end.

But, what if, really?

What if he really couldn't be cured? If this really is a disease, then it can be cured, right? Is this really a disease ? What if this isn't? What if those are really the soldiers? In their right mind. What if Arlo really was...

Vivi didn't want to think anymore.

Russell was quiet for a moment. Then, "Good night."

"Good night."

Vivi lied in silence, banishing all thoughts from her head, trying to sleep. But they still slipped in, like water in a leaky ship. They come in drop by drop, and drop by drop, until the entire deck is under water.

Until she couldn't breathe anymore.

Something brushed against her feet.

She instantly sat up, scrambling in place..

Two dark bead-like eyes stared back at her. They glowed like jewels in the campfire's light.

Vivi was tempted to scream, "snake!"

But then a blast of air hit her face and the beady eyes drew closer. They moved in a way no serpent could.

As they came closer, the silhouette of their owner became clearer.

It looked like a tiny, slender human. Black fur coverd it's body. It's eyes were too big for it's head. Their was a bush of over grown fur on it's head. It's wings were a blur on its back.

A night fairy.

"Psst, Russell!"

No response from anybody.

"Russell!" She whispered loudly.

The princess groaned.

"There's a fairy in my face!"

"Wha—?" Elli woke up fluttering.

Arron jumped up from his sleep, clawing his face, screaming, "RATS!" Something buzzed away from him.

Elli was up and looking around. There were two tear tracks on her two cheeks. Poor girl was likely having a nightmare.

Russell was still asleep and sound.

A wind started blowing from the east, accompanied with a low buzzing sound all around. First it was only a breeze. Then it picked up pace. The buzz got louder. Despite being windy Vivi didn't really feel cold. As if the air itself was lukewarm. At one point the fire went out.

In the middle of all of this, Russell woke up. He was screaming something that couldn't be heard over the wind.

Vivi was clutching some kind of tree root in the dark. The wind roared in her ears. It was so strong her skin was hurting. Her feet lifted off the ground, and the her elbow started to quake.

Snap.

The root came torn. The wind raised Vivi up and threw her forward.

At a speed in which a fall will grate her on the ground like cheese.

Only she didn't fall. She shot through trees and vines at incredible speed. Branches whipped her entire body. Everytime she came near the ground, a gust of wind would come up from below and pick her up again. A buzzing was all around, drowning in the roar of the wind.

Suddenly her feet were on the ground. It was mushy and cool; laced with dew. Vivi stumbled and almost fell, before realizing her she had her eyes closed.

She opened them.

And she didn't regret opening them.

Before her was an orchestra of colors. A garden of wild flowers and plants stretched out in front of her like a rainbow. To her right was a growth of rose-like flowers that glowed golden, lighting the green leaves overhead a lemony yellow. The edges of the petals were red, making it look like fire.

To her right , there was the growth of some kind of bluish flower. They looked like hibiscus. It had lightning blue strips coming out of the hole at the center and run to the end on the royal blue petals. The forest beyond had a deeper green from the blue light.

Overhead was was some flowers that Vivi couldn't name. They came down in vines, glowing Pink, swaying from side to side in the slight breeze . Vivi vaguely noticed the grass under her feet glowed green as well.

The scents of all the flowers mixed together like spices into a skillfully made curry, a blend perfectly harmonic, yet thrilling to the senses. The new rich and colorful smell made Vivi feel a bit queazy.

In the center of this garden was a throne. It was a banquet of light. Vivi spotted roses, hyacinths, marigolds, fire lilies, and lots of flowers she couldn't name, all glowing their colors. The seat was a comfortable looking rug of grass. And on that throne sat... a marble sculpture?

It took Vivi until it stood up and started walking towards her to realize it was not an inanimate object. It was a person — well, humanoid — and it was covered with white fur so fine and smooth, that it looked like marblestone.

"Odd," it speaks!, "I clearly ordered them to bring the prince and the princess."

It spoke with a soft melodic voice. It's mouth was a dark hole in it's plain white face. It's eyes were too big; black balls, like those little ones before. There was a green and black crown-like thing on it's forehead.

Vivi was gonna say something along the lines of who are you?, or, where am I? but the familiar screams of her companions interrupted her.

Latesies.

A few moments later the three of them shot out of the treeline behind them.

Russell landed with more skill than Vivi would like to admit he had. Arron landed on his face, no more information need to be given. Elli landed on her feet but stumbled forward and fell into a weird butt-up, worm-like position because she was too busy holding her dress down.

Russell helped Arron up. Arron spit some earth. There was dirt on his face but it didn't seem uglier than usual.

"I apologise for the inconveniences." The thing spoke again, with no tone of apology.

Vivi took the chance, "What are you?"

"We have important matters to discuss." It completely ignored Vivi's question and ushered towards others; Elli and Arron to be exact.

"Important matters that could've been discussed without dragging us through the forest!" Arron stood slightly hunched to the left, "and who—what the heck are you?"

If it had any emotions, they didn't show on it's plain white face. It stared at the group for a moment.

"I am Laa. My rank among the fairies is Kutta. I suppose you can call me their queen. Although, all-mother would be more appropriate a term." She(Vivi decided to go with the feminine gender) finally said.

"And what does fairy all mother want with us?" Princess had stood up from her odd position.

"I have a deal to propose. Please follow me." It turned around and began walking towards the throne.

The princess and the prince stood still.

"How do we know we can trust you?" The princess said carefully .

"If I wanted to harm you I could've done so a long time ago," Laa didn't even turn back to answer, "without risking my beautiful garden. Fire is a very messy thing to bring anywhere."

Elli and Arron were listless. Russell was still looking at the pink ceiling, confused.

"If you need to talk about something, we talk right here." Elli was just as calm as Laa.

Laa sighed. Then she looked up, "I'd like to help you regain the kingdom. In return, you'd free all the kingdoms Forthfire kingdom has conquered over the last two years."

There was no words from Elli. She had her eyes narrowed, in seemingly deep thought.

At last she spoke, "We can't. We're not golnna stay in the kingdom."

"Do not worry," Laa reached to the throne, and turned to them, "Your going outside the country is in the plan."

Then she slowly folded her knees and hunched her back, lowering herself to the chair.

For the three seconds it took her to sit, no one talked.

"What is the plan?" Arron asked finally.

"You'll be informed shortly," Laa crossed her arms.

"We'll be informed now," Elli crossed her arms too.

Laa sighed again. "The Aves think this is the influence of The Blindness. To take down the king they need to know you're alive. So that you can take the crown right after the war, to prevent anymore chaos."

There was silence again. It was like a mountain this time. Vivi found that she couldn't breathe.

Chooo!

That was Russell. Everyone looked at him. He was looking down, rubbing his nose with the back of his left hand. When he looked up and saw everyone looking at him, he waved with his other hand, "Allergic to flowers."

"So you wanted to know if we are alive so that you can kill father?" Arron said, turning back at Laa.

"If you present it like that." Laa simply shrugged.

"We'll take it." Elizabeth said in a low voice. But it was enough to make everyone turn their heads to her.

"But Elli , father.." Arron started again.

"Is there any way of turning them back? Any way at all?" Elli wasn't talking to Arron.

"Its influence on the soldiers is indirect. If the direct link is cut off, they'll be free," Laa uncrossed her arms, "But in the case of your father, it might be too late."

Relief flooded Vivi's mind. So Arlo wasn't doing this out of free will. Arlo could be brought back.

They will bring Arlo back.

Kingdom or not, if Arlo was with them, they'll manage. Vivi glanced at Russell. His lips were pursed.

"Who is The Blindness?" Arron seemed not ready to let go, "Why is it doing this? Why did it take over father? How? When?"

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. But none can be answered right now," Laa stood up, "You'll be transported to the town of Ringwood . There you shall meet the Warden. He'll inform you of the circumstances in details."

A fairy flew by her head, slowing down only a bit to make some chirping noises.

Laa waved it away, "We must haste. The Servants of The Blindness have already begun their journey. You'll only have the next day to find him."

"Wait, takes two days to..." Arron started but he was blocked off by a gust of air. Fairies were gathering around him and Elli. They flew around them in circles and in intricate knots.

Soon the wind was strong enough to momentarily lift their feet off the ground. Their clothes were flapping like wings.

"Wait!" the princess screamed through the wind,her hair was flailing around like golden grass in a storm while she desperately tried to hold her dress down, "They're with us. Take them too!" She flapped a hand at Vivi and Russell.

Laa sighed a long sigh. But through her mouth she said, "Fine, be sure to wake up early next morning."

The familiar feeling of wind came back on Vivi's skin. Before she knew it, she was scooped off of the ground and was heading for the sky.

It didn't take much time for them to go above the treeline. A branch smacked Russell in the face when going past the trees. Vivi's pant was stuck to a twig but something tiny and fast immediately unhooked it.

The night sky was clear. Clusters of cloud floated around like boats on the river. The nighttime atmosphere was cool. The moon shone it's milk-light on the green skin of the forest. It made all the details melt into each other. The entire forest seemed like a single entity. As if it'll shake itself awake and stand up any moment now.

Vivi spotted a wave of leaves going through the trees. Probably because of a breeze.

Or was that more fairies?

The green looked almost black in the dim moonlight. Surrounding them was a horizontal ring of fairies. It was quite if not for the buzz of their wings.

Vivi was startled when somebody grabbed her hand. She  snapped her head around see Russell. He had his eyes closed and he trembled, murmuring something but Vivi couldn't hear it.

Vivi let him keep her hand . She looked up.

A gazillion blinking stars looked back at her. They flowed in front of her in a million bright, doted pathways. The jet black sky felt like it was reaching out to her with invisible hands.

Vivi's free hand instinctively went up. But no matter how high she reached, she couldn't take the sky's hands. There was a odd feeling at the pit of her stomach. A strange feeling that she is so so small(well, she was small. But not in that way).

Vivi's own hand looked paperwhite in the moonlight. The little scratch she got when cutting the rabbit looked black. Vivi found herself staring at it with fascination.

There were spots and veins running through the moon's milky white face. When she was little somebody once told Vivi that, that big spot on the moon was because the earth had slapped the moon, because the moon was getting too close to earth. Probably Mom or Dad. Vivi didn't remember.

Vivi didn't remember.

A cool feeling in her eyes surprised Vivi. She touched them and the cold feeling moved to her fingers. They glistened in the moonlight. Tears.

Vivi shut her eyes and tried to clear her head. It was unexpectedly easy up here with only wind supporting them. Russell had ceased trembling and let go of her hand.

Up above the treeline, surrounded by roughly a thousand fairies, under the watchful winks of the stars, Vivi drifted off to the darkness of sleep.