Callidus~ 

Too tired to do anything else, I trudge back to my study. The mages are going to get a strict talking to in the morning, about how they let a PRINCE be killed by a band of petty thieves.

I sigh and collapse onto my bed. Just when I'm falling asleep, an all-too-familiar voice sounds in my ear.

"This is good, is it not?"

I sit up and look around. It's Ethelinda, the old witch who set me up with the job as general. She tends to visit me from time to time, to see how our, well, arrangement is working out. The old woman's let herself in, as usual, and is standing in the corner of my study.

"What are you on about, Ethelinda?" I groan. "It's very late."

The witch strides up to my bed, her face illuminated in the dim candlelight. "This is good," she repeats. "The prince was next in line to the throne. With him out of the picture, you're guaranteed the next spot. That is, as long as you marry the eldest princess before anyone else does."

I sigh. "I'm working on it. I know the king and queen have intentions of offering me the marriage, but I have to build up their trust, you know? Keep up my reputation, and eventually I'll just be able to ask for the princess's hand in marriage."

"Well, then a good place to start would be to hunt down the prince's murderers."

"Yes, yes. I'll get to that tomorrow. Off with you, now."

The witch begins to back into the shadows. "Just remember, Callidus Zoroto, you promised me half of your power. I'm not going to wait forever."

Ethelinda disappears, and I fall into an uneasy sleep.

Mich~

The usually quiet night was filled with the mourns, the mourns for the prince. Mich knew none of it, as she didn't keep in touch with the foolish talk and gossip. But she was frustrated, for night was a good time, a good time to steal. But the sounds of the darkness surronded her, and Mich had to face she wouldn't have a evening meal. Meanwhile, Mich's eyes adjusted to the falling light, and she managed to find her bed in the shadows.

Her home, well, was rather a hole in a wall. She liked it, yes, and no one took notice of it. Her nose had long since got used to the smell, and the nooks and cranies helped with keeping storage. Pulling over her blankets that she stole, Mich fell asleep.

***

I guess I'm not exactly adding a whole lot, but Mich doesn't have much to do.  

Silva- 

Her Royal Highness had not let many people approach her after the news. However being one of her top handmaidens I would try to comfort her. I had just finished a slow mournful tune on piano when Her Majesty came in. "Oh your milady, my sincerest condolences. How may I help you now?" 

"Thank you, right now... I just need some space."

"Very well, milady." I exit the room wondering just how the prince died. I would never be able to ask that question. After all my position was only so high. However it seemed so sudden. I was lost in my thoughts when I realized a maid staring at me. "What are you looking at?" I snapped as I hurried, my cheeks slightly tinged with pink.

Callidus~

"You took away my chance to be king!" Folium growls.

"Kingship was never yours to have!" I retort. "It is traditional for the eldest to become king! It's ME who had my kingship stolen, not you." 

"Well father said I could be king, and his word is truth!" Folium says. "Besides, who would ever let a fire mage rule a city of earth mages?"

"Father was a prejudiced coward, and you're no better than him!" I cry. "If I can't rule this forest, no one can. Farewell, brother."

I turn around and start to walk away from the burning forest, ignoring the cries for help of all trapped inside. Before I can get far, I feel a hand grasp my ankle. I look back to see Folium, a wild look in his eyes, his hand stretching as far as it can beyond the burning branches that imprison him. His hand is wrapped around my ankle and is dragging me, slowly, into the inferno.

I awaken, panting. It was just another dream. I've trained myself not to be bothered by them anymore. It's part of how I developed telepathy.

It was time to talk to the mages. I open the blinds of my window, letting the early morning sun into my study. I put on my robe, and walk down to the mage training grounds. The troops are already all there, sparring, joking around. Now would usually be the time we all sit down to eat breakfast in the mage dining hall, but I have other plans.

"Attention!" I bellow. The troops stop talking and fall into line. 

"I would like to address yesterday's events," I begin. "Did anyone see the prince yesterday in town?" No one speaks up.

"SCOUTS!" I bark. The scouts, the youngest members of the mage guilds, most of them no more than 12, step forward. "Scouts, tell me more about these bandits you saw yesterday."

"Well, they... they had hoods on, so we couldn't see their faces," says a young girl named Trui, a lightning mage. "But their eyes... seemed to glow."

"Thank you for this information," I say, nodding to the scouts. "As for the rest of you!" I address the older mages. "You may be needed in the investigation of them prince's death. I will give you more information once I consult with the queen. Thank you."

I'm back!

Quinn~

I exit the queen's quarters after chatting for a while. I stroll down the kingly halls and sadly admire the artwork. A gloom has just fallen over the castle and I see no one. I round a corner only to run into a lady. She falls on the ground due to my much large build. "Oh dear! I am so sorry." I say, helping her up. Suddenly I recognize her. "Princess! Oh! My apologies! I am so sorry!" I bow.

"No...it's...okay." She looks at my face carefully, then smiles as something seems to dawn on her. "Quinn? Is that you?"

She remembers! "Yes, your highness."

"Oh! Quinn!" She says with a smile.

"Your highness, i apologize for your loss. I am so sorry."

She frowns. "You sound like a terrible actor. Call me by my name or nothing."

"Yes y-" I can't call her by her name.... "Nothing," I finish with a grin.

She laughs, "Oh, I've missed you so!"

We walk and talk in the garden until the wee hours of the morning. 

Callidus~

"So, kindly tell me again, when did you realize the prince had been killed?"

I stroll through the gardens with the captain of the guard, trying to collect as much information on the prince's death as possible, as I had been doing all morning with various knights. I needed to collect as much information as possible on the prince's death, otherwise the queen would most likely reject the idea of a full scale investigation.

"Well, general, it's just like I told you," the captain says in a somewhat flustered voice. "The prince promised hr'd be home before dark. He rode into town, as usual, and that was the last time any of us saw him alive. Next thing we know, we find him in an alley, surrounded by miserable little hooded creatures, searching him for something. We shooed 'em off, but by then it was too late. They killed the poor boy."

"Yes, yes, I know, but how did they kill him?"

The captain looks around reluctantly. "Well, I didn't want to hafta show you this, but.."  He reaches into his pocket, and fishes out a strange object. It looks like a dagger, but it has a strange aura about it, almost making the surrounding area darker. "We found this in shoulder."

I reach out to touch it. "NO!" the captain yells, pulling it away. "I mean, uh, you shouldn't touch it without armor on. Don't know what it'll do to ya." the man laughs nervously.

I raise an eyebrow. "Quite. Well, if that's all the information you have for me, you may go."

The captain nods and hurries away, his armor clanking. I sit down on a nearby bench next to a fountain, and think.

"Callidus!" Ethelinda appears out of nowhere, as she always does. I yell in surprise.

"Someone could've seen you, you old hag!" I hiss angrily. "What do you want?"

"Those bandits wouldn't have risked robbing and killing a prince unless they knew he had something of EXTREME value, don't you think?"

I nod. "Well, I suppose..."

"If they stole something from him, you could hunt them down and get it back! Return it to the queen and she's sure to reward you with her daughter's hand in marriage!"

"Ethelinda, that's only a possibility, I mean, who's to say they robbed him at all?"

"Only one way to find out, Callidus. Talk to the queen. As soon as possible!"

The witch vanishes into thin air. 

Shaelle~

It is nice to see another face in awhile. It has been a week since my brother's death, and I thought it would be nice to leave my room. Even if the person I bumped into doesn't remember my name. Quinn and I sat in the garden for a while, before we went our separate ways to bed.

Sorry this is so short. It's just that so much happened while I was gone. 

~Anura~

What is it to be a queen if you can't keep your son safe? What is it to be a queen anyway? Stressful nights staring at papers, ordering servants about when you would rather be laughing and chattering right beside them, "your highnesse"s and "your majesty"s and tight gowns, none of that carefree laughter. Suddenly I wish I was born not a queen, but a peasent, a peasent who still had her beloved son named Timothy, a peasent who could still walk through the muck of the swampy bracken and gather glass bits like I did when I was very young...

Silva and Quinn try to comfort me and although it does make me feel a bit better I don't really want to have to talk to them... only one person could truely comfort me, and that would be Timothy, Timothy coming and telling me it was a mistake, he was alive and well... 

Shaelle~

I sit in my room and brush the tangles from my auburn hair. Oh Quinn. It's been so long that you can't even remember my name. I put my brush away, and walk across the cool stone floor to my bed. I think I will just wait until he remembers. And if not, I will tell him.