Now that they were no longer in the midst of battle, details that Yuriko ignored came to the surface. The bloodied man, the other male warrior, and the woman warrior wore some sort of hard leather breastplates. They had loose clothing underneath, shirts and trousers that tucked into their calf-high boots. The two they protected, instead wore flamboyant clothes.

The woman, who looked about as old as Yuriko's eldest brother, Marron, wore a flowing dress that was tight above the waist, showing off every curve. The man, or boy, now that she had a closer look, though he was probably older by a couple of years, wore colourful robes over a tighter outfit. His face was streaked with tears and snot though, but that only made his oval face look more cute and vulnerable. The way the other four surrounded him, and their body language, told her that he was the most important member of that group.

The bloodied warrior carried a heavy two-handed blade. The blade was thick and sharp only on one edge, but the handle was long enough that even using both hands wouldn’t completely cover the leatherbound hilt.

The other man brandished a couple of straight swords, a bit shorter than a sideblade, and edged on both sides. The woman carried a glaive, though the haft was only as long as the woman was tall and the blade looked light and thin. The woman in a dress only had a short knife on her belt, while the boy looked unarmed.

Once they were far enough from the stone creatures’ spawning areas, the five of them, and Tiernan collapsed in exhaustion. Yuriko was tired, too, especially since using Fri’Avgi had sapped nearly all of her reserves. But as soon as she returned the artefact inside her, her every breath took in ambient Chaos, converting part of it to Animus, distilled the rest, and she exhaled the waste. Staying still, as well as cycling Recovery, allowed her to recover back to a good state in only a couple of minutes, though she was somewhat surprised to note that Recovery barely did anything for her now.

“I…I must thank you, for your aid,” the boy said after he caught his breath.

He stood up straight and gave her a courtier’s bow, bent at the waist with his right foot forward, left hand sweeping out while his right hand was held to the heart. He was quite graceful. His dark hair was cut short, though it had an unruly look, with the ends curling around his cheeks. He was lightly tanned and had a smooth complexion. It was quite the contrast between the warriors who had rough and scarred skin, both on the face and their hands. He was also tall enough to look her straight in the eye.

“I am Reinhardt Nostra, may I have the pleasure of the lady’s acquaintance?”

With her etiquette and Social Sciences class more than a year behind her, Yuriko didn’t quite know whether to bow or curtsy. She wore her hakama and dugi underneath long robes that could double as a dress, now that she thought about it. So she pinched the robes and spread them while she bent her knees and tipped her head.

“A pleasure. I am Yuriko Davar.”

Tiernan scrambled to his feet and bowed, “Tiernan Hersal.”

The woman in the dress, who had her blue hair contained in a bun, gave a similar curtsy, though hers was deeper than the slight dip Yuriko did.

“Shara Demas, attendant to his Highness.”

Yuriko’s eyes widened though she refrained from speaking while the other three introduced themselves. The warriors didn’t do more than a head bow though.

“Devion Falsi.” The bloodied warrior. He was broad and stocky, but through the rips of his sleeves, Yuriko saw bulging muscles.

“Kallas Nora.” The one with the twin blades. Kallas was as thin as Devion was broad, with a wiry look and shifty eyes.

“Michi Okita.” The last warrior, the woman with fiery red hair and eyes. She was shorter than Yuriko by a few inches, but was quite curvy, putting even her friend Krystal’s ample bosom to shame.

“These aren’t the best of circumstances.” Yuriko said politely, “but it is a pleasure.”

“Indeed,” Reinhardt said stiffly. He kept his eyes at Yuriko’s face. “I would beg your pardon, but I would like to know where we are, and how we arrived here.”

“You don’t know how you got here?” Yuriko exclaimed. Her Wojan, despite all the practice she’d had, still wasn’t as fluent as she would like.

“His Highness’ ship was attacked,” Shara interjected fiercely. “We didn’t see much of the battle. Perhaps the battle was too much because the Chaos ship shattered and the next thing we knew, we were here on the ground and surrounded by those…monsters.” Her glare was quite fierce, even as her gaze ran all over Yuriko’s body.

The five of them were emitting a pinkish glow, which Yuriko thought was their version of Protective Field. She could see the edges dance and flicker, from the Chaos pressure.

“Wait, your Highness?” she blurted out.

“I have the honour to present the Third Prince Nostra of Isger,” Shara said, though she frowned when neither Yuriko nor Tiernan did anything other than blink. “You will be rewarded greatly once his Highness returns safely to Isger,” she continued before the boy…prince, stopped her.

“Enough, Shara.” He sighed. “I’m ashamed today my position in the royal courts isn’t as firm as my attendant portrays. Yet,” he glanced at the empty plains, “I will not misrepresent myself to my saviours.”

Reinhardt’s face was quite serious, but his rather pinchable cheeks reminded Yuriko too much of the Foster twins. She missed her friends dearly.

“I’m afraid I’ve never heard of the Isger plane,” Yuriko offered, “but I’m not well travelled, so forgive me.”

Reinhardt shook his head. “You misunderstood, Isger is not a plane, but a nation.” He paused and licked his lips.

“I see. My colleague and I are from the Eternal Empire of the Righteous Order,” Yuriko said. “We are here by accident, too. We were swept out from a Chaos ship during a Chaos storm and only arrived her a couple of days ago.” Yuriko pointed towards Euphoril. “There is a town in that direction, less than a day away.”

The prince glanced at his attendant while the three warriors, who Yuriko presumed to be his guard detail merely stood behind him. Well, Devion cleaned his wounds, wincing every now and then while he rubbed some kind of ointment on. She wondered why he didn’t just use some version of Recovery?

“I believe it is in my best interest to look for more of my entourage,” Reinhardt finally said. “Lady Davar, perhaps you could enlighten me on what you observed?”

Yuriko shrugged. “We saw how you and your group entered the plane from the skies, and we saw how the streaks of light broke apart and headed into different directions. Yours was the nearest, as for the others, I don’t know. Just that, from the trajectory, their landing points should be quite a distance from each other.” Yuriko shifted her feet. “We must be going, Tiernan can tell the direction of our ship, and I’d like to catch them before they leave us behind.”

“A Chaos ship?” Reinhardt exclaimed, “Do you think it is whole?”

“I don’t know but my cousins are there, so I intend to go and decide what to do in case we only find a wreck,” Yuriko answered grimly.

“I would like to accompany you and buy passage in your ship.”

“That’s not my decision, I’m afraid.” Yuriko shook her head. “I’m only a passenger. Still,” she tapped her lips, “I suppose there’s no harm in travelling together.”

The prince gave her a winning smile. His teeth were bright and even, and there was a pleasant sparkle in his grey eyes.

“I give you my thanks.”

He bowed to her and grasped her hand, bringing it to his lips. He kissed the back of her hand, just pressing his lips against her skin for less than a second, yet the suddenness of the movement caught her by surprise.

“Er, yes,” Yuriko muttered. She could still feel the impression of his lips, which were quite soft, even after he let go.

“But, my prince,” Shara protested.

“We’ve no choice,” he said decisively. “I’d rather secure passage now than wait for my guard to find me. And,” he shuddered, “those terrible creatures…”

“Tiernan?” Yuriko asked.

“That way.” The cadet officer pointed.

“If you’re done dressing your wounds?”

“I stand ready,” Devion said, even though some of his wounds still oozed blood.

“No, please finish,” Yuriko said firmly. The warrior looked her in the eye, scratched at his beard, which had a crimson streak on it, then looked at Reinhardt, who nodded back.

“Thank you.”

Michi approached and helped him bind the rest of his wounds. When they were done, Tiernan continued to lead them in the direction of the Ebon Horizon, though they had to detour around the stone creatures’ territory.

The unrelenting movement of time continued, without an obvious tell. The Radiant Sun never showed its face, but for some reason, Yuriko felt that her Radiant reserves were as robust as before. It hadn’t spilt away, as she had expected in the absence of the sun's light.

“The Isger Republic is part of the Coalition of Independent Nations,” Reinhardt said to fill the silence.

Yuriko asked him to tell her about his home and he looked more than happy to comply. He had a soothing and deep voice, which didn’t quite match his features. Of course, every third sentence or so, his voice would crack, and he’d redden and splutter. Yuriko giggled the first time it happened, and he gave her such a reproachful look that she apologised immediately. Of course, she had to fight her giggles down afterwards. He took himself quite seriously. “The Republic controls two planes, Llioth and Vellexa. The Royal Capital is in Llioth, while Vellexa is mostly our trading hub. It is a beautiful plane, Llioth, filled with gardens and carefully managed forests and hills. I enjoy travelling and visiting my people.” Reinhardt smiled, but for some reason, Yuriko felt that it was an empty smile. “What about you, my Lady? You’re from the Eternal Empire, you say? Verdania?”

“We don’t use that name,” Yuriko said. “Though yes, I’m from the Empire, but I don’t live in the Capital. Rumiga is one of the frontier planes.”

“Oh, surely a lady of your calibre and beauty is from the highest lineages?”

“Not at all,” Yuriko smiled. “The Davars are wanderers. My Da…my father settled in Rumiga but he was originally from the plane of Ulmira, which is a core plane. But I’ve lived my life entirely in Rumiga, well, until recent events anyway.”

“And you, friend Tiernan? Where do you hail from?”

“Realmheart. I’m a merchant ship cadet officer. Miss Davar is our ship’s guest,” Tiernan said curtly, then returned his focus to the front. He kept his hood on the entire time, making his words sound muffled.

As for Yuriko, she had lowered the robe’s hood since it interfered with her peripheral vision. She considered removing the robes altogether since they actually served no purpose, but well, she wasn’t about to strip in front of strangers.

Shara trailed behind Yuriko and Reinhardt, while Devion, Michi, and Kallas walked a pace to their right, left, and rear. Devion and Kallas kept their gazes moving and their weapons at the ready. A surreptitious look with Chaos sight showed their Animus cycling between their limbs and the weapons. She wondered if they had a special relationship with them, too, much like Zoey and Jonir. The two marines were also from the Coalition but there were probably dozens of nations there.

“The Coalition has thirty-three major members, and sixty-nine minor,” Reinhardt answered her curiosity. “Major members are those who control at least an entire plane, while minors are nations whose territory does not encompass their entire plane.”

“Isger is a major member?”

“Of course.”

“Why such a patchwork alliance?”

“Hah, the Coalition was formed to protect ourselves from enemies,” he gave her a sidelong, and somewhat condescending glance, “which are the Empire and the Xylarchy.”

“The Empire only protects its own,” Yuriko said sternly.

“Yet it doesn’t hesitate to claim territory that others already have.” Reinhardt shook his head, “But that is no topic for civil discourse,” he grinned. “Tell me, Lady Yuriko, is there a fiance waiting for you at home?”

“I am not betrothed,” Yuriko replied, taken aback  at his forwardness, “nor am I in any kind of romantic relationship.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Reinhardt said. He called out to Tiernan. “Are your countrymen without fine taste?”

“It’s more a matter of choice,” Yuriko said quickly. “Besides, I’m much too young.”

“Young? Surely you’re already at your majority?”

“Alas, no,” Yuriko shrugged. “I turn fifteen this year.”

“But…” Reinhardt spluttered, “I could have sworn you were my age or older.”

“Are you saying I look old?”

“Er, no. Not at all.”

Yuriko smirked. “I don’t really mind.” She laughed out loud at the sudden relieved expression on his face.

“I see. Then let me be frank. Will you accept my suit?”

“Eh?”

Now it was her turn to blush.