After the camp was set up the strangers, Marial, Chester, and I all gathered around the fire and sat logs.

"I think it's about time for introductions, don't y'all?" Marial asked. She had a peculiar way of talking, what with all her slang and casual pronunciation.

She'd always ridicule me in my formal speech, about how it didn't 'blend', whatever that meant, but she herself still talked like an uneducated peasant. (Technically speaking she was an undereducated pedant, but that doesn't mean that she needs to talk like one.)

"Agreed," the golden haired boy said. "I'll start," he declared. "My name's Connor and I am a knight of Schbailar."

He looked to the man next to him who appeared to be slightly older.

"I am Captain David Hatcher of Schbailar and I am 18 years old," he decided to add.

"I'm 17," Connor mentioned as well.

The white haired girl who gathered all of us went next.

"Hi, I'm Destiny Wood, I'm 17 as well, and I'm from Endirisania," she said. The two knights gasped, and Marial, to her credit, pretended to be shocked as well.

Apparently I'm not a good actress.

"You already knew?" Chester whispered over my shoulder.

"I suspected as much," I replied in the same hushed tone. "She can perform magic,"

"A sorceress?" He asked, suddenly putting his guard up while simultaneously triggering his anger which he always would push down.

"Or fae," I warned.

He nodded, his eyes fixed in the would-be-fae.

See, he thinks our mother was killed by a sorcery, while I believe the fae to be at fault. Neither of us like either species but we each hold a little extra hate for the respective suspects.

"I'm Winne!" The carmel haired girl exclaimed, her green eyes glowing in child-like excitement. "I'm 16, and from- mhhhmmm!" She started to say but the boy sitting next to her covered her mouth mid sentence.

He removed his hand and she glared at him but remained silent.

"Right, I'd Oliver Phillips, I am 19 and this is my sister Winne. We're both from Schbailar," he emphasized, glaring back at his little sister.

While the two had a glaring contest Marial decided to introduce herself.

"I'm Marial Lilla from good ol' Schbailar and I'm 18." She stated simply, moving on.

I considered my title before deciding against using it. "I am Rain Phoenix of Nyxghett, my age is 19 years," I stated formally.

"Hello there," Chester winked, "I'm Chester Phoenix, and this is my sister Rain over here," he said casually.

"Your older sister," I reminded him.

"By like, two months," he argued.

I shrugged. "A lot can of our in that window of time,"

"Name one thing," he challenged.

"The execution of our unfaithful father?" I offered.

Everyone raised their brows except for Marial. She's a nosy little assassin. Emphasis on the aux.

"Fair," he shrugged off the argument and turned to the group.

There were three girls of whom he didn't know, and something told me that he had every intention of messing with all of them.

"Don't get any foolish ideas," I told him, when everyone else was talking to each other.

"I wouldn't dare," he replied, but his expression suggested otherwise.

I follow his gaze.

"The fae girl? Really?" I questioned.

He shrugged. "Better fae than a sorceress," he reasoned.

"Agree to disagree," I relented.

The eight of us ate a dinner of vegetation Destiny had collected as well as a few rabbits the knights had hunted.

"If we are still stuck in this predicament when morning comes, you and I are going to be the ones hunting," I told Marial.

She nodded solemnly and ate her rabbit-veggie skewers.