Cassandra lay there in the silence, alone. It was the first time in her life she actually felt...helpless. Her heavy breathing irregular, she sat up straighter against the tree behind her. The only thing with her was her satchel and she opened it to reveal a few coins and the only piece of jewellery she owned. She clutched the cassandrite close to her chest and stared at the stars before her eyes fluttered close.

Varian bolted up from his cot, eyes crazed and desperate for a moment. Why did I wake up? He sat back down, gripping the side of his cot with both hands, as though it were his only anchor to this world. He struggled to remember, he had a dream or a nightmare of some sort...but for the life of him he couldn't remember. He shrugged it off and tried to go back to sleep, but as usual things didn't work out for him. He stood up with an exasperated sigh and started pacing. "If I can't dream about being free might as well make a plan to break free," he muttered.

"Owl?" Varian asked as he surprisedly stared at the bird of prey perched on his barred window. Huh. His barred window, he was getting way too used to this jail cell for his liking.

"What are you doing here? Where's Cassie-er Cass?" He asked.

The owl stared blankly at him, hooted once and flew away. Varian shook his head, "It probably wasn't Cassandra's owl, I'm sure all owls look alike...now back to my plan..."

The sun had just risen when Arianna strode into the dungeons, wondering just when the route to the alchemist's jail cell had become familiar to her. She arrived to see the boy muttering about acid and velocity as he shook his head and his messy hair went every which way. She cleared her throat and he shot her a slightly annoyed look. "What is it?" he impatiently asked.

"It's been three months! We still have no idea where they are! One more month and the King will literally turn the kingdom upside down!" she burst.

"And I care about this why?" Varian indignantly asked.

"You know what? My stress levels are already high enough without you acting like you don't care. I'm going to scream into a pillow as regally as a Queen can, now," She huffed and spun on her heel to march out of the dungeon.

A/N
I hope it's not too terrible, I've recently run out of inspiration...heh. By the way I found an animatic for Varian and Cassandra that I think you guys will like, it's in the prologue.