Anzael was bored and when he was bored he got into trouble. Everyone knew this, but still, summer was around the corner and his only way to vent his energy was through training or working. And when a day filled with that was done and his body should be well and tired, his mind would start spinning, giving him a whole new batch of energy to work with. It should speak well for his maturity that he stayed mostly out of trouble for as long as he did, but eventually he found himself snooping as he waited for Vasha to return to his rooms one evening.

His prince really should have known better than to leave him alone amongst his things, that Anzael never sat still when there was mischief to start. His friend had told them what they had seen with the old scrying stones. The fighting, the political badgering of Humans, the tests and trials of Vasha's sister. Their Princess. Those last two things, the titles, they had not left anyone's mind.

Anzael didn't care much about the dynamics of Court life, he wasn't too intrigued by the balance of power between two heirs, nor did he really care how many people would be bent out of shape when the news came to light. He followed Vasha's lead in most things, Vasha was his Prince. But there was a Princess, someone who could matter a great deal to his Prince and his Queen and that was what interested him, what concerned him. Family wasn't always blood, but sometimes it was, sometimes it was a lot of different things.

He thought there was more to things than Vasha worrying about his ability to become King and ruler of the Vayan, he had seen his friend's new tension these last couple weeks and guessed at the source of it. Vasha was watching the weird little sprite on the island and it was worrying him, or angering him, or just making him more pensive and growly than usual anyways. The Queen had told them with no uncertainty, that they were to stay out of things unless absolutely necessary, Vayana did not interfere with the world on the ground, or that island.

Probably the only reason he really listened to those orders, was because the one time he had bothered to go to see the Oracle, they had told him that the only time he would be in danger was if he forgot his loyalty to his Prince, to his Queen.

That was enough to temper the troublemaker in him, leaving him merely snooping through his friend's room as he waited for Vasha to return from whatever meeting he had been called away to. It wasn't his fault that he found the scrying mirror, hidden under a secret panel that shifted out of the way when he finally figured out the trigger mechanism. There was a scrying crystal already in place and Anzael knew exactly what that crystal would allow him to see.

Vasha didn't have anyone important to him who wasn't living in the palace, so there could be only one reason for that crystal being left in place. Anzael hesitated for a moment, pausing to reflect on what it would mean to open up this window to watch someone who was a veritable stranger, to spy on them. Then he grinned and brushed his fingers over the cool, smooth surface anyways, because she was practically family already.

She'd understand.

She was standing on the very edge of a massive, dark forest that was so enclosed and forbidding it made him shudder at the thought of walking through those trees. As a Vayan, being so helpless, without being able to spread his wings, would probably drive him insane. Perhaps it was the same forest she had been fleeing to, having guessed that they would be unable to follow her if she had made it within those dangerous confines.

That thought made Anzael grin ever so slightly, appreciating her intelligence, even if she was a crazed woman for flying around so haphazardly. He was a daredevil and even he knew not to pull some of the stunts she had used even before they had started to chase her down.

But the woman was looking down across rolling fields that had just begun to sprout new growth, watching a large city and sprawling palace that overlooked a bay and the ocean beyond. Beside her was one of the dark forest sprites that they had met and another one the other side of her, both following her gaze. None of them looked particularly happy about whatever they were contemplating, though Vasha's sister had a look of cool determination on her features that Anzael recognized. That was Vasha preparing for battle. Or the Queen preparing to issue tough orders to her Generals or Court.

He heard their words through the mirror but he couldn't understand them for the life of him and he was about to end the vision when suddenly she leapt to the air. The girl went straight up without the aid of her wings to a height that impressed him as much as it had the day they had met. She snapped out her wings just as the earth began to pull her back down launching herself higher into the air with a couple quick beats of her wings.

Still rough, still using more energy than she needed to, to get the job done but he could appreciate that he had a distinct advantage over her. Hell, a five year old child had a distinct advantage over her. He probably would have killed himself without his teachers. And seeing as how there were no Vayans on that island, he was wont to believe her claim that she some how had taught herself to fly.

He was so engrossed with what he was seeing, her soaring away from the woods and towards that looming city, that he didn't realize he wasn't alone. Not until Vasha put a casual, but firm arm around his shoulders, squeezing him just enough to show he wasn't happy, did he realize his Prince had returned.

But, his friend didn't end the scrying either, merely growling softly as they watched her approach that Human stronghold, alone. Anzael snorted, realizing she still wasn't wearing armour of any kind.

Though the humans pacing the walls certainly seemed to be.

"These are the people she apparently made a truce with..." Vasha murmured, nodding to a couple flags depicting different crests and animals on them.

Anzael raised a curious brow and glanced to his Prince, his brother in everything but blood. "If they attack her, we're too far away."

"Yeah." Vasha nodded carefully, before snapping his fingers to conjure an old map, letting it float in the air beside the mirror, pointing to the southern most tip of the island. "And she's here."

They both frowned at the map, their eyes scanning across to where the ocean ended on the edge of the paper, knowing what part of the world waited just beyond the confines of the parchment.

That far south was easily Rulin territory.

"I still think we should be closer. Just in case." Anzael murmured, though he knew how impossible that would be. They'd either be hanging out on an island of humans, or deep within enemy territory.

Despite the fact that they hadn't gone to battle last summer and their enemies were making no moves to prepare for war this spring, they were still so brutally opposed that they would be killed on sight. Or Vasha would be captured, tortured and probably publicly executed by King Drakos himself. The best the kingdom could hope for would be their prince tortured and ransomed back, at a cost that would bring Vayana to it's knees.

They could only hope that Rulin remained as uninterested in the Humans as Vayana was, and wouldn't look too closely toward the island where another such prize was waiting.