'Excuse me!' Aurelia wished to say as she stormed over to the front desk of the inn's lobby. But, of course, she couldn't. No sound would leave her lips.

Lucas followed her, hating the idea of confrontation, but also knowing he couldn't avoid it. He had to do this. For Aurelia. It was unlikely that her voice would just return to her as quickly and easily as it had left. That would be too simple. And with their lives nothing was ever simple anymore.

"Ex-excuse me!" He gulped, trying to look Nona in the eye. He took a deep breath and held himself a little more confidently. How exactly would one accuse a stranger of stealing your best friend's voice?

"Yes?" Nona asked, smirking in a way that made her appear more innocent than they believed she was. Aurelia folded her arms and glared at her.

"You can drop the act. I, uh, believe you know why I'm here." Lucas stated, almost managing to sound believably confident. Aurelia nodded in approval at his attempt.

"I would like you tell me though, Your Majesty." Nona bowed her head in acknowledgement of his status.

Lucas crossed his arms. "For someone who seems to know far too much you, surprisingly, don't seem to know the proper use of that title. 'Your Majesty' is reserved for kings and queens, you know."

Aurelia half expected Nona to frown at being corrected. She was surprised to see Nona's smirk only grew to be more suspicious.

"I can see nothing gets past you. My mistake, your highness." Nona bowed her head again, a shadow briefly crossing her face. "I see you are as intelligent as I believed you would be."

Lucas glared, partially for being addressed by a title and partially for the oddness of the woman in front of him. He didn't know what exactly to make of her.

"Who exactly are you?" Lucas questioned, eying the woman suspiciously.

"Now we're getting somewhere, Lucas." Nona gestured to her sisters. "The three of us are, well, powerful beings."

The violet eyed one stood up. "I suppose we should be more proper about our introduction." She strode to stand next to Nona. "I'm Morta."

Decuma strode over to her sisters too. "You already know my name is Decuma."

"And that mine is Nona." Nona stated, nodding. "We are very old and very powerful beings. And yes, it was us who stole Miss Miller's voice."

Aurelia pursed her lips and balled her fists. She glared at the three women. Lucas grabbed her arm, as if he knew he might have to hold her back.

"Why? Why does it matter to you? If you're so ancient and powerful why would you care about a couple of travelers? Don't you have something better to do?" Lucas wondered.

All three women smirked at this point.

"On the contrary, your highness. You are more than a pawn in this game of chess, you know." Decuma declared.

"More than a pawn- what does that mean? What chess piece am I if this is supposed to be a game?" Lucas felt like he was being toyed with, and yet he knew that these women hadn't lied to him yet.

"That's for you to decide." Morta said, tapping her chin in thought.

"How do you know all this?" Lucas wondered.

"How do you think we know?" Nona asked.

"Silly Prince, I thought you were smarter. We thought you'd catch on-" Decuma shook her head.

"-We can see the future, of course!" Morta wasted no time getting to the point.

Aurelia and Lucas stared at them. The ability to see the future... No, it couldn't be. They couldn't be...

"Is that how you know who I am? Your special abilities?"

"Well of course!" Decuma replied.

"To know where you're going it's best to know where you've been." Nona stated.

"You and Miss Miller are very important. You probably don't even realize how much so." Morta shook her head again.

Lucas asked what he knew Aurelia had to be thinking, "Does that mean we complete our quest?"

Decuma held a finger to her lips. "Hush, all good things to those who wait."

Almost at the same time Nona replied, "We can't just tell you what the future holds!"

"We shouldn't interfere." Morta shrugged.

Aurelia stomped her foot and glared at Morta's statement. Lucas nodded, knowing what she meant.

"If you're not supposed to interfere why did you take away Aurelia's voice?"

The sisters looked at each other, clearly knowing something Lucas didn't, which was sort of a give in due to their powers. They smirked.

"Prince Lucas, you have a problem talking to people don't you?" Nona asked.

Lucas hesitated. "Yes..."

"Well Miss Miller always does the talking-" Decuma's red eye momentarily set its full attention on Aurelia. Aurelia's eyes narrowed and she moved closer to Lucas.

"-But you can't possibly think she'll be around forever, can you?" Morta grinned wickedly.

Instinctively, Lucas grabbed Aurelia's hand and moved so he was partially in front of her, protectively. Aurelia squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him.

"And even if she is she shouldn't have to talk for you all the time." Nona reminded. "You needed to learn to speak up, Prince Lucas."

Aurelia shivered as Nona uttered the words she had heard predicted the day before. She would have gasped loudly if she could've. Lucas squeeze her hand tighter.

"So what? You just take away my best friend's voice? Doesn't she matter just as much? We're in this together." Lucas glared.

"Of course she does! This isn't permanent." Decuma stated. Aurelia huffed and glared at that.

"So when does she get her voice back?" Lucas wondered.

"Finally! To the point!" Morta exclaimed. Nona smirked, unrolling a scroll that had appeared as if created out of air.

"After you help us help you." She replied. "You will help us, won't you?"

Lucas looked over at the golden haired girl whose hand he was clutching as if she would disappear the moment he let go. She looked back at him with concern.

"I'd do anything." Luke's gaze shifted to the women again. "What do I have to do?"

"That's what we like to hear." Decuma smiled. "It's quite simple actually."

Morta continued for her sister. "All you have to do is follow this to-do list. Strike up some conversations, interact with people, learn a lesson, grow as a person, yadda yadda..." Morta waved her hand, dismissively.

Lucas eyed them with suspicion. "That sounds too easy."

"You struggle with the simplest human interaction-" Nona stated.

"-unless Miss Miller is in danger apparently-" Morta interrupted, mumbling. Yesterday he had avoided eye contact with them, now he was able to glare them in the eye. Aurelia had changed the situation.

"-We didn't want to push it." Decuma finished Nona's statement.

"Well, your highness?" Nona wondered, holding out the scroll with Luke's tasks on them.

Lucas swiftly accepted it, without thinking. He didn't even look to Aurelia for approval.

He was about to leave the inn, to start his tasks, when he stopped, almost out the door.

"She doesn't- we don't-" Lucas felt his breath halt as he struggled to get the question out. "We don't die, do we?"

It was a horrible question to have to asked. Aurelia looked at Lucas with worry. He was terrified for both of them, she could tell. A silence fell over the room for a moment as the sisters let the question sink in.

"If Aurelia knows how to swim, you'll be fine." Decuma's tone had a hint of jesting. Morta frowned at her.

"We all die someday." Morta stated, bluntly. She shrugged. It was true.

Nona held her hand up, shushing her sister. "What she meant was we have seen your entire future, Prince Lucas. We can assure you that you do die, eventually. We all do. But we can not tell you how soon you die or how long you live. Somethings you must discover for yourself."

Lucas gulped, nodding. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked. His survival was not a comforting thought to have on his mind as he left the inn.