Rollan wanted to say that they weren't his friends but something held him back. He didn't know what they were to him. His acquaintances? His enemy? His team?

- - -

-Meilin-

"So, where to now?" Abeke asked as they finally left the city.

"You there," they turned to find another Redcloak with that same white mask.

"Are you one of the Redcloaks?" Tarik asked.

The Redcloak nodded, "Call me Stead. Now follow me."

He didn't say anything after that as they followed after the Redcloak named Stead.

"What's with the names?" Roll, who was now walking beside Meilin, quietly asked her.

"Code names, probably," Meilin replied, surprisingly at ease with talking to him, "Just like yours."

"My name isn't a code name," the thief said, "They just called me Roll because I have a habit of rolling out of trouble."

Meilin rolled her eyes but couldn't hold back a small smile.

He went on, "Though I prefer that they call me the Falconmaster. It fits me perfectly, right Essix?"

His Spirit Animal, Essix, who was flying somewhere above, gave out a screech which sounded like a, 'Go eat worms.'

"Why did they call you Roll?" Meilin asked out of curiosity.

"Because I have a way of 'rolling' out of trouble."

"Seriously?"

"I told them to call me Roll."

"A minute ago, you preferred Falconmaster."

He threw his hands up in exaggeration, "Fine. My name almost slipped so I said Roll."

"Care to elaborate more on that?" Meilin asked flatly.

Roll looked at her, "So you want to know the untold story of how the legendary thief Roll was nicknamed Roll?"

"Untold, huh?" Meilin smirked, "Impress me with your storytelling, thief."

He smirked back and began the 'untold' story, "There was a poor, young eleven-year-old boy whose head had been burning like fire. Such sickness has come over him that he almost mistook it for the bonding sickness!"

She raised an eyebrow, not knowing if this was true or he was just exaggerating.

"And then, fear drove him to do the most craziest thing that had came to his burning mind," he went on, "He decided to steal the Nectar and save himself."

Meilin remembered hearing the stories from his father when he had been talking about a boy from Amaya who had stolen Nectar and had gotten away. At that time, Roll hadn't been known worldwide...yet.

"He sneaked in with such incredible stealth, snatched the Nectar and was about to sneak back out when suddenly, someone had tripped over a random piece of bucket that had been lying about somewhere nearby."

"And does that 'someone' start with an R and is currently telling this story right now?" Meilin interrupted, "And so much for 'incredible' stealth."

The thief only glared at her before continuing, "He then started running with the Nectar as fast as he could. Because of his street smarts, he jumped from roof to roof, window to window, and slipped in and out of huge crowds. As the guards lay there, tired and wounded, one of them asked, 'Who are you?' And do you know what he said?"

"Gee, I have no idea," Meilin answered, sarcastically.

"Guess?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe Roll?"

"Close," he said and Meilin tilted his head in confusion, "He almost blurted out his real name. But instead he said, Roll."

"You said he almost blurted out his name," Meilin spoke, her brain starting to come up with possibilities, "Does that mean your real name is similar to Roll?"

He grinned, "And this is when we continue our game we had back in Zhong, if you're still interested in finding out the unknown identity of Roll."

Meilin was about to accept his game when there was a huge, vicious snarl. She turned around to find three mountain lions springing out from the bushes. Before anyone else could move, one had jumped onto Abeke.

-Abeke-

Abeke thought that something had been stalking them. She thought that there was something coming for them and she could tell from the uneasy tail-twitches and suspicious glances of Uraza, she felt it too.

Her thoughts were confirmed when three mountains lions suddenly sprang out the bushes. She moved too late when one of those mountain lions had jumped onto her back. Pain ripple throughout her back that she wasn't surprised if a bone had broke. The lions were heavy, like three-male-antelopes-stampeding-over-your-back heavy!

Well, of course she wouldn't know that since she was never trampled by elephants...but still!

She braced herself, expecting to feel the excruciating pain of sharp teeth digging into her skin but surprisingly, the weight had suddenly disappeared. She caught sight of Uraza and the mountain lion rolling in a whirlwind of teeth, claws, and flying fur before circling each other and snarling.

Abeke quickly got up and glanced around until her gaze landed on where her bow had been thrown to but it seems as if she was going to need to use her small dagger. Standing in between was the other mountain lion, snarling at her viciously. She caught sight of Meilin, Rollan, and Tarik facing of the third mountain lion and Uraza was preoccupied, the Redcloak, Stead joining in.

The mountain lion was about to jump at her again when someone else had stepped in between. She watched as Conor swung his axe and the blade had caught the lion's front leg. The lion went down in pain as both Abeke and Conor yelp in surprise.

Abeke, because she was surprised of his appearance, and Conor, because that was probably the first time he had cut a mountain lion with an axe.

"That was probably a lucky hit," Conor mumbled but readied his stance once more as the mountain lion started to get up.

"Well, we're going to be needing more of your lucky hits then," Abeke replied, pulling out her dagger and standing beside Conor.

Conor glanced at her own weapon doubtfully and she thought he was about to comment about how bad her weapon was when he said, "I'll distract the lion while you get your bow. You probably don't need a lucky shot since you're already skilled."

Abeke was surprised but before she could reply, the lion growled and jumped towards them. They both rolled away from the lion's path. Conor nodded at Abeke then charged at the lion while she dashed for her bow. She dove for her bow, placed an arrow, turned around and aimed.

Conor and the lion were moving too quickly that Abeke was afraid that she might accidentally hit arrow instead. She steeled herself, pulled back the arrow, aimed at the lion then let it fly. She watched it as it zipped through the air and had missed the lion's fur by an inch.

Oh if my father saw that, he would certainly hate me for eternity.

She started to grab for another arrow when the lion had grabbed the wooden part of the axe and yanked it out of Conor's grasp. Conor backed up nervously, probably thinking that he was done for when an arrow flew right into the lion's leg.

More arrows came and suddenly, people that looked like hunters burst out the woods with spears and bows in their hands. The lions, suddenly realizing that they were outnumbered, dashed away and into the woods.

For a moment, Abeke was relieved that Conor wasn't dead, none of them were, and that they were saved from the predators. That was when all the arrows and spears were suddenly pointed at them.

Apparently, they were the prey once more.

- - -

So sorry for not updating for a while! Been busy this week but i'll have more time for updates since I have a school break!

Anyways, here's some more Reilin! And a bit of Conbeke. You might ship Shanbeke but you need some Conbeke every once in a while.