[*finally gets to posting* XD Sorry it took me so bloody long! I was actually lost here for a while on what to do...but Ivv-poo gave me a good idea to compensate for Mina's sudden vanishing and stuff...]
Outside, it unnerved Nakaris that he couldn't hear Vai's voice and that, when he had looked toward the one other personâ€"or rather, demonâ€"that Vai had always seemed so fascinated with, Xurlaq, she was not near him, either. In fact, there were no signs to show she had even been here at all, no small footprints in the dust...nothing.
No signs at all...
But Nakaris was not one to succumb to panic without further reason to, and besides...it did no good. Keeping a clear head was more efficient. And besides, how many people walked this path? And there was a slight breeze today, as well. It would be really easy for tracks to be covered...chances were, this was just another instance of him going into Overprotective Father modeâ€"though, really, who could blame him, given the nature of this village?
Vai liked flowers. Knowing her, she was probably off picking some, which was harmless enough, though at her age he didn't like the idea of her wandering off alone like that, and if anyone so much as touched her...it...just wouldn't be a pretty situation.
But, just as he started off through the village, to that place where the flowers Vai loved grew, two men stopped him, men of a race he'd seen before, but only in passing. Not that it really mattered. All manner of strange beings flocked to this village, so their appearance hardly struck him as odd. Little surprised him anymore, with what he'd seen, and done, in the past three years. Still, his reply was curt, as he was sort of on a "mission", and he didn't mind the man's demand, nor the way his apparent companion signaled to him. Didn't mind it, though it didn't mean he was any less wary or suspicious, even if it didn't show; he was confident in his own abilities, and if these men were planning something against the army, such news would not be dealt with lightly.
"I'm Nakaris, sub-Commander of th' Dread Army," he introduced briefly. "Army headquarters are o'er there. You'll find Mina, our Commander, within. Report t' her if yer interested, sign th' parchment, an' you'll be filled in on our objective."
[grah...I...can't...write...today... *bangs head on desk*]