...Aw, shit.
Xastre could only stare, mouth agape, as Echelon saluted him and started making his way back up the wall. With the rope. D'oh. He had the sudden urge to slap his forehead and hang his head, because man, why hadn't that possibility occurred to him?! Stupid, stupid! Then again, he hadn't really thought a stuffy royal guy like a prince would have the upper arm strength to climb back up! Down, sure, anyone could do that!
Heaving a sigh and knowing that his little doom prophecy had been officially fulfilled, he started to turn, ready to go back inside and do the only thing he could do, which was try again. Great, now he'd have to go all the way around to the front of the castle, march his way up all those stairs, go down all those corridors, and then find the guy's room again...if he was even still in it and hadn't climbed back down again by that time! This was just lovely. Yeah. Locking the prince in a closet and lecturing him through the door had never sounded better right about now. Then again, with Xastre's luck, Echelon had probably rigged his whole room so that he had escape hatches everywhere.
In any case, he was just so glad that Echelon was having so much fun, because he sure wasn't, and as Echelon laughed he only twitched. Oh yeah, brat, laugh now. You've won this round. But just you wait...
That was, of course, before Echelon started to swing back and forth. Xastre paused, blinking and watching him. Er...what was he doing? He wasn't going to do anything stu--
GAH! Flying prince!
But Echelon landed easily, even posing, the show off, and then...he was off.
"Wha--hey, wait, you!" Too late. He was gone. And Xastre's shoulders slumped.
Obviously Echelon did stuff like this often. His obvious fitness had surprised him, but it was both a good and a bad thing--good because now he didn't have to sweat so much about the guy injuring himself, but bad, so bad, because if this was something the prince had a lot of practice with...and did it often...it meant he really had his work cut out for him. He couldn't keep him from going crazy and destroying stuff if he couldn't keep him in sight!
With another sigh, Xastre took off after him through the garden. He lost sight of the boy and ended up (unbeknownst to him) going a different direction through the labyrinth than the route Echelon took, but all paths eventually lead to the center and unless Echelon was made of pure, unadulterated evil and decided to hide somewhere within the garden...he would hopefully head to the center like any normal person! Xastre crossed the fingers of his right hand and jogged through that garden. Ugh...please don't let this be some giant goose chase...
A quarter of a mile later, and panting lightly, Xastre found his way to the center where the pretty fountain lay, and he also found Echelon, seated on the rim, looking absolutely relaxed as he played with the water. Of course. But truth be told it was a pretty big relief to see him there, because it didn't mean the prince was a sadist! Yay! Running a hand through his hair, which had started to flop over into his face, he took a deep breath and started walking toward him, cautiously like a man approaching a skittish (or feral) animal. "Are you quite done yet? Okay, just...stay still, dammit. I just need to have a word with you. Stay there, alright?"
As long as he was sitting pretty like that, he wouldn't have to haul him back. He looked...harmless enough right now. Seated.