Can't Find Peace

[Ai Nightray]

It had been a long day for Hufflepuff, Ai Edogawa. Ever since she had entered her fifth year in Hogwarts, she'd been given responsibilities which she was extremely grateful for. Though everyday was filled with hectic schedules and tiring work, those never failed to bring a real smile in the features of the Asian girl in comparison to when she was alone with nothing to do since it would only give her memories of the occurrences between her, Conan and Taylor. Those bring out the worse of the prefect that whenever she would remember, she has no idea anymore of the right thing to do, for she could only break down and cry all alone.

On this particular night though, the prefect had found it particularly interesting to enter the Forbidden Forest once more. Although she had been initially in fear of the forest after her first encounter with Miah and now restricted by her prefect duties, she had chosen instead to go to the forest despite all those factors. She dressed herself and as soon as it was already past curfew and deemed it to be the time when she could escape, she fled to the forest. The girl no longer hesitated for the adventure she was about to take, no longer fearing what she might face despite the knowledge that the wand in her pocket won't be able to save her in all circumstances.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

It was after dark, almost everyone would be in bed asleep. It had been an extremely long day for Taylor and now she had decided that she was going to try her hand at braving the dark and creatures of the Forbidden Forest. She had seen many students head there, some brought back by Professor's some made it back on their own, but they had all said the same thing. There were creatures in that forest that were... different to the normal creatures they encountered. They even mentioned Centaurs. Taylor had never seen a centaur, she rather wanted too. She smiled to herself as she pulled on her boots. She was wearing as much black as she had been able to find, all the better for sneaking. The last couple of weeks had been rather tiring and even though her ankle was not quite fully healed, Taylor was still agonising over everything that went down in the Courtyard, she needed a way to blow off steam that wasn't going to hurt Conan or any one else. She was a prefect and she probably should have known better then to go down to the Forbidden Forest, but it was the only place she could think of to get away from people and just, sit down and think about everything. She doubted it would be quiet in the Forbidden Forest, she also doubted that her wand would keep her safe, but, maybe she needed something to scare her straight, teach her a lesson. Maybe that would do to pull her out of her bitter revelry.

Taylor snuck out of the common room and slunk down the stairs and through the Corridors, making sure to keep to the shadows as much as possible. It was unlikely, but there may have been one or two Professors hanging around to make sure all the students were in bed. Not to mention the caretakers, whose job it was to make sure students were asleep. Taylor had never really wanted to be Prefect, but now that she was one, she rather liked the responsibility. She knew she was being irresponsible now, but if she was careful, she would get out of this now harm done. At least she hoped. She eventually saw the tree line and ran towards it. She squinted when she could see the outline of a shape. Was it a Professor. She hoped not, otherwise she would have already been busted. She got closer and noticed the it was too small to be a Professor. She stopped suddenly when she got close enough to figure out who it was. "Edogawa." She came up next to her and looked out into the Forest. Maybe it would be a good idea for them to go in together? She may not get along with Ai, but at least they would be safer together, then separate. "You exploring too?" She asked, not looking at the girl.
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai could only think of how she wanted to be here. She wasn't much of a rule breaker, especially now that she'd been handed the title of being a prefect. But, now was a different case. It wasn't because she wanted to break a rule or prove that she was some brave girl who could wander off in the Forbidden Forest and then come back alive before the sun rises in the morning. It was because she needed it. Ai needed to go in there and clear her mind. While the forest wasn't exactly the safest place within Hogwarts' reach, it was the only place that she could go which held no memories of Conan. If she were to spend her time alone in any place near or in the castle, she'd surely break down and maybe even not go back to who she was. She knew that she might lose it any time, and so, as much as she can, the Hufflepuff tries to avoid any place which held strong memories of Conan whenever she was alone.

Too bad though that Ai's wishes were not fully granted as someone had walked beside her. Being good with reflexes, her wand was already pointed at the perpetrator before even getting the chance to recognize who the person was. "Jeez, Blare! Can't I have a single moment of peace without you?" the girl nearly screamed in anger but managed to contain her voice. The Hufflepuff wasn't angry because she was surprised but because the reality that she was trying to escape was now with her asking her if she'd be going exploring too. "No," Ai bluntly said, poison laced her voice as she once again kept her wand in her pocket. She didn't need to spend time here. She wanted to be in the forest right away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have no time for people like you," the Hufflepuff said as she began to walk away from the Gryffindor, not the least bit hesitating on entering the Forbidden Forest alone.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor raised an eyebrow at Ai's wand. Surely the girl wasn't stupid enough to actually use it on her right? Taylor rolled her eyes and held her hands up in the defensive. That girl really had to learn to calm down. It was just a question. It wasn't like Taylor specifically set out to find Ai. She had about as little want to talk to the Hufflepuff as she seemed to have for her. Taylor stepped back and proceeded to ignore the girl. She was positively irrational and Taylor for one, had no desire to be near her if she was going to suddenly turn batshit crazy. Ai proceeded to turn around and walk off into the forest. "What ever, I was only asking." Taylor could really care less. She was only trying to be nice and if this was what she was getting for her efforts. Stuff her. If she got eaten by a giant dog or something, she and Conan would both be happier. She was sure society as a whole would be happier. She had tried many a time to apologise to Ai when it wasn't even her fault. Well, no more. She was effectively giving up. She was just going to have to occupy Conan in other ways. The less he thought about his pathetic poop of a sister, the better.

Taylor trudged off in the opposite direction to Ai. She had her locator spell with her, if Ai got into any trouble, she would help her, but only as a concession to the fact that they school would not be pleased if she allowed her to die. No, that was a lie. She didn't hate Ai. As much as she kept trying to make herself hate the girl, it just wasn't happening and that really infuriated her. It annoyed her to no end that she couldn't just pretend that Ai didn't exist. It was impossible. The Hufflepuff girl occupied every vacant corner of her mind, like a virus she just couldn't kill. She knew that no matter how much he tried to hide it, Conan loved Ai and that made it impossible for Taylor to hate her. She sighed, rather loudly and jumped when she thought she heard a noise, pulling out her wand and spinning around. But she could see nothing. She kept her wand out and cast a lumos spell. She could only see about two feet in front of her, but it was better then nothing. Perhaps she should have thought this through a little more.
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai really didn't care if Taylor went off on her own towards the forest. They were both fifth years for god's sake and while they might not be able to handle the most creatures in the darkness, each of them should be able to handle a few. Ai didn't have much trouble in navigating her way through the forest. She wasn't in any hurry and her eyes were already getting used to darkness that enveloped the Forbidden Forest. The young Hufflepuff would check her pocket once in a while just to make sure that she didn't lose it on the way. Aside from that, she had also kept her senses sharp and in check. She was depending on her hearing and her sight whilst in this forest especially since she didn't have much to go on at this point. She only held a wand and her skills if bad goes to worst should she enter a horrible situation.

Through her little walk though, Ai had heard noises. They were near her, but not so near as to attack her. In fact, she heard two things. One seemed to be some creature living in the forest which she hadn't figured out yet throughout the course of the year. And the other was the voice of another girl. Oh sh!t! Taylor! the girl's head screamed as she brought her wand out from her pocket and already sprinting her way towards the sources of the noise. Ai, in reality, didn't care much for the glory and appreciation that she could possibly get from simple situation, but now a life was at stake and she had to worry about that first. While Ai didn't care for the Gryffindor, the girl cared for his brother. She knew how much Conan loved/liked Taylor from the last time they had an encounter. And she really didn't want her brother to suffer and so, here she was finally emerging from trees near Taylor and looked at the figure causing the irritating sounds. "What in the f*cking hell is that, Blare?!" Ai asked the Gryffindor she was with, not really showing the signs of fear which she was getting on her nerves. The creature in front of her was nothing like any of the ones they had seen in CoMC. Alright. There had to be something they could do against an unknown creature.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor stepped carefully through the forest. The further in she got, the darker the sky seemed to become. She was conscious of all the sounds around her, including snapping twigs, the wind in the trees and all the other noises that were included with the forest. She wasn't sure, but she thought that some of the voices may have been created from her own mind, it would make sense. Many of the students that had been in the forbidden forest had said that they had heard noises that made no sense to them. This place was filled with magic after all, it made sense that excess magic could manifest itself in many different forms in this forest. She bit her lip and held her wand higher above her head to get a better look at the ground in front of her. She could see shadows, things moving that she couldn't quite focus on. She shivered. It seemed to have suddenly dropped about ten degrees in the last couple of minutes. She stopped and whirled around. There was something following her. But what. "Lumos!" She spoke more forcefully then she had ever done with this spell and what she saw made her freeze where she stood.

Taylor screamed and fell backwards, tripping over a log she was certain had not been there before. She didn't know what it was she was looking at, but she certainly didn't want to find out. It was tall, black and almost out of focus. She crawled as far away from the thing as she could before scrambling to her feet and rushing in the opposite direction. Taylor suddenly layed eyes on Ai, who was coming from the other direction. She saw the creature and swore. Taylor grabbed a hold of the first part of Ai she could grab and proceeded to pull the Hufflepuff along with her. "I don't know!" She yelled, trying to pull Ai at a faster pace. "I don't want to be around to find out what it does with students who are stupid enough to come in here!" She screamed, running deeper into the forest. They were in so much trouble right now.
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Alright. Maybe I should have thought this through more, Ai thought as she eyed the creature that had made Taylor scream in surprise and fright. The young girl really didn't expect meeting a creature through the forest since she was practically very careful within these parts of the place for it would be fairly easy to attract the attention of the creatures of the dark. Well, a good example should be now. The Hufflepuff could only think on why the heck couldn't she find peace in the said place. First was Liam's blackmail, second was meeting Taylor and now, having a staring contest with an apparent monster. Well, the two prefects had three apparent choices: One, give up and die. Unlikely. Two, fight and hope to survive. Hesitating here! And lastly, run. Perfect!

Apparently, she and Taylor had the same idea in mind and it was to run. She didn't really need to be told twice as Ai also picked up her pace, still keeping her senses in check. And she had to admit that she was feeling fear as she was hearing the monster chasing them. "Shut up! They'll hear you," Ai hissed, her voice only above a whisper, just enough for only Taylor to hear. Minutes passed and they continued to run, the creature was still hot on their tail along with perhaps quite a few more. What was giving them away? Light, smell, sound? She had no idea except that they were expecting dinner and Ai wasn't too keen on finding out the main ingredients, especially that both their stamina were already reaching their limit. Ai suddenly stopped, pulling Taylor along with her to the nearest high tree she could find. "Climb! And hurry!" she said as she quickly as a train could go. "And don't you even dare of having any form of light," the Hufflepuff said as she immediately tried to at the very least give Taylor a boost. She could hear footsteps, the creature or creatures were approaching them and fast. They had to climb this tree.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor looked around in utter horror at what was unfolding. How could they have been so stupid as to think that what they were doing was even remotely on the intelligent scale of anything! Taylor was, luckily, a rather fit person and she had a lot of stamina, but that didn't mean that she could out run this thing for the rest of her life. It just kept coming at them like it knew exactly where they were. Maybe it did, but that was of little consequence unless the two prefects could figure out what to do, in order to get rid of it from their sights all together. She could hear Ai whispering something to her, harshly, but she was too focused on the sounds of the creature or creatures, getting closer to them. She had never been so scared in her life and she had no idea what she was supposed to do now.

Many a minute was passing them by and Taylor was beginning to lose or prospective of how long they had been running, or even how far from the Castle they might have been. She didn't want to think about what could possibly be out here, because if she stopped to think about it, she was sure she would lose all grasp on what was real and just lose it. She just didn't get it. What did this thing want with them? They weren't extremely powerful or anything, just normal fifth years. She cringed as she felt something touch her and looked around to see what it was, relaxing only partially as she realised that it had in fact been Ai. What was that girl trying to do anyway?

Taylor's eyes widened as she noticed that she was being directed to a tree. She nodded at Ai, and jumped a little to grab the lowest branch and, carefully, pulled herself onto it. She spun around and reached down to grab onto Ai as well. "Jump!" She called down to her, using as much of her strength as she could to pull the Hufflepuff up onto the branch with her. They had to get higher though. She looked up and the branches were only going to get harder to climb, but they had to do something. She looked over at Ai and pointed to the top branches, getting ready to climb. She somehow thought she might be better at climbing then Ai, considering she was athletic, but she was sure Ai could hold her own, especially in this situation where it was practically life or death. She breathed deeply and they began to climb. She hoped that this would at least get them away from whatever that thing was that was following them.

​

 

[Abel]

The screams of two startled humans made Abel wince and clap his hands to his pointed ears. Before this night, he'd had yet to meet a student from the castle (and had never cared to); they were louder than he expected them to be.
Abel was only six moons old (or fourteen in human years), barely birthed compared to most of his herd, but he and his brother, Cain, were much celebrated as being the first foaled in more than fifty years. Half a lifetime had passed for some since they'd last laid eyes on a colt. They were being well taught by the combined experience of over a thousand years of wandering the Forbidden Forest.
Still, ever the young of the world disobeyed their parents; Abel and Cain had split off from their mother and father in pretense of widening their foraging path, but in reality they'd parted ways over two hours ago, sharing their mischief with one last look before they galloped off in separate directions. Cain headed South-West and Abel headed North-East to get the widest range of experience with which to bring back to the other twin. Even without the yells of the females, he'd not be able hear his brother's hoof-beats.
Abel was slicing a bramble thicket carefully apart with his knife when he heard them. Instinct made him freeze, staring at them with hazel eyes glowing in the darkness. The two humanoids left in a hurry then and Abel, suddenly curious and full of energy, cantered after them without a second thought.
They'd had a head start but Abel was faster. A short chase later (or at least it was to one perfectly at ease in the forest) and he stopped to watch them scrambled up a low conifer. He watched their flexible legs kick with fascination.
If you meet a human, leave and do not speak to them, he could hear his mother's voice, over and over again. They might strike at you in fear, or capture and harm you. The voice was so soft compared to his fierce curiosity. All lessons went out the window, face-to-face with such strange yet intelligent creatures. Despite himself and despite everything he'd ever been told, Abel spoke to them.
"What are you doing?".​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai was actually thinking of staying on the ground, distracting the creatures away from Taylor and just pray that she wouldn't be killed in the whole process. She didn't know how she got that kind of mentality but that was certainly occurring in her mind at the moment. After all, she had no family any more, her only brother had disowned her. She only thought of Conan and how he would be much happier if she didn't exist anymore. The girl was about to stay on the ground, until images flashed into her mind and suddenly, she jumped, held on to Taylor and pulled herself up to the tree.

How could she even think of dying?! It was official. She was an idiot. It had happened so fast that she remembered Ryuuji, Jeremiah and Heath. How could she even think of leaving those people, especially Heath?! Ai shook her thoughts out of her head for there were much more important things to do. She began climbing the tree, scurrying her way up, as fast as she possibly could. It had been quite easy, given that she won't let her karate and other sports go to waste. After seeing images of people she cared about, she now feared for her life. Oh no. She was not going to die and she was not going to get caught. All Ai's fear suddenly were thrown out the window as soon as she heard a male's voice. "What?" the Hufflepuff suddenly stopped climbing and looked down, her eyes finally completely accustomed to the darkness of the forest. She couldn't quite believe what she saw. A centaur! "Uhhh... Climbing. There was something chasing us here in the forest," she told the boy or centaur or whatever! At the moment she didn't care what to think of what she was seeing, they were safe up in the tree right?

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor was so concerned with climbing up the tree that she wasn't even focusing on anything else. She only knew that she had to get higher into the tree. As high as she could get, pulling Ai along with her, which was not at all difficult, seeing as the girl was scrambling just as much as she was. Taylor thought about all the things that could possibly happen here. So much could go wrong. So much could happen. Her first thoughts were of Conan and her family, what they would think if they found out that she had died out in the Forbidden Forest. She didn't think they would be terribly happy. Hey had already lost her parents, she didn't think losing her as well would help. Then with Conan, they were only in early stages of their relationship. She was determined to get him to reconcile with his sister. If she survived out here, maybe Ai would be more receptive to her efforts and maybe, so would Conan.

Taylor stopped climbing when she heard a voice and looked down, nearly falling out of the tree. Was that a person. A professor? She looked down, as did Ai, and she realised that it was a centaur. A rather young centaur. She had to tighten her grip on the tree in order not to fall. She had never seen a centaur up close before. She still wasn't exactly close, but she was closer than most people were. She was hesitant however, because the Ministry classified Centaurs with a four (xxxx) danger rating and all Taylor could think of was what could possibly happen if they got down from this tree. But she had always wanted to meet a Centaur. She looked over at Ai as she spoke too it and proceeded to climb down onto a lower branch. "Did you see it? The thing that was chasing us?" She asked, looking in the direction she thought it might have gone.

​

 

[Abel]

Abel had better ears than both humans together and could hear the creature the girls were describing, but could not see it. This perplexed him as the noises were close- almost underfoot (or hoof). Something was scratching at the base of the tree. From the sounds of it, it was large yet had no claws. Abel was further confused by a snuffling sound until the air shimmered in an arch around three feet high, and then ... a silky black creature, hair trailing around its 'feet' as it stood to paw at the conifer, materialised like the moon from behind the clouds. It was a strange looking thing, almost ape-like with large, soulful eyes that were wholly focused on the two witches. The centaur whinnied slightly in surprise. It was a demiguise.
Abel spoke the name of the peaceful herbivore to them, and it was no wonder that they had not recognised it, as the frequent donator of wand-cores could become invisible on will alone. He knelt down to watch its scuffling, fascinated.
"I am sure that it is a demiguise, but they do not eat meat. I wonder why it is ... oh!" said Abel as the wet nose suddenly turned towards him. The creature ambled forward, intent on the centaur, and the colt drew back in alarm; in its focus, it bypassed his outstretched arms and climbed into his flank. He was very confused and uncomfortable until it began to rip at his treasure pouch. Then he knew.
Abel had to use all of the strength in his arms to pull the demiguise off of his back, but now that he knew what it wanted, he intended to give it to the creature. He withdrew a nut and seed cake bound with honey from the pouch, and held it towards the funny beast. The hairy demiguise barely took a moment to snatch it away before it shimmered into 'non-existence' again, only the rustling leaves signalling its departure.
The centaur returned to looking at the witches again, giving a little toss of his shoulders that was almost a shrug.
"You appear to smell good. I have not seen a demiguise be so bold before." Abel lifted his rounded nose to sniff the air in contemplation. "You do smell interesting."
Now that the mystery of the rampaging forest beast had been solved, his interest in 'climbing' renewed itself once again. Abel drew himself off the forest floor and gave a great kick to place his forehooves onto a low branch of conifer. Struggling now, he wrapped his arms around a higher one and hauled with all of his might to rest his horse's chest on the limb. His legs kicked wildly for a moment as he tried to maintain balance, and eventually the movement stopped as he clung to the tree and made it sway.
Abel was barely half a meter of the ground, but he looked fearful.
"This is difficult." the centaur admitted. "Please will you teach me 'climbing'?"​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai was not entirely sure of what to make of the centaur's arrival. She practically had little to no idea about them for as much as she wanted to learn stuff, there were just times that she was too lazy to listen or too tired to pay attention. She much more preferred to discover things personally, especially that it proved to be more reliable information than what books would state. The young Hufflepuff then slowly began to trudge her way down, but stopped immediately as the centaur had seemingly figured out what was chasing them. Ai's brows had furrowed as he explained to them what a demiguise was. "It does not eat meat... I'm no plant," the girl said quite plainly, wondering why the herbivore would chase two girls who were supposedly not plants! But what surprised Ai more was the centaur talking about their smell. "Smell good as in delicious good?" the Hufflepuff asked quite nervously. If they smelled good to a herbivore, what horrors would carnivores do to two young witches. "I took a shower before going here," Ai said at the centaur who had seemingly out of nowhere had told them that they smelled interesting. As much as smelling good seemed nice, she really didn't want to refer to herself as smelling interesting while they were in a forest that they clearly had no idea about it's true dangers.

Ai's train of thoughts were suddenly disturbed though. She expected carnivores to attack any moment or some plants eating them alive or maybe a professor discovering them. What she didn't expect though was a centaur trying to climb a tree! Ai scurried her way down and soon was able to settle on a sturdy branch, just above where the centaur apparently is. "W-whoa! I really don't think you're supposed to climb trees," she said nervously, quite fearing what might happen to the young centaur should he make one wrong move. "You could get seriously hurt you know," the Hufflepuff said in quite a worried voice for despite unknowing who the centaur was, she cared. Ai had changed through the years and it was evident on how she was treating the centaur.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor looked off in the direction the strange creature had walked. She should have known it to be a Demiguise. She had after all, most recently learned about such a creature. She sighed and shook her head. How she could have missed such an important part of her education and not known a demiguise when she saw one. Then again, she remembered reading somewhere that only specially trained wizards, (and apparently centaurs) could even see a Demiguise, so she supposed she had no need to be angry at herself for being scared about something she couldn't quite see. Even if it were not going to eat her, it had still been rather scary to feel and or hear something that she didn't know about. It was like all her senses had been heightened and she had seen, heard and felt things that may not have really been there.

"How can we smell good?" She asked, moving down to a lower branch and hanging over it to look at the young centaur. Taylor wasn't entirely sure, but he may have been about their age. He looked young at least and she was glad for that small mercy. Younger centaurs tended to be more curious about humans. She was glad, it didn't look like they were in any immediate danger at the moment, surely this centaur would know how to keep himself safe from the forest creatures right? Thus, maybe, being able to help her and Ai. She sniffed the air, all she could smell was sweat really amongst the other more natural musky smells of a forest. "We smell like sweat. Is that what it smelled?" She asked. She could not get her head around this. It was certainly extremely weird. She was talking to a centaur for Melin's sake. It was so strange.

When the centaur started to actually climb the tree and looked at him wide eyed and had to stop herself from laughing. Why was he doing that? She jumped down from the tree, having looked around before hand, to make sure she could not see and suspicious shadows or moving trees and not having spotted any. She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him. "That's not very safe. Sorry to tell you, like Ai said, centaurs aren't built for climbing. Didn't your parents teach you that?" She asked, looking at Ai, wondering what they were supposed to do with a centaur that was trying to climb. She looked back at him and bit her lip. "What's your name anyway? I'm Taylor." She said. She couldn't very well continue to call him 'the centaur' or 'the young centaur' in her head. It was kind of hard to keep doing that. Besides, he didn't look terribly formidable anyway. "What are we going to do know Ai?" She asked the girl. She wasn't sure whether they should try to find their way back out of the forest, wait for a professor to find them, continue to explore or try and see if this centaur would be willing to help them.
​

 

[Abel]

Abel huffed a little in embarrassment when one of the humans asked him whether or not his parents had taught him not to climb. He wriggled a bit in his precarious foothold and clung tighter to the branch he had a hold of.
"We ... that is, I ... am very young yet. Perhaps it was taken for granted that I would not try to do what I am clearly not meant to do." The bow beneath Abel's equine chest creaked loudly in warning before it gave way with a crash of needles and bark. The colt whinnied in alarm but fell only a few feet. With both hooves firmly on the ground, Abel kicked the branch from under his legs and backed away from the tree.
"On that note," he began as if to distract from his own folly, "I did not realise that the castle foals were not taught to stay away from the Heartland," Abel said, using the centaur's name for the centaur-controlled Forbidden Forest. It did not even occur to him that the witches might disobey their elders, as he would never disobey his. There was much assumed knowledge in centaur society, however. Foals would follow their sires and herd instinctively, so no one outright said that a side-trip was disallowed.
A young witch told him her name and Abel was delighted. Humans were naturally distrustful of the forest-dwellers and the sentiment was usually returned. For her to offer her name was tantamount to giving him her explicit trust.
"I am Abel!" said the centaur enthusiastically. He gave Ai a shy look but did not ask what she was called, in case she did not trust him as he did, her. She had offered him sound advice, so far. Abel now had the opportunity to do what his father took as a sworn duty, and escort the two witches back to the entrance of the forest. There was a slight hiccup in his plan, however, as the colt did not know where it was. His sense of direction was flawless, but no member of the herd would disclose to a young one which direction the castle was located. If the girls did not know, they were stuck. Still, his duty was clear, and the centaur puffed up a little bit and put on his most serious face.
"You are not safe to remain here, young witches." said Abel, despite being many years younger than them both. It sounded like something Father would say. "I must take you to Heartland's Edge and see that you return from whence you came."​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai nearly screamed as the centaur fell off the tree. Thankfully, he was not hurt for she feared that if he were to get hurt it was partly their fault since they had activated his curiosity about the act of climbing. It made sense that he was young since she was partly sure that adult centaurs would not have tried to climb the tree, since it was fairly obvious that a horse's body was not for climbing purposes. The Hufflepuff quickly descended from the tree and stood near the centaur. "Heartland? You mean the Forbidden Forest right?" she raised the question as the centaur paused from speaking and decided that she should explain why they - or rather, she was there. "Well, we were told to not go here. But, I am not really someone who listens," the girl said with a rather embarrassed smile. It was shameful, she knew, but she would have listened if she didn't need to escape the castle walls, especially after the not-so-little encounter she had recently with Conan.

The Japanese smiled as the centaur introduced himself to them, and noticing that she was yet to introduce herself, she beamed at the centaur as he looked at her. "I'm Ai. Nice to meet you, Abel," she said in a gentle tone. Ai had been fond of creatures that she found to be friendly instead of dangerous and so she really didn't find a reason to act all tough in front of the young center named Abel. Ai shrugged as Taylor asked her what they were going to do. And she just showed a look of utter surprise at Abel as he said that he will take them to the Heartland's Edge which meant the border of the castle and the forest. She bit her lip and began to speak. "Uuuuh... I would appreciate that, thank you. But I'd really like to escape the castle for now, at least just until dawn," she said as she brought out her wand from her pocket, looking around to see in which direction she would go. Thanks to all the running, her eyes had already adjusted to the dark so she found no need to illuminate the forest floor. "I'd try to find my own way back later on like I did last time. If you really want to go to the edge though, take Taylor with you. It was really nice meeting you," she said as she began to walk off in the eastern direction. If she got lost and died in the forest, well, maybe it wouldn't be much of a loss for everybody and so she just continued to look around. Hopefully she wouldn't have the liberty of meeting a carnivore.