The camp starts moving before dawn, and by the time the sunlight is visible, the scent of breakfast is on the wind and the day's activities are audible. The Rangers let Robin sleep in and rise when she's ready.  The Warden keeps an unpredictable schedule sometimes because of his duty to the castle, and Robin receives the same deference.

Robin snores gently amidst the lizard pile, a small smile lining her lips.  The smell of breakfast though - that's definitely enough to get her up and going.  A quick tussle of the hair, soap, water and oil for the flying guys, a thorough perusal of her edged guys and Robin's waiting in line for food.
            She laughs, jokes and occasionally throws biscuits with/at her fellow Rangers, as well as serving choicer bits of breakfast to Peep, Chirrup & Ooot.  But Robin makes quick work of it nevertheless.  She's got quite the trail list today, ending with Prince Caine.  Yay...
            She confirms with Vista that she's a worry-wart, but that if he doesn't hear from her by tonight... take action.  Then she sets off into the living thunder of green that is Arden, whistles and trills on her lips.  First stop?  Grove of the Unicorn.

Vista asks what kind of message he should be looking for, eyeing the little firelizards as if he expects them to carry it.

Robin smiles fondly at her little flying friends.  "Oh, I don't think these little guys are up to it just yet.  'Sides I want to take 'em over to The Mews and introduce them to the crew over there before I send 'em up into Arden's airs alone."  A little teeth creeps into her smile at the thought of the work her feathered brothers and sisters do.
            Those green eyes turn back to Vista.  "I'll send a runner.  Or slip some Cadence into the paths.  Or something."  She shrugs.  It's not a great answer but then Robin's not a great predictor of the future.

Robin leaves with a proper Ranger's kit, which is better than what she came in with after so long away, and makes her way toward the Grove. She has no difficulty finding the Grove.
            There's a thin ring of burning flowers around the Grove, but none have entered.

"Huhn."  Robin blows a bewildered breath as she blinks at the sight before her.  Weeelll, that can't be good.  But is it cage-bad or fortress-bad, that's the question.  After walking around the ring examining carefully for breaks or gaps, Robin whistles the firelizards to her.
            "Okay, here's the plan.  Let's charge in there and see what happens.  If it's too bad, we'll eat our way out, K?"
            She gathers her flying friends to herself, making sure that all of them are either in her arms or riding on her shoulders.  Robin also makes sure that there's nothing *too* flamable dangling off herself. Then she heads for the flowers at speed, intending to leap over the ring.

Robin is an amazing athlete; a running jump over a line of flowers, even ones on fire, is trivial. She's able to clear the flowers easily and finds herself inside the Grove. All her little friends are safe with her, and there are no dangling bits of her or her gear burning.
            When Robin lands, all of the firelizards she isn't directly holding scatter off her shoulders, hovering in the air around her nervously.

With a smile, Robin lets all of her little buddies who want to fly, fly.
            Well, that wasn’t so bad.  Looking around, the girl decides to try one bit of investigation before the destruction starts.  She snorts to herself; Vere must be wearing off on her.
            Calming herself and the firelizards if she’s able, Robin will close her eyes and Listen.  As she does she will slowly bring up the Pattern in her mind and her hearing, paying particular attention to the circle of firelillies around the Grove.

Robin underhears nothing at first, but then she's aware of the flowers as a chaotic dissonance at the edges of the harmony of the Grove. She herself is a still center in the Grove (not the physical center, necessarily; a metaphysical center) and the firelillies are a dark, discordant noise at the edge of the center.

Green eyes pop open.  “Good enough for me,” Robin mutters to herself.
            The Ranger calls her lizards after her as she hops back over the circle of flowers.  Choosing a spot with care, away from any dry leaves, needles or low hanging branches, Robin quickly digs a decent size fire-pit and lines it with stones.
            “Okay, guys,” she grins toothily to her fair as she pulls on a pair of thick leather gloves, “I’d like to keep two or three of these bastards off to the side.  But other than that?  Let the carnage begin.”
            With a joyful screech, Robin starts pulling up the firelillies; root, stem and leaf.  And the lizards are welcome to eat their fill.  Though Robin will keep a light touch of the Pattern up to make sure that Peep doesn’t suffer any fertility problems.

The firelizards follow Robin's example and start pulling up and eating the firelillies. Peep seems to be ordering Ooot and Chirrup around.  Chirrup seems happy to just plow through the flowers. Occasionally Ooot disappears with one and comes back urping smoke; Peep chides him when he returns.

Robin chuckles at both Ooot’s urps and Peeps reactions.  She figures Ooot’s probably up to the equivalent of belchin’ and fartin’ and talking about knives and guns and stuff.  And for that one, Robin’s on Ooot’s side but the girl isn’t about to undermine Peep’s authority so she keeps her chuckles to herself.

It seems like they should be making short work of the ring around the Grove, and they do, but then there's a line of the flowers stretching off toward Amber and another stretching off into the depths of Arden.

Straightening up and dusting her gauntlets off on her pants’ legs, Robin looks at the lines of flowers with a wrinkled brow.  Eventually she sticks her tongue at the them.  She’ll come back and weed Arden another day.  Right now, she’s made a good start but has a lot of other things on her plate.  But she doesn’t like them flowers, no she doesn’t.
            “Hey, sweetlings.  I need a little quiet time.  Nappies and digestion for you?”  She croons to her little fair, rubbing eyeridges and full tummies all around.
            Once she gets the fair settled, Robin paces slowly around the Grove, breathing in the vibrant green air of Arden, Listening to the silence, calming down from her joyous burning destructive spree.  When she feels that she’s come into tune with the place and herself, Robin lowers herself to one knee.
            Quietly, almost reverently, the girl removes the leather pouch her mother bequeathed her from her vest pocket.  As she fans through the Cards contained therein, Robin does her best to repress her initial shudder and focus on being calm, quiet and respectful.  Finding the Trump of her favorite uncle, Robin smiles briefly at Gerard’s image before turning the Card over.  Resting her eyes on the Unicorn, Robin clears her throat nervously but presses on regardless.
            “Lady.” Robin’s voice is soft and flowing, a mantra of devotion that does not demand nor expect a reply.  “Prayers are... bad for me and I know I got one huge vested interest.  But, please Lady, if you would consider... he’s probably the best of us...” Julian notwithstanding goes through her heart..   “And he’s hurting badly.  If you could... see to helping him somehow, I’d...”
            Oop, no bargaining.  The memory of Canareth stabs through her briefly.
            “I... please, Lady.  Watch over and guard my Uncle Gerard and bring him whatever help you can.”
            Robin finishes, closes her eyes, and lets her heart speak where her words get all tangled.

There is no answer, but the Unicorn doesn't work that way.
            Some time passes, and eventually Peep flies over sluggishly and lands on Robin's shoulder, and chitters at her. From the tone, Robin guesses it's some kind of question.

 “As well as could be expected, Peep, thanks.”  She puts away the Trump and rises to her feet, giving the firelizard a special nuzzle.  “How are you?”
            Assuming Peep and the others are well, Robin will gather her gear, three live firelillies – bulb and all - and her little buddies and head off into Arden.
            Next stop?  Daeon’s cairn.

As she heads off in that direction, Robin realizes that the firelilly trail is headed in the same direction.

After a few steps, Robin stops and blinks.  "Should'a known...  Dink."  She mutters wryly under her breath.
            With a wrinkled brow, the Ranger takes in the density of flowers along the trail before her, the length of walkin' to  Daeon's cairn and the time it took her and her crew to wreak their havoc around the Grove.

Robin ponders the time it would take her to destroy the trail. She realizes it would delay her far too long, especially if she means to send a message back to Vista.

“Dung,” is Robin’s final judgement.  She casts a wry glance down at the three firelillies she’s collected, well aware that they’re probably going to be redundant.  Ah, well, she shrugs, there’s still the gesture.
            “C’mon guys.  Let’s make some time.”  Robin grins to her flying buddies and sets off in her ground-devouring Ranger lope toward the memorial.

Robin is able to make good time up Kolvir toward the castle and the cairn by the Ranger paths. The castle's defenses are active and the guard is moving about.
            It's getting toward sunset when she arrives at the cairn. It seems bigger; other Rangers must have come by to add stones.

A smile lines the girl’s lips at the sight of the grown cairn.  They’re good men, that they are.
            Casting a jaundiced eye toward the sunset, Robin gauges the time and then looks out to the sky over the canopy of Arden.  If she spots any specks riding the thermals, she’ll call her little buddies to her arms.  And then whistle piercingly for one of her siblings of the feather.

The firelizards come to Robin easily and settle on her arms. They're startled by her whistle, and then settle again as nothing happens immediately. A moment later, though, Robin sees a familiar shape flying up along the mountainside. Before it can arrive, the firelizards start to hide.

While Robin is tucking away her friends, her spirits start to soar.  The scents of feathers, fewmets and feed waft through her memory.  Clicks, the shifting of taloned feet and the ruffling of wings echo in her mind.  Her earliest memories and her fondest ones – growing up in The Mews among the Storm Hawks.
            Robin’s eyes begin to glow as she watches her Sister’s wings glisten in the golden winds above the green of the forest and a joyous paean lifts from her lips in greeting.
            She plans to introduce her friends to her Sister but yep, it’s better to start slow as the Hawks do rule the airs of Arden.

As the hawk comes down to land on Robin's arm, Peep makes a noise and Chirrup and Ooot rise up to meet it. Peep starts to circle around Robin's head and Chirrup and Ooot head for the hawk, which veers off in time to avoid a flaming firelizard breath.

A happy bark of surprised laughter erupts from Robin at the flurry of airborne tactics.  Brilliant and beautiful!
            Then she settles herself down to business.
            “Peep.  Peep!”  Robin opens her arms for the firelizard to settle.
             “Oh, you clever, brave darling,” she croons to the little gold.  “I LOVE the way you react to new people with suspicion and violence.  You and me, tres sympathique, oui?”  A bright, warm smile lines Robin’s lips as affection floods her heart.  “But Cora’s my Sister of the Wing.  And I’d really like to say hello, okay?”

Peep chitters back at Robin, but does not land on her arm just yet.  Chirrup and Ooot have taken up patrol. The hawk is circling overhead; for some reason it doesn't seem to be coming down.

Robin hums to herself in thought, wondering if her winged friends know something she doesn't.  She cocks and head and really looks around, but even more so, she Listens.

Apart from the general problem of underhearing so close to Amber the way she does in Shadow, there's nothing particularly off in this place. The hawk feels just as she should, but faint because of the distance. The firelizards have a faint dissonance that sounds of the firelillies to Robin, but then again they did eat a bunch of them.

"Peep.  Chirrup.  Ooot." Robin lets some sterness slip into her tone.  "Love you guys.  Thank you for protecting me.  But it's time to behave."  After that, Robin stops with the words and lets her feelings and body language do the talking.

Before Robin can do much of anything, the hawk dips toward the path below, as if indicating something is on it. When Robin's gaze follows, she sees that someone is coming up from the castle below her.

Gre-e-eat.  If she’s lucky, it’ll be some snarky member of her Family ready to witness her Saurian difficulties.  And if she’s really, especially lucky it’ll be some oh-so-tolerant member of Daeon’s family witnessing her Saurian difficulties.
            “Guys.  Down.  Now.” She commands her fair.
            Unfortunately, Robin’s attention is somewhat divided between gauging the approaching person and keeping on eye on her unruly buddies.

Whoever's coming up the mountain is a moving blob right now. Even Robin can't tell who it is just yet.

Chirrup comes right down, but Ooot is persnickety. Peep alternates between fussing at Robin and fussing at Ooot.

Robin gives a loving croon to Chirrup and scratches him over the eyelid.  She lets her pleasure at Chirrup's response filter through her emotional link.  Then she casts a jaundiced eye at the other two. A direct order was given, if it continues to be disobeyed, punishment will be forthcoming.

Peep flies up to meet Ooot and there is a bit more fussing between the two of them before Ooot settles down and the two firelizards return to Robin. If Ooot were a cat, his tail would be twitching violently.
            Peep daintily sticks her head out for Robin to pet her.

“Thank you, Peep.” Robin says gently.  And gives the little gold some loving.  Ooot gets a raised eyebrow and a wry twist of the lips.  Robin is pretty sure that this is Karma coming to get her for all the trouble she’s caused Julian.  And Rattle.  And Vista.  And Morgenstern.  And Vere.  And Random.  And, and, and.  Yep, she can’t really be mad at Ooot when she’s the same way herself.

It'll be a while before whoever it is makes it up the hill to the cairn. Robin could go down and meet the newcomer if she liked, well away from the cairn. Or she could make herself scarce.

Casting her gaze down at the approaching figure, Robin guesses that she’d better be about her business fast.  ‘Cause whoever it is, it’s bound to be someone distracting.  A quick whistle is tossed up to Cora to keep her in the neighborhood as Robin scrambles back to the cairn.
            Taking a little time to pick her spot carefully, Robin looks for a place that will be well watered by the spring she doesn’t remember being there before.  A place next to the cairn where a tree would shade it, but not disturb it with probing roots.  A place where a traveler or a visitor could pause, refresh and be lifted by the ambiance.
            In that place, Robin digs a small hole in the soil.  She removes the raw olive that she Worked on over her journey.  Robin pauses for a moment, letting the memories of her brother – her annoying, earnest, maddening, loving, impossible, pure brother wash over her.
            Then she places the olive into the hole, leans down and over it breathes the word “Dione.”
            “I never knew you, sister.” She says as she pushes dirt over the olive, burying it perfectly for growth.  “But I wish you all the best.”  Robin stands up, brushing the dirt off on her pants’ legs.  And the Ranger releases all the growing she’s put inside the seed, using everything she’s learned as Julian’s daughter, to help it grow into a perfect, beautiful olive tree.

Nothing happens at once, but nothing would. But Robin has the sense that when the tree grows in its own time, it will be perfect and beautiful, as she desires.
            By the time she's done, the sun is under the horizon and it's getting dark. The figure approaching from the castle is almost to the cairn. She doesn't recognize the man in Amber livery and he doesn't have the stealth skills of a Ranger.
            "Hallo the cairn?" the man calls.

            “Hallo the trail.” Robin calls back, friendly though hurriedly.
            Glancing at the darkening sky, she curses under her breath and grabs a medium sized stick, nothing a hawk would have trouble with.  A few quick swipes of her knife cut Cadence into its length.  Robin/ok/message tomorrow.
            Whistling for Cora’s attention, Robin tosses the stick high up into the air where the hawk can hopefully grab it.  She follows her toss with the Cadence whistle for Vista.  She repeats the whistle strongly and adds her own mental-birdie command as well.

In mid-air, Cora catches the stick and soars away in the direction of Arden.

"The Rangers said a courier would be coming from Arden with news," the guard says. Apparently it's normal for Rangers to come by the cairn first. "I've come to escort you down to the castle."
            There's something wrong with the guard. Robin doesn't think he's lying, but he's agitated about something, and there's something a bit unusual about escorting a courier, or at least there would have been during the Regency.

Robin raises a brow as she cocks her head at him.  “I know my way to the Castle.” Then she thinks about the guards on the wall.  “Is something wrong?”

The guard is definitely more nervous now. "You're Lady Robin? I have been told to speak only to her about the castle."

Robin bites back a number of comments regarding the ‘Lady.’ She’s definitely in the meadow now.  “I am Lady Robin.”  She nods but can’t quite get away from the nose wrinkle that follows her statement.

"You're wanted at the castle immediately, milady.  Prince Caine has been taken away by magic and against his will.  Two of your cousins were with him.  He was in his office and something just dragged them away, in plain sight of his aides."

That Julianic brow goes up and Robin’s first thought is ‘well, turnabout is fair play.’  But since she can’t think of any of her cousins, much less two of them, that deserve that fate, what she says,  “Right.  Brief me on the run.”
            And she starts moving toward the castle at the best pace she think her guide can make while reporting to her.

The guard falls in beside her. He's in decent health, but he's no Amberite, and he can't match her pace, even with the day of running she's already had. "The Marquess Maritime has come up from the Naval. He thinks it was the Rebmans. Prince Caine's office is waterlogged; there was seawater pouring through when he was taken."
            The firelizards start after the two of them.

"Rebmans, huhn?"  Robin shakes her head.  Here she lives a decent dragon-haunted life and Rebma keeps poppin' up.  "Who was taken with him?  What did the taker look like?  And anything else to add before I pick up the pace?"

"We don't know. He just vanished in light and water." The guard has to think for a moment to get the names. "The two who were with him were Lady Paige and Lady Signy."

"Lady SIgny?"  Robin shakes her head, cousins sproutin' up all the time.  "Right.  Thank you.  Return when you can."  And Robin pours on the speed for the Castle.