Narrator's pov:

"Thank you for letting us stay." Jinki thanked the old lady sincerely, making the latter one laugh warmly.

"Don't be. You youngsters wouldn't know the way in this forest."

Jinki smiled, completely agreeing on what she said when he got distracted by Riah who was making some weird sound.

"You just have to go that way, follow the river and you'll get out of this forest by evening if you don't stop too much." the old lady smiled, pointing to a direction, making Jinki follow her pointing finger.

He nodded, thanked the old lady once again before he looked at Riah.

"Let's go, or we'll have to sleep in the forest." 

Riah quickly nodded, smiled warmly at the old lady and followed the prince who started to walk.

"What were you doing when we left?" Jinki asked curiously as he made sure he was following the way of the river's stream.

"What?" Riah asked, not getting his question.

"Like... you were whisteling or mumbling or whatever you did." Jinki tried to explain, but he didn't exactly know what Riah did.

The young woman blinked her eyes before she widened her eyes and laughed embarassed, only remembering now.

"I was trying to call for Alex." she answered, making Jinki even more confused.

"Alex...?"

Riah hummed while she nodded her head, avoiding a pool of dirty water on the ground.

"He's a falcon."

"You have a falcon?" Jinki asked surprised. He didn't expect her to have a pet, especially not a bird like a falcon. They may be smaller than eaglesor condors, but they were still fast, sharp and not to forget dangerous when not careful.

"He's my friend." Riah beamed, whisteling again.

It was a sound, foreign to Jinki, it was different from the whisteling he knew, yet it was a whisteling as Riah was blowing air, making a sound.

He wasn't surprised either that she had a friend that wasn't human. It was better than he expected. Better a pet animal than the wall or someone invisible hat didn't even exist.

Riah tried whisteling once again and her lips curled up into a big wide smile when her ears perked up a bit.

"Alex!" Riah yelled loudly, a rushing sound nearing the two.

Jinki was shocked by the sound of speed when suddenly he felt wind near him.

Right before Riah stopped a beautiful falcon bird, flying violently to stay in place before it landed almost gracefully on a branch in front of Riah.

It cried shortly, making Riah smile brightly.

"Alex! I missed you." Riah chuckled, petting the bird's head.

Alex liked it and tilted his head a bit to the side, right into Riah's hand, his folded wings moving a bit in excitement and joy.

"This is Alex?" Jinki asked, getting back to reality after having been surprised by the sudden appearance of the falcon.

It was like Alex knew what Jinki was saying, looking at the prince, not even tearing his sharp eyes away from the prince. It was like he was checking Jinki out, to see what kind of person he actually was.

"Yes. He has been with me for years." Riah smiled, taking back her hand which made Alex cry softly.

The falcon didn't remove his eyes from Jinki, keeping eye contact, which made the prince feel uncomfortabl.

"He's not going to attack me or something right?" he asked, a bit scared of a bird attacking him.

Alex cried, moving his head to Riah before crying again.

"He won't! Alex doesn't do that." Riah assured Jinki, who still looked a bit cautious at the bird who was now trying to get the attention of Riah again.

"Did... mom come to the tower?" Riah asked, making Jinki look at her before at Alex.

The falcon didn't do anything and suddenly it looked like he was just a pain ordinary bird. But this only made Riah more restless.

"She came to the tower, didn't she...?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper, scared that if she spoke louder, her mother would find her and take her away, back to the prison like tower.

"I don't think he understands you..." Jinki said, but just as he finished this, Alex moved his head fast, looking at him as what he said offended the bird.

"I hope she won't worry too much..." Riah said absentminded, making Alex cry out loud while mov