Spun the stars on her fingernails (Jay)

[Ethereal]

Alice sat on the back of her shiny ponyta, lazily looking up at the clouds. They had shared a leisurely ride through the village and now were resting. The sky was a pallid blue with puffy clouds drifting among its atmosphere. The wind pushed at Alice and her pokemon, trying to budge them. The only thing it accomplished was making her cold. Alice gathered her sweatshirt more tightly around herself. Dante snorted, noticing that his trainer was cold. He brightened his flames, making them warmer and hopefully giving Alice more comfort. The trainer saw her pokemon's gesture,
"Thanks Dante." She said while patting her ponyta's neck.

[Jay]

Ieri walked through the Glacial village followed by both of his new pokemon Tai and Rika. Tai walked upright as normal, but Rika was once agin on her four paws and walking easily on them. They were both rather pleased with the cold weather, it seemed. However, Rika would stop and mess with her fur every few seconds before finally starting to pay attention again. She disliked the fact that the cold made her fur stand on end and was rather adamant about it in all honesty. However, she did like the feeling of the cold. Tai was simply happy to be out of his pokeball... not to mention the fact that his rival, Rogue, was not out walking or Lee for that matter.

I've been getting off task too much lately.... Ieri sighed outwards thinking on this. His job was to restore the crown not going around taking in new fighting type pokemon. However, he liked them and liked the fact that he had taken them on and taken them with them. They were both good editions to his team as far as he was concerned. ....In the end it didn't matter, though. He was no closer to finding the queen and restoring the crown than he was the day after Alice had disappeared. Most believed she had died, yet Ieri's brute stubbornness refused to accept that he had failed that badly. He admitted that he had failed, yet to fail to the point where one's master was dead was not something hew as willing to give into just yet.

As he continued walking, he caught sight of a girl not far off appearing to look at the sky. The near white haired man did not even come to realize that it was the Queen he had been looking for.

[Ethereal]

Alice heard the man approach and turned her head in the direction. He was closer to her than she anticipated and her legs gripped Dante's sides tighter. The ponyta stamped his hoof in complaint then followed his trainer's gaze to the man coming toward them. Would Alice need protection from the stranger?
<He better not mess with her.> The fire type's flames rose slightly.
"Ouch!" Alice retracted her hand from his mane. When the pokemon realized his mistake he calmed himself.

Then something connected in the old queen's mind when she saw the man's face. It was like two corresponding puzzle pieces were united. Suddenly she remembered just who this person was.
"Ieri?" She called out, somewhat unsure of her assumption. Was this that same knight that stood by her even as her home burned down?

[Jay]

The knight was caught off guard completely when his name was stated. He looked at the girl in a state of confusion for a moment wondering how his name had been said aloud. Taking in the girl more, he tried to put the face to a name. Maybe she was someone from the town whom he had met before? Her hair was short and she had a thin frame that reminded him of.....No. Alice had longer hair and.... He pushed the thought aside.

Tai wondered who the girl was that had caused Ieri to stop. Both he had Rika were new to the group and knew virtually nothing about their trainer except that he was a very muscular and quiet man. Looking from the girl back to his trainer, Tai wondered aloud speaking his name as he went.

"Yes?" the tan man asked back more or less addressing the fact that his name had been called but still unsure of what to expect.

[Ethereal]

Well it seemed her disguise worked well enough. 'I don't need all that make up and contacts to hide who I am.' She thought, thinking briefly about her cousin who had tried to improve her facade. The man who had been around almost all her life wasn't able to recognize her one bit. Still, if this is the Ieri she knew, would it be safe to reveal herself? Alice wanted to trust him, but she still had doubts.

"Uh," She paused uncomfortably, "Hi." She finally said. Alice remembered his presence in the castle and the way he looked at her as if she were the most valuable thing in the royal estate. Her parents had always said he was the most loyal knight in the entire guard. They would want her to trust him, wouldn't they? "You were once a knight, correct?" She asked, wanting to make sure this was the same Ieri. As far as she knew it wasn't a popular name, but she had to be sure.

[Jay]

A surprised look took to Ieri's visage for a moment, and he wondered if she had been one of the people around the castle and that maybe she was....Stop raising your hopes when you know it can't be that easy.... This thought had become prevalent in the year that he had been working alone in his search. It was a bloodied negativity that was rode out due to his own broken hopes when he first started looking for the Queen.

"Indeed," he answered back with a calm look on his face. "I was a knight of the old regime..that perished a year ago." It was unsafe to say such a thing out loud in that day and time. Loyalists were often killed on sight, yet Ieri didn't feel compelled to hide himself from someone who had already confronted him about being a knight. It either meant this was someone who knew him in the last or someone who knew of his records. Either way, it meant fooling someone was not going to be an option. He hated lying, anyways because of the fact that he could not lie without sounding off. Instead, the truth was easier to work with. "And you are?" he asked in a calm voice.

[Ethereal]

So it was him! Alice smiled underneath the black cap and red hair. She felt immensely safer in his presence than she had all year. Seeing a familiar face was something Alice never took for granted since it became such a rare occurrence. With Ieri around, the former queen had little to fear.

Uh oh. He had asked the question that she dreaded answering in any public place. The word caught in her throat and the young girl coughed once.
"My name is..." She took a breath, readying herself. "Alice Reid." She said quietly. She hoped he had heard so that she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

[Jay]

The surprise that ran through Ieri was something he could not even begin to put to words. The Queen.... was the only thought that seemed to move through him. Was she serious? Was this some kind of trick or was it... possibly....Ieri didn't say anything for a few more moments. "I thought I recognized the Ponyta...." he finally answered back after a moment looking at the blue flamed horse and then back at the girl.

He would have bowed right then and there had it not been for the fact that he feared for her safety in such an open place. Drawing attention was not what he wanted. Then that doubt came again.... She could be lying.... but she did resemble some of the thin form the queen had but still.....It was....He worked a fraction of the doubt out of his mind for a moment. "How about we take a walk?" Ieri asked making a motion to walk farther down the street.

Tai blinked in confusion and looked at Rika who just looked back at him. Neither one were sure what to do with such a peculiar situation. However, after a moment, Ieri had pokeballs in his hand and had suddenly returned them both before turning again and starting to walk down the street.

[Ethereal]

Alice nodded in response to his request. A walk would calm her nerves, and she wanted to catch up with her guard. From what she remembered he was quite formal and they never really had a chance to talk like people. It was one of the things she disliked about being a queen, no one treated her like Alice - just as royalty.

She hoisted herself off Dante's back and landed on her feet. The ponyta lowered his head and nudged her shoulder, encouraging his trainer to go with the man. Alice placed a hand on his long face then returned him to the pokeball. Then Alice turned back to Ieri,
"Sure." She answered then walked to his side.

[Jay]

Ieri nodded a bit and started to walk once more through the area. He kept his voice low, yet it was easy to hear if one payed full attention. "I didn't expect to see you suddenly appear after a year," he started out as he continued walking rather slowly now. "Many believe horrible things have happened to the Queen, and some even presumed death." He hoped she would understand his wording was merely to keep the conversation somewhat obscure to even those that might potentially be listening in.

If they got farther away from the village, he might change his wording a bit. The nearly white haired man shook his head a bit as though refusing his own words. "It's been a full year..." he sighed a bit before falling into a half silence and wondering if the girl would comment on such matters.

[Ethereal]

Alice kept pace with Ieri, struggling to hear what he was saying. He spoke slow enough for her to pick up on most of the words. Alice understood the main idea of what he was getting at. Appear? What an odd way to put it,
"It's not like I did a magic trick, I've been around." She said vaguely. Alice nodded, thinking forlornly about her family and if they assumed her dead as well. "That's kind of the point," She explained quietly, "Maybe the queen," She emphasized the title in the same way Ieri did, "wanted other people to think that."

It was true, a year had passed since that fateful day when her home, her life, and everything she knew was laid to waste. It hardly felt like so much time had passed.
"It feels like it happened yesterday." She sighed tiredly.

[Jay]

"Indeed, but the knight who refused to believe that the Queen died has been looking for her since the day that the crown was overtaken," Ieri answered back. "And time is all but frozen still as he's searched." Ieri sighed outwards looking at Alice sideways with a calm eye. "So that he could find her and say his apologies for failing to protect her from the rebels." His raised a bit in volume but only because they continued to walk away from the village.

[Ethereal]

Alice chuckled, enjoying the game of speaking in third person.
"I don't think there's any reason for apologies," She assured him with a smile, "After all he was a great knight, and the queen did make it out alive." A sly look reached her gray blue eyes, "Actually, she managed fine on her own."

[Jay]

Ieri's calm eye reviewed Alice's face as he took this thought in. "Ah I see," he answered back with a calm tone. "Hearing that is rather revealing yet worrying at the same time..." he half smiled then and there. "For it worries the knight that maybe the Queen does not wish of him to be around if she is managing on her own." In truth, he did wonder what she would say to this. He wanted to return her to the crown as fast as possible as per his job, but if she was managing fine in the way she was... did it mean she was happier out or just living?