Zalair remained cooped up in the room for a few more hours, reading about the constellations- namely Orion.

Concerned he wasn’t going to come out anytime soon, Keigo was sitting on the edge of a window sill, staring relentlessly at the door to the den.

Happily walking down the halls came a little girl dressed in a pink little gown, dragging a stuffed rose with her. She stopped, her blue eyes staring up at Keigo. He hadn’t noticed her.

“Boo!” she shouted.

Keigo fell backwards out the window. A moment later, he climbed back up to look, covered in a thin layer of dirt. “Hello…” He noticed who it was. “Princess… Flanoir, right?”

“Yes,” the little twelve-year-old nodded, her blond hair tied into two pigtails, then into braids.

Keigo thought a moment, then smiled as he climbed back into the hall, brushing himself off. “You want to do me a little favor?”

“No!”

He grimaced. “Please? You’d be helping Zalair out a lot.”

“I’ll help him, but not you.” She said very stubbornly.

Keigo groaned to himself, thinking about how he should go about this. He had been able to bribe Lettale with a piece of cake from the kitchen, but this time he had no good bribe on him.

“So… Is that a yes?” He tried to get a clear answer.

“What is it?”

“I need to get in to talk to him.”

“That’s helping you, not him.” She glared at him.

Keigo sighed, sitting on the sill. Guilt-trip, he decided. “Ooooh. Well then, I guess I’ll just have to sit here and wait for as loooong as I can for him to come out and talk to me.”

She stared, unfazed.

“Afterall~ It’s not like if I just knock on the door he’ll happily come out and talk to me~” Keigo leaned down to her, “But if you knocked on the door, I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to talk to you.”

“Stop whining. Aren’t you an adult?” was all Flanoir asked as she walked to the den’s door. She knocked on it and called in, “Zalair! Dinner’s ready.”

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

“Queenie’ll be mad!” Flanoir shouted back.

Zalair slowly opened the door, looking down to the blond. “Why can’t you just go bug your own mom and not me?”

“Cause your mom asked me to come get you for dinner.” Flanoir answered, watching as he just crossed his arms and leaned against the doorstop.

He sighed heavily, “But I’m reading something really important.”

“It’ll still be there when you get back, Zalair.” She glared at him. She was a very stubborn little girl, and would be a pain for anyone she married someday.

“Fine. I’ll come.” Zalair groaned, shutting the door behind him as he came out.

“Why aren’t you in your other clothes?”

Zalair looked at his outfit. He had changed into cyan slacks tied with a cord at his hips and a cyan v-neck long-sleeved shirt. There were no sign of the last ruby anywhere on him.

“And what happened to all the pretty rocks?”

“Stones,” Zalair corrected. “And I just… Uh got tired of them.”

“Why?”

“…I lost them…” Zalair answered, “But don’t tell anyone.”

With that line, Flanoir turned on her heel and started down the hallway quickly. “I think I’ll tell Queenie first.”

Zalair rolled his eyes, “…What a mean-spirited brat…”

Zalair started down the hall, ignoring Keigo’s friendly wave as he went past him.

Annoyed, Keigo huffed his way into the den. “Fine~ Ignore me! After I came all this way here to kindly apologize to you. But do you give a lick? Nooo~ You just glare death at me and want to see me entombed in something right away.”

Keigo sat down in the comfortable sofa, looking at the book. “Orion’s Stars?” He raised a brow, sitting down and started to read the open page. “Heh… Odd… In ancient times, a person born under the sign of Orion was gifted with ten rubies.” He paused, “Inside, sealed are the souls of ten knights who pledged their loyalty to the King at the time. When they passed away, a piece of parchment was found with a final wish, and was signed by all ten of the knights.”

Keigo shifted his weight, getting ready to read the book better. “The parchment’s final wish said that they could serve their kings still in death. The priests and wizards that served under their strong King called back the souls from purgatory. However, with the body’s already dead, the souls were sealed into ten fine rubies, and the group were named the Ten Ruby Knights.”

Keigo shifted back, thinking about the lines from the book. “Is this what’s got Zalair so on edge?” He sighed, “Man… And only one ruby’s left…” With another sigh, Keigo got up and headed out of the room.

He saw Zalair coming back from the dinner hall, and quickly dashed out of sight. After Zalair was back into the den, the door closed behind him, Keigo hurried back to his guestroom to think.