"And they are brothers you say?" Prince Birch rubbed his chin in contemplation, "Fascinating! With one being evil and the other good, I suspect they quarrel quite a bit with you serving as the voice of moderation, eh Lady Quake?"

"First of all, I'm not a lady. I'm a rooting tooting gal. Two, my brothers don't fight each other, they simply avoid each until the right time comes around and they start kicking some serious butt." The elemental said cleaning the meat of the T-bone steak.

"What an odd family!" Prince Birch responded scratching his head, "Do you have any other brothers or sisters besides your twin siblings?"

She nodded, "I have an older brother. His name is Razorlink. He is the elements of Air and Water. Perhaps she will give him life soon."

Irzen continued with his meal but also listened intently to all that was being said.

"Wait! You have another brother who is unborn?" Prince Birch gave Quake an odd look, "You know his name. You know his element. But he is not born yet. How is that possible?"

"Unlike Dragolem or Mermidon. Razorlink and I were sculpted out of clay back on Earth. Razorlink is a year older than I. Two, the lady wasn't even near water to bring him to life, instead I woke up first and it was a good thing I did. Nothing like giving 'Ole horn head' a piece of my mind." Quake finished off the first steak and started on the second.

"Fascinating!" Prince Birch leaned in devoting his entire attention to Quake, "Tell me how many of your kind can Lady Alyson create or sculpt? And from what stuff did your twin brothers come?"

"They came from the earth elemental army the lady summoned to replace the people of Storm Haven, who were already turned to stone by a Medusa. Since they were 'stoned' so to speak, it made it easy for the lady to swap them out and give the former baddies a migraine. Good times." The elemental finished off the rest of her platter of food and sat back thoroughly satisfied.

"And who, pray tell, were these former baddies of which you speak?" Prince Birch inquired once again.

"The Dunamons, a pair of upper demons from the fourth plane of hell, masquerading as mortals hellbent on sacrificing the entire population of Storm Haven to summon the Nameless One. They were gonna use the Eye of Saffron too until the Lady and I stole it. Then she made a long distance phone call, left a message, and well...umm that's when Venger showed up." Quake told them.

"The Dark Lord of The Realm?" The princess gasped, "Was your peril so great that you needed his aid?"

Quake shook her head in agreement, "Yeah, I've asked the lady the same question myself."

The prince sat there completely aghast while the Swordsman continued to devour his meal.

"Anyway, the lady knew she was out of her league going up against not one but TWO greater demons, so the next best thing was fight fire with fire. I mean Willow was there and so was the druid, Gareth." Quake waved her hands about.

"But you were still out-classed and out-powered," The prince surmised thoughtfully, "Under the circumstances, I can see why Lady Alyson did what she did."

"But you did not make the mistake of trusting The Dark Lord, did you?" The princess asked Quake, "He has a reputation for turning on those who serve him."

"Nope. I most certainly did not trust'em. He's a creep and bad to the bone." Quake nodded.

"Tell me about it." Irzen grumbled as he continued to eat.

A deep male voice with a thick accent yet familiar to Quake and Irzen entered the dining room, "Yes, comrade. The Force of Evil is most assuredly not to be trusted."

Quake turned to see Mermidon walking over to her, "Brother? You're back but, but the lady said you..."

"I sacrificed my life, yes. It was necessary to begin evolution." The platinum dragonian said, "Soon, I shed this to become mithril draconian, and so will dark brother become steel."

"Mermidon!" Irzen rose from his seat and turned to face the Draconic Elemental, "It's great to see you again. Thank you for all that you did for us during the battle. Your sacrifice was not in vain. And if you're here, then I suspect Dragolem is not far behind eh?"

"Dragolem, my dark twin is here and not here. He knows all too well there's a true dragon close by. City life does not suit his tastes either." Mermidon stated.

******

Madeous awoke from his slumber to the sound of the shouting shield maiden. He had heard of the kurori's bouts of trickery from Alyson and how she was left hanging every single time. He also knew that Caliaphy couldn't resist sweet smelling treats or shiny objects. Getting up and stretching he made his way out of his guest room and followed the sound.

The platinum knight also heard the splattering of something wet and the not-so-fluttering of soaked wings around the corner. There was Caliaphy pulling out the wet brush letting it fall to the floor.

Caliaphy looked over to him, "Oh...umm. Hi."

Madeous narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing on this floor disturbing the peace, kurori? And what pray tell have you done to Serna's face?"

"Oh that," She turned back towards the girl, "That's just a bit of fun. You should try it sometime." The kurori gave him a cheesy grin then realized he wasn't in the mood and moved around him, "Or not."

Caliaphy's conversation with Madeous gave Serna just enough time to catch up with the Kurori. Charing at a full run, Serna saw her opportunity and tackled Caliaphy! As the two rolled around on the floor, The Shield Maiden snarled, "NOW I'VE GOT YOU, YOU LITTLE WRETCH! IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU--A NOOGIE!"

"Huh..---"

Serna was able to get atop Caliaphy, firmly seated herself on the Kurori's back, put the Fairy in a headlock and rubbed her's knuckles on Caliaphy's head with as much force as she could muster. "TAKE THIS! YOU MEAN, NASTY FAIRY!"

Caliaphy squirmed and struggled against Serna's grip but found no way out of it. "Ahhh. Let me go, you crazy human!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU APOLOGIZE AND UNDO WHAT YOU DID, YOU MEAN, NASTY FAIRY!" The Shield Maiden snarled as she re-doubled her noogie attack upon Caliaphy.

Madeous leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, "I suggest you surrender, lest you earn the ire of both Alyson and Lazheros, Small One."

"Only the Bronze Man gets to call me that," The kurori squealed again.

"Everyone knows its best to let a sleeping dragon alone." The platinum knight added.

"APOLOGIZE FIRST, YOU RAT!" Serna screeched, "AND GET THIS STUFF OFF OF MY FACE!"

"I GIVE! I GIVE!" Caliaphy admitted defeat. "You got me cuz' he distracted me but as for the paint, well that can be washed off."

"I WANT AN APOLOGY FIRST!" The Shield Maiden snapped, "THEN I WILL LET YOU GO! AND THEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET THIS STUFF OFF OF MY FACE, GOT IT?" And to emphasize her point, Serna pressed down with her knuckles harder than before on Caliaphy's head.

Caliaphy wriggled out of Serna's grip holding both hands up, "I said I surrender. You got me cuz' I was distracted but I will not apologize for the prank. It was fun painting your face like a flower and all I had to do was wait and see how long it took someone else besides Captain Lion to say something."

The elementalist got up and wandered out into the hallway from the shield maiden's screeching. Taking in the scene, she replied, "I did warn you, Serna about Caliaphy. She pranks all of her friends and now if you don't mind take it back outside if you want to scream."

Alyson looked down at the kurori, "And you know better than to run into a palace of our hosts in the first place. Not everyone here appreciates your shenanigans, Caliaphy. I'd wager some of the elven guards here might want to use you for target practice, so watch yourself and what you say. Got it?"

Caliaphy let out a pout, "Oh man. You're no fun anymore, Alyson."

"This isn't Asylum. This is East Port. Different city, rulers and people live here. We are visitors here." The elementalist glanced over to her uncle and then went back into the guest room closing the door.

Madeous nodded in kind, "I can honestly say I am impressed about my niece and you two go outside, or join Irzen and the rulers in the dining room. That wasn't a request."