Igneous wasn’t lost forsay. More like he just didn’t know where he was, where he was going, or the place he had just come from. He had tried retracing his steps back to the Falconer’s place that he fondly remembered for having nice beds and good interior decorations, only to end up even more lost and on different street.

A bit more aimless wandering to make sure the building wasn’t somehow in the immediate area and Igneous figured he didn’t know his way back to Frawl’s forge anymore. A bit more back tracking and he’d only discovered another alleyway populated by ponies lifting crates, moving sacks of wheat and wheeling barrels into and out of two buildings on opposite sides of the alleyway.

Stumped as to where he was Igneous fell back against a sturdy building wall and began to think. Turned out to the colt, this town wasn’t like most as he’d come to expect. This town was massive to say the least with fields of wheat that nearly surpassed the horizon in all directions but north, daring to stretch over. Different lesser villages consisting of a few households existed out there to help tend the crops afar and near. However for a village of this size, and with fields yielding more than enough to sustain its own substantially large population, the streets were awfully unorganized and rather small in some sections of the village too.

It was almost as if this town was once a small humble place of living where ponies built houses wherever they pleased whereas roads were made only after they decided it was convenient. Of course Igneous thought that was outlandish. He thought this because to him there was no time before now and no reality other than his own. He always looked to the future leaving nothing more than one hoof in the present for his own sake.

Igneous looking up in appreciation for the bright sky, or at least the portion that was revealed to him inbetween the gaps of the buildings. Pegasi flew by, some were couriers while others were farmers looking out over the health of their crops while the smaller younger ones raced up, around and inbetween what little clouds there was.

Igneous then got feverishly jealous at the children that flew. If he had wings he wouldn’t be in this predicament. He could have just flown upwards and seen the city as a whole from attop and maybe spy Alastoria and Raillay, or better yet, Dramier and fly with him. But then a thought struck the clever colt, mostly impart to memory and relevance.

He was reminded of that time he was running after Gomora, that thief he knew… He’d gotten atop the buildings by jumping up crates stored in the alleyway of the buildings to give chase. Ascension then was easy as they were stacked one after another with lower roofed buildings too. These ones where tall so he would need a much larger stack of boxes just to summit them.

Igneous then looked down the alleyway he sat before and true there were crates being moved about by ponies that would no doubt shout at him just like the former did when chasing Gamora if he crawled his way to the top.

But then Igneous was struck with another thought, a memory to be precise. It was actually a phrase he remembered a while back when he had books and read stories written in fiction. This particular quote was from his most favorite story he read many times leaving it to echo in his mind like this, “You’d be surprised by all the things you’d get in this world simply by asking Igneous.”

That mentality, true to its word, had gotten Igneous things and places often times when he needed it most. It had gotten him food, a place to sleep, a job to keep and some money to spend. In fact it is precisely the reason he was a falconer at all and was able to go on this adventure with the privilege to get lost as he pleased. If it worked before for all those huge favors then how much harm would it be to ask one stallion yet another favor. And hey, this was a farming village too so ponies were naturally nicer.

So picking himself up Igneous trotted down the alley and stopped just beneath a stallion busy carrying crates with his magical grip and waited simply waited to be noticed. This worker was moving them from one wall to another for some particular reason Igneous didn’t quite under stand at the time.

“Hey!” the stallion yelped in surprise taking a sudden step back as he found Igneous sitting behind him rather closely. He looked the colt up and down again before questioning, “what are you doing, uh… colt?”

“Can I ask a favor?” Igneous asked in a pleasant voice. He didn’t quite understand why the stallion would be so surprised at the sight of him. He was just a colt after all.

“What’d that be?” he unsurely questioned as he transferred over another crate while keeping his eye on the peculiar colt, his armor and long knife it seemed to him.

Igneous looked up, pointed and answered, “I wanna be up there. Attop that roof.”

The stallion looked to where the colt spoke of. Judging the distance he asked, “Why would you want to be strutting around up there?” He checked his back in case any subordinates or supervisors were paying him and his guest any attention.

“I’m looking for my falconering team,” he answered causing the stallion’s attention to swivel back to him. “I got separated from them and left at the forge to design my swords.”

“Swords? I only see one,” he commented as he rested a hoof atop a crate and leaned into it. He was rather amused with his odd occurrence, it's not every day a colt dressed in armor comes up to you asking to be lifted to a higher place especially one claiming to be a Falconer. “A rather small one too,” he added. “But I guess it suits your size.”

Igneous looked over his shoulder to the blade mounted on his back and remembered the sword Alastoria had left him with. True it was rather small but he’d thought it to be a much larger knife than a sword. “I’m gonna grow up,” he interjected not too loudly or defensive but more as an assured statement. “I’ll be as tall as you one day.”

“You think you’ll be tall enough to reach that perch up there?” he asked with an amused smile.

“Please?” he pleaded foregoing the question.

With a smile and a subtle shake of his head the stallion asked, “You're trying to find your falconer entourage?” Igneous nodded. He let out a sigh, paused for a moment but then shook his head in compliance. “Let me know when you find them then.” He nodded his head, removed his hoof from the crate he rested on and patted it twice. “Right here colt, I’ll lift ya.”

With a big smile of appreciation Igneous happily hopped up on top of the box with a cheerful, “thank you!”

“Careful now.” The box began to lift and Igneous wobbled a bit when its stability decreased as it ascended over the stallion. Igneous looked down to keep his balance putting as much effort into staying on the box as the stallion was keeping him raised. He reared up and leaned both hooves on the wall to lift Igneous higher and asked, “you there yet?” He raised it more but found he pushed the box and the armored colt as far as his magic would safely allow. “Colt? You there?” he asked again.

“Yes!” Igneous called back in excitement as he lept off the box and onto the tiled shingles of the roof. He turned himself and peered back down into the allway and waved, “thank you kind sir!”

“Well careful up there now,” he answered. “I know it's not thatching but I’ll remind you those tiles aren't exactly very gripping either.” He then looked back down the alley only to see two of his peers staring back at him and the colt. “Is there anything you’d like or need?” he asked looking back to Igneous as he prepared a mental statement for what he might say when and if his colleagues ask what he had done and why.

Igneous looked over his shoulder and to the next building that lay across the street, and the next after that. After little deliberation he concluded he haddn’t thought much further past his plan other than getting on the roof in the first place. He needed a way to cross but jumping, although possible with these tight, narrow alleyways between one building and the next, would no doubt end with him visiting Dramier at the healer’s place.

He then looked back down his alley that he stood above with the kind stallion waiting for his answer. He looked to the wall across from him, spotted something and pointed, “oh! Can I have that plank over there?”

The stallion looked back on himself and saw the plank leaned up against a wall. It seemed rather old and he’d recognised it many times before as it was always found in the same spot only to occasionally be moved once it became an inconvenience to some pony. It was never exposed of, none of the ponies here cared to do that. So it laid there against the wall with no purpose of any kind. Perhaps this was more of a favor then a request.

“Of course,” he answered as he took it in his magical grip and held it high for the colt to take in his and hoist away. With it gone at least it wouldn’t be a bother from now on.

“Thanks again!” Igneous called back as he drug the plank along the roof and disappeared over the top. Now all the colt had to do was figure out where he wanted to go and with the same amount of forethought he put into wandering and getting up on the roof, the same was true here in that he had no clue where he wanted to go.

“Hmm,” he thought to himself with the board standing on end at his side. He looked all around him and at the rooftops that surrounded this building. He’d for some reason imagined that Alastoria was heading north from where Frawl’s forge was and with one quick nod of his head he trotted in the direction of the mountains, came to the opposite edge of the rooftop and laid the bored down across the gap that laid in between the two. Happily trotting across marveling the fall he’d take if he slipped, he in no time was on the other side. Igneous then collected the plank, trotted to the opposite side northward, laid it down over the alleyway fall and did it again.

To Igneous this was an adventure with almost no bounds. The dangers: The fall, the limits: The village walls, the destination: Somewhere within these walls, and the journey: Another trot across the board to the next rooftop only to do it all again.

The streets gained in bodys as civilians began to awake while Igneous went about his little adventure. Lots of ponies looked up to him in curiousness as they went on from place to place. One celestial even hovered next to Igneous as he trotted across his portable walkway asking, “colt, are you lost?”

“No,” he answered. “I’m just looking for the rest of my team.”

“And who might your team be?” he asked as Igneous raised the board and set it across another rooftop.

“The Falconers,” he answered again as he trotted his way down the plank.

“Falconers?” he questioned. “I didn’t know any where nearby, let alone here. Are you just dressing?”

Igneous looked down at his armor and back to his scabbard. “No,” he began. “I really am a Falconer. I’m being mentored by Alastoria to become a smith!”

“Gonna be the best in the land?” he asked as he offered a hoof in lifting the plank for the colt.

Igneous nodded. “Of course. I’ll be the best and you’d hear my name and remember my blades.”

“Blades?” he questioned looking to the only sword he kept on his back.

“They’re being forged,” he answered. Another walk way was made between two roofs and Igneous made his way. “You’ll see them in a day or two,” he happily assured. “You won’t forget, I’ll show them too.”

“Seems exciting,” he commented hovering nearby. “Glad to know we got Falconers round. Those Royal guards of the capital couldn’t be asked, at least not since Plisken resided. The warriors of the province no longer exist and the infantry of the village dispersed itself long ago. Hardly even a militia too colt, ya know?”

Igneous gathered his bored again and balanced it on end while looking out over the building tops gauging where he would next go. He seemed more interested in his adventure pushing conversation to a close second at times often looking ahead then to his guest.

“Say…” the celestial began as he landed next to him. “Where ya oft anyways?”

“I’m looking for a tavern,” Igneous answered before lowering the board over another street. “You happen to know where any are?”

He raised his eyes in thought and tossed his head about when thinking of an answer. “I know four,” he offered. “I wager only one is where your group resides, yes?”

“No, just Alastoria,” he half mindedly informed him as he looked out over the city in marvel and appreciation. Then remembering more of his company he turned back to the stallion and asked, “where's the nearest tavern then?”

“I’ll point you to it but I’ll have to go off on my own again real soon.” He clicked his hooves as he took off. “Work is dire it seems. Disease mills about in the fields but nothing a little fire can’t fix unfortunately.”

Igneous kept his eyes on the celestial as he took to the air only to fly a relatively far distance and hover in mid air as a beacon for the colt pointing down just to make it evident that his destination lay just below himself. He then waved his hoof, prodded his forehead and left to the fields that billowed with black smoke leaving Igneous to wave back in appreciation giving an audible thank he didn’t hear but could very well assume Igneous gave.

Now it was definite, Igneous had a destination and he knew where it was. He didn’t need reminding as he kept the image of that celestial’s placement in his head seeing it as if it were a beacon to his path.

He laid down the board and pressed on again much to the unsatisfactory disposition several rooftop owners gave him but Igneous didn’t notice their annoyed looks from below. He was too focused on the little adventure of his own and enjoying every moment of it too.

***

“Igneous never did find that tavern by the way,” Alastoria told. “I will admit,” she said before any pony could speak. “That fault was, in part, mostly mine.”

“What happened to him then?” asked Dorrorrian. “Did he happen to find his way back to the Keep?”

“No,” Dramier answered with a smile of remembrance creeping across his face. “He found Raillay.”

“Find?” a new and familiar voice questioned. “More like fell on.”

Dorrorrian smiled as he turned to face Raillay that approached the table about as casually as the rest had when they entered. “Glad you could finally make it.”

“Glad I could finish my task in time,” she said as Dramier decently scooted himself over making room for her. “So I see we're speaking of Igneous, yes?”

Alastoria nodded.

“And how convenient of you to show up at this time,” Dramier said with a grin. “Right when we mention you…”

“Fortunate to see you here at all,” she shot back in friendly retaliation. “Could almost rely on you to find a partner on most convenient nights.”

“Shush, shh,” he hoofed back at her. “Lets not talk about that now,” he said avoiding Alastoria’s right eyebrow raised gaze. “You, -you found Igneous that day.” He was desperately changing the subject as if it would somehow wash out the implied fornication Raillay laid down upon him. “Now! Tell us the story, common.”

Raillay sighed as she gathered her words to tell. “So,” she began with a huff. “I drop this poor loaf off to get his dafted wing fixed and sort of lost my way back, but to be honest,” she said looking to Alastoria, “you never specified which tavern.”

The day wasn’t quite as bright in the earliest when Raillay dragged Dramier over to the healer’s place. At least not until the sun rose and she completely lost her way trying to navigate through those winding roads of the farm village. Although this village was big in size with roads that seemed easy to navigate near the perimeter the same couldn’t be said for the roads that lead on into the center.

However, as much as she would have liked to complain there was a completely logical explanation for this. Early on when this village was just being built and ponies were settling, most just built their houses and shops wherever they pleased. However, when the village started to get bigger and more ponies began to settle only then did they build roads for ponies to trot upon. They decided this simply because it was more convenient than hiring Earth Alchemist Specialists to move foundations around to make the building of village roads more organized.

But whatever, Raillay didn’t often times blame the ignorance of the past unless it was the past of her present that got caught back up in the now. Then she had reason to blame herself or other ponies beside herself but right now she was more concerned with the present… the roads to be exact and where that taffing tavern was specifically.

Today she wore her eartheneiring equipment personally out of habit but professionally out of preparedness for anything that could happen. Maybe she’d catch a robbery. It wouldn’t be too farfetched given most of the alleyways devoid of significant light and or inhabitant or maybe she’d find nothing and it would just be a normal day.

However Raillay then began to daydream of what it’d be like for her to be standing at the entrance as a silhouette catching the nearsighted eyes of the perpetrators and the pony unfortunate enough to get caught in their affairs. That pony would see her as a beacon of hope and hero of the highest degree but Raillay mostly just focused on the darkened silhouette part because it made her seem mysterious and a true vigilante before she rightfully riddling them with untipped bolt shafts to scare them away.

During this daydream Raillay just so happened to leave the narrow, hardly distinguished main street in passive favor of an alleyway hidden beneath the shadow of each building around. She didn’t notice this however until she happened to remember what exactly she was walking for only to realize she was still lost and in an ally.

“Ta-aff,” she drew out in minor annoyance. She looked to where she came. The street was still there as well as the ponies that walked it. Looking ahead there was a new street with ponies that walked it also, although it was much further away down the long alley of diverging sub-roads and paths.

‘Perfect conditions for jumping an unsuspecting falconer,’ she couldn’t help but think.

However Raillay laughed it off to herself. This was a farming village after all and if anything robberies took place at mining villages.

Picking up her stride she trotted her way down the alley as if it were any other pony filled road. However she didn’t get far before her ears flicked back and around stopping her in her tracks. She looked back on herself again but saw nothing but the same road ahead. Something seemed off to her and she couldn’t quite understand why.

But then it hit her, quite literally and right over top of her head. All she heard was something loud, a slight whiff and a coltish squeal but when it had ended Raillay was left on her side with a spinning head brought on by a harden smash from above. Luckily for her she was alert before hand which caused her to get a grip on her bearings quite quickly before much could be said or done to her specifically.

Her chest button was pushed, the crossbows sprung with the one at her side righting her as it did so. With the spring pushing the mare to her knees she spun around taking advantage of the momentum and action it provided. The wires around her ears stiffened them forward as triggers and the reticle fell over her eyes just as she laid sight on her assailant.

“Igneous?” she said in surprise once she recognized it to be a smaller figure laying on the ground in much the same condition and shape as she was. His mane kinda gave it a way to Raillay, not to mention the coat of fur and the coltish squeal she heard right before this whole event happened. He was lying on the ground not too hurt but just enough to make him want to sit still and ride out the pain for a moment or two.

“Hi Raillay,” the colt muttered dressed in his armor and back-scabbard sword. A top him laid a wooden plank with chips sticking out one end of it. “Guess I just... dropped in,” he moaned with a pathetic little giggle.

Raillay let her crossbows collapse away and the wires slacked. She picked herself up and walked over to Igneous only to remove the plank from over his body. The colt looked up at her with his single skyward facing eye. “What were you doing up there Igneous?”

“Looking for the tavern,” he answered.

“Did you find it?”

“Not yet, but I know where it is.”

“Where?”

Igneous hesitated for two whole moments then pointed to the building he failed just trying to reach and answered “...North…”

It was at time like these she didn’t mind Dramier being nearby. She sighed to herself and looked to the sky as if hoping to see him flying high and free looking just as hard for that tavern as they were. However she knew at best he’d be done getting his bone mended by the end of the day. She again sighed, shook the pain in her head, neck and spine away to help the colt up.

“Common Igneous,” she said giving him a hoof. “Let's get going, if we're lucky we just might find out way back to the keep instead.” She gave Igneous a gentle nudge with her snout urging him to lift himself when she felt a slight ache in her neck. “Did you really have to fall on my head Igneous?” she complained as she rubbed the sore spot.

“Sorry,” he apologized with an embarrassed grin. “I didn’t know you’d be under me.” He lifted himself to his hooves.

“It's fine Igneous. It was an accident,” she assured with a friendly smile. “We’ll just call it... fate,” she kindly offered. “How about that?”

Igneous stared at the ground in thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Ya, we can call it that.”

“All collected and ready to trot again?” It was rhetorical but Igneous still nodded that he was. “Then follow me. If we’re lucky we might just find ourselves back to the Falconers keep instead.”

***

“So exactly what did it feel like having an armored colt fall right upon your head?” Dramier asked.

“Not, too, good, Dramier,” she said drawing out each word in warning to Dramier and his tease. “But anyways, as you two know,” she said gesturing to Alastoria and Dramier. “We never did find that taffing tavern.”

“Alastoria how’d you even know where to go?” Dorrorrian asked finding it odd how she never once complained about getting lost while on this venture.

She finished a swig before answering simply, “had a road map.” She then nodded her head to Raillay and spoke to Dorrorrian saying, “now listen. This is a great story and one that makes me very, very proud of Igneous.”

“What’d Igneous do?” Dorrorrian questioned. “Did you find something Raillay?”

A smile spread across Raillays lips. She leaned forward over the table and said, “Why, I’m very glad you asked. How about…” she paused for a moment, mostly just for the effect. “...a conspiracy to commit Kordan?”

“Kordan,” he questioned raising an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Well let me tell then.” Raillay then leaned back and began to tell her and Igneous’s tale of how they saved Cerivellea, the mighty farm village, from total financial and economic destruction. “It all started when we got lost again that very same day.”

Author's Note

You know... I think I'm not going to bother indenting paragraphs anymore. It seems to be the popular thing to do not to mention one less button press :p