On the way to the stables, the three men found Grandmaster Niklaus at the entrance.
"Grandmaster, it's fortunate we met up with you. We were needing to speak with you." Prince Elric approached the grandmaster with a calm but urgent demeanor. "The Marquis has given us some insight as to the Princess' whereabouts. The three of us will be heading out to retrieve her. I would like Sir Castor to accompany us as well, so if you could assist us in notifying him to meet us here at the stables. We're rushing, as time is of the essence, so I have not had the time to notify the King either, if you would do us that favor as well."
Grandmaster Niklaus was flabbergasted. It was extremely rare for the Prince to find a matter to be so urgent that he could not inform the King of something himself. Not to mention, the Prince provided him with practically no information as to where the group would be going, why all of them needed to leave, how long they expected to be away, all questions that the King would address to him, and he would be left with no words to reply.
"Young Master, I understand the urgency of the situation, but the King will have many questions. If you are unable to go over all the details with me, do you not think it wise to at the very least inform him before you depart?"
Xerxes stepped in to address Elric this time, "Prince, what the Grandmaster suggests is true. Furthermore, I don't think it wise to leave right now." Xerxes did not want to make any more people aware of his power than necessary so he did not want to mention that he couldn't track her if she wasn't in a fixed position. As he spoke, he moved around so that he was facing the Prince, without being in the Grandmaster's line of sight and ended his comment by giving Elric a stern look, as if to say, "Don't ask questions, just accept the comment."
Elric didn't know why the Marquis was looking at him in such a manner, but he could guess that it had something to do with his powers and not wanting to divulge that information. He didn't care what the Marquis wanted, but he still had a lot of questions of his own about this power before he would be ready to share the information with others so he went along with the Marquis' coercing.
"You both make convincing arguments. We'll wait until after speaking with the King to commence with our plan to retrieve the Princess. That should also give us adequate time to prepare for the voyage since we don't actually know how long it will take. We'll need provisions for the road. Grandmaster Niklaus, I would still like your assistance in notifying Sir Castor so he can prepare as well."
"Understood, Young Master." Grandmaster Niklaus departed in search of Sir Castor, leaving Adi, Elric, and the Marquis to plan their next course of action.
"Would you care to explain yourself now, Marquis?"
"About?" Xerxes feigned innocence.
Adi had been patiently watching the exchange, but even he knew what the Prince wanted to know, and he was curious himself so he interjected. "You mentioned that leaving right now would not be the wisest choice. Why?"
"I thought it would be fairly obvious, but think about it... I can't tell direction, only general proximity. I can tell you if she's near, or far, but not in which direction she's moving, so in order to follow her, we need to wait for her to come to a stop. Currently, she's on the move so I sense her power fading, and it will fade faster if we move in the wrong direction.
"Keep in mind that she is also the only person with whom I have this type of connection so I'm learning all of this myself. I don't know if there's a limit to the distance in which I'll still be able to feel her. So far, the furthest I've travelled away from her since the connection was established, has been to the Dark Forest."
"And you were still able to sense her while you were there?"
"Honestly, I don't really know. When I left the castle and headed towards the forest, I could sense the connection weakening, but then as I left the Dark Forest, I sensed her as though she were only a few feet away from me, and shortly after, the feeling vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. I didn't start sensing her again after that until I had travelled about half way back to the castle."
Adi considered this new insight and then had an epiphany. "We'll need a map as we travel. There should be plenty of atlantes in the library. The distance between here to the Dark Forest, divided in half, should be the distance at which you can sense the Princess, and can at the very least give us a radius in which to look for her. We'll assume that you sensing her at the Dark Forest was just happenstance to your proximity of the magic that dwells there."
"There's no magic dwelling there." Xerxes looked at Adi curiously.
"Actually Marquis, you would be sorely mistaken, but that's really irrelevant at the present moment. I'll be happy to give you a lesson on the Dark Forest once the Princess is secure."
Elric was intrigued by all that had been uncovered now, but if what the Marquis said about Damia needing to stop moving before they could follow, he wanted to make sure they could take off the second that happened. "Adi, Marquis, let's continue this afterwards. For now, let us meet with the King so we can then quickly pack and wait for Damia's movements to stop. I want to leave the moment the chance presents itself."
Both Adi and the Marquis nodded their agreement.
"Good. Adi, you're not really needed to meet with the King. He'll understand your role in this search so go on ahead and pack. Help us get the horses ready as well, and if you meet up with Sir Castor, make sure he received the message and is ready to leave when we are ready. Marquis, let's go meet with the King."
Adi immediately departed for his room to pack some belongings, stopping by the library on his way.
Elric and the Marquis left to meet with the King in his study and give him the latest findings. Elric was a bit on edge with having to be the bearer of such news, but it couldn't be helped. He just hoped the King didn't ask too many questions about the Marquis' involvement. He would have to devise a different story for how the Marquis knew of Damia's departure.