A soft sounds of children laughing filled the air. The garden maze was never quiet unless the moon laid high and one could barely see two inches in front of them. Soft green eyes just watched the entrance of the maze until the sky began to light up with colors. The children slowly were forced to return home until no one but the older girl remained. She could feel the butterflies dancing in her stomach as she just watched the sun set around her.
 
The colors were beautiful and she had always loved watching them from her bedroom growing up. The children would all huddle together and watch it. Sometimes the lady who ran the orphanage would take them out to the overlooking the seas to let them see it but normally they were not allowed to stay out late. It did not matter how old you were, if one person did something everyone did. Ann was very fair about what she gave the children. She never wanted even one to feel left out. 
 
Ceres did not have to worry about what Ann said anymore. She was no longer allowed back there. Once the children met a certain age, it was their time to leave the nest and go into the world for themselves. The young girl was old enough to have children of her own, so it was time for her to leave. She had no want of children and had only just barely began to grow into her body. She barely looked her age of sixteen, even though she would puff and yell at people that she was almost seventeen if they dared to try and call her a child.
 
Red hair shifted in the wind around her face, she tried to push the strands back out of her face. She waited until she could hear no more sounds drifting from the maze. She really wanted to go in but she did not want to deal with all the children. The idea of being able to go through the maze and make her way to the lake in the dark sounded exciting to her. It was probably the most exciting thing she had done outside of the couple times she snuck out to watch the sunset.
 

Excitement made the butterflies in her stomach go wild as she stood back up and left the spot she had been resting in. There was no one around, so she was able to walk around in the evening without issues. She did not have to worry about any of the adult telling her she needed to get back home. She had no home to return to but they all thought she had to be younger than she was because she had no real curves to her and a girlish face.

Hiro had wandered far from the rain forest and found the land of Arri, a nation in the middle of a desert, an oasis in the middle nowhere.  It was very hot out, but there was somehow enough water around to support a huge hedge maze filled with flowers of all kinds.  The young boy was in awe.  He never saw a place like this before.  He started wandering the maze.  He felt off his armor this time, it was too hot out to wear it, but he kept his sword at his side.  No one was going to attack him here, right?  This was a peaceful maze?

It didn't take long for Hiro to get lost, the young man scratched his scalp through his raven and crimson hair.  Where was he again?  He was just exploring this maze, but he wasn't sure what was at the end of the maze or how to get out of it.  It was early evening, not dark yet, but he didn't want to have to navigate the maze at night. He made a turn, and saw a young girl who happened to be in the maze.  She had red hair, and a youthful appearance.  Was she a little younger than him?  He himself was young, but his body was toned with muscle from exercise and combat.  He looked like he could wield a weapon.  He cleared his throat, attempting to find something to say.

"Uh, hello.  I'm a tad lost in here, miss, I'm wondering if you knew the way out."

She held her breath with each step. One by one, Ceres made her way into the maze. It was different with the sun setting. The path was darkened and spooky without the light casting down on it. A soft gaze trailed over the flowers that bloomed from the bush walls. It was still beautiful even with a glimmer of mystery to it. She could barely believe she was actually walking through the maze. She could remember as a child feeling terrified to even look at this place when it began to get dark. Had it been always been that way before because a grown-up had implanted that into her mind? They had wanted to keep the children safe so they would weave stories that would instill the idea in their mind that the maze was bad at night.

However, they were just stories. She could not help but feel her step growing quicker with each step. There was a pure happiness that washed through her. She knew exactly where to go through the maze but the growing darkness made it difficult to make it out like she normally would. At each choice, the girl would have to pause and actually look at the maze compared to just running through it like she did during the day.  She had stopped at one of turns and found herself confused.

Her mind was so focused on remembering with way to turn that she never hear someone else walking through the maze. It was no wonder that she jumped the sound of someone clearing their throat and speaking out to her. Her body shifted and her hands came up to her to her chest and she stared at the strange with wide eyes for a moment.

Audibly, she let out a sigh of relief at the fact it was not an adult. He appeared older but not old enough to much older than herself. He had the youthful look of the men around her age but he appeared much strong than most boys she knew. He could have been older. There was a sheepish look at crossed her face and her eyes casted down. She probably scared the poor guy to death at her reaction. She had acted as if she had found herself face to face with someone dangerous.

”Sorry, you gave me a scare. I did not hear you come up behind me.” Her eyes came back up to look at him curiously as she gave him a small smile. She was trying her best to apologize for her bad manners. She hadn’t meant to scare him if she had. ”You said you were lost? I do know the way through this maze. I was heading to the lake on the other side, but I can take you out if you wish before I go there.”

Hiro stopped upon seeing this girl's reaction to seeing him.  She seemed scared by his appearance, did she think he was here to hurt her?  Or was she merely surprised to see another person in this place?  He placed his open hands in front of himself, showing he wasn't holding his weapon or anything dangerous.

"I'm sorry for startling you, I'm harmless, really!  I mean you no harm, I'm just lost."  She offered to take him outside before she traveled to a lake on the other side of the maze.  He gave himself a moment of thought, it'd be nice to visit the lake.  He didn't want to enter this maze, get lost, then just ask the nearest person to guide him out immediately again.  She seemed like a nice person, and she was pretty.  It would probably inconvenience her if he had her guide himself out of the maze, then she would have to go back into the maze, and find her way to the lake, especially if it started getting dark before she arrived at her destination.

"You know, I would like to see this lake you were planning on seeing.  I'm not in any rush to get out of here.  Would you mind both of us going there together?"  He gave her a warm, friendly smile.  "My name is Hiro, by the way, Hiro Kouen.  What's your name?"