After flagging down Raziel, he listened to Hiro answer his avalanche of questions, which only served to spawned even more questions, to be tucked away for later. It wasn't long into his response before he had the boy's rapt attention, listening with wide eyed adulation at the information he was being told,. Even the second mention of Raziel being his mother went over his head. He would maintain this concentration until Hiro mentioned his father. The bright grin that Fen wore slowly faded, only partialy listening to the end of Hiro's explanation of his profession. 

"I'm sorry about your father" he started, breaking eye contact to instead stare at his own feet "I know it's not a lot of fun. I don't know what happened to my parents since the last time I saw them. But I guess that kinda gives us something in common, huh?"

He offered the Phoenix Knight a smile, although a sorrowful one. Though it wouldn't be long before another thought would entire the boy's mind, a much more positive thought that he was quick to share with his newfound friend.

"But you guys are phoenixes, right?" he exclaimed beaming much more genuinely now "I bet he's going to be reborn any day now. Coming back to life probably just takes a long time. I wouldn't even worry about it. You're probably gonna see your dad again any day now!"

In his decreased attentiveness, the boy had merged Hiro's explanation of phoenixes and Phoenix Knights into one. Whether or not he was actually correct on the matter, the boy was confident that his assessment of the situation was an accurate one. He smiled a wide, toothy smile, absentmindedly exposing his fangs to the world. He would greet Raziel with this same prideful grin when he felt her hand on his shoulder. The only thing that wiped it from his face was the angel explaining to Hiro that he wasn't her child. He would blush a bit, slightly embarrassed that he hadn't corrected Hiro's assumption before that point, but also slightly embarrassed that much like a mother might, she ended up having to introduce the both of them. Fenriz made a mental note to apologize for not offering his name as Raziel launched into her own evaluation of the situation.

Fen listened to her explanation with as much attention as he could muster, taking mental notes about everything she shared. He kept his eyes locked on Raziel, save for the moment he glanced up at the birds she mentioned. As she sat down, Fen positioned himself near Zander, giving the wolf a light pet on the head before taking a seat on the ground next to him.

"Do you want to find a place to rest for the night?" he asked. He wasn't nearly as worried as he was earlier, but he still couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. Fen entered another spell of silence, running over his own musings about their circumstances.

He wouldn't be presented with a chance to voice his inquiries, however, as his focus was shattered by another visitor. Not a person this time, but an owl, who had landed on the park bench Raziel was seated on. He stood up, placing his face as close as he dared to the intruding creature.

"Hey Miss Raziel, can you see this strange bird? He just landed here!"

Hiro listened as the woman explained that she was blind, but had developed some other way of sensing things around her using sound.  She explained that the child he assumed was hers, was just a friend that was helping her.  He could tell she was blind now, as she was not staring into his eyes as she was talking to him.   "It's a pleasure to meet you two, Raziel, Fenriz.  I too have noticed some disturbances in the flow of mana around here lately.  I'll refrain from doing anything magical unless I need to, since most of my magic is fire related.  If it goes awry due to any fluctuations in mana in the area, it may not turn out well."

She explained that she can't see colors, but hear outlines of things briefly when they make sounds.  "I can hear a bird flying around here somewhere.  That's weird, but it makes sense why you were basically overloaded with sound, from a sense that just developed for you."  Hiro's answers seemed only to bring up more questions from the inquisitive lad.  Though he had some wrong assumptions along the way.

"T-that's not the way it works, Fenriz.  Being a Phoenix Knight does not allow you to resurrect, unfortunately.  He's .  . . not coming back.  It feels like only yesterday, but it's been about 2 years since he died.  It . . . was rough, because I was there when he died.  It was during the time when two of the Gods started afflicting people with the Seven Deadly Sins.  We went to the tower of the Gods, we fought our way to the top of the tower, and we asked them, Dalaesca, and Xunatar, to stop what they were doing, we implored them to stop, and it came to combat, we were separated from each other by some barrier.  When the barrier dropped, my father, he was burning to death from Dalanesca's hellfire.  H-he tried to take her out with him, but . . . the whole immortal thing.  I barely was able to escape alive.  But I couldn't help him."  It was a long two years since it happened, but the wounds felt fresh still.  He resolved himself to get stronger, he trained on this island, but it still hurt to lose him.  "I worshiped my father.  He was the strongest man I knew.  He told me tales of his youth.  Tales of Gods and monstrous Titans; we came from another world, where Gods were often at odds with mortals, and there were Titans, powerful beings that rivaled the Gods, like powerful dragons, or beings that were made from raw elemental energy, like a force of nature.  He was once one of them, he was a Fire God in the old world at one point, and he fought other Gods, Orcish armies, battled these dragons and titans, undead hordes, all kinds of things, and I wanted to be like him.  But now he's gone, and it hurts a lot."

Hiro sighed, it'd been a long time since he told that story, he didn't know why he started explaining it, maybe because it was so long ago that he lived through it, or had someone to talk to.  He kinda sequestered himself into training and being alone all this time.  Like an exile.

"I'm sorry, if you need to find somewhere to rest for the night, you can go.  I've been mostly keeping myself company camping in the outdoors in a cave, going back to civilization for supplies sometimes.  It's been .  . . lonely."

It made sense that the Phoenix Knight chose to refrain from his magic. Untamed fire was not a good idea in any sense, as the greedy, hungry force of nature consumes all in its path. Yet, she listened to his tale of his father. Raziel could relate, and a tear began to roll down her cheek. Absently she wiped it away. ”My mother is dying. The angels have… suspended her life for not, until I can complete the task she gave me. I must find two people I don’t know anything about except their names. So… I’m sorry for your loss, Hiro.”

Her thoughts began to drift to her mother and the tales she had spun about her own father who had been absent her entire life. Fen’s voice registered, but she made no comment in response. However, Hiro’s account of being lonely drove home to her. Until she met Fen, her travels off the mountain was very lonely. Raziel had never been alone for so long, so she could not imagine two years of it. ”No, we stay up at night because of Fen’s severe allergies.” If he pressed, she already had a story lined up, one she had already passed by Fen. When the moon rises, flowers tended to close, since they lack the light they feed from. Closed flowers cannot disperse pollen, and thus, it was safer for him to travel at night. This way, they could keep his vampirism a secret until they know how others would react.

”Stay with us awhile, Hiro. You obviously know the city some, and this is our first time. You could show us some landmarks, or historic place? We could get food, or something.” Before anything else, however, something landed on the bench so unexpectedly that she jumped. As it landed, there was that brief expansion of her new sense, gone as quickly as it came. It wasn’t just any bird, it was an owl! She had heard of them, and while they were common in Zets’Ki’s Cradle, she rarely ever touched one. The angel was afraid to move for she didn’t want to scare it away, but she wanted to feel its feathers. ”I saw it, but only when it landed,” she whispered.

Its flat face turned toward her and upside down with a soft “hoo”. Slowly, Raziel moved her hand so it was palm up next to her leg, resting against the bench. After a moment, the owl put it’s head in her hand, allowing her to touch and feel its feathers before spreading its wings and taking off. ”I have a feeling we’ll see more of that owl, Fen. What color was it?”

An unusually somber silence overtook the otherwise talkative youth as Hiro spoke. Focused though he was, there were parts of Hiro's story that he didn't quite understand, But what he did get, did not make him feel happy in the least. When the knight finished, Fen found himself at a continued loss for words. When Raziel spoke out about her own mother, despite the fact that he already knew that tale, he was overcome with remorse. Although he meant well, his misunderstanding had seemingly drummed up a wave of unpleasant memories, including some of his own. Silently, he echoed Raziel's apology, unable to bring himself to respond verbally. Yet mixed in there was a sense of kinship. At least he wasn't alone in his parental troubles.

Although she hadn't given him any reason to worry, he still felt a sense of relief and gratitude when at Raziel not spilling his condition. Yet he also felt guilty. Guilty that he was still keeping a secret from Hiro after he had told them so much. But it was better this way, or so he was convinced.

Fen continued studying the owl with an intense focus, studying the bird with a slightly agape jaw. He reached a hand out, as if to touch it, but he refrained. After its brief visit with Raziel, it flew away, and Fen sent it off with a smile, watching it disappear in the night's sky before turning his attention back to his two new companions.

"It was white, mostly" he explained. With the owl gone, he retook his seat next to the wolf, planting himself on the ground with crossed legs "Do you think we should chase after it? I bet with Mister Hiro's help we could find it!"

He turned his bright grin to the Phoenix Knight, remembering his comments from earlier. Subconsciously trying to make up for his earlier faux pas, he added cheerily "I bet you know all kind of neat places! And I'd love to hear more stories about your father. He sounds amazing! I-if tha's okay…"

Hiro listened to her story.  A dying mother, a life suspended until they find two people by name only.  That was truly sad.

"My mother was lost too, she was in the other world I came from, and she disappeared when it ended.  I don't know what happened to her.  I'm sorry to hear that, Raziel.  I wish I knew how to help you with that."  The mood in the area had sank to an all time low.  She said that they stay up at night because of Fen's "severe allergies."  That confused him.  What kind of allergies came out during the day only?  "What?  Is he allergic to sunlight?  Is he a vampire?  Not that I care, really.  As long as he's not hurting people, I don't care if that's the case.  I don't care if you were a lycan, vampire, a combination of both, or a bloody unicorn."  He shrugged his shoulders and managed a laugh.

"I guess I can stay with you guys.  I don't mind.  I don't know much about historic landmarks, but there's a tavern down the road that has some good food and drink."  He looked at Fen and smiled.  "I guess I can tell you stories about my father, or about myself, I've done my fair share of deeds, though not quite on the par of my father.  And what's this about an owl following us?"  They were focused on some owl that flew away.  "If it's a wild animal, it probably would want to be left alone.  But I'm no druid or beastmaster or animal empath, so whatever.  I'm nothing like that."

It seemed she and Hiro had something in common. He had lost his mother, she was losing hers. Instead of spending the final moments with her as Raziel had anticipated, she was on this wild goose chase! Though it wasn’t all terrible. The angel got to meet many new people, and learn so much about everything outside her frozen beloved Cradle. ”It’s fine Hiro, just pass me a message if you hear anything that might help my search.”

His reaction to the allergies was somewhat comical, but something didn’t settle quite right about the fact of not caring. While Raziel giggled with him, she waved it off. ”No, nothing like that. He can’t hardly breathe due to pollen in the air. Most pollen dispersing plants slumber with the moonlight, thus it’s easier for him to breathe at night. Poor thing has to sleep buried deep under several blankets just to keep the stuff filtered out.” Better to play it safe than sorry for now.

Raziel took several deep breaths, centering herself. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was somewhat nervous heading back into the main throng of the city, into a public place to disorient her once more with this new ability. Still, a kind smile was given to Hiro as she stood. ”Lead the way, Sir Hiro. If the owl desires to follow us, that is his prerogative.” Once more, she gently pushed her elbow out, ready for her vampiric friend to take it and guide her. Even with this new ability of magical vision, this was a century old habit, and it was not about to be broken in a few minutes.

It probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Just based on his stories alone, Hiro was likely well-traveled. Fenriz probably was neither the first nor last vampire that he had he'd meet. Or at very least, he should have figured Hiro was a considerably perceptive individual. Yet the moment the word vampire left the Phoenix Knight's lips, Fenriz through his hands over his own, stifling a gasp. Despite having worked out a plan previously, he found himself too tongue-tied to respond. Fortunately his more level-headed companion was able to speak in his place, telling the agreed upon story, while he absentmindedly nodded in corroboration.

Raziel standing was his cue to do the same. As if it had been rehearsed, he rose to his feet and instinctively took the elbow he was offered. He offered her a smile, though the smile was short-lived, as he lost himself in his own thoughts. On the surface nothing seemed out of the ordinary about their avian visitor, but there was still something strange about it that Fen couldn't put his finger on. Combined with the magical rabbit he had now reminded himself of, that meant there were at least two unusual creatures out there to find. Perhaps the thoughts were juvenile in nature sure, but they were the ones that were on his mind.

Yet his elders felt that the owl at least should be left alone, a stance he would concede to without argument. At least aloud.. Uncertain as to where Hiro would lead them, he offered a silent hope that they might stumble across either of them en route.

"Mister… err… Sir Hiro?" he spoke as they started walking, stumbling over what was actually the proper way to address him. "What do you mean when you said you were from another world? And what are Titans? Did you ever fight a Titan?"

Hiro had agreed to tell the youngest of them about his past exploits, an agreement Fenriz was likely going to make him regret, albeit unintentionally. He recalled back to his story, mentally running through the list of questions he had stored in the back of his mind. In a rare show of tact, however, he expressly avoided asking about his father's death, even if that was, in a morbid way, what he had the most questions about.

"What other kind of stuff have you fought? My dad fought a bear once. He said it was pretty easy" he puffed his chest out slightly, vicariously proud of his parent

Hiro thought that the story she told that he was allergic to pollen, and there was a lot less pollen during night hours, sounded like something that she made up.  He didn't believe it.  They could just live somewhere in the desert, or somewhere else without a lot of plants, or maybe there was some magical solution for that.  Some magical device that would filter out pollen that he could buy from some wizard, or an alchemist or some such.  Not to mention the boy's response to the word Vampire.  Regardless, he wasn't going to call her out for that.  She's probably just protecting the kid from any would-be vampire hunters, if that was the case.  He couldn't blame her for not fully trusting him.  They just met, after all, and he was a knight, the type of warrior that would typically go around slaying vampires and other undead and denizens of the night.

"Is that right?  I apologize for my accusations, then.  I was mistaken," he said, simply leaving it at that.  He wasn't going to press the issue.  The lad asked him what he meant by other worlds and what he meant by a Titan.  "There are other worlds that exist, they have their own Gods separate from the ones we have here, they have their own world trees, or not, I'm sure there are worlds that exist that do not have world trees, who knows?  Anyway, there are other completely different realities, worlds that exist, and normally do not interact with each other, but it can be possible to transport between them, through great effort through portals through the void.  My father and I, came from another world called DaeLuin, and that world ended, it completely collapsed.  It was the literal end of the world.  We somehow got separated as apocalypse unfolded, a bunch of portals were somehow opened up that lead us to Revaliir, but somehow father ended up in a completely different world, and Lady Moliira, who was a Goddess here at one point, she was able to find him, lead us into the world he was trapped in, and we retrieved him."  He remembered well the venture they went on.

"While a Titan is basically a being that's a force of nature, on par with, or even stronger than a God.  The world we came from, they would occasionally rear their ugly heads and try to destroy everything.  It's a monster, I never faced one, and hopefully none of those beings like that exist here.  My father fought some, but he wasn't alone.  He was joined by other Deities and many other adventurers from across the land.  It took a combined effort to defeat monsters like these."  Hiro started leading them towards the aforementioned tavern.  "We can discuss more once once we've arrived and sat down.  I can tell you about the time I fought a Fire Giant."  They arrived at the tavern, it had various people eating, drinking, and an overall friendly atmosphere.  People were enjoying themselves.  They sat down at a table, and an elven barmaid came to them to take their order.  "I'll take some venison, and some mead.  You guys want anything?  My treat, since you've been so kind to me."  Hiro smiled at his new friends.

True to his nature, Fen erupted with more questions, which Hiro readily explained. Her mind nearly twisted itself with thoughts and concepts that sprang forth from his replies.It was hard to imagine great monsters being stronger than a god, having previously believed that the only thing greater than a god was that which granted them their powers. Though… They were from another realm. Do the gods here even fight alongside heroes, champions, and other adventurers?

Raziel wasn’t sure that there were even monsters here strong enough for such combined efforts. Lately, the gods were either against each other, or other old deities. Sometimes, they held events for the people of Revaliir. Keeping her thoughts to herself, the angel silently followed, and eventually sitting in her chair with an elegance that belied her blindness.

”Oh, um, some chicken and vegetable soup if you have it? With fresh bread, and I’ll take some mead as well. Thank you Hiro.” While she sat there, hands folded neatly on the table, Fen asked about mead. ”Well, it’s an adult beverage, made with honey rather than fruit favored by wineries. If I told you the process, you might think it was bad, and in some sense, you’d be correct. Though for you, choose something else. With your age and size, you might not feel well afterwards. Many sometimes drink too much, and often makes them act differently. Violent, mean, rude, among other reactions”

Despite being the one to voice all of the questions in the first place, Fenriz was presented with a lot more information than he was initially prepared for, his young mind still having a particularly difficult time comprehending another world. The day he had been forced to strike out on his own, and begin his ongoing search for his parents; that day this world had suddenly become much, much bigger. And it only continued to grow, as his travels continued, as he experienced new things, and met new people. So when the newest acquaintance of his explained that he wasn’t even of this reality, the concept was both a fascinating and intimidating one. Enthralled in the Knight’s tales, the boy had momentarily forgotten about the strange owl, or the bizarre rabbit that had brought them to Sidhiel in the first place. In their place was thoughts of other realms. giants, Gods, and titans.

Needless to say the number of questions Fen had increased exponentially, however all of his inquiries had to be put on hold as they entered the tavern. Fen was familiar with inns and taverns. More familiar than someone his age should be. But this one was a bit different. Much less oppressive, much less… violent. The three of them took a seat at a table, a table that was very visibly not meant to host someone of his size. Even in the seat, his crimson eyes were only barely of a high enough elevation to peer over the table.

Another woman had come to take an order from them. Both of his companions ordering food was a somewhat unwelcome reminder of his own feeding needs that had gone unfilled since they arrived. But he could certainly last a lot longer without feeding, and there were more pressing issues on the small vampire’s mind.

“Mead? What’s that?” To most this question would be a far cry from the weight of his earlier questions, but to Fenriz it held equal importance. Despite his inquiry being directed toward Hiro, it was actually Raziel that provided his answer. At first he couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed. Seemingly yet another thing that his age would prevent him from experiencing. But when she finished, true to her word, Fen was pretty convinced that he wanted nothing to do with it. But suddenly, a lot of the things he had seen while sneaking around inns and taverns made a lot more sense.

“Can I have some water, miss?” he requested of the barmaid with a smile. Though he did still enjoy the taste of food, his actual appetite had essentially disappeared since his transformation. The barmaid wandered off, and Fenriz returned to his thoughts.

“Do you think that rabbit is from another world? Or that owl?” he asked, two ideas slowly becoming one. Whether or not he was correct, the focused look on his face showed how much thought he was putting into this theory He turned his attention back to Hiro “You don’t think… the titans could come here, do you?”