[u]Aergar[/u]

He snatched up the little book and examined it curiously, quite visibly excited. He ran his fingers over the worn leather bindings and then flipped through the pages. The paper was smooth and bleached pure white, several sheets had apparently been torn out long ago. Marvelous, though he didn't have a writing utensil at hand. Experimentally, he pricked his palm with a long pointed fingernail, wetting the tip with a small drop of blood and using this as a pen to inscribe the word "Doppelgänger" in the top corner of the first page. "Marvelous!" he exclaimed as the crimson letters appeared in Phrenesis' book. He tucked the notebook into an inside pocket of his green waistcoat. "We shall keep in touch, I think."

He felt as if he was being dismissed with those words. Pulling himself up into the tree, he sprang from that branch to a neighboring one. With one final wave to the pair of them he disappeared into the canopy. Traveling back the way he had come, he was cautious to remain stealthy. A good thing too. He was nearly to the main road, having paused to rest in the crook of a branch, when a slender figured dashed by below him, so fast that he didn't get more than a glance at the thing, which appeared to be black with a white head and long ears. Odd, it seemed to be traveling the same direction as he had been. Aergar decided to follow it. Perhaps this creature was related to Ada in some way.

He wasn't wrong. They soon intercepted the gypsy wagon, and Aergar hung back to avoid detection. How interesting, she [i]had[/i] picked up that boy from before. And the person he'd been following, a young woman in a rabbit's mask… could she be the driver from before? Three of them then. He pondered over his options as the wagon rolled by. As he was, Ada would never trust him, at least not completely, but he wasn't so certain that he needed her to trust him completely. Phrenesis just wanted to know what kind of pastries she liked, though he doubted she would tell him if he just hopped down onto the wagon and asked. No, that was too brash, and too sudden. Besides, there were likely other things the ghost would want him to do.

The rabbit girl departed, running on ahead of them, and in that moment Aergar decided on a plan of action. 

---

As the horse and wagon trundled along carrying Ada and Fritz to their destination, a frail voice called out from the dark. "H-hello? Anyone? Is a-anyone there?" There was a loud, awkward scraping of sticks and leaves, the dragging of feet. A fragile figure stumbled out of the brush directly into Willow's shoulder. Alarmed, the figure jumped back, tripping and falling in an ungraceful heap. It was a girl. A fae girl judging by her wings, though they seemed crumpled and damaged, and her clothes which were now tattered and dirty, they looked to have once been quite fashionable. She looked up fearfully, eyes wide and searching, brilliant blue innocent eyes full of questions. 

"Where am I?" Her voice trembled. She brushed a tangle of auburn hair back from her face, which was smudged and tear-streaked. Her lower lip shook as she tried to fight back another round of tears. She looked at Ada and Fritz pleadingly, searchingly. "I don't remember how I got here, I don't--" she sniffed, wiping her eyes, "I don't know where I am." She cast a look around the dark, foreboding wood and shivered. Judging by her clothes and shoes, or shoe as she seemed to have lost one of them, she was from one of the fae cities, likely a high-middle class citizen. The ruined fabric had once been brightly colored, the style of the bodice and skirt were the latest fashion in the north. She was apparently very unaccustomed to the forest and its terrain. She wrung her hands worriedly, considering what she ought to do if these strangers wouldn't help her.