As the battle continued, Endymion's generals began to gain the upper hand until the battle was wrenched from the hand's of the bandits completely. None of the generals had the likely aim to deliver a killing blow, because such measures would be unwarranted in this particular situation. Kunzite's personal aim was to render his foe unable to fight as quickly as possible. A well-placed blow disarmed the bandit he fought. Eyes wide with the realization that the odds were no longer in their favor,
the bandit frantically looked to his comrades and paled with uncertainty. "Retreat!" The bandit croaked with as much authority as he could muster. Then, they fled.

Kunzite said nothing as the bandits fled. He paused to wipe his weapon clean before retrieving the weapon dropped by the bandit he had been fighting. A rather poor souvenir, but it could be sold for a meal or more. "I would have left those duties in your capable hands, Nephrite, but they appear to be bleeding," he said dryly. Motioning toward the distance, where he left his horse, "I have bandages with my horse." Nodding a greeting to Jadeite, he said "a settlement across the river will likely provide us with lodging and a hot meal."

They traveled and spooked Zoisite, who guarded the unconscious prince. Kunzite's greeting to Zoisite was cut short when he saw Prince Endymion unconscious. With a worried look in his eye he said, "we might travel ahead to search for a more suitable crossing, but the dark will make this more difficult." Crossing the distance, he knelt by Endymion's side for a cursory inspection. "What is this?" he questioned.

Zoisite stood there in silence with the eldest general asked about prince's injuries. He was trying to come up with a quick lie because he didn't want Kunzite to look down on him. He was his role model after all. However, lying would only make him look even worse. 

"He's been through a lot this evening," he replied to the eldest general avoiding his gaze. "He got knocked out by one of the bandits and has been bumped around a lot. He also fell off my horse because I wasn't being attention and my horse came to sudden stop because of the river over there." He then focused his gaze at the river waiting for the eldest general's response.

Nephrite fiddled with his newly bandaged hands as he tried to come up with something to say in explanation to the Prince's current state. Every thing his mind supplied just seemed as though it would anger Kunzite and bring his wrath upon all their heads.

Though did Zoisite have to be quite so truthful with telling about all of the injuries the Prince had to sustain during their journey? Surely he could have skipped the part about Endymion falling off the horse.

Before Kunzite could say anything else, Nephrite decided to jump into the conversation. "We can discuss this all later!" He grinned at both Kunzite and Zoisite before continuing. "What Endymion needs right now is a nice warm bed to sleep away all the troubles of the day. We should get to the town soon, before it gets any later."

Nephrite stepped closer to the river, wondering if they could just wade across it, but no. The current was much too strong. "There must be a bridge somewhere ahead." Nephrite ignored the fact that Kunzite had said nearly the same thing. In fact, he was trying to ignore Kunzite completely. "I'll go scout it out!"

Without looking at the others, Nephrite trudged forward, determined to find that bridge. If anyone were to accuse him of fleeing from Kunzite's possible disciplinary lecture, Nephrite would deny it most passionately.

Following along the river bank, a sturdy wooden structure bridged the way between the two river banks. It wasn't too far from where the others were currently at, and so Nephrite grinned and walked back over to rejoin them.

Once he was with them again, he interrupted any conversation they might have been having by saying, "There's a bridge just ahead." He tried to keep the rather pleased tone out of his voice, but really, they were long overdue for a bit of luck.

Zoisite knew at once what Nephrite was trying to do! Avoid Kunzite's wrath!! Why would he do such a thing? They were all at blame for the prince's injuries!!! They were failing their duties as his guardians!!! He wanted to say something to Nephrite, but he took off so quickly to go find a bridge that he didn't get a chance.

As they waited for his return, Zoisite looked at the prince. He felt terrible for what happened to him. He hoped that he would forgive them. The prince wasn't the type to whole grudges, but wouldn't you if your friend let you fall off their horse? 

Zoisite then heard Nephrite's voice, "There's a bridge just ahead." He looked back at his brother and felt over joyed. The nightmare was almost over!

"Let's hurry and find an inn!" he spoke at once and walked over to the prince. He lift him up off the ground and was able to get him on the horse. He got up on it as well and held onto the prince. "Lead the way Nephrite."

It was quite impressive to see just how quickly Zoisite reacted to the news of a bridge. Nephrite watched, stunned at the speed of the other man. He couldn't even find the words to tease him. He'd never admit it, but it was actually kind of impressive. The strength alone needed to move the prince up on that horse was not insubstantial.

Nephrite laughed after Zoisite had settled himself on the horse as well. He nodded though in response to Zoisite's order, glancing at both Jadeite and Kunzite before turning and walking back to the bridge.

It was good to know that they would soon find a place to rest. It had been an exceptionally long night. This thought only made Nephrite walk even faster.

The town soon came into view. It was small and quaint, but it seemed nice enough. It was nothing at all like the castle that he was used to, of course, but this town was a very welcomed sight.

It was well into the evening now, and there was not a soul outside. It was dark and quiet, a stark contrast to the constant bustle of castle life. A glowing lantern caught his attention, however.

Nephrite squinted and was able to make out the emblem of the inn: a yellow painted coin, and under the picture was the words The Golden Coin.

"There's the place we want," Nephrite said, pointing towards the building. He looked to Zoisite in particular. He was curious to see just how long it would take before Zoisite went inside and demanded a hot bath to clean all the dirt and grime from his skin.

A thought crossed his mind though as he saw their slumped over prince. "Uh, how do we explain him to the other patrons?" Nephrite paused, as a grin slowly crossed his face and he snickered. "We could tell them that he's just a lecherous drunk who indulged himself far too much tonight."

When Zoisite mentioned the prince had 'been through a lot this evening,' Kunzite gave his companion a look that clearly conveyed 'aren't you General Obvious?' With a prolonged sigh, he inwardly reached the conclusion that all proper steps had been taken thus far... well, besides having kept the prince up far past his bedtime and throwing him off the horse and nearly throwing him into a rushing river. And, Prince Endymion would likely wake with a headache. Before he could congratulate them on their great job, Nephrite intervened and provided a sensible suggestion.

Just as Kunzite opened his mouth to speak, Nephrite scurried off to scout for a bridge. An uncomfortable moment passed between the remaining brothers. Did Kunzite find their discomfort amusing? Partially More moments passed between them, some of which were occupied by questions concerning their travels. Then, Nephrite returned and the group journeyed across the bridge and into a nearby town with an inn. Thankfully, The Golden Coin appeared available for lodging.

Slightly surprised by Nephrite's suggestion, but entertained nonetheless, Kunzite smiled slyly in approval. "I do fancy a drink. I wouldn't mind sparing a drop or two to give him that alluring aroma that perfumes all lecherous drunks." He said, reaching in a saddle bag for a flask of alcohol and handing it to whoever desired the most to complete the task.

When Zoisite saw the Golden Coin, he was so relieved. He prayed that inside there was a bath. He was covered in dirt and smelt terrible!! This was not how man should present himself in public. Then he heard Nephrite's idea of passing off Endymion as a drunk. Zoisite hid his face of disgust. He did not like the idea of drinking nor the smell of alcohol. To him drinking was a way for man to lose control of himself (Plus it didn't help that Nephrite got him drunk once and he found himself waking up in barn). 

Zoisite saw Kunzite handing out a flask for him or his other two brothers to take. He couldn't believe Kunzite was for Nephrite's plan! Endymion was the prince! He wanted to say Nephrite should be the one to do it, but he didn't want act like a brat in front of Kunzite. Also he didn't want him to be disappointed with anymore. Without saying anything he took the flask and splashed two drops on Endymion's face. The two drops took their effect right away so Zoisite closed the flask and handed it back to Kunzite.

"That should do it? Nephrite, why don't you carry him in?" He turned to look at his brother with a small smirk on his face.

Nephrite almost laughed when it appeared that Kunzite was going to give in to his plan. But laughing might have been bad, so Nephrite kept a straight face. Well, almost straight. He couldn't stop himself from grinning. He couldn't wait to see Endymion's face when he found out what had happened.

It was pretty amusing to think of Endymion playing off a drunk, as the man was far and away from that kind of stereotype. But then, it sort of worked better now that the prince was out cold.

And besides, wasn't this a great way to hide the crown prince from prying eyes?

After Zoisite had splashed Endymion with some of the alcohol, he looked over at Nephrite, and as soon as Nephrite saw that smirk, he was on edge, uncertain as to what Zoisite was about to do or say. As Zoisite half-suggested half-told him to carry Endymion inside, Nephrite glared at him, and was about to disagree against the whole idea. But then he decided that he would show Zoisite that he was stronger and better than the pretty blonde. He would carry Endymion with no problems! Maybe even one-handed!

He reached over and tried to get the dozing prince over his shoulders in a kind of piggy-back hold. But damn, he was heavy. Much heavier than his build would ever suggest. Nephrite tried to keep his face smooth and unconcerned, but he was struggling to move the prince in position.

Through sheer stubbornness, he was able to get a good hold on the prince. It was a little easier now, sort of like carrying a really heavy backpack.

When Endymion woke up again, Nephrite was going to insist that he lose some weight.

"Let's head inside before it gets even later. I'm tired." Nephrite walked over to the door of the Golden Coin, but he had trouble getting the door opened with his hands supporting the weight of the prince. "Can someone get the door? My hands are a little preoccupied at the moment."

Nephrite glanced over at Zoisite as he said that, trying to muster a reproachful glare, but his attention was mainly on not dropping Endymion at the moment, so the glare lacked most of its normal sting.

Well, interesting words would pass between them once the Prince awoke. Those words would likely become more colorful once he smelled the stench of alcohol upon his person. Kunzite had considered telling the truth... He had not been present during the event and, as such, had little to contribute. Of course, this did mean he could enjoy listening to Zoisite and Nephrite craft a convincing explanation. Perhaps he should purchase a bottle of wine for the occasion, he thought with a smile.

Kunzite opened the door for the two men and held it open for them to pass. Afterwards, he approached the keeper of the inn to inquire about the availability of the rooms for the night. When questions were asked with an inquisitive stare, he explained the situation of the unconscious man while indicating to Nephrite and Endymion. The keeper of the inn nodded knowingly as he and Kunzite handled the negotiations for a room.

A short time later, the keeper of the inn led the way to the available lodgings for the night.

OOC:

It felt good to have slept in a nice bed. True, the bedding here wasn't nearly as good as it was at the castle, but that couldn't be helped. Better than sleeping on the ground, at any rate.

Nephrite stretched and yawned. It looked as though he was the first one awake. He entertained the thought of forcefully waking up Zoisite with perhaps a cold splash of water. The blond liked baths, didn't he? But a quick glance over at Endymion showed that the prince still slept, and Nephrite didn't want to wake him quite yet. Better to let the prince get as much sleep as possible, considering the painful headache he was sure to have upon awakening.

Feeling like he was cooped up, Nephrite tried to make his way out of the somewhat crowded room without waking anyone. Tiptoeing around wasn't something he was terribly good at, but he was even worse at staying still and quiet for extended periods of time.

As he moved past the sleeping forms of his brothers, Nephrite grinned at his own dexterity. With his attention focused on congratulating himself, Nephrite did not notice the blanket wrapped around his foot, and as he took another step forward, he tripped, landing loudly onto the floor.

Cursing to himself, Nephrite groaned and sat back up, rubbing at his newly aching joints. Dammit, that had not been the kind of exit he had wanted.

Usually, Kunzite was one of the first of their group to wake. He would begin with an early morning ritual that consisted of meditation, a varied workout routine, and a refreshing breakfast with a beverage. After his morning ritual was complete, he would often see who else had woken or encourage the remaining sleepers to wake. At times, this would involve something more creative than a simple touch or word.

This morning, however, did not follow the usual early morning routine. Instead, Nephrite was the first to rise and greet the morning. More aptly, he rose and tripped to greet the floor. The noise startled the young man, who groggily moved into a sitting position on his bedding. Although no words were said, his amusement with the situation was clear. Almost as if to prove a point, Kunzite rose from his bedding silently and deftly moved past all, including those sprawled on the floor, to change into the appropriate attire.

There was a thump.

And there was a creak. 

Both noises roared in his ears, adrenaline pumped through his veins, and his eyes flew open in a near panic at the sudden burst of sound - and then closed again, abruptly, as daggers of light stabbed his eyes. He groaned softly as one arm instinctively moved to cover his face with the fold of his elbow, the other hand gripping the bedclothes to distract himself from the stinging headache. What happened? The day returned sluggishly - he and Zoisite had left the caravan and entered the woods, and then -- bandits! There had been a fight, and Jadeite and Nephrite had arrived and they had tied the ruffians and were turning them in at the city! He -- but then, where...? Beneath him was softer than the ground, the light his eyes had caught was that of the morning, not the evening, and what was that - that smell?

Alcohol?!

The original kidnapping plans of the thieves resurfaced and his eyes flew open again. He sat up, his hands shooting to either side to steady him as his white-rimmed vision swam, struggling to focus -- when he saw Nephrite sprawled on the floor, and Kunzite walking away, his fear capture immediately faded, to be replaced by pain -- he drew up his knees to prop his elbows on, shielding his eyes from the light -- and immediate confusion, which, together, stoked a pretty impressive flame. 

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded, still shielding his eyes from the light.

ooc:

Nephrite turned to look at his newly awakened brothers, first Kunzite who moved without a word to put on his day's clothing, and then to Endymion, who most likely was not a happy prince at the moment. Nephrite cursed himself for not being more careful. An abrupt awakening had not been something Endymion needed.

But mostly, he wished he had been out of the room before the grumpy prince found out about everything that had happened during his little nap. Too bad his feet had decided that this was not a viable option this morning. He should have been more careful!

It looked as though Zoisite had yet to move, despite all of the current commotion. Was he still deep asleep?

Perfect.

Nephrite stood up from his position on the ground, and then pointed an accusatory finger. "It's all Zoisite's fault!"

Putting all of the blame on Zoisite was perhaps not the most chivalrous option, but Nephrite figured it wasn't completely dishonest, either.

Zoisite did not stir when Nephrite fell to the ground or when the prince woke up. He was a deep sleeper and was not a morning person. He was having a nice dream as he held on to his pillow. He then rolled over and accidentally fell off the bed face first. He sat up and grumbling to himself and saw Nephrite pointing at him.

He gave him a huge glare and was not in the mood to deal with him. Last night he went straight to bed without taking a bath. He felt disgusting. Zoisite looked around to see why Nephrite was pointing at him. He saw that Endmyion was awake and was able to put two and two together. He let out annoyed sigh.

"Whatever Nephrite said he is lying," he replied.

The Prince growled a groan - pointing fingers and shrugging blame was not what he wanted right now. Head pounding, he kept his pose and rephrased his question into a line of questions, ones that required an answer, lest he start chucking pillows and whatever else was in reach. This cursed headache! "Where are the bandits? Why does my head hurt? And why do I smell of alcohol?" his last question sounded both tired and incredulous. He hoped to god that they didn't reply that he had been drinking. Getting drunk was dishonorable; getting so drunk that one cannot remember the night before is down right deplorable. He had never been in that state before, only heard secondhand how one's memories could be erased through excessive alcoholic consumption. Could it erase a full evening, though? If he had been drinking, what on Earth could cause him to drink that much? 

And when did Kunzite join them? 

Accompanied by a deep grimace, he wondered if Kunzite had arrived with less-than-pleasant news that drove him to drinking as soon as they got to town. Perhaps less-than-pleasant news about his upcoming birthday involving his mother's not-so-subtle hints at betrothal. Had she decided upon someone without him, and sent Kunzite as the messenger in an attempt to push off a reaction until he returned after the wedding? Anger surged through him at the thought. Would she do that? Would she decide upon his future without him even present?Now that might drive him to drink.

"Did Kunzite come with news?" he added, trepidation mixed with anger in his voice.

Well, judging by the sounds of anger and confusion, the Prince had been roused from his not-so-peaceful slumber. Kunzite paused for a moment in the hall to weigh the options available to him. Having already announced his intent to leave and having done so, he could feign ignorance and continue onward to begin his morning rituals. Given the tone and volume of Endymion's voice, this option did possess a degree of implausibility.

Glancing back at the door, he sighed in exasperation and rubbed his brow. Really, his brothers-at-arms committed the most irresponsible acts while he was absent. However, his absence did provide the most convenient and honest alibi. True, Kunzite had provided the alcohol, but Endymion was unlikely to attribute that action to Kunzite when the others appeared to have been the more likely culprits.

Having made his decision and decided upon the appropriate actions, Kunzite re-entered the room he shared with the others. "Good morning," he began. "I do arrive with news, but you may wish to receive it under different circumstances, perhaps after you have attended to yourself and heard an explanation for your current condition." And, with a pointed look at the other young men, he added, "I was attending to business elsewhere and was not present for the events in question."

Well, he was not present for the events in questions, but Kunzite had been present for those that had followed afterwards. But, this was his alibi.

It was not surprising to hear Zoisite wake up and declare him a liar all within a few seconds of Nephrite speaking. The blond man always had the habit of being able to sense when Nephrite was up to something.

Endymion only seemed more confused and angry, and Nephrite felt at a loss of how to explain everything that had happened.

What would the prince think when he found out that all of the bandits were gone, and that Endymion had been an unconscious ragdoll the entire time?

Good thing that the topic of conversation slid over to something new for the moment. Nephrite knew that Endymion had been skirting his mother's hints of betrothal for a while now. It was not so strange that he would be afraid of any such 'news'.

Kunzite answered Endymion's question, but not without slipping in the fact that he had not been around when all of last night's excursions had happened. While true in part, it was not the whole truth.

Nephrite wasn't sure if he should be grumpy about Kunzite having such a tight alibi, or if he should be impressed by the way Kunzite was able to stretch the truth in a way that Nephrite had not been able to.

Regardless, Nephrite did not really want to be having these conversations. Eventually Endymion would learn about everything that happened, but he preferred for that to happen after the prince was not abruptly awoken with a horrible headache and smelling like alcohol.

"Breakfast!" The idea came to him in a flash of brilliance. Yes, of course. Endymion was bound to be hungry. Hell, he was hungry too. Surely the presence of food would lighten the mood a little. "Let us have a nice breakfast, and we can discuss everything further."

He waited expectantly for the others to join him at the room's single door.

The prince's foul mood was understandable, but Zoisite did not want to be the one to explain the reason for his headache. He was part of the reason since he allowed the prince to fall off his horse.  Then Nephrite brought up the idea of breakfast. Yes! What a wonderful idea even for Nephrite. 

If Endymion got some food in him he would probably be in a better mood. Hopefully the Inn served some food if not they would have to find a pub. 

"I agree with Nephrite," Zoisite spoke up and joined the man at the door. "Food will do you some good, Endymion."

As Zoisite came to join him, Nephrite had to admit that he was a little surprised at the support from the blond. But at the same time, he knew that the two of them worked frighteningly well together when they both had the same idea in mind. It just so happened that they rarely ever agreed.

Getting far away from a grumpy prince, however, seemed to be something they would always agree upon.

It didn't appear as though the others were going to join them as quickly as Nephrite would have liked, and he wasn't going to stand here waiting for an extended period of time. Every moment that passed was another moment in which the others would be able to realize that all of this was more about getting out of the room rather than getting fed.

Before anything else could be said, Nephrite turned to Zoisite. His face hurt from the size of his grin, but it was stuck in place now and he couldn't seem to stop. "Oh, I know! Let's go without them, give them all a chance to wake up, and then we can bring food back with us."

Without waiting to see if Zoisite agreed or not, Nephrite gave a perhaps overly jovial wave to the others in the room before leaving the room and making a beeline straight for the main part of the inn.

'Are you serious?' Zoisite thought to himself when Nephrite suggested to go eat breakfast without the others. He felt like this was bad idea, but he was famished and wanted to get away from the moody prince. He reluctantly followed Nephrite out of the room. 

In the main part of the inn there was a bar area with some tables. Zoisite scanned the area and saw that there was one table left. He went ahead of Nephrite and sat down. He was about to look to see if the table was clean, but decided to not to. Nephrite would tease him about it. 

He wondered if this meal would be awkward between them. Maybe he was over thinking this a bit much?

Kunzite's response did nothing to ease Endymion's trepidation; rather, the phrasing only served to make him even more anxious. He grit his teeth but dialed down the anger - even if the news Kunzite brought was that news, he didn't deserve -- but wait. Endymion's mind slowed in that direction as Kunzite made a pointed remark to their friends. Kunzite hadn't been there...? But that meant Endymion's current theory of drinking to ease the news of immanent mystery betrothal was false, and.... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED YESTERDAY?!

It took a moment to work through those trains of thought around the pounding in his head, and by the time he realized that he had been working under completely the wrong assumptions, both Nephrite and Zoisite were off to breakfast, leaving him with Kunzite - who apparently knew nothing of his current circumstances - and Jadeite, who it seems could sleep through cannonfire! He slung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, catching himself as he wobbled, and held his head, feeling the throbbing through his skull. He had intended to run after the pair for some answers, but immediately decided against it. If he went stumbling around wherever they were, smelling of - he sniffed the air around himself again and his nose crinkled in distaste - alcohol, steel and sweat, and happened to be recognized, their work would be tripled in an attempt to regain the town's trust in him as a future monarch.

He gave up the notion of hunting them down and instead opted for Kunzite's option. "Does this place have a bath?" he asked, a frown still on his face. 

ooc:

Well, for the moment, the imminent disaster appeared to have been delayed until later that morning. However, Kunzite still planned to avoid several topics of discussion by virtue of his not being in attendance for many of the events in question. During such topics, he would play the role of arbitrator and enjoy the accommodations the inn provides for the early morning. Nephrite and Zoisite planned to enjoy those accommodations prior to the other men in the room, but this would allow for those two to plan for a future confrontation with Endymion and for Kunzite to assuage some of his prince's ill feelings.

Kunzite answered Endymion, "Yes, the inn does have a bath. Follow me, Endymion." He motioned toward the door with his hand to indicate the beginning of the journey. "Perhaps the sleeping beauty will have awoken by the time we return and the others will have prepared a meal for us." With that having been said, he exited the room.

Spoiler:

As he and Zoisite sat down at the last empty table, Nephrite glanced over at the blond man before turning his gaze towards the rest of the room, taking in the surroundings. It seemed like a nice enough place. Clean and full of happy patrons. The decor was perhaps a little sparse, but that just gave it more of a rustic charm.

Nephrite knew that he was just trying to occupy himself with unimportant things so that he would not have to face the fact that he was now essentially alone with Zoisite. He didn't quite know what to say. It wasn't that he dislike Zoisite. No, he cared for Zoisite just as much as he did the rest of his brothers. But Zoisite was just so easy to tease, that Nephrite wasn't sure when their last serious conversation had been.

"So, how long do you think it will be before this all blows over?" Nephrite tried to phrase it in a way so that he wouldn't say Endymion's name, because he could not remember the prince's fake name and he didn't want to cause problems again so early in the morning. He at least wanted to have a full stomach first.

"I wonder they'll come down here soon, or if he's going to be sulking up in the room until he's dragged out." Nephrite grinned over at Zoisite. "Our mutual friend is not easy to deal with when he's sulking."

Zoiste just smirked when Nephrite brought up their friend's sulking. It would so easy to tease Endymion at times. "Indeed. I think it's best we keep teasing to a minimum. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."  He whispered the last part. Nephrite can be loud at times which would definitely draw attention. For all they know there could be thugs staying in this inn. He did not what a repeat of last night.  

A barmaid came over to their table and took their orders. She walked away and Zoisite looked down at his hands. He wasn't sure what else to say. He wished the others would hurry up. Zoisite wanted to get back on the road soon as possible. When the barmaid returned, she had their drinks. Zoisite ordered a cup of tea. He took a zip and tried not to spit it out. The tea was not up to his standards at all, but it would be rude not drink it. 

While Endymion's body and hair were clean, his previous-day's clothing were remarkably not, and, wrapped in towel, he fought his pounding head to dig through his pack and find a new set of commoner-wear. While pulling out trousers, a linen shirt and a vest, he took frequent breaks to ease the pressure in his head. Once dressed, he sat on the edge of his bed and carefully explored the good-sized bump he had discovered on the back of his head while lathering his hear. He winced at the touch, breathing in so quickly as to hiss as his cooler fingers touched the angry welt. He frowned - that answered one of his questions, but only served to further clarify others.

He stood and glanced over at the sleeping Jadeite again; walking over, he grabbed his friend's ankle and shook it once in an attempt to wake him, but Jadeite continued to breathe deeply and heavily; there seemed to be no use in waking him. With Kunzite's mysterious disappearance from the bathing room, Endymion had only one option to get to the bottom of what had happened: get it out of Nephrite and Zoisite. He moved towards the door, thoughts of breakfast and a soothing tea comforting him as he made his way gingerly down the stairs. If their cover-story was that he had been drunk the night before, his headache this morning would do wonders to keep up the hungover charade.

He found his friends sitting at one of the smaller tables in the pub, which was remarkably busy in the morning hours, and took a seat between them. "Good morning," Endymion greeted in little more than a grunt; there was no opportunity to speak here about the events of the night before without being overheard, so he would attempt to find out what he could through wordplay. "What happened last night?" He asked, phrasing the question innocently, a groan clear in his voice. Onlookers or eavesdroppers could easily assume it was a question about how he ended up over-drinking.

Zoisite was startled when Endymion sat down between him and Nephrite. He wasn't expecting him to join them so soon. He took another sip of his tea and heard his question about last night. Zoisite paused for a moment wondering how to answer that. He could tell that Endymion didn't want them be overheard by the other guests.  Zoisite had to think of something that wasn't too out there. Something that could happen to anyone. Then it hit him.

"You fell off your horse," he replied simply and took another sip of the nasty tea. That didn't seem too odd. People fall off their horses all the time right?

Endymion's arrival, and turn of conversation was both a relief, and a cause for a bit of panic. Nephrite was suddenly very thankful for the presence of other people, as that guaranteed him at least a few more moments of life before Endymion got revenge in some way.

But since he suspected that he would receive Endymion's wrath anyway, there was no reason to stop from poking fun, right?

He nodded in agreement to Zoisite's statement, before adding onto it. "Oh yeah, it was quite awful. You really should stop drinking and riding, it's not good for you. I keep telling you that you need to get help, man." Nephrite paused, smiling at his own little joke. He would pay for it later, but for now, it was just too much fun. "What would the missus think?"

He fell off his horse?

Endymion's brows furrowed; he was typically an excellent horseman, but if he had been distracted, or the horse was suddenly frightened... but that had happened before and he had been trained in what to do. He had always been able to get the horse back under control and had only been bucked off once; he had never let the horse's neck slam into his head, as had happened with others in a similar situation. He couldn't imagine letting such a mistake happen last night... and why would he have been on a horse to begin with? Only Nephrite and Jadeite had had horses... and what had happened to the bandits?

He was just about to ask about their nefarious rogues when Nephrite, in his own way, reminded him that they were in a very public place and he was supposed to have a hangover. He put his head back in his hand again, not having to really fake a headache, and shot the brunet a scathing glare for the unsavory comments. The missus?

"You know how Rose loves fits of dangerous stupidity," he flatly replied, using their nursemother's name in place of a wife's. Thinking his way around the question of the bandit's fate, he furthered, "What happened to those guys we met on the road? Are they in town?"

Timeskip! wrote:

Later that morning
After breakfast and the standard morning duties, the group of young men set to plotting their new course, intending not to rendezvous with the main caravan until just before reaching the wedding destination. There was an entire Kingdom out there to see, and as long as a month to see it.

Leaning over the map spread over the outdoor table, Endymion eyed a various pathways north, some extending westward or eastward through smaller cities before linking to larger thoroughfares; he wanted to see some of the smaller towns, so it was just a matter of choosing which direction from there. North, east, or west.

"If you were new to this area and wanted to learn more about it," he mused, glancing up to look at the owner of the general store, "which path would you take?"

The man stepped over, glancing at the map critically; he wouldn't know who they were, but they had already purchased a few supplies from him and had been respectful, and respect earned respect in return. "East by northeast," he replied, wiggling his mustachioed lip as his green eyes met Endymion's again, "there're rumors to the northwest; nothing good can come from there. Best stay safe," he assured, mustache twitching yet again, "Go east." He tapped the map for emphasis before nodding once as though to close the matter, and went back to the storefront.

Endymion's eyes narrowed, surveying the map northwest of the town... and glancing up to look off in that direction. Nothing good, eh?