Finally able to consider the majority of the city now safe from the flames, thanks to the communal efforts of the Colchian military and the civilians of the capitol, Vangelis of Kotas stood on that rooftop for a little while. His frame seemed to either by admiring or lamenting, depending on the whispered rumours that would follow in the next few weeks. In truth he was doing both; lamenting a loss but admiring the way in which the Colchian people had handled it.

Colchians were known to be a tough and dependable breed of people. After the worst of the disaster had tapered off, Vangelis had every confidence that the city - and the kingdom at large - would rebuild. They would carry on about their lives in new homes and with new items and possessions. It was why the people of the city - while sad, assuredly, at the loss of that which they had built - didn't hesitate for a moment in destroying their own homes or dampening their possessions - abandoning their keepsakes - for the sake of securing a future behind the flame and ash.

Looking around and down into the streets, Vangelis spotted his brother Zanon moving about the streets, organising the few stranglers who were still making their way from the lower streets that glistened and flickers with sparks of orange, to the water-darkened and damp streets of the upper circles.

Finishing his moment of reprieve and reverie, Vangelis was instantly back in commanding mode, his body swinging confidently down from the upper floor of the house he had chosen from his perch and his legs swinging as he leapt to the cobble-stoned floor. His boots hit rock with a sturdy thump, the repercussions of which he easily absorbed into his knees and then headed forwards in storming strides to assist the eldest of his younger brothers.

Up ahead, Vangelis frowned for a moment when he saw a lithe and slim body flitter around a corner up ahead, a mane of mahogany brown hair following in its wake. His mind clicked and his instinct kicked in in a way that told Vangelis that figure was familiar...

He might have quietened his concerns or stamped down such thoughts - reducing them to the category of paranoid and hypertension after so violent an emergency - if it hadn't been for Zanon. Several metres ahead of Vangelis, and therefore able to have seen the girl a few moments soon and for longer, he would have gotten a better look at her. And in doing so, the girl's disappearance had set Zanon charging forwards into a sprint.

Anger flowing and determination streaking energy back through his muscles, Vangelis kicked off from the ground and charged after his brother, trusting the man's instincts. He had thought that girl was familiar, but he had only caught a glimpse - less than a heartbeat of time and a slither of a profile. Zanon had seen her. He knew the truth. And this was his reaction...

Which meant Vangelis' gut had been right. It was Asia.

What in the Gods name is she doing?

Little more than the entreaty to the divine realm graced Vangelis' thoughts besides the need to place one foot in front of the other and push off with all his might ensuring his sprint was hard and fast. Still, his brother was just as quick and Vangelis made no headway in closing the gap between them. Not that he wanted to. To do so would mean Zanon wasn't running at his fastest speed and they both knew that such an eventuality was impossible when their little sister was running around a city still burning in places.

Even without the flames the city was dangerous. Until it had full healed and recovered in several weeks, no structure was safe, no road danger-free.

He had told the steward to keep everyone inside the manor, damnit!

Still several feet behind his brother, Vangelis wasted no energy in yelling - he didn't want to distract the man from reaching Asia that bit sooner than he could. Instead, all he did was watch, as Zanon made a skidding stop before a building that still smoked from its ravaging by the fire and peered in through the windows and door, determination and anger stamped all over his features.

Oh sweet Ares, she hadn't gone inside had she?

Vangelis tried to up his pace but his legs were already pounding as hard as they could along the street, causing civilians, soldiers and nobles alike to stop, turn and stare after the two princes.

It was as Vangelis was skidding to his own halt, his breathing laboured and his chest heaving, that a garbled yell - something that could have been the beginning of Zanon's name breached the walls of the house, followed by a low rumbling crash and a plume of dust and soot sweeping out the open doorframe.

From the midst of the dust ran a small child, so black with soot, Vangelis wasn't sure if the creature was male or female, but clearly very much alive. As the child clung to Zanon's leg, as if its life depended on it and stared back inside the structure with worry and fear in their large, dark eyes, Vangelis felt a hand clench around his heart.

"Please tell me that wasn't..." He began to his brother, unable to finish the thought but desperately hoping he had read the entire situation wrong and it was any other slim brunette girl in that house...

When Zanon deposited the small child to the ground, the creature looked between the two of them seeking reassurance or determined action. Despite his heart pounding at the idea of his sister being within the now collapsed building, Vangelis kept his expression calm and placed a hand on the child's head as he followed his brother towards the broken doorway of the structure.

There were few buildings beyond a single storey in Midas, but of course it was one of those that breached passed the first level that their sister had decided to play hero within. As such, a large portion of the upper floor was now slanted over the ground of the first, paused in its path of careening to the earth by still more rubble.

If Athanasia were lucky, she would be trapped in the open space beneath, with - pray to the Gods - minimal injuries but unable to extract herself. If she were less lucky... the weight of the stone would ensure there would be no concern for shallow wounds or injuries. It would crush a human being flat.

Feel a knotting of emotion in his chest that Vangelis stamped on and refused to allow to spread his limbs with fear, the crown prince turned to his brother as the man called to their youngest sibling, demanding an answer.

Vangelis stayed quiet so that they might pick up on any small sound or cry from beneath the rubble, but moved cautiously around the edge of most of the debris. His steps were carefully placed as rocks rolled and shifted beneath the soles of his boots and he found himself bracing his weight and balance on whatever pieces of wall were still standing, moving in an opposite direction to Zanon so that they might cover the best area in the search for their sister.

Ducking as several pieces of rock and whole lot of soot and dust fell from above him, Vangelis shrugged off the ash that now peppered his skin, pushed his hair from his eyes and kept looking. When no answer came to his brother's calls, Vangelis tried from his side of the room, in the hopes that his voice might breach through to wherever Asia lay. For he refused to contemplate any other reason for the girl's silence.

"Asia!" He ducked low to get his mouth close to some of the larger openings in the destruction. "Asia, answer us! We need to know where to dig!"

They couldn't go barrelling in, unearthing stone and rock any which way, as much as emotion might make lesser men desperate. Zanon and Vangelis were both military trained. They knew what it meant to be tactical, cautious. And they knew what it meant to go in arrows blazing and risk further damage. If Asia was unharmed, she might not stay that way if more of the upper floor was to fall to the earth because of his and Zanon's clumsy efforts. They needed to know exactly where she was and formulate a plan.

Vangelis and Zanon were each moving over the rubble carefully, their legs wide, their arms braced out for balance and their ears pricked for the sound of any call back. It wasn't for a view minutes before they, indeed heard something. The two brothers must have heard it at the same time because, as Vangelis raised a hand to still Zanon's feet so he might hear better, his brother's hand flung up in a mirrored gesture.

They could hear her. Which meant she was calling to them. Which meant she was alive.

Vangelis breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

He didn't know about Zanon but Vangelis couldn't hear the exact words their sister was calling. He just heard the harsh and dusty tone of a voice. And as Asia was the only one in the building that they knew of, it had to be her.

Cupping his hands around his mouth and bending low, Vangelis yelled back.

"Keep yelling Asia!" He told her. "We're working out where you are so we can get you out!"

And with that the two brothers started about listening to their sister's shouts, being careful not to move anything yet until they could work out exactly where her cries were clearest and therefore which point of the rubble was thinnest between themselves and her.

"I think it's here." Vangelis finally commented, crouching low and looking down through an alcove in the rubble. It looked almost like a tunnel, leading in to the belly of the destruction, but there was planks and hunks of rock barring the path. Vangelis eyed with the width of the tunnel with frustration. His shoulders would never breach passed the opening. He glanced at his brother who was a little taller than him but slimmer in frame.

"You think you can crawl in there on your belly?" He asked, not even suggesting that the two of them find someone who wasn't a potential heir to the throne to crawl down into uncertain danger.

The sounds outside were faint, seemingly like another world away while just the simple sound of her breathing seemed beyond loud in the confining space as Asia tried to just remember to breathe. She couldn't move, trembling as hard as she was as the boards seemed to pin her into place, Athanasia never noticed the tears that were flowing freely and disappearing into her hair as she laid there. Feelings of hot and cold shifted as she broke out in a sweat, head throbbing to the rhythm her heart raced at as her eyes strained to see anything within the pitch blackness. "Please let me get out of this... I promise to be good. Please! I don't want to die!" At this point Asia was praying as she screamed, her sounding rough with emotions, hoping whichever god was listening wouldn't let her die. That they would keep the house from crushing her and help her brothers get her out of this darkness. The cold rock and wood around her were stationary, yet it closed in on her all the same. With each tense breath, she forced herself not to hyperventilate on the stagnant air. The little air that crawled in from beyond at least was some reassurance of its proximity, but she could no longer hear the sounds of her brothers' shouts and she had started to lose track of time as the darkness enveloped her further with its cold embrace. Asia wanted to cringe away from its' icy touch, though, with every labored breath, it drew her in tighter. Everything and nothing folded around her in her confining tomb, constricting her lungs until she was gasping with dizziness and an urge to vomit as everything seemed to tingle and go numb. Her heart was loud in her ears as she lifted a shaky hand to try and push the rocks and beams away, forgetting that she couldn't move much at all as her small world of darkness even as everything around her started to spin uncontrollably.

It was the faintest of sounds, a rustling that could be heard that sounded too far away for her to dream that it was headed her way. Maybe death had come for her with the cold draft that she felt crawling over her skin even as sweat seemed to pour from her skin. Was she hot but death was cold? So many thoughts drifted through her mind as she prayed to any of the gods who would listen. Images of her mother flashed to the front, thoughts of how she wanted her daughter to become a lady of the court, someone worthy of Kotas name. Athanasia didn't know that Zanon was making his way towards her as she cried, screaming that she would be better. In her fear induced haze, tears burned her eyes. If anyone asked her, she would swear that light filled her little-confined trap; in her delirium Asia imagined her mother reaching for her, trying to help her as she had so many times even as Asia had always fought it before. Now Asia reached blindly. "Please! Mother! I can't reach you!" Asia shoved and pushed at the timbers and the panels that held her in place, screaming till she coughed up dust that floated around her, "If any of the gods who are listening, please help! I don't want to die here, please?!" Reaching for her mother's hand in pure desperation, Asia wondered if she might very well die trapped under a house without ever getting a chance to tell her family how sorry she was for not listening more.

Crawling through the rubble, Zanon was silent save for his breathing, listening and changing directions where he could to try to find his sister. The smell of burnt wood and charred stone as all around him and as he moved the effort became more intense with the lack of air. They had to get out of here and get out quick before anything else came loose but he wouldn't leave without Asia by his side. Vangelis was quiet above, no doubt also listening, and he thanked the gods for his brother's good sense as he carefully pulled a beam out of Zanon's way as he slid deeper into the mess.

He could hear her now, babbling and praying but only as he got close enough to properly make out the words did he call for her again.

"Asia, I'm here. Can you move toward my voice?"

There wasn't much move to turn or move about, and for a moment a flash of panic hit him as he wondered how they would get out. It was one thing for him to slip through on his own, but turning around and dragging his sister with him would be a feat he hadn't properly considered. Shaking off his own fears, Zan waited until he could pinpoint a direction before slipping through the darkness and then finally there she was. In the darkness he couldn't see her properly, but he could hear her and then the next thing he knew his hand met skin instead of rubble and relief flooded through him.

"It's me, come on. Follow me we'll get out."

He hoped, there wasn't much room for him to turn but he kept a tight grip on Athanasia as he slowly slid backwards, praying silently to the gods that he could remember the way out.

"Vangelis I have her, help us out."