Whee!

Acid and Electrik wandered in around midday. Jack and Firefox were - somewhere, anyway. Acid and his brother knew Jack and his crew anyway, so Kaz made slightly muddled introductions for the rest and Nobody corrected him.
"How many people did Copper call anyway?" Acid demanded in disbelief.
"As far as I know, she actually contacted about eight of us," Defalcon said. "The rest of these guys appeared on their own."
"Did not," one of the feline twins protested. Acid couldn't tell which. "You dragged us along, and Jack recruited us!"
"I dragged you along," Defalcon repeated in disbelief. "I dragged you along? Excuse me?"
"Oh, shut up," a blue-winged rabbit said irritably as he landed. Acid thought his name was Sasha. "Eva just got the ransom note."
"Really?"
"No. It's a sick joke played on us by Eva Earlong. Yes, really. Why does everyone ask that?"
"Whazzit say?" Kaz demanded, hopping up and down. Sasha twitched his wings.
"How should I know? She never told me."
"All right, don't get your feathers in a knot," Tiger said calmly. "Why don't we just go find out?"
"A brilliant solution, Reibeck," Elexei agreed. "However did you come up with that?"
"Do I detect sarcasm in that?"
"Heaven forbid, O master of deduction. Your intelligence leaves me in awe."
"Khiern will leave you in pain if you keep that up."
"Khiern?"
"My sword."
"Ohhh ..."
Jack came out of the castle at that moment. "Hey, Acid, Electrik. Guys, Queen Earlong wants to see us."
"Just you guys?" Elexei said incredulously.
"No, all of you. C'mon."
They trooped into the Castle and were confronted immediately by the Queen of Carrotus.
"All right, you motley bunch, apparently Copper thinks you're some of the best. Seems this guy wants the Riveth."
"Aaand ... what's the Riveth," Defalcon said slowly.
"It's a Hellantran firegem," Eva explained while her mother glowered at Defalcon. "It's also one of our most precious treasures. I don't know all the properties it's supposed to have ..." here she faltered and glanced, not at the Queen but at Radium. When he didn't volunteer any information, she shrugged. "That's all I know."
"The question is, are you gonna give it to 'em," Firefox said. No one had noticed him come in.
"We may have to," the princess said, just as Radium came out with a definite "no!"
"Well, which is it?" Jack asked, looking amused. Radium winced.
"I advise against it, yeah."
"You? Advise?" The Queen looked torn between rage, indignation, and disbelief at the outlandish mage's statement. "I think my daughter knows what she is doing."
Rdium kept his silence, but his expression said it all.
Jack shrugged impatiently. "So what do we do now, Your Majesty?"
"I'll consult with some people, the names of whom you don't need to know, and we'll come to a decision. In the meantime, take this ragtag group and keep looking for my son-in-law!"
"Right," Jack said, but before he could say any more the Queen swept off, Eva in tow.
"The problem with looking for Jazz is where to start," Firefox said sadly. Headcheese nodded in her vague way. Indigo scuffed at a floorstone with a foot.
"When did you guys arrive?" Kira demanded, or maybe it was Tira. Wizad blinked.
"Always here."
"Anybody got any bright ideas on where to begin?" Jack said.
"To start, maybe Radium here should inform us of what the Riveth is, precisely." Wizard looked very definite on this. Radium shrugged.
"Like Eva said, it's a Hellantran firegem, and a Carrotan crown jewel."
"There's more to it than that. I can tell," Acid said. "Me'n Electrik have been around you before, Rad. There's more to it that you're not telling."
"Yeah, you're right," Radium admitted freely. "It'd be precious on its own, just because firegems are so rare, but it's got a bit more toit. One of those Carrotan kings way back when must have been (or known) a Chaos or Order Mage, 'cause that thing is chock full of energy. If you knew how to use it, you could do almost anything."
"Not good," Jack said. "Why didn't you tell the Queen?"
"There are some things even royalty aren't meant to know."
"So you told us," Nobody chortled. "Nice."
"Yah, I told you. Why not? You can't use it."
"But an Order or Chaos Mage could."
Radium nodded. "Sure. Quite easily, too."
"How many Order Mages can there be?" Tira (Kira?) wondered.
"That's the question, isn't it," Sasha said quietly Radium only nodded.
"Well, if Radium's such a powerful mage (which I know he is), why can't he find Jazz?" Electrik demanded suddenly.
"If I could, I wouldn't be here," Radium said irritably. "Either he's hidden by this Order Mage, or my magic isn't working right, which wouldn't surprise me. It IS chaos, after all."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"One last question," Acid said. "NOW what?"