The mysterious man, Volug, has revealed himself to Cassandra and Drake. He has been searching for the princess of a far-off land named Hatari, which no people in this world seem to know about. Eager to see if she is truly the one he seeks, Cassandra plans to go with Volug.

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Chapter 2: Far Away Homeland

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Cassandra and Drake had slept in until the midday sun was high in the sky the day following the bandit attack. No one had moved to awaken them, knowing that everyone needed sleep after facing two bandit raids in one day. While Drake was still asleep, Cassandra stood at her window still in her undergarments as she watched Volug, still sitting at the edge of the village like a well-trained guard dog. She smiled, her own wolf-tail wagging in anticipation. "I have to go with him," she said to herself.

"So eager to leave already?" Drake asked as he stood by the door. He had gotten up a short while ago, a bit later than usual but seeing as they did face two groups of bandits yesterday they deserved the rest. However he did figure his daughter would want to depart with Volug he told her about this Hatari place. The man frowned a bit. "It's going to be extremely dangerous. We don't even know where this Hatari place is, let alone what the people are like."

"They're like me and him, what more do I need to know?" Cassandra countered, turning away from the window. She reached up to feel one of her wolf ears, "I've never known why I had these ears and tail before. Now I have a chance to find out. I don't care how dangerous it is!"

"I know you're eager to find out more about yourself, but think it over a little bit more. Are you sure it's wise to go with someone you barely know to some place you don't even know really exists?" Drake asked of her. "I'm not opposed to you going but there's a lot of things suspicious about the situation. Think cautiously."

"I'll try. I need to ask Volug so many things. But first I need to bathe." Cassandra moved to grab a clean tunic and pants from her clothing, stopping only to grab her hatchet, just in case, before she exited her room.

Drake sighed after she left the room. "I just hope she doesn't make a big mistake with this..." he muttered to himself. He supposed that things could always be a bit worse, but could he really let his daughter go so far away for some reason or another? Did she even realize that there was a chance she wouldn't come home?

Cassandra hadn't dressed as she walked through the village, it wasn't like she got any more stares than normal in just her undergarments and she didn't want her clean clothes to be covered in sweat so early. She paused for a minute then walked over to Volug as she headed out to the bathing pond. Volug looked up at her, not seeming all that tired despite his entire night spent on watch.

"Volug, can you come with me? I want to talk to you about this Hatari place," she said.

Volug kept staring at her for a minute than nodded, got up, stretched and followed Cassandra as they headed for the bathing pond.

"I know it's a bit sudden, but I've never met anyone like -me- before...so I can't help but be curious." Cassandra stated as she walked. Volug simply nodded in understanding. He was a naturally silent person and his native tongue would be very hard for her to understand. He knew some of the new tongue but he wasn't the most fluent in it, either.

"What...do you want to know?" he questioned her in his quiet voice. Cassandra couldn't even begin to think of where to start.

"Oh, so much...Everything!" she admitted.

Volug thought for a minute. He began to speak in the ancient tongue which only made Cassandra raise an eyebrow. "Umm, OK," she said as they reached the bathing pond.

"I-I'm not too g-good with modern talk," Volug admitted as he sat on his haunches by the pond.

"So that' weird voice is some ancient language?" Cassandra asked as she set her clean clothes and hatchet by the pond's edge.

Volug nodded, "Beorc use it for magic."

"Beorc?" Cassandra asked. "Well look away, I'm getting in the water."

Volug nodded and averted his gaze. Cassandra stripped off her undergarments and slipped into the pond, diving under water briefly to get her hair wet.

"So...what's a 'beorc' anyway?" she asked, glancing back over to Volug once she was sure the water covered her. The wolf paused to think over the right words for a moment.

"Human." he stated. "Different from us...laguz."

"Laguz? ...Is that what I am?" Cassandra asked, her eyes wide. Suddenly she had a name to go by. She wasn't a mutant or some cursed child, but a member of some foreign race.

"Yes."

"Well we're the only laguz on this continent as far as I know, I never even heard of laguz until now," Cassandra said as she began to rinse the knots out of her dark silver hair. "So there's laguz and beorc, humans and..." she looked to Volug for an answer.

Volug shook his head, "Both humans, just diffferent. Beorc knowledge, laguz st-strength."

"So laguz are stronger and beorc are smarter?" Cassandra asked.

Volug sighed and lay down, speaking a few phrases in the ancient language. [This is too hard to explain to you with such fractured speech. Why did I have to lose track of those two when we came here?]

"Umm, alright," Cassandra turned away to continue washing and Volug closed his eyes to get some much needed rest.

meanwhile...

"Ugh, we are -unbelievably- lost!" the red-haired laguz remarked, a deep scowl on his face. He spared a glance at his green-haired partner, who remained calm despite the frustration. "Are you sure you read that map right? I think we're supposed to be going the other way!"

"I know we're going the right way, Jaul," the other wolf replied with a roll of his brown eyes. "You're just impatient."

"Then why the hell aren't we there yet?! Tch, this sucks..." Jaul remarked. First they get separated from Sir Volug and now they were hopelessly lost in this world. Just peachy.

"Complaining won't help." Kazim reminded him with a sigh. He would admit it was annoying that they seemed to have lost their way, but reacting like a child wouldn't help their situation. "We'll find him soon, I'm sure."

"We should just rely on our senses, not these strange beorc tools," Jaul muttered to himself. What a pain in the wolf tail.

"You know I can hear you right?" Kazim asked. He folded the map and put it in one of the pouches of his belt. "Perhaps we should rely on our senses here," he sniffed at the air.

"Finally you're making sense." Jaul crouched down and began to sniff for tracks.

Kazim watched for a minute as he smoothed down his tunic, "Do you smell anything, Jaul?"

Jaul sniffed, "I think... I smell sir Volug, he's nearby!"

"You're probably smelling his tracks, Jaul," Kazim replied. He sniffed at the air, "But I do think I smell him over this way."

"Hey, same difference!" Jaul replied. He stretched a bit, his dark brown skin vest lifting up his body as he did so. He didn't wear a shirt underneath it, so his chest and abs were visible underneath them. It was uncommon for male wolves to wear shirts. Jaul was a simple guy, so he wore a simple pair of white pants and a pair of sandals as well, easy for traveling the desert. "C'mon, let's hurry up and get going!"

"Hey wait up!" Kazin called after Jaul as the red wolf took off, forcing him to run off after him.

Cassandra was still cleaning herself when she caught the scent of something approaching on the wind. She moved close to shore and took a hold of her hatchet. "Volug," she hissed, "Someone's coming."

Volug's eyes opened and he sat up, sniffing at the air. [Smells like...] he spoke in the ancient tongue.

"Just be ready. That asshole Roderick could still be lurking around," Cassandra cautioned.

"Sir Volug!" Jaul called out in proud glee. "We finally found you! Sorry we took so long!" He then noticed the female laguz bathing in the pond and found himself blushing extremely brightly. Such a beautiful specimen to be sure...but was she not wearing any clothes?

He didn't have time to focus on this as Kazim came up and thwacked him in the back of the head. "Forgive him, he gets overexcited." he muttered. "It's good to see you're safe, Sir Volug."

Cassandra relaxed slightly, but kept her hatchet in hand, "Friends of yours, Volug?" She asked the big wolf.

Volug nodded, "Jaul and Kazim. Came with me." Turning to the two laguz he began to speak in the ancient tongue. [It's good to see you again. I was afraid you were lost on the other side of the continent, or killed.]

[We got lost because we were following that stupid map Kazim tried to use,] Jaul glared at the green wolf laguz.

[No the map is accurate, you just kept leading us off course every time you smelled something interesting,] Kazim countered.

[Speaking of interesting, who is this, Volug?] Jaul turned to Cassandra, his eyebrows raised and his mouth turned into a smile he hoped she'd find attractive.

"Hey! Can you guys at least talk to me in a language I can understand? And you shouldn't stare at a woman when she's bathing!" she added to Jaul.

"Our apologies." Kazim quickly covered his eyes, earning a glance from Jaul. "My name is Kazim and this is Jaul. We came here with Sir Volug to find the princess of Hatari."

"So I gathered that much," Cassandra muttered. "Ugh, would you guys mind leaving me alone for a moment so I can finish up and get dressed?! Hard to talk about important crap when I'm trying to take a bath."

"Of course." Kazim grabbed Jaul by his vest and pulled him into the surrounding trees.

Volug looked to Cassandra, "Go with them?" he asked.

"Just look away, Volug, and keep an eye out for anyone else," Cassandra replied as she went back to cleaning herself. Volug nodded and turned to face away into the woods.

It didn't take much longer for Cassandra to declare herself clean, climb out of the water and clothe herself. She picked up her hatchet and called, "Alright You can come out now, I'm done."

The two younger wolves re-emerged, with Jaul slightly disappointed that the pretty laguz girl was clothed again. However, Kazim was prepared to get down to business. "This was an odd way to start things off," he muttered.

"I'll say. So what's the deal with you people, anyway?" Cassandra asked, a bit impatient to get some answers.

"It won't be a story you'll believe easily but we come from a place called Hatari on the continent of Tellius," Kazim replied. This made the girl frown in questioning.

"I've never heard of either of those places before today," she admitted.

"That's because neither of them exist here. We came here from another realm through a special place called the Outrealm Gate. This strange place allows travel between time and space itself," Kazim said.

"So you're from another continent, or another world?" Cassandra asked.

"That's the best way to describe it." Kazim nodded.

"So what's with the axe?" Jaul asked.

"Umm it's to chop wood and to fight," Cassandra replied, as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Don't you shift when you need to fight?" Kazim asked.

"Shift? You mean turn into a wolf like Volug?" Cassandra asked, turning her gaze to the large brown wolf who was standing by her side.

"Like this!" Jaul gave a howl and his body was bathed in red light, he dropped to all fours and a moment later a red-furred wolf was standing in front of Cassandra.

"All laguz are capable of transforming like that, into various creatures. We are of the wolf tribe so, obviously, we become wolves." Kazim explained, observing the awed expression on Cassandra's face.

"So, I can do that, too? I've never done it before," she admitted.

"Because you've had no one to teach you here. Even children are taught how to shift at a young age," the green wolf replied.

"But where do I even start?" Cassandra asked.

"Well... I don't know," Jaul admitted, he shifted back to his human form, "We've never had to teach someone how to shift, our parents taught us and I guess I forgot."

"So why did you change back right now?" Cassandra asked.

"Transforming uses a lot of strength, with the exception of royal laguz we can only maintain our animal forms for a short time," Kazim explained.

"What about Volug?" Cassandra again turned to the brown wolf, "He's been a wolf non-stop since last night."

"Volug knows how to 'half-shift' as it were. It lets him maintain his wolf form indefinitely but while weaker than if he were fully shifted," Kazim said.

"So why do you stay in that wolf form so much, Volug?" Cassandra asked.

"More c-comfortable," Volug said.

"OK." Cassandra turned back to the two younger wolves. "Well I don't know how I'm supposed to even start learning how to shift so until you, or someone who knows how, can teach me I think I'll stick with this." Cassandra swung her hatchet back up and on to her shoulder.

"Hmm..." Kazim watched Cassandra's motion. From the way she handled it she was clearly very familiar with how to swing an axe. "Strange, most laguz consider it a disgrace to use beorc weapons in battle, for our bodies are weapons unto themselves."

"Yeah well I think it works just fine," Cassandra replied. "And like I said my body isn't a weapon yet so I'll use this 'beorc weapon' whenever I can."

[She was not raised in our world, Kazim.] Volug reminded the young man. [She would not know the ways of the laguz.]

"Ah...yes, that is true..." Kazim replied. "Well...it may be wise to bring you back with us to Hatari. Even if you are not the princess, you should still learn how to shift and the pride of being a laguz."

"Not sure about the 'pride of being a laguz' but going to Hatari sounds like the only way I'll ever learn more about what I am," Cassandra said. "So who is this princess you're talking about?" she asked.

"Zakiyah, the daughter of Nailah, the queen of Hatari," Jaul said.

"Zakiyah and her father were attacked by beorc slavers while Nailah was abroad on a mission of dire importance to Tellius. The queen's husband was a fierce warrior but he was killed and the infant Zakiyah was taken. They escaped through the Outrealm gate to elude trackers," Kazim explained.

[I thought you were the queen's daughter when I first smelled you, Cassandra, but you are too old to be her,] Volug spoke in the ancient tongue.

"Yeah, she is too old." As he saw the look of anger form on Cassandra's face, Jaul quickly explained what he meant, "Zakiyah was kidnapped a year ago and you're fully grown so you can't be her, unless you somehow grew up in under a year."

"Nope, I've lived here with my father, Drake, for 20 years," Cassandra replied. "Sorry to be a dead end to your search."

"Since you are not the princess, I think we can deem it safe to say that she isn't in this realm," Kazim admitted. "Though if you truly wish to accompany us to Hatari, you best speak it over with your father first and foremost. It is not exactly across the street. There is a likelihood that you shan't see him for a long time if you decide to leave."

"Yeah..." Cassandra agreed softly. The prospect of just leaving her father behind alone filled her heart with sadness. She couldn't just abandon the man who had taken care of her all these years...but she wanted - no, needed - to know more about the place of her possible ancestors. Could she have been taken through the Outrealms as well as a babe? It would make sense.

Cassandra shook her head then stopped and sniffed the air. "This smell... it smells that that bandit who attacked last night."

"You're definitely laguz, I can smell another nearby as well. You say he's a bandit?" Kazim asked.

"One attacked our village last night. He's probably gathering more forces, or he's on his way back!" Cassandra hefted her hatchet. "I'm not letting them attack us in broad daylight while everyone's out working!" She declared before she took off after the smell.

"She's an eager one, isn't she?" Jaul remarked with a grin. "Hehe, I like a woman with some passion!" Kazim only sighed, shaking his head. Sometimes he wondered why he put up with this idiot.

"Well we can't very well let her go off alone, can we? Come. We can help fend off some pitiful bandits." he insisted. Volug agreed, and the three wolves quickly chased after Cassandra.

"Come with me, men, the village isn't far. Just let the mages deal with the wolf!" Roderick declared, raising his poleaxe over his head. There were 30 more bandits travelling with him, all armed with a variety of swords, lances and axes but more importantly two fire mages, one staying to either side of Roderick as the moved along.

"Tch, this guy again...letting him live last night was a major mistake. Just where does he get all of these men, though? Between his friend and last night, that was at least forty-five men..." Drake muttered to himself. He had heard word about bandits being sighted yet again and he had come out to investigate. He hadn't been expecting yet another army of them coming out this time.

"Dad!" Cassandra called as she approached him. "Looks like that bastard from last night is back." How annoying. it was definitely a mistake to show scum like that any mercy. Oh well. They'd fix that right now.

"Who are they?" Drake asked, seeing the red and green haired men with wolf ears and tails approach with Volug.

"More people from Hatari. We're called Laguz," Cassandra said.

"Can you two fight?" Drake asked.

"Of course we can, just leave this rabble to us!" Jaul declared.

"Think carefully, ignoramus. There are fire mages among their number," Kazim pointed to the two red-robed people standing near Roderick.

"And that's a problem for... laguz?" Drake asked. It was funny using such a word to describe his daughter.

"We of the beast tribe are quite vulnerable to fire magic, if they attack us we might not last long," Kazim explained. "You must be Drake, Cassandra's adopted father. If you can, try to kill the fire mages before they get too close to us."

"Anything to keep my daughter safe," Drake affirmed.

"Hmph. I didn't think bandits were intelligent enough to use magic..." Cassandra muttered as she prepared her hatchet. Killing the lancers and axe fighters wouldn't be too hard for her, but the sword fighters would give her trouble. She'd just have to hope the wolves could handle most of them.

"Regardless, let's get things started." Kazim stated before he shifted into the form of a large green wolf. With a howl, he leaped forward, attacking a nearby lancer. Jaul was quick to join in, finishing off the lancer with a quick pounce and bite into the man's neck.

Volug followed after them, killing a sword fighter by biting his head and twisting until it came off. Cassandra charged into the fray, throwing a hatchet at a nearby lancer and striking him in the side, only to get a javelin in her shoulder for her troubles. She growled, caught the hatchet on its return and threw it again, cutting the lancer in half. Not wasting any time, Drake charged straight towards Roderick and the two fire mages at his sides.

Jaul was forced to dodge a hand axe that was sent his way before he darted towards the attacker, mauling him with a powerful snap of his jaws. The wolf laguz quickly dodged when a myrmidon tried to lop off his head, but Kazim was kick to leap up and bite into the man's arm to try and tear it off. Drake, meanwhile, jumped towards one of the fire mages with his axe, aiming for a swift kill. Mages often weren't too durable so it was no surprise that it only took one hit to take off the mage's head, not giving him enough time to cast a spell.

"You again!" Roderick bristled, "and more wolves. Why must you insist on being such a thorn in my side!?"

"As long as you threaten my village and my daughter I will be here to kill you," Drake countered.

"Gya! Try and get by me!" Roderick swung his poleaxe at Drake, creating a small crater where he hit the ground when Drake dodged aside.

Drake took advantage of Roderick's slow movements and jumped at him, heaving his axe towards the bandit leader's neck to end the battle once and for all. Once their leader fell, no doubt the rest of these curs would freak out without someone holding them all together.

While Drake's swing was strong, Roderick's neck proved too thick to sever with one blow and he staggered back, holding a hand to his bleeding wound.

The bandit army was crumbling under the assault of the four wolf laguz, until Jaul and Kazim were forced to revert after finishing off a myrmidon.

"Crap! Cover us for a minute while we recharge!" Jaul shouted as a sword cut into his side, forcing him to pull it out and kick at the attacker, only to miss. Volug came to his aid, ripping the sword out of the man's hand before diving on him and tearing him to shreds. Cassandra spun her hatchet and took aim at a lancer charging towards Kazim. Her rapid throw took his head off with one hit.

"You're made of tougher skin than I thought, oh well. I can fix that!" Drake remarked. He then spun around rapidly a few times, looking as though he became a spiraling twister, before he viciously slammed his axe down through Roderick's torso.

Roderick gurgled as he felt the blow cut deep and blood began to fill his lungs. "B-blast! And after I paid so much for those mages..." he managed to say before he fell over dead.

"Roderick's dead! Fall back!" One of the other bandits called. Without their leader they quickly dispersed.

"Hunt them down," Volug growled out before he took off after the survivors.

"Let him go. He will make short work of them in their panicked state and this will keep them from attacking you again," Kazim said.

"That looks painful," Cassandra remarked upon seeing the cut in Jaul's side. She poured some of her vulnerary's contents on her javelin wound before passing the vulnerary to Jaul.

"Thank you," Jaul said as he applied the ointment to his own wound. "I must say though you fight as a beorc you have strength and a ferocity in battle that many laguz would envy, Cassandra."

"Guess I've got some laguz pride after all." Cassandra replied with a grin. "That should be the last we ever see of those scumbags!"

"Your village should be safe now!" Jaul agreed. "They were cocky with their numbers, but Sir Volug is an extremely experienced fighter. Even in his half-shifted state, he can probably take on any of your generals, so a group of brigands like this won't do much to him."

"Even so if he is not back by nightfall I will go to search for him," Kazim said.

"Until then I can invite you back to our village. It's the least I can do for helping me protect everyone from another attack," Drake offered.

"Heh, much appreciated!" Jaul replied with a grin. So long as he got a bit more time with Cassandra, it was all well and good in his book! Cassandra only rolled her eyes, already figuring what he was hoping for. Not going to happen.

"Well, may as well head back now," she commented. "Besides, I want to know more about this Tellius place and the Outrealm Gate. It does sound really important."