"Which way now?" Capensis impatiently asked the little girl. The party had been in the forest for five days now. They had ran out of the food two days ago. Karla turned and kicked him in the shin causing Capensis to jump up and down. Ixia giggled quietly as she watched Capensis jump up and down.

"Leave her alone, Capensis." Ryunmei scolded.

"I'm sorry, but we have been out here for five days, leaving two days for us to get there, and every day here is one day less to get the beautiful Elisa to see me!" Capensis complained.

"I bet the main reason she made her own party was to get away from you in the first place..." Ryunmei muttered under her breath.

"Let's be reasonable here, any move you make on her is likely to get you shot, again." Ixia reminded.

"Seems like someone is jealous that I have a special someone and you don't." Capensis shot back.

"Come on guys. This isn't the time to argue amongst ourselves," Baron scolded. "We need to focus on getting Karla to her aunt's house so we could have a clear path to Heldon Myre and then the West Coast." Everyone sighed at Baron's reasoning. He was right after all, and the grumbling in their stomachs proved it.

"We should start looking for some edible plants-" Baron was suggesting when Karla pulled on his pant leg holding an armful of Lami leaves and wild berries. She had already been stuffing her face with them as there were small bits around her mouth. She pointed at the berries and then in the direction she had found them.

"You found them over there?" Baron asked. Karla nodded, then started offering food to Ixia's familiars, which they happily accepted.

"Well, what are we waiting for let's get ourselves some food!" Capensis cheered as he rushed in the direction.

"Guess that's one way to get his mind to focus…" Ryunmei sighed as she followed the group, which was following a speeding Capensis.

"Where did the love struck idiot go Weilly?" Ixia asked her staff.

"Wei, wei. Wie wei wei." Weilly told her.

"He says he's straight ahead of us." Ixia translated for her party members.

"He literally just ran off…" Baron complained. "He even missed the berry bush and Lami leaves, Karla was trying to show us."

Karla paid no attention to their complaints as she was having a ball of a time on Ryunmei's shoulders. Reaching new heights that she never could've reached before, she grabbed a tree branch and pulled down on it. Unfortunately her hands slipped and the branch whipped her nose.

"Hey are you okay up there?" Ryunmei asked. She was soon taking her off her shoulders and wiping tears off her face. "It's alright; could you calm down and try to tell me what happened?" Karla pointed at the tree branch.

"What's going on back there?" Baron asked.

"Karla got hit by a tree branch. It's just bruised so I think she'll be fine." Ryunmei told him. "We'll be staying away from the high branches for a while won't we?" Karla nodded and ran over to walk with Ixia. Soon after the party started walking again she was, once again, sitting on the shoulders of someone much taller than her, Baron's shoulders to be exact, because Ixia's wasn't to her liking in height.

"Hey guys I found some grapes!" Capensis called out to the party.

"Where did you get those?" Ixia asked hoping to get her hands on some herself. Karla stared at Capensis for a bit then started to try and get of Baron's shoulders.

"Hey calm down. I'll let you down just stop moving so much." Baron said as he tied to get the squirmy girl down. As soon as she touched the ground she ran over to Capensis and was on her tippy toes, with her arms out stretched. Capensis, giving in to her begging, knelt down and she climbed up to her place of preference. Upon standing back up everyone could see her joy of being the highest.

"She really loves heights doesn't she?" Ryunmei asked rhetorically. Baron nodded in agreement.

"Hey those aren't wild grapes traveller!" A woman's voice rang powerfully. "You better hope that you didn't wind up eating any or you'll be calling for mercy!"

Capensis gulped as a middle aged woman walked towards them. "I don't have time to be losing produce and chasing down people like you!"

"What do you know, Capensis stole food from a farmer and for some reason it doesn't surprise me…" Ixia mutters as she glares at Capensis.

"You don't actually believe that I would do that, on purpose, do you?!" Capensis exclaimed. Everyone just glared at him accusingly. "I didn't know that it was someone's property! It looked just like a part of the forest and had no fences what so ever!"

Karla had different plans, however, climbing down Capensis, using his scarf as a rope causing him to choke, and then running towards the woman giving her a big hug.

"Karla? What are you doing here? Where is your mother?" the woman asked as Karla hugged her. She turned to the party. "Where is her mother and where did she get that bruise?"

"Well, I think she was pulling at a tree branch and it hit her." Ryunmei explained. The woman smiled a bit.

"I could believe that, being the curious child she is. Would you believe she followed me into the forest just to see what a goblin was? I wound up having to teach her what plants are edible and how to use the sun as a compass." The woman's face grew solemn. "More importantly what happened to her mother?"

"… We couldn't make it to her on time…" Baron said quietly. Somehow the woman was able to hear that.

"I knew a goblin or something would get to her someday. She never listened to a word I said even though I was the one to kill the beasts for a living. " The woman sighed. "I guess I'll have to thank you for saving my niece, but don't think you'll be getting out of this without doing any work. " She glared directly at Capensis. "I'll need you four to building me a fence around my property. Hopefully it'll prevent more accidents like these in the future, and those purposeful offenders will be given an even bigger punishment." The woman started walking back from where she came signaling the party to follow.

"And you said you wanted to get there as soon as possible because Elisa wants to see my beautiful face," Ixia mocked.

"Can it will yea?" Capensis shot back. Ixia smirked at her thought of victory.

They came upon a rundown house as they followed the woman.

"Welcome to my home." The woman told the party. "I know it's a bit run down but I have a guest house for you to stay at while you are working here. I'll lead you too it now."

"Thank-you..." Ryunmei remembered that she never got a name from the woman.

"Zya... call me Zya" the woman told her without turning around.

"Thank you Zya" Ryunmei repeated adding the new name.

"I have to repay the people who saved my niece don't I?" Zya stated plainly. "If it wasn't so close to the festival I would've gotten you to do some renovations for me as well, as Karla would need a room to sleep. I will be providing all your meals and a place to sleep so that should be sufficient payment, don't you think?"

"Yeah that should be fine..."Baron sighed

"It's not like I'll be keeping you from the festival; all the hotels will be full by now, and I will be participating in it so it wouldn't make sense keeping you here. I'm also expecting a friend over today so don't you dare do anything stupid," Zya turned to face them with a deadly smile. "Or I will personally lock that individual in the cellar for the festival, and don't you dare think I can't manage it." Zya then proceeded to enter her home, motioning for the party to follow. Once they entered Zya was boiling some water for the group.

"You would've thought it'd look worse in here..." Ryunmei whispered quietly.

"Yeah," ixia looked around. "If this is what she calls rundown imagine if it looked nice..." Ixia whispered back.

"I'll show you where I keep my wood after you finish with the Lami leaf tea. I will show you the guest house in the evening." Zya says as she bring the tea to the party.

"When are we going to tell her that..." Ixia whispered to Baron.

"I don't know, Ix, but we have to tell her soon." Baron whisphered back.

"That's reminds me... my sister was killed by a monster, right?" Zya asked almost as if she had heard the two whispering.

Once again the looks between the party members began. Capensis sighed.

"There was a forest fire and... a tree fell on her." Capensis finally told Zya.

"So... it wasn't..." Zya stood there for a moment. "You four are very lucky to have made it out." Zya placed the cups and a bowl holding sugar on the table. Karla picked up a cup with steaming hot tea and proceeded to take a sip burning her lips and tounge.

"Didn't I tell you that tea is very hot when it's steaming?" Zya asked the girl. Karla nodded holding her mouth. "Silly girl... let me get you some ice." Zya went back to the kitchen to get some ice. Karla naturally followed.

"I don't think she's going to take it too well..." Ixia told the group literally stating the obvious.

"If it was a monster she could've gone to take revenge but-" Ryunmei was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Coming!" Zya called out as she came from the kitchen and walked towards the door. "It's nice that you could come today."

"I'm just glad i could make it," the familiar voice replied.

"Old man?" Baron asked.

"So you know these adventurers, Jeda?" Zya asked.

"Yes I do. I even join them in their adventures." Jeda told Zya holding his cup of tea.

"I had no idea." Zya admitted. "I guess you learn something new every day."

"You could say that again," Capensis added. "I never knew that he was friends with a person like you."

Zya turns to Jeda, "That reminds me... they have to build me a fence for eating my grapes. You wouldn't mind helping them out would you?"

"I wouldn't mind it. It'll give me something to do while I'm here."

Everyone else watched as the two conversed about their lives, so much so they didn't realise they had finished their own. Karla got bored however and started pulling on everyone's clothing till they paid attention to her. This resulted in a game of chess which Karla somehow always won.

"Well you four had a longer break than expected," Zya told the four as she turned to face them for the first time that day. "Time to get to work!"

"Okay," the four sighed in unison. This was going to be a long two days.

Well there's part one...

I really have to stop being such a procrastinator.

Tell me if you like it. Hope to fin part 2 in August.