A/N: Now, the new chapter.

It took probably twenty minutes before I even decide to bother moving, my mate had gotten up about five minutes earlier and I just followed his movements with glazed eyes, "What was all that?" I finally ask, "That was so… I never felt so in tune with my dragon side before…"

"Presented what I believed would be the best kill for you." He replies, before helping me up, "I suppose it would be considered… a show of strength? If we were human."

"But we aren't." I say, probably a bit too quickly.

He smirks, "You are right." He goes over to the corpse and pilfers the Beaststone Kaden had used, "And this explains how he got so strong." Unlike Keaton's, this one had a sort of red-orange glow radiating from the stone, "A Beastrune, it has been reinforced with enchantments, it looks like." He tucks it into his pocket and pulls out his old Beaststone, "And I'll be using it now." He hands me the old one. "For our pup." My pulse quickens, 'Our pup…'

"Am I…?" Gods know how much I want children… pups.

He smirks, "I don't know about dragons, but the better kill a Wolfskin presents… the more fertile the female is." A smile graces my face, 'And so far, Wolfskin and my own dragon habits have lined up pretty well.'

I take the shifting stone and notice it has a sort of… natural... aura to it? At any rate it just feels different than my Dragonstone. I tuck it in a small pocket in my armor before actually putting it back on, "Next stop is Cheve." I comment as we exit the cave.

The Williams have taken to skinning the many Kitsunes that littered the place, one crate holds the pelts, while the other holds the Beaststones. "My word, Lady Yasei!" Jakob scolds me as he approaches with a damp cloth, then furiously dabs my mouth area, "I have never seen you so…" He does not even bother finishing the sentence. "There!" Keaton snickers then Jakob procures another cloth from… somewhere? "And do not think you are off the hook either, Lord Keaton!" He repeats the process on my mate and I start giggling.

Then I stop giggling, 'Wait.' "Lord Keaton?" I ask. "We're not married."

He frowns, "My apologies, I must admit I am having trouble wrapping my head around all this. So in order to spare me the headaches, I just took it to considering you two married." He admits. "Even though I know you aren't." He tosses both cloths away, "I must say, that battle went splendidly. I am pleased to hear that the Williams live up to their reputation."

"Speaking of, I should seek them out right quick. I'll talk to you both later!" I wave them off as I look for one of the two Williams, "There you are!" I see one masterfully skinning a Kitsune with efficiency.

"Greetings, Lady Yasei." He says, looking at me, and still skinning the Kitsune, "Impressive display of combat, there."

"The same goes to you! Okay, so I know we won't really have time for stories, so I was hoping we could probably meet up again one day and share them?"

He smiles, "Sure thing." He finishes the beast and hands the pelt over to one of his men, then sighs. "My brother and I took into consideration about this whole 'Keaton is your mate thing' and we decided to follow through on Phoenix's request regardless," He pauses, "Though the gold from both the contract and all of these pelts and 'stones will keep us good for a while." He shrugs, "Who knows, we might even start being part of the army now. I'm certain we could extend our proficiency to Horses and Pegasi." He gets up and extends his hand, "I do hope to see you and your siblings again one day."

I do the same and shake it, "I look forward to it." He bows and we part ways, I wander around a bit without a specific destination in mind. The Hamlet has been efficiently cleared out and the corpses removed. 'Which just leaves a wandering Selkie.' I overhear Phoenix and Selena having a rather… heated hushed conversation on the far side, in one of the many caves, the subject being Phoenix's liberal use of magic leaving her in a constant weakened state. I would interject, but I have the distinct feeling I would not bring any noteworthy points.

"Yasei?" I hear Azura ask from behind me, "Might I have a moment with you?"

I turn and face her, 'Was she even a part of the battle?' "Yea, what did you need?"

She gestures to a spot under a tree and I follow her, "I am worried about how you are feeling." She comments as she takes a seat.

"I have been feeling pretty well. Though you worried me when I saw you by the lake like that." I sit next to her.

"That is a terrible state to see anyone in. But no, I meant more of how you are dealing with your shifting side." She clarifies.

"Oh, I've been fine with that for weeks now, Keaton really makes that stuff go smoothly." I smile. "He's great, you know?"

"I'm glad to hear that." She nods, "I hope you are managing the amount of time you spend focused on each side, right?"

"I, erm… no, not really." I look away, "I've been leaning more towards my dragon side… is that bad?"

"If it's a little bit more, no… think of it as a balance, spending too much time on one upsets the other, eventually leading to a… reaction."

"...oh." I pause, "What kind of reaction?"

"Violent reactions, hallucinations, an intense change in personality, a lot of major negative things."

"And um, might I ask how you know this?" 'That's a very specific list of feelings…'

She looks away, "My family has had some… unique quirks passed down over the generations."

A pair of footsteps sound off and I see Phoenix, who is trying to keep calm, "We're good to go, right?"

"I believe so? There are not any major injuries." I look at her, "What's wrong?"

"Life. My heritage. Almost everything that is unique to me. Mostly my damn father." She huffs, "Cheve, right? I'll draw up some maps on the way there." She abruptly leaves.

"Is she…?" Azura starts.

"She has had a rough life." I say, 'I wonder what just happened between her and Selena?' "It would be for the best if we kept moving, anyway. King Garon wanted us to get to Cheve as soon as possible." I get up and Azura follows.

A quick run over, about fifteen minutes, and we are off marching again. Our movement is much less imposed and we find our way out within an hour, both the mountain and forest. It must have been more dense on the other side. I try another round of getting some small talk in, with unfortunately somewhat worse results. 'Shouldn't have walked out of that cave with my mouth covered in blood…' I don't bother trying to approach Phoenix, while Selena blows me off the second I open my mouth. Gods, I hope they work things out.

And while Camilla isn't outwardly showing it, I can tell the loss of her retainer is hitting her pretty hard. 'I should talk to her later… gods, so many have died…'

"Camp ahead." I hear Elise call out.

Sure enough, there is a deserted camp in front of us. Though all that is left is an extinguished campfire and a lance. "Bandits?" Jakob asks.

"No, but it seems like the lance is a gift." Camilla points out, there is a note left on it.

I approach it, " For the blue-haired beauty sis and I saved …" I read outloud. "Azura?" I add and she walks up, "I think this is for you."

" I hope this is weighted properly, we apologize that we still haven't met face-to-face yet, but we got things we need to do first. " She continues, " If it isn't, just leave it here and I'll work on it later, oh, but take the note so I know you actually got to it. Wait, how did they know I would travel this way?" She asks, but she grabs the lance regardless. It is made of some material that I cannot place, a dark blue, in contrast to her light blue hair, the lancehead is a shiny, reflective blue metal, and the haft is adorned with jewels and some enchantments.

Phoenix whistles, "That is a fine weapon. Specifically those enchantments, they are strong… but foreign, I couldn't tell you what they are without having them actually be in use." 'Well, at least her mood brightened. I can see the gears in her head working as she is trying to figure this out.' "They didn't hold back on the gems, either. That would go for a dozen large sacks of gold, if you could find someone willing to shell that much out for it."

Azura gives it a few test swings, "It's perfect, gods, I really wish they would show up, I have so much to thank them for now." She looks it over, a small smile on her face. Then she goes to place it on her back, before seeming to remember she doesn't have a spot to put it on… but the lance leaves her grip and just hangs there, suspended in mid-air. "Um…"

'Well then' , "Let's get going…" I say in an attempt to move past the awkwardness of Azura repeating the process of 'unsheathing' and 'sheathing' the lance, with this amazed look on her face. I hear Elise giggling. We continue moving and Phoenix has taken an immediate interest in Azura's new weapon, offering to examine it for her.

As we march, I move over to Selena, who is currently the only one spaced out from the rest, "Hey, Selena…"

"Lady Yasei..." She replies, a frown as she looks away.

'Topics, topics…' "Would you like to spar when we camp for the night?"

She turns to face me, a confident smirk gracing her face, "You're on."

"Oof…" I grunt as the red-haired retainer floors me for second time. 'Gods, this woman is no joke…' The tally is one to two, in her favor and I am certain the only reason I got that first round is because she has never fought someone with my style before. 'Well… I have been skimping on my training as well.'

"Getting better." She comments as I get up again, then she assumes her stance once more. 'Well, I'm not tired right now, so if she wants another round…' I take my own stance, "Round four."

She charges and I deflect the first blow with the wooden sword that is beginning to protest its continued use. I counter with a strike of my own, landing a hit on her, before following up with another, which she dodges. Selena hits me with enough force to stagger and attempts another strike that I block shakily, a third strike comes and I am once again off balance. 'Focus!' I deflect the fourth strike, nearly falling as I do so, and hit her with so forcefully that she is slides back in the dirt a few inches, I attempt another blow, which she attempts to block… and both blades give in as a result, leaving us with two broken wooden practice swords. "Huh…" 'I was not expecting that.' I take the brief moment to knock her to the ground and have my lance at her chest, "I win…!" I smirk.

I was about to retract it when she grabs the sides and tosses me to the ground, she is now on top with her foot on my chest. 'Godsdamnit.' She has that cocky smile on her face. "Nice try. Three to one."

"My poor, dear Yasei..." Camilla says as she walks up to us, "You have been skimping on your sword training, haven't you?"

Selena lifts her foot up and I get up from the dirt. "Lady Camilla…" She does a quick bow.

"Don't worry, sweet Selena, I'm here to collect Yasei." She smiles, "Feel free to spend the night as you please." She turns to me and offers her hand, "I believe I owe you a massage, correct?"

I nod and grab her hand, "And I owe you some sister time." I giggle as she guides me towards her tent. "Hey, Camilla?"

"Hmm?" She hums as I lie down on her cot.

"How are you feeling? You know, about…" I trail off.

"I've made it clear to the Williams that they better hunt down each and every Kitsune, because when this war is over…" Somehow she can make a heated gaze, talk aggressively, but her hands are gentle as they massage my shoulders. "How are you feeling?" She asks after several moments.

"Wonderful…" A small moan escapes me and my face flushes.

"And… Keaton?" I can tell she didn't want to use his name.

"He is treating me well, big sister." It took a lot of willpower to not spit that out. "You all need to understand, I am happy with him."

She sighs, "I can see that now and I pray Xander will see the same." I gulp, 'I hope so, too.'