Sometime later, Chandler's team, Lola, Ronnie Anne, and Polly found themselves in the middle of the woods, sitting on tables as several wendigos served them tea.
"Not gonna lie, having a tea party with Wendigos is the last thing I expected from this trip," Lincoln remarked before turning to his teammates. "Why aren't you guys weirded out?"
"We've been through weirder stuff," Chandler answered calmly. "I, for example, was stuck replacing an Orc to act in a Monster Tournament."
"And I had to live a whole year with my magical rival inside me as a literal parasite," Eleanor added. "We left on good terms, all things considered."
"You've been through weirder stuff, got it," Lincoln said before sipping his tea. "Now the question is, how do we convince the queen to let us go? She and Lola clearly have some history, and I doubt they're gonna talk things down in a civil manner."
"I agree with you, but if that's the case," Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "Why are they allowed to sit in the same table?"
Lincoln spat out his tea, and turned around to see the Weredragon and the queen of the Wendigos were indeed sitting on the same table, exchanging stern looks at each other.
"So, it's been a very long time since we last met, Lindsay," Lola remarked before gaining a cocky smile. "How have you been doing? Have you managed to replace the little trinket I swiped from your dungeon?"
"I did, in fact, and sold it alongside the rest of the dungeon to a certain guild leader you might know," Lindsay smirked. "All with the condition to ban any dragons or weredragons from entering it, and you know what that means..."
Lola slammed her teacup down the table.
"YOU SNARLING LITTLE-"
Before she could finish, a pair of wendigos grabbed Lola's arms and pulled her back, the weredragon hissing fire as Lindsay chuckled and Lincoln quickly took her place.
"I'm very sorry for all of that," he said with a nervous chuckle. "Lola can be a bit... intense at times."
"Oh believe me, I know: this is far from the first time I've met her," Lindsay smiled. "If anything, I'm glad we got the banter out of the way so I could discuss things out with you, Lincoln."
Lincoln gulped as Chandler and Eleanor went to his side. "Me?"
"Yeah, Lola doesn't talk about you often, but when she does, she just doesn't shut up," Lindsay smirked while staring at the blushing weredragon. "Going on about how strong you are for standing firm despite being disowned, your prowess as a magic knight, how she wonder what your babies would look like."
"Please tell me she mentioned marriage beforehand," Eleanor sighed. "Please!"
Lindsay's smile vanished. "I don't think that's the most important part here."
"She's right, the important thing is to find a way to resolve this little problem without resorting to a bloodbath," Lincoln spoke, before turning to Ronnie Anne. "Do you wanna add anything before we start, Ronnie Anne?"
"Nah, keep me out of this. Honestly, neither my family nor I really care about yours," Ronnie Anne answered. "You do have royal blood, but it's heavily diluted. And the attitude taken by some of your former family members doesn't help matters. Like Lori: even I have to admit she's an insufferable control freak. And the less we talk about Lola, the better."
"Okay..." Lincoln paused before turning back to the Wendigo. "Is there anything we can give you to convince you to let us continue on our way to the Great Lakes Kingdom, just this time?"
Lindsay hummed and scratched her chin. "You three are a new guild, aren't you?"
"Nah, we're more like a group of mercenaries," Chandler explained. "We haven't actually joined or formed a guild yet."
"Excellent, because I hate guilds," Lindsay stated with a nonchalant smile. "Not to diss them or undermine the Guild System as a whole, but many of my kind have been hurt by it, and in general, I'd just rather not deal with them being anywhere near my kind. So, consider yourselves lucky."
Lindsay put her teacup down and leaned closer to Lincoln. "Now, as for what you can do for me, there is one thing I need to request your assistance with. See, as the leader of the Wendigos, I'm in charge of seeing which Wendigos are ready to go out on their own and develop into their own people."
Ronnie Anne turned to Polly Pain. "Is that true?"
"It was for me," was all Polly Pain said in response. "However, sometimes, a Wendigo appears that is too fragile to be left on their own, so they need to be accompanied by a helper, and that's when the leader of the Wendigos must go out and find someone to take care of said Wendigo."
"Luckily, rather than having to go out and find someone on my own," Lindsay lowered her eyelids. "Three people came to me instead."
Lincoln, Chandler, and Eleanor exchanged looks as Lola exclaimed, "Wait a minute, you're not asking them to look after one of your Wendigos, right?! Sure, some of them can be docile, but they can be real dangerous when they're young!"
"You picked them to be your babysitters," Lindsay pointed out.
"BODYGUARDS!"
"If they can deal with you, then they can certainly deal with a Wendigo," Lindsay smiled cockily. "Plus, their only other option is to be sent kicking with their tails tucked between their legs. They don't have much room to refute me, if any."
Lincoln took a deep breath. "Fine, we get it. Where's this Wendigo you want us to look after?"
Lindsay snapped her fingers, and a small Wendigo that resembled an icy mist pony, who eventually morphed into her true form: a small girl with black hair in a braided ponytail and grey dress.
"This is Meli Ramos, a young Wendigo who has just reached the age of 13, the age at which a Wendigo is meant to go out on their own. However, she's weaker than the average Wendigo, and her physical attributes leave a lot to be desired. I want you to let her join your team, and train her until she becomes strong enough to stand on her own hind legs. Agree to do this, and I'll allow you to continue on your journey to Great Lakes Kingdom with no fuss."
Hearing this proposition, Chandler and Lincoln exchanged looks before backing away and reuniting.
"What do you think?"
"She said it herself: she'll kick us out if we reject the offer, so we have no other choice but to do what she wants until we reach the kingdom," Chandler scratched his chin. "Of course, we could always just find another way to get to the kingdom-"
"I wouldn't recommend that."
The boys gasped before turning around to see Ronnie Anne standing nearby, serious expression and all.
"My family doesn't like being kept waiting, and if Lola's involved, they'll want to get this over with as quickly as possible. The longer we take to get there, the more annoyed they'll become, and they'll make sure to deliver their complaints to the Loud family."
Lincoln winced at the statement, knowing the dire consequences that could befall should that event come to pass. And so, he sighed as Chandler said:
"Well, we seem to have made a choice, but before that I wanna know what-"
Then he turned around and saw Eleanor was nowhere to be seen. "Eleanor thinks?"
Another turn later, Eleanor was spotted patting Meli's head, the younger girl smiling with a little blush as she did.
"She's so tiny and looks so delicate," Eleanor remarked while petting Meli's head. "It's like the little sister I never got!"
"I'm going to ignore the obvious question of whether an Elf-Wendigo hybrid could be created," Lindsay smiled. "And instead assume you're going to agree to my request?"
"Yes!" Eleanor answered without hesitation.
Lincoln and Chandler winced, but eventually decided to nod in agreement. And Ronnie Anne did the same, if only for fun.
"Good, in that case, I'll leave her in your care," Lindsay stated before facing the younger Wendigo. "Meli, this group will be your caretakers from now on. Listen to them and pay attention to what they tell you, alright?"
"S-sure," Meli answered with a soft voice.
"And if they do anything funny, don't hesitate to let me know."
Lindsay shot a cold, glowing glare at the team, hissing:
"I'll make sure to freeze and shatter their very souls."
The team gulped, and Meli nodded in agreement before she ran to Eleanor's side and hugged her sleeve.
"Well, looks like this little issue has been resolved," Polly Pain stated as she stood up. "And if that's the case, then there's only one thing left to do."
Lincoln nodded and raised his fist as everybody declared:
"To the Great Lakes Kingdom!"