She came from the sun

Descending the clouds

With hair that was spun

-From gold-


"So Blondie, where are we heading?" Laxus asked as they ascended a mountain peak on the farthest reach of Fiore, close to Bosco. The area was mountainous and tropical, but calm and required climbing skills that some of the Raijinshuu didn't necessarily have.

Lucy, who was holding onto a rock ledge, looked down at them. The setting sun was still beating down on them, causing her tan shirt to stick to her skin uncomfortably; droplets of sweat ran down her sun kissed face.

"There's an indigenous tribe just over this lip, it'll be a good place to stop for the night." Lucy replied, moving her foot into another hold as she pushed herself upwards, grabbing ahold of another little ledge.

"And they'll just let us in?" Gajeel asked, trying to focus on climbing and not the glorious ass in front of him.

"Luckily, I've stopped here before and the village knows me," She smirked and looked down at them. "Otherwise, we wouldn't even be climbing this rock face now."

Cobra snorted in surprise as images flashed through his mind.

"What do you mean, we wouldn't be here!?" Evergreen asked, clearly tired from the climb and the sun.

Cobra leered darkly. "The tribe is magical. They apparently specialize in stealth magic and they're good too. They've been watching us since we began." The group, bar Lucy and Cobra, looked around, confused when they didn't see anything.

"Abaphambukayo baya kufa ngenxa yesizwe sakwa-Ashanti!" A deep voice called to them from above; the words followed with tongue clicks and a threatening sense to it. It was followed by bird crees and loud huffing sounds all in agreement to the speaker.

The group looked around them worried and anxious; they still couldn't see anybody and from the tone of voice of the speaker, they were not pleased with the group.

Lucy glanced at them before smiling bemused. She turned and faced upward and called out, "Ukuba ngcono kungabi yingozi, Myndys! Ndiyazi ukuba undibona!" Chitters and howls of laughter came after her, leaving her entourage feeling both left out and confused.

"That's a dialect of Sevenian is it not, Miss. Lucy?" Freed asked, trying to decipher the language she spoke and spoke fluently.

Lucy nodded. "We're at a three way essentially. Bosco to our right, Seven to out left and Fiore behind us. The Ashanti tribe is a 'crossbreed', for a lack of a better word- they have a mixed Sevenian dialect." She answered quickly, trying to listen to the tribe talking.

"Ndandihleka, Lucy, ndololile kwaye ndize ndivele! Ndifunga, uhamba kancane kunomakhulu," Myndys replied and something shifted in the air; the silhouette of a long body appeared at the top of the ledge, a spear in hand.

"Oh, I'm so kicking his ass." Lucy muttered as she began climbing with renewed energy. The rest followed after her, trying to keep up with her impressive pace.

When they reached the top, they saw a rather large group made up tall, barely clad people. They had extremely dark skin, almost the color of the night sky, cropped curled hair that was either in a colorful wrap or headdress or simply uncovered. They all bore marks made of white clay and scars littered their bodies. The women wore multiple beaded necklaces that decorated their bodies, their skirts were made of colorful silks and tan hides of animals, their breasts bare. The men had loincloths and also wore necklaces made mainly of bone and held spears as long as their bodies tipped with a variety of materials. They busied around their camp, getting ready for dinner and settling down for the night.

Lucy grinned when she saw them, letting out a crow of delight as she tackled the nearest man to the ground; he was young, but almost as tall as Laxus- which was a feat all in it's own- with a body full of lean tone muscle. Lucy had him in a headlock with her legs wrapped around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides.

"I'm slow, eh, Myndys? Who's slow now?" Lucy grunted, grinning wolfishly at the young man.

"Alright, alright, I give, I give!" Myndys replied, his voice rich and smooth and musical. Lucy laughed and let him up, accepting his hand when he offered. They embraced briefly, smiling at each other.

Looping an arm around her shoulder, Myndys turned to her group, eyeing them curiously.

"You brought people with you this time, eh?" He asked, nodding his head towards the group.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "These are my former guild mates. The Raijinshuu-Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow,"

"You have dragons as well?" Myndys questioned, looking over the last three mages with curiosity.

"Dragon Slayers," Lucy replied. "This is Laxus Dreyar, Lightning Dragon Slayer, Cobra, Poison Dragon Slayer, and Gajeel Redfox, Iron Dragon Slayer." Myndys nodded at them, excited at the prospect of meeting a dragon slayer.

"And who's this, Cosplayer." Bickslow asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Myndys stepped forward and crossed his right arm over his chest and bowed slightly at them, keeping eye contact with them as he bowed.

"My born name is Myndys, of the Ashanti tribe, but my mage name is Pharos." He introduced, standing back up straight.

Freed frowned in thought. "Mage name?"

Lucy smiled softly. "The Ashanti tribe is…. special. They're one of the most unique mage clans I've come across. Their born name is the name their parents gift them with, but their Mage name is the name the Matrem of the tribe gives them. The Ashantis are skinwalkers and are able to shape change into the animal that best represents them as a whole." She looked at Myndys and practically beamed. "Myndys here is a Roc, one of the biggest raptors in Earthland."

"That's a rare magic to have and even more rare for it to be so specialized in a tribe." Evergreen commented.

"How does shape changing have anything to do with stealth magic?" Gajeel asked, glowering at Myndys as the boy put his arm around Lucy's shoulder again.

Myndys opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, one of the tribesmen called over to him, saying something in their language that nobody but Lucy and Myndys could understand. The boy shouted something back and turned to the group.

"Dinner is ready, how about I answer you questions during the meal?"


She shrouds

The Earth in her glorious sight,

There is a certain might

A bite

That comes from being near

Something too hot.


"So, Lucy, how come you never told us you could speak Sevenian?" Evergreen asked, as she dug into some sort of mashed tubular and vegetables. It was frankly delicious and filling.

Lucy, who had taken a bit of goat meat, hummed and tapped her fork against her lips. "I speak several languages, Evergreen. All three dialects of Sevenian, the eight dialects of Bosco, two dialects of Ocari, the language of Iscaris- which is mainly spoken in Stellar, I also know about four dead languages, including Leolus and Tetranos. I'm proficient enough in a couple more though." She looked at them and almost chuckled at their expressions.

Freed was especially godsmaked. "You know more languages than Levy and I combined."

Lucy smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. "My father made sure I knew the languages of the people we were doing business with. You guys forget, I'm an heiress, which means I grew up having tutors that taught me the basics of what I know about Earthland. The languages, the cultures, the places and the lifestyles of every continent. It was drilled into my head continuously."

"That's kinda amazing and depressing at the same time." Bickslow commented.

Cobra snorted. "You don't even know the half of it." He said, shaking his head as he took a drink of the liquor the tribe had made. It was spiced and had a wicked kick at the end, almost like someone had taben spiced wine and mixed it with tequila. Cobra loved it.

"How"d you even find the Ashantis anyway, Bunny?" Gajeel rumbled out, wiping his meat greased fingers on his pants.

Lucy swallowed her mouthful of food and said, "They actually found me. Apparently, one should not go three days without water and I was going on five."

Laxus raised an eyebrow. "What about your spirits?"

Lucy grimaced. "This was during a period of time where I wasn't calling them out and blocking the ones who could use their own magic to open their gates from coming out. I wanted to grieve alone, so I was alone and I regret being alone at that time cause I almost died several times."

"And they essentially saved you?" Freed asked, his tone light and inquiring. Lucy nodded.

"They did, it was during my first year after the war. I ran out of water and food and was one my way to Bosco. I ended up collapsing one of the Ashantis camping grounds and the Matrem found me and healed me. They took me in and let me stay." Lucy set her bowl to the side and finished her drink, letting the alcohol warm her from the inside out.

"It was nice, calm, you know. Travelling with them helped me a lot, it also showed me what a family could look like." Lucy stared into the large fire the tribe had going in the middle of camp.

The group has silent, the conversation trailing off into companionable silence. Gajeel shifted closer to Lucy watching how the fire lit up her golden hair and shadows danced across her skin, out of the corner of his eye. Cobra hid a smirk at the sight and snorted softly at the sound of Gajeel's soul. He, himself, was fairly attracted to Lucy, mainly her wittiness and soothing soul, but it was a passing attraction; his dragon happened to be purring for a beauty of a different gender.

Suddenly, the sound of music brought everyone out of their reverie and they looked around at the Ashantis as they parted to make way for a small, old woman. She was stooped over, beaded necklaces clinking together as she walked, leaning on a tall, gnarled staff. Her skirt and shall were a dark, rich indigo and her body and face were covered in runic markings made with white clay. She had a tall, feathered headdress with antlers attached on either side of her head.

She stopped in front of the fire and in front of Lucy and her group. She looked over them, thoughtful, and began to speak:

"Namuhla usuku lokugubha! ingane yethu, Lucy, ibuyele emuva, intsha yethu emihlanu ijoyine ama-Ashanti Warriors futhi uNdodanakazi usisibusise ngedili elikhulu! Asidumise futhi sihlabelele ekugubheni nasekudumiseni!" The old woman lifted her staff and the people around her jeered and howled in excitement as the music picked up and people began dancing around the fire.

"What did she say?" Laxus asked, watching as the tribesmen and women threw their limbs around in an intricate looking dance.

"They're celebrating. They had a good feast and gained new warriors." Lucy answered, clapping along with the beat of the drums. Gajeel looked over to her.

"She said you name too." He said to her quietly.

She met his eyes and smiled softly. "They're also celebrating my return, kind of like the guild does when one of their own comes back."

Gajeel frowned at her melancholic tone, but before he could say anything, one of the women pulled Lucy to her feet; the blond just laughed and followed, dancing just as gracefully as the tribes people. Soon, the others were also pulled into the dance, stumbling after their leads as they tried to learn the dance. Gajeel couldn't help but stare at Lucy from where he was reclining on the ground; she looked wild, her chest heaving, her limbs curving and hips thrusting, her head thrown back in laughter or elation. She was beautiful.


The heat, the warmth, the brightness of she,

Aught to warm you, remind you...

That even though she is of a beautiful hue,

She came from the Sun,

Leave her be,

And do not pursue.


*Tresspassers shall die by order of the Ashanti clan! (Or something like that)

**You better not be threatening me, Myndys! I know you can see me.

***Tonight is a night of celebration! One of our own, Lucy, has returned, five young men join the rank of an Ashanti Warrior, and our goddess has blessed us with a bountiful/pleantiful feast! Let us dance and praise our thanks! (Or something like that)

The Ashanti tribe is based off of several African tribes and some Native American tribes. I always love learning about new cultures and things and have been researching Africa as of late. The languages spoken were mostly Zulu, but I believe that Xhosa is also thrown in there.

Anyway, now we are starting our main arc. I know it seems kinda weird switching abruptly from 'Lucy at the guild' to 'Lucy traveling' but I'll have some flashbacks and explanations as we go along. I really, really wanted this chapter to happen as soon as it could, to give insight on what Lucy did on those three years she was gone.