Cearbhail:

This chapter took a while. It was a private session between me and one person. So, everyone else did not get involved until the next session.

Oh... and enjoy. =^^=

[Sebastian]

Dead father,

You have likely heard of my leaving Elder Gleam Forest. I am sorry I had to leave, but know that I have taken your words to heart. My fox fire burns with the passion of helping others, and it is for this reason that I have joined the company of an Elf, a Human, a Cat-Folk Rakastan, a Moon Elf, and… well… a gnome. I know the gnome thing will arch a few eyebrows back home, for my hatred of their invasion of our territory has burned within me an intense hatred of their kind. So, for me to join this group of ragtag adventurers, you know I would have had a good reason.

This group of adventurers were set upon moving through Elder Gleam to get to our northern neighbors, the Damarans. They needed a guide, and I was happy to come with them, show them to the nearest exit, but… then I decided to leave with them. Your words of strangers being friends hiding in the mists of obscurity have landed inside my fire, and it is for this reason I have joined this group. They want to restore our northern neighbors to a more… peaceful reign. I am no fool, I know this is an army, and I know this army will be invading Damara, possibly killing hundreds of people, people ordered to do good and bad things. And maybe some innocent people may end up in the middle of this war, but I have seen the other side of the conflict. I have seen what this Illuskan/Damaran reign would bring if left unchallenged. The new Damaran leaders have put kill lists on mages and all beings born of magic. That would put Elder Gleam Forest on their target list. I was right about the Illuskans. They were not at our borders for peaceful talks and tips of tea. They were there for our blood.

I am sorry I had to say it like that. I do not want bad blood between us. And I do hope you are doing well, father. But, I will be staying with these people for a while longer. I hope to learn more about the world so that when I return I will have a fuller picture of what to prepare our borders for. Who our allies are, and who our enemies are. I do not know if this group I'm with are the good guys yet, but I have witnessed a silver dragon assisting us in defending helpless mage kids against a Damaran Templar army. A Damaran Templar army sporting Illuskan battle flags and armor color.

This very well may be the place of my true calling. I will continue to stay here and see how I can assist from here on out. I will report what I learn back to you regularly, and I do hope you will return these letters back to me. Having had time to meet the soldiers living here at the base we'll be staying at: Fort Sun Blood, I have made some new exciting friends. Like the Tabaxi rogue that is in the New Star Delivery Guild. He's the reason you'll be getting this letter. He has an ability to talk to animals and has befriended several delivery hawks. So, if you want to give him a letter to return, please do so before dismissing the hawk. This is the normal procedure, and we have our own hawks that can deliver letters too so I'm not too worried.

There are also a few soldiers here that have created a game world that involves dice, a rolled out map, and these cute little carved figures. It's led by a Gray Dwarf named Saylor. He's the GM, that's Dwarf speak for Game Master. Hehe… Dwarves have a funny language.

Anyway, father. I just wanted you to know my reasons for leaving and for you to know that I am doing well. I hope all is well in Kinohi.

Sebastian Jr.

…

This place was amazing. Buildings made out of stone blocks. Walls that reached near 12 meters high. Towers that reached pretty high too. The only thing that seemed odd was the building that looked like it was made in a few days' time. Like a bunch of children tried to build a hut with twigs and leaves instead of bamboo. Also with no knowledge of how to build a proper standing structure. This building was in the corner of the walled castle. It looked like it suffered some kind of explosion some time ago. The scarring on the walls was still stained with magickal residue. There was also a lot of debris in the grass and dirt. I had to admit, I never thought I'd see stuff like this. Our buildings, even the more advanced ones were made from bamboo and mud. We didn't really need much more than that.

I was currently sitting in the keep's cafeteria, at least that's what they called it. It was a place where everyone came to eat their food. The room was decently sized, I'll give it that. Big enough to house 30 people or so. I was sitting here, writing the letter I was going to send off to my father. Sitting across from me was a happy-looking Tabaxi. His name was Ranaka. And he was waiting for me to finish writing my letter so that he could send it off to my father for me. He had a carrier hawk that could send my letter along. He sat there, patiently watch me as I wrote my letter. His tail was lightly flicking, which I still did not understand. And his eyes had this… intensity in them as he watched me. I know how to socialize with my own race… but this Tabaxi… I have no social understanding of how they interact with each other. Not their common language, not their emotional cues… nothing. And him sitting there, hand resting on his cheek, his eyes wide and alert. I could see my own reflection in his eyes. I couldn't say I could do the same with any of my race.

As I finished up my letter, I handed it off to Ranaka, the snow leopard-furred Tabaxi. His hands were covered in fluffy white fur. Amazing. So clean looking. You can tell his people evolved to live in the icy fields of the Damaran north. He looked more than happy to take my letter, bowing his head to me. "Right, follow me." Ranaka pushed off the table, quickly walking away, his tail flicking as he waved back at me to follow him. I was quick to get away from the table and race after him.

As Ranaka led me through the halls of the prison fortress this small army had claimed for their own, he wrapped my letter up, placing it inside a small vial. "I'll just get Peppercorn loaded up and then, we'll send him on his way. I'm sure if you were to place an illusion inside Peppercorn's brain, he'll better know exactly where to fly to get to your family's house. I mean… I heard that you Kitsune were good with Illusion magick. Was I right? I don't want to come off as racist."

That brought a smile to my lips. "We do have Illusion magick. It's a racial evolution of ours. And… that's actually not a bad idea. Placing an Illusion inside your hawk's mind."

"I mean, I do it all the time. I'm an Arcane Trickster. But, I've never been to Elder Gleam before so I wouldn't know what to do with the location. And I won't bother you for all those details when I know you Kitsune are… pretty hush-hush on all that map sharing information."

Yeah… speaking of which. Kara and I had something to talk about. She got that map from somewhere in that gnome village. They have a map of our forest. And I want that person to tell me how they managed to create it. Whenever Kara wakes up, I will find out. We've been here for a day now and Kara's still out cold. She had a lot of blood lose and I hear she fell into the freezing lake. There's another person who's not doing too well right now. The Tiefling Kara traveled with. He's getting used to not having a right arm. Until we can find out how to miraculously create a new arm out of nowhere, he's pretty much left with only his left arm. This base has an Artificer by the name Vala Hornraven. She's an Illuskan. She's currently working on making some kind of mechanical arm for the Tiefling Blade. I could see the Tiefling resting in a chair, trying his best to a bowl of noodles with his left arm, getting frustrated that he couldn't get the fork do twist how he wanted it to.

I felt sorry for the kid. He had a lot of supportive people swarming him all day today though, so I don't feel too bad for him. I did want to have a sit down with him in the future and see what I can learn about Tieflings though.

Ranaka and I passed by the next room, where Kara continued to rest. She was being watched over 2 clerics. She wasn't the only one resting in the medical ward, but she was the one that needed the most urgent help. She got a small healing dose when we popped out of the teleportation portal by the Shifter girl Yuki, just enough to keep her alive. Blade got the same treatment. And from there, it was just getting all of us to the new fort without incident. And we arrived with little problem. Well, we were met at the gate with armed troops, but one look at our elven and cat-folk friends, they cautiously let us into the base. When they saw Kara, everyone in the base went on full alert, locking us all in a holding cell for interrogations while they tended to their 'leader.' I knew Kara was leading people, but I didn't know she was leading almost 40 people. That's impressive. The whole army here was almost as big as two of my nation's towns.

As the two of us left the entire prison exterior, we came to the open field. A large golden dragon rested off in a nearby corner. He looked moderately bored as he watched Raven pace around him. She was having a conversation with our Sun Elf Erwin Dristole. She looked completely enamored with the dragon, and the dragon looked slightly amused to being regarded so pleasantly. Reading auras is kind of my thing, so I can tell the dragon, while looking cold and gruff, was having the time of his life right now.

Ranaka walked me up to a small enclosed cage. There was a small hawk's nesting filling the interior of the cage, and three hawks all enjoying the day's supply of hunted shrews that found their way into the castle's newly reconstructed kitchen. One of the hawks was tearing into the head of one such shrew.

"Hey, Peppercorn." Ranaka cooed to one of the blue-winged hawks. "Who's a strong sky raven?" He bent down, scratching the neck of the hawk.

The hawk playfully pecked at Ranaka's hand before jumping up onto his arm.

"There's a good boy. Got you a mission. Interested?" Ranaka slipped the letter satchel on the back of the hawk. Ranaka turned to look back at me. "Peppercorn is ready. Give him your illusionary instructions."

I walked up to the hawk, placing my fingers on his head. I gave the hawk a minor illusion granting him the location of my village. He knew where to rest his wings, plenty of places in Kinohi to get a lovely meal and a lasting rest. Our own hawk trainers would pamper a blue-winged hawk. I'm sure Peppercorn would be overfilled for this long journey.

"This will be a two-day flight, Peppercorn. Take plenty of breaks, drink plenty of water. You know the rest stations for Delivery Hawks. Don't forget to get your fill. Understand?" Ranaka petted the side of his hawk.

The hawk trilled as he spread his wings out, taking off as Ranaka pushed him off into the sky.

"Get back as soon as you can, Peppy! I'll miss you!" Ranaka screamed after his departing hawk. Ranaka stood there, watching his hawk take off to the sky. And then he sighed, turning to look back at me. "I'm never going to see that hawk again, I can already tell." He clapped his hands off as he turned to the younger orange-winged falcon. "Well, time to get Firewing trained." He turned to address me. "Nice talking to you, but I'm going to be busy training my replacement hawk."

I actually didn't have much that I needed to do so I bent down to watch Ranaka do his thing. "You know… I can work illusions. I can just give the hawks all the information you need."

"Thanks, but no thanks. The Black Star Delivery Guild tried the fast enchantment process before, and it works all well and good, but once that illusion shatters… the hawks go back to being feral creatures. It's best to get them trained just in case illusion magic doesn't hold. I allowed you to get Peppercorn enchanted because it's a location enchantment. That's all fine and good. Should hold for two days, and it won't affect cognitive functions. Peppercorn knows where he's going and will take proper amounts of rest. I'm okay with that. And if he returns, then great. If he suddenly realizes that he'd be better off sniping mice in the woods of your homeland… well, that's just about what I expect. I trust Peppercorn will return. I've raised him from hatching. I'm pretty much his father, but… every so often, hawks decide to quit their delivery jobs. Now, owls on the other hand… they never quit."

"Are owls…"

"Really hard to come by in Damara." Ranaka seemed to have read my mind. He looked over his shoulder back to me, a smile stretching across his face. "A breeding farm started in Illuska's capital, but there aren't any owls in Damara. Too cold for them, I think. Or it's the lack of mice for them to eat." The Tabaxi turned his attention to the hawk cage. He reached into a pouch he carried on his side. He pulled out a small rodent out of his pouch, tossing it into the hawk's cage. The hawk jumped from his perch, diving on the rodent. I watched as the hawk ripped the shrew to pieces.

"You just… carry shrews on you at all times?" I looked back to the Tabaxi. He was a cat-person. I'm guessing he likes to snack from time to time. But… asking that… I know how it can sound when asking someone what their dietary needs are when comparing them to the animal they portray. I'm a fox-folk and I don't go around eating mice… well, not living mice. Well… never all the time. I'd have to be starving to consider that option. I'm civilized enough to not eat living animals.

The Tabaxi snickered at my comment, gesturing to the bag on his hips. "Bag of Rats. Our town asked one of the nearby Mage Towers to grant us with a portable farm. The inside of this bag has a large astral farm, filled with plants that magically grow themselves. Enough food for a small nest of rats. Now, I can't grab like 20 of them a day or something like that or I will deplete the population's ability to reproduce, but rats are easy to repopulate. A female rat can reach sexual maturity in about 2 months' time, pregnancy takes only three weeks, and a single female can pop out anywhere from 3 to 6 rats. So, one rat, in the span of one month can grant us about 4 or 5 rats, which in two months will be doing the same thing. It was a hard wait for my starving village to wait for our 20 rats to spring out 200 within the first two months, but once we had a single bag filled with 200 rats, we started a breeding farm of our own. The bag was no longer required, so I carry it with me. It's connected to several other bags that the village holds onto just in case the worst should happen. We sometimes have to vacate our village due to… well I'm sure you know why. A mobile bag of food is essential for our survival. Other villages are doing the same." Ranaka gave me a knowing look. "Surprised to hear me tell you that I eat rats?"

I shook my head. "I mean… if I had to eat a rat to survive… I would."

"Living or cooked?" Ranaka tried his best to hide his cracking laugh.

"Both?"

"Ever eat one alive?" Ranaka walked up to me, giving me a questioning look.

"Um… I mean… I was a child… and you know that children are curious.."

"And then… that smell. That haunting scent, making your mouth water.." Ranaka stepped closer to me. "And you feel that… gnaw in your stomach, the grind of your fangs. The saliva pooling in your mouth. And you think… just one bite. Just one. It won't hurt. It's discovery. It's learning. And then… chomp!" Ranaka squeezed his hand tight. "You bite into the tiny creature. You hear it squeal. You feel it squirm. And it… it does something to you. You feel stronger, sharper. Like you're doing what you're meant to be doing. And over top of that amazing feeling, a feeling of guilt… shame. A knowing that you're not some monster… some dumb animal. You're advanced, and if you ever showed this side of yourself to anyone outside your tribe… or even some people inside your tribe, that you will be treated as a monster in return. People will avoid you, keep space from you. Because, they fear that you will bite them, eat them, just as you would a small defenseless animal. And for a hunter of our build… man-sized, that challenge of hunting something as strong as you… it's real. It's a real treat." Ranaka looked me up and down. "And you wonder… if you just…"

I felt a shove on my shoulders, and I was suddenly falling on my tail. Ranaka fell down on top of me, straddling on top of me as he took my hips with his thighs. Standard martial art move. He was controlling my center. If he was planning on combatting me, he would have some issues. While he had the dominant position, I knew how to reverse this stance, get my legs wrapped around his back, and take control back. I began to warm up my spells, but… something caused me to stop. Curiosity, I think. His eyes were more playful than combative.

Ranaka glared at me, a smile growing on his lips. He bent down, placing a hand on my face, rubbing my fur. "To conquer one such as you… excites me in ways I haven't felt before." His fluffy tail was flicking madly. His voice was shaky. His eyes were burning into me. And I could smell something. It was… I'm not sure. But the scent was strong. And it made my mouth water.

Ranaka seemed to see something that made his smile thicken. He placed a hand on the back of my neck. And then he started to bend forward, pulling my neck up as he started to meet me face-to-face.

"Ah-hmm." I heard just loud enough to draw my attention away from the excited cat-folk leaning closer to my face.

We both tore our eyes away long enough to see the older man that was in control of the base. He stood just a meter away from us. His expression was amused, but stern. "If you would look to your left…" The old man gestured to my other side.

I looked where the old man was pointing. Watching Ranaka and I were a few of the children mages that we rescued. Their faces were flushed red, and they were watching us as if they were seeing something embarrassing.

Then it hit me. Ranaka was straddling me. He had my head inches away from his. Anyone else would believe that we were about to become intimate. I knew better. Ranaka was trying to wrestle me. I just knew it. He was controlling my center, keeping my hips pinned with his thighs, and keeping my neck locked in his hand while he leaned forward, pressing his chest against mine. This was a domination battle between two beast-folk, not a make-out session.

Ranaka was quick to get off me, laughing as he walked away. "Well, back to training my hawk."

The old man snickered. "If you two want to spend time together, there's a private room in the northern watch tower."

Ranaka shook his head. "Nope. Training hawk."

I started to pick myself up, brushing the dirt off my robes as I stood up. "No worries. We were just fighting for dominance."

The old man laughed. "I'm sure you're the sub." He slammed his hand on my back. "Anyway. I wanted to talk to you. Follow me."

This old man was the chief of this clan, I could tell. If this was an army, he was their general. I guess I needed to follow his orders since I did join this army. I got the gist of what this army was trying to do when Kara explained it to me, but that was just for helping the mages. I guess I was about to get a deeper look into whatever was going on. Or at least, I could get a deeper look if I started asking questions.

I followed behind the old man as he started leading me into the quickly repaired tower room. Up close, I could see just how rushed the repair job was. You could see rock blocks stacked on top of each other without that smoother rocky gel that binds the two other stone blocks together. Honestly, I'm pretty scared of going inside the nearly fallen tower.

"What happened here?" I asked aloud, and I guess the leader of this army thought I was asking an actual question.

The old man stopped by the door leading into the tower and turned to look at me. "An Arch Paladin of Illuska was holding me captive here. He turned into a Death Knight and was planning on going to war with Illuska. He wanted to use me to help fight his war. I wanted to help, but his methods were… too extreme for me. He wanted to slaughter the army and raise their corpses as zombies to overrun the capital. The only way he saw himself defeating the Paladin Commander was to turn the whole town of Illium into zombies and use them to overthrow the government. I didn't want to win like that. And at the time I didn't have any standing issues with Illuska.

"Anyway, you asked about what happened to this tower. Megumin happened. You haven't met her yet. I was escaping prison with the elf Erwin and the cat-folk Kurohana when I decided that I was going to stop Spencer before he could act on his plan. The other two accompanied me. Well, when we fought Spencer, he summoned a whole legion of undead to fight us and my daughter's army that had invaded the fort. Kara was starting to lose the battle from what she reported to me so she asked Megumin to attack the source of the sudden zombies. Megumin is a wild mage. She has a special power. Her special power is Explosion. That is a very powerful spell that can obliterate whatever it hits. She hit the tower. She also hit Spencer. And I… I saved myself, Erwin, and Kurohana by raising a protective Shield last second. The Explosion spell decimated the tower, killed Spencer, and leveled the zombie army. We started to rebuild the tower. This is the current result."

The old man nodded to me before opening the door. "Please, if you don't mind." He waved me through the door.

I bowed to him as I walked into the room. It was a small armory. The armory looked pretty full of swords, bows, arrows. A Damaran person dressed in a pastel colored outfit was busy sharpening a batch of swords. Their pastel-colored blacksmith apron was darkened by the amount of charcoal smudging building up on it. The Damaran nodded to me as they continued to work on the sword.

"And that would be Tana. They are our blacksmith currently. They have been melting down the armor of the Illuskans were wearing and have been preparing more swords, shields, and arrows for us." The old man gestured to himself. "And I'm Ignor Mei Kulenov. I'm the father of Kara, whom you have already met. I'm an Arch Paladin of Damara. Or… was. I'm not sure how much my daughter told you about us yet, and I wanted to get a feel for what you know and what you're getting involved in."

General Kulenov gestured to a chair at a table for me to sit at. While I started to take my chair, he sat in the chair on the other side of the table. "So, I haven't been able to hear from my daughter what happened to her, so I have asked Erwin and Kurohana. And then I debriefed all of the Mage Tower survivors. And now, you're the only one I've yet to have a full conversation with. Honestly, I haven't spoken to you a lot because of what you are." General Kulenov waved his hand to me. "Kitsune, while not the enemies of Damara, are… tricksters. At least in our lore, they are. White-furred stalkers of the blizzard nights, waving their blue fire to lure children away from their homes into the frozen tundra to never be seen again."

I started to tense up, prepared to tell him how untrue that statement was, but as I started to open my mouth, General Kulenov waved at me to not bother, shaking his head. "I put little stock in the old tales told by even older men. But from what Erwin and Kurohana told me, that's exactly what you did to them as they passed through Elder Gleam Forest. I told my daughter such a journey was dangerous, but she insisted that her Kitsune friend assured her that your people were trustworthy, honorable. Well… are you?"

I nodded. "I was defending my home. We don't have anywhere else to go, and those woods are all we have. And so, we protect it as best we can. Foresters have already taken more than enough of our woods to build their homes, and we don't allow more of them to intrude into our land. You may not realize it, but Elder Gleam once spanned down to the mythic woods where the stories of the ancient elven kingdom once stood. But the white-skinned humans arrived with axes and tore the forest into two. Our Kitsune were welcome in elven kingdoms, but we didn't want to split up, so we ventured north, watching as our homes were demolished again, and again. Until we were trapped in what remains. And we refuse to lose a meter of what remains our land. The Gnomes that live just south of our border try once in a while maybe take a tree or two, and once they erect a house on our space, we make sure they understand their mistake. We burn it to the ground. Erwin and the others, I thought they were invaders. They had a map of our region. They had a gnome. I could only assume the worst. You'll notice, everyone is still alive."

General Kulenov nodded. "Not to sound rude or ungrateful, but to me that sounds like you were mostly incompetent in your task."

"I placed the foreigners in a mental prison, an illusion of my making. The Elf druid seemed to figure it out rather quickly. And then Kara figured it out. I will not lie. I would have killed them all. The Treants would have killed Kara, Erwin, Kurohana, and the gnome. And I would have gone home to celebrate protecting my home with a glass of tea and a tiny cake."

General Kulenov nodded. "And meanwhile, the Mage Tower would have fallen to Damaran Paladins, children you've met and grown to like would have died, and to put the cherry on top, I would have lost my daughter to unforeseen circumstances, and I would have found a new enemy to engage with." General Kulenov leaned forward. "I would have personally come to find out what happened to my daughter. And your head… and whoever got in my way, would find themselves placed on pikes to be sent back to your leader before I arrived to explain my situation. And I'm sure there would be a war. And I'm sure one of us, myself or your kingdom's leader, would be dead."

Honestly, I hadn't thought of that. I sighed as I sat forward, looking General Kulenov in the eye. "Is this some kind of threat I'm not picking up on?"

General Kulenov snickered, leaning back. "Certainly sounds like one, but no. I'm relieved that you had not been able to follow through on your instincts. Or rather… I'm thrilled you were able to act on your instincts. You managed to figure out that my daughter and her friends were not hostiles. You not only saw to their travel through your confusing kingdom's pathways, saw to their arrival to the Mage Tower faster, but because of you, my daughter and those children are still alive. You have my gratitude. Add to the fact that you've stayed with us so far. I expected to see you leave once I heard from Erwin who you were and where you came from. So, I asked you back here to hear it from you. Why have you stayed?"

I reached over to a weapon rack, running my hand across one of the spears. "What a unique design. We don't really have steal weapons in my kingdom. Mostly bamboo bo staffs, tonfa, and training sticks. And our spears are just sharpened bamboo. Since we use mostly magick and fire to defend ourselves, we haven't had the need for steal weapons of mass war. You could say that I was curious about the world. I've never left the forest, let alone interact with any of the other races, other than the gnomes I drive from our land whenever they invade. Here I was, in my homeland, learning that Damara, a nation to our north, was taken over by a foreign power, and that there was a power struggle between several nations. And now I've learned that Illuska might be thinking of invading our borders as well? I have to travel, get some introspection, and learn of what's going on outside our village. Outside of our realm. We rarely leave because of the frost trolls to the north, the werewolves to the west, the gnomes to the south, and the dragons to the east. We're pretty well locked in our forest. We built a nice little prison for us. We know the Illuskans will never accept us. Their One True God, from what we've learned in the past, wants us to stop existing. Anything containing magick. And so, here I am, learning what I can about the world around us, and which parts are threats."

General Kulenov nodded. "And so, you've traveled here with us to learn about us then?"

I nodded. "Kara only explained so much. She formed a resistance to fight and take Damara back from some corrupt ruler. Erwin has some opinions on Illuska and how corrupt it is. He's also told me about his nation and how it was almost destroyed by a virus, and how he thinks Illuska might be linked to it. And then Kurohana has her opinions on Illuska and the destruction of her entire clan. I don't really know what to think, but I'm here to find out."

General Kulenov nodded. "The world has come to a dark place the past few years, that much is for certain. There's some information that Illuska may have been behind the fall of my nation, the fall of my army, and the reason I was betrayed in the battlefield. Add into what my daughter told me about what happened to Damara after my army's defeat and my capture. The old tsar replaced with a new one, the council families assassinated, Shou representatives murdered, and all magickal towers taken over, most of them annihilated. And then you add in what Erwin believes what is happening, and what Kurohana has told me about her village, and things seem to get worse and worse. And so, this army we're building serves two purposes. First: Secure Damara, overthrow the new tsar. And once we reestablish a new tsar, we turn our attention to Illuska. But before we can do that, we need to prove to ourselves that Illuska is in fact guilty of what we believe they're doing. We need proof that their government, their leaders, are willingly destroying families, overthrowing other governments, and murdering people they find to be abominations of their god. So, we're a scouting force as well. And someone like you, a trickster, one who can create illusions… and possibly read minds, I hope, can be of help to our cause."

I sat there in my chair. I knew why he wanted to talk to me. And it was almost exactly what I had expected. Not only did he want to recruit me formally into his army but he also wanted to gauge my abilities. "If I were to join you, I'm guessing you have squads formed up. Which group would I be placed with?"

"The Recon Squad Blue. Run by my daughter. Recon Squad Red is run by my son, who is currently doing recon on Stormwind, a town to the east of us. It's the last stop for any Illuskan armies before heading to the southern border with Shou."

"Southern Shou." I corrected General Kulenov.

General Kulenov nodded. "Yes, Southern Shou. At any rate, the town is central to the Illuskan effort, and we need to establish that our presence here will not be detected. If the town does not get a relief effort, they might come investigate this fort. It once belonged to an Arch Paladin running this fort. He turned into a Death Knight and had a plan to help me overthrow Damara and to take down Illuska, but you've already heard about that."

I nodded. "Yes, and that part kind of confuses me. If he was no longer an Arch Paladin, or whatever you call them, and he was preparing to go against Illuska, why hasn't someone from Illuska done anything to him yet?"

"His transformation was still very new. He looked mostly human, and he still commanded the entire fort as his. His troops agreed with his plans, or… or he brainwashed them. I couldn't tell honestly. His plan was to take Stormwind once he grew in strength. Overrun it with zombies and then use the corpses of that town to take Illium. Until then, he played along, sent troops to Stormwind to aid in the continued conquest. He was going to act in about a year's time. We took him down before he could become a credible threat."

So, it was more of a matter of time than anything. "The timing of everything." I shook my head. "There seems to be a storm building and it would seem that the flow of the river is pushing me in this direction." I stood up. "For now, until I learn otherwise where I'm needed, I believe this is where I need to be. Taichiro will direct me if stray too far from my path."

General Kulenov stood up. "Thank you… what was your name again?"

"Sebastian Koorikaze of Taiyomachi in the Kingdom of Kinohi." I replied. "So, what is our first mission?"

As General Kulenov was about to answer, there was a knock on the door leading out to the courtyard. There wasn't a wait as a Damaran male rushed the door. "Sir! Kara's awake."

General Kulenov nodded to the Damaran. "Thank you, Sergor." General Kulenov pushed out of his chair. "For now, get some rest. Make some friends. I will go see my daughter." General Kulenov gave me a small wink. "Perhaps go find Ranaka. Go find a private room and… continue that little contest of dominance you two were about to begin."

That ruffled my fur for some reason. And I couldn't tell why. People are treating a normal display of dominance so weirdly. It made me think of Erwin and Kurohana snuggling against each other and how they weren't even trying to communicate their feelings to each other. What odd people. Why can't people just use their words instead of making things weird? I got the feeling the General was treating a contest of dominance as something else and he wasn't telling me what he believed it was. Perhaps this is the real different between the animal races and human races. They just don't understand. Perhaps Kurohana will?

I followed out behind General Kulenov. If I was hoping to find Kurohana I was probably have to find a place she would like to visit. And then I spotted her. She was sitting by a garden, reading a book. I waved to her as I approached. I caught her attention and she placed the book down. "Sebastian. I'm surprised. What do you want?"

I joined her by the garden, taking a seat on a nearby rock. "I wish to speak to you about a contest of dominance."

Kurohana almost laughed. "A what?"

I shrugged. "You know, a contest of dominance. When two people engage in a contest of skill and strength to establish which on is stronger than the other."

"Ah-huh…" Kurohana's ears folded back. "And you're bringing up this… contest why?"

"Let's just say I met a Tabaxi and he… he tried to dominate me."

"Dominate you…" Kurohana almost purred. "How so?"

"Well, we were talking about animalistic desires. About eating rats and how satisfying it was to take something so small and force your will on it. To take it, dominate it. Make it squirm before you took its life away. He was asking me if I ever felt the thrill of eating a living animal."

Kurohana looked away. "Ah… yes. That feeling. That rush of… how to even explain it. Living. I would call it living."

"Exactly. We were talking about that. And then Ranaka pushed me down, got on top of me. Told me that he wanted the challenge of taking me. He seemed to think that taking me down would excite him. He obviously wanted to dominate me, show me that he was my superior. I was prepared to fight him. And then General Kulenov interrupted our match. And he seemed to think that the two of us needed a private room."

Kurohana looked away from me, her eyes wide. Her tail flicked and then she coughed into her hand. She slowly closed her book and stood up onto her feet. "Well… I didn't think my hour of relaxation would take this turn."

"I was just hoping that as a cat-folk you could explain if this was some kind of different culture thing I don't understand."

Kurohana's tail flicked more. "So… I'm guessing dominance battles are common?"

I nodded. "Mostly among children. To establish the rightful rule of the dominance of your peer group."

Kurohana nodded. "And you thought Ranaka was just establishing himself as your senior in your new peer group?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Exactly. Your people do that too, right?"

Kurohana shrugged. "I mean… not really. Other than our clan and small camps… we're pretty solitary. We don't like fighting each other. We like… grooming. Keeping each other clean, warm. Supportive stuff. I'm guessing Tabaxi are kind of like us. They seem to live in smaller clans like ours and from what I've heard from Cyna, their tribes are nomadic, kind of like ours. So, I'm guessing that domination battles are also unlikely. Now… it sounds like to me like…" Kurohana turned to look back at me. "It sounds like to me that… Ranaka… well. I think you should talk to Ranaka. See what he has to say. Me… this does not concern me. And now, I have to get back to reading this book. It's about the Arcane Trickster. I can learn more about doing stuff with magick."

Kurohana gave me plenty to think about. "Thanks, Kurohana. And just so you know, Kara's awake."

Kurohana nodded her thanks. "That's good to hear. I'm sure she'll be bombarded with people all welcoming her awake. I shall stay here where their scents will not overwhelm me."

"Excuse me, Kurohana?" A Gray Dwarf wearing a cat-ear headband walked up to her. "I've come from the border of Turami with a report of your village."

Kurohana stood up. "What is it, Saylor?"

Saylor handed Kurohana a piece of paper. "West of your village… a group of Templars were seen scouting ahead. I followed the group and found that there was a camp set up of Rakastans. The camp was overrun. Everyone was slain. The town has requested our aid. I thought I'd bring it to your attention before bringing the news to General Kulenov."

Kurohana's ears folded back, her eyes wide. "Thank you, Saylor. I will prepare to leave." She turned to look at me. "You coming, Sebastian?"

I nodded. "This is exactly why I'm here." Let's see what's really going on in this world.

Kurohana looked back at Saylor. "Get Ignor Mei the message. I expect he'll be sending reinforcements. If not… I'll go by myself."

"I'll be coming too." I reminded her.

"Right… and I'm guessing Erwin will be coming too." Kurohana mumbled. "We'll at least be able to handle a small force of Templars."

Cearbhail:

So, this was just between me and the person who played Sebastian. Since he arrived late into the campaign, I had to make certain he understood what was going on and his role in it. Not to mention help set up his established love interest.