A young girl, currently garbed in a dark hooded robe, emerges from the wilderness and thoughtfully takes a look around the path that she finds herself on. Her dark hair curtains nearly all her features and hides what most would consider to be a cute and pure child's face, although her past would very much contradict that assumption. It was obvious by her wariness of being on a main road and her enveloped person within a hood and robe, that she wished to remain unseen by anyone. She would have preferred to remain off the path, but she was beginning to lose her sense of direction traveling within the forest and was getting tired of trudging through vegetation. Underneath her robe she hid a few supplies that she could travel lightly with; this included a water container, a small dagger and a minor cure ailment potion. The biggest oddity when it came to this young girl was her eyes, they were a light gray color and gave the impression that she was blind, but this was not at all the case.

By her estimation, it was a little past midday and she was confident that she could find a place to sleep before the night would become a real concern. Thus far, her sleeping locations consisted of abandoned buildings, caves, and even an overturned wagon, it's a good thing she was not someone who had ever experienced luxury. The only other problem that she was facing right now, was the hunger that was beginning to make itself known, her knowledge when it came to foraging within the forest was limited and she didn't want to risk getting majorly sick.

After her brief assessment of the path, she began to walk along the edge of the road, just in case the need for an escape into the forest came about suddenly. She kept her eyes forward and was attempting to ignore her aching feet, it had been getting worse throughout her travels and was finding herself wanting to take a nap. A nap, in her mind, would only be possible if she had somewhere she could hide herself though, she refused to leave her body completely exposed. With this in mind, she kept walking and decided that a decent group of shrubs or a hallowed log would do for a good enough nap spot.

Some walking later…

After a while of walking along the path, the young girl could only settle on a spot that she could sit at for a short rest, sleeping would not be viable yet. She promptly sat herself on a log that had fallen in front of another tree, she could use the upright tree as a backrest and keep her body on alert. She was still within eyesight of anyone sharing the same path as her and she made sure to keep her ears open for anyone who might come along.

Only after a couple moments of sitting, her eyes began to flutter shut and her head was acting as if a huge weight was dragging it downwards. It felt as if she was stuck in a constant loop of nearly falling asleep and forcing her head up, in addition to biting her lip to slightly jolt her body awake. It wasn't long before she began to think about the prospect of surrendering herself to sleep and basically just hoping that no one would notice her just off the road. Eventually, she got up and positioned herself behind the fallen log and sat on the grass, leaving only her head and shoulders exposed to those traveling the same road. She brought her knees close and crossed her arms, trying to make herself as small as possible and then finally letting her eyes shut without any resistance.

It felt like only minutes passed by before her body jolted awake at the sound of people approaching. While she thought she would be able to have a quick nap, her natural reaction of avoiding all contact, overtook any other sensation and she just couldn't ignore a feeling that she had built up until now. She held her breath and listened closely to confirm what she heard, and it only took a moment to catch the sound of women conversing among one another. After assuring herself of the presence, she laid herself out behind the fallen log and steadied her breath, she would wait as long as needed in order for these women to pass by. It didn't matter if it had only been one person or even children, she would still opt to conceal herself and avoid any type of interaction.

The women's voices sounded as if they were just now passing her and she began to take a guess on just how many there were, she guessed at least three. Although as she was listening to the voices, the one doing the most talking abruptly stopped mid-sentence and whispered something that she couldn't quite make out. This occurrence immediately set off alarms within herself and she contemplated taking a peek over the log to see what was going on, it felt like they had been alerted to her presence. She chose to remain hidden and decided that she would start to crawl towards the woods, trudging through the wilderness was worth avoiding even the smallest potential danger.

She began to crawl, still on her stomach and careful to avoid making too much noise. The voices that she was hearing previously were still silent and she was regretting not paying close attention to what they were saying, the shock from being awoken suddenly had made her panic slightly. Normally, she would have kept her eyes forward and made sure that no one was in front of her, but she couldn't help but to look back for a split second to see if the people were somehow aware of her being there. From her low vantage point and the hood covering her face, she couldn't spot anyone and decided to keep crawling towards the wilderness. It was at this moment, as she turned her head back in front, that her gaze was met with a stranger's own.

The stranger in front of her was a woman with red hair and tanned skin, she was also laying on her stomach and was using her hands to hold her head up in a playful manner. This was the last thing she expected to see and her first reaction was to stare dumbly at the woman, until she suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, whatcha hiding for?"

The stranger's nonchalant ask was unexpected and the young girl had to take a moment to once again realize the reality of the situation, which was that a mysterious woman had managed to sneak around her and take position in front of her too.

The young girl's next move was to push herself up and make a run into the wilderness, attempting to sneak out didn't really seem like a realistic option anymore. She was now on her feet and made a break for it while the woman who surprised her still laid on the grass, with an amused expression. As she ran from the woman and towards the woods, she once again looked back to see if anybody was chasing after her but saw no one. She was relieved to see that no one was following her and continued to run until she decided to hide behind a tree that could conceal her whole figure. As she hid behind the tree, she steadied her breath and listened for any footsteps or sounds of people in general, of which there were none to be heard. She smiled slightly at the thought of evading the strangers that apparently knew her very whereabouts and thought about what her next move should be, more specifically what direction into the forest to run towards.

"Are you always this shy?"

These words sent a chill down her spine and she wanted to believe that her thoughts just changed voices or something of that manner, but she recognized this voice belonging to the woman who had surprised her before. Her head jerked to her left and just like moments ago, the red-haired woman was placed next to her with a soft smile. Standing next her, the woman was much taller and bent down in order to speak with the younger girl. Once again, the girl was speechless and was contemplating going for a drastic move, she began to reach for the dagger that she hid inside her cloak. This was the case until the taller woman once again spoke.

"I wouldn't do that."

The tall woman said this with an ominous tone and seemed like she was hoping for her words to not reach the child. The young girl stopped herself and thought about the situation more thoroughly, whoever this was, could clearly use magic of some kind to get ahead of her foes and seemed able to analyze the situation well. She decided to respond.

"Who are you?" She nearly whispered this and accidently let her timid nature show.

"I'm Lupus! Me and my sisters were walking along when we noticed you sleeping over to the side! Although, I guess you noticed us and decided to hide, then run, then try to take your weapon out…sooo what's your deal?"

"I, uh, I'm just traveling…" She was still on edge and was worried about the rest of Lupus's party.

Lupus responded to her short answer, "We are too! To be honest, the road game we've been playing has hit a roadblock and you might provide us with some entertainment while we get to our next spot!"

The young girl was taken back by Lupus's suggestion and immediately wanted to reject said offer, but as she was about to speak, her stomach decided to speak up in the form of a low growl. Lupus noticed this and quickly came up with a plan to persuade the child in front of her.

"I think my sister, Shizu, brought some food back from Na- I mean the village…Join us for a little while and I'm sure she would share some."

The girl didn't trust Lupus in the slightest but also realized that she wouldn't be able to outrun her, Lupus had some unnatural ability making her fast and sneaky. She decided for now, to go along with Lupus and eat before trying to get away later.

"Alright, I guess…"

"Great! Let's go, I told Shizu and Entoma to wait while I investigated you!"

A/N: Busy, busy, busy...but thanks for the bookmarks and favorites.