Chapter 38

In the back, I saw the Amazon Brisid had almost killed by accident smile a cruel smile. It was the exact smile a little sister would use when they called on their big sister to come to school to handle a bully.

"What was it you said? Something about laws and being in Orario?" She wasn't the only one who was smiling that vulture grin, making me wonder if some of them were also part of the little scuffle. "But now you're here, those laws won't protect you."

I gave them all a look, then locked eyes with Jarha. "I have something for you. Do you want it or not?"

My apparent unconcern made a few of them go a little wide eyed. Ryuu stepped forward then, and put one of the backpacks down next to me, before backing up a couple of paces. "Show some re-"

Before the 'missionary' could finish her sentence, I looked at her and flattened her with a projected fox. Much how I'd done with Bete when the Loki Familia 'sparred' with Bell and I outside of Orario, she was not expecting it and was slammed against the bottom terrace wall with a cry of surprise and pain. But before anyone could do much more than look surprised, the fox vanished as fast as it appeared, leaving nothing but the echo of a snarl behind.

"Shut up, the adults are talking." I said, looking at Jarha again, "For the man I won from you, his people gave me his weight in steel." I nudged the pack with my boot, "But you're going to have to pick it up yourself."

If my sudden removal of one of their number made them 'wide eyed' my statement of payment left most of them in awe. I kept my eyes on Argana and Bache as Jarha stepped forward, tried not to show any fear as she picked it up, then tried not to look like she was hurrying away from me, her prize in hand. Once back in the lineup across from my party and I, she took a moment to figure out how to open the pack (proving she was at least as smart as a raven) and peeked inside.

"Making it into something useful is up to you." I said as she took one of the flat plates of cut up tank armour and tried to bend it. When she couldn't, she smiled like a kid on Christmas, as did her roommates. But she was serious again when she stood up. "Old business is done." I shifted my gaze between Argana and Bache, "But my statement stands. Those children are on my property, under my care, and I will not hand them over."

Argana's cruel smile took on a hint of dark amusement, "You make it sound like you have a choice. Shall I tell you what is going to happen? Or would you like to try and resist first?"

I shrugged, then motioned her to go ahead.

"Unless you wish for you and your companions to die. We are going to escort you back to Orario. Then, you are going to hand over all of the Amazon Children under your 'care'." She said, pulling out her two long daggers and pointing one at me, "Or, we return to Orario with your heads, and take them from the corpses of their traitorous mothers."

The other one, Bache, said something I didn't understand, but it was similar to some of the (obvious) swear words I'd heard Aisha say on the VERY rare occasion. She also pulled out her daggers, but didn't point them at me, just held them firmly.

I glanced to Aisha, who translated for me, "You were a fool to come here. Not even Ottar dared to."

"That's right." Argana smirked, "It's no secret that we became level six through murder, and he didn't want to become our next victim."

"He just doesn't want to bother fending off a bunch of cock hungry savages." I said, "Shall I tell you my version of how this will play out?"

She gave me the same 'go ahead' motion with her dagger.

"Tomorrow morning, after getting what passes for a good night's sleep in this humidity, my party and I will go home. You will not follow us, you will not bother us, and you will not try and take the children under mine and my Familia's care." I did my very best Akeno head tilt and smile, "No matter what happens tonight that's what's happening tomorrow."

From both sides, there was a tightening of hands on weapons, but only Argana and Bache had actually drawn them so far.

"If you want to fight, sure, I'll dance. But I would like to remind you that I am the strongest in Orario. I beat Ottar while I was level five and am now level seven. A single sentence from me, and the mission to try and restore the monsters to your jungle will stop. And, if you dare to threaten the lives of the mothers under my care again, I won't just have Orario abandon the plan to bring dungeon monsters to your jungle.

I put my left foot back a little, and with a deep breath I went from 'going for a walk' right past the 'mana-matter' barrier. While I was wearing my armour, you couldn't really tell the difference, but under my Fenrir coat, vest and leggings, the muscles of my body took on a more feminine version of the Oni's extreme muscle enhancement when they themselves 'got serious'.

"I will burn the city, and the jungle, down to the bedrock, and leave you with nothing but ashes and tears."

"You wouldn't dare." Argana said confidently, while everyone but her sister backed up a step. "Orario relies on the Amazon nation for strong warriors, as well as the wood from our trees."

"And in a few years, those children will become strong warriors. But they can do it just fine under my care." I was starting to lose my temper, the shift to full combat readiness had flooded my body with adrenaline and I wanted to hit something. "Now, step up, or fuck off." My tails started to spark as the static built up.

Apparently the one I'd thrown into the wall just came to, or didn't think I was serious, because as she started getting to her feet, she said "We'll take them, and their mot-"

There was a little whistle of air, and she fell over a head shorter, Argana's dagger quivering slightly in the stone of the terrace behind her. "You can keep the mothers. They're no longer welcome here, but have at least done one last service for their people." Sudden silence fell over the the two groups, the only sound a steady 'splish' nose as the dead Amazon's heart took its time to get the memo and pumped blood from the stump of her throat.

"If they aren't welcome, they are no longer 'your people'." I finished lowering myself into my stance, "Now who's plan plays out?"

Bache had apparently lost interest in the conversation, and with a flick of her hand sent one of her daggers my way. Fast and accurate, I still had no problem swaying slightly to avoid it.

But my urge to fight made me forget about Itami the the Girls, who were behind me. The reminder came with the sound of a meaty 'thump' as the dagger found a target despite my evasion.

But then Rory said, "Well now, that's just rude." And the fight was on.

Despite the deep down urge to simply solve the problem by making it shorter, I was still under the obligation not to ruin the relationship between Orario and Telskyura. So what I didn't do, was execute a shunpo step forward with my fist aimed at Argana's chin.

Instead, I stopped about a pace away, just out of easy dagger reach for her, and led with a 'slap the wave', opening my fist as it broke the speed of sound, sending a compression wave forward into her gut. As she was flung backwards into the terrace wall, her level six status less meaningful than her actual weight vs. Physics.

I was just about to turn to Bache, her cold eyes locking with mine, her dagger speeding towards my exposed side.

But with a flash of motion, she caught her thrown dagger and jumped away from me. The entire length of the blade was coated with blood, and in the low light of the late evening I could see that the blade itself was coated in a thin purple film.

From behind me, I heard, "Rory!"

A cough, then, "Ware' Fox, there's a dire poison on that blade." A quieter, "Right through my heart too..." And louder again, "I'm not into women!"

Also behind me, Aisha and Ryuu had engaged some of the other Amazon, but aside from my lover's exuberant cry the clash of metal, and my big sister's wooden weapon clacking off things, I had no attention to spare.

Bache darted forward again, her two blades weaving through the air in front of me. She knew how to fight a bare handed fighter too, with one attack drawing out my arm or leg to block, while the other attacked the limb. Poison didn't need a killing strike to be effective. Except it was obvious she was used to fighting people in Amazon 'armour'.

After three short blindingly fast exchanges she actually managed to hit my blocking arm with her other dagger. But for her trouble I brought my forearms together, the adamant and Fenrir enamel bracers shattering the blade like glass between them. She wasn't surprised, and didn't hesitate to back off as I tried to do a sliding step forward and elbow her in the gut.

Then Argana jumped in, her dagger just missing my nose as our forearms met. "We don't need to fight fair!" She laughed.

Then Bache was sent back to the terrace wall by a silly plank weapon attached to a goth-loli. Rory probably couldn't win that fight, but I still gave Argana a smile across our locked forearms. "Suppose I'll get serious?"

And with a little twist of my wrist, I curled up my fingers and flicked her in the forehead. Not only was this a common way to admonish a child, it was done with enough force to make the air crack like a whip and send her reeling backwards. As she started to reel I followed her, the toes of my boots directly in front of her feet as I continued to show off. Faster than Bell, her daggers kept trying to strike at me, but she was not more skilled than Takemikazuchi. With each failed strike I would flick her someplace sensitive. Ribs, breasts, throat, cheeks, thighs, nose, an ear, both nipples, each flick left a bloody welt behind, and a little less of her 'armour'.

Beside me, Rory was making up for her lack of power with sheer brutality. Her massive plank weapon would normally have almost no advantage against someone with a dagger and the speed advantage, but Rory's technique was one part savage, one part pole dance, attack and defence in one, and even though she had taken several nasty looking cuts, once again ruining her nice dress, each time Rory managed to attack Bache had to back up or risk shattering her other dagger on the silly plank weapon.

Across from me, I could tell Argana was getting frustrated, and bruised. I was not discriminating on where I hit her, and not only was her face starting to swell up from the little impacts, her 'amazon armour' was losing fabric at an alarming rate, and my armoured fingertips were leaving bloody welts. Then just to finish up my lesson, I used my other hand (I'd only been flicking her with my left hand) and gripped her silly dragon scale 'dress' with my thumb and forefinger.

Then I had to hop backwards as someone shot an arrow at me. More arrows followed and Rory hopped backwards as well, using her teeth to rip a shaft out of her bicep and spit it aside with a smile.

"Still think you'll be getting a good night's sleep?" Argana sneered, basically naked and now that I'd taken her skirt and shredded her 'armour', "After this insult, even if we don't kill you we'll settle for them."

"Fox..." Aisha said warningly.

Up on the terrace, there were hundreds of Amazon. Young and old they were all armed with bow and spear, and they were all pointed at our little group. Something like this, I could deal with normally, but my usual magic would be unreliable with those bone weapons some of them had. It's why I stuck with physical magic instead of things like the one fox to shut that (now dead) amazon up.

The threat to my friends however could no go unanswered...

"You know." I said, wiping my nose on the dragon skin skirt and tossing it aside like a rag, then glancing back at Itami and the Girls (unharmed, bows out with Lelei awake and glowing slightly), "For being the 'strongest' in Telskyura, you make a lot of threats. You can't beat me, so you threaten my party and the people under my care."

"The strong survive, and the weak are either food, or chains for the strong." She laughed.

Over my shoulder, I spoke two words in Japanese, "Plan C." Then I looked ahead again, "Maybe you're right. But then I suggest you practice what you preach." I grinned, letting the once caged flame inside me burn hotter, "You said I hid behind the laws of Orario? And you think that because our back is to the wall you have us cornered?"

I half turned, extended my arm towards the wall and angled it about 45 degrees. With a chaotic explosion of black and purple fire, a silver clawed hand slammed into the wall above and to the right of Itami and the Girls. The initial impact of the 'claw' was small, but from deep inside I found the anger I was holding in, and SCREAMED it out of me.

(Someplace up the Terraces)

Kali, the killer Loli Goddess of death, was watching her children fight the Demon Fox and her party. Now, she didn't care who won. No, she just cared that there was fighting. All forms of combat brought her joy, and it didn't matter if someone died, was spared, or lived like a cripple afterwards. Let blades bone and sinew clash, that was her music.

She was wondering though, how this would pan out. The strange not-adventurer seemed unaware of the lethal poison from Bache, and the dagger that had gone through her heart didn't seem to bother her either. The small blue haired one used interesting magic, strong enough to repel her lesser children who tried to attack the elves. The elves were also interesting, using strange magics that were not backed by falna yet strong enough to harm those She'd gifted.

There was a pause in the fighting, and Kali sighed in disappointment. That was hardly a warm up. She really did wish they would fight without speaking, but these little pauses did seem to rally them and encourage more fighting.

But then her heart nearly stopped in her chest, as the Demon Fox sunk a tendril of magic into the wall around Her city. Eyes wide, her heart beat once, then skipped another beat as she let out a roar of... something.

The small tendril resolved itself into a clawed hand that was wide enough to grip the entire trunk of the tree, the bark and wood fracturing and groaning under the pressure, the living trees beside it quivering and shedding leaves and wildlife as that massive clawed hand of magic and divinity?! Ripped at the trunk once, twice, then a third time, before it started to fall inwards towards the city.

Then two small spots of sunlight and a loud BOOM filled her vision and rattled her ears.

(Base of the wall, just before the fall)

Itami knew he was far, far, FAR out of his weight class here. Magic empowered arrows from Tuka and Yao, that would kill just about anything on the other side of the Gate seemed to be 'painful inconveniences' to the Amazon here. Lelei, who had basically killed the Fire Dragon (along with a lot of C-4) was only just able to repel those who rushed at his little group with waves of telekinetic blasts and rock shattering 'compression waves' she'd learned after reading that physics 101 book.

Rory could handle herself well enough, but well, it was Rory. He'd seen her shake off swords, bullets, getting eaten, being burned by dragon fire...

And all he had was his Buddy (type 89 assault rifle chambered for 5.56mm), his 9mm and bayonet.

But then Kodori told him 'plan C'. And well, if 'losing' was plan A, and 'sleeping until tomorrow' was B. Then C...

"FLASH OUT!" He called out as the giant clawed hand ripped car sized chunks out of the wall next to them. With practised ease he ripped two M84 stun grenades off his vest (the pins staying behind since he 'ripped' them, not 'unhooked' them) and tossed them at the two Amazon who Kodori and Rory were fighting. He then nearly gave himself a hernia as he picked up one of the packs filled with gold wire, and yelled "LELEI EXIT! GO GO GO!" over the sudden slamming noise and light from the two grenades.

Her reply didn't reach his ears, but she turned, did that weird multi-circle thing she did, except instead of three or four, she extended an entire array of about ten, setting off multiple layers of concussive blasts that seemed to devour the wood of the wall like a tank sized termite. Yao and Tuka put there hands on Lelei's shoulder, feeding her their own mana to fuel a second then a third blast. Aimed at the thinnest space between the two massive trunks, she only had maybe two metres of wood to remove, and as the sun-bright spots of light faded from the battlefield, the way was clear and they were running towards the new gap in the wall.

(Kodori)

My head was pounding and my rage fuelled projection had pulled a lot out of me, but as the mortally wounded three hundred metre tall tree started to crack and twist on its own, pried loose by my claws, I looked at Argana and Bache, "I did this." I said as they squinted at me, weapons up, "And the next time you point your weapons at the people I protect, I will do more." And I too was running towards the new gap in the wall, the sounds of scattering Amazon and snapping wood heralding our egress.

Someone shouted something, and a few arrows followed us, but I made sure to be the last one out the 'door' their shouts, insults and arrows bouncing off me and my armour harmlessly.

But the sun was down, the jungle was getting darker, and we had about ten days of steady march to get back to Orario.

"You okay Fox?" Aisha asked as we jogged to catch up to Itami and the others, "You're looking kinda..."

"Things will become bloody if they start to chase us." Ryuu said as we caught up.

"Are all Amazon like that?" Rory asked, "It was rather fun, though..." And she fell over.

Without thinking about it, I skidded to a halt, picked her up and slung her over my shoulder. Her wounds had mostly closed, but her skin looked bruised and feverish, "Hold on to your weapon or it's getting left behind." I warned, "Options? How many of you can see in the dark?"

Aside from Itami, who I knew had a night vision scope in his pack someplace, the rest of them shook their heads with Yao saying, "Not very well. Certainly not for this terrain."

"Can you do what you did before?" Lelei asked, "I can assist with the fires."

"Too many trees and I'm feeling a bit burnt out." I said, "Do we have any potions?"

"We've used most of them." Aisha said, "You know, for the ritual, training for the ritual, showing Arpeggio..."

We were past the cleared area in front of the city, but it was about a day or so from here to the swamps on the way to Orario. At least on foot... And as our luck would have it, it was starting to rain.

"I'm not sure I can carry all of you." I said, sliding to a halt on a mostly bare patch of rock, "Itami? Look away and get the bed netting out. Quickly!"

"Look awa-." He looked away as I started to pull off my equipment, handing it to Aisha, who handed it over Itami's shoulder. "Right, looking away."

"We can run along side you sister." Ryuu said, "But you won't be as protected."

"I'm going to miss my chance to ride you, aren't I?" Aisha teased as I hastily peeled myself out of my under armour 'Xenovia Catsuit' and tossed it at her.

"When we get home and clean the jungle off, you'll get your chance." I said, now back up..."

Itami finished wrapping up my bundle of equipment and asked, "Back up? Why?"

And I put a person sized fox paw down next to him and lowered my head so I could look at him with one eye.

A short time later, with Ryuu and Aisha running along side me and our guests from the other side of the Gate on my back, we were out of the jungles and into the outlying swamps. It certainly wasn't smooth sailing though, and I had at least one arrow stuck in my left hindquarter someplace.

My riders weren't idle though. Every so often I'd make a point to run in a perfectly straight line so the two Elves could maybe line up a shot or two, and maybe convince those Amazon who had kept their wits about them after I'd pulled part of the wall down to stop chasing us.

Oh, we could have stayed and fought. I could have wrecked more of the wall, or even the city if I wanted. But no, I was being diplomatic. But part of diplomacy was of course presenting a convincing argument. And it was about four or five hundred metres out on the swamp 'road' that had the 'coastline cliffs' on one side, and the endless seeming bog on the other, that I slowed down, stopped, and looked behind me.

My argument was simple. I had a spell caster, two and a half archers, a close to medium range caster, and a lazy ant with a rifle. And they had about half a kilometre of open field to cross.

On my back, I heard Tuka ask, "Papa? How is she?"

"I'm... not sure? Rory? Can you hear me?"

Lelei sent a very flashy slow moving fireball down range. A warning shot for sure since it was moving so slow, but only an idiot (or me since I was fireproof) would just stand in the way of one.

"has the shaking stopped? please tell me the shaking has stopped?" Rory mumbled.

"We've stopped for a moment." Yao said, her bow twanging, though her 'arrow' was a shard of elemental magic and not a physical thing, "Why?"

"That's simple." Aisha said, her bow off her shoulder with the dragon-scale pointed arrow already loaded, "But if I hit someone with this, I'mma kill them." She looked up at me, "You sure?"

I looked down range at the edge of the jungle, and there were quite a few Amazon there. But I didn't see the two who worried me most, and most of the arrows coming our way fell far short of us. So I swished a tail over Aisha's head, and nodded once.

"Wait wait." Itami said from between my ears, his legs clinging to my neck, "I think we've made our point. All I'm seeing past the trees are the younger ones. No one is daring the swamps and- DOWN DOWN!" He dug his heels into my neck.

If I had stayed looking towards the trees, I'd have missed it. But as I dropped to my belly the slight change in perspective made the oncoming arrow visible. It whistled overhead, and I growled. That was aimed directly at the centre of my eye, where I'd have the least chance of spotting it.

"urp... gonna..." And Rory chose that moment to throw up too.

"I don't see it!" Aisha said.

"Straight ahead, left side of the path, three branches up!" Itami called out.

Aisha's bow let out a satisfying 'THWUM', "Low left!" Itami declared a moment later.

I let out a little of my 'aura' making the air ahead of me more solid, just in time too, as a two metre long shaft of wood with an ironfang point hit the sudden resistance and splintered apart in front of me. The effort made my head hurt a bit more though. I wanted to kick myself for not being more careful with our mana potions...

'THWUM' Aisha's bow fired again, "Wish you made me more arrows." She said.

"HIT!" Itami called out, "They've dropped from the perch, time to move!"

I stood to my full height and shook my head a few times to get Itami to the middle of my back, "Yes sister, I think that's wise." Ryuu said, "The storm is getting worse, and will deter them further."

"urg no, please no more running?" Rory said weakly, "emroy be merciful, urp..."

(Orario. About eight days of walking, from Kodori and the rest.)

Shinkage, Amani, Brisid and her Room, arrived in Orario roughly two days after the Gate. There was no real ceremony or fanfare, but that's because the city was FAR more occupied with the visitors from the other side of the Gate.

Not in a bad way mind you. But the 'new thing' promised a new source of potential entertainment for the city, and well, that meant the Gods who were interested were falling over themselves to see what it was all about. Rumours flew, the handful of visiting JSDF were constantly mobbed by curious people and adventurers, and it was really rather bothersome for the Guild and JSDF alike.

So, after a quick 'entering the city' bit of paperwork with the Ganesha guards at the city gate, and a 'welcome back' to Shinkage (who had a very small secret fanclub that she would have burned to the ground had she ever found out about them), Shinkage started steering the horses towards the Manor.

"Seems they did beat us back." Shinkage said as Brisid stepped out from behind the curtain leading to the bunks in the wagon.

"Oh? Suppose they succeeded then. Good." As much as she didn't sound like she cared, Brisid nodded approval, "So now that we're here, do you have any final negotiations before we settle on price?"

"That eager to find a tavern to spend it in?" Shinkage asked, just as flatly, "But you haven't actually gotten me home yet. The words of the contract were quite clear."

Amani poked her head out from behind the curtain, looking like she'd just woken up, "Oh! We're here!"

Brisid applied one headpat to the mini-zon, "Apparently we aren't. Orario is your home, right?"

"No. The Hearthstone Manor is my home. The city is where my home is. But more to the point, your payment, and the ones you should be negotiating with, are at the Manor." She hmm'ed thoughtfully, "But I will certainly put in a good word for you, if you wanted to ask for a little more."

Brisid considered that, and let out a little laugh, kind of like she 'just got the joke'. "Okay fine, fair point. Hey kiddo, wake anyone else who's sleeping, might as well have everyone on their feet when we finish the job."

"Okay!" And her head vanished back through the curtain.

And so it was, that Shinkage, Amani, and their escort of a short dozen Amazon arrived at the Hearthstone manor, their brave (but bored) horses stopping in the rough middle of the path between front gate and the Manor proper. Oh it looked flashy, and there were more than a few people on the way who stopped to admire (from a safe distance) the professional looking escort. But those who knew, really knew the Amazon, understood they were really just getting the job done. Being flashy was secondary.

Shinkage hopped down from the driver's seat, not bothering to call out since Gros was, as always, an excellent grumbler, and had alerted the house they had trusted guests. Oddly enough though, Gros had one more occupant in his enclosure.

Shinkage noticed this, and went to greet the gargoyle, "Ah, someone decided to leave it in with you?"

The occupant was of course, Duran's land dragon. Being a fully trained and very smart beast, it was curled up in the shade along the wall and not bothering anyone. Even the Phoenix, who were probably something that would be on 'the menu' in the wild.

Gros sighed his old man sigh, "I was promised it would behave itself." He said, stalking towards the bars of his 'cage', "I have not been disappointed at the-who are you?"

Amani, being young and lacking a bit of the 'common sense' most adventurers learned before they ended up dead, was giving Gros's stony griffon beak a pat, "Wow! You're one of the Xenos right? You can talk? But you're stone! How can you-hey put me down!"

Brisid had come over as well and picked the mini-zon up like a kitten, "Mind your manners or I'll let him eat you."

"Oh, it's you." Gros said to Brisid, "Good job getting back I suppose. And for clarity, I don't actually eat. Though I do drink water from time to time."

"Thank you for ruining my attempt to teach her a little caution." Brisid dropped Amani.

"Big sister!" It was Weine, her bare feet swishing on the grass as she ran towards the 'elder' dragon of the house and glomped her, "Yay!"

Shinkage sighed, "I'd forgotten how returning after a trip made people clingy. Yes yes, I missed you too." Then she started applying headpats.

"So did the rest of us." Hagane said as he led the progression of Hestia, Chigusa, Takemikazuchi, Asuka and Astraea towards Gros's enclosure. Lagging behind, out of his armour and walking with his cane carefully on the lawn was Duran.

It was about here that Shinkage went 'full cat/dragon'. Ignoring everyone else she walked up to Hagane, hugged his head, and fell backwards. Even though she was a fraction of the metal nightmare cat's weight, she dragged him down on top of her and lay under him. "I'm home now. Brisid? Negotiate with one of them, I'm going to lay here a while."

The Amazon, minus Brisid and Amani, were asked to unload the wagon alongside Chigusa and Asuka. The rest of them, again minus Shinkage, Hagane and Weine, entered the manor. This left poor Duran to hobble a U-turn and enter last again, but this time he had Amani helping him.

Normally thing wouldn't have happened, but she'd been taught to appreciate the people who had been wounded yet continued to struggle, just a little more than the average Amazon.

Inside, Haruhime and the mini-Hime's were gracefully/scrambling to set a table for tea.

"I was told to negotiate final pay with someone in here." Brisid said, pausing in mid step to let one of the children dash by with an empty teacup, then continue as if nothing had given her pause. "Who exactly?"

Haruhime motioned for the wide shouldered Amazon to sit, "And how would you like to be payed? We have several options, and have been assured you would be worth any of them." The table set, tea poured and everyone else seated, the children gathered around her legs and tails, looking up at the Amazon.

Brisid, gave Haruhime a look, then the Gods around the table. The three Gods simply nodded, picking up their teacups without commenting. So Brisid gave Haruhime 'the appraising look', then the children, "Oh, you're the Wife."

"I am." She smiled.

"Well, since we're here, we'd like a little spending money, and our equipment seen to by someone who knows what end of a hammer to swing." While 'emotionally stunted' she was still polite and took a sip of tea, "And, I'd like to leave one of our number here."

Sitting across from Duran, Amani started to sparkle hopefully.

"Oh? And you don't think she'd do better with you?" Haruhime asked.

The sparkle dimmed a little, then Amani 'urked' as if shot when Brisid said, "Well, she's a bit of a runt." But then shrugged and added, "She was a guide for your party when they visited, and in a couple of days was able to go from bottom of the pack to second last. I think she'll do well here, and it's as good a time as any for her to get a little more 'worldly'."

"Would you like us to oversee her education? Letters, numbers?"

"If you can get her to sit still long enough, sure."

Haruhime and Brisid looked to Amani, and with perfect calm Haruhime said, "I'm sure that won't be a problem."

One of the children clinging to a tail said, "We don't even know her name, and she's in trouble..."

Pinned in place by Haruhime's kind stare, Amani started sweating profusely for a moment and shook her head, "Not a problem!"

Hestia spoke next, "Our smith is wandering town someplace. Should be back by dinner if he knows what's good for him."

"He did go out to buy things for dinner." Astraea said, "So good for the rest of us as well."

"Is that all, Brisid?" Haruhime asked.

"I'd like to see them." She said without hesitation. Then added when the rest of the table gave her 'the look', "You'd deny payment?"

"Do you promise to conduct yourself properly?" Haruhime asked, her smile fading.

"I want no part in what your Wife promised to someone who misbehaved." Brisid nodded, "But my curiosity is starting to make my scalp itch."

One of the children perked up and said, "We have shampoo for itchy scalp. Tails too!"

"She doesn't have a tail."

"Oh..."

Haruhime nodded, "I doubt you'd have to answer to her, since the Fathers are here today." She gave the children each a pat on the head, then a little nudge to get them to let go, "Go play, we'll be back soon."

"Yes Ha-ma!" And in an eyeblink they had all zipped away to do something else.

"Disarm, and come along." Haruhime said.

With the Oni and Haruhime there, the Mothers weren't too alarmed by the lone Amazon. Alert, but not panicking. And once introductions and assurances of safety were given, the children were brought out.

After a little time with them, the dull faced (yet sharp witted) Brisid nodded, "Well, I see why you were hiding them." Then with a look up at the two Oni, "And the appeal of keeping them around."

Unable to help themselves a few of the Mothers laughed, "We're not keeping them at all. They're here for the children."

Okakai and Fukawa nodded, "We honour the mothers strong enough to bare our children."

"But these two surprise me the most." Brisid said, motioning to the two boys among the 'Oni-zon' children. "You say your kind only bare males?" The two Oni nodded to her, "Huh." She gave the nearest child a nose boop, then gave it a serious look when it bit her finger. But the child met her eyes and didn't flinch. Instead it just nibbled harder with its little baby teeth, "I can tell these ones are special."

One of the braver Mothers asked, "You're not interested are you?"

"Barren. Not much fun without risk." Brisid shrugged, "Anyhow, curiosity satisfied. Aside from a bit of spending money for the city and a little attention from your smith, I think we're done here."

Haruhime nodded, "A pleasure doing business with you, Brisid. Return some time after dinner, sober if you please, and Master Welf will start seeing to your equipment.

(Kodori)

I was not okay.

I was tired, my head felt like someone was doing roadwork behind my eyes, my right butt-cheek had an arrow in it, and Rory had thrown up on me a half dozen times in the past twelve hours. That was twelve hours that I'd been running, while low on Mana, without food or water to sustain the massive fox I'd become for that time.

So, it was twelve hours later, with the top of Babel in sight off on the horizon, that I lowered myself to the ground, lay on my belly, and shrank back down to my usual size and shape. The rain, which yes, had also been going on for that long, had slackened to a mild drizzle, but still felt wonderful on my bare skin as I lay in the muck, my head turned towards the ocean view so I could just... breath.

"Whoa, is her body supposed to smoke like that?" Tuka asked.

"Steam." Lelei corrected, "Kodori?"

"Ice, please?" I gasped, "Water too?"

"Clothes?" Itami asked.

"After. And someone... arrow?" Yes, my change of shape hadn't dislodged the arrow."

I grunted weakly as someone tugged it free, "I thought you were doing more leg on leg day?" Aisha commented, a thumb pressing against my wounded rear and the tingle of a healing pill spreading over the surrounding skin.

There was a little shimmer of magic nearby, and the rain drizzling over me changed to sleet, then heavy snow. Yao appeared between me and the ocean view and helped me sip from a canteen. "You are full of surprises, Lady Kodori." She said, "We had no idea you could do that."

"Ask..." sip, swish water around my mouth, spit, "Itami about Kitsune." I sipped again and swallowed this time, the water feeling like it was turning to steam inside my throat even as it hit my empty stomach. "Rory?"

"This world doesn't agree with me." I heard from someplace behind me, where the magic was coming from. "But I think I am fine now?" There was the sound of shifting feet, "I no longer have those ugly patches all over me."

"You're lucky." Aisha said, "Bache, the one who did that to you, can make her blood into poison, and covers her weapons with it. Its supposedly more toxic than anything in the dungeon." A pause, "And I think she put some on this arrow too."

"Is that why she's so hot right now?" Tuka asked, "Poison makes you feverish."

"She expended a great deal of power getting us to safety." Ryuu said, entering my view next to Yao, "Sister... She gave my forehead a pat, her hand feeling like ice over my skin, "You will need to rest when we return." And the two small lumps forming under the skin just below my hairline.

"I dug... deep to do that." I huffed between sips of water, "Then deeper to run all this way." Seven or so days walk done in twelve hours? Maybe seventy km an hour? With an arrow in my butt! "Any food?"

"We've some dried rations left." Itami said, "Ever have a calorie mate?"

"It's not maple is it?"

"Eh? They make it in maple?" Itami asked, "cheap bastards have maple and they weren't sharing?" Then, "No, this one is plain."

I took another sip of water, then did my best to wave Yao away from my nice ocean view, "Crush half, put it in a cup of water, and warm it up a little. And stop looking at my butt. Aisha? Help me up."

I didn't want to spend any more time than we had to resting, but as tired as I was, our Guests didn't have the gift of falna and didn't get much sleep riding on my back. So, with a cup of warm 'Calorie soup' sitting in my gut, and dressed in my Xenovia Brand under armour, I sat watching the ocean while our Guests had a nap under a hastily set up nylon tarp.

With Ryuu and Aisha watching the road back to Telskyura, I figured I'd be alone with my thoughts, but to my surprise Rory sat down next to me. "You are truly a terrifying person." She said, half mocking, "I had thought your calm manner and confidence was arrogance, but you've proven me wrong every time."

"There was a cost." I motioned to my forehead. The horns I could feel growing hadn't broken the skin, and the pain in my head had subsided, making me hopeful they would stop growing, "That wall of trees was more than it seemed. And breaking it required more than just mortal effort." I glanced her way, and noticed she was wearing Ryuu's cape over what was left of her 'Priestess' uniform. "I'm still mad you threw up on me. But impressed you managed to hold off one of the strongest in the world for as long as you did."

"I was unwell." She humphed, "And I wasn't fighting to win. I couldn't win." She shook her head, "She was stronger, faster, and just... better than me. So I simply delayed."

"Well, I didn't have to kill them. Thank you."

"Why didn't you?" She asked, "I was surprised you had such restraint, well, until you did that to the wall."

"See that?" I didn't need to look to be able to point directly at the Tower of Babel off in the distance. "Under that, is the death of this world. If we, the adventurers, fail to keep the monsters under that tower from breaking to the surface. If the survivors can't suppress them and recover Orario after that. If the monsters take out the largest strongholds around the world, like Rakia and Telskyura..."

"So you'd risk your way of life now and for the sake of a possible catastrophe later?"

"That's right." I nodded.

"I see why the Kitsune Itami told us about were valued for their wisdom." She said, this time without the hint of mockery.

"We leave again in about an hour. Nap while you can." I replied, one of my tails swishing at her.

NOTES!

Well, that was exciting. Sorry to those people who wanted Kodori to get short with some people. Politics you see. Didn't stop her from doing something significant on the way. Royman is going to be SO mad later...

Anyhow. New art! If you haven't seen it (Daeore on Ko-fi), it depicts Chime! The real main character. I've another artist working on something else, and some time soon I might have another one of the old lineart pictures coloured in. :)

Party on, see you in five days.