The first thing to take note of, when Felix appeared, was not the feminine outfit he was wearing. Nor was it even the feline ears and tail emerging from his hair and from beneath his skirt.
No, the first notable thing was the deep, dark bags underneath dull eyes.
Felix was visibly tired, with all the energy of an emergency response doctor that had been stuck with one too many twenty hour shifts per week, going back for months.
The bitch wyvern was clearly unimpressed with the sudden appearance, and moved in to loom with a growl deep in her throat.
"Nya." Felix responded to that, the pep clearly forced as Shin stepped between the two of them, portraying more calm than he actually felt in the absence of Astolfo. "So... You're this kitty's new owner, huh?"
"That's right. For now, I won't ask questions about your history. There's trouble on the way." Shin began. "The... hm. Ill have to wait to elaborate."
There was a rustle near the camp site. Then, balancing a forelimb over her shoulders, Mozu hauled a brown bear in through the brush. Two arrows were in its back, one in its neck, and an eye was freshly missing.
"Whew. Mighty ornery old thing. Still, there's plenty of good eating on these bones." Mozu said, patting the carcass as she dropped it, followed by rolling her shoulder. "Just gonna be a couple minutes getting the fur off him."
"Of course. Take your time." Shin nodded.
"Speaking of... you folks got friends coming in?" Mozu asked idly, as she began the process of skinning the bear. "Noticed some smoke out on the horizon while I was tracking this old fellow down."
"Friends... I wouldn't say that. Though I am expecting company." Shin said, glancing meaningfully at Nyx. "I should scout that out. Nyx, Felix... keep our guest company while I'm out. Share some of the rations. I'll be back shortly."
... Mounting up on the wyvern was more of a trial than with Astolfo's presence and splash-over Riding skill to ease things along. She was as irritable as ever, and only settled down after a few minutes of calmly talking her down leading into careful strokes of her scaled and leathery hide before Shin mounted up, trying his hardest not to calculate how close the proud and vexed hiss in the back of her throat was to 'I am now throwing you off and aiming my teeth and talons for your guts'.
Better not to think of that kind of thing, especially after she took to the air and, grudgingly, allowed him to guide her in a sweeping search.
It was worse than Shin had thought, though he had already expected it to some degree. What need did the Faceless have of camp fires? They did not cook food or rely on them for warmth, as soldiers did. On some level, he already knew what was happening even before he confirmed it.
From one direction a large group of faceless moved forward, trampling everything in their way and knocking down the odd small tree in their passing with large and meaty fists. From another, Daniela's deployment of poacher-hunting troops pushed forward. Their paths would naturally cross in the heart of the village.
Shin Lee chuckled wryly at the realization that he might have upped the ante on things a little. He hadn't made things worse for the village, to be sure, but that was only due to the technicality that it was hard to get worse than being wiped off the map to begin with. The Faceless that were already going to be attacking would do that well enough on their own. In that sense, the fact that he and Astolfo had led Daniela's troops here in the pursuit of them certainly didn't make things worse...
He nudged at the wyvern's neck, directing her away and back to the camp before they were spotted. With the bear already skinned and piled up, ready for the eating, she started digging in right away... leaving Shin hesitant to slide off her back for the concern of getting caught up in the feeding process and losing digits, or an appendage, to the snapping jaws.
"Well howdy. Your girl there sure isn't wasting any time tucking in." Mozu said. "Now, it's been fun... a real pleasure talking to the new miss even if your other lady friend is still out. I've heard of kitsune of course and the werewolves of Nohr, but can't say that I know where cat people hail from?"
"Beyond the Dragon Gates." Shin answered simply "We'll be heading in that direction before long, but there's some more immediate concerns. I need you to get back to the village quickly, rally the occupants. There's an invasion on the way."
"Huh? Uh, hold on... I was about to ask about the rest of my payment?" Mozu said, verbally stumbling. "What's this about an invasion?"
"The barrier has fallen. War is coming fast. I will pay you, Nyx has the coin purse, but it's a matter of hours at most before the Faceless are here, and those creatures do not offer mercy or accept surrender from people that are unfortunate enough to be where they have been ordered to go out and slay." Shin said. "You need to warn the rest of the village quickly, if they are to have the time to either retreat or prepare to fight."
"Now hold..." Mozu began, confused, before Nyx pressed a pouch of jingling coins into her hands.
The worry finally began to overtake the confusion she was experiencing as she glanced between the mercenaries before quickly darting off, money tucked in next to her bow.
"The long explanations are going to have to wait." Shin said. "In brief, right now we're going to try to save a village from destruction. We are outnumbered, out-muscled, and looking at an assault from strong but highly physical monsters from one direction and a group of somewhat weaker but likely more skilled soldiers from another. The former are here to destroy the village. The latter are here chasing us, and I can't offer any solid estimations on their combat potential. Up until this point we've avoided engaging with them. I have some ideas on how to handle this, but I have no idea whether the villagers will attempt to fight or focus on retreating. Either way, we're going to need your assistance as a healer and combatant to keep as many of them alive as possible."
"... Okay then." Felix said, simply, as the bitch Wyvern snapped up the last of the bear carcass and licked her teeth.