Yay, another chapter. I am on a proper roll; don't expect updates to take any more than a week at a time.

"Ranger James Davidson, Log Four, Morning of Day Five

Have arrived at another settlement, a city known as Marlin, with the assistance of a recovered ATV. According to local, is built up around Marlin Hall, a 'Templar' academy. Additional supplies obtained from vehicle, including M1911 .45 ACP handgun. Decided to use it as sidearm due to abundance of ammunition in comparison to MP412. Offered to teach Mia how to use MP412, but says she's much better operating a bow.

No slave trade detected in the city itself, so am declaring it friendly, for now. Not sure if Mia being out of irons is legal by their laws, so I'm making first supply run solo. Will be able to report back soon.

Log ends."

I walked out of the forest towards the gates, the M1911 at my side but otherwise un-armed. I had Mia covering me, prone, from a ridge in the treeline using the M417, which I had taught her enough about to at least know how to shoot it. Her skeletal structure was, by trial and error, found to be incapable of handling the kick with her wounded foot, to the point where she either had to lay down our use the MP412. The guards, again, didn't know just how powerful the weapon at my side actually was. And this time, at least, I intended to keep it that way.

The first store I noticed had mana crystals hanging in the window by little chemistry-set-looking calipers, so I figured I would get a few for Mia.

"Welcome to my humble shop," The man at the desk said as I walked in, "What're you in for today, hm? Crystals or spellbooks?"

"Spellbooks? What do you have?" I asked.

"Oh, most of the basic stuff; healing, fire, illumination, that sort of thing. Got a pretty advanced shield spell, if you fancy a challenge."

"How much for the four you just mentioned, plus a dozen mana crystals?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrows. "That's a lot for one person, son."

"First-time mage. Bulk buying." I replied

He seemed to still be unsure, but nodded, evidently calculating.

"200 Gold." he said at last, "Buy be warned: while spell knowledge is instant, training to control it can take weeks." I handed over two dollars, and fit my new purchases into the pouch on the back of my belt I usually used for 7.62mm. The books were the size of matchboxes, but apparently were able to instantly teach someone a new spell. All I apparently had to do was try drawing mana from the ground with one book in my hand. The next place I visited was a general store, where I finally managed to buy a chess set, with blue and orange pieces made with two types of some stone. Man, this this thing beat my pro set at home by a long shot. It was so beautifully carved, and the board folded in two, acting as a case for the pieces. Next, I visited a jeweler's stall in the market, and decided I'd surprise Mia as thanks for joining up with me.

"Ah, hello there, young man." the old lady running the stall said, "looking for the thing to a freind? Or a lover?"

I stiffened like I was standing to attention and the blood rushed to my cheeks at that. I had never even considered thinking of Mia in any way like that. My brain was thrown off by what the hell it had just been asked, so I ended up stuttering out "Uh, n-no, no ma'am, we're, uh, we're just... friends. It's more of a thank you gift."

"Shy one, eh? Aw, don't worry lad, my Gregory was like that when he courted me too." I decided not to argue with her, just to avoid freezing up twice and make her say something else along those lines. I ended up buying a gold necklace with an emerald pendant, and then promptly decided to head straight to the next shop just so I could have something else to focus on.

I got my thing to focus on, alright.

I was about to enter the local fletchers, with the intention of getting Mia that bow, when a caravan rolled into town from the south. There were at least a dozen tiger keidran, in shackles, in the back of one cart, along with a keidran of a type I hadn't seen before, with sideways-oriented ears, pale pink eyes and brilliant-white fur, possibly due to albinism, but I couldn't tell; every member of that subspecies might look like that for all I knew. While the rest seemed depressed, he just looked plain angry. The second cart had me angry though, as it was filled with their personal belongings, everything from a teddy bear to a suit of gold-coloured armor.

"Hey, I thought there wasn't any slave trading in this town." I asked aloud.

"That's right, sir." a man watching it go past next to me said, "Mayor doesn't stand for it, which is rather ironic given the Templar college just a few hundred yards down the road, but by law he can't stop caravans, so they traipse 'em through here on their way to Maine to rub it in his face. Poor sods must've been caught at the border."

I walked up behind the caravan, and whispered, "Anyone here speak human?"

The new keidran turned his head, speaking with what sounded like an Australian accent.

"I do. Why? What of it, human?" He practically spat out the word, evidently furious with his captors.

"I'm going to break you all out somewhere between here and Maine, but for now, just stay strong. Pass the word around, OK?"

"You better not be joking us, human. Hope's all some of these folks have left. Keep your word." The strange keidran replied. With that I stopped, and let it roll on ahead of me, as he turned and began speaking in Keidran. I smiled as I saw their looks of disbelief and hope play across their faces.

I went back to the fletchers, and purchased a bow and three dozen arrows for Mia, leaving me, having now counted, with nine dollars. I waited for the caravan to pass Mia's position, then returned to camp.

"Did you see the caravan of slaves just now?" she asked me as I arrived.

"Yup, we're going to hit it and free them."

"Good. So, what's the plan?"

"Well, it's a little inspired. I'll explain it on the way there. For now though, got you some stuff." I handed her the bow, arrows, mana crystals, and finally the necklace. Her eyes widened at the last one, and her cheeks flushed red. It took me a second to realise she was actually blushing. Her tail was swishing from side to side, as though she were... Worried? Happy? Thankful? I couldn't tell.

"Um, James? Do you... do you know what this means?"

"No, uh, what?" I asked.

"Giving a necklace to someone, in kiedran culture, is a-a show of affection." she replied. My eyebrows shot up. I quickly joined the dots; the jeweller must've figured I was 'courting' a human, and thought that selling me a pendant wouldn't have had any repercussions. Well, shit. I'd been trying to get her a thank you gift, and instead I'd basically just sent of a message suggesting that I had a god-damn crush her. Nice job, Bish, you idiot.

"Crap," I finally said, "I didn't know, I-I-I just meant to say... to say thank you." I sighed, and added, "I'm sorry if I've made you feel a-at all uncomfortable."

"No, I'm... I'm alright. It's my fault for not telling you."

"I could... go change it for something else, if you want me to."

"Maybe later," she replied, composing herself, "But right now we have slavers to catch."

The caravan was trundling along at a steady pace, but I doubted that would last long. We were going to use an age-old highwayman trick: fire into the air to scare the horses, causing them to sprint, eliminate the driver in the confusion, then raid their cart, or, in this case, free the slaves. As the cart came by, I held both my revolver and the M1911 skyward from out of our hiding place and pulled both triggers at once. The resulting explosion of sound caused the horses to panic, and, sure enough, they charged away down the track. That was the signal, so I holstered both weapons, leapt onto the ATV and gunned the engine, racing off after the caravan. Behind me, facing to the rear, was Mia, one arm looped around my arm for stability, holding back the drawstring of her new bow, three arrows in hand. We pulled up behind the rear cart, and I drew, lined up the shot and fired, hitting the train-style link between the two carts with a .45 point-blank. It separated, drifted left and ground to a halt.

As we pulled up behind the other caravan, the tigers in the back began cheering us on, and even the other keidran looked surprised, almost impressed. I accelerated, pulling up alongside and eventually in front of the caravan. The looks from the two slave driver's faces will always hold a special place in my heart for their sheer bewilderment. Mia loosed her shot, two arrows going wide and striking the cart, but the other finding it's mark in one guard's chest. He rolled off of the cart to the left, kicking up dust. The other, and it was my turn to be surprised, began charging some kind of spell. Hell. Still driving, I reached into my back pouch with one hand, retrieving the shield spellbook and hoping to every god I could think of that it was possible to draw mana at speed. By some miracle, I felt a rush of what felt like ice and adrenaline enter every vein in my body when I focused hard enough, and the book dissolved. A single word entered my head:

"AEGISA"

As the other driver loosed his bolt of energy yelling "Igniras!", I held up my free hand and screamed "Aegisa!" at the top of my lungs. Amazingly, it worked; a bubble of blue energy surrounded the ATV, and the bolt lanced off into the trees. As the sphere dissipated, the guy began charging another attack, and I felt a hand reach into my left holster, slipping out my revolver. I turned my head to see Mia holding it one handed, aiming for the guard. She fired, the shot piercing his arm and sending him spinning off the cart. We pulled up alongside the brace linking the two horses' harnesses, and Mia fired again, breaking it. They bolted off ahead, no burden now holding back their speed, as I swung the ATV in front of the cart and hit the brakes, slowing it to an eventual complete stop.

Mia hopped backwards off the ATV and onto the front of the carriage, where the drivers had sat not two minutes ago. A few seconds later, she turned around to face me, grinning toothily and holding up a keyring, with a good dozen keys.

"Great work. Go unlock their shackles, I'll go back and get the other cart."

"Right." she replied, nodding and climbing into the back of the cart, speaking to the kiedran inside.

I hit the throttle and drove back down the track to the other cart, tying it to the back with the rope from the link. I towed it up the track to find more than half of the tiger keidran out of their shackles, and the rest on their way there. Eventually, there were eleven tigers and the other keidran standing in the middle of the road.

"OK," I said, "Mia, translate." She began speaking Kiedran next to me as I said, "Alright, keidran, you're all free now. Your belongings are in the other cart. Collect them, and we'll escort you back to the border."

There were multiple crys of "A'sante!" "A'sante!"

"What does A'sante mean?" I asked Mia.

"It means 'thank you', human." The australian-sounding keidran replied before she did. He was now clothed in the gold armour, minus the helmet, which was under one arm. His other hand held the hilt of a sword sheathed at his side.

"I'm Fraiser, by the way. Fraiser Neveum."

"James Davidson. My freinds call me Bishop. I thought keidran didn't have any surnames."

"I'm no keidran." he replied, like it was common knowledge, "I'm a basitin, mate."

"A basitin? I've never seen one with white fur, but I see the resemblance." Mia said.

"I've been like this since I was born." was his reply.

"Ah, so it is albinism then." I mused.

"Al-what-now?" Fraiser replied, chocking his head to one side.

"It's a lack of melanin in your body, which causes bleached-white hair, and fur, colour, and that pale-pink tone in your eyes."

"What's melanin?" He asked.

"Nothing, nevermind. What were you doing here then, Fraiser?"

"Initially, working for those bastards. When I realised it was a slaving gig, I tried to break them out, but... well."

"They just added you to their collection. That's horrible." Mia said.

"Well, they most certainly ain't gonna' go slaving no more. You two saw to that. What is that thing anyway?" he asked, gesturing to the ATV.

"It's..." I thought about how to put it. "It's an electrically powered, four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle."

Fraiser whistled a long, low note of admiration. "This thing is impressive, to say the least." he muttered. He then turned to me. "Alright human, for now I appear to have found my self in your debt. Therefore I will assist you in your escort of these people to the border."

"Thank you." I replied, as I watched him, to my confusion, blindfold himself, then slip on the helmet, which would have completely covered his eyes anyway.

"Fraiser? Why are you, uh..."

"A basitin's ears aren't for show." he replied, turning to face me with startling accuracy, "We actually fight better blindfolded, gods know for what reason."

"Alright, I'll be sure not to yell if we're close together." Mia joked.

"Good." he replied, chuckling quietly.

"Well then, let's get moving. Which way is tiger territory?" I asked.

"The border's just about a mile west of here. This way." Fraiser said, leading off into the trees, remarkably not hitting anything. Mia and I set off after him, the tigers in close pursuit.

"Hey, Mia?" I asked after a minute or two.

"Mm-hm?" she hummed, turning to face me.

"I... sorry again about earlier."

"I've already told you that it was my fault for not telling about that part of kiedran culture. It's fine, really."

"OK." I said. I returned to scanning the area ahead with the M417, unaware of the fact she was actually wearing the very same pendant tucked beneath her armour's torso.

And, there we go. Another chapter, which I hope you've enjoyed. I'm not sure wether to have Fraiser stick with James and Mia, so I'll let you guys decide: stay, or escort the keidran solo once they reach the border.

For once, it's your call, guys. I'm fine either way.

I think I might actually give Star Fox: Ghosts of the Past and Halo: Reunion another chapter each, due to a sudden ideas for both. After that though, it'll be back to this 'till it's done.

-Wing