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Three-Mertens

Mertens.

So he had a last name. Well, other than Dog, the name he had gotten from Joshua and Margaret Dog. The subject of names made Finn suddenly think of something, "Hey, how is it you knew my name? Mom and Dad gave me my name when they found me. Did your-our parents give me the same one?"

Beth had to think a moment to decipher that Finn meant the parents he shared with Jake before understanding the question. The language they spoke here was still slightly off to her, it sounded like the Common Speech or "English" that most areas of the world shared but was different in a number of places. It still threw her from time to time.

"No, actually you didn't have a name when you were lost. There is a tradition in Lupe that infants are not given a name until their first birthday. You were almost one when we got to the sea so our parents never got a chance to name you. If they did have a name in mind, they never told me. The reason I know your name is because I was told it. All I had to do was ask if there were any people-human specifically- and I was told of "Finn the Great Hero and Last Human in Ooo". Your pretty famous here brother."

She grinned and gave Finn a soft punch on the arm. He gave a humble laugh, "Well I guess so."

Jake took another drink of his tea, he had been slowly sipping it throughout Beth's narrative and had now finished. He then asked "But when you first found us you said you had been searching for weeks. If everyone you met pointed you to where we were why did it take you so long?"

Although the land of Ooo was of a decent size and full of all sorts of danger Beth made it sound as if it was easy to locate them.

The woman nodded her head in understanding, "Well the fact is I didn't exactly have the best time at sea or on land; this one particular sea monster would just not leave me alone! I had to straight slaughter it to be left in peace. But that's a story for later." No one could really hide their disappointment at not hearing the tale but there were more important things to discuss.

"Anyway, the fact is that after I finally made it to this blasted place I was in no shape to really travel fast or far. My supplies and strength were low and I had no idea where I was. I only found out later I had landed on the south east side of the country. I managed to anchor and hide my boat before that first night set in so I had to wait till the next day to set off for food and hopefully friendly people. I was lucky enough to run into this nice young woman who went by the name of Huntress Wizard; she quickly became my first friend in this land. Anyway she helped me get back on my feet after my horrible time in that cursed ocean and helped outfit me in the gear you see me wearing now. The clothes I had traveled in were completely ruined. Except for the backpack, that was Mom's. "

Jake narrowed his eyes, "Wait, Huntress Wizard helped you?"

Finn looked at his brother, "You know her Jake?"

"I know of her, and she doesn't really team up with anyone."

"Oh, she told me that and that I "Really was lucky" she was impressed by my efforts and decided to help me. "One legend should help another" "

She shook her head as if thinking of a funny, fond memory. "Anyway all I had to do was ask around and I eventually made my way to where I found you guys earlier today. Even with Huntress by my side it was really hard to travel easily through this place. Every corner can lead to another adventure and treasure whether you want to have one or not."

Finn laughed at that, for it really was true. But then his brows furrowed, "Hey if Huntress Wizard was traveling with you, why were you alone when you showed up today?"

Beth gave a small huff and rolled her eyes. "Huntress left me about twenty minutes before I found you saying she had some other "business" to attend to and to give her a call when all the "sappy reunion time was over".

She gave a small laugh now. In the time she had known her, Huntress never seemed to like overly emotional moments. Quiet, subdued moments were almost always more her thing.

The mood began to lighten then, as the group encouraged Beth to tell more stories of her adventures through Ooo and her friendship with one of the more reclusive people it had to offer. She started with her trip through the ocean, Finn felt a shiver run down his spine as she began. He knew the ocean was evil, now he knew why he knew and wondered what happened to him and his father after the great storm parted his family.

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"…so the troll, Cedric, won't take no for an answer, he won't accept that Huntress won't be his wife. She finally has enough of the guy bothering her so she grabs him by the front of his jerkin and throws him single-handed on to the nearby table where his friends so far had been cheering him on to bother us. On impact the guy is knocked out cold and all the beer and food that was on the table are all over his friends. I think we're about to start the third bar fight of the week but instead of getting mad his friends laugh and now cheer her on. I'm completely shocked and say my concerns on that and on the guy she had most likely just given a head injury. But Huntress just smiles at me and in that smug way of hers she tells me "Don't you know? Trolls appreciate when people defend themselves. Not to mention I didn't really hurt the donk anyway", next thing I know the first troll gets off the table and starts laughing with the rest of his friends.

He then introduces himself as the King of the Trolls and calls us both honorary friends of the trolls for Huntress' "strength of person" and my "compassion for all", as he put it. He then bought us another round and went to just lightly flirting with Huntress."

Beth was shaking her head and laughing at the memory from about a week ago. After that the trolls proved themselves to be nice enough guys, one even started to flirt with her too. Everyone else was laughing as well, her stories were interesting and concerned people and places Finn and Jake had also seen so many story trades had occurred over the course of the afternoon and now evening. She could barely believe her brother had seen and done all the things he had. But then again she had done some pretty fantastic stuff herself and she had only been here a small time while her brother had been here almost his whole life.

She had explained that one of the reasons it had taken so long to find Finn was that as often as it had helped her search to say she was a human it often hindered it. Seemed every other person she met didn't like humans due to Finn's interference in their plans or they wanted a taste of human but were too scared of Finn to try to take it out of him. So she had to travel incognito as an "apprentice wizard" to Huntress to get answers. And even then half the directions they got lead to obviously the wrong place, whether it was intentional or not she would never know.

"The Trolls were the ones who finally showed me for sure where you were and how to get there the safest way possible."

Jake gave a chuckle as he set yet another round of tea on the table, the group had gone through three by now and a number of snacks. Well, the three flesh beings ate snacks, BMO pretended to eat and Flame Princess ate some "special charcoal" that Finn had set out especially for her. They had giggled and given one another shy looks when he handed them over to her. They really were cute together, even with Finn needing to wrap her hands in foil to touch her. If anything it made it more endearing.

One of Beth's tales that stood out the most was her run in with the Magic Man, it had happened when the two women were camping in the many forests around Ooo. Beth was on watch that particular part of the night while Huntress slept. She had heard a noise and went to investigate it, what she saw was this "weird green skinned dude dancing around with a spaced out look on his face".

She quickly made herself known and asked what he was up to; she didn't like shady characters showing up at night. The man had squinted at her, his face and posture suddenly seeming full of purpose, before jumping right in front of her and throwing this magic sparkling dust on her head. She barely had time to cover her face and front bangs before the dust was upon her. She heard the man singing about changes that were good for one's life and then he was gone, leaving her coughing and alone in the dark. It wasn't until she had made her way to the river near their camp that she saw what he was on about.

Her once sweet brown-gold hair was now a vibrant, electric blue. She could only stare at her now vibrantly contrasting hair in astonishment and no amount of washing or time would get rid of it. The color didn't fade and when her hair grew it grew out blue, she had been given a permanent dye job. Huntress Wizard had explained to her who the man was the next morning and everyone agreed with her description of him as a "magical jerk" and how lucky she was he hadn't done anything more malicious. Huntress gave her strict instructions to never leave camp without her after that. No one could name a reason for why he had done what he did but all agreed the color was "cool".

As he sat back down Jake said "Yeah the trolls are pretty cool, you'd think they wouldn't be into fighting and fun like other creatures of plants and nature and stuff but go figure." He stuffed another cupcake into his mouth, Beth was both impressed and disgusted by how much the guy could eat. It was truly a sight to see. She yawned, "Yup."

As if a spell had been cast yawns started to come from everyone in the group, even BMO gave a few. Jake looked at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight.

"I think it's time we called it a night Finn, it's getting late." The knife storm had ended a while ago so it would be safe enough for Flame Princess to make her way home. Everyone agreed to the dog's statement and got up from the table.

"Beth can you help me clear the table?"

The young woman knew Jake wanted to give Finn and Flame Princess their privacy to say goodbye so she readily agreed and ignored the two young lovebirds. Finn lead FP to the front door and at the threshold he said "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home? It is really late."

But the girl simply giggled. "I'll be fine Finn. I can take care of myself."

Summoning all of her control she quickly lent forward and placed a quick peck on the guy's cheek, immensely proud that she had only left the slightest burn behind. "Call me tomorrow alright?"

"Sure!" Came forth the dazed reply; Finn felt the tender skin of his face, a grin stretching his mouth wide. He felt his heart start thumping in his chest from the bit of contact and a light blush come to his cheeks. When the color had gone back down he climbed back up the ladder and found Beth and Jake sitting on the living room couch, laughing about something and holding their mugs in their hands. Finn smiled at seeing both sides of his family getting along.

Yawning he said "Jake I'm going to bed, Beth blankets and pillows are in the linen closet over there. You'll have to deal with the couch tonight but tomorrow we can find you something much better and put it in one of the spare rooms.

She smiled at her brother's thoughtfulness, "Thanks Finn that would be nice."

Not like she had other options, and she certainly hadn't hoped Huntress would offer, nope.

"I'm gonna stay up and talk to Beth for a little longer." It was nice to have some adult conversation.

"Kay. Goodnight bro, good night sis."

"Night Finn."

"Good night brother."

Felling a warmth spread through him at that second goodnight Finn made his way to their shared bedroom and sighed in relief when he saw his makeshift bed, he needed to think and digest everything and bed was a good place for him to do it.

After the young man left the room his siblings went back to talking, "Thank you for letting me stay here."

There hadn't even been a discussion, the two brothers had simply shared a look when everyone got up and nodded first to each other and then to her. She knew what it meant.

"Aw no problem, least we could do after your long trip and everything. Plus family sticks together so you can stay here as long as you want."

"…You consider me family?" The woman's voice was full of wonder and surprise.

She had accepted Finn's rather quick acceptance but had thought she would need time to win Jake over. Said magical dog put his mug down and took her hand in his paw and gave it a squeeze.

"Well yeah, I watched you all today and you reminded me a lot of Finn despite you guys not growing up together. You're as much of a hero as he is, not to mention you really made him happy today. Finn's got a big heart and he already holds you as close family, so I don't see any problem with doing the same."

Something deep within the woman fell into place then and warmed her from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.

Family.

She had a family.

Oh, man

She felt like weeping. She sniffled and quickly bent forward to envelope her companion in a tight hug. Jake returned it full force. When they released Jake smiled and said "We can talk more tomorrow, long day ahead."

He then got up and taking his mug with him started for the ladder but was stopped by Beth's voice.

"Goodnight brother."

"Goodnight sister."

Unseen by both Finn smiled and quickly went back to bed.

Beth watched the magical dog stretch up to the second floor and felt like she was on cloud nine. It did not dissipate as she got ready for bed and prepared the couch for her temporary stay on in. It wasn't until she was getting comfortable that she remembered something important. Reaching for her old, dark blue pack that she had moved to the foot of the couch she reached in and from its innards withdrew a small looking glass set in a darkly lacquered rose wood frame; the faint yet still lovely smell wafting from the compact reminding her of Huntress Wizard. The glass shimmered with the purple/blue magic belonging to her friend. Holding the glass close to her face in one hand she tapped the glass three times as she was instructed with the other.

In a clear voice she said "Speaking Glass show me Huntress Wizard."

A sheen of magic slipped over the glass before dissolving to show the face of said sorcerer/archer woman. The sorceress had a small frown on her face and gave a huff, Beth noticed she had her hood and mask off.

'So she's home then, or at least someplace safe.' She thought.

Huntress had said she had a few hideouts around Ooo. Maybe she had one in the area?

"About time you called me, I was starting to get worried. So you find out if the guy was your family or not?"

Beth rolled her eyes at her friend's mixed tone of concern and indifference and smiled. "Yes and he is, I found my brother Leila."

"You better be alone if you're using my real name you dork."

"Yes Leila I am." She assured her friend.

She had made a promise to never say her friend's real name around others. Leila had explained that names had power and as a wizard her true name could give her power over others or others power over her. So she had felt honored that her friend had told her it.

"I'm lying on the couch in his house right now; he and his adoptive brother Jake live together just like the trolls said." She went on to give Huntress a quick rundown of her day and her happiness at being so quickly accepted by the boys.

"So ….. You're happy they're letting you stay there?"Did her voice sound hesitant?

"Yup" Why was there a kernel of hope cropping up from that tone?

"Well alright. That's good, then. Well I'm glad to see you happy so give me a call tomorrow and we can set up plans to meet up somewhere."

Despite an odd sense of disappointment she felt happy that her friend wanted to hang out still. She had secretly feared Huntress wouldn't want to deal with her after everything but this put those silly fears to rest.

"Will do! Good night Leila."

"Well eve Bethilda."

The glass once again became an indigo field and then was clear once again. Beth put it safely away and then snuggled down into the couch; content.

A ways away in one of the forests of Ooo the one known as Huntress Wizard sat in her spacious cave hideout. Said cave had a large dead tree that ages ago had managed to grow through it and which she had hollowed out. This giving a mix of wood and stone interior to the place, currently the owner of the cave was in one of the warmer wooden rooms and sitting on a soft bed. She stared at her own small speaking glass for a few moments. She flexed her fingers around its matching frame to the one she had given to Bethilda.

She sighed.

She had chickened out; she couldn't ask her to stay with her. After hearing how happy she was with her new brothers she couldn't ask. She had left her early because she had wanted to let Beth deal with this on her own, she had met the little human boy before and when she had seen Beth she connected the dots. She didn't know why she had helped the human woman or how she had bonded with her so. It was true she rarely liked working with others but she had liked her time with Beth. There was just something about her…

So she knew she had to ask her to stay; before she got too comfortable somewhere else and with someone else. With these thoughts swirling in her mind the solitary sorceress placed her glass on the nearby table and curled up in her own bed.

She had things to do tomorrow.