They hurried over to the Unholy Heir as fast as they could, delayed a bit by the fact that neither of them could actually keep up with Himiko since her strides were as long as their entire bodies. She didn't hesitate to poke a little fun at him and he made him wish he could grab her by the tail and toss her into some cactuars. They reached the edge of the cliffs that overlooked the pool of water that surrounded the giant rock structure, filled with those awful giant toads. They had a terrible habit of using their long tongues to yank you off your mount and into the water where they can try and kill you. One of them had tried it once and he hacked its tongue right off before killing it.

"I totally don't see her or anyone else around here. I wonder what's up?"

"What does this ninja friend of yours look like? Is she another Au Ra?"

Himiko nodded, "Yes she is, she's a raen but she's a very nice person. She has like dark blue skin and often is clothed from head to toe in light clothes."

Ulu tapped her chin, "Those sound like pajamas. Do all ninjas dress in pajamas? That reminds me of this time we were shopping in Uldah and I found these clothes that looked like pajamas but the merchant told me that they were clothes for a ninja! I thought that was the weirdest thing..." Ulu said but he couldn't hear the tail end of her derailing as he began to walk around the area to see if he could see anything out of the blue. Apart from the usual creatures that roamed this area, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at first. It was then he noticed a group of cactuars sitting close to the water's edge. He found that just a bit odd because usually the cactuars didn't come close to the water, except once in a blue moon. He pulled out his sword as he got closer to the cactuars. He grabbed a nearby rock and flung it at the closest cactuar he could reach. It smacked the top of the cactuar and he heard a guy cry out in pain, "Oww!"

"Oww? Since when does a cactuar talk? Show yourselves!" K' said, loud enough in hopes that Himiko and Ulu would hear. The cactuar stood up, shedding its disguise to reveal a well tanned miqo'te male, dressed from head to toe in skimpy subligar. He brushed aside some of his silver hair as he smiled at him, "I really don't appreciate the look you're giving me."

"Wow, I didn't realize we get to see stripper boys! Remember that time we walked into the Quicksand in Uldah and-"

"That's enough Ulu."

Himiko cleared her throat, "Just who are you? My friend was working out here, what have you done to her?"

The guy chuckled as he put his hand on his hip, "Well well, a pair of sweet desert flowers like you two shouldn't be out here in a dangerous place like this."

"Desert Flowers? Do you mean like the Desert Saffron? That's a totally pretty flower and it makes a wonderful tea-"

"Ulu!" K' said as he stomped his foot on the ground. Could she try and focus on...actually he would prefer she not focus too hard on him because it would just really distract her.

"Where is Saya?" Himiko asked.

"Saya? Is this yet another beautiful desert flower?"

K' rolled his eyes, "So I guess the other cactuars are more of your hairball buddies?"

"A gentleman never tells his secrets-" he started to say before he was forced to jump out of the way as Himiko tried to hit him with a fire spell. K' looked over at her and was a bit surprised at how mad she looked. Usually she'd be smiling or joking around a bit but she was not playing around now. Saya must have really been important to her, "So fiery, I wonder if you're that way in bed."

"I'll burn it off if you totally don't tell me where she is."

"So feisty, I like it! I don't really know what happened to your scaly friend but I'm sure-"

"How do you know she's an au ra? Neither of us mentioned it at all," K' asked. The catboy's eyes grew wide when he realized he made a misstep but he was back to his jovial look again.

"I have to admit, she was a real feisty one too and she knew a thing or two but we were able to subedue her. I kind of like it when they fight back-"

"You're like mega creepy."

"Roly Poly, I choose you!"

K' looked over his shoulder, wandering why the hell Ulu said that but he soon has his answer as the odd looking Fat Cat that kept following her around, suddenly rolled by them at a rapid speed, almost hitting the miqo'te before smacking into the other oddly placed cactuars, which turned out to be more scantly clad miqo'te guys. Why couldn't they be girls? Of course he wasn't about to say that aloud to anyone. Still he liked that she had gotten some results out of it, "I guess we'll just have to beat the truth out of ya."

"Do you always take on such a hands on approach?" He said as he flashed a toothy grin at K'. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that grin off his face.

"Don't worry, Bubblegum Carbuncle will do the job!" Ulu said and he saw her summon a pink carbuncle. He wasn't sure if the pink one was any different from the ruby one but he'd just ask later. She probably did something silly like ask her carbuncle to turn pink. The miqo'te man pulled out a pair of daggers and leapt at K' but he parried them with his own greatsword.

"You know what they say about popotos and big swords?"

"Yes the giant knife line? I've heard it already."

"Oh big boy, that's not what-"

"Gods man, does every line from you have to drip with innuendo! I'm gonna dump you into the icey cold lakes of Coerthas!"

The miqo'te man smiled as he licked his lips, "Sounds like even more fun-"

K' pushed him away as he brandished his sword in front of him, "So just what are you up to? Are you just a bunch of no good thugs out to cause trouble for travelers?"

The miqo'te man chuckled, "Now that my dear popoto would be selling us short. We are not just some thugs, we were hired here to take out some pesky adventurers causing our client some trouble."

That caused him to pause, "Your client? Who is your client?"

"Now now my little popoto, that would be telling."

K' glared at him, "You better start answering now! I don't have a lot of patience for you," he said as he called forth a sphere of dark magic. He flung it at the miqo'te as hard as he could, expecting him to block it with either his daggers or some other method. He followed after the magic but as he ran along, he kicked up a bunch of dust, stirring up a large enough cloud of dust that could let him slip by the miqo'te. Sure enough he blocked the magic but didn't notice him slip right between his legs and to his back. K' turned around and smacked him in the back with the broad side of his sword, knocking him to the ground as he pointed his sword at his back, "Now then, you were gonna answer my questions."

"You fight dirty, even for a lalafell."

K' rested his sword on his tiny shoulders, "I'll take that as a compliment, I think."

"Look, like I said before, we're just doing what my client wanted. She had her eyes on some rare gem or something she discovered out here in a nearby cave but was afraid of competition so she hired us to guard it!"

Well in an area close to Uldah, there would be lots of competition for precious stones. There was no shortage of rich merchants that would either love to corner the market on it or have it for themselves to show off, "Okay so maybe your story is just a little believeable but what about the ninja?"

"Oh she was real feisty but we captured her and left her in a nearby cave. We thought she was being a little too snoopy so we had to get her out of the way."

"So just who is your-"

"I would prefer that you not rough up my hired help any further," a woman's voice said and K' looked over to see Falling Skies standing not too far away from the skirmish. He sighed as he walked over to her and folded his arms.

"Sorry lady but we are trying to get to the bottom of this case-"

"Yes your case, I've heard about that."

He raised an eyebrow at that, "How would you know about that? Wait, never mind, that was posted on a public board."

She sighed, "Yes it was and don't think for a second I didn't notice you and your friends snooping about," she said with a sneer. He shrugged it off.

"You might not like it but some of us got to eat and we aren't some rich as-"

"Well whatever. I would prefer it that you stop sticking your nose into this."

K' shrugged as Ulu walked up to them, "So are we like done fighting? I'm tried of pastel carbuncle getting dirty."

"Wait, wasn't it just pink a little while ago?"

Ulu nodded, "Yes but haven't you heard the slogan taste the rainbow? I'm letting carbuncle get in touch with all the colors. How else will she know what's the best color if she doesn't sample them all? Remember that time-"

"We'll discuss that later," he said as he looked back at Falling Skies, "So is it true the hubby was just trying to get his wife something really fancy and was just hiding it?"

She nodded, "Yes, he's been meeting with me to check on the progress of the jewelry. It was an entire set and it was made using that gem I had discovered. We keep meeting so I could give him progress on it but I can see why it might look suspicious."

"So does that mean we can get paid?"

"I already told him to tell his wife since it looked like she had gotten just a tad suspicious."

"Posting on the hunt board is a tad suspicious?"

Falling Skies shrugged, "I have to be honest, I didn't expect that sort of response out of her. Maybe there is a prior history there or something."

"Darn well has to be if she did that."

Ulu giggled, "I bet he's got that wandering eye. K' has it bad too, especially when he sees pretty girl miqo'te-"

"My eyes do not wander."

"Oh don't even lie K'. Your eyes wander so fast when you see a miqo'te walk by, especially if she's cute. That reminds me when you thought you ran into a miqo'te girl and you totally tried to be smooth but then you realized it was Himi-"

"That's enough of that!" K' said as he stomped his foot as hard as he could, which wasn't much. Falling Skies watched this exchange and just shook her head.

"I'm partly amazed that you three get anything done but it seems you did, somehow."

K' shrugged. He could have argued that it was more like four of them and Himiko did her own thing but he didn't feel like arguing that now. For one, he already looked a bit bad trying to argue it out with Ulu and as much as he hated it, Himiko had helped them out, "The popoto is a bit rough around the edges-"

"Hey, where the hell is that ninja you guys tied up?"

"You could always just ask nicely."

K' just glared at him over his shoulder, "This is me asking nicely."

The miqo'te man chuckled, "I see. Well Falling Skies is giving me the look an ahriman gives you before it's over, so I'll just mosey on over there and free your scaly friend. Didn't know you were so into au ra women," he said with a wink. K' wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off his face but that would have to wait for another time. Himiko sighed.

"Well I'm going with him to make sure she's okay. If they so much as hurt her-"

"Try not to be too violent with him."

She smiled, "Oh so now you're showing concern for me-"

"I'm not showing you jack! Now buzz off!"

"Oh so now you're just trying to be coy with me."

He could only slap his forhead as Ulu giggled.

K'tai grumbled as she stared at her share of the money, "What a boring f**** case, I would have rather taken a cat nap."

K' shrugged, "Well it wasn't hard money to earn but I kinda expected more. I mean c'mon, he was just trying to conceal some exclusive jewelry he was buying for his wife? I need more than that."

He felt someone poke him in the side but he didn't even bother to look to see who it was, "You just hate romance K', you never get it either but it's totally-"

"Yeah whatever," he said as he cut Himiko off.

"Well unless you have another job for us lined up at the moment, I'm gonna go relax for a bit. You know how to reach me," K'tai said before she pocketed her share and walked off. He didn't know just where she kept it to be honest but he never felt like asking either.

Renault chuckled, "Do not worry, I'll make sure to keep tabs on our skimpy red haired friend to ensure she doesn't go off to somewhere dangerous."

K' nodded, "Yeah well she seems to like to saunter off to Upper La Noscea and Outer as well. Especially Outer, I don't know why but I think there is a secluded area out there she enjoys staying at. So long as she doesn't land in jail or something, I could care less."

"I will most likely be in Limsa, studying with some of the arcanists. I find their arts fascinating and would like to learn more."

K' grabbed his mug of beer and drank some of it, "I mean you realize that some of their spells involve inflicting nasty ailments on a person. Miasama fills the lungs with a choking poison and energy drain pulls the blood out-"

"Yes, I'm quite aware of that," Renault said as he leaned on the table, "Which is why I suggest not angering Ulu too much since she out of all of us has an aptitude for the arcane arts."

K' casted a wary look at Ulu, who just waved at him, "Oh I'm not totally like that. I think...well there was that time someone poked fun at my carbuncle for being pink or something. I was so mad that I...wait maybe it was that time when that pair of roe pirates tried to capture carbuncle and-"

"I think I get the idea. Ulu, where are you off to?"

Ulu tapped her cheek, "Oh well...speaking of off, I need to remember that...oh wait, never mind, we already did that. I don't know where I'll head off to, I think I may go to Gridania for a bit. I want to go ask the elementals there about why all of the hunters get to walk around clear and free but if we so much as step on a plant, they try to bring their wrath upon us."

K' and Himiko shared a confused look, "Why would you even ask them that?"

Ulu shrugged, "I don't know, it just came to my head and it made me think. Don't you have those moments where a random thought comes to your head, like a tonberry sneaking up from behind and stabbing you? Well that thought came from behind and stabbed me with its dagger of ideas."

"I don't have those moments."

"Isn't Himiko entitled to a share of the money? She did assist us in solving the case," Renault said. K' shook his head.

"She offered her help voluntarily, she doesn't get a cut. That's not how things work."

"That seems just a tad harsh if you ask me. I would think after-"

"Tough luck I say."

Himiko giggled, "Don't worry, he talks a really tough game but we came to an agreement on how he can pay me back."

Ulu bounced in her chair, "Oh really? How did he agree to pay you back? I totally want to hear this!"

"Oh it's totally a secret. He actually insisted on just giving me my share but I like this method much better. I know deep down, he'll totally like it too, won't you K'?"

He folded his arms, "Nope."