Thank you everyone who followed, favourited and left a review! I didn't expect this to get this much attention.

This came out later than I expected, life has been difficult over the past few days. Glad I finished this chapter though! Feel free to leave reviews of course, and stay inside and stay safe.

Robin took out a small knife and carved into the apple, the rabbit stood up on its hind legs in curiosity. It placed one paw on her knee, excited for the apple. Once she had a small slice, she knelt down and gave it to the rabbit, who happily munched on it. She stroked it's head as she listened to it munching. It felt so soft and fluffy. She noticed it was missing an eye, but it appeared to be full of life and it was healthy.

"We're almost out of Arundel, Robin." Came Aries' voice. Robin looked over to her and saw she had the map out in front of her, plotting their movements. "We'll have to go through Remire village next."

Robin nodded and stood back up, petting the rabbit on the head one last time. She watched it run off into the brush and onto its next adventure.

They had been travelling on foot for a few days. When they left Nuvelle, the people had already started to rally against their city leader. He didn't put up much of a fight, and Nate had said some had already written to the House Nuvelle and explained the situation. He was confident they would send representatives to help them out. He handed them a map as promised and presently, Robin was accompanying Aries to Enbarr. Aries had decided the next stage in her life would be with the Mittelfrank opera house, she seemed extremely determined and all Robin felt she could do at this point was be supportive.

"How close are we to this village?" Robin peeked at the map over Aries' shoulder.

Aries pointed to where they roughly were, "not half a day away." She rolled the map up and placed it in her bag.

Robin felt a drip on her nose, looking up she saw rain falling between the trees. The dark clouds made everything look closer to night time.

"My hair!" Aries panicked as she pulled her hood up.

Robin did the same. It did not help that it was already pretty chilly. Aries had explained this month was called 'horsebow moon' whatever that means, and it was a time when people worked in their fields, reaping the bounty. But because it was autumn, that meant nights were getting longer and the weather chillier. Robin wondered how long the rain would last.

"At least we're under the cover of forest, for now." Robin spoke, "but let's not drag our feet, it already looks like night time."

Aries nodded in agreement and together they walked along a small path. Robin hoped that this Remire village had an inn, they would be soaked by the time they got there. She was slightly worried by the state of their finances too. They had enough coin to last them a few more days, but they would most likely run out before arriving at Enbarr. She would have to come up with a solution. Food might not be an issue, she could hunt for game. Unfortunately along their travels, Aries had told her she was vegetarian. Robin grew a little suspicious when she watched Aries eat chicken at last nights inn, but she let it slide. If there was wild chicken somewhere she knew Aries couldn't turn it down after her secret was blown. After what felt like a couple of hours, she could feel the pathway getting muddier under her feet. She could hear the squelching of each step.

Squelch squelch squelch

"Move a little quicker, Aries," she muttered.

"Hmm?" Aries looked up in slight surprise.

"Please don't panic, but we are being followed, I can hear their footsteps." She kept her voice as low as possible so it was covered by the rain but also allowing her companion to hear it.

Aries' eyes widened slightly but she picked up the pace as asked. Robin followed suit but kept her left hand near one of her tomes. Lightning magic was always better in the rain, she half smirked at the thought. They would need to get out of the forest soon, as much as she loved the peace that forests could bring, they were great for people to hide in and ambush. As she listened to the third person's footsteps, she almost froze. She could feel a crackle of magic that seemed to emanate from them. Dark magic. And it seemed to be growing, as if they were readying for an attack. Robin decided to take no chances.

"Run for it, I'll be right behind." She pushed Aries behind the back. She gave Robin a startled look but ran as fast as she could.

Grabbing her tome she let the lightning crackle between her fingers as she turned around and zero in on where the magic was coming from. She sent out a bolt in warning. Standing still for a second, her eyes strained to see in the darkness, a dark blue orb came crashing out the brush and towards her. Whoever it was didn't take kindly to her warning. She slipped on the mud in an attempt to get away but fell down. The orb passed by over her head. She didn't recognise the spell. She grunted as she got back up and sent a powerful Arcthunder. Her hair stood on end from the static as it blew apart a tree. She couldn't tell if it was her imagination or the rain playing tricks on her but she thought she saw a dark figure dart away. She wondered if she had wounded the attacker. She felt more dark magic in the air; that was not good. Either they were charging for a huge attack or there was another attacker in hiding. She decided not to find out and enacted a tactical retreat.

She was never the fastest runner, and if she was honest with herself, she hated doing it. But in times like these she's glad she put in a little practice with other Shepherd's. She didn't look behind her because she didn't want to stop. Already her lungs were burning but she wouldn't give her attacker the chance. She placed her back behind a large, dark tree and held her breath. She tilted her head beyond the trunk and looked down the game trail she had just come from. The only thing she could hear was the patter of rain as it hit her hood. She had to let out a breath when she realised she was holding it for too long. Who was that? Possibly another bandit? No, that was some seriously strong magic coming off of them, unless the bandits here were different? She needed to find the pathway again, but didn't fancy coming across whoever that was again. Before she made her decision, a scream came from the direction she had come from. Launching herself off the tree, she pelted towards the sound of the voice. As she got closer she heard what sounded like someone yelling out orders and weapons being drawn. She lowered herself into the bush, and saw a small group of what she guessed were knights. All of them were on foot and several had swords and others with lances, they looked panicked. Robin quickly saw why, one was unconscious on the ground and another knight tending to them.

Before if she could figure out if they were friend or foe, a sound ripped through the air that chilled her to the bone. She heard similar sounds when travelling with the Shepherds, they had been wolves. But this sounded a lot larger. A deep guttural sound came from another direction. There was more than one. One of the knights yelled and pointed to the left of where Robin hid, they all watched as red eyes glared back at them. It got closer and it was the largest wolf Robin had ever seen. One of the knights yelled to back away but they were pinned when the second largest wolf decided to show. The female knight who was tending the unconscious man panicked and tried to hoist him up, but the wolf pounced and threw them both back to the ground.

"ARCTHUNDER!" Without thinking, Robin threw a bolt straight into the side of the wolf and managed to topple it sideways before it snapped its teeth shut on its prey.

She threw a look to see how the other knights were doing and saw one of them in the maws of the gigantic beast. It was trying to rip his leg off as he was frantically trying to stab it in the face with his sword. Luckily someone jabbed it in the side with a spear and the pain was enough for the beast to let go of the man. That was already two knights down with three remaining. Four if she included herself. A snarl brought her back and she watched as the wolf prowled around her, baring its teeth. Something in the back of her mind knew these were not ordinary wolves.

"I can deal with this one," she told the woman behind her without taking her eyes off the wolf. She would need to draw this one away from the injured and pray the remaining knights could take down a five foot wolf.

Don't be reckless, but play smart she told herself. It was still raining so lightning magic would be all that more effective she thought with a grim smile. But it seemed to shake off her last attack so well. Focusing, she noticed there was a kind of magic emanating off the wolf. So these things can absorb magic? She'd need to use her sword too then. She threw out lighting intending to hit it side on, when it leapt backwards. It's fur was singing and this only seemed to piss it off. Ok, this is scary, it looks like it wants to murder me, Robin's mind was racing but her legs took a step forward. She took out her sword as it was lunging at her, she couldn't move sideways or that man would be in its direct line. She brought up the sword as it closed its teeth along its length, shuddering at the sound of metal and teeth scraping. Before she could think what to do next, it let go for a brief moment and with amazing speed it clamped onto her wrist.

Cursing into profanity, she accidentally dropped her sword and tome in the pain. Snarling with its teeth digging into her it shook its head to the side and she found herself flying through the air. She landed on her back where the pathway meets the forest.

Ok, that was somewhat of a smart move for a big dumb beast. She clenched her jaw through the pain and reached for her next tome. The fire igniting in her hands was enough to make the beast stop its advance towards her. She smiled, so even when grown to ridiculous sizes and sizzling with some kind of magic, these were still beasts of nature. They still had learnt to fear fire.

"Elfire!" she shouted and the beast yelped as the flame hit it dead on between the eyes. She watched as it shook its head frantically and ran off between the trees, the flame the only thing visible.

A loud yell pierced the air followed by snapping of big teeth and a snarl. Looking at the source, she watched the second wolf growl in pain as a long spear was sticking out of its side. It fell to the bloodsoaked ground and both she and it watched on as a knight brought his sword down on it. She closed her eyes for a moment. Seeing death never gets easy, no matter how many times she had seen it as this point. Taking a deep breath, she goes to pick up her dropped sword and tome. She pauses at the sight of her wrist. It was definitely going to need a healers magic. All she could do for now was take her last vulnerary and hope that was enough to keep the pain away until then. As she was downing it, she watched the knights pick themselves up. The knight who lay unconscious seemed to be waking up. She cautiously made her way over to them, halting when one saw her.

"Everyone ok?" She noticed they couldn't see her face underneath her hood so she took it down despite the rain.

"Just a few scratches," a rather small knight spoke. "We gotta get these two back to Remire and find a healer," He said to the two other knights. Her ears pricked up when he said that.

"I can help," she stepped forward. Hopefully, Aries had followed the path unscathed and was now in Remire.

The small knight scratched the back of his head until the woman who fought to protect her fellow unconscious knight nodded at him. He nodded in agreement to Robin and led the way back to the village. Robin helped lift the man who had been almost mauled by the wolf along with another knight and set off.

"How did this happen?" She asked as she shifted the knights arm over her shoulder. He was slightly capable of walking but it wouldn't be long before his adrenaline wore off.

The other knight helping Robin carry the poor man spoke up. "Was just doing reconnaissance, yeah. We was getting ready to go back to Garreg Mach along with the rest of our squadron." He paused to hoist the man up slightly. "Then some of us felt a dark presence before we was attacked by those bloody things."

Robin almost stilled. A dark presence? Like the one she had to fight off? Was it the same? Why had they attacked these knights? The woman who was carrying the once unconscious knight snorts.

"This might not have happened if some of you dolts hadn't gone to inspect whatever it was! Thank the Goddess we all made it out of here alive! And thank the Goddess you came along," she turned her head to Robin and nodded in thanks, "you are very kind, thank you."

"Of course, I couldn't turn away from those who need help." she paused briefly, "I believe I encountered the same darkness."

The woman's eyes widened and the guy next to her spluttered, "see! Wasn't our bloody imaginations!" The woman frowned but kept walking. "Either way," he continued, turning to Robin, "we owe ya one."

She smiled and nodded to the man. Eventually, she could see the trees beginning to thin and without turning to look at them the smaller knight announced they had arrived at Remire. Robin could immediately see it was a rather quaint village. Not too large but from here she could see people roaming the streets going about their business. When they got closer, a small team went out to meet them, and once they saw some of their own had been hurt had called for the healers. As the knight got taken off her shoulders, she saw a large man with even larger armour arrive with a worried look on his face. He had somewhat slicked back brown hair and matching coloured beard.

"What happened?" He asked the leader of their small group. He didn't look like he was expecting them to come back in such a sorry state.

As he was having the situation explained to him, Robin's eyes roamed the village. No red hair to be found yet. As she was searching, she saw them two looking at her, the smaller knight beckoned her over.

"Sir, this was the person who helped us when the two wolves attacked. I can report she used various magical techniques to make one wolf flee, then helped us carry a wounded back here."

"Well, miss!" The larger knight spoke, "sounds we owe you our thanks!" He bowed.

Robin bowed back, "I was attacked too. I was with a friend when that happened. Have you seen anyone rather small and with red hair come by here?" She knew Aries was sensitive about her height but when describing a missing person Robin had to include everything. Plus she wasn't there to hear.

Except she was.

"I'm not short!"

"Aries!" Robin was dumbfounded as Aries came running up to her to give her a hug. She gasped a little at the sight of Robin's wrist.

"Let's get you inside, you're soaked." She led Robin by the other wrist to where the healers were. The large guy following right behind.

"The name's Alois, by the way," he said to Robin, "call for me if you need anything." He bowed and left.

An hour later Robin was finally dry and comfortable. Her wrist was much better if a little sore and she was sitting at the inn's table with a drink in hand listening to Aries' chatter. Apparently Aries had run into Alois after she ran away from Robin. He told her he would gather a team together when Robin came back with the injured. Currently there was a fresh team out there now, looking for the presence that Robin and the knights reported. Whoever they were must have had a connection to the wolves attacking the knights. She couldn't help to wonder what the knights were doing here in the first place. According to Aries, they were the knights of Seiros. Robin couldn't figure out what that meant but it sounded important, so they were here for a reason. She sighed softly and watched through droplets as Alois talked to an incoming person on horseback.

"There she is!" She recognised that voice.

Looking over it was one of the knights she had to carry, and his friend who helped supported him. She smiled in welcoming, glad to see him back on his feet so soon.

"The name's Len." He extended a hand for Robin to shake, "this is Basil," he pointed to his friend. "I can't thank you enough for helping carry me back."

"May I buy the ladies a drink?" Basil asked, " It would be the least I could do for saving our hides back there." He nodded to Robin.

"Oh, there is no need-" she started but Aries shut her up by patting her on the back.

"Of course! My girls' thirsty!" she said to the two knights with a toothy grin. Robin looked at her and to the two men. Well, she wasn't a big drinker, but one every now and then was enjoyable. So she offered a smile.

"Nothing too strong or expensive, please."

That was how she found herself enjoying a conversation with two knights of Seiros. After some small talk they explained they were here on a mission to find a missing girl. She must have been important for a bunch of knights to want to find her, Robin thought. She sighed in relief when they received word that she was found safe and sound, and that was why they were beginning preparations to head back to Garreg Mach.

"What is Garreg Mach?" Robin asked, her head tilted to the side as it usually does when she's curious.

"Garreg Mach Monastery is run by the Church of Saint Seiros!" Basil said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Faint alarm bells went off in Robin's head. So there was a Church of Seiros, and they had knights. Why would a church need a militia?

"It's also run by the Officer's Academy." He carried on. "It ain't governed by any of the other three nations of Fódlan, so it's neutral. It's where students from the three nations go to train. And o' course, it's where we're stationed!" He clinked drinks with Len.

Before Robin could process this information, Alois came over.

"Evening gents!" He noticed Robin and Aries, "oh and ladies, of course! What's going on?"

"Just buying the pretty ladies some drinks." Basil winked over to them. Robin noted how poorly Aries hid her blush. "Everything ok, boss?"

Alois huffed and brought his hands behind his back, "The team I sent out have come back from their search. They found no trace of a dark presence, and all traces of wolves are gone, save for the dead one."

While all this was going on, Robin's head began to whir. An officers academy, and a church in one? Sounds like a place that had answers. When Alois finished his report, he turned to Robin.

"Is there some way to compensate you for how you helped us?" He offered her a smile while he waited for her answer.

She glanced to Aries, but she knew what she had to say. It was like something was pulling at her to say it. "I would like to accompany you to Garreg Mach, and for you to arrange a safe journey to Enbarr for my friend."

"You fool, you could have been seen!"

The dark figure found everything they had in their willpower to not retort, or start the fight they so desperately wanted.

"And attacking those knights! We do not need dead knights on our hands just yet!"

The dark figure smiled instead, "they should not have come so close to the wolves den."

The old man that had been shouting at them sighed in frustration, "what's done is done, what did you find about the girl?"

"She has familiar power, though I do not know yet what it is, or why it is so familiar. She sensed me before I could take a closer look."

The old man nodded, "best keep our distance until we know more. You have permission to keep watch, but do not engage again!"

The dark figure just smirked.