HoloJourneys

by vanderblast

A fateful encounter with a fluffy sheep inside a castle dungeon, begins a journey that will change the world. In a world of magic, swords, magical spirits and endless possibilities, Anon, sets forth on a journey with his friend Watame to see everything this world has to offer and to find their origins. The journey won't always be easy, but together, they can always make it through.

36. A Tropical Welcome and a Scorching Sun

As the buildings that border your destination grow taller and taller with each step you take, the rate at which your boots kick up the desert sand increases. The air carries a slight hint of saltwater along its current that helps a smile form upon your sweat beaten face. Hand in hand, you look to your side to see Watame's own smile grow from ear to ear. You had promised to show her the ocean again soon, and now the time has nearly arrived. Thanks to the precautions you all took this time around, the fluffy sheep handled the desert heat much better. The temperature is also getting noticeably more comfortable the closer you get to Shallah.

While still a fair distance away from the town's borders, you close the giant circus umbrella that had given you shade, and hand it back to Polka.

"Thanks again, Polka." You say handing the fennec the caned handle. "We should at least try to be a little inconspicuous from here on out."

"Good point." The circus magician agrees as she removes her hat from one of her pointed ears and casually drops the umbrella into its magical depths. "We'll see how far we get like that though."

"By the way, how are we going to sneak your new girlfriends around?" Flare teases, her emphasization directed towards the lion pack that almost breaches your personal space brings you out of your blissful wanderlust.

While you gave the half-elf an unamused look for her choice of words, which only seemed to spur lionesses like Bransha, and Riki into trying to stand a little closer to your flanks, you do admit her question has a lot of merit.

I know I said I'd keep everyone who would be looking for the pack focused on me, but how exactly do I expect them to get into Shallah without being noticed? We could try giving them some cloaks, but I don't think we have enough. There's mine, and Watame's that's made of full cotton wool and it would make one of them look more like a sheep…that sounds cruel for some reason, but also a little funny. I don't want to be too far from them either in case something goes wrong. Gods…I'm getting attached to them already…focus, Anon.

As you continue to rack your brain for a smooth solution, your eyes are caught by the small palm sized fairy that still sits on your shoulder. Pomu gives you a friendly wave from her seat and you are stricken with a potentially great idea.

"We're not going to sneak around at all." You say matter of factly to Flare, who just returns your answer with a small groan. "We won't need to sneak, and we won't need to hide the pack. Since they're not the lions the pirates have been hunting off the nearby island."

"We're not?" Botan asks, half curious, and half skeptical.

"You won't be. At least for a little while. To the people of Shallah, and more importantly to any wandering pirates, you'll all be Pomu!" You exclaim with outstretched arms, your hands dangling with dramatic flair.

Pomu's head snaps to meet your gaze, and you give the confused fairy a sure smile. She quickly gets the gist of your idea and seems to be right on board. With an exaggerated kick of her legs, she lifts herself off your shoulder, and flutters in the air before magically reverting to her normal size.

"That's a great idea, Anon!" The fae agrees as she looks to be growing more excited at the idea of doing a little trickery that is fully sanctioned by you. "With my magic, you can all look just like me! What ya say, girls? Are you ready to look as fabulous as a fairy?"

"Sure, why not?" Botan shrugs, not really for or against the idea, but you can spy a small curve form on her lips when she sees how happy her answer makes the giddy fae.

"Hold on!" Bransha almost snarls as she tugs your shirt by the shoulder and spins you around to face her. "We're not winged fairy things! We're proud lions! How we look is part of who we are"

"She's right." Frala chimes in, also seemingly against the idea of having her natural appearance changed. "We should just enter as we are. We're born hunters. We can stay hidden long enough until it is time to fight."

"It'll just be for a little bit. I promise." You start to compromise. "You'll still feel like you…for the most part. If it makes you feel better, I got changed to Pomu once too."

"You did?" Bree asks skeptical as she looks between you and the fae, likely trying to picture you with fairy wings and pointy ears.

"In the middle of a battle too." You say somewhat proudly, remembering how Pomu's unique style of magic helped you turn the tide of that battle with the demonic fairy imposters. "It was kinda cool to use spells with hands that weren't exactly my own."

"Oh! Or how about when you socked the one in the face!?" Pomu begins to reminisce as well. "It was so cool, it was like watching myself do it. It felt oddly satisfying too."

"Well…if our pack leader has done it, we can surely try." Korla resigns, clearly a little reluctant however.

"Just don't bring us to any mirrors or reflections while we have to masquerade as fairies." Riki scoffs with her arms crossed.

"As soon as we find a safe place to lay low while we figure out things, you'll be back to your normal selves. I promise." You say with your hands flatley pressed against one another as you make one final plea with the pack.

"There's one more thing you need to promise me before I go through with this." Bransha counters as she steps in front of you, looking up with fierce resolve. The fact her head barely comes up to your lower pectorals makes you have to almost crane your neck full downward to return her gaze. You do your best to maintain a solid disposition despite her wildly alluring traits and how you can basically see fully down her black tank top. "If we let the fairy change us into her, you need to make it up to us. Every one of us."

"And how will I do that?" You diplomatically ask, somewhat expecting the spunky lioness' request to be outlandish enough that you'll have to flex your status as her leader and slap it down while making her go through with your plan anyway.

"When we take our home back, you're going to let us show you around." Bransha replies sternly. "Each one of us can show you our favorite things about it."

The rest of the lion pack suddenly shows a fierce approval in this proposal and add their own affirming nods and hums to it.

Pomu lets out two whistles, the second reaching a much higher pitch as she lets it pitter out. "Not that I think getting to look like me is all that bad, but I appreciate the hustle! Looks like you got seven dates ahead of you, Anon!"

"Eight." Flare intejects with her arms crossed across her chest. "He has eight now. And I don't think I need to remind him who comes first."

"She's right." You lean into the situation you just got called out on. "I can agree to that if you want, but I promised Flare to take her to a few spots in Shallah first, just the two of us."

"Wait…you mean the sheep isn't the only one we need to compete with!?" Bree practically hisses.

"You all can smell the fox's scent on him too, and she has his too in a strange way." Botan shrugs. "It's not like how we normally exchange scents, but it's still there somehow. What is that about anyway?"

"It doesn't matter. As long as our pack leader will get a chance to see each one of us for who we are and what we can offer him, it won't matter if I'm first or last in line." Riki says with an air of feminine confidence as she twirls one of her curled strands of hair with a single finger. "The spot I'll show him will make me his prime in the end."

"Yeah right!" Frala laughs as she places a hand on top of Riki's bouncy mane and ruffles it to her great discomfort, causing the smaller blond lioness to whip around and snap at her pack mate's hand, her pristine fangs just missing their mark. "Anon is powerful. He needs a mate that can keep up with and challenge his strength! You and the whelps won't even be able to make him sweat."

"Don't worry…I'm already sweating." You dryly say as your patience is tested. "Look. I will go wherever each one of you wants to take me on your island, I would actually love to see the place, and NO, I'm not picking favorites with any of you. So can we please just move on? The sooner we get into Shallah, the sooner we can take a real breather and find something to eat."

The mention of food seemed to get some of the girls, mainly Frala, Bransha, and Riki, distracted enough so that they didn't move on to trying to scratch each other's eyes out, and ceased their challenging growls at one another. Did this group of territorial women really work together for survival? It's almost hard to picture it. Botan and Korla seem like the only ones who can stay focused for more than five minutes. Maybe these are just growing pains of newly appointed leadership? Gods you want this off your plate as soon as possible.

"You really want to see parts of our home?" Nula says as she walks past her confrontational pack-mates, surprising you for actually speaking up.

"Of course I do." You answer as your frustration lessens somewhat. You give the silver-haired lioness a small smile as you are happy to change the conversation to something you are actually comfortable talking about. "I want to see all kinds of places. Your home sounds like it'll be nice to visit, so if there are any special spots that might be hidden or extra beautiful, you bet I want to see them."

"Hey hey hey! I see what you're up to, Nula! Back off!" Bree snarls as she butts in between the two of you and looks at Nula in defiance.

"I'm just asking him a question!" The slimmer lioness spits back. Interesting, so the backbone she showed when she fought you in the cave wasn't just the product of desperation.

"Uh huh! Quit while you're ahead, Nula. There's no way Anon would bother putting an obvious pillow princess like you anywhere near the top of his list." Bree venomously fires back as she gives a smug lick of her curled paw.

This seemed to ignite something within the scrawniest of the pack. Nula's cheeks puff up, and in a flash, she slaps Bree across her cocky face. Just like that, arguments are reignited, and claws are thrown. You look over at Botan for help, who seems to just shrug at your pleaful expression. Korla is also on the sidelines, almost happily watching the five of her pack-mates begin to assert their dominance over one another.

"Not this again…" You groan, and from behind you can hear giggles from Watame and Flare. You also swear you can hear Nene mumbling something about what the pack is doing looks fun. This has to stop. "Pomu…just do your thing. Please."

Happy to come to your aid, Pomu steps in front of you and makes sure all lioness demi-humans are within her field of vision. She holds her finger and thumb in the shape of an "L" with both hands, and connects them together to make a self-made rectangular lens that she holds up to one of her eyes.

"Sayyyyy I'm Pomu!" She chirps. A thick cloud of white smoke then puffs out from under the rowdy lionesses, causing them all to gasp in surprise at the sudden interruption. The lionesses cough as the smoke clears, and their eyes widen in shock as they observe that each and every one of them now bears the fae's visage, minus the wings.

"I decided it would be easier if they didn't have a pair of these babies on their back." Pomu says as she leans back on her heels and points a thumb towards her now spread out translucent wings. "Now they just look like a group of very attractive ladies~"

"Blond is really not my color." Bransha's voice comes from one of the Pomus, clearly off put by the shade the hair in front of her face now sports.

"And look at my arms!" Frala voices her disapproval next. "They're tiny!"

"They are NOT! I've been working out!" Pomu huffs, not really appreciating the sorely direct comments on her appearance.

"It's only temporary, so stop whining." Botan's voice comes next as you see her look her new self up and down. "The legs aren't half bad. I told you they looked meaty enough to eat. How do we tell who is who though? Sure our voices are ours, but we all look exactly the same."

"Already thought of a solution." Pomu declares as she twirls a handled comb between her fore and middle finger while showcasing a mix of hair ties made with various colors in her other hand. "Want to lend me a hand, Polka? What about you, Anon?"

"Let's add an extra layer to this makeover!" Polka cheers as she reaches into her pulled off hat for a bristled brush whose handle is a solid red with a reflective mirror on the back of its head.

"Why are you asking me? I barely do anything with my own hair." You respond to the fae's question with skepticism.

"They may look like fairies, but they're still lions on the inside. A pack leader has to be responsible for this kinda stuff. It's part of their survival after all." Pomu returns with a particularly mischievous look on her face. You guess you can't expect her to pass up a single opportunity to have some "harmless" fun with you.

"I don't know the first thing about styling hair." You continue to argue, arms crossed in defiance.

"Well now's the time to start learning!" The fae takes one of your hands and twists your open palm upward. She then places two of the colored hair ties; one blue, and one black, into your hand and gives you an encouraging smile before looking at the crowd of Pomus. "Who is up for being a guinea pig for Anon? It probably won't turn out pretty, but he needs the experience."

In a flash, the gaggle of Pomus rush and shove into each other to form a line in front of you, with the last one casually walking herself to the end who you have to assume is Botan. You groan and make a sulking expression at the forest fairy and fennec who look to enjoy your suffering.

"We'll be here all day if we make Anon take care of all of you, so here's how it's gonna go." Pomu remarks as she and Polka walk towards the middle of the line. "The first two in line, you're the lucky winners, depending on how you look at it. I got the three in the middle, and Polka will help the last two in line."

Shaking your drooping head, you resign yourself to your fate and decide you'll at least try to help the two trusting their appearance with you, look distinct and presentable. Two Pomus step up to you and look at you with eager eyes, if only they knew what they had just volunteered for.

"So uhh, which two are-" You start, deciding it would be a good idea to see WHO you were styling first. That way you can at least try to give them something that hopefully closely resembles their original hairstyle.

"Bransha."

"Bree."

"Why am I not surprised?" You sigh as both girls give you a proud smile. Their tenacity and overeagerness are actually endearing if you're being honest, which makes you a little more agreeable to your task. "Alright, since you both have long hair normally, what do you want?"

"Give me something that makes me look strong!" Bransha

"Same. But also pretty! Make it something you like." Bree then demands, which causes her sister to also nod her head assertively at you.

Scoffing, you turn Bree around so the back of her head is facing you, and begin your first foray into hairstyling. You undo the teal bow and begin to comb through the thick, blond hair with your fingers as you think about how to entertain the lioness' request.

Pomu's magic is sure is something else. This even feels like different hair. I know she made me Pomu once too, but I didn't think about just how transformative the process was. Now what to do about Bree? She wants something strong looking, but what is a strong hairstyle for a girl? Flare is pretty strong. A long ponytail might work.. Now how the hell do I do that with one of these stretchy ties?

With clumsy hands, you begin to gather Bree's now blond hair and bunch it together to hopefully resemble a ponytail. Next came the hard part, actually tying it together, which actually leaves you stumped. When you almost give up and admit to needing help, Sylph begins waving to you from the corner of your eye. You look over to the wind fairy and see her animated expressions as she looks to be trying to guide you with your task. She turns her back to you and shows you how you can properly get the hair tie through and have it secure one's hair. You nod and do your best to imitate her movements. Even with your fumbling and inexperience, Bree doesn't seem to mind the physical attention. With a sigh of relief, you let go of her head and are amazed to see that the blond ponytail that trails all the way down past the small of her back is holding together. You decide to use the unused cloth in your hand for one last finishing touch. You then tie the teal fabric around her upper arm on the left side.

"How do I look?" Bree poses the question when she twirls and faces you and Bransha. "Less like a fairy I hope."

The Pomuified lioness looks at her sister, and then you with her hand held to her chin. She hums in affirmation which makes the other girl smile.

"He made you similar to the half-elf. That is a good sign. Me next. Give me something like that too." Bransha says as she turns her back to you.

This time you take considerably less time to get Bransha's hair in place how you want. You had bunched a good amount of that golden hair in your hand, but decided to let a fair amount of it flow freely to create a cascading backdrop of sorts behind the ponytail you now tied together. Last, was tying the discarded bow around her right arm. Giving the girl a final pat on the head, you step back and let her sister grade your work.

"This will do for now, at least it will be easy to tell us apart." Bree remarks, as she and Bransha compare the makeshift armbands you gave them.

"Like I said, you won't be like this for long." You shrug as you turn your attention to the rest of the pack to see how they made out. To no surprise, Pomu and Polka did a much more elegant job dressing up the fairy's doppelgangers than you did. One's hair curls upward at all its ends with Pomu's signature bow still on her head, you have to assume that is Riki. Another has her hair parted down the middle and brushed straight down, the only indication that this was Korla is the penciling of scars that you remember to be her own along her face and bare arms. Pomu also managed to give Nula a near replication of her regular ponytail, although this was bunched into a bun behind her head. Polka clearly had fun with Frala and Botan as the alpha looks to have long twin tails tied from both sides of her head, while the more strong spoken of the two was given a full brushback, so that all her hair falls behind her head like a pouring waterfall. The fennec had also drawn a collection of triangles, squares, and circles under Botan's eyes, while Frala had pretend scars to match her actual ones drawn in.

"Not a bad job." Flare says a little impressed. "I think I can actually tell who everyone is. Although…won't it be suspicious that they all have Pomu's face, but not her wings?"

"Also easily solved!" Pomu chirps as she makes her wings vanish in a puff of green sparkles. "Now we just look like a big happy family of regular people with very attractive and pointy ears."

With the lion pack now disguised, everyone turns their sights on the outlying border town. A mix of anticipation and anxiety starts to make your stomach turn on itself. Lui made it sound as though the people here are really suffering. Your mind starts to play out the potential scenarios you could encounter as soon as you cross the settlement's borders. Could you have to fight right away? You suppose that's always a possibility, but you would rather avoid it until you at least get something to eat.

The troublesome thoughts about the dire nature of your mission are brushed to the side as you are greeted by the proud and unique architecture of another culture. Domed roofs woven from reeds and straw, likely from the nearby shoreline, stand atop buildings made from masoned stone. With no gates or blockages in sight, you are free to simply enter the town and begin taking in the new environment as you stroll through the wide sandy road that looks to stretch for a few miles. Buildings line up along your left side, while the land on the right side of the road is left alone to allow natural life to flourish. Patches of dunes sprout and reach for the blue skies as they sway back and forth along the wind. Beyond them grow long, sturdy looking trees whose leaves unfurl like fans and create a considerable amount of shade thanks to how the top of the tree trunk bends ever so slightly.

"I've never seen trees like this before!" You exclaim with a childlike excitement as your inner desire compels you to inspect this fascinating construct of nature more closely. You hop over the makeshift border the dune creates and approach the trunk of one of the trees. The lines along the bark create sideways diamonds, which give this specimen a proud appearance; a suitable match to how sturdy and strong it feels against your fingertips. "This is so cool! A tree is actually growing out of sand. Wait! Could the sand be different!? Is that how something like this can grow!?"

"Is he alright?" Botan asks Polka, who does a small double take at the fae girl who has the voice of lioness next to her, but then lets out a soft laugh.

"He is better than alright. What you're seeing is pure, unfiltered, nature loving, Anon." Polka says happily. "He goes nuts for this kinda stuff. It's actually kinda cute."

"Nene! Come check this out! This lands half your lifeblood!" You call over to everyone, knowing the Champion of Ursol will appreciate this, and you somewhat hope that her hereditary connection to this land might somehow jog some sort of ancestral blood memory so she can tell you more about this amazing plant life.

Nene happily skips over the dunes to join you. She looks at the mighty tree with astonishment as she places a gentle hand on its bark. You look on with giddy excitement as you can see her emerald eyes truly shine.

"This tree…feels like home?" She says, almost unsure what caused her to speak those words. "But…Bjornholm is home…but, this was mama's home before that."

"That's right! That's why you feel connected to it!" You assure the bubbly blond of what her soul is probably telling her.

"Nene likes this tree. It's strong like trees in Bjornholm, but it bends. Bends but does not break, like Nene!" She announces next as she looks up at the green foliage that decorates the tree's branches.

"How does a tree like this even happen?!" You ask anyone for a possible answer as you kneel down and inspect the ground under your feet. Your hand is met with a comforting warmth as it plunges into the sand. Bringing a small handful up to your face, you focus in on the beige soil that spills little by little off your palm. It has speckles of clear, and various hues of brown rock within it, just like normal sand does, which doesn't provide any clues, but is fun to hold nonetheless.

"Tree just is, Anon!" Nene answers with unwavering certainty. "It belongs here. That all there is to it."

"What a delightfully…'Nene' answer." Flare sighs slightly.

"And it's not too far off from the truth." An older woman's voice, rasped by age, but still carries a cheerful spark makes itself known.

You rise to your feet and meet eyes with an elderly woman, short and made slightly shorter by her back beginning to hunch over from age. Light brown hair that looks to have been darker in its youth, is parted down the middle and hangs down and reaches the woman's smiling cheeks. A sky blue dress where the sleeves just seem to only cover the shoulder and underarm, sports a white petaled floral pattern that drapes down until the dress ends just above the woman's ankles, where a tied together piece of twine rests around one of them. Simple red beaded bracelets are worn on both her wrists, and drawstring sandals keep her feet from bearing the hot sand.

"It's not?" You ask to address the tan skinned stranger, eager to both know what the "truth" apparently is, but also to meet an actual Shallah native.

"It's been quite some time since travelers came in from the desert, and on foot no less." The woman continues as she slowly but carefully, steps over the dunes, making sure not to step on a single one of them, and shuffle over to you. "But where are my manners? Welcome to Shallah young ones. Shale'shalo, I am Marline."

"Shale'shalo! I'm Nene!" Nene instantly mimics the elder's greeting, earning an even brighter smile from the elderly woman.

"It's nice to meet you, Marline." You say respectfully. "My name's Anon, and I'm thrilled to finally be in Shallah after hearing about it from tradesmen for a lot of my life. I haven't even seen the shoreline yet and you already have some cool things here."

"Tradesmen you say?" Marline asks, a little skeptical. "It has been quite some time since we traded with anyone regularly. There used to be caravans coming in and out of this very part of the country, but those days are behind us it seems. But listen to me prattle on, you're not interested in an old woman's nostalgia. What brought you all to Shallah?"

"A couple things actually." You decide to take the lead for your group and answer. "I always wanted to see this place for myself, and Nene's mother is actually from here."

"Is she now? What is her name, dearie?" The elderly woman asks Nene who looks back with cheery focus.

"Aldreha!" Nene chirps, and Marline patiently waits for the girl to continue, but Nene just contently waits for her response.

"I think she wants to know your mom's last name too, Nenechi." Polka politely utters to eliminate the awkward silence.

"Oh! Mama is Aldreha Momosuzu! Chieftess of Bjornholm!" The bubbly blond "corrects" herself.

"But that's her name after she married your dad." Flare groans. "What's her maiden name?"

"Eh?" Nene looks at the half-elf confused. "Nene…I don't know. Mama is always just Mama."

"Don't worry about it, Nene." You console the girl to help show her she hasn't actually done anything wrong, and Marline apparently feels the same as she lets out a weak giggle.

"It's alright young one, although Aldreha is a somewhat common name here, I believe you when you say your mother is from here. The way you understand the trees tells me that much. Are you here to find possible relatives?" The older woman then says with a smile, but the way her body almost shakes to keep herself standing begins to make you worry.

"Yes! Nene would very much like to find people who know mama. Tell them she is okay and a powerful leader of Bjornholm!" Nene then answers with enthusiasm.

"Bjornholm?" Marline tilts her head slightly. "And where is that? I don't think I have ever heard of it before."

"We'd love to tell you all about it, where we're all from, and what we'd like to do here." You take the reins on the conversation to hopefully steer them in a meaningful direction, but more importantly…"Maybe we can talk about it over some food? Crossing the desert builds up an appetite. It would be great if you could join us and tell me more about your home. The food would be on us!"

"I couldn't possibly ask you all to…" The older woman begins, but the glimmer of hope in her eyes at the mention of food betrays the intention of her words.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Polka joins in, likely very aware of what you have been noticing as well. "You pick the spot, and we'll pick up the tab. Without you to give him an answer, Anon would stay here all day trying to figure out what makes this tree tick, so you're really helping us out anyway."

"Why do you make it sound like I have a problem?" You huff at the fennec, who snickers with the half-elf and sheep next to her at your expense.

"You don't want me to answer that." Flare states matter of factly, earning even more laughter from Polka.

The teasing antics of your companions seems to brighten the woman's mood and she nods in agreement to your offer. You brush Polka's and Flare's comments aside and offer Marline your arm to help her lead you to wherever she wishes to go, it seemed like the very gentlemanly thing to do after all.

Slowly, at a pace that matches the speed of an elderly woman who clearly has been eating just enough to not keel over, you walk down the sandy road you came in on. A heavy calm covers the town as you make your way, and you have to wonder where all the other people are. As you have this thought, you notice the quick retreat of heads that peek over window sills when your eyes move towards them. Perhaps your group that has doubled in size in just a night can look a little intimidating. How much worse would it be if you hadn't had Pomu disguise the lioness demi-humans that walk behind you?

"Most of the buildings along this strip of land used to be shops, ones that both supplied our neighboring lands with some of our own specialities, as well as provided the needed essentials for travelers either going to cross the desert or the sea." Marline begins to explain as she turns and looks down the quiet street, likely nostalgic for days when this part of Shallah was likely bustling with life. "Now it's mostly the home of old timers like myself, and families with little ones who can't afford to stay anywhere else."

"Well, from what I can see so far, you might have the better deal. The ocean air wafts just enough up here to make things really pleasant, and it's also really peaceful here. I could see myself wanting to spend some time in a place like this." You try to put on a brave face while not sounding patronizing as you continue to slowly help Marline walk step by step at a gentle pace.

"You're a sweet young man. It may not be much compared to what it was a year or so ago, but I'll still proudly share my homeland with you." Marline says with a smile as she turns to steer you both toward a humble building made from wood that was painted a pale teal. The roof wasn't domed or made with reeds like the others in the village, but was a gable shaped one made with wooden planks and left to display its natural coloring. "Come, we can talk inside."

After holding the saloon doors open for Marline, everyone follows her inside. To your surprise most of the circular wooden tables within are occupied, and like Marline mentioned earlier, mostly by older folks and mothers with children. A majority of the patrons have dark black or brown hair that is either tied up to keep it out of the way, or generally misshapen and greasy. Everyone however has that dark tan shade to their skin that you remember Nene's mother having. A brief apprehension flashes across their faces as they notice you all enter, but when they see the native who leads you, they begin to visibly relax.

"Shale'shalo everyone." Marline greets happily. "These are travelers who braved the desert to get here. One has roots right here in Shallah too. Her mother was born and raised alongside some of us."

That prompted Nene to step out in the open and greet everyone with a hearty wave. "Shale'shalo! I'm Nene! Mama lived here before meeting papa in Bjornholm. I'm excited to finally see where mama lived!"

After giving a polite, but somewhat lethargic greeting, the various adults in the building either waited for Nene to continue with possibly more useful information as to WHOSE child she is, or try to search her face for clues. Due to the fact Nene seemed to inherit most of her dad's physical traits, they might be looking for a while.

"Bjornholm is a place way up north along the coast." You step in to hopefully shed some light. "Nene's mom; Aldreha, told me she worked on a trade ship while she lived here. She also told me her ship was chased all the way to Bjornholm by some pirates a long time ago, and that's how she met Brann. He actually found her after the ship sank and took care of her. Does that help at all?"

"If it was recently, that wouldn't help much at all." An older man, bald with several darkened spots on his head grumbles from his seat in the far corner. "Trade ships nowadays are easy pickings for those lowlifes. A decade or two ago however, it was a little less common at least."

"Does the port keep logs of what ships come and go?" Flare then asks no one in particular. "If it's anything like how we do things back where we're from, there should be logs we can reference and see what ship Nene's mom worked for. Then we can probably learn her last name, and find any family she has here."

"I would avoid going there if you can." A middle aged woman utters as she strokes the head of an infant she holds close to her. "It's not safe for visitors there any more, it's not even safe for us now…"

The mention of the main port surely created a damper on an already unenthusiastic mood. Now you can't help but notice that the countertops of all the tables are completely bare. If Marline brought you here to get something to eat, where was the food? Where is the proprietor of this place for that matter?

As you ponder things, a man who is clearly on in years, but the salt and pepper coloring to his hair shows he is at least enough of Marline's junior to help and pull out a seat for her at one of the empty tables. "Come, come, sit down." Marline then beckons you all. "It shouldn't be too long now before the food arrives. Tell everyone about where you come from."

While the table will only seat six, you offer the simple wooden chairs to Watame, Flare, Nene, Polka, and Pomu. The disguised lionesses take seats at the empty bar and impatiently wait for sustenance to arrive while Sylph is happy to flutter beside you..

"That is some family you have there." Marline directs the statement at Pomu. "It must be nice to have so many sisters traveling with you."

"Sisters?" Pomu repeats, a little confused before the realization of what it must look like to bystanders hits her like a truck. She quickly recomposes herself and nervously scratches her cheek with a finger. "Y-Yeah…it's great having them around."

As if the hungry elderly and children weren't enough to tug at your heartstrings, now you're reminded of the fact that Pomu's blood related family is gone for the time being. Did Pomu have actual siblings? She hasn't talked about them yet, but she obviously saw a lot of her fae kin as family. You know she has been so focused on the journey so far, she probably hasn't dwelled much on what she lost. The poor thing.

"And don't forget me. I'm this rascal's family too." You chime in as you stand behind Pomu's chair and give the fae a short ruffling on the top of her head. "I know we don't really look much alike, but let's just say the winds tie us together like nothing else can."

The familial admission seems to soften the fairy's mood somewhat, and she looks up and gives you a warm smile.

"There is a lot more to family than just looking like each other or sharing the same blood." Flare adds with fondness, no doubt referring to her own situation with her father and her aunt.

"That's part of why we're all on this journey!" Sylph exclaims as she hovers between Watame and Polka and hooks her arms around their necks to scooche them closer to her, their chairs making a heavy grind along the wooden floor. "We're gonna find even more of our family! We're even gonna wake some of them up that have been sleeping for who knows how long!"

"And fight pirates!" Nene cheers, standing up tall and banging her hands on the table.

"And take back our island!" Frala cheers from the bar, to which the other lionesses, Botan included, pound the wooden countertop in agreement.

The blatant announcement of some of your goals makes the saloon so quiet that you would probably hear a pin drop. When you open your mouth to start to deliver some sort of hopefully inspiring explanation for your arrival, you hear heavy footsteps step into the wooden eating area.

"Well don't we have a rowdy bunch today?" A man light heartedly laughs from the doorway. You turn to spot someone who is likely in his late twenties or early thirties, walking inside carrying a large wooden crate upon his shoulder. His short black hair only extends maybe two or three inches high around his head, and he wears a simple white cloth button shirt that he chooses to leave completely open, exposing his well toned tanned body. Free flowing black shorts reach just above his knees, and his feet are slipped snugly into thick brown sandals thanks to a simple hefty strap. You also can't help but notice that a small violin hangs upside down from the strap that is wrapped over his body like a sash.

"Shale'shalo!" He greets, and the mood of the Shallah native's does a complete one eighty. "I see we have visitors. That's certainly a welcome change. If you're hungry, we'll try to share what we can."

After setting the box down in the middle of the room, the man lifts its top off and kneels back down to begin digging through its contents. Before you can begin to guess what might be going on, some of the more able people in the saloon approach him holding simple bowls carved from wood. The elderly and children are given bowls first by the look of things, but what they are given would barely constitute as a "meal". You observe the bowl in front of Marline; a potato, two sheets of lettuce fresh from the head, two strips of jerky, and what looks to be half a slice of bread. This old lady is supposed to chew through all that? After she welcomed you all to her home and was even going to have you share in what little food they have to give? No. That won't do at all.

"Hey! Is there a kitchen with tools in the back I can use?" You ask, not really too concerned if you come off as rude. "Even if it's just knives."

"Well sure, but we don't have anything besides-" The man at the center of it all starts to say, but you already heard all you needed to.

"Thanks. Pomu, Sylph, gather up everyone's bowls, and don't be afraid to make a show out of it. Korla, Nula, Botan, come with me to the back kitchen. We're gonna spruce these dishes up a bit." You start dealing out commands as a plan forms itself in your head.

With gleeful purpose, Sylph flutters higher and begins to let the light green glow of magic grace her fingertips. Accepting the idea that her cover is meant to be blown now, Pomu allows her own wings to appear behind her as she starts to spur her own magic to the surface. As you march towards the shutter doors that hang about halfway up the carved out entryway next to the bar, you hear a mix of surprise and annoyed gasps as people's bowls are lifted into the air via whimsical fairy winds. The three lionesses you singled out get out of their stools and follow you, it's still strange to see them all physically as Pomu, but you can't seem to ignore this strange sense that you can feel who each one of them is anyway. Well that's certainly true for Botan at least. Once you share a bloody barberic fight with someone, you're bound to create a strong bond of sorts.

Beyond the brown shutter door is a kitchen that looks like it hasn't gotten to be used properly in months. Dusty, dark, and the scent of musky water hangs in the air thanks to the wash sink in the corner that is filled to the brim. First things first. Urging your own magic of starlight to the surface, you create a small ball of light that you lift up to let float until it reaches the ceiling, its silver white radiance illuminates the entire kitchen for you.

"Anon knows more than water magic?" Korla asks with astonishment.

"I'm getting pretty good with wind spells too, and I don't plan on stopping there either." You boast slightly.

"I wish I could do magic…" Nula laments slightly as she rubs one of her arms up and down, still a little off put that it's not the arm she expects to see.

"Flare and I can probably teach you." You say almost absent mindedly. "All living things have mana. I went my entire life not knowing how to draw it out either. Now look at me."

The offer apparently hits home with Korla and Nula, the latter's face lights up and a small puff of smoke appears behind her, and her proud lion's tail swings frantically back and forth, accidentally dusting the floor in the process.

"So I guess Pomu's spell isn't exactly indefinite, oh well." You remark as you find an assortment of still usable kitchen knives within the draw that is part of the cooking workstation built into the wall. Next, on punctual cue, the wooden bowls belonging to the townspeople come dancing in along a slight breeze. "Alright, you three are gonna help me prepare something easily edible for those people. I know you can chew through a raw potato no problem, but humans are a bit more fragile when they get older. Another good reason I'm not suited to be your pack leader long term."

"Are you really a normal human though?" Botan asks rather playfully. "So far everything I've seen you do proves you're anything but. Not that I mind. I think the light ball you made is pretty cool."

"That's a question I am not going to entertain right now." You fire back, not willing to enter a likely losing argument. "Help me start cutting all this into bite sized pieces. There's enough knives for each of us. And ONLY cut them. No eating until it's our turn. Okay?"

Korla and Nula grumble a reluctant "yes", while Botan gives you a slight nod. With the bowls floating gently down your workstation, you begin to chop and slice its contents. As you work, your spirits are brightened by the faint sound of Watame's flute coming from the front side of the building. "That's my sheep." All three lionesses take a few tries to get used to their new hands, but they quickly find their groove and end up cutting through the food faster than you can. It's all well and good to give the people of Shallah a more edible version of what is likely their daily rations, but you still wish you could do something more. You look behind you at the strange island table that is covered by a dark cloth. Your curiosity compels you to fling the concealing fabric off its surface, which reveals a standing cooking pit, complete with an iron grill that sits above a collection of coal. Perfect.

"Korla, get Flare for me, okay? I need her help back here." You instruct, and the lioness adamantly scurries to the door to do what you ask.

"Hey! Half-elf!" She shouts as she holds the door open for herself.

"Hey! We use names with our friends!" You snap, your harsh tone makes the lioness shrink down slightly.

"Hey! F-Flare! Anon needs you!" She corrects herself and returns to the kitchen, having a slightly embarrassed look on her face, but her eyes then look at you with a clear respect.

"What's up?" Flare asks as she walks into the kitchen a few seconds later.

"Light me up?" You ask with a grin as you point to the coals that laid out in front of you. "I had half a mind to just try making fire magic myself, but that seems like an element I shouldn't try to practice in a wooden building."

"And that tells me you're already well on your way to wield the kind of magic I feel I'm best at." The half-elf returns with a smile and points at the standing grill with one of her fingers. A small bullet of fire flies from the tip of her digit and onto the long cooled coals. The life of flame begins to dance along one of the smooth surfaces, and one after another, more coals begin to catch. "I love how easy that is."

"Okay, don't need you anymore, you can leave." You playfully wave off the half-elf's boasting with a chuckle.

To answer your teasing, Flare fires another small flicker of fire, this time aiming it right at your arm. Your eyes widen as you are overtaken by a pure panic when you watch yourself catch on fire. Before your brain can think to tell your your muscles to move, a shot of water completely douses the flame.

"Next time I'll leave you in the heat a little longer~" Flare teasingly remarks as she turns and waves her fingers up and down at you before leaving.

You scoff at half-elf as she leaves and brushes off your arm. You'll get her for this one, she's going to be melting in your hands when you take her on your long awaited seaside date. Then you'll show her.

"I can see why Anon likes that one." Korla says with her arms crossed. "She's strong, and challenges you."

"You girls have no idea." You chuckle slightly. "Have any of you seen a pan or anything we can use?"

"I think there's a few hanging on the wall over there." Botan says as she walks to the spot in question and removes three medium sized cooking pans that rest on hooks nailed into the room's side.

"Perfect. With those I can work on something. I was able to scrounge up a few salt and pepper shakers too. It won't be my best work, but it'll sure as hell be better than what they've been having." You say as you take one of the pans from the alpha lioness and fill one of them up with the chopped potatoes you have collected. You lay the pan you have down flat on its now hot surface and instruct Botan and Nula to do the same, one taking a pan full of potatoes, and the other cubed meat. Korla gives herself the task of preparing the serving bowls. With a surprising degree of consideration, she lines the lettuce and bread off to the side of the container to allow there to be space for the soon to be heated potatoes and meat. It only takes a few seconds for the first portion to be heated through, and you empty your share into the first bowl Korla holds out for you.

"Bring the first one to Marline please, and while you're out there, get Riki to come help you with the rest." You give Korla her orders and she hurries to do as you ask.

Barely even a minute later, two Pomu colored lionesses return to the kitchen, and you are more than ready to start filling orders. A steady chain of actions begins, Nula finishes preparing a bowl, hands it to either Riki, or Korla, and they walk out to deliver it. Before you know it, Riki asks who should get the next one, as all the Shallah natives are currently eating. The rest would be for your friends, and as meager a meal it looks to be, you have to admit you are hungry and curious to see how well the taste of coal fire transferred to your pans.

After the last bowl, your bowl, is filled maybe a quarter the way of its height with what is your share, you douse the coals with a soft splash of water from your palm. How thirsty you are also just became very apparent. Looks like you just gave yourself another task before you can chow down.

"Good job girls, eat up and take a break." You compliment the lioness pack. It was practically seamless how precisely they followed your orders. A man could get dangerously attached to that kind of thing. "I got one more thing to prepare, and hopefully the bar has what I need."

Happily taking their meals with them, you follow the three into the main part of the saloon, Nula's tail still swishes behind her which makes you chuckle slightly at the picture of Pomu with a tail. As the three girls then take their seats at the bar, you help yourself to inspect what is behind the server's side of the counter. Like you hoped, a rack of dusty glasses sits along the floor.

"Bransha, Bree, Frala. Help me out in the back real quick." You say as you lift up the squared rack of drinking glasses and make for the kitchen once more.

"Not like there was more than three bites to eat anyway." Frala scoffs as she pushes her stool away from the counter and hops off to follow you.

"It wasn't awful at least." Bransha adds as she and Bree bring up the rear.

"Yeah, I know it wasn't much, but it's all these people might have." You say with a little disappointment in your voice, not only because of the shortage of food, but how the pack vocalizes that fact. Life is just survival of the fittest to them, at least that's what you tell yourself. "Just help me give everyone a glass of water, okay?"

"I ain't drinking from that smelly sink." Frala remarks.

"No one is. I'm giving everyone fresh water. Fresh from my own mana." You correct the lioness. "These glasses just need a quick rinse, and it'll be bottoms up. Hopefully it tastes alright. I've never actually drank water I made with my own magic. I assume it's okay. Undine made the water we drink in the natural world after all."

After you rest the rack of glasses over the almost filled sink, you roll up your sleeves and hover your open palms over them. A gentle spray of water is all you need to get the drinkware clear and smooth once again. Now comes the interesting part. Holding a glass firmly in one hand, you press your palm around its ring and cast the spell to make your hand dispense water like a faucet into the cylindrical container. You repeat this process several times until rows and rows of filled glasses are on the edge of the cooking station next to you.

"At least with Anon as our pack leader, we'll never be thirsty." Bree giggles slightly.

"Unless I'm dying of thirst first, then good luck getting anything worthwhile out of me. Now help me hand all these out, okay?" You say as you take a pair of glasses and begin to walk towards the kitchen door.

One by one, back and forth, you distribute a clean glass of drinking water to everyone in the saloon with the help of the three lionesses. Seeing appreciative smiles as well as spoken words of gratitude makes you feel a swell of pride and accomplishment in yourself. This innocent surge of self worth is only fed and turned into something a little less pure when you place a glass in front of Flare and Watame, and are met with purposely flirtatious fluttering eyelids, as both rest their elbows on the table.

"What speedy service!" Flare teases in a voice meant to poorly imitate a high class noblewoman from the kingdom you both grew up in. "Do you think he cleans too? The tent has been getting a little out of sorts lately. Especially around where I sleep."

"We should take him home with us!" Watame plays along. "I wouldn't mind having a cool drink of water like that around!"

You roll your eyes at the bad pick up lines, while hiding the fact that they are indeed working. They're lucky you love them so much. "My shift ends at sundown. If you can promise the pay will be good, I can take on a second job. I'm kinda strapped for money at the moment."

"Oooo. Lucky us." Polka chimes in with a wide grin. "You girls better get what you need from him while you can, since I could hog a soul like his all to myself for hours. And don't worry, handsome. We can pay very well. You can ditch this gig and just live with us if we like you and you do a good job."

You decide to leave your sudden role play at that and finally head back to the bar to enjoy the meal you had set aside for yourself. Frala wasn't kidding, you were able to tear through your entire bowl in less than a minute. You almost feel hungrier now if that's even possible. As you begin to slightly lament how all your food is gone, you look around to see much brighter smiles on the people of Shallah. You're thankful to see Marline happily talking with the girls at the table, particularly Nene. It was a bit of effort, but what you did was the right thing to do.

"Not bad at all, summoner." Sylph remarks as she leans her back against the curved edge of the bar counter. "You turned a room of gray skies into beaming sunshine in no time flat! And you did it using only what we had. You'd make a pretty good fairy. Ain't that right, Pomu?"

"Cheyyaa!" Pomu agrees wholeheartedly. "You should have seen how happy some of the older folks got when they could easily chew their food. This water's pretty good too!"

"Made it myself." You cross your arms proudly.

"That was a marvelous idea, summoner!" Undine exclaims from her floating position next to her sister. "Never forget how our magic can be used to grant sustenance to the world around you."

"So Marline tells me your name is Anon. I guess I have you to thank for such a bright room." The man who brought the food injects himself into your conversation when he steps up to you and offers his hand. "I'm Kukai. I try to look after everyone along the sandy border of Shallah."

"It's nice to meet you, Kukai." You gladly take the man's hand and exchange a strong gripped handshake. "We should be thanking you though. You shared your food with us. We were going to start fading away fast if we didn't get something in us soon."

"It's not much I know, but it's about all I can manage to scrounge up. Usually I lighten the mood a little with some of my violin playing, but your sheep friend beat me to that too when she busted out that flute of hers. I'm also a little ashamed that I regularly try to feed our elders all these harder to eat foods, but-"

"Don't worry about it." You cut him off. "I can kinda tell the situation here is a little…complicated. I'm actually here hoping I can help with that."

Kukai is caught off guard by your statement. He looks you up and down, waiting for something to jump out and tell him you aren't actually serious. The sword and spell book on your hips seems to cement the idea that you aren't saying things out of some flight of fancy.

"Y-You're actually serious?" He asks in a lowered whisper.

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't." You respond. "I only know what a few outside sources have told me so far, so I'd be interested to know what things actually look like from the inside. Then my friends and I can make a real plan to take care of things."

"This is not something I expected today, that's for sure." Kukai chuckles as he holds a hand over half his face. "I don't think I would normally want complete strangers sticking their necks out like this for us, but as you can probably tell, I'm starting to run out of options here. We all are."

The weight of your conversation becomes noticeably heavy in the air, and everyone promptly ceases their own conversing to listen in. Expressions harden and eyes trail down at the worn out wooden floor. This certainly isn't a light topic, but it's a talk you need to have if you want to set yourselves up for success in this land. Kukai seems to register the change in mood and rubs the back of his neck, seemingly preparing himself to continue in front of an audience.

"So maybe it's easier if we hear what you know first. That way I can fill in the gaps the best I can. I'm also curious to know just what outsiders know about our situation here." Kukai proposes to you, which sounds like a smart way to kick things off.

"We also promised Marline we would tell her more about where we all came from." You begin in agreement to do what Kukai asks. "I grew up in the human kingdom across the sea, and so did Flare. I've known about Shallah for most of my life because some of your traders would regularly come to the posts I would make deliveries to with my dad. Watame and I are traveling the world to find out where we actually came from. Which brought us to the elven kingdom, then we actually tried to make Shallah our next stop, that's how we first heard that the place was overrun with pirates."

"Which hasn't always been a problem." Kukai feels the need to make it clear. "For decades lots of different crews would use Shallah as a resting spot of sorts, and they were often pretty agreeable. You had bad bunches every once in a while, but nothing we couldn't handle."

"Some of the earliest days of seafaring can be traced back to our shores." Marline also adds. "The sea calls to us all in one way or another, and most practice proper respect for it."

"Which gives me a great opener to introduce you all to someone who is responsible for bringing life to those very waters you admire so much." You grin as you turn your head towards the intangible water spirit, and with a quick unspoken agreement between the two of you, she is now visible for all in this room to see. All eyes turn towards Undine, most are unsure if their mind is playing tricks on them. Others just seem to await further explanation from you.

"It's my pleasure to introduce to you all, Undine, the ruler of the waters. She is the great elemental spirit who created the very ocean you all love, and I am her summoner. We want to work together to make this world one that everyone can live freely and enjoy all the gifts that she, and the other elemental spirits have given us. So that is part of why we're here. I want to help free you all from the rule of the pirates that are clearly oppressing you." You beam with pride over the status of your companion, as well as the righteousness of your mission.

Most of the middle aged natives simply look on with slight astonishment at the floating spirit before them, while the older folks, and Kukai, look completely awestruck.

"I've only read stories about how our ancestors would pray to quite a few different spirits that are said to have shaped Shallah, but this is my first time seeing something like that in person…" Kukai says in a low voice, slowly processing that what he sees is very much real.

"And don't forget me!" Sylph chimes in, clearly not wanting to be left in her sister's shadow. "I handle the winds, so together, my sis and I are the perfect recipe for a safe sea voyage!"

"And because she would likely badger me about it later, I would like to introduce you all properly to the orchestrator of the winds, Sylph." You continue with a forced dramatic air.

"But she's as solid as you and me." One of the elderly men from one of the tables points out. "And she's a fairy like the other girl…who looks a lot like all those other girls, but they don't have wings?"

"An excellent observation!" Polka now joins in as she slides off her seat and marches up next to you. "Anon here can perform a summoning, hence the title; summoner. Today is Sylph's day to feel the sand between her toes, so that's why she sits before you and eats with you just like anyone else! And as for the other fairy in question." The fennec then motions for Pomu to present herself, who almost trips over her own feet to put herself in front of you.

"I'm Pomu!" She chirps with her signature cheer. "I'm a forest fairy and my home is way up north from here."

"And the rest of us aren't actually fairies…" Botan's answers the second half of the original question from her seat at the bar, turning to face the audience as she leans her elbows on the counter behind her.

"I guess it's time to drop the act. Change them back, Pomu." You sigh slightly, but you know having their original appearances back will make the pack very happy. The forest fairy then snaps her fingers, and in a thin puff of smoke, the unique forms of the lionesses return to them, which also earns another round of slight gasps from the crowd.

"So they're actually lions…" Kukai sighs as he watches the pack give the manes on their heads a testing shake, and look themselves over, quite pleased to be back in their natural shapes.

"Not just any lions either. They're from one of the islands not too far from your own shores. The pirates apparently chased them out when they started getting more aggressive, and I promised I would get their home back for them." You continue to explain.

"So as you can see, Anon here loves looking for trouble, and being the guy to help solve it." Polka slaps you on the back twice as she happily incriminates you.

"I don't go looking for trouble…" You huff. "But I also couldn't just ignore it when someone told me your people were really suffering here, and that I could have the power to change that, so here we are."

"No offense, but you might need an army to get Shallah out of the mess it's in." Kukai laments, genuinely disheartened to break the news to you. "Like we said earlier, we used to live alongside pirates pretty peacefully. Some crews even grew to call this place their home, so they kept the ones who would try to rob and hurt innocents away from our shores. It was kinda a thing where no one fleet held all the power, but that changed a couple years ago."

"I was told there was a shift in power around then. Whoever took control was probably given a weapon or something from an organization that I'm currently butting heads with. I probably have a pretty good idea of who created whatever it is they have too." You spit, knowing full well that HoloX and likely Koyori specifically, share a lot of the blame for these peoples' suffering.

"We have no idea what they might have, but suddenly, all the different factions joined under one flag, and at first it wasn't so bad. The captain that united all the crews was a just man, perhaps getting on years helped with that. He only demanded enough from us to keep him and the pirates under him going while some sail the world, doing who knows what. Earlier this year though, something changed." The man speaking for the Shallah people goes on, his tone getting more and more grim.

"One day, in the middle of the main port, one of the higher ranking pirates in his crew, announced to the entire town that Captain Morgan was dead. The new 'Captain', is called Blackfin, and was said to have murdered his own captain in cold blood. Our whole country practically changed overnight."

"If some of the pirates were good people though, why were they okay with their captain being killed?" Watame asks the simple, yet very insightful question.

"Some of them weren't okay with it." Marline decided to answer, seemingly with heavy remorse. "A lot of the pirates were fiercely loyal to Morgan, but they were likely all killed or threatened if they didn't want to follow Blackfin's new regime. Even the regular people who questioned his actions have been imprisoned and are used as leverage against their families."

"Blackfin's fleet now controls the entire port and the surrounding seas. Nothing gets in or out without his say-so. Anything that comes close without his okay, gets sunk. Without regular trade from the sea, we only have what we can grow ourselves to survive, and even what we do have, we end up having to give almost all of it to the fleet as tribute. If I didn't gather what I could every day, everyone here wouldn't even be eating." Kukai says, his voice trembling with anger.

"And where can I find this new captain?" You say, having a clear thought for what you need to do.

"He leaves a lot of his lackeys to keep an eye on things on the mainland. I think he stays on the island not too far off the eastern shore. We saw a lot of ships docked there before we fled the central city." One of the mothers answers, before her expression hardens and she holds her daughter close to her. "That's where my husband was taken too…when he tried to take a loaf of bread back from one of Blackfin's men who had stolen it from him."

"That bastard made our island his little hideaway." Korla snarls, her claws digging into the wooden countertop somewhat.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go tear that son of a bitch to shreds and take back our home." Bransha says through gritted teeth, more than eager for a fight, and possibly revenge. The other lionesses, namely Bree, Frala, and Riki, nod in agreement and angered words to fuel their bloodlust.

"Cool it. Now." You say with supreme authority, shutting all the girls up in an instant. "This isn't going to be like some back alley scrape or brawl. We need to be careful. If he has prisoners, we could be putting all their lives at risk if we act too hastily."

"Anon's right." Flare says rising from her seat and joining to speak not only to you, but to everyone else as well. "If these pirates really control all of Shallah, we have to find a way to free those people and get them to safety first. Now, how big is this fleet of theirs? Does anyone know?"

"At least seven hundred men." Kukai almost hesitates to say, likely worried that the daunting number will deter you, which you have to admit, is not entirely unfounded.

"Whoo!" Polka wipes fake sweat off her brow. "You got your work cut out for you this time, Anon."

"And who says you're not helping too." You fire back, the fennec's comical teasing somehow makes the number of adversaries you might have seem a little less intimidating. "But you know what? The more you leave for me the better. I have a contest to win after all."

"C-Contest?! What are you-" Kukai stammers, perplexed by how you're suddenly treating fighting against dangerous pirates as some sort of game.

"Nene can smash one thousand pirates with power of Ursol!" The bubbly blond announces from her seat, as she flexes her arms.

"No matter how many there are, I'll find a way to beat more than either of you." Flare boasts next, adding fuel to your internal fire.

"There's a contest?" Botan asks. "Can I join?"

"Seeing how it hasn't officially started yet, I don't see why not." Polka answers the alpha lioness. "Whoever defeats the most pirates in our time here, gets one free, no questions asked, favor from the losers. You'd be competing against Anon, Flare, and Nene."

"I'm in. It sounds fun to keep score." The gray-haired lioness remarks as her expression looks to reflect a similar competitive spirit that you feel swelling within yourself.

"Count the rest of us in too!" Bransha says with a thumb pointing to herself. "None of us want to pass up an opportunity like this."

"Then it's only fair I help give you guys a fighting chance. Who wants to learn about magic while we make a real game plan?" You excitedly ask the pack, who meets your question with furious nods and fanged smiles. "How about it, Flare? You up for helping me teach these lions how to use their own mana? It does mean more competition for us though."

"But it WILL make our force that much stronger, so you can definitely count on me to help." Flare answers with a warm smile.

"Are you young ones actually seriously thinking of taking on that entire fleet by yourselves!?" Marline asks in almost pure horror.

"Hopefully not the ENTIRE fleet, but enough so I can reach their captain and knock him off his perch. I'm hoping if I get him to give up, the other pirates will follow suit. It's still a work in progress as of right now, but first I need to find a way into that island prison so I can stage a breakout. Then I can fight every damn pirate who wants a piece of me without having to worry about your friends or family being hurt or used against me." You say with no shortage of confidence and a little excitement.

"We should scope out how things look at the main port before starting any fights." Flare suggests as she begins to mull over plans.

"Fine by me. Is there actually more food we can buy down there? I know the pirates take a lot from you guys, but I have a feeling some extra gold might be enough to get them to part with some. We'll even take some back with us so you all can have something a little more substantial." You agree and hope to repay the villagers for the kindness they have shown you already.

"If you actually have the coin, they'll give you just about anything." Kukai sighs. "You also don't have to worry about feeding us too, we've managed like this for a while. We can hold out a little longer."

While you begin to form a rebuttal to the Shallah leader's politeness, your thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of some of the lion pack sniffing the air.

"Chicken! I smell cooked chicken!" Frala exclaims as she leaves her barstool and begins to walk towards the front door of the saloon.

Before you can confirm the lioness' claim, or even ask her to stop moving, the rest of the pack, even Botan, follow her lead outside, prompting you to head towards the door to do the same. "I'll be right back…hopefully." You embarrassingly say to your hosts as you slip through the still swinging wooden door.

You step outside and find the entire pack with their noses pointed to the sky, desperately trying to pinpoint the now apparent scent of flavored chicken in the air. When it wafts against your nostrils, you feel yourself more than wanting to partake in whatever it is that is creating that aroma. Are you more like these lionesses than you originally thought? Or are they just influencing somehow? Either way, your stomach is yelling at you for sustenance, and your nose is trying to tell you where to find some. You can't liberate an entire country of people without fuel after all.

"This way!" Nula points down the road that winds down and begins to slope downhill after a block or so.

"Hey! Girls! Wait!" You shout as you run after the lion pack who are controlled fully by their hunger and hunting instincts. When they have food on their minds and prey in their sights, these girls are amazingly quick, you guess that explains how they managed to get the jump on Watame so easily last night. The lionesses disappear behind a corner as they turn towards the bend that likely leads downward. Now you REALLY need to catch up with them. The last thing you need is them blowing your cover entirely and running straight into the main part of Shallah for all the pirates to see.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing!? Get away! Shoo you cats!" An incredibly shrill girl's voice screeches, making your stomach plummet. You almost trip when your sudden sprint has you pivot around the street corner with your heels sliding along the sand.

Further downhill where the sandy road that begins to flatten out, is your lion pack encircled around a large two-boxed push cart, and a somewhat tall woman clad in the brightest oranges you have ever seen on a person before. She keeps shouting obscenities as she swats the pack of hungry lionesses away.

"Back off your little shits! I told you! If you can't pay, go away!" She gets even more heated as she touches a strange glowing emblem pinned close to her collar that depicts a sword of fiery red and yellows.

She's going to attack the pack! I have to do something! Even if my lionesses instigated this in the first place. They're just hungry. I need to get between them and sort this out! Your mind shouts as your body begins to run on autopilot. Without looking at anything else, you dash forward and draw your sword. A flash of orange fire graces the woman's hand that hovered over her emblem, and a curiously colored and shaped short sword appears in her grasp. With clear conviction, she brings it down towards Bransha who stares back with a claw raised, but you somehow get the feeling that the feisty lioness is severely outclassed.

"Stellaruke!" You shout with a hand pressed against the closed cover of your spell book, prompting its spell to enhance your body with starlight. With faster feet and clear purpose, you wedge yourself between your lioness and the mystery woman before her sword can strike. You lift your own blade above you and the edges of the aquamarine tip of your opponent's weapon clangs against the flat of your blade with a mighty clash. Pressing your palm against the flat of your blade, you push upward and disengage your swords.

"Hey! Back off!" You bark, both your hands now gripped tightly around the handle of your sword, its tip pointed forward to keep your adversary at bay, while you look over your shoulder to the black-haired lioness. "You alright, Bransha?"

"Y-Yeah…thanks Anon…sorry." Bransha replies with a hint of shame. "I don't know what this girlie's deal is. The other guy just gave away food…"

"I am NOT a charity!" The orange clad girl spits, now apparently sporting a large shield in her left hand. The cobalt blue metal of the protective barrier is completely foreign to you, and the dark red etchings along the sides of its face give you the impression that this piece was expertly crafted. The shield is made that much more unique by the blade shaped indent along its middle, which looks to be the perfect house for the girl's sword that is likely made from the same material. It is certainly the most…colorful piece of weaponry you've ever seen. The head of its blade shines with a cool aquamarine, but is then followed by a layer of yellow, then pale orange, almost like a flame that stands upon a candlewick. Whatever this blade is made of, the thick orange guards around about two-thirds of its length look as though they can concave inward to conceal this weapon. A sheath built into the sword itself? Now that is interesting. If only this girl didn't already look like she was out for blood.

Now faced with an armed challenger, the woman steps forward, shield raised in front of her. Your mind races with different questions. Will you meet this girl head on and try to disarm her? Who even is she? She was really fast to try and carve a piece off of Bransha, and just for trying to take a little food? Is she part of the pirates? You can't know for sure just yet, but you do know this; you need to protect the pack.

Bringing your sword high overhead, you unleash a mighty chop down onto the raised shield of your opponent. Your blade is expertly deflected with a slight jab from her protective metal just at the point of impact, making you stumble backward as you try to keep your sword from flying out of your grip. She then thrusts her own sword forward, its point aimed right at your chest. A desperate and sloppy swing down across your body catches the tip of the blade meant to make a hole in you before it can do the deed.

A slight twist of her wrist is all the mystery woman needs to do to make the flat of her blade run flush against yours, and she slides her own weapon upward before parrying you while planting her feet firmly to follow up with another attack. It has been some time since you engaged in actual sword play with another opponent, but you are quickly finding the flow of battle as you use the heightened speed you have thanks to your spell to hop backwards to create some distance between you and your opponent. Now positioning the fight to take place in the middle of the sandy road, you let the spell that enhances your body fade away, as you quickly examine your enemy.

With you being the sole focus of this mysterious swordswoman, you can block out everything else and really take in who your opponent is. Big violet eyes look back at you with a cold fury, and the feathered bangs of her hair sway just above her eyelashes in the coming shore breeze. Light orange hair that is full and lustrous, falls in the back just to the tip tops of her shoulder blades, and you can't help but notice how the inner locks about halfway up its length are dyed a faded aquamarine color. Long, extravagant blue earrings that look to be feathers belonging to some bird you have never seen before, dangle and sparkle from both her ears; the middle plumage of them shines with a beautiful seafoam green.

The clothes this woman is wearing is certainly interesting to say the least. A sleeveless, and very form fitting orange shirt has its zipper open slightly below her collarbone, revealing a slight view of her ample assets, as well as the underlying white collar which has a perpendicular stripe of blue near the zipper line. The tight top ends just above her belly button, creating a wide triangle made of exposed midriff, while you can tell the back end of this piece extends to her waistline, indicated by the white bow you saw swaying behind her with her previous movements.

A skirt, if you could even call it that, the matching lowerware looks to barely cover past her hips, hips that clearly house a holy temple of sorts if you are being honest. A strange object sits along her black, leather belt; a sideways belt buckle that looks to be made of the same material as her sword and shield, which also looks to be holding an object of some sort? There is also something stretched across it depicting letters or symbols from a language you have never seen before.

The arms that carry her weapons are covered from the tops of her biceps, all the way down to her wrist by puffy, white sleeves. The cuffs over her wrists are also orange, and blue at the opposite end. Frilled, white stockings run from an inch past her skirt line all the way down over her feet most likely, which wear a sturdy and an almost bouncy looking black shoe that is tied together with dark orange laces.

After inspecting your opponent's attire, you bring yourself back up to her face, and notice that she apparently wears TWO hats. On the right side of her head sits a slightly darker orange bonnet whose lip is made of a black bow with white stars speckled through its length. On the left side sits what looks to be what they cover cooked chicken legs with in really fancy establishments. You remember seeing a cooked bird wear something similar during your brief stay with Flare's father. That seems a little ridiculous to wear something like that on your head, but maybe it's a tactic meant to play head games with her enemies? Or maybe it's even a symbol of her culture or pirate crew?

A flourish of her sword down towards her side brings your muscles back to full, tensed attention as the blade itself blazes with a layer of flickering fire. "Now I'm just pissed. Wish I could say I'm sorry that you're about to get fried, but I'm not."

"I wouldn't worry too much about me." You say with a cocky grin as you begin to let your mana slowly envelop your blade; its calm blue gives off a soothing shine before becoming a steady spiral of azure liquid around your steel's length. The idea of a good fight to truly test how your spell mastery has improved since your recent training puts an eager excitement in your bones. You twirl your blade a few turns in the air to test how stable your watery enhancement is, and you are more than pleased to see that it holds firm and continues to surround it. "I'm more than ready to handle the heat. So if you are looking to burn me, bring it on!"

The taunt seems to work on the girl as you slightly hoped, and now she's charging at you again with avengeance. With her shield held in front of her, she makes a powerful step and delivers a horizontal slash in time with her movements, and you bring your azure blade to meet hers. Magic of fire and water clash over steel, creating a harsh crescendo of metal that pierces through the sound of steam hissing from the meeting of the two opposite elements.

While you need both your hands on your sword's handle to keep yourself steady within your deadlock, the woman swings her shield arm in a sideways hook that bashes the corner of the protective metal against your shoulder, making you stagger to the side. The pressure prompts you to disengage and swing your sword in an upwards arc as you press your magic to go further, creating a small wave as it travels to wash over the girl. The fire around her blade then blazes higher as she slashes horizontally again, sending forth a wave of her own. Instead of your attacks neutralizing each other like you expected, her fire completely evaporates your waters and continues to fly toward you from the dissipating steam. The heat wafts over you, causing you to squint and feel a shortness of breath.

You shoot your arm forward and open your palm in reflex to then let out a wide deluge of water that thankfully snuffs the fire out before it can reach you, but your opponent is already back within sword's range of you while you were so focused on keeping yourself from getting roasted. She begins to unleash a flurry of slashes at you, pressuring you backwards while you barely manage to dodge and parry her strikes thanks to your watery blade. Each attempt to counterattack is expertly deflected by your opponent's own swordplay, or her shield. Your sword then connects with the top of hers when you make a swing for her shoulder, the grinding of both metals against one another play in the background to the hiss of fire and water mixing together and further heating the air around you, making both your faces perspire.

This girl is no slouch. You think to yourself as you lock eyes with the woman who you can tell is already thinking about what is the best way to dislodge you from your clash and deliver a blow to secure her victory. She moves like a seasoned vet! This is like trying to spar with my uncle or dad, or probably even Noel! I can't back down though. I've come so far since then, since those days I was simply training to train, with no real purpose at all. Now I have a purpose to fight, I have a lot of purposes to use this sword of mine. Come on, Shining Comet, let's show whoever this is what we're made of!

As if agreeing with your convictions, the magic around your sword intensifies and thickens, the spiraling waters begin to overtake the flames that threaten to claw their way past their defense and scorch you. The girl sees this and begins to take immediate action, bringing her shield arm inward again to strike you, but that won't work twice on you. Tightening your grip on your sword, you let your left hand leave its handle, and guard against the incoming bash with your forearm that now shines with a sleek blue mana coat.

"You know, I'm a big fan of the saying 'The best offense is a good defense'." You say through grinning teeth as you let the magic of water flow through your arm, all the way down to your fingertips. With your open palm having a clear path, you fire a stream of water from it that crashes against the woman's shocked face, sending her stumbling backwards after she is forced to disengage swords. You continue to press the attack, forming a spinning star of water that hovers over your left hand before flicking the azure projectile at your opponent. The liquid throwing star collides with the woman's raised shield with a harsh splash, and you can see her knees bend slightly as she continues to brace herself. You continue to bombard her with your sharp projectiles, your determination building as the pack roars and cheers you on.

Gripping your sword tightly with both hands, you point your blade towards the sky and build up as much mana as you can. Water completely covers your blade like a rushing waterfall as it begins to radiate with a subtle silter-white glow.

"Like a shooting star that reflects its light along the sea, fly forth and wash away the enemy! Glimmering Wave Slash!" You chant with feeling and with a mighty swing downward, a large cresting wave that glistens with a veil of celestial starlight, forms from the edge of your sword and rushes forward. All your opponent can do is raise her guard as the waters collide and knock her over, enveloping her with their embrace. As the woman coughs the water out of her lungs from her shameful seat on the ground, you take a second to restabilize yourself as you grip your sword arm that shakes from the exertion of your latest assault.

"Way to go, Anon! Kick her ass and come eat with us! This chicken is awesome. I made sure to save some for you." Bree makes a mumbled cheer from the sidelines, prompting you to look in her direction and see that she, and all the other lionesses are now happily chowing down on chicken drumsticks that look to be fried and sauced to perfection. The sight of the clearly delectable poultry makes your stomach growl, and your mouth water slightly, but then the angered shrills of the woman you're fighting against make your stomach drop.

"Girls! Don't tell me you guys…no…not when this all started because…" You look over, slightly white-faced at your pack, who have likely made your situation so much worse now.

"You. Little. SHIT!" She screams as she rises to her feet, and the very air around her begins to flicker with embers, and a brief flash of fire in the shape of wings appears behind her before quickly dissipating. "How fucking DARE you distract me while your little friends try to rob me blind! That's it. You're all going to be nothing but ash!"

"L-Look! This was just a misunderstanding, okay?" You shout back, hoping to possibly defuse this situation before things get even more heated. Unfortunately, the pure magic aura of this woman is raising the temperature all on its own. The very air around you is becoming harder to breathe.

"Misunderstanding my ass!" She barks and points her sword toward the pack. "I'm gonna add charred cats to the menu, right now!"

With an overwhelming sense of dread, you sheath your sword and sprint to put yourself between the burning rage of your opponent and the pack. Then, from the girl's flamed tipped blade, comes a roaring visage of a bird, its entire body alight with fire. The heat slaps you in the face instantly, but you steel yourself and unstrap your spell book. The pack WILL stay safe as long as they are with you.

"The third spell, Stellashield!" You shout with all your might, and a shield of starlight as wide as the road you stand on, appears in front of you as the flaming bird collides with it. You keep your arm extended as you pour more energy into the spell book. The fiery avian this girl created continues to press and attempt to force its way past your defenses. Although you can't see behind the almost blinding display of starlight and fire, you can feel that the girl is busy trying to pour more energy into her own creation. You can only hope your spells can turn the tide for you.

With each passing second, more flames creep their way around your celestial barrier, and the pressure you feel begins to mount more and more. You won't outlast this spell of hers, but maybe you can blast through it. Gathering your concentration, you do your best to bring your mana of water to the surface while you continue to fuel your book's power.

"It's a long shot, but here we go!" You resolve yourself and hope you're fast enough to pull this off. The mana around your body reaches a bursting point as water erupts from the magic around you to douse you from head to toe. "Charge! And-"

The second your shield dissolves and funnels all the energy it has stored into your right fist, the flaming bird swoops down upon you, the unbearable heat emanating from it makes it as though you were standing on the sun. The water that drips over your skin evaporates in seconds, but since you're still conscious, it bought you all the time you needed.

"Stellaruga!" You chat, causing a powerful spiraling beam of starlight to rocket from your palm, cutting through the middle of the fire spell given shape as it is stopped dead in its flight. From the opening your spell created, you see the girl look at you with wild astonishment, barely registering that a powerful blast is barreling toward her. The next thing your spell collides with, is the woman's raised shield, that holds fast against its strength.

With a mighty jerk of her arm, the orange haired woman parries your blast up in the sky, where it travels until it becomes a mere twinkle in the oranaging sky. You both struggle to catch your breath as you look at one another.

"What…what the hell was that!?" The girl demands, her voice slightly more hoarse. "That wasn't mana! You're not just some thief with a bunch of mangy cats. What the hell are you, kid!?"

"My name is Anon." You say proudly as you straighten yourself out and strap your spell book back at your side. You then steadily pull Shining Comet from its resting place and ready yourself again. "As for what I am, right now, I'm the pack leader for these 'cats', so that means I'm not gonna let you hurt them."

"They're stealing from me! And you're letting them!" The girl stomps her foot into the sandy road that is blackened slightly by the flames of battle.

"They're just hungry, okay!?" You fire back. "Look, I'll find a way to pay you for-"

"What do you mean, 'find a way'!?" The girl retorts, growing even more hysteric. "Are you some broke moocher too!? It seems like everyone who ISN'T a pirate in this country barely has a coin to their name. This trip was a complete waste of time…"

"Huh? You don't live here? So who are-"

"Kiwawa?" Pomu's voice comes from uphill in the direction of the saloon to interrupt you.

The woman's blazing fury is suddenly dampened as the fae's voice reaches her ears. Her expression becomes confused as she turns and looks behind her to see the forest fairy fluttering down the hill towards her. From her side profile you can see her cheeks stretch from a wide smile.

"Pomu!? Pomu Rainpuff is that actually you!?" She says in a much more cheery voice, although it is still as shrill as ever. "Hey girrllll!"

"Kiwawaaaaaaa!" Pomu squeals as she picks up the pace of her flight and practically tackles the orange clad girl in a giddy hug. "I can't believe I'm actually running into you here!"

"That's what I was gonna say!" The woman says as she and Pomu jump up and down with their hands clasped on the other's arms. "We have SO much catching up to do. It's been ages since we got to hang out!"

"Yeahh! I got some really cool people I want you to meet too! The one guy is gonna really surprise you!" The fae says with barely contained excitement.

"Oooo~ Pomu Rainpuff has a man in her life? Now I'm even more intrigued. He better treat you right, or he's gonna end up more charred than this dude is about to be." Pomu's friend? Says playfully as she tempers her anticipation for her reunion for now, and looks back at you with a furrowed brow. "Which, I just need to finish this up really quick, okay? Then I want to hear all about this guy and what you've been up to."

"Finish what up?" The fae tilts her head and leans to the side to look over her friend's shoulder, where she sees you, and the pack that still happily tears through fried chicken behind you. "Oh! Hey Anon! I came looking for you!"

"Anon?" The girl says with building confusion. "You actually know this creep? Him and his band of cats are trying to steal all my merchandise."

"Mhmm! He's the one I'm really excited for you to meet!" Pomu smiles with no regard to how her friend is addressing you. "He came and saved my whole forest from some witch and the demonic beast, Grendel."

"G-Grendel?" The woman's face pales slightly as she takes in that information, causing a small deal of confusion within yourself. She then brings her head closer to Pomu and talks in a soft whisper. "That son of a bitch actually got out?! Why!? How!? How has he not already been seen terrorizing the skies!?"

"Cause we beat him up!" Pomu declares proudly as she widens her stance and plants her knuckles along her hips in a heroic fashion. "Anon, me, Lady Sylph, we all showed him what happens when you mess with someone who's bursting with big PP energy!"

The woman looks at the fae with pure shock, but then her lips curve to a small smile as she begins to chuckle. "Ohhhhh! I see what this is! Not even two seconds and you're already pulling pranks. I'm glad to see you haven't changed one bit." The girl begins to say between laughs as she pats the blond head of the fairy. "Defeating Grendel. That's a good one, Pomu, you really had me going for a second. I didn't even know you believed in that old fairy tale."

"It's true!" Pomu puffs as she backs away from the girl's patronizing hand. "He and this witch made this weird fog appear, and it was sucking the life out of the forest, and then all my friends disappeared, and then my grandma, and then-"

"Pomu, girl, you don't need to sell it so hard to me. I'm actually a little tired. Today has been pretty shitty, and I appreciate how you want to cheer me up with one of your stories, but I really need to teach this punk a lesson."

"I know Pomu likes to create a little mischief here and there, but she's not lying about this one. We put that bastard, Grendel down for good." You say with an air of pride as you rest your blade on your shoulder. "Pomu is also my number one wingfairy, and she not only helped save her entire forest, she helped me connect with Sylph. So who exactly are you to not believe her?"

"S-Sylph!?" The girl repeats, a little shaken as she looks to be searching you for any hint of lies or deception. "W-Who exactly do you mean?"

"You know who Lady Sylph is, Kiara." Pomu whines a little. "Anon brought her back to our world, along with Lady Undine. He's the summoner!"

"S-Summoner!?" Kiara stammers as her eyes dart between the ground and the forest fairy. She then turns her head back towards you slowly, and her violet eyes still tell you that she doesn't quite accept the facts yet. In her defense, in your case, seeing is believing.

You reach out to both Sylph and Undine with your mind, asking them to come find you. Within seconds, the water spirit appears at your side thanks to the convenience of being in her intangible form and having a direct path to your very soul. Sylph happily comes flying down from overhead and flutters on the opposite side to her big sister. You give the orange warrior a small smirk as you stand proudly with our soul-tied family.

"Oh…" Kiara's mouth hangs agape as she seems to finally understand the implications of who you might be. "Fuck."

"That's the first time I've heard that one at least." You chuckle slightly at the girl's bitter astonishment. "So you obviously know a bit about what we are, so I'm kinda dying to know, who exactly are you?"

"Anon, Lady Sylph, Lady Undine, this is Kiara Takanashi." Pomu starts a formal introduction as she lands and walks to stand in the space between you and Kiara, but gives you a clear view of one another. The woman stands at full attention and gulps when she looks at you and your spirit companions, which perplexes you somewhat. You decide to show a gesture of goodwill and sheathe your sword at your side, but her eyes seem to be glued to Undine and Sylph, who only give polite smiles, which makes something tick within that orange head of hers.

"She's a long time friend of mine, and a servant of-" Pomu continues before Kiara hastily then somehow commands her sword to retract the tip of its blade somewhat into its external guards, which she then slides into the slot made for it on her shield.

"Servicewoman, entrepreneur, part time warrior, at your service!" Kiara nervously cuts the fairy off and offers her now free right hand to you.

"Only part-time?" You chuckle as you are more than willing to let bygones be bygones and shake the woman's hand. "You move like you're a pro. I wouldn't want to tussle with you if sword fighting was your sole focus. Which by the way, I actually am sorry my pack tried to steal from you. They're a little food focused, and there really isn't a whole lot to eat around here if you are short on money."

"You don't move so bad yourself." Kiara returns the compliment, seemingly thrilled to be done with introductions and changing the subject. "Since you're apparently Pomu's friend, I won't try to deep fry you anymore, but you're still going to need to pay for the food your cats ate already, and are continuing to eat."

"We're not feeble cats!" Frala snaps as she sits crossed legged on the ground, still gnawing the chicken bone that barely has any meat left on it.

"They are proud lionesses." You feel the need to correct Kiara. "And for now, they're my responsibility. I was serious when I said I would find a way to pay you back for what they've eaten already."

"Our summoner here has a tiny little money problem at the moment." Sylph chimes in as she holds a thumb and finger a barely indiscernible distance apart in front of her eye. "It wasn't ENTIRELY his fault either."

"And like how he gave the woman with a mountain of repairs to make to her bar every coin he had to his name, our summoner will do his best to make sure you are repaid as well." Undine adds, seemingly feeling the need to come to your defense.

"But for now, I'll cover it!" Pomu says as she pulls out a small coin purse from her brown strapped satchel. "If you still got more, Kiara, could we give some to the people we met? They're really nice and could use a better meal. I'll gladly pay for that too."

"That depends…IS there any left?" Kiara says with no shortage of snark aimed at the pack.

"Yeah. We saved some for Anon." Botan answers matter of factly, and only when she sees Kiara rub her hand down her face in exasperation, does she decide to add to her statement. "There should be enough for everyone back at the saloon too…probably."

"Hey, would you look at that! I bet you weren't expecting to sell your entire stock today!" Pomu adds her own brand of cheer to the situation, nudging her friend slightly with her elbow.

"If only I actually sold it all…some of those pirates took more than their share of freebies at the main port, and they weren't worth causing a scene over…" Kiara sighs. "This trip has been a financial disaster."

"They'll get what's coming to them soon. Anon, me, and all our other friends are gonna bash them good for making the good people that live around here suffer." Pomu adds with fierce confidence, but you can tell she is just ecstatic to show off her "hero persona" to an old friend.

"And now sweet little Pomu is gonna be fighting pirates?" Kiara can't help but chuckle again. "Just what the hell happened to that fun little forest fairy I remember?"

"I'm still the same ol' Pomu, but I can fight now!" The fae replies earnestly.

"She's got quite a kick to her too." You happily remark as you remember the image of her and Sylph diving feet first into Grendel's neck.

"And what has you all risking your necks against a bunch of lowlife pirates?" Kiara asks skeptically.

"People need help. Simple as that." You shrug.

"With an attitude like that, it's no wonder you took in a bunch of strays." Kiara scoffs as she dusts down her skirt, and makes her shield shrink back down into its original small emblem and places it back on her shirt. "But if you really took down something like Grendel, you can't be all talk I guess."

"I am curious." Undine starts, bringing the conversation to her. "You sound like you know a great deal about things that were supposedly long forgotten. Most people do not even really recognize my sister or myself at the moment. How is it you know of us?"

"Yeah! Are you from someplace that still talks about us!?" Sylph chimes in, asking a question you yourself have. "People are always happy to see us when our summoner introduces us, but it would be awesome to know about cultures that still spread our teachings! So we gotta know!"

"I'm not from anywhere in particular." Kiara says as her gaze trails to the ground for a few seconds. "I'm just a wanderer. At least, that's what I have been for a while now….the both of you really don't notice anything…familiar, about me?"

"I'm afraid because of our mysterious slumber, a lot of our memories lay dormant." Undine laments, clearly hurt that she cannot seem to recall the face of the girl talking to you all.

"Should we know you?" Sylph asks next, and the bluntness of her question makes you have to hold in a laugh while secretly hoping it doesn't spark another temper tantrum from this woman.

Suddenly the dots start to connect for you; a girl Pomu knows and wants you to meet, a control over fire that was as hot as the sun, AND she knows about the spirits?

"You're a servant of the sun spirit, aren't you?" You ask with building hope, despite how the question makes Kiara wince slightly before regaining her composure and looking at you with indignance.

"I'm nobody's servant." She corrects you as she crosses her arms. "I'm my own boss. Aska gave me life, but my life doesn't belong to her."

"Isn't this great though, Kiwawa!? Anon can help bring Lady Aska back to us! And YOU can help him do that!" Pomu exclaims, not seeming to pick up or mind the clear ambivalence Kiara has for the spirit that created her.

"Ehhhhhh, not interested." Kiara waves off in a droll tone. "He's the summoner, he can figure it out himself. He doesn't need my help by the looks of things."

The answer seems to somewhat disappoint the two spirits next to you, and you can see Pomu wear a somewhat sullied expression on her face as she begins to open her mouth to say something, but the words seem to get caught in her throat. It doesn't take a genius to see that Kiara isn't exactly proud of her connection to the spirits. Still, you can't really pass up an opportunity like this, maybe if you get on her good side, she will be more open to helping you.

"I can kinda understand if you aren't exactly jumping at the chance to tell me more about the sun spirit, or even sun magic, especially how things started off between us." You say to hopefully ice the situation. "So how about we talk about something else, and you can decide later if I'm 'Sun Spirit Summoner' material, okay? I'm more concerned with getting the people of Shallah fed and their country freed at the moment, which I think can benefit you more than you realize."

"Oh yeah? How ya think?" Kiara almost taunts you, seemingly already convinced that you are full of hot air.

"They took some of your profits away today, right? Well, I was hoping that I would do a little plundering of my own by the time I boot those thugs back out to sea. I bet there will be more than enough to cover what you lost AND any other expenses you had by coming here." You say with your most charming smile. "What do you say? I bet they got all sorts of treasures that don't rightfully belong to them anyway. Why not have them go towards a better cause, namely you."

"A payday like that could be a big boost for my business…" Kiara begins to mull the idea over as her gaze goes up towards the quickly declining sun. "It could also buy my way into any country I want…things have been so closed off lately too…"

"You promise to reimburse me for every last copper I lost from this whole endeavor?" She then asks you firmly, perhaps to gauge your convictions.

"Sure do! What do you think?" You nod.

"Double." Kiara states.

"Eh?" You mouth, slightly confused and sincerely not hoping that this woman is not about to demand what you think she is.

"You're going to pay me back double what I lost by coming to this country." The orange warrior makes it clear. "Promise me that, and I'll help you."

"Do I at least get some sun magic lessons thrown in with that?" You try to haggle.

"That'll cost you triple." Kiara holds up three upright fingers. "And I won't promise any results. You've proven you might not be completely hopeless by guessing I am connected to the sun spirit, most people would have just said fire, but you don't have what it takes to be a true sunfighter."

"Sunfighter? What do you mean?" You ask.

"A true wielder of sun magic. It's not an element just anyone can grasp. To even have a chance to ignite that kindling, you'll need to be able to figure out the truth behind the sun's power, and what it does for the world." Kiara talks down to you.

"I'll take that as a challenge then and just have to prove you wrong." You say with a confident grin. "Triple it is then. Just how much is that anyway? Fifty? Sixty silver?"

You offer a hand to Kiara, this time to shake to seal the business agreement, and to enter a binding contract. She nods with a grin and takes your grip strongly in hers and shakes.

"Three hundred." She says completely straight faced. "Gold. You owe me three hundred gold."

"Th-Three hundred?!" You choke. "H-How did you lose one hundred gold to begin with? What are you charging?!"

"You said you would cover my lost profits, AND my expenses. I saw how expensive food is in this country right now. I could easily charge five times my normal prices, so that's a LOT of profit lost. If you want to back out, I might just-"

"Nope. If you need three hundred, I'll get you that. I'll just need to find the pirates' best horde to do it, but if you'll really help us out, it's worth it." You respond fiercely, not willing to go back on your word, or your handshake.

You lock eyes with those confident violet pools of hers, she is easily a powerful woman; confident in herself, as well as her martial prowess, and also…hot? Very hot, actually. Like physically. Your palm feels like it's resting over an open flame. You look down and see a faint orange glow emanating between yours and Kiara's hands, and then look up at the girl's smug smile. Already testing you, huh? Fine, two can play at that game.

Using your own magic, you create a pool of azure liquid that begins to pour out from your palm, instantly hissing and creating steam when it touches Kiara's. Even the cooling embrace of your magic can't seem to stave off the heat that somehow feels like it is cooking you from the inside out, and you bite your lower lip in pain, but continue to not back down.

Kiara snickers a bit at your struggling expression and chooses to finally let you go. You silently thank the gods for this mercy and shake your hand frantically before blowing on it. Each pulse of your heartbeat makes the pain flare up. Only when you cup your hands together and use your water based healing spell, does the pain subside.

"Consider that first lesson on me." Kiara says as she suddenly becomes cherry. "Alright! Now that I got a promise of payment, I'm ready to feed some hungry customers, as well as catch up with my favorite fairy. You and your little cat pack can pull my cart up for me, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, Kiara locks arms with Pomu and they both begin to walk up the light slope back towards the saloon. You turn and look back at the mobile food cart as if seeing it for the first time. Painted mostly an orange that matches Kiara's clothing, a white streak of paint sails from one end of the cart, all the way to the other where the letters "KFP" are written in the middle. You have no idea what that could possibly stand for, but it's safe to assume it's what the offspring of the sun spirit has decided to name her mobile restaurant.

The fact that you have managed to somehow add another promise to your list of tall orders deflates you somewhat. You better hope these pirates actually have treasure. While you are distracted by your own thoughts, you don't even notice Botan walks up to you and offers you a meaty drumstick whose skin was breaded and fried to perfection. Your battle with Kiara only enlarged your appetite, as you likely worked off everything you ate beforehand, so you gladly take the breaded poultry by the bone and take a large bite.

Its breading is crunchy, but has just enough give that it doesn't make chewing it a chore, and the slight kick of its seasoning along with the taste of the pure white chicken meat that lies underneath makes it as though there is a party in your mouth.

"That is good." You say with slight astonishment after you swallow and can feel a small crumb hang where your lips and cheek converge. "That's really good! Thanks, Botan!"

"We told you you wouldn't have to worry about getting your own food with us around." The alpha lioness says before taking another ripping bite of the drumstick she was still working on. "The huntresses of the pack usually gather food for the leader."

"I'm still not sure I am completely on board with that. It seems unfair." You remark in between bites.

"Doesn't seem unfair from where I was standing." Botan shrugs, having licked all the meat clean off her own bone, which she then chucks behind her. "You protected us without even a second thought. Which let the pack get the food we needed. We work pretty well together."

"And I landed a pretty big debt in the process…." You sigh as you try to savor the flavor explosion drumstick you hold. "Oh well. Let's share this stuff with the other Shallah people. I might need some help cutting things up for the older folks again, who wants to help?"

"We do!" Bree and Bransha cheer in unison as Frala and Korla push the food cart towards you.

"It actually felt kinda sweet to help them that way." Riki adds as she gives you an affirming smile. "Count me in too."

"Alright, let's get to it, girls." You say to rouse the pack to follow you up the slowly inclining hill to meet back up with all your friends.

Not even a full day into being a fully fledged pack leader and you managed to get into a fight that threatened to burn you to ashes. Still, you can't help but feel a hint of pride at how agreeable these lion demi-humans are to you, when there isn't fresh meat within arms reach that is. They'll need to practice a little more self control from here on out. Something about working together with them and protecting them feels almost natural to you. You are looking forward to fighting alongside them as well, especially Botan. Now you're even more excited to teach these lionesses how to use their own mana. That will greatly improve your chances of success for throwing Captain Blackfin off his throne, and allow them to get some much deserved revenge on the people who drove them from their home. Hopefully after you get the lionesses started, you can take a spell and relax at the beach. There is a particular half-elf you are more than eager to spend some alone time with, especially after how today has gone so far. Maybe you'll take a walk along the shoreline with Watame too. You may have promised to liberate an entire country from oppression, but that doesn't mean you can't try to enjoy yourself a little and really learn what makes this land special.