Hrefna panted harshly as she quickly twirled the chain held in her left hand, her posture stiff as she waited with baited breath. Movement to her right caught her attention before she pivoted back and flung her chained kunai at her target. Her aim was on point as the kunai pierced the skeleton in the chest, easily getting caught in between the bones. Quickly she wrapped the chain around her left hand and tugged it harshly; causing the skeleton to fly towards her at a rapid pace. Calmly she took a step forward and just as the skeleton came within arms length, she unsheathed her short sword, slicing through the monster with a powerful and fatal blow. With a small tug, she untangled her chain from the mass of broken bones.

...And just in the nick of time too, as high pitched screeching pierced the silence and a red haze fell over the dark cavern. Looking up, she took notice of about 8 lava bats dive bombing towards her in a furious collaboration. Swiftly re-sheathing her short sword; Hrefna reached behind her and grabbed her second kunai before tossing it to the floor. Softly she whispered an incantation which caused both of her chains to burn brightly with flames as she began to whip the chains around her. Metal and fire danced around as she spun and twirled with lethal intentions. The lava bats had no chance, their strategy to overwhelm their prey will fail them. So it wasn't surprising when it didn't take long for the bloody body of the last bat to fall to the floor. The silence that now surrounded her was all the permission she needed to distinguished her flames.

Scanning her surroundings one last time to make sure it was safe, she finally relaxed and picked up both of her kunai before tucking them back into her belt. Turning around, she picked up her black duffel bag and pickaxe before making her way towards the elevator. Once she was safe inside, she hit the button for the entrance floor and looked down at her watch. '5:15 am...'

She still had about 45 minutes until she could meet up with Clint. She met Clint the day after meeting Sebastian. Usually he didn't open his blacksmith shop until 9 but she discovered that he was up and getting everything ready at around 6. Initially she had stopped by there to get some whetstones for her swords but soon their conversation led to the mines and he told her that if she planned on spending time down there then he would be more that happy to buy any ore or valuable crystals she may find. She told him that she usually went in there early in the morning but he seemed ok with that. He told her that she could drop off anything she found around 6 but he wouldn't be up any earlier than that.

So here she was with a duffel bag full of iron and gold ore. She figured that for now, this would be good for bringing in some money until her farm was fixed up... Especially since the monster bounties in this area weren't that profitable and she wouldn't be able to start planting until end of summer at the earliest, beginning of fall at the latest.

The elevator gave a soft ding and the door slid open, bringing Hrefna out of her thoughts. Slowly walking forward, she fished her headphones out of her pocket, getting ready to place them in her ears when a sharp clattering noise caught her attention. Looking to the left, she took notice of a small opening to another tunnel that she hadn't seen before and got curious. Slowly she walked towards the tunnel as she swiftly wrapped her cloak around herself, making sure to pull up her hood to help herself blend into the dark background. The tunnel wasn't very long, she could easily see a soft glowing light at the end of it. As she got closer to the light, she began to hear someone softly muttering curses. It took a second but it quickly dawned on her that the person was speaking dwarven.

And sure enough, to her shock, as she finally reached the end of the little tunnel she silently watched as a small dwarf stomped around his cavern; rifling through all his junk looking for something. Scanning the area, she took notice of all the random 'treasures' this dwarf had collected. Which shouldn't surprise her, dwarves were notorious for hoarding things. Seeing all this made her miss Afi a little bit... 'Only a little bit though.' She thought with a small smile before she cleared her throat to gain the dwarf's attention.

With a small squeak, the dwarf quickly turned around to look at her, but before she could say anything, he growled and glared at her before stomping towards her, cursing her all along the way. Which she thought was kinda cute as she folded her arms across each other and leaned back against the wall. Once he stood before her, he swiftly began to pace back and forth, still cursing her and the rest of human kind for everything that was going wrong with his life at that current moment. After a few minutes of listening to his little rant, she began to tune him out and looked around curiously. It didn't take long for her eyes to land on something else that took her by surprise.

"Is that a hover bike?" She made sure to ask in dwarven just in case he didn't understand English.

The dwarf stopped in surprise, probably due to the fact that she could speak his language before looking over at the bike in question. "Yes... How do you know my language... None of the others do?!"

Hrefna shrugged as she walked towards the bike. "A dwarf taught me... Does it run?" She crouched down and began to look it over.

The dwarf glared at her. "No it doesn't... Why are you here?!"

Hrefna sighed sadly but continued to tinker around with the bike. "I heard a bunch of noise coming from here when I was leaving the mines." she gave another shrug before turning to face him. "What's your name dwarf?"

The dwarf growled and crossed his arms in a defiant manner. "Phil!"

Hrefna lifted an amused eyebrow before chuckling softly. "Phil?" Phil was not a dwarf name, and they both knew it, but who was she to judge, she wasn't going by her real name either so she wasn't going to question it. "Well, Phil, can you get the missing parts? I'll be interested in buying it if you can."

Phil looked her over skeptically before giving her a slow nod. "... 15,000 gold!"

Hrefna scoffed in disbelief. "5,000."

Phil glared at her defiantly. "12,000."

It was Hrefna's turn to narrow her eyes at him. "Listen, Phil, we both know that a brand new hover bike costs 10,000 gold..." Hrefna paused to place her hands on her hips, staring down at him in a no nonsense manner. "So, are we going to make a deal or not?"

Phil huffed before stomping over to his little shop stand and quickly hopped up to sit on his little stool. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on the counter before pressing his fingertips together in a contemplating manner, and he sized her up. "Fine...8,000"

Hrefna sighed in annoyance. "...3,000 and that's my final offer."

Phil growled and slammed his fist on the desk. "FINE! 5,000!"

Hrefna smirked before chuckling. "Deal!"

Phil growled before he lightly thumped his head on his desk a couple of times as he continued to curse humankind again.

Hrefna shook her head in amusement. "So when can you have the parts here?"

Phil sigh before lifting his head to glare at her again. "One week."

Hrefna nodded before she turned to head towards the tunnel. "I'll be back in a week for the bike and to give you your payment... Later Phil." Hrefna chuckled as she made her way down the tunnel, listening to Phil's mutters and curses all along the way.

When she reached the main entrance area, she bent down to pick up her duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder as she made her way out of the mine. When she was outside, she looked up and took notice that the night sky began to slowly lighten. Her watch told her it was 5:30, just enough time to stop by Linus's tent so she could drop off somethings for him and make herself a cup of coffee.

She had met Linus the first night she had ventured into the mines. They had formed a small friendship bond over the first couple nights as they swapped stories and different survival advice. Since then, she has made it a habit to stop by every morning to leave him little gifts to help him out. Today would be no different.

Walking up to his campfire, she gently put down her duffle bag before opening it. She took out a small package of the bug meat she collected, 6 cave carrots, and some coal before setting them next to his tent flap so he wouldn't miss seeing it. Next she walked towards a crate that was located next to his tent. Lifting the lid, she pulled out a cooking rack, kettle, a jug of fresh water, and a jar of instant coffee that she previously left there after Linus gave her permission to use his campfire anytime she needed to. It only took her a minute to set everything up and in less than 10 minutes she had her coffee made and everything cleaned up. Looking around briefly, Hrefna nodded in satisfaction that everything was as she found it before turning around and quietly following the path south.

The soft clinking of her chains were the only thing to be heard as she lazily walked past Robin's home, continuing to follow the path towards town. It didn't take her long before she reached the old worn down community center. Instead of following the path further, Hrefna's feet left the path and headed towards the back of the old building. She stopped in front of an old ladder and dropped her bag before climbing it up to the roof. This had become one of her favorite little spots that she had found when she had went out exploring.

Once she reached the roof, she carefully made her way over to sit on top of the ledge that faced towards the town, her feet dangling in front of the clock as she prepared to watch the sun rise. After taking a sip from her thermal coffee mug, she pulled out her morning cigarette.

As she smoked and drank her coffee, Hrefna began to contemplate everything new she has discovered in this odd place they call Pelican Town. The first being that it was for the most part magicless. Which she found rather uncomfortable and difficult to cope with. Magic was everywhere and apart of everything, yet it seemed to be practically snuffed out in this place. The Ferngill residence relied heavily on their version of technology. She says their version because everywhere else that she had been just used magic or dwarven tech, which used a combination of magic and modern technology. Honestly from what she has seen so far, the technology here isn't as far along as dwarven tech. Which did comfort her in a small way, perhaps she had a better chance at hiding here than she originally thought. On the down side though, since they didn't use magic, they had to use more industrial methods... Which sadly came at the cost to their own environment. The pollution here was terrible.

Another odd thing she found was that everyone here followed the New Order . So there were no Primordial alters anywhere, and because of that she now had to make her own alters. While the residents here still followed and believed in Yoba; they only believed in Yoba, to them the other three Primordials didn't exist. Which she found to be ridiculous... How could there possibly be balance without them. Yoba needed Yuna as much as Yara needed Yul. The four Primordials are the key to life and existence. The Old Order consist of the belief in; Yoba the sun father and Primordial of fire, his wife Yuna the moon mother and primordial of air, their daughter Yara the earth sister and primordial of earth, and finally their son Yul the sea brother and primordial of water. The four elements needed for life and to equally balance everything.

She had spent the past week clearing out her farm and collecting all the materials she needed to build her four alters, but she quickly realized that she would have to be careful and cleverly hide them in plain sight. She sighed sadly as she exhaled the smoke in her lungs. So much hiding, so much running... She was always running. She was always forced to hide who and what she was. She wondered if her dream of ever finding a safe place to call home will ever come true... Or if it will forever be just that, just wishful thinking of what a beautiful dream could be. She would like to think that this place could be that, could be home but... Hrefna gentle shook her head, as if to try and banish the thought. This had to work... This was her last chance, she had no where else to go and she was so tired of constantly being on the move... She just hoped that this uncomfortable feeling was due to her being in a new setting and being still for the first time in 5 years and not because it was a foreboding feeling of the things to come. With one final sigh, Hrefna stubbed out her cigarette before standing. She drank the last of her coffee while watching the sun finally peak over the horizon, the light gently reflected across the ocean before lighting up the small town below. With a small wishful smile, just the slightest quirk of her lips, she slowly turned to head back to the ladder. Yes, she will make this work...

A shadowed figure silently watched Raven as she climbed down from the roof and walked towards town. He couldn't help but contemplate his current curiosity. Something about her bugged him and for the life of him, he could figure out why. Exhaling his last hit, he quickly stubbed out his own cigarette before glancing her over one last time. Finally with a firm shake of his head and a scoff, he turned to head home. This was ridiculous.

Sam excitedly raced down the dirt path that led to Raven's farm. He needed to speak with Seb like right now. He remembered Robin mentioning that he was working on Raven's truck all this week, so he hoped that he was still over there. A giddy smile infectiously crossed his face as he clutched the piece of folded up paper in his hand. He just hoped that he could convince Seb on his own... Usually he would have Abi with him to help soften his friend up to be open to an idea like this but unfortunately she had to work today. It had been a nightmare to convince Marlon and Gil to give them this bounty, so he just hoped that he could talk the two main people he needed to pull this off to go with his plan. He was kind of confident that between him and Abi that they could convince Seb but the main person they needed to convince was a whole other story. It may take all three of them to convince her.

The first person he saw when he finally got to the farm was Robin. When she noticed him he gave her a charming smile and a big wave.

Robin chuckled and waved back. "He's in the barn." She already knew who he was looking for without him even asking.

"Thanks Robin!" Sam quickly walked around the barn but stopped short when he noticed a tent. Was that really where Raven was sleeping? A look of concern crossed his face as he looked around. He quickly spotted her on the other side of her property cutting down a tree before giving himself a shrug. He was certain that Robin would have extended an invitation to stay at her place if Raven really needed it, so if Raven was staying in a tent then it had to have been of her own choosing. With a shake of his head, he remembered why he was here and made his way into the barn. "Yo Seb! How's it goin' bro?"

Sebastian looked over his shoulder and spotted Sam with a big ass grin across his face. With a small sigh, he reached over and grabbed his oil rag to wipe off his hands before taking one of his earbuds out, then turned around to face Sam. He quirked an eyebrow "What's with the grin?"

Sam grinned harder as he made his way over to his best friend. "Interested in making some big ass cash?"

Sebastian's brow rose higher "I'm listening?"

Sam nervously handed over the folded piece of paper. "Take a look."

Sebastian took the paper and unfolded it before reading it over. His brows soon crinkled as a contemplative look crossed his handsome features. "Pepper Rex eggs..." Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck. "The closes nest location is the Skull Cavern in Calico Desert."

Sam gave him a vigorous nod. "This bounty is from some rich guy located in Zuzu. He's willing to pay 3x the normal cost... That's 3,000g's an egg and he's willing to buy as many as we can get our hands on."

Sebastian sighed, it was very good money but... "We've never been to Skull Cavern Sam, we have no idea what we would be getting ourselves into." He leaned back and crossed his arms. "How did you convince Marlon and Gil to give us this bounty? They won't even let us pass the 50th floor in the mines..."

Sam gave a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his head. "Weeell, there's a catch..."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, already knowing he would not like where this was going. "...And that is?"

Sam nervously licked his as he looked over his shoulder to look at Raven. Sebastian followed his friend's gaze and quickly put two and two together. Sam took a deep breath before looking back at his best friend. "We need to convince Raven to go with us... Marlon will only give her the key to the cavern."

Sebastian gritted his teeth as he scowled over at Raven's unsuspecting form. Sam and Abi have been doing nothing but praising Raven for the past week. He heard all about their little adventure in the mines last week and Sam had been boasting all about how he played protector for the two girls. How he took out all the monsters as the girls went hunting for crystals. Honestly he was more than annoyed about all this talk about 'Raven this' and 'Raven that'... Everyone seems to do nothing but talk about her. Especially his mother.

Further more, he took notice that she seems to completely go out of her way to avoid him at all cost this week... It had made communicating with her about her truck extremely difficult. He had to result to leaving notes about the truck on the table for her, they even had their own little communication notepad that was left here for that singular purpose. He let out an irritated sigh. Honestly, he didn't even know why he was so irritated about it. If it was anyone else he would have been grateful that he didn't have to go conversate with them and was left to his own devices but something about her is just rubbing him the wrong way... And it was driving him crazy that he couldn't figure out why. But right now, more than anything, he can't figure out why she was the deal breaker for this bounty.

He turned his hardened gaze towards Sam, the question almost burning his tongue. "Why?"

Sam gave a nonchalant shrug. "I don't know, but he said he would only give us this bounty if all four of us are together on it and he would only give the key to Raven."

Sebastian grunted with annoyance. Why?! What was so special about her? Further more, why would Marlon give her so much freedom after just meeting her? Unless... "What is her rank?"

Sam thought for a moment but then shrugged. "I don't know, I never thought to ask. Why? You think she's a high rank?"

Sebastian glared over in her direction. "She has to be... It's the only thing I can think of as to why Marlon would trust her so easily."

Sam looked over at Raven, both men now watching her chop up the tree she recently chopped down. "Could be... But that would work in our favor though right? I mean, this would be a big pay day for all of us. Plus, there's another perk to this bounty..."

Sebastian scoffed. "And what perk is that?"

Sam gave his friend a sly grin. "We now have an excuse to not show up to the flower dance..." Sam gave a gleeful chuckle. "After all, this bounty will take us all weekend."

Sebastian grimace as he thought about that stupid ass dance and then gave in with a sigh. He hated that fucking suit more than anything.

Sam recognized the sound of his best friend giving in and did an excited fist pump.

Sebastian glared over at Sam, completely annoyed. "So how are we going to convince her to join us?"

Sam grinned wickedly. "Her and Abi seemed to get along pretty well, I say we let Abi work her magic. If that don't work then we have all week to figure out another game plan."

Sebastian shook his head, he couldn't believe he was doing this... But if anything, this would provide him with a chance to observe her in a closer setting. He needed to figure out why she was bugging him so bad. Observing her from the shadows while they have their morning cigarette was not giving him the insight he needed.

Across the property, Hrefna stretched her back as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She quickly dropped her axe and picked up her water canteen to take a long drink. She took a quick moment to look around her property and was slightly taken back when she noticed both Sam and Sebastian looking at her. She stiffened slightly as Sam gave her a friendly wave. She shifted uncomfortably but gave him a small wave back before turning to pick her axe back up. That foreboding feeling was creeping back up again and for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that it somehow revolved around those two.