The sound of something clanging brought Solanne’s attention away from her own inner thoughts. A man with red hair was challenging another man with a glaive. The Phoenix and the Emerald Wyvern. Both deadlocked in what was probably an unavoidable duel. Solanne grinned eagerly as the two reared up to fight.

“I should probably challenge them myself one day,” she commented aloud. “After all, I gotta teach the red one not to steal my style. The ponytail was my idea first.”

But then, something else caught the Crimson Hound’s attention. Something perhaps more important than the spectacle at hand. Solanne was good at disregarding pointless situations, and all her senses guided her to nearby laughter and an idle comment.

A little girl? Out here with a group preparing for war against the monsters?

Solanne turned around to spot a face that earned a look of interest from her. In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have been so surprised to see Hazel Daphiat herself among their merry group of forty-two. The girl was infamous-maybe even more so than Solanne herself-back in the Sky Kingdom as a child of omen. Or just someone with a really bad temper.

Still, it was obvious that the girl was getting flustered at the crowd around her, sulking away from the groups that pointed her out. With a set mind, Solanne finally left her position and waltzed on over to the shorter and younger girl, a huge grin on her face.

“Hey there Spell Spitter,” said a cheery Solanne as she wrapped an arm around the other girl’s shoulder. “Er, aren’t you a little short to be a warrior?”

The Crimson Hound was only kidding, and was fully prepared for whatever consequence Hazel would enact upon her. She was just that brave…and stupid.

“Say, don’t I know you from somewhere?” Solanne asked with a bright, knowing smile. “But in all seriousness, you look a little down. Hey, the Word Weaver told us to be friends so…wanna be friends?”

As blunt as ever.