"Also, missy, you can choose not to acknowledge us due to the directive she has enforced, but, I just want to tell you I'm sorry for almost inflicting some pain on you indirectly... I'll restrain myself from causing any mischief for the noble for your sake, ok? And yours too for various reasons..."

Amelia sighed in relief. That could have gotten out of hand so very quickly, especially if the noble decided she didn't like the way he was acting. She could have always ordered him to not to...but that would have likely upset Okori and left an equally bad taste in her mouth.

Thankfully the noble seemed to be content to ignore them for now...or rather, sleep instead of speak with them. Amelia had to wonder if there was a reason behind that. Now that she thought about it, the girl looked like she was rather sleep deprived. She hummed quietly as her curiosity went a bit off tangent. Perhaps she should ask about that. Maybe she was just being grumpy because she was tired? A logical conclusion, maybe, but not one she could think much more about before Okori was already back with his usual shenanigans.

"After all, what would happen if you couldn't give any belly rubs when I'm in my gargantuan form? Oh the humanity!"

"Sable~" She replied with a quiet giggle. She could never stay upset at the cheeky little fox for long.

"Say, Amelia, you want to take a break from all the walking? I wouldn't mind carrying you until we set up camp."

"What? But then I wouldn't be able to see any interesting specimens if I see them!" She said, as if that was the obvious answer. That, and she wasn't tired at all. Walking wasn't something she was adverse too, and often times she walked a lot in pursuit of her geological studies. So this wasn't anything tiring to her. "Besides! We're almost there, so it wouldn't really matter, you silly fox~"

Sure enough, if he were to look towards the forest, he'd find them maybe a half hour away from it. The massive trees loomed in the distance as the sun sunk below the horizon. A cool wind blew some leaves through the caravan, one landing on the head of Lucca as they approached.



Randall had spent most of the latter half of the trek conversing with Roland. Well, he couldn't say the company was unwelcome. The rank and file soldiers didn't exactly make for pleasant conversation, though it wasn't like he was trying very hard. He was too busy thinking about how everything could go horribly, horribly wrong before they even step foot in the forest. The lists of things was far, with varying degrees of 'we're totally fucked'. The list of things only increased the further they got away from Themis.

But he didn't let anyone know. He kept a face of friendliness and calm. Worrying the others wasn't going to help. He was the leader here, after all, and it was his job to make sure such things didn't happen. He may not have been a soldier or have much experience with being a leader quite like Alena did, but damn it he knew how to get things done, and done well. With any luck, a good night of rest at the edge of the forest would improve his own spirits. Maybe he might actually start believing in this Lady Serafina seriously if nothing happened.

Well, he'd find out how lucky he was soon enough. They had arrived at the edge of the forest.

Randall pulled the wagon he was on to a halt. They didn't have much daylight left to set up camp; The sinking sun was already casting long, ominous seeming shadows. He had to remind themselves they were just shadows, and a completely natural phenomena. No creature was going to jump out at them.

...hopefully.

At any rate, Randall took a look around, quickly finding a suitable spot to make a decently sized camp for them. Randall hopped off the wagon, and turned to one of the soldiers. Noticing the emblem on his armor that marked him as probably the highest ranking soldier here. He was wearing the standard armor of the Royal Guard. Solid, but easy to move in silver plate armor with red trimmings. At his side, was the typical sword and shield one might find any soldier trained with.

"You the highest ranking soldier here?" He asked.

"Yes sir." He saluted "Ashton Bishop. Personally trained by Captain Alena. I'm the leader of the troops sent on this expedition. Of course, I take orders from you, though. I'll handle the rest of them, they shouldn't have a problem if the orders come from me." Randall furrowed his eyebrows, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Alright. We'll make camp over there," He said, pointing to an area not far away. "I want your guards patrolling the perimeter all night, and I want it done in pairs. I don't care how good your men think they are - we don't know what's in that forest."

Ashton nodded.

"Aye, sir. Consider it done. Standard protocol when making camp, so the guys won't complain. We'll secure the area around the campsite, make sure there's not going to be anything that jumps us. I'll have the rest of them help with setting up camp." He replied. Randall nodded, sighing somewhat tiredly.

"Alright If you see anything at all that looks like it might be trouble...well, you know what you're doing." Randall dismissed Ashton, who went and addressed the soldiers, barking orders at them to hurry up and get their ass in gear. Randall looked back at the looming trees of the forest. He'd likely have to send someone in to see how things looked in the forest...try and see just how they were going to get through. They may have to spend a few days here to try and figure out a good path through...plus, there was no telling just how big this forest actually was.

Shaking his head, he went to go help the others set up camp.

Thankfully, with the trained soldiers setting up the site didn't take too long at all. Within half an hour, the tents had been pitched and everything had been set up. Campfires were going, and food was being made for the travelers.



Eirwen spent most of the way there sleeping. Like she had ordered, Tamia hadn't woken her when they had stopped to make camp. Unfortunately, with all the noise being caused by the soldiers and other people setting everything up, sleep was difficult at best. even without Tamia waking her, she woke up only a few minutes after Ashton started barking orders. Well, it had been a nice little rest, but only a little rest after all. She would have liked to sleep more, but that was it.

When she woke on Tamia's lap, she didn't even seem to notice. She just sat up, gave a loud yawn and looked around, quickly gathering that they had stopped for the evening and were likely about to make camp. Well, they were going to make camp. She wasn't going to be doing any labor herself at all. She was much to important to resort to such menial labor and tasks. That was a job for Tamia and the others. So after thanking Tamia for not waking her when they stopped, she promptly ordered the slave to go about setting up their sleeping arrangements. She supervised of course, though that mostly consisted of her munching on some more apples she had pilfered and occasionally telling Tamia how to do something correctly, even if she probably didn't need too.

After that had been done, the young noble had told Tamia to make her some actual food, which she was what currently waiting on.

She was sitting next to a small fire that had been made, waiting for the slave to finish whatever she was currently making.

The cat appeared to ignore the apology, but she was grateful the familiar understood and her ears perked up slightly as a result.

Aside from a comment made underneath the kitsune's breath that only one with keen hearing could notice, the familiar and his mistress' conversation took a less serious turn as 'Sable' offered Amelia a piggyback ride. Aside from listening to the discussions of others, Megstamia spent most of the trip looking down at her mistress and periodically running a hand through her owner's hair. Aside from the fact that the hair felt like fur, Eirwen seemed to react normally as she continued to breathe softly.

It was odd in a way, a kitten petting a human. But Tamia felt that being petted like this would help herself sleep, so she did the same thing for her mistress in the hope that she would keep her eyes closed for as long as possible. The more sleep Eirwen had, the better mood she would be in. Right?

Soon the party had stopped, and after setting up the pavilion for her mistress she had been ordered to cook some food. Crouching over the small fire, Tamia worked on grilling a variety of rich vegetables, meat, and some mushrooms to create a well varied meal, allowing her nose as a scale to measure the amount of spices and butter necessary.

Looking back at her mistress the slave gulped as she finished her preparations. Megstamia knew the platter could have had better presentation, but her owner appeared to be hungry and the proper equipment of a standard kitchen wasn't brought along with the caravan. The servant had worked in the kitchens since she was a small kitten, so unless she had made a mistake or the cargo was rotten the meal would be both tasty and nutritious. Still, the slave was scared of being punished for a mistake.

After pouring what she had just cooked from the blackened pot into a bowl, she found the appropriate silverware and a slice of bread before kneeling next to her mistress and offering it.

"Mistress, this slave hopes that meal is to your satisfaction." Her wheat colored ears were only halfway up, a little terrified that she would be thrown to the beasts if her cooking had failed, but at the same time confident that she had done well.

Katherine found a rock somewhere and sat. Not too close to everyone, but not all too far away either. It wasn't that she was an anti-social woman. She loved to talk. She just thought that no one else would be interested in a conversation about the dead and the multiple uses for porcelain in dolls or how the small differences in cloth used in doll's clothes made it easier to manipulate them. No. For now she ordered a good number of dolls, the ones connected to her rings, to patrol the area with the soldiers. Extra eyes were great, especially for areas like this. . . Dangerous, with little knowledge of what was lurking. The Puppeteer cared for her life too much to leave her guard down at this time. The other ten not connected were on orders to help out around camp. Carry small things, help those cooking et cetera.

On that thought, Katherine had ordered Thirteen to follow around the Lucca girl. She seemed either interested in, or disturbed by the doll. . . So the woman thought it would be interesting if she were to be followed by the doll. In fact, the woman was almost giggling maniacally as she set the girl's horse as she rode away embarrased earlier.

Otherwise, she sat there and waited. Waited to see if anyone were to talk to her. There were plenty of people with the "adventurer" types and the actual soldiers. She could care less, they were all beneath her. . . Still, even insects had interesting things to talk about every now and then.

Eirwen waited patiently for Tamia to finish the food preparations. She had Their little campsite was situated a bit out of the ways for the others. She didn't want to be bothered with the loud noises of the others, plus she didn't want any of them bothering Tamia while she made their dinner. She wanted to make sure her pet wasn't distracted. This was her first time eating anything this slave had fixed, after all, so she had no idea how competent she was at all.

While she waited, she noticed a few dolls moving about the camp. Property of that Katherine woman. Hmph...she had half a mind to go to the woman and make her beg for forgiveness or she'd turn her into a frozen garden ornament. That said, that'd be rather troublesome and tiring. So instead, she opted for freezing the feet of a doll to the ground. It provided some small entertainment, though she wanted Tamia to hurry up and finish with the food.

Thankfully, the slave finished rather quickly after that. She was hungrier than usual, so she was glad Tamia finished in a timely fashion. She accepted the bowl of food without any indication as to what she actually thought, with her usual impassive glance and took a bite.

...and she was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious, though the only indication was a slight change in her expression. She at Tamia who was kneeling before her.

"It is...good." She replied to Tamia before eagerly eating it. In fact, she almost wanted to order Tamia to make more, but using all of the supplies on the first night would likely...be bad in the long run, and she didn't have a desire to cause further trouble with the others, aside from Katherine. She needed something else to distract her from this, then.

She looked at Tamia.

"I demand entertainment." She commanded. Hmm...there was no instruments, and she didn't have any books, so the only entertainment she could possibly demand of Tamia was simple. "Dance." There wasn't any music to go with said dancing, but it didn't matter. Just something to distract her would be welcome.

~Amelia Xylander~

Making camp was easy enough for Okori and Amelia. They had made theirs close to another for multiple reasons. For one, it wasn't really a good idea to camp away from the others. Who knows what was in that forest? As much as scientific curiosity called for it, she wasn't going to blindly rush in there without a word or warning...at least, at night. In the daytime? 100% acceptable to run into some unknown place that was probably crawling with things that could kill her without even blinking.

Currently, the geologist was sitting around a campfire taking some notes. Mostly about the geology of the area, though a few were her general thoughts about this entire trip itself. Most of which, was her excited scribbles about the types of rocks she hoped to find and would be able to bring back. Typical Amelia stuff, really.

She hoped Okori wasn't causing trouble, though. She might want to check in with the fox just to make sure. Stuffing her face with one last carrot, she looked up from her notes and looked around for the fox.

"Sable!~" she spoke somewhat loudly. The fox would probably hear her even if she didn't have to speak too loudly.

The wind whipped a chill into the girl as it picked up her hair and attempted to carry off with it with limited success. Her hand shot to her head to smooth down the wandering locks. Of course, the wind wasn’t the only culprit behind the chill. The sun had already begun to hide behind the tree line, and Lucca quite missed its warm kiss. Night would be upon them soon. And with night…

Lucca turned her gaze towards the towering woods off in the distance. They hadn’t gone right up to the edge of the forest..but they were close enough for Lucca to feel uncomfortable. She had never seen the mighty green sea before.

It was overwhelming.

Even from such a distance, Lucca could see that the trees were massive, each seemingly more gargantuan than the last. And there were so many of them. Once they entered, they would likely not see the sun…

Lucca gulped.

She wasn’t too fond of dark places.

“‘Fear not the unseen nor the unknown, for The Lady sees all and The Lady knows all. And within her sight, no malice shall harm the righteous. The Lady’s Grace is eternal.’” a deep voice boomed nearby. Lucca startled, quickly turning to face Roland. He carried in his arms a bundle of wood. For the campfire, then. She shifted from the wood to his face, but was caught off guard. He seemed to be waiting for…

Oh!

“‘Eternal is the Lady’s Grace.’” she answered after a moment of hesitation. The elder Saint nodded towards her before approaching the tent. He gazed upon it and frowned.

“That’s...rather pitiful.” he spoke. Lucca’s face reddened as she turned her head and crossed her arms. She stole only the briefest of glances towards the tent she had so painstakingly worked on. It...really was pitiful. It was certainly not centered. One side hung higher than the other. The rope seemed ready to give at any moment, with knots holding tightly everywhere except where they needed to be. It was much too high, altogether. It would, at best, cover Roland’s torso and head.

“A-aye…” she reluctantly agreed. Roland looked from the tent to the girl then back.
And he laughed.

Lucca gazed at him, confused, but held her tongue. The elder Saint could be a bit...eccentric at times. Still, he was kind. The Master would have Punished her for such shoddy work but Roland...Roland laughed.

Go figure.

The scent of something...quite frankly delicious smelling caught Lucca’s attention. She followed her nose to see that it was coming from a camp not too terribly far away. The noblewoman and the slave, it seemed. Aye, she would be dining on something savory…

…!

Lucca tilted her head. She could have sworn that she had just seen something but...nothing was there. Odd...she had felt like she was being watched ever since her encounter with the Puppet Mage. Hmm...perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her. Although...ever since the treeline came into sight, the feeling had increased. If she wasn’t being watched before, she certainly was now. By what, she couldn’t say. According to Roland, all sorts of beasts called the forest their home…

The sound of timber hitting the ground gave the young Saint yet another start. She turned back to Roland, now fully out of her thoughts.

“You’re distracted. Come, build the fire and prepare for lessons.” Roland barked.

Lucca nodded, immediately moving to the wood which she had then arranged in layers. She gather some nearby stone to contain the fire and went about building the firepit. Once preparations were complete, Lucca stood in front of the pit and gave a quick glance around her surroundings. No one was too dreadfully close, and Roland was a safe distance away.

With that, Lucca closed her eyes and tilted her head. She breathlessly recited a prayer, ending with her tightening one hand around the hilt at her side. Her fingers dug into her hands, her knuckles whitened, and at once, the girl drew her weapon.

The steel shone bright, despite the absence of the sun. It seemingly sung as it cut through the air. As the girl held the blade out to her side, the air around the blade twisted, first warping, then igniting as glorious golden flames erupted around it. She brought the blade back down, relaxing her arm. She took care not to look at the flames dancing upon her sword. The Lady Serafina’s blessing, while righteous and pure, was damnation for the eyes.

She started to light the wood, Roland raised a hand.

You won’t be needing that sword for today’s lesson. Leave it in the flames.” he instructed. Lucca obediently complied, plunging the sword deep into first the wood, then the ground. Within moments, a beautiful blaze was burning. And with that out of the way, she hurried over to her mentor.

Roland gazed upon the rest of the caravan before turning back to the scrawny girl. He had noticed more than one soldier gazing with worry upon the young lass. He wasn’t surprised. She didn’t quite look the part of Holy Warrior. Not yet, at least. It was up to him to fix it.

“Catch.” he ordered, right before tossing to the girl one of other things he had raided from the caravan’s supplies. Old, blunted training blades. One for each of them.

Lucca had to stumble forward, but she did manage to catch the sword. She played with it in her hands for a moment, getting a feel for the weight of the weapon. She glanced over at Roland, who had been doing the same.

“And this.” he added, tossing a folded up piece of fabric in her direction. Another catch for Lucca - a personal best. “Put it on. Over the eyes.” he explained. Lucca nodded before unfolding the fabric. She studied it for a moment, then folded it another way and wrapped it around her head, covering her eyes.

“Sir...this one cannot see. How will this one fight?” Lucca asked, genuinely confused.

Roland smiled.

“A good question. Best get to figuring that one out then, I reckon.” he answered. And with that, Lucca heard only the sound of heavy footsteps coming fast in her direction. She pulled her sword up to defend against what she was expecting to be a hard vertical slash. A skullsplitter of sorts. Yet no crushing pain of steel on skull nor delightful song of steel upon steel played out. Instead, Lucca felt something pulling on her for just a moment, and the next thing she knew, she was falling.

Down.

Straight down.

Into the darkness.

Hitting the ground knocked some air out of her. The rest came out when something slammed very hard against her stomach.

“Death. Walk with The Lady.” she heard Roland call out. It sounded as if he were backing off. Lucca took a moment to gather herself then, following a deep breath, found her way back to her feet.

This was going to hurt.

Still, the girl readied herself, dropped into her stance, and waited.

And listened.

For the sound of Roland’s steps.

…

…

To her left!

Lucca swung wildly. The blade made contact, but it wasn’t clean. It deflected Roland’s attack, but left her off-balance. Almost immediately, Lucca heard the older Saint take another step and soon enough, something hard crashed into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her yet again. Lucca fell to her knees, then felt the cold steel touch her neck. Just a light tap, but the message was clear.

“Death. Walk with The Lady.” he called once more. Lucca panted, sucked in more air through grinding teeth, then found her feet once more.

“Give in to The Lady, Lucca. Trust in her and she will guide your blade true.” he called to her. Lucca could tell that he was now circling to her right. She took a deep breath. She really didn’t want to get hit again. What did he mean?

…

Heavy footsteps came crashing towards her. Lucca shot back, careful not to lose her footing. She pushed with her blade outwards. By some miracle, she had managed to catch his sword and push away the attack. She had also put some distance between herself and the former Captain of the Royal Guard.

Trust in The Lady?

Give in to Her?

…

What did he mean?

More footsteps. Lucca took the initiative and stepped forward, swinging wildly, catching nothing but air. She felt something brush past her, then a quick strike hit against her back before the blunted blade was pressed against her neck again.

“Death. Walk with the Lady.” he muttered again. Lucca muttered something herself, then took a couple steps forward before turning towards him and raising her sword once more.

Trust in The Lady.
Give in to Her.

_{”~Beckon the beasts~”}

...alright…

Lucca muttered a prayer and tightened her grip. All she had to do was believe...right? Trust in The Lady Serafina...right?

…

…

Footsteps again. Loud. Frantic.

A loud crackling sound erupted from the direction of the Saints’ campsite. Then another. And another. Afterwards, what sounded like a trio of caws rang out. And shortly after that, three large, golden crows took off into different directions, ripping through the camp and shooting into the sky. They cawed once more, before soaring to the one who beckoned them.

Lucca could hear the sound of Roland’s blade coming down towards her. She brought her own up, hoping to stop it. CLANK! Success! But he was relentless. He threw another strike, and yet again she threw up a block. It was only by the grace of The Lady that she was throwing the right angles.

The cries of the crows from above startled Lucca, and seemingly caught Roland off guard as well. She could hear his retreating steps...but she had to remain cautious. But more importantly…

She had to believe…

She had to trust…

She had to give in…

…

…

Lucca calmed herself, taking deep breaths. She centered herself, abolishing unwanted, distracted thoughts. And once she was empty, she reached out…

…

…

Please…

…

Soon images came flooding into her mind. She struggled with comprehending everything at first, but when she stopped trying to understand it, and simply accepted it, the images grew clear.

She was watching herself from above. She saw her scrawny body, breathing heavily, sword in hand. She also saw Roland, quietly circling around her, studying her...he was a mighty lion stalking the injured gazelle...he knew the kill was in his reach. Now? Now he was just playing with his prey…

He stopped when he was directly behind her…

He quietly approached her, raising his sword…

And Lucca quickly spun around, dropping to a knee and whipping her sword forward.

It bounced off the man’s gauntlet, causing a terrible clang. More importantly, she had struck the sword on the hilt and Roland, who was taken aback, not expecting such a dramatic turnaround, dropped his weapon. Before he could process everything, Lucca had gotten back to her feet, and placed her blade against his neck.

“Death. Walk with The Lady.” she stated calmly.

...Roland was stunned. Lucca was a bright child, aye, but he hadn’t expected her to figure out his lesson that quickly. That was remarkably fast.

...too fast...

Roland laughed. Deep. Loud. Proud.

Maybe he had a damned genius in his midst?

The cat girl waited anxiously as her mistress took an expressionless bite of the meal, concerned that her owner was not satisfied. Even after a few seconds, no comment was made. What would happen if it wasn't good enough? Would she simply be ordered to try again? Beaten? Humil-

"It is...good." A wave of relief ran over the slave as the meal was quickly devoured, Tamia's ears perking up and tail wagging back and forth lazily. In the distance her sensitive ears heard the conversations of others, and the servant tried to keep a general track of what was going on mostly out of personal curiousity. As time passed silently the slave started to question if her mistress would want to have seconds or if it was time to start cleaning ...

"I demand entertainment. Dance."

Mistresses next command surprised Tamia, the cat girl looking up into the eyes of her owner as if to seek confirmation. Years of being a personal attendant had taught Tamia various visually appealing ways to move her body, although those without music were primarily sexual. A slight blush ran across Tamia's face as she thought about the past, although her brain soon found itself occupied with what to do. That type of dance probably wasn't what Eirwen was looking for ... did she swing that way ... maybe it was? For now though, Tamia opted to play it safe.

Standing up, the servant observed the small area cleared for their campground. Aside from a few small stones lying on the ground, the area was clear from most obstacles. Finding a favorable position, the performer offered a submissive curtsy towards Miss Soyala before closing her eyes for a few seconds in mental preparation.

She started with three backwards somersaults, small hands catching stones as she landed and tossing them into the air as she rotated over. As she recovered her feet from the third flip, she caught the first pair and tossed them once more into the air, and soon she was juggling these six stones.

Her feet started dancing independently of the work in her hands, gliding across the ground to the tempo of the stones. The servant circled the small clearing with her movements before returning to her starting location, where she focused on the rocks for a few seconds.

Tamia juggled them in such a way as to form a large loop, left hand passing the rock into the right one before being launched into the air. After a few seconds, the cat girl jumped through the loop she had formed, turning around in the process so as to face away from her mistress. Frontflip, backflip, using her tail to prevent them from landing on the ground where timing would not allow her hands to catch them ...

After a few minutes her lungs started to burn, the continuous motion gradually draining Tamia's endurance. The slave hadn't been allowed to eat yet, and she could feel it. The cat girl contemplated waiting until her mistress instructed her to stop, but injuries from dancing were common and she decided that in the long term Miss Eirwen would be more upset that she allowed harm to come to her property.

The dance was finished with a final backflip and the catching of three stones in each hand, the performer offering a bow to her audience. The slave's skin was flushed from the exertion, her stomach requested both food and water, her brow dripped with sweat, her lungs worked in overtime as air rushed in and out of her mouth, and she was nervous about the opinion of her owner. Despite those minor discomforts however, a smile ran across Tamia's face. While generally she despised hard labor, the slave was perfectly content to provide this sort service to others.