“You'll always be my big girl though. Besides at least your speed improved while you were asleep.”

    To this Maria gave a slight nod. “Well yeah and I'm grateful for that now. I sure didn't like it when I first woke up. The first thing I did was plow into the cave wall.”

    Both Maria and Flora's attention was drawn to Mira who was made to snicker. “Sorry it's just I'm remembering her trying to stop and slipping on the loose gravel.”

    In response Maria glanced back at her sister. “Laugh it up and just wait until you slip up. I'm not going to hold back on teasing you.”

    “Okay just don't hope too much. After all my body won't be changing much for a while now.”

    “You'll eventually have your body altered enough that you'll make a mistake. Perhaps you'll be the reason we have to get a bigger door next time.”

    A sigh escaped Flora as she reached up and placed a hand against her forehead. “My that was embarrassing. I don't know if I approve of you two keeping track of one another's more embarrassing moments though.”

    In response Maria gave her hand a slight dismissive wave. “Don't worry about it mother it's all in good spirit. I just hate that right now I have so little ammo.”

***********************************************************************************

    “How is it going in there? Did I pick the right size?”

    “Yeah, it's just this is a little awkward.” As he responded Joseph was buttoning the pants Maria had brought for him. He'd been quite surprised whenever she'd shown up with a fresh change of clothing and insisted that he put them on. He'd thought his traveling clothes was alright but apparently she didn't think they were. As he had placed the clothing on he'd noted the difference in the materials. What she'd brought him was clearly a good bit tougher then what he'd been wearing though it wore loosely on his frame. It also didn't trap heat nearly as well.

    Maria had a wide grin on her face as Joseph exited his work shop and closed the door. Joseph was of moderate height at roughly one and three fourth meters tall making him appear positively tiny compared to her sisters. His hair was deep black and had grown out a bit since his arrival. Maria was made to chuckle as she noticed how the very end of his hair began to curl she imagined it was quite curly whenever allowed to grow out. His eyes were a rather soft brown while his complexion was that of one who'd adopted the alchemist life style and didn't see the sun that much.

    “Um Maria what are you looking at?”

    Instead of responding right away Maria reached out and took hold of a few strands of Joseph's hair. “You need a hair cut.”

    “Huh? OH yeah. I suppose I do I just.”

    “We'll take care of that whenever we get back.”

    In response Joseph gave a slight nod. “So um you do hair cuts?”

    “Well yeah. Our fur in general stops growing at a certain length depending on where it is on our body. That holds true except for the fur or hair on our head. It actually doesn't stop growing. I like to keep mine cut short as you can tell but some of my sisters like to let it grow out.”

    “Why keep it cut short?”

    “It's annoying whenever it gets caught in some branches or I come home and have to pick a bunch of leaves and twigs out of my hair.”

    “I imagine that would be bothersome. So where do you want to go today? I really don't know the area and I don't want to risk going where I'm not welcome.”

    Before speaking Maria raised a hand and pointed behind herself. “Just pick any direction other then back that way and you'll be fine. I'm here with you so I don't expect any trouble.”

    “Alright, Maria if I see any plants on our way that I could use in the workshop would it be alright if I retrieved it?”

    “It depends on the plant. I'll have to take it by storage and make sure you're not asking for something incredibly rare. It isn't likely you'll find any such plants around here though so I imagine you'll get to keep whatever you pick.”

    “You seem to have given me a good stockpile of rare plants.”

    “Those aren't rare to us.”

    “Ah I see. Well then, this way it is then. Why did you giggle just now?”

    “Oh no reason.”

    “Please tell me.”

    “Well sense you said please. That path isn't as easy as you might think. You'll get quite a work out if you go that route though I don't know if you'll get very far.”

    For a moment Joseph was tempted to change paths but after a moment gave a shrug. “I believe I'll stick with it anyway. You said I was in terrible shape for traveling in the forest and I need to start somewhere.”

    “It's your choice.”

***********************************************************************************

    As Joseph leaned against the tree his legs felt like they were made of rubber, sweat was pouring off of him and he found himself gasping for air. It took a considerable amount of effort to look further up the rocky path. He wasn't surprised to find Maria grinning from ear to ear as she waited for him. As he struggled to regain his breath though he was actually surprised by something. He found himself actually looking at Maria and much to his surprise noting how pretty she was.

    From head to toe Maria was covered by a thin layer of fur. The fur on her stomach, crotch and inner thigh was pure white and he imagined as was her bottom. Outside of that region she was a mixture of yellow and black stripes not unlike a tiger while the very tips of her ears were white as was her fingers from the knuckle up and tail tip.

    Her body was somewhat small despite the extra height she had put on something that he would have to ask her about but as he looked at it he realized something. Maria's body wasn't the body of a child. Even at her current size each breast had roughly the same whiff of two fist put together palm facing while her hips flared out nicely from her waste. It was hard to make out but whenever she would move or bend at the stomach he could also clearly make out her abdominal muscles. The same went for her biceps whenever she'd pull her arms in.

    Her eyes weren't shaped like any beast he'd ever seen and they clearly weren't human. Rather they seemed a cross between a human and a cat. They were a far brighter sapphire blue then he'd ever seen any human have.

    “So Joseph having any regrets that you chose this path?”

    It actually surprised Joseph when Maria spoke to him and he had to give his head a quick shake to bring himself back to reality. “Huh? Oh! Well I'd be lying if I said that I didn't. You weren't kidding when you said this path was difficult.”

    “Well relatively difficult.”

    “Yeah you seem to be doing just fine. I still notice this path is somewhat worn as if it's traveled often. So I'm guessing your people must use it for something.”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Yep now if you could only guess what that something was.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Joseph as he quit leaning on the tree and began to make his way up towards Maria. “Maria I've been here for a while and it doesn't seem like I've really talked to you. I've asked you a lot of questions but do you think we could just talk.”

    “Sure! What would you like to talk about though? I'm afraid I'm not well versed in human affairs.”

    “Hm well let me think. You know a few nights back I heard some drums playing. What kind of music does your people tend to listen to?”

    “That kind of varies.”

    “Okay what music do you like?”

    “I love wind instruments especially the flute. I tried to learn to play one myself but I never really had the patience for it even now. Fortunately a few of the brothers know how to play and are often willing to do so. It's just such a relaxing sound. At times I like to play it in my head while hunting.”

    “Hunting? That's not exactly the type of activity I picture a flute accompanying.”

    “Oh but the way the music flows.” As she spoke Maria shifted her position placing her hands and feet on the ground. Her legs were pulled up close to her body and her toes pressed firmly into the stone she was on as if she's getting ready to pounce. “It's so much like the stock. Moving silently towards your prey, circling them, finding out their weak points the whole time they're relaxed having no idea that you're there.”

    “Oh so you prefer the stock more then the pounce?”

    “They both have wonderful appeal. The stock just last so much longer.” As she was speaking Maria moved towards Joseph being careful not to make a single sound. She was made to chuckle when he took a few steps back clearly weary of her intent.

    “The stock is when you examine your target, decide if they're fit prey or perhaps even too strong. The energy slowly building and waiting for the release of the drums.”

    “Tha.” Joseph didn't get to finish as Maria became a blur to his eyes. Before he could find her again he felt something brush against his face and could hear some chuckling. That was only what he noticed first. As he went to move forward he found that he couldn't and then felt something brushing against his throat. He realized that it was Maria's fingers second later. She'd been nice enough not to extend her claws.

    “Your heart makes very good drums. You should hear how it's going now.”

    “Maria you're frightening me right now.”

    “Mm I'm not going to hurt you just teasing you a bit. Relax.”

    Why wasn't she letting go of him? Joseph didn't have an answer for this though he knew it would help him relax. Instead of asking her to release him though he took in a deep breath and tried to do as he was told. Much to his surprise he found himself calming down though Maria's finger continued to travel across his throat as he was trying to do so.

    “So what kind of music do you like?”

    “I believe my favorite instrument would be the violin.” 

    At last Maria released her hold on Joseph and took a few steps out in front of him. “Hm you know I've never heard one of those. Heck this is the first time I've even heard the word so of course I haven't heard one. What are they?”

    As Maria stood in front of him Joseph didn't know what came over him. He felt his arms twitch as did his entire body and before he knew what was happening he'd reached out to take hold of her. Much to his surprise his arms slipped under hers and before he knew what was going on he found himself trying to lift Maria off the ground. Much to his surprise he found that he couldn't despite her smaller size.

    “Heavier then I look aren't I?!” A delighted giggle escaped Maria as she looked back at Joseph and stuck her tongue out at him.

    “Blast it but that doesn't mean I can't pay you back.” Once again Joseph began to move. One hand began to move over her stomach his fingers moving frantically searching for a ticklish spot while the other was removed and went for her ears.

    A slight gasp escaped Maria as she quickly pressed off the ground the moment she had some room to jump. It was easy to remove herself from Joseph arms as she leaped into the air and over him. As she landed behind she locked her arms behind her back. “You're going to have to be faster then that!”

    Instead of respond verbally Joseph quickly spun around and once again tried to take hold of Maria. Unfortunately he only grasped air this time as she dodged to the side. He got another surprise though whenever something soft smacked him in the face just lightly. The impact wasn't much but it was a distraction and it left his nose feeling funny.

    Maria was made to grin from ear to ear as she gave Joseph a quick smack with her tail. He'd actually surprised her whenever he'd tried to pick her up so she'd allowed him to catch hold of her. Now she found herself playing with him in much the same way she'd play with one of her brothers. She'd instinctively restricted the use of her arms so that her only offensive weapon was her tail while her legs were used to evade.

    It was nearly preposterous how fast Maria could move. While the first time she'd evaded him she had really been moving now she was just side stepping. At times she didn't even do that. Several times she'd just waited for the last second to duck under his arms and raise herself up so that she'd be standing next to them. On top of that each time she dodged Joseph received another quick smack from her tail.

    “You know this is usually a group effort.”

    “Huh?”

    Maria gave a slight chuckle at the puzzled look on Joseph's face. “So where is this coming from? I thought you were scared of me.”

    “I think it's time I moved past that.” As Joseph spoke he moved forward and once again tried to grasp Maria. He got a surprise though whenever he received a ear full of tail tip. The soft fur and rapid movement insured that he had to take a moment to itch his ear.

    “I'm glad to hear that.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he finally stopped moving and took in a few breathes. “You're just too fast.”

    “Ah you're done already?”

    “The violin is a string instrument. I can't really tell you what the sound is like though without knowing what you've heard before.”

    “Can you play it by any chance?”

    “No I never learned.” As he finished speaking Joseph quickly spun around and attempted to take hold of Maria again. This time he was surprised to find she'd already moved and he received a quick smack on the top of his head from her tail.

    “And you like it? Maybe one day I'll be able to hear someone play one then.”

    “Yeah maybe.”

    “Joseph I hope you don't mind me asking but I'd like to know. What were you working on that caused you to run from your employer?”

    At first Joseph said nothing then a sigh escaped him. “I complain about you all not trusting me but how much trust have I shown you? Okay then I'll tell you. Currently the Gale king and the Bock kingdom are involved in a war. I was one of the alchemist in service of the Gale kingdom and I had developed a plant I believed would help win the war.”

    “Was it some form of poison?”

    “No. You see one of the major factors in war isn't just having more troops it's sustaining those troops. So it's wise to provide them with plenty of supplies and even things like healing potions. The plant I'd develop would have done that. You see it's fruit was a natural healing potion as effective as just any type you'd find on the market.”

    “Oh wow! Are you serious?”

    “Yeah but there was draw backs.”

    While Maria had meant for this to be a casual conversation she couldn't hide her excitement now. Joseph probably didn't realize it but he'd hit on a nerve. “What kind?! Was it poisonous if you ate too much? Did the fruit lose its strength over time? Did it cause negative mental effects? Tell me!”

    “Um Maria you're hurting me.”

    In response to Joseph's comment Maria's heart skipped a beat. As she looked down towards her hands she was shocked to find that she'd taken hold of Joseph and lifted him off the ground. Even more to her surprise her claws had extended and she could see that he was bleeding. “Oh no.”

    Joseph gave a slight sigh of relief whenever he felt Maria retract her claws. Before he could comment though he felt himself suddenly lain across her shoulder. One of her arms wrapped around his legs while the other held his waste. Then he found himself suddenly accelerating back towards the village. “Maria what's going on?”

    “I'm taking you back to the village now I need to get those wounds treated! Joseph I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hold you that tightly.”

    “What? It isn't.”

    “Quiet! Just hang on and we'll get those wounds closed up.”

***********************************************************************************

    “Are you okay now?”

    In response Joseph gave a nod as he took the cup from Flora and drank a few sips. “Yeah I'm alright. I didn't realize that Maria had injured me that badly.”

    “She didn't mean to.”

    “I know. I know she didn't I realized that the moment she started carrying me back here. I didn't realize that her claws had cut that deep into me actually.”

    “Joseph I hope you don't mind me asking but, what were you and Maria talking about? She doesn't normally get that excited.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he looked up at Flora. “We were just talking about my past research.”

    “It must have been some research to get that kind of reaction.”

    “Well I was proud of it but I never thought anyone would respond to it that strongly.” A sigh escaped Joseph as he reached up and placed a hand where Maria's claws had cut through him on his right side. “Those claws can do some real damage.”

    “That's what they're meant to do. Joseph would you mind telling me exactly what this project of yours was?”

    “Promise not to do me like Maria? Her claws cut pretty deep yours might be fatal.”

    “You have my word.”

    “Before I left my former employer I was developing a special kind of plant. The fruit it produced had the same properties as a standard healing potions and in some cases better. However, there was some unforeseen side affects.”

    As Flora listened to this her eyes were made to widen and she felt them dilating to let in more light. Her heart rate began to speed up and she felt her muscles tensing as her excitement began to rapidly build. Instantly it became clear to her why Maria had gotten so excited. “I. I see. Just what were these harmful side affects you mentioned?”

    “It's the plant itself. I didn't realize it when I only had one in the lab but after I had grown a few I found out there was a problem. They allow energy from some of the mystic plains to bleed into the world. If there's just one or only a few it isn't that dangerous but if they were grown in numbers that would be needed to oh say feed an army. Well the effects could be disastrous.”

    “Do you mean if grown using regular methods? What if they were spread out like around a forest?”

    “I'd be afraid to do that. I don't know what would happen with the plant in the long term after all. There could be unforeseen side affects and if they're not monitored they could spread without anyone realizing it. The king didn't want to hear that of course and insisted I produce enough to feed an army. Even if it wasn't for the energy they let loose into the world I couldn't produce that many without finishing my testing.”

    “Joseph. I need to step out for a moment.” Instead of waiting for a response Flora stood up and made her way to the door. Part of her wanted to take hold of Joseph and find out just how this plant had been produced. However, she'd promised that she'd keep control of herself.

    As Joseph watched Flora leaving he didn't know what was going on. The way she moved was extremely tense as if her body didn't want to leave the room. On top of that as she moved away he could have sworn he heard a slight growl coming from her.

***********************************************************************************

    What was going on here? Joseph had been surprised by Maria's response to telling her about his work but Flora had nearly floored him. A sigh escaped him as he grasped the side of the hammock he'd been sleeping in. Just when he'd began to get use to sleeping in one something happened that wouldn't let him wrest easy. His curiosity had been peaked and he wanted to know what was going on. Realizing that sleep wouldn't be coming soon he finally rolled to his side and stood up.

    As he stood up though Joseph didn't know what he was going to do. It was too dark to go for a walk and he didn't know what came out in the forest during the night. He didn't want to wonder around Flora's home either at least not with them all asleep. Fortunately a solution to the problem revealed itself.

    “Are you having trouble sleeping?”

    Instantly Joseph recognized Maria's voice though he couldn't see her in the darkness. “Yeah, I've been wondering about something ever since our walk.” Joseph was a bit surprised whenever he felt something brush against his hand before taking hold of it.

    “This might be telling you a bit much but with what you told us I believe it might be worth the risk. Joseph do you remember how small I was whenever we first met? I know I'm still small now but even you noticed my growth.”

    “Yes, you said that you couldn't tell me more about that.”

    “I'm sure that you've noticed how strictly we must follow our diets. This actually serves a very important reason. You see the size of our bodies is affected by how much we eat and how often we eat.”

    “You mean you get larger the more you eat?”

    In response Maria gave a slight nod. “It isn't just that. I guess I'll tell you everything I can right now. Listen carefully and don't interrupt. We do mature and develop like you humans do but that doesn't decide how much we grow. Rather the amount of energy we take in regularly decides how large we grow and it's constantly affecting us. If I were to start eating twice as much as I am now and eat it regularly you would notice a significant increase in my scale.

    That isn't to say we eat one big meal though and put on several centimeters. It must be sustained over several weeks or months to have a noticeable affect. This of course creates a problem. If we were to just eat until we felt content again and again then our bodies would keep growing so it would take more and more food to make us feel content. Before too long we'd be so large that we'd strip the forest of all its natural resources and well that wouldn't be good.

    So we're forced to ration what we eat. The size we're allowed to obtain depends on several factors. Our current resources, if we're considered stable enough to handle such a body and a few other things I won't go into. As you can tell I'm only allowed to eat so much so that I remain relatively small by the standards of my sisters.”

    “Why are?” Before Joseph could continue he felt Maria's hand cover his face.

    “Didn't I tell you not to interrupt? I'll tell you but just listen from here on out until I tell you to speak again. I went overboard suffice to say. I let my hunger overcome me and was constantly snacking. I soon grew well beyond most of my other sisters and had to be confronted. I'm just glad I went along peacefully. You see there is a way for us to return to a smaller scale but it's not exactly pleasant. It takes a long time and well I can't tell you about that now.

    What I can tell you is this. The amount we allow ourselves to eat isn't enough. At most we can only sate our hunger and from time to time on very special occasions eat until we're content. No sating isn't the right word for it. Even those times we can sate our hunger are rare. Think of when you eat with us and think about how much you've seen my mother and sister eating. Do you really believe that's enough to suppress their hunger?”

    “I never thought of it but no. Now that I think about it. None of you seemed to eat all that much.”

    “Just sating our hunger can be enough to make our bodies grow just very slowly. Those years we can allow ourselves to sate our hunger are thus years of plenty during which we believe we can all afford to put on some extra mass. The other years though. It hurts.”

    “What does this have to do with my research though?”

    “Joseph how much nourishment do you believe a plant like you described could provide? It could relieve so much of this hunger that when I heard about it. It was hard to contain myself. Of course now that I've calmed down and have had time to think I've come to a few realizations. You didn't even tell me how much nourishment the plant needs to thrive.”

    For a moment Joseph said nothing as he bit down on his lower lip. The words wouldn't stay in though. “It requires no more nourishment then an apple tree of the same scale.” As Joseph responded he wasn't very surprised whenever he felt Maria's claws pushing into his skin though he was relieved when it didn't break it. She was controlling herself.

    “I. I wish I hadn't asked you about your research before you came here.” As she spoke Maria began to remove her hand from Joseph's. The whole time she was pulling her hand away though she wanted to take hold of his throat. To make him tell her how the plant had been made and how it can be made again.

    “At least I know why now.”

    “Joseph do you think you could share this plant with us? It would mean so much to my people.”

    “Maria, I can't. I can understand why you'd want to know how to produce the plant but now that I know something about your bodies. I just can't hand over that information. It's powerful enough as is in the hands of a species like yours I can only imagine what you could do. It isn't just that though.”

    “I. I see. Trust is very important when it comes to such matters. Even my people understands the importance of trust and how precious it is. What if I agreed to see you safely out of the forest in exchange for the knowledge?”

    “No. It isn't just trust though Maria. I was surprised whenever I found out the plant let mystic energy bleed into this world. What other surprises might it have in store? I need more time to study it and find out its properties.”

    “I understand. Anyway, now you know a bit more about my people.”

    “Yes. I now know why your people guard this forest so closely.”

    “I guess that means we both have a better understanding of one another. I'll see you in the morning.”

    As Joseph felt Maria release his hand completely he felt her tail brush against him seconds later. His eyes had adjusted to the dark but he still couldn't see her as she made her way out of the room.

***********************************************************************************

    It was hard for Joseph to eat as he watched Maria, Mira and Flora eating their breakfast. Apparently Flora hadn't been at home the previous night at all. She had killed a tusker and prepared it for breakfast while they'd been sleeping. Yet as massive as a tusker looked to him when he compared it to Flora and Mira it looked to be less then a piglet. They weren't even going to eat all of it though. He hadn't noticed it at first but the portion these ladies allowed themselves was indeed tiny.

    As Maria chewed her food she took her time to enjoy it as much as she could. Already half of her breakfast was gone. “Mom I'll bring home lunch today if that's alright.”

    “That would be fine Maria but is there any particular reason?”

    “Yep! I noticed some mushrooms earlier that I want to use in a stew.”

    “That would be wonderful but what type where they?”

    “Just some ah whoops.” A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she waved her right hand in the air. “Never mind.”

    In response Joseph glanced at Maria. “What is wrong?”

    “They're highly toxic to humans. It's been a while since I've cooked for anyone that was so vulnerable to toxins and I tend to forget such things. Hey I know! How about I go and catch us some blue scales instead?”

    In response Flora gave a nod. “That would be delicious. However, I'm going to go and kill something myself just in case.”

    To this Maria gave a quick nod. “They can be rather hard to catch.”

    “Um Maria if you don't mind. Could I come along?” Joseph actually found himself grinning as he looked at Maria. “I have no idea what type of fish you're talking about so I'd like to see them. I'm also curious as to why you'd have trouble catching any.”

    First giving her head a quick nod Maria took a moment to eat a bit more of her breakfast. “Well the problem is finding the blue scales. They're quite rare so it takes a fair bit of effort to find enough to make a decent meal. They're about this big to.” As she spoke Maria held up her hand and placed a finger just below her wrist. “About the size of my hand.”

    “Wouldn't you only need three or four then?”

    “Yep and that's the problem. Like I said they're rare. Mm this isn't exactly the time of year to go hunting them either.”

    “Why are they so rare?”

    “Ah well maybe rare isn't the right word. You see they blend into the water extremely well thus the reason we call them blue scales. It isn't just difficult to see them though it's also horribly hard to smell them. They don't have much of a scent. They have such a wonderful flavor though it's well worth it!” As she finished speaking Maria's tongue flicked out and ran along her lips.

    Now Mira chose to speak up. “I just hope you have better luck then I did when I went hunting for them earlier.”

    “Yeah, I'll do my best to bring back enough for lunch but Joseph. I don't want to be mean but I don't believe I can bring you along and have a chance to get enough for lunch. I'm going to have to check several lakes and streams and that's going to require me to move quickly.”

    “Ah okay. Not a problem.”

    “Though if you'd like, I could carry you on my back. Remember I'm going to have to move fast though.”

    “Ah no thank you. I remember whenever your sister gave me a ride here and that you were moving even faster.”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Okay then I'll see you later. If you'd like I can come and get you if I find enough. At least that way you can see them before they're cooked.”

***********************************************************************************

    As Joseph set at his work station he found it hard to watch the reactions going on before him. What Maria had told him the previous night was still playing in his head. Her species grew larger and more powerful the more nourishment they took in however to keep from growing so large they stripped their homeland they had to keep themselves in a state of near starvation. How hard was it to go through life always being hungry?

    It wasn't unheard of. People died of starvation regularly after all. Maria wasn't in the same situation though. Her people were surrounded by food and could obtain it easily. Rather they had to force themselves not to eat. What kind of discipline did it take to ration your food like that?

    What made it nearly impossible to focus on his work though was the thought that he could help them. The amount of energy stored within the alchemical plant would allow them to eat far more frequently without outstripping their resources. At least it would for a time. However, if they let themselves go too much wouldn't they just outgrow those resources as well?

    Of course there was the chance that at large scales the hunger was less painful. He had only began to consider that recently so he had yet to ask Maria if that was the case. However, even if that was the case there was many concerns to prevent him from just handing over such knowledge.

    What affects would the growth of his plant have on the local forest? He had only recently discovered the way it allowed energy to bleed into the world after all. For all he knew it could have even more disastrous affects. Was the fruit truly safe to eat or would constant consumption result in something negative? Would it affect Maria's species the same way it affected humans?

    Then on top of all that he had to worry about the danger Maria and her people might pose. They were already a powerful species. Powerful enough to protect the forest for hundreds of years. Now he had an idea of why they had never expanded beyond the boundaries of the forest.

    Their home was a much desired expanse of land. It was fertile and brimming with natural resources. The resources that they needed to sustain themselves. If they were to venture too far from their forest they would find far less suitable land. Land that couldn't sustain them. Perhaps that was the only thing that kept them from reaching beyond the forest and claiming the entire region for themselves. It simply wasn't suitable enough. Would that change whenever they had the ability to sustain themselves even away from their forest?

    A hissing brought Joseph's mind away from these thoughts and towards the flasks he'd been warming up. Much to his dismay he found one of them had began boiling over. Almost instinctively he stood up and took hold of a pair of tongs. As he removed the flask from the flame he gave a slight sigh and glanced down at the burner to see how much had boiled over. “Well this flask is ruined.”

    Maria sighed as she busied herself slipping on her necklace, anklets and bracelets. “Blast it I almost forgot to put these on. If I had entered into the workshop while Joseph was still working I could have ruined all his work.”

    Flora smiled as she glanced back at her daughter. “I'm sure he wouldn't have been too upset. I think he'd be rather interested in finding out exactly how it happened more then anything else.”

    “Oh like that would be any better.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Flora as she moved towards her daughter and looked into the sack she was packing. “You're going through all this trouble just to show him a fish.”

    “It wouldn't be any trouble if I'd thought to bring these along with me. I'll be back in just a bit.”

    Joseph couldn't help but groan as he looked at the vials he'd been working on. He'd been so distracted that he'd lost several potions so that the day's output was only three quarters of what'd liked it to be. He didn't have time to be too distracted though as he heard the workshop door being knocked on. It was actually such a surprise that it took him a few moments to respond. “Come on in.”

    As Maria opened the door she glanced around the room. She could smell where the potion had been spilled earlier. “Did something go wrong?”

    “I have a bit of a boil over. What's in the sack?”

    “Just what I promised to show you. I managed to do quite well and dropped the others off with my mother.” As she spoke Maria held out the satchel being careful to keep it level.

    In response Joseph gave a slight nod and walked over to Maria. “You didn't have to go through all the trouble of bringing it back here.” Joseph was actually a bit surprised when he looked into the satchel for two reasons. One was that the satchel was full of water apparently Maria had decided to bring the fish back alive. The second reason was how difficult it was for him to make out the fish. “How did you catch that?”

    “Neat isn't it? Their scales aren't actually any solid shade of blue rather they adapt to the water around them. You have to look for the movement of the water as the fish swim or catch them in the shallows if you want to find them.”

    “This is quite impressive. I've never seen a fish like this.”

    “They're absolutely delicious! My mother likes to eat hers boiled in a soup but I honestly prefer mine raw.” As Maria spoke she felt her stomach growl and actually had to resist the urge to go ahead and eat the fish. It was a good thing that her mother expected her to bring it back or she would have.

    “I wouldn't mind studying one of these when I have the time. It's been fascinating to learn how their scales adapt to the color of the water like that.”

    “Well if you set up the equipment I might catch one for you later.”

    “I'm not sure if I have the time for that.”

    “Oh? You're planning on leaving us soon then or your preparations are taking that much time?”

    “No. It's not that. You've told me that I could prepare to leave if I wanted to. However, what if I wanted to continue the research I was doing under King Gale?”

    “You mean that plant you spoke of?! You'd like to continue researching and developing it here?!” As Maria spoke she could barely contain her excitement.

    Before continuing Joseph couldn't help but take a few steps away from Maria remembering what had happened last time. “Well I can't continue studying it right away first I have to make another plant to begin my studies again. You see when I left the Gale kingdom I couldn't take the plant with me so I burned it before my departure.”

    “You want to grow another one though!?”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “Yes I would like to continue studying it. While I believe the life bloom could be dangerous I also believe it could be very beneficial not just to your people though to mine as well. That said this doesn't mean I plan on allowing you all to use the plant. Maria I just don't know enough about your people.”

    As Maria listened to Joseph she couldn't help but feel somewhat saddened. She had hoped this meant Joseph would in trust them with the plant once he felt it was safe but that didn't seem to be the case. “Why would you want to begin work on it again here then?”

    “I believe that I may be able to trust your people.”

    “Really?!”

    “Please don't cut me open again.”

    This last statement actually served to calm Maria down again though she was made to chuckle. “You might teach us how to grow? I believe you called it the life bloom.”

    “Yes I might. One way or another I devoted a lot of my life to developing that plant in a way you could say that it became my life. You can probably tell that I never left my lab for very long and it was only when I had to. To be honest I hadn't really thought what I was going to do once I made it to the other side of the forest.”

    Maria's smile was back in full force now as she looked at Joseph. “You mean you're thinking about staying?”

    “I can't be certain but from the few of you I've met I believe I may.”

    “Yay!” At this news Maria couldn't help herself and nearly pounced Joseph. Instead of grasping his sides like she had done before she quickly wrapped her arms around him pinning his arms to his size as she hugged him. “I'm so glad to hear that.”

    Joseph was made to exhale sharply as Maria hugged him but fortunately it wasn't so tight to make it impossible to breath. “I am going to have to learn more about your people though.”

    “I know and that will take time but I kind of doubt you're going to be able to regrow the life bloom in a single night.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “No. If only I could but it's just not that simple to create an artificial life form. Even if it is a plant.”

***********************************************************************************

    “Um what's going on?”

    Maria grinned as she noted the stunned expression on Joseph's face. They'd planned to be getting things ready whenever he arrived to make explaining things simpler. “We're getting ready to move back into town. You can use this house as your own from here on out. Also if you'll come with us we'll show you the way to one of the village's main districts.”

    “What do you mean?”

    Instead of waiting for her sister to explain things Mira walked over to Joseph. “Joseph this isn't actually our family home. This is a halfway house of sorts where newcomers to the village live with one of the residents for a while to insure they don't get into trouble. Haven't you ever thought it was strange how you never see anyone else but us?”

    “I well. Yeah. It never occurred to me that this wasn't actually your home though. I just thought you all lived very spaced out.”

    A slight giggle escaped Mira as she shook her head. “Not quite. Didn't you wonder about those drums you've been hearing at night?”

    “Well yeah.” A sigh escaped Joseph as he put a hand on his forehead. “Just how far away is the main village?”

    “Oh a bit less then a mile.”

    Before Joseph could ask another question Maria came up to him and took hold of his hand. “You're permitted to go into the village market now which means you don't need us here anymore. You'll be able to come into town and pick up whatever you want to eat or retrieve your own alchemical supplies. We'll show you the way to the market.”

    “I. I see. Well I'm glad that you all trust me to come further into your village but still. Um.” Before continuing Joseph took in a deep breath. “Will I see the three of you around still.”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Of course! We'll be coming by to check on you from time to time and besides. I meant it when I said I'd like to get to know you better Joseph.”

    Once again Joseph found himself at a loss for words as he looked at Maria. “Maria I'd like to get to know you as well but what caused this change in behavior?”

    Now Flora chose to speak up. “Joseph we have to be careful of those we allow into our village. Ever since you've came here you've been earning our trust. At first you had to ask Maria for everything you needed but you never stole from us or tried to take extra so we stocked the shelves. Now you've been working with fully shocked shelves and you've been honest about where the materials have been going. You've also shown know inclination to the type of behavior that gets people killed here so we're trusting you to come into the village. At least we trust you enough to roam around the market district. This will give you a chance to meet more of our sisters as well and better learn of us if you should want to.”

    “I see.” A slight chuckle escaped Joseph as he rubbed his forehead for a moment. “I have to be honest. This is rather sudden and I'm kind of nervous.”

    Once again Maria chose to speak up. “Try not to worry too much. After all how much can you learn about us if your life revolves around just two buildings?”

    It was impossible for Joseph not to blush upon Maria asking this question. “Do you realize how much of my life has been that way?”

    “Ah well I do know alchemical studies can be quite intensive. Fortunately for you you're going to have to come into town and deliver the potions you make. So there is no real way to get out of interacting with us.”

    “True. Huh hold on a moment. Don't you all tend to hunt for your own food?”

    “Ah well all of us don't have a family to share our meals with at the moment. So rather then see our kills go to waste we take them to the market and leave some of them there. Say for example I killed a tusker I might bring a good eighty percent of the animal to the market and let one of my other sisters have it. You'll also have a chance to interact with some other humans as well.”

    “Other humans?”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Yeah! You're not the only one we have living here after all.” A sigh escaped Maria as she shook her head. “Just don't let those that have grown hostile miss lead you.”

    “You mean people that are currently claimed.”

    To this Maria gave a quick nod. “Joseph I'll be honest with you. You've reached a point that many don't go past. You have yourself a little home, you have yourself a career and you have some freedom. What you choose to do with that is up to you however this doesn't mean we trust you entirely.”

    “I understand. With greater opportunity comes greater chance to fail.”

    “Yeah but.” Before continuing Maria reached out and took hold of both of Joseph's hands. “I really want to trust you even more then what I already do. I hope we can become friends and if you're wondering. A friend would help a friend move on in life and that includes leaving the forest if they desire to.”

    “Huh?”

    Now Flora chose to speak up once again. “Joseph you shared some of your secrets with us and we've shared some of our secrets with you. Neither of us are a real threat to the others survival but if we go much further that could change. You already know how our bodies respond to nutrition and while that's something many don't know it's not really a threat. You just know one of our strengths. We know that you were developing a plant that could help that strength greatly but we're not going to force you to share how it's actually made.”

    “I'm thankful for that.”

    In response Flora gave a nod. “Soon though you could learn something that would make you dangerous to us. Before that time comes you're going to have to make a choice. We can either see you safely through the forest and to whatever exit you desire or you can remain here.”

    “I. I see. Well that's nice to know. Though to be honest now that I've decided to resume work on the life bloom here. I would really hate to leave so sudden as it would require me gathering up all.” Joseph didn't get to finish as he felt Flora's hand cover his mouth.

    A slight chuckle escaped Flora as she looked down at Joseph. “You're already thinking of reasons to stay with us?”

    It was odd but Joseph felt his pulse quicken as Flora smiled at him. “I well. I do plan on setting up shop here and I don't exactly like the idea of moving.” Once again Joseph found himself silenced though this was due to him receiving a quick smack from a tail. The impact didn't hurt but it made him blink and shut his mouth.

    “You don't have to explain.”

    Once Flora removed her hand Joseph gave a slight nod. “Alright. Flora would you tell me what made you decide that I should be given this chance though?”

    “To be honest we let everyone in the market area once they've gone a long enough time without doing something foolish. This doesn't matter if it's because of fear or trust as long as they don't do something stupid they can at least be allowed that far. However, those who are only allowed there because they're too scared to do anything aren't in quite as favorable of a situation.”

    “I. I see. Wait didn't Maria just say few reach this point?”

    “Yes she did and she was being entirely honest. I was talking about being allowed into the market though. What Maria was talking about was being allowed to live alone if you desire.

    “Ah well that's something to be proud of I suppose.”

    “Now I have a question for you. Have we been passing your tests?”

    “Huh? What do you mean?”

    “Now Joseph don't play stupid with me I don't appreciate it. I know that you've been testing us since we brought you here.”

    In response to this Joseph was made to grin and gave his head a slight nod. “Ah well. It wasn't really intentional but when Maria went and retrieved my note book for me and nothing was amiss I came to trust you far more. You seem to value alchemical knowledge but you didn't take that knowledge from me.”

    “Well we aren't thieves.”

    “You've treated me well since I came here and haven't rushed me while working in the lab. You said that I could leave whenever I wanted and while I realize the odds of me making it out are pretty low you never took that freedom from me.”

    To this Flora gave a nod. “Is there anything else?”

    “Well I have been living with you for a while now. I like to think I've learned something about you all just by being here. In all honesty though what helped the most is whenever you didn't try to force me to show you how to grow the life bloom.”

    Now Flora was made to sigh as she shook her head. “Joseph you don't have any idea how hard it is not to. Whenever we told our sisters several of them wanted to try and make you give up the secret but the majority over ruled them.”

    “I appreciate that. However, I can't say I agree with everything you do.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Flora as she placed her hand atop Joseph's head nearly engulfing it as she did so. “Well that's to be expected! Anyway, come on and we'll show you the way to the market area.”

***********************************************************************************

    Joseph felt more then a little awkward as he walked towards the gathering of buildings holding a crate in his hands. It had been three days since Flora, Maria and Mira had shown him the way to the market and this was his first solo trip there. He'd managed to hold off by eating some of the food left behind in his  hut telling himself that he didn't want it to go to waste. Now he found himself having to journey into the market and in truth he had no idea what to expect.

    “Hi there! You look a little loss. Could you use some directions?”

    At first Joseph had been made to jump the voice seeming to come out of nowhere. As he turned to face the owner of the voice though he was surprised. What he found himself looking at wasn't her face but rather her crotch. The surprise was enough that it took him a moment to turn his head upward. How something so large could sneak up on him was beyond him but he knew that she had. “Um yeah. I was wanting to make a delivery.”

    Instead of asking him what kind of delivery the beast girl took in a few deep breaths of air. She could smell the potions inside of the crate. “Okay you'll want to take those to storage. Would you mind if I picked you up?”

    “Um no bu.” Joseph didn't get to finish as the female slipped an arm underneath him and easily lifted him into the air so that he was actually a bit higher then her head letting him see over the crowd.

    “Do you see the building that's all closed up?”

    At first Joseph said nothing as he looked around. Soon he caught onto what the lady was talking about as he noted one building standing out from all the others. It wasn't due to the design rather all its windows and doors were closed tight while the others were open. “Yes I believe so.”

    “That's the one. If you get lost on the way there just ask another one of us for help.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “Thank you.”

    “No problem.” As she finished the beast girl lowered Joseph back to the ground and carefully set him down. “You've been living with Flora haven't you?”

    “Well that depends. How many Flora's live here?”

    “Her daughter's are Maria and Mira. Hey why are you blushing?”

    “I um just realized. I don't know her last name.”

    A slight giggle escaped the woman as she waved her hand. “Ah don't worry about that we don't have last names.”

    “You don't?”

    “No we sort of remember one another by scent and family connections. My name is Alexa by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you Joseph.”

    “Like wi. Wait how did you know my name?”

    “Oh we're quite good at keeping track of such things. I heard about you from Flora and recognized you by your scent.”

    “I see. Well thank you Alexa.”

    “Not a problem.”

    “It's too rough there is no way they could wear that.”

    “What do you mean it's too rough? It's fine. I swear you want to treat every human like they'd melt if water fell on them.”

    Tera gave a sigh and shook her head. “Listen Nora I'm telling you that the material is too rough for a human to be comfortable in. They don't have a layer of fur to protect their skin and their skin is no where near as tough as ours.”

    “I know that I'm not stupid and I'm telling you that you're wrong.”

    “Why do you have to be so stubborn? I've told you this before and I've been right nearly every time. The clothing you make is strong but it's not comfortable for humans to wear.”

    While Tera's track record was indeed better then hers Nora just couldn't back down. “You're not right all the time! So I've made a few mistake and overestimated what humans could tolerate. I'm not some idiot that never learns from her mistakes.”

    “You could have fooled me.”

    “What did you say?!”

    “You heard me.” As Tera spoke she took a step towards Nora a clearly indicator that she wasn't scared of her. She wasn't surprised whenever Nora met her advance.

    “I ought to tear off your ears for saying that!”

    “I'd like you to try. It'd give me an excuse to smack you around.”

    “You're only acting so tough because you know I can't fight you here.”

    “The same could be said for you. However, no matter how badly I thrash you it's not like it'd would prove I'm right. So how about we put these clothes of yours to a test?”

    “Fine but it can't be anyone we know. That way the other can't say they were playing favorites.”

    “What are you talking about? What do you propose we do then?”

    Now Nora was made to grin as she clearly knew something Tera didn't. “Can't you smell that?”

    Joseph had been rather surprised to hear the shouting come out of nowhere. While he'd missed the first part of the conversation he'd heard enough to feel he should get away from the building. He had just began to speed up his pace whenever he felt a hand land on his shoulder nearly engulfing it.

    Tera had actually been surprised that she hadn't noticed the new scent earlier. She'd realized why a short while later though upon coming closer to Joseph. She remembered his scent from Flora's visit whenever she came to get some clothing. “Hi there. I hope you don't mind but could you help us for a moment?”

    This time Joseph remembered to look up upon facing the woman. He was a bit surprised though whenever she wasn't as tall as Alexa. Rather he guessed her to be as tall as Mira which meant she still positively dwarfed him. “I. Um well I was going to drop this off and.”

    “Oh! Don't worry it should only take a moment of your time. Please I'd really appreciate your assistance.”

    To this Joseph gave a slight nod. “I. Well what do you need help with.”

    “My friend and I are clothiers believe it or not and we're working on a few outfits. We're having trouble gaging what a human would find comfortable though so we were hoping you'd try them on. Please? It should only take a moment of your time.”

    Joseph had heard enough of the conversation to know what he'd just been told wasn't entirely true. However, he found it hard to say no to a woman when if he'd kept his head level he'd probably be looking at her belly button instead of her eyes. “Alright then.”

    “Wonderful!” As she spoke Tera reached down and placed a hand under the crate Joseph was packing. Before he could protest she lifted it up. “I'll just carry this for you. Now please come on inside.”

    Nora had been listening to insure that Tera wasn't tainting the test subject. She was glad whenever she didn't but she doubted Tera would. They argued about things and at times had come to blows but they were still friends. “Hi and welcome. So you're the one that's going to be helping us?”

    “I guess that I am.”

    “Okay then.” As she spoke Nora moved forward and held out a matching shirt and pants. “Please try these on and let us know what you think of them.”

    It was immediately clear to Joseph that these clothes were meant for work and hard work at that. This was confirmed upon taking hold of it and feeling of the material. A shiver ran up his spine though upon feeling of the material and noting how rough it was. “Um would you happen to have a dressing room?”

    To this Tera gave a slight nod. “Sure, but I don't see the problem. You humans are so self conscious about your bodies.”

    “Ah well not all of us are. I just don't have a soldiers build is all. Anyway, I'll just go try this on if you'll point me in the direction.” As Joseph was speaking he really just wanted to tell them both the material was too rough. Just holding it in his hands made him shiver and he could only imagine how much it would itch.

    Tera just shook her head in response to Joseph's comment. “Personally I like my guys healthy and cuddly but anyway. The changing room is in the back of the shop there.” As she spoke Tera pointed towards the back of the room.

    “Okay, I'll be back in just a second.”

    As Nora watched Joseph heading towards the back of the room she turned to Tera speaking in a tone far too low for Joseph to hear. “This isn't fair.”

    In response Tera lowered her voice to match Nora's. “What?”

    “He's clearly not a worker. He's an alchemist you can smell it from the crate he was packing and all over him. He's soft skinned even by human standards that outfit was meant for someone working in tougher conditions.”

    “You're already making excuses? I swear you can be impossible at times. Besides what conditions are you talking about exactly?”

    “Well someone who accompanies our sisters when they go out searching for herbs. That or those who work on refining and need protection from chemicals.”

    “Protection from chemicals? Oh like an alchemist.”

    In response Nora was made to grimace as she noted the grin on Tera's face. She'd slipped up and Tera had used it against her. “Well fine then.”

    As Joseph stepped out of the dressing room he felt more then a little awkward. He'd just put on the outfit and he was already having difficulty not tearing the clothes of as they were already itching them. “Well it's a little lose on me and.”

    Before Joseph could continue Tera spoke up. “Is it comfortable?”

    “Um well. I don't believe it is.”

    “What's wrong with it?”

    “Well it really itches for one thing. There is.” Once again Joseph found himself cut off.

    Tera couldn't contain herself as she looked at Nora. “Ha! I told you.” Instead of continuing to taunt Nora Tera turned to Joseph. “Thanks for your help. This stubborn fluff for head wouldn't listen whenever I told her a human wouldn't be comfortable in such materials. You can change back now if you'd like.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod and entered back into the dressing room. He was hesitant at first as he noted Nora scowling however it became clear she was looking at Tera and not him. “So the two of you are clothiers?”

    To this Tera responded as Nora clearly wasn't in the mood. “Yep. Though we've only recently started and are still learning actually.”

    “Why clothiers? I don't mean any offense but you don't seem to wear very much or um well anything.”

    “Well at times we like to dress in pretty clothes as well but yeah for the most part we don't wear them. They are other humans living here though and they need clothing unlike us. Plus I think it's rather enjoyable.”

    “Enjoyable how so?”

    “It gives me a chance to be creative and artistic! However, since what I design has to be functional as well there is another degree to it. I find that it's a wonderful way to express myself.”

    In response Joseph gave a slight nod as he listened to Tera's explanation. “Well then thank you for the lesson.”

    “Lesson?”

    “Yeah I'm rather new here so I have a lot of preconceived notions to remove.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Tera as she nodded. “Ah I see what you mean now. You're trying to learn about us then. Well then I'll give you a little information. Yes I enjoy hunting and yes I tend to hunt quite a lot myself. A good deal of the fur I use in making my clothes I retrieve myself. However, we do have other hobbies. Hunting isn't exactly a difficult task for us and we need other ways to spend our time.”

    To this Joseph gave a quick nod. “Is that what this market is for?”

    “To a large extent it is. You'll find out more once you make your delivery. Speaking of which if you'd like I could walk you there.”

    “Aren't you worried about customers?”

    A sigh escaped Tera as she shook her head. “Not really. This building is more to store and show off what we've done then to actually bring in customers. You're few and far between.”

    “Huh? Do I have something that was bought here?”

    “Why do you ask?”

    “You said you're whenever you were speaking to me. It made me feel like you were talking to me directly.”

    “Ah well. I'll be honest. Yep that shirt you're wearing was made by me.” As she spoke Tera reached out and took some of the fabric between her fingers. “Flora came by a while back and asked if I could make something for slow traveling through the forest. I already had something on hand so she left with this.”

    “Ah I see. I'll have to repay.” Now Joseph once again fell silent as he felt his cheeks warming up. “Oh damn. Now I feel stupid.”

    “How come?”

    “I just realized I have no idea what you people use for currency.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Tera as she placed a hand on Joseph's head. “Let me get you to the alchemy shop. You'll learn quite a few things there.”

    “Alright then.”

    Dan gave a slight sifh as he checked over their inventory. It had been a rather busy month and they were running into some problems. They were short on iron and copper which was slowing the others in their research. Unfortunately gathering such materials could be difficult. He hated the idea but it seemed like he was going to have to ask some of the ladies to go and make a bit of a deal to secure more of the metals. At least they didn't need anything exceptionally rare.

    “Hey Dan how are things going?”

    Dan was actually caught off guard when the cheery voiced reached his ears yet he didn't jump. Having lived amongst these ladies for so long he'd almost grown numb to them showing up out of no where. “I'm doing just fine Tera. What brings you here today?”

    “I was just showing someone the way here.”

    Now Dan was interested as he looked up and towards the door. “Really? Well it's been a while. Who it is?”

    As Tera stepped to the side Joseph stepped into the room. He was surprised by what he found. The room was quite large with several chairs and tables all around it. The only exits from the room was the door he'd came through and one at the back of the room which clearly led into a large room as it was dark. This door was blocked by a rather heavy looking desk with one section that clearly opened up. It was far from what he expected from here. The most surprising part though was he found himself looking at another human.

    It was clear to Dan that he was the first human Joseph had seen here other then himself. “Damn you are new here if you're that surprised.”

    “Ah. Sorry about that. I just didn't expect to meet another human here!”

    To this Dan gave a quick nod. “Yeah I felt the same way. Tera either come in and shut the door or leave and shut the door.”

    In response to Dan's comment Tera quickly stuck her tongue out at him. “You're not the boss of me mister.”

    “Yes but I am currently in charge of the alchemy supplies which includes this building.”

    “Ah well you got me there.” Instead of leaving Tera proceeded into the room and shut the door behind herself. As the door was shut the room remained lit due to several illuminating crystals that lined the walls. “I believe that I'll stick around for a bit.”

    To this Dan gave a quick nod and reached under the desk. He then produced a necklace, two anklets and bracelets exactly like Maria's except the chains were much longer. “Please put these on then.”

    “Sure thing.”

    As Tera came over to the desk Dan turned his attention back to Joseph. “Well I imagine you have a lot of questions so let's get things started. Shall we?”

    “Um sure.” As he spoke Joseph proceeded over to the desk and placed the crate down.

    “Okay I'll just give you the basic details and you can ask what you want after that. This is the check in station for alchemical raw materials and products. We store a certain amount of everything here before being moved to a safer location or used. This counter is manned at all times day and night in case you need to come in for something and it's late. So feel free to come by anytime.

    We also keep track of who has brought in what and who has taken out what. It's important to keep track of who's running up a debt and who's building up their credit. Speaking of which I should probably check yours. Please state your name and who you've been living with.”

    “My name is Joseph Liut and I've been living with Flora, Mira and Maria until recently.”

    In response Dan gave a quick nod. “Okay just give me a moment here.” As he was speaking Dan once again vanished beneath the desk. This time he came up with a rather heavy book which he quickly began to search through. As he looked through the book he took a moment to look at Joseph and note his surprise. “We like to keep records.”

    “I. I see that. Well that's not what I was expecting.”

    Tera had been quiet for a while but chose now to speak up. “It's not like it's our doing. The brothers insist quite heavily though on keeping detailed records rather then just relying upon memory. We try to temper them whenever we can but they can be so sensitive about knowing who is doing what.”

    “I see. Tera, um could you tell me anything else about your brothers?”

    In response Tera gave a quick nod. “They oversee most of the alchemical research, materials and supplies. They also keep track of most of the raw materials we bring in. Well at least they keep track of many of the materials. They like to make sure the food supply is holding steady.” A sigh escaped Tera as she placed a hand on her forehead. “It's exceptionally tedious.”

    “It must be bothersome always reporting in.”

    “Oh! Not for me!” A slight giggle escaped Tera as she shook her head. “I meant for them. I don't know how they stand to spend so much time reading over reports on pray, plant life and what's in storage but they do.”

    “Huh? So they're like your civic planners?”

    In response Tera gave a quick nod. “Yeah! That's a good way of putting it! They can be a little pushy at times but we know they have our best interest at heart. Our brothers have seen us through a lot of lean times with as little hardship as possible.”

    “I see. Is there anything else you could tell me.”

    “Nope!”

    “Why not?”

    “You're not allowed to know much more.” As she finished speaking Tera quickly stuck her tongue out at Joseph.

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head and looked at Dan. “Do you know more.”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “Yep. Okay I found you. You've been pretty consistent in delivering healing potions, you've also started delivering food preservatives as well. You've been removing some materials from storage. Not a lot but fairly frequently. So in the end your rating is.” For a moment Dan grew silent as he took his time to look over the records once again. “We need to get you fitted.”

    Before Joseph could even respond Tera spoke up. “Yay! You mean he's already earned enough credit?”

    “Yeah which is pretty surprising.”

    As Joseph found a chance to speak up he chose to. “What are you talking about?”

    To this Dan looked back at Joseph. “Well I take it you've noticed how currency isn't a major thing here. Rather you could say trust and respect are the currency here. One way of earning that respect is by giving more then you've taken and well you've given a lot more then you've taken. Enough that you've earned some extra privileges just don't think that these are concrete.”

    “What kind of privileges and what is this fitting you're talking about?”

    Before speaking Tera placed a hand on Joseph's shoulder to get his attention. “A new outfit! Well part of a new outfit actually. Basically it lets those that don't know your sent yet know that you're a person who can be trusted.”

    “I see. So I take it one can't just have one of these outfit made.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Dan as he took hold of his shirt collar. “I'll tell you this. If Tera or one of the other females caught you wearing an outfit with this marking and knew you hadn't earned it you'd be in serious trouble. I won't go into the details of what they might do but most don't try stunts like that.”

    “I see. What about the females then? You don't seem to wear much.”

    “Of course not! It's based on how big we are.”

    “Huh?”

    Before speaking Tera removed her hand from Joseph's shoulder and bent at the knees so she was closer to eye level with him. “The more mature and trust worthy you are the more you're allowed to grow. Up to a point at least. It's a physical statement that you're capable of handling a larger stronger body. If you're not deemed responsible enough you have to keep yourself at a smaller scale so you're less of a threat.”

    “I see. Has it always been that way?”

    “For as long as I or my mother have been alive. Now as for your clothing. That began as soon as we started bringing humans into our village.”

    “So this trust. It isn't set in stone is it? I could lose well whatever position I've earned couldn't I?”

    “Yep! OH and if you're wondering it tends to be harder to regain what you lost then when you first earned it.”

    “I see. Is that why Flora's daughter Maria is kept so small?”

    A sigh escaped Tera as she nodded her head. “Maria is a nice person and she didn't mean any harm. She went overboard by such a huge margin though. I mean she really went beyond what was reasonable she let her desire to quiet her hunger overcome her and was becoming really dangerous. I. I don't really think she should have to stay so small though. She came back to us willingly and she's been nice since then and in control.”

    “You sound like you and Maria are good friends.”

    In response Tera gave a nod. “Yeah it's probably why I didn't notice you right away. I smelt Maria on you so stranger didn't kick in right away.”

    To this Joseph gave a nod. “Do you think you could tell me some things about Maria later?”

    “Sure as long as it isn't something I believe you should be asking her yourself.”

    “Thanks.” As Joseph spoke he turned his attention back to Dan. “Dan could I ask you some questions as well? You're the only other human I've met so far so I have quite a few things I'd like to know.”

    “I'll answer what I can.”

    “I guess my biggest question right now is why are you here?”

    “Ah I should have knew you'd ask that. Okay I can give you some of the details. I was claimed a few years back while in the forest. You see I was part of an expedition to gather some very valuable plants. I knew it was dangerous but the pay I was being offered was really something else. At the time I didn't really think about it as theft as I didn't consider the forest dwellers a true nation. The group I'd come into the forest with was mostly torn apart whenever they were confronted.”

    “Why torn apart?”

    “When told to restore what they'd taken, leave their armor and weapons and get out of the forest they chose to attack instead. Apparently the ladies that found the search party didn't feel the guards were worth retrieving. I wasn't killed though because I tried to speak with one of them before the guards attacked.”

    “You mean you fought them?”

    “Yeah I did. As I had at least tried to communicate in the beginning they didn't kill me. Probably didn't hurt that I wasn't really a combatant. Anyway, I was brought back here and given an assignment as one of the claimed. I realized my situation so I didn't try to escape and worked off my debt so to speak. Eventually I earned my life back and was given the choice to try and leave.”

    “So why are you still here?”

    “I um well. As I mentioned I actually out rank you even with your upgrade. I've kind of worked my way up to a reasonable level of respect and it's not like this is a bad place to live. That and well I fell in love.”

    “What?”

    A slight chuckle escaped Tera as she looked down at Joseph. “Dan here is the mate to one of my sisters.”

    “The mate? Exactly where does that put you?”

    In response Dan was made to grin. “Ah well. Okay you need to know this. If you find one of the ladies giving you an abnormal amount of attention and getting somewhat physical unless you're interested in her at that moment do not respond. You're not claimed so you have the right to say no but you don't want to risk giving her the wrong idea.”

    “Just what are you saying exactly?”

    Instead of waiting for Dan to speak up Tera chose to. “Um well you see. As you can guess we're not exactly like human females. Our instincts are a little stronger and well when stimulated and encountering a male that seems receptive to the attention we tend to lose control.”

    Instead of letting Joseph ask another question Dan spoke up. “If you tease one of them while they're stimulated there is a good chance you could end up raped if you're not serious. It's that simple.”

    “What?! You have to be joking?”

    “I am most assuredly not joking and it has happened. Even if you're not claimed you have to be weary of this.”

    “Why didn't Flora or any of the others tell me about this?”

    “It's well. It's not exactly something they think of very often. Tera I really feel awkward saying this around you. Would you like to explain it?”

    In response Tera shook her head in the negative. “I'm not exactly a human so I don't believe that I could. Besides it's kind of interesting to listen so go ahead.”

    To this Dan nodded. “One thing I've learned while living here is the ladies are a lot closer to their animal instincts then a human is. Whenever one of them becomes stimulated past a certain point they'll often search for someone to lay with. If they encounter a male they find pleasing they'll approach him and if he responds positively that's all the confirmation she needs.”

    “How much confirmation is needed?”

    “Physical contact is more then enough at times just the wrong statement can do it though. So if you're not interested in one of them and you find yourself receiving their attention just don't respond or better yet make it clear you're not interested immediately.”

    “I see. Alright then, what did you mean by mate though?”

    “A mate is basically like a husband in our society except for some slight differences.” A sigh escaped Dan as he reached up and scratched his head. “You sort of give up your right to say no to certain things in exchange for having exclusive rights to a female and a few other benefits.”

    “I see. So if she becomes stimulated you can't say no?”

    “If Mina was to come up to me after I'd been awake for two days strait, had a head ache, was sore from climbing the entire time hadn't eaten in twenty four hours I still couldn't get away with saying no. That said I don't believe she'd force me to perform in that condition. Actually, Mina would probably be pretty pissed off if she saw me in that condition.”

    Before Joseph could response Tera spoke up. “You're damn strait she would be! She'd be ready to kill someone!I'd say more then one person most likely.”

    Now Joseph chose to speak up. “So that doesn't bother you?”

    In response Dan shook his head. “Na. I gave myself to Mina along time ago on a far deeper level then just physical. Besides it isn't like it's a one way street or anything.”

    “Dan you said you came here as one of the claimed. Do the claimed have the right to say no?”

    In response Dan shook his head. “No they don't. If one of the ladies decides she wants one of the claimed for herself they're only two ways he can get out of it. One of the sisters or brothers have to stand up for him or he could always end his own life. That isn't exactly common though.”

    “Why is that?”

    Now Tera chose to speak up. “In general forcing yourself on one of the claimed is seen as pretty damn embarrassing. The idea that you're so sorry that you have to resort to physically forcing a male is just plain insulting. About the only time a female would force herself on one of the claimed is if she wanted to have some rough fun or planned to kill him anyway. We kind of have to be careful with you humans otherwise you break so easily and the slightest touch of our claws can be lethal to you.”

    Instead of waiting for Joseph to ask another question Dan spoke up. “How they kill someone that they feel is deserving of death is pretty much up to the lady.”

    “I. I see. You're comfortable with this?”

    “Once you learn more about them you'll see why it doesn't bother me as much as you probably think it should.”

    “But you were claimed! One of them could have taken you at any time! I know you said they wouldn't kill you but still.”

    To this Dan shook his head. “No. Not really. Every group of claimed has an overseer that watches them and keeps track of how well behaved they are. They're job is to punish, protect, provide for and instruct the claimed under their care. If you behave and try to do as you're told they're quite good at protecting you.”

    “Are you kidding? That kind of situation is ideal for abuse! Human history has proven that again and again.”

    In response Dan nodded his head. “Yes human history. However, they aren't humans. Joseph how easily do you think Tera there could tear us both apart?”

    “I um well. It probably wouldn't take her a second.”

    To this Tera gave a slight chuckle and extended her claws. “Ah I wouldn't do that to you two.”

    To this Dan nodded. “I know Tera but still it helps make my point. Joseph they already have power over us the moment we enter into their forest. If that alone was enough to provoke them to violent or cruel behavior you and I would be a lot worse off then we are now.”

    “Well you do have a point there. So just what type of lady serves as such an overseer?”

    “You lived here for a while. Mira is still a little low ranked to serve as an overseer last I checked while Flora could easily do so.”

    “I see. So what was Mina?”

    “Well Mina was my overseer.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he covered his forehead for a moment. “I swear this is hard to take in. I spent so much time with Flora, Maria and Mira that I guess such things slipped my mind. It's making me feel kind of sick.”

    In response Dan gave a slight shrug. “I felt the same way to be perfectly honest for a long while. I can't say that I got use to it but they're things that let me accept it. Surely this isn't the first shocking things you've seen. I remember being horrified at how they tore apart my companions upon their choice to attack.”

    “I. I haven't thought about it in a while. When I first encounter Maria she nearly killed a soldier. Well she gave him the wound that would kill him later. Then when she chased after me I remember her voice. She sounded so happy as if the person she'd just severally wounded didn't mean a thing to her.”

    “I bet he did mean something to her. Most likely she felt that you'd bring her more amusement then killing him though so she chased after you instead. If you'd stayed behind you'd most likely seen her rip apart everyone there except for yourself.”

    For a moment Joseph said nothing but closed his eyes and remembered back to their first encounter. “Maria was almost laughing whenever she tore open the soldier's chest piece and cut through his skin.”

    “Don't forget things like that. Especially if you have a chance to leave.”

    “I suppose I shouldn't. So what made you decide to stay? At least I assume you had a chance to leave.”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “Are you sure you want to know.”

    “Yeah.”

    “Like I said Mina was my handler. At first I was terrified of her and she was quite authoritative and intimidating. I was kept with several of the other claimed and she kept a close watch on all of us. After a few weeks though I found the way she treated me becoming different. She started talking to me not questioning me or telling me what to do but actually talking to me. She didn't seem to be watching my movements as often and started trusting me to work by myself.

    Of course this pissed the others off. They thought I was spying on them and some started to make my life harder. At least that happened until one of them intentionally broke a vial containing a potion I was working on. Things had been broken before and Mina had taken it in stride but this time she got mad. I thought she was going to tear the guy's arm off. She didn't go quite that far but she did deliver quite a beating to most of the people in the room.

    Then that night I found my sleeping arrangements had changed. I was moved to a different room. It wasn't larger but they were fewer people in there. This is when I started to learn what trust meant to them. They were claimed like I was but they were the trusted ones. Mina had seen that the others were beginning to view me as a threat so she'd separated me from them. The next day I got up my nerve and instead of waiting for her to talk to me I went over and started talking to her.” A slight chuckle escaped Dan as he gave his head a slight shake.

    “It sounds like things were going well. What happened next?”

    “It got harder to get my work done! Mina turned out to be far more affectionate then I believed she'd be. It was hard to get a minute to myself to do some calculations. Then a few days after I finally forgot myself and actually began to lecture her about why she couldn't be bothering me while I was working. It was only after she stood up and I was reminded of how big she truly was that I realized I might have made a mistake. Instead she apologized and left me be. Well that made me feel like a jackass so I apologized a short while later.”

    Once again Tera chose to speak up. “You hurt her feelings you didn't just talk to her!”

    Now Joseph was quite surprised as he looked at Dan. “The claimed can get away with yelling at one of their keepers?”

    “It really depends on the keeper and who the claimed is. I got away with it as Mina was fond of me and a few other factors. Mostly because Mina was fond of me though. Anyway, as I spent more time with Mina I got to know her better and as I learned more about her people I came to understand why they work the way they do.”

    “I see. So did anything ever happen to make you fearful?”

    “Of course it did! I guess the worse came after I'd been claimed though. Several of the claimed tried to escape and I don't mean the lowest ranked ones either. Several of the trusted claimed and others got together and making use of items they'd taken tried to escape into the forest. It actually caught me off guard as that night I wasn't in the same room as the others.”

    “Where were you?”

    “Mina had kept me out late checking on storage and seeing if the records matched up with what was actually there. It wasn't. I guess I should have known something was up as when I told Mina she just told me to keep counting and make sure I got everything.” A slight chuckle escaped Dan. “I kind of thought she was picking on me making me do that when I was so tired.

    Anyway, I did as I was told and when I got back I saw all the others along with several other ladies. The women were acting strange. I mean really strange with the way they were playing with the escapees and well even with Mina standing next to me I was scared of what they might do. Mina reached down picked me up and told me I'd be sleeping with her that night.

    I didn't sleep a wink that night. I could hear the screams in the other rooms. Up until then I didn't think any of the girls would actually force herself onto an unwilling male but that night I learned they are conditions.”

    “Did you see any of them again?”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “Yeah though I was the only one in that room for a good while. The next day I saw several of them they were cut up pretty bad in most cases, some had broken bones and all of them had deep bruising. Three of them I didn't see anything but from the way the others looked I can guess what happened. They were real quiet after that night.”

    “Do you think that running is the only thing they did?”

    Now Tera spoke up instead of waiting for Dan to answer. “Most likely not to get such treatment. Those keepers you saw that night had basically decided they didn't want to kill them. That said they felt they needed to hurt them on a level far deeper then physical and were probably trying to break their spirits.”

    As Joseph listened to this he gave his head a slight shake. “Tera I don't mean to talk to you like you aren't here.”

    “It's alright it's not like I mind. You don't know everything about our people after all so you're not going to fully understand us. Hopefully as you come to know us better you'll see the reasons for such actions.”

    “I'm not sure if I could ever see how someone could enjoy killing another sentient being.” As he spoke Joseph gave his head a slight shake.

    “Well did you feel any sympathy for those soldiers?”

    “I well. I don't believe they deserved to die just for entering the forest. Maria could have given them a little display as a warning.”

    In response Tera gave a slight shrug. “Why should she give them such a warning when they're invaders within her home? Besides you didn't give me much of an answer so I'm going to ask you a question. How upset are you that Maria was going to kill those soldiers?”

    “I. I'm not sure how to answer that.”

    “It seems to me that you're not very upset at all. If you were truly upset by her actions would you have just forgotten them? Wouldn't you have confronted her about it and at least tried to show her how such behavior is wrong?”

    “Well that is true. I didn't say anything about it to her but.”

    “Do you think that she'd get upset and harm you if you confronted her about it?”

    “Well no.”

    “It seems to me that you aren't nearly as concerned about those soldiers as you want to believe that you are.”

    Where had all this come from? As Joseph looked up at Tera and noted the tone of her voice he could almost feel a change in her. It was a change that he didn't find comforting. “You do have a very good point there. I suppose I feel that I should be more upset then I really am so I at least try to act that way.”

    “Why do you humans try to force yourself to feel things that you don't feel?”

    “Because we believe we should.”

    In response to this Tera just gave her head a slight shake. “Anyway, if they hadn't been claimed they would have just been killed.”

    “Yeah. I really don't know how good of a search Mina will be able to give the building without the use of her nose to be honest though.”

    “I doubt that it's going to matter. If they are hiding things there they've realized that your sense of smell might be a major advantage in most situations but it's a major liability in there.”

    A slight giggle escaped Maria as she nodded her head. “Very true.”

    “Maria I hope you don't mind me asking this but would hindering your sense of smell hurt you in combat?”

    “Would constantly slamming you with deafening sound hinder you in combat?”

    “Well yes.”

    “Then you have your answer.”

    To this Joseph gave a slight nod. “Has anyone ever tried to use it against you?”

    “Not that I know of but there could be instances of it happening.”

    “So they're conflicts you don't know about?”

    “Well I like to believe I know the history of my people fairly well but I don't know everything. We've been around a while and there could have been a situation during which someone used our noses or ears against us. As we're still here though I can only assume that it failed horribly.”

    “That is true. Maria I'm sorry that I didn't have a gift for you today but Mina's was easier to make. I actually have something in mind for you but it's going to take a while.”

    “Really?!”

    “Yes.”

    “Oh neat! If it's going to take a while that means it's going to be something nice. Well such things tend to be.”

    “You'll have to wait and see.” As Joseph spoke he reached out and opened the door to the alchemy shop. Instead of just walking in though he opened the door and proceeded to step to the side.

    At first Maria wasn't certain what Joseph meant for her to do. As she noted the open doorway though she was reminded of a human custom and was made to give a slight chuckle. “Just don't think I'm going to let you do this for me very often.”

    “Don't worry.” As Joseph spoke he proceeded into the alchemy shop slightly behind Maria.

    Dan had of course noticed Maria entering the shop and wasn't surprised to see Joseph coming in behind her. He also took note of the crate Maria was packing with her. “Making another delivery Joseph?”

    “Yeah. Though I have to wonder what these healing potions are used for.”

    In response Dan gave a slight shrug. “Food storage really.”

    “What?”

    “Healing potions contain a far greater amount of energy per volume and weight ratio then any natural food stuff we might store here. Though they are some draw backs that prevents humans from using them as a food source that doesn't hold true for their species.” As he spoke Dan indicated Maria. 

    “So they don't suffer from the build up of mystic energy in their systems?”

    “Nope they metabolize all of the energy.”

    For a moment Joseph was silent as he took a moment to consider what Dan had just told him. “Most of this time I've thought I've been making healing potions in case someone was injured. Of course I didn't consider who might be injured and why they'd need such a large supply. It never occurred to me that the potions could be used for an energy source.”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “When I first began working here I thought that perhaps their brothers were extremely weak. Maybe the potions had to be used to sustain their lives. When I learned that wasn't the case I was quite surprised.”

    “Yeah, so what do they plan on doing with the healing potions?”

    “It's just an emergency food supply to them.”

    Now Maria chose to speak up. “Not true!”

    In response Joseph quickly glanced to Maria. “Huh?”

    “Once we get enough potions stored away we'll have a celebratory feast. We'll empty out several store houses that contain preserved vegetables and meat and just gorge ourselves until it's all gone.” As she finished speaking Maria's tongue flicked out of her mouth and ran along her lips for a moment. “It's really a quite wonderful event though I've only been allowed to experience one of them.”

    In response Dan gave a slight nod. “My bad I forgot about the festival of plenty. That's quite rare though.”

    A sigh escaped Maria as she nodded her head. “Yeah.”

    It was impossible for Joseph not to ask as he looked at Dan. “Just how much more healing potions do they need until they can hold the festival?”

    “A lot. They don't take very many risks whenever it comes to their food supplies. We'd have to nearly triple what we have in storage now before the festival could become a possibility.”

    “How long of a food supply would that amount to in healing potions?”

    “Ten years.”

    Before Joseph could ask anything Maria turned to him and spoke up. “We've never had a famine last for ten years really. At least we've never had one last for ten solid years but we have had them last for a few years. So our brothers try to plan for the worse possible scenario.”

    “Were you alive during any of these famines?”

    “Nope. None have happened within my sleeping or awake life time.”

    “What about your mothers?”

    “Yeah she experienced one and she told me and my sister about it. Don't get me wrong though it wasn't a major deal. It just involved dipping into the supply of healing potions for a few months in order to keep everyone healthy.”

    “Was that when Mina chose to undergo what is normally reserved as a punishment?”

    “Yeah.” A sigh escaped Maria as she shook her head. “My mother actually regrets that she didn't follow Mina down that path. I'm sure that many of our sisters wishes they'd made a similar decision.”

    “You were all okay though.”

    “Yeah we were but what does it say about us when she was able to give up so much while we weren't?”

    “I'm sure that most of you had very good reasons for not following the same path Mina did.”

    “Thanks.”

    As Dan listened to this he chose to speak up. “Maria keep in mind that Mina doesn't think much of her decision. You see she really didn't have much to lose at the time. She wasn't a keeper at the time, she didn't have any children of her own or family really to speak of. She didn't feel like she had anything to lose at the time so she chose to make things easier on everyone else.”

    After Dan had finished speaking Joseph spoke up once again. “See Maria there is no reason to be hard on your mother. But Dan what do you mean Mina didn't have any family to speak of?”

    “I'll tell you but you're not to talk about it anywhere that Mina might hear you and especially not around Mina.”

    “Okay then.”

    “Mina's mother was killed during a confrontation with intruders in the forest.”

    “Killed? By what?”

    “It was during a confrontation with humans. The famine that affected their people didn't just affect them it also affected humans. While the forest was in a state of decline it was still far more fruitful then much of the surrounding land so that several groups of humans moved on the forest. Mina's mother lost her life during one of the fights with the invaders.”

    For a moment Joseph was silent only speaking after a minute had passed and a head shake. “That's something else to hear. After seeing Maria handle those soldiers so easily and seeing some of the ladies the idea that humans could kill them sort of slipped away.”

    Now Maria chose to speak up. “We're not immortal and our strength and endurance has its limits as does our speed.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I know, it's just that you tore through armor so easily. Do you have any idea what killed Mina's mother?”

    To this Dan gave a slight shrug. “If you're looking for some remarkable revelation I'm afraid that you won't find it. There was a confrontation in which our and their people fought one another. Mina's mother got ahead of her sisters and was overwhelmed.”

    “You mean she pushed too far into enemy lines?”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “That's what I've been told. They're not sure what happened to her beyond a certain point only that they found a corpse. Mina was pretty hurt by it and with the famine taking hold. Well she didn't believe she had anything to lose at the time.”

    “Dan I get the idea that this punishment last for a very long time. I've talked to others about it before and whatever it is seems to last for at the very least days probably even weeks.”

    “You have no idea.”

    “Longer?”

    Before Dan could speak up Maria spoke up. “Yeah longer then weeks. How many weeks varies. Mine lasted for a very long time.”

    “I see.”

    “No. I don't believe you do Joseph. That's okay though we haven't told you enough about us for you to fully understand. One of these days if you're here long enough though and I'll tell you.” Maria gave a smile as she looked at Joseph.

    “Thanks Maria. Anyway Dan, I need some supplies for my own studies.”

    “Sure thing. Oh shit!” As Dan spoke he quickly reached under the desk and retrieved the bracelets, necklaces and anklets he'd had the ladies wearing before. “Maria put these on quick.”

    Dan didn't actually have to tell her to put on the jewelery. The moment they were on the desk Maria realized her mistake and quickly began to put them on. “Sorry! I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking.”

    “It's okay Maria. Everything should be fine this place is set up for mistakes. Just get them on quick.”

    “Yeah I know but. Sorry I should have been thinking.”

    As Joseph watched Maria putting on the jewelery he was amazed by the urgency with which she put them on. Clearly she'd made a rather big blunder. “Maria this isn't something you can get in trouble for is it?”

    Instead of Maria answering Dan spoke up. “No. It's a pretty big mistake though. If she does get in trouble I'll have a lot of explaining to do as well but don't worry. Worse case scenario we both lose a lot of free time for the next few weeks.”

    “Because you'll be confined?”

    “No. Nothing that harsh.”

    A sigh escaped Maria as she slipped on the jewelery. “Okay let's go make sure there wasn't any damage done.”

***********************************************************************************

    It had been a while since Carter had been away from his lab. Normally his research kept him quite busy though he was glad to do it. He'd received a request for some aid though and now found himself knocking on the door of one of the smaller workshops. As the door opened up he took a moment to appraise the opener. “Good day. I was told you needed help from a mage.”

    It took Joseph a moment to respond as he found himself not looking at a human but rather looking at an elf. He'd actually expected another human or perhaps even one of Maria's brothers so an elf was quite a surprise. Upon realizing he was staring he gave his head a quick shake. “Yeah. I need some help with one of my projects. I have to say though I didn't expect an elf.”

    “Oh don't let the ears full you! I'm only a quarter elf actually.”

    “Ah I see. Still, not quite what I was expecting. Please come inside though. My name is Joseph.”

    “I'm Carter.” As Carter entered the workshop his attention was drawn immediately to a rather large container. He wasn't certain what was inside of it but it was clear an alchemical reaction was going on inside of it. Around the container was a thick sheet of white cloth. He could still sense the magic coming from the area though. “I see you have the glyph prepared already.”

    “Yes at least the best I'm able to do so. I was thinking about requesting some mystic essence to get the reaction going but I thought a mage would be a better choice. Same result with far less work and expense.”

    “Indeed. You seem to have concealed the glyph though.”

    “Yes I'm sorry but I'm trying to keep as much of this a secret as I can.”

    “Not a problem. What exactly do you need me to do?”

    “I just need you to channel some energy into the glyph. Enough to awaken it fully. From that point on the formula and the glyph should take over.”

    “This should only take a moment then.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Yeah, I just hope that I drew the glyph correctly.”

    “I take it you've taken measures to insure our safety if you haven't.”

    To this Joseph gave a nod. “The cloth covering the glyph was soaked in a energy absorbing solution for five days before I called you. If they energy goes out of control the cloth should absorb it. I also triple checked all my etchings to insure they're correct.”

    “I see. So have you worked with glyphs before?”

    “Of course! They're the only way to get certain reactions done if you don't have a mage or scrolls handy.”

    “Would it be possible for me to see some of your works?”

    “I thought you'd want to check my knowledge to insure the quality of my work. I went ahead and sketched out a few for you to see.” As he was speaking Joseph retrieved a few strips of paper from a near by desk and flipped them over.

    In response Carter picked up the pages and began to thumb through them. “A one shot healing glyph, a wind barrier, a frost spell and huh a rather weak but long duration flame spell. These all look quite viable.”

    “I'm glad you approve. All they need really is a mage to energize them and to be made of the proper ink.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Carter as he nodded his head and put the papers down. “I noticed that you didn't use the right kind of ink to actually hold magic. I suppose that was intentional.”

    “Of course! That stuff is hard to make and hard to come by.”

    “Indeed. Well it doesn't seem likely that your glyph will fail horribly though I still wish I could see it. Anyway, let's get it energized so your reaction can get underway.”

    “Thanks.”

    As Joseph watched Carter walk over to the table he kept a close eye on him. Joseph wasn't a mage but he could tell when something was going wrong by the alchemical reaction. If things did go wrong he had no intention of staying within the building fortunately Carter's job was quite simple. The mage slipped one of his hands underneath the cloth and began to channel energy into the glyph he'd prepared under it. “So how did you come to be here exactly?”

    “I was born here.”

    “What?!”

    A slight chuckle escaped Carter as he looked at Joseph. “My father was a half elf that ended up in the forest. He ended up encountering some of the ladies and pissing them off. Instead of sticking around and working his way out of the claimed status though he took another path.”

    “Another path?”

    “Yeah hasn't anyone told you? There is one very quick way to remove the title of claimed from yourself. At least in theory it's quick.”

    “I sure haven't heard of it! What is it?”

    “You have to get one of the females pregnant. A life for a life so to speak. If you lay with one of them and they conceive a child you instantly move away from the status of claimed. Of course, you have to be desirable enough to one of the females that they're willing to lay with you to begin with.”

    “Are you serious?”

    “Indeed I am.”

    At first Joseph said nothing as he took a moment to consider what this meant. “When do they normally tell you about this life for a life deal?”

    “Whenever one of the females decides that she would like to lay with you and attempt to conceive a child by you. My father was rather fortunate I suppose as my mother found him desirable fairly quickly.”

    “Hm I guess that means I'm not attractive enough for any of them.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Carter as he gave his head a slight shake. “I wouldn't say that you're just not claimed. Besides they are other conditions.”

    “Could you tell me what those are?”

    “Sorry but I don't feel like being tied into knots for saying to much.” A sigh escaped Carter as he removed his hands from under the paper. “I believe that has it.”

    “Yeah the potion seems to be responding properly.”

    “So is that all you needed help with?”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Yeah I just didn't have the mystic training to get the glyph fully awakened without mystic essence.”

    “Not a problem. Well I cleared my calendar in case this took longer so I guess I'll head to the market.”

    “Thanks for coming Carter. I'm going to have to stay here for a while.”

***********************************************************************************

    “I can't believe you forgot to bring a supply of food.” A sigh escaped Maria as she rubbed her forehead while watching Joseph. “You're lucky I've grown fond of coming to visit you.”

    Joseph was actually blushing as he took another spoon fool of soup. “I thought I had everything. I mean I brought clothing, a place to sleep I even brought some additional supplies so I could keep myself cleaned up.”

    “Yet while making sure you're sleeping conditions and hygiene were taken care of you didn't think of what you were going to eat.” A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she shook her head. “That's not exactly the priorities list my people would show.”

    “Well it's not like you worry about clothing very much.”

    “True.” As Maria finished speaking she hopped off the chair she'd been setting on and walked over to the container where the reaction was going on. Inside she noted several seeds though she couldn't tell what the solution they were in was. She also took note of the energy that was currently running throughout the container. “So what kind of seeds are those?”

    “At this point? You really couldn't call them any type of seed. If the reaction works properly they'll be the seeds for the life bloom. If things don't occur properly they'll be mush.”

    “Really?!”

    “Yep.”

    “That's wonderful! Oh and don't worry I won't tell anyone.”

    “Thanks.”

    “So what's going on inside of there anyway?”

    “They're being mutated. You see the life bloom is in some respects a natural plant but not entirely. It also has a incorporeal side that reaches into the elemental plains of existence.”

    In response Maria gave a slight nod. “I see. So you've altered the plant so that it taps into the mystic plains then begins to siphon the energy into the fruit. It doesn't stop there though but rather the way the plant has been changed also forces the energy to change taking on a state similar to that of a healing spell. I wonder. Did you pick the fruit that would be altered first or did you develop a baseline formula and work from there?”

    For a moment Joseph found himself staring at Maria as he took in what she'd just said. “That's right and well. I chose the plant first.”

    “Neat! So what's the plant? The seeds don't look like anything I've seen before but I assume that's due to the alternations.”

    “They were plum seeds at a given time. Maria where did all of that come from?”

    “Where did what come from?”

    “For a moment there you sounded like you'd received some alchemical training.”

    “Ah well.” A slight giggle escaped Maria as she turned to face Joseph. “I was keeping an eye on you for a while after all. I have to know enough to make sure you don't blow anything to bits.”

    “So you have received some training in alchemy?”

    “Just a little bit. I could probably tell whenever a reaction was about to explode. Of course those tend to have very obvious warning signs.”

    “I see. That's quite impressive.”

    “Thanks! So when do you think the life bloom will be ready?”

    “You mean when the first seed will start growing I assume. I can't be certain.”

    “Huh? Why not?”

    “I don't know if any of the seeds will survive the transformation. The alternation is pretty extreme and the vast majority of the seeds just won't be able to endure the transformation. They'll come out as mush instead of a seed.”

    “Ah! I see. I guess that is one of the advantages of working with plants. You don't have to worry about how many of them you sacrifice.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Exactly. I'm trying to figure out how to make the process more reliable but that's going to take quite a while. Fortunately your people don't seem to have any shortage of plum seeds. That said if this batch doesn't work out it'll be at least three weeks before I'm ready to try again. I'll need to examine the remains and try to figure out how to improve their odds of survival.”

    “Ah you couldn't start another batch while examining the remains and hope to get lucky?”

    “That would be a bit much. As you noticed already I've set myself up so I don't have to be away from the workshop. I have to keep this reaction under careful observation if it's going to have any real chance at success. Plus that would be rather wasteful.”

    “You know the reaction probably isn't going to succeed if it fails this time but there is still a chance. Besides how would it be wasteful?”

    “Maria these materials aren't exactly easy to come by.”

    “Are you sure about that?”

    “I believe I know what I'm talking about when it comes to alchemy.”

    “I don't know. You seemed to think many of the materials we provided you with were rare. Are you sure that what you're thinking of as rare isn't fairly common here? Did you ask Dan about all the materials and find out which ones truly were rare?”

    “I well. Actually, I didn't really think about it. I just listed the materials I needed and volume then he provided them. Well you may have a point. I should probably talk to him and find out what truly was rare.”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “I bet you asked for some materials you didn't need and didn't give the exact volumes.” As she spoke Maria was made to grin as she examined the shelves.

    “Ah well.”

    A slight giggle escaped Maria as she stuck her tongue out at Joseph and walked over to one of the shelves. She then proceeded to retrieve a tiny package of dried roots. “Do you need this?”

    “Actually, um no.” A slight chuckle escaped Joseph as he rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. “Hey! What are you doing?”

    “Hum?!” Maria couldn't respond verbally as she'd already filled her mouth up with some of the contents from the package.

    “Those aren't edible!”

    “Joseph, remember when we first met.”

    “Well yeah but, those are, I don't see how you could.” For a moment Joseph grew silent and rubbed his forehead. “Can you really eat those safely?”

    “Yep! They taste pretty good once they've been dried and processed like this.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “I swear. The amount you just ate would be enough to kill a small village if the toxins were extracted.”

    “You humans don't know what you're missing out on due to weak digestive systems. This stuff actually taste quite good. Kind of sweet but with a nuttiness to it.”

    “I'll have to take your word for it. Hey wait a minute. Isn't that a breach of your diet?”

    “Well a little bit.”

    “Maria you shouldn't be doing that. I still remember how upset you were when you weren't allowed to eat breakfast while I was living with the three of you. You looked so frustrated and well hungry.”

    “Ah don't worry about it! This little snack won't hurt me.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he walked towards Maria. He didn't know what was going on but before he realized what was happening he'd reached out and tried to take hold of the bag. Of course he only ended up grasping air. “Maria, you need to stick to your diet.”

    It was easy to see what Joseph was doing though it surprised Maria that he would try such a thing. Still she was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at him. “If you want it you're going to have to take it from me.”

    “Maria don't be stubborn about this. I'm only trying to help you. Now give me back the roots.”

    “Um no.” As she spoke Maria gave a slight giggle and quickly pressed off the ground easily leaping to the far wall of the room. She then proceeded to take another handful of the dried roots and pop them into her mouth. “If you want to stop me you're going to have to catch me.”

    “I can't be chasing you around in here and you know it. Further more you know that I can't catch you.”

    “Mhm.” A slight giggle escaped Maria as she ate another handful of the roots.

    Despite what he had said Joseph found himself walking towards Maria as if trying to get her in a corner. She seemed to have realized this though and was already moving around the room easily out pacing him while still snacking on the roots. “Aren't you worried that one of your sisters will smell the roots on your breath?”

    “Hm well not really. After all this is just a little extra.”

    “I bet you told yourself that before you were punished.” It actually surprised Joseph whenever Maria suddenly stopped moving and looked strait at him.

    “Well you have me there.” A sigh escaped Maria as she held up the bag. “It's just a little extra though and we're allowed to breach our diet once in a while.”

    “Maria I don't believe it's a good ideal for you to be the one deciding when it's okay to breach your diet.”

    “I. I know you're right. Okay here you go.” As she spoke Maria walked towards Joseph and held up the bag for him to take.

    As Joseph took the bag from Maria he didn't mention how much she'd diminished the contents. Rather he found himself wearing a grateful grin. “Maria could you tell me more about how much you're allowed to eat. Perhaps I could help you.”

    “Um sure. How do you intend to help me though?”

    “It's simple. It's probably not a good idea for you to decide when you can breach your diet. That said it is commonly difficult to stick to such a rigid scheduled. So I'll help you out and try to work out a plan that'll let you eat a little extra every once in a while without breaking your diet.”

    At first Maria was silent as she looked at Joseph only speaking after several minutes had passed as she thought this over. “That sounds a little strange. Normally friends are expected to help you stick to the rigid diet.”

    “I don't believe that'll work out very well. It just leads to you sneaking off and snacking like you did with your sister before you encountered me. Like you were doing just now in a sense.”

    “Ah well you maybe right. I don't know about this. It still seems kind of strange but I'm willing to give it a shot.”

    “I believe this will help you in the long run. That said. I don't believe you'll be snacking anymore today after eating this many roots. Just enjoy your regular meal.”

    “Are you going to eat with me?”

    “Yeah just give me a chance to check on the reaction and balance anything out that needs tweaked.”

***********************************************************************************

    As Dan pressed the heavy brush against Mina's back he remembered what she'd told him about being gentle. Namely she'd told him not to be gentle in the least. So he found himself leaning his full weight into the brush as he moved it up and down over her back working up a thick layer of suds. “Mina I swear I can't smell anything on you.”

    “I'm not taking this mask off until you at least finish with my back!”

    A slight chuckle escaped Dan as he noted the look Mina was giving him. She'd taken three very thorough baths since coming back and yet she still wasn't willing to take the mask off. She'd finally asked him to wash the parts of her back she couldn't easily reach to insure the sent was gone. “So what are you going to do?”

    “I'm going to thank Joseph for the mask and then I'm going to have a word with those sneaks.”

    “I suggest you don't tell them where you got the mask though I'm certain they've seen you wearing it. They're going to be quite upset about this.”

    “So what? Do you believe they'll try something?”

    “They might try to make Joseph pay for making you that mask. After all if it hadn't been for that I doubt you'd found their stash.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Mina. “I wonder if they're really that stupid.” A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “I can't believe how badly I messed up.”

    “Huh?”

    “Dan I told you what was in that building. They'd built up quite a bit of supplies and I allowed it because I couldn't stand to go in there and deal with the scent.”

    “Mina you can't help your nose.”

    “I can learn to deal with it at least deal with it better.”

    “Now Mina there is no need for that. I just wish I had thought to provide you with a mask. I feel like I let you down when I think about it.”

    “Dan you don't have any reason to feel that way. You've helped me plenty.” As she spoke Mina finally unstrapped the mask and removed it from her face. As she took off the mask she found herself taking careful sniffs of the air. “Like just now. You helped insure I didn't want to put this mask on as soon as I took it off.”

    “Well I'm glad to help where I can.”

    “And now that you helped me get cleaned off.” A slight giggle escaped Mina as she quickly reached around and took hold of Dan. She didn't bother waiting for him to respond before she tossed him into the water. “It's time for me to help you!”

***********************************************************************************

    As Joseph examined his gloves he was made to sigh slightly. A rather noticeable portion of the material was missing where he'd made a slight mistake. Some of the contents from the reactionary flasks had gotten onto his gloves and actually began to alter the material. If it hadn't been for Maria he would have contaminated the reaction. That wasn't what Maria was worrying about though.

    “Joseph are you alright?” As Maria spoke she placed a hand behind Joseph's head and began to feel for any damage. She'd been forced to pull him back rather quickly whenever she'd noticed a discharge from the container while Joseph had been adding some reagents.

    “Yeah I'm fine. Thanks for saving the reaction Maria.”

    “The reaction?! I was saving you! What happened just now.”

    “I'm sorry. There was a bit more energy in the solution then I realized. Whenever I went to add some more reagents they responded rather strongly and some of it erupted in a sense.”

    “Look at what it did to your gloves. What would have happened if that got on you?”

    “I would be missing a decent portion of my hand.”

    “Yet that's all the safety measures you took to avoid the reaction?!”

    “Ah well my gloves were enough. It's not like the reaction was strong enough to destroy them.”

    “That's not acceptable! How did you make such a big mistake.”

    With the pain in his back fading away from where Maria had jerked him out of the way Joseph began to raise to a seated position. “Well the transformation is rather experimental. I can't predict everything perfectly.”

    A sigh escaped Maria as she shook her head. “I'll tell you what. Next time I'll be the one to add the reagents for you. You just tell me what to add and how much.”

    “Maria you don't need to worry I would have been fine even if you hadn't been here.”

    “This time maybe but who knows about next time? When you first made the life bloom you had others helping to insure your safety didn't you?”

    “Well yes but they were trained alchemist and mages.”

    “I may not be an alchemist or mage but I can help you at least. So long as it doesn't involve.” Immediately Maria bit down on her lower lip. “I can help you with most situations.”

    “Huh? Maria what were you about to say.”

    “I can't tell you. Anyway, I can add things to the reaction for you now that it's going. I don't want to catch you taking such a risks again.”

    “Maria I'm not going to let you take the risks for me.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she looked at Joseph. “Then it's a good thing that for me there is no real risks in doing such things. I wouldn't have even needed those gloves to deal with that little miss hap.”

    “Maria these gloves are made from specially treated dire spider silk.”

    “That's nothing compared to what I can endure. If you don't believe me you can feel free to test it.”

    As Maria was speaking there was supreme confidence in her voice. Joseph didn't know if this was just arrogance or not but it was clear she believed she could. “Actually, Maria I have been wondering. Would it be possible for me to run some test on you? I have to admit your species biology has interested me from the moment I began to learn about it.”

    “I think that might be a bit much Joseph. I wouldn't mind but I don't think my sisters or brothers would allow it.”

    “I see.” A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “That's not surprising though. However, if you are serious about helping me I will need to test and see if you can withstand as much as you say.”

    A slight giggle escaped Maria as she gave a nod. “Go right ahead. How would you like to start?”

***********************************************************************************

    What was Maria and her kind made of? Was the dominant though in Joseph's mind as he looked towards the roof. He had used some very powerful solvents on Maria and it didn't even seem to affect her fur. What's more those few that did seem to have affected her only seemed to change the color of her fur. She then easily washed it away as if he'd poured nothing but food coloring on it.

    “It takes a lot to affect my species.” Had been Maria's claim and she'd been right. As Joseph looked towards a desk he could swear he could see her standing there. Her hand held within an open flame and the fire failing to even singe her fur. She'd held it there until it was clear that such heat wasn't sufficient to harm her and then she'd withdrew her hand gave a slight chuckle and asked him if he wanted to see if her hand was hot.

    Of course he'd taken her up on her offer. When he'd touched her fur though he'd found it felt like it always did. Warm but not hot. That wasn't the only thing that had him thinking. Maria's little display had impressed him he only knew of a few creatures that were so resistant to damage. After she'd left though he'd noticed a few strands of her fur where she had set. It was only a few strands but he had decided to do some testing.

    The bits of fur that Maria had left behind had burned and been broken down with ease. It had been as if the fur was just normal hair. He didn't have a large enough sample to do all the test that he'd like but the implications was clear. The fur on Maria's body was extremely resistant to damage however once it fell off it was no where near as durable. So it seemed that her body did more to protect her fur then her fur did to protect her.

    Was that accurate though? It was also possible that as her fur got older it wore out and had to be replaced. So of course the fur she shed wouldn't be as durable as that still upon her body. There was also the possibility that what he thought was Maria's fur was something else though he doubted that. The coloring had been the same as her fur and it wasn't like he had any carpeting or animals in his workshop to cause confusion.

    He wished he had a larger sample to work with. Unfortunately upon searching his workshop in great detail he wasn't able to find anymore fur. This brought up questions as well though. Surely Maria had shed some fur in his lab before she'd spent so much time there it seemed impossible. If she hadn't though did she intentionally leave behind a few strands to confuse him? Why would she do that though? He was able to put these fears to wrest easily though upon looking at his cleaning supplies.

    The reason he couldn't find any of her old fur in the workshop was because he kept it so clean. It was a force of habit and a requirement to do his job safely. It was actually a relief though whenever he noted a knocking on the door though he did feel his heart rate speed up. “Who's there?”

    “It's Mina Joseph I need you to open the door.”

    In response Joseph quickly climbed out of his makeshift bed and made his way over to the door. Upon opening it up he found himself staring directly at Mina's crotch and was made to blush as he had forgotten to look upwards. He quickly corrected this. “Yeah Mina?”

    Before speaking Mina bent at the knees and lowered herself to a squatted position to make herself closer to Joseph's eye level. “Joseph are you currently working on anything that would tie you to your workshop?”

    “Huh? What is going on?”

    “Just answer the question.”

    “Well I am working on.” For a moment Joseph grew silent and looked back at the container. “On a project that requires me to be on hand to insure nothing goes wrong.”

    “Blast!” A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “Okay Joseph I'm going to need to assign someone to keep an eye on you. I hope you don't mind.”

    “Mina what's going on?”

    “Allen was assaulted.”

    “Allen? You mean Stella's little boy?!”

    In response Mina gave a quick nod. “Yeah I went to search the tannery using that mask you gave me. I found a lot of supplies hidden there and removed them. I thought that after I confronted the claimed they would back down and behave but it seems I only made them desperate. Some of them tried to take a hostage and well Allen happened to be at hand.”

    “Is he okay?”

    In response Mina gave a nod. “Yeah. Pera insured that he was safe.” 

    “Pera? Isn't she just a child?”

    Despite the situation this made Mina grinned as she shook her head. “Joseph that child removed the arms of three fully grown human males in less then five seconds for threatening her friend. Unfortunately shortly after that incident we found several other strange happenings. Namely many of the claimed have gone missing and we're having trouble tracking them.”

    “How is that possible?”

    “At this moment we're not sure. Their scents are proving difficult to track though and listening for them is impossible with that blasted ringing.”

    “Ringing?”

    A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “I'll have to explain later. Right now we're gathering up all the males though and moving them to the dining hall in the market while we search for the escapees we don't want to risk them taking anymore hostages.”

    To this Joseph gave a nod. “I don't know if the reaction will be alright but I don't want to cause you undo trouble. The reaction can be restarted.”

    “No. This building has enough supplies in it now that we might as well protect it. Give me a second.”

    In response Joseph gave a slight nod. He couldn't help but be curious whenever Mina turned her head towards the market and opened her mouth. He didn't hear any sound coming from her though it was clear she was yelling quite loudly. It only took him a moment to realize that she must have been adjusting the frequency so it was outside the range humans could hear. “What did you just do?”

    Before speaking Mina lowered herself to a seated position. “I just called for Pera to bring Dan, Allen and a few of her friends to protect the three of you.”

    “What?”

    A slight giggle escaped Mina. “Don't worry they're young girls but they're good girls and more then qualified to protect this structure. I would have called for someone older but everyone guardian level and higher is busy.”

    “I see. With the search I take it.”

    “That and the ringing I mentioned. Somehow they managed to grow several singing crystals and plant them around the market. They keep emitting a sound wave you probably can't hear but we sure can and it's making it nearly impossible to track by hearing. We have to find them and destroy them all quickly. Honestly I bet Pera and her friends will be glad I called them out here. It'll get them away from the crystals.”

    “Are you serious?!”

    “Indeed I am. We have to find and destroy them quickly or they could give away the location of the market.” A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “We haven't failed like this in a very long time.”

    “Mina you do know there is a quick way to destroy those crystals right?”

    “What? How?”

    Joseph actually gave a slight jump backwards as Mina stood up nearly knocking him over with her chest as she did. “A singing crystal can easily be destroyed by another singing crystal tuned to the right frequency as long as it has a high enough energy level. I'd just need to know the frequency they're currently resonating, have the needed materials to make the crystal and be able to provide enough energy to it.”

    Before Mina could respond another voice interrupted. “We have the materials right here.” A sigh escaped Dan as he looked at Mina for a moment. “Mina you shouldn't rush off before I'm done speaking.”

    For a moment Mina was silent. It couldn't be seen due to her fur but she was blushing. “I'm sorry Dan.”

    “It's alright. Anyway, Joseph it seems like you and I hit upon the same ideal. I take it that you're ready to get to work.”

    “Yeah this workshop should have the equipment we need.”

    In response Dan gave a nod and glanced behind him. “Okay Pera we want you and your friends to stay outside of the shop and insure that no one bothers us. If someone shows up explain that we're working on a way to silence all the crystals.”

    In response Pera gave a quick nod. “Sure thing but what about Allen?” As she spoke Pera glanced over to one of her friends who was currently carrying Allen on her back.

    “He'll need to stay out here with you. Joseph and I are both alchemist but this stuff can be somewhat dangerous. If the crystal was to shatter while it's being produced we could be badly injured and I don't want to send Allen back to Stella cut up. She'd cut me up.” Before Mina could protest Dan turned to her. “Mina before you say anything about the danger I know what I'm doing now scoot.”

    A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “I better not learn this was some exceptionally dangerous process. Okay I'm going to go and join the wrest of the search.”

    Joseph waited until Mina had taken off to speak. “Do you have any ideal how they produced singing crystals? Without a blank it takes weeks or even months to produce one.”

    “It just gives you an ideal of how long they've been working on this. Anyway, let's get to work.” As he spoke Dan retrieved one of the three blanks he'd brought along from the satchel. “I want to have everyone of those crystals converted to powder in thirty minutes.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “That's not going to be easy. I was thinking it would take an hour but we can try for thirty.”

    It was hard for Maria to believe what was going on as she skipped through the trees well ahead of her other sisters. She had been assigned to the hunting party almost immediately due to her speed. She could easily search two or three times faster then any of her other sisters. However, it was proving a frustrating search as she struggled to ignore the crystals back in the market. It was quite impressive how great their range was.

    What was more annoying then the crystals though was not being able to find scent trials. She wasn't entirely certain how the escapees had masked their scent so effectively but they had and it was doing a wonderful job hiding them. At least it was. A grin formed on Maria's face as she caught a whiff of a humans scent. While she felt confident that she could handle it herself she gave a roar to call her sisters to her location while she quickly headed towards the smell.

    “What is it sister did you find one of them?”

    A sigh escaped Maria as she shook her head. “Yeah but I know why I could smell him now.” As she spoke Maria pointed towards the man's corpse.

    Upon looking towards the corpse the other girl was made to groan slightly. “Damn it. They might have been well prepared to leave but this forest is still dangerous it seems.”

    Before responding Maria gave a slight jump landing closer to the corpse. She then bent down and began to carefully inspect the body. “The escape wasn't that long ago. I wonder how he got killed already. Oh wait. Fuck!”

    “What is it sister?”

    “I know how he died. He was stabbed in the back. Wasn't this a Gale soldier?”

    “I'm not sure.”

    “I bet some of the others killed him so that his corpse would distract us a while.”

    “Wouldn't it have been best if they didn't put us on their trial at all.”

    “Hm dang you're right.”

    “Hey Maria what's going on.” As Nora landed she took a few quick steps towards Maria only to notice the body. “I see you found one.”

    “Yeah too late though.”

    “You mean he was already dead?”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Yeah he was. Hey wait. Nora what brought you here?”

    “I smelt the scent.”

    “You mean you didn't hear my roar?”

    “No I can't say I did. This is bad isn't it?”

    In response Maria gave a nod. “Those crystals are making it hard for us to communicate. Now several of us will be lured to this corpse thinking they've found something just because we can't talk to one another. I take back what I said about them not wanting to put us on their trial. This might put a few of us on the right track in a sense but it sure throws a lot more of us off.”

    As Allen set on the roof he kept his attention focused on the path before him. The path that humans used to get their and back. He kept his eyes focused on it even as he spoke. “Pera?”

    “Yeah Allen?”

    “Thank you for saving me.”

    “No problem! I was glad to do it. I'm sorry that I let him get hold of you though.”

    “It's okay. You didn't hear him due to the crystals.”

    “I should have scene him coming though. It's not like he was being stealthy. If I hadn't been so easily distracted you wouldn't have been put in any danger. I didn't mean to get any blood on you.”

    “It's okay. You don't have anything to apologize for.” As he finished speaking Allen looked away from the path and towards Pera.

    “I wonder why they grabbed you like that.”

    “I don't know.”

    “Where you scared?”

    Before speaking Allen felt his face warming up as he began to blush. “I was really more surprised then scared. I guess I'm more scared now then whenever I was first grabbed.”

    “Why would you be scared now?”

    “I. I don't know. I want my mother but at least you're here with me.”

    Before speaking Pera stood up and walked over to Allen setting down next to him. “Of course I'm here with you. So don't worry I'll keep you safe and I won't let anyone grab you like that again.”

    “Thanks Pera.”

    “You're welcome. Why weren't you scared when he first grabbed you though.”

    “I didn't really have time to be scared. One second I find myself being picked up and I start to scream. The next moment I'm on my bottom on the ground. With an arm next to me.”

    “When I took his arm off and saw some blood on you I was scared I'd accidentally cut you as well.”

    “Hey Pera. Do you know who that man Dan was speaking to was?”

    “That's Joseph he's pretty new here.”

    “So Carter what do you believe happened?”

    “There must have been a mage amongst the claimed that have been brought in. Before the escape attempt he most likely cast a still air spell on the escapees so that they wouldn't leave behind a scent trail. That's the only scenario I can think of.”

    To this William gave a quick nod. “It would seem likely. In that case we should try a track magic spell to locate the escapees. It should be easy for the girls to track them down with a wisp leading the way.”

    Before either of the two could speak up Kenny chose to voice his opinion. “Not with the singing crystals active. Right now the area around the village would be saturated by low level magic. Still wind is a complex spell to cast but it is not a very powerful spell. The wisp would be unable to track the escapees.”

    To this Carter gave a nod. “I see your point. However, Dan and Joseph are currently working on a crystal to shatter the ones that were planted in the village. Once those have been broken it should be an easy tasks. The escapees won't be able to make it very far within such a limited time.”

    “So Carter, William do you believe that we should start conjuring a wind spirit to track the escapees?”

    To this William gave a shrug. “I'll take care of that myself. You two be trying to think of anything we might have missed.”

    Before William could leave Carter once again spoke up. “Do you believe we should bring in any of the others in this matter? Perhaps we should send some of the other alchemists to help Dan and Joseph.”

    In response William shook his head in the negative. “Do you know anything about producing a singing crystal?”

    “I can't say that I do.”

    “While a third might be able to help with the process anymore then that would hinder it. Joseph I believe to be an accomplished alchemist and we know Dan is very skilled. The two of them should be more then capable of producing the crystal. As for waking some of the others I don't believe that we need to do that.”

    As Kenny listened to William and Carter her chose to speak up. “I agree there would be no point waking the others at this point. I am rather puzzled by their choice of methods though. Surely whoever took hold of Allen realized that they would be killed for such an act. If Pera hadn't given him such a grievous injury from the beginning Stella would have.”

    To this Carter gave a slight shrug. “Most likely they hoped to force one of the girls to guide them out of the forest. From the reports we've already gotten though I'm thinking that they chose many different paths of escape.”

    It actually surprised the men whenever a forth voice joined the conversation. “I would have to agree with you.”

    “Flora? What are you doing here?”

    “I just came by to see how things were going. We've managed to find some of the crystals in the market area but they're still causing us frustration.”

    To this William gave a quick nod. “Flora did you take any of the crystals you've found to Dan and Joseph? I imagine they could make use of them.”

    “A few of the girls are bringing them some of them. I also brought some of them to you.” As she spoke Flora reached into a small satchel she'd been packing and brought out three of the tiny crystals. “I would appreciate it if you took them now.”

    “Of course.” As Carter spoke he moved forward and took the crystals from Flora. Given the trouble they were causing them he could only imagine the irritation Flora was feeling. “Is there anything else you needed?”

    “You're going to need to decide what to do with the escapees once we find them and quickly. You may want to get several of the others together to make a united stand. These things are so loud to us that it's affecting every female but the sleepers most likely. Fortunately they haven't awaken.”

    “Yes that would be a disaster. Why would we need to make such a mass move though?” As William spoke he had no ideal what he'd just asked for.

    Instead of responding right away Flora quickly reached out and took hold of William. She then quickly jerked him closer to herself and turned him to the side. Leaning closer she opened her mouth. There was only one thing that came out. “Ah!” As Flora yelled she made certain to keep it as loud as she could while still keeping within a frequency William could hear. She felt William trying to jerk away immediately.

    Painful didn't begin to describe how loud Flora's voice was as she yelled in his ear. William would have normally went for a spell to try and silence her but her grip on him was too secure and she'd caught him off guard. His ears were positively ringing by the time Flora released him and allowed him to fall to the ground. “What the hell was that for Flora?!”

    “That's what we're currently enduring thanks to those crystals. All of us.”

    While Carter and Kenny's ears were ringing as well they felt certain William had just got it far worse. Kenny was the one that spoke up first though. “You make a very good point. You seem to be managing quite well though.”

    “We're used to having to endure some form of suffering due to our hunger. That doesn't mean we enjoy it though. I have to admit I'm a little miffed at them for using those crystals as well.”

    The reason Kenny had been able to speak up before Carter was Carter was actually trying to keep from laughing. His ears were hurting but William's and Flora's reactions had been more then a little amusing to him. Now that he understood the situation though he sobered up quickly. “I imagine several of the ladies already want to rip the escapees apart. It doesn't help that some of them tried to take Allen hostage.”

    In response Flora gave a nod. “We had to force Stella to remain in the market and hunt for crystals. If she finds any of the escapees she's liable to tear them apart. She'll probably hold them responsible for endangering her child as a whole.”

    To this Flora gave a quick nod. “Even the matrons are becoming rather annoyed with the crystals.”

    After a moment Carter gave a nod. “Alright then. We should get busy. I believe we'll leave the crystals to Dan and Joseph still but they are other things we can do.”

    A sigh escaped Mina as she looked at the human corpse and one of her sisters setting next to it. She knew right away what was happening if she was staying still. “This is a decoy isn't it?”

    “Unfortunately yes sister.”

    “Blast it. They really thought the initial escape through. Surely they realize those crystals will only hold us for a few hours at most though and it takes days or weeks to travel through the forest.”

    “The probably had some long term plan going which you disrupted.”

    “You may very well be right. So who all has been here?”

    “More then I care to say. I was elected to stay behind and tell everyone what's going on.”

    “Damn those crystals if it wasn't for them we could inform everyone right away. Please keep watch here so the others keep moving. There is something I have to go check on.”

    “Sure thing Mina.”

    “Is that better?”

    Pera gave a slight chuckle as she looked out the corner of her eye trying to see Allen. She'd mentioned that the sound was really annoying her and the young boy had offered to cover her ears. His hands did muffle the sound waves a bit though she could still hear them. “It's a little better.”

    “Okay. If I think of a better way to cover up your ears I'll let you know.”

    “Thanks, though from the way Joseph and Dan were talking earlier we shouldn't have to wait much longer. I wonder what's taking them so long though. Dan said he wanted the crystal in thirty minutes and it's been over that.”

    “How do you know?”

    “I've been counting the minutes.”

    “Oh. What are they talking about now?”

    “I don't know. A lot of the words they've been using I don't recognize and there is a lot of clanging going on. The last thing I could really understand was whenever our sister brought them those crystals. Dan and Joseph both seemed really angry. They said something about there being a sleeper crystal. What do you think that is?”

    “One that hasn't started making sound yet probably.”

    “That's what I was thinking to but I hope that's not the case. Just one of them is bad enough. Oh wait they're talking again.”

    As Dan worked to attune their singing crystals to the right frequency he couldn't hold it in. “I can't believe they had a second group of crystals laying around. Even if we had destroyed the first group of them the sound waves would have awakened the second group and the problem would have began all over.”

    “At least Flora was nice enough to have some crystals sent to us. So Dan how is your crystal coming along?”

    “Fine what about yours?”

    “I'm nearly done as well.  Though now that I've had time to think I have to ask. What made you decide to come by here Dan?”

    “I was going to work on the crystal regardless of what happened. Whenever Mina mentioned going to check on you though I decided that it would be best if I had someone to work with. You mentioned to me that you've been working on the life bloom as well so it seemed like a good ideal.”

    “I take it Mina came here to insure they weren't taking me hostage as well.”

    “Yeah plus to make sure no suspicion fell on you.”

    “Huh?!”

    “A few of the women saw a claimed approach you a while back. Given everything that's happened Mina was worried one of her sisters may think you'd helped them and act before thinking.”

    “Ah I see. Well that was considerate of her. She seems to have quite a cool head.”

    “Mina's pretty practical whenever the safety of others is involved.”

    “Damn it they left some of the brats to guard him.” As Dav spoke he glanced back at Greg and Horlamin. “What do you think we should do?”

    Greg was the one to respond. “You know what just one of them can do even if it is a kid and that one isn't alone. Look she has three friends setting around with her. We should get out of here we're not going to be able to get those two.”

    A sigh escaped Dav as he shook his head. “Damn it. I was hoping we could at least get into the shop for supplies. Yeah we need to get out of here.”

    “Actually you needed to get out of here I'd say three minutes ago. Hm I don't recognize you three.”

    It was clear they'd been found and while the owner of the voice didn't know them they knew her. Mina was quite well known amongst the claimed. Dav's first instinct was to go for his weapon but he suppressed the urge as he turned to face her. “We're not with the others. We were just taking advantage of an.” Dav didn't get to finish as he felt something slam into his stomach and lift him off the ground. His jaw was made to go slack as he looked down he was quite surprised by what he saw.

    Mina had to hold back to keep from killing the human even when using her tail to hit him. As she held him aloft she kept her tone low but clear. “Now listen very carefully. They are two men in that building one of them happens to be my mate. Now you were just talking about taking him hostage. I am more then willing to kill all three of you at this moment but I'm restraining myself. So shut up and only speak whenever you're asked a question.”

    Both Greg and Horlamin were silent as Mina removed her tail and allowed Dav to fall to the ground. All three of them knew that they weren't going to outrun one of the beast now that they'd been spotted. Unfortunately she'd just told them to be quiet which left them in a very uneasy situation. They couldn't do anything but wait and see what she decided to do with them.

    A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “I should kill all three of you right now but I can't think clearly with that blasted ringing. Pera come over here!”

    Pera gave a slight jump upon hearing Mina's voice having not realized her elder sister was so close. The singing crystals had prevented her from hearing the men approaching or the conversation. “I'll be back Allen.”

    “Okay.”

    As Pera landed next to her Mina reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Pera I need you to watch these three and don't kill them. You can wound them if they try to escape but try to keep from killing them.”

    “Huh? Where did they come from?”

    “They were spying on you all. I'm just glad the four of you were here to make sure they didn't try anything.”

    “Blasted crystals. Mina I didn't hear them.”

    “I know. It's okay. I only noticed them because I saw them upon my arrival. Now I need to speak with Dan and Joseph.”

    “Okay.”

    Neither Dan or Joseph were expecting the door to open fortunately neither of them were startled by it either. It was Dan that spoke up upon seeing Mina enter. “Mina what's going on?”

    “I came to check on how the two of you were doing.”

    “We're almost done here. It's taking longer then I'd like though. Flora had some crystals sent to us and we noticed that one of them wasn't active. They'd hidden sleeper crystals in the market.”

    “Sleeper crystals?”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “They're another form of singing crystal except they're triggered by a frequency. It just so happens the frequency that would have triggered these is the exact same one that would have destroyed the ones currently active.”

    “How long did they plan to delay us with those damn things! They're about to drive me insane.”

    In response Dan gave a quick nod. “This was a pretty well planned out escape. However, I don't think it was as well planned out as it would have been if you hadn't found those supplies in the tannery.”

    A low groan escaped Mina as she shook her head. “I guess they thought we'd be inspecting the tannery more often once I found the first stockpile. We probably would have. Well Joseph I guess we owe you.”

    To this Joseph gave a slight shrug. “It's not a problem. I have to say though I'm quite surprised that the little mask I gave you could have played a part in all this.”

    Before the conversation could continue Dan spoke up. “Mina you're not wearing your bracelets or anything.”

    “Damn it! Okay you two I'm going to head out.” As she spoke Mina was already making her way out the door and quickly shut it behind herself.

    It actually caught Joseph off guard whenever Mina suddenly departed. He also couldn't help but notice the surprise in her voice. “One of these days I'm going to have to find out why they react so strongly to not having those pieces of jewelery on while in here.”

    “Don't think on it too much. For now though let's finish up here.”

    It actually surprised Flora to see her daughter back in the market area so quickly. “Maria what brings you back here?”

    “Mom weren't some of our brothers hunters at one time?”

    “Well yes they were. Oh! I see what you're getting at.”

    “While I was out I noticed a broken twig and it got me to thinking. Humans don't have hearing or a sense of smell like ours yet they can track very well. The escapees most likely aren't expecting us to know human tracking techniques. How about we have some of the humans help in our hunt?”

    “I'm not sure if we have any that are still well practiced in such an art but it is most assuredly worth a shot.” A sigh escaped Flora. “If only a few guest were in the village they would undoubtedly be able to track them.”

    “Yeah.”

    “Okay Maria as it was your ideal I want you to go and inform every keeper within the market and village you can find. You're faster then I am so it makes more sense that you should go anyway.”

    “Sure thing mom.” As she spoke Maria was already dashing further into the market.

    As Dav set a few meters away from Pera he couldn't help but rub his stomach. The spot where Mina had struck him had been hurting before and now the pain was only growing worse. He was afraid to complain though for fear of what the girls watching him would do if he spoke. Mina had made it clear to him that he was to remain silent. Fortunately he didn't have to remain silent for long.

    While Pera was upset by everything that had happened and the crystals weren't helping her patience she wasn't so mad she wasn't curious. “Why did your human friends threaten Allen?”

    It was Markus that spoke up first. “They wanted to take him as a hostage to negotiate a safe escort through the forest.”

    “Why did only a few of you do it though?”

    “We were divided on the method to use. Some of us felt that we could put enough distance between ourselves and the village to escape that you wouldn't be able to track us all. Others thought it was impossible and we'd need something to bargain with.”

    “So why did you wait behind?”

    “We knew that once it became clear some had escaped you would all leave to chase us down. At least that was what we thought. We'd hoped to grab one of the humans you value away from the main areas which may still be guarded. They left you four here though.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Pera as she shook her head. “We're not stupid.” As she finished speaking Pera's lips formed into a smile revealing her razor sharp teeth. “Unlike the three of you. You're fortunate Mina didn't just tear your legs off and leave you to die right now.”

    “Dan, I know it's a bit late to worry about this but where did these singing crystals come from?”

    “They're used enough in alchemical research and other studies that we had a few on hand. If you're worried about the supply of them. Yeah you're correct to be worried about that. This is an unusual situation though.”

    “I see. I just need the mystic essence to awaken mine and it's ready to go.”

    “Good. If you don't mind come over here and give me a hand with mine then. I'm nearly finished but the resonance is being stubborn.”

    Markus had been rather surprised whenever he'd been woken in the middle of the night. He had been living near the market for a while now as a rank three. He had his own little place and was allowed a great deal of freedom. He'd been taking that time to prepare for his departure from the forest. “I have to say that I feel a bit awkward doing this.”

    In response Stella glanced over her shoulder at Markus. “What's the matter?”

    “Well they're just trying to do the same thing I'm doing. They're just using different means.”

    “If you don't want to help track them down we won't force you. You do realize that we're probably going to kill at least a few of them for what they've done.”

    In response Markus gave his head a slight shake. “Yeah. Yeah I realize that which doesn't make this easier.”

    Despite Markus's comments Stella continued moving. She was just glad to be out of the market district and on the hunt. She wanted to fine those responsible for her baby being endangered and make them pay. Even if they hadn't done it directly she felt many of the escapees had at least some degree of responsibility for such actions. “Markus we all know that you plan to leave as soon as you consider yourself capable of doing so.”

    “No doubt about that. That's why I'm doing this though.”

    “So you trust us to keep our deal?”

    “Yeah. You've never backed out of an agreement before.”

    “I must admit that your request caught me off guard. I felt certain that you'd ask for an escort out of the forest. Asking for the right to choose one claimed to be promoted to rank one was quite surprising.”

    “You wouldn't have agreed to escort me out of the forest.”

    “Well no but why not request another rank yourself?”

    “Oh that's easy. I need a partner to help me make my way out of this forest. As none of you are willing to help me it seems best to pick from amongst the claimed. That said waiting for someone else to earn even rank one is proving quite tiresome.”

    A sigh escaped Stella as she shook her head. “Honestly the ideal of letting you leave scares me.”

    “Huh?”

    “You're smart and you've learned a bit about us. That makes the ideal of you leaving the forest worrisome as you could prove to be quite dangerous to us.”

    “I haven't learned anything that could endanger you.”

    “Of course you'd say that. Ah well here we are.” As she came to the spot where the corpse had been found Stella came to a slow stop. “See what you can do.”

    “Will do.” As Markus hops of Stella's back he immediately noted several paths. Fortunately the women tended to stick to the tree tops for whatever reason so the path a human would have taken was fairly clear. The fact that the women moved so quickly through the forest almost meant the type of damage they caused was different from that of a humans. “This shouldn't be too hard their favoring speed over anything else.”

    Singing crystals were wonderful for monitoring certain reactions and tuning. The crystal itself was fairly fluid and its density could be changed by soaking it in different chemical baths. This let one change the frequency at will. The crystal was naturally responsive to magic and would begin to vibrate when enough energy was supplied. The less dense a crystal the more sensitive it was. This let them serve as magic detectors or even timers if set up correctly. Purity was of vital importance though to keep them from shattering.

    As Joseph was carried along by Mina he glanced over at Dan who was also being brought along for the ride. “This is an interesting way to travel I have to say.”

    “It's the only way to get through the forest.”

    Despite the situation Mina found herself joining in on the mens conversation. “I could really move if I didn't have to be careful not to break anything.”

    In response Dan leaned down a bit and gave Mina a kiss on her head. “Sorry sweetness but these crystals are kind of delicate.”

    “I wasn't talking about the crystals being delicate though there is that to.”

    “Ah well pardon me for being human and having breakable bones.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Mina as she looked at Dan out of the corner of her eye for a moment. “That's easily broken bones and you're forgiven. So just how is this going to work?”

    “We've tuned these singing crystals to a frequency that will resonate with the ones that are already active and currently sleeping respectively. This will cause them to vibrate at an abnormal frequency canceling out the sound and hopefully shattering them.”

    “Is that all?”

    “Well there is a chance that the crystals that were hidden will actually cause the ones we're using to shatter first. From what I saw of the hidden ones though ours are more pure so ours should cause the hidden ones to shatter first.”

    It was impossible for Mina to keep her displeasure out of her voice as she spoke. “You got to be joking.”

    In response Dan gave a shrug. “Sorry Mina but if this doesn't work we'll just have to try again. I'm certain that it'll shatter some of the crystals though.”

    “I guess we have no choice but to trust in you and Joseph.”

    It was impossible for Joseph not to ask even as Mina carried him. “Mina what other steps are you all taking to find the escapees?”

    “We convinced one of the hunters we brought in two years ago to help us in our search. Though it cost us a bit.”

    “A hunter?”

    “Markus is one of the people who started out as a claimed but it only took him a year to reach rank one. I know that might seem kind of slow compared to how quickly you progressed but he was really helpful and hard working.”

    “A hunter though?”

    A slight chuckle escaped Mina as she looked at Joseph. “Well yeah.”

    “How did a hunter earn his life back within that time?”

    “He made very effective us of his time, was open with his intents and proved to be useful.”

    In response Joseph gave a shrug. “I don't see how but okay.”

    “Well you'd have to ask his former keeper if you wanted the finer detail. Anyway, he agreed to help track down the escapees but it cost us.”

    “What did it cost you?”

    “After he's done helping us track down the escapees he gets to pick one person from amongst the claimed to promote to rank one. That is as long as they didn't try to escape in this attempt. He's planning on trying to leave the forest but he wants a partner to travel with him to improve his odds.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I see. That actually makes a lot of sense. How could he track something you can't though?”

    “We're used to having our ears and noses lead us while we're tracking. He doesn't rely on such things.” A sigh escaped Mina as she shook her head. “We may have to ask him to teach us to track without relying upon our eyes and noses after this.”

    “Do you think he'll do it?”

    In response Mina gave a slight shrug. “Probably in exchange for something else he wants.”

    As Joseph listened to this he couldn't help but voice his thoughts. “Mina why are you even having this guy help you? Once the crystals are destroyed you'll be able to hear just fine and this forest is vast.

    “They're several reasons Joseph. We don't know what all they had planned. What if this is only the start of something larger? We need to stop it now if that is the case. Also the further out they get the harder they are going to find. We need to capture as many of them alive as we can to improve our odds of finding out who planned all of this.”

    “Ah I see your point. Are they any other reasons?”

    “I'm pissed off and want to hurt them as soon as possible.”

    Joseph was actually made to grin upon hearing this. “Okay I believe that's enough reasons though I'm sure you could give more. It looks like we're here at least.”

    “Where do I need to take you two?”

    In response to Mina's question Dan pointed towards the market. “You need to take us as close to the center of the market area as you can. That way our crystals will have the widest effective range. Once those near the center have been destroyed we'll move ours around and try to insure we get all the others.”

    “Okay you two tell me exactly what's going to happen.”

    As Dan spoke he tightened his grip on Mina. “Mina you're going to have to stay close to me and Joseph just in case one of your sisters responds. Even the crystals we're using are going to effect you all and well some of you seem rather high strung. We can't have anyone destroy the crystals we've made or us until we're finished.”

    “Thanks for the warning.” As she spoke Mina finally came to a stop and set Dan and Joseph down. “Okay now what?”

    As Joseph was speaking he took a few steps away from Mina and placed the crystal he was holding on the ground. “Now we just add some mystic essence and wait for things to happen.”

    “Hold on a moment Joseph. Come here Mina, bind down and I'll cover your ears.”

    A grin formed on Mina's face as she did as she was asked. “Thanks sweet heart.”

    “Are you two ready?”

    In response to Joseph's question Mina gave a nod. “Go for it.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he retrieved a few small bits of crystallized energy and placed it upon the singing crystal. Before the crystal could respond he quickly moved away and came to stand beside Mina. He didn't know how the girls were going to respond but if it was poorly he wanted to be near some form of protection. Upon looking back at the crystal he found it was already vibrating.

    Mina had readied herself preparing for the experience to get even worse before it got better. Much to her surprise though that wasn't the case. Rather she found that the sound waves from one crystal cut out all the ones around her. At least it did for a few moments. After a while though the crystal Joseph had placed on the ground seemed to be getting far more noticeable. “Dan the crystal Joseph put down is getting louder. What does that mean?”

    “It means that the crystal is causing the others to shatter. They're not canceling it out as much. Tell me the moment you hear a third sound coming into play or if you hear only one crystal singing and we'll know how well things worked out.”

    As Stella followed behind Markus she couldn't help but notice the difference in the sound coming from the market. It had grown far fainter and it was becoming easier and easier for her to hear. She immediately realized this wasn't just due to them getting further away. It was impossible for her to keep from giving a relieved sigh.

    It was proving easy for Markus to track the others. They'd done a poor job indeed of hiding their tracks at least from someone with his training. “Stella, they've diverged here. We can only track one group at the moment. The group that went right seems to be the larger.”

    In response Stella gave a quick nod. “Alright then we'll track them. Please lead on.”

    “What was that sigh for a moment ago?”

    “That blasted ringing is finally being quited. Maybe my head will quit hurting soon.”

    To this Markus gave a nod. “Well that's a good thing I suppose.”

    “Don't worry our agreement still stands. Without the ability to track by scent hearing alone most likely won't be enough.”

    “I wasn't all that worried about it. However, I believe they expected for whatever was hiding their scent or limiting your hearing to expire.”

    “Why would you say that?”

    “Why else would they be favoring speed so much? Most likely once they feel they've put a few kilometers between themselves and your settlements they'll start favoring stealth.”

    “If you were escaping with them what would you be more worried about scent or hearing?”

    “Most likely they're focusing on their scent. After all those crystals have a limited range and one way or the other they'll eventually be too far out for them to reach. At which point you'll be able to use your hearing again.”

    “That's a good point.”

    “I'm amazed how well organized this was. I think you all should give the tannery another search once you have time.”

    “I would have to agree with you. This was probably months if not a year or more in the planning. Markus why are you so eager to leave here?”

    “This isn't my home and I wish to return to it.”

    “It's been over two years since you were brought here though.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Markus as he shook his head. “There have been longer journeys. I'm not one of your people and I don't plan on becoming one of them. I have a life that I want to return to even if some of it has passed me by.”

    “Don't you believe that'll be difficult to return to your old life?”

    In response Markus gave a slight shrug. “Not really. If I was just concerned with leaving the forest I would be even further along then I am now.”

    “Oh?”

    In response Markus gave a slight nod. “As you've given me permission to roam the forest and make use of various materials I have selected things to help me with the return to my world. Even the being welcomed back in.”

    “Ah you mean some things you humans will find of value.”

    “Indeed.”

    A sigh escaped Stella as she shook her head. “You could live comfortably and safely here if you wanted to become part of our community. You spend nearly all your time in your home.” Stella didn't get to finish as Markus spoke up.

    “That building isn't my home.”

    A sigh escaped Stella as she shook her head. “You're more clever but in many ways you're exactly like those claimed.”

    To this Markus gave a slight chuckle. “Not everyone can be content trusting in the good will of another race. Even if you don't call me one of the claimed that doesn't mean I'm free.”

    “I see where this is going and I believe I had this argument before.”

    “It wouldn't surprise me.”

    “Very well then I'll let it wrest here.”

    Maria had first thought that she might travel with Markus once she'd found one of the keepers. Her plans had changed though whenever she'd encountered Stella. Stella wasn't truly one of the keepers as she had Allen to raise but she had a sufficient rank to be one. She'd also known someone that could perform the desired task though how she knew them Maria wasn't entirely sure.

    It was a good thing she'd encountered her though. It had allowed Maria to resume the hunt for the escapees more quickly. The trip had also given her some breathing room so that she now found herself running along the forest floor instead of through the trees. She'd gone walking with Joseph a few times and she'd noticed something. Humans naturally took the easiest path they could find unless they were distracted by something.

    In response Bren gave a shrug. “I got mine from another prisoner.”

    “Can you tell us anything about him?”

    “Sorry but I met him through another person.”

    A groan escaped Nivon as he looked around. “I had thought for certain the mage would be with us. It seems that if they are though they're still keeping their identity a secret.”

***********************************************************************************

    “I really don't like using such methods.” A sigh escaped Mina as she pushed the escapees head back under the water and looked towards the others that were currently restrained. Instead of speaking again she waited until the one she was holding had to breath and she'd let him up to continue. “I don't even have a good ideal of who amongst you might be the mage.” Once again Mina pushed the humans head under the water and waited until she brought him back up to continue. “We need to know though.”

    Flora gave a sigh as she listened to Mina working. They didn't know who the mage was but they needed to find out. So they were just going to have to go through each of the escapees one at a time until they'd spoken with each one of them. Of course this wasn't something that they could confess to. “You all realize that you're eventually all going to get a turn unless the mage speaks up. However, don't even think you can claim to be the caster and save yourself some pain or save some of your fellows.”

    Sumon had managed to be quiet throughout most of their capture but as he watched Mina work and listened to Flora he had to speak up. “What's going to happen to us once you've worked all of us over?”

    In response Flora gave a shrug. “If we still don't know who the mage is we're going to do something even worse. Then after that if we still don't know we're going to work you over even harder.”

    “How would we prove that we're the mage though if a confession isn't enough?!”

    A slight giggle escaped Flora as she looked at the restrained claimed. “Simple you can toss a fire ball at one of us or a lightning bolt or anything else to prove that you have some mystic skill.”

    Before any of the prisoners could say anything Mina spoke up. “Of course, if you know who the mage is you could tell one of us.” A slight giggle escaped Mina as she lifted the man's head out of the water again. “If we find out you lied to us though you'll have to endure an even more unpleasant fate.”

    Despite the situation Sumon had to try something. “So you're just going to keep torturing us until you get an answer or we die!? That's.”

    Before the escapee could finished Flora spoke up. “You all caused us a lot of trouble and helped in the escape. You chose to take the risk knowing we'd be quite upset with you. However, we've decided that we aren't going to kill any of you. Isn't that nice?”

    “What? Then what are you going to do? When will this ever stop?”

    In response Flora gave a shrug. “Until we get an answer or we believe that we've broken you to the point that you couldn't hide a thing from us. I still can't believe Dan and the others were able to calm everyone down so quickly.”

    In response Mina gave a nod. “Who wants to take over their jobs while we replenish the number of claimed? It's amazing what one simple question can do.”

    “It was pretty wise of Dan to bring it up. I sure wasn't thinking about it at the time.”

    “Yeah but Carter did a great job of illustrating what that would mean for us. Even with masks like the one Joseph made for me not many of us can tolerate such work. Just after a quick trip through the tannery while wearing the mask I had to take around five baths before I felt clean enough to take it off.”

    It was nearly impossible for Sumon to listen to this. He had actually been surprised and somewhat grateful whenever the men had saved their lives. Now he didn't know what he should be feeling. Apparently they had only been saved as tools and as tools that had cut their masters they were going to be beaten into shape. “Isn't there anything we can do to stop this?!”

    A slight giggle escaped Mina as she looked at Sumon. “Well once I'm done with this one I'm going to put you through what he's currently having to endure as you seem so hell bent on getting my attention. Unless you have the information we want though then nope. There is nothing you can do to help yourself or anyone else at this point.”

    Sumon felt his mouth going dry as he listened to Mina. The way her voice didn't lose any of its cheerfulness just made the situation even more horrific. “This is monstrous! Even animals don't do this to one another! How can you treat this all so casually!”

    To this Mina once again spoke up. “OH that's easy! I don't give a damn about anyone of you right now. You're as dead to me as a rock and I sure don't feel any pity for rocks. I'll tell you what though, exhale sharply while I'm holding you under and inhale as much water as you can and I'll let you drown yourself.”

***********************************************************************************

    “Mirin you need to relax. Being so stressed won't help anything.”

    In response to the voice Mirin glanced up towards the massive beast girl he'd just finished pacing around. “I know Sona but I just can't convince myself to stay still.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Sona as she reached down and rubbed a figure over Mirin's back. At a solid fifteen meters tall the beast girl made the human look like a rodent or even a mouse. “You don't need to worry even if one of the escapees was a mage and made it out of the forest it isn't likely they could have learned anything.”

    “No? If we can't even figure out who the mage is how are we suppose to say exactly what they learned.”

    “Because me and my sisters are the guardians of the village, the libraries, the citadel, the masters wrest and everything else except the market and a few minor areas. Don't you trust in us?”

    “This isn't a matter of trust Sona and you should know that. I trust you no more then I trust any of the keepers and I trust all of you with my life without hesitation.”

    “What is it a matter of then?”

    “They were able to sneak around some of the defenses you all have worked so hard to maintain. There is nothing saying that they weren't able to sneak around even more of them though the market is the least secure settled region. It still has me concerned.”

    A sigh escaped Sona as she gave a shrug. “Do you want me and a few of the others to go and search. We can search even faster then the others.”

    “I don't believe it has come to that.”

    “Well if things aren't that bad then you should just relax a little.” As she spoke Sona reached down and wrapped a hand around the majority of Mirin's body. She didn't bother asking for permission to pick him up as she lifted him into the air and placed him in her lap. “Now quit walking around so much.”

    “It helps me think.”

    A slight giggle escaped Sona as she released her grip on Mirin though she didn't set him down. “Think right there and stay still. Didn't you do all your thinking while meeting with the others though?”

    “We came up with some good ideals I believe. However, I'm worried that even once we find all the escapees it'll be difficult to find the mage.”

    “Knowing my sisters if the mage doesn't reveal itself you'll just have a bunch of broken claimed to work with. Either way he'll be a none threat once that has happened.”

    A sigh escaped Mirin as he shook his head. “Or it could mean the mage wasn't amongst them.”

    “Huh?”

    “It's just something that I've been thinking of. What if of the escapees that are brought back the mage isn't even amongst them? Perhaps it was in the group that Stella ripped apart or the first one that was found dead.”

    “I kind of doubt it was the one that was found dead. Now as for the ones Stella found that is possible.”

    “Also I feel like they're something else I'm not thinking of.”

    “Well pushing it won't help just try to relax and make yourself comfortable.” As she spoke Sona reached down and pushed her massive hand against Mirin pressing him back into her abdomen while he set on her thigh.

***********************************************************************************

    Nivon wasn't happy with this change of events. He'd been careful to gather those he knew well or at least knew of. He'd chosen the people with the most wilderness skills that he could gather without carrying along extra baggage to improve their odds of escaping from the forest. So he'd felt certain that he would end up picking the mage for his group yet none of the men amongst them was owning up to this status. It had him worried.

    “Hey Nivon how many more of those scrolls do we have?”

    “We only have three remaining.”

    “What?! That isn't enough for all of us.”

    “Gee you think?”

    “What are we going to do?”

    A sigh escaped Nivon as he shook his head. “Once the magic affecting all of us expires we're going to draw lots to see who gets the remaining scrolls. Those three are going to have to leave the group and travel on their own.”

    “Why leave the group?”

    “Because there is no point in three people that don't give off a scent being tracked by those that do. Plus it's the price of leaving the group. If three people don't want to leave the group then the two that do decide to can take the scrolls and fight over the last one themselves.”

    In response to this Linerd gave his head a shake. “Damn it all.”

    For a moment Nivon stopped and found himself staring at the ground. He'd been trying to keep track of their surroundings and find any signs that the beast girls had been using this path. He'd been expecting the signs to be in the trees but now he found himself staring at a foot print on the ground. “Shit! We can't continue along this path.”

    “What's the problem Nivon?”

    “Look.” As he spoke Nivon pointed towards the ground. The foot print was fairly human in shape except for a few problems. The way it sunk into the ground indicated a different distribution of pressure then what a human would normally do. It was also much larger and at the toes there were clear indication of claws.

    For a moment Linerd was silent as he looked at the markings he then gave a shrug. “What's the problem? One of them passed through here but that doesn't mean we can't stay on this path.”

    “There is more then one. Look ahead.”

    In response the entire group found themselves examining the ground. What they found was several foot prints all of them fairly recent. “They're patrolling this area.”

    In response Nivon gave a nod. “They know the safest paths through this forest and they're watching them. One of them could happen upon us any moment we have to move.” As he spoke Nivon didn't wait for the others but began to alter their direction a bit.

    “Nivon if we get lost in here we're as good as dead.”

    “If we get found by one of them we're as good as dead or worse.”

    Nivon chose to keep moving while speaking. “If you want to stay on this path fine if you want to come with me that's fine to. However, I'm not waiting around and we are safer in a group. They're more then a few dangerous things in this forest and we'll probably encounter one of them before we get out. Given our weapons I think we should stick together for the sake of numbers.”

***********************************************************************************

    As Joseph looked around the market he couldn't help but feel out of place. It had been quite a while since he'd last been there to pick up any supplies. It wasn't the long absence that made him feel odd it was how few people were currently walking around. Of course most of the women were out searching the forest and he knew why but it still seemed odd. There was still the smell of cooking going on and he believed the alchemy shop would still be open but they were several things that were shut down for the moment.

     Dan was actually surprised whenever he heard the door to his shop open up. Even more so whenever it was Joseph that stepped in. “Well hello there stranger it's been a while since I last saw you.”

    “Hey Dan, I decided that I could come into town and get something to eat today. Is Maria here? I was thinking that maybe we could eat together.”

    “Ah sorry Joseph I doubt she is though I wouldn't know where she was right now. Given Maria's speed I believe she'd be out helping with the search though. So Joseph how did your project turn out?”

    “I have a lot of mush to examine.” As he spoke Joseph was actually telling the truth. He would be studying the seeds that had been reduced to mush during the transformation. As long as Dan didn't ask if any of the seeds survived that would be fine.

    “I hope you learn something from it.”

    “Hey Dan I know you run the alchemy shop but you seem a bit well studied for a shopkeeper what do you do?”

    In response to the question Dan reached under the desk and brought up a rather heavy book. He quickly opened it up to a few random pages and turned it around for Joseph to see. “This is what I spend most of my time doing.”

    It only took Joseph a moment to realize what Dan was talking about. “You develop formulas?”

    “Yep. I develop them and someone else tests them. There is also a small alchemy lab in here for when I hit upon a question I really want to find the answer to quickly before I continue. Naturally I can't do anything that's really long term on my own but I trust in the testers.”

    “So who runs the test?”

    “Just some of the apprentice alchemist and mages.”

    “So now that your project has slowed down can we expect to see you here more often?”

    “Most likely it's kind of depressing the way things are right now. I guess part of me still expected to see a bunch of people walking around.”

    Before Dan could respond the door to the shop opened up and Mina stepped in. “Hey Dan I need some dried and powdered searing root. Oh hey Joseph it's good to see you here.”

    “Hello Mina, what do you need searing root for? Plan on cooking something spicy?”

    “Na, going to use it on the captured escapees.”

    “What? Why?”

    “Because pain motivates one to talk that or helps break them of course.”

    “You're torturing them?”

    In response Mina gave a quick nod. “Yep. We're trying to figure out who amongst them is the mage or break their spirit. I'm beginning to doubt they know who the mage is so I'm thinking we're just breaking their spirits at this point. Maybe it's time to let some of our sisters take out their anger on them. I know Stella would love to and Maria has a few she'd like to inflict some injuries upon.”

    “Mina what reason do you have to torture them?”

    A slight giggle escaped Mina as she immediately realized what was going on. “Joseph I'm kind of busy at the moment you can talk it over with Dan though. Dan do you have the powder?”

    “Mina I keep alchemy supplies here. What makes you think I would have a cooking ingredient?”

    “Dan I know there are a wide variety of things used in alchemy. I've even seen you use apples juice before so don't give me that.”

    In response Dan was made to grin. “Yeah I've got some. Give me a second.”

    For a moment Joseph was quiet he then quickly moved around the counter and began to walk along side Dan. “What is this about? I didn't think trying to escape brought on this kind of punishment.”

    “It depends on the means you use to try and escape. The escapees really messed up using those crystals and trying to take hostages. It was all I could do to convince the girls not to kill them there was no way to stop this from happening though.”

    “How did they mess up with the crystals?”

    “Joseph you know something about the girls. Quit letting emotions cloud your mind and remember what you know and think about it.”

    For a moment Joseph was silent yet he found himself helping Dan to lift a large sack and carry it into the main waiting room. “Those crystals were keeping them from hearing certain sound waves. I imagine to Maria, Mina and the others they were quite loud it was probably pretty painful.”

    While Mina had told Joseph to ask Dan she chose to speak up. “You got it.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “You're also punishing them for being acquainted with those that tried to take hostages. You're treating it as if they all knew of it and helped in it.”

    Before Mina could respond Dan spoke up. “I take it this will be enough Mina.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Mina as she reached down and easily retrieved the bag from the men. “Plenty.”

    Before Mina could leave Joseph had to speak up. “This isn't purely about revenge is it?”

    Now Mina gave a shrug. “Joseph I would be lying if I said that none of this had to do with revenge. This really was beyond a normal escape attempt.”

    As Mina made her way out the door Joseph turned to Dan. “Dan from what I know about you. You're a fairly moral person however I think I'm going to want to speak to Maria about this and get her people's point of view from her. If you see her do you think you could tell her to come and find me?”

    “Sure.”

***********************************************************************************

    As Maria set across from Joseph she had a wide smile in her face. It was night time by the time she'd gotten back but he'd still wanted to speak with her. “Okay Joseph I'll try to explain my reasons at least.”

    “Thanks Maria. I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around how easily your people can switch between kind and protective to brutal.”

    A slight giggle escaped Maria as she looked at Joseph. “You know we have trouble seeing how you can waste energy on those of so little value?”

    “I can't say I did.”

    “Okay Joseph here I go. Everyone of the escapee was ultimately in on the plot and while they didn't all participate in the same paths of escape they helped one another. They chose to use the singing crystals knowing full well the sound would hinder our ability to hear but they also should have known that it would be painful to us. Whether or not they realized that it would have been painful to us they should have thought of the side affects on their actions. It's one of the reasons we're not allowed to openly fight in the market no matter how mad we are.”

    “Okay so they caused you pain.”

    “Yes, however the big thing in all of this is some of them tried to take hostages. As soon as they started talking about such things they should have either got out of the plan or warned us. Any claimed attempting to harm a brother would normally be killed immediately. That includes those that helped them as well. I don't mean quickly either.”

    “You decided not to kill them though because you need the labor. Why the torture though? I know you're trying to figure out who the mage is but surely by now they would have told you or you would have found the mage. Yet you continue to torture them. You can't say that it's purely to insure that they never try such a thing again either as you said you'd let them go once they gave you the information you wanted.”

    “That's a little bit political. Some of our sisters still want to kill them and painfully. This helps diminish that desire to kill them. We do want to insure that they never try something like this ever again but we're willing to trade that off for information.”

    “I see so you feel that finding the mage is more important then insuring that they never make such a move again?”

    “Yep!”

    “Maria how do you do it though? I lived with you Flora and Mira. I've gotten to know Mina very well and you all seem to be very kind people to me. How do you torture them like that?”

    “Because they're not worth feeling anything for.”

    “Huh?”

    “Joseph I don't see why it bothers you so much.”

    “It bothers me because they're sentient beings to.”

    “Does being sentient mean you already have value?”

    “Everyone has value Maria.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Maria for a moment as she tapped her cheek. “Well I agree that everyone is born with value but I don't agree that everyone has value. Those claimed that are being worked on now proved that they don't have any value to us. We believed that they did have value for a while but they proved us wrong. We're just fixing them now so that they have value.”

    “You believe you have the right to make them into what you want them to be?”

    “Of course! They would be dead other wise.”

    “Saving their life shouldn't give you that type of authority over them.”

    “Ah well I'm going to have to disagree.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. He was actually a bit surprised whenever he felt a hand come and wrest upon his shoulder and once again found himself looking at Maria. “So just because you saved their lives you have the right to do with them as you want?”

    In response Maria gave a quick nod. “That's why they're called the claimed they're property and property can't be allowed to hurt its owners. Of course we have given them the right to take their own lives so I don't see what you're so upset about. If it hadn't been for us they would have been dead. We still give them the choice to die if they want to but we also give them the chance to earn their lives back. However, the escapees took the freedom we gave them and chose to use it to hurt us.”

    “I don't agree with your methods.”

    “Are you mad us?”

    “I well.” For a moment Joseph went quiet and shook his head. “No. I'm not mad at you or your sisters or brothers. Maria is there a way that I could help the claimed?”

    “Um well you can bring them some food or something to reduce the pain if you want to.”

    “What?”

    A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she looked at Joseph. “You can ease their suffering if you want to do it. You can also come up with another method of insuring those that tried to escape recently never do it again so that we relent. Naturally you can't give them anything before or during their session but you can give them something after words.”

    “Are you serious?”

    “Sure! It's your choice after all.”

    “I see. What would I have to do to maybe convince you all to relent?”

    “You could offer us something we really want or come up with something to take our attention away from the escapees punishment. If you were to find out who the mage was and offer to tell us to convince us to back off the escapees that'd work wonderfully.”

    For a moment Joseph went silent. He knew about the seed currently growing in the pot. He could always offer them that to get them to let up on the escapees or even set them free. However, that was something he wasn't willing to give up. “I guess I need to get to work on finding out who the mage is.”

***********************************************************************************

    Sumon was silent at first as he felt the liquid being poured into his eyes. The pain from the powder went away almost immediately and even the sting vanished shortly after. “What is this about?”

    As Joseph continued washing the powder from Sumon's eyes he gave a sigh. “I need you to tell me about the escape.”

    “Fuck. I don't know who the mage is. Don't you think I would have told them by now if I did?”

    “Probably. However, you might know more then you think. You can tell me while you eat.”

    “Huh?” Before Sumon could respond he felt something placed in his hand. It took him a moment of feeling around to realize that he was holding an apple. For the moment he still wasn't quite ready to open his eyes. Cautiously he lifted the apple to his mouth and took a bite.

    “I'm trying to help you and all the escapees.”

    “And here I thought you were just the whore of those bit.” Sumon didn't get to finish as he felt something slam into the side of his face. The impact wasn't extremely powerful but it was still solid and it did hurt enough to shut him up.

    It actually surprised Joseph when he struck Sumon. He didn't expect himself to lash out like that. Oddly he felt the need though the moment he realized what Sumon was saying. “Don't call them that.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Sumon despite the situation. “Sure whatever you say. So you want me to tell you about the escape attempt?”

    “Yes though if you don't want to that is fine. I'll just go talk to someone else.”

    “You must think I'm pretty damn stupid. I know what will happen if I don't tell you what you want to know.”

    “I don't intend on doing anything to you if you don't tell me.”

    “You may not but they will. I know those beast will go even harder on me if I don't cooperate with you.”

    “I'm doing this of my own choosing.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Sumon as he shook his head. “You're one of their favorite toys. It doesn't matter what you think they're listening to this conversation right now. I know that they'll double what I've had to endure already if I refuse to talk.”

    “I don't know where you're getting this.”

    “That's because you're an alchemist so they are nice to you. You came in with a useful skill. Try coming in as a soldier that only knows how to fight something they can do plenty well already. See how they treat such people. You've seen the pretty stuff.”

    “Enough! Tell me what I asked or I'm going to find someone else who will.”

    “Fine. I guess you want to know when this all started. It began a bit over fifteen months ago as far as I know. I came in a little late but was told that supplies were being stored in the tannery. I was told to smuggle in what I could and I could come along during the escape attempt. At first I wasn't going to do it but then I saw just what the operation was like. What really got me going though was when I saw the scrolls.

    Scrolls to hide our scent was just the thing we needed to make our escape I thought. However, it didn't stop there. The crystals came a little while later. I started being asked to keep an eye out for certain plants and minerals I can't say I brought in a whole lot but others did somehow.

    Naturally I wondered who was making the scrolls but I couldn't find out. A guy named Sivon was one of the main organizers of it all. He planned out where to hide the crystals, organized a few of the groups and even had the date picked for when we would escape. Then one of those beast found our supplies. We thought we were sunk but she only found some of the food stuff the crystals and scrolls were far better hidden thankfully.

    Everyone agreed that them just finding the food would most likely lead to the searches being more frequent though. Even if the searchers weren't careful the fact that they would be coming more often meant we had greater chances of failure. The escape date had to be moved up an awful lot. Now I don't know if that was such a good ideal.

    The majority of the scrolls came through a guy from the gale kingdom.”

    “Hold on.”

    “Huh? You thought of something.”

    Instead of answering right away Joseph bit down on his lower lip. Maria had told him a little bit about their hunt and she'd mentioned coming upon a soldier from the gale kingdom who had already been killed. “Would you say that soldier from the gale kingdom provided most of the scrolls and crystals?”

    “Yeah.”

    “Sumon I might be back to talk to you again later for now I need to go talk to someone else. I would wish you a good day but I'm afraid that isn't going to happen.”

***********************************************************************************

    For a moment Dan said nothing as he looked at Joseph when words finally did come there was a bit of surprise in his voice. “So you think that the soldier the girls found dead wasn't just a decoy but rather he was the one connection between the others and the actual mage. Then once the actual escape went under way they killed him so no one would be certain who the mage was.” A sigh escaped Dan. “Well it is possible in that case though we're going to have to find out who his keeper was.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Yes so how would I go about doing that?”

    “Listen Joseph it sounds like you might actually be onto something so I'm going to help you with this if you don't mind.”

    “That would be fine and appreciated.”

    “I'm going to go and get Mina I'm sure that those she's currently working on will appreciate the break in their treatment. She saw the corpse and will probably know who their keeper was. Would you like to come along?”

    “No thanks.”

***********************************************************************************

    Liana felt somewhat awkward as she walked into the alchemy shop. She actually out ranked Dan in most respects but being summoned to talk about the escape by a brother and one potential brother still felt odd. She almost felt like she'd done something bad and was about to have to defend her case. “Dan Mina said you wanted to speak to me?”

    It actually surprised Joseph when Liana entered the room. She was approximately four meters tall like all the other keepers. Her fur was a light chocolate color except for a few patches of white. What was truly surprising though was how slowly she entered the room and cautiously she looked around. Her tail was actually wrapped around her right leg.

    “Please put these on this might take a while.” As he spoke Dan brought out the jewelery all females had to wear in the shop.

    Upon Dan offering it Liana took a few steps into the room and took the jewelery. As she slipped them on she set down. “So you think that the claimed I was watching might have had more to do with the escape then the others?”

    In response Dan gave a nod. “Liana you need to relax. You know neither Joseph or I have any real ability to discipline, denounce or even force you to be here.”

    “I know that it's just. Do you two think I did something wrong?”

    A sigh escaped Dan as he shook his head. “Liana I know you only recently obtained keeper status and were allowed to have a body this large. You don't need to worry though neither of us are here to make you look bad or do anything that might get you in trouble.”

    “Do you think I did something wrong though? I tried to do my best but I didn't plan on being this type of keeper. I should have been watching them better I know that.”

    A sigh escaped Dan as he shook his head. “Liana be quiet.”

    It actually surprised Joseph whenever Liana responded immediately by shutting her mouth. If it hadn't been for her size he imagined she'd looked quite meek at the moment. It was clear that she was worried. “Liana you seem rather new at this.”

    Instead of letting Liana answer Dan spoke up. “Liana here is very very young for a keeper. She's actually a bit younger then Mira.”

    “That's very impressive Liana.”

    “Thank you.”

    After a moment of silence Dan spoke up. “Now Liana I want you to relax and quit acting like this is a court trial. You're not in any trouble. We need to ask you some things about the escapee that was killed by his fellows. From what we've been able to gather he was one of yours.”

    In response Liana gave a quick nod. “Yeah he was. I don't know what to tell you though. He got out of line every once in a while and I had to punish him from time to time but he mostly did as he was told.”

    Now Joseph spoke up. “Do you remember who he normally talked to or someone that he only talked to occasionally? You see Liana we believe that he might have been the one meeting with whomever provided the scrolls and singing crystals for the escape attempt.”

    “I well. I remember he had a small group he hung around with but I couldn't bring them to you. They were the ones that tried to hurt Allen.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by that. How about people that he only spoke to on occasion or times that you think exchanges could have went down.”

    In response to this Liana gave a sigh and looked at the ground. “It would have been so easy for them to meet in the tannery. That or left things behind for one another.”

    After a moment Joseph gave a nod. “That building is quite an issue but sort of a requirement for certain goods.”

    “Yeah.”

    “Okay Liana we're going to take this slowly. You need to tell me every group of claimed that you can remember yours working with. We can move on from there.”

***********************************************************************************

    Joseph didn't think any of the people that the sisters were currently working on were the mage. He highly doubted that any of them knew who the mage was as well. If they did know they would have spoken up by now and if they were the mage they would have most likely spoken up to end their pain at this point. However, he'd learned that not every group that had worked with Liana's had tried to escape.

    This opened up a possibility but he didn't know if he wanted to bring it up. What if the mage had been part of another group that hadn't tried to escape? He wouldn't have been being tortured at the moment. Indeed he or she would be well away from such treatment. It wasn't a pleasant thought. Of course seeing what was happening the mage wasn't going to come forward on their own.

    It brought up a troublesome question. What would happen if he told the girls about his theory? Would they start torturing all the claimed in hopes of finding the one mage? It was a thought that Joseph didn't find comforting at all. However, if he was right and the mage hadn't been part of any group that tried to escape then those that had were simply out of luck if he didn't speak up.

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he stood up and made his way outside. He couldn't sleep with these thoughts running through his head. Fear of what would happen to those claimed that had done nothing to deserve to suffer kept him from talking to the girls. A desire to help those that were currently being tortured made him feel guilt for not speaking up.

    However, all of this brought up one more question that was keeping him awake. Why hadn't the mage tried to escape? He could think of several answers but he wasn't sure what one it was. There was a chance that the mage had planned to try to escape with them but been caught doing something else. Perhaps one of the keepers had kept him busy that night and he simply hadn't had the chance.

    There was also a chance that the mage had refused to go along. Perhaps they'd felt that leaving prematurely was too risky and opted to stay behind. The others had decided to take the risk and went on ahead. It could have also been a test run. Perhaps the mage just wanted to see if they could escape to plan for a future action.

    Then there was the man that had been found killed from Liana's group. He was the most likely connection between the mage and the wrest of the escapees. He couldn't tell them anything though now that he was dead. If he was the connection between the mage and the others though why had he been killed? Perhaps those that killed him did so just because he was a gale soldier and they wanted a decoy. It was possible.

    “Damn it! I should have asked if any of those escapees near the corpse had anything special on them or any extra supplies.” Thoughts that the gale soldier may have been killed for additional supplies was something that Joseph hadn't considered. Now that the thought manifest himself he wanted to kick himself.

    “Who would you ask that?”

    Joseph actually gave a slight jump upon hearing the voice. Almost frantically he turned around to try and locate the source of it. “Who's there?”

    “No need to be so jumpy! My name is Kiara.” As she spoke Kiara finally let Joseph see her coming out from amongst the branches.

    Immediately Joseph recognized Kiara as a guardian and gave a slight sigh. “You scared me.”

    “Sorry I was out getting some things and heard some commotion coming from this location. I decided to come over and check on you.”

    In response to this Joseph gave his head a slight nod. “Was I really making that much noise?”

    In response Kiara reached up and rubbed the outside of her ear. “Well you were moving around an awful lot. Given the time of night I didn't know what was going on and considering what happened recently I thought it best to be safe rather then risk being sorry.”

    To this Joseph gave a nod. As he calmed down he couldn't help but notice Kiara was holding some form of cylinder. “You said you were out to get something. Would you mind telling me what?”

    “Ah just some water.” As she spoke Kiara bent down and opened the cylinder she was packing revealing that it was full of what appeared to be sand. “Actually I was going to stop by your workshop once I retrieved some.”

    Immediately Joseph realized what Kiara was doing. The sand inside the cylinder was a special alchemical powder that could absorb massive amounts of water. Once the water was absorbed all one had to do was add a second reagent to cause it to be released. Of course if one released all the water at once they could easily flood a building or even some streets. “You can really carry that when it's full?”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she gave a nod. “Of course I can! Would you like to go for a walk with me? You seem tense.”

    There was a moment when Joseph was silent as he realized something. While Kiara had surprised him initially that wasn't why he was talking to her. In truth he'd been hoping for someone to talk to. “I. Well.” For a moment Joseph went silent then gave his head a nod. “Yeah that would be nice. I haven't been able to get to sleep.”

    In response Kiara took a few more steps forward to stand beside Joseph. “Okay then let's walk. I'll keep the pace slow so you can keep up.”

    “Kiara I probably should have asked someone else this but have you been the one feeling up the water tanks at my workshop?”

    In response Kiara gave a quick nod. “Yep that's me. I sort of make sure all the alchemy shops have the basic things they need to keep operating.”

    “So you know that I've spent several nights in my workshop right?”

    “Yeah you're not the only one though. You really should have asked for help though. Some of the others would have been happy to stand in for you and make sure whatever you were working on didn't mess up.”

    “Yeah but that would have forced me to give away more information then I would have liked to.”

    “Ah that can be an issue. You know Joseph if you're having trouble sleeping the market is never closed. There quite a few fun events that go on there.”

    “You know I hear music some nights.”

    “Well if you lived closer you'd hear music every night. It's just some times we play it louder then usual.”

    “Ah. So exactly what happens at night there?”

    “Hm oh lots of stuff. I like to go dancing there myself.”

    “I see. So who's the one playing the drums so loud?”

    “Ah well different people. Mina is really good at them though.”

    “Huh?”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she noticed the expression on Joseph's face. “Mina is quite good at playing the drums. Every now and then she and Dan will show up and she'll decide to put on a show for everyone. The only problem is whenever she slips up and accidentally breaks something. Our instruments are durable as you might imagine but she can go really over do it.”

    “Does Maria know how to play any instruments?”

    “Yeah she does or at least she did. She hasn't played in a really long time. Not since her speed increase.”

    “So you knew Maria back then?”

    “Ah well I didn't really know her I knew of her. I was quite young at the time you see.”

    “I see. I imagine increasing your speed so much so quickly would throw off anyones game. What did she play?”

    “A variety of things actually mostly percussion instruments though.”

    “I'll have to ask her about that la.” As he spoke Joseph felt his foot catch on a root and found himself stumbling forward. Before he could regain his balance though or fall he felt something take hold of him.

    “Careful.”

    “You all seem to have very quick reflexes.” A sigh escaped Joseph as Kiara helped him stand up strait.

    “We kind of have to otherwise we'd always been slamming into things while running.”

    “That's true. Kiara I hope you don't mind me asking this but I was under the assumption you all couldn't be around alchemical items. At least that was my assumption for a while. Then I realized that Mina had been around the singing crystals and Maria had no trouble holding the jelly I made.”

    “We can be around alchemical items so long as they're stable. It's while they're unstable that we can't be around or we might ruin them.”

    “I see. So that powder you're packing. There is no danger of something going wrong with it?”

    “Nope. On that subject give me a second.” As she spoke Kiara quickened her pace and moved ahead of Joseph moving over to the river they'd been traveling towards.

    “So Kiara how did you end up on a night job like this?”

    “OH we do pretty well during the day or night. I just feel more comfortable at night though I guess it's the predator in me.” As she was speaking Kiara held the container in the flow of the river. She noted the container growing heavier and heavier as the water seemed to disappear into the powder. Its mass didn't vanish though.

    “Kiara just how strong are you compared to a human? I have trouble just lifting a cup of that if I fill it.”

    “Ah it kind of varies from sister to sister.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I guess that isn't surprising. Still, I thought Maria was a child and I saw her tear through armor with ease. I'm going to guess that given an equal amount of volume of muscle you'd be roughly thirty times stronger then a well conditioned soldier.”

    Before speaking Kiara gave a slight grunt and hefted the container from the river. She then slipped its cap back on and began to walk back towards Joseph. As she walked she could feel her feet sinking into the ground due to the additional weight she was packing. Until she got out of the muddy earth around the river her feet were sinking in up to her ankles. “That seems like a fair guess.”

    “So you're not going to confirm it?”

    In response Kiara gave a shrug. “Can you tell me how much stronger you are then a kitten?”

    “Um well. No.”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she gave Joseph a slight push on his back. “We don't bother comparing ourselves to humans like that it just seems kind of pointless. Like you comparing yourself to kittens.”

    “I see.”

    “Come on I'll walk you back to your workshop and you can help me fill up your tank. Then I'll see you home unless you want to come to the market.”

    Before he could respond Joseph felt a rush of movement and something moved past him. It actually sent a chill up his spine and left him staring at Kiara. “What was that?”

    “Nothing much just a pest. Don't worry about it.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod and began to walk. As he moved though he noticed Kiara flicking her index finger as if trying to get something off of it. “Kiara do any of your sisters have pets?”

    “Yep! Some of us do at least.”

    “I've never seen any of you with a pet so I was just curious. What do you tend to keep as pets?”

    “Birds mostly as well as some small cats but that's a relatively recently happening.”

    “Cats and birds?”

    “Yeah, we're not allowed to keep anything that could pose a serious threat to one of our brothers or someone that's young. So we're kind of restricted to pets that aren't dangerous. Some of my sisters have taken to keeping the small cats that you humans have around your homes and barns at times.”

    “So do you have any pets Kiara?”

    “I had a bird when I was young. I got bored of it one day and ate it though.”

    “Um.” For a moment Joseph went silent as he tried to figure out how to respond to such a statement. It was only when an ideal first began to form in his head that he noticed Kiara was laughing slightly. “You just lied to me.”

    “Well I did have a pet bird but I didn't eat it.”

    “What happened?”

    “It got old and died.”

    “Ah I see. So how did you come across a pet bird?”

    “I was out hunting and found the little thing with its wing broken. I thought about just killing it and eating it at first but after a few moments I decided the bird was pretty. Of course I also decided that it smelt good but I figured I could take care of it and fatten it up. If the bird still smelt tastier then it was amusing to have around I could just eat it then. I grew fond of the bird and decided to keep it as my pet.”

    “So how often do sisters eat each others pets?”

    “Oh not often that'd be a good way to get quite a nasty scratch. Really that would just be an act of meanness. We do play some games with the birds though.”

    “Such as?”

    “Well for example at times will tie a little letter or attach a small key to one of their legs. The bird is then let loose in the forest and we have to track it down after a few hours. Whoever captures the bird first and returns it alive to its owner gets a reward. However, there is a catch. If the owner has taught the bird well enough and it returns to them of its own choosing they automatically win.”

    “Ah I see. So have you ever competed against Maria on such games?”

    “Flora's Maria? I assume that's who you're talking about as I can smell her on you.”

    “Yeah that is the one.”

    “Someone like Maria would have to wait additional time before she could join in on the game. Well at least those games that involve tracking over long distances.”

    “I see. That's kind of unfair isn't it though? If the bird doesn't fly very far away you'll all find it before those forced to set out even have a chance. While if the bird does fly a decent distance away you've got a head start that they have to cover meaning things are still fairly balanced.”

    In response Kiara gave a nod. “I know that it seems kind of unfair. However, if someone like Maria started at the same time we all did no one else would ever win. It's really hard to play a game knowing that you're going to lose.”

    “I can see your point though I still think it's unfair. Why don't you just do something to handicap those with such natural gifts so they can start at the same time?”

    “What do you have in mind?”

    “Hm well you're worried about Maria's speed. How about you have her carry extra weight? Though not enough to reduce her speed down to your levels as that would hinder mobility too much. It could be enough that her ability to move through the trees is limited though and it does slow her down.”

    “Well that is a possibility.” For a moment Kiara grew silent and looked up into the trees. “I'll tell the others you mentioned that next time and maybe more of us can compete. Oh! I just remembered something.”

    “What is that?”

    “Well you're still welcome to come to the market with me today but don't expect much of a party.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I was going to mention that. Aren't most of you out searching for the escapees?”

    “Yeah, after a long day of hunting some will come back to listen to some music, dance play games and the such however most will probably go home and go to sleep.”

    “On the subject of sleep. How much does your species need?”

    “In all honesty we like as much sleep as most humans for the most part. It depends on how much we've eaten though. If we're eating we can actually do without sleep though that isn't really an option normally except during times of war.”

    “I imagine that's an advantage during war.”

    “Yep, kill the enemy, eat what's left to recharge your batteries and move on.”

    For a moment Joseph gave a slight shudder. “I really don't like to think about any of you eating another human being.”

    “I don't like to think of good food going to waste.”

    “Come now humans can't taste that good.”

    “Taste is a matter of perspective.” A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she flashed Joseph some of her teeth. “I think humans taste just fine though I do prefer venison.”

    “Kiara have you ever eaten a human?”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she stuck her tongue out at Joseph. “Blast you.”

    “I take that as a no.”

    “No. I have never eaten a human the chance has never arose.”

    Joseph actually found himself grinning as he had caught Kiara in the middle of her big bad beast act. “Has the chance never really arose or have you never found a reason to.”

    A slight chuckle escaped Kiara as she shook her head. “Most people I meet I'm able to make uncomfortable for at least a few days. Some of them avoid me to this day though.”

    “I've spoken to Maria a lot and have found it's best to ask you people as many questions as I can before I make any decisions. So Kiara, just why are you the one going around and refilling the water reserves of the work shops?”

    “Someone has to do it and it isn't hard. Plus it gives me a chance to look around.”

    “Kiara I assume that you've come by my workshop while I was there working.”

    In response Kiara gave a quick nod. “Indeed I have fairly frequently actually. I guess this is the point where you want to start asking me awkward questions about what I might have heard while I was taking care of things or why I never let you know I was there. I'll go ahead and tell you I haven't been spying on you though I do know about some of your past from my sisters.”

    “I see. What about not revealing you were there?”

    “Well why didn't you ever bother asking why you never had to refill your own water supply?”

    “Ah well. That is actually a very good question. I suppose I realized that someone was keeping the tank full.”

    In response Kiara gave a nod. “So I try not to bother people while they're working. Do you even know where your water tank is?”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “Yeah. I inspected the workshop a short while after I began working there.”

    “Well then give me a second and I'll refill it. So do you want me to walk you home or would you like to come with me to the market? It'll be kind of dead tonight like I said earlier but there should be some people there unwinding.” As she spoke Kiara made her way over to Joseph's workshop and began to make her way around the building and too the tank. She wouldn't need to empty the entire supply of water she had with her into it. She actually had enough to fill up most if not all the workshops on her rout.

    “I believe I'll go there some other time though I can find my own way home.”

    “Ah at night? I don't think so. I led you this far out so I'm going to take you back home.”

    “Don't worry about it. I've walked this path at night before.”

    As she was speaking Kiara finished refilling the tank of Joseph's shop and made her way back around to him resealing the container as she moved. “No. I'm going to escort you back it's dark and despite what you may think it's easy for you humans to get turned around in the forest. I don't want to have to go out and search for you later because you got lost at night whenever I could have taken you back to your home.”

    “Kiara you don't.” Joseph didn't get to finish as Kiara spoke up.

    “This isn't negotiable.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “Okay then if that is your stance I guess I can't do much about it. Kiara would you mind if I asked you a few questions though? They're about your political set up.”

    “Sure though you'll probably find our politics are simple compared to what you humans put yourselves through.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Well I guess I'd like to start at the top. Just who is your leader?”

    “Ah well we don't really have a leader. We have several leaders though they're broken up into groups. As you might have noticed those sisters ranked seven or higher are the major leaders of the community. That's one of the reasons they are called keepers they maintain far more then just the claimed. The highest ranked members of our society are the nines and they're broken up into those sisters ranked as nines and those brothers.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I see. So do they govern over different things?”

    “Some things they govern over jointly others they govern over separately. One example I can give you is the claimed. The sisters are in charge of what happens to the claimed and those that join our society ranks claimed to four. Though, the brothers can encourage the sisters to promote you they can't actually force us to make you into a four.”

    “What about four to five?”

    “That's actually the brothers call. No matter how much we may approve of you the sisters can't elevate you to a five. It's something of a safety measure. In case the brothers feel we're promoting you too quickly they can put a lid on things before it gets out of hand.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “I see. From what I've heard spoken of the brothers also control food storage and alchemical supplies. At least the food and supplies that belong to the community.”

    “They more control the alchemical and magical supplies then they do the food but yes they keep track of what's being brought in. We on the other hand tend to see to defense and decide what steps are required.”

    “I see. So if the brothers felt that a town was getting too close to the forest they couldn't force any of you to attack it?”

    A slight chuckle escaped Kiara. “Ah well in theory that's true but I think you got the situation reversed. If we felt something was getting too close to our forest our brothers couldn't really stop us from destroying it. I think I'm making things out to be more rigid then they are though.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “It's really rare whenever a brother or sister pulls rank on one another or area of influence. It's seen as a poor practice and typically the brothers and sisters try to talk things out rather then say. It's my call and I don't care what you think.”

    In response Joseph gave a nod. “Who's in charge of zoning and construction?”

    “Huh?”

    “I mean deciding what buildings will be built and which ones maintained.”

    “Oh! Mm well that's really something that's taken care of jointly. The brothers can request a building be built while the sisters tend to ask for space. We decide whenever the buildings are becoming too dense and what is too close to the market area or other sections. As for up keep.” For a moment Kiara grew silent.

    “Is something wrong Kiara?”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she gave a shrug. “You know I don't know who exactly handles that decision. I know we take care of any building that is well used or has valuables in it.”

    “Are you serious? My work shop was in great condition though. Surely you had to be making a conscious effort to take care of it.”

    “Well we do but it's not like anyone has to tell us to do that.”

    “So no one tells you were to deliver water to?”

    A slight giggle escaped Kiara as she shook her head. “Some people have asked me to bring extra water to their shop if they were using it a lot. They're also some buildings that I don't tend to but no. There isn't anyone that tells me where to go.”

    “Isn't that rather lacking in organization?”

    “Ah well. I guess. That this entire forest is the home of me, my sisters and my brothers. We try to take care of our home.”

    “What are you told to do then Kiara?”

    “Oh I've been told to go kill this tribe or that tribe before. I'm not joking this time. I've also been sent to check on some activity near our border and make sure no one was trying to take from the forest. I've been sent out gathering a few times as well. They're some plants that only really show themselves at night.”

    “I. This is all very strange.”

    “I suppose it seems rather lacking in organization but.” For a moment Kiara grew silent and shook her head. “Well come on it isn't like any of this stuff is hard for us to do. I mean we could just decide to just sleep and eat without ever trying to do something or improve our lot in life but how much would that achieve?”

    “Well that is a good point.” Even as he spoke Joseph also realized another factor when it came to the beast girls. He doubted their minds were entirely human. From what he'd learned of it he was certain their culture was very different from his own. “Kiara is there anything you do that you wouldn't deem natural for your kind? Something you'd even call hard.”

    “Allow humans we don't like or respect to live.”

    “Huh?”

    “I doubt anyone told you this but it's actually hard for us to keep some of the claimed around and not just kill them.”

    “Could you explain why you do it then and what humans?”

    “It's hard to keep people around that would kill us if they had a moments chance. Our instinct tells us that we should remove the threat immediately one way or the other. However, we also need them for their services as they are some tasks we just aren't suited to doing thanks to our noses, in some cases our ears and a few other things I can't name.”

    “Why don't you have the humans that are part of the community and brothers do them then?”

    “They have more important tasks to attend to of course. What do you think we'd really have you be doing? Making alchemical supplies for the community or helping to toughen and preserve animal skin? There's a pretty big difference in the value of the service.”

    “That's true.”

    “Keeper is both a desired and a disliked tasks. It's desired due to the larger size, more powerful body and diminished hunger but you also have to restrain yourself. You have to tolerate the glares of the claimed and pretend you can't here whenever they whisper behind your back. You have to stop and think rationally if they've done something to deserve death or if you're just being emotional.”

    “I thought all the keepers I've met enjoyed the job.”

    “They do! Well depending on how you look at it. They enjoy their bodies and they enjoy providing a service to the community and knowing they're helping everyone. Don't you feel a bit of excitement whenever you do something knowing that you've helped a great deal of people?”

    “Well there is a feeling of accomplishment.”

    “That's what most keepers enjoy about their position of course not all keepers keep claimed.”

    “Ah yes I've heard as much about that. So are they any keepers that have it rougher then those that keep claimed?”

    “Ah well that's all a matter of opinion to be honest with you. Some keepers would love to work in the library and others tend to dislike the position. Naturally we try to swap out keepers so that all of them end up in a position they're happy with. It can't always be done though.”

    “What about you guardians?”

    “Our positions are less rigid and give more free time. As for if there is something I don't like.” For a moment Kiara grew silent and tapped her cheek. “They're a few things but I hate to list then as they're really minor and not worth giving voice to. I guess what I hate most is when I have to work with stone.”

    “Why do you work with stone?”

    “Well as you noticed I help to maintain the buildings delivering water is just one thing I do. I also help with repairs. As for why I hate stone. I just hate how it feels against my claws something about it.” For a moment Kiara went silent and was made to shiver. “Just drives me up the wall. Wood I like though. I like how my claws feel whenever I slowly run them through a bit of wood and it's nice to work with.”

    “Well Kiara I hope to speak to you again some other time. However, I think it's time for us to part ways.”

    In response Kiara gave a nod as she noted Joseph's home. “It was nice having some company.”

***********************************************************************************

    It was hard for Maria to contain herself even as she let out a roar to her sisters. While the roar wouldn't reach throughout the entire forest it would reach some of her sisters and they would follow suit to the others. The message let lose was simple. She believed that she'd found something and was now in pursuit. She just wished that she could tell them she smelt human blood.

    This was why they had stayed together. As Nivon looked at the kobolds that surrounded them he felt his back press against his fellow escapees. The creatures had been out roaming the forest when they'd stumbled upon one another. The kobolds had wasted no time in attacking the humans. It was typical behavior for a species that didn't like other sentient beings competing for food resources or anything else for that matter. Especially one as naturally inclined to violence as a kobold.

    Linerd took a moment to glance over at one of his fellow escapees. The kobolds had managed to catch him with an arrow but it wasn't fatal yet. It had sliced into his arm making it fairly difficult for the man to use apparently but he was still standing. As Linerd looked at the kobolds though he longed for his true armor and weapons.

    The kobolds knew that they had the numeric advantage that was clear. Nivon felt confident he and the others could get through the situation though. He'd already managed to kill two of the creatures that had made the mistake of getting too close to him. Now he held one of their clubs in one hand and his rough short sword in the other. Some movement to his side caught his attention and he quickly turned actually managing to strike the attacker with the club before it even got close to him.

    It seemed the others had been waiting for one of their own to charge. Even as Nivon downed one the others rushed forward screeching horribly. Fortunately for the individuals they were standing with former soldiers. Instead of breaking ranks each man moved to cover the other as they struggled to keep from being crushed by the kobolds numbers.

    It was rather upsetting for the war leader as he saw his kobolds being beaten back. At first happening upon the humans had seemed a good thing. He'd hoped to retrieve some items of use from them and some food thinking they were easy targets. Given their clothing he wasn't expecting them to fight like this. By kobold standards war leaders were considered smart however he hadn't even considered that he might be fighting trained soldiers.

    Angered screeches reached Maria's ears as she dashed through the forest. She felt confident that there plan had worked. The escapees had been driven too close to kobold territory and now were being forced to fight for their lives. Unfortunately she had no ideal how long the fight had been going on. She hoped that most of the escapees weren't dead. They needed to question them after all.

    Nivon had no fondness for kobolds but rather held a deep dislike of them. A dislike that would have easily been hatred if he didn't consider creatures so far beneath such feelings. He did however know enough of their species to realize that such a group had to have a leader. If they could kill this leader he felt confident the others would flee.

    Linerd found it hard to fight as he more bashed the kobolds that neared him to death then cut them. His crude weapon was a frustration but it was better then nothing. “Nivon we're holding on but they're a lot of these basters we need to do something.”

    “I know, look for their leader. It should be the largest out of the bunch or the best dressed. If we can kill that then the others should run off.”

    Stella had actually been caught by surprise whenever she'd heard Maria's roar. Now she found herself sprinting along trying to locate her smaller sister. She might not have officially been part of the search team anymore but she could still respond to one of her sister's calls. As she drew closer though she could hear the sounds of battle.

    She knew about her sisters plans to force the escapees into a confrontation with some other denizens of the forest. She also realized that Maria might have found something pertaining to this. So there was an element of risk in her going. If she lost her temper and tore these escapees up she knew that she'd be in trouble considering that she was already being disciplined. This time she would have to control her temper and keep herself from pulling anyone apart.

    It had been easy for Maria to catch up with the escapees once she'd heard the sound. As she came upon the battle though she kept herself hidden. Her first instinct had been to rush into the battle and help the escapees to survive. Now that she was there she realized that there was another choice.

    If she rushed in and dealt with the kobolds there would be no reason for the mage to reveal himself. If she stayed out though she could observe from a distance and if the battle went poorly Maria felt confident the mage would reveal himself. The only problem was if the kobolds managed to kill the mage or began to get the upper hand. There was also the chance that the mage might let himself be captured if the kobolds attempted to do so in order to better his cover.

    There was a rush of adrenalin as Nivon's eyes fell upon the kobold war leader. Immediately he wanted to rush forward and strike down the creature but he knew that would be suicide. They were holding out quite well but breaking ranks would be a bad move. “Everyone form up into a v behind me. Be careful to watch one another we're going to push towards the group to the left.”

    “What's over there?”

    “Just trust me on this. Linerd you're on my right, Garret you're on my left. I'll be the tip.”

    In response Linerd gave a nod. “Alright.” As he spoke Linerd was already moving into position preparing himself for the push.

    Nivon might not have been the group leader by any official proclamation but the others still seemed ready to follow. As the ranks began to form up he took in a deep breath. “Move!” With that Nivon quickly began to rush forward noting Linerd and Garret on either side of him.

    In response to the sudden rush the kobold war leader was made to recoil slightly. It immediately realized what was going on and gave a harsh shout. It had of course kept the best armed and most experienced kobolds with itself. Instead of trying to run though the creature began to push towards Nivon. Unlike Nivon though the kobold chose to stay at the back of his bodyguard. 

    As Maria watched the events unfolding she could see another problem in her plan. If the humans gained the upper hand the kobolds would run. At least that would leave them tired though and more likely to comply with her requests. At least she would have some help though as she listened to one of her sisters approaching. It actually surprised her how close this one was though she didn't know who it was yet as the wind wasn't bringing the scent to her.

    It only took a few seconds though it seemed longer for Nivon to near the first kobold. The creature swung its mace in a wide arc which Nivon easily blocked using the club he'd picked up earlier to strike the kobold close to its hand. He then quickly thrust forward actually managing to sink his rough short sword into the creature. As he dispatched the first kobold though one moved to his side. He didn't have to worry about it as the creature received a quick strike from Linerd.

    For a moment Maria was made to sigh. She could already see how this fight was going. While both sides had a leader and they were both following orders a few things were clear. The humans were better organized and apparently just as well equipped if out numbered. More importantly though the humans were watching out for one another while the kobolds only seemed interested in watching out for themselves and killing the humans. So while when one kobold tried to strike down a human another human would counter the kobold didn't do the same thing for one another.

    Stella could hear the fight by now and smell the blood as well as the scent of her sister. She was actually surprised whenever she recognized the sent as Maria's. Apparently her young sister had made good use of her speed and beat everyone else to the final find. One thing struck her as odd though. There was clearly a fight going on.

    There was actually a feeling of concern as Stella rushed towards Maria. It didn't seem likely that a few kobolds and humans could pose a threat to her sister. Especially one with a mutation as powerful as Maria's speed. However, she didn't like the ideal of arriving to find one of her sisters dead. With those thoughts in mind Stella didn't even try to use stealth but found herself running as fast as she could.

    As the group neared him the war leader stood his ground. He knew all too well that if he ran or showed weakness the other kobolds would as well. Worse yet if he ran they may turn on him and cast him out of his position. It was an unwillingness to give up its position of authority and the fear of those it led that kept the kobold standing and even pushed it forward. The creature let lose one more cry to charge and this time moved into the battle though flanked by its kobold brethren still.

    With the war leader moving on them Nivon knew that things were going to get interesting. Especially as he noted the creature had drawn a metallic sword. The blade was rather unkempt he could tell that just by looking at it but it was still a superior weapon then what he had. To complicate the situation the kobold was the largest and most likely strongest of the group.

    Instead of coming within striking distance of the human the war leader stopped a few centimeters short and thrust with his long sword. It was made to grin even as Nivon used his short sword to parry the steal long sword. It knew that Nivon couldn't reach him with a short sword and wasn't going to get close enough to get harmed.

    Nivon had hoped that the kobold would come in closer so that he would be able to not just parry but attack. As he deflected the blow though he pushed forward trying to strike at the kobold. The creature wasn't as stupid as Nivon had hoped though and it quickly stepped backwards. While he pushed towards the kobold though he didn't even notice as another figure came onto the seen.

    As Stella made her way into the clearing her gaze immediately turned towards Maria. She'd smelt her sister while she was coming and knew exactly where she was. There was a great wave of relieve upon finding Maria setting in a tree entirely unharmed. However, she didn't know quite what to think whenever she noted the battle going on before her and how Maria wasn't doing anything.

    Maria immediately felt like her plan had been entirely ruined though she didn't blame Stella. It wasn't going well to begin with. In response to Stella's entrance though she called out to her being careful to keep her tone low enough that only one with ears as good as theirs could hear her. “Hi Stella I guess you heard my call.”

    Instead of immediately going to join Maria, Stella held her ground and watched. “Yes, would you mind explaining what's going on?”

    “I was hoping the mage was with them and would reveal himself. However, the kobolds aren't doing a very good job of testing these humans. I thought maybe the kobolds would gain the upper hand and the mage would be forced to reveal his hand to survive.”

    Even with their attention focused on one another neither the kobold war leader or Nivon could keep from noticing Stella after such a length of time. Both sides took several steps back from one another as their gaze turned towards her. Nivon of course had plenty of reason to be worried but so did the kobold. He'd been a survivor of some encounters with the beast women and knew how dangerous they were.

    Despite the situation Nivon couldn't forget the kobold before him. As he looked at the war leader he realized something. The creature was getting ready to call a retreat. Instantly Nivon felt a surge of energy and stepped forward swinging the club he'd picked up from the previous kobold in a full force arc. He felt the club connect solidly with the war leader's head.

    Nivon's actions had caught the war leader off guard. Indeed the creature had been turning to begin fleeing whenever the club had connected. There was no thought on this though as the powerful impact shattered its skull and sent the kobold crumbling to the ground. Moments later a screech went out from the kobolds around them which began to quickly flee.

    “Oh no you don't!” Stella realized what was going on almost immediately. Nivon had taken advantage of the war leader lowering his guard and struck him down. This had thrown the other kobolds into a panic who had only been kept coherent by their leader's presence. As the creatures began to running slashing at anything within range as they moved the escapees began to move clearly wanting to use the distraction to flee.

    Maria felt a great surge of concern as Stella began to move. She fully expected to see nothing but blood and body parts on the ground in seconds. However, as the sound of Stella striking the first human reached her ears and she saw the human fall she realized something. Stella was holding back to avoid killing them though Maria had no doubt the little tap from Stella had downed the human for quite some time.

    All Linerd could do was gasp in pain as he lay on the ground. He wasn't even sure where the attack had come from. One moment he had began to lift his leg to run the next he was on the ground. The ground seemed to have reached him even before the pain did.

    It had been hard for Stella to retract her claws and slow her movements before she hit the escapee. However, this wasn't the time to let her temper get the better of her. Having to spend so much time away from her child and thoughts of extending that time didn't set well with her. “Listen to me very carefully. I have no intention of killing you twelve however if you resist I will most assuredly injure you.”

    In response to Stella's comment Nivon gave a chuckle. “You won't be taking me back alive.” With those words Niven quickly turned and began to run.

    Before the human could take more then two steps Stella quickly moved in front of him. She then gave his stomach an exceptionally gentle touch forcing the air from his lunges and sending him to his knees. “You're quite an arrogant one aren't you? Do you realize how easily I could take away your mobility? I could break your arms and legs to the point that you could do nothing but lay there then carry you back.”

    As Nivon clutched his stomach he tried to take breath. The pain in his stomach wasn't going away nor was his anger though as he realized the truth of what he was told.

    A sigh escaped Maria as she made her presence known and hopped down from her tree. “They're too many of you for us to carry however more of our sisters are on the way now. I called for them while you were having your little fight with the kobolds. None of are you are going to escape. You can all help your case though by telling us something. We've found every escapee now that we've found you. One bit of knowledge escapes us though and that's who amongst you was the mage. If you can provide that information you can insure yourself a much easier time.”

    Instead of responding Nivon once again pushed off the ground. He was still in a great deal of pain as he began to sprint once again. He wasn't surprised whenever he felt another powerful impact and he fell to the ground. Even as he groaned in pain though he reaches forward and began to crawl along.

    Despite what she had said Stella was actually surprised as she watched Nivon crawling along. Part of her still wanted to pull the humans' arms and legs off then leave him to bleed to death but at least he was trying. “Do you realize how pathetic you look crawling along like a worm.”

    “I won't kill myself but, I'm not going to obey you anymore either.”

    In response to this comment Stella reached down and took hold of Nivon. She easily lifted him from the ground despite his weak efforts and began to carrying him under one arm. “Like I said you're not going to escape.” Stella was made to chuckle slightly as she felt Nivon's hands press against her massive arms and begin to push. He was actually trying to force her to let go of him.

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    “Mommy!”

    It was impossible for Stella not to smile as she picked her little boy off the ground. While Allen always felt light in Stella's hands he didn't seem to way anything now as she lifted him from the ground turned him around and planted a kiss on his cheek. “It's good to see you to.”

    “What are you doing back so soon?”

    “Well while I was out I heard Maria calling out and went to check out what was going on. We managed to capture the wrest of the escapes. Isn't that wonderful sweet heart?”

    In response Allen gave a quick nod. “Yeah! Does that mean you'll be able to spend time with me like you use to.”

    For a moment Stella said nothing as she bit down on her lower lip. “I don't know. I'm hoping that they'll be able to ease up on me so I can spend more time with you. However, I may still have to spend a lot of time away.”

    “Oh.”

    “Ah, but you've been having fun with Pera haven't you?” As she spoke Stella took a moment to look over at Pera who was still in a seated position. Apparently she'd interrupted a game between her and Allen.

    “Yeah Pera is lots of fun to be around. I miss you though.”

    “I miss spending time with you as well but. You know this is part of growing up? Eventually you're going to have to spend even more time away from me.”

    “I. I know.”

    “So be strong hearted for me and try to have fun even if we can't see one another as much. Okay?”

    In response Allen gave a nod. His mother had given him a similar talk earlier despite that he was glad to have her back for the moment. “So how many were captured this time?”

    “All twelve of the remaining.”

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    Joseph had been quite surprised when he found himself being shaken awake. Having spent so much of the previous night considering his options he'd ended up setting up later then planned and taking longer to awaken. Now he found himself looking up at Maria's smiling face.

    “Good morning sleepy head.”

    “Maria? Not that I'm unhappy to see you but what are you doing here?”

    “Oh I just thought I would bring you this.” As she spoke Maria placed a small bowl atop Joseph's chest. “That and I wanted to give you some news.”

    Before questioning what was going on Joseph set up and removed the cover of the bowl. What he found inside was a rather thick soup. Apparently for breakfast. “Thanks what is it exactly?”

    “It's good. Try it.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph. He'd seen Maria eat raw meat so he wondered about what she considered good at times. Instead of arguing though he took a spoonful and tried it. “Hm it is pretty good.”

    “I told you. Now you might like to know that all the escapees have been recaptured.”

    “All of them?”

    “Well all the ones that weren't killed.”

    “That's remarkable! Who found the last ones?”

    “You're looking at her. My though you sound happy I thought you might be upset.”

    “That's wonderful Maria why would I be upset though?”

    “You seemed so concerned with those we already captured.”

    A sigh escaped Joseph as he nodded his head. “Maria I still am concerned. This means I can be certain as to whether or not the mage was amongst the escapees or not though.”

    “Huh? What do you mean if the mage was amongst them?”

    Immediately Joseph felt his pulse quicken as he realized he'd made a slip up. At least it was Maria though. “Maria I want you to promise me that you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you.”

    “Joseph. It depends on what it is. They're certain things that I can't keep from my sisters.”

    “Maria please. I don't want any of this to get out. So I'm asking. Please tell me you won't tell anyone about this.”

    At first Maria said nothing as she bit down on her lower lip. She liked Joseph and trusted him. He'd been honest with her and her sisters even telling them about something like the life bloom knowing what they might do for that knowledge. He'd worked to help capture the escapees as well. “Okay Joseph. I promise I won't tell any of my sisters or brothers about whatever this is. I'm only making this promise though because I care about you and trust you.”

    “Thank you Maria. Listen Maria, I've been thinking about this for a while. At first we all assumed that it was an alchemical potion that was hiding their scent or a mage. Alchemy was ruled out so it had to be a mage. We then assumed that the mage had ran with the escapees and would be found with them. However, all we found was some scrolls which shouldn't have been too surprising considering the singing crystals they had made. These scrolls contained the spell on them and had been distributed by a soldier from the gale kingdom. At least that's what I've been able to uncover.”

    “Okay. Go on.”

    “Well what was the first escapee you found?”

    For a moment Maria was silent then a look of surprise appeared on her face. “Oh! It was the corpse of a gale soldier.”

    “Exactly. I believe that he was the soldier that handed out the scrolls but I don't believe he was the mage. Rather I believe he was the only one that would have been in contact with the mage.”

    “I see. So they didn't kill him just as a decoy. You believe the mage set it up so that he would be killed to insure no one knew who had mage the scrolls.”

    “Indeed I do. Of course I've also come to believe that the mage isn't with them.”

    “Why would the mage go through all the trouble of helping them set this up if he didn't go with them?”

    “I'm not sure but I can think of a few scenarios. One is the mage did go with them but was killed before you could find them or maybe killed by Stella. However, that doesn't seem very likely to me. It's also possible that Mina's finding their supplies caused some to go while others stayed including the mage. Maybe they weren't willing to take the gamble if they weren't fully prepared.”

    “I see but I also sense another possibility.”

    In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Actually I do. Maybe the mage had something to gain by staying behind. Is there a chance that any of the claimed who didn't try to escape will be promoted to rank one?”

    “Not a chance. Staying where you're suppose to isn't exactly something you get promoted for.”

    “Alright, still maybe they had something to gain. Can you think of anything that might have benefited one of the claimed?”

    “I well. Hm.”

    As Maria went silent Joseph was actually surprised whenever he saw her eyes beginning to widen. Her pupils dilated to allow in more light and he saw her lips curling upward slightly to reveal her teeth. As his gaze turned from her face to her hand he also noted something. Her claws were beginning to extend. “Um Maria is something wrong?”

    “There is one claimed that will benefit from all of this.”

    “What one?”

    “The one Markus picks to give their freedom to.”

    It was hard for Joseph to contain himself as he listened to this. Suddenly he realized why Maria was getting upset. “The mage sets it up so that several of the claimed tried to escape at once after making a deal with Markus. He works to insure that none of you will be able to track them forcing you to rely on a human hunter. Now what hunter do you have easily at hand?”

    “That's what I was thinking to. I.” As Maria opened her mouth it was impossible for her to fully compose herself and she gave a slight growl. “We can't prove this though.”

    “I know it's just a possible scenario. It sure would make sense and it would explain why the mage hasn't been found amongst the claimed.”

    A sigh escaped Maria as she shook her head. “Well Joseph you made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone this and I'll keep my word.”

    “Hold on Maria. I have to ask you this. If I were to tell Flora, Mina and the other keepers about this do you believe they would stop breaking the escapees that were captured?”