FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I was on auto for the rest of the day for the most part. Master Chronak started slow with only basic transmutation theory, but how it applied to more advanced techniques instead. Probably a good thing given how frazzled my nerves were. It felt like I absorbed most of it, but it was hard for me to tell. Nara's training after went significantly worse. She felt as empty as I did and didn't focus much on the basic introduction at all. Of course, she had the luxury of taking as much time as she needed or wanted to learn everything, so I guess it didn't matter really.

It carried through to that night as well, and we didn't really talk much with her just quietly going to bed on her side of the room. I did notice she took a bath beforehand, but it didn't diminish her scents much. At that point I'd stopped caring though and just went to bed despite my raging hardon screaming at me otherwise. I was just too tired.

Things slowed down, just like Exia thought they would. Once I started throwing myself at my own studies, I was able to focus on other things again and get my mind off Nara, at least for a little while each day. She never gave up her own lessons of course, so there was at least three hours of tension unfortunately too. It never seemed to matter how many times I pawed myself off before or after. It was like a switch was flipped in my brain now that permanently associated her as an eligible female for sexy things. I'd never experienced anything like this before and it was more than a little frustrating. Nights were even harder, trying to get sleep in while my body insisted otherwise.

It was over a week with minimal talking to each other now. I gave a tired yawn, staring at the half of my sandwich I hadn't eaten yet while resting at one of the tables set up outside of the training grounds. "You still look like shit," Exir helpfully commented across from me, between bites of his own lunch. My eyes slowly lifted up to him and I just stared for a moment, deadpan, before he chuckled and tacked on, "I can't tell if you two are fucking too much or not enough. And don't deny it. Half the recruits saw the two of you in the bathing pool."

I gave a sigh and went back to staring at my sandwich for a moment before muttering, "I don't understand her at all. Every time I try to run over everything in my head about her, I just get more confused. At first she was really flirty with me, to the point where her guards thought I was literally assaulting her..."

"Hah! That was kinda funny. Uh, at least from a distance. It didn't look all that pleasant from your end," he noted, earning another glare from me for a moment before I gave a little groan.

"Then she found out I'd been taking suppressants to avoid overly reacting to her scents and was more pissed off than anything. We haven't really spoken much since," I concluded, giving the plate another idle nudge around in a circle.

Exir slid his plate to the side and looked back to me, more serious this time. I could always tell when he was really serious because his nose would start twitching furiously, making his whiskers wiggle up and down. After a long moment, he speculated, "Well she's already admitted to being as inexperienced as you for the most part. She started off way more aggressive, but she _is_a female, so..." I nodded along, readily following everything so far. He paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts before continuing.

"She's obviously been taught socializing somehow. Probably by tutors or her mother directly, as security is clearly pretty serious around her," he noted. A slight stroke of sympathy pain went through my right eye, but thankfully my vision had returned to normal after just a couple days. Still, I remained quiet as he continued, "She herself admitted that her mother wanted her to get experience around males. She might have been lying about that, but you've clearly thrown her off her game so even if she was, I can't say she's very experienced still. So, let's just assume that, even if her mother didn't say that, she doesn't exactly have much real experience with males." Okay, I could see that, yeah.

His ears flicked lightly as his right paw tapped at his plate; an idle motion that managed to draw my eyes for a moment, distracted. I needed more sleep, I decided. "So, we'll assume that her mother or tutors are the ones that taught her about males and how to interact with them. She basically has canned information about how to flirt and what to look for, and the first male she moves in and targets with her training is... you," he noted, looking back up at me finally. That got my attention again, and our eyes met, even as I frowned.

"What do I have to do with that? Her mother was the one that decided she was supposed to live with me, basically..." I asked, scrunching my muzzle for a moment, even as Exir gave a chuckle.

"What I mean is, you're a very atypical male. Let's consider who her mother probably would have taught her about. High priority targets, probably politically oriented. Males already with some form of power. Militant males. More aggressive males..." He started ticking off on his fingers, and I huffed, seeing the pattern he was getting at.

"So basically, the opposite of me, yes. I get it," I interrupted.

He chuckled again and gave me a dismissive paw wave of course. "Relax. Not the total opposite, as clearly _something_was working on you. Enough to get you confused and having trouble thinking. But then you showed unexpected resistance and displeasure with her technique, which she clearly wasn't expecting at all, and she lost her groove," he concluded.

My eyebrow lifted again and I asked, "Her groove? Really? Why was she even targeting me in the first place? Am I just practice or something to get experience with males?"

Exir unhelpfully shrugged to that part. "Could be practice on her part. Could be a political move suggested by her mother, especially if you manage to pull off becoming the new Grandmaster Alchemist. Could also be she's actually interested in you. You two do have a lot in common, at least if you consider duty and lack of real experience, like you said before. She seemed to be trying awfully hard at the pool from what I saw. Hard to believe she'd put forth that much effort for practice or as a political move, especially if you'd already shown resistance," he theorized. Huh.

"What should I do then?" I asked, finally picking up the other half of my sandwich and taking a bite. I relaxed a little again at the same time, finally feeling like my head was clearing a bit.

"Give her space and let her decide that. If she's serious about you specifically, she'll build up steam and probably try again with a different approach. Just relax and do your thing," he suggested, grinning finally. It was my turn to chuckle, but I nodded.

"Thanks Exir. I think I needed an outside perspective," I admitted between bites. As frustrated as I'd been with her constant advances, I still had felt badly about upsetting her. But if all she needed was time to cool off and reconsider things, there was still a chance we could talk things out and at least get back to friendly terms it felt like.

He gave me another absent wave, still grinning. "Eh, it's no big deal. We all need help from time to time, Exes. Though uh, you might be able to return the favor sooner rather than later," he pointedly informed. Huh?

My eyebrow raised a bit as I peeked back up at him from my sandwich. To my surprise, he was looking distracted and actually blushing a bit. I didn't see him embarrassed all that often, and it raised immediate flags for me. His eyes shifted to the right, and I followed them, attention moving past the healer's tent and to the Priestess' instead. Uh...?

"There's well... No, let me instead ask... think you could mix me up a long duration, high grade contraceptive?" he suddenly asked. Uh?! I stared at him in surprise for a long moment, mind slowly piecing things together. He didn't want just a supply of our herbs for that, but instead a single long duration tincture. The summer Estrus was coming up. The tincture didn't have a scent like the herbs, and only had to be taken once instead of every day. Normally it was just a matter of convenience, or if someone was allergic to the herb itself and needed the distilled essence, but he was asking me on the side and not officially ordering one... "It's for a... friend. A friend who prefers to not have anyone realize she suddenly has a supply of contraceptives..." he tacked on, quieter then as he leaned a bit closer to me. Damn, he was going after one of the new Priestess recruits...

My muzzle scrunched again unpleasantly, and I muttered, "You realize they're fertility Priestesses in training and not supposed to take-"

"Of course! But... look, she just wants to wait a while before trying for kits, but she's... Well she wants me to potentially be her First. She's planning on officially starting a Trial Mating with me after Estrus so it's not suspicious, but she doesn't think she can get through it without, well..." he interrupted.

"Jumping you. Right," I interrupted in turn, then gave a sigh, relaxing back in my seat again. Shaking my head, I warned, "It's going to take a bit. I can't take the herbs from the main supply or Master Chronak will notice and definitely, definitely get the wrong idea. I'm going to have to pick them myself, fresh..."

Exir grinned as soon as he realized I was going to help him after all. "Of course! Actually, in that case, do you need a guard? Civilians aren't supposed to leave the camp unprotected. The local wildlife has been oddly aggressive if you recall," he offered. Right. It had been like that for years now it felt like. It seemed like half the times we relocated, it was to do with hostile packs or herds moving into the area. The tribes regularly took a rotation in a huge, clockwise movement around our central city, slowly utilizing our land's resources while letting it replenish behind us. At least that was the concept. In practice, it was getting harder and harder to keep relocating, as nature seemed to be getting even more wild and rugged by the year. Making our new location safe took more and more guards, and I had quite a few gruesome injuries I had to patch up on them, in the past.

"Yeah, it would probably be a good idea. I'll gather a selection of herbs all in one go this way, which should also cover up what I'm getting for you. When do you want to do this?" I asked, returning a softer smile to him as he seemed to relax again.

"I'm not done with training yet today, so tomorrow maybe? We're taking a couple days off starting then. I think one of the instructors pulled a back muscle," he informed. I tried hard not to snicker. Please let it be him.

Nodding instead, I suggested, "After lunch then. It shouldn't take us more than a few hours, then I can get to Nara's lesson when I get back. She probably won't mind the delay. She's honestly not that invested at the moment anyway..."

He grinned again, then teased, "Told you. Excuse to get at you..." I rolled my eyes and huffed at that, it coming out as a slightly annoyed-sounding chittering.

"She's probably just upset still, is all. I know I'm not at my best for learning things when I'm bothered by things," I defended, crossing my arms over my chest. He just winked at me instead and stood up again.

"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, I've got to get back to training. Seriously though, thank you, Exes. This really does mean a lot to me..." he thanked, throwing me off again.

Hesitating, I shifted uncomfortably for a moment before smiling back at him and nodding. Exir was also important to me and if he needed help, of course I'd try my hardest. But the thought of him suddenly getting serious with a female was weird to me, I realized. Why? It was bound to happen eventually. He was a skilled guard, had good breeding, and was almost always confident in himself.

He gave me another smile and nod before turning and heading towards the practice yards again. I watched him go for a moment before finally realizing it was just that. It sort of felt like he was leaving me behind. If his Practice Mating went well, he'd be getting mated for real and probably starting a family. All of that was something I never thought I would ever have, and I swallowed the knot in my throat, realizing I had never considered him moving on with his life. He was my best friend. Practically my brother, really. Would he still even have time for me with his own family?

Setting half of the half of my sandwich back down, I lost my appetite again and sighed. This was stupid. I had a family already. My mother and little sister were depending on me to keep my head on straight and learn everything I could. My paws lightly rubbed at my temples, and I gave a little groan before just giving up on lunch and standing again. I grabbed Exir's plate too and walked both of them back to the canteen, forcing myself to think on my studies instead.

---

Magic. It was the applied techniques of using one's mana reserves, directed through a set pattern, in order to create a set supernatural effect. Alchemy. The applied techniques of changing the physical properties of a substance using the combined reactions of another substance, with a magical focus as the catalyst. Those were the simplest fundamentals behind both sides of my training. While you didn't need alchemy to learn magic, you definitely needed magic in order to learn alchemy.

My nightly practice was well underway. I sat cross-legged in the dirt of my room partition with an arcane focus circle drawn in front of me. It was practically alive with blue energy, filled to the brim with my mana as I focused my mind on the symbols and patterns I'd drawn. The very core of alchemy required, eventually, one of these patterns to place the product over. Being charged with mana was the catalyst of many different formulas, being activated either before or after the final mixing process. Each formula varied a little of course, and now I'd started to learn the 'why' of it.

Mana. My eyes momentarily shifted to watching the blue glow at my fingertips instead, my focus waning for a moment, which put the magic on pause of course. Maybe I'd screwed myself over doubly there, in the path I decided on early in life. I already knew that I'd never be physically active like my father, so maybe I just decided to capitalize on that. The body naturally produces life force, or vitality, frequently shortened to 'vita'. There were techniques, both medicinal and martial, that could use vita directly, I knew. Magic however required a processed form of vita called mana.

That's where the practice of being a 'magic user', or 'mage' came in, as we were frequently called. Once you started down that path, there was no returning. You create a 'pocket' inside of yourself that contains all of your mana, literally using your own body as a processor to create the refined energy. Apart from a very limited supply of unrefined vita left over to keep yourself alive and functioning, all your excess is immediately and automatically processed into mana for use in magic. It was a reactionary, automatic process that stemmed from the creation of the pocket itself, and as far as we knew, to date, only living creatures could perform the function that converted vita into mana, let alone produce vita in the first place.

But that had a downside of greatly shrinking your own vita reserves. Which was an extra downside for someone like me, who naturally had a smaller supply in the first place. I was never able to perform as well physically as others, and my own stamina and vitality never developed that much. And now I had intentionally hampered it even further deciding to become a mage instead.

A soft smile formed on my muzzle as I watched the flickering blue energy, dancing almost like fire off my paw. I never really regretted it though. I'd always been fascinated by magic, plus this seemed like the only way I'd actually be good at something. Maybe this was the only path I could have ever taken?

My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by the partition opening. Looking up, I locked eyes for a moment with Nara, who looked surprised to see me there. Her eyes lowered after, taking in the sight of the arcane circle and raw mana flickering forth, and for a split second, I saw actual fascination dancing in the amethyst orbs. I knew she at least knew basic magic and had her own, equally amethyst-colored mana supply, but this was one of the more advanced catalyst circles that she'd probably not seen before.

We just watched each other for a long moment until things started to get awkward again. Hesitating, she stepped forward and let the partition close behind her before slowly edging up to the other side of my circle and, to my surprise, sitting down. Her posture mirrored mine, sitting cross legged, though with her paws in her lap instead. She still didn't say anything, eyes searching my expression for a long moment before she finally sagged a little and looked back down at my circle.

Right... Closing my eyes, I gathered my thoughts for a moment before deciding to inform her, "I'm going to have to move back your lessons tomorrow a bit. Exir needs my help with something in the afternoon."

Her eyes flicked back up to me, left ear twitching just a little. "Your friend from the pool, right? And that's fine..." she murmured, hesitating again for a long moment before going quiet once more instead. The pause unnerved me a bit but I tried to stay neutral.

"Yeah, my cousin. We're well, pretty good friends. We'll be leaving camp for a bit to do some harvesting..." I confirmed. I wasn't about to tell her what he wanted, but that much seemed safe enough.

Or maybe not, I decided a moment later, as both of her ears perked up. "Harvesting alchemy supplies then? Um... actually, I don't know how to do that yet either. Is it at all possible for me to, well, maybe go with you? Just to watch! I won't get in the way!" she quickly asked. My first instinct was to say no, or put it off till later so I could take her separately, but she caught me off guard by suddenly being a lot more... open than she had been in days. It made me think back to the conversation earlier with Exir, where he thought she might come around again and, how did he put it? Gather steam? Eh, close enough.

Then again, as a female, she was basically a predator of a sort, and seemed to almost smell my hesitation. "I promise I won't get in the way. I know you use special tools to harvest various things and I'd just really like to watch it in action," she added, edging just a little closer before her expression softened and she continued with, "Plus, maybe I'd like to just spend a bit of time with you outside of the lessons again. You're... a really nice guy, and I really would like it if we could be friends. I'm sorry for, well, coming on a bit strong before."

I frowned there. She wanted to spend time with me, and said she wanted to be friends, but then apologized for coming on a bit strong, not coming on at all in the first place. One part of her statement suggested friendship, while the other suggested something more, and I felt confused again. What did I even want, though?

My eyes closed for a moment and I exhaled, trying to re-focus myself, which was a lot harder with her this close. "It's... fine, Nara. And sure, I don't mind if you come with. Just keep this on the quiet side of things?" I requested, opening them again to look at her after. My request seemed to register with her almost immediately, and she nodded furiously towards me, causing me to smile a little. Normally only Exia was that enthusiastic about things.

My smile seemed to relax her a bit and she exhaled softly, sagging her shoulders a little. My nose sniffed again for a moment, and I realized I could also pick up the scent of sandsoap, meaning she'd probably just come from washing herself again. She really was trying to make it easier on me, as much as she could anyway within the bounds of the Queen's orders. I sighed a bit, then closed my eyes again before apologizing to her. "I'm sorry I was... tense, and probably rude to you. I'm not used to dealing with a female that's not related to me, and well, fully grown for the most part," I admitted, looking back to her in time to catch her smile widen just a little.

"No, I understand. Like I said, I pushed you too hard. This is all new to me too, and all I've experienced of males before this was just a few of my tutors and what my mother's told me. You're uh, definitely not the same." Her confession didn't take me by surprise at least, but I was a little curious.

"Am I really that different from what you expected?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to the side, incidentally causing that ear to droop a little.

To my surprise, she suddenly looked nervous, taken aback by my question. "Ah, n-no! Well, yes, I mean, in a good way! I'm not trying to say you're weird or anything," she quickly corrected. Oh. I hadn't actually thought she was, but now I can see that it could have come across as such.

Chuckling, I shook my head and held up a paw to her, momentarily forgetting it was currently aflame with blue energy. She watched it, distracted for a second before relaxing again and smiling. Still, I assured her, "I didn't think you were saying that, really. I was just curious what you expected I guess?"

Considering that for a moment, she tilted her own head before slowly answering, "I guess I was expecting more like what my male tutors were like. They were obviously under my station, but still they were used to being in a position of power just by being high ranked in their respective professions. What I mean is, I suppose I was expecting you to be a bit more aggressive and confident, given how talented I'd heard you were."

That I paused at. Talented? "Uh, well I know I completed my basic training quite a bit early, and experimented on my own with various things, but I wouldn't exactly call myself that talented. Is it really that odd?" I asked, frowning as I wondered where she'd gotten her opinion in the first place.

Again, she enthusiastically nodded. "Yes! Exes, you completed your master's program all the way up to doing your tests in five years. Four technically given the only reason you didn't take it at fourteen was legalities, right?" she pointed out. I nodded slowly to that, refraining from pointing out that I'd technically only taken the written_tests so far, with Master Chronak apparently simply waiving the applied testing. She plowed onwards regardless however, with, "That normally takes at _least six years, if not eight! Plus, a lot of what you've learned is self-taught, I heard. Master Chronak himself called you a 'prodigy' at alchemy, transmutation, and medical magic!"

The flush came back to my cheeks, which was my only realistic response under such enthusiastic praise. She actually, legit sounded excited to be relaying all of this, which further caught me off guard, like I was some sort of celebrity she was meeting instead of just... me. She hesitated afterwards, and my ears perked back up, me catching the movement and waiting for possibly more.

The mixture of candlelight and the deep blues from my mana made it hard to tell, but it almost looked like she was suddenly blushing again as she averted her eyes for a long moment. "I may not have been completely honest with everything that my mother suggested. She did really say that I needed to get to know males better and break out of my shell," she suddenly confessed, putting me on edge a bit again. There was more?

Nara sighed after and frowned for a moment instead, then explained, "I've never had the responsibility of being a political asset like some of my other siblings. But that doesn't mean that I can't be one. It simply means that when she does occasionally suggest things, that's all they are, are suggestions. She's done it a few times before. Asked me to attend a particular meeting or party in order to represent our family, or put in an appearance for publicity usually. She at least tries to keep the suggestions to things I'm normally interested in, like magic and technology." That was... kinder than I gave the Queen credit for, I mentally admitted. I'd long since lost the innocent perspective I'd had of Inaga society, and I guessed that sort of withering rot I'd seen in places I attributed to going all the way to the top. But I'd already seen that the Princess, Nara, was far more real and relatable than I gave her credit for at first. Perhaps her mother was the same way?

Seeing as I was just listening to her, Nara continued after another moment of collecting her thoughts. "I'd recently taken an interest into alchemy as well as magic. I knew that it was a really complicated field of study, and I guess she knew that too as she started feeling around for a new tutor for me to try to learn the basics. That's when Master Chronak's second letter came in and reminded her about you instead," she revealed, looking back to me with a softer smile again, then explaining, "It was another 'suggestion' of hers that I train under you instead of directly under Master Chronak. For one, it was a way of not imposing on the Elder, whom hasn't always seen eye to eye with her in the past. But also, you have great promise of becoming the new Grandmaster Alchemist, and she realizes that. So her second suggestion was that while she did want me to seriously consider finding a mate in the near future..." Oh...

My eyes widened drastically, and she flushed again but gave a little grin, quickly adding, "It was just a suggestion though! Of course, if you're not interested, I wouldn't even think of pressing the issue. Plus, it really was, well, my own choice to make. So, don't assume there's no actual interest involved on my part. Nothing's obligating me to actually do so as a purely political move." Right, it would just be a _partly_political move. My thoughts trailed back to the Queen's displeasure that Master Chronak had never moved to the capital, and I wondered if she was more concerned that she couldn't keep a closer eye on him. If I were to get... involved with Nara, she'd more than likely be able to keep much better tabs on me. But did that really matter? If one didn't consider that I was going to stealthily help my friend get together with a Priestess in training, I was hardly a secretive or criminal individual. Really, Exir's request was more a faux pas than anything actually illegal, even... Or maybe I was just making excuses to make it okay for me to be with Nara? I didn't entirely trust my own hormonal body at the moment.

"Um, I may need a bit of time to process all that..." I managed to warn, earning a pleasant-on-the-ears giggle from her, and nod.

"Of course! You've got me for a long time anyway, I'm sure you realize. I don't think I'm going to complete my training nearly as fast as you did. Though I suspect that if you did, um, maybe want to be closer to me, my mother probably wouldn't mind if we relocated my training back to the capital so I could be closer again. Of course, your mother and sister are welcome too! They'd have the best of lodgings, I assure you," she quickly explained, nodding enthusiastically again, which caused me to raise an eyebrow at the highly specific information.

"Ah, so they'd get good lodgings, but I'd get the cardboard box at foot of the palace steps?" I teased her, amused at the mental image now of me peeking out over the edge of said box, flailing at the rain that undoubtedly came down to ruin my day. That was my luck really.

She took the teasing gracefully and fired right back of course. "Oh, no, don't worry. Your lodgings would be my bed instead," she chirped, grin widening a bit as it felt like I momentarily inhaled part of my tongue. She burst into laughter, and I gave her a scrunched-up frown.

"You really are a brat, you know that?" I reminded, watching her devolve into a string of giggles instead as she watched me, looking pleased with herself now. Well this was definitely better than being angry with each other and not talking, though it was suddenly hard for me to fathom what she'd said at all as serious. Interested in me of all the Inaga she could have picked as a First?

I gave a little sigh as my thoughts went murky again, this time pulling my mana back within myself and dismissing the focus on the circle. There was no way I was completing my meditations now with her here. She watched my actions curiously for a moment, then switched to a more somber looking smile. "Thanks for understanding. And no matter what, I really do want to at least be your friend, Exes. I know I'm being forward and blunt, but the more I considered it, the more I realized you might appreciate that more than me trying to just be flirty and teasing with you like before," she explained, taking my dismissal of the mana as a sign that I was done doing my attempted meditation, and shifting even closer to me than she was before. I was momentarily mildly disappointed that her rump utterly destroyed my drawn circle, but her paws sliding forwards and on top of my own made me consider the new development might also be worth it.

Nodding, I assured, "I know we can at least be friends. We do have a lot in common, surprisingly enough." Her grin and nodding came back as she relaxed, then gave both of my paws a gentle squeeze with her own. Her eyes widened as I rotated them around a moment later, and suddenly we found ourselves holding paws. At this distance, I could tell she was definitely blushing now, and she bit her lower lip for a moment before smiling again.

"You're very sweet, Exes. Part of me expected you'd jump at my flirting with you before. Most males would I thought, even if they didn't reciprocate my feelings. But now I realize your hesitation wasn't because you didn't like me or thought I was unattractive, but more because I was coming on too strong. I know you... respect me, and that means a lot to me," she murmured, expression softening as her eyes lidded a little.

I frowned at that. "Why wouldn't I respect you though? Even if you weren't a Princess, you're still a person. It's not good to judge someone before you know them," I quoted. My father again, this time. I tried my hardest to believe it myself, particularly about the Queen in this instance.

This time it seems I said the right thing, as she started beaming outright. "That! See? You'd be surprised at how many people just see my title and think automatically that I'm a pawn, or have ulterior motives, or am always out to get something for myself with no regard for others. You just treating me like a normal person is... refreshing. I can say that even if I didn't think you were, you know, ruggedly handsome and sexy," she assured, shooting a wink in even as I flushed again and flailed my ears about for a moment. Gah!

"Brat!" I hissed, causing more giggling. In a way though, it defused the prior heavy atmosphere and I relaxed again though, so in a way, I was glad she'd started a lighter form of teasing towards me. It reminded me of the back and forth barbs I'd sometimes get into with Exir really.

Standing then, she suggested, "We should probably get to sleep though. Tomorrow sounds like it's going to be a long day and, well, you already look exhausted. You need your rest." She looked at my eyes in particular as she said it, and I realized I was probably bloodshot again.

Sighing, I nodded at that, moving to the side again and just casually flopping over onto my hammock, having been right next to it before where I was sitting. Yeah, living in a tent probably wasn't as glamorous as what she was used to, but I found it convenient and relaxing, oddly. For a moment, she looked me over as I rested there, looking like she was contemplating something rather intently in her own mind. But only for a moment, before she just smiled and nodded to me, then turned and walked back towards her own hammock. Huh.

"Thank you again, Exes. I'll see you tomorrow!" she spoke up, after resting back into her own hammock, smiling to the side over at me. I returned her expression and gently nodded back, giving a long yawn after. Okay, sleep felt like it would be easier tonight. I vaguely remember wondering if I'd ever truly be adjusted to dealing with Nara, before I promptly passed out.

---

Leaning against the medical tent in the middle of the hot Toragon Plains afternoon, I stared suspiciously down at the parchment I was holding. Nothing ever worked out this well for me. Ever. This felt like a trap but I couldn't quite see how. Either that or Master Chronak new exactly what our plans were and just felt like giving a helping hand.

Exir gave a low whistle, standing across from me and also looking at the unrolled scroll. "That's quite the shopping list. Guess we'll be out here longer than anticipated?" he pondered out loud, wearing a little smirk. Of course he'd be happy. This worked out perfectly as a cover story for him.

"What gave that away, the field pack?" I asked, unsubtly referencing the massive pack on my back. It was tall enough to reach the base of my ears while also just bumping up against the dock of my tail at the same time, and just as wide as I was. The main storage of it was thankfully empty at the moment, reserved for the actual plants and fruits we were to be gathering, but the side pouches were stuffed full of enough food for supper, some extra survival rations, and a ton of survival gear including climbing equipment. Exir had additional climbing equipment strapped to his travel armor on top of that. I knew some of this stuff would require us to visit the cliff faces further south of camp, so I prepared ahead of time.

He grinned at me of course, then looked to the two stoic honor guards to our immediate right. To my surprise, they'd actually apologized to me briefly this morning, apparently for the pool event. Of course, that was only at Nara's direct order. Both mountains of female stood at attention now just to the side of the medical tent entrance, waiting like we were for Nara to come back out. I could barely see the standard browns and creams of their fur under their armor, shields and spears, and alchemic tattooing, and they both looked like they could snap me in half by looking too hard. Their gaze wasn't actually harsh; just surprisingly empty. I still couldn't decide on if they were actually golems or not.

"Sooooo... you two will be going with us too?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow for a moment.

There was an awkwardly long pause before the left one simply answered, "Affirmative." Of course. Just like a golem would. It was amusing that I could allude to my own mental sanctuary technique at the same time.

The same eye that had the raised eyebrow earlier instead scrunched down on Exir's expression, looking now a mix between exasperated and incredulous. "Right. Uh, I don't think I ever caught your names..." he pointedly noted. We must have waited thirty seconds on that one before I concluded that they weren't going to answer us.

"Uh, I don't think that was technically a question," I suggested to Exir, who dropped his head at that and flopped his ears down, giving a little groan.

"Right, that was my fault, sorry..." he admitted, then adjusted his own spear and shield, plus longbow and quiver on his back. I'd seen him use both sets of equipment with quite a bit of skill, and I knew with these two juggernauts along, we were basically untouchable. The only thing I wasn't looking forward to at this point was lugging this pack along with me all day, especially when it filled up. Three martial people along for the group but nope, they give the field pack to the scrawny mage with the gimp.

To his credit, Exir wasn't giving up. He rotated and walked over to the two of them, who barely acknowledged his movement until he was right in front of them both, looking at a slightly upwards angle into the right one's light blue eyes. Actually, they both had light blue eyes and could practically be twins, I realized. That wasn't weird at all...

She looked down at him as he got what had to be uncomfortably close, but he was undaunted. Balls of steel, that one. "Let me rephrase that. What are your names? Both of you," he asked, eyes shifting between them each. I casually started rolling the parchment back up and slipped it into the field pack side pocket, just in case there was flying blood that could splash on it.

To my very honest surprise, the right one I could have sworn flicked up just the very corner of her muzzle for a fraction of a second, into what could be construed as a smirk or grin. Maybe they weren't golems after all! "Zira," she finally answered.

"Ziri," the one on the left answered a split second later.

"Ah! I thought you two were twins. You are twins, right? You know, you're actually rather cute when you smile. Maybe if you relaxed just a little, that whole pool thing wouldn't have happened," Exir suggested. The naming convention for family members was a good indication, yeah, but seriously, they were either twins or the capital had some very odd transmutation habits for its elite guards.

"Yes," Ziri answered yet again, almost immediately. I was impressed he'd got them talking, I admitted.

"Cute isn't what we're here for. Princess Nara's and Exes' protection is the only paramount," Zira continued. Uh, what? Why was I included in that? Was that a recent thing?

Exir must have wondered that too, twitching his eyebrow up again. "Uh, Exes too? Is this because of the pool thing?"

Ziri answered "No" at the same time Zira answered "Yes" a second later. Oh, awkward. They looked at each other, seemingly momentarily surprised before Zira relented and gave the smallest of sighs. "Princess Nara added Exes to our protection orders to make us exclude most cases of interaction between the two of them, yes. After the pool issue," she elaborated.

Ziri picked up as soon as she was done, with, "It's also to protect Exes as potentially the next Grandmaster Alchemist, and potentially her mate."

My cheeks flushed at that. Actually, at both of the things she said. Exir of course sported a full grin as he glanced back at me. "Ooooh? Did you two have a talk?" he asked coyly.

"About what?" suddenly came from the left as Nara exited the tent, now dressed in travel gear herself with a climbing set. All four of us, guards included, froze a little at that, and they suddenly snapped back to their prior stoic selves, of course leaving Exir and I to take the fall.

"N-Nothing!" Exir quickly professed, rotating to face her as she gave a blankly dubious stare instead.

Right, like that would deflect her. I decided to just take the hit for the team and cut in with, "Actually my fault. I may have uh, told him about possibly considering the, um, Trial Mating thing..." Exir and Nara both widened their eyes, the prior looking utterly shocked I'd actually say that, and the latter quickly shifting to a full-on warm smile.

"Ah! Oh, I don't mind you telling him about that at all! And um, I'm really glad you're giving me a second chance, again," Nara quickly assured, slipping past Exir in a heartbeat and moving right up in front of me. Oh boy. She quickly continued however with, "Also I did extend their orders to protect you too, with permission from Mother. She apologizes that she didn't include that from the start. She was rather busy that day and it slipped her mind..."

"Ah. It's well, fine. No lasting damage, thankfully," I assured, absently rubbing my right eye with a paw as I did. I saw Zira look away ever so slightly in the background at the same time. So she at least felt something for smashing into me so hard, it seems. Nara frowned as well however and moved up with her own paw to gently touch my eyebrow there. It had looked a little bad for a couple of days but now the fur was grown back nicely thanks to the tonic I whipped up, so you could barely see the small scar there. She could probably feel it however.

Her smile returned a moment later, only this time she lidded her eyes for a moment before assuring, "I haven't forgotten, don't worry. Trust me, I'll make sure to make it up to you in spades..." The mirth in her voice was unrelenting as she invoked the ever-classic flirty innuendo there, but her implication wasn't lost on me as I flushed furiously. Exir shifted back to a grin behind her at the same time, and the two guards looked rather knowingly at each other. That's just... great. No, I knew this was coming when I stuck my neck out like that.

Huffing lightly, I looked away from them all and fanned at my face for a bit, realizing hiding my blushing was pointless at this junction. "R-Right. We should probably get going now that you're ready..." I deflected. She continued grinning but nodded, releasing her paw from my cheek. When had it slid down off my eyebrow...? I swallowed the lump in my throat until she took a step backwards again and I could breathe without getting dizzy.

"Lead the way then, Master!" Nara chirped after giving me some room, immediately refreshing the flush in my cheeks. This was going to be a long day...