Capítulo 7: Chapter Five: Kha’na & Xane’s Journey!

Rewinding time a month, we can follow the journey of Kha'na and Xane starting from their departure from the other three. Walking on a well worn pathway was a bald-headed hairy-body absolutely yolked shirtless man who had two axes hanging from his waist. His silhouette was intimidating, though his face was comically dumb looking. Alongside him was a blonde, beautiful, fit, and energetic cat-girl. Though, her genetic makeup of a cat-girl was different from the genetic makeup of the cat-people who were quite populous. Although they are walking together, they aren't exactly friends. In fact, they had just met the previous day and the terms of that meeting were not positive. Kha'na is a soon-to-be adventurer who'll do quests that follow a morally positive trend. Xane believed that he was an adventurer, but was actually in a bandit group who did quests that were immoral, but paid more. The two are travelling together to right Xane's wrongs by saving people who were taken by his group. Mythere, Gaz, and Maeve are on that same quest, but went in a different direction to follow a different lead. Currently Kha'na and Xane are en route to Rivelakia, the largest kingdom on the central continent. The journey is estimated to take around a month.

Kha'na felt anxious due to her not having prepared for a month-long journey. She left her village under the notion that she would just be scouting for a day, so she didn't bring any long-term supplies. Xane did not feel this anxiety because he had been travelling for weeks already. His supplies were low, but he did have things that one would need for a long trip in a seemingly small bag he kept on his back. Her anxiety also stemmed from the fact that they didn't have a map to guide them. She studied maps enough to memorize them, but the maps she studied were already outdated. Xane was just a member of his party, so he just followed where his group was going. He didn't pay attention to the route at all and didn't carry a map on him. Even if he did pay attention, he likely would have forgotten all of it by now. After all, he originally departed over a month ago and his brain doesn't tend to hold a ton of information. Thus, the only option for their travel would be to trust the largest road.

Kha'na is usually a pretty talkative person, but in the situation she was in, she couldn't quite strike up anything to talk about. The air for her felt awkward. Xane was quite used to this silent travel and silence in general. His previous party weren't exactly friends and he didn't grow up talking to many people.

"So, what's your deal? Why are you so big?" Kha'na suddenly spurted out. She realized it was phrased weirdly, but didn't want to call attention to it.

"Me? Big? I've always looked like this." Xane responded not quite understanding the question.

"So you've always been that tall? And that, uh, wide? And what about your head? Why are you bald?" The tensious air for her had been cut after asking the first question and so a slew of more came out of her mouth.

"Yes." This was easy to believe. In reality, he had grown exponentially and there doesn't seem to be signs of stopping. "I do a lot of work." He said while he flexed and patted his biceps. "I don't grow hair on my head." He rubbed his head as it sparkled in the sun.

"That's weird. And are you sure you're only 16? Most people bald at least a couple decades from then. And what about your body hair? There's an absurd amount of it. And why are you even shirtless? I mean, your hair is basically a shirt, but still." There were a ton of things that percolated in her mind to ask and she wasn't even going to hesitate to ask them. It was like he was a transfer student and she was the overzealous classmate.

"Yes, I'm 16. My body just started growing hair recently I think, one day it was just there." It was a gradual growth, but he didn't notice until it was all there. "My parents stopped giving me shirts because I was growing out of them too fast and they wanted to wait until I stopped growing." He's not going to stop growing anytime soon though.

"Why not just give you a really big shirt that you'll grow into?" It seems that his parents were just as smart as him. "Are your parents both human? Are they really large, hairy, or bald?"

He looked up to the sky in thought for a moment and then shrugged. "They're human. They're kinda tiny, like you. And they have hair on their heads and body." Kha'na was more average sized than tiny, but to a big guy like him, tiny was an apt descriptor.

"Me? Tiny? Maybe to an oaf like you. Wait, you're not even that big! You're like the same size as Mythere!" They did stand almost eye to eye when they met.

"Pretty tiny.." He didn't take the invitation to playfully argue, not because he was taking the mature road, but because he missed the social cue.

The conversation died off after this. Kha'na relegated herself to walking in silence since she was offended at being called tiny, something she had no control over . Xane liked the questions since nobody had really cared about him before, so even though he was used to the silence, it saddened him just a bit when it resumed. They continued the rest of the first day of walking the long road peacefully and started looking for a place to rest when the sun started to set. They came upon a trail that led to a small clearing that seemed safe for them to sleep at. Xane reached into his bag and pulled out a thick blanket and rolled it out onto the floor. The blanket seemed way too thick and large to be able to fit into the bag that he brought.

"How the heck did you pack that?!" Kha'na saw him pull out a rolled up tube from his small bag. It seemed physically impossible.

"I dunno. It's just bigger on the inside." He genuinely didn't know how it held it either.

"Where did you get that bag? Is it magic? Can I see it? What else do you have inside?" Her curiosity surpassed her previous feelings of coming off too strong.

"Ummm, my parents gave it to me when I left. They said it was special or magic. I have a lot of stuff inside, here you can go through it." He handed the bag over to her as the two both sat upon the rolled out blanket.

Immediately she started rummaging through the bag as fast as she could. This has to be a magic bag, this thing is huge inside! Even though the bag was about the size of her stomach, the inside of it looked like a proper luggage size. Unfortunately, there wasn't a ton of things inside of the bag that she could find use for, but she did find some food rations as well as some pocket change. "I can fit so many things in here! This must be magic. Can I have it? Or borrow it? How much do you want for it? I don't have money on me right now, but I'm good with my word!" She was quite energized about this bag.

"No thanks.. My parents gave it to me and it has my name on it." He pointed to the side of the bag where 'Xane' is shoddily scribbled. "We can share it if you want. You don't have much to put in." He didn't mean it in a snide way, but she took it as that.

"It's because all my stuff is at home! Whatever! I'll put any new stuff I get in here, you can carry it though." She tossed the bag back at him. "Now I'm going to sleep." She stood up from the blanket. "Night!" She jumped over to a tree and masterfully climbed it until she reached a branch that she could comfortably lay on. It wasn't that high up, but she felt safer in the tree and also didn't want to sleep next to Xane.

He didn't take that as a slight though, mostly because he didn't get it. Instead he shouted back "GOODNIGHT" and slumped onto his thick blanket. The two both slept peacefully throughout the night, very separated from each other. The night passed by with no problems. Kha'na awoke at the crack of dawn atop of the branch that she fell asleep in. She got up and stretched while still in the tree to warm up her body for the climb down. Xane was still asleep on the floor, he did seem like the heavy-sleeper type. She looked around at the clearing and saw a tent that wasn't set up when they went to sleep. It didn't really bother her that much as this clearing was probably a popular stopping place along this road; although she did worry about the things that could've happened had bad people stumbled upon them sleeping. She would probably be safe since she slept in the tree, but if she slept on the floor in plain view, there could've been trouble. She wanted to take a look at the tent people before she revealed herself, but also wanted to wake Xane up so they could start moving.

Since the tent people got there after the duo and the duo themselves arrived at the clearing already late at night, Kha'na assumed that they would still be asleep. She didn't want to take any chances considering the circumstances, so she decided she would try to wake up Xane to scout the area before she got down. If the people were bandits, she figured that she would be someone that they would want to kidnap. Even though Xane was safe, that didn't mean that the strangers weren't bad. She didn't want to be ambushed by people as she climbed down and although she can see a lot from where she is, she still had blindspots. She was quite adept at throwing things. So she decided that she would wake him up by throwing things at him.Unfortunately, there aren't many throwable things on a random tree branch. There's bugs, leaves, and pieces of bark, but nothing solid like a pebble. She also didn't have anything that she could throw on her that wasn't lethal(knives). So began the game of waking Xane, the heavy sleeper, up by tossing things that don't weigh that much while also trying not to injure him.

The most pebble-like object would have to be bugs, like beetles and things like that. They usually have a little bit of heft to them and a decent size, she would just have to find and catch them. Even though the tree she was in was large, it was still a limited amount of searching space. There were many bugs, but it's not like she could throw the tiny ones like ants, there's no way that Xane would notice that. She searched in the branches above her, the base of her branch, and then the end of her branch. She only managed to scrounge up a few beetles ranging in sizes. She also noticed some bees, but didn't want to hold on to them while she threw beetles. First beetle, the smallest one she had, about the size of a nickel, aiming for his head. Swoosh. Splat. It hit his cheek and made a distinct sound. It didn't kill the beetle, the beetle just walked away. Second beetle, the next smallest, aimed for his head again. This time it hit the top of his head and then walked away. The third beetle, medium sized, aiming for his head. In a gross turn of events, it landed in his mouth mid snore. The poor guy didn't come back out of his mouth and it looked like his throat swallowed. RIP little guy. The last beetle she had was pretty large, if he was hit with this one directly, he's sure to wake up. She aimed it at his head, but specifically tried to avoid his mouth this time and let it loose. The trajectory of the beetle seemed perfect to make direct contact with his head, but before it hit, the beetle suddenly sprouted wings and flew away. That thing could fly?! She thought about catching the bees and throwing them, but they weren't any bigger and they all could fly so it didn't seem like it would work.

The thing about tree bark is that it is hard and could be any size that she needs, but it isn't very dense. If she broke a piece the size of a normal pebble, it wouldn't carry enough weight to wake the sleeping giant. A piece that would carry enough weight might actually hurt him though. Thus when collecting her pieces, she tried to make them all about the size of her fist. Then she began to toss them. Due to their uneven nature, their light weight, and the wind, her throwing was not as accurate as it could be. She never trained for throwing oblong pieces of light wood. A few pieces hit the floor next to him, some of them clocked his head and then burst, and she even threw some at his chest. None of them seemed to get any reaction out of him. She started to wonder if he was dead, but remembered the revolting event of him eating a beetle. Eventually she got tired of throwing fist sized bark at the oaf and elected to toss one the size of her arm. She launched it and while it was in mid-air, Xane turned over to his side and it smacked the back of his head. It made quite the sound and he even scratched the back of his head after it hit, but then more snoring noises came from his body. She sighed in disappointment.

Leaves were not pebble-like whatsoever. They were however similar to flat objects that she knows how to throw like cards or stars. She picked leaves that seemed the strongest and most balanced and then began to test throw them in the air. After a few, she got the hang of it and changed her target to the bald beast. Usually, flat objects like leaves are thrown to cut something or stick into something, but she didn't want to cut him at all. Instead, she wanted just to bother him enough to wake him up. This was a very delicate task, but the worst case scenario wasn't that bad so she's willing to risk it. She began to throw the leaves at him and most of them bounced off. She didn't want to hit his face and give him unneeded scars, so she aimed for his body which is covered in hair. Some of the leaves seemed to shave off some of his body hair. The leaves that made direct contact with his skin didn't seem to do anything. Leaves were officially a failure.

There were now two choices she had. Option one is to combine leaves, bark, and bugs into a throwable object by using bug innards to stick a bunch of bark dust compactly together and held together by leaves. Option two is to use her knives. Unfortunately (for Xane), even though she didn't have that light of a stomach, the idea of squashing a bunch of bugs into a wood glue was not something that she ever wanted to do. Thus, she had to throw her knives. It's not like her knives are sharp all around, they have a dull handle that she's confident in throwing. It just wasn't something that she thought she would have to do. After all, that would be her throwing her only weapons away. This time she was going to aim for his neck. He was still turned on his side, so it would be the back of his neck. She wasn't going to throw it hard enough to do any damage to his spine, so don't worry about him being paralyzed. There wasn't any other spot that she thought would be sensitive enough for him to wake up. She has three knives, so three chances. Her knives are something that she is extremely trained in, so there's almost no way that she would miss her shot. She looses one dagger from her hand aiming directly at his neck. The pathway is looking smooth and then *clunk* it makes contact. Expectedly, this caused no reaction from our dumb friend. She didn't want to do this, but her next target is his bum. It's his fault for turning to his side! And for having such a thick head! And for sleeping so heavily! She aimed, not just at his cheeks either, but between the two, and flung the knife straight at the hole. The moment it made contact, it seemed to awaken a primal instinct of Xane's body where it clenched the knife between the cheeks. I don't think I want that knife back. It did not wake him up. She now had to weigh the options of hitting his back in a very unremarkable spot with the sharp side of a knife, or jump down and get possibly ambushed. He's thick skinned, he'll heal. I've never fought before, I could die! Sorry you sleeping giant. She readied her knife and aimed under his shoulder. It's not like the knife was going to go through anything vital anyway. After confirming the wind she hurled her knife toward his shoulder. It sparkled as it reflected the sunlight in the air.

*CLINK*

The knife was blocked by another metal object before it could meet the body. What the?! It was blocked?! By who?! She immediately began to scan the area once again. She was previously in a happy mood as she made a game out of waking Xane up, but now her adrenaline started pumping and her heart rate skyrocketed. She didn't even see the direction the counter knife came from. Before she could fully scan the area, arrows whizzed past her head.

"I-I know you're around there you assassin! W-We have this place surrounded so you won't escape! Reveal yourself now and we'll let you live!" A young man's nervous shaking voice was heard. She was panicking, she knows she isn't an assassin, but she did just throw a knife at a sleeping man from a hidden branch in a tree. The circumstances did point to her being a bad person. She looked over to Xane and a man wearing some sort of uniform was standing above him. How is this idiot still asleep!!! Wake up and defend me you oaf! More arrows whizzed in her direction faster than one man could shoot. Based on the arrows not hitting her, she knows that they don't know exactly where she's at.

"WAIT! I'M NOT AN ASSASSIN!-" She started to shout back nervously. Before she could explain, more arrows were fired towards her, closer than they were before. Her voice helped them pinpoint closer to where she actually was. "HEY STOP A SEC, I'M-"

"Sh-show yourself and we'll stop firing! This r-roadway is under our protection!" The man shouted back. Protect? Well, then they're probably not bandits. Unless they're bandits paid to protect this area… A barrage of arrows flies through the air into her general direction.

Kha'na had no weapons on her since she threw all of her knives. She didn't exactly feel safe to jump down, but she didn't really have any other choice. Since Xane still hasn't woken up to defend her and the arrows just keep coming, she decides that she'll try to take the matter into her own hands. She jumps gracefully from the tree branch into the clearing and then immediately shows her hands to prove that she doesn't have any weapons. She braces herself and attempts to cover up vital areas in case they shoot. "Don't shoot! I'm not an assassin, I'm just an adventurer and the sleeping guy is my partner! Well, not partner, we're just travelling together for now, but not because I want to! It's actually somewhat complicated of a story so…" She starts to look around at the people who were firing arrows at her only to see wide-eyed stunnedfaces staring back at her. "Uh, hello?"

"Ah! Yes! Uhhh- explain yourself for us p-please!" The main guy stuttered back to her. She was now able to get a clear look at him. He was as average as one can get. He had short brown hair cut into a bowl that parted in the middle. His face was pale, but his cheeks were red. He was taller than Kha'na, but shorter than Xane. The armor he was wearing seemed to be a uniform of some type. It was mostly chainmail, but a blue shirt/banner worn on top of it. The blue shirt had a white star-shaped symbol plastered on the center of it. The five or so men that she could spot had the same banner and symbol on them. They all carried a crossbow of sorts.

"Oooookay. Well I'm Kha'na and I'm travelling with that bald guy, Xane, on a quest!. I was trying to wake him up from the tree because I didn't feel safe jumping down since there's that tent that wasn't there when we camped out last night." She tried to speak to all of them, but as soon as she would make eye contact with any of them they would avert their gazes and their cheeks would flush. "Do you mind?" She asked as she gestured towards Xane's unconscious body.

"Ummmm, wait!" The bowl-cut man yelped as she walked towards Xane. "How do we know that you're not really going to kill him? Do you have an adventurer badge?" He readied his crossbow with a shaking hand and signaled his team to do the same.

"Uhhhhh no, I haven't actually registered to be one yet…" She was met with silence from this true but unbelievable excuse. "Ugggghhhh, fine. Wake him up yourself if you can!" She threw her arms up in the air and grunted. Then she sat cross-legged staring at the blue boys to wake up the hairy beast.

"Excuse me sir, would you please get up?" The bowl-cut man knelt down next to Xane and asked while shoving his shoulder. The other men kept their eyes on Kha'na, except when she would look at any of them. "G-good morning!" The man shoved Xane harder. He then felt Xane's chest and neck to make sure he was even alive. "Okay, how do you usually wake him up?" He turned towards Kha'na hopelessly.

She threw her arms up in the air again and made an annoyed face. "I don't know! This is the first night we've travelled together, I never had to wake him up before! But since you don't trust me, you can do it." She crossed her arms, pouted, and looked away from the clueless bowl-cut man.

"Right… Guys? Can I get some help with this?" He looked around at his team. The only response he got was a bunch of murmurs that all overlapped each other making them unintelligible. They mostly consisted of things like "what about the girl" or "the girl is making me nervous" or "i've never seen such a pretty girl before". Of course, Kha'na heard these things since she has enhanced hearing abilities. "Just help me lift this guy, some of you can keep your eyes on her." When in clear view, the other team members looked almost exactly the same as bowl-cut, except had different hair styles. So they were definitely some sort of uniformed team. Even though there were three of them lifting Xane, it proved to be quite difficult due to their average statures and his giant one. Once they managed to sit him up, they tried to shove him around and yelled at him to wake him up. Unfortunately, he was too much of a heavy sleeper.

"Yawnnn, can you guys figure it out already?" She stretched out while complaining. Then, an arrow flew past her. "Hey! What the-?!" She looked directly at the direction it came from.

"Sorry! Sorrysorrysorry! My finger slipped I swear! Please don't kill me, I'm sorry!" The person who shot her dropped his crossbow and kneeled with his head to the floor. She didn't even get up, she just looked in his direction with confusion more than malice. It had become clear to her that this team of whatever they are are very intimidated by her. Not because of any showing of physical prowess or being particularly scary, but simply because she is a woman. A very attractive woman. She sighed and looked away from the kneeling guy.

The wake-up team decided to go full physical and were winding up their arms to slap Xane awake. Bowl-cut raised his hand up higher than his head and swiftly slapped Xane across the face while yelling "SORRY!" Then, they all waited in suspense to see if it did anything and suddenly he jolted awake.

"WAH!" He stood up immediately knocking over the guys next to him. "Who're you guys? Oh hey Kha'na! Who're these guys?" Xane pointed to the guys on the floor next to him.

"I have no idea Xane." Her head hung low as she sighed her annoyance to this strange morning. She stood back up and walked over towards him. "Let's just… go." She pats him on the shoulder and then begins to walk away from the group and towards the road.

"Hey wait! A-aren't you curious about who we are? Maybe? We'll answer any questions you have! We can help too!" The bowl-cut man shouted and then slowly nervously trailed off. He stumbled over towards them while reaching out.

"No! You wasted enough time with this, we're-"

"Okay, I'll ask questions, who are you guys?" Xane cut off Kha'na's enraged response. The bowl-cut man immediately perked up and signaled for the rest of his group to form up next to him.

"We're the Bright Rigel group! A team of adventurers that are on a constant quest to protect this road! We're all Dog ranked, so we can handle ourselves and a lot more. We started adventuring as just friends who…." Kha'na grabbed Xane's arm and started walking away as the group continued talking. They were so full of themselves that they didn't even notice that their audience was walking away. "Hey w-wait! I wasn't finished yet!!"

"We're done listening! See ya!" She didn't even turn around to respond. As they walked away, she heard more and more pleading. It sounded really desperate and then like they were going to break down crying. She was mad at the group but she wasn't heartless. So she stopped walking and turned around. "FINE. Tell us your deal."

"R-really? Great!" The group then decided to run over to where the two adventurers were. "Okay, I'll make it short for you. We used to be solo adventurers struggling to find jobs and then this higher ranked guy said we should find other people who are going through the same thing and group up with them. He explained that the guild sn't the only place that gives out quests and some people can't afford their fees, so we can patrol and save people and defeat bad guys and maybe get rewards and quests that way. That's the goal of the Bright Rigel group! To protect this road and the people who travel on it." He finished and then struck a proud and tough pose. He spoke really fast so Kha'na wouldn't get bored and leave and he also cut down what he was going to say quite considerably. In fact, he was going to do a custom introduction to each of the members of the group and let them all speak as well. He cut so much out that he didn't even introduce himself.

"Alright, great, that sounds super cool." Her sarcasm was very thinly veiled. "Anyway, we got to go so-"

"A whole group just to patrol and fight crime! That's awesome! I always wanted to do that! Can I join? That's a cool uniform too, does everybody get one?!" Xane was bursting with enthusiasm. Of course to his young mind, a patrol of people who stopped crimes as vigilantes was a very appealing idea. There wasn't enough infrastructure in the existing kingdoms to enlist and pay for many kingdom guards to patrol roads, especially not this far out.

"XANE NO." She attempted to stop the fervor, but their attention was already fully focused on each other. No amount of force could pull them apart.

"Whoaaa! Really? You w-want to join us? Of course you can! There's no fees except for the uniform, but the only important part is the symbol, you can wear anything else besides that. What rank are you? You gotta be in the upper 5 for sure!"

"Rank? Oh, I don't have one, I'm a bandit." The unification of like minded individuals immediately broke upon that word being spoken. The smiles were dropped and the tension rose dramatically.

"B-bandit? Oh, well uhhh, we don't really allow bandits…" Bowl-cut slowly started to step away and his hands hovered over his weapons.

"Former bandit! He meant former bandit, we're on our way to become adventurer's right now!" Kha'na overheard and tried to fix it immediately.

"Oh yeah, I WAS a bandit for a few months. I thought I was an adventurer, but it turns out our leader was a bandit! I wonder if the others knew we were actually bandits." They definitely knew.

"This, this sounds complicated, maybe you guys should tell us your story?" They dropped the hostilities and warmed up closer to the two. "I mean, we did tell you guys about us."

"AAAAgh fine! But we're not going to stand around and talk, we're moving toward Rivelakia! We wasted enough time already." Kha'na broke and began to walk away.

"That's fine! We have to go back that way anyway. Grab your stuff guys!" He told the rest of them. Immediately they rushed behind the trees where they had a bunch of bags. One guy also went to where they shot all the arrows and picked up all the ones that he could find. "Map guy! Which way back to Rivelakia?"

"That way sir!" A man who was holding the map pointed in the direction that Kha'na was already heading.

"Well then lead the way!" Bowl-cut directed map man.

"Sir!"

"Wait, so do you guys have some sort of hierarchy? I thought you were all the same rank." Kha'na questioned, now that they were finally moving, she felt okay to talk. Even though these guys did try to kill or capture her.

"O-oh, y-yeah." It seemed that even though they were past things, the guy was still nervous around Kha'na. "Well, we are all the same rank to the guild, but within the Bright Rigels, we have our own ranks and jobs. I formed the team, so I'm the leader. And that over there is-'' He was going to introduce everyone, but was cut off by Kha'na.

"Alright 'leader', what's your name? You know I'm Kha'na and he's Xane already. Plus you're the only one to talk to us, so I don't really care for the other people's names." She said quite crassly.

"M-me? I'm Tuc L'wob. J-just Tuc is fine."

"Kay, Tuc, here's the story." The story of course being the events that occurred until then. She talked about Stroffo and the others, how they raided and pillaged a goblin village and are now trying to sell off goblins to slave markets. She talked about how Xane was one of them, but was fooled by Stroffo since Xane himself is young and naive and believed anything that was told to him. She also mentioned how Xane is only 16 despite his looks to which they responded by admiring him even more with a hint of jealousy. She mentioned that she was a half-breed which made them even more amazed and nervous around her. She mentioned Mythere, Gaz, and Maeve and that they're headed towards the Iron Coast based off of Maeve's recollection. Which led her into thinking that they're going to Rivelakia because Xane recalled that that's where Stroffo was heading. She talked about how they're on a heavy time crunch since if the bandits reach the kingdoms before they do, those goblins would probably be lost to the markets. Some of them didn't know that goblins were a part of the sentient races and wondered why they needed saving, but that was easily explained to them. "Well, any questions?" She ended her story.

"That's a lot. What are you going to do if you're wrong about Rivelakia?" Tuc asked. The other members of the Bright Rigels didn't feel worthy enough to talk to Kha'na. So they made their leader their spokesman.

"The only thing I can do, hope that Mythere can handle it." She shrugged it off.

"What about if you're right?" He probed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you're right, and he did go to Rivelakia, wouldn't you have to face him?"

"Oh, ha ha, yeah, duh. That's no problem, we'd just have to beat him!" She confidently said.

"N-not to be rude or anything, but you're not even a ranked adventurer. This Stroffo guy sounds kinda scary and he's probably got a lot of skill and experience if he took on a whole goblin village. You're just one girl and one guy, and the guy is only 16." He nervously tried to point out the flaws in the plan.

"We could handle it! Those guys didn't look too tough, and I may not be a seasoned adventurer, but I have been trained by some of the best since I was born! And he may be 16, but look at him! He's huge!" She waved her arms at his giant body.

"If you're feeling not confident, we could escort you maybe? An-and you don't even have to pay us that much or anything, maybe just help us out sometime after or something." He nervously pleaded.

"We don't have any money, so we couldn't pay you even if we wanted to. And I don't even think you guys would be that much help." She waved them off, but she did start to worry about what would happen once they reached their destination.

"Uh, fine! We'll do it for free. We're on our way back anyway, but maybe you can help us out if there's trouble on the way?" Even after saying it's free, Tuc still tried to weasel some help.

"No way-"

"Sure!" Xane cut off Kha'na's denial.

"Fine! Just don't slow us down. We don't stop until it's night time, so no stopping us or you get left behind!" Pretty reasonable compromise to a bunch of strangers.

So the trek continues, but now the party is quite large. Kha'na led the group, followed by Tuc, then the Bright Rigel group crowding around Xane. There's a total of 9 individuals in the Bright Rigel group, Tuc included, but Kha'na declined to learn other names mostly due to the fact that they all previously tried to shoot her. Xane simply didn't have the brain capacity to learn the rest of their names, despite them telling them to him while walking. They all seemed to admire Xane very much, as they were all fairly average looking men, whereas he was a giant sculpted Adonis. Of course they admired Kha'na as well, but weren't confident enough to speak to a woman who they previously tried to shoot. There was a reason there were no women in the Bright Rigel group. Not because they held any ill will towards women, but rather they didn't know how to approach women in an appropriate way. Plus, once a group grows to the size they were and is composed of only men, it would be awkward to become the first and only woman. Unfortunately, this made the journey for Kha'na quite uncomfortable and lonely. Though she was an outgoing person and did well in large groups, the gender distribution would be enough to put anyone off. It's not like they were mean or anything to her, but they clearly avoided eye contact and conversation. Xane was too busy talking to other members to keep Kha'na company.

"So how'd you get so big!?" A voice rang from one of the crowd members.

"Hmmmm, I don't know." Xane responded.

"Woooooooaaaaaaah." The crowd reacted.

"Are you sure you're a human?" Another voice called out.

"Hmmmmmm, yes." Xane shrugged.

"WOOOAAAAAAH!" "I bet he isn't!" "He's a prime human!" "The Alpha male!" Multiple voices commented on his answer.

"How much can you bench?" The Q and A continued.

"What's that mean?" He confusedly responded.

"Like how much can you lift?" They responded.

"Oh, hmmmmm, a lot! Like logs and logs!" He cheerfully bragged.

"Amazing!" "Of course he can!" "I bet he could pick us all up!" "His arms are bigger than my head!" These were all grown men fawning over this teenage boy. These types of questions continued for quite some time, in fact, throughout the rest of the journey, they never stopped. His answers would always be short, but always well received. Meanwhile, Kha'na strutted forward while increasingly getting annoyed at the talk session behind her. Eventually she learned to tune it out. Though, it was due to Tuc's braveness by attempting to strike up a conversation with her.

"S-so, you said you were trained by some of the best huh? Where are you from?" He squeaked while walking a little behind her.

"Well, they're some of the best I know," then in a whisper she said "though I don't really know that many people…"

"What was that?" Tuc questioned, he genuinely couldn't hear. His ears were only human after all and she was speaking in front of herself.

"Oh, nothing ahah. I'm from a small village about a day away, called Caeph. Have you ever heard of it?" She didn't have any reason to be secretive about herself at this point.

"Caeph? I-I can't say that I've ever heard of it, I don't recall any villages a day away from here either." He was puzzled.

"It's a hidden village, it's easy to find if you know it exists. It's actually my first time being this far from it. Haha." She laughed nervously to cover up her embarrassment leaving her home for the first time.

"You lived in a hidden village? That's so cool! I wish my backstory was cool like that, I grew up in a village right outside of Rivelakia. Who ran your village?" He tried to sprinkle things about himself into the conversation in an attempt to bridge the stranger gap.

"Ran the village? Hmmmmm, I guess that would be the elders, right? The elders also are the ones who raised and trained me. Hilda and Tiba Plasard!" She cheerfully responded. "Though, it's not like they ran the village, it was pretty self-sufficient. They're respected by everyone there, but they didn't make laws or anything. Do the villages that you're familiar with usually have someone that runs it single-handedly?" She questioned, she was genuinely curious since she didn't know much about village life other than her own life. "Tuc?" She figured she gave him enough time to begin his response, yet he hadn't started talking yet. "Tuc, did you hear me---?" She finally turned to look at what Tuc was doing. His jaw was dropped and his eyes were widened as much as they could be. "TUC!? What is it? Did I say something? Did you see something? Are my pants ripped in the back?! Not again!" She checked her pants all around, but there weren't any tears to be seen. "What? Nothing?" She stopped and started to shake Tuc from his silence. "Tuc! Talk to me!" Now, not only was Tuc stunned from whatever happened, but now as well from Kha'na touching him and looking deeply into his eyes.

"Th-the Plasards…?" He mumbled.

"The Plasards? Yeah! Hilda and Tiba; humans, they're retired adventurers. Why, have you heard of them?" She had a puzzled look on her face, but then began walking again since he responded to her.

"HEARD OF THEM?!" He shouted in bewilderment, enough to make her jump. "The Plasard twins are LEGENDARY! And you were TRAINED BY THEM?! I figured when you said trained by the best, you just meant the best you know, but you were actually trained by the best adventurers? Do you know what you're saying?! Hilda the Silent and Tiba the Swift trained you?!" He seemed almost to doubt what she said.

"Oh, well, not really," She started, but was cut off.

"Ha! I knew it couldn't be true, how could you be so lucky to be trained by some of the only human adventurers to reach the Gryphon rank." He sighed in relief.

"Huh? Well, I was only trained by Hilda, is what I was going to say. Tiba trained Mythere." She finished saying. "Gryphon rank? How high is that one again?" Although she was interested in adventuring, she could never bother to learn all the ranks. "Tuc?" She turned around and sure enough his mouth was open and jaw dropped once again. "Hey, snap out of it!" She shoved him a bit.

"WHAT?! YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU WERE TRAINED BY THE PLASARDS AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THEM?!" He shouted almost angrily, but mainly enviously. At this point, the Xane fan club heard him yelling so much that they migrated towards him.

"The Plasards? She knows them?" "The legendary twins?" "The Gryphon ranked humans?"

"The Plasards, hmmmmm, I feel like I remember that name somehow." Xane muttered.

"Well, it's not like they only trained me, they also raised me and Mythere, so they're more like our parents than anything. But I wouldn't call Mythere my brother or anything, we were just raised together. Anyway, what's so special about them again? They just seemed like normal people," Then she spoke under her breath, "maybe above average if you guys are considered normal ah ha."

"They are Gryphon ranked! That's the second highest rank that the guild has, and for humans to get that high ranked is insane! They're like, two of the only humans to get there, other races have gotten there, but the amount of humans is tiny!" The other Bright Rigel members were still too nervous to talk to Kha'na, but they did egg on Tuc and shouted 'yeah' at what he was saying.

"The second highest? So they're not even like the highest rank?" She questioned his explanation. It seemed lackluster for the amount of hype he had.

"The highest rank is exclusively Otherworlders, so the Gryphon rank is the highest achievable rank! You were trained by these two legends and you didn't even know?" He was so stunned and filled with such conflicting emotion. He was happy for her, but mad that she didn't even know what she had, but also amazed that she didn't know what she had. The rest of his group felt similarly.

"Oh, I guess that's pretty impressive. Well, yeah, they raised us. Oh! That means I'm actually like, super strong right? Hilda was always impressed by my skills." She said smugly.

"Impressed? You… impressed a legend?" Tuc almost fainted upon hearing those words. Of course, impressing your pseudo-parent/teacher is a lot different than impressing a legendary adventurer, but Tuc didn't realize this.

"So that's me, from Caeph and trained by Hilda the Silent. That's pretty cool! I do have a cool backstory. What would my nickname be? Kha'na the Silent? The Stealthy? Ooooo, maybe something like Kha'na the Beautiful? That's fitting right Tuc?" She elbowed him lightly.

"I-I guess." He felt defeated in that she only seemed to partly realize the big deal that the Plasards were.

"The elders! Those are the Plasards right? Stroffo told us about them when we were leaving the village." Xane finally realized where he heard the names from.

"What?! What did Stroffo say about them?" Kha'na asked worriedly.

"Ummmm, something like 'It took me a while to realize it, but those two were the Plasards. We should get out of here before they realize something is up. We're lucky they didn't see right through us to begin with.' That's when we were sleeping in your room, then we left straight the next morning." He remembered Stroffo's words strangely well, and his impression of him wasn't half bad.

"He knew about them? Woahh! They must be famous famous!" She yelled with joy.

"That's, that's what I was saying…" Tuc sighed in absolute defeat, as if he was beaten by Xane with one sentence.

"Well, if he was scared of those two, there should be no problem if I have to confront them, will there? Ha HA!" She ostentatiously boasted while puffing her chest out and taking long struts.

"I mean, it's not a sure thing that you're that great or anything, so you could still be in trouble…" Tuc whispered.

"What was that?" She questioned, even though she heard fully well what he said. She didn't want to admit it, but Tuc was right and she was scared. Though, knowing that her pseudo-parents were legends did ease that fear quite a bit.

"N-nothing!" He quickly replied, he still doesn't know that her ears are capable of hearing everything.

With that conversation, the dynamic of the whole group had changed. Tuc no longer felt like Kha'na was in that much trouble on her own and also felt much more comfortable around her, considering he did yell in her face. She also did grab both his shoulders, which shot sparks through his body. Kha'na rejuvenated for the journey. She was introduced to the fear of confronting the bandits and then introduced to the fact that her teachers were legends. She also felt more comfortable talking with the new group.. Xane didn't really change since his ignorance is kind of a perk in these large groups. The other eight members of the Bright Rigel group gained new respect for both Kha'na and Xane, but that didn't mean they were now comfortable enough to talk to her. Especially since she still has no interest in any of their names or stories.

Then, the sun quickly set and night was upon them. Tuc suggested going a little further to reach a more comfortable camping spot, since his group patrols this area a lot. The sleeping arrangements were the same as before, except they now all wanted to sleep next to the giant, in case of danger. Except for Kha'na, who still preferred a tree top or similar isolation. Tuc also preferred to sleep closer to Kha'na than Xane, but it's not like he would sleep in a tree. They brought out the food that they had, which consisted of mostly bread and some dried meats, ate, and then slept. They had enough food for their group, but due to two more companions, they would likely need to restock in one way or another soon.

The night passed by without a hitch and the sun began to rise once again. This time, as Kha'na woke up, she was not worried about a fight at all. Instead, she jumped right down from her treetop and unfortunately landed right on top of Tuc.

"ERK!" The poor man yelped and groaned. "Hnnnnnnnnnnnng," he clutched his stomach while he gasped for air. Fortunately, she landed on his stomach and not any lower, and she was a graceful lander. It still was still very painful to the combat inexperienced Tuc.

"Ah! Oh my god!" As soon as she landed on him, she realized and hopped off, but the damage had already been dealt. "I'm so sorry!" She knelt down over him while he was groaning in the fetal position. "Are you okay? How can I help you?" She patted his shoulder in efforts to get a response. "Tuc?"

"(Heavy heaving) I…. think…. I'll… be okay…" As he held his stomach while the pain slowly subsided.

"Let me help you sit up, it'll make breathing easier." She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up to sit up on the tree. While being turned, Tuc let Kha'na position his body however she wanted, since moving on his own just hurt. Kha'na vastly underestimated how light Tuc is and pulled him up uncomfortably close to her own face. Tuc couldn't move because of the pain he was in, but also because being this close to a beautiful woman was something he'd never experienced. He was struck in awe of her features. Meanwhile, Kha'na didn't move because she accidentally just may have severely injured this guy she just met and was fearing for his life..

Tuc, being inexperienced and desperate, read the situation completely wrong. After meeting eye to eye, he closed his eyes and puckered his lips. They nervously quivered in anticipation. His stomach pain was overshadowed by mistaken butterflies.

"EEK!" Kha'na jumped back as soon as she realized what he thought was going on. "What are you trying to do? I'm sorry, but I'm not that sorry! Not with my first! I wouldn't want it to be with someone who tried to kill me that I met yesterday!" She immediately broke out into a nervous defensive rant.

Tuc, now realizing his gravely mistake, had to now think of an excuse that made it not seem like he's desperate and wanting. He just sat there with his eyes closed and lips puckered.

"Uhh, Tuc?" She prodded from a safe distance.

His time for thinking had run out. "Hmmmm?" he mumbled inquisitively.

"Listen, I don't think you're that bad, but I don't really know you so…"

"What?! HA HAH HAH HA! OH MY GOODNESS! I just realized what you are on about! The face I was making was the face I always make when I'm in extreme pain!" This was a lie. "But now that you mention it, I guess it does look like a kissing face haha!" Because it was. "It's a face I've always made, you could ask the rest of the group, but they've never made me feel pain before so they wouldn't know!" This was a bluff and two lies.

"OH! Of course! Yeah I guess people can make some weird faces when they're in pain." She actually believed his lie, it's not like she had any other proof of anything else, other than his over-the-top explanation. After an awkwardly long pause between slight chuckles exchanged between the two of them, she finally asked, "So, why were you sleeping beneath my tree?"

Tuc's heart sank. He was hoping to wake up before her and he slept under her tree because he wanted to be closer to her. This was not something that he could say out loud. "Huhhh? This was the tree you slept in? What a coincidence~ I just picked this tree randomly and I didn't see you at all!" Lie, he saw her climb into this tree as clear as day. "Great minds think alike huh?"

"Erm, sure. Well, are you alright? How's your stomach doing? Hopefully I didn't damage anything too badly. I'm not heavy enough for it to hurt that much right?" She coyly added referring to her not being fat. She wasn't, but she wasn't a light person.

"Oh no no no, I'm not hurt at all!" Lie, as soon as she mentioned it, he realized his stomach was in extreme pain. In fact, there might be something inside him that is seriously damaged, or at least that's what he feels like. "I'm right as rain, I can stand up just fine too!" He hopped up to his feet and almost keeled over from the pain, but pushed through it to keep a strong stance. Unfortunately, he stood up too fast considering he was just waking up as well and he fell back over due to the blood rushing to his brain. The thump on the ground coupled with the already pained stomach was too much for poor Tuc to handle and he was now knocked out.

"Tuc- oh my god!" Kha'na yelped as his body slumped to the floor. "I know you said you're fine, but I don't think you are!" She yapped to his unconscious body. "Aw frick, you're really out cold huh?" She squatted down and nudged his body. Then, she leaned towards his face and whispered in his ear, "Tuccccc. It's me Hilda the silent.". No response to the cheap mentioning of a legend. "Well, I guess he really is out." She didn't have any other idea to whisper that wasn't too far.. She checked his pulse and breathing to make sure he was still alive, which he was, and then hoisted him up and carried him to the rest of the party.

"YAHALLO!!! Your captain is unconscious! I may have jumped on him and then he fell over afterwards. Uh, I'm not sure what to do other than let him rest, but if there's a medic or healer around, you should take a look!" No response. "Are you all heavy sleepers or something?!" Again, no response. Just a bunch of sleeping bodies all crowded around the bald giant. "I guess I can wake them up the hard way." She pulled out her daggers in an intentionally loud way so the sheen of the metal could be heard. Then she tapped them against each other to make it more obvious that she's holding metal. "Here it goes!" She then threw a dagger in the floor space between the sleeping group. It dug deep into the ground with a thud. "Oh, looks like I missed that one. Well, here comes the next one!" She didn't miss, she was aiming for the ground. She took in a large audible breath before throwing the next dagger.

"W-wait! We're awake! We're awake!" Suddenly, all of them got up and shielded themselves with their hands. Except for Xane who was still in dreamland.

"AH-HA! I knew it! I can't believe you're all that lazy!" She remarked while putting her daggers away. "He could be seriously hurt right now!" She gestured towards Tuc's almost lifeless body next to her.

"We're sorry! We just usually get to sleep in and it's really early right now and we're tired and hungry and-"

"Well you came along with me, so you gotta follow my schedule! Plus, I just beat your captain, which makes me the leader! So get up and help Tuc out!" She commanded.

"I don't think leadership works like that…" One of the members whispered.

"What was that?" She heard him of course, but wanted him to repeat himself.

"N-nothing ma'am!" He turned away, "I can't believe she heard that." She was a couple meters away and it was a whisper. She didn't respond to that comment though since it would be beneficial for her if they don't know she has good hearing.

Then, their group crowded around Tuc's body and began to examine him. Kha'na went to try to wake up Xane. She didn't feel like playing the 'will this wake him up' game, so she went straight to the slap. She didn't hold back as much as she should've. SLAP. It's not going to leave a mark, but it's gonna be red for a while. "WAH! Oh, it's morning. Good morning." He wakes up pretty kindly for someone who has to be slapped awake.

"I don't think I could call this a good morning," She let out a sigh. "I just wanna get going already."

"What happened? Food?" He questioned.

"That happened." She pointed over towards the Bright Rigel group crowding around Tuc.

"Is he okay?" Xane pondered. "I have some medical stuff." He grabbed his bag and started going through it.

"He'll probably be fine. I mean, I don't weigh that much and I was only on top of him for a moment. And it was like, just a couple meters of a drop. And I landed on his stomach, there's nothing that vital there, right? What am I saying, the stomach is totally vital! Well, it's not like I could've punctured anything. I didn't land on his ribs or anything. So he's probably totally fine, right? But if he's not, you like, have things for this right? I didn't really pay that much attention when I looked through your bag." She rambled in her nervous state.

"AHHHHHH!" Numerous screams came from the group around Tuc. "OH MY GOODNESS!"

"HUH? What happened?!" She sprinted towards his body. "What is it?!"

"L-look under his shirt. I don't think he's gonna be okay." One of the members shuddered and sniffled.

"What is it?" She lifts his shirt to reveal that his stomach is very red and starting to bruise. "Is there something that you guys see that I don't see?"

"W-what are you talking about? Look at it! He can't possibly live through that!" One of them exclaimed.

"Uh… a bruise? Have you guys not had bruises before?" She looked around at all of the guys averting eye contact. "Bruises aren't deadly, they're just when… ummm, well I don't remember exactly what causes one, but it's just like a temporary scar that doesn't pierce the skin." She shrugs. "Wait a second, none of you have seen bruises before? And there's no, like, medical doctor type person in this group? How long has this group been around?"

"Uh, well….." and similar filler words were muttered throughout the group surrounding her.

"Forget it! I'll ask Tuc when he wakes up. Why don't you dogs make yourselves useful and prep breakfast?" She ordered them, but they still lingered for a bit longer. "Now, please." She said sternly while standing straight with her arms crossed.

"Y-yes ma'am!" said most of the group.

"Xane, come get this guy!" She hollered towards the large bald man.

"Oh! Right. I found some stuff that could help him." He showcased a small green vial in his hands. "I don't remember what it is. but I'm pretty sure that it's for hurty parts." He handed the vial to Kha'na.

"Green? That's probably fine. It's probably made of herbs and stuff." She knelt over Tuc's body and opened the vial. "Hopefully you weren't just carrying poison with you, haha..." She opened Tuc's jaw and poured the vial into his mouth. The moment that the liquid touched his tongue, his eyes shot open. "Oh Tuc! You're awake!" She exclaimed while removing the vial away from his mouth.

He made a gulping sound and immediately sat up. Then after a few moments of haze, he started coughing and spitting crassly. "BLEH! What the heck is this taste?!" He continued to spit, but couldn't get it out of his mouth. Then, the pain of his stomach hit him. "ORGH-" He clutched his stomach, "I forgot about this!"

"Do you think I'm heavy enough to deal that much damage?" Kha'na slyly whispered behind her hand to Xane.

"Hmmmmm," Xane placed both hands under her armpits and then lifted her up with ease. "Not that heavy." The moment his hands touched her, her eyes widened and her face went red with embarrassment. When she was lifted, she let out an ever so audible squeal. Then when she was put down, she immediately crossed her arms and put her hands under her own arms.

"T-thanks, I guess…" She mumbled while blushing and looking down at the ground. "Uh, well, Xane will carry you if you can't walk. I already sent your guys to prepare some food, so we're gonna eat and then go. Okay?" She talked directly to Tuc.

"... Okay." He thought about refusing the help of Xane, but then remembered that when he pretended to be okay last time, he ended up unconscious.

The breakfast was a fastly prepared one, they really only took stuff out from their bags to divide up and share. Dried fruits, meats, and bread was the meal. Not much of a breakfast, but good enough to sustain them for the morning. They didn't linger to eat for long. Of course, the Bright Rigel group wanted to, but with their leader out of commission, Kha'na commanded them and she wanted to get moving as soon as possible. Tuc tried to get up on his own, but unfortunately couldn't move very well. So, Xane had to carry Tuc on his back. Unfortunately, this meant that Kha'na was alone in the front once again, whereas Xane with Tuc in tow lagged behind with the rest of the group.

This made travelling for that day extremely slow (metaphorically, they were traveling at the same pace) and mind numbing for Kha'na. Tuc looked longingly in front of himself at her walking just out of talking distance while ignoring all the mindless chatter around him. That mindless chatter of course just included the group pestering Xane with all sorts of questions regarding his upbringing and similar things to that. Of course, the simple-minded Xane always kept his answers short, since his capabilities weren't high enough for longform anecdotes. It's not like the questions they asked were very interesting, they were all things you've heard before.

Day eventually turned to night time, where they would find another camping space similar to the one that they had the night before. Though the sleeping arrangements were dissimilar to the ones from yesterday. Tuc wasn't really able to choose to sleep under Kha'na's tree, since it would be awkward to ask Xane to carry him there and he wasn't in a great condition. He probably could walk just fine, but he wasn't used to being in pain like that. Plus, he wouldn't want to have an incident where he gets jumped on anyway. They prepared a dinner with whatever food they could hunt or gather in the surrounding area, ate, and then slept.

Dawn came once again and this time, before jumping from her tree, she checked below just to be sure she wasn't going to land on someone. She had to scare everyone 'awake' again since they still all wanted to sleep in, except for Xane and Tuc, one of which was really asleep and the other who was sitting up mostly powerless. After sending them to unpack some breakfast, she walked over to Tuc.

"Morning! How ya doin' today Tuccy?" She squatted down in front of him. "What's your stomach look like?" She reached for his shirt. "Are you gonna be able to walk today?" She lifted up his shirt. "Eeuuuugghhhh, maybe not." The bruise had begun to purple all over. It looked pretty painful, but that's how bruises look.

"W-what is it? Is it that bad?" Tuc, who couldn't bear to look down to his stomach. "I mean, it hurts, but less than yesterday. I can try to walk- EHK!" He squeaked after attempting to get up.

"Yeah, maybe not today haha." She tried to comfort laugh. "It's okay, Xane can carry you the whole way if it gets to that!" She exclaimed proudly. "Let's hope it doesn't get to that though…" She murmured while looking away.

"What was that?" Tuc asked, genuinely curious.

"Nothing! Just eager to get going and all, ya know? Ha ha." She was eager to get going, but that was just a filler for what she actually said of course. It's not that she was really worried about Tuc's health, he should be fine, rather, it's quite lonely for her to travel in the front alone. And she doesn't really respect the rest of his group to talk to them and they aren't really up for it either since they're too preoccupied with Xane and we're still intimidated by Kha'na..

"Oh, of course. Well we should probably get to eating then." He said with a somewhat lowly sigh. Then she got up and got some food and came back.

"You know, you probably wouldn't be so bruised if you worked out more. It's all flab down there, barely any muscle. Have you ever been in a fight before? I mean, chainmail armor can protect from the pointy stuff, but not like, punches and stuff. That force just goes straight to your body. You want to feel my abs? I'm quite proud of them, even if I landed on myself, I probably wouldn't bruise that much, if at all! You should get like a trainer or something." She rambled while holding food but not eating it.

"Easy for you to say, you were trained by top adventurers!" He responded and was going to continue, but was interrupted by her.

"Well, not just trained, raised! And really only by A top adventurer, not top adventurerSSS" She emphasized.

"That doesn't make your point that much better. And of course I've been in fights! Just not that many and it's not like we fight to the death or something. I mean, we're just Dogs you know? Not really expected to be the peak human fighters." He explained.

"Well, I'm a half cat so I don't see how that matters." She sarcastically retorted.

"Not my race! Obviously!" He reacted seriously until he saw her stifling a chuckle. "Oh, you knew… Well, yeah, Dog ranked adventurers aren't really much. Basically any able adult would qualify for dog ranking."

"Really? The dog rank must be pretty low then huh, are there any lower than that?" She poked fun at him.

"Ha-ha, very funny. Yes there are three ranks below dog: Cat, Rabbit, and Grub. Those three ranks are really just for kids starting out or people who aren't adventuring to face any sort of combat." He explained. You would think that Kha'na would know this since she left to become an adventurer, but she figured that she would just learn it on the way anyway. Plus, if she asked the elders, their information might be out of date anyway since they retired so long ago.

"Those seem pretty boring. Anyway, have you decided?" She questioned.

"Decided what?" He confusedly asked.

"If you want to feel them! Or not, if you think I'm too intimidating." She exclaimed.

"F-f-feel them?!" He stuttered out while his eyes grew wide and his face blood red.

"Yeah! I asked you earlier if you wanted to feel them, I'm proud of them!" She said while raising her shirt.

"Y-you talked about them? Ri-right here? Everyone is so close by!" He sputtered while slowly raising his hand anyway.

"Why go anywhere else, they might get the wrong idea. Plus, you're just feeling them! I would feel yours as well, but it's too soft to be worthy of my touch, muahaha." She mocked at him while holding her shirt halfway up exposing her midriff and sweet abs.

"It-it's only soft right now! It gets harder, j-just give me a moment and let me feel!" Suddenly he got very bold and went straight for her abs.

"OOO! That was so sudden!" She jumped as his hands made contact with her rocking abs. "Pretty rad right? I'm barely even flexing!"

"Uhh-- uh huh." He nervously responded. He continued up her abs while closing his eyes and biting his lip. "You're sure this is o-okay?"

"Duh, why would I be holding my shirt up if I wasn't completely cool with it?" She snarked.

"Okay then…" Suddenly his hand went above her abs and straight copped a feel of her left breast. He gave it a quick squeeze before he heard a yelp and his arm get super slapped to the floor.

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHH? WHAT THE HECK DUDE?!" She pulled her shirt way down.

"WHA WHAT? Y-YOU SAID IT WAS OKAY!" He scaredly screamed back at her.

"MY ABS, MY FRIGGIN ABS! NOT ANYTHING ELSE!" She yelled back.

"I'M SORRY! YOU WEREN'T VERY CLEAR, YOU EVEN REFERENCED MY-" He shouted.

"STOP! I don't want to hear any more of that!" She deescalated. "This was always about abs, man! Only abs!" She repeated.

"You kept egging me on! I thought-" He clearly wasn't paying full attention when she first mentioned it was about her abs. And for that reason, he is a bad person.

"NOPE. I'm just going to get going. I'll send Xane to get you." She strafed away. "Hopefully you can't walk for a bit longer, jeez." She mumbled in embarrassed anger while her face blushed.

"What the… stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Tuc yelled at himself while slapping his head. "Why would she want that?! Why can't I listen!? Gahhhh!" He slumped over depressedly.

Then the giant meandered over towards him. "Hey Tuc, ready to get going?"

"Yeah, whatever, just pick me up." He defeatedly responded.

"Okay! Here we go!" Xane excitedly said while lifting Tuc onto his back. "Do you think you'll be better soon? I think Kha'na gets a little lonely in the front."

"Nope, I think I'm going to need to be carried for a while…" He sighed with a thousand yard stare.

The traveling was the same as it was yesterday. Kha'na leading the group a few meters ahead while everyone talked around and with Xane. Tuc staring longingly at Kha'na, except when she turns back to check on them, he swiftly tries to change the direction he's staring. If their eyes happen to make contact, she immediately turns back around and has an embarrassed look on her face. This continues until they reach a stopping point in the day. Much like the always, Kha'na separates from the group to sleep and the group all crowd around the bald giant.

The next morning, she wakes up first, like always, and commands the group to get breakfast ready. This time, she didn't have to be as intimidating as they're all starting to get that she's the one who holds the power in the group. They are all slowly getting used to her presence, except for Tuc who now has a thick air of discomfort with her, for just reasons. Tuc is actually feeling not terrible today, he could walk on his own, but then he wouldn't have an excuse to not talk to Kha'na. This is something that he didn't want to deal with yet, so instead he feigned his injuries to continue to be carried by Xane. Of course, nobody was going to call him out on it. His stomach was still very bruised and nobody else had experienced injuries before to know how long they lasted. Except for Kha'na, who did not want to talk to or about Tuc at all. So, after they all ate, they departed in the same formation as previous.

Tuc, being the shameless person he is, actually continued to fake his illness for the next four days. In those four days, nothing of note happened. They had to do some hunting, but it wasn't that hard with their sheer numbers. They also knew hunting spots and water spots. There was also the river that they bathed in, but nothing of note happened during that time. Nobody would dare to encroach on Kha'na's privacy, considering that she bathed with knives on her. Her body would be worth getting a knife thrown at you. She's absolutely sculpted and her genetic line gave her quite a few gifts. It's also a sight unseen to anyone before. Sure, she bathed with Mythere, but that was when they were kids and not developed. Similarly, the Bright Rigel group couldn't take their eyes off of Xane's bulging muscles. Most of them are only a couple years older than he is, despite all of them paling in comparison. Tuc's bruise looked gnarly and scary, but he was able to clean himself. The rest of the group isn't worth describing. Nothing else went on except for cleaning, which is surprising when you consider what happened during Mythere's bath scene.

On the tenth night, they reached a village. They knew this village was coming up, so everyone was actually quite positive since they were looking forward to it. This village was built for the sole purpose of travellers. It was built around the major road leading to Rivelakia. This meant that despite the fact that they arrived in the dead of night, the Inn isn't the only thing that is open. The tavern is also open. So, the group separated, with Kha'na securing a room at the inn, and everyone else going to have a drink at the tavern.

The inn's lights were on, so she walked in without reservation. She then walked over to the front end and rang the bell on the table. She waited a few moments before a woman came out from the back room.

"Hello! Sorry that it's so late, but my group and I just got here-- Ingrid?!" Her eyes widened and jaw dropped immediately after seeing an extremely familiar face.

"K-Kha'na! I've actually been expecting you hehe." Ingrid responded with a beaming smile on her face.

"Expecting me? Wait, but how-- why-- when???? You were at the village when I left!" Kha'na was stunned, she was also not privy to the magic of Ingrid's family. But at least she knew Ingrid's actual name.

"Yes, Mythere filled me in about the journey two nights ago!" She excitedly stated.

"Two nights ago?! But it's been over a week since we both left the village. Don't tell me that he went back! What a freaking coward! I can't believe he would go back to the village after knowing that we're on a time crunch to save people. Can you believe that guy? Wait a second, how are you here in just two days?!" She ranted, without knowing the whole story.

"Oh! Oh no no no, Mythere is well on his way towards the Iron Coast! I saw him in a village on the route there. He's travelling with two goblin ladies as well as a large wolf. He's also got new clothing, and my oh my does his new outfit really make his body shine." She says, head in the sky, almost drooling.

"Ingrid! Get a hold of yourself! This information isn't really fitting into our travelling timeline. Unless… You're a time traveller! Or maybe you have a horse? No, that'd be too slow. An actual gryphon?! I'm sure I would've seen that around by now. Just tell me!" She pleaded while incapable of coming up with the actual answer.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything from you, but don't you want to check in first?" She asked.

"Forget that! This is way more important!" She rebuked.

"Then follow me." Ingrid turned around and walked into the door behind the counter. "As you can see, there's a large magic circle that allows me to teleport. I actually oversee many inns on route to Rivelakia and Iron Coast. They're all in small villages, so I don't get that many visitors a night."

"... Teleportation?!" Kha'na exclaims, eyes wide and jaw on the floor. "Why didn't you tell us that you had this kind of magic?! We could've been here so long ago!? Wait, does that mean we could go see Mythere right now? Then let's go! How does it work?" She asked while jumping into the middle of the magic circle.

"Ah, well, it's not that special and it never really came up in conversation." She shyly responded.

"Not that special?! It's teleportation! Cross-country teleportation!" Kha'na yelled.

"You can't use it! Only my bloodline and those who are married into the bloodline can use it. And the marriage has a bunch of conditions that you have to fill as well, which are things that I'm saving myself for, so don't even bother asking if we can get married!" Ingrid refused to have another misunderstanding with Kha'na like she did with Mythere.

"Aw damn. How'd you know I was going to ask?" She asked much more lifeless and deflated.

"I've heard it before. But, yes, this is how I saw Mythere two nights ago. Onto you Kha'na, what have you been up to? Would you like to check in?" She pivoted while leading Kha'na back to the front desk.

"Yeah, about that, I don't actually have any money to check in… But I've been through so much! Like, I have to travel with this giant bald teenager, and these other guys, and boy it's so so… lonely." She pauses after realizing that what she said was a much more serious and true to life vibe than she intended. "But, yeah! It's been just a lot of walking mostly. A couple of in group scuffles, but really nothing serious."

"I see. You don't have to worry about paying me, I didn't make Mythere pay either. And it seems like you have it tougher, albeit in different ways. May I ask how big your party is and how you would like to split things?"

"Oh sure, well, it's about ummmmm, 11 people? That's including me. Oh, I'm the only girl, so I need a separate room. For the guys, well, I don't care really, plus they like to sleep together anyway. So maybe just one room for them all?"

"Oh my, ten is a rather large number for one room, don't you think?"

"Yeah of course, but I don't want to put you out more than that, so I'm sure they'll manage! Plus, they don't have to pay anything, so I doubt they'd complain."

"It's no problem to add another room, I'm sure there's another one available." She says while pulling open a drawer that encompasses the keys to the room. She then realizes that there is not another room available. "On second thought, I'm sure they'll manage with just the one room."

"No complaints here! Now, onto the good stuff. Tell me what Mythere has been up to!" Kha'na exclaimed while leaning over the counter.

"You don't want to rest?"

"No way! The group is at the tavern anyway. And even a short night's sleep in a bed is more restful than a full night in a tree." She explained.

"Okay, let me get some tea first." She answered while hurriedly getting some refreshments. Ingrid went on to talk about what Mythere's group had experienced up until then, which was only finding the wolf village and the merchant man. She didn't actually get to talk to Mythere that much, but she managed to fill in the gaps. She talked about his new outfit, Gastrid wearing his shirt, Maeve being scary, and Hooly being, well, a wolf.

"A wolf village?! They met a wolfmin?! He has a wolf pelt cape thing?! What the heck?! His journey sounds so much cooler than mine!" She complained, questioned, and exclaimed.

"Why don't you tell me about your journey so far? I can only talk about Mythere for so long… so long." Ingrid started to drift in thought.

"Ahhh! It sucked! And it still sucks! I'm stuck with 10 guys who I've only just met and they suck! There's Xane, the adventurer who turned out to be a bandit and also not a bandit, he's bald and giant, you probably met him when they were in our village."

"Oh? You're travelling with him? That must be… interesting." She smirked.

"It's not! He's just a kid who thought that he was joining an adventuring party and it turned out to be bandits. He's also not the brightest so there's not much there for conversation."

"A kid? He looked fully grown to me." Ingrid replied stunned.

"Yeah, that's what we thought. Apparently he's 16 and just hit his growth spurt." She let out a sigh. "And then the other guys I'm travelling with are the Bright Rigel group I think? They wear like a star and blue and white and are all incredibly average looking. They're registered adventurers too, I think all dog ranked."

"Oh… them huh? I can see why your adventure is… less than ideal." Ingrid averted eye contact.

"You know them?" She asked surprisedly.

"I know of them. They've come into these inns a couple of times, but every time I would come out and try to talk to them, none of them would talk back to me. They would all just look at the floor and mumble. You've talked to them?"

"One of them, yeah, their 'leader'. He seemed pretty okay, but then… some stuff happened and now it's weird for us to talk! The other members don't even give me the time of day! And sure, I mean, I don't know them and I've avoided conversation with them, but they are are always talking to Xane! I'm not offended or anything, but it gets so boring! We've been travelling for over a week!" She vented.

"What happened with the one that seemed 'pretty okay'?" Ingrid inquired.

"Well, when we met, they did all try to kill me, so I guess I've had a grudge on them all. Especially the one that almost shot me! But I didn't learn any of their names. Tuc was the one who was pretty okay and ummm…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The next sentence she said with incredible speed and in one breath because of how embarrassing it was. "HegrabbedmyboobwhenIwastryingtoshowoffmyabs!" She then let out a large sigh of relief for getting it off her chest.

"... He what?" Ingrid's eyes grew very large in surprise and her face looked certainly uncomfortable.

"Well, I mean, it was… an accident, but still, it was uncalled for! That was DAYS ago and things haven't been the same since. He used to walk with me in the front and talk and keep me company, but since that happened and also his injury, I've been in the front alone. And it's so lonely and boring!" She laid her head down in hopelessness.

"If it was an accident, then why can't it just be explained and then that's it?"

"Well, it's his fault, so he should apologize to me! Then I'll apologize for my wording maybe and his injury.." She huffed.

"You injured him? Kha'na…" Ingrid disappointedly started.

"Stop! Me injuring him was an actual accident! He slept under my tree, and when I jumped down I landed on him. His fault! Just like when he grabbed my chest! What kind of woman does he take me for? That I would just offer something like that?! To think that I thought he was pretty okay." She vented.

"I'm sure if you two talk about it, things would be fine." She took a sip of tea when a bell rang. "Oops! I have to go now, it seems that I have another customer at a different inn." She got up and shuffled towards the back.

"Wait! Do you think that's Mythere? You can't tell him this stuff! In fact, if you see him again, don't even tell him about me! Well, maybe just a bit, but none of the boring stuff! Or embarrassing stuff!" Kha'na pleaded and yelled while Ingrid cleaned up.

"Mythere won't be at another one of my inns for a little while, so it's not him. I won't tell him anything, but that means I won't tell you anything either. Fair is fair!" She said while going into the back room.

"What?! Hold on, I want to know! We can negotiate-!" But as Kha'na was going to continue talking, the back room flashed a bright blue light and Ingrid had gone. "Darn it! She didn't even show me to the rooms!" She grabbed the keys to the rooms. They were clearly labeled which room they go to. "Ugh, am I gonna have to wait up for those bozos to get here?" She pondered. "Wait, I'm the leader. I'll just go get them, duh Kha'na!"

Kha'na exited the inn and walked across the road to the tavern. She swiftly walked into the door. Inside she was greeted by bright lights and a loud atmosphere. There were many people drinking in the tavern that night, which would explain why there were only two rooms left in the inn. She didn't have to look around long before she spotted her shiny headed companion. He was awkwardly standing over a bunch of the Bright Rigel group slumped over.

"Oh great, they really got this drunk? What about you big fella?" She looked at Xane.

"Me? Drink? I'm too young to be drinking. It's bad for my body." He firmly stated.

"Maybe you're smarter than I thought." She snidely remarked.

"What's that?" He asked, genuinely not hearing what she said.

"Forget it, I got us some rooms, you're sharing with all of them and I'm staying alone. Can you bring them all and follow me?" She asked as she walked backwards towards the door.

"Oh sure, I guess I'll start with ummm, these two." He easily picked up and threw over his shoulder two of the members who were previously head down on the tavern table.

"Great thanks, I'll show you the way and then you got the rest, right?" She was too tired to walk back and forth to guide him.

"I got it!" He said confidently as he marched after her.

"Khaaa'naaaa.. Wait! I gotta talk to- hic you!" A loud voice came from the other side of the tavern.

"Oh great, what's this about?" She turned to the noise and her eyes widened and she froze. "Oh no."

"Hey hey hey!" He called out while stumbling over towards her. "Looky here, I'm fine now hic I can walk just fine, which means I can walk with you again!" He leaned on Xane, which he thought was a wall.

"Tuc, you seem pretty drunk, you want to just talk in the morning?" She calmly tried to talk to him.

"NO! I want to talk now! I've been-hic wanting to talk for a while! hic I could walk on my own for a while now, but I've been too-hic scared to!" He drunkenly yelled.

"Okay Tuc, I get it, let's just get out of here and get you to bed." She embarrassingly wanted to end the very public conversation about a private matter.

"I'm SORRRRY. Okay? I really thought that you wanted me to touch them! You seem confident, I never talked to a woman so confident before! I thought maybe that you were just that confident!" He begins to choke up, but swallows it back down. "I just want things to go back to nor-hic-mal. Normal. Can we just forget this happened?" For a drunken man, he was being pretty reasonable.

"Sure Tuc, we can, just stop talking about it now please. Xane! Let's get going now!" She tried to rush the interaction as the other patrons of the bar were now paying more attention.

"I'm talking about your BOOBS by the way, I don't know if you remember when I touched them! I didn't mean to! But they did feel-" Before he could continue, she shoved her hand over his mouth.

"HAHAHA, YEAH, BOOBS IS WHAT I CALL MY WEAPONS!" She yelled trying to save face in front of a bunch of strangers she'll likely never see again. "Okay I forgive you, let's just go!" She dragged Tuc out of the bar as Xane followed.

"Mmmmmm mmm? Mymm mm? (Forgive me? You do?)" He mumbled while his mouth was covered by her hand. "MMMM MMMMMM! (Thank goodness!)"

She mostly dragged him to the inn across the street while Xane followed. She looked around the hallway until she found the rooms that they were given. "Convenient, they're right next to each other." She opened up one door and threw Tuc on the bed. "Xane! This is your room, and all of the other guys rooms. They'll be too drunk to care anyway."

"Okay Kha'na! I'll go get the rest!" He proudly shouted as he tossed the two that he was carrying into the room. Kha'na then left the room and opened the door to her room.

"Kha'na… I really am sorry." Tuc mumbled in his half-awake drunken state. She heard this of course, even though it was just a sleep whisper.

"Fine, I'll pretend like nothing happened tomorrow." She firmly stated, to nobody of course because her room was empty.

"Just need a few more!" Xane called out as he barreled through the hallway with two more of the group.

"Good job! Night Xane!" She shouted before shutting her door.

"Goodnight Kha'na!" He said as he ran back past her door.

Eventually, Xane did get all of the members into the room. They were mostly on the ground, but some did share the bed with Xane. Of course Xane kept the bed empty for himself. Kha'na fell asleep quite easily as well, but she did feel somewhat lonely sleeping in such a large bed by herself. The last time she slept inside of a bed was with Mythere, which was much more comfortable. The short night passed, but she overslept a bit and thus also let her group oversleep a bit.

"HUH!" She gasped up in her bed with the sun blaring through her window. "It's so bright! Ah! That means it's so late! We gotta go!" She rushed into the other room and kicked the door open. "Wake up! We're leaving! It's time to go!" Of course, these men didn't want to get up usually, so they doubly didn't want to get up after a night of drinking. "Well, how about this?!" She opened the windows in their room to let in as much sun as possible.

"Ahhhh, noooo, close it! Too bright!" And similar sentiments came from around the room.

"We're on a schedule people! There are lives at risk! Isn't that your job or something?" She scolded.

"Um, Kha'na?" A voice came from behind her.

"What?!" She turned around and then immediately apologized. "Oh, I'm sorry I yelled at you!"

"Oh it's fine, I understand." It was Ingrid, unexpectedly at this inn. "I just wanted to say that you should really just take it easy today. We have full service bathrooms and actual breakfast. You haven't been to any inns or villages for over a week now, correct? I'm sure travelling with a caravan must be hard. Not to mention your men don't look like they'd travel very fast like that anyway." She calmly recommended.

"But you don't understand Ingrid! If those bandits get to the city before us, those lives will be lost!" She pleaded and tried to explain.

"Oh I understand the situation Kha'na, but you have to keep morale up as well. Not to mention that bandits probably aren't the most punctual either, they might be taking breaks as well." Ingrid explained.

"But, but!"

"Mythere and his group stayed for quite a while for the morning when they stayed at an inn. It would be unfair if you didn't do the same." She mentioned.

"Mythere did what?! He knows the stakes!"

"Yes, but if you have been diligent up until now, then you should deserve a small break like him, right?"

"Errrgh. You have a point. Even though I'm better than Mythere, I'll do it as well. Ingrid?"

"Yes?"

"Give me the tour!"

"Would you like to wait for the rest of your party to-"

"NO. If they were interested in this, they would be awake. And if they miss it, well, they miss it." She said loudly and proudly.

"Whaaaaaat? You can't do that! We're hungry and dirty and stuff too!" Said the crowd of men lying on the floor.

"Ah, well, then get up! Duh!" Kha'na took Ingrid by the arm and led her out of the room. "Breakfast first! No wait, baths! Ah, a nice hot bath, mmmmm." She moaned, imagining the cleanliness.

And so she was led to a bathroom in the inn. She took her time, but not too much time because the threat of losing the bandits still loomed in her head. A nice relaxing bath was good for her psyche. Meanwhile, Ingrid cleaned her clothes. After, she ate the typical breakfast foods that inns serve. Including, but not limited to, eggs, sausage, bread, pancakes, bread, bacon, and also bread. Bread seemed to make up much of the meal. Then, she went back to the rooms that housed the rest of her party, only to discover that they had not gotten up while she was relaxing.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" She yelled into the room. "That's it, you wasted breakfast time, and bathing time, and all the time! We're leaving!"

"Whaat!!!! No way!" The men responded, finally waking up. "Give us time!"

"No! You're all terrible!" She crossed her arms and stood next to the doorway. "Get moving!"

The men all groaned in tiredness, sadness, and slight anger. They began walking through the door when suddenly the smell of them all hit Kha'na's nose. She squeezed her nostrils with her hand immediately. "OKAY! You guys can go bathe and get your clothes washed!" She commanded in a nasaly voice. Then their stomachs started to grumble. "FINE! You can eat too, just make it fast!"

The mood of the party changed immediately. They no longer slogged towards the door and instead were jumpily moving towards and through it. Although all this movement only made the smell worse for Kha'na. "Thanks Kha'na!" and "You're the best!" comments came from the men as they passed her. None of them dared to initiate any sort of physical contact along with the gratitude. Last to leave the room was Tuc, who as he was leaving didn't say anything and averted his gaze to the floor.

"You better thank me too! I could leave you all behind you know, it's not like you guys combined could do better than me! Haha!" She slapped his back in a friendly bantery type of way. She was trying to show that things between them could go back to normal, even if he got too drunk to remember what he said.

"Oh ha ha… thanks Kha'na." He shyly returned.

"Don't be like that, give me some energy!" She proudly exclaimed. Then she leaned over his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "I forgive you, so forget anything happened and I won't tell Xane that you've been having him carry you because you like the feeling of his back." She leaned back and smirked. "Now get going!"

Tuc's eyes widened in a sort of embarrassed happiness yet fearful manner. "O-of course! See you in the front!" He yelped out as he nervously scuffled away.

"Speaking of, Xane? You still sleeping, big guy?" She peered deeper into the room. "Of course you are," She sighed. "Welp, come on big guy, oooof, you're the worst offender!" She gagged as she smelt the aura cloud emanating from his body. "I don't even want my knives to touch you." She complained. "Ughhh, I shouldn't have sent them all away before this oaf was up and running. Oh! I'll throw his own things at him." She looked for his equipment and then started tossing things at him. It wasn't until she tossed one of his axes at him that he woke up. Her throwing skilled were so superb that the axe actually slapped his face with the head and didn't cut anything.

"Cold!" Xane shouted, sitting up from his deathly slumber. "Oh, it's just my axe. Oh, it's you Kha'na. Where's everybody?" He questioned.

"They're getting cleaned and ready for the journey! You better go join them!" She said while holding her nose and waving him off.

"Oh, okay." He sat up and then walked out the room leaving Kha'na alone.

"Welp, now what?" She stood with her arms crossed talking to herself. "Oh! I can go talk to Ingrid until they're done! They don't deserve her help anyway." She walked out of the room and called for Ingrid until they met up.

"Yes, Kha'na?" Ingrid responded.

"I never knew that you've left the village before! What kind of cool things have you seen?" Kha'na excitedly asked.

"Oh, well I guess technically I have left the village, but I've really never left the inn. Although I have met a lot of interesting individuals."

"Wait, you're telling me that even though you have the literal power to travel this continent in seconds, but you haven't ever been sightseeing? What's the point of teleportation!?"

"Well the point is to run a business… But no, I've never really gone very far from an inn. I really only leave to restock and be neighborly. It's not all about places though, I've met tons of curious people!"

"You've never even left a village that an inn was in?! So you've never like, traveled outside just on a road? Are you working all the time or something?! That's crazy! That's torture! How can your parents do that to you?!" Kha'na greatly exaggerated.

"I actually quite enjoy running the inns. They've told me time and time again that if I ever want to take a vacation that they'll handle the inns, but I've never felt the need. It never feels dull when every night could be a new face to meet, and some of those new faces are quite amazing to talk to."

"So you can just go on a vacation and you haven't done it? Do you want to travel with me?! Well, I guess not now, I'm on a pretty dangerous mission and when you travel you should probably just do it for fun. But after all this? And don't even worry about bandits or anything, you'd have me!"

"Oh I've been offered to go on many trips by many of the strong fascinating travellers that I've met, but I'm just not that into travel. Maybe if there's something that I really want to see, but nothing like that really comes to mind."

"But I'm not like those boring people that I don't want to talk or hear about! I'm Kha'na! A girl that you grew up with! Same village, same friends, same experiences. Except for the fact that you have technically traveled the continent." Ingrid scoffed at Kha'na when she called the people she didn't even get to talk about boring. But Ingrid knew this is the type of person Kha'na is.

"Okay, fine, we can go on a trip together. But-"

"YAY! A vacation! I'm gonna need one after this is all over." Kha'na confidently beamed.

"But! We should invite more people along. Safety in numbers, and the more the merrier!" Ingrid added.

"Oooooo, yeah of course! You should tell Mythere when you see him! And Gaz!" And then in a whisper, "but maybe not Maeve…"

"Of course! I'll tell them when I see them next!" She did not. "What about the group you're with right now?"

"Oh, them? Yeahh… no. Maybe Xane, but you know, too many people and it just becomes a hassle." This was true, but it is also true that she was not very partial to the Bright Rigel group.

"You're right. I-"

*ding! ding!*

"Oh, sorry, I have to go attend to things." Ingrid got up and bowed slightly to Kha'na.

"It's okay! We're probably about to get going anyway. Thanks for everything, see you around!" Kha'na waved until Ingrid was out of sight. "Alright, time to round up the party." Unfortunately, not as much time had passed that Kha'na thought had passed and so she ended up having to wait a bit for them to be done anyway. But she didn't stress too much about it and instead relaxed during the waiting time.

They left the village all in high spirits and the original formation of travel had returned. This of course being Kha'na and Tuc in the front and Xane with the other seven. The journey from this point didn't have much more in terms of surprises. The arrangements of sleeping, traveling, eating, hunting, bathing, and everything else were pretty much set. The only thing left to do was travel for the next 20 days. Of course, these 20 days weren't without problems, but not any problems worth mentioning. The main road to Rivelakia was pretty safe after all, it's a well travelled road. No party members were lost, Kha'na didn't learn any of their names, Tuc became gradually more comfortable around Kha'na, and Xane, well, he stayed mentally the same, but somehow did grow slightly taller.

On the 30th day of travel, they were to reach Rivelakia. The whole group merrily walked along the pathway and Rivelakia was finally in sight. Unfortunately, also in sight were faces familiar to both Kha'na and Xane. Those faces were standing next to a caravan that presumably held the kidnapped goblins and possible others. Tuc and the rest didn't know the faces, but they could tell from the vibes that they were getting ready for a violent confrontation.

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principleshark

I remember getting mixed feelings from my test group on this chapter and after thinking on it, I didn't like it as much as Mythere's! But, after reading it again, I actually like it a lot. It has so much nothing, which really just gives it that something! At least, that's what I think. Climax incoming! Next time.

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Capítulo 7: Chapter Five: Kha’na & Xane’s Journey!

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