Aeyona stormed back into the alcove from the rainfall.

  "Who the HELL are you calling sassy? I'll show you sass, right up your ass!" Aeyona let off at Horren.

  Malastare and Al took a couple of steps back. Giving room to the small angry woman who was literally steaming the rain around her. Lillyth and Marvel followed quietly behind her.

  Horren sighed as he gave little Marvelous a glare.

  "I'll remember cats have ears too." He said as he stood up to face Aeyona.

  He still had to look up at her as she stood a foot taller than him. Half dressed, steaming mad, threatening violence.

  Normally that was something he'd consider paying decent gold for.

  The air around her was suddenly heating up. The tiniest spark of lightning danced between raindrops.

  Horren quickly decided this wouldn't be a pleasant fight to pick. He knew that lies wouldn't do him good right now either.

  Horren put his hand up slowly. Defensively he replied "calm down lass, there are worse things than a little sass here and there."

  Lillyth sucked in her breath as she too backed away near the men. Realizing his mistake before he did.

  The air grew even warmer and the rain evaporated around Aeyona midair. She took a step forward and a wave of heated air pushed from her.

  Horren stumbled back. Nearly falling down on his ass. He let out a growl as his eyes narrowed into a furious glare.

  Before either of them made another move, Alkibiades was between them.

  "Woah, woah, woah. Guys, let's not kill each other over some words. Okay? .. Please?" He pleaded. Al put his hands up to try to separate them. Ignoring the singes as the hair on his wrist nearest Aeyona suddenly burned away.

  Lillyth followed suit and tried to step in to calm her down before things got worse. When she put her hand on Aeyona's shoulder it nearly burned her as well. Lillyth could feel the rage in her. And could feel that most of it wasn't truly at him.

  After an uncomfortable moment of silence the air began to calm down.

  Aeyona stopped glaring at Horren. She grabbed her bag from the ground. Then quickly walked out of the alcove, and out of sight. Everyone let out their breath, almost at once.

  Alkibiades turned to Horren as he shook his head.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Never tell a woman to calm down you idiot." he sighed.

  Lillyth gave him a shrug that agreed. Even the cat on her shoulder seemed to nod as well.

  Horren just glared at the cat again before changing the subject. "It seems the rain let off."

  "Seems that way, perhaps we will make it to town without too much more excitement. " malastare replied in a tired, apathetic tone.

  "The sooner the better," Al said before looking towards Lillyth, "any chance you can calm her down enough for us to head out?"

  "I mean… I can try?" Lillyth shrugged again. Her voice betrayed her doubt. She could mend flesh, not feelings. Lillyth went off to find the elven girl in the woods.

  Marvel hopped to the ground gracefully. Strutting to a dry spot, and went back to finishing her cat-bath. Horren gave her a look before deciding to be carefully quiet around her.

  Lillyth felt the tears first. Then she saw Aeyona sitting at the base of a tree. Curled up, with her head between her knees.

  Lillyth stopped. Unsure what she would say, or do, that could help her. She started to second guess if she even could. She knew nothing about Aeyona.

  Lillyth took a retreating step backwards.

  Snap!

  Lillyth looked down, her foot on a broken stick. She silently cursed in her head when Aeyona’s head shot up. Aeyona stared at her with tears falling down her face.

  "Come to sneer at the freak too?" She snarled, anger quickly devoured the pain and sadness inside of her.

  The words stabbed Lillyth's chest. Causing her to forget anything she planned to say.

  "I would never.." Lillyth said in a tone that matched Aeyona’s pain.

  She took the last few steps and sat down next to her. Lillyth hoped to be supportive without intruding. She could tell Aeyona didn’t believe her. She wondered how many times Aeyona had been given a reason not to. The thought alone made Lillyth want to hug the girl and cry with her.

  "You're not a freak.” Lillyth began.

  “My sister is a cat when she wants to be. That asshole stabs himself as a weapon. Don't get me started on Mr. Spooky either. As far as I'm concerned, you playing with fire is as normal as we're gonna get." Lillyth gave her an empathetic smile.

  Aeyona stared at her for a heartbeat too long, then broke. The anger and pain collapsed in on itself. She slumped into Lillyth’s arms.

  This time, Lillyth didn’t hesitate. She held her. Steady and silent, while the storm passed.

  Not to fix her.

  Just to stay.

  They traveled in relative silence, Horren being the least talkative, which was a massive change from his usual chattiness. Al led the way towards the small farming village. Trying to keep a decent pace to get them there quickly, without anyone having to jog to keep up.

  The morning rain left a chill in the air, and softened the ground so each step squished into the mud.

  "Should be there any moment now," Al said with relief, "hopefully our welcome will be warmer than this."

  "Better be less pests too." Horren grumbled as yet another bug was attracted to his open skin. Then there was a spiteful laugh as a mosquito bit him and then burst into the tiniest ball of flames.

  Shortly after, the forest began to thin out. The dense trees coming to a staggering halt. Replaced by fields of tall wild grass. They could see their destination in the distance.

  As Aeyona saw the very few buildings surrounded by farmland she chuckled.

  "Wow, you weren't kidding Al."

  "Nope, it's barely more than a farm. A few generations ago it was a single family." Al replied,

  "From what I remember, a templar from Vayne managed to retire and start a family here, and has a small building set aside for traveling templars through this area. Never met them myself though." He racked his brain for more details.

  "Well then lucky us. You're still in your blue, barely." Malastare commented casually.

  Al looked down at his armor and sighed. He had a good routine of keeping his armor cleaned. Always replacing what few pieces had been damaged on his missions.

  Now he had a little more than half of it left, and what was there barely resembled the Vinean Templar outfit. He hoped he could get that taken care of once they hit Vayne. Along with much more. Whatever was left would have to be enough.

  They made their way out of the woods and into the tall grass leading up to the farm.

  Both Lillyth and Aeyona stopped and tensed.

  Al stopped and turned to look at them.

  Aeyona quickly said "something's wrong.”

  "Pain." Lillyth agreed quietly. Her eyes wide with fear and sorrow. A sudden tear rolled down her cheek.

  Then they heard the scream.