Summoned by Monster Girls

“So, Liam. How has your sword training been going?” Rieka’s question interrupted the quiet introspection of the morning as we wended between the fortified campus of Juneau academy and the trade city of Kintos that was our first stop on this weekend’s trip.

“Fairly good. I wish I could train against more people than Cerebaton to broaden my knowledge on facing different opponents. He’s a great teacher, but it sometimes feels like trying to fight a whirlwind.”

While we walked, I kept my right hand tucked under the head of the iron mace I wore in my belt while we talked and walked, ready to yank it free of the loop with a tug if anything happened. The only thing I saw around us were a handful of small birds happily bouncing up and down the road to catch bugs from the long grass on either side.

“I don’t know why you want to train with weapons when you can just sprout claws and go all ‘rawr’ when you fight, Liam!” Chirped Kassandra, making claws with her fingers and doing some over-exaggerated snapping motions with her mouth. Rieka spoke up before I could answer her question.

“Oh there are several reasons I’m sure, Kass. Not the least of which is that biting something is a rather extreme form of attack. I’m sure Liam doesn’t want to find out what kobolds taste like. Am I right?” Rieka turned a grin up at me, her icy-blue eyes sparkling with amusement in her slim face.

“Yes. I do not want to find out what those little beasts taste like. That and fighting with claws and the like is more akin to a martial art and I have next to no training in that. The little bit I do know is more like back-alley boxing than anything else.” I answered with a return grin for Rieka.

Kassandra, of course, pouted up at me but that pout immediately melted away when I held my arms open towards her. The dwarf lamia used her tail to launch herself upwards with a giggle and crash into my chest.

I’d braced this time, so the impact didn’t take me off my feet and Kassandra’s tail quickly wound around my waist to support herself. My increased strength made it possible to carry her for a bit like this while she clung to me happily, so I did my best to walk while keeping her tucked in close to not upset my balance.

And it made her smile, so it’s easily worth it.

“Such a spoiled girl, Kass.” Rieka laughed outright; a light and joyous sound as she watched her friends' antics. “I’m just glad you don’t try and do that to me anymore. It was cute when we were kids but I haven’t kept up with you in increasing mass.”

“No. She’s not calling you fat.” I cut in to head off the complaint I could tell was coming from Kassandra when she turned her pout in Rieka’s direction.

“I am most definitely not.” Rieka snorted derisively as we came over the rise in the road and saw the gates of Kintos ahead of us. “It was cute when she was only a foot tall and wouldn’t take you off your feet doing it. Still not sure how you can catch her like that, Liam.”

“Practice, honestly. My day job consists of having to shift around objects using proper balance and my own weight.” I shrugged, remembering the heavily loaded plastic totes and awkward boxes and flats of drinks. My back twinged at just the memory but I pushed it away, giving Kassandra one more squeeze around the middle before letting her down since we were getting towards populated areas again. I could see the city guard on the curtain wall around the city as well as at the gate.

“And I assume you cannot learn this art from Weapons-Master Cerebaton? If I remember correctly, you said that he was like Miss Cariad? In that touching their bare skin is hazardous?”

“Yep. He’s actually her boss in the organization, but used to be a field agent. He agreed to help train me for the next few months as part of the apology for the event that got me unwillingly roped into the role of Traveler. Not that I’m complaining, personally.”

“I would hope not, Liam! I’d like to think we treat you well enough that you come back to us willingly.” Kassandra shot me a mock-imperious glare that was so adorable I almost scooped her back up for another kiss. From the heated look her eyes took on and the slight blush that sprouted on her lightly-freckled cheeks, she could tell what was going through my mind.

This conversation continued as we entered the city. The girls showed their student badges to the gate guards. They got nods and mumbled greetings from the clearly tired guards that looked to be coming to the end of their shifts as the sun continued to edge its way over the horizon. Those same guards completely ignored me since I was obviously with the two girls.

“Come on! Let's get to the market and grab something hot to eat on the road.” Kassandra urged, leading the charge into the slowly growing crowd as more and more people began showing up to complete their daily business in the city.

The population of Kintos was primarily made up of the part-animal species like Rieka, known collectively as ‘kin’. I’d seen quite a variety of different kin in the various trips I’d made to their world. The one variant that seemed to be prevalent over the others was the wolf kin, again like Rieka. Folk with canine ears and tails were easily the majority, outnumbering the other species by three to one most of the time. They came in a number of colors, all of which were thankfully natural in their shading, so thankfully there were no blue wolves. However, my companion and summoner was the only one I’d run into with the platinum-blonde fur color besides her mother. Though the Queen didn’t have the dark tips to her ears that made it look like someone had dusted charcoal lightly over those pale peaks.

Besides the kin in the crowd, there were also a number of other species that I recognized. Slender elves wove in small groups around individual dwarves who stumped back and forth like miniature breaker-ships parting the waves of the crowd. A trio of jackal-headed people dressed in leather worked their way through the crowd while being followed by a matching trio of kin in city guard uniforms that were keeping careful watch on the strangers. People with scales on their faces and people bearing antlers of deer mixed with the rest of the crowd and I wondered quietly if they were also a breed of kin or something different, since most of the kin I’d seen only had ears and tails.

“Yes! He’s open. This way!” Kassandra’s happy cheer drew us off of the main path and towards one of the small carts that sat alongside the market road.

As the crowds were getting thicker, I dropped back to the rear of the group and hooked an arm around Rieka’s shoulders to draw her into place in front of me. The blonde-furred princess ‘eep’d in surprise at first when I snagged her, then shot me a grateful smile before falling into the open wake left behind by our excited companion.

We emerged from the early morning crowd of shoppers to find Kassandra bouncing happily on her coils next to a wooden cart that sat next to a large metal brazier which had a tripod and a large pot hanging over it with steam rising from the pot along with the sweet smell of apples and spices. Kassandra had a wooden mug in her hands and was happily sipping from it while the smirking vendor ladled the hot drink into another mug that they passed over to another person and received several iron coins in return.

“Good morn to you!” The vendor called. He was a tall but thin man with dark-red scales that covered his arms and hands while a few speckling his cheeks as well. He had the same kind of leather covers over his clawed fingertips like I’d seen Lady Valda use before and I guessed he must be of a similar species to the Lady. He was dressed in a plain, linen tunic and pants with a heavy cloak over his shoulders.

“These are my friends, Rengar!” Kassandra cut in before happily guzzling whatever was in her mug and offering it to the man once more. “Refill, please! And two more for them.” Kassandra grinned up at us, her spectacles fogged up from the hot beverage that she’d been drinking. “Rengar sells hot, spiced cider made with apples from his orchard. I’d buy it by the barrel, but he won’t let me.”

“Rightly so, Miss.” Laughed the slim man, snatching two more of the rough wooden mugs from the back of his cart and ladling them full before topping up the mug Kassandra was now waving back and forth in front of him with a petulant look. “Your uncle would skin me alive if I charged you full price for a barrel of my cider. Not because I’d be cheating you, mind. But because he’s the one in charge of selling my cider in bulk.”

“Yeah! But Uncle Silas won’t sell me a barrel either!” Kassandra protested with such an exaggerated pout that Rieka and I had to smother our snickers in the mugs of hot drink.

The spiced cider was just the right temperature. Hot enough to warm your throat and body, but not so hot that you couldn’t gulp it if you needed to warm up. It was sweet with a hint of spicy that lingered on the tongue and what felt like a touch of vanilla. It went very well with the crisp, apple-y flavor of the unfiltered cider. The spices also helped banish the scent of mud from my nostrils and made the morning feel just a touch brighter and happier.

“I can see why Kass likes it.” I said after my first sip, which got a bubbly giggle from my dwarf lamia, bubbly because she literally laughed into her drink and it made such an odd noise.

Rieka had taken her first sip and nodded happily, smiling at the vendor.

“I agree, this is delicious. I will have to speak to Silas about getting some to send to my mother. Any special tips about how to prepare it that my mother might enjoy?”

The vendor nodded quickly, dishing up another mug without looking up and handing it off to a passerby in exchange for the coins.

“It depends on how refined the ladies' taste is. If she prefers, you can mull it with fine teas and milk, otherwise different hard liquors can enhance it too just make sure that it’s good quality! But the biggest trick I’ve found is to keep it at a slow simmer while mulling with fresh spices. Too much heat and you can end up cooking the sweetness of the apple out of it.” Rengar replied before turning to shoot Kassandra a feigned glare. “Your mother prefers it without spice, but a splash of cranberry brandy, if I remember right?”

“Yep! Part of what’s so great about Rengar’s cider is that it’s so flexible.” Kassandra chirped happily, thrusting her mug at the man for another refill.

“Not again, Miss. My wife would flay my hide off if I didn’t get coins first this time. I trust you, but it is a matter of principle.” Rengar laughed, using the scoop of his ladle to push the mug back towards Kassandra like he was fencing with her.

“I’ll cover it, Master Rengar. How much for my companions and my drink?” Rieka pulled her pouch open and started rummaging for coins.

“Three iron coins for the first mug and you get two coins back if you return the mug when you are done or have provided your own. This is to allow you to drink at your leisure. Refills are a single iron coin.”

“So that is what, eleven iron coins then and you will refill Kass’s mug?” The merchant nodded absentmindedly, already serving another passerby. I was gratified that the slender man wasn’t staring at Rieka, something that happened often enough for the princess that I was glad to see a break in that habit.

“That is correct, Miss. I know she’s good for it. But, again, my wife.” The man laughed and turned to accept the coins from Rieka, finally looking over my blonde companion for more than a glance and he blinked several times in surprise while she dropped the plain, non-mana coins into his open hand.

“Thank you for your goods, Master Rengar.” Rieka said with a smile, tying off her pouch again and taking another sip of her steaming drink. “I’ll pass along the recommendation of using it in tea, though I have a feeling my mother will be like Kassandra’s, a bit of brandy would go well in this.”

“As you say, Princess.” Rengar recovered and nodded, further confirming my impression of him as a good person. He added an inclination of his head before ladling up the refill for Kassandra, who was wiggling happily off to one side, clearly enjoying the heat from the lit brazier as well as her drink.

“Come on you two, you are holding us up! Need to get the shopping done.” Kassandra teased with another sip of her drink before waving farewell to Rengar and leading us to rejoin the crowd.

“You ever wonder how it is that Kass knows so many of the merchants?” I asked Rieka as the bouncy dwarf lamia led the way to another cart with a clay oven in it that was serving up steaming-hot, filled breads, a merchant that Kassandra greeted by name as well.

“Her family is nobility but they are also very active traders. I’m not surprised that she knows some of the big names in town. It’s the street vendors that surprise me.” Rieka chuckled quietly as we joined Kassandra at the vendor, accepting steaming buns from the grinning redhead. “Then again, you notice that all these people she’s talking to have hot food or warm carts?”

“Yeah, my thought exactly.”

<><><>

“So, I wanted to ask you two more about your magic.”

We’d managed to get the basics of food supplies from the early morning vendors, picking up dried fruit, meat, and a few bundles of dried noodles to use to make dinner with as well as some odds and ends for breakfast and lunch the next day. That done, we headed out of town just as the sun finished cresting the horizon.

The route we took out of town was along the same road we’d taken the previous weekend to help the farmers with their crops. But, rather than turning north off the road, we turned off south and followed a forester’s road into the foothills. The road was well maintained, since the logging wagons for the city's carpenters needed to use it regularly, but we didn’t run into anyone as we followed it that morning. I could see people already at work across a field of stumps, hacking at the ground to break up roots and prepare the stumps for pulling.

“What about our magic did you want to know, Liam?” Kassandra would have been skipping if she had feet for it. Instead, she was winding playfully back and forth across the road, her brick-red and earth-brown scales sparkling in the early morning light as she wiggled happily over the road.

“It occurred to me that I never really got a lot of details from you two about your magic. You gave me examples and I’ve seen you use it, but specifics were always something that I kinda blanked out. I guess because it wasn’t something I could do myself. But now?”

“Now that you have magic of your own you mean, Liam? Magic like ours, but also not?” Rieka asked gently, stroking the string on her bow while she walked.

Rieka had unpacked her bow once we were outside of town and she’d finished her breakfast. The weapon was beautifully crafted and reminded me of the early composite bows that horse-archers used to use. It was compact but looked powerful and Rieka’s arms had flexed, showing off the slim muscle there, when she had drawn it a few times in practice to limber it and herself up. The swirling color mix from the horn panels against the pale wood made it visually striking too. She had a single arrow on the string already, held against the bow by one finger on her left hand which held the grip of the bow. This left her right hand free to either draw the string back and fire or to snatch her spell rod from its holster on her hip if she needed to use magic.

“Yeah. That’s basically it. I know that Miss Cedarfall mentioned that I was skipping steps and the like, but I am curious how you two go about actually casting.”

“Well…that’s easy enough to explain.” Kassandra edged in with a grin, circling back towards us to take up a spot on my right side while Rieka walked on my left. I noticed that my dwarf lamia lover also had one hand on the hilt of her spell rod and was keeping a wary eye on our surroundings as well, despite her energetic enjoyment of the morning.

“Please. I know we talked about it in the past but give me the overview again, like we hadn’t.”

“Do you want to start, Rieka?” Kassandra offered and the blonde wolf kin nodded.

“You remember the mana infused metals, I assume?” I nodded in agreement and continued. “So mana is something that forms naturally in the world. It accumulates in places of power and tends to condense in areas with a strong elemental affinity or around veins of metallic ore which I’ll get back to in a bit. That affinity tends to aspect the mana. So, inside the caldera of a volcano you would find fire mana thick in the air. At the bottom of a deep lake you might find heavy water mana. Now, the concentrations are not the only locations you can find it. It’s everywhere in the air, but those areas gather a specific kind of mana to them.”

“Following you so far. This is what leads to the aspected crystals you’ve mentioned, right?”

“Exactly. Aspected crystals are generally only used in industrial applications. You’ll find spell-smiths using fire mana crystals to fuel forges for their work and the like. There is the occasional point where mages of a particular flavor will have a few of the crystals of their type of mana as emergency energy supplies. Usually it is more efficient and profitable to sell off the crystallized mana and instead buy infused metals. Despite the fact that mana is in the very air around us, mages cannot use that mana to cast with. We aren’t able to gather it together to use it, so instead we tend to rely on those infused metals. Most coinage in the Queendom is made of either infused, drained, or plain metals.”

“Except for Liam. Liam doesn’t need the metals or the crystals because he’s fancy.” Kassandra chipped in.

“I wouldn’t call myself fancy…” I protested, getting a raspberry from Kassandra before Rieka dove back into her explanation.

“So besides Liam, and possibly other Travelers, all spellcasters are reliant upon external sources of mana. And most of the time those sources are the infused metal coins. Different kingdoms use different imprints but in our portion of the world, we all tend to produce roughly the same size and weight of coin because of this. We have to touch the infused metal to draw the mana that has alloyed itself with the metal to use it. Once we use the mana up in a coin, it loses the glossy appearance from the alloy but will slowly regenerate that mana if allowed to ‘rest’ for enough time.”

Kassandra interjected at this point to remind Rieka of a point she’d skipped over earlier. “The mana that collects around the veins of metals forms a natural alloy with the metal. It requires specific circumstances to do it, but it’s considered more valuable and a variant form of the metal. The mana that alloys with the metal ends up ‘neutral’, even in areas which should have aspected mana.” Rieka nodded in agreement with her words so I spoke next.

“Following that so far. I remember you mentioning it takes months to years for the coins to ‘regenerate’ right?”

“Yes. Do you remember how long it takes?” Rieka asked with a flick of her tail and a small smile. While we talked, her eyes scanned our surroundings. We finally reached the treeline and dove into the forest, still following the cut road though it was becoming rougher quickly.

“Iron takes around a month to recharge. Copper is three. Silver around a year…I don’t remember the others though. I know there was gold, platinum, and palladium?”

“Accurate. Gold takes five years while platinum can take a hundred years. It’s theorized that palladium can regenerate its mana, but there is so little of it and its span is well beyond a lifetime that no one is sure on that one.” Kassandra supplied with a sunny smile, tossing her curly hair out of her face and adjusting the straps on her pack.

“So it is a careful balance between maintaining the value of the coinage and using the mana constructively. The other point is that when a vein of metal is found, it is either naturally alloyed with mana already or not. There is a specific smelting process that will ‘cook out’ the mana if it is desired for that. It’s basically only ever used for iron in small kingdoms that need the plain metal for forging tools. It’s far better to just trade for plain ore. There is no ritual to empower ores or alloy metals with mana afterwards.” Rieka continued with her lecture.

“So forging the metal into coins or other things doesn’t remove the mana?” I asked, the thought occurring to me just as Rieka mentioned the process.

“No, the process of cooking out the mana requires a specific type of smelting with certain types of flux. It’s actually easier to refine the metal and retain its alloyed state with mana. Make sense?”

“Following you so far on that. So mages are heavily dependent on the availability of these charged ores and metals, given that crystals are unreliable and don’t regenerate.” I answered as we came to the end of the foresters road where a collection of wagons were pulled off to one side and a picket of oxen grazed amongst the low bushes. Rieka led the way off the road and into the trees, aiming towards the foothills for now.

“We will head this way until we cross a stream with black stones that flows out of the foothills and heads west; we need to follow it upstream and into the foothills.” Rieka explained, gesturing with her free hand towards the mountains looming ahead of us.

“Got it.”

“So yes, the availability of the ores and metals dictate practice. This is why we do these missions and why we can’t just summon you every day. Literally, mana is like money here. Another reason why I should have been using my bow before, but I was working with my spells to practice them.”

“Makes sense, I mean that was the other reason right? A chance to practice your magic in real combat and the like?” I cut in, quick to reassure her. Rieka gave me a grateful nod, apparently happy that I wasn’t upset about that.

Not like I’d be upset. It’s her ‘money’ to use as she sees fit.

“Anyway. So normal mages, those of us that aren’t Travelers with weird powers that let them hold mana like the metals do, come up with various ways to ensure that we always have some in our possession. Kassandra and I, as well as most mages in the Queendom, prefer to use spell rods.” Rieka patted the rod on her hip. “Kass, I don’t have the free hand to open mine, could you?”

“On it!” Kassandra chirped and drew her spell rod with a flourish and held it out before undoing the catches that allowed a portion of the shaft to slide to one side.

The spell rod was shaped roughly like one of those old billy-clubs you’d see British police carrying. Just a straight baton with a flared grip on one end. The section of shaft that slid to the side was like a shutter, partially revealing the sides of a stack of iron coins inside the core of the rod, each one glimmering with the faint sheen showing they stored magic inside. I knew from past experience that there was another button or lever that they could press that would allow the rod to open further and let the girls change out the coins contained inside of it.

“The spell rod keeps them organized and in one place, plus it provides a focus to use for projecting the spells.” Rieka continued her lecture while Kassandra brandished her rod like she was casting, the thumb of the hand holding the grip pressed to the bottommost coin’s side. “So, now we are caught back up to roughly what you should know from before the lesson with Rachel, right?”

“Yup. Magic metal lets you go ‘zap zap’ with your thick rod.” I said, giving Kassandra a cheeky wink that made the dwarf lamia giggle in response before she closed up the spell rod and held it upright before rubbing her cheek into it with a sensual expression on her face but a teasing smirk on her lips.

“I would say that Kassandra is rubbing off on you. But, I don’t want to give her the opportunity for another lewd joke.” Rieka sighed, a put-upon expression on her face. I could tell she was amused from the cant of her ears and the way her tail was stirring slightly behind her.

“Aww, come on! I’m not that bad.” Kassandra whined at her friend, letting the rod fall back to her side.

“Nope. You are worse, Nugget. And we love you anyway.” I teased her gently, catching her by the shoulder when she went to pout more and bent down to press a kiss to her lips. Kassandra’s mood did an abrupt about-face and she chirped happily into the kiss. She threw her arms around my neck and clung to me to extend the kiss. Rieka just sighed again. This time the tone was more amused.

After a minute or two of locking lips, where Kassandra’s tongue did a bit of pillaging, we separated again and Rieka got the lecture back on track once more.

“We are back to the point where you have a source of mana and are using it to produce a spell.” Rieka huffed, ducking under a low branch that hung over the game trail we were now following in a single-file line.

“Got it.”

“So, for those of us who are mere mortals and have to use magic normally.” She shot me a brief glare that was softened by a smirk. “We operate on pre-established spells. Now, for example there is the ‘Bolt Chain’ spell that I use. It requires two separate targets, one for each of the ends of the chain. I have to mentally envision a series of runes that will give it the first target, tell it what to do and how much mana to consume. I then focus on the channeling rune in my mind. When I ‘cut off’ the spell, I give the other half of it a target and that allows the remaining energy that was supporting the chain a way to drain off without striking back at me. If I don’t give it the second target and just cut the spell, it will actually backfire on me. This is something unique to lightning aligned mana.” Rieka lectured as we ducked through the trees, the ground beneath our feet slowly rising.

That makes sense. Lightning is electricity and electrical current needs a direction otherwise it’s drawn to the body’s natural charge. Kass doesn’t have that problem since ice is not as energetic and more static, though the radiant cold can mess with her.

Glancing over my shoulder as I considered Rieka’s words, I could see the thick oaks descending down into the plains and the faint ribbon of the road that led back towards Kintos in the distance, but the city was now out of sight because of the rolling hills.

“And the chants?” I asked, dragging my attention back to the girls. “I’m operating from pop culture and fiction, but I figured they’d be more complicated than just calling the name of the spell.”

“It’s partially a mnemonic, Liam.” Kassandra inserted from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to check on the dwarf lamia. For someone her size, she was easily keeping up with us in speed.

I mean, it’s not like she actually has a shorter stride. She just slithers a bit faster. I wonder if it is tiring? I shook the thought off and was going to ask for more information when Rieka supplied it.

“She’s right. The way that we are trained at Juneau and before was that you go through the focusing exercises and envision the runes. During the training time, you use a simple chant. Eventually, your body and mind has linked the two together and you can cast simply by using the incantation, as the words themselves will draw the runes in your mind and your focus together by themselves. I believe one of the instructors called it a conditioned response?”

“Makes sense. So are you bound only to existing spells?” We had come to an area where a blackberry bramble was beginning to overhang the path and I stepped around to push the thorn-heavy bush back for the girls to slide by, using my thicker armor to keep it from hurting me.

“Not exactly. If we are trying to fight, we’ll usually fall back to our prepared spells. The ones we’ve trained with are the easiest to get off in a quick means. Cobbling together something new on the fly is dangerous, because we haven’t tested it and don’t know what kind of runes to use. Without the runes, the mana doesn’t react to our commands.” Rieka explained while she and Kassandra waited on the other side of the bramble for me to push through. We continued, this time with Kassandra in the middle.

“Huh…so you can go more free-form if you need to, but it requires extra focus?”

“And it costs more mana too. Generally the set spells we use are considered optimized due to familiarity. Even before then, they were optimized by those who designed them. Like with Rieka’s ‘Bolt Chain’, I have ‘Ice Lance’. I can overcharge it to make it bigger or move faster, but it’s still just a sharp chunk of supernaturally cold ice.” Kassandra said with a slight shrug. “Making it larger might actually make it harder to hit with, as it would slow it down. Same with faster, I might miss because I’m not used to the speed. So we keep the spells to preset parameters that we are familiar with. I could do a larger spell to say…freeze a pond or a chunk of a lake, but I’d be guessing at how much mana it needs as it’s not something I’m super familiar with.”

“Sounds inefficient, yeah.” I muttered, considering what I’d been doing recently.

All of the earth-based spells I’d used previously had been pretty crude. I’d even thought of it as ‘smearing the mana on’ the problem after all. Wonder if I can get them to be more efficient if I keep them organized like that. But I’ve never needed runes?

“About the runes you mentioned. I haven’t been using them at all…” I said slowly as we came upon the creek.

“I was wondering about that. Miss Cedarfall never mentioned them to you before you started using the spells. Which, honestly, isn’t as surprising. I’d been researching Travelers in the academy library and it is theorized that Travelers were the ones who helped design the first magical runes and taught them to mages to give them power over the elements. That is distant history though, so we aren’t sure.” Rieka glanced over her shoulder, a bit of her platinum-blonde hair having escaped its loose braid to drift over her face like a tuft of wind-blown silk.

“I was just thinking about whether or not my spells are ‘efficient’ as you said. I’d have to experiment some to see if I can fix variables and have that affect the cost or…huh…”

“Huh what?” Demanded Kassandra, leaning back so she could look upside-down at me with her mass of curls hanging down her back. Her silver-rimmed spectacles tried to escape, but she caught them with easy familiarity and pressed them back into place over her nose.

“Oh, I was just thinking. I bet the System is calculating it for me. That supernatural computer thing that administers my stats and all that.”

“I’m envious…wish I had something like that to help control the spells.” Kass pouted with a plaintive whine to her voice. “It’s so hard to remember all the variables at times, even with the mnemonics.”

“Thankfully, your memory is getting better.” Rieka teased her friend gently. “Otherwise, I’d be worried you forgot something important.”

“Like what?” Kassandra demanded, clearly offended at the idea she’d be able to forget something despite her earlier complaints about issues remembering.

“Oh…like say the second tent, or the cooking pots.” Rieka said offhandedly and I saw Kassandra stiffen slightly.

“Kass?” I asked gently and she shot me a grin with her tongue sticking out and a guilty expression.

“What is it, Liam?”

“Did you forget something?” I asked quietly, and now Rieka stiffened. The wolf kin came to a stop and turned to glare back at Kassandra accusingly.

“Nope. I didn’t forget anything.” Kassandra said proudly, puffing her full chest out in a rather distracting manner. Unfortunately for her, Rieka was not as easily distracted as I was.

“Are you sure?” Demanded the wolf-eared princess.

“Yep! I didn’t forget the second tent.” Kassandra chirped with a wicked grin directed up at her friend, who deflated with a sigh.

“That’s good…” Rieka mumbled as Kassandra continued a moment after her.

“Nope! I intentionally left it behind this time!”