[Fanfiction] Shade and Honour

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Werra
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[Fanfiction] Shade and Honour

Post by Werra »

In old Aesha the afternoon rains had just begun to subside. The air trapped beneath the great canopy of the mushrooms now clean and cool for the next hours. The citizens would soon come out from under their roofs to continue their mundane businesses. But for now there was no sound but the dripping of water and the footsteps of a singular Loroi.

She walked into Aesha with weary steps, the ground tightly clinging to her boots. The guards on the main gate watched her with bored curiousity. They saw that the brim of her hat bend downwards with wetness and the dirt, spores and the slime of long travel that staining her cloak. A mere wanderer not worthy to step out into the rain for. Had they done so, the guards would have seen the shimmer of a well kept rapier behind that cloak. This was her most valued possession behind the letter of introduction by a Mizol bound in wax paper, which she carried in a leather bag.

That letter, written for a certain Batz from a non descript fishing village, she hoped would buy her entry into the elusive order of Mizol, the most famous of which had come from this city. Batz was a young Loroi with dreams to be counted amongst names as Red War, who plundered the Golden City, Rainstopper who snuck into the Temple of Ashur to father triplets and Scorching Ray, stalker of the highlands. But for now, she was hungry.

Her nose lead her to the harbor district of Aesha, built on the coast of one of the rare freshwater lakes of Perrein. The closeness of the still waters made the air foul and the taverns cheaper. From her last money, Batz bought a meal in a rundown tavern that looked like it saw as little patreons in the afternoon as in the evening. The table in the darkest corner at least didn't show any stains, so she sat down there to eat.

Looking up from her plate she saw three warriors standing in front of her. Each of them had a matching green fern tucked in their hats and they carried themselfes with confidence. Albeit they did look like regular customers to this establishment judging from their cloaks and shirts.

The middle one, a Loroi with a glorious mane of purpure and piercing blue eyes spoke up.
"You are sitting at our table, youngling."

The young warrior looked around in the tavern before she answered. It was near empty.
"So? There are enough tables to go around."

The mane shook in disbelief. "You are new here in Aesha. We will overlook this once. The corner table is reserved for warriors only."

"I am a warrior." Batz stated irritated.

"Ha, with these green ringlets framing that face of yours, you are too pretty to be a warrior." the tall Loroi on the left with brown hair and fern coloured eyes said.

"If you do not believe my words, mayhabs you'll believe my rapier then." she answered the insult with a challenge.

"None of us believe your words, Mosshead." the third one, with red hair and orange eyes stated.

Batz mustered each of them for a moment. "It seems I must prove my words to each of you then." she concluded.

Incredulous grins spread on the three faces. Not one of them looked even the slightest bit doubtful. A uniformity that annoyed Batz to no end. The middle one even leaned slightly back before she spoke.

"Vallon, Herlai, have you heard? This girl wants to duel all three of us."

"We have heard, Fere. For each duel the price shall be a bottle, young one." the left one declared.
The spoken to warrior remembered her empty purse, but saw no way out except forward. She began to be felt a little bit played, but she couldn't lose money anymore anyway.
"Fine, then it is agreed."

The right one laughed. "Our evenings pleasures are secured then."



All four made their way out onto the street and into a small courtyard next to the tavern. The challenger took position at the far side of the wall, testing the weight of the rapier in her left hand. The other three stood near the exit. Two of them resting casually against the wall, the third, Fere drawing her own weapon.

"You still have time to concede." Fere informed Batz.

"Had I known that you would take so long, I would have." she answered.

With a smirk, Fere came in for the attack. Her speed was surprising. Batz hadn't expected to be tested this well from louds habitually accosting others in a tavern. For a few moments, both Loroi tested each other, then their clanging increased in speed and volume. Fere fought with her right and had the irritating habit of forgoing parries for dodges and aggressive repositions of her blade.

This went on for a while, neither one drawing blood and sealing the duel. Instead they circled each other, prodding at each others defences. The rains had now completely subsided and a small crowd of onlookers gathered in the arch of the courtyard. A duel more interesting than whatever chores awaited these citizens.

"City Guard is coming. Watch out!" somebody of the throng shouted.

The fighters halted their attacks. Fere threw a look over her shoulder, then turned to her opponent.
"Damn, they never come here. Go, get out of here!"

Batz gave a quick nod and sheated her rapier in a fluid motion. Two steps took her to the far wall. There she used her reach to grap the edge and swung one leg up. A fluid movement later and she was on a thatch covered roof, ducking out of sight behind a protrusion from the neighboring building.

A glance over her shoulder revealed that the three others hadn't moved and were waiting instead for the city guard to push its way through the mob of people. Batz counted. Eight versus three weren't good odds, not even for skilled swordsmen.

From within the mob, the leader of the city guard called out.
"Halt, dueling is forbidden in Aeshas streets by order of the city council. Put down your arms!"

Something inside her made Batz halt in her escape and observe. The guard had now almost fully pushed through the throng and was facing the three Loroi.

The leader called out to them again.
"Fere, Vallon, Herlai. Again. You know the punishment for dueling."

Strangely enough, the three didn't seem worried at all. "They must be better than I thought if they remain so calm." thought Batz.

"What duel? We were just sparring between us, Asmat." the brown haired one told the guard. Behind her perch, Batz started to silently shift her position. Four versus eight was better than three versus eight, especially with the element of surprise.

"Don't lie to me, Vallon. Half the slackers behind me just felt like they heard a lie. You're in trouble." Asmat said.

"Trouble from you?" Fere mocked. "Herlai, can you handle two?"

"Sure, if you keep them busy laughing with your fencing until I finish with my three."

A momentary silence fell over the courtyard as both sides measured each other up. The crowd had long dispersed. Hands got drawn to rapiers. While Fere and her friends remained almost unreadable, the bad mood of the guard leader however, was clear to Batz. Now, as all their eyes were turned on each other in the courtyard, Batz made her move.

With pantherlike agility Batz stepped from the roof. She came up on the first guard from her left flank. The Loroi had only time to turn around before the handle of Batz rapier hit her forehead and send the guard down into the sticky dirt. Batz spun her weapon around in her hand and swung from high at the next guard, who just barely managed to get her own weapon up to parry.

"Let me help you with division." she informed the three other duelists. Then she was driven back by two guards at once charging her. The two drove her back and when a third of the guard stapped at her from the flank, Batz threw a quick look towards her allies by circumstance. None of them were fighting or even had their weapons drawn. Instead they gave her incredulous looks.

"You aren't fighting?" Batz asked while sidestepping a thrust.

"We don't fight comrades." Fere told her.

With a sigh, Batz resigned her rapier hilt first to the nearest guard.
Last edited by Werra on Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Werra
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Re: [WP] Shade and Honour (Story Thread Only)

Post by Werra »

[quote]They took her to Countess Caco, city councilor in charge of the guard. Batz was dragged into her office with hands tied behind her back and unceremoniously sat down on a rough wooden stool in front of her desk by her two guards The room was very dark, lit only by what little light filtered through a small window in the far wall. But it was built in the roots of one of the mushrooms around which Aesha had been built. Therefore it was pleasantly cool. The only other light came from a candle on the desk, placed there to make reading and writing easier. A rack in a corner held the Countess insignia of office, a rapier, a fancy cloak and a hat with a red cloth tied around it.

One of the guards threw down Batz letter on a stack of books on the Countess desk. A short discussion in Sanzai followed before the two guards left the room. Their boots echoing on the bare stone floor. Before she spoke, the Countess mustered Batz for a long while. As she was sitting, Batz could only guess that the Countess was of medium height. Her hair was typically dark and she wore expensive looking, loose clothes. As strong feelings of animosity radiated out of Caco, Batz could reasonably guess that she was the stronger telepath of the two. A fact that was sure to cultivate the Countess animosity towards her even further.

Finally she spoke. "You attacked the city guard." It was a statement and not a question as Batz would have expected.

"With the blunt end of my rapier, Lady Caco." Batz answered.

"Yes, before you continued your assault. When did you arrive?" Lady Caco asked.

"I just arrived this afternoon, Lady Caco. By the western gate."

"And you already found yourself in an illegal duel." Caco said.

"To defend my warrior honor, Lady Caco." Batz insisted.

"A poor warrior you are if you allow your honor to draw you into bad fights. What is this?" Caco waived the letter in Batz face.

"A formal letter of introduction from Lady Mizol Beinzol."

Batz didn't like the amount of disbelief that welled up in Caco at that. Neither did she care much for the amusement that followed. When Caco spoke, it was with harshness in her voice.

"Who would give you a letter of introduction? I don't even know this Beinzol."

Batz had momentarily no retort and Caco never expected one. Instead she opened the letter and began to read it. Batz knew that it wasn't a very long letter, yet Caco studied it for a while, fingering the paper from time to time. The minutes passed in silence only broken from noises drifting in through the window from the streets and gangways above.

"Where did you meet this ..Beinzol?" Caco asked finally.

"She passed through our village on business and was impressed enough to vouch for me." Batz explained.

"What is the name of your village?"

"It has no name. It's by the western coast, Lady Caco."
"A Mizol came to a wild village all the way out there and she happened to give you this letter? One of you must be very gullible. I am not." With her last sentence, Caco held the letter above her candle, lighting it up.

"Lady Caco, I assure you by my honor that this letter is very much real." Batz protested as the flames crept up the parchment.

"You don't have what makes a Mizol and there is no written recommendation in the world that can change my mind." Caco said.

"I will prove you wrong, Lady." half swore Batz.

"Ha, if you do I'll give you my hat." the Countess answered.

Behind her, Batz heard the door open again and she soon felt herself being lifted up and taken out of the room. Her last image of Caco was how the woman calmly sweeping up ash onto a piece of paper with her left hand.



Aeshas prison was built into the cap of a particularly large mushroom and could only be reached by ascending a narrow, winding staircase leading up the petrified trunk of the mushroom. The guard had taken her up there and pushed her into her current cell. This high under the jungle canopy, the heat got trapped and turned the cells into tiny, stuffy saunas. The ground was sticky and Batz couldn't guess whether it was because of spores drifting in or sweat and dirt of her predecessors.

Save for a bucket and a pile of stinking straw the room was completely empty. The only light came in from a window high in the wall. Too high to reach it, or the citizens of Aesha below would have regularly received the contents of the prisoners buckets. Batz found the least dirty place and sat down on the floor, pulling her knees in close.

She brooded there for a while. Not even a day in Aesha and Batz Batz already found herself in prison. She imagined what the future might hold. As she was a stranger, she knew absolutely nothing of the laws here, as evident from her willingness to duel. Getting into a duel might be forgivable, but she doubted that an attack on the guard would be taken lightly. Batzs thoughts went unbidden to possible punishments. As she was telekinetic, capital punishment was not an impossibility, but a high fine was more likely. A fine Batz would never be able to pay as her funds had run out for dinner she hadn't even finished. The most likely end for Batz was therefore as slave to one of Aeshas citizens until she had worked off her debt. She hoped that at least a warrior would buy her and not a citizen civilian.

Her thoughts were broken by a presence approaching. The Loroi on guard, they had passed on the way to this cell, she figured from the bored signature. The Loroi walked along the corridor, a keychain loudly dangling on her hip. She stopped in front of Batz door and the young ears of Batz soon heard the clinging of keys and the scraping of the lock. Then the door opened with a scraping sound, letting light pour in around the frame of the guard. A pencil and paper were thrown to Batz.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked the guard.

"As per the law you get the opportunity to write to your relatives or friends if you have any." the guard explained.

Batz took up the paper and gave it a dubious look. It seemed like a sheet of ordinary paper as far as Batz could tell. It did feel a bit smoother than her letter had.

"Hey, there is some smudge on this paper." Batz called out to the guard.

"That's the crest of the Caco family. So don't waste space on unnecessary names." the guard said before she locked the door again.

Frustrated, Batz let the paper fall from her hand. She couldn't think of anything useful to do with it now. Even if she could write a letter to her family, was she supposed to languish in this cell until an answer came? That could take months and her linen shirt had already begun to get soaked with sweat.

When she had grown too tired to ponder her situation further, Batz tried finding a comfortable position on the floor and closed her eyes. Sleep wouldn't come easily however. Thoughts of tomorrow, the smell and her still empty belly kept her up.

She got woken by a tight sending from somebody she did not recognize. Her attempt of finding the source proved difficult. Apart from herself and the gaurd there were a few others in cells on this level. But none of them felt like the sending came from them. Most were even asleep.

"Wake up. We're getting you out of there." the Loroi send again.

Batz stopped herself from answering. Without knowing who exactly had sent, she would have to send to everybody in range, which would spoil the attempted prison break.

"Keep calm, we'll explain later." was the next sending she got.

A few minutes later, Batz felt two persons approaching. One was the prison guard, the other, she thought she'd recognize from somewhere. Perhabs it was another guard or somebody she passed on her way to Lady Caco. Maybe she was in luck and one of the troublemakers that caused this whole mess for her had ended up in prison as well.

Again Batz heard the lock to her cell being opened. This time two shapes stood in the doorway. The guard and what looked like a dark haired Loroi. Vallon was her name, Batz remembered as she rose shaking off the stiffness of her unsteady sleep. The two Loroi in front of her seemed to have a conversation in Sanzai, of which Batz curiously only heard one side.

"Yes, Purvs, that's her. The Countess wants to see her."

"No idea. Maybe something urgent has come up."

"Thank you, no need to trouble yourself. I'll handle this."

"Oh, yes, of course. The shackles. Put them on then, Purvs."

As the guard walked up to Batz, Vallon gave her a quick, one eyed wink. Now Batz was completely confused. If the Countess wanted to see her again, why the sending and why did Vallon look so mischievous about the whole affair?

Vallon took her from the guard and led her down the stairs again. The rest of the mushroom was empty at this time of night. Only a few sleeping Loroi could be felt in rooms next to the staircase.
"Don't rattle your chains so loudly. We don't want to wake anyone." Vallon send her.

"What is going on?" Batz send back.

"Later, we need to start on our journey before dawn breaks. We have a mission from the city council." the other Loroi informed Batz only adding to her confusion.

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Werra
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Re: [WP] Shade and Honour (Story Thread Only)

Post by Werra »

"Oh, that's good, I guess. Why the secrecy?" Batz asked somewhere on the groundfloor of the prison.

"Because you aren't being sent, of course. Now hush and skulk until I tell you otherwise." the woman told her annoyed.

Another guard had to let them out of the ground floor. As soon as Batz sensed her, she followed Vallons command and kept her eyes on the floor. As the guards mood never shifted from unsuspecting to curious, it seemed unnecesary. Still Batz kept the act up outside and followed the directions Vallon gave her in a low voice.

It was the time of night too soon to rise and too late to sleep. A thick silence filled the whole city and only their boots made a sound. Not even the typical sounds of the jungle to which Batz had become accustomed to on her long journey could be heard.

Vallon lead her away from the prison, following the main road towards Lady Cacos residence. After they had went around their second corner, Vallon dove with her into a narrow side alley and hurried her along a dizzying amount of shortcuts and backyards. Soon after they came out in the harbor quarter again.

Batz began to understand the plan. It seemed like their group would depart by boat. And right as she concluded that, they had reached a pier upon which was moored a raft. The other two, Herlai and Fere were busy stowing away supplies and equipment on the raft.

"There you are. Did everything go as planned?" greeted them Fere.

"It did. But we should depart soon. Who knows how long our trick works this time." Vallon answered.

"This time?" Batz asked already on the boat.

"We're professionals, don't worry." informed her the red haired Herlai. Her sending was as pristine as the others, yet she couldn't or didn't want to keep out an air of confidence and satisfaction. It reminded Batz of an animal waiting to pounce.

With everybody on board, Herlai went to the oar and started staking them away from the pier and into the night. While that happened, Vallon turned Batz around and unlocked her shackles.

"Where is my rapier?" asked Batz after she had looked over the equipment and a weeks worth of supplies for four.

"We couldn't get your stuff from the guard. Have this hat." Fere told her as she handed her a dark grey hat. The impression Batz got from Fere and her sending was of a quick witted and fleet woman. Not unsympathetic in her opinion of Batz, if she interpreted Fere correctly.

The hat felt rough in her hands, but it would keep her hair protected from rain, slime and predators. There was only one thing wrong with it.

"This is a civilians hat. Did you at least bring a spare rapier?" Batz remarked.

"No, why would we need four?" Fere replied.

"Because we're four warriors traveling?" Batz asked carefully.

"We can't travel with four warriors. The contract we have with Banai limits us to three on this mission." Fere sent.

"Banai, the city on the north side of the lake? What contract do you have with them?" batz asked.

"Two years ago we lend them a male as part of a peace agreement. We would have gotten him sooner back, but Banai council feared we would use the opportunity for some revenge. So now we're limited to three warriors as escort." Fere explained before Herlai added "Nobody said anything about a servant though."

"Servant? If you think I become your servant then you are sorely mistaken. I was in prison because of you!" she protested.

By now they had left the lights of the city behind and the only illumination came from the glow of the soe mushrooms floating below the surface. In the distance, dancing lights showed swarms of nocturnal insects. The sounds of buzzing wings and faint screeching grew louder as Aesha fell into the distance.

"You can stop sulking now, Batz." Vallon reminded her. "The mission makes it necessary that you play the part. You'll be our surprise."

"Are you expecting trouble then?" Batz asked.

"Always." came from Herlai. Fere proved more informative. "We're pretty sure that Banai will play far, they will send four of their warriors as escort and delegation back with us. So we will be walking back. But Aesha is having a low intensity feud with Orinz to the north right now. They might be looking to escalate the conflict at any point."

"I see. Get to Banai, get that male and bring him safely back to Aesha. I hope you don't expect me to entertain him all the while as ..servant."

"No. You're no use to us walking bowlegged. He'll be fine on his own during travel. It's only a few days anyway." Herlai stated.

"Good. One more question. What do I get out of this?"

"Apart from your freedom? We'll get your charges cleared up once we get back and even put in a good word for you if you decide to stay." Fere told her.

"Fine, we have an agreement then."

"We'll even give you something right now." Vallon said teasingly.

"And what would that be?" answered Batz also verbally.

"A bath." came unisono from all three.

Batz felt herself being pushed telekinetically over the edge of the raft. In the moment of freefall, she had enough time to realise that this mischiev had come from all three professionals at once.

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Werra
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Re: [Fanfiction] Shade and Honour

Post by Werra »

Falling down Batz barely had time to send out a biting curse, before her back broke the waters surface. Immediately, the roots and fleshy outgrowths of floating mushrooms scraped over her, tangling up in her copious locks. Telepathic snickers rang in her ears as she struggled to lift her head over the surface again. There was nothing she could do about that now. From a childhood of fishing she knew, that struggling would only mean tightening the strands tighter around herself.

Once tangled up, the swimmer had to free herself with slow, carefuly movements or risk getting knotted up. In her home village divers learned quickly to help each other while fishing. But the city dwellers she traveled hadn't learned, of course.

Unwilling to face the ignominy of asking for a hand from the very people that pushed her into this situation, Batz decided to take the other way to free herself. A quick sensing of the waters around her made her reasonably certain she would come back up again. With one last deep breath, she swung her legs straight up and plunged herself deeper.

Going straight down, her weight helped her cut through the vines that had kept her held before. It never took long to fall through the cloud of vegetation under the surface and this was no exception. Below the line of luminous leafs was a ceiling of gaseous sacks filled with the remains of what insects had been lured to the leafs. Some of the sacks burst open at her touch, spraying her with decomposing meat and sharp pieces of chitin, but deeper she went still.

The moment Batz felt her hands enter the thermocline*, the chatter from the raft stopped. Despite years of experience, Batz still shuddered everytime she entered the near freezing water. Her liberators on the raft didn't miss the near imperceptible shiver of hers. Immediately they knew where she was going. The psionic chatter stopped just as quickly.

At the touch of icy cold moving up her arm, carefully honed survival instincts sprang to live. Batz focused her mind outwards. Barely two meters above her, the passengers of the raft had turned solid. All attention focused on her descent. But Batz ignored all that now.

The sparse light that illuminated the Perrein jungles came nearly fully from luminous mushrooms. Below these light fungi, their shine was stopped by the thick canopy through wich Batz had come crashing.

Batz spun around, still sinking head first, to see if there was any light at all. It remained dark in all directions. Her luck held as the only minds she could sense were those of bottom feeding fish still meters below her. Safe in total darkness Batz allowed herself to relax. Her gambit had paid off.

With deft, practiced movements she freed herself of her bondage and halted her descent an arms length above the muddy ground. Out of reach around her circled bottom feeding delicacies known as fatfish with lazy strokes. The ups and downs of their simple minds mapped the ground for her in hazy strokes. One close by swam over the same spot twice.

Carefully Batz maneuvered there and waited, hanging motionless in the darkness. The cold stabbed her to her bones already and she would still have to rise to the surface again. But she wasn't worried. She had enough air left in her lungs to safely rise again and a bit left to spend on some privacy.

Two days ago on the road to Aesha, she had thought herself on the way to Mizoldom. She had thought herself free from her old live on the edge of civilization. Back home even the warrior caste had to hunt and fish for subsistence. She still remembered the day she had come back standing from her Dirals raid.

"Is everything all right down there?" Fere sent.

The earnest worry was a welcome sentiment, but it almost broke Batz concentration. Apparently nobody had taught Fere not to disturb divers while they waited for prey. The already weak specks around her flickered and waned dangerously as Batz was being sent to.

"Do you need help? Is it safe coming down?" Fere tried again.

"I'm fine, stop breaking my concentration!" Batz sent and closed herself from further contact.

Her air was nearing its end and that last sending had extinguished her sensing around her. But she was unwilling to return to the surface with empty hands. When Batz had managed to sense the fatfish again, her lungs were already burning.

Luckily her target was just returning to the same spot for a third time. It was a strenuous task to remain motionless, with raised hands, waiting with her time running out. Risking to let go of some air to relieve the stress building up would have risked her fish scuttling from the noise. As it finally came into range, Batz used her telepathy to slap its head. That stunned the fish long enough for her to grab it.

Feeling her way around the slimy body, she found the gills. A hard tug behind them and she had broken its neck. Then Batz hurriedly shoved it down her pants and prepared to push herself upwards from the ground.

She angled herself diagonally, aiming next to the raft. As she jumped, she strained her shoulders as well to built up enough speed to slash through the canopy in one rush. Her aim had been true and she erupted just where she wanted to with enough momentum to carry her upper body over the wood.

In a spray of water Batz pushed herself strong enough to catault herself out of the water. She landed firmly on her feet in the middle of the raft. The copious amounts of water she sprayed everywhere had the welcome side effect of driving her fellow travelers away. Only for them to hurriedly crawl back when the vessel began to tilt.

Batz herself was used to these things and wholly unconcerned with the possibility of capsizing. Before the vessels movements had even begun to subside she was already trying to get out of her clingy shirt. She, feeling the mood swing around her from worry to shock, worry again, then relief and finally anger answered it all with a derisive if muffled laugh from under her clothes.
"Have you gone mad?" Vallon shouted at her. "You could have woken up a Swampking!"

"You should have thought of that when you pushed me in, dear Vallon." Batz answered.

"We didn't think you'd actually dive through the thermocline." Vallon said.

Finally free from her shirt, Batz took a moment to stretch and dry air before she'd wring out her clothes. Vallon was still on her knees in front of Batz, while Fere had taken over paddling from Herlai who sat on the other side and mustered Batz.

"I don't remember you having such a bulge in your pants before." she finally remarked.

Vallon sniffed the bulge and promptly emanated hungry curiousity. "It smells...fishy." was her judgement.

A tiny bit of telekinesis from Batz pushed Vallon back on her butt. From there she watched Batz as she pulled the fatfish out of her pants. Three audible gasps were heard as they recognized the nature of her catch.

"Is that..." Vallon asked. "Look at the size of it." Herlai said.

"I've seen bigger." Batz barely acknowledged them and instead held the fish by the tail to muster it herself. This was actually the first time she could see the fish. Her patience had seemingly paid off as the fish looked healthy, with no obvious signs of parasites. With the thin prison food already digested, her belly as well grumbled faintly.

"Hand it over to Herlai and she'll prepare it." Fere told her.

"Why would I share with you mud eaters?" Batz asked.

"Hang on, Batz, that was all in good fun." Vallon pleaded. "You wouldn't let the Diral go hungry, would you?"

"Hm," Batz msued, "not sharing with the group is disgraceful for a warrior."

The last word hung in the air for a few moments before Herlai spoke up. "I am hungry."

"Telekinesis too." said Vallon rubbing her forehead.

"Good form." came from Fere and then: "Fine, it looks like we owe you a bottle."

"One? I bet with each of you." Batz reminded them.

Herlai and Vallon caved in. "Now hand over that fish." came then from Herlai.

"I'll take care of it. Why don't you make a side dish?" Batz answered.

While Batz got a knife and started the process of descaling, gutting and cleaning the fatfish with deft hands, Herlai fished out a cluster of the mushrooms out of the water. She shook off the crabs from the leaves into a pot and then cut off the tender sprouts, mixing it all together into a stew, which she brought to a boil with pyrokinesis. To that pot Batz added the fileted meat and the head and tail for taste. Working together, the two of them had the pot filled pretty quickly.
When the pot was empty, Batz found an even part of the raft and stretched herself out. With the fatigue of her long journey she fell into a deep sleep, drifting through a foreign part of Perrein, surrounded by Loroi she had barely begun to know.

*A layer of abrupt temperature change in a body of water.

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