Maura bounced up out of the chair, tears in her eyes, as she was overwhelmed with joy. She could stay! She wasn’t alone anymore! She didn’t know what to do with her body. She wanted to move somehow and her mind needed something to allow her to express herself.

Amelia chuckled and then showed Maura what she had been missing by wrapping her in a large hug. Maura latched onto Amelia and made happy noises as she cried into her chest. She wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad or what she was feeling. She was overloaded with so many different feelings at the idea that her long journey might have finally come to an end, or at least a better beginning.

Ser Stephen tried to remain stoic, but even he wasn’t immune to the sheer joy pouring out of Maura. He stood up and patted her a few times on the head before he moved to the desk and began searching through papers for something.

Maura lost a few minutes in her exuberance but was eventually pulled back into reality when Amelia pulled her back by her shoulders and looked into Maura’s eyes with tears in her own and compassion written on her face.

She said, “Now Maura, it will be challenging but we can get through this together. The first and most important thing for us to do is to get you away from camp. I know that sounds horrible, but we must keep you as hidden as possible from Ser Ethan. I know you are a great hunter so I’d like you and my two eldest to go out into the forest to the west and try to tackle the most magical beasts you can find. Ser Stephen, who if you wish you may call Chieftain or Chief Carter now that you are one with the Khersi, has a little paperwork for you to fill out before I introduce you to the kids. Can you write?”

Maura, who was still feeling a little overwhelmed but recognized that there was a lot of work to be done, just nodded, then tilted her head with an unsure expression and said, “Maybe? I know how to write from before, but the language has changed a bit over time.”

Amelia chuckled in a little bit of a sad way and said, “We have so very much to teach you and so little time. Well, not to worry, we mostly only need the current date and signature. As a found refugee most of the paperwork is on our side. This is all just for the damned nobility and their love of endless bureaucracy, as the Khersi just need acknowledgement from the Chief, but we’re going to be trying to hide you in the only way you can in cities; with excessive and redundant paperwork.”

Maura heard Ser Stephen, err… Chief Carter, cough a laugh behind her, and she turned to see what he was doing. He had extended the foldable chest a great deal and had a few papers he was working on. Maura was constantly amazed at how they could make so little space work in so many ways. She had seen the clever way they hid the kitchen when not in use, the table when not eating, even the benches outside could obviously be rearranged into a large long table for more people to eat together.

Chief Carter cleared his throat and said, “Maura, there will be a lot more we need to work on later, but the only thing we need to worry about for the time being is putting an official wall between you and Ser Ethan. Or even Captain Logan, now that I think of it.” He moved the desk a little so he could reach a new area of papers and took two out.

Amelia turned Maura and gave her a little nudge towards the desk. Maura sheepishly moved over and stood next to the Chieftain. She tried to read what was on the papers, but most of the words seemed strange to her. They were obviously written and stamped in batches from a machine of some sort, and looked rather redundant to Maura’s untrained eyes.

Chief Carter explained, “Now, we have five papers to date and sign. The first is for official receipt of a refugee into our tribe, the second and third will both be testimonials - one for the Arcanum, the other for the Army. I’ll fill in the details while you are out hunting, but they will say something along the lines of ‘unexplained healing skills from wilderness refugee’ which is all that anyone can really tell. The fourth and fifth are to notify that you are under the age of majority and that the Frozen River Tribe are your official guardians, so any questions the Army or Arcanum want to ask will have to go through us first.”

Maura somewhat understood everything he said. She quickly signed and dated the five papers where he pointed and then stood back wondering what to do now.

Amelia came to her rescue and said, “Why don’t you get all of your gear on for now. I’ll go and get Eric and Amber to let them know what you all will be doing.”

Maura happily nodded and then hopped behind her curtain and began the long process of readying all of her gear. She heard Amelia move out of the tent and call a runner. The Chieftain worked on the paperwork, but soon enough Amelia had returned.

She heard them talk about their plans, but most of it was too complex for Maura to understand. She wondered what Ser Ethan was like if they were going through so much effort to keep him out of the loop? All Maura knew about him was what his face looked like and that he could use more exercise.

Her traitorous mind kept moving in circles imagining different ways everything could go wrong, but she was still flying high on her emotions from being accepted into a group.

I did it!

I really did it! They want me here! I can stay!

Oh, I can’t wait to start teaching magic. It will be so nice to do something to build an entire community instead of just destroying monsters and making pretty clothes and tokens.

They call them magical beasts? I wonder if my own experiences are what called me to label them as monsters? I mean, the frontiers way back when also called them monsters, but they were kittens in comparison to what is out there now.

I sure have a lot to learn.

It’s great!!

As Maura was finishing up with her gloves and headdress she heard some commotion from outside of the tent.

Amelia called, “Come in, dears! Come in! Ah, we have a special day ahead of us, please take a seat, I’ll get you some tea.”

There was some stomping of boots as two people cleared snow and such off before entering the tent. Maura found herself standing perfectly still and studying the situation with all of her senses. Everyone around had a strong magical signature, but these were two she hadn’t seen up close yet.

Maura heard a strong deep voice say, “Heya mom, I’d love something to warm up. It’s pretty cold out there, and the snow is just beginning.”

Maura heard a loud thump as someone flopped down on the couch. Amelia made a tsking noise which was responded to with a mild chuckle.

Maura was distracted by a second voice, this one much smoother, lighter and obviously feminine. “Mom, dad, nice to see ya. I was about to go on watch but you wanted to see us?”

Amelia, who had obviously been getting tea ready from the moment she called for her children, was passing out cups and called, “Maura, dear. Are you ready yet?”

Maura realized she had been standing frozen, but only had the straps for her gloves left to tie down properly. She already had her headdress on, but left her cloak for now and moved to peek past the edge of her curtain. It was pretty obvious everyone knew where she was, which made sense as they were probably very familiar with the tent, but Maura still shrunk down a little at seeing the two new pairs of eyes looking her way.

On the couch was a large and well muscled man with a shock of red hair and light blue eyes staring at her. He wore a cloth gambeson covered in a mail shirt, a metal helmet with fur lining, fur lined gloves, boots, and pants. Maura gave him a failing grade for camouflage.

Sitting on a chair was a new beautiful woman whose curves were noticeable despite the cloth gambeson and fur clothing. She had brilliant blue eyes on a delicate face with silky black hair under a warm fur cap. Her clothing wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t all that great for the forest, either.

Maura hid behind the curtain and quickly tied the straps of her gloves as she heard Amelia say, “She’s a little skittish, but she’ll be out in a moment.”

The new man boomed a laugh and said, “Ah, this must be our new guest. I’ve heard some fantastic things!”

Maura checked her gear one last time, making sure her sword, dagger, and waterskin were all just right before quickly pumping herself up and repeating her mantra. She stepped out from behind the curtain and just stood there so that she could be seen. She could feel the eyes studying her and didn’t really want to get too much closer.

Amelia wasn’t having any of that as she walked up and placed her hand around Maura’s shoulders and began to guide her to the other chair. She said, “Eric, Amber, this is Maura. She’s a refugee from the wilderness we have taken into the tribe. Maura, the big one is Eric, our eldest, and Amber here is our middle child.”

Maura perched on the edge of the chair and nodded a little. They both said “Well met, Maura” almost at the same time.

Amelia squeezed Maura’s shoulder and said, “Hats off, it’s rude to hide your face when you are meeting new people.” She shot a quick glance at her children who both removed their head coverings as well. Eric rolled his eyes, but Amber seemed a little embarrassed. Maura followed along and removed her headdress and waited silently.

Amelia sat down on the couch and said, “Now, we have a little mission for the three of you. Maura here, despite her youth, is an expert hunter. Your job is to follow her lead as she goes for highly magical beasts to the west. We’ll be stopping in an hour, so you can do a long arc and meet up with us at the next clearing.

“Eric, you’ll be carrying the spoils on a sled, and Amber it’s your job to learn as much as you can. I’ll say now that it will probably be a little different than you’re used to, so for this hunt I would like you to follow Maura’s directions. She is very shy, however, so you might need to prod her a little for proper guidance.”

Amber had a stubborn and almost angry look on her face, but Eric just seemed surprised.

He said, “Well, that’s definitely new. Are you sure you can handle the forest, little miss?”

Maura winced but managed to say, “I’ve lived in the deep dark for the last five years. The area around here is much tamer than I am used to.”

Amber had a disbelieving tone as she said, “I heard something like that, but I don’t believe it. No offense, but you look like a kid playing dress-up.”

Maura decided that Amber had, indeed, meant offense. She wasn’t sure what to do in this situation, but was yet again saved by Amelia.

Amelia said, “Maura, why don’t you place your sword and dagger on the table here, and then go get your cloak and spear and bring it back to full length. You two have been taught to use your eyes and your minds. Do so.”

Maura looked skeptically at Amelia, but she had sworn to obey her orders. She quickly unsheathed both weapons which slid silently from their sheaths. She laid both on the table before quickly hopping back behind her curtain; quick as a breeze. By the time she came back out holding her spear in her right hand and cloak draped over her left shoulder, the two siblings were silently examining her weapons.

Her sheaths generally hid the magical nature of her weapons, but they almost glowed like the moonlight despite being in a tent. They had a pearlescent sheen without a single scratch to be seen, and she had worked for many months to get them to fit her hand just right with perfect balance. They were both sharp enough to probably cut through the table they lay on without too much trouble, and just looking at them gave that impression.

As she returned with her spear Amelia said, “Why don’t you describe where you acquired these from, Maura.”

Maura felt a little bullied but at the same time realized this was important and Amelia was probably trying to get her to come out of her shell a little.

She described that she had made her sword out of the claw of an earth and air aspect creature that looked like a tiger, but gigantic. It’s rare magical properties gave the blade extreme strength but the air magic imbued inside also kept it light.

Her knife was a fang from a monstrous spider-vine amalgamation that had covered a large part of forest that had trapped Maura and forced her to fight her way out of. It was extremely sharp and always felt slick, allowing it to slide through things easily.

Chief Carter couldn’t help himself and interjected about her cloak, “That cloak, and I do have to apologize to you about saying those things earlier, Maura, came from what I believe to be a cloud aspect terror hawk. If my guess is right, a full feather from one of those could go for as much as four hundred crowns. They can stop mundane ballista bolts, though with Maura’s weight she would probably get thrown some distance. She made it herself for her recent birthday. Very impressive.”

Maura found herself blushing and trying to hide behind her hair again at the compliment before she realized she had put her headband back on. She realized that she probably had several thousand ‘crowns’ as he said, sitting in her last den.

Amelia said, “And the spear?”

Maura froze completely as her face drained of color. Her spear had come from that thing. It was the reason she would always fear the sky. She just said, “It… it’s very magical. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

Amelia picked up on her unease and said, “Why don’t you return it to length before you leave. That will fully put to rest any silly thoughts these two might have.”

Maura couldn’t make her voice work for a moment so she just nodded and placed the spear on the ground before removing her gloves. She picked up the spear and held it towards the tent flap before allowing the magic to flow and bring it back to the length that she preferred.

She heard gasps from three people as she used her magic, and once she was finished she placed the spear along the ground, then put her gloves back on before gathering her sword and dagger back and perching on the chair again and curling up a little while looking down.

Amelia said, “Not now, dear. Okay, you three chat a little bit, but I’d like you to be leaving camp in a half hour at the latest.” She moved to Chief Carter and took a folded chair from a slot in the desk and sat next to him to look over the paperwork.

After ten seconds or so of uncomfortable silence Eric said, “Well. I can’t say I know the full story, but those weapons are marvelous. I would have to talk to Perry about pricing, but I imagine that sword, despite its smaller length, could be sold for between five hundred and a thousand crowns if you were so inclined. It’s highly magical, to say the least. That spear is something I’ve never seen before, either. What do you think, Amber?”

Maura peeked at Amber and studied her face. She was thoughtful and a little stunned but she said, “Sorry, Maura. I can be a little bitchy and I’m trying to work on that. I’m not saying I believe you completely, but now that I’ve studied your items a little closer I can see that there is some strange story there. Why don’t you tell us how you want the hunt to go, as we will be following your lead?”

Maura froze again, not wanting to talk. She forced the words out, though. She knew that this was a problem and that she would need to keep working on it, but she thought she was doing a fantastic job so far.

She said, “Well, I don’t mean to be rude, but you are far too noisy and smelly to go too deep without us being bogged down fighting a bunch of weak things. If Eric is dragging a sled as well, that will reduce the ability for all of us to stay together and hunt well. I was thinking that maybe you and Eric could stay closer to the treeline and move steadily, and I would bring targets to us?”

Both of the siblings had to lean in to hear what Maura was saying. Amber looked a little incensed but Eric seemed to be pondering. Seeing Amber’s angry expression had Maura tightening up a little more and looking away, but then Eric came in to save the day.

He said, “You know what? How about this. We don’t know how you hunt, you don’t know how we do. How about we go in a little and find a few decent targets. We will show you how we normally do things, then you show us how you do, then afterwards we can make a decision?”

Amber sighed and said, “Sure, that’ll work.”

Maura, happy that Eric seemed to be a natural mediator, looked up with a little happy expression at him and bounced her head a few times in agreement.

Eric, boisterous and loud, stood up and clapped his hands together with a ‘hah!’. He said, “Alright! I’ll go get the biggest damned sled we have and we can get to it! This will be fun, and maybe we can get something beautiful that I could get you to make into a scarf for my lovely wife, Maura!”

Maura gave a bashful smile and a nod. They stood and began to get ready.

Maura was hopeful, but nervous. She was heading back into the wilderness.

This time she had somewhere to come back to.

And she wouldn’t be alone anymore.