"In the Elmaiya Empire, perhaps the most prominent legend is that the first empress of the third empire supposedly turned unliving, and still watched over her people to this day and age.

Over the centuries there had been several recorded sightings of a white-feathered lizard therian healer who matched the description. She went around in hooded robes to hide her identity, and lent her considerable healing prowess to those in need for free.

And yet, none had actually ever found the supposed empress, neither signs of her, nor her place of residence. If she truly did exist, she had certainly hidden herself well out there, somewhere." - Yevgeny Postevich, Minister of Education of the Elmaiya Empire, circa 394 FP.

"So where are we supposed to go to?" asked Cal as she walked alongside Kino, roughly an hour's travel west from the city of Deliverance by now. There were only the two of them, with Kino on her steed and Cal on foot.

Cal had told her students and nieces to stay in town and had Dan watch over them for the time being, as she excused herself with the vague mention of personal matters to attend. She had promised to be back within a week or so, as Kino had assured her that the trip would have only taken that long at most.

They were headed towards where some champions of the Deities lived. The champions in question constantly moved their abode, as they rarely showed themselves outside times of disaster, and favored a secluded life instead.

Quite naturally, they still kept in contact with the other champions, and while their residence moved often, they always had some contacts who knew where they currently resided, usually families and friends of one of the other champions, though they rotated the role amongst them every decade or so.

It was these contacts that Kino had brought Cal to meet with. Kino herself only knew that the champion lived somewhere in south-eastern Elmaiya these days, but not the exact location of their abode. The need for the contacts to guide them was thus rather mandatory in this case.

After a while, they spotted a small village - not more than twenty or so households - by the sea shores, where Kino had arranged for them to meet with the contacts in question. It was not difficult to find those contacts either, as they stood out quite a bit from the villagers.

In that small village with mostly human inhabitants, Cal spotted three figures who leisurely strolled the beaches without a worry in their minds. Those three stood out not just because they were dressed much like mercenaries on a trip, which made them instantly noticeable from the villagers, but also by their distinctive features.

All three figures looked human at first glance, but a second look quickly identified the therian features that showed on their figures. Be it the digitigrade legs under their pants and robes, or the light cover of fur that they possessed, it all hinted to their therian ancestry.

When the three hooded figures turned to her, Cal also noticed that apparently their ears had propped up their hoods and made it look larger, while she caught a glimpse of a furry tail as it swished under their cloaks.

"Miss Kino? This must be Miss Ambervale then," said the figure in the middle as they stepped forward and lowered their hood. The face under the hood looked remarkably human to Cal, though it was covered by pure white fur with some spots. The woman's nose and mouth still looked somewhat feline in nature, as were her eyes with their slit pupils, and she grew a full head of luxurious, snow-white hair much like the color of her fur. "Azturia Edelstein. Mom has told us about you as well. These are my older brother Lazlo, and my younger sister Zira."

"Mom? Oh. You must be Erycea's kids then?" asked Cal as she shook the proffered hand. It had not taken her much to identify those three, as their features were quite distinctive, and she only happened to know one champion who had such features. Erycea was a half-therian after all, and her husband was human, so it made sense that their children were even lighter on therian features.

"That we are," replied Azturia with a smile that bared some fangs. Looks like she inherited that bit from her mother still. Both she and her sister were dressed lightly under their cloaks, long robes with the sides slit to allow their legs free movement, and shorter pants that only went to their "ankles", while their feet were wrapped in supple leathers in a way that recalled fingerless gloves. Their brother was slightly more heavily equipped, with a brigandine suit that covered his torso. "We're the guides for aunt Lucea this decade. Coming to visit her, right? We'll take you there."

Cal noticed that the siblings only took one horse out from the stable of the village's sole inn on their way out. She was about to ask if they had enough mounts for the trip when the two girls shifted their shapes in front of her eyes.

In moments, both sisters had shapeshifted into large snow leopards, ones nearly as large as a bear, while their brother had mounted the horse beside them. They took off towards the west, as the shapeshifted siblings easily kept pace with their brother's horse, while Kino and Cal followed them.

"So they're nature affinity huh?" Cal asked Kino as they followed behind the siblings. The speed the siblings ran at was fast, but Cal could sustain a similar pace without issue as she followed them.

"Yeah, Lazlo is a life major, and really untalented when it comes to it. He'd been focusing on his healing instead," explained Kino from atop her mount. The unliving woman then looked towards the direction they're traveling towards, and noted the thick forests there. "Looks like Lucea's picked a rather remote spot this time, so we might have to deal with some wild beasts along the way."

"That just means we'd be bringing some fresh meat for our hosts then," replied Cal nonchalantly with a smile, which Kino returned. "Hope they don't mind meat on the table."