As she had not yet drawn anyone’s attention, Dee took this chance to observe Mina a bit. They had not seen each other in years, so she wanted to see what had changed. The first thing that struck out was that the Jun girl still kept her silky black hair long enough to reach her buttocks. She had not changed much in either height or proportions either, which was expected since Mina had been almost fully grown when they had met for the first time. That still left her fairly tall; somewhat taller than the average human and elven women in comparison. The biggest change seemed to have happened in the way she carried herself. Unlike her old self, it seemed the current Mina had gained some confidence. And why wouldn’t she? She was still beautiful and had a magic touch with the instrument she was playing.

Instinctively Dee sat down to listen, isolating out the sounds generated by the other musicians. There was just something that evoked emotion in the way Mina coaxed sounds out of her stringed instrument with a bow. Dee had always had an almost reverential attitude towards music, as it had somehow come to represent all the things she was deprived of by the assassins of Zabaniya while growing up. A thought occurred to her. ‘Maybe there would be something symbolic in me picking up an instrument to play myself? Something to signify that helpless part of my life no longer holding power over me…’ It was something to consider.

As she was lost in thought, the final song came to an end. As the musicians stopped and started clearing away their instruments, Dee noticed Mina approaching one of the male musicians. She laid a hand on his arm and asked something with a hopeful look on her face. Something in Mina’s eyes spoke of vulnerability and emotions beyond friendship. That hope was dashed as the man shook his head gently in denial. It was clear these two were not in a relationship, and now would not be in the future either. For some reason, Dee instantly hated the guy.

That surprised her. She hated a lot of people and some for frivolous reasons, so that wasn’t a reason for the surprise. No, the surprise was due to the depth of the feeling of hate. She tried to figure out what exactly caused such ire in her. She wasn’t stupid and could figure it had something to do with Mina’s obviously affectionate actions, but there was something else. She soon figured it out thanks to the fact that it was very similar to the feelings she’d had before concerning Mina. It felt almost like the man had tried to snatch away something that belonged to her, and the dragon part of her was not happy.

Of course, Mina didn’t belong to her and never had. In fact, despite Mina’s apparent beauty both inside and out, Dee wasn’t entirely sure she wanted Mina to be hers in a romantic way. As she examined her emotions, she realized that she didn’t really have deeper feelings towards the Jun girl beyond what one would feel towards a friend. Not anymore. Mina had been something like her first awakening to romantic feelings, but those feelings had not been fully mature yet. Truth be told, Dee felt much more towards the current Winter Queen of the Sidhe and even Nessera. Mina may have been Dee’s first try at something romantic, but she had also been something different.

Mina had always been something else than an object of desire. She had been like the representation of a life Dee herself would never have. Peaceful, gentle, innocent, good at cooking and music, and very…safe. Dee did not walk that path, but it was pleasant to have someone like that in her life. Her old feelings towards Mina had been somewhat mixed with her desires for that kind of life. Now with her new level of power and confidence, such life no longer held much of an appeal. Not only was she not meant for such a path, she didn’t want it either.

Then why was she so angry at the man? Because despite everything, Mina was the first and the first one was always a little special. Theoretically Dee should feel supportive of her friend finding happiness, even if they had not met in years. But she wasn’t feeling anything like that. In her basic nature, Dee was not such a good person. She had a deep greedy streak enhanced by her dragon heritage that held the attitude of not wanting anyone else have what she considered hers.

In the end, as a compromise solution of sorts, she decided it was not her business. With her recent realizations of her more dominant character and her more selfish shift in attitude, she no longer felt like suppressing a part of her nature for the benefit of others. However, trying to stop Mina from finding happiness would be beneath her as well and that more than anything would offend her sensibilities. In the end, she didn’t really want the Jun girl anyway, so it was not really her business if someone else did. If a minor gem she no longer wanted rolled out of her treasure hoard, then it didn’t really matter if someone else deigned to pick that gem up. The gem had been discarded anyway so it wasn’t stealing. A very draconic way to think about it.

After coming to a conclusion she looked up and let the musicians notice her presence. Mina also happened to look towards the audience stands and saw her. Dee didn’t bother hiding her appearance or tails while among the Four Winds, so it took exactly a second for Mina to recognize her. At first Mina’s eyes grew larger in surprise, but then a wide smile bloomed on her face. “Dee!” She made a small happy scream and rushed towards her old friend.

She glomped the larger demon in a warm hug. “Where have you been?! I haven’t seen you in years!”

The two had not met since the time the sub-community of Four Winds had been attacked by a stampede of crazed creatures and elementals. Dee remembered that Faylen and Mazatl had rushed her to the Radiant Sun headquarters almost as soon as she had woken up after the elemental rift incident. That had not left too much time for goodbyes. In fact the last time they had seen each other was when Dee had been consoling Mina over getting a broken heart.

Dee forced a small laugh that luckily sounded very natural. “It has been several years indeed. I see your luck with men has not changed since then.”

“You saw that?” Mina asked embarrassed and hid her face behind her instrument case. “Please don’t remind me. I took your advice back then though. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?”

‘I’m fairly sure I said nothing of the sort.’ Dee thought to herself. She had pushed Mina to confess and get herself rejected just because she didn’t want to look at her pining after someone else. “Right.” She still voiced a tentative agreement. The advice wasn’t all bad despite the reason it was given. “Anyway. I’m not sure if you heard any news, but I’ve been a wee bit busy.” Her voice took a playful tone. “You should appreciate the fact that this is my first vacation in so many years and I’m wasting it coming to see you.”

Croestia’s mocking tone sounded in Dee’s head. ‘Ignoring the fact that this was a complete accident and far from the first thing you did. You’ve been on vacation for several days now and you've gotten into fights and a medium sized orgy before meeting her. Which reminds me. Do pay a visit to Faylen and Mazatl. Maybe the dwarven blacksmith Fimul as well.’

‘Medium sized orgy reminded you of Faylen, Mazatl, and Fimul? I mean I know I can’t really afford to judge, but that’s a bit….’ Dee joked back and got an amused grumble as a reply.

“Oh, I’ve heard some rumors. You’re something of a celebrity among certain parts of the Four Winds. Also Moirai is a hopeless gossip when it comes to your exploits. She’s like a proud mother. I’m aware you’ve been very busy becoming the youngest ever immortal. Still, you could’ve visited at least once.” Mina replied with a laugh.

“Alas, with great power comes great amount of training and demands for your time. Besides, I’m here now, am I not? I missed your cooking. You still play well by the way.” Dee changed the subject. The two started exchanging news and stories of their lives.

It turned out that Mina did not live here, as she was still too weak and vulnerable for the third circle. Any half determined warrior could capture someone like her and try to use her against the community. Thus she and others like her only visited the headquarters if they had some business here, or in Mina’s case a concert. She herself lived in another sub-community in a much safer location. As a result she couldn’t cook for Dee despite her willingness to do so. Instead the duo found a restaurant to satiate Dee, where they could eat and converse.

“I’m glad to see some things don’t change.” Mina laughed as she saw the huge portion of food Dee was shoveling into her mouth.

Their discussions were interrupted about half an hour later by a half annoyed succubus. “There you are, Dee! How could you leave me to deal with the cleaning of the ship we captured?” Nessera quite happily bounced towards them and sat next to Dee. She then proceeded to try and steal food from Dee’s plate, with no success.

Dee hissed at her and stabbed her fork at the succubus. “Get away. My food is mine! Get your own. I don’t share food. Besides, what’s this about us capturing a ship? If I recall correctly, you were useless during the whole thing. The least you could do is using your magic to help clean the thing afterward.”

Nessera sat up proudly. “My moral support was vital to our success. Besides, it’s hardly my fault if you lead us to enemies that prevent the use of magic.” She took a look at Mina who was sitting across the table. “What this? You already found another cute girl to corrupt? One would think the festivities of last night would have been enough for you, but you’re insatiable.” She joked, eliciting a groan and a facepalm from Dee.

“Festivities of last night? Insatiable?” Mina repeated the important parts in surprise. Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. “Oh? OH? Well, well. It seems our little Dee has been sneaky enough to get ahead of me in matters of romance. So you two are an item? You have a girlfriend now? Congratulations!” She kept on prattling due to her somewhat misguided impression.

Nessera grinned and hugged Dee’s arm. “Oh I could never claim her just for myself, but you’re not entirely wrong. I’ll have you know, we had the best of time last night when we went to a Coven den with Shioko, Nyx, and Moirai. A girl’s night out worthy of stories.” This was turning out to be much more interesting than the succubus had assumed. The Jun girl in front of them might turn out to be an interesting person to play with, judging by Dee’s reactions.

“You went out with Representative Nyx and Representative Shioko?” Mina’s eyes widened. “The stories about their outings are legendary!”

“Oh, I’m sure another legend will be added thanks to last night.” Nessera bragged. “Nyx herself said that Dee elevated the night to a whole another level.” The two started to gossip like two buddies who had known each other forever. Their stories almost entirely focused around Dee as the common factor, and both of them exaggerated everything to a ridiculous level. Dee seriously considered just burning the whole place down as a distraction as the evening carried on.

Finally Mina had to go, as she had a concert to play in and a practice schedule to attend to. As Dee and Nessera watched her walk away, Nessera spoke quietly. “She was your first love, wasn’t she? I can tell by the way you looked at her. There was something special there.”

“Yes.” Dee replied simply. Special in a different way than Nessera thought, but still special.

“And now?” Nessera asked. Her suggestion was obvious. Dee could pursue the girl if she wanted, and had a lot to offer.

“And now nothing. She isn’t into women, and I don’t really feel that way about her anymore. Still…” Dee’s voice trailed off.

“Still, the first one is always the first and will hold a special place.” Nessera filled in for her. The two spoke no further as they watched Mina disappear among the hustle and bustle of people.

-----------

Dee grinned at the people aimlessly searching for her among the sea of people. Lately she had been spending more time with other powerful people and not hiding herself, so it was refreshing to return to her roots as someone who could move around without a trace or anyone noticing her. The people around her avoided her by instinct, but the avoidance was more like not walking into a wall than giving room to someone powerful. Her stealth abilities were working perfectly in a throng of people where she could get lost, and no one would know of her passing, especially since she knew how to flow along the rush of people without bumping into people while still moving quickly.

Well, almost no one would know of her passing. As she had suspected, the news about her upcoming match in the Cauldron of Blood had drawn attention and it was only a matter of time before someone made the connection between her and the being that had a bounty on her head thanks to the Tree of Life incident. Well someone had indeed made the connection, or at least enough of a connection to warrant checking if it was true. The Cauldron of Blood had hundreds of elves and Sidhe scattered among the endless amount of people, all trying to sense the energy within Dee.

The observers knew she was here somewhere, but they didn’t know exactly where. It was one thing to sense Dee on a deserted road when she made no effort to hide herself, as she had done when intercepting Eilian. It was another thing entirely to actually spot her among all these people even if they knew she was here somewhere. They knew she would show up at the arena where her fight was to take place soon, but the Cauldron had strict rules about things like that to avoid competitors trying to take their opponents out outside the arena. No one except the fighters was allowed to approach certain portions of the arena where the competitors would enter.

There was another oddity among the crowd that made Dee chuckle. Fights involving the Peak of Glory were extremely popular and were understandably spectacles for both normal audiences and lower ranked participants trying to learn from those higher in the ranks. Unsurprisingly the whole enormous arena where the fight was to take place had been sold out. Nearby restaurants and bars that had magical feeds showing the events on the arena were also completely swamped with observers. Yet, one section of the arena stands was completely reserved by members of five particular races, all hailing from a single community that combined the Four Winds and the Wolf Tribes.

As a result, the crowd of people surging towards the arena had a surprising amount of diminutive Meilin, graceful Jun, imposing Dagon, fiery Anshar and fierce wolf-tribe beastmen among them. This move was not just to show support to Dee. The representatives were taking this chance to make several moves at the same time. First of all, they were silently announcing the joining of the Four Winds and the Wolf Tribes. It was also a show of force. The community could futilely try to keep the new alliance a secret to surprise potential enemies, but a blatant show of force had a preventative effect instead. The Four Winds was already a community that very few in the third circle wanted to play around with, but now that number was cut down even further.

Of course, it was also a shameless grab for glory. If Dee destroyed her opponent under the cheers of her community, then that would be remembered. It was as if the community was showing off one of their younger members. On the flipside, if she lost she would embarrass them to no end, but they all knew she was not going to lose. Which was why Nyx was making the bookies at the arena suffer. Nyx and the other representatives knew there was no way Dee would lose this fight, but the bookies were not as well informed and betting had always been a major part of the Cauldron events. In fact, as a challenger appearing out of nowhere Dee’s odds of victory were assumed to be fairly limited, so anyone betting on her was looking at a hefty profit in case she won.

Reserving a whole section of the arena for the community was a rather expensive endeavor, and Nyx planned on making all that money back and then some. Of course, the bookies all had maximum bets in place just for this sort of situation to limit losses. The problem was, those maximum bets were restricting bets placed by a single person. This day saw thousands of Nyx’s friends and subordinates going to the betting areas and placing large bets on Dee’s victory. The bookies soon noticed where the wind was blowing and stopped taking bets from the members of a certain community, but by then it was too late and the damage was done.

With a chuckle, Dee slipped through the searching parties of the elves and Sidhe who could tell she was here, but could not locate her. She could’ve slipped inside the arena, but decided it was better to announce her presence. The guards almost jumped out of their skin as she suddenly appeared in front of them. A couple of them reacted with hostility, especially since she was already within the guard perimeter, but the guard captain waved them all down with a firm hand. The red-haired and fairly handsome looking High Human had recognized Dee immediately, which was not all that difficult all things considered. “Interesting approach. Usually contestants arrive with a fair bit of pomp instead.” He said with a neutral tone.

Dee gave a small smile. “It seems there are a fair few people looking for me among the crowd. I thought it better not to make a scene outside to avoid a battle.”

The captain, of course, was aware of the plans of the elves, as it was his job to know such things. Thus he nodded in approval. He and a small group of guards started escorting Dee towards the area where she could prepare. “Out of curiosity, is the bounty on your head warranted? I ask partly because I need to know how much trouble to expect.” He kept his tone neutral, and there was no judgment to be heard. There had been mass murderers fighting in the arena, not to mention all the blood feuds, so a bounty was not something new.

“As usual, things are a little more complex than they appear on the surface and most of it is politics, but basically yes. I did do what they are charging me of. That’s not why they want me, but that hardly matters, now does it?” Dee replied in an equally level tone. “Out of curiosity, what is the bounty nowadays? I heard the bounty given out by the Winter Court which was rather enticing, but I don’t know what the other courts chipped in.”

The other guards chuckled and one of them replied. “Enough wealth to make anyone below the immortal level think twice. The Summer court promised some rare reagents and magical items that might even draw the attention of some fresh rank ten immortals.”

“So nothing I need to worry about, is what you’re saying?” Dee asked in amusement, which brought another gale of laughter from the guards. They were still underestimating Dee, though they would not be after today.

The Four Winds had taken an interest in Dee’s little pastime in the Cauldron of Blood, for several reasons. They saw a lot of potential in the endeavor and were actually encouraging Dee to go all the way to the top as soon as she was able to. The most powerful people on the rankings would be immortals and thus might be too difficult for her to face before she reached that point herself, so it was assumed she was going to take some time to do it. They had also given Dee certain instructions.

As Dee was bound to draw attention, there was no point in trying to avoid it. Instead Dee was told to revel in it and draw even more attention. She was also supposed to make the whole thing into a statement. Nyx had told her to not make it quick and instead dismantle her opponents in a very blatant manner whenever possible. They would, in turn, make sure she would face no repercussions. Even if the inhabitants of the great forest managed to draw the interest of an immortal or two to go after Dee, the Four Winds had sent a full dozen of their own to watch over her. In this case that dozen also included three of the representatives, as they were making a show of force.

She was also not hiding her face or appearance when fighting on the arena. The time for hiding was not now, so she was not going to be wearing her usual scout attire that obscured her appearance. Instead, she was changing into a fancy looking silver colored plate armor decorated with golden scrollwork placed there by the meticulous Jun craftsmen with their artistic talent. She was also wearing a long white cape emblazoned with the symbol of the Four Winds, now joined with the claw symbols of the Wolf Tribes.

The armor showed off her tails and left her head bare. Otherwise she was fully covered in plate armor and scale hauberk. The armor was amazingly detailed and beautiful and made her look like the templar she had been trained to become. In a word, she looked dashing, like a true knight in shining armor. An image that would contrast with her methods rather starkly. That thought brought a smile to her face as she walked into the arena to the deafening cheers of the audience. As she was the challenger, she was entering the arena first.

From the other side of the arena entered the current rank 90 on the ranking list of the Cauldron of Blood. Her first victim.