I picked the jar out of the air, holding it gingerly with a swathe of shadows. Nymph shuddered once on top of my head before jumping off onto a quickly growing sprig. I put down the node in the grass and its Guardian carefully inspected the object.

“You good?”, I asked eventually.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

I stepped close and opened my storage. Nymph seemed far more at ease with me getting close to the node, now that it was secured. Rather than taking it slow, I just put it in like any normal object. The mantis climbed a branch to settle on my head once again.

“It almost feels like you are my node, now.”

I blinked and stayed silent.

“I know that’s not the case but it is there, right where you are. Though it’s also further away.”

“I see. Ready to explore the city, then?”, I asked.

“Yes. Let us go.”

With Nymph on the back of my head, I took to the skies. We had decided not to take the gatehouse leading through the inner wall since an unknown animal moving through there would be rather suspicious and she wanted to go undercover as much as possible.

I felt her tiny feet dig into my scalp beneath the feathers. The mantis pressed her body into my plumage, jittering slightly from the cold and wind. Or so I thought until she spoke up again.

“Are we landing soon?”

“I thought I would let you see the city from above, first.”

“I admittedly can’t make out many details. My Perception may be decent but my eyes are not used to this distance.”

“I didn’t know. Maybe you can try sharing your vision with me?”

“…that’s possible?”

“It is, at least with my supersensory matrix.”

“I understand. Let us simply get back on the ground.”

“Near the Comraich or the city’s entrance?”

The decision came without hesitation.

“The entrance.”

I landed on the little plaza just behind the gates. The guards turned around and spotted me, Nymph ducking into my feathers. I exchanged a nod with the dwarves, some of them recognizing me. There were not many sapient owls, after all.

Soon after, I started slowly walking into the town.

“Can you even see anything, crouched like that?”, I asked.

“… yes”, was the answer.

“I’m gonna just walk to Brilda’s place. You can get used to the city in the meantime.”

I took the silence as acceptance and made it down the next-best street. The roads were not too difficult to navigate with the aerial image of the city still in my head. I received a lot of stares from the dwarves though most of them just showed a hint of curiosity at my presence. Some mumbling and whispering followed us with a little distance, my supreme ears obviously getting every detail. Apparently, I was well known in the city. There were even mentions connecting me to the new brand of fruit tea. Had the farmers put my name out there for advertising, or what?

After half an hour or so, Nymph finally gained some confidence. Only very few dwarves had noticed her sitting on my head before but now more and more were wondering who she was. The mantis meanwhile carefully observed the surroundings, sometimes twitching at an especially loud noise. I was glad we did not have to pass by the smiths.

When we reached our destination after almost an hour, she had gained enough confidence to talk about some of the sights catching her interest. I was glad I did not have to take a detour to get her accustomed. Walking was not all that fun, compared to flying at least.

I knocked on the door to Brilda’s and Foxy’s house. I heard some clamouring from inside before the handle close to the floor opened. The beaver looked at me through the gap for a moment, her eyes lighting up with recognition. She squeaked into the house, possibly sending a message through [Telepathy] as well.

The door opened wide and I walked in. The house was still dwarven sized but I still kept an eye out for the ceiling as to not accidentally knock my friend into it. The fox yipped a greeting from the staircase as he saw who was visiting.

I felt a soft brush of [Telepathy] from him but he quickly stopped as Nymph established a proper connection for all four of us.

“Hey, guys!”, I greeted, “Hope we’re not intruding.”

“Of course, not!”, Brilda said, “Our friends are always welcome. That said, who’s this?”

The system notifications telling me I had gained another three levels for making two new friends from new species distracted me for a moment but I simply dismissed it to follow the conversation. Nymph had said her greetings, introducing herself as a friend of mine without saying her name. Looking at Foxy’s face, maw open in disbelief, I was rather sure he knew her identity anyway. Brilda noticed her companion’s stupefaction a moment later, turning to him.

“What’s wrong, Arctus?”, she asked.

“No way!”

Nymph tilted her head.

“Did he really figure it out this quickly?”, she asked.

“I think so”, I said.

“What? what’s going on?”

The beaver was a little clueless. The fox’s thoughts came along as what amounted to a hushed whisper.

“Nymph?”, he asked.

Brilda’s head whipped around, her mouth open and the two large teeth showing clearly. The mantis in question dipped her head in a slight bow.

“That is me. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

It took a few minutes for the two of them to settle down as we made our way to the living room. I sat down cross-legged on a rug, Nymph taking place on the table as to be a little higher. She had simply jumped there, showing surprising skill and strength for her small size. Knowing how strong she was, I was not really surprised, though. Foxy and Brilda laid down on some rugs themselves.

“Arctus, was it? How did you figure me out?”, she asked the fox.

The animal blinked sheepishly.

“Sorry. I just thought that [Telepathy] felt familiar…”

“No need to apologize. I had not expected to remain totally anonymous.”

“But you want to?”, Brilda asked, “Stay anonymous, that is?”

“Somewhat. I… want to see the city as it is, not as what I am.”

Foxy scoffed.

“I have no idea what you just said.”

“She wants the real experience. If the dwarves know the Guardian is out and about they’d swarm her and probably start worshipping her on the spot”, I explained.

“Correct”, Nymph said.

The beaver nodded contemplatively.

“And why us?”, Foxy asked.

“I thought you two could show us around town a little? Nymph wants to see some sights and how the dwarves live but I’m not too familiar with where everything is.”

“So… you want us to play tour guide?”

I nodded.

The two looked at each other for a moment, before nodding.

“We can do that”, Brilda sent, “Anything specific you would want to see, Guardian?”

The mantis tilted her head

“For now, just call me Nia. That should be enough to avoid suspicion from most dwarves. As for what I want to see… I do not know. I have not seen the city since the Inner Wall was built.”

“...That’s a long time”, Foxy said.

“Indeed.”

In the end, we decided to just take a walk around the streets just talking about anything that came to mind. It turned out Brilda was helping out in a restaurant as she enjoyed cooking while Foxy was something of a one-fox pest control agency. He could slip into tight crawlspaces after using his ice Skill to slow down any critters' movements and clean them out. That was why we had met both of them today. The restaurant did not open until late afternoon and Foxy had nobody needing his help. Nymph ended up asking Brilda to take a look at where she worked and we decided to go there for dinner. The beaver stopped by the shop and booked a table for us in a private room. The matron told her to take the day off after seeing our group which Brilda happily accepted.

I was a little worried about the kind of food we would get since nobody in our group really ate dwarven cuisine until she told us we could just get something fresh from the stores without it being cooked or ask the chef to prepare it in a special way. I already had ideas about what I wanted to try. This was a professional, not a goblin cooking in a single pot for over fifty of his species. I was curious if there could be prepared food I enjoyed.

At some point, Nymph spotted a flower shop and had us go in. The shopkeeper, a young dwarven girl, welcomed us warmly and asked if we needed anything. At first, I wanted to shake my head but Nymph was quicker and started talking about flowers and how to treat them. The two of them quickly sunk into a deep conversation while our guides sniffed around the shop. Brilda sneezed after a particularly deep breath of some aromatic purple tulip-like flower. I snickered, shaking Nymph in the process, which prompted giggling all around.

Half a minute later, the shop’s owner, most likely the mother of the young girl, walked in from the back to look at the noise and smiled gently at everyone before putting on a strong mien and walking up to the girl.

“Emma?”, she asked, a dangerous undertone carefully hiding her mirth.

The girl whipped around.

“Sorry, mother. We were just having fun.”

“I can see that. Now, would you mind getting to the selling?”

Emma nodded meekly and turned around, stammering a few words that sounded almost like a sales pitch. Then, the mother broke out into hearty laughter herself, Foxy and Brilda contributing with their high-pitched yips and yelps while I sneezed hacked off hoots and Nymph shook on my scalp. The girl’s face turned from slightly embarrassed to miffed as she looked at her mother. When she got her hair ruffled, Emma punched the woman’s shoulder lightly before joining the laughter as well.

It took a whole fifteen minutes to calm down. After that, the owner joined the talk about plants for a moment before Nymph realized there were three people in the room who did not care much about it. Well, I was slightly interested but I had planned to relax rather than learn so I only listened half-heartedly.

“I apologize”, Nymph sent, “It seems like we are boring you.”

“No worries”, Foxy answered, “Just have fun.”

“I mean, you could just come back some other time”, I said, “The store is open tomorrow as well, right?”

“That it is”, the owner said, “We only close on Wendran. Even then, you’re welcome to come over and talk plants. I’ll always talk about plants!”

Emma nodded along excitedly.

“Alright, then. I will do that. I do not know if tomorrow, but I will come back.”

Brilda looked like she wanted to say something but held back until after we said our goodbyes. Once out on the street, she meekly sent her thoughts.

“N… Nymph. You don’t need to look out for us. We’re just your tour guides…”

“Nonsense”, the mantis replied, “You are people nor more or less than me. I want you to enjoy yourself as well. Now, lead me somewhere you enjoy being.”

For a moment, the two stared at her sitting on my head.

“R… right. Okay”, Brilda sent, “Let’s… go?”