"You awake?" A male voice can be heard in the distance.

"Wakey wakey, eggs, and bacey..."

Yuumi opens her eyes groggily. She pulls herself up and puts her hand on her head.

"Mr. Stark…I don't feel so good."

She looks over to the male, who grins as their eyes meet.

"Hi!"

Yuumi blinks then jumps up energetically. "You..what did you do to me?!"

She touches her body and clothing can be felt. Looking down, she gazes at her new attire.

"Who put this on me?! Did you strip me?!" Yuumi accused as she stared intently at the male.

The young man stood up and raised his hands in front of him.

"No, no, it wasn't me! It was my sister Fauna! All I did was bring you here; she changed your clothes!"

A young girl at the edge of the room looked over and dashes to confront me.

"He's right; it was me!"

Yuumi rests her eyes and stance and falls to the ground in exhaustion.

The young lass strode over to her. "Get her some water!"

"R-right."

The male ran to a wooden bucket and scooped a glass of freshwater into a clear glass.

He runs back over to the girl, and she takes it, putting it up to Yuumi's lips.

"Drink."

Yuumi tilted her head back and chugged the content of the cup until it was empty.

"T-thank you." Yuumi shifted her gaze onto the young girl, who smiled in return.

"You're very welcome."

She stood up and patted her dress.

Attempting to stand, Yuumi holds herself up on the wall. "Where am I?"

The male stepped forward.

"You're in a forest cabin on the outskirts of Phoenia. You should know that if you're from around here."

"Not from around here." She steadies herself, taking her hand off the wall.

The boy laughed. "Makes sense. Only a fool would try to take on three of those boars at once!"

Yuumi walked over to him with a stern look and butted his head with hers.

"How about we go outside right now and find just how much of a fool I am?"

The young male backed away, blushing. "W-what? I'm not going to fight a girl!"

Yuumi sneers. "Pussy."

"Well, it seems like you're already good friends with my brother Klaus!"

The young lass chuckled.

"My name is Fauna,"

She then points to a boy clinging to her dress. "And this little one's name is Ago."

Yuumi winced. "Ayoo?"

The small boy chuckled, releasing Fauna's dress and coming forward.

Fauna rubbed Ago's head.

"I heard what you did. Thank you for saving our little brother."

Yuumi looked at the ceiling. "Y-yeah, well, it was on the way to where I was going anyway."

"Even so,"

Klaus stepped forward.

"You saved him, so we appreciate it."

Fauna clasps her hands together.

"I know! Why don't you stay over for dinner, it's dark out, and we wouldn't want you venturing out at night!"

Yuumi sniffs the air; the scent of cooking meat and herbs makes her stomach growl.

Klaus laughs while walking towards the cabin door. "Well, I guess that settles it!"

Fauna and Ago accompany him, and Yuumi trails after them.

Outside the cabin, two fires are contained in a small spheric forcefield. One of the flames cooks plump meat while the other boil a cauldron of stew.

"Looks like it's almost ready!" Klaus grabs a stump near the cabin and sets it close to three others.

He pats the stump and looks over to Yuumi. "Please sit. I'll make your food."

Yuumi walks over and sits on the wood; Klaus goes over to the first fire and picks up a meat stick. Its steamy aroma floods Yuumi's nostrils, making her mouth water.

"All yours." Klaus hands Yuumi the stick of meat.

She quickly takes it and bites ferociously into the cooked animal.

"Calm down! There's plenty so you can eat slowly."

Yuumi ignored him and continued to eat like it was her last supper.

Fauna and Ago took a stick of meat and sat down on a stomp left of Yuumi's.

Klaus picked up three wooden bowls and started filling them with soup.

Fauna took a small bite of her meat, turning to Yuumi

"So... Where did you come from?"

"Died,"

Yuumi answered casually.

"A goddess sent me here to fight evil or something." She takes another huge bite of her meat stick.

Fauna gave an abashed look.

"Ahaha... What a jokester you are…."

"You're quite skilled with those blade things." Klaus handed her a bowl of soup.

"Never seen anything like them before."

She takes another large bite finishing the stick, and starts to sip the soup. Yuumi then finishes while belching indelicately.

Fauna, Klaus, and Ago all stare at her with blank expressions.

Yuumi looks to them as she wipes her chin off some left-over soup.

"What? Oh right, excuse me." She reached for another slab of meat.

"You're quite the charmer…."

Klaus joked. "Huh, we never got your name."

The red-haired girl took another bite out of her meat stick and hurried it down her throat.

"The name's Yuumi; Nice to meet ya."

. . .

Fauna yawns and puts down her bowl to stretch.

"I think it's about time we call it a night, guys."

The young lass stands while taking all of the empty bowls and going inside.

"Pura."

Water sprouts from Klaus's hand, making the cooking flames go out.

Yuumi glance over toward Ago, who's still eating some soup.

"May I ask a question," Yuumi looks over to Klaus, who acknowledges my gaze.

"Sure," he counseled, "Ask away."

"Do you guys live alone out here," Yuumi questioned, "Where are your parents?"

Klaus sighs and looks up into the night sky. "They were both knights, died a few years ago in an exhibition against the Evil King."

"What about you? You got any folks worried about where you are?"

"Nope."

Yuumi stands and stretches her arms. "All deceased."

"I'm sorry to hear."

Ago tugs on Yuumi's skirt comfortingly while continuing to eat.

"But I chose to keep on living. Not letting anything or anyone takes advantage of me anymore."

She rubbed Ago's hair, and he smiled brightly.

"I learned the hard way where that gets you."

. . .

"Girls sleep with girls."

Fauna suggested as she pointed towards her bed. The cabin had three beds adjacent to each other.

Klaus smiled deceivingly. "W-well, I think that we should let our guest decide!"

Yuumi yawned and walked over to the bed Fauna gestured at.

"... Girls with girls."

Fauna laughed while Klaus whimpered, walking to his cot.

The brown-haired lass walked over to Ago and picked him up, tucking him into his bed.

"There you go, nice and snug!"

Ago yawned and turned over on his pillow.

Yuumi lays back onto the bed while Fauna blows out the candles.

. . .

"You sure you don't need anything else?" Fauna stepped forward.

Yuumi patted the bag that was given to her by the siblings.

"This should be enough for the road. I really owe you guys."

Klaus grinned.

"You can repay us by coming to visit us every once and a while!"

Ago ran forward and hugged Yuumi tightly by the legs.

Yuumi bent down and hugged the young boy, "I'll miss you too."

The siblings waved goodbye as Yuumi walked towards the dirt road clearing.

After walking for a while, howls are heard in front of her, and she turns to face three beasts with white fur.

They growl as they approach her with piercing, bloodshot eyes.

"I'm all healed up now, I could go a few rounds."

Yuumi dropped her bag and breathed in.

"HELENA!"

. . .