“Hey, how about we take a slight detour and take a quick stop at the glade?”

Inara said as she was making her plans.

Cassandra scoffed at her.

“That will extend this trip with at least a week, why would we waste our time when there is nothing to gain there.”

“But there is a lot to gain, its a beautiful idyllic safe spot with a waterfall.”

“And we gain what from it?”

“We can extend the trip and show Alex a nice cozy spot while we teach him Valerian. Or would you rather we hurry back to town where he could be snatched up. Do you think his gratitude would extend beyond being friends if we got back right away?”

Cassandra could only shake her head.

“I don’t want you to put so much stock in him, we don’t know anything about him. And if he is a noble he would quickly disappear after we came back to town either way.”

Inara threw a glare towards her companion.

“Why do you always give up before we even try? What’s the reason for us to constantly take dangerous missions? Are we just seeking strength and money for the sake of it? I for one have always done it so I could get a nice guy, so I can hold my head up high. With your methods we would work on it slow and steady for years, before we are finally strong enough to demand the respect we want yet too old to enjoy it. But now we have a good opportunity to get it right away, instead of toiling further. Why not extend the trip for a week or two. It’s worth it even if there is only a small chance.”

With Inaras sudden outburst Cassandra could only relent unless she wanted to escalate the situation.

“Take it easy Inara, you are right there is no problem in taking a detour. We had a really successful hunt this time so we wont be strapped for cash when we get home. But I'm worried for you, we only rescued him last night and you are already so emotional about it. Lyria you’ve also been unusually quiet since he woke up, what do you think?”

They could see she was in her own world, which wasn’t unusual but not to this degree. She barely even reacted when Inara had her outburst.

“Uhhmm… I’m feeling fine it was just that, when he looked at me I got a weird feeling. It wasn’t unpleasant it’s just… New to me.”

Lyria hesitantly answered.

“I know, when he looked at me it was unlike how anyone else have ever looked at me. I got butterflies in my stomach just remembering. There was no disgust in his eyes, but something else.”

Inara interjected while getting a slight smile on her face.

Cassandra felt like she sighed for the hundred time today. She could get exasperated with Inara, but this was something else.

“You two are acting like young girls in love. Now we are out of the deep parts so there is little chance to meet monsters, but I still want you two too pay attention. There are still dangers and nasty creatures in this forest.”

While giving up on dissuading them from their newest fancies she yelled back towards Nyla who was fully immersed with teaching the guy.

“Nyla, Extend the trip or hurry home?”

Nyla turned away from her charge and quickly replied.

“What?”

“Take a detour to the glade so we can spend more time with Alex or go home?”

“Detour!”

She answered almost instantaneously.

Cassandra looked at Lyria who quietly answered the implied question.

“Extend.”

Inara got her patented grin on her face and laughed.

“See that wasn’t so hard, and everyone agrees.”

“But I still feel like his smile is forced, and since you are our resident expert why don’t you help her out with Alex?”

Since the plan was set Cassandra wanted to get some jabs towards Inara putting extra emphasis on the expert part.

“That’s because she lacks confidence. And you know why Nyla is the one doing it. But you got a point we should all take turns teaching him, so everyone gets a chance to talk to him.”

Unperturbed Inara replied while grinning towards Lyria.

Lyria released a cute yelp. She had never actually spoken to a man, and was already extremely shy towards any stranger she met.

While Inara was laughing at her friend Cassandra was done idling.

“Girls gather your gear and lets set out. Nyla pack the tents and take the rear, I will take the lead while Inara can keep Alex company.”

Cassandra quickly cast a simple water spell that extinguished the waning fire. And the rest of the crew got all their things set, they were experienced mercenaries and got ready in a few minutes. Alex was still gawking between the fire and Cassandra when Inara stepped up to him.

She was a lot more nervous than she wanted to admit, but she knew that Nyla wasn’t the best teacher. So if they were hoping for any progress in actually learning the language than she and Cassandra had to step in.

And in truth getting the chance to closely teach him did slightly excite and scare her.

“Hey Alex, I will be taking care of you now.” She smiled, gloating that she could be so forward to a guy. Even one who couldn’t understand her.

Alex reacted with a startle, he hadn’t noticed when Inara stepped up to him. He smiled towards her when he turned around, and she saw that he did a slight glance toward her chest. Out of habit she tried to hide her chest making it look smaller. Alex was also quick to look ahead towards Lyria and Cassandra who were in front. It dampened her mood yet when Alex turned back towards her there was no disgust, he looked clearly in her eyes while he scratched the back of his head and did a small bow while pressing his hands together. She couldn’t understand why he would act like that, as if he did something wrong. But the slight blush he had on his cheeks and the fact that he glanced hopefully toward her when he raised his head made her laugh. He looked so cute with his slight fidgeting and reactions, it reminded her of Lyria.

She got a warm feeling and renewed confidence when he looked relived by her laugh and gave her a charming smile. This might actually work, she looked forward for this trip.

***

I’m glad Inara was easy going, she was clearly miffed when I checked out her body. It’s hard when you have a bombshell of a woman next to you, she is the whole hourglass figure package that could put any pornstar to shame. Even her eyes were a mesmerizing gold, and I also noticed that her eyes dilated into slits before quickly turning back to normal.

She was a better teacher to boot, more patient and repeated herself while properly indicating and gesturing to try and help me. There wasn’t any of the rushing and flexing that Nyla did which made it a lot easier to pay attention even with her outrages body and added cat ears, the thin tail that was sticking out of her generous backside. I even noticed that her nails where slightly thicker, longer and sharper than normal.

I guess it would be hard to properly focus with any of these girls, for various reasons.

There was a second problem as well, the pace they were going was really fast for me. I was really struggling to keep up after the first hour of walking. Now they found a quick solution for that, which I wasn’t really thrilled by.

I ended up sitting on the elfs shoulders, she was beaming while taking over the lessons again. And it seemed like I was relegated in her care for the foreseeable future.

It was a very relaxing trip everything considered, there were no incidence and nothing got hurt except for my pride. While I was going over the alphabet in my head that Inara taught me they were setting up camp. Inara who had disappeared at the end of the trip came back with a surprisingly normal sized deer that she promptly gutted and parted. While Cassandra and Nyla was setting up camp Lyria fixed the fire and started to roast the legs she took from Inara.

They were very organized and seemed at ease in the forest, I couldn’t help but marvel how they could be so casually yet so efficient while they set everything up without any of the wildlife attacking. We didn’t see any of the goblins jump us, but I guess that’s the difference between experts and a bumbling city dweller like me. I wanted to interact with Lyria and Cassandra as well, but they seemed to be avoiding me. And I didn’t want to be a bother to them either, they were already extremely nice and forthcoming with me. A stranger that they didn’t know, but yet helped to the point of even carrying me.

‘It feels bad being so useless...’

While moping over my own uselessness Nyla called

“Alex come ira ty fire er eat lyr unsi.”

I was surprisingly able to pick out some of the words. But as they were repeated to me several times earlier, or when we were eating by the fire on the first day. It wasn’t something I could brag about until I could actually clearly understand and speak to them. But I could at least feel pleased with the noticeable progress.

I sat besides Nyla and Lyria, she handed me a generous slice of meat on a stick that she had rubbed in with several herbs she picked on the way.

This was the first time I got so close to Lyria, and I thanked her like I always did by slightly nodding my head while saying.

“Thank you.”

When I looked up into her big beautiful sky blue eyes, she visibly recoiled for a second. While I got sad over her reaction she grabbed me by the face when I lowered my head and intensely stared into my eyes, before grabbing my hand and checking my nails quickly. I was really shocked how the short quiet girl of the party suddenly looked so serious and was suddenly assertive. While I was flabbergasted she started to say something in a weird magical way, that sounded distinctly different from their language. But quickly her hands were covered with a warm glowing light that seeped into me. My head cleared up my breathing became easier and I felt something coming up from my lungs that I coughed out. It was a clump of black tar.

While feeling shocked I saw the world clearer than ever before, I could breathe easier as my nose and lungs were completely cleared. My head felt like it was constantly foggy without me knowing it, but now it was completely clear.

I didn’t know what she did but I would bet everything I had that she was the one who healed me, and now she made me even better.

I wanted to hug her and thank her, but I restrained myself from being overly dramatic. I bowed deeply and thanked her profusely. She was an angel and I felt extremely lucky that I had met them.