While Junia was fretting about what might have been a portent of worry, Mia was fretting about something completely different- catching dinner. She’d done something like it before, granted, but having an audience caused her to wonder if perhaps it’d be too…well, disgusting, to be frank about it. Or if she could even replicate her feat from before. ‘It could’ve just been luck that time,’ she worried inwardly. Of course, outwardly she wasn’t really looking much better, constantly looking around, both for potential prey and, somewhat due to paranoia, potential observers. Not that there were any around beyond Marcus, and he was looking quite eager to see what she might be able to do.

Not great, still.

Not that he’d noticed. “We should be able to find something nice around here,” he’d said after a while. “There’s some signs that something’s been around here recently- check out the footprints and all the broken twigs and stuff.” She did so, and was surprised to notice exactly what Marcus had pointed out. All signs were that someone had been around recently. She had to admit, that was impressive in itself; if it hadn’t been pointed out to her, she wouldn’t have noticed. “Get ready. I bet it’s not too far off!” He was entirely too eager to see her in action. Just what was he expecting?

She got her answer not much later when they spotted what, to her, looked like some sort of pricklebacked boar. Much like the first one she’d caught, but this one was clearly an elder of the species, considering its size. It was as tall as Marcus was and three times as wide!

Aaaand it’d seen them, as she noticed it turn and deliver a low-pitched squeal that was far too close to a roar for her comfort. Almost immediately Mia began to realize this would be nothing like the prior hunt- she’d managed to sorta stalk the thing and web it in relative peace, but…

“Whoa, move!” She did almost mindlessly, her body almost autonomously moving as she threw herself out of the way. It was only when she was nearly on the ground that she realized that her ruminating about her fears would’ve gotten her legs snapped off by the recklessly charging boar.

Needless to say, Marcus was unimpressed. “Geez, you need to watch yourself more!” And with that, he charged in-

-only to have to pivot quickly from the attempted bucking the boar had tried to give him, the right hoof glancing off his chest armor and sending him spinning.

And finally, the situation caught up to her. ‘Oh, crap!’ As soon as she realized what was going on, she reared up; she had no clue whatsoever if this would work, but she let fly with her webbing anyway.

The beast hadn’t decided to stay still, however; only a couple of strands connected, and even those were barely on its flanks as the creature turned and made to charge again. At this point, Mia wasn’t exactly sure what to do- she had a sword, but what good would that do? She couldn’t even-

With a shout, her thoughts, again, were interrupted as a blade pierced the hog’s side before it could even reach her, the momentum carrying both man and beast well off the collision path with her and tumbling into a nearby bush. For a moment she felt the urge to pursue, but that was quickly quashed, if only by seeing Marcus casually rise back up off the ground and deliver another strike to the squealing boar that silenced it at once. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this…’ she lamented inwardly. Outwardly, at least, she knew better. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed. “No big deal. So that’s how you do it?” For a moment, she was confused, before he elaborated. “The hunting; you just sorta web them up?”

“Y-yeah,” she admitted. “I…it went better last time I tried it, but…”

“Not much of a hunter, then?” he deduced. “Eh, could’ve just been bad luck! Don’t worry, we can try again later sometime, maybe!” At the very least, he didn’t seem too disappointed, although she suspected that was because of what they caught. “Gotta say, a Giant Spineboar? That’ll be good once we skin it, get some of the meat off of it.”

“Oh, right…” she’d forgotten how she ate. “Uhhh…you should probably cut off whatever you want to cut off, first. The way I eat is kinda…gross? For non-spider people, I guess?” She was completely guessing, but it wasn’t like they had any other references to go off of for now. “Kinda ruins the whole thing, so…”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he agreed. Mia was just glad he seemed to get the general idea quickly, but she still wasn’t too keen on watching him butcher the thing. “Y’know, I kinda figured you weren’t used to hunting, thinking about it.”

That took her by surprise, a little. “Really? Why’d you ask me to come out here, then?”

“Well, just because you’re not a ‘hunter’ doesn’t mean you can’t ‘hunt’, y’know?” She supposed he had a point there. “I was kinda curious to see how your kinda people could do it, and now I know. Webs!”

“Webs and poison, sometimes,” she answered; again, she wasn’t sure, but she was at least certain that whatever the dissolving stuff she…let out before, it was likely not fun to ingest in one form or another, but clearly harmless to her.

“Ooooh. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. So…what’d you do, if not hunt? It sounded like you had a whole culture down there, so- wait, no.” Pausing mid-sentence, he simply shook his head. “Nevermind, we already asked something like that.”

‘Right, on the way to the village,’ she recalled. “It’s fine,” she said out loud. “It’s understandable.”

“Still, we should probably be careful to not ask too many personal questions. Don’t want to make you mad,” he continued. “Either way, I’ll be done with this before much longer.” He was just hacking off the limbs, mostly. “I’d love to skin this thing, but I’m not really feeling it. You can eat the rest of it however you’re gonna.”

She didn’t see the face he made when she sunk her lower jaws (if they were jaws at all, she wasn’t sure, but that’s what she was going to call them) into the monster and began the ‘process’, but she heard him make a couple of noises that indicated he wasn’t exactly enjoying it. By the time she’d finished and turned around, he had a complicated expression on his face. “Sssooo…that’s how you eat normally, huh?”

She could only blush and shrug. “I mean, I’m pretty sure this mouth here still works fine,” she said, pointing to the mouth she was talking with. “It’s just I haven’t had much urge to need to put anything down it, y’know?” Even as she was speaking, she realized the truth of it. Water and that soup perhaps, but that was it- all her other eating of solids was being done with that weird lower orifice of hers. Something to think on- and maybe get used to eating with her upper mouth again later. “If it makes you feel better, I can make sure to not do it in front of you anymore.”

“I…well, thanks,” he said, clearly thinking on whether or not to be polite and dismiss the offer or not. “I think both me and Junia will appreciate it, being honest.” With that, he hucked the limbs on his back, and turned away. “C’mon, let’s get these back to her. She can help me preserve them.”

That caught Mia’s attention. “Really? How?”

“Ice magic!” was the answer, and Mia got a bit more excited. She was always interested in more magic!

When they got back, however, what met them wasn’t a docile scene of Junia tending to the fire, but a Junia looking almost…scared.

Marcus was the first to react. “Junia? What happened?”

Almost as though shaken out of a stupor, she jolted, and turned towards the two of them. “Oh, you got something? That’s great…can you both sit down? I’ve got news.” Despite the compliment, she seemed distant.

It wasn’t long before they both understood why. “The Ruby Hawks?! Whoa. Something big’s going down, then…” Naturally, Marcus was rather concerned. “If they’re gonna be in the area, we really need to keep our heads down.”

Mia, on the other hand, was just confused. “Okay, so, uh…who are these Ruby Hawks?”

“Oh, right.” Junia turned to explain. “The Ruby Hawks are a combat and mercenary guild; they hire themselves out to the highest bidder. These days, that’s usually a member of nobility. The crown itself doesn’t ask for them, since they can be kinda…rough around the edges,” she admits. “But they’re strong. REALLY strong. And they tend to be kinda…” she grit her teeth, unsure of how to say it.

“They’re not fans of other races.” Marcus says, spitting off to the side. “They’re weird about it because they say it’s because they just act too different and we can’t get along, but they tend to act super conceited in general either way. It’s hard to have to deal with ‘em,” he finishes.

“You’ve had to, before?” Mia asked. They all sounded pretty scary, to her.

“Yup,” he confirmed. “Wasn’t for very long, but they all kinda acted like I was scum on their boots. The ones I met, anywho.” Yeah, that didn’t sound all that pleasant…

“I don’t know how many of them might be in Dundaril, but we’ll have to be extra careful,” Junia pointed out. “We might have to camp out anyway.” The idea wasn’t the most appealing to Mia after having the promise of a bed, but she could nonetheless understand why. “Speaking of, we should get some sleep, first. Tomorrow we’ll get there, and we can likely ask our fair share of questions.”

Sleep didn’t come easily for Mia, but it came. What were these people doing? And how might they react when they saw her?

She dreamt of blood red birds and giant talons.

When they woke up, there was little talk; their campsite was packed up, horses mounted, and the three of them were on the road with little talk between them. It unnerved Mia a bit.

However, the feeling went away upon seeing the well-crafted wood walls of Dundaril. Mia sighed. At last, proper civilization! ‘Now if only they don’t skewer me on sight,’ she moaned to herself as she saw the guards. Well armed and actually with steel breastplates, gauntlets, and grieves, Mia could see that they’d hack her apart in an instant.

And once they realized what she was, it almost seemed as though she would be proven right as they immediately brandished their spears. “Halt!” they called from a distance out. “You stay right there, fiend!”

“What fiend?!” Marcus half-yelled. “Can’tcha see she’s following behind us peacefully?”

“Not to mention, she’s quite intelligent and can understand every word you’re saying!” Junia continued.

“That might be, but outsiders are only allowed in Dundaril by special exemption for the next three days!” the guard shouted. “None without a mark of approval may pass!”

Mia could only groan. “Great…” She entirely missed the surprised reaction from the guards at her slump and despondent acts. “So another few nights out…”

“Excuse me,” Junia spoke up. “May we ask why?”

The two looked at each other; seemingly deciding whether or not to. After a few moments, one of them spoke up. “Due to a kidnapping incident as of yesterday evening, we’re not letting anyone pass in or out without a mark!”

“Kidnapping?” Marcus gasped. “Who? Why?”

“None of your concern! Especially not with a strange beast with you!” one of the guards yelled back. Again, that stinging from being called a ‘beast’. Mia hated it, but as she was…

“Oy! Again with the beast bit!?” Marcus yelled. He was steaming now, and with his hand on his sword, Mia wasn’t sure if they were about to fight or not…she could see Junia attempting to say something, too.

“Now, hold your horses!” But that shout derailed her thoughts- and everyone else’s for that matter. “Ain’t not one person here said you can go an’ stop everyone all and sundry like that!” Whoever was coming sounded…well, rough. On the older side of things, for sure. As the figure managed to get more in sight, Mia could see that he was indeed older, with long white hair, and a rather bushy mustache. His wardrobe wasn’t anything special, so Mia had to admit she was curious just what this newcomer was saying. “You an’ your so-called ‘captain’ didn’t run a damned thing by anyone, so you’re not takin’ hold o’ any sorta rules here now!”

For a moment, Mia thought the two guards, who apparently WEREN’T doing this under orders, were going to stab him for that. But to her surprise, they seemed almost…scared? “Sir!” one of them said with clear concern. “Please, you, uh, need to get back beyond the-”

“Don’t you sass me, boy!” was the sharp retort. “‘Sides, I know the fool boy there, he’s as straight-laced as they come. Anyone with ‘im I’ll vouch for. Including the thing what looked like it crawled up from the depths.”

‘Not entirely inaccurate,’ Mia had to admit.

Meanwhile, Marcus was beaming. “Old man Kreely! How’re ya doin’!”

“You quit askin’ me that!” he howled. The two guards were looking at each other in concern, but it was clear they weren’t willing to confront the man, for whatever reason. “I’ll be fine once I can eat as I like again! Now you said you was comin’ back, but you never said a damned thing about bring some hellspawn withcha!”

“She’s not hellspawn!” Marcus whined. “She’s perfectly fine! Say hi, Mia!”

Honestly, at this point, Mia wasn’t sure how to react. “Er, hello? It’s like he says, I’m not, well, stupid, or anything.”

“,,,well howsabout that?” Came the nonplussed reaction. “Ya got any coin on ya, then?”

“Yes?” she responded, thinking about the pouches that the thieves had had on them- she’d been tossed a couple, but wasn’t sure about what was in them until they’d had the money talk. Now she knew she had at least about forty Crell in her ‘pocket’. Speaking of, she’d have to get something better for a top than silk bindings. She just felt fortunate that no one actually seemed to bother ogling her…

“Then in that case, you look like you could use a rest. My inn’s just beyond the walls. You come in and take a lie down.” Without another word, he turned and began marching back in, though not without sparing another heated look at the two guards, who did their best to ignore him.

Marcus, at least, was beaming. “Toldja!” he boasted as they all walked through, the guards only glaring as they passed.

They walked through, and she at last breathed a small sigh of relief. It smelled like fish, and she was grateful for that.

“I suspect you’ve got a heckuva story,” Kreely said without looking their way. “So hurry it up, that spider-lady’s gonna be the talk of the town afore long, and I want the story from the spider’s mouth before anyone else gets their tongues waggin’. Better stories, better customers, after all!”

The inn was a simple one; two floors, and though it was a tight fit, Mia was able to walk through the entrance. The area, with four or five tables with chairs to it, was entirely empty. Mia suspected that it wasn’t the only thing that was.

“Right, then,” Kreely started, turning around and staring straight at Marcus. “First thing’s first- you pay up for your stay, and then you start explaining who and what the heck this lady is.”

Marcus just chuckled. “Three for three days, Mr. Kreely. And the story starts like this…