It had been dark for some time when the group arrived in town. They had been walking all day long, but mostly in a relatively contented silence compared to the trip out. There was no need to keep constant conversation in order to quell anyone’s nerves. At least, that was the way it was meant to seem. For the several hours that the hike took, Nirou was psyching himself out while keeping his ears piqued for any sign of Gao. But despite all the sounds he could pick up, by the end he was still just as unsure whether or not she was able to follow.

Laska on the other hand was significantly less bothered, or at least wasn’t letting any signs of worry show through. That was for the best. Nirou being anxious wasn’t anything strange, but if Laska was anything but composed it could be suspicious.

“And we’re done. Good work, everybody.” The Captain praised the rest of the group upon arriving in town, apparently considering it the true end of the mission. Or perhaps just the end of anyone else’s contribution to the mission. The only thing left was a single boat ride, after all.

Rashen then led his subordinates a couple of blocks down the road only to stop and contemplate the direction he should be taking. After a reminder from Kishaldam to take a left, an inn soon came into view. A quick trip inside and back was enough for the Captain to confirm to the rest of the team that they were good for two rooms.

While the Four Winds had no reason to dally and headed right in to get to sleep, Laska and Nirou stayed standing in front of the inn briefly. Both of them knew it would be best for them to confirm Gao’s presence near the town as soon as possible. The only question was how the two of them would be able to get away without raising any suspicion.

“Are you two coming in?” The Captain asked from the doorway. “It’s a bit late to do any sightseeing today, you know. Stick with getting a rest first.”

Nirou tried to come up with some kind of excuse, all they needed was a few minutes to double back to the jungle. As he was thinking, his stomach made an audible rumble. Their group had eaten the food they had on them sparingly on the hike down, nothing that could be called a proper meal. Hearing the noise made him and Laska look at each other, instantly landing on the same page.

“It’s as you’ve heard firsthand, Captain. We’re a bit too famished to get a decent rest.” Laska launched into the excuse without missing a step. “As late as it is, a town of this size is sure to have a tavern willing to provide a meal as long as we can pay. I still have some allowance that the General afforded to me for the trip, so don’t worry about your own expenses.”

Rashen looked back and forth at the two a few times, considering his responsibilities among other things. But once again the esteem in which he held the duo proved to be high enough for him to relent without issue. “Alright, I’m sure you can take care of yourselves. Go quickly get something to tide you over until the morning. Even if there’s no more Beastmen to worry about, try not to get in any fights with humans either.”

“B-believe us Sir, we don’t want any trouble.” Nirou spoke up, under the impression that his presence in the conversation might make them even slightly less suspicious. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Laska gave a smile and a nod, and that was that. Rashen waved the two off as he headed inside the inn and left them to their devices. No sooner than he was out of sight did Laska begin walking back the way they had come. Nirou took a second but followed right behind. The pair headed back to the road they had arrived on, then traced their steps all the way back to the edge of the jungle.

Stepping beyond the tree line cautiously, the duo went just far enough to be out of sight from the edge of town before restoring their conspicuousness. Stepping as loudly as possible, cracking branches and leaves, rustling their clothes as they moved. They did this as they scoped their immediate surroundings for their target, expecting to be found first and saving them a bit of trouble.

The plan did work, as Gao in Laska’s guise could be heard within a few minutes dropping from a tree to the ground and running up to meet them. Laska’s immediate reaction was actually to furrow her brow while scanning up and down her copy’s meager wardrobe rather than to be happy to see her again. It didn’t take Nirou much thought to come to the conclusion that she wanted Gao in some new clothes if she was going to be spending time above people’s heads.

“I’m sorry. It’s hard to move like usual in this body.” Gao opened by apologizing right away. “But I was able to follow you in the end. So now the next step is to take a boat, isn’t it? I’ve never been on one, so I’m a bit scared. I’ll try hard so no one else in your group will notice it’s my first time.”

Despite his worries that the whole situation would be far from that simple, Nirou found her enthusiasm painfully endearing. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever have confidence in Laska’s plan, it was just too out there. With more time perhaps he could see it, but they didn’t have long at all. Could Gao learn enough to impersonate Laska in just a few days?

“You’ll need to try hard, we’re working against the clock.” Laska insisted. “But I think we can do it if we just act carefully. We’ll get you to a baseline of mannerisms, go over what you should and shouldn’t say, as well as when to just leave things to Nirou. He’ll be essential for this plan to work. Truly if you could only remember one thing, I would say for it to be: ‘Let Nirou talk’. Depend on him if you ever get in over your head.”

Laska had placed her hand on Nirou’s back as she was giving her endorsement, as far up his large frame as she could manage. He knew he should have been feeling great about having so much of Laska’s confidence, but he couldn’t help but think she was simply mistaken. She had done almost all of the talking on his behalf so far, a plain switch like she was suggesting was sure to be more suspicious than anything. But he wasn’t the one with the greatest responsibility in this plan. Gao trying to pretend to be someone else was clearly more of an ordeal than he would be facing, yet she was ready to meet it head on. At the very least, he wasn’t going to give up this soon.

“We can’t stay here much longer tonight, I just wanted to make sure we could meet again.” Laska went on to Gao. “From tomorrow on, we can meet consistently and do some real practice. Let’s meet right here again in the morning, and perhaps look around to find a properly secluded spot to use for all our meetings from that point. How does that sound, Gao?”

“I can do that!” Gao replied while nodding quickly. “Don’t worry about me at night, I can take care of myself in the jungle. I lived here all my life, so it’s no problem. So you’ll see me again right here tomorrow morning, for sure.”

Laska was content with their short meeting at that point, and let Gao go as she and Nirou returned to town. They quickly swung into the first tavern they saw open and ordered the quickest thing they could, some fried vegetable skewers. After only a couple minutes of waiting and a couple of scarfing their food down, the duo was headed back to the inn with surely no suspicion aroused. From the Captain anyway, Nirou was certain that the staff of the tavern had looked at them strangely for eating as fast as they did.

The two of them were able to find their way to their rooms without much trouble once arriving at the inn, as the woman that had checked their group in was still at the desk and told them where to go. Two rooms just down the hall, side by side. Nirou went in the first where the Captain and Ajandi were already sleeping, and Laska headed for the second with Kishaldam and Hamid. The two gave each other a simple nod of acknowledgement before heading into their respective rooms, as nothing more needed to be covered. Now they just had to rest.

By the time Nirou woke up, he was the only one left in the guys’ room. Even Ajandi had beaten him up by a good margin, it seemed. Nirou’s best guess was that even with Gao’s fate hanging over his head, enough tension had broken to let him sleep off the exhaustion of the past few days. Though he was still wearing Laska’s amulet that allowed him to power through, this trip had been taxing all the same. And so subconsciously he must have known that if any day was a day to sleep in, it would have been today. Thus he was able to shift blame to his subconscious mind rather than his conscious one in the event that his extra sleep was currently inconveniencing Laska.

To his surprise however, Laska seemed perfectly content once Nirou saw her back down on the first floor of the inn. “Good morning, Nirou.” She greeted him with a wave and a smile. “I was worried briefly this morning about how we’d look to the others if we were to go off on our own, they could have become suspicious and followed us. But you’ve solved our problem without even trying. I convinced the Captain to head out a while ago, and he was the last one. Your sleeping in has saved us from scrutiny.”

Nirou obviously couldn’t take credit for doing such a thing, so he merely nodded in acknowledgement of the convenience of this turn of events. Before he could voice his last concern that didn’t involve Gao, Laska had already grabbed him by the arm and indicated the direction in which he should follow her. Since she couldn’t physically drag him if she tried. “What about breakfast?” Nirou asked, as the two left the inn. “Did you eat already?”

Laska made her way down the road and turned onto the town’s main thoroughfare before bothering to answer the question. “I have not, but we’re going to remedy that very soon. I’m going to buy some for Gao as well, since I suspect she may be unable to fare as well as she normally would in the jungle. She’s lacking her usual tools, you could say.”

The main road had a plethora of shops and stalls that Nirou had glanced at on the group’s pass-through of the town before. While he was on the immediate lookout for a place to get food, Laska had something else in mind for their first stop. She found a place selling clothes, notably higher end than the pile of cloth laid out by the old woman they visited to get their current wear. While Nirou stood aside waiting, she combed over everything they had in stock to see what would fit her. However, she had one other crucial criterion.

“Do you have a close approximation of any of these? I need two sets of the same outfit.” Laska asked the shopkeeper, holding up multiple garments. Variously patterned tunics in many colors, as well as several pairs of linen pants. “If you need to alter anything else to match these more closely, I can pay for that as well.”

It took a bit to compare articles of clothing in order to find the closest match, but Laska eventually walked away with two extremely similar plain green tunics. They had no special patterns or designs, as any that did were too different from anything else the shop carried. They were accompanied by identical pairs of pants, and Laska made an additional stop to pick up sandals just like the ones she was wearing. Luckily those were easy enough to find.

With that out of the way, the duo made their way to the same stall that they had visited on their first day on the island. It seemed that if one wanted to get something to eat that could be carried around easily, this was the only possible way to go. It made Nirou realize just how spoiled for variety he was back in his own world.

Laska bought several sticks of grilled chicken, foregoing the sauce entirely this time as it was more trouble than it was worth. Nirou watched with slight concern as she paid for the food, noting how much she had already spent on clothes. Didn’t she say the General gave her that money? Just how much was it? Enough to buy food for both of them as well as Gao for the whole week? Nirou quickly decided to stop worrying about it however, as the one thing he could be sure of was that Laska would have already considered any problems he was imagining. And with that being the case, he would be worrying over nothing.

The two of them ate the sticks designated for themselves while making the walk over to the edge of town. The amount left over for Gao could only be described as a bundle. Nirou got the impression that Laska was trying to use this as an opportunity to make up for not making any efforts towards feeding Gao before now. An effort to appeal to her new friend, in a sense. In his mind, it was a slight step up from the treatment he got where he was made to swing a sword and look after her for over a week. So if he looked at it as her making progress, he could be happy about it.

After creeping past the tree line and into the jungle unseen, Nirou and Laska went back to making themselves conspicuous. Unnaturally loud stomping of fallen leaves and foliage, smacking nearby trees, the occasional loud clearing of the throat. They were really just doing whatever they could think of without actually shouting for Gao, hoping she was close enough to the same spot that she would come check it out. Surely there was a better way to go about it, but neither of them wanted to actually call for her on the off chance that someone else also heard and stumbled across them.

Luckily, Gao was close by and attentive enough to respond to the subtle disturbances relatively quickly. Not so luckily, when Nirou and Laska’s newest friend dropped down from a nearby branch she was back in the form of a tiger-person. Before either of the two could address her however, she was already putting her hands together and pleading her case.

“I’m sorry that I changed back, I know it is too risky for me to be doing.” She bowed her head as she spoke. “But I was getting very hungry, and I wasn’t able to catch prey with your body no matter how hard I tried. No one managed to see, so please forgive me this time.”

“She said she’s sorry.” Nirou quickly moved to translate for Laska’s sake. “She wasn’t able to hunt in your body.”

“I suspected as much.” Laska gave only the briefest of sighs before moving on. “I should have known that it would be an issue that couldn’t be delayed. It’s more my fault than yours Gao, don’t worry yourself over it. Here, take my blood again so you can change back.”

Laska drew a tiny bit of blood once again that Gao dipped her claw into. With that sample, she was able to immediately assume Laska’s form for the second time. “I did try eating some fruits before I changed back though.” Gao mentioned as an aside while Laska stepped in to correctly fit her meager clothing again. “They taste much better in your body than mine. It is a very strange feeling to have two different sets of tastes.”

“Speaking of taste, we brought you some food.” Laska explained as she handed over the bundle of chicken on a stick. “We will hopefully be able to bring you as much food as you’ll need during your time here, so don’t resort to reverting again.” Laska’s copy nodded in understanding as it scarfed down the gifted meal.

“And once you’re done, the both of us will be changing into new clothes. I got us matching outfits.” Laska pulled out her recent purchases and showed them to Gao as she ate. “Nothing fancy, but they will have to do. It’s more important that we retain the ability to swap out on a moment’s notice.”

Laska turned around towards Nirou and began to push him away. Or she attempted to anyway, she still wasn’t capable of moving him. “Nirou, you go away for a bit. I’ll tell you when we’re ready for you to come back.” The request was entirely reasonable, so Nirou did as he was told without a fuss. He went all the way back to where he could see town from beyond the treeline. There were even a few people visible moving in the distance, though luckily this direction seemed to be of no interest to anyone. After what Nirou would have guessed was a few minutes, he heard Laska’s voice from behind him. “Nirou, we’re ready! Come make your guess!”

From that call, Nirou could obviously realize Laska’s intent. He wasn’t surprised that he was being used as a test to see how well the two could pass as one, but he was surprised that Laska decided to do it immediately. It must be to establish a sort of baseline, he supposed.

Nirou made his way back to the girls to find them both looking identical. They were taking the same pose with their arms crossed and their faces in a neutral expression. This was probably the most that Laska figured she could ask of Gao at this point. They both acknowledged Nirou’s arrival by glancing in his direction, but they stayed silent and didn’t make any other movements. They didn’t want to give him anything to go off of here.

For his part, Nirou couldn’t figure there was a lot he could do. If they didn’t talk and they didn’t move, what did he really have to work with? He could try to get close to them and press Gao’s likely anxiousness, but that would be both kind of mean and probably too much for him to comfortably manage himself. He did at least step a bit closer, trying to see if there was any subtle thing that could give them away. After looking the two of them over for a bit longer than he was comfortable with, he closed his eyes. And for a few seconds, he focused.

Nirou then opened his eyes back up and pointed to the Laska on his left. “I think you’re Gao.”

“Wow!” The girl’s eyes went while and she shrunk back. “Did I mess up somehow? I thought we looked the same, how did you know?”

“Oh cool, I was right. I wasn’t totally sure.” Nirou admitted. Laska was to his right and wearing a serious expression, awaiting an explanation that she would be able to take into account in order to fix the presumed issue with their disguise. “I had pretty much nothing to go off of, you looked the same to me. You didn’t sound quite the same, though. When I closed my eyes, I could hear that the Laska on my right had calmer breathing. The left one seemed like she could be more nervous, so I took a shot. It was the only thing I really had.”

Gao remained stunned at Nirou’s powers of deduction, but Laska let out a light sigh. “I suppose that isn’t so bad. Even if we can’t entirely eliminate that problem, we won’t be standing right next to each other to let people make a comparison. So I can be fairly confident that if Gao had to neither move nor speak for the duration of the trip, her disguise would be foolproof. Now we just have to practice enough to patch up the instances in which she will. But before that, we have something else we need to take care of. We should all take a seat for this.”

Nirou and Gao shared a confused glance for a moment as Laska scouted out a firm enough patch of ground for herself and sat down with her legs crossed. She then waited without saying a word, merely eyeing her companions until they followed her lead and sat with her.

“Now Gao, before you can even begin trying to act like me you need to know some things.” Laska began speaking as soon as the two others had joined her on the ground. “What you’ll need is context, where the person you’re pretending to be is coming from. To that end, I’ve decided to give you an abridged version of my life story. Just to quickly bring you up to a basic level of understanding about me.”

Nirou was surprised. He had only gathered some bits and pieces of Laska’s past from a few times she had offhandedly mentioned something. Here she was now, ready to apparently spill everything. Of course, it made sense given the situation. Nirou couldn’t shake a vague feeling of disappointment, however. As if Laska were only divulging her personal history because this unusual situation was forcing her to, and Nirou would have never been told otherwise. He didn’t know why this would bother him that much, he had never been particularly interested in people trusting him enough to open up to him before. But then again, she wasn’t asking him to leave so she could tell Gao alone.

Gao became the picture of attentiveness. If she was capable of moving her ears in this form, they would certainly be perked. Her body leaned forward as if she was ready to pounce, and her eyes looked like she was stalking prey. Nirou considered that this is how she might have looked while hidden away and watching human conversations to learn their language. Seeing a tiger person doing this would certainly have alarmed people.

“Let’s start from the top, then.” Laska cleared her throat, preparing for what would no doubt be a decently lengthy monologue. “I am Laskadia Zysc Voldbend, daughter of Leonear Zysc Voldbend and Kretia Voldbend. Our house has administered the county of Voldbend for over two hundred years, under the authority of the Dragunasian Emperor. As we are on the border of the Empire, Voldbend has long been a prime spot for trade between the Empire and various nations to the South and East. We have several wealthy merchant families that have made fortunes on such trade, one of which is the house of my mother’s family, the Telka house.”

Nirou had been planning to listen intently in silence like a lecture student, but was unable to help himself when something struck him as odd. “Your mother’s family are wealthy merchants in Voldbend? Couldn’t you have gone to them for help instead of making such a long trip here to the south?” Only as the words were out of his mouth did Nirou consider that there may have been a good reason for her not to have done that, and moreover, that said reason could have been painful to acknowledge. Nirou’s worries seemed to be realized when Laska winced at his question. She closed her eyes and tilted her head, taking a breath to regain her composure.

“I considered it a poor idea for a few reasons, which I will mention when we get to that point. But we aren’t there yet, Nirou. Let us try to keep things in order so that Gao doesn’t get confused, alright?” Laska gave him a chastising wag of her index finger before continuing on with her story. “My father was a second son, and not likely to inherit the countship. That suited him just fine, as in his younger days he was the insatiably adventurous sort. He traveled all over the Empire, as well as several places outside of it. He had been friends with the General since even back then.”

“The General… I feel like that’s a very important person that I should know.” Gao spoke up, slightly breaking her focused hunter pose. It probably wasn’t quite as natural to hold it when you could actually converse with your target.

“Oh yes, absolutely.” Laska responded with a series of very insistent nods. “But I’ll come back to him later, that’s more recent information that you’ll need to be more acutely aware of. For now, we’re just going over background details that you won’t have to be able to reproduce perfectly. Now then, as I was saying…”

“My father and mother had known each other since childhood, as the wealthy families of Voldbend could afford the same education as the nobility. They met in school, you see.” Laska went on, slightly shifting her seating position to keep comfortable. “But she was always quite sickly. Her body was weak, and she needed regular attention from doctors. She could never stand to go far, though she wished to. So what Father would do was to visit her straight away whenever he returned from one of his adventures, telling her all about it. This went on for many years, and never once did he ever fail to come to Mother and regale her with his tales before doing anything else. And on a few occasions, he even took her and carried her personally to visit some place close enough. It was all quite romantic, I was told.”

Laska had started smirking as she talked about her parents, seemingly proud somehow of the story. It wasn’t a normal smirk though, as Nirou could see a hint of wistfulness in it. She was talking about her own departed parents, of course. Any feelings were sure to be mixed at best. Gao on the other hand could be seen wide-eyed and faintly blushing, an expression Nirou made sure to etch firmly into his mind. This story was probably the kind of stuff she could only dream of hearing this closely before, and Nirou started to feel an odd sense of satisfaction that they could introduce her to these new experiences.

“Oh yes, Father didn’t use up any family expenses to go on his habitual journeys.” Laska continued. “He was exceedingly fortunate to receive the gift of Goldshape from tribute in his youth. With it, he was able to fund his own excursions. He would find some place that was likely to have at least a bit of gold, and then pull it up right out of the ground. In his whole life he never once wanted for money, and just as well. What he desired was less material, he wanted experiences.”

Nirou backed up a bit in surprise at hearing that Laska’s father had a similar type of ability as he did. Perhaps that was part of why she took to the idea so well. If her father had done great things with a shape type ability, then him coming along and getting one right off the bat could have easily inspired confidence in him. At least, that was a way for him to reason out her faith in him. Faith that he still felt was completely unfounded.

“In any case, my uncle did eventually pass away unexpectedly and Father became the new heir to the County of Voldbend. So it was at this point that he had to give up taking trips quite so often.” Laska had readjusted herself so that she could lean back against a nearby tree as she spoke. “He settled down mostly at this time, marrying my mother and formally becoming Count a few years later. The issue with my mother, you see, is that the Telka family was happy to be rid of her. Her constant treatment by doctors and endless medicinal requirements were considered a burden by them, no doubt in part because their fortunes had begun to decline. They were ecstatic to marry her off without even needing a dowry. As you can imagine, there’s been next to no interaction between families after that. I’ve never even met that side of my family at all, and Mother was more than happy to leave it that way.”

“My parents were married for over ten years before my birth, and they always tried not talking much about those years.” Laska became somber as she moved on to the next topic. “They tried to have children time and time again, and they all died in either the womb or shortly into infancy. Mother blamed herself, said it was because of her weak body and passing it to her children. Apparently they were nearly ready to give up when they finally succeeded and brought me into this world. As a result, they both constantly doted on me. Gave me all the love for both me and my nine brothers and sisters that couldn’t live.”

Nirou couldn’t help but slump his shoulders at such heavy material. He had his own family problems of course, but nothing even close to nine dead siblings. He couldn’t even try to relate. Both of his siblings were still alive. Probably. He looked to Gao to see how she was taking it, and her copy of Laska’s face was on the verge of crying. Perhaps she was even getting too into this. Laska looked sad, but not this sad. Another thing for Gao to practice.

“Mother convinced Father once I had grown a bit to start going on journeys again, and to take me with him.” Laska went on, immediately brightening her mood with a lighter topic. “We traveled all around the Empire, we went to the Republic of Heskod, we often came here to the Southern Kingdom. And when we returned, we always came straight back to Mother to tell her all about our adventure. She couldn’t come with us, but she was always a part of it in that way. Those are the happiest memories of my life, the three of us together talking about those trips. I rarely attended regular school, as my attendance would often be broken up by these lengthy excursions. I tended to get lessons from private tutors instead. Reading and writing, etiquette, swordplay, horseback riding, history, economics, and so on and so forth. School or no school, I was able to learn everything I needed to. Rather, the problem with my situation only became evident later on. I always endured a notable lack of socialization with peers of my own age. There was scarcely a time in my life where I could be said to have a friend, only truly remedied when here in the Southern Kingdom with Sahla.”

“But now we’re your friends!” Gao suddenly shouted, raising her arms above her head for emphasis. She turned her head towards Nirou and smiled, seemingly seeking support for her declaration. Nirou was a bit too stunned to say anything at this point, feeling immensely awkward for being made part of the interruption to the story. He simply forced a smile and a nod and gave a thumbs-up, hoping that would be enough and they could move on.

“Of course. And I won’t make light of your support, believe me.” Laska briefly let a smile creep onto her face before forcing herself back to a serious expression. “But enough about that. Nothing much urgent enough to mention here happened in my life for some time, so let us move on to the most important part. The most significant night of my life, and only a scant few weeks ago.”

Nirou could feel his own chest tighten at the knowledge of what was going to be described next, so even imagining how Laska felt talking about it herself was distressing. Any wistfulness in her voice was long gone, even the melancholy she had when talking about the less satisfying parts of her life was replaced with pure stoicism. She had hardened herself to be able to convey this story. But if Gao needed to know anything at all, it was this.

“We had been home in Voldbend for some time. Father had been dealing with an unusual amount of work running the county, and it had been nearly a month since the two of us had traveled.” Laska began explaining the events with cold precision, as if the details had been carved into her mind. “I had spent the better part of the day training my swordsmanship, even returning to training after supper. It was quite late when I finally decided to retire. As I always did, I stopped by my parents’ room to check on Mother before turning in for the night. I didn’t expect it to be the last time I saw her, and we merely shared our usual words. Asking at each other’s health, telling each other about our day. Saying goodnight. Then I left her for the last time. Could I, I would have said so much more. But it was left at that.”

Laska was being as matter-of-fact as possible when talking about her last moments with a parent, and Nirou could tell that even after her efforts to steel herself, it was difficult to stay composed. A look to his left showed him what could be happening if Laska let herself go. Gao was practically bawling, only managing to stifle any noise through great exertion. Tears were streaming down her face, and she was biting her lip distressingly hard. Nirou was sure she was going to draw blood if she wasn’t careful. Laska had been telling her story in a way that Nirou thought would have softened the blow, so to speak. Nothing overtly emotional. But for Gao who had lost her own mother relatively recently, it was no doubt still a sore topic.

“At that time, Father would have been in his study.” Laska continued her retelling of the night. “I had already seen him during supper, so I felt no great need to bid him goodnight as well. He would be there for me to see in the morning the same as ever, I thought. So I returned to my chambers to sleep. It was some luck however that I had not yet taken to my bed when it happened. There was a commotion on the grounds of the manor. Yelling at such a time of night could only have been a bad thing, but at first I had no idea of just how terrible the situation was. My room had a window with a proper view of the grounds, so I looked out to see what the noise had been. At worst, I suspected a revolt of the local peasantry. I had no reason to believe that conditions were bad enough to have led them to such means, but I acknowledged the possibility. How I wish it could have been only that. No, what I saw was a band of brigands on horseback. Armed with sword or bow, they were assaulting the entirety of the guards we had on staff. I could see from my window their attempts to hold them back, their pikes and shields in formation to block the path. But their numbers were too great.”

Laska seemed to be a bit anxious as she told of the attack on her home, as she stood herself up to tell the rest of the story. She began to slowly pace back and forth in front of her audience of two, both of whom remained completely enraptured with her tense recounting. Gao likely had trouble truly imagining the context with her limited experience, but even Nirou could only assume what it might have felt like for a force like that to descend upon your home.

“I didn’t know why a group of raiders would have mounted an attack like that, but I intended to find some way to help.” Laska went on. “I left my room and sought my father. His study was close by, and he had also already emerged after hearing the battle begin outside. His first instinct was naturally to tell me to flee, but of course I insisted on staying and fighting. I didn’t yet know who had come for us. Father made his case, that I wouldn’t stand a chance against a group of fighters on horseback. Said that if I wanted to try, I should at least get to the stables and get a horse myself. I took his word at face value at that time, but looking back it’s clear that he meant to get me in place to escape all along. He couldn’t have known the nature of the attackers then, but his caution was well placed. I left for the stables to procure a steed, while Father made for Mother to ensure her safety before fighting back. Had it been a lesser enemy, I have little doubt that he could have fought them all off while protecting her at the same time. But these were no ordinary brigands.”

“I left the manor proper and very carefully worked my way to the stables.” Laska scanned her eyes back and forth when she spoke, as if she was acting out in her mind’s eye her motions on that night. “The intruders had broken past the guards by this point, and started to enter the building just as I had left. I had narrowly avoided a confrontation. I waited in a hiding spot nearby for most of them to pass before making a break for the stables. And while I was there, I overheard one of them let slip a certain implication. He said: ‘Take whatever you can get, boys! We get paid for this job, plus whatever we loot from the place.’ This group of marauders had been hired to attack my family. I couldn’t quite spare the time to process it completely then, but I knew immediately that the situation was worse than I had thought. As soon as I got a chance, I ran for the stables. They were a bit out of the way, tucked in a corner of the grounds out of sight. The brigands had focused on the manor itself first, so I was able to reach it unnoticed. When I took my place in the saddle of the horse I was most familiar with, I was still a bit under the delusion that I would be fighting the intruders. But naturally the truth had started to seep into the back of my mind, that the only thing to do was to escape. I fought that urge only long enough to ride back out onto the grounds and see the true nature of our assailant.”

Nirou could see Laska shiver a bit as she recalled the next part. For her to have shivered in this midday jungle heat, the memory must have been truly chilling. She took a bit longer than usual to move on to the next part of her story, pausing to take a couple of deep breaths and compose herself. Nirou glanced at Gao to see how she was handling herself, and she looked almost as nervous as Laska. She must have been really getting into the story. Which he supposed was the point, in the end.

“I didn’t quite believe what I was seeing at first. It took a moment to truly register in my mind.” Laska admitted, having to force herself to talk about this part. “The manor seemed to be dissolving before my very eyes, crumbling to dust. The walls, whether they were wooden or stone, all became dust and disappeared in the wind. The effect was spreading out as if from one point, and I looked to the source. There, at the place where the foyer had once been but was no longer, was a man that could not be mistaken for anything but the leader of the marauders. His helmet bore giant horns like a demon’s, and both he and his horse dwarfed the rest of his band. But the most terrifying thing was the sword he wielded. A longsword black as night, I could only see it for the reflection it gave off. I saw him swing it casually at a chair that had not dissolved with the house, and as soon as it was cut it crumbled to nothing. This had all been mere moments after I emerged from the stables, but I knew in an instant that any notion I had of fighting was mistaken. I had heard of this man, and his infamous blade. Temat, Bandit King of the Steppes and his Sword of Ruin. I not only had heard of it, but now seen it with my own eyes. A sword that would turn anything it cuts to dust, without exception. I was far enough away that I hadn’t been immediately noticed, and I knew instinctively that I had to take the opportunity I had been given. As much as I worried for my parents, my presence there would do them no good and I knew it. I rode out to escape immediately before they could catch sight of me. I’m sure they heard me ride away and turned to check, but I didn’t stop. Especially because as I was riding, I heard a scream of anguish behind me. I could tell it was my father, but in a voice I had never heard from him. I didn’t dare look back to try and determine the cause, so I don’t know what led him to let loose such a sound. But it’s a sound I dare not forget. It drives me even now.”

Nirou could see Laska’s clenched fists trembling. For someone like her who, to him at least, had always seemed confident and in-control, he could only imagine her pain at feeling completely and utterly powerless. This whole quest of hers was focused on getting more power, something she presumably hadn’t worried much about before. No doubt a night like that could change anyone.

“I kept on riding, not stopping for quite some time.” Laska continued describing the aftermath. “I had no one to depend on in Voldbend, as the numbers of my father’s house had dwindled to nothing in recent years. My mother’s house held no hope for me either. From what I was told, they tried to mend their fortunes by using their connection to my father as the new count when he took the title. But both he and my mother refused their patronage given the years of harsh treatment she had suffered, only to be followed by feigned niceties. They were thus unable to halt their descent from affluence, and have since fallen on hard times. I doubt they could have helped me much even if they had been so inclined, with so little money or power currently at their disposal. My only hope was to ride South. All the way to Rajandra. It was a terribly long trip, and I wasn’t sure I could make it alone with my meager provisions. I rode many hours day and night for nearly a month, sustaining myself on the little wealth I could muster from selling my possessions. Eventually I was forced to sell my horse itself, and I took the chance to take a longer rest. I was no doubt safe from any possible pursuers by that point, and I had also come to a rather reckless conclusion.”

“In exchange for renting out an old shack and its provisions for ten days, I sold my horse to a man in the village I had reached.” Laska started to go over the stuff that Nirou was actually there for. “In my haste to become stronger after being forced to flee my home, I decided to make a tribute. But I was utterly disappointed. I was gifted a mere regular sword, one with no special qualities at all. Had the result been not quite so poor, I may not have jumped to drastic action. And so I did act drastically, and made a second tribute. That time, I was gifted a spell. One that brought Nirou here from his own world.”

“Wow. A whole different world?” Gao stared at Nirou in wonder. “This blood magic can do some incredible things. What happened next?”

Laska didn’t answer right away, just sighed and found a place to sit back down. She seemed to have expended herself quite a bit explaining everything that she did, and likely wanted to take a break.

“I think that’s enough of that for now.” Laska waved her hand at Gao. “We can leave further explanations for later. How about you start practicing something instead? How about matching your gait to my own?”

“I think you’ll have to stand back up for that, Laska.” Gao immediately replied, jumping to her feet herself. “But I am willing to try anything, so let’s do it!”

With another sigh, Laska heaved her body back up and got to work instructing her double on how to move and act like her. They had a lot of work to do, and no time to dally. Nirou just kept seated to the side and watched for the time being, wishing he could be doing more.