In A Clearing Near the Guild House

"Grrah!" Saffire cheered/roared after stacking the last stone on a pile of rocks that she dug out of the cave inside Blake's new smithy, and 4 more were next to the 5th, all about as tall as she was. "Whew," She tugged at her shirt and fanned herself a little. "~Ahhhh~" Until a light breeze blew over her made her lean back in relaxation. "Grrr!" Only to growl at Baba who was waving a finger at her.

"~Oh~ what was that growl for? Weren't you enjoying that?" Baba asked Saffire as she floated around to the rock piles, humming a little tune. "Hmm...? This one looks good...and so does this one...and that one too!" She made one of them float into her hands and admired it a little then move onto the next and the next.

"What are you doing, Air-Head?" Saffire asked as Baba had a small ring of rocks floating around her.

"Well, my new collection has to start somewhere, doesn't it?" Baba answered, and after going through each of the piles, she found the ones that looked and felt the best to her.

"You collect rocks?" Saffire muttered as she eyed her rock piles then stared at the ones Baba picked out and couldn't tell anything different about them.

"No, I collect all kinds of things, not just rocks..." Baba corrected Saffire as she arranged the rocks in the air to different patterns. "...feathers, clothes, pillows...the firsts of young men...?" She winked at Saffire as she said that and held back a giggled as the Dragon got redder in the face. "...Are you sick, Hot-head you look a bit redder than normal?"

"Pttf! What you want to do to Scaleless is your own damn business! Not mine!" Saffire yelled, acting like nothing was wrong with her and turned away from Baba only for the Ala to float right into her face. "Ugh! Stop that! You're like a freaking fly!"

"~Oh~? But I didn't say anything about Hubby now did I?" Baba cooed and curled her lips into a small smile once Saffire realized what she said. "And here I thought you didn't think much of him, hmm?

"I-I-I was just using h-h-h-him as an example! That's all!" Saffire stuttered over her words as Baba continued to float around her with the playfulness of a baby written all over the older woman's face. "And you're right I don't think much about him at all!"

Baba eyed Saffire a little after hearing that. "...Interesting? But why would you tag along with him then? Last I checked most of you Dragons like to be left alone, right...?" She asked to get on Saffire's nerves more and more. "...Unless you actually find something about him...how would I say? Likable?"

"No! Like hell! As if I would like anything about some weak looking thing like him!" Saffire growled at Baba with smoke blowing out her nose and mouth. "I just tagged along because I was bored! Got that?! Air-Head!"

"Fine, fine, I was only being just a bit curious about one of my rivals in ~love~" Baba sang out in a lovely tone as she waved off Saffire irritating her more. "But I do understand you; things were quite boring for me until I blew Hubby off his feet and had a chat with him and...~other activities~..." She trailed off into a sly smile.

"Grrr! Keep that dirty old lady crap to yourself!" Saffire barked at Baba while holding back the need to throw a fireball at her.

While the two were having their 'talk' Gram appeared out of the trees getting their attention mostly due to the dead deer between his fangs. "Where's Alpha and the rest?" He asked after sniffing the air and couldn't find Blake or the others anywhere nearby.

"Hello to you too, Doggie..." Baba greeted Gram and waited for him to greet her back before answering him or at least drop his food, but the Greater Wolf just kept sniffing at the air, making Baba roll her eyes. "...Hubby and the rest went out to see what they could get to start fixing our humble abode." She pointed at the old Guild House just as a part of the roof fell off.

"..." At which all three of them shared a small moment of silence.

"Hmm? Guess I'll just wait for him then..." Gram paced around a little then settled down under a tree and got down to eating his hunt. "...so? What have you two been up to?" He asked between bites, seeing the piles of rocks near Saffire and the ones floating around Baba. "Those smell different." He added after taking a whiff of the ones Baba had.

"~Ah~! You know what the good ones are..." Baba cooed, happy to see that Gram got what her rocks had over the others, unlike Saffire who Baba shot a look at. "...well, I've been cleaning up my little love nest up in that tower over there, just need to get some bedding, a few piles of things, and of course my ~man~ there with me." She glanced at Saffire, who was glaring with fire in her eyes. "~Oh~ what's wrong Hot-Head? You're free to be his 2nd...or...3rd? If Risabeel has her way with him and of course after I'm done with him, hehe..."

"Tch!" Saffire growled lowly at Baba then shifted her gaze to Gram who was raising the slashed brow of his scarred eye at the two women. "I just got done digging out more room inside of a cave in there so I can finally start sleeping like normal again." She pointed at the rocks and made some of her scales come out. "I was starting to feel cramped in this form."

"Oh, my? You really enjoy walking around naked, don't you? I bet it's some way to get Hubby to look at you more, hmm?" Baba teased, making Saffire pull back all of her scales. "And what about you, doggie?" She asked, ignoring the growls and smoke that were coming from Saffire.

"Hmph, nothing much...just marked as far away and as close to this place as I could..." Gram answered and got some mixed looks from the two women as he bit off the head of his deer. "...What? I'm a wild animal at best, gotta let everyone know that the new apex is here, granted all the big eats are hold up on farms, and I don't think Alpha's gonna like me coming back covered in blood that's not a wild animal." He grumbled, feeling a bit annoyed by it.

"Heh, bet you're regretting coming with him now, huh, Furball?" Saffire lightly joked, remembering that not too long ago that Gram was hunting everything that moved.

"Actually? Now that Hot-head mention's it why did you come along with us, doggie?" Baba asked, finding it a tad bit odd at how easily Gram has followed Blake. "Our reasons aren't that good, but you couldn't just run off all things taken into account."

"He didn't kill me when he had the chance." Was Gram's answered simple and straightforward as he could get.

"Seriously? That's it?" Saffire asked after hearing that and found Gram's reason even worse than hers and Baba's.

"Eh? I'm a simple wolf with a simple mind, someone stronger than me came along, beat me down until I couldn't do a thing and asked me to join him. I did the same for most of my old pack, so I was just following the natural course of things..." Gram explained with a bloody face and paws that he was licking clean. "...and don't worry if you think I'll leave if he gets beat by someone else. I'm only gone if he lets me go until then I'll be a good little Beta and listen."

"I suppose that's true? It would best if none of us brought any trouble on to our dear Smith-Knight." Baba agreed with at least the last bit of Gram's statement.

"Oh? Then that might be hard to do in a moment." Gram muttered out with both Baba and Saffire looking at him, confused.

"What do you mean, Furball?" Saffire asked the Greater Wolf trying to guess what he meant by that.

Gram sniffed the air before answering. "...There's a large group of people coming here right now, about 30 or so? One of 'em's a bird, another a lizard, and the rest just seem like humans..." He paused to sniff again, getting more information. "The bird smell like Alpha a little and the lizard too, and the rest have armor and weapons on them..." He looked at Saffire and Baba after that. "...what do you think?"

Baba was the first to speak. "That sounds like the City Watch, but why would they be coming here?"

"Hah! Maybe Scaleless pissed some noble or official type off, and they came looking for him!" Saffire joked at first, but once she, Baba, and Gram thought about how Blake acts most of the time, they all shared another moment of silence. "...Dammit! Of course, he'd do that! I'm gonna burn his ass if we get kicked out of here!"

"Now, now, Risabeel was with him at the very least, so maybe that's not the case..." Baba tried to defend Blake, although even she wasn't sure herself considering her current 'project' was a wild one. "...so, why don't we go see what's going on, maybe they're here to help us? Hubby did go out looking for help, didn't he?"

"Tch! Fine, but if it turns out like I was saying before then I'm lighting someone on fire especially if they try to fight me!" Saffire made a fireball in her hand and tossed it at a tree.

"Hah, I'm down with that, gotta keep my skill up!" Gram grinned with his fangs sticking out of the slash in his jaw as he rose up.

"Please, just don't kill anyone...?" Baba asked in a moppy tone being the calmer of the group as they made their way over to greet their guests.

At the Old Guild House

"So, this is where that ruffian rests?" Gregor looked up at the decaying Guild House with his beak slightly bent to one side after Blake punched him out, behind him were some City Watch guards that he called on after he woke up and to his side was Sarah playing around with her claws.

"Yea, I think that's what he said," Sarah confirmed for Gregor after being ordered to show him where the Guild House was. "So...can I leave now?"

"Not just yet, Sarah! You better have heard correctly, or you may be entitled to the same consequences that I am about to inflict upon that ruffian," Gregor warned as he raised his head over Sarah making her back away.

"Sir! We've found an odd looking cart over here!" One of the guards yelled out and pointed at Blake's cart.

"Hmm?" Gregor walked over to it and looked around finding the sign which he scowled at. "Hmph! We've found his nest, but where is he?" He eyed the tree line for any sign of Blake but instead him out came Baba, Saffire, and Gram to which all of the guards pointed their weapons at the wolf. "What do we have here?"

"GRRR! Want to go right now!" Gram growled at all of them causing Sarah to jump back in fright and the guards to step away from the large talking wolf. "No backbone, huh? Then I guess this is a warm-up?"

"I'm game!" Saffire smirked as she cracked her knuckles loudly, ready to go.

That is until Baba moved up in front of them. "Now, now, you two. No need to throw the first stone." She told the two of them, and they calmed down after she added a quick, 'but be the one to throw the last' to them in a whisper. "Good, now then what business do you have here, Mr. big bird?" Then turned to Gregor

"Kah! How rude!? Do you not know who I am?!" Gregor asked, offended by Baba's way of addressing him exactly the same way Blake did, but once all three of them shook their heads, he sighed. "Of course, you don't you're new to the city...well then I am Gregor the proud reeve of Troville...KKKKAAAAAAAHHHH!" He screeched up into the air causing everyone around him to cover their ears.

"SHUT UP! Birdbrain!" Both Saffire and Gram yelled at Gregor, making him cut his 'kah' short as they moved in on him, but again they got stopped by Baba.

"Well, then Reeve big bird what have you and your merry band of men come to do here?" Baba asked using Gregor's title now, but he still looked annoyed by her nickname for him. "~Waiting~"

"This is starting to seem familiar...?" Gregor thought as he looked at all three of them up and down until he cleared his throat. "*ahem*...I have come here today to apprehend the one you call...Blake..." He said Blake's name with a vile hint of malice in his voice.

"Oh, my? What could my Hubby possible have done to get someone as big as a reeve into coming after him?!" Baba faked a look of shock and worry on her face along with a hand going to her mouth.

"H-H-Hubby Wkah!?" But the look Gregor gave her showed that he was shocked by her words. "Not only did that boy dare to strike me down! But he has tricked such a young girl as yourself into giving him your hand, throwing away your life to him! Unforgivable! Vain! Disgusting! Evildoer of the highest order! Koooo!" Gregor yelled in a fit of rage aimed at Blake and all thanks to Baba.

"Well? There you go, Air-Head, I think you made things worse," Saffire muttered as Gregor looked ready to hunt Blake down more so than before.

"I don't think she's listening to you." Gram motioned over to Baba with both hands rubbing her cheeks playfully.

"~Oh, my~ Being called young even if it's not my Hubby still gets me, Ohoho!" Baba giggled to herself until she went quiet and put a stoic look on her youthful face. "But, by the sound of your tone, you plan on doing something bad to him...correct?" She asked with a cold gaze sent Gregor's way.

But unfortunately for her, Gregor ignored it completely still going on with his rant. "But! Not to worry young one! I am here to find and capture that ruffian then have him thrown out of Groz! And fear not even if you are friends with him, you shall not share in his fate as that would be wrong to punish others for their allies' foolishness!" He stated, sounding all too high and mighty for any one's liking then he raised a hand to the cart. "However, anything that belongs to him shall be taken away and put better use! Now then, men take this cart away!" He ordered, and some of the guards moved to the cart, but they were suddenly blown away by a gust of wind. "KHAT!"

"Oh my, if only you came here to greet us..." Baba coldly stated to Gregor as winds started to kick up around her violently. "...my Hubby asked me to watch over his cart and I will not let anyone other than him move it...without a test of power that is?"

"Heh! Sounds like the old windbag giving us the okay?" Gram grinned once he knew Baba wasn't going to stop him anymore.

"Finally! Something we can agree on Air-Head!" Saffire was all for it as she lit her hands up and grew out her scales on them.

"Khat?!" Gregor was at a lost for words now then he shook his head to get back his resolve. "Kah! So you all wish to do battle with I Gregor! Hah! Then feel the steel of Groz's City Wat-!"

"WAH!" Next came the screams of some other guards when Gram rammed into them and sent them into the trees and bushes around them.

"Heh! Not even worth my fangs!" Gram chuckled at the remaining ones as he dashed around them some more.

"Don't stick up you fools! That just makes it easier for him to take you out!" Gregor yelled at the guards, making them split apart with some of them able to dodge Gram's attacks now. "Good! Now surround him and put him in his plac-!"

"Watch out! She's got fire magic!" One of the guards yelled as Saffire was throwing fireballs at them, blasting them away from the cart and setting them on fire.

"Come on! This just like at Tollpeak! At least force me into my battle mode!" Saffire snarled at the guards as she was juggling some fireballs before rapid firing them at some of them that were hanging back, throwing them into one of Gram's dashes.

"Shields up! And put out those fires!" Gregor retook command of the City Watch quickly allowing them to come back from Saffire's attacks, but it was still a losing battle on his part. "Kah! I Gregor will not be made a fool of by the likes of you three!"

"Oh, you and what army?" Baba asked as she wiggled a finger around while sitting on the roof of the cart.

"Hah! Even with that wolf and fire mage! I and my City Watch shall not yield! Right men!" Gregor raised a feathery fist to the air and waited for the yells of his guards. "...Men?" But none came causing the Avian Reeve to look back at where his men were.

"H-H-HELP!" What came were more of their screams of terror as they were all being held in the air with all their weapons ripped out of their hands.

"KHAT!?" Gregor could only look on as his guards flailed around in the air helplessly then set his eyes on Baba. "Mark my words you shall pa-!" Before he could finish all of the weapons that were taken from the guards suddenly pointed themselves at him. "Ah...?"

"You shall what?" Baba asked with a spear inching its way up Gregor's neck forcing him to raise his head high.

"Y-Y-you shall be forgiven for all of your T-t-transgressions! KAH!" Gregor shuttered out, trying to back away from the spear only to feel a sword sticking into his back. "Ugh!"

"Dang, you made this too easy, Air-Head," Saffire muttered, putting out a fireball she was planning on hit one of the floating guards with.

"Not really we still got one left over there." Gram walked over to a tree where Sarah was hiding with his nose poking at her shaking tail, making her turn to him. "Yo."

"AHH!" Sarah jumped out from the tree and into Saffire's feet who was staring down at her with a blank face. "Please! Don't hurt me! I was just doing what the reeve said, or I'd get tossed out!" She screamed with her head, trying to become one with the earth.

"Ugh...fine, whatever Green Scale." Saffire wasn't sure how to react to that scratching her cheek a little. "So, what now?" She asked, turning to Baba.

"We wait until Hubby gets back so we can find out what to do with big bird here," Baba answered, making Gregor lean backward to the point that his head almost touched the ground.

"Kah! I would be happy to forget that any of this happened if you simply let me go?" Gregor offered while unwillingly doing the lowest limbo he'd ever done.

"Then you'd come back with some real threat to throw sir out, yes?" Baba pointed out with another spear poking one of Gregor's arms to force him to raise it. "I know your type, you think you're a big shot who can do anything they want and if you get embarrassed you find a way to get back at people...I'd rather not deal with a stuck up little hatchling like you."

"Stuck up little hatchling?!" Gregor thought about to throw some retort back Baba but an axe blade floating around his neck made him rethink.

"Bird's taken care of but what about them?' Gram came up to ask, looking at the guards with some of them looking like they were getting used to floating in the air while the rest were about ready to throw up.

"I say leave 'em up there, they tried to fight us serves 'em right!" Saffire answered, smirking at the helpless fools up in the air.

"I suppose so, but..." Baba stopped toying with Gregor for the moment to go up to one of the guards. "If I let you all down will all of you little ones be nice and sit quietly?"

"Yes, ma'am!" All of them yelled at her with most of them trying to swim over to her. "AHHH!" And like that, they all got dropped back to the ground."

"Oops." Baba shrugged, floating back down to Gregor and went back to poking him with weapons.

"What of I?" Gregor asked now being bent in different ways by Baba.

"You have been a 'bad' egg, so Mama Baba's going to punish you..." Baba answered sweetly as she brought more and more weapons and random things into her game.

Chapter End