The two men left the town together early the next morning, following the road south to the next town. They were in the mostly human territory of Kaeland at the moment but there wasn’t a very strong national government, most towns just tended themselves. Aster had decided that he wanted to visit a library he had heard about in a kingdom to the south east. It would probably take months for them to get there but it was the only goal Aster could come up with when given no epic quest to fulfill. No magic ring to destroy, or divine triangles to gather, or evil Demon King to vanquish, or royal child to be saved was there to push him forward, just the fact that he couldn’t go back.

Travelling had been rather uneventful, they would travel a bit off the road before making camp, wary of potential highway robbers. It was the morning after one such stop that they found themselves in the current situation as Aster rested a hand on Saelak's shoulder and said softly, “Don’t rush.”

Saelak blushed a bit and chided back to the half-elf behind him, “I know.”

“Don’t force it,” he whispered in the elf’s ear, making the tip turn crimson as he almost whined back at him.

“Aster… your talking is distracting.” Saelak was getting more embarrassed with each passing moment.

Aster gave a playful grin and continued to whisper, “I thought you wanted my guidance but I guess you learn better by just doing?” His arm slid down the length of Saelak’s own arm which caused him to let go and the twang of the bow could be heard as an arrow hit it’s mark. “Ha! See, that wasn’t so hard!” Aster said playfully. He took his bow back from Saelak and slung it across his back and went to retrieve the slain Earth Rabbit.

Saelak rubbed his ear that still tingled a bit and said haughtily, “Not that your distractions helped but at least we have breakfast now. I don’t think I could have handled another meal of that abyssal elven bread.”

“Lucky!” Aster bounded off as Saelak curiously followed after trying to perceive what Aster might have spotted. A large fruit bearing tree lay ahead of them and Aster deftly jumped and pulled himself up onto one of the branches, “A persimmon tree! He announced picking the fruits and putting them into his pack.

Saelak chuckled as he followed, “Are you sure they're not poisoned, with your luck?” and held his own pack up for Aster to drop some of the fruits into. Aster paused dramatically for a moment staring at the fruit in his hand with concern before shrugging and taking a bite. After chewing for a moment and taking a few more bites he started dropping more of the reddish orange fruits into Saelak’s rucksack. A few minutes later they heard a loud snap and rustling of leaves only to look over and see a massive Wood Bear walk into the area, its fur seemed to be made of dark green leaves and it had wooden antlers like a deer. They all froze for a moment staring each other down when the bear gave out a deafening roar and Saelak threw his hand up, erecting a large ice barrier between them.

Alert! Combat Initiated with level 32 Wood Bear!

Saelak cast the spell: Arctic Barrier.

Aster landed on the ground with a soft thud and grabbed Saelak’s arm as he shouted, “Run!” just as the giant creature burst through the wall of ice.

They turned and fled as fast as they could, Saelak flinging spells behind him to slow the beast down while shouting, “You and your abyssal luck, Aster!”

“Run faster!” Aster shouted back, he couldn’t disagree with his friend, it had been too quiet of a journey so far, even with all the trouble they had run into at the border town.

As they broke through the treeline Saelak grabbed Aster’s shoulder to halt his momentum as they came to the edge of a cliff, “Stop!” Saelak shouted and they looked over the edge to see a large river flowing at the bottom, it must have been a good 50 meter drop to the water.

The bear broke through the treeline at that moment and Aster grabbed Saelak by his backpack straps and yelled, “Jump!” as he hurled them both off the side into the open air.

“Are you reshing crazy?!?” Saelak yelled as they plummeted to their deaths.

“Bubble!” Aster yelled back at him as he maneuvered himself under Saelak to take the blow of the water should his friend not cast in time.

“Ah! Right!” Saelak said as he realized what Aster was thinking and moved his arms in a wide circle motion from his head and arcing downwards like a rainbow and water surrounded them. Saelak moved his hands past Aster towards the river, getting ever closer, and the water surged upwards towards them, catching them and slowing their descent.

Saelak cast the spell: Wave Sphere.

Saelak used the ability: Water Bending.

Aster saw the Wood Bear peer over the edge and give an angry huff before he was submerged in the river and swept downstream. The bubble surrounding them acted more like a wall, leaving room to breathe as they lay against it and Saelak continued to use Water Bending to direct them away from rocks. After a few minutes Aster realized he could see Saelak’s resources listed below his own in the upper left of his vision and saw his mana was already half gone, “Aim us towards the shore once it’s in sight and we can swim the rest of the way” Saelak just gave a nod, concentrating on steering, before moving them upwards to see when the river sides changed from sheer cliff wall to something they could actually climb out of.

A few more minutes passed and still no shore could be seen and Saelak was starting to sweat as his mana kept draining with him channeling two spells. “I’m going to drop the bubble, and try to just use the bending to keep us from impacting anything, who knows how far these cliffs go.” Aster just nodded and braced himself as the water surged around them, soaking them instantly and weighing them down.

Aster was worse off than Saelak, as the elf wore way less clothing than Aster did. Aster wore some pieces of leather armor on top of his adapted hakama. The loose pants were wrapped tightly at his calves so boots could slide over them, which were now filled with river water. His shirt was wrapped around him and tied closed at the sides and was covered by a small leather chest guard while he had removed the sleeves in favor of cloth wrappings under his leather bracers and a single leather pauldron on his left shoulder so it wouldn’t hinder his range of motion when using his sword or bow with his dominant right hand.

Saelak on the other hand went with as little clothing as he could manage while not showing off his bits, as Aster liked to call them. It reminded Aster of those Arabian dancers that showed a lot of skin and was sheer in a number of places. Two pieces of blue cloth criss crossed his chest while he wore what amounted to boxer briefs in Aster’s mind with some sheer outer layer that gathered at his ankles, a cloth sash tied around his waist.

Saelak helped Aster as best he could manage and almost cried with relief when he saw the light of the cliffs ending only to realize that the sound of crashing water was getting louder. He pulled Aster closer to him and shouted, “We’re gonna fall again!” Aster realized it now too and he prayed that it wouldn’t be a very tall waterfall they were about to go over and that the bottom would not have the sharp rocks of impalement waiting for them.

Aster thought he would go deaf with how loud the water was as they were flung over the water’s edge to get a few moments to look down in dread as the fall was probably twice as far as the first plunge into the river they had taken. Aster didn’t let go as Saelak tried to wait as long as he could before casting his spells again to hopefully save their lives.

Saelak cast the spell: Wave Sphere.

Saelak used the ability: Water Bending.

Aster braced for the impact again and this time was worse as the water rushed up to meet them and the force of gravity pulled them under the surface. Luckily, there were no boulders of doom, just a very deep pool that had been beaten down by the tremendous cascade of water over time. Unluckily, he could tell the moment Saelak lost control of his spell as he almost felt the snap of magic breaking and the water flooded around them once more, only this time they were deep under the surface of the pool. The two men swam towards the light as fast as they could and sputtered as their heads broke the water, with a final wave of his hand and the last bit of mana Saelak used water bending to push them towards the shore as they coughed out the river water that had threatened to drown them.

The friends were on their hands and knees next to each other just glad to be on solid ground again when they heard a small noise that caused them to look up. At first they saw bare feet, then slender yet strong legs, some lady bits, a taut abdomen, small perky breasts and tone arms that were up and messing with some gold beads in dark raven hair around long pointed ears, a face with high cheekbones, full lips and golden eyes stared at them. The smooth skin was the darkest shade Aster had ever seen in either of his lives and the white Light tattoo emblazoned in the center of her forehead with intricate swirls around the star-like symbol stood out wonderfully. She was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He was simply speechless for a moment as they stared at each other and he pushed himself up to sit seiza-style on his knees, before she promptly spun around and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into the water.

Alert! Donoma, level 19 Bright Archer, joined combat!

Donoma strikes you in the chest for 5 physical damage.

Reflex check failed; you are knocked back.

Saelak raised a leg up as if to stand and reached a hand out to ward off any attack towards him as he said in protest, “Now wait just a sec-” He was cut off as the women held her hand out and a flash of bright light filled the area, blinding Saelak and making him cry out, “Son of a Fire Leech!”

Donoma cast the spell: Blinding Light.

Reflex check failed; Saelak is blinded for 30 seconds.

10 minutes of explaining later...

Aster rubbed at his chest and Saelak continued to rub at his eyes while Aster continued speaking, “So, we apologize for the situation but we did not mean for it to happen. We didn't intend to see you bathing, we were just trying to survive.”

The woman that Aster assumed was Donoma based on his combat logs was sitting across from them on a log, now fully dressed with her arms and legs crossed still annoyed and embarrassed by everything. She wore a single wrapped piece of red and gold patterned cloth around her chest, showing off the strong muscles in her arms and abdomen. She wore two bronze bracers that went up over the back of her hands to protect them. Her tight fitting pants matched her top and disappeared into brown leather boots. The leather belt was mostly hidden by three sections of light yellow cloth that hung down to her knees, one piece hung on each side of her hips and the third hung down her center front, falling between her legs as she sat.

Saelak grumbled quietly as he carefully put his glasses back on after removing the water from them, “Not like there was anything interesting to see…”

Aster and Donoma looked at Saelak a bit stunned in silence before Aster shot up holding the woman back from trying to strangle the pale elf.

5 minutes of calming later...

Aster rubbed his now bruised cheek while Saelak rubbed at a lump on top of his head while Aster continued speaking, “Anyways, I’m Aster and this is Saelak and we hail from Tsukiyuki.”

She hesitated for a moment as she continued putting her hair into many tight braids before saying simply, “I’m Donoma, a Summer Elf. Ye’re a ways from home if ya hail from da Winterlands. What brings ya ta dese parts?”

Aster ran his hands through his hair trying to calm his own nerves, “We were hunting. We're wanderers at the moment.” He wanted to trust this woman, perhaps because she hadn’t actually tried to kill them or perhaps because she was simply stunning to look at to him or maybe it was the fact that he just really didn’t want to end up fighting her.

She gave them a scrutinizing gaze as she looked them both over, noting their ears and marks and said bluntly, “So why’z an Elven noble wanderin’ ‘round with a Cursed half-elf?” Her accent was pleasant on the ears to Aster, who equated it to the Irish version on Earth, lilting melodically.

Saelak gave an annoyed growl which prompted Aster to speak up again before the Winter Elf might prompt the Summer one into another assault, “I got kicked out.” He gave a little pat on Saelak’s shoulder to try and calm the man down as he gave an embarrassed laugh, “I kinda had a dispute with our Crown Prince about the proper way to treat animals, heh.”

Saelak looked at him a bit surprised and said quickly, “It was more than that, Aster…” his expression softened and he went on as if trying to convince Aster as well as the woman, “You stood up against a tyrant and protected everyone. It wasn't just about an animal, it was about honor and conviction.”

Donoma looked a bit surprised by the change in Saelak’s demeanor and then smiled brightly and said cheerfully, “Well, if that be true then me thinks all can be forgiven with one wee lil favor!”