Graine darted down the many floors and corridors of the King's Fortress; an enormous spiraling manor on the sides of an mountain-high eldertree, passing by servants and guards as he rushed for the ground-level exit.

Lief slid down a rope passing by Graine in a window, waving with a silly grin.

"You gotta be kidding me," huffed the exhausted Graine.

"Looks like you should have taken my route!" laughed Lief through the window, as he hopped over to another rope descending down to another floor of the King's Fortress.

"That kid's more monkey than man," laughed Graine as he continued down the spiraling stairs and corridors chasing after the fox-girl.

"Graine, have you seen Corrin?" questioned one of the Maras, waiting for Graine to bow his head.

"She is-- she's outside, with Lief," bowed Graine, trying to catch his breath.

"I need to speak with her before her grandfather returns- which should be any time soon," smiled the Mara.

"I'll send her your way," nodded Graine as he dashed past her, down a flight of stairs.

Graine shoved open the large gates of the King's Fortress, scaring the sleeping guards sitting outside of it.

Lief swung down from above, giggling like a school girl as he slid down a swaying rope.

"I beat you by a handful of minutes," laughed Lief.

"What are you talking about," huffed Graine, "I got down here first. Look, my feet are in the sand already."

"Oh, come on. I won. You know it."

Graine and Lief turned their attention to the sounds of sprinting. The fox-girl dashed off of the roof above them, landing onto the sandy floors beside them.

"Are your feet-uh paws-- paw-feet okay? That was a far drop." asked Graine with his jaw open wide.

"We must go, quickly." rushed the fox-girl, dashing towards the front gates of the Asla'ati settlement.

The two guards stood upright, looking at each other confused.

"Is that the princess?" they muttered, "Wait, stop right there!"

The fusion of Nawa and Corrin turned their attention to the guards, drawing her blade from the sheath hanging over her shoulder, while bearing her sharp teeth.

"No-no-no!" screeched Lief as he pulled the fox-girl away from the guards.

"Fire on her! It's a shapeshifter-demon!" commanded the confused guards, readying their bows.

Three piercing arrows launched towards the trio, whistling in the air.

Lief ducked with his arms blocking his face as Graine drew his sword ready for a fight.

With a twirl, the fox-girl deflected the speeding arrows mid-flight with her Aurana, sending them to the floor.

Lief and Graine quickly tugged at the girl, pulling her away from the fight.

"I thought you said we were in a rush," said Graine as he dragged her down the street.

The three dashed off into the bustling Asla'ati streets, losing the pursuing guards. The market streets were packed to the brim with fish merchants, local bonfire gatherings, shops and crowds of people.

The noises of the busy market streets made it impossible to hear much of anything.

The clanking of blacksmiths as they forged hot iron, dousing hot blades into barrels of cold water. Craftsmen shouting prices of their demon hides and crafted gear back and forth across the street. Food vendors, with delicious seared demon steak and rolls of fish and rice, wheeling their heavy wooden carts through the streets looking for hungry customers in the hectic crowded alleys.

"Only three Dol for coho salmon!" announced a shouting fish vendor as his cart full of fish pulled up in front of the trio, "Two Dol for a pink!"

The fox-girl slid to a halt, and turned towards the fish vendor, mouth-watering.

Graine and Lief turned to each other.

The fox-girl without hesitation grabbed hold of a handful of fish from out of the vendor's cart, smiling with glee.

"I think this might be the first time Nawa-Corrin has actually smiled," said Graine to Lief.

"Hey! You've got to pay for this! This isn't charity!" swatted the vendor with his long bamboo staff.

The fox-girl lowered her ears and placed a single fish back into the vendor's cart, while holding the rest close to her chest.

"How much Dol do we have?" asked the fox-girl, hiding behind the boys, with fish in hand.

Graine stared, his face expressionless.

"Are you gonna pay for that or not, girl!" shouted the angry fish vendor.

"Well, you are the princess..." answered Lief, "You've got lots and lots of Dol."

"Oh..." paused the girl with a confused expression.

The fox-girl approached the fish cart, grabbing the fish that she had placed back in the vendor cart and put in with the others tightly held in her arms, "So I can keep this one?"

The fox-girl looked at Lief, smiling.

"I think she wants you to pay," replied Graine, letting out a faint laugh.

Lief sighed as he handed over a small sack of Dol to the fish vendor. Graine looked over at the other street vendors, slinking away from the two to get some food for himself.

"That should be twelve Dol, sir." Lief said as the vendor tossed back the empty sack.

"Thank you, kindly!" smiled the vendor as he began to pull his cart down the busy streets.

"You owe me!" said Lief, pointing at the fox-girl, "That was my weeks earning of Dol."

The fox-girl chopped, tugging and pulling at the fish in her mouth, chewing and swallowing large portions at once.

"It's so good!" she exclaimed, shaking her tail and doing a little happy dance.

"You're suppose to cook it!" shouted Lief, "at least save some for me! It was my money after all!"

The fox-girl handed Lief a half-eaten salmon, missing most of its meat.

"You get that one," she pouted, unhappy to share.

"Just be glad you got any," smiled Graine as he returned with a tray of fresh fish rolls from a nearby street vendor, "And no, these are mine."

Lief crossed his arms and sat down in the streets. "Well, this isn't fair!"

"Welcome to life!" laughed Graine, "Get up, we have to get to the front gates."