The king and queen do not look as old as the shaman, but they are older than the warriors. Now that I have more reference it would seem the warriors I encountered are rather young. I can't be entirely sure, but they are possibly just barely adults, which doesn't exactly make sense.

If they are that young, then they should have only just become warriors. Such new warriors shouldn't be tasked with guarding the borders of their territory, at least not without an older warrior to lead them. Now that I think about it the village was pretty much deserted, but I was distracted by the buildings.

As I look at the king and queen, they seem worried about something, and it isn't us. As the shaman is telling them why I am here they seem to be only half paying attention. As if something more important is weighing on their minds, my curiosity is tingling.

King says "Welcome, visitors."

"Greetings."

Queen says "What is it you want here?"

"I am here to help one of you evolve."

King says "Evolve? What do you mean?"

"As mana beasts you should be aware that you have cores and the cores have ranks, yes?"

Queen says "Of course! We are not as simple as you think!"

"At the request of Great Mother Wolf I am here to help one of you who has reached max rank evolve to the next level."

King says "Next level? What does that mean?"

"It means that instead of remaining a mana beast they will evolve into a sacred beast."

Queen says "What are the advantages of a sacred beast? And who is this Great Mother Wolf?"

"Great Mother Wolf is the sacred beast that rules the forest surrounding the human capital. As to the advantages of sacred beasts, they are stronger, more intelligent, and have longer life spans."

Queen says "While that sounds good, we have no interest in this evolution."

Shaman says "Your Majesty?!"

King says "The person you are looking for is not qualified to become a sacred beast at this time."

Queen says "We thank you for your offer, but it is of no interest to us. So, please leave our territory immediately."

"Very well, it isn't like I am going to force you to accept a blessing."

??? says "Mother, father, you can't do this!"

As I am turning to leave, another weasel comes rushing into the room, a young woman. Judging by what I have seen so far I would guess that she is just shy of adulthood. Upon her entrance both the king and queen show pained expressions on their faces.

King says "Windy, you have no business here! Return to your room!"

Queen says "Daughter, you are not yet of age, you have no say in this matter!"

Windy says "No! I will not just ignore this! I will not just sit around while you lead our people to extinction!!"

'Extinction? This is getting interesting!'

King says "Shut up! Do not speak of our people's matters before an outsider!"

Queen yells "Why are you still here? Leave!!"

Although I am seriously tempted to put the queen in her place, in the end I turn around and leave peacefully. Mounted on Lizzy I quickly ride out of the village and the weasels territory. However, as soon as we are outside their territory I have Lizzy stop.

Lizzy says "Why are we stopping?"

"Because my curiosity isn't satisfied."

Lizzy says "So are we sneaking back in?"

"No, we are waiting for Windy to catch up."

Lizzy says "That cute little furball that yelled at the royals? What makes you think she will come find us?"

"Yes, her. I think she will come because I saw desperation in her eyes. Whatever is going on she wants to find help but her parents aren't doing anything."

Lizzy says "Well, I guess it won't hurt to wait here for a bit and see if she shows up."

Ekard says "Mama, I'm hungry!"

"Alright, little one. What would you like?"

Ekard says "Stew!"

So while we wait to see if Windy comes to find us we sit down and have dinner. As soon as he is done eating, Ekard curls up in my lap and goes to sleep. He is absolutely adorable, even the cuteness of the weasels can't compare.

Lizzy says "Looks like you were right."

"Of course! Welcome, Windy, come join us."

Windy says "You knew I was coming? You waited for me?"

"Yes, I guessed you would come."

Windy says "We have never spoken, how could you know?"

"I saw your desperation earlier. Now, enough of that. Why don't you tell me what is going on?"

Windy says "Alright. We are not native to this area, we moved here before I was born. Prior to that we lived much further north from here."

"So, what made your people move south?"

Windy says "To avoid being exterminated by our enemies."

"Is it the same enemies you are fighting now?"

Windy says "Yes! How did you know?"

"The only reason to have such young warriors guarding the border is that all the older warriors are gone."

Windy says "That's true. There are barely a hundred of us left now."

"Are your people dead, or just captured?"

Windy says "Captured, but who knows how many have died so far."

"Why don't you tell me about this enemy of yours."

Windy says "They are beasts like us, yet they are more numerous than us and much more vicious. The reason they chased us south is because they find us to be delicious. To them, we are the best tasting things in the world."

"They captured your people to eat them?!"

Windy says "Exactly! We are unable to fight them, you are our only hope!"

"Why didn't you just move further south again?"

Windy says "Because then the humans would find out about us. The humans would hunt us for our fur!"

"Yet you speak the human language?"

Windy says "We have interacted with a few humans in the past. We know they aren't all bad, just most of them."

"Well, I can't really argue that. Alright, I will help you. Do you know where the enemy camp is?"

Windy says "Yes!"

"Alright, I will have to ask you to guide us there."

Windy says "No problem!"

"Oh, do you know why your parents were against me helping someone evolve?"

Windy says "Because, the one who is max rank among our people is my older brother. He was captured a few weeks ago."

"So, they couldn't tell me about him without admitting the situation you are in?"

Windy says "Right. To admit the situation would be to admit they are powerless."

"Well, let's just hope your brother hasn't been eaten yet."

Windy says "Can we leave right now?"

"Yes, let's go."