************Emily POV************

It didn’t take long for Jessica and Emily to become better acquainted. Two weeks into their relationship they were practically inseparable with how often Jessica came to visit her.

On one of these days, Analicia had trailed along to see Emily. It was the first time Emily had seen her since the day she had been given the dress, so when she saw the girl she immediately grew shy.

“You haven’t come to the village in a long time! Did we chase you away?” She asked as she sat down at the table and accepted the cup of tea Ron offered her.

“No, I just haven’t really had the need to go down there. Gardening and my training has been taking up my time lately,” Emily said as she joined her at the table. Even though she didn’t have a place to train like back at the guild, she hadn’t lightened up in the least on building strength and magic.

“Why would you need to train here? There are no enemies to fight, unless you count Fliour,” she giggled. Ron glanced up at her name, but Emily didn’t seem fazed.

“She’s no enemy of mine. She seems like she’d be a nice person if she wasn’t so…” Emily trailed off to find the right word.

“Threatening? Scary? Protective?” Jessica added. Emily shrugged and picked up her cup to take a sip.

“Maybe threatening, but she certainly isn’t scary. I’ve battled stronger people than her, but I just don’t want to hurt her. Broken hearts can deal great damage to the soul before it begins to heal,” Emily said simply.

The two girls nodded sadly but forced their moods back up and smiled once more. The first to stand up was Analicia, who gave a small flick of her hand and produced a needle out of the air.

“Let’s move onto a topic more exciting, such as making you something you can wear on a daily basis and won’t get...well, torn as easily as your clothing does now,” she said with a giggle. Emily looked down at her shirt and noticed the rips along the fabric.

“Well, I can just sew it up and continue using it. I’m not much of a fashion person, I just go with what’s comfortable,” Emily explained.

Analicia didn’t seem to be pleased with that answer. She tapped her foot impatiently before she stood up and pulled Emily to her feet. Without missing a beat, she lifted her arms out straight and took out a piece of string that she used to wrap around Emily’s chest and stomach.

“Alright, I have my measurements. Ron, I’m taking Emily and Jessica with me to town! I’ll bring her back when I’ve finished my work, so don’t worry about her!” Analicia said as she turned and walked out of the house. Jessica pulled Emily along with a smile.

Emily looked behind her and mouthed ‘help me’ to Ron as she was dragged out. He only grinned and waved bye to her as she was pulled out the door. He was picking up a book as she lost sight of him.

The three girls walked side by side talking about simple things that Emily had never seemed to have time to notice, such as the way the light trickled to the forest floor through the leaves of the trees and the sound of the wind as it carefully brushed through.

“It’s so...peaceful here,” Emily sighed happily. The other women looked at her and giggled, but Analicia froze almost in the same instant and glanced around.

“Not as peaceful as you may think,” she hissed in a low tone. Jessica stopped walking and slowly turned around to see what it was that caused her to pause.

“It’s been a good month since we’ve had one of those things manage to get here. I haven’t had a nice battle since that time we went swimming last summer,” Jessica giggled. Analicia seemed to not hear, but instead started to clench and unclench her fists as they started to change into what looked like claws.

“Whether or not it’s been awhile, we need to kill it now before any of the villagers can be harmed,” she said seriously as her skin started to change shape with her hands. Emily watched in awe as what looked like scales grew all along her skin, starting from her hands to her arms, then down to her legs.

“Oh, have a little bit of fun Analicia. You know you enjoy this kind of thing,” Jessica teased as she clenched her hands into a fist and prepared herself. Emily had to concentrate to realize there were a few roggolets, a kind of bird creature that likes to prey on smaller, weaker creatures.

Emily was more amazed that the roggolets had managed to fly this far out to the island, it didn’t seem like a place they would be drawn to. As the giant birds circled overhead, blocking out light from shining down through the trees, Emily called her own magic to her hands and held them above the three women.

“What’s that supposed to do?” Jessica asked, but before Emily could answer the four birds that were hovering above them had swooped down and attacked.

To the shock of the birds, the shield Emily had created caused them to bounce right off like rubber.

Analicia stared for a few seconds before she burst out laughing from relief and amusement.

“Now that was something unexpected! I wanna see that again,” She giggled as she wiped tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.

Emily did not manage to cause harm to the creatures, but she did make them angry. As the large animals shook themselves off and flapped their wings in anger, Analicia made the first move and burst forward at a speed that turned her into a blur.

The roggolets were still slightly dazed by the shield, so the first one was killed quickly. Analicia cut its throat with ease while reaching for the next bird.

At this point, the last four realized what was happening. The biggest one struck out with its claws while the others took to the sky and circled overhead. Emily once again created a shield but captured the birds in the bubble. They bounced around in a state of confusion before they all clawed each other to death.

Analicia was still dealing with what looked like the pack leader. Since the other ones were freakishly easy to kill, Emily stepped forward and ran behind the last roggolet while she gathered up energy. Before she could even begin to attack, Analicia gave a roar and clapped her hands together.

Both Emily and the roggolet were thrown to the ground by the pulsations Analicia had given out. The bird was thrown against Emily, but it was knocked out.

“The others were stupid, but this male seems to be much stronger and more intelligent than the other roggolets that had come with him. If it wasn’t for that damn rose bush, we wouldn’t have this issue,” Jessica sighed in relief.

Emily pushed the roggolet off as she crawled out from under it. The animal was huge, almost twice as big as her. It took all her strength just to manage to get it off her body, but as she stood to her feet she could see blue blood streaming from its nose on the beak of the creature.

“Why does the bush attract them?” Emily asked as she knelt next to it. It was still alive, but sickness was wafting from the body.

“Well, you know that when they hit a certain age they all become deathly sick from their cores becoming weakened. If they manage to get to the roses, they practically become immortal. It would be too dangerous if they were to be healed, for they grow incredibly hard to kill as well. This one probably brought those four with it to help it gain the rose, but he failed,” Jessica explained as she walked towards it with her knife.

She reached down to cut its throat, but Emily reached up and caught her wrist before it touched the bird.

“No, not this one. I...I want to keep him. He’s strong and would be a good companion,” she said. Jessica and Analicia both looked at her as if she was crazy.

“It’s deadly! If it escapes somehow, it will go on a killing spree!” Analicia finally cried. Emily nodded in understanding as she waved her hand over the roggolet.

“I know it is, but I won’t let it go free. For now, I’ll take care of it and if it gets too out of hand then I will do the deed. For now, give him a chance,” Emily begged. Analicia gave her a look before she glanced back at Jessica for guidance. She only shrugged in reply.

“Fine, but it’s all on you and not us,” she finally agreed. Emily grinned and waved her hand over the creature and created a net of darkness and light magic. The bird was strong physically, but Emily was stronger magically. The three girls canceled their trip to the village and started walking back to the cabin to build a cage for the roggolet.