Of course, it wasn’t like their job was fully done. It was possible that the other Strangers would be alerted in some way to the fact one of their own was having problems, so Elise and Nalia were still alert, but the fairy still had her “radar”, so she would know about it if any of them were coming their way.

It took less than a minute for the foxkin to come into sight, jumping down from one of the nearby trees, similar to how she had done when they first saw her.

“You really did it.” Hiroka commented in slight wonder while walking up to them.

“Indeed.” Elise replied “Did you already ask for someone to come pick this guy up?”

“Yeah. It’s not gonna take long for them to show up, so you should probably find a way to get him ready for transportation.”

“Easily done.” Nalia replied.

Using a spell, she gathered up a few fallen branches and pieces of wood which were casualties from the previous fight and with a twist of her hand, fused them together into a single mass before shaping it into what was unmistakably a rope.

After that, she widened the hole where the elf was stuck just enough to send the rope inside and use it to tie his hands and feet together behind his back. That done, she finally pulled him out and left him lying on the ground.

“The rope has a small enchantment to make it harder to escape, but it will only last for a few hours, so you should secure him in that time.” Nalia explained “And the seal on his psychic powers should last for two or three days, which should be enough time to prepare your own methods for keeping them contained.”

“Pretty thorough.”

There were a few moments of silence after than, but then Nalia realized that Hiroka didn’t want to potentially give out information to the prisoner, so she did another small spell to create a boundary around the elf which would isolate him from the sounds outside.

Then the trio started talking:

“What do you think the people of the Alliance will do?” Elise asked the fox woman.

“First of all, they’re definitely not going to bring him anywhere close to central command.” She replied “He can easily be processed and then interrogated on one of the advanced bases. After that it will depend on what sort of information they get from him.”

“I wonder how long that will take.” Nalia said “Since our abilities have been confirmed with this, I don’t think our current bosses will be content with just leaving us idle until then.”

“Unless they want our help with whatever operation they might be planning to do in the near future.” Elise proposed.

Nalia agreed that was a possibility. Hiroka then decided to ask a question of her own:

“I didn’t see the whole fight, but from what I saw, you dominated him completely.” She began “So why did the fight last that long?”

“Why we didn’t start with a full offensive from the beginning? There were a few reasons.” Elise explained “The biggest was that we didn’t know his exact capabilities, so I wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to counter Nalia’s bombardment, or whether he’d have a way to escape or call for help fast enough to be a problem.

“Most importantly, there was a possibility he could take advantage of our lack of defense by attacking in a way we couldn’t prevent.” She continued “Turns out, he did have a hidden weapon, but I’m not sure if he’d have been able to guide it far enough and precisely enough to be a critical threat, given he would have had to do it while under heavy attack.”

Elise stopped for a moment to let Hiroka absorb her words, then continued “Besides that, we were also seeing if we could get some information, so Nalia’s first attacks were pretty gentle so he would have less of a sense of threat and would start to talk.” She shook her head “It didn’t pan out, he only asked who we were and then clammed up completely. He also also wasn’t saying anything useful after being captured, so Nalia just shut him up.”

“It seemed like he was going to use some foul language too. I didn’t wanna hear that.” The fairy commented.

“Yeah, probably.” Elise agreed “And the final reason why we didn’t go all out from the start was because I wanted Nalia to have more combat experience. Bombarding the enemy from long range might work on some fights, but not all of them. We need to be ready for more dangerous combats.”

Nalia nodded.

“I see.” Hiroka said. It was just two words, but they seemed to contain some quite complicated emotions.

+0+

The conversation went into lighter topics after that. The foxgirl carried most of it, telling the legend of how the ancestors of the tribes came to the Forest of Theremis, guided by an ancient spirit that offered their help in exchange for protecting the area for the following century.

“The oath has long since been fulfilled, but the tribes had grown to love this place, so we still remain here to this day.” She concluded “There haven’t been any tribes who left the forest… But a few have died out.” Her tone became solemn for a moment, but then she asked whether they wanted to hear the tales of her own tribe.

Both Elise and Nalia expressed their interest, but she had barely begun to speak when Nalia turned her head to the side and said “People are coming.”

It was clear that it wasn’t Strangers she was sensing, or her reaction would have been far more intense.

Hiroka focused on her hearing for a few moments and said “It’s the prisoner escort arriving.”

Her words were proven right soon after, when three other beastkin came into view, who were marching towards them at a decent pace. There were two short and stocky mole men and a tall, winged owl woman.

Hiroka moved forward a bit in order to receive them, and reported what she had witnessed to the trio while Elise and Nalia waited patiently. She didn’t go into detail about the conversation they had before, feeling like it wasn’t relevant.

That done, the two men walked up to the Stranger and one of them covered his head with a black cloth that had white symbols sown on it and let out a faint feeling of magic that Nalia’s senses could detect. The elf’s movements immediately stopped after that, showing that he was most likely unconscious.

The fairy noticed that the man had actually used magic of his own to activate that restraining measure, though it was quite subtle. She mentioned it to Elise, but neither of them planned to say anything about it. They had no reason to.

The woman of the trio approached Elise and Nalia instead, Hiroka following “Good tidings. I am Amara of the Mei tribe of owls.” She introduced herself. The duo introduced themselves in turn and then Amara got into the main subject “I have come here to ask if it would be possible for you to provide us with the method you have that can detect the Strangers. We are willing to pay for it, but if it is something you are not willing to share we will not insist.” She spoke diplomatically.

“Willingness to share isn’t really a problem, but…” Nalia begun her reply “The interface of the magic was built around drawing information into me specifically. Other fairies of my race are close enough to use it, but it would be difficult for anyone else. Although…” She was lost in thought for a second or two “I think there might be a workaround.”

“I am listening.” Amara said.

“Altering the interface itself isn’t impossible, but a full conversion would take several days of research and it would be specific to a single beastkin race.” Nalia continued “So I believe the best option is to strip it down to the basics. I can make the spell usable by any magic wielder at the cost of making it far less effective, but it wouldn’t lose much accuracy, just range.”

“Would it still have enough range to serve as early detection?” The owlkin asked.

“Definitely. I estimate that it would retain a range close to three-hundred meters.” Nalia replied “And it would only take a few hours to get it ready.”

“That’s acceptable.” Amara said “I’ll stay here and wait for it. I’m a magic user myself and was sent here because Hiroka’s report mentioned that the method you used was based on magic.”

“That’s fine.” Nalia said.

The woman went to talk to her companions about the situation and send them ahead with the prisoner, then sat down calmly next to a tree to wait while the fairy did her job and Elise asked Hiroka to continue with her story, while also keeping some attention on what Nalia was doing.

Everything was calm.

+0+

Like Nalia had promised, it only took a few hours for her spell modification to be complete. Still, it was enough that night had fallen by the time she finished.

“It’s done.” She said before flying up to Amara.

Nalia then manifested the spell formula in the shape of a circle of light inscribed with strange letters and symbols. The owl woman opened her hand and the circle flew on top of it, being caught by her own magic and allowing her to understand the spell.

Elise and Hiroka had walked close as well, so once it was done the former asked if there was anything else they wanted.

“Actually yes. First, take a look at this.” Amara said before pulling out a piece of parchment from her clothes that she unrolled to reveal that it was a map.

Specifically, it was a map of the Forest of Theremis, but it was absolutely filled with handwritten notes and marks. Elise didn’t know the language they were written in, but Nalia did and could tell her what they meant.

‘Those are notes about the areas of the forest that are under control of the traitors, as well as those containing resistance by the loyal tribes. They seem to be more rough approximations than exact measurements, though.’ She spoke via their bond.

“We would like to task you with a particular mission.” Amara spoke, placing her finger onto a particular spot on the map “This is the area where the traitorous bobcat tribe resides. They are the enemies closest to the main areas under control of the Alliance, so their movements are of significant concern, but they have very good senses, which makes it difficult for our scouts to approach undetected and gather information.”

“So you want us to do recon in your place?” Elise understood what she was getting at.

“Exactly. The bobcats are used to the smells of the other tribes, so they can perceive our presence from a long range. However, they are much less used to the smells of outsiders, so you’d likely be able to reach close enough to obtain information by using the same methods as what you did with that Stranger.” Amara said “And the fact you can detect those people from a long range makes this endeavor much less risky.”

“Yeah. Since that’s enemy territory, you’d have to worry about them suddenly popping up.” Nalia agreed.

“We are willing to provide you with this map as well as a communication stone, which you can consider to be work tools, and will not be counted as part of your payment.” She looked at her fellow beastkin “Hiroka will be unable to accompany you in this mission, but you’ll both have communications from central command to be able to reassemble as needed.”

The foxgirl nodded.

“One last thing.” Amara said “Bobcats senses are sharp enough for them not to be hindered too much by the darkness, and they are obviously more wary during the night, so I would suggest resting for now and only heading into the mission tomorrow morning.”

“That seems like a very reasonable plan.” Elise said. She looked at Nalia, who nodded back at her “We will accept this mission.” She replied to Amara.

“Excellent.” She handed Elise the map before pulling out a stone just like Hiroka’s and giving that as well “Hiroka can explain how to use it. Now I need to go back and deliver this formula to central command, so if you have nothing else to say…”

Both girl and fairy shook their heads, so Amara nodded and jumped into the air before flapping her wings and ascending into the dense foliage, disappearing quickly.

“Pretty good movement magic.” Nalia commented “I think it makes use of her natural traits to work like it does, but there’s definitely something there I can adapt for my own spells.”

“Nice. It’s always good when you find clear ways to improve yourself.” Elise replied.

Hiroka said nothing. She was already mostly used to the behavior of those two.

+0+

Nothing else of much note happened for the rest of the night. Hiroka showed her proficiency in fishing by quickly obtaining enough to serve as a meal for them, and she was even good at cooking them (lighting the fire inside of a hole to prevent its light from attracting unwanted attention). The contractor and her partner enjoyed it a lot and made sure to thank her. The foxkin also showed them how to use the communication stone as promised.

After that Nalia started researching Amara’s movement magic with Elise’s support, but it was something that would take days, if not weeks. They hadn’t made much progress by the time the girl decided it was time to go to sleep. Nalia used her magic to clean both of them (Elise had yet to use her tech-bath even once), set down her alarm spells and flew into the sleeping bag they shared.

Their sleep was peaceful and uninterrupted, and the two woke up shortly after sunrise.

“Breakfast’s ready.” Hiroka called out from nearby upon seeing them standing up.

The two went to her, Nalia sitting down on Elise’s shoulder and they let out identical sounds of “oohhh” when they saw the food.

Besides having cooked fish like the previous day, Hiroka had also prepared edible roots and even sliced fruits, all presented on top of clay plate. It was probably the closest one could get to a fancy meal under the current circumstances, and she had definitely woken up before sunrise to prepare it.

“It’s so good!” Elise exclaimed. The previous day’s dish had already been pretty good, but their current meal was even better than what they had been eaten back in the fairy village, let alone the food they had while on the move.

Nalia’s mouth was too full to talk, but she let out a few noises to express her agreement.

Hiroka smiled in satisfaction “You should see what I can do with the proper ingredients and tools.” She said proudly.

“Then let’s have a meal together once everything is solved.” Elise said before going right back to eating.

“It’s a promise.” The fox woman replied.

+0+

After eating, the duo didn’t waste any time. They said their goodbyes to Hiroka and headed forth towards their target village. Nalia once again used her stealth and scouting spells, though she was using more passive forms of scouting (mostly just increasing her own senses) in order to reduce the chances that her magic could be sensed by others.

A more subtle version of the movement spell allowed the two to make pretty quick progress in their route and of course Nalia maintained her ‘Stranger Radar’ to make sure there would be no nasty surprises from that direction.

As they headed closer, Elise and Nalia increased their carefulness, slowing down their pace and changing their trajectory slightly to avoid clearings. Soon enough after that they began to hear others moving around nearby, and had to change their path even further to stay away from them.

Such situations became more and more common, eventually leading to a moment where the duo was forced to hide underground for a bit because there enough beastkin nearby to make moving around inadvisable.

‘This is annoying. Have we been detected?’ Nalia spoke through their bond, since they had a limited supply of air and she didn’t want to waste it.

‘They have definitely detected an unknown smell, but they can’t be certain of what it is, so there’s no full scale search going on.’ Elise replied ‘They would be able to sense Hiroka’s smell from us if they got close enough to talk though, so we really can’t afford to show ourselves.’

‘I really want to develop a spell that could hide our smell.’

‘It would be good for those sorts of situations, but from what I know it’s really hard to do that sort of thing, so that would be a long term project.’

‘I guess that’s another one for the pile.’ Nalia actually sounded slightly eager at that.

Thankfully enough, it didn’t take very long for their interlopers to leave, so the duo didn’t end up needing to risk creating an air passage. They made their way back to the surface and kept heading onward.

There were a few more relatively close encounters after that, but none that were as dangerous as that one, and they managed to reach their goal. The enemy village was on sight.

Elise and Nalia hid themselves inside a small hole and used another mirror spell to observe while avoiding as much risk as possible. They stayed there for a few hours, Nalia taking notes of the movements to and from the village, as well as what they could see going on inside it.

Nothing of much significance happened during that time, or at least nothing that the duo could tell was significant. No Strangers came anywhere close either. Eventually Elise decided that they were not going to get anything else out of their recon, so she took out the communication stone and reported on everything they had made note of before burying the stone to send the message.

They waited there for a response, in case there were anything else they could do there, but when the message came back, it said the equivalent of ‘Good work. Please head back and join back up with Hiroka.’

The journey back was slightly easier, as they still had to move around a lot to avoid others, but didn’t get into another critical situation. They were heading to a part of the forest that the message had indicated as Hiroka’s position (which had a notable arrangement of trees to serve as a landmark) thus their route back wasn’t the same, which might have been a factor.

The foxkin seemed relieved to see them back, and after their greetings she spoke about the order she had received some time before:

“Apparently they got some important information from the prisoner, which was further corroborated by your intel on the village. I’m not sure of the specifics, but apparently they are going to execute a major operation in two days, and they want your support for that.” Hiroka said.

“So that means we have time off?” Nalia asked playfully.

“I think so. Anything you might do at this point could change the situation enough to interfere with their plans for the operation.” Hiroka replied. She knew that they were definitely capable of some major upheavals.

“I wonder what we should do in the meantime…” Elise spoke thoughtfully, then decided “I want to see more of the forest. There’s some places in the map that I’m curious about and should be safe enough to visit.”

Hiroka and Nalia voiced their agreement and thus the plan was made. But none of those present there at the time could have imagined what that simple decision would lead to.