The next day saw the Wyldwalkers awake later than usual, the events of the night before having taken much out of them. Niko and Skye staggered out of their rooms, moving into the meal hall in hopes that food was present, or lacking that, could be made so shortly.

Anya and Sasha were already present, and Niko’s tired mind forced itself to at least a modest fraction of wakefulness at the sight of them. They paused in talking, and Niko could tell from Sasha’s face that she was simultaneously exhausted, and stressed, an expression that was also present on Anya, though buried beneath an experienced and professional veneer that only flagged for a moment upon seeing Niko and Skye.

“Good morning,” Niko lightly cawed to them, even as he heard the shuffling sounds of others down the hall behind them.

“Good morning,” Anya smiled lightly, glancing at the window pointedly, “Though, perhaps good afternoon would be more accurate.”

“Perhaps,” Skye scoffed, showing it was in good humor only by the light smirk that played across her face. Over the next minute, the others filtered in, taking seats and exchanging fatigued greetings, until finally Anya spoke up.

“My daughter has told me that she has joined all of you.” It was a statement more than anything else, though that alone made Niko sit a little straighter. “For the record… I’m not against it.”

“You’re not?” Sasha blurted out, wide eyed and shocked beside her mother.

“Child, do you think I became this powerful by sitting beneath the wings of my parents?” Anya smiled gently, “I expected you to eventually find your own way. This isn’t… precisely what I had in mind, but it’s not the worst choice you could have made.”

“Pretty good one, in my opinion,” Niko grumbled under his breath, before clicking his beak shut as Anya looked directly at him with a raised eyebrow.

‘Yep, I forget that these high tiers have really good hearing.’ Niko chided himself mentally.

“I won’t say something arrogant like ‘protect my daughter’, but I will ask that you all treat her well. I know little of the inner workings of the pilgrimage, but from what little I do know, my ignorance may be more of a boon than not. In any case, that is not why I’m visiting all of you this morning, though it is important to me.” She settled back on her haunches, and in a quieter tone said, “And it would have been good to know about before the decision was made.”

“I said I was sorry,” Groused Sasha in a petulant tone. Niko pointedly looked away as Anya’s brows furrowed at her daughter. Sasha cleared her throat and sat attentively then, the very picture of an obedient child.

“Anyways.” Anya moved on without so much as a sigh, “Of the locations given, only one has no Dawr presence currently occupying it. It seems that the encampment that the information was retrieved from has been repositioned. We’ve yet to find them, but that is of little matter.”

“How did you find them all so fast?” Skye blinked rapidly, “It was hard enough even finding a way to get back up here.”

“This is our home; of course that means we know many things about the titanwoods. That said,” She nodded to the group in thanks as she spoke, “If it weren’t for the map, we wouldn’t know where to devote effort to delve down beneath the canopy.”

Ronald frowned, “Besides that, isn’t not being able to find an entire enemy camp a big deal?”

Anya shrugged, a look utterly out of place on the normally regal sabrecat, “With the planned attack, we intend on disemboweling the rest of the camps. If there is only one force left of Dawr… well, it would be quite lacking to threaten Riizen.”

Niko blinked at that, before following along with the logic. If they were able to attack the other camps first, then it wouldn’t matter if one force was left unharmed. They were a threat only because there were so many of them, and that they’d had the advantage of surprise. An advantage that no longer existed.

“You mobilized quite quickly.” Niko observed, “Are you all already in position to attack them?”

“We already have,” The Matriarch shook her head, “Or, to be more specific, it should be happening as we speak.”

The room went quiet then, with even Sasha appearing surprised. While Niko was no expert on things like military action, this seemed…

“That’s fast.” Dachna commented mildly, “Is that normal? It seems like that should take more time.”

“The Greenscale and Rava Clans are… enthusiastic, when it comes to the defense of the city.” She shook her head, “They will strike the camps with small but elite groups, doing as much damage and causing as much chaos as possible while Karrak and his Citrine Clan create defensive chokeholds where they can fall back to. It isn’t our first time dealing with an attack, though admittedly one of this size is unique.”

Niko nodded at that, impressed, but he could feel something in his gut telling him that things weren’t going to be so easy. Judging by the looks on his companions’ faces, he guessed he wasn’t the only one thinking such.

“In any case, I must go and join the rest of the clan heads. News will be sent later of our progress, but we don’t require any assistance as of yet, and hopefully we won’t call upon our reserves.” Anya rose after giving her daughter a lick up the side of her head, much to Sasha’s annoyance.

“Ah, yes. I’ve also asked Ottowan to allow the use of the guests' feast hall. Sasha will know which one. I suspect the bounty in essence rich food you have will provide quite the boon for all of you.” Having said her parting piece, Anya left the room with thanks and farewells uttered after her.

No one moved for a time, before Ronald simply stood up, “Well, I guess now is as good a time as any. Sasha, would you lead the way?”

The cat chuffed, before stretching and standing, “Certainly. I look forward to seeing what you found in the forest before.”

Niko took a look at the packs he still had on him. “Hopefully that big lizard can’t find these from this far away.”

“Don’t jinx us.” Skye and Mithel said at once, to which Niko only gave a lilting cry and knocked on wood a few times in jest.

“Perhaps saving some as a weapon would be appropriate,” Sasha joked aloud, “If it would summon the lizard against your enemies.”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Mithel thought aloud, “I mean, it wouldn’t work if it wasn't nearby, but maybe I could make a concentrate.”

“Please be careful with it,” Niko said seriously, “That thing was terrifying.”

“Work on a dispelling agent first.” Skye matched Niko’s tone, “I do not want that thing chasing us if you spill anything.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure it’ll be f—” She began, only for Dachna to gently, but firmly, put his hand across her mouth.

“Do not finish that sentence. I’m the only one that’s allowed to jinx us.” Dachna’s eyes dance with mirth.

Mithel roped her arms around his arm, and hung off of him, but said nothing aside from the wide smile on her face.

The newly expanded Wyldwalkers made their way to the feast hall, intent upon devouring an enriching meal and decidedly not thinking about the previous owner of the ingredients.

However, the meal was so delicious that Niko almost wanted to find more of the lizard’s hideaways.

‘Almost.’ He thought to himself with amusement, ‘I think we have enough of a grudge forming against us from it as is.’

—----------------------------------------

Ronald had ensured that he was able to cook the mushrooms that Skye and Niko had found, and now was preparing for a true feast for the group. The succulent scent of cooking food filled the hall, the sizzle of mushroom steaks, the burble of mushroom stew, and the slow and steady baking of chicken stuffed mushrooms in an oven all competing for the best scent. It was mouthwatering, to say the least.

‘It’s not going to go quite as far with a group this big…’ Niko mused, looking around at their newly expanded group, ‘Well, it’s going to a good cause, at least.’

Much of their stock was being prepared for various meals, though not all of it was being cooked right then. That said, Mithel had taken aside some samples in order to test them out, having been struck with inspiration on what to make of it. Niko knew that she was going to be trying to create a lure potion for their lizard “friend”, though he was doubtful that they’d ever really see it again. He did feel at least a little bad for the creature, considering they’d looted its farm, but he couldn’t bring himself to fully regret it while sitting amidst the aromas that filled the air now.

The distraction didn’t last long, though, as Niko contemplated how quickly Riizen was moving to counteract the Dawr Goblin threat. It was impressive, of course, that they’d mobilized overnight, but that in itself was what bothered him.

Finally, he looked up, finding Sasha nearby, basking in the smells of cooking food with her tail flicking side to side excitedly. He smiled at that, but it didn’t deter him from the question he needed to ask. “Sasha, if Riizen can mobilize this quickly, why were the Massacre Hornets ever a problem?”

The sabrecat blinked at that, seemingly confused for a few seconds before recognition dawned in her eyes, “Ah, yes, I see why that might be confusing. If it were a normal situation, then, yes, we would have certainly been able to handle it. That’s why it was so frustrating that we weren’t doing anything directly at the time.”

“Was it because the hive wasn’t actually in your lands?” Stella asked while chopping vegetables next to Ronald.

Sasha’s tail paused mid-air as she made a chuffing sound that Niko couldn’t quite identify, “Well, at first that was definitely the issue. The Beast Mountains take territory lines very seriously, since any movements out of one could mean an impending attack. It hasn’t happened here in Riizen since before my generation, but I’ve heard that they can be… brutal.”

Niko nodded to that, equating the various beast mountains to city-states that were constantly on alert for their neighbors. He didn’t know what valuable resources could be found on the various mountains, but it’d be naïve to assume that they were all the same. Especially given the spatial shenanigans that Riizen had. If every mountain was larger when you were actually standing on it, then that in itself would be another layer of potential resources.

"You said at first?" Mithel piped up from her workbench, her eyes not leaving a concoction that she was currently mixing.

Sasha nodded, “Then the Envoy of the Forest came.” The sabrecat seemed reverent in tone at the mention of the Starlit Deer. “It gave a prophecy that only further confused the clans. Which is when I decided to take things into my own paws.”

“And mine,” Thokk added, rumbling a chuckle, “Considering your ability to get yourself into trouble.”

“Yes, and you of course,” Sasha pointedly ignored the second part of his statement, “But, in any case, you and Greenleaf took care of it, and now here you are.”

“Who ended up defending against the hornets, though?” Niko tilted his head, “They certainly weren’t attacking us all of the time.”

Sasha tilted her head to Thokk, “The Albedo Clan took care of any of the scouts that went deeper into the mountain, but the Rava Clan has many forces of their own in the outskirts. There were skirmishes, but the hornets never found abundant enough food sources to draw the attention of the larger hive. The Greenscale Clan was probably responsible for that, either by obscuring prey or simply herding them away from the frontlines. I’m certain that eventually the hive would have grown in size enough that they would have sent more scouting parties deeper by necessity, but that hadn’t had the chance to occur.”

Satisfied with her answers, Niko nodded and considered the information. It did make sense, and he figured that had the hornets begun to grow in earnest, then Riizen would have been forced to make a move. Considering they had many times more tier five entities than Greenleaf did, Niko wasn’t sure he could have even called it a fight. Then again, with how rapidly the hornets grew, and the troublesome ability the queen had to sacrifice the colony to empower herself, who knew how it would have truly ended up.

‘The Massacre Hornets, the Dawr Goblins, and the Memory Thief…’ Niko pondered the presence of the three closely, ‘Are they connected, or just coincidental? Is the pilgrimage responsible, or is something else happening?’

He couldn’t answer that question. Niko wanted to blame Bant, but he couldn’t see how the hornets nor the thief would have been beneficial to him. Certainly the hornets could fit with his modus operandi, but the Memory Thief didn’t. And, that aside, Niko didn’t believe that the hornets were interested in anything other than their own hive.

The sound of clapping broke him from his musings, with Ronald calling out, “Alright everybody, food is done!”

With a chirp, Niko shook himself from his fugue, bringing himself to a long table beside Skye and Charlotte. The spider was looking much shinier even than before, her green sheen of gem-colored fur no less shiny than his own effervescent feathers. Niko fluffed up his feathers, taking a moment to admire his own plumage in the light.

‘Ah, to be clean again,’ Niko trilled out happily, before realizing what he was doing. He awkwardly stopped examining himself, head swinging around to see if anyone had noticed.

And realized that Charlotte was watching the display with her pedipalps pulled closer to her face in an expression that Niko didn’t know.

“Ah, I, well, I was just checking myself over…” Failing to find a decent excuse, Niko finished lamely with a cough.

Charlotte bobbed her body, eyes still not leaving him.

‘Oh, wait,’ He realized she wasn’t embarrassed with his display, she was just admiring his feathers too. Probably.

Before he could think better of it, he fluffed his feathers out again, letting them glint ever so slightly in the light. Charlotte’s pedipalps tapped together excitedly, like she was clapping, and her fuzzy antennae wiggled enthusiastically.

Happy for the attention, Niko twisted and showed off his various patterns, ‘Yeah, just so. This is a pretty good pose. Oh~ I like the way the light plays off of my tail feathers here.’

Niko imagined Charlotte to be similarly giving a commentary while bobbing her body and following his motions. Before he realized it, she began to emulate him, though she couldn’t very easily see any parts of her body like he could. Still, he began giving her a play by play as well.

“Ohh, that pose looks menacing, but also really cool,” Niko commented on one, before Charlotte moved to another, “That one really brings out the color on your legs.”

“You guys seem to be having fun.” Skye smiled brightly, “Are you comparing your coloration?”

“N-no,” Niko coughed embarrassedly, “We’re just admiring each other, not competing.”

“Friends!” Charlotte added in, bobbing her body as if to nod vigorously.

“Well, the foods coming in, better eat up. I figure we might be able to advance to the next tier with this.” Skye looked eagerly at the meal, hungry beyond just simple sustenance.

Niko couldn’t blame her, and as he looked around the room, he suspected the rest of the Wyldwalkers, including their newest members, were likewise anticipating a breakthrough. The Great Eye had set them very close to the edge, something that seemed intentional, though Niko wasn’t sure if that was to limit just how much it was placing on the scales in their favor.

Admittedly, the two jobs that it had for them were much larger than any group, but Niko was confident in trying. Being tier three would make their chances much better, in any case.

“How did you say it, Mithel?” Ronald called as he started plating food and passing it around, “Bon appetite?”

Mithel chuckled, “Close, it’s ‘Bon Appétit’, but that wasn’t bad.”

Niko would have followed up with a quip of his own, but when his plate was set in front of him all other thoughts evacuated post haste. ‘Ohhh that smells good. No wonder why that lizard was so upset!’