"Hey, Luc. Snap out of it and help me carry this bag." The voice of a
middle-aged woman echoes sharply through the musty interior of the shop. The
owner of the voice is a broad-shouldred, tall woman, with muscular arms and
legs. Her eyes hide a mischevious glint, even when her face is contorted in a
stern expression.

Luc, a young, female Sileni with slender limbs and softer features looks away
from the caged bird that kept her concentration and turns to face the older
woman. "Yes mother." Luc carefully checks that her katana is carefully contained
within her scabbard before she crosses the room. She gingerly picks up one of
the sacks and looks at her mother. "These are quite heavy. What do they
contain?"

"Spices. We should get a good deal on them over in Sendan. There's going to be a
festival celebrating the marriage of Lord Krensh's eldest daughter in a week."

"Sendan? A week?" Luc raises an eyebrow questioningly. "The path there goes
through Calf. I don't think the barbarians there will allow us to pass
peacefully. Not after last time."

"True. I don't wish to risk a fight with them. It'd delay us far too much.
That's why we're travelling through the Jojatiim wilderness."

Luc carefully carries the large bag towards the exit, her movements graceful
even under such a heavy burden. "The Jojatiim? Just the two of us?"

"That's right. Oh don't give me that look girl. It'll be fun, and you've grown
very strong lately. The monsters shouldn't pose any problems."

"I guess..." Luc pushes open the door and waddles out, followed shortly by
Elizabeth. The two of them heave the bags onto a cart standing outside, before
Luc turns back to her mother. "It's not that I don't enjoy our adventures. It's
fun but... I don't know. I don't remember home anymore."

Elizabeth gives a loud, clearly annoyed, sigh. "Is that what this is about? The
road is our home now girl, and be happy for that. If we hadn't left, you'd be
spending each day dressed up in clothing too tight for you to breathe in.
Instead of sword play you would be learning wordplay in order to keep up the
appearance of being polite, when in truth, there is nothing polite about
aristocracy or royalty. I've said it before, and I'll say it as many times as it
takes. My daughter shall not waste her potential." Luc gives her mother a quick,
subdued nod. Elizabeth watches her daughter sternly, before she walks back into
the tradepost. "I've got a few more things to pack before we're ready to go. Why
don't you go find an alchemist or something. Our kegs are running low."

Luc waits until her mother has left the area, before she knocks upon the kegs
stored on the cart. She then picks up one of the kegs and walks down the street,
her back straight and eyes forward. It does not take her long to find an
alchemist shop. After haggling for a short while, she exits the shop with full
vials and a request to return later for the fully brewed keg.

With little else to do, Luc allows time to pass by wandering the streets of the
town. The town, named Brenost, is one of the bigger settlements near the border
of the Jojatiim wilderness. As a center of trade, several races pass through
here, making the population quite diverse, unlike almost all other settlements
with one or two, and in very rare circumstances three different races. This,
too, leads to more conflict, as different mindsets and cultures clash more
often. On her way through the city, she notices two large taurians, quarreling
with a very distraught lucidian. A frown creeps across her face as she strides
over towards them. As she gets closer, the situation gets tenser, and one of the
taurians delivers a vicious smack to the lucidian, knocking the crystalline
person down on his back. "I believe that's enough."

The two large taurians turn to face Luc. Although they are heads and shoulders
taller than her, she does not flinch, nor yield from their stare. "Don't get
involved in things that don't involve you girl." One of the taurians say with a
loud snort.

"I can not allow you to torment someone in such a manner, so yes it does involve
me if you continue to be violent towards him."

"Buzz off." The taurian responds with obvious disdain. "I ain't gonna warn you
again." The large man stares down at Luc, but she does not move an inch. Her
eyes gaze up at the taurian with calm defiance, and for a moment, the taurian
looks as if he's going to be the one backing off. In a mere few moments however,
his expression hardens again, and he attempts to slug Luc. Luc easily avoids the
attack however by turning to her side, allowing the fist to graze over the front
of her tunic. With quick motions, Luc uses one hand to grasp the wrist upon the
taurian and pull it forward and down, using the momentum from the attack to
knock the taurian off balance. She follows this up with placing a palm against
the back of the taurian and pushes downwards, knocking him prone before her.

The second taurian growls as he watches Luc knock his friend prone, and lunges
forward to attack her, but the young Sileni uses the same trick to knock him
prone as well. The first taurian pushes himself back up on his feet and glares
harshly at Luc, before he crouches down slightly and delivers shorter, faster
jabs towards her head. Luc easily avoids each blow, allowing the taurian to grow
frustrated, before she quickly pulls the katana from her scabbard, dodges under
his blows and strikes the taurian squarely in the stomach with the hilt of her
weapon, then resheathes the sword. As the taurian crouches forward from the
pain, she pulls her sword again, striking the hilt first on his throat, then on
his muzzle, and finally against the side of his head, resheating and pulling the
sword each time. The taurian falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes from
the onslaught, and his pal, having just gotten up on his feet, looks worriedly
at Luc as she pulls her sword fully from the scabbard and points the tip towards
the large cow. "I do not wish to fight a foe who is unarmed. Take your friend
and leave. Now."

His survival-instinct overpowering his feelings of humiliation and rage, the
taurian snorts angrily as he pulls his friend up in a standing position and
guides him away from Luc. "You'll pay for this woman. No one insults the honour
of a warrior and lives."

Luc does not respond to the threaths at all, instead keeping her sword firmly
pointed towards the brutes as they walk away. Once she is satisfied with the
distance, she sheathes her sword and turns towards the lucidian. She offers him
her hand and helps him up on his feet. "Are you well? They did not hurt you too
badly I hope."

"I'm... good I think." The lucidian responds as he climbs back on his feet. He
rubs his face gently and frowns. "I think they broke my nose."

Luc nods slowly and reaches down into one of the pockets upon her belt. She
pulls out a small yellow bud and chews it into a pulp, before she spits the pulp
out into her hand and begins to apply the mixture onto the face of the lucidian.
The man looks questioningly at Luc, prompting her to respond. "This is a flower
from the mountains south of Brenost. It should help speed up the recovery." Once
the pulp is evenly spread across his nose, she pulls out a vial from her belt
and pours a few drops of health potion onto the lucidian. "It may be a bit
uncomfortable, but it should heal cleanly."

"Th..thank you."

"You are welcome. May I ask why the taurians bothered you?"

"Ah. It was just a painful misunderstanding. I apparently said something that
they took to mean as an insult. I over-estimated their intelligence. A sad
affair really. But you. The way you handled them was simply beautiful. I have
never seen anyone fight with such elegance before."

Luc gives a very faint smile. "Ah. I do have a lot of practice with the art of
unarmoured self-defense. Incidents like yours happen fairly often, and I cannot
very well turn my back upon them. It is highly... oh nevermind. I should not be
keeping you anymore. Please, do be careful on your future journeys."

"I shall, miss..."

"You may call me Luc."

"Very well. Thank you again miss Luc. Now, if you will excuse me..." The
lucidian turns and rushes off, leaving Luc alone on the streets again.

"Heh. Miss Luc. Never been called that before." Luc gives a soft sigh as she
resumes her walk. The incident killed a little time, but she still has a while
before her order will be finished. Yet the remaining time passes with no
incidents happening. She returns to the alchemist to pick up the keg and strides
back towards the trading-post, where her mother awaits.

Upon arrival, she finds her mother chasing three teenager Aslaran away from the
wagon. "Come back here you little punks! I'll teach you not to try and steal
from Elizabeth the ferocious!" Luc watches as her mother catches up with the
slowest of the teens and starts shaking him vigorously while swearing
profanities into his face. The terrified aslaran nods eagerly and tries to
appease the furious woman with promises.

Luc waits for a few moments, allowing the scene to unfold, before she finally
gathers up her courage and walks over to her mother, placing a hand on her
shoulder. "Mother. That's enough. I think he got the point."

"Luc?!" Elizabeth turns towards her daughter and narrows her eyes. "Where have
you been? You're late!"

"Yes. I am sorry mother, but I had to wait for the alchemist to finish his job.
I've refilled our health keg though, so we should be good."

"Great. That's great." Elizabeth puts down the terrified Aslaran and glares
harshly at him. "Well, what're you waiting for? Get lost kid, and don't let me
catch you again."

The Aslaran rushes off, and Elizabeth walks over to the stable connected to the
trading post. Luc places the keg onto the wagon, before she climbs onto it
herself, where she waits for her mother to fasten their donkey to the wagon.
Once all the final preparations are done, Elizabeth climbs up onto the wagon and
spurs their old trusty into action.

"Oh, mom. I ran into some taurians today."

"Hmm? Barbarians from Calf?"

"Maybe. They sure acted like them. They were bullying a lucidian, so I had to
step in and teach them a lesson."

"Heh, that's my girl. And just think. You'd never be able to do this kind of
good if you were cooped up in a castle."

"Oh don't be so scared. I love adventuring with you. I just wonder how things
are going back at home sometimes."

"Oh, I'm sure everything is fine. If something was wrong, I'm sure they would be
coming for us to warn us."

---

"Yeah. Yeah, that's her. That's the little monster who attacked me three days
ago. Huh? Where they went? As if I know. Prolly out into the Jojatiim or
something..."