Danika made a detour in one of the villages when she spotted the traveling merchant. She zipped over to him and he called out a warm greeting as usual as she drew close, "Good afternoon ZipZing! You look like you're in a good mood."

Danika smiled and as MatchlessMinion followed her into the village square, she asked the merchant, "Do you know if we would find more boats for hire on the coasts closer to the centaur capital or to the elven capital?"

The traveling merchant replied cheerfully, "There are many more port towns in the elven lands. Centaurs are rarely nautically inclined. There are still a few port towns along the coast beyond the centaur plains, but they are often predominantly goblin villages. The goblin territories have grown quite dangerous for novices of other races lately, so I would recommend that you keep to the east if you must visit the northern ocean."

Danika frowned and wondered if turning the three goblins into cats had been a mistake. She didn't expect a useful answer, but asked anyway, "Do you know what's happening with the Nadias lately?"

The traveling merchant shrugged and replied, "It seems to be related to the unseasonal snowstorms in the north this summer."

Since that was basically what the event notice had said, Danika simply smiled and replied, "Thanks!" She zipped back to MatchlessMinion and they hurried onward.

MatchlessMinion said, "Asking the merchant seems like cheating."

"He didn't say anything about the Nadias that the event didn't," Danika pointed out.

--

When they reached Fogton, the human capital, Danika sent a message to Logical Heart who had come online while they traveled. The contract had already come due, but he hadn't contacted her.

The little grey bird returned a moment later and for a moment Danika wondered if her message had been undeliverable, but she took the message and read: "Um, if you want to complete the contract right now we can, but I think I can improve it if you give me another few days? Can we complete it after the Christmas event? The system can see that I have a finished stone and that you have enough coin, so it won't take any action on the contract unless one of us activates it."

Danika replied: "Sure, that's fine."

Shrubbery, MatchlessMinion and ZipZing passed through the portal to Tamworth, the elven capital, a little bit later.

Danika flinched as the elves nearby turned to gaze at the little party and pointed and talked to each other in elven, but none of them made any hostile movements and the few words her language skill translated for her were things like, "unusual", "strange", "fairy", "furry", and weirdly enough, "dryad", which Danika was fairly certain had never been spoken during her last visit.

After some confusion as Danika tried to communicate with the elves, MatchlessMinion announced, "My sister says 'port city' sounds like 'cu osto' in elvish, try that."

Danika repeated the phrase and her language skill changed the sounds a little but the elves nodded and discussed a bit among themselves. One of them actually drew a small map and handed it to Shrubbery.

The words on the little map were all in elvish, but there were recognizable landmarks. The coastline matched the game map fairly well and the tail of the dragon range that swept its curve around the elven territory. There were six dots along the coast and the elf had added stick figure boats beside each dot.

The elf who'd drawn the map tapped the thick line that connected the big circle that was probably Tamworth to the closest coastal dot, and beckoned to Shrubbery. Shrubbery looked at Danika with an uncertain expression. The elf walked a little ways and then turned and beckoned again, and repeated a word that Danika's skill translated as, "come."

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Danika said, "We should try following," and led Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion down the path after the elf. The elf took them to a living gateway formed by entwined trees where a broad path exited the city. Danika said, "Thank you," as she zipped onward.

The elf waved cheerfully as the party left, and MatchlessMinion asked suspiciously, "What if it's tricking us?"

Danika squinted at the sky and replied, "I'm pretty sure we're heading northeast, so unless you mean like into an ambush, it should be ok?"

--

Shrubbery could not travel as quickly as Danika or MatchlessMinion, but when she tried to apologize, MatchlessMinion told her firmly, "It's a holiday, we don't have to get up early, there's no rush."

Shrubbery asked, "Are you off tomorrow too ZipZing?"

Danika shook her head but added quickly, "No, but I'll be doing the same job I've been doing all week and I don't have to talk to anyone or be presentable, so it's ok if I'm short on sleep."

"You don't need to push yourself either," MatchlessMinion scolded. "We've got three days, this is just the first night."

"I wonder if we could carry you after you go to sleep?" Shrubbery speculated.

"I don't know," Danika replied with a shrug.

"If we're not to the coast before you're supposed to sleep, or when you're feeling too tired, let's try it," Shrubbery decided.

"Ok," Danika agreed, but she didn't expect the journey to take that long since the distance between the elven capital and the coastline in the game map looked similar to the distance between the human capital and Oliva. The only problem would be if they ran into trouble along the way.

They passed through a rolling landscape that changed gently from low grassy hillocks to deep forest and back again. Here and there they saw traces of logging as they passed through the forests that showed that not even elven lands had been safe from the goblins recently. Unlike the roads and paths through human territory, there were no elven towns or villages on the path, although occasionally there were paths that branched off beside stone markers with elaborate elven script, that often had small interesting gardens planted around them.

As night fell it began to snow, and MatchlessMinion said, "Ok, it said unseasonal storms and all, but I was expecting light fluffy holiday snow."

"Yeah," Danika agreed with a shiver that made her bring up her menus and check her health, which was full.

Danika struggled against the increasing wind until MatchlessMinion demanded, "Just let one of us carry you ZipZing!"

"If you ride on Match you'll be warmer," Shrubbery pointed out, "he's so fluffy and furry. His character was constantly losing health in the heat when we went south, so it should do great in this."

Danika landed obediently on MatchlessMinion's head, and sighed as her little feet sank into his warm fluffy fur. She asked Shrubbery worriedly, "What about you, are you losing health because of the cold?"

Shrubbery laughed and replied, "I'm half tree so I'm fine anywhere a tree can live, but I am becoming slower I think. I'm kind of like a cold blooded animal I guess?"

MatchlessMinion removed his cloak and handed it to Shrubbery. "I know it'll barely be a cape on you," he said gruffly, "but silk is a good insulator."

Shrubbery only hesitated a moment before accepting it. After she put it on she did seem to walk a little faster.

Danika's feet and belly were comfortably warm against MatchlessMinion's head and even the ordinary animals that they'd caught glimpses of now and then seemed to have vanished with the onset of the storm. After awhile Danika accidently fell asleep.

--

When her alarm woke her up, the first thing she did was log in to check her messages. She huffed a laugh. ZipZing was alone in an obviously elven town that rose elegantly along a cliff beside a small bay full of small ships with their sails tightly furled. The storm, or another storm lashed everything with spatters of sleet.

MatchlessMinion's messenger animal was a sleek grey cat that matched his chinchillamin's fur. Danika had half expected a dog to contrast with his sister. It carried a fat message that read: "Don't worry! We made it to the coast before your avatar timed out. And I found an innkeeper who speaks the common tongue, who was willing to translate for a small fee, and Shrubbery and I have already arranged a ship for tomorrow evening (in real time). And warm clothes for us all (we got you a handkerchief to wear as a cloak). We're going to sleep in this morning! See you when you get off work!"

Danika replied, "Ok," and added the local time for when her shift would end.

Aishin's little bat delivered a note that said: "I can play a bit this afternoon, and maybe again really late to hunt more of these Christmas Karma goblins. Let me know where to meet up if you can play then?"

Danika wrote a quick reply explaining a little guiltily that the rest of the party had gone north and her plan was to try to sail to the Nadia city.

SaltySiamese's cat delivered a note that exclaimed: "My brother told me about your plan to sail north! You guys should just join us in our assault on the great goblin fortress! It says that you have to travel beyond the goblins! You'll probably be blocked somehow from going straight there!"

Danika's last reply was simply: "Thanks for worrying about us! We'll find out if you're right."

She logged out and started her day.

Aishin sent her a reply sometime during the afternoon that said: "You're surprisingly daring! Don't die, use the things I gave you if you need to."

--

When Danika logged in that night, MatchlessMinion and Shrubbery were waiting, and the air was still and warm in the dawn light. She looked around in surprise and asked, "The storm stopped?"

MatchlessMinion replied quickly, "It's temporary, apparently the storms have all begun in the evening and died down toward the end of the night. Let's hurry to our ship! They say it will take a full day to sail to the Nadia capital and they'll land wherever they can if the storm catches us first."

"I thought about suggesting you log in from the mobile app while you were working and let us carry you during the last day, but Match and Salty both think we're likely to run into some event that will prevent us from reaching the Nadias," Shrubbery added.

"I kind of think so too," Danika admitted. "But it seems worth trying?"

"Don't worry, we're with you all the way!" MatchlessMinion declared, and Shrubbery nodded.