Marshall wondered which god actually liked him at this point, because he had a strong suspicion that they were taking a personal interest in the amount of suffering he could endure. Meanwhile Pyra is walking up to the edge of the town of Lolacal, almost skipping through the large fields that provided them with grains for bread. She had been the cause of several near death experiences, even if she also walked right out of them like it was only a minor inconvenience. He had been burned, poisoned, knocked around like a ball, and hit by several large animals who oddly hit him in just the right way to cause blunt damage and not lethal injury. Pyra claimed she had used magic on him several times, but all he remembered was a haze of concussions and half finished prayers to whatever god wasn't betting on the outcome of his adventure with the girl.
"This place is very different from the other places you showed me." Pyra says with a smile on her face, though it didn't reach her eyes. She at least looked less like it was an effort to look pleasant.
"This is the outskirts of Lolacal like I mentioned before." Marshall says with a profound sigh, "These are 'fields' and people grow plants here they can eat, and the low walls are for marking where one field ends and the other--- What in the abyss are you doing?!" Pyra looks up with a raised eyebrow and a mouth full of the golden plants, before she spits them out.
"These do not taste like you can eat them. Must be a Beastkin food." Her voice is flat and decidedly firm on this. Marshall feels like he should be less surprised by her actions, but its like every aspect of common sense he has come to expect from people is absent from her. And, he had tried so very hard to educate her on at least the basics like food, water, and answering the call of nature. Yet, each time common sense just decided to stay home from the fields. Maybe even locked itself in the cellar to wait out the spring, summer, and fall. Pyra didn't eat, sleep, drink, or need to answer the call of nature. In fact even now he can see the strings of mana pulling into her body. He didn't use to be able to see it, but after the amount of magic she cast on daily basis gave him practice. Usually Beastkin needed to spend many years with a master shaman to learn to see the weave of the world and learn it's mysteries. That was because even the powerful shaman's could only pull mana from within themselves, and it needed to refill slowly over time. The more they used the more they could store, but it was limited by their nature and the element they worked with. Human mages could pull the mana from the air, but couldn't store it, and it required a lot of will power and skill to use. Pyra did both.
"U-usually you have to cook them right..." He weakly responds to her comment as she gets up to continue down the road. Her fingers dance on the open space to form a series of symbols and swirls that creates balls of colored fire above her hand. A casual display of power that she had shown many times during the last two weeks, and one that could deal with a 3-Star monster without much trouble.
"So how long do they need to burn? Or do they need to boil like that 'soup' thing you made a few times?" She asks looking over her shoulder at him, and his pale face looks back at her. She has come to understand that it's "Complicated", and dismisses her magic. She was quite happy with the progress of her magical abilities however, but fire is the only element she can use. Mother did say that magic might come differently to her, and Marshall had tried to answer her questions along the way. Though she hoped that this "Town" would be able to give her more answers than he could, since usually he would end up saying "It's complicated." She wanted simple, like the stories and lessons from Mother.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Let's just get into town, yeah?" He says, still pale, and walking quickly towards the large walls. Pyra smiles as he walks, one of the few actual times she has felt like it. Something about his actions when he got pale was amusing to her. So she begins to walk towards the tall walls too.
----
"Where do you hail from stranger?" The guard calls to Marshal and Pyra as they approach. He feels like the two are some kind of odd couple at first due to the look of stress on the Beastkin, but the vision of beauty hits that thought straight out of his head. The red-green eyes alone seem to pull him in and enchant him, but the almost shining hair green hair was something out of a fable. The guard next to him jolts from his slouch to stare at the girl as well, and a conversation of looks pass between the two men at the speed of instinct.
"Lo, the gate, I hail from E'tarra, Marshall is my name." But the guards are focused on Pyra, and a feeling of unease begins to creep into Marshall's soul. He knew that Pyra was almost otherworldly in her looks, but he could easily read the expressions and looks the guards pass each other. Pyra is just tilting her head back and forth as she looks at the walls and gatehouse.
"I have heard of E'tarra a could of times, it's to the south-west of here, yes?" The first guard calls, keeping his hand up to indicate a refusal of approach.
"Yes, I was out hunting, and felt that I could get a good price for some of my kills here in the town." Marshall responds, praying that the stuff in his backpack would help here. Yet the guards still had a certain look, and were staring at Pyra.
"Now, how did a sweet lass such as yourself get mixed up with one of these, my Lady?" The second guard calls to Pyra, who looks over at him. You could hear the way he emphasized the 'lady' part of it, and Marshall didn't blame him. Even in rough clothes she looked like someone belonging to a noble family. The guard's finger points at Marshall, but that didn't mean much to Pyra.
"Mother wanted me to take him away from her so she didn't kill him," She says with no tone or inflection, as if she is reciting instead of talking, "He is supposed to be helping me travel and explore the Realm now." Marshall didn't know how the guards would parse that information, but it came across if he was on punishment from a noble house and is now babysitting a scion. Which is exactly how he felt most of the time, but more a mission from a murder happy dungeon and a lost human who likely is some kind of lost princess without a soul.
"I see, would you like a different escort for a while? Certainly, this one is unfit to guard such a fine Lady as yourself." The first guard calls as he approaches her. His hand reaching out to see if she will take it or not. Marshall felt a bit mixed about what to expect, he kind of hoped for fire, maybe the white kind that put a straight hole through that forest troll. Pyra tilts her head back and then looks at the guard.
"As long as you willing to help me travel and answer questions, sure." Once again delivered without feeling and with a blank expression. The guard grins towards Marshall, who slowly turns pale, which makes the guard grin wider. Marshall doubts the man understands the reason for his new, if not constant, shade of skin. Pyra didn't understand common sense, so it would be unlikely she would understand the motivations of these guards. She also had a very simple way of dealing with threats, and he had a sudden feeling that it was about to be expressed.
"Very well, my Lady." The second guard adds, also approaching Pyra, "We will take you to an inn that you can stay, on us of course, until you are ready." To Marshall's amazement the guards treat her like a noble and one of high status. He has no doubt they intend on doing something untoward while she is at the inn, but Pyra herself just seems content with the change. And, he finds himself standing at the gate, alone, and wondering just how much trouble this is all going to be.