They watched as the ethereal being walked away, offering held in its mouth.

"Well," Zalia started.

"I'm genuinely surprised that worked at all," Indis said.

Zalia frowned,

"Why wouldn't it have," she asked.

"Because our plan was talk at the glowing star wolf and give it something to eat," Indis explained.

"Flawless I say," Zalia said proudly.

Indis refrained from commenting.

"I only got an acceptance from it so I don't actually know if it's going to come back here or do as I asked though," Zalia added.

Indis raised an eyebrow as if to say, "see, my point stands."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure," Ember told her.

"Still, we should wait until after tomorrow night to see if it does come back to take more. If it doesn't, we can tell them we succeeded in stopping the issue," Zalia said.

Boreal was still looking in the direction that the wolf had gone.

"Wanted to make a new friend?" Zalia asked Boreal.

"Friend," Boreal said into Zalia's mind.

"You are right, already a friend," Zalia said decisively.

Whenever Boreal spoke into her mind now it came with added emotion or images so that despite the single word sentences, it carried more meaning.

"Is this speech a result of our bond or my Druid class?" Zalia wondered.

The bond description hadn't said they could speak to each other in their minds and Boreal had spoken to her previous to the bond forming. She had originally thought it an ability of Boreal's but now having been able to interpret the wolf's message, she reconsidered. It might be that her Druid class advancing was allowing her to interpret or the advancement of her mental attributes but she thought the former since she could understand actual words from Boreal. That part she thought might come from the feline's own basic understanding of the language. That thought gave rise to a question.

"What do you call the language we speak?" Zalia asked.

'What?" Zen asked, as if he hadn't heard correctly.

"Endari," Indis said.

"Probably could have guessed that," Zalia said, feeling a little stupid.

"Better to ask than assume," Indis replied.

"Eloquent as always Lady Indis. What about other kingdoms or nations, are there any?" Zalia asked.

"Indeed. There are people who live in the desert to the south of Endaria's borders. They live quite a brutal and danger wrought life due to the inhospitality of the lands they dwell in. The desert is not a good place to go," Indis said.

"Sounds like my kind of place," Zalia replied. She had just told Ember of her plans to go far north after this but maybe, just maybe the south was an option.

"Farther west there is another kingdom, though it is not ruled by a king as we know it. Those lands are owned by the Astar. They are genderless and so don't have a king but a monarch, one who has ruled for a very, very long time. As far as is known about them, they don't age and die like we do, though higher ranked people don't age normally either. Not much otherwise is known since they are not so accepting of people entering their lands," Indis continued.

"Astar, I wonder what they look like," Zalia thought.

"Then there is the Goblins that live in the mountain who you have met, of course," Indis added.

"The Born of Heat and Stone," Zalia corrected.

"Apologies, yes the Born of Heat and Stone," Indis replied.

"What about the large humanoid covered in fur we saw guarding the door at Eztari's little hideout in the town back west?" Zalia asked.

Indis frowned and was about to speak but Ember got there first.

"They are a dying people. They used to live here but the kingdom of Endaria slaughtered them and took their lands. Now there are very few, scattered across the kingdom," Ember said, a little venom in her voice. It was obviously a touchy subject for some.

"Humans have done very similar things where I come from too," Zalia said, a hint of sadness in her tone.

They reached the gate back around the other side of the camp, one of the large doors opening to let them enter.

"It is a part of history that much of the documentation and writing around has been wiped out. We don't know that it was our people who did it," Indis rebuked.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"We stand here on their lands while their people own nothing, fewer and fewer of them alive with each passing year. What more is there to know?" Ember responded, anger now evident in her tone.

Both women fell silent.

"Definitely a touchy subject," Zalia thought, regretting bringing it up.

She didn't feel too bad however, since she had not known. Now she did.

"Rrrright, you all going to go to sleep soon?” Zalia asked, trying to change the subject but only managing it clumsily.

They all gave her an affirmative.

“Boreal and I won’t be able to sleep for another six hours or so, so um… we’re gonna walk around the forest or something,” Zalia said.

“See you in the morning,” Zen said by way of a farewell, already yawning as he finished speaking.

The other two bid her goodbye for the night and Zalia turned to Boreal.

“What do you want to do?” she asked.

Boreal looked like she was considering the question, a little tilt to her head. Zalia could almost see the thought forming in her head.

“And we aren’t going hunting again, we already went twice today,” Zalia added.

Boreal meowed in protest.

“No! Three times in a day is too many. We don't even need to eat for another two days,” Zalia scolded.

Boreal gave a small, sad mew.

“Not today and that’s final. We could go for a run through the forest again though if you would like,” Zalia suggested.

This seemed to interest Boreal as she sat up a little straighter.

“Run,” Boreal sent to Zalia’s mind.

“Alright, a run it is!” Zalia said happily.

The two of them walked calmly through the camp until they reached the gate once more. They were allowed out though they did receive a few odd glances.

“We’ll be back in a few hours,” she told the guard.

Boreal meowed at the guard.

“And she says she likes your hat,” Zalia added.

“My ha.. my helmet?” the guard asked, a little confused.

Boreal gave another meow that sounded like it had a tone of approval to it.

“Ah, she hasn’t yet discerned the difference between the two words. She also wants to say it looks like it is a very tough hide and she approves,” Zalia told him.

“Thank you?” the guard said, looking down at Boreal.

“You’re quite welcome,” Zalia said, smiling brightly.

They moved through the open gate and into the forest.

“She is a weird one,” she heard the guard say to the other at the door.

“Speaks cat maybe?” the other guard, a woman, questioned.

“Weird ability but possible I guess,” the man replied.

The gate slammed shut and Zalia and Boreal looked out into the forest, dark to most but not to them. Zalia turned to Boreal.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Run,” Boreal said.

“Run,” Zalia agreed.

⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻

They ran for hours, the combination of Iron rank vitality, reduced weight and Iron ranked mobility giving them both quite a bit of stamina. Zalia wasn't quite sure if Boreal had the mobility passive or could even get it but assumed the feline must have something like it. She also went easy on the Zephyr, not wanting to run out anytime soon as she would not have a chance to get more unless she went by Glemp’s home. They stopped by a small stream that meandered slowly through the forest, speeding up as it dropped a small distance to a beautiful enclosed pond not far beneath.

They trekked slowly around the small ledge and found a safe path down to the pond. Zalia sat on a rock nearby as Boreal went up and began drinking from the cool water. She had gained another level of Mobility from the run bringing her to Iron sixteen, the ability having advanced extremely quickly compared to her other abilities. Her daily runs were really paying off and she was excited to learn what the Bronze rank tier would provide. Due to the nature of the passive, it wasn't impossible for it to provide her with a form of flight but she doubted something like that would come from a general passive.

“Enjoy the drink?” Zalia asked as Boreal walked up to her.

“Water,” Boreal said.

The thought came with a feeling of contentment.

“Good, want to head back or stay here a while?” she asked, giving the decision to Boreal.

“Stay,” Boreal replied.

Zalia found a more comfortable spot nearby, using her bag as a rest as she lay next to the pond. She smiled as she relaxed, closing her eyes.

“Not needing to sleep as much is quite relaxing sometimes,” Zalia said to Boreal.

The feline didn't respond, instead pouncing on Zalia’s foot and freezing it to the ground.

“Hey, stop that,” Zalia said, pretending she couldn't free her foot from it's icy prison.

Boreal seemed proud of her success in sticking her foot to the ground.

“You, young Boreal, are a menace,” Zalia said, looking over her foot at the little devil.

She used her Heat resistance passive to quickly melt the ice and performed a small Bitterbalm, Zephyr and Snow-leaf ritual to bind Boreal’s legs to the ground with ice and increase her weight. She struggled to break free but was held tight.

Boreal meowed in complaint.

“Help!” Boreal said into her mind.

A sensation of freedom and pleading and an image of Boreal soaring through the treetops accompanied it.

Zalia laughed and Boreal finally broke free, the ritual dissolving as the tiny amount of herbs she used in it were quickly consumed. Boreal gave her a cute little glare, which only made Zalia laugh all the more.

They spent the next hour or so playing by the pond, various games of hide and seek, playful wrestling and the like.

They returned to the camp soon after, Zalia putting a little mark on her map of the pond's location. It was a really nice place to relax, or so she thought. This time as she returned, Zalia and Boreal decided to jump the wall, sneaking in. Mostly just to confuse the guard a little.

The lack of security the camp had against someone like her concerned her for a moment but she realised that there were probably people like Eztari around, keeping watch for the stealthier people.

She returned to the tent where the rest of her team was currently asleep and entered. Laying down, Boreal came and curled up beside her and the two of them finally managed to fall asleep some minutes later. With sweet dreams of ethereal wolves and beautiful ponds, she drifted off into unconsciousness.