This place sure was beautiful.

Stella and her new superhero companion, The Silver Knight, walked through the Sampiens, the mushroom forest. The hero was taking the role of a tour guide for the girl.

"This is the home for various species of Monoke! Slugs, Ants, Beetles, Tanukis, and plenty of Avian Monoke! A jewel of our domain!" He spoke with his usual outdated superhero voice.

"How is that even possible? I always thought mushrooms were supposed to be really tiny." Stella questioned.

The guard turned on a heel. "Ah ha! That's the best part!" He gestured to the whole area. "All of this? It started as a regular forest! Until an unexpected accident by Rink the Fairy turned the tiny fungi into the colossal, majestic wonders you see today!"

Stella had to give it to him. He was right. This place felt like it came straight from a fairytale book. She was mesmerized by the colorful fungi, especially the bioluminescent ones. There was even a freaking blue full moon and stars in the sky!

Speaking of...

"Hey, man. What's the deal with this blue stuff?" She waved her hand like she was swatting a fly, showing the cloud of displaced particles. "It's everywhere!"

The guard answered. "Ah, that's just the spores from the mushrooms! Don't worry, it's not toxic at all!"

"Well, that's great to hear!" Stella was doing a cross-body arm stretch. "Can we go already?"

The Knight started jogging in place. "Alright! We're not too far from the Kara River! Let's go!" Then he went jogging towards their destination, very slowly so as to not lose the tired Human.

After a few more minutes, they found the river that separates the Sampiens and the Ganvi Woods. Stella sighed with relief until she saw who remained there.

Kristal... Why couldn't things be less complicated for the girl? Her mood was dragged to the mud when she saw the fox snake.

Surprisingly, the Knight had the opposite reaction. "Look, Human!" He eagerly pointed at the river Monoke. "Do you know what that Monoke is?!"

Stella crossed her arms and huffed. "An annoyance?"

The hero stared at her for a few seconds, genuinely surprised by her answer. "Uh, not what I was going to say..."

Then he recomposed himself, returning to his bombastic demeanor. "That one is a Nguruvilú! A gracious and powerful Monoke! They live in the Nexus, underground. Seeing one up close... It's such a privilege!"

The Knight's nerd rant could be endearing for Stella... if it wasn't about that Monoke.

"Sure..." The girl remained unimpressed. "Real graceful, that one..."

The guard raised a fake eyebrow. "Have you met them already?"

Stella crossed her arms. "You can talk to her if you want. Please don't say I didn't warn you."

They walked a few more steps toward the Nguruvilú. The Human could already tell she was still pouting, making the river uncrossable for some reason. Was it magic? Stella didn't care at that point.

Kristal noticed the two people approaching her, and she was not pleased when she saw the "sick Ogre" again.

"So, the weird Ogre returns." Her voice was drenched with sass. "Why don't we skip the formalities, and you jump on my head already!?" She pointed her two index fingers at her forehead.

Stella clenched her fists and teeth. She glared at the Nguruvilú with overwhelming anger, using all her self-control to not smack her snout.

The hero picked up on the tension between them. "Hello, miss! I never saw a Nguruvilú before! It is such an honor to meet you!"

Kristal's ears perked up, and her attitude brightened up a bit. "Aw, thank you!" Then she stared at him awkwardly for a few seconds. "Who are you, again?"

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The Knight puffed his chest proudly. "Ha! I am the newest addition to the Dragon's Guard! The Silver Knight!" He made his crane-like stance. Maybe that was his signature pose?

Kristal, just like Stella, didn't give much of a reaction. "That's... great..."

No one was happy in that situation.

The guard gestured toward Stella. "I believe you met her already, miss...?"

"Kristal." She gazed at the girl with a scowl. "And yes, you could say we met each other. It wasn't a pleasant encounter, let me tell you."

"Really?" Stella was tapping her right foot on the ground. "I was nice enough to let you rant about your stupid life! I only wanted to cross the river, and I'm sure you're responsible for THIS!" She pointed at the violent stream that worsened after the Human's outburst.

The girl didn't want to snap. But after having to put up with this Monoke's bullshit after that traumatic experience, and then receiving sass afterward was the straw that broke her fucking patience.

The Nguruvilú put her hands on her sides. "Well, maybe I could make the river less of a problem for you if you weren't such an insensitive brat!"

That really struck a nerve in Stella. She wanted to punch that bitch so much!

"Well, maybe I would be more gentle if you didn't dump all your problems into me! Seriously! You never heard of the term 'oversharing'?!"

Kristal snarled, showing her dangerously pointy teeth. "Watch your tone, Ogre..."

Stella took a step and stared at her in defiance. "Make me, bitch!"

The Human was so drowned in her anger that she completely forgot that Kristal had quite the height advantage over her AND the Knight! Her defiant attitude crumbled when the Nguruvilú raised more of her snake-like body out of the water, towering over them.

But wait! There was more! The water surrounding her defied any law of physics and started spiraling around her, creating a whirlpool.

This biblical act made Stella's heart pound with fear and regret. Lien had that weird "super breath" of hers, and then she mentioned some giant witch. She should have been more careful.

Kristal's blue eyes flared with anger. "You little b-"

"STOP!" The Silver Knight stepped in front of Stella, arms outstretched. "Now, I understand that there is some tension between you two. But we can sort this out!"

After the hero came to the Human's rescue, the whirlpool surrounding Kristal shrank a little. That was a good sign.

"Just..." He put a hand on Stella's shoulder. "Let me speak with her for a bit, okay?"

The Monoke stared daggers at them for an uncomfortable amount of time, then took a deep breath. When she let out the air of her lungs the whirlpool subsided.

"Whatever." She lay down on the riverside, though only half of her body; the other was still submerged. "Not like I have anywhere else to go." Her discontent was carved into her features.

The Knight slowly guided the girl back a few feet. Under normal circumstances, she would hate being pushed around by an adult like this, but now... It was best to accept this.

Giants, magic... How the hell would she handle all of this?

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Lien:

The Wolf was not having the time of her life.

After Leppalúði's outburst, which made her feel bad for Stúfur, it didn't take long for the rest of the Lads to wake up. Then, it was another round of scolding for them. Something about them tarnishing the family's name and putting them into actual training.

Lien didn't fall asleep through that only because the giant's voice was too loud.

After a relatively short walk, Lien was put into what she assumesdis a cage. She ran her paw through the grid, confirming her suspicions. The main issue for her was the minuscule size of her prison. She couldn't even take three steps until she bumped into the bars. This was arguably worse than being stuck in the Ogre's grip.

Well, that and the unusual heat. Seriously, why was this place so hot? This was terrible, especially for a Wolf, covered head to toe with fur.

She sat down, cleared her mind, and searched for anyone's Saniya. She found a concentration of small yet numerous signatures, most likely the Lads. Jólakötturinn's Saniya was close to her, probably because he was tasked with being her jailer.

Then she felt two huge ones. Approaching her location by the second.

"And you brought the Wolf brat because...?" A faint, feminine voice could be heard, clearly aged with time.

Then another voice chimed in, which Lien recognized as Leppalúði's. "She messed with our boys! We cannot let her go unpunished!"

The voices became closer and more audible. The floor beneath the Wolf started to shake. "Our boys wouldn't be in this mess if you trained them like you should, ya lazy sack of flesh!" The old lady sighed. "I can't be the only competent one in this family!"

"Don't be like that, Grýla! We'll make it up to ya, promise!" Leppalúði was uncharacteristically apologetic. Of course, Lien already knew who the old lady was.

Grýla, the Giant Witch.

The Ogre patriarch could be scary, and so was Jóla. But Grýla was a terrifying person to cross paths with. She heard from her fellow pups that the witch picked young Monoke, who entered her territory and put them in her soup.

Her mother dismissed such claims, saying that she wouldn't commit such a heinous crime, even if she wanted to.

However... she also said that Lien should stay away from her under any circumstance.

Well, she would be pretty pissed when she found the pup because...

The tremors became more intense each time until they finally stopped. However, that meant that the Ogre couple was already there.

"Where's the brat?" Grýla asked.

Either Leppalúði silently pointed at Lien's location, or she found it because nothing was said until the witch took thunderous steps toward the Wolf.

Lien lost her balance due to the sudden feeling of getting lifted by Grýla. It was fun, she had to admit.

Not so fun was what the Ogre said to her. "How 'bout we have a little talk, young lady?"