“Is everyone okay?” Iris’s voice sliced through the quiet aftermath of the fight. Assessing the tired figures of her comrades, her gaze swiftly shifted from one member to another, scanning their weary forms with discerning eyes.
Gryff was propped against a tree, his muscular form slumped in exhaustion with a tight grimace as Bree silently inspected a deep gash on his arm with one hand while healing goop was held in the other. Upon hearing Iris, the man raised his free hand in a thumbs-up, his silence more telling than any words.
Laken was tending to his owlbear, his fingers gently probing the beast’s injured leg, a small frown creasing his forehead. Catching Iris's concerned gaze, he offered a nod of assurance before resuming his care for the creature.
Kaira, leaning on Mocha for support, locked eyes with Iris and managed a fatigued smile as she nodded affirmatively.
Suddenly, Akane's gleam of mischief disrupted the moment as she abruptly returned herself and Mocha to their humanoid forms.
Taken by surprise, Kaira's eyes widened and she gasped as her arms windmilled and she almost toppled over.
But Mocha, quick to adapt to her changed form, reached out from the dissipating cloud of mana and caught Kaira in her sun elf arms.
Both elf and elf-form sapient mare turned on Akane, their expressions a mix of surprise and annoyance, but the kitsune simply skipped away, seemingly unaffected by their scowls.
She joined Iris’s side, her giddy energy helping to relieve a bit of the tension in the otherwise tense scene.
After tending to Gryff, the group convened in hushed discussion while Bree applied a small layer of healing goop to the owlbear’s injured leg. The beast whimpered slightly at the contact but soon relaxed under her gentle attention.
Iris looked up at the sky, seeing the red sun start to make its descent, and she knew what to do. “We should continue,” she told everyone. “We need to find somewhere to hold up for the night. Somewhere we can recover.”
Kaira, her arms crossed over her chest, considered Iris’s suggestion, and while she was clearly still heavy with fatigue, she nodded her head in agreement. “Probably a good idea,” the high elf confirmed.
With a collective nod, the party trudged on, a broken spear left behind. Their movements were noticeably slower, but after what seemed like a few hours of hiking, the soft murmur of flowing water caught their attention.
The group came to a halt at the river's edge, the crystal-clear water was a welcome sight and they quickly took turns washing up and refilling their water skins, the cool water serving as a small comfort against their aching muscles and lingering fatigue.
Kaira stretched her shoulders, her gaze scanning the dense underbrush. “I’ll be right back,” she said, turning away from Iris.
Iris frowned in concern. “Wait, you shouldn’t go alone,” she responded quickly, moving to follow her girlfriend.
The high elf looked at her with an amused expression. “I just need to relieve myself.”
“Good, I gotta pee too,” Iris said with a smirk. “Let’s go.”
“You’re so strange,” Kaira replied with a shake of her head, but she didn’t stop. “Are all terran women like this?”
Iris shrugged. “No idea for the terrans here, but where I am from, it’s not uncommon for women to go to the restroom together. We gossip, chat, help each other make sure we look our best, and sometimes it’s really just about safety in numbers.”
Kaira just shook her head again as they moved off together, finding opposite sides of a large tree to relieve themselves. As they rejoined the high elf just chuckled. “That was so strange.”
Iris smiled. “Fine, fine. We’re not at the point in our relationship where we can pee in front of each other, I suppose.”
Her girlfriend looked at her with a mortified expression. “W-Why would you want to do that?”
“I mean…” Iris started, amused at her girlfriend’s awkwardness. “It’s something we all do, I don’t think it’s a big deal. Look, you can stand there while I pee anytime.”
Kaira shook her head quickly. “No, not at all doing that,” she stated. She gave Iris a searching look and then pointed at her. “We’re not doing it, Iris. That’s private.”
Iris chuckled and held up her hands. “Alright, fine,” she acquiesced. The shorter elf was clearly uncomfortable with the thought and her brows were furrowed together in thought as the two walked back.
Different cultures.
Upon their return, the two women smiled as they watched Laken’s owlbear throwing caution to the wind and plunge headfirst into the river despite the ranger’s half-hearted protests.
The animal resurfaced a moment later, a wriggling fish triumphantly clasped in its jaws. It climbed back onto land, shook the water from itself, and lumbered over to Laken to present the fish with a pleased grunt.
That’s too cute.
Iris found Mocha perched on the riverbank, staring at her reflection in the water. She approached her friend and cleaned her hands in the river next to her. “How are you doing?” she asked gently.
Mocha opened her mouth to respond, but the words came out garbled and awkward. Finally, she resigned to her equine form of communication, nickering softly, ‘This is so strange. I’m not sure I like it, Iris.’
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Iris smiled at the response, settling down beside Mocha and wrapping an arm around her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be an elf to be my best friend, Mocha. You’re a badass no matter what form you take.”
Mocha turned to look at her, her eyes softened, and she leaned her head on Iris’s shoulder. ‘This is nice though,’ she admitted.
“It really is,” Iris agreed, her fingers gently stroking Mocha’s hair.
The two friends sat like that while the others did their thing, but all too soon, the moment was interrupted by Bree’s voice. “I think we should follow the river,” she proposed. “And find somewhere to stop for the night. It’s getting late.”
Mocha lifted her head and looked at Iris, giving her a nod in thanks. Iris gently squeezed her friend’s shoulder before standing up.
“You’re probably right,” Iris agreed. “Is everyone ready?”
At everyone’s agreement, the group continued on, following the bank of the river deeper still into the Cursed Forest.
✦ ✦ ✦
The day was growing late as they followed the river upstream, the sun sinking below the surrounding trees, leaving the land beneath the canopy growing increasingly dark. The group moved with a wariness that was an unwelcome change from the vigor they showed that morning.
Ahead of them, Laken was leading the way with his owlbear when, suddenly, the ranger raised a hand and crouched down, signaling everyone to halt.
The man turned his face toward them and gestured for Iris to come closer. She crept to him, seeing the man’s furrowed brow as he squinted into the distance.
“Hold on,” he said in a cautious tone. After a moment, he pointed up ahead. “There’s another camp just there.”
Iris tried to see what he saw, but could not see anything, she turned to him to question it but he just nodded. “It’s there, I got an ability that helps. I don’t see movement, we should move quietly.”
And with that, she could understand. She gestured to the others and the group resumed their movement, though with more caution toward the camp.
Iris turned to her kitsune twin, whispering, “Can you illusion us?”
The kitsune’s eyes flashed yellow, and her form blurred slightly for a moment before nodding. “Hard. Not long.”
Accepting the constraints, Iris nodded in acknowledgment. Soon, the forms of her party were obscured by a semi-transparent stealth effect that left them looking almost ghost-like.
“Let’s go,” she said in a low voice, before quietly moving toward the camp.
As they grew closer, the harsh reality of the situation unfolded before them.
It was another scene of a fight.
Bodies of both poachers and harpies littered the ground, and a shiver coursed down Iris’s spine as she realized that the battle had been recently fought.
Content that the camp was clear of immediate danger, she turned toward the kitsune. “Drop the illusions, Akane,” Iris instructed.
At her words, everyone’s forms shimmered as they reappeared. Akane shifted back into her dire fox form while Mocha transformed back to her normal horse self.
The Jarincían warhorse stood proud while the large kitsune prowled through the camp.
Iris turned to the group. “We need to move the bodies. It’s looking like we won’t have time to find somewhere else to stay the night. So, we should prepare the camp for our use, but the bodies will attract beasts.”
Laken looked around. “I agree, I’ll put together something we can put the bodies on and Owlie can help pull them out of the camp.”
Iris raised a brow. “Owlie?”
The ranger shrugged. “Look, I’m not good with names and he likes it.”
‘I’ll help too,’ Mocha nickered. ‘Can’t let Owlie show me up.’
Abruptly, Akane barked several times in the distance. Mocha turned her head toward Iris and nickered, ‘She needs you and Bree, now.’
There was a sense of urgency in the tone that made Iris jump into action. She quickly relayed the message to Bree who nodded, while Gryff, who had been surveying the area, turned to her. “We’ll handle this, Iris. Go see what’s up.”
With the telv’s reassurance, Iris moved quickly through the camp with Bree on her heels.
The sight that met Iris as they rounded the tent made her heart clench.
A harpy lay sprawled on the ground, gasping in pain, while Akane sat by her side, a gentle paw placed with an uncanny tenderness on the creature’s chest. Three arrows protruded from the harpy’s body, and the quiet chattering sounds escaping the harpy made Iris’s stomach twist with empathetic pain.
She was alive, but barely.
Akane’s mismatched eyes met Iris’s, a pleading, desperate look held in them.
Next to her, Bree stood with her arms folded tightly around her midriff, and her usually calm face was etched with an expression of hesitant fear, her eyes darting between the wounded harpy and Iris, uncertain.
Iris swallowed hard, her mind wrestling with the decision before her.
She was aware of the day’s harsh scenes; the devastation they had stumbled upon at the first camp and the nest. She remembered the attack on the road, and how they could have died.
But looking at the suffering harpy, the aftertaste of those encounters seemed to bolster rather than deter her.
She had a quest, and that quest wasn’t against the harpies, if anything, it seemed that they were simply protecting their homes against the invaders. The Marauder Prince was the one she was after.
Not this… woman.
The harpy woman bore an uncanny resemblance to an elf, her delicate, angular face framed by long, pointed ears which gave her an air of ethereal beauty. Yet, this grace was accentuated by a strange amalgamation of avian features. Her arms were transformed into wings, a complex structure of leathery skin and glossy feathers, tipped by long spindly hands that ended in sharp, deadly talons.
The plumage that sprouted from her body was a rich palette of brown tones, subtle gradations of color that shifted from chestnut to mocha, highlighted by unexpected hints of iridescent green and blue when caught in the right light. However, the woman's torso was surprisingly devoid of feathers, leaving her ample breasts and toned midriff exposed.
The sight was jarring, a strange blend of humanoid and bird-like characteristics, yet it carried its own unique elegance, one that could only have occurred because of mana.
Somewhere within the forest, there had to be a mana well, or fount. Something that pooled mana in the area and twisted creatures and… people, if what the homesteaders said was true, and turned them into something more.
Stepping forward, Iris made her choice. “Bree, we need to help her,” she stated, keeping her voice steady. The sun elf medic looked at her with wide eyes, but after a moment, she nodded, pulling off her satchel and revealing the medical supplies stashed within.
Drawing a deep breath, Iris and Bree knelt beside the harpy, their faces set with determination as they worked together to save the woman.
While they worked, the harpy’s fearful looks turned into hope as she watched the two women working to help her. Iris felt a surge of determination fill her as it appeared the woman may have a chance.
We need to help them all.