“Seledo’s certainly seen better days.”

Rick glanced at Dia, the nurse grimacing as she looked at the large village below. It was certainly larger than Astunes, maybe a little over two or three times the size. Its current state reminded Rick of some towns that had been hit by an earthquake or some similar natural disaster. About a fifth of the buildings had fallen down, a handful of those reduced to smoldering coals.

“You’ve been here before?” He asked, glancing her way.

“Yes. I was born and raised near Balet, so when there was a nurse position available in Astunes, I volunteered.”

“You can volunteer?” Kat looked surprised, pointing at her own throat. “Aren’t you like…?”

“Green collars are public domain.” Freya stated matter-of-factly. “It isn’t odd to transfer to other areas or to the ownership of another Lord. You do need permission first, and there must be some agreement between the Lords beforehand.”

“So you can choose who owns you, so long as your previous owner acknowledges it.”

“And they’re paid their dues. Either by the new Lord or the maiden herself.”

“Speaking of money.” Rick patted the coin purse on his hip. “I think we ought to look for some income options.”

“The Baroness’ bounty reward as well as the Earl’s invitation should be more than enough to cover for travel expenses, sir.” Ginny looked at him in confusion.

“And when I run out, I’d rather not end up having to rely on money that comes with strings attached.”

“Speak for yourself, I’d rather get all the free food I can get.” Mr. Gabriel laughed heartily from the centaur.

“I guess I take that from gramps.” Kat joined in with a chuckle. Next to her, the green scaled Lizzy next to her smiling in turn.

“If… sir wants to earn some coin, the easiest way would be in assisting with the rebuilding and repairs.” Ginny glanced at the humans with a slight nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head with her blue scaly claws. “It’s not like we’d have anything better to do while we wait to leave.”

“It would be best if we had things to sell.” Dia commented, shaking her head dejectedly. “Manual labor only usually is enough to cover for meals, maybe a place to stay.”

“It’s a start.” Rick nodded along. “Might give us a chance to find out more about the Earl.”

At his mention of the Earl, the other former-Hunter maidens squirmed. He’d tried prying some information out of them, but the sum total of things they knew of the man was mostly in relations to his job as a mediator and judge for the area. Meaning that most of what they had to share was over the man’s preference for people with more human-sided ancestry.

“Food. Up.” Monica spoke, her head tilting towards the clear blue sky.

And as she did, everyone noticed the three flying figures that were approaching them from the village. Rick blinked a moment when he noticed a flicker of light shining in their direction.

“Hunters.” Freya commented, pulling out a small piece of metal from her pocket and holding it over her head, making some rhythmic twitches with it. “They’re requesting we stay put.”

“That wasn’t Morse code.” Tomas muttered. “What do the lights mean?”

“Doing a constant quick rhythm is a basic ‘look at me’, and once they get a flicker response, they send the message. In this case, four slow beams mean they’re Hunters. And the constant quick rhythmic beat afterwards is a request to meet up. If it’s used from the ground, it’s a call for aid, and if it’s used from the air, it means they’re approaching and to not move from our location.” The Elf listed off in a boorish tone. Her hand was firmly on her hip, glancing up at the sky as she watched the trio approaching rather quickly.

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They looked like a triplet of identical twin sisters. Dark brown hair, and wings for arms, they were circling downwards and keeping a distance.

“Monica, no kill.” Rick whispered under his breath as he looked up at them, sensing the feline was preparing to attack. She pouted at him in response, but obliged, relaxing her shoulders and sighing.

“Identify yourselves!” The voice shouted downwards. “And the white-haired maiden that’s with you.”

“I think they mean you, Rick,” Kat whispered under her breath.

The chemistry teacher glared at her for a moment before turning upwards. “I’m Rick Cross. We come from Astunes with an invitation from the Earl. The white haired maiden is mine, her name is Monica.”

A moment of pause. “Is she White Claw?”

Would he have to do this every time? “She is.” He responded.

After another pause, the trio seemed to be talking amongst one another. “Is she… safe?”

Rick glanced at the group. Freya kept her voice low as she spoke up. “By Hunter standards, Monica would most certainly not be considered safe to keep within the village. But whether sir wishes to claim she is… is up to sir.”

Rolling his eyes, he wanted to sigh. His gaze turned upwards. “She’s still fresh and learning. Could we have accommodations that are close to the edge?” A slight pause. “We also have a copy of the content from four black-boxes.” With a sigh, he glanced at the others. “And a human woman.”

He could almost see them startle at that last part. “Under the Earl’s law, we will secure safe accommodations for the woman and the elder. Please keep White Claw outside Seledo’s human zone. We will ensure there’s an area for you and your maidens to rest.”

Two of the three split off, heading back to the village, while the third kept circling over them, albeit gaining height.

“Is this normal?” Rick glanced at Freya, the Elf merely shrugging.

“If they are playing things safely like this, it must mean important people aren’t present.” Ginny spoke under her breath. “The Lords might have fled during the attack.”

“Monica is very dangerous, and were she to go on a rampage, it would require a serious effort to stop her.” Freya shifted the topic, talking without much commitment. “If they are warned ahead of time that Monica is dangerous and not entirely domesticated, then they’ll know to make sure there’s nothing that may startle or tempt her.”

“And to keep fragile things out of her reach.” Kat chuckled slightly. “Or she might knock them off the shelf.”

Ginny giggled, the Draco’s laughter a nervous one, almost forced. Rick caught her eyes quickly darting between Lizzy and Freya. The silent plea for help within them told the young chemistry teacher everything he needed to know. “Our world had cats, as in, the actual animal. Like a boar, but feline. They were famous for knocking stuff off shelves.” He muttered under his breath. Both Freya and Ginny perked up at this, sharing a glance between them and a slight nod.

It must be taxing, being the underling of someone whose sense of humor you didn’t share but felt obligated to partake in. He’d been there, and done that.

“So how far out is the ‘safe-zone’ they spoke of?”

“It’s that space between the farm-steads and the first homes, sir.” Ginny stepped ahead, moving close and pointing in the distance at the space of mostly barren soil that separated the farmland and the village.

She recoiled away the moment Monica let out a growl, the feline clenching Rick’s hand and pulling him closer to her.

“Hey!” the teacher barked. “No!”

His tone made the Sabertooth flinch, turning at him with another deep pout.

“Don’t worry, sir, we’ve dealt with many ferals and we know how clingy they can get with their first bond-partner.” Ginny spoke urgently, taking another step away from him and Monica.

“I don’t want her showing aggression like that, less so to a companion.” Rick replied quickly, glaring at the feline as she turned the other way to avoid his gaze. He pulled his hand from her grasp, crossing his arms and watching her hesitate.

“Riii~iiick.”

“No.”

The pout turned sullen. She sighed and kept walking.

“Um… sir?” Dia whispered as she stepped closer from the opposite side, offering a hand for him to take. Her cheeks glowed ever so red.

The teacher blinked, an idea forming at the edge of his mind. “First, give Ginny a hug. Friendly hug.”

“What?”

“Just… trust me.” He hurriedly told her, glancing at Monica from the corner of his eye.

“Um… yes sir.”

Dia looked at him as if in confirmation, slowing down and approaching the blue-scaled Draco. The two shared a confused look before halting. The nurse reached out and gave a brief and awkward hug, letting go once Rick nodded.

As she moved back to him, Rick took Dia’s hand, though that didn’t make her any less confused. Her confusion was greater as he made a show to Monica that he was holding Dia’s hand.

Monica looked, holding hands, then at Ginny, then at Dia, and then at Rick. The Sabertooth grumbled but moved with purpose. She quickly approached the Draco, not giving even a chance to take a battle-stance as she enveloped the Draconian maiden in her arms right as Ginny let out a panicked squeak.

Nearly shoving the scaly maiden off instantly after, Monica returned to Rick’s side opposite to Dia’s. “Rick.” She proclaimed, offering her paw at him.

“I think you’re going to be helping me to teach Monica how to behave.” The teacher whispered, grabbing Monica’s paw and then shrieking as she yanked him out of Dia’s grasp, pulling him into a full bodied hug.

There was a long road ahead.