5 days later.
"Learrrrn... spell...for Ibis..." A soft ticklish murmur caused the long pointed ear of the risen to twitch as she carried Kia in her arms.
The undead necromancer had her face smushed against the elf's neck, hiding from the annoying fireball in the sky which for undeniably evil reasons was dedicated to shining light directly into her eyes.
The necromancer Iris was carrying on her shoulder had slept for almost a day during which the elf and the two demi-humans decided to head west, toward the Vitas. After reaching the great river Shiro could then walk along the river bank and slowly made her way wherever she needed to go. The elf on the other hand didn't know where they should go, she would prefer to leave the Demi-Human Territory and its mana-filled winds and go further west toward more normal or at least more familiar to the elf lands.
After the first day had passed and her sleepy-headed necromancer awoken, without warning she began to give a report on what her constructs had seen which consisted of various ways of saying flat grassland, after which Kia closed her eyes again saying that she was still tired.
The elf was convinced that the undead mage wasn't as tired as she led everyone to believe. Previously when the girl became exhausted she would simply snuggle up to Iris and quietly observe the world around her while wearing an emotionless mask with no energy left for the fair girl to even smile but now Kia's routine consisted of sleeping on Iris's shoulder, reporting what her constructs saw, nuzzling affectionately against the elf's nose, purring into the elf's shoulder, taking another nap until they made camp. When it was the time for the group to stop for the night the very tired girl would pout at the edge of the clearing she made with death magic waiting for the other woman to unroll their bedrolls and light a fire. After the supper where the petite girl ate for two grown men, she would then begin to cosy up to Iris cocooning under her warm arms before falling asleep again wearing a wide smile.
Iris reached upward with her hand and began to scratch the napping kitten's scalp with her fingernails. This caused the lethargic feline to cringe under her touch while letting out a loud purr.
"You are pampering her too much." Shiro said as she glanced at the elf. "She's going to end up like this spoiled woman over here." The forked tail poking out from the loose shirt swatted toward the shaman's direction.
"Hey! What do you mean by that!" Nakatei raised her body as she shouted frustrated at her guard, keeping herself balanced on her tiptoes with her large tail.
Am I pampering her that much? The elf wondered as she continued to stroke the kitten along her back. Surely not and even if I did, I fail to see the problem. The elf absent-mindedly tucked her nose into the girl's long hair, taking in Kia's floral and clay scent as she began to frame her actions in such a way her continued self-indulgence remained moral as it had always been.
"What? I'm not spoiled at all!" When Iris came back to reality she was surprised to find that she had stopped with two beast women continuing their catfight.
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"When I was your age I was already level 32 and people your age should be atleast past level 20."
"Yeah... but you people are all weird or something!" Nakatei's voice winded down as she failed to come up with a response.
"Ohh, lighten up a bit. I'm sure once we get to Nishimine you are going to grow up into a legendary shaman... one of these days." A smirk never left the nekos's face as she teased the young woman further.
*Sniff*
A simple sniff reduced the level 100 warrior into a dotting parent as she tried to cheer Nakatei up. She wasn't good at it as both her playful character and her race's nature didn't match with the calm and caring role she was trying to wear the shoes off but it was clear she was at least trying her best.
While Iris watched the two demis from the side-lines, she realised that Kia had been watching with her the strange scene unfolding in front of them as the shaman seemed to simply accept the nekos' kindness appearing oblivious to her involuntary teasing.
"Did you sleep well?"
Kia looked up and nodded her head before her eyes returned to tracking the furry tail swaying from side to side reflecting the ember-fox's changing emotions.
"What did we look for again?" Eventually, when the two beast women turned toward the elf looking embarrassed by the entire situation before resuming their walk, the necromancer asked.
"For a city, I would imagine," Iris answered. "Did you find something eye-catching?"
"Nothing caught my eye." The ancient mage began to frown as she paused for a second and raising her right hand to her eye.
"Something eye-catching means that it is attention-grabbing or interesting, silly. Nothing actually stole your eye." Iris hooked two fingers around Kia's wrist pulling her right arm down as she explained to the oblivious girl.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Did you see anything interesting?" The elf shrugged and asked again.
"Nothing really, one of the children saw some rocks two days from here..." The girl continued to speak in monotone waving her hands as she delivered her report. As soon as the girl had finished her first sentence her voice fell on deaf ears as everyone turned their attention somewhere else, even the elf let Kia's soft voice wash through her mind. Her words turned into a benign background noise as they watched the horizon for any dangers.
"Kia wait, say that part again!" Nakatei's voice suddenly erupted, drowning all other noise in her high-pitched shout.
"Brick?"
"The entire sentence you just said."
"Whoever had tried to fix those walls shouldn't have filled the gaps with earth but rather with brick?" The puzzled girl repeated herself, her words causing Iris to suddenly stop.
"Describe what you see, don't leave any details out." Shiro commanded.
"But I already had described everything? Wheren't you listening." The mage's eyebrows came into focus as she frowned at the two demis who had surrounded her.
"Do it again though!"
"Kia, I too want to hear you again." The elf brushed the back of her hand against the puffed-up cheeks of the annoyed girl.
With a heavy sigh, Kia began to recount word for word what she had said before, each word of hers hanging in the air like the prophet's. After a long and meaningless description of the surrounding grass and the type and density of mana passing over the construct's body, Kia's words began to paint a picture of a city surrounded by tall curtain walls inside of which wide cylindrical towers with domed roofs dominated the horizon. The fantastical descriptions of the once glorious city were often and repeatedly contrasted with Kia's not-to-gentle complaints about the way the new inhabitants built. A glimmer of knowledge began to claw at the inside of the elf's skull as a name etched itself into her memory, Cindrisil.
In the elf's mind, a city not too different from Haveanfall appeared, its marble-white walls gleaming in the sunlight. Wide open streets lined with merchants and the sounds of city life began to fill the previously empty city. Then when a city devoid of blemishes appeared in the elf's mind she had to trash it, punching holes in the perimeter wall and crushing buildings into nothing but dust to fit Kia's overly detailed description before filling the damages with makeshift wooden shacks not uncommon in lower districts of human cities.. That alien but strangely familiar image lodged itself in her mind so deeply that when she tried to reimagine the city nothing changed. Somehow in her mind, the ruined twin city had gained a wide azure blue river which shimmered in the sunlight as it enveloped it from all sides creating a delta dotted with villages.
"Wyrm's blessing upon us. I guess I will manage to deliver you on time." Shiro whispered before beginning to smile as she headed toward where the non too impressed necromancer had pointed toward the city out of legends.