When Fuyuko, Shizoku, and Derek woke up at their campsite by the ending lake of the river level, they found a letter with notes on their performance. Kazue praised their ingenuity, skills, and perseverance highly, but she did note that if they had taken the time they could have started fishing and searching for treasures both above and below water up at the river's source and along the river's course, not just in the lake at the end.

Normally Kazue would include some extra performance-based prizes to be claimed, but she and Mordecai were still saving up to give the kids some bigger prizes, and it all had to balance.

The trio debated spending more time here treasure hunting, but in the end, they decided it was best to move on and see what the next floor held for them. They packed their boat back up and launched out into the lake to follow the next section of the river.

This proved to not be a terribly long ride, but they hadn't been able to make out the other side very well and had been too tired to deal with the unknown if they didn't have to. When they found a pier to tie up to, Shizoku looked out across the swampland with disgust. "Well, I guess robes are going to not be an option for the rest of this zone. Anyway, I say we take the day to deal with our haul so far. I want to be careful with descaling the fish, and we need the rest anyway."

Derek nodded and then walked along the water line to where the river blended into the wetlands. There he found a rock to sit on, and stared out at the swamp.

Fuyuko frowned at his back before turning to Shizoku. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's just in deep thinking mode." Shizoku waved her hand dismissively at the concern. "Don't worry about it. He's got some idea he's chewing on, and he wants to make sure he's got it right." She grinned up at Fuyuko suddenly. "He doesn't seem like the brainy type at first, does he? I made that mistake too. He just likes to work his way through things meticulously."

The kitsune shook her head and looked over at the boy fondly. "Mordecai did a good job pointing me at him."

Fuyuko blinked in surprise before asking, "Wait, he set ya two up?"

Shizoku shrugged, "It's a little more complicated than that, but pretty much, yes. I already knew the type I liked in men, I just hadn't been able to see the potential in someone a little more my age. Derek's going to be strong, and is already kind and thoughtful. And I need someone nicer than me to moderate my temper, and someone who is patient and thorough to slow me down."

Now she giggled at Fuyuko's open mouth expression. "Don't mistake that for great wisdom and insight on my part. My family and my patron have been quite thorough in making sure I am aware of both my strengths and my flaws. I'm a three-tail at thirteen years old, I know I'm kind of awesome, but I know I'm not perfect. Well, except for when I forget." She shrugged, "And that's one of the things Derek is good at. He'll never be mean about it, but he's not at all afraid to call me out if I'm in the wrong."

It took a little bit for the luponi girl to gather her thoughts back together after that. She was thoughtfully silent as she helped gather the last of their stuff and headed into the swamp-side village to find a room. Fuyuko found her voice again when they were unpacking. "I guess, that means yer are dating?"

"I wish it was that simple," Shizoku huffed as she tossed a bag onto her bed. "Look, I figured out that he's probably perfect for me, he balances me out and smooths over my rough spots. And with a little help from his friends, Derek figured out that I liked him and asked me directly about it. And he's open to seeing how things go, but, well, he's younger than me and isn't very interested in the dating thing. So I'm kind of in between, a friend who gets to get away with flirting and messing with him a little." The thought made her growl with frustration, and then her tails suddenly drooped and she turned to face Fuyuko.

"I get scared sometimes," she said sadly, "I worry that I'll drive him off. But I can't not be me. I don't know how to stop being me, but even if I did, I don't think I could pretend around him. It would be too much like lying to Derek, and I really can't do that. And I'm the idiot who kept getting crushes on older men. So it's not like I really know what I'm doing either. I'm just kind of hoping that Mordecai and Kazue were right in pushing us toward each other."

Fuyuko didn't know what to say, but she did remember something that had been done for her recently, so she simply hugged the smaller girl and let the kitsune cry out her stress. When she recovered, Shizoku stepped back and wiped at her eyes before frowning up at Fuyuko. "You don't tell him or anyone that I cried, understand?"

Shizoku's tone sounded like a threat, but Fuyuko was beginning to understand her new friend better, and she just smiled. "Dontcha worry. I gotcha."

"Hmmp," Shizoku replied, and then asked, "What about you? Got your eye on anyone?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Nah," Fuyuko scratched at her neck with a touch of shyness, "honestly, the whole thing don't make much sense ta me. If it makes ya happy, then great, but it feels kinda weird ta me."

The kitsune tilted her head inquisitively. "Really? But you're fourteen. Not being even curious would be a really late bloomer." Now she looked Fuyuko over with an analytical gaze. "You're lean, but you don't seem malnourished. Hmm. What is the lifespan of oni like? Wait, that might not be accurate for you anyway. Can I call on Mordecai? I've got something I'm curious about."

"Um? Sure, I guess." She replied in confusion.

Shizoku nodded, and then called out with a sharp emphasis, "Mordecai!" Fuyuko felt a faint hint of the dungeon's presence turning their way.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door, but it was not who they were expecting. Instead, it was a bunkin who told them, "Master Mordecai and Mistress Kazue are a bit preoccupied, but I can pass along messages if you need."

"Huh," Shizoku said, "Well, I guess that will do. So, Fuyuko doesn't know anyone of her clan, does Mordecai know her equivalent age to humans and kitsune?"

The bunkin's gaze went distant for a moment before he replied, "Master Mordecai says a normal fourteen-year-old oni would be close to a ten-year-old human or kitsune, as they are longer lived. Either of those mixed with an oni would be more like twelve years old. Mixing most shape-changer bloodlines would slightly accelerate the adolescent phase, but Fuyuko is not a simple mix as her clan is neither a stabilized ancestry nor a first-generation mix of two stable ancestries. This makes it much harder to tell, but now that he's doing his best to analyze her biology his best guess is that aspects of her maturation will be desynchronized relative to most adolescent experiences, and some of it will come in fast bursts. If Fuyuko wants to go over details of what to expect, that is best relegated to a discussion between her and Kazue." The bunkin blinked as he processed what he'd just passed on and then he looked like he was trying to blush. "Um, is that all?"

"Yes, thank you," Shizoku said and closed the door when he left. "Well, that's interesting." She turned back to Fuyuko. "I guess we shouldn't hang any specific expectations on your age, it's not a reliable tell. Well, things will happen when they happen."

"Er, kin ya break that down a touch more for me? I know how babies are made, but I think I'm missing somethin' here."

Shizoku sighed, "I'm not sure if I should be glad this is part of my education or not. Well, let's start with a question. I've seen your supplies, I know you've had your first blood. Have you grown since then?"

Fuyuko blushed hard but nodded. She was the one who had asked to be taught after all.

"Most of the time girls don't grow much if at all once they bleed." Shizoku made a face at that, "Which means I am stuck at this height unless I actively change my appearance. So if you are still growing anyway, that means you aren't following normal patterns. If that's been thrown off, then everything else is up in the air too. Maybe you'll wake up suddenly boy crazy tomorrow, maybe you won't be interested until you're twenty. Maybe this will be your build when you are older, maybe you will become an hourglass. Who knows? Well, Mordecai and Kazue seem to have a more precise idea than that, but you need to talk with Kazue about that."

She didn't like the idea of becoming that curvy. It sounded like it would be awkward and she already felt clumsy often enough as it was. "Alright, I'll ask her later then."

The two of them turned back to unpacking all their prizes but the fish and began sorting them. Shizoku was able to identify some of the stones, such as some nice pieces of white nephrite, but there was a lot she didn't know here.

By the time they were done, Derek had rejoined them and helped finish the sorting job, with all the items they still needed to identify now in one bag.

"So," Shizoku asked when they were done, "what were you thinking about?"

"The note from Kazue."

"And?" She prompted.

Derek shrugged, "I want to ask Fuyuko a little more about what she knows of this zone, but I don't know if it will make a difference. I think we might want to slow down and explore instead of focusing on clearing the level."

"Um," Fuyuko said slowly, "I don't think I know a lot. I know we have ta satisfy Carmilla, she's the fairy playin' the part of a swamp witch, and when we do she lets us escape or somethin'. But I don't think anything said we had to hunt her out first thing."

Shizoku tapped her lips thoughtfully, "Derek, I would have thought you'd want to finish up."

"I do, but I am not sure it's what is best here. They want to challenge us hard to give us good things, right? Well, the more we do, like, really work at doing, then the more they can do too, right? And there's something that feels different here. I think this will be good training for me."

"Well, I guess if everyone outside is okay with it, I don't see why we can't take our time," Shizoku replied. "Let's clear up our chores today. We need to get the stones identified and figure out what we are keeping and splitting and what we are selling, we need to get the scales off the fish cleanly and see what else we can harvest from them. I bet they are tasty as well, so let's not waste it."

Derek frowned at that last part. "Are you sure we should eat them? Aren't they dungeon monsters? They could be smart like the rabbits."

The fox girl and the wolf girl turned to him with expressions that clearly conveyed their opinions of the idea of not eating available meat. Shizoku answered him first, "That's sweet of you, but there are two points you should know. First, that only applies to some creatures, namely the ones that the dungeon has elevated in some way, and the fish aren't that sort of creature. Second, for the most part, the dungeon still doesn't care. It's part of the cycle since the inhabitants don't really die. My patron taught me a lot about this sort of thing since the last time I visited. Now, Kazue's got a soft heart, so she might have some issue if we were eating the dire rabbits, but I don't think Mordecai or the other inhabitants would be bothered."

"Besides," Fuyuko added, "you can still eat things that talk at you. Gil and I ate the peryton that I killed and nearly killed me. No one's had a problem with that."

And this is how the wolf girl found herself having to tell that part of her history in much more detail than these two had known before.