Becky:

Becky woke up and opened her eyes. She looked around cautiously, but thankfully, there were no strangers. Only Mason, also waking up, and Lena and Eleanor.

She smiled at Lena, then stretched out her arms.

"Oh, you want a hug!" said Lena.

Becky was becoming a connoisseur of hugs. Before getting used to Lena, she hadn't even realised they were a thing one could do.

She especially liked hugs from Lena and the four Misfits.

"Hey, Eleanor, Becky also wants a hug from you," said Lena.

I do? Well, Eleanor is nice, too. I suppose.

So she exchanged a hug with Eleanor as well.

After the hugs, there was a getting dressed part.

Becky thought her new clothes were beautiful. They were so soft and clean, without any holes in them.

Then she was putting on her shoes and tying up her shoelaces. As usual, Mason had difficulty with this. This time, instead of Lena helping him, Lena asked Eleanor to do so.

So Becky carefully watched as Eleanor helped Mason tie up his shoelaces.

Then Becky asked: "Misfits?"

"Yes! The Misfits. Let's go and have breakfast with them." said Eleanor.

Holding Lena's right hand and Mason holding Lena’s other hand, they went off to the small dining room, with Queen Eleanor trailing behind them.

Mason:

Mason was sitting to Lena's left, looking at his plate of food - a slice of toast with jam, some fresh fruit, and a couple of cookies.

By now, he knew the drill.

He dutifully waited until Aragon and the Misfits served everyone and until everyone was seated.

"OK, everyone, bog in!" said Eleanor.

He no longer was fearful that someone would pinch his meal. And, no one had beaten him up for ages.

He contentedly consumed his meal, not making too much mess. Lena occasionally had to clean up some spilt food or drink, but Mason didn't mind.

For some reason, Eleanor was always careful to sit at the end of the table, furthest from the two orphans.

But Mason never considered such matters.

Misfits: Setting off, waving goodbye to the orphans.

There was a whole lot of hugging at the parting, mainly between the orphans and the Misfits.

"Come back?" said Becky, currently being held and hugged by Cassy.

"Of course! We'll be back."

"Soon?" said Mason, receiving a sandwich hug from Dryaden and Bronsen.

"Well, it might take a little while, but we'll be back!" said Alice, who had taken the opportunity to sneak in a hug with Drayden. Oh, and also with Bronsen, with Mason in the middle.

Then, the Misfits, Aragon, Esther, and Evereena, gave somewhat more dignified farewells to Queen Eleanor and Lena.

The Treasurer was also there, standing stiffly in the background, looking as if he didn't know how to react.

And they were off. Aragon was in the front, leading the way since he was the only one who knew the way.

Esther and Evereena, hand in hand, followed.

Lastly came the Misfits, each carrying about half a ton of supplies. They didn't mind being the pack mules for this expedition; it was just another chance to show off their extreme physical abilities. Besides, most of what they carried was food, and the Misfits were keen on getting their three big meals every day.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Misfits:

The group walked out of the internal courtyard, down a flight of stairs and out of a fortressed door. On the other side was the dock on the river.

Slightly blue cobblestones beneath their feet, a couple of boats tied up, the water running flowing past, raising little ripples and splashes of light from the sun's reflections, a group of trees casting their green-tinged shade across their path: Drayden was enthralled.

“This is so peaceful and pretty. It could be a postcard picture direct from Earth,” said Drayden.

The other Misfits agreed. Then Drayden looked up and realised that they were currently passing along the highest walls of the castle. In fact-

"Hey, look, right up at the top, they're waving at us!"

So everyone looked up, and everyone except Aragon waved madly back to the orphans and Eleanor and Lena. Then, they resumed their way.

“Say, why was Aragon looking kind of out of it just then?” said Drayden, whispering to Cassy.

Cassy shrugged his shoulders.

“Who knows, maybe it’s the bonding stuff with Esther, he’s still getting used to it,” she said.

It was only an hour's walk to the coastal cliffs. They ended up leaning over the edge of an observation platform, looking down one kilometre to the ocean.

“My, it's a long way down,” said Bronsen.

He could feel his balls trying to constrict themselves, and he almost put down his hands to protect them.

And then Cassy laughed hysterically.

"Hey, both of you-" pointing to Drayden and Bronsen, "Almost put your hands down to, ah -"

She looked at Evereena.

"That is, you both got nervous, looking down, didn't you?"

Drayden glared at her. Bronsen giggled. And both Alice and Evereena looked puzzled.

"Never mind!" said Bronsen, "Look, you can see the pathway zigzagging its way down to one side, and on the other side, there is a kilometre-high rapids."

It was impressive. The path itself went down and dwindled to a narrow white line, going back and forward down the steep, but not vertical, cliff face. The cliff face was at the back of a kilometre-wide circular chunk taken out of the sheer cliffs that normally lined the sea in this region. The river tumbled down in torrents and small waterfalls, finally ending up in a shallow bay connected to the sea. The Manifestorian port was on the shore of this bay, away from the deep and dangerous open sea.

The Misfits lined up on the balcony railing, oohing and aahing at the view. Then Alice pointed out where the lightly coloured blue of the bay gradually changed to a deep blue-green of the deeper ocean.

"Those shadows in the deep ocean, are they some sort of massive huge sea life?"

"Bloody hell," said Cassy, "They must be a hundred metres long or so - eek, one has got tentacles, and it's attacking the other ..."

They had a ringside seat for the next ten minutes as the tentacled monstrosity managed to subdue the other. They could see the water stained red from a vantage point a kilometre high and a kilometre back. They could also see smaller, that is, smaller than the hundred-metre monsters, creatures gathering.

"Right," said Drayden, "They must be the local aquatic version of scavengers. Hmm, just as well Cassy and I never went out into deep water, isn't it?"

"Yeah, right," said Cassy.

"It makes me wonder how the hell you all managed to survive, even with Voice of the World’s help," said Aragon.

"Ah, well, maybe we are the chosen?" said Bronsen.

Aragon rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he said, "Anyway, I'll introduce you to the lookout guards."

There were four guards, three men and a woman. They bunked in a house next to the observation platform and took turns watching the port and the nearby ocean over a complete 24-hour cycle. After the brief intros, Aragon explained their duties.

"There are always enough guards so that there is one with high perception on the lookout at all times. There is also always at least one guard with fast-running abilities. They can see unidentified ships as they approach, warn the people at the port by light semaphore, and send a runner to the castle. Of course, there is also a rotation of watchers down at the port, looking up and ready to receive any warnings."

“So, Manifestoria spends a considerable amount of effort to looking out for the slaver menace,” said Bronsen.

Aragon nodded his head.

"And, I suppose Crysteth, with their much bigger border to protect, must expend even more effort?" he said.

Aragon looked serious, "You bet they do. Fortunately, they have a lot more people. And, if I dare say so, they are much more organised."

After a while: "OK, we've had enough rest, let's get moving," said Aragon. He took Esther's hand again and set off down the path.

Cassy wiggled her backpack a little to ensure it sat well, then looked at Evereena, who had been keeping as far away as possible from the guard rails. She was also trying to avoid looking at her mother and Aragon.

"Evereena, how about you hold my hand?" said Cassy.

Evereena gave a big smile, and together, they followed Aragon.

Bronsen followed immediately after, so Alice and Drayden were last in line.

They also decided to hold hands.

Cassy saw this at one of the many switchbacks. She giggled.

A few significant looks later, Cassy held Bronsen's hand on one side and Evereena's on the other.

Drayden:

This is so funny. Alice, definitely holding my hand, is getting slightly jealous of Cassy holding Bronsen's hand.

Quick, think of something to distract her.

"Hey, System-san, are these geographical features the result of normal erosion? For that matter, who built this path?

Ding! There is no way tectonic plate movements and erosion can happen here; the Ringworld material is only a kilometre thick and must be rigid and unmoving. Everything was created: cliffs and oceans and rivers, as you now see it. Similarly, this path was also created as is. However, Felixians went through and put up the guard rails.

This reply was given only to the four Misfits, triggering a round of discussion between them.

Evereena:

This left Evereena a bit confused.

She marked it off as the usual Misfit's weirdness and left it at that.