It had been three quiet days since they had found the field, and in those days they had enjoyed seclusion and safety aplenty. No other practitioners had stumbled upon their little oasis and they were all thankful for it.

One thing they were even more grateful for was that two more of them had advanced since, which wasn't such a surprise given their location. Unlike Lukho's partial advancement, with what the other two had gone through, Lwazikazi and Zuko, their steps into the third peak was a complete thing. They had acquired their focuses during the time spent gathering resources, with Zuko taking a stone from the pool that felt laden with water chi, cool and heavy to the touch. Lwazikazi had chosen a bulbous rock that glimmered black with ridges and a shallow divot to go with it. Enchanting was much blacksmithing as it was alchemy and her choice was made with that in mind.

While Lukho had stepped into the third peak of cultivation he was missing the essential ingredient that would allow him to wield the nature around him as he wished. As he was now he could sense and manipulate chi within his body but what was around him eluded him. Asive was in the same boat as him but neither felt the need to rush to accept a focus they did not want. This was only their first explored location and they would take time to choose what they truly wanted.

The abundance of resources was what kept them rooted to their location, harvesting material for personal use as well as to be resold at a later time, but as with all things enjoyed in tranquility, something always comes up to disturb it. This was no exception.

Zuko perked up, straining his head to hear more of the distant sound he'd caught, he would dismiss it too if he hadn't spent a month around these foxes and hyenas. He searched for the others, seeing them spread apart with a notable distance between them; certainly not optimal positioning for defense. He made a quick decision and ran towards the person nearest to him, Asive, disturbing her as she followed some small creature under the shaded canopy. Her eyes drifted to him before he even reached her, looking at him then past him as she saw the worry written on his face. She grabbed a small rock from the ground and tossed it high up in an arc towards Lukho, grabbing his attention. A quick communication with the eyes relayed the situation, he gauged the distance, looked to his right, and ran towards Lwazikazi. The enchanter was absorbed in her work, a portable work station of book, ink and pigment layed out before her.

"Pack up."

"Huh?"

Lukho didn't repeat himself, reaching down and closing the book and ink containers to a startled yelp and affront.

"What's gotten into you? Lukho? Hey!"

Just as she finished saying those words, a crunch of leaves and a shuffling of multiple feet caused her breath to catch, "Oh."

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

While no company was ideal, perhaps only those from their sect, the ones arrayed against them now left them with some hope that things would not escalate badly. Some compromise could be reached with nothing more than a conversation. Hopefully.

Orange robes materialised from the verdant wall, approaching from the west of the cliff they'd descended and camped on; three people strode in front, machetes in hand as they moved clearing a path for the ones behind them. Five more arrived on the heels of the first group with a familiar face among them, then three more after them bringing up the rear. There was tension in the air but only from one side, the other knew that this would be a formality at most, a few scratches to shore up technique and perhaps try a new move not yet comfortable with.

Lukho looked at Lwazikazi seeing her finished with packing her things away then walked towards Zuko and Asive. The two were headed towards them as well, set to meet at a mid point of their walks, trying to get as close as possible to their tents. As close as possible to home.

When the four met up, Lukho took the lead, heading closer to the small force studying them, it wouldn't do to show fear even when all present knew they were outnumbered and likely outmatched. They were, for a fact, outmatched with the non-fighter in their group.

"Zamokuhle, we meet again. How goes your hunt this day, found anything worth sharing?" The lazy attitude Lukho adopted drew eyes from the Dawn members, some squinting in his direction as if they wanted to intervene.

Zamokuhle gave a chuckle, "Nothing worth bragging about so far; though now it seems our fortunes have changed," his eyes roved around the field, taking in all the splendour before him.

"It would seem you're a finder of fortune, Lukho," the man from Dawn continued, "perhaps having you close will lead to more fortuitous encounters like this."

"I certainly appreciate the praise, and the invitation, but I prefer moving with a smaller team, less noise that way."

"Funny. Our noise seemed to sneak up on you just fine," someone chirped from outside the bubble of conversation, offering their invaluable two cents.

A reply came to Lukho immediately, one the cackling princess behind him would enjoy, but aggravating these new arrivals was not the best thing to do, so he bit his tongue and let the snide remark flow past him.

Zamokuhle acknowledged his politeness by not entertaining the remark, continuing as if they hadn't been interrupted, "This is a lovely place you've stumbled upon, I hope you won't mind us joining you for a while."

"Absolutely not. Feel free to have the run of the place, we were on our way to another location anyway."

"I hope you're not leaving on our account."

"No. We've had three whole days to ourselves here, I'm glad someone else has managed to find this spot, it would be a shame to leave it secluded."

"Then I appreciate the welcome," Zamokuhle leaned in and offered his hand to shake, before stepping away and letting Lukho and his posse be on their way.

"Oh, one more thing Lukho," Zamokuhle reached to the front left side of his hip, his weapon a negligible distance away, then retrieved from his spatial satchel unomyayi. A wooden bird construct that opened up to reveal smaller constructs of the same design, passing one to Lukho. "Distance should not keep us apart."

Lukho took a bird construct of a different design and passed one smaller to Zamokuhle as well, "Of course. Take care," they shook hands again and parted. Unomyayi was a means of long distance communication, a chi signature shared between two constructs would be able to share communication over vast distances, a melding of enchanting and formation at work.