Comin' together to Celebrate (IC)

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

Kiah nodded.
"I think I read about this place... even here.", she said and motioned for Marie to wait a moment, rising to look through the bookshelf in the back, quickly pulling out a volume. "A Vixen in Faraway Lands. A Travelogue of Purgatio of someone, who learned there., by a certain Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth. She's even a daughter of this City."
She passed the book to Marie, a white envelope with a large traveling bag under the title, written in Selkie-Runes.
"It sounds like a horrid place.", Kiah said as she sat down, "Makes one rue, that we gave up our nuclear weapons in the 80s, but that was the Price for the Utica Peace Accords." A shake of her head later, she looked back at Marie. "In any case... the lad in question, did you meet him there? A fellow student?"

At the bakery, there was quite a bit of business, people standing in rows up to the door to get something of the breadrolls and baked goods and confectionaries, apprentices and workers bringing fresh delicacies out of the bakery by the minute and by the sheets.
It all smelled delicious, very well worth the coins of copper and silver, which changed hands - the prices were reasonable, too, and the cashiers quick... some customers, not so much, but in some cases, like the older Lady to the far right, that could be forgiven.
The selection was wide, breadrolls for the own breakfast or already prepared with cheeses, hams, sausages and other delicious things, loafs of bread, pastries like the ever-present Scipeáil or sticky buns, cookies, Maith boiling in the corner...
The cashier, which received Anne, smiled, recognizing the foreigner immediately as a foreigner.
"Good morning, Ma'am.", he said, "What strikes your fancy?"
For emphasis, he let his tongs click, grinning.

Marie shook her head. "After the exchange, actually. A few months after we all went home, well, shit got out of hand. Irene founds a navy, Karl goes around gallivating in New Guinea, and I...well, I stayed home and continued my studies. Then Cel sends an invitation to us-a reunion, so to speak, in Shella. It was there that I met him...Yven, his name was. Yven of the House of Barriall." She chuckled. "Guess one could call it love at first sight. Still, we were kids playing at love, and after a few months, we decided we were better as friends. But now...now I'm here, and I'm going to meet him again, face-to-face, for the first time, and I...I just don't know what to say...and what do we do if the old flame starts up again?" She drained her tea, and shook her head. "What do I do?"

---

Anne smiled in return. "Nothing much so far. Everything looks equally amazing to me...my husband has rather particular tastes, though. Do you have anything similar to hardtack and molasses?"

[Foxfound]

Kiri nodded. "I'm sorry you had to pay for food I couldn't even eat... I should have said something before we got here... it does look very delicious, though."

Z gave Kiri an endearing smile. "I'll help you finish it, sweetheart." She then took a break from eating to think, an excited look on her face. "So! What's the plan for when we're done eating?"

It would probably be a good idea to give her some idea. With no plan of action someone like her was bound to wind up in trouble fast, possibly dragging her two charges along with her.

Ren had slowed her eating slightly, perhaps aware she wasn't being very polite.

[The Selkie]

Jan laughed softly. "Not charming per sé, Gwen, just being the honest gentleman my mum raised me to be." Jan returned the hand squeeze from his Gwen, followed with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Very cute indeed. And I bet cracking his nuts for him, creates a strong bond between you two."

"A bit, yes.", the older Gwen said, "Though, I must admit, due to almost everyone meeting one cracking the nuts for the Cuddle-Tines, the bond is relatively weak. Fiona's bond with Sio is stronger."
The other Gwen nodded, then smiled as a little Tine sat down in her lap, softly putting her hand onto his head to pet him.

Kathleen had to admit, the lad was cute, reminded her of one of her brothers back at home, but now wasn’t the time for staring. She was simply too busy trying to find her friend to even notice the changes Ciaran’s expression.

“I canae do ya better.” Miranda took out her smartphone, tapped out several seemingly meaningless patterns, and then handed it to the messenger pigeon.

On the phone was a picture of Miranda and herself wearing polo gear, Miranda had her helmet off and under her arm, and was smiling, while Kathleen grinned like mad had her arm wrapped around Miranda’s shoulders, her own helmet dangling from the straps on her fingers.

“Last polo tournament from last spring.” Kathleen explained.

She looked over to both Ciaran and Fiona.to Ciaran to make sure he understood who he was looking for. And Fiona to gauge her reaction to the picture.

“Think you can find her? Because I swear, if you don’t, I’m goin’ ta kick yar arse ta New London.” Given the typical abrasive nature in the Scottish accent Kathleen might’ve sounded darkly playful at best, threatening at worst.

---

Miranda looked out longingly to the group of militiawomen. “They are... graceful and strong, almost like amazons in a way...”

She looked up at the woman abruptly after realizing what the woman said, “A-Are these your daughters? All of them?”

Miranda found it pretty far fetched, but she couldn’t help but think up of a story of an entire family whose daughters instead of sons joined in the defense of their nation in the stead of their sons and brothers in arms, again like the amazons.

Lodged in the back of her mind though, she was still figuring out how she would go back to Kathleen and Fiona, and how to face Kathleen when she got back, better yet she still had to make up her mind and make peace with the conflict that was going on in her head.

For now though, her immediate focus was on the mysterious woman.

---

Kat smiled, “I don’t know, maybe kept to yourself in your studies, the work and live alone until you’re the crazy tine lady down the street? I’d totally be that.” She jokingly said.

She nuzzled into Liv’s hand, and gave it a soft kiss, starting from her palm to her wrist.

“I should say the same to you. But I guess we should start walking before we miss everything for the marriage.” Though she said that, she still cuddled up to Liv and hummed . “Last thing we should do is crash a wedding, that’s for Vegas.” She smiled at her ‘jokes.’

Ciaran committed the image to memory, then looked at Kathleen with a grin: "I'm of the Cuan Younger Militia, Ma'am.", he said with pride and saluted - Fiona smiled. "We found things, you would not believe we found. We held in places, where you would not believe we held. We stopped charges you would not believe we stopped. We're going to be fine with searching for one girl!"
He drew his own smart phone.
"Can you send me the image? So that I can pass it along to the rest?", he asked of Kathleen. Fiona nodded - it would not be misused.

The woman looked surprised for a moment, then laughed.
"Sorry!", she apologized between gales of laughter and when she calmed down, she replied more orderly: "Sorry... whew, I needed that one... no, those lassies aren't my daughters. I only have two, twins at that."
She pulled out a smartphone and showed Miranda an image, of herself, two women and a man. The man looked gruff and abrasive, his red coat well-worn, but in his golden eyes, there was pride. Ears of a wolf stood on his head.
The two young women were twins, one could tell that at a glance. Both were well-equipped, their golden eyes shining with joy, although one tried to look cool and mature, while the other was mature. The one, who tried, had her hair bound back in a high ponytail, her white ribbon in a cute bow, the hair on her head hiding a pair of ears, of a canine, quite well, while the mature one had her hair open, dog ears standing on her head.
The woman knew, that the three tails they also had swished back and forth out of frame.
"My husband, Llwyd, and my daughters, Elin and Branwen.", the woman explained, "They are of the Spiorad Ainmhithe... I am not."
There was an immeasurable sadness in her voice at that last thing.

Liv grinned.
"Oh, I know, where we store the whiskey!", Liv said with nod, "But you're right... it would be rude to Lodan Lir and to Mona to ruin their Special Day."
She let Kat into a hallway, which was connected to the gardens.
The walls were decorated with a mural and, from someone coming in from the gardens, it must seem, that they were entering from the wrong side, as the story seemed to have finished with two men, their faces obscured, sitting together.
"This is a legend, which we tell.", Liv explained, "Actually, it starts at the other end of this hallway. It tells of Lodan Lir and Ladra, the God of the Sea and the Rivers and the God of Helmsmen and Boatmen respectively, and their bond..."

A long, long time ago, before the first letters were written and the first sword was forged, Lodan Lir, Master of the Seas and Rivers, and Ladra, Lord to those, who crossed Seas and Rivers, were fighting.
It was a triviality, which brought them at odds, for in who's domain were Mudskipper and Sea Weasel? The Mudskipper, who lived in the water, but who found his food on the shore, Ladra said, was His, while Lodan Lir claimed the Sea Weasel, which fared the rivers with skill and power, while building his burrows on land.
Carman Fea, who is the Lady of War and Wisdom, did not know of an arbitrament, which she could give, and neither did Rhiannon, who's Fertility was in all of the creatures of the Land, the Seas and the Skies.
The fight went on, the two Goddesses trying to calm their fellows, but the more the two tried, the more agitated the other two became.
Finally, it was the Vixen, Abhcan, who proposed a solution: Let a Sea Weasel only live on land and a Mudskipper only in the river, to see, if they could part from their native lands.
Lodan Lir and Ladra, who had come to blows, nearly, agreed.
And so, the first day dawned, the Mudskipper relaxed in the riverbed, but soon, it became hungry. Likewise, the Sea Weasel, who ate fish. But both knew of their Gods' commandment, they should not leave dry land or riverbed respectively.
By afternoon tea, the Sea Weasel was getting desperate: He was so hungry!
So he took of the berries, which the Mudskipper liked and called to him, who was in the riverbed: "If you want your berries, my friend, get me a fish! And I will give you berries!"
The Mudskipper did get a fish, a small one, but a fish nonetheless, and with gusto, the Sea Weasel threw the berries into the stream for the Mudskipper while digging in.
By night, the two were sated and went to sleep.
Ladra and Lodan Lir were confused: What was the meaning? They could not let off their realms, the Mudskipper could not without berries and the Sea Weasel not without fish. But what was the meaning?
They asked their peers and it was Rhiannon, who answered them: "River and Sea belong to those, who fare on them. Likewise, those who fare on them, belong to River and Sea. By my teats, the two of you are brothers, so work together like brothers, guard, who fares the rivers and seas, and guard the rivers and seas themselves, and you shall be known as Lords of your domains..."
Brought to insight, the two Gods fetched Mudskipper and Sea Weasel and invited them to a feast of berries and fish and apple and pear and all sorts of foods, horse, eagle and fox joining them.

Liv smiled. "I suppose... one can not without the other is the message.", she said as she had finished recounting the old story.

Domingo Hasegawa
The Stoc Inn

As Gwenny left to take Domingo's order to the kitchen, he looked around while seated.

The activity in the Stoc Inn was something for him to marvel at; he was taking in every sight, and it seems he wasn't the only foreigner here for the festival.

Domingo took out his copy of Samuel's account for a quick read while waiting for his order soon after.

When the order came, it was not Gwenny, who brought it, but a girl, maybe eleven or twelve, in a dress similar to that of the other waitresses, smiling. She was freckled and one would be unable to deny, that she was cute.
"One apple juice, one breakfast.", she said with a light voice and a heavy accent, "There ya go, Sir. Good appetite!" She bowed her head, tablet folded in front of her. "Anything else you might need, Sir?"

The maiden nodded.
"For us, archery and especially horsearchery are part of being Selkie.", she said, "We also have men, who can hit a target half a kilometre downrange with a bow from the back of a galloping horse - and hit the centre with some consistency." She nodded, he could fire. "Our ancestors were the dream of any General needing a light or medium cavalry, properly led and experienced. That led to an interesting proverb: Before you go to war, know, what you are fighting for - and know, what you are paying us for."
She grinned.
"A part of our history." she said.

The old man nodded.
"Aw, don't mention it.", he said and smiled, "It's a pleasure."
He then raised his bow and fired an arrow in the hundred metre target.
"It truly is.", he said.

“Ah, sounds like some people I know. They even have festivals which included horsearchery.” Tieguang commented as he raised his bow. “There was a famous tactician back in my country named Sun Tzu, he says ‘To fight and conquer in all battles is not supreme excellence, supreme excellence lies in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting’.”

The brunette actually quoted from the book called Art of War from his days in officer training. With that said, he fired the arrow at the target and for once he hits on the target. But near the centre, at very least it’s better than missing the target unlike last time.

[“Hurray! I didn’t missed”] Tieguang cheered in Mandarin as he punched his fist in the air, no longer feeling embarrassed earlier.

“Haha, oh my foolish husband~. But I’m happy for him.” Lianhua chuckled. “I’ve known he’s not a great archer but he’s much better with the sword than bow and arrow. He’s swordsman aside from his duties as a bannerman with firearm.”

The maiden grinned.
"Congratulations, Sir!", she said, while Conchobar nodded in approval.
"Good hit, laddie!", he complimented, then fired an arrow of his own, which missed the centre by a fair margin, which caused the old man to give a tsk. He turned to Lianhua, "If you need swords, Ma'am, then I would recommend going to the Blacksmith's Quarters. They make all sorts of swords... they even have a Kyrenaian Blacksmith there!"

At Mr. Folaíochta's shop.
The message got clear to Chris - business was business, after all. He nodded and got up.
"Basic Kit, roger" - he said and held his flat hand against his temple, as if to salute. As he passed by Lise, he stopped and said, smiling, "You got it - Cel's inside, so no need to worry about us being separated! And indeed, I wouldn't have expected to see you right here and this soon, either. Though, business is calling, for both of us ... À tout à l'heure !" - he dug his very basic, to say the least, knowledge of the French language out, See you in a moment! His pronunciation was far worse than his one of Selkie-language, but Lise would understand. "Be right back."
He went on, to the door, opened it and went inside.

At the Marcach Camp.
Tyran went off quite quickly; Hilda, Mia, and Sophus waved behind him in the same manner as his daughter. They understood well, that he must have been pretty busy doing his Camp Commander job - Marla confirmed this right away.
"Seems logical to me" - said Mia, "Running a camp can be a busy job, if one's good at it." She stressed the magical word, insinuating that she knew examples who could have needed some lessons by Tyran, one of which they had told about a minute ago.
"Now, putting these tents up is actually quite easy" - Hilda said and opened her bag with the packed tent. She aimed it at the ground, opened the knot it was fixed by, threw it - et voilà! - it automatically erected itself. "Pop-up tents - a wonderful invention!"
Sophus grinned. "Just like tent pegs - and the German word for it, which also means 'herring' ... don't ask me why, though." He and Mia threw their own tents next to Hilda's - as expected, they instantly popped up. "If you could help us fixing them, that would be nice." He opened another small bag, which contained the tent pegs.
"And more importantly - getting them together as soon as we depart" - Hilda added, "for it takes two seconds to erect these and two hours to pack them again. The bars have to be put into a very certain position - without breaking them. It's some sort of mystery ..."

At the Marcach Camp.
The two Marcach watched them set up their tents with smiles.
Nothing new to them, but unusual. A look around would reveal, that most of their tents were more basic, from simple things with wooden poles and cloth cover to cloths spread between two wagons, one could see quite a bit.
"Sure, give us a few pegs and we will peg the tents until they can't be pegged anymore!", Leonard said with a grin and went to work with everyone, securing them to the ground, "Though... I must already say, that I won't be able to help you with deconstruction... I have two left hands, when it comes to frail mechanisms!"
Marla nodded - that was indeed the case.

Inside of the Shop.
The inside of the shop were surprisingly well-illuminated by the outside, although there were lightbulbs at the ceiling. The light wood used in the construction might have helped as well.
There were shelves along the two side walls, filled to the brim with brushes and other things, which one needed to tend to a Little Black Fox and animals like that. Books on how two were there as well.
The counter was opposite to the door, Enya and me leaning against it. Enya was brushing Greanchloch, the girl letting her do it with the pleasure only someone getting the hair brushed could feel, while I... well, I had one of my breasts uncovered, held a little baby-fox to it, who was currently eating his late breakfast.
It was nothing, that Chris had not seen already, but for outside observers, it still might be weird.
I looked to the young man in question with a smile. "Everything alright outside?", I asked.

First business then all the talk about the rest, Gawain requested Chris to bring the basic kit which with what he said too, he has to ask if Cel has it ready.
Well that and what Chris would tell her answered her question of where Cel was and that he was surprised to see her this soon in Cuan either, then with an very but still understandable french the Lillo told her see you in an moment and so it was since as soon as he finds the kit he will bring it here.

"I'll be here waiting so take your time" she said smiling at him as he entered inside. Then Lise looked at Gawain to answer his question but first took seat in the chair the green-haired guy told her to sit.

"Merci" she said with an smile as she looked at his pet and smiled that he stopped of shake and meanwhile she begun to carass him she answered the question. "I found him at the Stoc Inn when there was an problem because he entered to the place, tried to grab some food and attacked an worker there which in turn wanted to kill him now for what he did and so I protected him and to evade problems I leaved the Inn and now I'm planning to see if I can have an room in the Cluanaire Inn" she answered sighing.

"And about if he is a he or an she?? That's something I don't know since you don't find this kind of animals at Mervay so can you help me to see if he is a he or she??"

Stoc Inn
Oh oh, that confused look didn't looked good for Trinity did she screwed things??? Hope not since that would be very uncomfortable for everyone.

"I see so it is mostly business then?? Interesting I'm sure things have been going good for you two then" she told them with an smile. "My apologies for what I said early since I believe that you guys looked me rare for my accent" she said bowing at them.

"Either way, may I ask how is Lutetii??"

Outside of the Shop.
Finnegan smiled and replied in French, with a bit of an accent: "Don't mention it."
Gawain, meanwhile, sighed.
"Oh, the old problem...", he said and shook his head, "Many people see these lads and lassies as pests, you see? Vermin, which needs to be taken care of... apparently, you two met someone of that description." He looked at Lise. "What you did was something, which not everyone would do. May Abhcan bless you for it."
He bowed his head for a moment.
"The Cluanaire is a good house, you will surely find a good room there... especially with that young fox.", he said with a grin, before he asked politely, "Now, would you mind, if I took him for a moment?"

Stoc Inn.
The confusion, for as short as it was, was not something bad - on the contrary, it was confusion mixed with curiosity, at best, only confusion at worst.
Aurora waved the concern off with a smile.
"It's okay, I can just not place your accent, that's all.", she said and smiled, "And to be honest, it's not only business... I do hope to have a few dances with some of the local ragazzi. Selkie-Men, they say, are strong as horses."
She blushed lightly.
"In any case, Lutetii is doing well.", she said, "Our merchant fleet is sailing on every ocean under the sun, transporting goods and wares to ports far and wide and those are not only of Lutetiian origin. And what is of Lutetiian Origin is sought after, for example the wine."
There was quite a bit of pride in her eyes.

Marie shook her head. "After the exchange, actually. A few months after we all went home, well, shit got out of hand. Irene founds a navy, Karl goes around gallivating in New Guinea, and I...well, I stayed home and continued my studies. Then Cel sends an invitation to us-a reunion, so to speak, in Shella. It was there that I met him...Yven, his name was. Yven of the House of Barriall." She chuckled. "Guess one could call it love at first sight. Still, we were kids playing at love, and after a few months, we decided we were better as friends. But now...now I'm here, and I'm going to meet him again, face-to-face, for the first time, and I...I just don't know what to say...and what do we do if the old flame starts up again?" She drained her tea, and shook her head. "What do I do?"

---

Anne smiled in return. "Nothing much so far. Everything looks equally amazing to me...my husband has rather particular tastes, though. Do you have anything similar to hardtack and molasses?"

Kiah thought, first of all putting a hand on Marie's shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze.
"First of all, think. Do you still love him?", she asked, "Deep in your heart, do you still love him? If yes, then talk to him about it. If he does, too, think together about what to do. If not... well, better not think about that for now." Kiah shrugged. "If you don't love him anymore, but really only see him as a friend, then all's fine... unless he loves you still."
She let a beat pass.
"However, if your thinking deep down yields no results, meet him with an open mind and an open heart, feel and experience.", she recommended, "If the flames start up again, then they start up again and you need to talk to him." She smiled softly. "In general, talk to him. Meet him. Let him pay for your dinner." She winked at that. "But most importantly, talk."

"I'm afraid, that I can not help you with molasses, but with the hardtack - either what we call arálong, which might as well be hardtack, or merry ol' Scipeáil.", he said and indicated to either with his tongs, "Arálong is usually eaten with marmalade, which we sell as well."
He pointed to a shelf behind him.

Kiri nodded. "I'm sorry you had to pay for food I couldn't even eat... I should have said something before we got here... it does look very delicious, though."

Z gave Kiri an endearing smile. "I'll help you finish it, sweetheart." She then took a break from eating to think, an excited look on her face. "So! What's the plan for when we're done eating?"

It would probably be a good idea to give her some idea. With no plan of action someone like her was bound to wind up in trouble fast, possibly dragging her two charges along with her.

Ren had slowed her eating slightly, perhaps aware she wasn't being very polite.

Macha smiled.
"Well, I used excellent contacts and organized you a guide, if you want.", she explained and looked to the door... where no one was. Macha made a face. "Well, so much for the dramatic effect."
Branwen giggled. "She'll come in a bit, don't worry.", she said, "Nia is a good girl. You will like her... and she will make sure, that you don't get into scrapes. Or at least only into the fun ones."
Macha nodded. "She might be from Fort Stone, but she knows the Mór-Land like her breast pocket before both the term Mór-Land and the breast pocket were invented.", she confirmed. "She can show you Cuan's parts, which are not often frequented by tourists."

[Kuronami]

Pina smiled and did like Charlotte did with James, only that her target was Donny, who smiled wide, wrapping an arm around her.
"Fun aside, though, I would to add your little town to a possible itinerary for a tour.", Pina then said, "It sounds like a lovely place. And one, where our tourer can show, what they are made off! What do you think, when would be a good time to visit?"

"Timing is really everything isn't it? Well if you plan on motoring cross country best time would be mid-late spring. Our part of the South though is pretty temperate year round if you only want to stick to the coasts. Summer isn't bad either just pretty warm all around. Of course if you go to Mazomba it's tropical and warm pretty much all the time."

Mavie and Mara looked at each other, then out to where Rona was still dancing with the lad.
"Indeed we are.", Mara confirmed with a nod, "When we married, we said, that we wanted children and we looked into the options. And luckily, my brother was willing to give... the other half of the genetic material needed. She was made in a vat, but she was also made in our hearts."
Mavie nodded. "And there will she always be.", she added.

"So sweet. I'll have to think up one of the love melodies I often get to play. I think the perfect way to end such a lovely evening with you nice folks." Mei responded.

[AHSCA]

Lugh smiled at the blush and the stutter, rising to his full height of 1.89 metres when he had the glasses.
"You're very welcome.", he said and turned back towards the counter, his eyes on the glasses, examining the damage. What they might now see was, that his back was quite scarred, but he was unashamed of them. He looked over when Hina asked for the price of the music box. "A Gil, usually, but since you are with Leonard, it's two!"
"Hey!", Leonard protested.
"It's a joke!", Lugh said, grinning, "No, fun aside, ten Umha."
Leonard placed two of the large copper coins on the counter, smiled at Haru, which made Lugh smile as well as he turned back to the glasses, mumbling something to himself, before he looked into one of the back rooms and yelled: "Pa! Tá obair ann!"

Haru smiled with a blush "Thank you again, Leonard." As it seemed he was offering to also pay for the box. "Pardon me again, sir," She asked the shop keep "Possible to put a small engraving on it? It's a present for my daughter here."

"Wow really? Th-thanks mama." No sense in protesting, her mother was stubborn and she would get her this gift no matter what. Plus Hina couldn't deny, it was a pretty box.

"Water sure is.", Branwen said, "It allows us writers to express all sorts of feelings. Calmness, a pond with a mirror-like surface, inner turmoil, heavy seas, bubbly excitement, the roiling of the sea..." She smiled. "...and on all of it, the ships of our characters, seeking shores of distant lands."

"Heavy seas..." Shizuka nodded smiling still "an experience I know very well which is why it so frequently occurs in my stories." It was true, her last few books featured sea storms and the characters dealing with them in some way or the other. "Actually funny story there, feeling inspired one day I went and planted myself on some rocks in the cove. Wrote about 10 pages on scratch pad, all well and good until a rather large wave decided I needed a soaking. Well nothing too loss, I salvaged all the pages."

[Lillorainen]

At the Marcach Camp.
The two Marcach watched them set up their tents with smiles.
Nothing new to them, but unusual. A look around would reveal, that most of their tents were more basic, from simple things with wooden poles and cloth cover to cloths spread between two wagons, one could see quite a bit.
"Sure, give us a few pegs and we will peg the tents until they can't be pegged anymore!", Leonard said with a grin and went to work with everyone, securing them to the ground, "Though... I must already say, that I won't be able to help you with deconstruction... I have two left hands, when it comes to frail mechanisms!"
Marla nodded - that was indeed the case.

Inside of the Shop.
The inside of the shop were surprisingly well-illuminated by the outside, although there were lightbulbs at the ceiling. The light wood used in the construction might have helped as well.
There were shelves along the two side walls, filled to the brim with brushes and other things, which one needed to tend to a Little Black Fox and animals like that. Books on how two were there as well.
The counter was opposite to the door, Enya and me leaning against it. Enya was brushing Greanchloch, the girl letting her do it with the pleasure only someone getting the hair brushed could feel, while I... well, I had one of my breasts uncovered, held a little baby-fox to it, who was currently eating his late breakfast.
It was nothing, that Chris had not seen already, but for outside observers, it still might be weird.
I looked to the young man in question with a smile. "Everything alright outside?", I asked.

At the Marcach Camp.
Indeed, the three Lillos had noticed how unusual their pop-up tents looked in here, almost out of place. From their own camping experience, they knew, that these thingies were, according to Mia's words, which were famous amongst her friends, 'theoretically practical' ... and most of the others here were visibly a lot less sophisticated, simple even - which was most certainly their owners' advantage.
While they were starting pegging, until there would be nothing left to peg, Leonard receiving another bag of pegs, Hilda had to grin again, and said, shrugging, "Well, then we might either have to figure that out ourselves - or we simply have to buy new tents!"
Sophus laughed. "I'd personally prefer to figure out how to pack them again, for I wouldn't really wish to blow the thirty-five Marks for one of these into the wind that easily!"
"Quite literally even, in case we don't secure them properly" - Mia said.
"This is exactly what we're preventing."

Inside of the Shop.
Despite the lightbulbs were fixed a bit higher than they would have been serving most efficiently as an illumination, the shop wasn't as dark as expected from inside - most likely also thanks to the light wood. The two side walls were filled with all possible items one could need as an owner of a Little Black Fox, including guide books.
Chris recognized Greanchloch at once, the vixen getting her hair brushed by Enya, letting her do with the same pleasure as young, human women often did when getting their hairs brushed in a hairdressing salon. He had to grin a bit.
Seeing Cel feeding a baby fox in the most natural way one could think of was, indeed, nothing unusual to him. Of course, an outside observer would glance like a broken car, just like he had back then, but he had gotten used to it very quickly - and he didn't only tolerate, but even fully appreciated this extraordinary, but, in the end, logical way.
"Everything fine!" - he replied, getting closer to the counter. "You won't believe who's the new customer who's just floated in." He let a beat pass. "Lise Devienne!" He knew for sure that Cel remembered her, for they had, indeed, met twice, two. "Looks like she's picked up another lad - or lass - out there."

[Minroz]

The maiden grinned.
"Congratulations, Sir!", she said, while Conchobar nodded in approval.
"Good hit, laddie!", he complimented, then fired an arrow of his own, which missed the centre by a fair margin, which caused the old man to give a tsk. He turned to Lianhua, "If you need swords, Ma'am, then I would recommend going to the Blacksmith's Quarters. They make all sorts of swords... they even have a Kyrenaian Blacksmith there!"

“Thank you, thank you~.” Tieguang quipped in response, appreciating the compliments.

“Thank you, elder Conchobar. We’ll take note of that.” Lianhua replied with a smile. She then looked at the target range.

“Hmm, I do believe it’s my turn.” She took her position, raised her bow, aimed the arrow and then fired at the target. Her arrow has struck in the centre, just like the last. She made a satisfied hum.

“Say elder Conchobar,” Tieguang spoke “Since you’re a senior, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of things in life. I’m sure you have some stories to tell. Mayhaps you can tell us some history about your country. I’ll tell you mine but ours is an ancient civilization and our history is so long that we have to cover the eras based on the ruling dynasties.”

Although Tieguang finds it ironic of him to ask such questions, considering his status as being technically century-older than the Selkie elder, he too seen a lot in life together with his wife and his friends who shared his magic-imbued longevity.

[Mediama]

Ciaran committed the image to memory, then looked at Kathleen with a grin: "I'm of the Cuan Younger Militia, Ma'am.", he said with pride and saluted - Fiona smiled. "We found things, you would not believe we found. We held in places, where you would not believe we held. We stopped charges you would not believe we stopped. We're going to be fine with searching for one girl!"
He drew his own smart phone.
"Can you send me the image? So that I can pass it along to the rest?", he asked of Kathleen. Fiona nodded - it would not be misused.

The woman looked surprised for a moment, then laughed.
"Sorry!", she apologized between gales of laughter and when she calmed down, she replied more orderly: "Sorry... whew, I needed that one... no, those lassies aren't my daughters. I only have two, twins at that."
She pulled out a smartphone and showed Miranda an image, of herself, two women and a man. The man looked gruff and abrasive, his red coat well-worn, but in his golden eyes, there was pride. Ears of a wolf stood on his head.
The two young women were twins, one could tell that at a glance. Both were well-equipped, their golden eyes shining with joy, although one tried to look cool and mature, while the other was mature. The one, who tried, had her hair bound back in a high ponytail, her white ribbon in a cute bow, the hair on her head hiding a pair of ears, of a canine, quite well, while the mature one had her hair open, dog ears standing on her head.
The woman knew, that the three tails they also had swished back and forth out of frame.
"My husband, Llwyd, and my daughters, Elin and Branwen.", the woman explained, "They are of the Spiorad Ainmhithe... I am not."
There was an immeasurable sadness in her voice at that last thing.

The Scottish girl nodded “As long as ya know what you’re doin’ and say who’s who, don’t want any fuckin’ confusion. What’s you’re number.”

Phone numbers were exchanged, as were pictures. As Ciaran distributed the pictures and coordinated with his cohorts, Kathleen nudged Fiona as well. “Yours, too ya flustered fuck.” (To be clear, she meant it endearingly). Had she shared Kathleen her number, she would send a copy of the image to her as well. “Think of it as a keepsake, lunch is on me if it goes well.”

Hopefully, Kathleen’s display of confidence would go a long way into reassuring that everything’s going to be fine.

Because to the Scott, she was sure that Fiona was the right girl for Miranda.

Though her matchmaking skills could come into question. She felt more clarity in archery, polo, and beating the shit out of assholes.

---

Miranda looked at the surrogate family with quite a fascination. Mediama, like any other nation someone would go to OOC’ly, was populated by only humans and nothin else. They had nothing like the human-canine beings pictured in front of her. She had to ask later if the nations name of Selkie had to do with the possibility that there were people that can turn into seals, but that was for another time.

For she could feel the same loneliness as the the woman had, and with how she expressed complete sadness in her differences with her family, Miranda felt she had no choice but share her own sorrows.

“You’re not the only one who feels alone.” She said with a sigh, “I-I have a certain... w-well, liking towards a more sapphic nature.” She looked down at her writing journal and fiddled with it.

“Being that way taboo in the school I go to. And there are so many people there that are normal. Some friends I knew were expelled because of the love they shared.”

She rubbed at the spine of her journal. “I-I felt like I had to break off a close relationship I had with another friend and just remain close bosom buddies, but now I’m here and I met someone and...”

She sniffled a bit, “I don’t know what to do? I want to be normal like everyone else, be the same. But I can’t help but feel a bit different, it just... it just feels wrong when I try to be the same.”

She did it, she spilled her guts out to someone. And they were both in the same boat. Though she doubted being of the same species and being in a sapphic relationship when everyone around you is saying no are the same things, she couldn’t help but feel like they were
kindred spirits in a sense.

But this was something personal, something private, and though her upbringing was telling her this was a bad idea, that sense of kindred spirits trumped all of those warnings.

She just hoped she was making the right call.

---

Liv grinned.
"Oh, I know, where we store the whiskey!", Liv said with nod, "But you're right... it would be rude to Lodan Lir and to Mona to ruin their Special Day."
She let Kat into a hallway, which was connected to the gardens.
The walls were decorated with a mural and, from someone coming in from the gardens, it must seem, that they were entering from the wrong side, as the story seemed to have finished with two men, their faces obscured, sitting together.
"This is a legend, which we tell.", Liv explained, "Actually, it starts at the other end of this hallway. It tells of Lodan Lir and Ladra, the God of the Sea and the Rivers and the God of Helmsmen and Boatmen respectively, and their bond..."
A long, long time ago, before the first letters were written and the first sword was forged, Lodan Lir, Master of the Seas and Rivers, and Ladra, Lord to those, who crossed Seas and Rivers, were fighting.
It was a triviality, which brought them at odds, for in who's domain were Mudskipper and Sea Weasel? The Mudskipper, who lived in the water, but who found his food on the shore, Ladra said, was His, while Lodan Lir claimed the Sea Weasel, which fared the rivers with skill and power, while building his burrows on land.
Carman Fea, who is the Lady of War and Wisdom, did not know of an arbitrament, which she could give, and neither did Rhiannon, who's Fertility was in all of the creatures of the Land, the Seas and the Skies.
The fight went on, the two Goddesses trying to calm their fellows, but the more the two tried, the more agitated the other two became.
Finally, it was the Vixen, Abhcan, who proposed a solution: Let a Sea Weasel only live on land and a Mudskipper only in the river, to see, if they could part from their native lands.
Lodan Lir and Ladra, who had come to blows, nearly, agreed.
And so, the first day dawned, the Mudskipper relaxed in the riverbed, but soon, it became hungry. Likewise, the Sea Weasel, who ate fish. But both knew of their Gods' commandment, they should not leave dry land or riverbed respectively.
By afternoon tea, the Sea Weasel was getting desperate: He was so hungry!
So he took of the berries, which the Mudskipper liked and called to him, who was in the riverbed: "If you want your berries, my friend, get me a fish! And I will give you berries!"
The Mudskipper did get a fish, a small one, but a fish nonetheless, and with gusto, the Sea Weasel threw the berries into the stream for the Mudskipper while digging in.
By night, the two were sated and went to sleep.
Ladra and Lodan Lir were confused: What was the meaning? They could not let off their realms, the Mudskipper could not without berries and the Sea Weasel not without fish. But what was the meaning?
They asked their peers and it was Rhiannon, who answered them: "River and Sea belong to those, who fare on them. Likewise, those who fare on them, belong to River and Sea. By my teats, the two of you are brothers, so work together like brothers, guard, who fares the rivers and seas, and guard the rivers and seas themselves, and you shall be known as Lords of your domains..."
Brought to insight, the two Gods fetched Mudskipper and Sea Weasel and invited them to a feast of berries and fish and apple and pear and all sorts of foods, horse, eagle and fox joining them.
Liv smiled. "I suppose... one can not without the other is the message.", she said as she had finished recounting the old story.

“A tale as old as time, like cats and dogs, Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington, Rommel and Patton, heck, maybe grey wolves and little black foxes.”

She concluded with a more serious face, “The natural balance of things and the state of not having one without the other.”

She took a look at the mural and leaned in to take a close look at the details. “This is quite good artwork, it must’ve taken a week at most to complete this section, and this would be over nine thousand years old? It has to be an array of clays and dirt and some form of plant pigment. Unless this is a more recent work perhaps? 15th century?”

It was clear that Katherine was getting ahead of herself, despite the mentions of whiskey and what had just happened not a few minutes ago.

Despite everything, Kat was still a nerd at heart.

[Wolfenium]

Stoc Inn, Cuan, Free Lands of the Selkie
Hilda Odegaard

'Stupid girls.' That was the first thing that Hilda summed up about her trip to the Spring Festival so far. Armed with her guitar and rock singles for autographs for some of the local bands, Hilda Odegaard had planned long for the trip to Cuan. In all honesty, the music stage was pretty much all she was interested in, and given the option, she would have likely went elsewhere. But there was a reason for her to pick the Spring Festival for her off-season trip; it felt quite lonely travelling solo. Unfortunately, the appeal of pagan celebrations and medieval fair had utterly failed to persuade her fellow members, all of whom ended up barraging her with a multitude of excuses.

(Image)

"Sorry! I'm heading for Theunissen to visit my grandmother this Spring!"

"I'm heading back to Ingolstadt to spend some time with my parents."

"Papi is taking me on a trip through Europe!"

"I'm sorry, Hilda, but I'm going back to Tristania for a little bit... It's hard to obtain permits into the military zone as it is..."

"My passport isn't renewed yet."

"Ugh..."

"Stupid girls," grumbled the singer as she laid on her bed, often ruing her career course away from her beloved path. Dressing up in frilly costumes and singing lovey-dovey songs may be fun after a while, but she did fret over the lack of company she would have. None of them liked rock music, at least to her knowledge. In fact, it was even a miracle they could hold together at all, with their multitude and varying levels of talent. Such was the life of a pop idol.

Of course, all that was past now, and she now had to make the best of her trip. Getting on her feet, she wondered where to start on the fair. Washing up for the morning and changing out of her pajamas, she decided to check out the inn's breakfast first.

-snip-

"Wait, are those..." Hilda blurted, pulling out one of the singles due for an autograph. It took a while for her to register, but she was soon able to identify the two. Buttoning up her lips as she hastily hid her face, the wild-haired girl quickly got on a nearby table a few feet away. Sure, she was expecting an autograph session at some point, but to meet them up close?

'Shit, I didn't think they were here,' she thought, a cold sweat breaking from her forehead, 'should I hop over and say hi? No, don't be silly, Hilda! What're you, a groupie!? Everyone knows that poking at fans outside fan sessions is liable to get you a restraining order! You had your fair share with stalkers, didn't you? No, actually, not really, I tend to attract masochists instead. But what about the other girls? They have groupies too. Should I just watch in the distance?'

Of course, all that thinking almost made her forget her hunger. Almost. Her stomach growling in anger, the girl hastily swapped out her single for a menu on the table. Burying her face in, she tried to hide her face from the duo, all while trying to pick out her order.

[Mervay]

Outside of the Shop.
Finnegan smiled and replied in French, with a bit of an accent: "Don't mention it."
Gawain, meanwhile, sighed.
"Oh, the old problem...", he said and shook his head, "Many people see these lads and lassies as pests, you see? Vermin, which needs to be taken care of... apparently, you two met someone of that description." He looked at Lise. "What you did was something, which not everyone would do. May Abhcan bless you for it."
He bowed his head for a moment.
"The Cluanaire is a good house, you will surely find a good room there... especially with that young fox.", he said with a grin, before he asked politely, "Now, would you mind, if I took him for a moment?"

Stoc Inn.
The confusion, for as short as it was, was not something bad - on the contrary, it was confusion mixed with curiosity, at best, only confusion at worst.
Aurora waved the concern off with a smile.
"It's okay, I can just not place your accent, that's all.", she said and smiled, "And to be honest, it's not only business... I do hope to have a few dances with some of the local ragazzi. Selkie-Men, they say, are strong as horses."
She blushed lightly.
"In any case, Lutetii is doing well.", she said, "Our merchant fleet is sailing on every ocean under the sun, transporting goods and wares to ports far and wide and those are not only of Lutetiian origin. And what is of Lutetiian Origin is sought after, for example the wine."
There was quite a bit of pride in her eyes.

Outside the Shop
So this was pretty common then!!! Well what Duncan wanted to do and what he said surely raised flags on Lise but she never expected this to be so common around The Free Lands, although considering she wasn't from here it was kinda obvious that she won't know about it and only people like Gawain, the green-haired guy, Cel and of course an foreigner that has been here like Chris.
Strangely it was something of praise what Lise did in the eyes of this guy and so he was grateful as his/her partner is too.

"Thanks I never expected that something like this would be so valient and something that many don't do around here" she said bowing at him as she heard about the Inn and her great chances with that cutie on her hand, then he asked about if she could hand him over the Vulpine for an minute.

"Sure, here you go" she said handing him over the cutie.

Stoc Inn
Well it seemed that it was just an misunderstanding and that Trinity has an strange and curious accent for them surely, well then Aurora answered that other of the reasons was leisure and pleasure, she wanted to have some dances with some Selkie-man and considering it was festival day it was clear that she was on luck.

It was pride on her eyes as she spoke of Lutetii and it's merchant fleet sailing through the world exporting their products and non-lutetiian ones to many nations all around Earth.

"Well I'm sure is of great national pride what the merchant navy is accomplishing and with the look on your eyes it was clear" she said smiling at Aurora. "But changing of topic and more with what you told me early, tell me, do you have your eyes in one Selkie-man??"

[Kjalaara]

"All right ma'am so either the hay wagon or your dad. Frankly, I don't care I think I'll start with the wagon, unload and try to find your father afterwards. That would make a better impression I recon." With that he went to find the hay wagon. Something not too difficult in that weather. He only had to follow the smell of fresh hay.

[The Selkie]

The Scottish girl nodded “As long as ya know what you’re doin’ and say who’s who, don’t want any fuckin’ confusion. What’s you’re number.”

Phone numbers were exchanged, as were pictures. As Ciaran distributed the pictures and coordinated with his cohorts, Kathleen nudged Fiona as well. “Yours, too ya flustered fuck.” (To be clear, she meant it endearingly). Had she shared Kathleen her number, she would send a copy of the image to her as well. “Think of it as a keepsake, lunch is on me if it goes well.”

Hopefully, Kathleen’s display of confidence would go a long way into reassuring that everything’s going to be fine.

Because to the Scott, she was sure that Fiona was the right girl for Miranda.

Though her matchmaking skills could come into question. She felt more clarity in archery, polo, and beating the shit out of assholes.

---

Miranda looked at the surrogate family with quite a fascination. Mediama, like any other nation someone would go to OOC’ly, was populated by only humans and nothin else. They had nothing like the human-canine beings pictured in front of her. She had to ask later if the nations name of Selkie had to do with the possibility that there were people that can turn into seals, but that was for another time.

For she could feel the same loneliness as the the woman had, and with how she expressed complete sadness in her differences with her family, Miranda felt she had no choice but share her own sorrows.

“You’re not the only one who feels alone.” She said with a sigh, “I-I have a certain... w-well, liking towards a more sapphic nature.” She looked down at her writing journal and fiddled with it.

“Being that way taboo in the school I go to. And there are so many people there that are normal. Some friends I knew were expelled because of the love they shared.”

She rubbed at the spine of her journal. “I-I felt like I had to break off a close relationship I had with another friend and just remain close bosom buddies, but now I’m here and I met someone and...”

She sniffled a bit, “I don’t know what to do? I want to be normal like everyone else, be the same. But I can’t help but feel a bit different, it just... it just feels wrong when I try to be the same.”

She did it, she spilled her guts out to someone. And they were both in the same boat. Though she doubted being of the same species and being in a sapphic relationship when everyone around you is saying no are the same things, she couldn’t help but feel like they were
kindred spirits in a sense.

But this was something personal, something private, and though her upbringing was telling her this was a bad idea, that sense of kindred spirits trumped all of those warnings.

She just hoped she was making the right call.

---

“A tale as old as time, like cats and dogs, Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington, Rommel and Patton, heck, maybe grey wolves and little black foxes.”

She concluded with a more serious face, “The natural balance of things and the state of not having one without the other.”

She took a look at the mural and leaned in to take a close look at the details. “This is quite good artwork, it must’ve taken a week at most to complete this section, and this would be over nine thousand years old? It has to be an array of clays and dirt and some form of plant pigment. Unless this is a more recent work perhaps? 15th century?”

It was clear that Katherine was getting ahead of herself, despite the mentions of whiskey and what had just happened not a few minutes ago.

Despite everything, Kat was still a nerd at heart.

Fiona blushed lightly as she received her keepsake, putting it into the special folder for things she wanted to remember, while Ciaran went into his PhoneNet, basically the Selkie-Version of WhatsApp, and posted the image there.
The young woman, right side, her name's Miranda. Anyone seen her around? Rallying Point Breadroll., he added to it. Confirms of the message came after a second.
He smiled at Kathleen, surprisingly mature for a lad of ten or eleven Springs.
"The message went out, Miss.", he reported, "Militia Patrols are on the lookout."
"What would we do without modern technologies, eh?", Fiona asked with a smile, putting a hand on the head of the little militiaman. Suddenly, he was beet-red. "The others will do alright. Rallying Point Breadroll?"
"Of course.", Ciaran said with a grin and a nod.

The mother listened with rapt attention.
It sounded horrible, the place she called her school, not allowing people to love, who they loved, and the situation, that she was a lesbian in that climate.
And talking about it, she felt, helped the girl sitting next to her.
It didn't compare, but still, the mother felt, that the girl felt the same loneliness, the same sense of being lost in a heartless world. Softly, she put her arm around Miranda, a comforting gesture.
"First of all, my dear, you are normal. You love, you feel... yes, you love girls, but what does that have to do with being normal?", she asked, smiling softly, "You are you. Never let anyone tell you, that you need to adhere to their definition of normal or that you need to be normal." It became, by the fire in her eyes, she was speaking of her own experience, although with a different spin. "You love a girl. Go and talk with her about it. Otherwise, your heart will never know, what to do or to feel."
Meanwhile, the Militiawomen were receiving Ciaran's message.

"Middle of the Fourteenth, actually.", Liv said with a small smile, "The artist was a man by the name of Nuda." She motioned to the bottom of the frame, where several blades of grass were arranged in a slightly lighter shade of green, forming runes, which formed the name Nuda. "After the Siege of Cuan in 1300, by Crusaders, many buildings were left in shambles, the buildings, which stood here before, included. The families were dead or had moved, so the area was free to be bought and the Temple did so, expanding its own installations. the UoL conducted a dig a few years back in the Garden, they found some interesting things... amongst them a hidden chamber under the Garden, a treasure chamber, which everyone had forgotten about."

Pina smiled and did like Charlotte did with James, only that her target was Donny, who smiled wide, wrapping an arm around her.
"Fun aside, though, I would to add your little town to a possible itinerary for a tour.", Pina then said, "It sounds like a lovely place. And one, where our tourer can show, what they are made off! What do you think, when would be a good time to visit?"

"Timing is really everything isn't it? Well if you plan on motoring cross country best time would be mid-late spring. Our part of the South though is pretty temperate year round if you only want to stick to the coasts. Summer isn't bad either just pretty warm all around. Of course if you go to Mazomba it's tropical and warm pretty much all the time."

Mavie and Mara looked at each other, then out to where Rona was still dancing with the lad.
"Indeed we are.", Mara confirmed with a nod, "When we married, we said, that we wanted children and we looked into the options. And luckily, my brother was willing to give... the other half of the genetic material needed. She was made in a vat, but she was also made in our hearts."
Mavie nodded. "And there will she always be.", she added.

"So sweet. I'll have to think up one of the love melodies I often get to play. I think the perfect way to end such a lovely evening with you nice folks." Mei responded.

Pina nodded with a grin, wanted to reply, as her boyfriend's phone vibrated.
"One moment, please.", Donny said and stepped away from the group for a moment to talk with his Leftenant about the message he had just received. Pina let him.
Undeterred, Pina replied: "Oh, we would love to see the inside of the country, too! So, right about this time of the year would be ideal, you say?"

Meave and Mara smiled with nods.
"That'd be wonderful. Nice and slow, lover's dances.", Meave replied and watched as the song being played at the moment came to an end. "Now, let's see..."
And indeed, they saw, how a boy, barely taller then three cheese wheels, gathered his courage for one more time, took it, with all its might, and softly, gently, put his lips onto Rona's.
The girl was beet-red in an instant, then leaned in.
"Aw...", Meave made and Mara grinned from one ear to the other.

Lugh smiled at the blush and the stutter, rising to his full height of 1.89 metres when he had the glasses.
"You're very welcome.", he said and turned back towards the counter, his eyes on the glasses, examining the damage. What they might now see was, that his back was quite scarred, but he was unashamed of them. He looked over when Hina asked for the price of the music box. "A Gil, usually, but since you are with Leonard, it's two!"
"Hey!", Leonard protested.
"It's a joke!", Lugh said, grinning, "No, fun aside, ten Umha."
Leonard placed two of the large copper coins on the counter, smiled at Haru, which made Lugh smile as well as he turned back to the glasses, mumbling something to himself, before he looked into one of the back rooms and yelled: "Pa! Tá obair ann!"

Haru smiled with a blush "Thank you again, Leonard." As it seemed he was offering to also pay for the box. "Pardon me again, sir," She asked the shop keep "Possible to put a small engraving on it? It's a present for my daughter here."

"Wow really? Th-thanks mama." No sense in protesting, her mother was stubborn and she would get her this gift no matter what. Plus Hina couldn't deny, it was a pretty box.

"Water sure is.", Branwen said, "It allows us writers to express all sorts of feelings. Calmness, a pond with a mirror-like surface, inner turmoil, heavy seas, bubbly excitement, the roiling of the sea..." She smiled. "...and on all of it, the ships of our characters, seeking shores of distant lands."

"Heavy seas..." Shizuka nodded smiling still "an experience I know very well which is why it so frequently occurs in my stories." It was true, her last few books featured sea storms and the characters dealing with them in some way or the other. "Actually funny story there, feeling inspired one day I went and planted myself on some rocks in the cove. Wrote about 10 pages on scratch pad, all well and good until a rather large wave decided I needed a soaking. Well nothing too loss, I salvaged all the pages."

Lugh nodded. "Sure we can.", he said, "But first things first."
Coming from the back room was a man, who looked a whole lot like an older version of Lough and was quite a lot less groomed then Leonard's friend. On the contrary, his hair was wild and stubbles of a beard were around his chin.
His eyes, however, were wide awake and attentive as his son described the problem.
"Hm...", he made in the end, then looked to Hina and Haru and Leonard, who was still standing next to them, arm linked with Haru. "...well...", he said with a heavy accent, "Ah cin fix eet, that's not thae problem. However, Myss, yer daughter wyll need new glasses soon."

Branwen laughed and Elin smiled as well.
"We all have such moments.", Branwen said with a nod, as the waitress came over and placed the menus. There were a number of cakes available, as well as herbal teas. "Thank you, we'll order in a bit!" The waitress nodded and Branwen turned back to Shizuka. "For me, it was in the final stages of my first book. Elin had just given me back the correction copy of hers, annotations and footnotes and everything. Then, enter a rather large Grey Wolf, who decided, that I needed to exercise more... I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, lost my bag and it fell into the garden of an old man, who was not too keen on visitors."
She let a beat pass.
"So, that evening, I return to the place, see, that my bag is gone and enact my plan: Mam baked a cake and I had put on a nice dress, which had lads drooling left and right, like the hormonal apes that they are.", Branwen continued, Elin snorted, "I knocked on the door, the old man opened, saw me in the dress, I took in air to bring forth my peace offering and my request... and he slammed the door into my face!"
Branwen was grinning by now.
"So, next try, I knock again.", she continued, "No reply. Second try, still nothing. I raise my hand for the third, he opens the door and thrusts my bag into my hands, takes the cake with the other and tells me: 'Don't listen to your sister's suggestions on page 147, the scene works wonderfully.' I am dumbfolded and he looks me up and down. 'And Geansai works better.' He then slammed the door and left me standing there."
Elin roared with laughter.

At the Marcach Camp.
Indeed, the three Lillos had noticed how unusual their pop-up tents looked in here, almost out of place. From their own camping experience, they knew, that these thingies were, according to Mia's words, which were famous amongst her friends, 'theoretically practical' ... and most of the others here were visibly a lot less sophisticated, simple even - which was most certainly their owners' advantage.
While they were starting pegging, until there would be nothing left to peg, Leonard receiving another bag of pegs, Hilda had to grin again, and said, shrugging, "Well, then we might either have to figure that out ourselves - or we simply have to buy new tents!"
Sophus laughed. "I'd personally prefer to figure out how to pack them again, for I wouldn't really wish to blow the thirty-five Marks for one of these into the wind that easily!"
"Quite literally even, in case we don't secure them properly" - Mia said.
"This is exactly what we're preventing."

Inside of the Shop.
Despite the lightbulbs were fixed a bit higher than they would have been serving most efficiently as an illumination, the shop wasn't as dark as expected from inside - most likely also thanks to the light wood. The two side walls were filled with all possible items one could need as an owner of a Little Black Fox, including guide books.
Chris recognized Greanchloch at once, the vixen getting her hair brushed by Enya, letting her do with the same pleasure as young, human women often did when getting their hairs brushed in a hairdressing salon. He had to grin a bit.
Seeing Cel feeding a baby fox in the most natural way one could think of was, indeed, nothing unusual to him. Of course, an outside observer would glance like a broken car, just like he had back then, but he had gotten used to it very quickly - and he didn't only tolerate, but even fully appreciated this extraordinary, but, in the end, logical way.
"Everything fine!" - he replied, getting closer to the counter. "You won't believe who's the new customer who's just floated in." He let a beat pass. "Lise Devienne!" He knew for sure that Cel remembered her, for they had, indeed, met twice, two. "Looks like she's picked up another lad - or lass - out there."

At the Marcach Camp.
After the tents were secured, the two Marcach and some of their colleagues looked at the tents... which looked out of place, like a whale on the yearly congress of avians.
Leonard took in air and Marla looked at him with a raised eyebrow, expecting what was to come, daring the redhead to speak. Leonard exhaled, shrinking.
Marla nodded.
"Well, at least now I know, who would have worn the pants if you two got together!", one of the Marcach quipped, together, causing roarous laughter...
...until a woman stepped forward, a bluenette with violet eyes and while there was fight in these eyes, they differed much from Marla's eyes (the person they belonged to stammering and being beet-red). She stepped up to Leonard, grabbed him by the chestplate and mashed her lips onto his.
He let her do, with the resignation of a man, who had tried to resist, but who had failed utterly. It was not as if he minded, anyway...
That done, the woman sent a glare in the direction of everyone around her safe Leonard. "I am Alaina Goirme of the Tribe of Wexford and this is my boyfriend.", she declared, "Touch him and I touch you. And you will not like me touching you!"
The Marcach gulped heavily.

Inside the Shop.
I looked, at the news of Lise being here, at Chris in surprise.
"Really?", I said with a happy grin, "Oh, that's awesome!"
I would have made a little jump in joy at those news, but the problem was the little fox having dinner, so I left it at leaning over to the messenger and kissing him onto the lips.
Enya turned her head away to give us a bit of privacy.
Lise was... she was my friend and I was proud to say that. A wonderful young woman!
Wait...
"Though, did you say, that she picked up a lad or lassie?", I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Outside the Shop
So this was pretty common then!!! Well what Duncan wanted to do and what he said surely raised flags on Lise but she never expected this to be so common around The Free Lands, although considering she wasn't from here it was kinda obvious that she won't know about it and only people like Gawain, the green-haired guy, Cel and of course an foreigner that has been here like Chris.
Strangely it was something of praise what Lise did in the eyes of this guy and so he was grateful as his/her partner is too.

"Thanks I never expected that something like this would be so valient and something that many don't do around here" she said bowing at him as she heard about the Inn and her great chances with that cutie on her hand, then he asked about if she could hand him over the Vulpine for an minute.

"Sure, here you go" she said handing him over the cutie.

Stoc Inn
Well it seemed that it was just an misunderstanding and that Trinity has an strange and curious accent for them surely, well then Aurora answered that other of the reasons was leisure and pleasure, she wanted to have some dances with some Selkie-man and considering it was festival day it was clear that she was on luck.

It was pride on her eyes as she spoke of Lutetii and it's merchant fleet sailing through the world exporting their products and non-lutetiian ones to many nations all around Earth.

"Well I'm sure is of great national pride what the merchant navy is accomplishing and with the look on your eyes it was clear" she said smiling at Aurora. "But changing of topic and more with what you told me early, tell me, do you have your eyes in one Selkie-man??"

Outside of the shop.
"Indeed.", the old man said as he took the fox. "Abhcan's little messengers are oftentimes seen as pests and by other such terms... a real shame, for a Little Black Fox can be a friend for life."
He smiled slightly and checked him over with careful hand and then, as the last thing, checked the gender the practical way.
"Hm... seems like he is slightly malnourished, but that's nothing, that wouldn't be able to be cured in a few days.", he said and smiled, "Other then that, my dear... it's a lad. And a good one, too."
He lifted the vulpine out of his lap and back into Lise's.
"Which name shall he have?", Gawain asked.

Stoc Inn.
"Not on one in particular.", she admitted with a smile, "I want to see, what sort of men I run into..." She smiled at Trinity. "What about you? Looking for someone to spend the evening dancing with as well or do you have someone already?"
The man at the table raised an eyebrow as he caught the slight glint of mischief in Aurora's eyes.

The maiden grinned.
"Congratulations, Sir!", she said, while Conchobar nodded in approval.
"Good hit, laddie!", he complimented, then fired an arrow of his own, which missed the centre by a fair margin, which caused the old man to give a tsk. He turned to Lianhua, "If you need swords, Ma'am, then I would recommend going to the Blacksmith's Quarters. They make all sorts of swords... they even have a Kyrenaian Blacksmith there!"

“Thank you, thank you~.” Tieguang quipped in response, appreciating the compliments.

“Thank you, elder Conchobar. We’ll take note of that.” Lianhua replied with a smile. She then looked at the target range.

“Hmm, I do believe it’s my turn.” She took her position, raised her bow, aimed the arrow and then fired at the target. Her arrow has struck in the centre, just like the last. She made a satisfied hum.

“Say elder Conchobar,” Tieguang spoke “Since you’re a senior, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of things in life. I’m sure you have some stories to tell. Mayhaps you can tell us some history about your country. I’ll tell you mine but ours is an ancient civilization and our history is so long that we have to cover the eras based on the ruling dynasties.”

Although Tieguang finds it ironic of him to ask such questions, considering his status as being technically century-older than the Selkie elder, he too seen a lot in life together with his wife and his friends who shared his magic-imbued longevity.

The old man gave a barking laugh.
"Where to start, me lad?", he asked with a wide grin, "Sorry, but we, too, boast a long history, reaching back hundreds to thousands of years, depending on who you ask - as a people, the Selkie are old and steeped in history. Our Lands, they are rather young, barely over a century."
The others in the gallery nodded.
"Maybe we start there...", he said and began to tell of the Lands of the Selkie in 1903, of how three of the Elder Council's members died in short intervals, how that began the Council Crisis, which found its dramatic climax in the invasion, the civilizing mission, by a foreign power. That culminated in the Battle of Anfa Ridge, where a force of fifteen thousand of the Younger Militia, between fifteen and nineteen Springs of age, stood in chainmail and with bows and arrows and swords and horses and pointy sticks against machine guns and artillery guns.
And got out victorious.
That had been the catalyst, the formerly disjointed mess of spheres of influences of the cities and towns and their own interests uniting under one banner, the Bratach, to finally have a state, which the foreign world could kiss the arse of should they want something, which said state didn't like.
"And...", he added with a grin, "...time went on as slowly as it always did and hopefully always will. It took a further twenty years until we established a 'national' military!"

"Wait, are those..." Hilda blurted, pulling out one of the singles due for an autograph. It took a while for her to register, but she was soon able to identify the two. Buttoning up her lips as she hastily hid her face, the wild-haired girl quickly got on a nearby table a few feet away. Sure, she was expecting an autograph session at some point, but to meet them up close?

'Shit, I didn't think they were here,' she thought, a cold sweat breaking from her forehead, 'should I hop over and say hi? No, don't be silly, Hilda! What're you, a groupie!? Everyone knows that poking at fans outside fan sessions is liable to get you a restraining order! You had your fair share with stalkers, didn't you? No, actually, not really, I tend to attract masochists instead. But what about the other girls? They have groupies too. Should I just watch in the distance?'

Of course, all that thinking almost made her forget her hunger. Almost. Her stomach growling in anger, the girl hastily swapped out her single for a menu on the table. Burying her face in, she tried to hide her face from the duo, all while trying to pick out her order.

What Hilda might have missed, was, that both Selkie-Musicians had seen her.
And, maybe more surprising, they recognized her. Alaina and Layla were not great fans of the Idol-Scene, no matter where, but they saw talent in some there and Hilda was amongst them... sadly bogged down by a group, which lacked her talent.
She needed skill to hone.
Still, the two Selkie put their heads together, while Hilda put hers into the menu, which spoke about traditional breakfasts, about ham and cheese platters and breadrolls, about fruit baskets and grilled sausages, porridges and simple cornflakes with fresh milk. And there were the drinks, from teas with different functions to hot cocoa and cold lemonade, the Selkie-Variant, the tactical nuclear warhead amongst the teeth destroyers.
By the time Hilda was ready to order, the waitress placed a cuppa tea in front of her, mint tea - known to be enlivening, a great alternative to coffee.
"The two ladies over there, who try to look inconspicuous...", she explained with a grin, and indeed, the two musicians tried (and failed) to look inconspicuous, "...ordered that one for you, with best regards. So, what can I bring you?"

"All right ma'am so either the hay wagon or your dad. Frankly, I don't care I think I'll start with the wagon, unload and try to find your father afterwards. That would make a better impression I recon." With that he went to find the hay wagon. Something not too difficult in that weather. He only had to follow the smell of fresh hay.

The smell of fresh hay, and Fiona, would lead him to a section, where indeed, a wagon laden with hay bales was standing, the horses, who had driven it, enjoying a water trough for themselves.
The hay bales were rectangular, three stringed, massive objects, which weighted around forty kilograms, and there were at least twenty of them, more in the ballpark of twenty five.
Two men were already unloading, putting the bales on smaller wheelbarrows, where they would be taken care of by others. One of them motioned to Njall.
"Morning, lad. Name's Raidri.", he introduced himself, "Simple thing, if you are here to help: Load the bale onto the barrows and get the next one. As soon as we are finished, we will help with the distribution. Questions?"

[AHSCA]

Lugh nodded. "Sure we can.", he said, "But first things first."
Coming from the back room was a man, who looked a whole lot like an older version of Lough and was quite a lot less groomed then Leonard's friend. On the contrary, his hair was wild and stubbles of a beard were around his chin.
His eyes, however, were wide awake and attentive as his son described the problem.
"Hm...", he made in the end, then looked to Hina and Haru and Leonard, who was still standing next to them, arm linked with Haru. "...well...", he said with a heavy accent, "Ah cin fix eet, that's not thae problem. However, Myss, yer daughter wyll need new glasses soon."

"Oh dear she does? It has been some time since she had her pair so I can imagine you're right." Haru mused slightly concerned. It would be costly but it was her daughter's well being of which she'd give every last Island Credit up for. Just probably meant the music box was off the table now. "I'm sorry, mama."

"Oh don't be silly, nothing to be sorry about. They wore down, just happens. Well if possible then, I'd like to get her a new pair then. To be honest she's been needing them a while, the ones she had barely fit her as it was. So I am sorry, I'll have to forego the music box it would seem."

She smiled anyway.

Branwen laughed and Elin smiled as well.
"We all have such moments.", Branwen said with a nod, as the waitress came over and placed the menus. There were a number of cakes available, as well as herbal teas. "Thank you, we'll order in a bit!" The waitress nodded and Branwen turned back to Shizuka. "For me, it was in the final stages of my first book. Elin had just given me back the correction copy of hers, annotations and footnotes and everything. Then, enter a rather large Grey Wolf, who decided, that I needed to exercise more... I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, lost my bag and it fell into the garden of an old man, who was not too keen on visitors."
She let a beat pass.
"So, that evening, I return to the place, see, that my bag is gone and enact my plan: Mam baked a cake and I had put on a nice dress, which had lads drooling left and right, like the hormonal apes that they are.", Branwen continued, Elin snorted, "I knocked on the door, the old man opened, saw me in the dress, I took in air to bring forth my peace offering and my request... and he slammed the door into my face!"
Branwen was grinning by now.
"So, next try, I knock again.", she continued, "No reply. Second try, still nothing. I raise my hand for the third, he opens the door and thrusts my bag into my hands, takes the cake with the other and tells me: 'Don't listen to your sister's suggestions on page 147, the scene works wonderfully.' I am dumbfolded and he looks me up and down. 'And Geansai works better.' He then slammed the door and left me standing there."
Elin roared with laughter.

Shizuka's eyes lit up at the listing of so many tasty looking cakes. This was perfect! Then Branwen spun a little story of her own about some rather unusual events that transpired while she was in the process of writing out her own masterpiece. "Oh my!" She laughed too. "Quite a strange old man but he read your work so that's something."

[Minroz]

“Eh? That long to form nationhood?” Tieguang blurted in surprise. “Then again, it’s not easy to be a young nation, isn’t it? I can imagine it must be difficult to get the tribes to get along at first. While we have tribes in my country, apparently there’re myriads of them. From grassy steppes and freezing north to the tropical jungles. However, some of them, let’s just say they’re exclusive group. Actually, my emperor’s bloodline was originally steppe nomads. Me, I’m of Yuan, the majority race of Minroz.”

1903 is the year that Minroz is at peace, set two-hundred years after the ‘Long War’. Minroz is an ancient civilization under the guise of nation. At the time of 1903, the Qing Dynasty of Minroz is far hundred years ahead of Earth in the form of technology reminiscence of Cold War and science fiction come alive, putting aside magical arts common in place. The world of Iclamia is unique in scientific breakthroughs at much faster pace than Earth. With that said the Minrozian Empire is roughly centuries ahead of 20th century Earth and is the most powerful of Iclamian superpower.

[Lillorainen]

At the Marcach Camp.
After the tents were secured, the two Marcach and some of their colleagues looked at the tents... which looked out of place, like a whale on the yearly congress of avians.
Leonard took in air and Marla looked at him with a raised eyebrow, expecting what was to come, daring the redhead to speak. Leonard exhaled, shrinking.
Marla nodded.
"Well, at least now I know, who would have worn the pants if you two got together!", one of the Marcach quipped, together, causing roarous laughter...
...until a woman stepped forward, a bluenette with violet eyes and while there was fight in these eyes, they differed much from Marla's eyes (the person they belonged to stammering and being beet-red). She stepped up to Leonard, grabbed him by the chestplate and mashed her lips onto his.
He let her do, with the resignation of a man, who had tried to resist, but who had failed utterly. It was not as if he minded, anyway...
That done, the woman sent a glare in the direction of everyone around her safe Leonard. "I am Alaina Goirme of the Tribe of Wexford and this is my boyfriend.", she declared, "Touch him and I touch you. And you will not like me touching you!"
The Marcach gulped heavily.

Inside the Shop.
I looked, at the news of Lise being here, at Chris in surprise.
"Really?", I said with a happy grin, "Oh, that's awesome!"
I would have made a little jump in joy at those news, but the problem was the little fox having dinner, so I left it at leaning over to the messenger and kissing him onto the lips.
Enya turned her head away to give us a bit of privacy.
Lise was... she was my friend and I was proud to say that. A wonderful young woman!
Wait...
"Though, did you say, that she picked up a lad or lassie?", I asked with a raised eyebrow.

At the Marcach Camp.
Indeed, their tents looked out of place a tiny bit, but that was to expect.
What else was to expect was a comment on who of the two of them were more certain to wear the pants in the relationship - if they were in a relationship. It caused a round of laughter, the Lillos having to grin ...
... until another woman, a bluenette with violet eyes, stepped forward - the laughter ceased abruptly. She grabbed Leonard by the chestplate, mashed her lips onto his, then sent a glare to everyone who wasn't on the trees on three and ... politely introduced herself. Well, almost.
Hilda and Mia instinctively made a step back.
In the sudden silence, the chorus of gulps seemed louder than the traffic on the Lysköping Ringroad on a Friday afternoon.
Sophus, assumingly the one who had the least to fear when it came to Alaina's jealousy, was the first one who opened his mouth again. "A pleasure to meet you, Alaina" - he said, still politely, but in the same cold, declaring tone as she had, bowing his head lightly. "Sophus Andresen. These are my friends, Hilda Leverdal and Mia Boserup."
Hilda and Mia nodded, but stayed silent.

Inside the Shop.
After another little kiss, Enya again leaving them a bit of privacy, Cel, who was distinctly glad about the message, that Llse had made it here, asked in a notably surprised tone, whether she had heard correctly - that Lise had picked up a lad or lassie.
For a moment, Chris looked at his girlfriend, as if she had asked which color the sky had.
Then he realized, that there was an important piece of information missing.
He snorted. "Oh, I meant, a vulpine lad or lassie - this is what she isn't sure about!" - he said. "That's why she came here directly. She picked up a Little Black Fox somewhere in town."

[Solisian Union]

"Of course he is! I really like him for how he is, and he treated me well, so I think he deserves the best I can gi-" She said quite loudly and with passion in her voice, filling every word, until she realized that she had raised her voice inappropriately in such a public place! She was embarassed, immediately feeling her face turn hot, her body trembling in fear that she may be treated as a rude woman! She turned hurriedly to her friends and apologized.

[Port Ember]

Jan Breytenbach with Gwen

Jan smiled when he replied to the older Gwen "Indeed makes sense. Either way, working with animals daily is definitely good for the soul. Scientifically proven to increase happiness and relieve stress actually." Especialy when not slitting their throats, he wanted to add, but decided against it.

Jan placed his hand on top of his Gwen's hand which was petting the punk badger, also joining in on the fun. He started glancing around his surroundings, wondering what else he would see of interest.

[Foxfound]

This definitely pleased Z, who rubbed her hands together mischievously for what was at least the second time that day. "Obscure places and fun scrapes. Sounds good to me!" she said between bites of her food. Looking at her and Ren, it was clear that the latter had far better table manners.

Kiri looked excited as well. "You really didn't have to do that for us..."
She glanced at Z, who was almost done with her food and would probably soon move on to Kiri's. She was using their map as a napkin.
"...but it's probably a good idea."

[Kuronami]

Pina nodded with a grin, wanted to reply, as her boyfriend's phone vibrated.
"One moment, please.", Donny said and stepped away from the group for a moment to talk with his Leftenant about the message he had just received. Pina let him.
Undeterred, Pina replied: "Oh, we would love to see the inside of the country, too! So, right about this time of the year would be ideal, you say?"

"Yeah, or early fall even! Well really depends on how you wanna see the country because it's beautiful pretty much always!"

"Especially round our parts" Billie added to her mother's persuasion "The deep south down to the coast is the best!"

"Even if a whole lot of farms like ours" Joey also added they all seemed to jump on the idea to pitch them to come and see Kuronami. Jamie was his usual quiet self but he smiled at his girls' enthusiasm.

Meave and Mara smiled with nods.
"That'd be wonderful. Nice and slow, lover's dances.", Meave replied and watched as the song being played at the moment came to an end. "Now, let's see..."
And indeed, they saw, how a boy, barely taller then three cheese wheels, gathered his courage for one more time, took it, with all its might, and softly, gently, put his lips onto Rona's.
The girl was beet-red in an instant, then leaned in.
"Aw...", Meave made and Mara grinned from one ear to the other.

"would you look at that!" Mei squeed

"Hehe so close already."

"Tsu-chan, spring is a season of love here it seems!" Mei was so giddy now.

"Well guess it was a great place for us to come visit!" Tsukasa responded in earnest. "Mmmm I already got the perfect piece in mind. But first you and I must dance"

"Mei-chan...you know I can't dance."

"I don't care! I'm wearing boots anyway so step on me all you want. Just want to share a moment with you."

"Well okay."

[Mervay]

Outside of the shop.
"Indeed.", the old man said as he took the fox. "Abhcan's little messengers are oftentimes seen as pests and by other such terms... a real shame, for a Little Black Fox can be a friend for life."
He smiled slightly and checked him over with careful hand and then, as the last thing, checked the gender the practical way.
"Hm... seems like he is slightly malnourished, but that's nothing, that wouldn't be able to be cured in a few days.", he said and smiled, "Other then that, my dear... it's a lad. And a good one, too."
He lifted the vulpine out of his lap and back into Lise's.
"Which name shall he have?", Gawain asked.

Stoc Inn.
"Not on one in particular.", she admitted with a smile, "I want to see, what sort of men I run into..." She smiled at Trinity. "What about you? Looking for someone to spend the evening dancing with as well or do you have someone already?"
The man at the table raised an eyebrow as he caught the slight glint of mischief in Aurora's eyes.

Outside the Shop
They really hated them and now it arised the question of why?? Why did they hated such cuties like them and what made them to hate Black Vulpines.
After that he checked on him and told Lise that he was slightly malnourished but that wasn't nothing than some food and water could fix. It made Lisolette comforted to know that he didn't have more problems than that and as soon as she could buy food then done, she grabbed him back and caressed him gently.

"Thank god about it, I'm sure that with food, water and good care this lad will be healthy in no time" she said grinning at him and then at Gawain and his friend. "Maybe I could call him Logan?? It's not the best name so maybe you guys could give me one which is good and shows his Selkie heritage"

Stoc Inn
Trinity blushed madly as she looked at Aurora eyes with that glint of mischief.

"I-I have someone awaiting me at home. He is my boyfriend and my beloved" she said taking out her phone and showing Aurora an picture of her boyfriend.

"He is Ethan, my boyfriend and childhood friend, he has been by my side always and supporting every choice I made, helping me with everything and so I helped him too, we always stood by each other shoulders" As Trinity said that, her face seemed more warm and happy than she already was and it wasn't deniable that Ethan was her beloved. "Ever since I confessed to him in High School he has been together by my side. We plan to marry, as soon as we both end university, we will marry at the Catherdral of the Capital of Mervay"

[The Selkie]

Lugh nodded. "Sure we can.", he said, "But first things first."
Coming from the back room was a man, who looked a whole lot like an older version of Lough and was quite a lot less groomed then Leonard's friend. On the contrary, his hair was wild and stubbles of a beard were around his chin.
His eyes, however, were wide awake and attentive as his son described the problem.
"Hm...", he made in the end, then looked to Hina and Haru and Leonard, who was still standing next to them, arm linked with Haru. "...well...", he said with a heavy accent, "Ah cin fix eet, that's not thae problem. However, Myss, yer daughter wyll need new glasses soon."

"Oh dear she does? It has been some time since she had her pair so I can imagine you're right." Haru mused slightly concerned. It would be costly but it was her daughter's well being of which she'd give every last Island Credit up for. Just probably meant the music box was off the table now. "I'm sorry, mama."

"Oh don't be silly, nothing to be sorry about. They wore down, just happens. Well if possible then, I'd like to get her a new pair then. To be honest she's been needing them a while, the ones she had barely fit her as it was. So I am sorry, I'll have to forego the music box it would seem."

She smiled anyway.

Branwen laughed and Elin smiled as well.
"We all have such moments.", Branwen said with a nod, as the waitress came over and placed the menus. There were a number of cakes available, as well as herbal teas. "Thank you, we'll order in a bit!" The waitress nodded and Branwen turned back to Shizuka. "For me, it was in the final stages of my first book. Elin had just given me back the correction copy of hers, annotations and footnotes and everything. Then, enter a rather large Grey Wolf, who decided, that I needed to exercise more... I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, lost my bag and it fell into the garden of an old man, who was not too keen on visitors."
She let a beat pass.
"So, that evening, I return to the place, see, that my bag is gone and enact my plan: Mam baked a cake and I had put on a nice dress, which had lads drooling left and right, like the hormonal apes that they are.", Branwen continued, Elin snorted, "I knocked on the door, the old man opened, saw me in the dress, I took in air to bring forth my peace offering and my request... and he slammed the door into my face!"
Branwen was grinning by now.
"So, next try, I knock again.", she continued, "No reply. Second try, still nothing. I raise my hand for the third, he opens the door and thrusts my bag into my hands, takes the cake with the other and tells me: 'Don't listen to your sister's suggestions on page 147, the scene works wonderfully.' I am dumbfolded and he looks me up and down. 'And Geansai works better.' He then slammed the door and left me standing there."
Elin roared with laughter.

Shizuka's eyes lit up at the listing of so many tasty looking cakes. This was perfect! Then Branwen spun a little story of her own about some rather unusual events that transpired while she was in the process of writing out her own masterpiece. "Oh my!" She laughed too. "Quite a strange old man but he read your work so that's something."

Lugh looked to Leonard - the redhead nodded, then turned to Haru: "The music box is my present to Hina, Haru.", he said, his head held high and his cheeks as red as his hair, "As is the engraving. I sadly can not help with the glasses, though."
He reached for Hina's head and ruffled her hair with a grin.
Lugh nodded with a grin, agreeing to the proposal.
"Well, me lassies...", his father and owner of the shop said, "...then come. I'll need to take the measurements of your eyes." He smiled and handed the broken glasses to his son. "He'll make makeshift repairs, so that you can use them for the day."
Lugh nodded and opened the little door in the counter so that the girl could follow into the backroom.

Branwen, still grinning, nodded, while Elin got her laughter under control.
"Indeed.", the writer said, "His comment was right, though, the scene worked well and I do look better in Geansai." She shrugged. "Once it was published, I got a signed copy and gave it to him, this time in Geansai. He even smiled slightly and blushed, when I kissed him onto the cheek in thanks for his help."

“Eh? That long to form nationhood?” Tieguang blurted in surprise. “Then again, it’s not easy to be a young nation, isn’t it? I can imagine it must be difficult to get the tribes to get along at first. While we have tribes in my country, apparently there’re myriads of them. From grassy steppes and freezing north to the tropical jungles. However, some of them, let’s just say they’re exclusive group. Actually, my emperor’s bloodline was originally steppe nomads. Me, I’m of Yuan, the majority race of Minroz.”

1903 is the year that Minroz is at peace, set two-hundred years after the ‘Long War’. Minroz is an ancient civilization under the guise of nation. At the time of 1903, the Qing Dynasty of Minroz is far hundred years ahead of Earth in the form of technology reminiscence of Cold War and science fiction come alive, putting aside magical arts common in place. The world of Iclamia is unique in scientific breakthroughs at much faster pace than Earth. With that said the Minrozian Empire is roughly centuries ahead of 20th century Earth and is the most powerful of Iclamian superpower.

"Being a young nation isn't the complicated part.", Conchobar said and fired another arrow, "The problem sometimes is being a small nation. Then again, the Selkie don't really have much ambitions to superpower status. We are a small nation, we can feed ourselves, we have our own lands and matters to worry about." He grinned at Tieguang. "That's what the Gods invented whiskey for. So that we never conquer the world!"
There was a round of laughter at that.
"If, however, the international community asks us for help, like back in the day with Kupandukira, we will not deny it. We have obligations and we want others to help us, when we are in need.", he added.

"Of course he is! I really like him for how he is, and he treated me well, so I think he deserves the best I can gi-" She said quite loudly and with passion in her voice, filling every word, until she realized that she had raised her voice inappropriately in such a public place! She was embarassed, immediately feeling her face turn hot, her body trembling in fear that she may be treated as a rude woman! She turned hurriedly to her friends and apologized.

The old man smiled and his granddaughter grinned.
"Oh, someone's in love!", she chirped, her blue eyes sparkling with delight, "Does you Finnegan also have a last name? And a Tribe?" She put a hand on her new friend's shoulder, softly squeezing it - Finnegan might be a pretty common name, but it was not impossible to find him, if one had the right connections. "He seems like a good lad, too..."
The old man smiled as he watched it.

Jan Breytenbach with Gwen

Jan smiled when he replied to the older Gwen "Indeed makes sense. Either way, working with animals daily is definitely good for the soul. Scientifically proven to increase happiness and relieve stress actually." Especialy when not slitting their throats, he wanted to add, but decided against it.

Jan placed his hand on top of his Gwen's hand which was petting the punk badger, also joining in on the fun. He started glancing around his surroundings, wondering what else he would see of interest.

What Jan might find interesting as he looked around was, that Srol was in the area of the Tines, having lied down with two small Tines snuggled into his thick fur. No one knew, what drove the two to the big Grey Wolf, but he let them nap at his side. Curiosity, maybe? They knew him anyway, Srol and Gwen were regular guests at the Banphrionsa's house.
Another curious sight was a large feline, white as the snow, with a sickle-like horn on its head and a ruff of fur around its neck. The woman leading him was quite a looker, too, white haired with a few strands of black on the right side of her short mane, while long, white strands hid her left eye, brown-red eyes looking at the world. She wore grey stockings, white hot pants with a thick, black leather belt, stomach free, and a dark blue shirt, which offered quite a bit of cleavage. That could be opened and closed at her free will by two straps, which ran in a criss-cross pattern, currently hinting a lot. Above that, she wore a white jacket, a ruff of white fur around the neck trim.
She smiled as she saw both Gwens, but when she spotted Jan and where his hand was, she still smiled, but she smiled knowingly, turning to the side to a girl, who was eying the feline and who was eyed in return.

This definitely pleased Z, who rubbed her hands together mischievously for what was at least the second time that day. "Obscure places and fun scrapes. Sounds good to me!" she said between bites of her food. Looking at her and Ren, it was clear that the latter had far better table manners.

Kiri looked excited as well. "You really didn't have to do that for us..."
She glanced at Z, who was almost done with her food and would probably soon move on to Kiri's. She was using their map as a napkin.
"...but it's probably a good idea."

Macha smiled, turned to Kiri.
"You are right, I didn't have to.", she said and the ears on her head relaxed, "But I wanted to. Though, I must admit, that there is a different motive to it as well." She shrugged a bit sheepish, better being honest then fooling them. "Nia, the girl I asked to be your guide... well, she needs friends. She might pass as a High Schooler, but she is ancient. Not as old as I am, at least I don't think so, but still ancient. And... the last friends she had, they... well..."
She glanced to Kiri.
"She didn't take it well.", Branwen finished with a sad expression, the ears on her head dropping.

Pina nodded with a grin, wanted to reply, as her boyfriend's phone vibrated.
"One moment, please.", Donny said and stepped away from the group for a moment to talk with his Leftenant about the message he had just received. Pina let him.
Undeterred, Pina replied: "Oh, we would love to see the inside of the country, too! So, right about this time of the year would be ideal, you say?"

"Yeah, or early fall even! Well really depends on how you wanna see the country because it's beautiful pretty much always!"

"Especially round our parts" Billie added to her mother's persuasion "The deep south down to the coast is the best!"

"Even if a whole lot of farms like ours" Joey also added they all seemed to jump on the idea to pitch them to come and see Kuronami. Jamie was his usual quiet self but he smiled at his girls' enthusiasm.

Meave and Mara smiled with nods.
"That'd be wonderful. Nice and slow, lover's dances.", Meave replied and watched as the song being played at the moment came to an end. "Now, let's see..."
And indeed, they saw, how a boy, barely taller then three cheese wheels, gathered his courage for one more time, took it, with all its might, and softly, gently, put his lips onto Rona's.
The girl was beet-red in an instant, then leaned in.
"Aw...", Meave made and Mara grinned from one ear to the other.

"would you look at that!" Mei squeed

"Hehe so close already."

"Tsu-chan, spring is a season of love here it seems!" Mei was so giddy now.

"Well guess it was a great place for us to come visit!" Tsukasa responded in earnest. "Mmmm I already got the perfect piece in mind. But first you and I must dance"

"Mei-chan...you know I can't dance."

"I don't care! I'm wearing boots anyway so step on me all you want. Just want to share a moment with you."

"Well okay."

Pina grinned at the sales-pitches she received, pretending to be thinking, even hummed.
Her boyfriend, meanwhile, wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Well, they got me convinced. What do you think, Pina?", he asked his girlfriend.
She hummed again. "It does sound quite appealing.", she said, "But...hm..."
"Oh, come on!", Donny went along, "It sounds fun!"
"Alright, you got me convinced.", she said and turned her head to kiss Donny on his cheek. "We will make a tour through Kuronami either in Spring or in Autumn, let's see, how the schedules line up."
Donny nodded with satisfaction. "Now that that's cleared, I'm afraid, that I need to leave you.", he said and kissed his girlfriend before he turned to the Kuronamis. "Sir, Ma'am, lassies... it was a pleasure to meet you all. Have fun!"

Both Mara and Mavie looked at each other with smiles as Mei declared, that Tsukasa could "step on [her] all you want" - it was juveline, out of context, but funny nonetheless.
Still, both nodded.
"Go for it, girls, we are right with you!", Mara encouraged them as Rona came staggering back to them, a dopey grin on her red face. Mavie smiled and gathered her daughter in her arms, smiling as she lifted her, Mara bowed her head to the two girls for a moment. "If you would please excuse us for a moment?"
And with that, she turned to her wife and her daughter and hugged them both.

At the Marcach Camp.
Indeed, their tents looked out of place a tiny bit, but that was to expect.
What else was to expect was a comment on who of the two of them were more certain to wear the pants in the relationship - if they were in a relationship. It caused a round of laughter, the Lillos having to grin ...
... until another woman, a bluenette with violet eyes, stepped forward - the laughter ceased abruptly. She grabbed Leonard by the chestplate, mashed her lips onto his, then sent a glare to everyone who wasn't on the trees on three and ... politely introduced herself. Well, almost.
Hilda and Mia instinctively made a step back.
In the sudden silence, the chorus of gulps seemed louder than the traffic on the Lysköping Ringroad on a Friday afternoon.
Sophus, assumingly the one who had the least to fear when it came to Alaina's jealousy, was the first one who opened his mouth again. "A pleasure to meet you, Alaina" - he said, still politely, but in the same cold, declaring tone as she had, bowing his head lightly. "Sophus Andresen. These are my friends, Hilda Leverdal and Mia Boserup."
Hilda and Mia nodded, but stayed silent.

Inside the Shop.
After another little kiss, Enya again leaving them a bit of privacy, Cel, who was distinctly glad about the message, that Llse had made it here, asked in a notably surprised tone, whether she had heard correctly - that Lise had picked up a lad or lassie.
For a moment, Chris looked at his girlfriend, as if she had asked which color the sky had.
Then he realized, that there was an important piece of information missing.
He snorted. "Oh, I meant, a vulpine lad or lassie - this is what she isn't sure about!" - he said. "That's why she came here directly. She picked up a Little Black Fox somewhere in town."

At the Marcach Camp.
Apparently, she did not see Sophus as a point of concern in her claim to Leonard as she smiled at him with friendliness, maybe overboarding friendliness.
"Hi, there, Sophus!", she said and gave a small bow of her head, "Pleasure to meet cha!"
Leonard looked at the man and nodded. No need to worry, they would not get killed any time soon.
Alaina then looked at Hilda and Mia. "And you two, pleasure to meet you two, too!", she said, although the friendliness was not as exuberant as with Sophus.
The Marcach turned back do doing their own things, last preparations.

Inside of the shop.
I smiled at Chris.
"Really? That's wonderful news!", I said and wanted to add something, but a small, cute burp interrupted me. I looked down to the fox in my arms. Well, Lise would most likely not go as far as I did with my tending to them, but that was not a problem. As long as she did good by him or her, I would be glad. "Look who's finished lunch."
The little fox pedaled as I scratched his belly, delighted and amused.
I did that for a few seconds, then kissed him on the muzzle. "But now, it's nappy-time.", I told the little fox, who looked a bit drowsy. He seemed to agree with a yawn. I put him in his bed, put a blanket over him and gave him a soft scratch behind his ear. "May Abhcan guide your dream..."
That done and the baby tucked in, I smiled at Chris, fixed my attire (or rather, wiped my breast off and packed it up again) and asked him in a whisper: "So... she needs the starter kit, I presume?"

Outside of the shop.
"Indeed.", the old man said as he took the fox. "Abhcan's little messengers are oftentimes seen as pests and by other such terms... a real shame, for a Little Black Fox can be a friend for life."
He smiled slightly and checked him over with careful hand and then, as the last thing, checked the gender the practical way.
"Hm... seems like he is slightly malnourished, but that's nothing, that wouldn't be able to be cured in a few days.", he said and smiled, "Other then that, my dear... it's a lad. And a good one, too."
He lifted the vulpine out of his lap and back into Lise's.
"Which name shall he have?", Gawain asked.

Stoc Inn.
"Not on one in particular.", she admitted with a smile, "I want to see, what sort of men I run into..." She smiled at Trinity. "What about you? Looking for someone to spend the evening dancing with as well or do you have someone already?"
The man at the table raised an eyebrow as he caught the slight glint of mischief in Aurora's eyes.

Outside the Shop
They really hated them and now it arised the question of why?? Why did they hated such cuties like them and what made them to hate Black Vulpines.
After that he checked on him and told Lise that he was slightly malnourished but that wasn't nothing than some food and water could fix. It made Lisolette comforted to know that he didn't have more problems than that and as soon as she could buy food then done, she grabbed him back and caressed him gently.

"Thank god about it, I'm sure that with food, water and good care this lad will be healthy in no time" she said grinning at him and then at Gawain and his friend. "Maybe I could call him Logan?? It's not the best name so maybe you guys could give me one which is good and shows his Selkie heritage"

Stoc Inn
Trinity blushed madly as she looked at Aurora eyes with that glint of mischief.

"I-I have someone awaiting me at home. He is my boyfriend and my beloved" she said taking out her phone and showing Aurora an picture of her boyfriend.

"He is Ethan, my boyfriend and childhood friend, he has been by my side always and supporting every choice I made, helping me with everything and so I helped him too, we always stood by each other shoulders" As Trinity said that, her face seemed more warm and happy than she already was and it wasn't deniable that Ethan was her beloved. "Ever since I confessed to him in High School he has been together by my side. We plan to marry, as soon as we both end university, we will marry at the Catherdral of the Capital of Mervay"

Outside the Shop.
The old man nodded.
"Logan sounds like a good name.", he thought for a moment, hummed in thought, "If I were you, however, I would name him Dílleachta. Foundling, in English."
"Or Dilly for short.", Finnegan added from the side, the green-haired young man smiling. He watched her petting the little fox gently and how he seemed to react positively to her, snuggled into her. "He likes you very much. A blind man can see that from miles away!"

Stoc Inn.
Aurora cooed in delight at the story and the plans.
"That's so sweet!", she said and resisted the urge to hug Trinity, all mischief forgotten. "And you certainly have taste..." She grinned and sighed with a bit of wistfulness. "Oh, such love at such an age..."
"You're a lucky girl, Miss Trinity.", Silvio said with a smile from the side, "He does sound like a good man. If I may ask, what are you two studying?"

[Port Ember]

Jan Breytenbach with Gwen

Jan noticed Srol's antics and smiled softly, enjoying the how the punk badgers snuggled upto the ferocious beast. Perfect irony indeed.

Jan also observed the unknown but majestic snow white feline, and wondered what its story was, and also noticed its handler, a very attractive young women who was obviously tough and not shy. Jan especially noticed her behaviour change when she noticed Jan, and her immediate communication with a friend. This immediately made alarms go off inside Jan's head.

"Gwen, who here knows that I'm a Minister?" Jan asked his Gwen, very softly, lips barely moving to conceal his conversation, playing dumb.

As the Port Emberian Minister of Defence, he traveled to The Free Lands in a private and somewhat secret capacity. He had no guards with him or even a firearm, and as his nation was at war currently, he knew there was more than just a handfull of people who wanted him dead. The threat to his life was as real as the punk badger that he was petting.

[Lillorainen]

At the Marcach Camp.
Apparently, she did not see Sophus as a point of concern in her claim to Leonard as she smiled at him with friendliness, maybe overboarding friendliness.
"Hi, there, Sophus!", she said and gave a small bow of her head, "Pleasure to meet cha!"
Leonard looked at the man and nodded. No need to worry, they would not get killed any time soon.
Alaina then looked at Hilda and Mia. "And you two, pleasure to meet you two, too!", she said, although the friendliness was not as exuberant as with Sophus.
The Marcach turned back do doing their own things, last preparations.

Inside of the shop.
I smiled at Chris.
"Really? That's wonderful news!", I said and wanted to add something, but a small, cute burp interrupted me. I looked down to the fox in my arms. Well, Lise would most likely not go as far as I did with my tending to them, but that was not a problem. As long as she did good by him or her, I would be glad. "Look who's finished lunch."
The little fox pedaled as I scratched his belly, delighted and amused.
I did that for a few seconds, then kissed him on the muzzle. "But now, it's nappy-time.", I told the little fox, who looked a bit drowsy. He seemed to agree with a yawn. I put him in his bed, put a blanket over him and gave him a soft scratch behind his ear. "May Abhcan guide your dream..."
That done and the baby tucked in, I smiled at Chris, fixed my attire (or rather, wiped my breast off and packed it up again) and asked him in a whisper: "So... she needs the starter kit, I presume?"

At the Marcach Camp.
The three Lillos, admittedly, had a hard time trying to hide their surprise about Alaina's sudden friendliness, which one could consider slightly over the top, Sophus at most - then again, staying calm in all cases (and really all cases - like calling the worst thunderstorm a 'fresh breeze') whilst getting one's point across with as few words as possible - this was often said to be a talent unique to 'Nordic' people. In this particular case, Hilda and Mia were quite glad to have him aboard. Whether or not he essentially saved his own and their lives, that was up to the Gods to decide. What could be said, though, was that he definitely cooled the situation down.
The other Marcach continued doing their own things again, for they seemed to be aware, that there was no spectacle to witness for now.
Hilda and Mia bowed their heads, too.
A beat passed.
Another beat passed.
Then, Sophus tried to find a way out of the embarrassing silence, looked up to the sky and said, "We're lucky with the weather, eh?"

Inside the Shop.
Chris had nodded, as he agreed, that this was wonderful news. Cel was just going to add something - then the baby fox interrupted her with a burp, even cuter than a human baby's burp. Cel scratched his belly for a couple of seconds, which he seemed to enjoy much, then kissed his nuzzle and announced the nappy-time; a yawn confirmed, that he agreed on that matter. Hardly in bed and a blanket put on him, the vulpine baby immediately tucked in.
Of course, Lise wouldn't go as far as Cel did, but then again, not many people did.
After closing her milk shop for now, Cel expressed her assumption of the starter kit being needed, whereupon Chris nodded. It did seem logical, at least. "I assume so" - he replied in a low tone. "At least she has asked what they usually need and want."

[AHSCA]

Lugh looked to Leonard - the redhead nodded, then turned to Haru: "The music box is my present to Hina, Haru.", he said, his head held high and his cheeks as red as his hair, "As is the engraving. I sadly can not help with the glasses, though."
He reached for Hina's head and ruffled her hair with a grin.
Lugh nodded with a grin, agreeing to the proposal.
"Well, me lassies...", his father and owner of the shop said, "...then come. I'll need to take the measurements of your eyes." He smiled and handed the broken glasses to his son. "He'll make makeshift repairs, so that you can use them for the day."
Lugh nodded and opened the little door in the counter so that the girl could follow into the backroom.

"Oh my, really? That's so kind and generous of you and you've done so much already." It seemed futile to protest, he looked pretty set on it. Haru gave a slight bow, not a real Hoshino custom unlike Aurora but she felt it was proper anyway. "thank you, very much!" Hina also thanked. She was glad it looked like she'd walk away with a really cute and crafty music box and a new pair of glasses. Haru just felt like she'd have to really find a good way to repay Leonard and Lugh's kindness to them.

"All right, thanks. Be back in a moment." Hina smiled at her mom and followed along into the back.

Branwen, still grinning, nodded, while Elin got her laughter under control.
"Indeed.", the writer said, "His comment was right, though, the scene worked well and I do look better in Geansai." She shrugged. "Once it was published, I got a signed copy and gave it to him, this time in Geansai. He even smiled slightly and blushed, when I kissed him onto the cheek in thanks for his help."

"Gensais are super interesting looking if I might say so!" Shizuka added with enthusiasm. "I bet you do look super cute in them, both of you!"

[Folaisia]

Kiah smiled as she was thanked, not only by the Folaisians, but also by her sisters (who did not neglect to thank the other Folaisian benefactor either). Enya did so in her typical enthusiastic way, kissing both of them on the cheek, while Ida gave a bow, not any less thankful, but calmer.
When Gordon talked to her, she smiled and nodded. "I started pretty early as well, but my big idol was actually our Uncle Vin. He was a member of the National Team and quite well known. And I always loved water and swimming, too, so it was only natural, that I started swimming competitively." She shrugged. "I... well, I don't know how to put this in English, but I did win a few trophies. Mostly regional or national, though. Hence why the lad knew me."

Enya smiled.
"Well, Scipeáil is...", she began to explain in her enthusiastic way, then paused for a moment, thinking about how to best explain: "Two small layers of pastries, between them a thick filling of breadcrumbs or old bread and dried fruit and sweetener. Easy to make, but hard to make right!"
She grinned and took a bit out of one of the bags.
"As for what it tastes like...", she said, "...I'd say not bad, but the best way to see that is to taste it, isn't it?"

"Wow," Marie said with a hint of excitement, "congratulations on that. I couldnon even beat Gordon if I tried to," she then chuckled, making Gordon respond in the same way.

"At least I let you win," he then chuckled, prompting Marie to form a smirk and turn her head around to face the counter with the intent of blocking one memory in her mind.

"So," Gordon turned back to Kiah, "are you now that well known as your uncle, now that you've mentioned him?"

At the back, Enya's descriptive and bubbly explanation of the taste of Scipeail made her nod in the same mood, her eyes reflecting the little girl's attitude.

"Right you are, lassie," Fiona said waling outside, before taking a bite of the pastry.

"Ooh," she said as if shocked from hearing terrible news, "this is actually good!"

There, she took a few more bites, to which Alpin took with high regard. As he took one bite, Alpin nodded his head and hummed with admiration.