Short Sparring and Talking about Forest sentinels

Gilbert started spinning the ball at the end of the flail and charged at Fen to get in range to hit her, and Fen, in turn, swung her spear in an arc motion at him. Gilbert spun his weapon faster and knocked the spear heading towards him upwards.

Fen realized she wouldn't be able to use her spear so she kicked him in the chest to cause him to stumble back but it was less effective than what she wanted and Gilbert bashed her leg to the side with his shield making her stumble.

Fen recovered just in time to see the head of a flail heading towards his face. She tried to block it with her spear and *SNAP* The spear broke from the hit, but the flail was still going for her face.

Fen didn't have time to react, so she just braced for impact. Just as it was about to hit Fen, a hand shot out and grabbed the spiked ball; it was Kella.

Titanya clapped happily signaling the end of the spar. "Wow, you're both awesome!"

Fen stared baffled at her now broken weapon and Kella holding the head of the flail.

Fen, Reese, and Gilbert stared at Kella. "What? That was good but I didn't want someone getting a concussion." Kella stated at the confused people.

Kella decided to move on. "I'll have to get you a new weapon though Fen."

"You make it sound easy to get weapons." Fen grumbled remembering the trouble it took to get the spear that broke in the first fight it was in.

"I have my ways~." Kella smiled at her.

"I guess we can spar for a bit Gill." She pulled out her brass knuckles and put them on.

"You use brass knuckles?" Fen felt Kella would use something bigger.

"Well I trained in martial arts but I'm also decent with a few kinds of weapons but these aren't really brass knuckles." Fen wasn't sure what Kella meant until the knuckles grew blades.

Fen was fascinated, on the other hand, Gilbert sweated. "Is that a Artifact?"

"Yep, how'd you know?" Kella asked.

"I was an examiner of artifacts before I got kicked out." Gilbert grumbled, annoyed at the memories that was brought up.

"Can you tell me what kind of backing you have?" Fen asked at this point she honestly thought she was The heiress of a beastkin clan at this point considering everything she's seen so far.

"What exactly do you mean by backing?" Kella was not familiar with the word.

"Like who's on your side." "Oh, that's what you mean... her." Kella pointed at Titanya who nodded enthusiastically.

"Anyone else?" "Nope... Well, I do have a familiar." Fen wondered how she has stylized clothing, artifacts, and apparently connections to get weapons and yet only has an orphan and a familiar as her ally.

"How can you get weapons, have artifacts, and such good quality clothes with no one else on your side?" Fen was getting doubtful of Kella's words.

Kella thought about how much to tell the rest of this group. 'What would be a pain to hide from these people... My creation skill and Riko so far would be the more annoying things to hide. I mean it's not like I really need my pockets right now and the other two things would only hurt me if I say them.' Riko also was telling Kella that she wanted to expand her body.

"Could I see your familiar?" Fen was curious to see what kind of creature Kella has for a familiar and felt like that would be the only thing Kella would answer currently.

"Sure, Riko wants to walk around as well." Kella opened one of her pouches and saw a small Riko jump out.

Riko grew to the size of a golden retriever and noticed Fen staring at her for several seconds before Fen dropped the remains of her spear and approached Riko slowly.

Riko slowly backed up as Fen got closer which made Fen move faster, making Riko back up faster and vice-versa until they were running in a circle around the group. "Let me hold yooou!" "Bark Bark!"

Kella sighed at the chase happening around her. "I guess we can start the sparing now."

Gilbert was staring at the nonsense happening around him. He looked back at Kella with a slightly confused expression. "Huh?... Oh right sure, say the word and we'll begin."

"Tanya, could you do the countdown?" "Ok! 3... 2... 1... go!" Titanya announced giddily to see Kella fight.

They didn't immediately run at each other instead staring at the other.

Kella's eyes scanned Gilbert with oval pupils before she started to walk around Gilbert.

Kella circled like a predator-hunting prey.

Gilbert watched as one set of blades receded into the grass knuckles, She rushed at Him.

Gilbert held his shield up and revved up his flail, to his surprise Kella hooked her blades under his shield and launched it above his head.

Kella used her non-bladed knuckles to try to punch Gilbert in the face and he tilted his head to avoid it. Gilbert tried to hit Kella in the shoulder with his flail.

Kella contorted slightly to avoid the hit and immediately countered by sweeping Gilbert's foot causing him to fall.

By the time Gilbert hit his back on the ground he already had some blades to his throat. "I lose."

"Thanks for sparing with me." Kella held out her hand for Gilbert which he took and stood up with a grunt.

"Yeah, thanks for showing me how easily I can be killed." Gilbert sighed looking over to Titanya who rushed over to Kella, hugged her, and complimented her.

"You fight more like a brawler and a controller." Gilbert said his mind.

"Well it was more appropriate to be aggressive when fighting someone like you. Well Riko would be a better brawler then me."

Gilbert then looked over to Fen who currently had a canine in her arms that was starting to snuggle into her grip. 'What is even that?'

Kella wormed out of Titanya's grip and looked over to Fen. "Anyways, Fen do you have any kind of clothing you want to try?" Kella asked as she sat down.

"What?... oh are my clothes that bad?" Fen looked away from Riko.

Kella looked at Fen's awful clothes. "Yes, you look worse than when first I met Tanya."

Fen sighed looking down at her clothes. "...Tight fit pants and shirt with a jacket."

Kella thought for a bit then started to move some mana. "Alright I'll be done in 3 hours, Tanya can you try to teach Reese better mana control in the meantime?"

"What do you mean by done?" Fen scoot closer to Kella curious as she saw A blue liquid slowly flow out of Kella and assemble into the shape of a jacket.

"Making things for you." Kella replied as the mana started to change colors to black.

Gilbert did a double-take as he saw it change colors. "You can make things with mana?"

"Yeah it's not very hard, It just takes patience." Kella replied as the jacket changed shape to fit Fen's size.

"But to make anything stable you have to know the compounds of what you are trying to make." Gilbert stated looking at the mana solidify into a more leathery state.

"Well I have quite a few of those "compounds" memorized, I mean I did make my and Tanya's clothes. Not to mention this thing." Kella Reach into one of her pouches and pulled out a small blue shuriken then lobbed it at Gilbert.

Gilbert examined the shuriken and was about to throw it back when he saw Kella shake her head. "Keep it for now, you can give back after I'm done."

Tanya got Kella's attention by poking her side. Kella glanced over with a questioning look. "Can I teach him in my own way?"

"You can do it as you see fit as long you don't kill him~" Kella chuckled before she focused on what she was doing.

"Ok, I'll try my best!... although I can't say the same for him." Titanya looked a the small man sitting on a low-hanging branch kicking his legs back and forth. Reese looked at Titanya with skepticism. "How can you be better at it than me?"

"Watch me." Titanya said with a smirk as she took her bow out And shot a blue streak at the tree Reese was sitting in, Scaring the ever-living shit out of him.

'What the hell was that?' Gilbert and Fen had the same thought as they watched the scene stunned.

'Wait... She can use mana now!?' Gilbert looked shocked at Titanya. He was going to take her to a talented enchanter he knew that would let her use mana through a conduit they made. "Hey kid, how did you learn to use mana?"

"Kelly taught me how!" Titanya Cheerfully said to Gilbert. He looked over to Kella Who was currently focused on putting the finishing touches on the jacket. 'Then how did she fix the problem?'

"You learned that in a day?" Fen stared at the hole in the tree made by Titanya.

"Well, it was about 2 days because we were in a dungeon but yep! Kelly is a great teacher but she can be kind of brutal when it comes to tests." Titanya replied as she caught Reese, he squirmed to get out.

"Was that good enough?" Titanya held Reese in front of her face. he slowly nodded.

the 3 hours passed quickly with everybody doing their things.

Gilbert examined the shuriken Kella gave him and watched with a contemplative look as Kella made clothing and a glaive.

Fan played with Riko most of the time and became fast friends with each other.

Titanya started lecturing Reese about training habits to increase his control over his mana while showcasing what she was talking about. Kella taught Titanya this during her test.

Kella continued to make clothing but finished off with a spear with a long blade at the end otherwise known as a glaive. "Ok, It's all done."

Fan looked away from Rico and at the pile of clothes with a glaive next to it then to Kella. "Really, is that all for me?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't have made it otherwise." Kella stated as she lobbed the pile of clothes at her. "now put it on"

Fen caught the pile and was about to walk off when she said. "I want to wash myself before putting this on."

Kella pondered it for a moment then replied. "why didn't use the shower at the guild?"

"They didn't let me use the showers they had made and I didn't have new clothes to wear." Fen grumbled at Kella slightly embarrassed.

"They didn't let you use the shower? But Tanya said she was able to." Kella replied

"She got special treatment from Deal or whatever his name is." Fen looked at Titanya

as she replied.

"Special treatment?" Titanya asked no one in particular, she was currently sitting near Reese watching him struggle to make a small ball out of mana.

'I should take note of that...' Kella stood up and picked up the spear then stretched her body. "Anyways, do you have a place in mind since you brought it up?"

As Kella stretched she realized how flexible she was. 'Was this body in perfect condition when I entered it? Wait, was it made or born?' She brushed the thoughts aside when she remembered no one could answer her.

"I noticed a small lake while we walked, it should be over in this direction." Fen pointed out a direction and motioned for them to follow.

Kella tapped on Gilbert's and Reese's shoulders. "We shouldn't stay too far apart from each other."

Gilbert nodded and Reese looked at Kella and nodded happily. He stopped trying to make a sphere of mana and got up.

With that, they will followed Fen as they walked Kella made soap and towels until they arrived. On the way, she noticed that a familiar-looking rabbit was following them. 'That's strange.'

Shortly after seeing the rabbit a small lake or a large puddle showed itself to them, It was surprisingly clean.

Kella set the spear on a tree and scanned the body of water. "No fish, algae, or moss, not even a leaf... this is a rare find, especially in the middle of a forest."

"Well, it's not that uncommon in a large sprawling forest like this one." Fen chimed in, happy to use some of her old knowledge.

"Really? Is it a... naturally occurring thing or does a person make this?"

"Half Right, nature spirits and druids make these kinds of things." Reese said sounding confident in his information he spouted from a branch of the nearest tree.

"Is that right?" Kella pondered not used to hearing casual mention of druids in conversation about real-life nature.

Fen nodded at Kella's question. "Yeah he's not making stuff up, they're called by a few names but the most general term would be "Forest sentinels". they usually make stuff like constantly refreshing fruits trees/edibles plants clean sources of water so the animals they watch over can flourish."

"Don't forget to mention why they become forest sentinels is because they chose nature over civilization."

Kella thought for a moment before remembering how few animals she had seen in this forest. "Do they direct the animals away from humans so they don't get involved with each other?"

"Yeah I believe so, they do that kind of thing when they don't trust the people living nearby." Fen wasn't 100% sure because this question was a very location-based answer.

"So should we actually use this lake?" Titanya asked worried about angering the forest sentinel.

Fen shook her head. "We should be fine as long we don't provoke the forest by killing the animals for no reason and settling trees on fire for fun. also, this kind of lake would clean itself every few hours."

Kella sighed. "Alright, we can wash ourselves without fearing retribution then, great."

Kella looked at Gilbert and more specifically Reese. "So I know I brought you to this point but could you stay behind those trees. So you don't get on our bad sides."

"What do you mean?" Reese is either too innocent to understand or playing dumb.

"Take a peek at us washing off and you'll learn in a rougher method." Kella said making him uncomfortable.

Kella watched as Gilbert and Reese went behind a large tree then looked over to Titanya and Fen. "Can we bathe at the same time or do you want to take turns?"

Fen shrugged at the question. "I don't mind either way."

On the other hand, Titanya was Fidgeting. "Could I wash alone?"

"Yeah you can, how about Fen goes first though." Kella handed over a bar of soap and a towel to Fen and then pulled Titanya by the hand to where Reese and Gilbert were.

After about 20 minutes Fen walked into view with much cleaner hair and skin wearing a brown leather jacket with a white t-shirt and blue jeans, not to mention some black leather boots. "Seriously this feels so much better, I can't thank you enough."

"happy you like it Fen. Now then you can go next, Tanya." Kella pushed Titanya lightly toward the lake while putting a towel in her hand.

Fen handed over the bar of soap to Titanya then sat down next to Gilbert and Reese.

Kella followed shortly after and asked the group a question. "do either of you want to wash up in the lake?"

"I'm good." Reese said while practicing with mana control.

"I don't need to, I showered yesterday." Gilbert replied but obviously thinking about something else.

Kella shrugged. "Do you think the sentinel is watching us?"

Fen glanced around. "Most likely."

Gilbert hummed at the response. "Is there any way to tell?"

"Well if it was a spirit it would have an aura of mana around it... although it's not common to sense mana in a way to tell if it was a spirit." Reese chimed in.

"What about druids then?" Kella asked as her pupils turned blue.

Fen chimed in this time. "Druids usually use small animals and birds as a conduit for their vision to watch people."

Kella saw a thread of mana in the Sparsely littered blues of the dark void that is her mana vision. She noticed the thread ended nearby so she turned it off just to the rabbit at the end of the thread.

"I think the sentinel here is a druid." Kella said she stared at a rabbit looking at her with blank black eyes.

"Is that a rabbit?" Gilbert mumbled to himself.

It was at this point Titanya came back and laid on Kella's lap. "What should we eat?"

A silence fell over the group as they all stared at the rabbit.

Kella broke the silence. "I'd rather not kill the animals in this forest."

"What should we eat then?" Titanya asked with her head on Kella's lap.

"I could probably find some fruits and other stuff to eat." Fen replied taking a look of her surroundings again.

Kella nudged Titanya off her lap. "You could do that while I bathe or if you want you could wait and I would go with you."

Fen looked over to Kella with perplexed look. "Why do you want to go?"

"It seems like something I should learn to do." Kella grabbed the bar of soap and got up.

Fen thought for a moment then shrugged. "Sure I'll try teaching you, we have plenty of time."

"Thanks I'll be back in 25 minutes." Kella walked out of sight of the party and to the lake.

She stood at the edge of the lake, slowly took off her clothes and placing them on a large dry rock. 'So what now?'

She steped into the lake and got a small cold chill. 'Do we focus on going somewhere with less racism or try to find more dungeons to go into after Leonardo joins?'

She started to scrub herself with the soap. 'Honesty, how did Tanya and Fen even get here?'

She switched to washing her hair with the soap. 'I have no idea about Fen but I have a couple leads for Tanya i could look into.'

She finished all the parts necessary to wash and was about to get out when she had a thought. 'God I haven't really given myself a real break besides sleeping.'

'Well It's only been 5 minutes. I can sit here a bit longer.' She slowly sank into the lake until only her head and shoulders were Above the surface of the water letting her hair scatter behind her in the water.

She just sat there for 10 minutes thinking about her actions and the situation she was in. 'I'll give myself more breaks when I have time... probably with Tanya.'

She got up and dried herself off and put on her clothes and headed back to the group.

.

Titanya was fidgeting from the pressure she was getting from Fen. "Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Why wouldn't I want to know about the mysterious cat that whisked away the Fox?" Fen was a bit too nervous to ask in front of Kella, so she waited until she wasn't around.

"F-fine." Titanya thought about what to talk about first.

"Well... whenever something gets her interest or attention she'll ex-experiment with it to see how it can be improved or bring it to her side." Titanya babbled off.

"Experiment and bring to her side?" Fen asked not expecting such a on the nose answer.

"Well take Riko as a example, the only reason she made Riko her familiar is because she Interested her, just so you know Riko is a mutated elite from that slime dungeon on the outside and she even got to Riko evolve so she could carry her in her pouch."

Fen stared Riko in her arms. "Your a slime? Wait a Mutated eli-ouch!" A hand chopping her head cut her off.

"Let's go since you've gotten your fill of my info." Kella stated from behind Fen's back.

"Yep! let's get foraging." Fen said hastily and speed walked off.

Kella and Titanya followed her.

Kella's ear twitched and she looked to her left. "Huh?"

Fen was about to go into the finer details of locating edible plants when she saw Kella look off into the woods. "What's wrong?"

"We'll need to take put the lesson on hold. I need to have a meeting with a elf. " Kella's pupils Changed to a red color and she walked off in a direction.

"I'm coming too!" Titanya yelled as she ran after Kella.

...

...

...

[Somewhere in the forest, a elf with green hair was walking through, talking to himself.]

after finishing my conversation, I decided to go see if i could talk to the cat beastkin Kella. "Why would they even go into the Dandrag forest any way!?"

I was still following the trail they left. "It's been a long time since followed a trail in a forest."

"I do hope she'll accept. "

"Well i guess, that depends." I turned to my left to see a small woman with cat ears walk out from cover.

"So what brings you here Deal?" She was staring at with oval pupils which from my experience mean their not mad or happy.

I took a deep breath to compose myself. "Well I wanted to see if I could join the party."