AN: I apologize for falling off the face of the earth like that! 2025 hasn't been particurly kind to me, and the past two weeks have had some of the worst days of my life in them. But I'm back now, and I pn to (hopefully) return to a more regur release schedule again!

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  What the heck?! Then let me go get Til right away! We can-

  [I’m afraid you’re a bit too te on that, child.]

  Huh? What do you mean I’m too te? Oh… Oh no! Don’t tell me Til already forgot about me and eloped off with some other person!

  [...No, that’s not the case at all. It’s just that he’s already left my nds. He’s likely already crossed the border by now.]

  …The border? The border? You mean THAT border?! You can’t possibly be saying-!

  [You really must calm down, child; It makes it so impossible to tell you things when you get hysterical like this.]

  But if you’re saying that I’m too te and that he already crossed the border, then that means he’s already in the Fire territory! You know, the mega super dangerous war-like pce, where they like to ensve people?! And we just learned that there’s a huge bunch of svers along the border, too! Til’s totally gonna be in trouble!!!

  [Well, perhaps he would be if he were human or some other race, but the cns living in the Fire’s territory usually have an agreement not to interfere with one another.]

  But Til is only half fire elf! He’s clearly got the green eyes and blonde hair of a Forest Spirit-worshipping forest elf! What if they sniff the scent of the forest on him, go ‘Hey, you’re not one of us!’, and attack him?!

  [From what I can tell, he’s decided to go off to the fire elves and learn what happened to his mother, so he should be-]

  THAT’S EVEN WORSE! What if the fire elves turn on him when he gets there and kill him for being the son of a traitor?! We don’t know how they’re gonna react to him at all! Maybe his own mom would turn on him if she’s still alive! I’m sure that’d be extra super devastating for him, right? And then they’d kill him!!!

  [...I’m fairly sure you’re overreacting, but I can’t honestly say for certain that you’re wrong… How vexing.]

  See? We HAVE to go rescue him from this stupid pn of his, stat! Guide me to where he went right this instant, Spirit!!!

  [I would love to, Mellily. However, once he left my territory, I could no longer see him. I cannot see anything that goes on outside of my territory, unless it’s through you. And even then…]

  Oh, really…? Well fine then! I guess if that’s the case, then we’re just gonna have to do this the hard way, now aren’t we?

  …Where was it that you said the svers lived again?

  ***

  “Open up the gates!”

  The metal gate quickly cranked up in response to the familiar call, and the same nondescript carriage soon made its way past the opening, stopping once it was squarely on the other side. The guards waiting at the gate quickly came over, ready to assist with the transferring process, but were shocked to find only one person in the back of the carriage, sitting chained up all on their own, where they’d been expecting to find dozens of others.

  Of course, soon Skild, the second in command of the fortress and the one who’d been put in charge of the gatekeepers, quickly made his way over to check what had gone wrong.

  “Gillef, this wasn’t the arrangement! Where’s the rest of your crew, and why have you come with only this one human in tow? We’ve already warned you multiple times of-”

  “N-no, boss, no! L-listen, okay? I didn’t do anything wrong this time! It’s just, the others were messing around, a-and-! See, w-we, uh…”

  Skild looked down at Gillef with tired eyes, and scratched at the scales on his forehead. He himself was half human, so he’d been pced as the second in command in the hopes that he would be able to interact well with the humans they'd employed, but right now he couldn’t help but think that he couldn’t understand them at all.

  “Calm down! This stammering isn’t like you at all, Gillef! I’ll do my best to convince the leader to give you another chance, so just try and slowly tell me what happened this time, alright?”

  “Y-yes! Thank you, My Lord, thank you!”

  Skild grimaced, not liking the way Gillef was suddenly addressing him so overly formally and practically clinging onto him, which Gillef quickly took notice of and hurriedly unched into his tale to save whatever face he could.

  “S-see, the boys were a bit drunk when they went to town, b-but not me! And we went to one of the reliable towns in the circuit, but the townsfolk were able to rebel this time somehow! B-but since I was still sober, I was able to kidnap one of the women-folk that had been hiding nearby during the fighting! A-and since I… didn’t want the others to, uh… to steal my accomplishment, I, uh…”

  “...Yes, I see. I still don’t understand why you came all this way with only one woman in tow, however. The leader will not be pleased with such a meager amount of cargo from you.”

  “N-no, My Lord! You don’t understand! This woman I captured, she’s like nothing else! She’s very very beautiful, you see… And she’s s-strong and, um, and tall! She’s worthwhile, I promise! The leader will be pleased, I-I swear!”

  At first Skild didn’t put much stock into Gillef’s words, but when he saw the woman slowly being pulled out of the carriage by the guards, he quickly changed his mind. He couldn’t see her face very clearly due to how low her hood was drawn down, but just by her height alone, he could tell that she was much taller than any of the women that had ever been brought there before. And if the other things that Gillef had told him were at all true…

  …Then there was a good chance that this woman might have been reted to the fire elves in some way.

  If that was the case, then both he and the leader were liable to get in trouble if they treated her the wrong way, even if for some reason she wasn’t full blooded.

  …This was far too high above his pay-grade for Skild to deal with.

  Not willing to take chances, Skild hurried to the woman’s side, bowing kindly to her in greeting.

  “Hello, My Lady. Please forgive the harsh way that you’ve been treated thus far. These ruffians aren’t able to recognize someone of your… stature. Please, come with me to verify a few things.”

  Skild motioned towards the doors of the fortress, and when the woman began to agreeably move along with him, it finally felt like the lump that was growing in his throat was melting away. He was sure that the base's leader, someone who was so trusted amongst the businessmen of the lizard cn, would be able to solve this issue for them and suss out the truth behind it all. If it were the leader, they would definitely be able to find a way to avoid the fire elves’ wrath over this!

  =Hmm… What was it he called you? ‘My Lord’, was it?=

  “Oh, yes! That’s me. Or if that title is too much, you may also call me Skild, should it please you. Is there something I can help you with, My Lady?”

  Although her hood was low, Skild could just barely make out the soft yet wide grin that was filling the woman’s face. Somehow, it made the patches of scales on his face start to heat up.

  =Skild, huh? I like that name~! Skild, Skild… Alright, Skild! You seem like a nice enough guy; Maybe you could tell me something that I’ve been wondering about?=

  “O-oh… Um, thank you for the compliment, My Lady. I would love to tell you what it is you’d like to know, but I’m sure the leader-”

  =Don't worry, I’ll ask him too, but I really wanna ask you first since you’re so nice! See, I was wondering if you’d seen an elven man around these parts recently! I’m hoping that you’ll help me find him.=

  The heat in Skild’s face, which had grown so strong with the woman’s praise, immediately cooled itself off. He’d hoped to completely hand over the responsibility to the leader, but now that the mysterious woman had all but guaranteed her connection to the fire elves and told him about whatever mission she was on, he was sure that he would be made 100% complicit should the woman compin to the fire elves when she returned to them. The most he could do was thank his lucky stars that he’d been kind to her from the moment they’d met, and continue with his best customer service routine; Perhaps if she continued to think he was kind, she would spare him from scrutiny ter.

  “U-um, I can’t say that I have. Are you sure he passed by this checkpoint in particur? Because from what I recall, there are around five others along the border that-”

  =Oh, five? There’s five other sver dens around here?=

  The woman tilted her head and hummed under her hood, seeming quite happy with his answer.

  =I’m sure at least one of them will have seen him, then. And if not, then at least I’ll have a good couple of feasts along the way, so it should still be worth it~!=

  Skild smiled awkwardly. He was pleased that she didn’t seem too upset at them, but he knew quite well how bnd the food that was supplied to the fortresses could be, even the ones served to the superior lizardmen.

  “...I’m sorry, My Lady, but I can’t guarantee that the food will be all that good…”

  =Oh don’t you worry, Skild~!=

  The woman giggled and giddily cpped her still chained hands, and as her head straightened up to look at him, her hood slipped back just enough to reveal her madly smiling face.

  =I’m sure there’ll be plenty enough here for me to have a good meal! If you'd like, I can even make sure you're still around to witness it!=