Rest and food was waiting for the group when they arrived at the village. The village chief insisted that they eat and wash up before they talked about anything. “You’ve been through hell,” the woren said in a deep, booming voice. “You’ve earned your rest, even if it’s only for a few hours.”

After genuine thanks were offered, Mika peered around the large thatch hut they were staying on. “Where’s Kirin?” he asked.

“Occupied,” the Chief replied. Then, after a moment, he added, “You are the one she calls Mika, are you not?”

The group was surprised, most of all Mika. “That’s me,” he said, almost nervous. “Why?”

“I find it strange,” the Chief said, with a tilt of his head. “She travels with royalty, but speaks the most about you.”

“Nothing too bad, I hope,” Mika muttered, flushing. He did tend to treat her a bit boorishly…

“Not all bad,” the Chief replied. Then, he addressed them all, “She’s quite enamored with all of you, actually. I’m impressed. She’s usually quite a bit more… difficult to deal with.”

“If she's usually more difficult to deal with, I feel sorry for you guys,” Mika remarked, earning him a slap on the arm from Princess Nina.

As Mika protested the Princess's assault, Ryu said, “Despite Mika's cynicism, she's quite a pleasure to travel with.” His tone was light, but still had a diplomatic quality to it. “She's a valuable comrade.”

“I'm pleased that she has been such a help to you, Destined Child,” the Chief said, beaming proudly. “I must also thank you for returning our prodigal daughter to us. Whatever we can aid you in, we will do. But rest now. There is plenty of time to talk later.”

There isn't really, Ryu thought darkly, but didn't argue. His companions were all exhausted, as was he. The best thing to do was to just rest.

~*~

It was midmorning the next day by the time the whole group was up and moving about again. Ryu, Nina and Mika met with the village chief while the two children played with a few young Woren who were about their age. By then, Kirin’s absence had become conspicuous. Mika had gone from irritated to worried, and he sensed that his companions felt the same.

The Chief didn’t give them a chance to ask about the girl’s whereabouts. “Kirin tells me that you need to get to Caer Xhan,” he said, his tone warm but business-like. “There is a narrow land bridge connecting this continent to the Draconic continent, but it's extremely dangerous, and extremely long. Given the situation you are in, I'm not sure you have the time to take that route.”

The three exchanged chagrined glances. “We don't have much of a choice,” Ryu said in response. “The Urkans have taken Wyndia and Dauna, as you already know. Any attempt to pass back through those countries to get to Rhaphala would be a suicide run. We're going to have to go quickly, but we've got to go that way.”

The Chief nodded. “I figured that. How did you like Sei and Bo?”

The three Destined balked at the sudden change of topic. Mika was the first to get his mental footing again, and answered, “I liked them. I think we all did; why?”

“I shall prepare them to travel with you,” the Chief remarked. “I doubt the Urkans will pursue you this far, considering how low their opinions of non-human races are.” The Woren's voice was dry, unamused. “Therefore, I believe we can spare two warriors to escort you and see to it that your journey is as swift and eventless as possible.”

“That won't be necessary, Father.”

The three travelers turned at the sound of Kirin's stiff voice. She stood just inside the door to the thatch hut, her back straight and her head held high. Mika noticed immediately that her attitude was strange, as if she were preparing for a fight. The Chief himself seemed to be taken aback by her assertion; as he tried to regain his train of thought, Kirin walked towards them. “I shall accompany them myself,” she said firmly. “I am already familiar with them; their cubs like me and will obey my commands, and we've established that I am competent in battle and I work well in their team.”

Mika wanted to object to her reference to his little brothers as “cubs”, but as he opened his mouth, Ryu forcefully elbowed him in the side, silencing him. “You will do no such thing, Kirin,” the Chief growled. “It's not proper for you to be traipsing off like this. Our tribe needs you here.”

“Princess Nina's tribe-”

“Has been destroyed!” the Chief snapped. Nina winced visibly and Ryu objected; this was ignored as he continued, “She is fighting for their liberation! You have no such motive-”

“Prince Ryu-”

“Is doing the same thing as Princess Nina,” was the cold interruption this time. “I repeat, you have no reason to go traipsing off! You returned home of your own accord, girl, and I expect you to stay and fulfill your duties here, as our Daughter!”

“Maybe I would if my 'duties' included anything but looking pretty, marrying a warrior I don't give a damn about and popping out a few heirs!” Kirin shouted.

“I see being away from us has done nothing for your disposition,” the Chief sneered in derision. “Even if that was an accurate description of your duties, how is that any worse than running away to be a common bar whore?”

“W-whore...?”

Ryu, who had been focusing on the Chief during the argument, saw the flicker of remorse on the Chief's face. Nina and Mika had, on the other hand, been watching Kirin; at this, Mika rose and approached the Woren girl as Nina protested the insult loudly. “Kirin-”

She ignored Mika. “How dare you?!” Kirin snarled. “I should have never come back! If I'd known this is what you thought of me, I would have waited for them elsewhere!”

“Don't be an idiot!” the Chief returned visciously. “Where would you have waited?! There's nothing out here but plains, girl!”

“Anywhere but here!” Kirin hissed. The Chief roared the other Woren's name, but Kirin ignored him as she turned and bolted from the hut. The older Woren made to follow her, but Mika's arm slammed across the doorway.

The Chief glowered at him dangerously. “Get out of the way, Dragon,” he growled.

“No,” Mika spat, his voice just as threatening as the Chief's. “You have no idea of how much hearing one's father speak like that hurts. I'm not about to let you just tear off after her right after you said that.”

“You're on thin ice, boy!”

“That's nothing new to me,” Mika snapped. With that, Mika withdrew, and dashed off; presumably to give chase himself.

The three remaining people stared after him. Abruptly, the Chief's shoulders slumped. “I know she hurts,” he muttered, slamming a fist into the door frame. “Does it not matter that I hurt as well?”

“Not to him,” Ryu replied, despite knowing the question was rhetorical.

“Should we go after them?” Nina asked in concern.

The Destined Child shook his head. “No. Mika knows what he's doing right now. I hope.”

~*~

Kirin's ears twitched as she picked up the sound of footsteps in the drying grass behind her. They were heavy, and the scent on the air told her that her companion was male. She recognized it, although it wasn't yet familiar enough to her that she could identify its owner by it. By this, she deduced that the intruder was either Ryu or Mika.

And Ryu was far too polite to come up behind a lady and not announce himself. Kirin scowled as she narrowed down who was behind her. “Go away,” she growled.

“No, sorry,” the man replied just as testily, sitting beside her. “You're free to leave if my presence bothers you that much.”

Kirin just sulked, trying to ignore Mika. He was silent for a few moments, simply gazing across the creek she'd seated herself at the bank off. When Mika started clawing small stones out of the grassy ground and tossing them into the creek, Kirin started to get annoyed. Then he started to hum quietly to himself, and she snapped. “All right, Dragonboy,” she demanded, “what do you want?”

“To make sure you're safe out here,” he said absently. “I dunno what kind of monsters are in this area, or if it's like Wyndia and they tend to stay away during daylight.”

“It is,” Kirin replied, “and I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, thank you! You can go away now, right?”

Mika sighed heavily. “I don't like you any more than you like me,” he commented, “but would it kill you to let someone be your friend when you obviously need one?”

“I don't need a friend!”

“You're an idiot.”

Kirin gasped, her irrational anger quickly coming to a boiling point. Mika dug another stone out of the ground and chucked it into the creek. “You have no clue what you have here,” he said in a conversational tone, ignoring her growing rage. “I dunno about those two, but I got pretty damn pissed at what he called you. Annoying brat or not, I'd have to say I'm pretty glad that you're with us. You're sure as hell not some 'common bar whore'.”

His reassurance seemed to soothe her, and it was very slight, but she relaxed. His next statement almost made her want to attack him. “You've got to go back and apologize, you know.”

“Oh, do I?”

“Yep.” Mika was still completely calm. “Unless he was completely faking it, he's actually got a pretty high opinion of you. Why would he want you to stay at the village if that was what he really thought of you?” He paused to see if she would offer an answer or contradiction, something he couldn't know that would fill in that particular blank. She didn't. “I think if he really thought that little of you, he'd be begging us to take you with, not insisting that you stay here.”

His reasoning dragged Kirin's fury down again. She rested her head against her knees, her tail flicking slowly back and forth. She still didn't answer him, though, and he sighed. “You have no idea how lucky you are that your father cares about you,” he said, his voice suddenly hard.

“Oh, and you do?” she snapped.

“Yes, I do!” Mika yelled back. “I...” How sharply the volume of his voice rose hit him, and he cleared his throat as Kirin recoiled from him in surprise. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. But yes, I do.”

“Mika...?” Kirin said softly. “I- I'm sorry if I've upset you.”

He shook his head, his expression becoming distant again. “Not you. The situation.”

“What happened, Dragonboy? Why'd this set you off like this?” Kirin asked, genuinely concerned.

Mika responded by rising to his feet. “Nothing that matters anymore,” he answered shortly. “I'll be back at the village if you decide you want to talk.”

Kirin watched him trudge away, Mika's words- and actions- tumbling through her head. Well, at least he'd given her something to think about other than how much her father hated her...