About a week had passed after Yula, Hilduk and Flek first arrived in the city of Kas. The sheer variety of different people and creatures in the city had been something Yula found herself marvelling at. To her, it seemed that all manner of creature gathered or ended up here; many of which she had never seen before. She also found herself following around a few particularly interesting individuals from time to time, observing or watching them until she either grew bored, became distracted by something else or was shooed away.
During one point of their stay, Flek had to leave for a while, though she hadn’t told Yula where to or why. What she did tell Yula was to go out, explore the city and cause trouble while she was away. Yula hadn’t done that though. She had instead cooped herself up in her room to read the pile of books that Flek had bought for her the day before; Flek knew Yula perhaps too well, having known that the books would be enough to keep her occupied during her absence.
By the time a carriage arrived outside of their inn to take Yula to the Ruby Wharf, she’d read all of the books twice over, having thoroughly enjoyed them and having absorbed as much knowledge from them as she could. As she sat in the carriage, she watched all manner of people and creatures as they went about their day; selling wares, walking about and simply living what could be considered by most, a normal day to day life. When the carriage stopped, Yula hopped out and scampered off onto the docks looking for the Sea Nymph, the ship that would be taking her to her next destination; the Hero’s Guild.
Ships were another thing that Yula had found herself marvelling at. They were massive structures, some of which were larger than the buildings in the town itself, yet they never seemed to sink or lower into the water any further than they already sat. Yula knew little of sailing, next to nothing about boats and even less about how they worked, but she was still fascinated by them. When she found the Sea Nymph, it sat heavily in the water looking near complete in it’s departure. Staring up at the ship, she watched the sailors finishing up with their preparations and as she did, she felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder. Turning around she felt a wave of joy to see Flek had finally returned and she jumped up into her embrace. Not long after they had reunited, a commotion broke out across the docks.
People nearby had all begun shouting and pointing towards the sky out above the center of the harbour. As Yula squinted her eyes against the blinding sun she was just able to make out a spek high up in the sky that she recognized as a rowboat. Before long, the rowboat hit the sea, shattering into hundreds of pieces with a large crash. Following the strange event, the Sea Nymph’s departure was postponed; the sailors being a superstitious bunch who refused to go anywhere with rowboats falling from the sky.
Her trip then delayed, Yula was instead asked by Flek to go find something for her. With Hilduk leading by direction, it wasn’t long until they wound up on the beach, where Yula witnessed the sea spit out a man; quite literally. He flew 10 feet into the air before he hit the sand where he then lay unconscious. Initially, Yula thought the strange man to be dead; noticing strange looking scabs and wounds to his ears, as if they had for some reason been cut. She had been just about to creep over and search through his things when he woke, coughing up sea water and gasping for breath.
Shortly after regaining his consciousness, the man, who Yula came to learn was named Calen, found himself following her lead into the city; confused and somewhat uncertain of the strange individual before him. She had pestered him, telling him that her sister wanted him while also brushing past most of his questions; far too focused on bringing him to Flek to spend her time answering him. Yula stopped for a moment once they were back in the streets to look for Flek but was distracted by the glint of something shining; a ruby on a chain, held by a strange man in an alleyway. Without a second thought, she scampered into the alleyway after the man, leaving Calen to follow her, which he did.
None-the-wiser, Yula led them directly into an ambush within a small courtyard; at its center the man she’d been following stood behind a well, as two larger men stepped up to block their way out. The following fight was not a long one. Calen hit the man with a well shot arrow before Yula scampered over and killed him with her magic after the man had attacked them with his own. The two larger men retreated, leaving Yula to search the corpse, looking for the gem the man had been holding. Unable to find it, she grew rather distressed until Calen spotted it at the bottom of the well. It was too deep for them to reach and while Yula was trying to figure out a way to get to it without getting her feathers wet, Hilduk emerged from her cloak and swam down to get it for her. This would be the first time that Calen had seen Hilduk; the sight of whom stirred an ancestral terror within him. Hilduk did not remain in sight for long, for as soon as he had the gem, he returned to his spot beneath Yula’s cloak.
Elated to have the gem, Yula scampered off to once again look for Sister as if nothing had happened. Calen, in an attempt to heal a wound she had received during the fight, reached out towards her. This action prompted an aggressive reaction from Hilduk and Yula alike, resulting in Hilduk scratching the back of Calens hand. After all he’d gone through while following her, this seemed to be the last straw for him and he decided to split up to go his own way. This of course earned another frantic bout of pestering from Yula, as she still had to bring him to her Sister. With some uncertainty, Calen agreed to follow her once more, though warned that any more stunts like that would have him taking his leave.
As they headed back into the main streets, Calen followed with a bit more distance between them than he had before. Soon they found themselves along one of the quieter, emptier roads of the city; both feeling that something was amiss. Their suspicions had been correct, for soon they found themselves ambushed once again; this time by the father of the man that they had killed, with about a dozen men by his side. This time there was no fight, it was a straight up massacre. As the man before them moved to strike Yula, he was ripped into the air and torn apart; Calen noticed in the torchlight many shadowy tendrils emerging from the dark, ripping the men apart without remorse. As the last man fell, Flek approached them, introducing herself to Calen, who quickly came to realize that a message he had been carrying was meant for her. As Calen handed Flek the black crystal he had been tasked to deliver, he felt the same ancestral fear he’d felt when he’d first seen Hilduk.
Soon after the events of the evening, they had agreed to speak over dinner, Calen finding himself sitting within a strange inn; dark tendrils writhing just out of sight in the shadows, though neither Flek, nor Yula seemed to pay them any mind. They spoke of many things; they learned a bit about one another, Calen was ‘introduced’ to their Father, they spoke of their goals, made plans for the journey ahead and came to a few deals and agreements between them. In the end, Calen agreed to travel with Yula and Hilduk to the Hero’s Guild and with Flek’s prompting and assurance, Yula agreed to accept Calen as a friend and companion.
The next morning they took their leave of the inn and as they did, Calen turned to see that the inn had vanished, leaving behind nothing more than a puddle as they boarded the carriage, readying to embark on the next step of their journey.
