Part the Seventieth
One more surprise… for the road.
After about a week, the party is nearly ready to go. They have booked passage on a ship called the Alirria’s Star which will take them to Seaward, the Easternmost town in the Sovereignty. According to Anvil, the city’s full name is, “The City Farthest Seaward Within the Lord’s Domain.”
“Umm… So ‘Seaward’ then,” says Thatch. The rest of the party agrees.
Word has been sent to Lord Agasha, who has promised to send his son, Hiru, to meet them there with horses for their journey.
The party also plans to make a brief stop-over on their way to Seaward in Dar Karo. Dar Karo is renowned for its marketplace and craftspeople, and many party members are hoping to pick up some last minute supplies there. Weapons by the Karonian smiths are said to be the best in the Halmae.
However, before the group departs, they have one last unexpected meeting, this time, with Professor Alexandra.
“I’m sure you can understand,” the Professor begins, “that although you all have my implicit confidence, I would like to send an emissary of my own on this mission. Someone who knows the Academy and its needs more intimately than any of you could.”
“Who do you propose to send as your agent?” Anvil demands, perhaps not the only party member fearing that Edmund has been raised from the dead purely to torment them.
“I don’t know if you know her,” Alexandra replies. “She’s a third-year, one of my top students. Her name is Annika.”
The party members shake their heads; the name means nothing to them.
(Super Trivia Bonus! Annika has appeared in this story hour before. Points if you can name when she first appeared—bonus if anyone remembers the first time she was mentioned… And you thought there was no planning in this narrative.)
“There is ah… one thing you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing bad,” Alexandra hastens to reassure a skeptical party. “But she has a younger sister who’ll have to travel with her.”
Before anyone in the party can respond, Alexandra opens the door behind her and ushers in two girls. “This is Annika,” she says, indicating a tall, solid blonde girl, with the fair skin and blue eyes of a Karonian. “And this, is Kiara.” Standing beside and little behind is a younger girl, who looks, on the one hand, nothing like her “sister,” and on the other, like she is barely 14 years old.
The party doesn’t bother to hide their skepticism. “Are you sure this is wise?” Anvil asks.
“She’s a kid!” exclaims Thatch with all the indignance of his own seventeen years.
As Professor Alexandra attempts to reassure the party, Reyu turns her attention to the two individuals in question. Even she can tell that there is little family resemblance between the two girls. Kiara is barely taller than she is, with an almost olive completion, and dark hair cropped short… except for two braids that hang behind her right ear. The braids are beaded, almost like an elf’s would be…
Professor Alexandra is in the middle of a very well-chosen sentence when Reyu suddenly bursts out, “Like hell those two are sisters.”
A silence falls over the room.
“Ummm?” Thatch ventures.
Reyu points to Kiara, “Her braids say that she is a ‘foundling child of the Eeli Tribe of the Gobai Nation.’ They aren’t sisters.”
Thatch scratches his head. “But… she’s not an elf.”
“She doesn’t appear to be an elf,” Lira corrects him. At his confused look she elaborates, “After the Miyen Kai, I’m not assuming things.”
“Are you an elf?” Anvil demands.
Kiara shakes her head. “No.”
“But you’re not blood sisters,” Reyu presses.
They pair admits that they aren’t.
“Then why did you tell us that you were?”
Annika shifts uncomfortably. “I’m sorry about that, but she has to come with me, and it seemed… reasonable?”
Kiara pipes up. “I’m no trouble. I promise. You won’t even know that I’m here. I’ll just stick with Annika, but you can’t leave me behind, okay?”
Reyu, not remembering fondly the last time a young wizard with a secret was placed in her charge, questions them, and Professor Alexandra, relentlessly. The girls maintain they are not blood relations, nor are they lovers, but they refuse to explain why Annika cannot travel without Kiara. The Professor, for her part, does her best to reassure the party that Kiara is more than capable of taking care of herself, and that Annika is the best person for the job of accompanying the party. “I promise you,” she assures the elf, “they are no danger to you.”
Lira is a bit puzzled by the sudden inquisition herself. Sure, it’s odd, but, “You didn’t ask half so many questions when you met me,” she points out.
Reyu turns a look to her that says perhaps she should have, but all she says is, “I just wish to be sure she does not have zombies in the basement.”
Anvil turns from where he was talking to Benedic about travel through the Ketkath. “Zombies in the basement?” he says, having only caught half of the conversation. “Is that crazy elf talk for lesbians?”
(And so, in-jokes are born.)
Lira smothers a laugh, and is about to think something snide to Euro when she realizes that the weasel is not on his accustomed perch on her left shoulder. She reaches out mentally, and realizes that he’s crawling through Kiara’s hair. The girl reaches up to pet him, and giggles.
Euro… what are you doing?
Oh, I like this one, boss! Look at her… She’s so cute, and she smells good.
She smells good?
Oh yeah, and she’s got these cute little braids. Euro takes one in his teeth and tugs it back and forth to demonstrate, practically bouncing in excitement.
Lira blinks. She’s never seen Euro so excited about a stranger. Hells, she’s never seen him that excited about her.
Kiara giggles. “What his name?” she asks.
“Umm… Euro.” Unless you’ve been replaced by some crazed pod-weasel. she thinks at him.
What are you taking about, boss? You feeling okay?
Lira distracts herself by turning to Annika, who is watching the interaction with a touch of nervousness. “So,” Lira tries, “was it like this when she met your familiar?”
Annika swallows quickly. “I ah… she… My cat, Mai, was killed by the shadow-creatures.”
“Oh,” Lira flushes, “I’m sorry.”
Euro, perhaps picking up on Lira’s abrupt shift of mood, looks up from Kiara’s ear. He looks a little guilty as he leaps off Kiara’s shoulder and takes his more usual place curled around Lira’s neck. Hey boss, you know I’d never leave you… right?
Lira pets him. Of course. But what is it about her? I’ve never seen you like that.
Euro shrugs. I don’t know, boss. She smells good… Not like you, but… Lira pats him on the head to show that there are no hard feelings.
Lira realizes that the rest of the group has gotten quiet, watching her. She shrugs. “Euro likes her. It’s good enough for me.”
Although the weasel’s recommendation is not enough on its own to sway the rest of the company, Professor Alexandra remains firm, and eventually, the pair is accepted into the group.
The next day, they all depart for Dar Karo.
?
Anvil continues to kick ass with his "so straight-forward he makes an arrow look like a slinky" personality. 
