"It's true, I do." She shrugs. "I never claimed I wasn't getting anything out of this."

Isabel nods. "Yeah, I guess not."

"See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

After the last two days, today is conspicuously quiet and uneventful. No Tentamole attacks either.

The most remarkable incident is when a giant butterfly wanders into town and flutters around the rooftops a bit before leaving.

The trapper boy still doesn't return, though.

Amira shows up the next morning with a frustrated expression. 

"Apparently you can't buy mage's tattoo ink unless you're a registered landowner in this town. It's alright, I'm working on it - my patron will get me a small supply no questions asked, it'll just take a couple days. I'm sorry for the delay."

"It's alright. Any new rumors?"

"Nothing interesting. Things seem to have gone quiet again. I'd still be careful, but these things come and go... It was probably nothing."

Isabel nods, and hands over the books she's done for the last day. "Here's your numbers."

Amira hands over a small gem in return. "And here's your pay. How are your lessons going?"

They can talk about lessons for an hour or so, (Isabel is catching up quickly!) but then Amira has to go to market, and Lily's alone again.

She stays in for the day, as usual, but when night comes...

A night walk would really help her feel less like she's in a box again.

She puts on her cloak, takes her key, and goes out into the fields at the edge of town.

Nothing disturbs her as she walks quietly along the treeline.

It's a calm night, the stars are out, and there isn't enough of a breeze to make the trees rustle.

One of the trees rustles anyway.

Apparently succulent fruit just grows on trees sometimes, this far west.

And there's much less likely to be anything nasty hiding in the branches, when one climbs a tree.

Kamryn darts up into the branches with ease, plucks a fruit, and enjoys the novel taste. Shortly, she finishes it, then lightly pushes off a branch and drops through the air, landing lightly on the ground with a soft thump-

-right next to a small colorful and cloth-coated girlish figure!

Kamryn gets over her surprise in an instant, and frowns. It looks like a person, but she doesn't feel any glow of lust from it; that's why she hadn't noticed it was there. What the heck? It is a person... she thinks? It's draped in something that isn't animal hide. Cloth, probably, Kamryn's heard about it but never seen it.

(Kamryn herself is entirely nude, her hair wild and untamed, her eyes piercing in the shadowed darkness of the treeline, reflecting lights from the town. Yet, thanks to her supernatural mutations, Kamryn is also clean, and her hair is clean and glossy, and her body is smooth with clear skin that reflects the starlight. The effect is rather ethereal, like she isn't quite real.)

Isabel startles, but - 

- something in her tells her not to run.

So instead she stares at the nude woman who just fell out of the tree. (Mostly incomprehension, but with twinges of arousal and curiosity as well.) 

"I, uh," she says. "He... hello?"

Ah, there is a little bit of glow.

Kamryn relaxes.

"Hi."

"Um... Hi. Not to be... rude or anything... but what were you doing out at midnight in a tree with no clothes on?"

Kamryn relaxes further, even as she rolls her eyes just a little. The beastmen they met along their journey rarely ever you-should-be-wearing-clothes'd at her. What is it with (other) humans. This girl is human, Kamryn thinks?

"Snacking. What were you doing out at midnight in a field with clothes on?"

Lily relaxes a little bit too. "... Stargazing and watching the moon. If you... prefer to wear nothing... then I won't tell anyone."

"Nice of you, but I don't think it would matter if you told people. It never has before."

Kamryn idly picks a bit of fruit skin out of her teeth, tilting her head as she looks at the girl.

"You live here?"

"I'm staying here while my... alchemy teacher... does business in town... I guess I do live here, yeah. It's only been about a month though."

Kamryn doesn't stand still much, and if Lily doesn't start walking along with her, Kamryn will sort of languidly orbit the other girl.

"My [untraslatabletentaclenoise] and I got distracted on our way through here, but we did want to warn people, if we could. Have you heard of the Red Queen?"

"Your what? And no, we haven't. I'm... probably not a good person to talk to about warning people, I'm an outsider here... Though I could talk to Amira, I supoose."

She turns warily to keep the weird nude girl in sight. Only incidentally because it'a a nice view.

"Amira, huh? Who's that? And what's your name? Mine's Kamryn."

Kamryn wanders briefly back into the shadow of the trees as she meanders.

"And, I don't know a word for          . My... sexual companions and found family and also assigned task ingroup?"