Feeling at ease in this new place, I let myself relax. While Kyumi was still in her fox form, I walked up to her slowly, trying not to startle her. The closer I came the more I could see she was shaking. ‘She must be scared out of her mind…’ I felt sorry for her and yet, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I was so calm here, or even in general at this point.

“Kyumi, I wish there was something I could do…” I felt myself, for the millionth time since being here, that I was completely useless. Unexpectedly I could feel myself getting overwhelmed with emotions as I started to cry. “I’m so sorry…” was all I could get out before my voice cut off. Covering my face with my hands I fell to the floor. I sat for a while crying into my hands, before  arms wrapped around me. I couldn’t even figure out why I was crying. Tiara rubbed her head on my face trying to stop the crying.

“It’s okay Amari, none of this is your fault. None of this should be your fault.” I heard Kyumi say as she held me, petting my head to calm me down, herself seeming calmer. “We will get you home. I promise.” She held me tighter, leaning her head on my shoulder. The closeness between us somehow building fast for the short time we’ve known each other.

“I don’t mean to disturb you, but it’s getting late.” Phoenix spoke a little louder than needed clearing his throat at the same time, then he put his hand on my head, Tiara growling a little at his gesture. I lifted my head to see the sun was setting. “Don’t worry Buddy, I’ll do what I can to help out.” Hearing him say it directly, was comforting in a way, it gave me a sense of security. “Now, let’s get you guys some beds to sleep in.” he pulled us up from the floor. His voice calmer now. 

Leading us through this village, he brought us to a large house made of stone. Walking in the front door, the interior looked like any normal house that I knew. Standing in the entryway I could see it had multiple floors, all of which were much larger than the ones in Lillianne’s inn, resembling the size of houses from my world.

“This is the head's house,” Phoenix mentioned with a large smile on his face, “or as you heard from my slip up earlier today, it’s also my house.” As he said this I glanced through to where the kitchen would be down the hall and I could see Sapphire cooking something, a light humming coming from that direction. “Follow me upstairs, we have a spare bedroom.” Pulling my eyes away from Sapphire, I began to follow. Going up the stairs, I could feel I was more used to the size of them, not tripping over every other step. At the top we took a turn to the left, to a door that seemed almost out of place being so close to the stairs. “Here you go.” he said while just opening the door. “Sorry we only have one spare room.”

Walking in, I could feel Kyumi lagging back in the doorway. Turning around to try and see why, I was greeted with the sight of Phoenix standing in the doorway with his hand on her shoulder. He leaned in and whispered something to her that made her ears go back and her face have a light glow of blush. With that she spun and got a hold on the door slamming it shut in his face.

“What was that about?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy. “Are we trapped here?” Backing into the bed, I fell onto it in a sitting position, Tiara jumping off as I did this landing lightly on the bed.

“No, we aren’t stuck here,” she said very bluntly, “I just don’t like the lack of trees.” Coming to join me on the bed, she curled up at the foot of it back to her fox form. “Now get to sleep, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.” She spoke with a rough tone, I had never heard her react like that before and was hoping I wouldn’t have to again. Feeling like I had done something bad, I decided to comply and rest my eyes.

-----

The next time I opened my eyes, I looked at the window to see it was still dark outside. Unsure of the time, I continued to look out the window. A black shape moved towards the window. Fear swept over me for a moment until I recognised the shape as Kyumi. ‘I guess she can’t sleep either.’ A click was followed by a light breeze, being the only way I knew the window was opened. Then the shadow of Kyumi was gone. ‘Did she just jump out the window?’ As I kept looking out, the wind and night sounds, making me tired, soothed me back to sleep.

-----

The sound of birds chirping woke me up, with sunlight coming through the window brightening up the room. Looking around, I could see that Kyumi was nowhere in the room. ‘So she did leave.’ Going to the window to close it, I could see Kyumi in the distance, coming back to the house. Rushing out the door and down the stairs to greet her and ask where she had gone, but as I got near the bottom of the stairs, I could see Boulder and Phoenix already at the door.

“Nothing around here gives me any clues.” Kyumi spoke to them with her head down. “This might be a lot harder than I thought.” She kept her head low while she spoke.

“So you’re saying you need to head out again?” Boulder said, not sounding too pleased. “How can I trust that you are even trying to find out how to bring him back? You think that because I’ve agreed to this, you can leave the next day without any thoughts?” He was getting more and more mad as I approached.

“She’s saying that the source of whatever brought him here isn’t in Rivoston,” Phoenix stood up to his father, far faster this time, “but knowing she wants to help her friend get home explains the rush.” He paused for a moment. “However I would suggest trying to train him, even a little bit, so that he can fend for himself a bit more.” He said this turning to look at me. ‘How did he know I was there?’ “If what Kyumi says is true, about him not being from here, then he won’t know the first thing about defence or fighting.” Locking eyes with me. “Am I wrong Amari?” He smiled in my direction, though the smile seemed more like a threat. They all looked at me at this point. Thinking how helpless I felt before and useless, I figured I might as well try to learn, so I nodded and agreed to the offer of training.

“This might be impossible.” Ember said creeping up behind me. Causing me to jump as she spoke, I could tell she just wanted an excuse to beat me up. “Let’s go see what you can do pet.” She grabbed my shirt, dragging me past everyone.

“Wait, he needs to eat first!” Sapphire yelled from the doorway as I was being dragged to what I felt was my doom.

-----

Ember kept dragging me, even though I spent numerous times trying to tell her I could walk, by this time, her dragging me and my yelling, had caught the attention of the villagers, causing a bit of a crowd to form. Tiara flew overhead screeching, trying to scare Ember. Then finally she threw me down onto some sand.

“Get up.” She poked me in the side with a stick. “I want to see what we’re dealing with.” Turning my head to look at her, I could see we were in the middle of a clearing. She was holding a wooden sword in my direction. Sitting now, still confused and not responding, I just looked at her. Ember rolled her eyes at this and threw the wooden sword at me. “Wake up sleepy head. Grab it and show me what you’ve got.” Picking it up, I stood and held it how I had seen it done in shows and movies from my own world. Not sure how to start I took a second to think. ‘Do I just swing at her? Can I use it like a bat? She doesn’t have a wooden sword. Am I supposed to just swing at her!?’ While I was lost in thought a dark shape knocked me over, now I was lying down more confused than when I was sitting. “In a battle your opponent won’t sit and wait for you to figure out your next move.” Ember yelled at me from somewhere behind me. “Now get up, use the sword and fight me properly.”

“Do I just go?” I slowly got up asking as I learnt the answer instantly, a pain in my side sent me flying back to the ground. Staying stunned and annoyed now I found myself shouting, “I don’t know what to do! Can I at least get an explanation?!” I sat up to look at Ember, but she was gone, I let my eyes scan the crowd surrounding us, who had their jaws open, I could see Kyumi covering her face with a hand the other hand holding Tiara, slightly shaking her head, as Boulder whispered into her ears, a smirk plastered to his face, Phoenix nowhere to be seen.

“You don’t get a chance to have an explanation! In a battle nobody will wait for you, I already told you this!” Ember yelled, sounding more annoyed. Still glancing around to try to find her, I felt a pain in my side once again as I hit the ground, the air getting knocked out as I landed with a huff.

“But this is training!” I finally got back up, panting from the impact. Placing myself again with the sword, I could finally see Ember standing in front of me. Taking a moment to examine her, she looked ready to run to her right, so I prepared to strike her there. Keeping my eyes on her, I went for it, at the same time as I did something hit my back and the wind got knocked out of me. Falling face first in the sand, I stayed, unmoving, trying to catch my breath. Looking over I could see Phoenix standing with a wooden sword. ‘So that’s where he went. Doesn’t exactly feel fair.’

“One last thing,” Ember said, stepping close to my face, as I sat up, “a battle is never even.” She stuck her hand out to me offering help, taking her hand she pulled me up. ‘Maybe she’s not so mean after all?’ I thought as I looked into her eyes. They seemed friendly, sweet, even caring. One last time I took a stance to fight. Being more prepared this time, I kept my eyes on her and my ears on Phoenix. Ember’s eyes glanced up quickly at Phoenix, who I heard shift behind me. Knowing this was probably a trick, I glanced behind me, and in that same moment I looked back to Ember just in time to see her change into a wolf and jump over me, clearing my height easily, dropping a cloud of sand on me at the same time. Stopping confused, I tried to spin and see where she landed, but the sand made it nearly impossible. ‘Screw it!’ I thought as I threw the sword in the direction she had jumped. The extra force of this caused me to lose balance and go flying as I tripped over my own feet, landing in the sand with a light thump. “Never let go of your weapon if you won’t be able to get it back!” Ember yelled as she sounded like she was coming closer, “You’re hopeless.” She said as she landed on top of me, the wooden sword that I had thrown now at my throat and her legs over me, one foot on my wrist, holding it in place, while the other one rested in the sand on my other side. She leaned closer, pushing my chin up as she did. “If this was a real battle, you would’ve been dead long ago.” Despite my body being in pain and having her lecture me on my fight, I couldn’t help but stare at her face, as it hovered over me.

“Heh, you’re actually pretty.” I choked out while smiling, despite the sword pushing on my neck, quickly regretting it, as she took the sword and clubbed me off the side of my head. Getting up to walk off of me, I found myself curling up into a ball to hold my head, finding this hurting more than the fighting. Then a hand rested on my side.

“You had that one coming.” I could hear Phoenix say with a bit of a teasing voice. “Now, let’s get you fed, and I’ll give you another lesson before you go.” He picked me up, bridal style holding me against his chest. Feeling suddenly tired, I leaned my head into him. “Don’t make this weird for me please…” I heard him whisper, nodding, I closed my eyes, tired from the so-called training.