North of fox-kin territory, some time later...
While I'm digesting Zara's information on the cat-kin, Teyla's now less aggrieved voice interrupts. She sounds almost embarrassed.
"Can you...fix my situation?" (Teyla)
I glance down at Teyla, still wrapped around me like a koala, and now avoiding my gaze. A smile tugs at the corners of my lips, but I don't tease her this time. Instead, I wrap an arm around her waist to steady her.
"Try standing normally. Just make sure we're connected, and you'll be fine. Like Zara." (Mizuki)
Teyla glances furtively at Zara, noting her relaxed posture and how she's only holding onto my shoulder with one hand. We're inside a wind-protected spacetime distortion, after all, and I can easily orient myself within it. As long as they keep themselves anchored relative to me, they'll just feel a weightless sensation the whole trip. No need to worry about falling 'off' the ride.
Teyla slowly, gingerly, unwraps herself from me. Legs first, still refusing to stare anywhere except my chest. When she notices that she didn't suddenly get yanked downward, I feel her body relax slightly. I remove my hand from her waist, expecting her to unwrap her own arms next and finally look around.
However, as soon as I move my arm, I feel her arms tighten around me with what I assume has to be her full strength. Soon, a pair of crimson eyes are burning into me with a look of absolute betrayal. Her voice is low, threatening...but also carrying a trace of panic.
"What are you doing, asshole!? Don't let go of me!" (Teyla)
I raise my eyebrow at her. I'm really getting mixed signals here. Nevertheless, I carefully wrap my arm around her again.
"Sorry, didn't realize you wanted me to hold you so badly." (Mizuki)
I feel her stiffen at my intentionally incendiary words, and I suppress the urge to smirk. Surprisingly though, she doesn't respond. Instead, she slowly loosens her arms' grip around me, and she begins surveying the passing scenery below us. I hear a sharp intake of breath from her, her voice barely a whisper of her inner thoughts.
"It's...beautiful." (Teyla)
I follow her gaze, taking in our surroundings, and I have to agree with the assessment. My flight speed has grown to truly frightening heights, though it doesn't feel jarring due to its gravity-based mechanism, so the woodlands of the fox-kin territory are already giving way to denser forest. It looks wild, untamed, and to most people, dangerous.
I can sense numerous powerful magic signatures roaming under the tree canopy. If this is what's buffering the cat-kin settlements – or at least what I'm assuming from magic sense are cat-kin settlements – from the Empire, I can see why they've remained relatively safe. Second to the Delmura Forest depths, the area below us could be the most dangerous terrain on the major continent.
We continue flying in silence for a while, making idle conversation while we enjoy the view. Eventually, we near the closest unidentifiable magic cluster, which I've been navigating towards. I examine it more closely with magic sense, realizing that there appear to be roaming groups of higher-than-average magic signatures orbiting the massive central cluster. If I had to guess, some kind of guard or scout groups protecting the settlement.
My lips purse thoughtfully, then I speak, my voice calm and unassuming.
"Zara, Teyla...we're almost there. You two are the ones with diplomatic interest in this visit, so how would you like to play this?" (Mizuki)
Indeed, I'm just here to, one, inform them of the Empire developments, two, attune magic sense to their signatures, and three, confirm if they'll accept cat-kin refugees that I liberate from slavery. However, based on what Zara told me earlier, it sounds like point three and maybe even point one are moot.
So, really, this visit is of much greater importance to Zara. Well, her and Teyla, who expressed an interest in joining us for this trip and the one to the Empire negotiations. According to her, she's decided that it's best to take a more active role in politics outside the fox-kin going forward. Though, she didn't elaborate on her reasoning.
Zara hums thoughtfully as she surveys the horizon ahead, then glances at me inquisitively.
"I cannot see any evidence of a settlement...I assume that it's hidden by the forest canopy. Do you have any idea where a main gate or entrance might be?" (Zara)
I shake my head.
"Not really. I can more or less guess where the bounds of the settlement are, based on the distribution of people, but that's it. I do see small groups of magic signatures that I think are guards of some kind, but they seem to be well outside the settlement. Scouting the forest, I'd guess." (Mizuki)
Zara's brow furrows, and Teyla interjects.
"Well, I think we can safely assume that walking into their city unannounced is going to upset them. Perhaps we should approach one of the patrolling groups you've noticed? Without terrifying them with your Nephilim abilities." (Teyla)
I give Zara an inquisitive look.
"That work for you, Zara?" (Mizuki)
After a moment in thoughtful silence, she nods approvingly. Alright, then...guess we're doing this.
I discreetly lower us down about a hundred meters away from a group of what I assume are cat-kin scouts. It's trickier than normal, because I have to protect us with a forcefield while forcing our way through the forest's thick canopy. At the same time, I have to expand a silencing spell over the surrounding area to prevent our forceful entry from being heard prematurely.
I set us down on the forest floor, maintaining my stealth spells. Looking around, I feel an inexplicable shiver of anxiety. Moss curls down from the absolutely towering trees, and the forest is practically humming with invisible life. The canopy above seems to swallow 90% of the light we were experiencing before. Looking forward into the forest feels like inviting blind dangers around every corner.
Then, I remember that's my lingering instincts from Earth, and I force myself to calm down. Teyla's amused voice interrupts my thoughts.
"Oh my...do I need to tell your fiancé about this?" (Teyla)
I glance down at her, confused. That's when I realize, my arm is still wrapped firmly around her waist, pulling her tightly against me, even though she's let go of me. She's wearing a smug grin.
I promptly release her, clearing my throat.
"Ehem...sorry. Here you go, Zara. Same story." (Mizuki)
Just like when we arrived outside the fox-kin city, I summon packs for Zara and me from my item box and hand one to her. She takes it, nodding absentmindedly. Then, she raises her eyebrows.
"Which way?" (Zara)
I nod westward.
"That way. And...stay close to me. I'm about to drop the concealment spells." (Mizuki)
Both of them nod and stand by my sides, and I discreetly cast magic armor over each of us. Don't want any accidents with my sight this limited.
I drop the concealment spells and begin navigating us through the forest towards the magic signatures I sensed nearby. After a while, it feels like we're almost on top of the magic signatures. And yet...I see or hear no evidence of anyone in our vicinity.
My eyebrows raise in surprise. Where are they?
No sooner than I think that, though, almost a dozen demi-humans begin materializing, all pointing weapons towards us. What look like panther-kin, tiger-kin, and leopard-kin, all wearing leather armor and menacing expressions. I survey them with a surprised expression, for two reasons.
One, because the cat-kin seem to be the most animalistic of the demi-humans I've seen – full coats of fur, inhuman eyes, paws for feet. While the other races I've seen look like humans that adopted a couple of traits from a patron animal, even the Kodkod, these cat-kin sub-races all look like someone took panthers, leopards, and tigers and just adjusted their skeletons a bit to make them bipedal and give them opposable thumbs.
The second reason is...it seems like these guys were all invisible. Zara did mention that the cat-kin have dark class affinities, and I suppose stealth-related ones make sense for feline humanoids. But my time here has taught me that's incredibly rare elsewhere on Azura – I've only met one person with a natural invisibility affinity.
Yet, there are almost a dozen apparent wielders here. That, or one or more of them have the ability to expand the invisibility spell to shield others, which I don't recall Levi ever doing. Either way, it's an observation worth investigating.
One of the leopard-kin speaks, interrupting my thoughts. His voice is low and rumbling, his speech clipped, and I catch a flash of long canines in his mouth that I can imagine makes enunciation hard.
"Trespassers...why have you come to our lands?"
His yellow eyes gleam, studying us, but I merely glance at Teyla and Zara expectantly. After all, now that I know the cat-kin's situation, I have no vested interest here anymore. Worst case scenario, I'll just knock these guys out with my little hypoglycemia spell, tune my magic sense to their unconscious bodies, then leave.
Zara takes a small step forward, drawing the cat-kin's attention to her. She speaks with a surprisingly steady voice.
"I am Zara Zuki, Elder of the wolf-kin. I have come to discuss establishing relations between our people, and to give you a warning about dangers emerging in the human Empire." (Zara)
Teyla swiftly follows Zara's lead, her voice refined yet commanding.
"I am Teyla Zang, a leader and representative of the fox-kin. I have come to support Elder Zara's efforts to establish closer relations among the demi-humans." (Teyla)
I glance between the two women, admiring how effortlessly their introductions seem to command respect. As expected of two actual leaders.
The panther-kin man's gaze drifts behind the two of them, landing on me, and it seems to hold a questioning intent. I realize that he's probably expecting a similarly refined introduction from me. I smile and wave dismissively.
"Oh, I'm Mizuki...I carry their stuff." (Mizuki)
Zara doesn't react, but I see Teyla's mouth twitch faintly at my response. The cat-kin just stare at me in silence for several moments, clearly skeptical, and I catch a few of them sharing baffled looks with one another. Eventually, the panther-kin returns his gaze to my two traveling companions. His voice turns less aggressive, but remains unyielding.
"If that is all you've come for, we ask you to depart our lands at once. Our people do not wish for relations with other races, and the humans have been no threat to us. We promise that no harm will come to you this time, but do not return. We normally kill trespassers, and we want no enmity with the fox- and wolf-kin."
Teyla's and Zara's eyes widen in shock at the blatant dismissal, and I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised as well. But...no skin off my bones this time. I glance at the two of them, waiting to see how they'll handle this. However, they're both rather quiet, conflicted expressions on their faces. Especially Zara, who I imagine doesn't want to turn around without even seeing their cities or leaders.