===Aislinn===
Today was one of the best days of her life.
She got the chance to hang out with the Princess, even if she made a deal to make Aislinn kiss a human.
She had fed from a human in the past, but she had no other type of interaction with them. Fortunately, she didn't have to kiss that person, at least not yet.
She was ok with the Princess making a deal like that, as the Princess called her CUTE friend, and even if it was just to persuade the human, Aislinn was above clouds from hearing those words.
They trained a bit with their Elements, and since the man took his gloves, Princess Pyre's control of her Element wasn't the best.
Aislinn was glad that she could work with her and give her some tips, even if the Princess was teaching her instead. They had such a great time, and Aislinn couldn't think of anything that could ruin her mood.
"So here you are, young lady."
Aislinn froze in place when she heard that voice.
She slowly started turning her head towards the voice's direction and saw her mother walking towards her.
"Mom…I…we… I can… *ouch* *ouch* *ouch* not this," she said in pain as her mother started pulling her from her ear.
"I told you never to leave the castle. And not only did you not follow this rule but even got the Princess out here in potential danger."
Ecaps pulled the ear of her daughter harder to show the seriousness of the situation.
"It's ok, Ecaps. This isn't her fault. I suggested for us to get here as I needed some fresh air."
Aislinn was ready to cry from the pain and Princess's words as she tried to defend her.
"Princess, you don't need to make excuses for her. She knew better and still didn't make the right choice. But, at least she used the rings."
Ecaps let go of her daughter's ears.
"We should return. Things aren't so safe out her, Princess, and I am certain Elder Gareth would like to speak with both of you."
It surprised Aislinn how casual her mother spoke to the Princess, but it wasn't too casual and showed respect to her.
"You are right. How about you lead the way?" the Princess said to Aislinn's mother.
As Aislinn made a step, her mother moved at speed she couldn't keep up with as she started dragging her from the ear once more.
"*ouch* *ouch* *ouch* *ouch* I am going, I am going. Let go."
But she did not hear her pleads as her mother seemed to have dragged her like that the whole way.
Aislinn could hear some giggling coming for the Princess, and for the second time today, she wanted just to have the earth consume her.
It WAS such a good day.
===Mady===
Finally, she had a worthy task.
Mady had joined the Allied Army because she wanted to face those magical creatures and fight using all those cool weapons she had heard stories about. But until now, the Base Leader just had her do cleaning duty, helping cooking, and other chores.
It was frustrating since if she wanted to do chores, she would stay home to help her mother. She would get married like her two sisters to have children and grow the family, but she persuaded her father to let her join the Allied Army instead.
She had one year to make a name for herself and prove that she was more useful there so that she could stay. Her father wasn't part of the Allied Army, but he had sponsored them as a man of wealth, so he had a say for a few things and could pull some strings. Still, he didn't help her, and she was all on her own to prove herself.
The Leader had to make the team investigate the nearby forest, and somehow one member of the scout group got injured and couldn't make it. They were still investigating how he slipped and broke his left leg.
Maddy was the only one who volunteered to join the group, and since it was a routine mission, the Base Leader let her, even if she didn't have prior experience on something like that.
She didn't get the chance to get any weapon, but she wore a new suit. But it wasn't a suit with a function other than its colors fitting to blend into the forest environment a bit.
The group's count was 6 members, including Mady, who wasn't the only female one. Actually, the leader of the group was the only other female person in the group.
Her name was Kora, and she wasn't much older than Mady, probably in her twenties. Still, she had made a name for herself and was almost like an idol for Mady. She was a Chief, meaning she had a team that worked under her, which most of the time did the scouting or the surrounding area.
"Private Mady. Have you read the log of the mission?"
"Yes, madam. We are to investigate nearby woods for any signs of fairies or other magical creatures. If we find any, we need to capture them if possible or report and ask for backup," Mady said to the group leader.
They were doing this investigation once per month, but they had seen no signs of any magical creatures for the past four months that Mady was here. She had heard that they had found nothing since the creation of the base 5 years ago. Their lead researcher seemed to be angry with everyone, especially the higher-ups since he had nothing to experiment with and was just doing simulations all this time. The higher-ups told him they had nothing to spare for this base and had to capture subjects themselves.
Fortunately, after pulling along many strings, their researcher persuaded them to send him something to experiment on, which seemed to be a Fairy and a mermaid. He insisted on trying to capsule more, even if they had little space left.
It seemed to be a common theme for many of the bases, as capturing magical creatures and keeping them alive was hard, as some killed themselves instead of living the life of a guinea pig.
"Everything seems in order. Jefry, lead the way, and the rest keep your eyes open."
Jefry was an older gentleman than Kora, around his forties, who seemed to be the most experienced in the group. Mady had interacted little with him but had seen him on some training routines, and she had to admit that he was a very agile person.
He was the kind of person who didn't speak unless needed, so he just motioned for people to follow him.
The entrance of the forest was a half-hour walk from the base.
When they entered, Mady tried to be as quiet as possible and pay attention to the surroundings. She hoped she would find something and prove herself.
They had a certain path to follow that would cover all the forest and would take them close to six hours to go through it all, with a few breaks in between.
During their first break, Mady was still looking around for any strange signs, while even Jefry seemed just to relax. Nobody expected that they would find anything as usual, and they just did it because they had to.
"Private Maddy. You should spend some time resting."
Kora motioned to Mady to sit next to her.
Mady turned to walk towards her but then turned towards her left once again. She swore that she saw some movement.
She picked out a small tool that the researcher gave them. It was a detector of magical creatures, detecting their magical aura. Still, the range was small, and its battery lasted for a couple of minutes, so they didn't use it other necessary.
There was a ping. A magical creature was nearby.