"Damien, Amelia, Krista, it's good to see you all again, and I can't wait to accompany you on your journey!" said a familiar white robed woman.
"Dear Iroh no!" cried Damien "What is she doing here?!"
A week had passed since the trio's initial meeting with the Shining Twilight members when Cassandra told them that she secured a tutor for Amelia. Unfortunately for Damien, it was the person he least wanted to see.
"First of all, I'm not she, I'm Matilda, second I'm here as Amelia's tutor, though I don't mind if you and Krista, excuse me, Krisha join in to listen to my lectures. In fact, I must insist that you do."
Damien put on as polite a face as he could possibly muster at the moment as he spoke, "Grandmagi Cassandra, while I feel that the addition of Professor Ornate to our ranks could be viewed as a net positive, I believe her inclusion would drastically increase our odds of being found out. I had assumed a less… notable professor would come along, but someone with Matilda's stature would be considerably more difficult to explain."
"There's no use Damien, if you want me to come along, then Professor Ornate, pardon, Matilda will be joining us," said Amelia trying to placate him, "It's only die to her influence that I can be with you two anyways."
"Yes, who did you think convinced Darjla to give Amelia the time off?" said Matilda snidely.
"Cassandra, I'm going to level with you here… please, anyone but this woman!" cried Damien.
"I'm hurt, that you think so poorly of me, but I think in time you'll come around to me," Matilda replied, "You'll need to if you want to stay sane."
"Listen Darius, my hands are tied here, it's Matilda or bust," Cassandra explained, "Darjla actually said no when I called in the favor to her, considering the first few weeks are an important transitional period for new students. Had it not been for Matilda's generous offer to personally tutor Amelia, our whole mission would have failed before it even started."
Damien was fuming, "Then can we just-"
"No, just give it up Damien, she's coming with," said Krista with finality.
As much as Damien hated to admit it, Krista was right, "Well then," Was all he said before he promptly found the nearest wall and smashed his head into it.
Over the next few days, Matilda latched onto Damien like a parasite; anywhere he went, she followed. Considering that her purpose was to act as an instructor for Amelia, this behavior was definitely beyond the scope of her duties.
It wasn't uncommon for Krista to find Damien hiding in different places, but eventually Matilda always seemed to find him. Every night, when Damien returned to the castle, he was either completely exhausted or boasting some new bruise. He constantly told the girls that, over these last few days, his only solace was the time he got to spend with Nightshade and Fierce. Krista even found him sleeping with them in the stables once.
Surviving the entire week of torture, the promised day came. With all their business taken care off, they hurried to make it back to the Guardian's former training grounds. In tow there was Damien, Krista, Amelia, Matilda, Nightshade, Terra, Breeze, and Fierce, now able to walk completely on her own.
Silence permeated between the group, each person still preparing themselves for the journey that was about to befall them. Even Matilda gave them time to think, that or she was just too focused on observing Fierce's behavior.
Once they arrived to the meeting area, they were met with Dante's joyful voice, "Hello, there, good to see you three, or wait, is that someone new-"
Joy quickly turned to fear as a dark streak raced passed Dante and made its way directly towards Matilda. They had to have been more than 30 feet away, but that distance was covered in an instant.
"Raven, stop!" millimeters from her neck, Raven's attack stopped by Dante's command.
Raven held no weapon in his hand, rather her had his right hand outstretched with a single, sharp, purple colored fingernail ready pierce through Matilda's neck. No one who saw it would doubt that it would fully go through her neck.
"As you say, Dante," said Raven as he let his sleeve cover his arm again, "Who are you?"
Dmitri came forward to answer that, "Dr. Matilda Ornate, a professor from the University of New Dawn. I've read plenty of her papers, Amelia, when you mentioned that you would have a tutor come along with us, this was definitely not who I was expecting."
"Just Matilda is fine, now could you please explain why that man nearly ended my life?" she asked in a deadpan voice, "I'd prefer to avoid another situation like before."
"Raven's just protective, a bit too overprotective," Dante explained, "I'm sure that it will never happen again."
Raven returned to his mount. With a bluish-black sheen, it was considerably smaller than the others. The animal it took after was more like a donkey or maybe a mule, when compared with the horses that the nymphs resembled, "I'll do whatever it takes to protect you and your interest, should she not come in the way of that, she'll be fine."
"Don't worry, I'll keep him on a tight leash," Dante remarked, "Let me give you our itinerary."
"Itinerary?" Damien questioned while moving Nightshade close to Dante's similar in size fire nymph, "Are we not going to Shining Twilight's headquarters?"
"We have some more business to take care of in two of New Dawn's villages and one in Soaring Sun before we return to the kingdom proper," Cleo said moving in between the two on her much smaller wind nymph, "We have already have agents in those villages of Comet, Nova, and Aurora. Since they'll be along the way, we've decided to reconnect with each of them as we return to HQ."
"Why can't they come here, didn't you make us wait for one of your other friends, anyway?" Damien complained, "Actually, where is this other friend of yours? I only see you four."
"Ani?" Dante started, "Well, she's never been to keen on strangers, you probably won't see her until she's good and ready. Whenever that is, but she's around, probably."
Not really understanding Dante's words, Damien and Krista looked around as if hoping to catch a glimpse of this mysterious stranger, "With that, I'd say we should take our leave."
Dante took the lead, followed closely by Cleo and Raven. Behind them was Damien, Krista, and Fierce, while Matilda, Amelia, and Dmitri kept to the rear holding a conversation that no one else had the mental fortitude to join in with.
As they continued, Cleo turned on her small wind nymph to speak to the others, "We'll be traveling southeast to Comet. If we avoid unnecessary stops, we should reach there in about three weeks to a month. Once there we can- Oh, my Lunera! Is that a young griffin?! He's adorable!"
"She," corrected Krista, "Yeah, Darius and I came across her while dealing with a griffin near Horizon."
"I remember seeing that request in the Hunter's Guild some time ago," remarked Dante with great interest, "If I'm remembering correctly, it had a threat level of four or five. Don't tell me you three took it down by yourselves? You're not even Hunters."
"No, actually, it was just me and Darius," Krista explained, "Amelia was preoccupied at the time, so it was just up to us."
"Then you got this little one during that hunt?" asked Cleo as she beckoned for Fierce to come towards her. A gesture that Fierce didn't noticed as she pranced around Nightshade's legs.
"Well, let's just say the plan Krisha and I had didn't go exactly as outlined," Damien said with a heavy sigh, "I ended up on the griffin's back, Krisha was holding onto two of the griffin's eggs, one thing lead to another, and we ended up with Fierce, our little girl. Though I have been noticed that she's been getting a lot bigger over these last few weeks."
"Krisha do you and Darius have any kids, yet?" asked Cleo seemingly out of nowhere.
Surprised at the comment, Krista began coughing uncontrollably, while Damien lurched forward on Nightshade. Collecting herself, she quickly stuttered, "N-No, no kids. Us- We don't have any kids."
"Sorry for the strange question, I was just curious, "Cleo said hurriedly, "Since you don't have kids, though, Fierce is like your first daughter. Being husband and wife, I just wanted to know if you've ever thought of the subject."
Cleo threw obvious glances towards Dante, glances that Raven didn't appreciate him receiving, "Refrain from having your lustful eyes sit upon Dante. I understand that you're just a beast in heat, but please try to display some modesty."
"I wasn't…" Cleo started while glaring at Raven, "I was just curious, it's not something you would understand, you emotionless husk. You just wouldn't understand young love."
"Nor do you, miss 27-year-old," responded Raven.