The four beastkin sized up our group as Iris led us toward them and bowed when we got close. "Valkin, this is Maxwell and his team of hunters. They will be escorting our caravan with you."

  Up close, the two wolfkin could be differentiated by their fur patterns. If it weren't for that I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Valkin had a feathering of black fur around his face with dark markings above his eyes. The rest of his fur was mostly silver and white. The other wolfkin had a more reddish tone to his fur and some browns mixed into his mostly grey fur.

  Valkin scanned over the four of us before stopping on the braid tied to my armor and scoffed. "A human thinks she is strong enough to protect a bride?" He looked at the matching braid on Luna's robe and shook his head. "You'd lift your tail for a human woman, fox runt?"

  Luna, naturally, didn't say anything, but her ears immediately went back. At her silence, Valkin's focus shifted back to me. "Your armor looks new and untested. You look like a rich bitch playing with toys. You're likely to get us all killed. If you think you're strong enough to take a bride, then prove it."

  My eyebrows raised and I turned to Luna. ("Is this one of those challenges you were talking about?")

  ("Yes. He's a beastkin and a hotheaded one at that. He's trying to establish dominance in our groups,") she replied.

  "What are you looking at your bride for whelp? Or did you get your braids switched and you're actually the one that raises her tail?"

  "No, just checking her reaction. How do you want to do this?" I asked while rolling my shoulders.

  The wolfkin looked a bit caught off guard. His brow furrowed and he looked at the other wolfkin who snickered at him.

  ("What just happened?") I asked Luna without taking my eyes off of him this time.

  She replied in an amused tone. ("The challenged usually chooses the rules of the contest. Letting him choose is a sign of high confidence... and is a tad bit disrespectful. You'll humble him if you win and be humiliated if you lose.")

  ("I won't lose,") I replied simply.

  Once Valkin regained his composure he growled out his next words. "No weapons or magic, only fist and claw. First to be knocked unconscious, leave the circle, or surrender loses. Prove you deserve your bride."

  I nodded. "Sure."

  He didn't look amused but he and his friend started drawing out a circle while I waited. When he was finished he stood on the edge of the circle opposite of me. "On Norrik's mark," he said pointing at the other wolfkin with his thumb. I just nodded and lowered my stance a little.

  "Fight!" the other wolfkin barked.

  I only took a few steps forward when the wolfkin tried to tackle me. It might have been dangerous if I had been unsteady but I only slid back an inch when he crashed into me. The guy was only a little shorter than me so our centers of gravity were about the same. Since he was also wearing metal armor, I didn't think trying to punch him from this angle would do much. So, I just tried to push him off of me. Apparently I didn't really know my own strength because what happened next caught everyone off guard. My shove threw Valkin off his feet and he slid almost to the edge of the other side of the circle in one motion. The wolfkin scrambled to his feet, suddenly taking the fight a lot more seriously.

  "The fuck?" Norrik said from the sidelines. The two feline demi-beastkin watched the exchange quietly but their expressions showed they were just as surprised as everyone else.

  I stepped forward and Valkin took up something that looked similar to a boxer's stance. Taking his cue, I also took up a boxing stance from some of the movies I had seen. I was no boxer, but it didn't take a genius to figure out I needed to protect my head, especially since it was the only part of me that was unarmored. He threw a punch that looked almost comically slow and it was only after the third time I dodged one that I realized, I was just fast now. All of the fighting I had done in the dungeon against monsters of different strengths and speeds had made me a lot more capable than I had given myself credit for. I knew I was strong, and I had felt confident I would win in a simple fistfight after all of the changes I had gone through, but I hadn't expected this. Especially against someone who also delves dungeons like us. Rather than punch him back I decided to throw him. I caught his arm and moved with his momentum to flip him over and onto his back. He landed with a heavy thud that stole his breath from his lungs.

  I took a few steps away and wanted to see what he would do. After a moment of groaning, he sat up and held up an arm. "I surrender."

  "Really?" I asked, shocked.

  His expression soured. "I couldn't hit you, you were too fast. When I tried tackling you, it felt like I had run into a wall. Instead of attacking me you just shoved me off my feet and the second time, you threw me... because you didn't want to actually hurt me. You could have shoved me out of the circle the second time, but you were toying with me. Isn't that right?"

  That wasn't right. If I was entirely honest with myself, I just didn't want to damage my new gloves...

  I glanced over at Luna who quickly replied to me through the rings. ("Just accept his surrender. You don't have to say anything to that.")

  I stood up straight and nodded. "I accept your surrender."

  He walked over and held out his hand. "You're stronger than you look. That armor isn't actually for show, is it?"

  I took his hand and gave it a shake. "It's new. I just got it a few days ago after we left the dungeon."

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  He laughed. "I guess appearances can be deceiving then."

  "You aren't the first one to learn that about me," I said with a smirk.

  The two snow leopardkin came closer. The slightly taller one with the darker blond hair of the two nodded at me. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Milana, I'm the mage of our group and that is my sister Talia," she said while gesturing to the other snow leopardkin.

  "Nice to meet you," the sister said with a nod. "I'm our group's scout. I'm sorry about all of that, our leader Valkin doesn't like working with people if he doesn't know how strong they are."

  "It's not a big deal. I was warned that I would have to fight a few people off when the two of us got engaged. I'm Helena, I'm a... skirmisher? I guess? You should probably talk with Maxwell about the details. I'm still working on my draconic."

  Talia nodded. "Ah, that perhaps explains the accent. I'm not sure where to place it. Where are you from?"

  "I'm a traveler, that's all I'll say..." I replied. Over the last few days, we talked a bit about what I should say to people if they asked about my background and I was told to just be vague about it rather than lie. A lot of hunters apparently have complicated backgrounds so it was common enough and accepted for people to not give many details about their past.

  "Of course, I apologize for being nosy," she replied with a smile.

  I managed to sneak back over to Luna who took my hand and smiled while leaning her head against me. ("You looked very gallant, fighting for our place there,") she said.

  ("Did you enjoy watching me fight?")

  ("I did. It's one thing to watch you fight, and another to watch you fighting for me,") she said as her tail swayed.

  ("I was surprised how easy that was,") I told her.

  ("Like I said before, we're strong, Helena. I'm not physically strong in the way that would satisfy the kinds of contests that would be required if I were our dominant, but as a hunter? All of us are well above average, even Aria.")

  ("I see.")

  Our little fight over hierarchy seemed to smooth things over a lot and everyone in the other group was suddenly friendly and helpful. Even Iris looked peppier and relieved that we wouldn't be continuing to fight or be on edge with each other now that we've broken the ice. It was odd, despite the fight starting with a lot of hostility, everyone was treating it as... just part of getting to know one another. I wonder if this was more of a hunter thing or a beastkin thing. It seemed to me that he may have been using the contest over Luna to gauge our strength rather than actually being interested in our relationship.

  Milana, the snow-leopard mage, approached the two of us again. "I'd like to talk with you about your magic," she said to Luna.

  I cleared my throat. "Luna is mute, so I'll speak for her. We use telepathy rings to communicate, so I can relay any answers she has for you."

  Milana's eyes traveled between us and Luna nodded to my words.

  ("Tell her that, while I'm mute, I shouldn't be at any disadvantage compared to others because of my equipment,") Luna told me. I relayed the message for her.

  Milana nodded. "That's fortunate to know. I'm focused on ice and water magic. I take it from your aura and sash that you specialize in fire magic?"

  "Yes, but I am planning to work at improving my own water magic on this trip as well," I relayed for Luna.

  "Hmm... I wouldn't mind giving you some tips, but it may be difficult if you cannot reply easily. Unless you wouldn't mind?" she finished by directing the question at me.

  I shook my head. "I wouldn't mind continuing to speak for Luna. She still helps translate words for me into draconic when I need the help. I don't mind helping her communicate in turn."

  "An interesting use for telepathy rings," she noted.

  "A happy accident," I replied.

  They spent some time continuing to speak about strategy while I dutifully relayed Luna's words to the snow leopard beastkin. It was nice to be helpful to Luna after all the time she had translated for me.

  Iris the mousegirl came running back. I hadn't seen when she had left, but she made a point to get everyone's attention when she came back. "We're leaving! Everyone needs to be in the wagons as soon as possible!"

  I looked around and it was true that she wasn't the only runner trying to corral everyone onto their wagons. Some of the lead wagons were already moving in position to leave. All of us had to cut our conversations short and we began to load up and get ready to go. Luckily the wagon we would be sharing wasn't too cramped for the ten of us. The inside of it was divided nicely in half for our two groups. That might make our side a bit more crowded, especially since I'm so huge in this armor, but Luna was so often glued to my side that I didn't see it being an issue. I had wondered if she would feel it necessary to create some healthy distance between the two of us in front of strangers but that didn't seem to be the case. Other than sharing a tent, our public displays of affection seemed like they wouldn't be a problem after the duel. The worst we got was a little snickering from the boys on the other side of the wagon. After I decisively defeated Valkin though, it seemed good-natured rather than mean.

  Less than ten minutes later we were rolling down the road. The wagons had some form of suspension from what I could tell but it wasn't going to be the most comfortable trip even despite that. The wagon rocked and bumped along the road but no one seemed to complain about it. I could see myself being the first one to complain by the time we made our first rest stop for the day though, I wonder if my regeneration would make my ass hurt less after a trip like this.

  Luna seemed pleased to be cuddling me in the corner of the wagon despite the rough ride. It's not like there was a ton of privacy but we were at least tucked behind one of the crates. Everyone knew what we were doing, but if any of them had a problem with it, none of them said anything. It's not like there was anything better for us to do other than wait around and talk. I had gone on a few road trips through the United States as a kid so this wasn't totally a new experience for me but these wagons didn't even have windows. We could leave the large loading door open but it was cold enough that I got the feeling that idea would be voted down. I didn't really feel the cold but I knew that Piper and Maxwell seemed to dislike the snow.

  Well, I'll just have to continue making out with Luna while we wait for the first pit stop. Woe is me.

  Hello! I hope you enjoyed that little brawl! This was obviously a flag that was set since the very moment Luna talked about it but I decided to put it here instead of more predictably in a bar/guild/town setting that is often used for a trope like this. I also think it was fun to show how strong Helena is compared to some other delvers, even in her human form. I also like the idea of this kind of thing breaking a lot of the tension in a group, I've seen this kind of thing happen in real life, albeit a bit less formalized fight. Some guys can do some silly stuff when drunk at the bar. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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