After Rylan stopped petting my head, I slowly came to and looked over at Saki. She was looking at some kind of paper thing.

  I stepped towards her but was intercepted by Tera who asked “So Tama, how much do you know about goblins?”

  I paused and frowned as I considered her words “Tama has killed lots of goblins! She once killed an entire village and they never saw her!”

  It was true to, I was amazing at being stealthy. Sensei said I talked to much and was too obvious. But the goblins never saw me! The memory of sensei sent a pang through my chest. I quickly turned and looked at Rylan, He was chewing on some kind of sandwich. The way he chewed caused me to blush, he reminded me so much of Jiggle.

  Tera nodded before speaking “Good, then this shouldn’t be too difficult, what about you Saki?” Despite her earlier distaste for Saki, Tera seemed completely calm, her face neutral as she spoke.

  Saki nodded as well and said “I’ve killed a few roadside goblins, but nothing major.”

  Rylan spoke up suddenly “Yea, but you kill one, you kill them all. Are we done with prep yet Tera, can we go?”

  I was surprised by his sudden words, After all he had been so passive before. Even Talia and Saki said he was just a sub-something to Tera.

  I personally didn’t know what that meant, but up until now, he never seemed to do much except passively go along with what Tera wanted. “Nya! Rylan is right! Tama wants to kill something!”

  Tera smiled at me, she glanced over at Rylan who was smiling at me. He grinned at me before saying “I like that attitude Tama, That’s the way it works! Kill our enemies, crush them underfoot.”

  As he spoke, I watched his eyes light up for the first time since I had met him. I turned to Tera, who was actually smiling with dreamy eyes at Rylan. She caught me staring at her and her gaze shifted to me, the smile didn’t waver instead, she winked at me and blushed slightly.

  I didn’t get it, but I was ready to fight! “Nya Tama is ready to go!” I said proudly as I pulled out Serenity and twirled her in my hand.

  “You know Tama, you have a lot of strength for someone who seems to focus primarily on speed, That’s clearly a two handed Katana, yet you hold it like it weight nothing. Maybe there is a weight enchantment on it?”

  Tera’s words caught me off guard, but I responded honestly anyways “Serenity is Sensei’s gift to Tama for becoming full Ninja!

  If you want, Tama will let you hold it!” Sharing was caring after all, and while Tera made me feel uncomfortable sometimes, she had never once actively tried to hurt me.

  Even in the guild hall, she had moved so slow, it was like she was trying to miss me. Saki told me it was because normal people moved like that in combat, but I think Saki just really doesn’t like Tera.

  Rylan spoke up “I actually might take you up on that offer Tama, Serenity is a beauty from afar, and I would love to see her up close if it’s alright with you?”

  I swirled and held Serenity out to him with a smile, I felt my cheeks heating up again. Rylan wanted to touch Serenity. The thought felt so right and so wrong to me at the same time.

  Rylan walked over and took the handle with respect, even bowing his head as he accepted the blade. However, the moment I let go of the sword, Rylan and Serenity fell to the ground. Shocked I leaned down to help them both up, but he held up his free hand that wasn’t holding onto Serenity.

  He tried to stand, first pulling with one hand, then two, Then stone grew around his hands and he pulled again, Serenity did not budge. Despite this Rylan smiled at me with actually interest in his eyes. “Your blade is incredibly dense and powerful Tama, I can’t even lift it!”

  “Obviously Rylan, you should have seen the way we fought! She is so powerful! And she is…” Tera seemed to try and say something, but nothing came out. She was confused for a moment before realization seemed to hit her.

  She threw Saki a dirt look, which Saki promptly ignored. As she continued to look at the piece of paper, from what I could tell of the paper, It had squiggly lines all over it, and what looked like trees and mountains.

  “Okay!” Saki said “I believe I understand where the goblins are based on the triangulation of the sun with the unidirectional locator.” She looked up at us with a raised eyebrow.

  I sheathed Serenity and stood tall “Yea! The uni thingy tells us where the goblins are!” my tail wagged back and forth and my ears twitched on my head.

  I looked over to Tera and Rylan. Rylan looked uninterested and simply nodded, Tera looked deep in thought before responding. “But isn’t the directional facilitator better for more accurate readings Saki?”

  I felt my head start to hurt as Saki and Tera began to argue over words and things I didn’t understand. Instead, I tuned them out, only keep a single ear facing them in case the information was important later.

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  I turned to Rylan who looked more annoyed then anything else. I opened my mouth to talk to him, but before I could, he spoke up “Look, I don’t care if it’s exact, I’ll just start smashing shit until they show up. And if something bigger shows up… “ He smiled widely in an almost gleeful way “Well, we can have a little fun.”

  Tera looked back to Rylan and snarled at him “Do you want to get them killed? Tama is far and above able to kill anything, but one misstep and the little fox here dies. While I’m not entirely against the idea, it will NOT happen under our watch Rylan! Now shut it! You will get your combat.”

  Rylan sighed and nodded, crossing his arms and not saying anything else. Instead after a moment, when Tera and Saki had gone back to arguing,

  Saki was now aggressively pointing to something on the piece of paper with squiggly lines and Tera was shaking her head and pointing to a different part of the map near Saki’s spot. The two looked angry, so I ignored them again and looked to Rylan.

  “Does Rylan want to see Serenity’s enchantments?” I asked hopefully, After all, my baby was my everything and I wanted Rylan to think so too.

  It was silly of me, Showing my legendary super powerful enchanted sword to get closer to him. But I couldn’t help myself.

  Rylan’s eyes actually gleamed as he looked down at the sword. He didn’t try to take it again, instead, he took a knee as I held it up and he seemed to study it intently before nodding. “Your sword Tama is by far the most amazing and perfect sword I have ever seen in my life. The runes on the hilt alone cost double the yearly income of an entire village combined. She is a precious treasure ad I hope that you take good care of her, and feed her when she is hungry. The more the better, she looks like she eats a lot.”

  My tail wagged aggressively and my cheeks felt hot, my ear flattened to the sides and giggled. “You really think so? Tama loves her so much! Serenity is everything to Tama!”

  Rylan nodded as his eyes never left the blade, seemingly lost in the whirlpools on its surface. “I especially love the ethereal enchantment here” He pointed at one of the engravings on the blade itself. It’s activated by using wind and water together in a specific pattern, I assume it was made in the way you fight so it would activate naturally in combat. Such attention to detail showed the creator truly cared for their creation. I would even go so far as to say Talia herself might have made this blade.”

  I paused at that and looked confused “Nya, Talia? You mean guild master Talia?” I asked.

  “Yes, She is actually a master blacksmith and crafter, her enchantments alone put every enchanter to shame. There is a reason she is called the forge of fire. I hope one day, I can come even close to her expertise in these matters. This blade work alone would put my best crafted item to shame.”

  I looked at him and while I didn’t understand everything he said, I felt his passion and desire. It resonated deeply with me. I smiled at him dreamily before realizing this is what Tera was doing only a moment ago. My cheeks felt really hot again. “can Tama ask Rylan a question?” I asked timidly.

  “Sure Tama, what do you want to know?” He looked at me with such patience and kindness, yet he had a tough exterior, his large chubby body hiding a lot of muscle.

  Jiggle once again entered my mind and I had to hold myself back from doing what Tera had done to me earlier. I wanted to kiss his lips, I didn’t understand why, but I craved it so bad. My cheeks got even warmer and I looked away, a smile I couldn’t hide bright on my face.

  My tail wrapped around my leg and squeezed as my ears fluttered nervously. “Well… Tama is, this is, Tama wants to know if…“Before she could finish, Saki called out “Alright, fine! We will go your way then!” “Good!” I heard Tera yell back.

  Saki yelled over to us “Alright, guys, come on, let's go kill some goblins!” I looked over at Saki as whatever I was just thinking about scattered from my mind. Try as I might, I couldn’t remember what I was about to ask.

  Saki smiled at me in an almost knowing way before stating loudly “Ready to go Tama?” Her scowl returned almost instantly, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Saki had done that on purpose...

  Sure, just one sec," Rylan yelled back, causing me to look at him. He really was so cool… "What was it you wanted to ask me, Tama?" he asked casually, smiling at me. I felt my cheeks warm up and opened my mouth to answer him, not sure if it was my original question but not caring. “Well, Tama wants to… “

  Once again, before I could finish, Saki appeared beside us and cut me off with a wave. “Guy’s if we don’t hurry we are going to miss the deadline, A certain someone” She made a pointed look at me“

  Running off to hunt for a week really made our deadline short. Let’s GO!” She grabbed my arm and began pulling me away from Rylan and towards a waiting Tera.

  Tera looked slightly annoyed, throwing dirty looks at Saki. As we got closer she spoke “That’s right, we have to go, can’t waste even a second for a happy couple can we Saki?” Her voice dripped with bitterness, her distaste obvious. I just didn’t understand why.

  Rylan spoke up in an excited tone “Finally, Lets rock those little green menaces. I want to show Tama my new Stomp!”

  “Tama is excited to see Rylan’s new Stomp!” I said as I jumped up and down with my tail wagging excitedly. I looked over at Saki “What do you think his Stomp thingy is!” I asked her

  Saki seemed to consider for a moment, for some reason she looked very amused at me before responding. “Most likely he stomps on an enemy in an interesting way. Based on what I know if his and Tera’s elements, I most likely assume he will coat his food in a type of earth or metal, mix flame into it and stomp.”

  I paused for a moment “So like Talia did when she blocked Serenity?” I asked curiously.

  Saki looked at me puzzled before her eyes widened and said “I honestly didn’t see that fight Tama, it was so fast the only thing I caught was a few delayed sounds and the very end.”

  I considered before stating “If Saki couldn’t see that fight, she would have never seen Sensei and Tama training! That was normal speed for us!”

  I heard a cough and shifted to see Tera coughing uncontrollably. She as looking at me between coughs and her eyes were dilated again. She seemed to be trying to say something, then forcing herself to cough to prevent speaking? “Em.. . Amaz… Perfe… I… You… “

  I looked at her puzzled, but after a long moment she managed to stop coughing and simply smiled. “Yes Tama, your fight was certainly quick and amazing and…“She trailed off and turned away seemingly shaking like she was cold.

  “Nya, is Tera okay?” I asked,

  Saki spoke up “She is fine, she is having trouble coming to terms with her life decisions.” Saki’s tone sounded almost sad, but after a moment she perked up, her ears and tail following suit as she looked over at me. “Let’s go kill some goblins Tama!”

  “Nya! TAMA IS SO EXCITED” I yelled as I ran around in circles, making another lap around the town at finally going on a quest with Saki.