The sun shone brilliantly in the sky as a few puffy clouds occasionally crossed its path. In the sturdy branches of a tree near Jasumin Lake, sat Attie with her journal wide open. With her pen, she was scribbling down what had happened that morning, which wasn't really much. The journal was large and rested carefully on the branch so as not to fall to the ground. 

-Day 47

I came back to this side of Parvpora to see if I could catch sights of Sharifa again. I'd like to thank her for teaching me about fighting and using a sword but it is almost impossible to track her down. Though, I suppose she would be hard to track down if she kept wearing that cloak everywhere she went. But I am going to look at it this way, this just means that I will have plenty of time to find her a thank you gift that she might like! Now I'm just resting in a tree near the lake-

Attie paused in her writings when she saw a little boy with black hair and elvish features wandering near the lake. Assuming the mother wasn't too far away, Attie stayed in her spot so that she wouldn't scare the little kid. Her eyes observed his features in case he was lost and she had to describe him in the future. The little boy walked over to the lake and looked at his reflection with wonder. Suddenly, he began flailing and slid from the slippery rocks into the water.

Leaping from her spot in the tree, Attie sprinted over to the lake and dove in. Snatching at a piece of the child's clothing, she managed to drag him to the surface and began to swim back to the edge of the lake. She placed him on the grass and shoved herself out of the cold water. The boy was crying and coughing to which Attie had little idea of how to respond. It seemed that he could breathe just fine but he was crying loudly. 

"Um, it'll be fine." She attempted to comfort the boy. 

"Mama!" The boy sobbed for his mother. 

Attie having no idea on how to help the kid, walked over to her bag and found a soft blanket for the sopping wet child. She placed it around his shoulders then sat on the ground, trying to figure out how to get this child to his mother while also preserving her ears. 

The Nashes had planned a family picnic at Jasumin Lake. While they lived on the outskirts of one in Canelux, Celeste and Larka both agreed that traveling would be a great way to introduce them to their world. Akira would have joined them if she wasn’t running around with Lewis. The elf decided to take the children on ahead to the lake while Larka was picking up last-minute sales in Jayou. Lilly and Conner giggled excitedly as they darted around Celeste, Reika padding silently next to her. They would sleep well tonight!

After they got to the lake, the twins began to look for shells and pretty rocks while the white tiger went to lay in the cool shade for a nap. Celeste watched on with a loving smile to see their reckless abandon and easy fun. Lilly ran up to the elf to place a discovered nut in her palm. ”Ohh, this is a lovely acorn. If you plant it, it’ll grow into a big, mighty tree.” The child pointed at it. ”Shiny.” She giggled at her daughter. ”Yes, it is, ma vehnan.” Her eyes darted up to check on Conner who was stacking rocks on top of each other as Lilly darted back towards him.

All was quiet for a few moments until Lilly tripped and fell. The elf was instant healer mom mode, rushing over to her crying child. Tempest floated from Celeste’s hair and swam in the air above Lilly. She looked at Celeste and gave a shake of her head, though Celeste wasn’t paying the betta mermaid any attention. ”Shhh, now, Lillybug, Mommy’s got you. Let me see.” From the lake, a tendril of water reached out to Celeste’s hand, allowing her to heal the wound and wash away the blood simultaneously.

Celeste smiled at Lilly. ”There we go, all better now! Hey, Mommy Larka will be here soon. Then we can eat. Does that sound good?” The toddler wiped at her eyes and sniffled as she nodded at Celeste. ”Where Conner, mommy?” Her heart ran cold as she stared dumbfounded at her daughter. It was a question that led to a series of dangerous, heartbreaking thoughts. In an instant, Celeste stood and glanced around. ”Conner? Conner!” There was no response, and Conner was nowhere to be seen.

”Fenehdis! Reika, watch Lilly. No swimming!” Trusting her tiger with their lives, Celeste’s eyes picked up on his little footprints as she began running along the edge of the lake. She ran, fear making her run faster than she could have thought. ’Let him be safe. Let him be safe!’ His cries were the first thing that was heard. Celeste swerved around a large boulder and halted in her tracks as relief flooded through her. ”Conner!” Calmer now, the elf walked over to her son and dropped to her knees, carefully looking over him. She smiled as she took him into her arms for a comforting hug, letting him cry into her chest as he soaked her clothing. Her eyes looked over at the young teen sitting next to him. ”Thank you.”

She didn't have to wait at all before the mother returned to her child but she was nervous when the mother inspected the kid. Her own mother would bite anybody who came near so Attie was half expecting a mother's fury. Instead of anger, the woman gave Attie her thanks. Perhaps bears behaved differently with their kids than elves or humans did with their kids. 

"You're welcome." Attie responded, "He uh, fell in the lake but I don't think he got hurt. Oh! And my name is Attie." 

Normally she would have had thousands of questions ready to ask but the idea of possibly annoying a worried mother made her ignore any questions she had. Nothing was scarier than an irritated or upset mother. Attie noticed that both Celeste and Conner's clothes were wet, although Conner was soaked while the mother's clothes were only partially damp. An idea popped into her mind as she stood up and walked over to her bag. Pulling out a robe and a long tunic from her bag, she walked back over to the mother and her child, offering up the clothes to them. 

"Here. Those clothes might get cold." She said with a smile, "You can have these until yours dries. Feel free to edit or cut them however you like."

One robe was long and baggy, it would be too baggy on both Attie and the child. The second was a long tunic that could fit as a dress on the child. If she had other clothes, Attie would have grabbed them but this ought to work until their clothes dried.

Conner was pulled from her grasp as Celeste frowned down upon the child. ”Conner, is this true?” While holding his head down as if she was scolding him, Conner nodded. ”What did we say about going near the water without your mommies?” He sniffled, fresh tears on the verge of falling once again. ”No mommy, no wa’er.” ”Do you know why now?” A nod was given as he began to cry again. Celeste pulled him into another hug and looked at Attie.

”Well, it is a pleasure to meet you. Attie. I’m Celeste Nash. This is Conner. And we need to get back to Lilly before she drives poor Reika up a tree.” She giggled at the thought of a big tiger running up a tree, holding her ears in an effort to block out the screams. Reika would never do such a thing, but the thought was still funny. Attie went and dragged something out of her bag, offering large clothing. Still smiling, Celeste gave a gentle shake of the head. ”You have a kind heart, my dear. My wife is about to join us for a picnic. Would you join us? I always pack extra, just in case my sister or daughter joins.”

After Conner was properly scooped up, Celeste stood up. Her hand was placed on the back of his head and slowly drawn away. Every droplet of water that soaked them detached itself from their clothing, his hair, and the blanket, collecting at her fingertips. Once they were dry, Celeste directed the water to the lake. ”All dry. You know, if Akira was here, you’d not have run off like that, would you?” Conner stopped crying instantly and looked up at her hopefully. It was heartbreaking to dash those hopes. ”No… I don’t think your sister is coming today.”

Celeste led the way back to Lilly, who was trying to put a random wildflower on Reika’s head. Upon seeing her, Reika gave a huff and laid her head down while Lilly stood and ran towards them. She looked almost identical to Conner, the most noticeable difference was their eyes. Where Conner had blue-ish gray, a beautiful mix of both women's eyes, Lilly had dark blue eyes, her pupils were ringed by a dark gray ring. ”Mommy! Mommy! Rei’a a prin’ess!” Celeste laughed as the toddler stopped herself by hugging her leg. ”Oh is she now? Lilly, meet Attie.” She introduced the toddler to Conner’s savior.

Fascination lit up in Attie's eyes as she watched Celeste interacting with her son. This was the first time that she'd seen a human mother correcting the behavior of her child after something dangerous happening. Their communication resulted in a clear lesson for the offspring which would lead to the child not repeating the same mistake. With bears and animals, communication was less direct so the offspring would repeat the same mistake again until it learned on its own. Attie's hands itched to write down this new information but she managed to keep them still as she was still holding the clothes. 

"It's nice to meet you too." Attie said, "I would love to join you for a picnic." 

She had no idea what a picnic was. Growing up, she obviously never had them and now as an adult, she had nobody to go on picnics with. Attie wondered if a picnic was a nap of some sort. Or perhaps it was involving picking something like berries off of a bush? It had to involve packing something so perhaps it was a picking berries competition and the "extra" was extra bowls for the berries. Filled with excitement for whatever was to come, Attie rushed over to her bag and packed up all of her stuff, including her precious journal. Walking over to Celeste, she saw how the woman used magic to dry themselves.

Snatching the journal out of her bag, she began to write down all the information that she had learned and exactly what had happened, including a picture of each person after the text. Her handwriting was sloppy and it was clear she was being quick with it all. While writing, she heard the name Akira. Attie closed her journal, placed it back, and began heading quietly with Celeste who was still holding the child. Was this the aunt of Akira? Questions zoomed through her mind as they got to where the other child was. This was a little girl with similar appearances to Conner but with dark blue eyes instead of the blue-ish grey of her brother's. 

"It's nice to meet you Lilly." Attie said politely to the child. 

A question lingered in her mind as she turned to Celeste. 

"I remember you said something about Akira." She said, "Are you her Aunt?"

”Stop your complaining, Kyu, we’re almost there.” Larka sighed, glancing over to the large wolf padding next to her carrying a heavy blanket on her back. The wolf huffed and Larka rolled her eyes. ”Well I would carry it, but why else would I bring you with me?” Larka chuckled while she hefted the heavy basket she was carrying over her right shoulder. She and Celeste had decided that they should get away from their home for a bit with the twins, and Akira if she had wished to get away from that little ruffing she seemed to like. Larka still wasn’t sure about him, but considering Larka’s past she was rather protective of her family, sometimes a bit too much. But what better change of scenery than a totally different continent? The Lake was beautiful to say the least, while Larka still liked the lake their house was on, Jasumin lake would do.

Larka stood at a few inches over six feet tall, lean and well built she was rather imposing as far as human females went. Black hair hung loose down to her shoulders, she had on a simple shirt with short sleeves and it showed a bit of her flat belly as well, she wasn’t built like a body builder but despite her age her muscles were wire tight. Long pants, also black, completed what she wore along with her usual boots and a sword at her left hip. However, what did stand out was that she was without a left arm, there was but a stump left at the her shoulder that once in a while twitched. Long ago had Larka stopped noticing the twitch, now it was just a random tic that happened and she paid it no mind. On her right hand she wore three wedding rings, one on her ring finger and the other two on her middle finger.

Padding next to Larka was the before mentioned wolf, Kyu. She had an odd colour to her fur, midnight blue laced with golden streaks. She was a storm wolf, capable of controlling small amounts of lightning, a trait that Larka was thankful the wolf had managed to learn to control. Random snaps of lightning from a wolf puppy was terrifying at best, but Kyu was no longer a puppy and stood near five feet at the shoulder.

Just behind Larka strode her usual shadow, Tsar. A strange mix of deer, wolf and possibly more, the best was about the same size as Kyu, not including the large set of rather pointy antlers on the top of his head. Larka familiar Tsar was very protective of Larka and her family.

Now within line of sight to where Celeste and the twins were meeting her Larka would see that Celeste wasn’t along. From this distance Larka knew that that this wasn’t Akira, damn, Larka was hoping their adopted daughter would show. So, who was the stranger? It was the twins who saw Larka first and then both jumped to their feet and took off. ”Mommy Larka!” They said together as each picked a leg and clung to her. Larka chuckled and smiled down at them. ”Hello there, my lovelies.”

Even with a toddler attached to each leg Larka showed that she had gained back her strength from before she had been pregnant by walking with them attached. She was careful and her gate was awkward, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble. Walking over to Celeste she eyed the stranger, looked human, young, probably late teens, black hair and blue eyes, thin but not malnourished. If there was one thing Larka was good at was judging the female form.

Smiling Larka shooed the two toddlers off her legs and looked to Celeste and then to Attie. ”Who’s this?” She asked setting the basket down and getting the blanket from Kyu who settled in to have it be her turn to be harried by the two kids. Kyu playfully nipped at them as they crawled over her, keeping her claws in and giving them slopping kisses making them squeal in laughter at the playful wolf. While being introduced Larka got the blanket spread out and started to get food from the basket.

Celeste rose an eyebrow at Attie when the children suddenly started wiggling too much to be contained. The elf knelt and put them down, watching them run toward their birth mother with excitement. She could not help the soft smile that settled over her as she watched the children play with her wife, a warmth lifting her heart. But the question was not ignored. "No, I am not Akira's aunt. That would be my sister, Lirin. I am her adopted mother, Celeste Nash. How do you know Akira?" Her question was that of curiosity, not accusatory as she spoke with a kind smile.

"Attie, meet my wife, Larka. Ma vhenan, this is Attie. Conner got a little adventurous and wandered off. It was Miss Attie here that plucked him from the lake and back to safety." As she moved to help Larka prepare the picnic, Celeste casually said, "She knows Akira." The pair unwrapped sandwiches, set out bowls of fruits and cubed cheese. There was potato salad and crisp orange juice to wash everything down. The elf poured the twins a glass before offering one to Attie.

"So, are you a writer, Attie? What brings you to the area? Do you have kin nearby?" She was full of questions. Then again, she was merely interested in the company her daughter kept.

Attie spotted Larka and couldn't help but smile when the kids ran off to meet their mother. It was adorable to see such happy kids running off to meet their parent. She then heard Celeste's explanation and question then thought about how to explain their meeting. She decided to be honest with what happened even though it wasn't the the most ideal meeting. 

"We met when we both were being chased by some bullies." Attie explained, "We both managed to escape and then we hung out together for the rest of the day. The bullies didn't bother us again and I don't think they will for some time. Oh and its a pleasure to meet you miss Larka." 

She then gave Larka a little wave before observing all the food that was being presented. Her mouth started watering but she didn't touch any of the food until the twins offered her a glass. After thanking the kids, she took the drink and poured it down her throat, gulping down the liquid. After wiping her mouth with her sleeve she placed the glass back on the picnic blanket. 

"Well, I guess you could say that. I like to travel around to find information and write it in my journal." Attie explained, "I have written three hundred pages of information. As for kin…I don't have any. But that's fine, I've got plenty of friends to visit when I need to." 

The only family she did have was long gone. However, she had made enough friends to fill that gap. Attie realized that this was the first time that she would be able to learn more about the family of one of her friends. 

"What about all of you?" She asked. "What brings you here besides a picnic?"

Larka smiled to Attie as Celeste made introductions and said how they had met. ”Then you have my thanks as well, Attie, for helping out son.” Larka said warmly as she started to help Celeste get the food laid out, while Kyu played with the twins, Larka was so thankful they got along well. The antlered… creature that was Tsar and Larka’s familiar walked over closer to them as well and Larka reached up to scratch his nose. ”Oh, Attie, the wolf is Kyu and this here is Tsar, he’s… uh…” She glanced to the strange creature, who looked like a cross between a wolf, a deer and at least one other animal that Larka had yet to guess at. With large antlers, a long tail and black and grey fur with swirling patterns in it Tsar was a rather unique sight indeed. ”Well, he’s my familiar about all I can say really, but he’s friendly.” Just as Larka said that Conner came running over and managed to crawl his way up Tsar’s side and sit on him like a pony. One could almost see Tsar rolled his eyes as he started to walk around with the toddler on his back while Lilly rode on Kyu’s back.

As Attie explained how she had Akira had met Larka helped herself to some of the cheese. ”Ah, well, let me thank you again for helping Akira that time. Bullies, bah, such cowards, trying to pick on who they think is weaker than they are. They’re lucky I wasn’t there with Akira.” She grumbled, clearly Larka was protective, perhaps a little too much. ”Come and eat, kids.” Larka called and the twins dismounted the two animals and came over to eat with them while Larka listened to more of what Attie was saying. Three hundred pages? Larka didn’t even think her lifetime she had read that much let alone wrote that much! Perhaps she would be a good friend to Akira then. It was too bad about her not having any family however, on that Larka did feel bad. ”Well, any friend of Akira’s is a friend of ours.” Larka smiled as she took a gulp of juice as Attie asked her own question.

”We wanted to get out of the house for a bit and get some air and stretch, and get the kids out to see more of the world. We have a house just outside of Sularia on Canelux and the twins hadn’t been to Parvpora before so we thought coming to the Lake would be a nice change, well, kind of a change since we also live on a lake.” Larka chuckled.

Somehow, knowing that Akira had gotten herself into a spot of trouble with a bully did not surprise Celeste. Akira did the natural thing of getting to know Attie, something that often found more friends than anything else for the child of innocence. What did surprise the elf was the similarities between the two girls. She gave Larka a look, one that Larka knew only too well. It said “should we consider it?”, and in this case meant offering their home to the girl if she was ever in the area. ”Please, help yourself Attie,” she offered as she handed the girl a plate which gave Larka the time she needed to finish the bite of cheese before speaking.

Celeste chuckled softly. ”Remember that time back home, those orphans being picked on by those shopkeepers? You gave one a black eye and the other was lucky he could limp away.” She busied herself with handing each of the kids a sandwich before settling back with a vine of grapes. The elf listened as Larka explained why they were at the lake before interjecting. ”They’ve never seen autumn before. Sularia is in a desert region, so we don’t go through seasons there.” Still, she frowned as she thought about Akira. How long will it be before the ever traveling child finally settled down and stayed in one place? ”Hey Attie? How did Akira look to you? Taking care of herself like a good girl? Eating well?”

A concerned mother always inquires about the welfare of her children. While they did not share blood, Akira was loved as if she was their own. ”You’re very much like her, you know? A hundred friends, always traveling… I don’t think she can go anywhere without making a new friend. Larka has it right. A friend of hers is a friend of ours, but allow me to expand on that. If you’re ever in Sularia, don’t hesitate to drop by. Our door will always be open to you.” Celeste gave a sheepish smile toward Larka who knew all too well why the elf was so open with their door. It was safe to say that Akira’s instincts were rarely off point, so it wasn’t as if Celeste was putting their family in any undue danger.