The sun was bright, but with the threatening of rain by the dark clouds that were moving in from the north. Though there would be rain sometime soon, the residence of Adeluna didn’t pay any mind.One traveler did, A young woman moved quickly through the crowd of people. She had just hitched her house and it was time for supplies. Her new home near the viren’s forest needed many things to be updated. It was a quaint place, but it needed homey touches and food.

As Katerina made her way through the mass of people, she finally made it to the marketplace. It was filled with many different vendors. Clothes, jeweler, different foods, armor, and so much more. The wolf demon stood frozen for a moment wondering what she should get first. “What to do first?…” She thought to herself as she glanced around. Her eyes catching glimpse of the tall white marble walls of the city. The houses covered half, but the wall still entered the sky high above.

“Clothes.” The red- hair woman said as she look down at her clothes she had thrown on. A brown low cut leather vest over a button up white top, leather brown pants and thigh high brown boots. This was now her usual attire, but it needed something more. Her children also needed clothes, and much more blankets than the house held. With a sigh, she walked on while looking at each vendor.

As she made her way along the mass of vendors, her eyes caught sight of a waist coat. The arms and shoulders a teal with pearls lining in diamond shapes along the half sleeves. A smile curved on her lips as she touched the smooth leather. “This would go perfect with my outfit.” She thought as she made her way up to the high collar. “Yep. Getting it.” Katerina thought as she paid the vendor. Also, buying a few dresses and shoes for her girls.

“Clothes. Check.” Katerina mumbled to herself as she continued on. Far in the distance, a steel wolf ran into the crowd. No one had ever seen a wolf made of pure steel, with gears inside that you could seen. The wolf made its way up to her master. She didn’t need to bark once when finally reached Katerina. The wolf demons fingertips touched her head and continued on.

The red-haired woman’s eyes caught site of a few vendors selling blankets. Instead of making her way towards them, a commotion caught her attention. “Just walk away, Kat..” The wolf demon said to herself, then sighed and turned in the direction of the gathered crowd.

Pushing her way to the front, she saw a teen aged boy on the ground, his face bloody. “You want to steal from me!” The older man kicked the boy in the side, making him drop an apple on the stone ground. The man took out the sword and raised it. “You know what the penalty is for sealing, kid?” The man chuckled as if he was enjoying this.

“Damnit…” Cursed the wolf demon as she moved forward in a blur. Her sword appeared in a mass of flames and they soon dissipated. As the man brought down his weapon, Katerina was in between the boy and the older man; their swords connecting. “You will not touch that boy.” The wolf demon’s eyes were stern as she stared into the vendors eyes. Pushing against his sword, he fell backward.

Katerina took that moment to turn around and help the boy up. “You wench. He is a thief!” The vendor yelled as he rose his sword again. “He is just a boy. Now get out of here…” She patted the boy on his shoulder and he ran off into the crowd. “Now do you want to put that sword down? Or will I have to make you?” The wolf demon held her sword to the side as she spoke the the man. Not really caring for the fight ahead. The boy was safe.

Marthaen dropped from the sky a long way from the city. He was pretty proud of this particular landing having only bounced twice and sliding only a few hundred feet it was, sadly, one of his better ones. Still he WAS rather bitter that he couldn't just land near the city. It would have made the trip a lot quicker and often he found he'd run into people on the road who'd accost travelers for money or items in order to "guarantee" their safe passage. Just another way for them to steal money, he supposed. But it was annoying. Marthaen never had more than a few silver on him but the clothes he wore made it seem he had much more. He knew he should learn how to create something simpler but once he found a magic that worked he was loathe to push his luck. When his magic didn't work, as was often the case, it didn't work in spectacular ways so he kept it's use to an absolute minimum. Transforming his appearance, and clothing himself were about the only things he could do without having things often go terribly wrong.

Today he was as always clad in breeches, tunic, cape and boots. Breeches and tunic in ruby red with black trim, black boots of soft leather and a cloak, red on the inside and black outwardly. Being red in his normal form he'd started with all red but found that attracted too much attention. Even with his present outfit people took notice and in crowds, which he hated, people were often bumping into him and touching him. If he'd known what a pick-pocket was he'd have been a lot more annoyed but he didn't even understand the need for pockets yet so they were nothing more than a nuisance. He did keep a few scales in a pouch tucked under his shirt as he could always trade those for money. Sadly the young "man" had no idea what those things were actually worth and usually traded them for a few silver each. Even had they only been actual rubies, a ruby the size of a babies fist should bring a great deal more than a few silver but he didn't know that yet.

He entered the city through one of the broad gates though big as it was the people streaming in and out left him feeling more than a little claustrophobic and he was happy to finally get through and let himself be carried along with the flow of the crowd until they entered the market. Even in his human form this place was an assault on his senses. The smells of cinnamon, fresh meat and baking loaves mingling with the scent of sweat, filth and worse of all, perfume. He never understood perfume. It was like having a flowering tree shoved up your nose and, to him at least, was worse than the stench it was meant to cover. No. Marthaen DID NOT like cities but he knew he had to be around people if he was ever going to learn to interact with them and he felt some primal need for the company of others. While he couldn't put a name to it, it was simple loneliness though truth to tell in the city he felt it just as strong, he was just alone in a crowd of people.

Noticing the commotion he pushed his way curiously through the crowd until it opened up into an open space surrounded by people gawking and he walked up to the fighting pair, not a bright move in his present form, but he was always curious about this whole fighting thing. He'd had to do it a few times but never in human form so he didn't realize he was actually in danger here. He sized up the pair actually walking between them, leaning forward to sniff one, then the other. "Human," he said to the man then turned to the female and "… Oh! You smell interesting. What're you? And why are you about to kill a human. I don't recommend it, you know. Other humans take it poorly in my experience. (All three years of it.)

Katerina stared at the man before her while a dangerous look appeared in his eyes. He stared at her and the sword that was now in her hands. “Stand down…” She thought to herself. She didn’t want to kill the man over something like this. She wasn’t one to kill innocents. Even if this man was mean, he was innocent. Katerina used to kill men like him when she was younger, now she changed. Her daughters had changed her heart for the better. The wolf demon could still kill people, but only when they are doing unspeakable evil.

The vendor pointed his sword at Katerina, her eyes stared into his, not removing them. “You have no right to let the thief go. It is in my right to chop off his hand!” He paused as a smirk appeared on his lips. “Guess I’ll take yours then.” His comment made Katerina roll her eyes. He had no clue who he was dealing with. She was over a thousand years old with more experience than him. “You are making a mistake. Now put your weapon down.” The wolf demon warned. She would kill him if she had to in defense.

The red haired woman smiled, she would make a fool of him then. Holding her hand out, she waved him towards her. He obliged, raising his sword as he charged at her Katerina quickly stepped to the side, her foot kicked out. “AH!” He screamed as he tripped and fell over into the small pile of mud. He didn’t let that stop him. He moved quickly to his feet and charged at her once more. Their swords connected with every swing he made.

When their swords connected again, this time Katerina twirled her wrist making the swords spin. His flew up into the air, for a moment he was caught off guard. Moving behind the man, Katerina kicked him in the butt, sending him falling face first in the same puddle. The crowd erupted in laughter. Katerina spotted the sword coming down and caught it before it hit the ground.

The laughter soon ended when a man came up beside them. “Uh…what?” She thought curiously. The newcomer made a comment about the man then at her. Everyone stared at him wondering what he was doing. “I am–” She was caught off by the clinking of armor. “Well..Shit..” Katerina said aloud as two strong arms gripped her arms. The other guards grabbed hold of the newcomer and the vendor. “Fighting in the city is against the law.” One of the guards said then pulled Katerina with him. “It's the dungeon for you three.” The same guard said and pulled Katerina with him towards the jail. They didn’t know if the newcomer was in the fight as well, but he was standing with the wolf demon and the vendor. They figured he was and didn’t stop to hear any complaints.

After a few blocks, the three was soon thrown into their cells. The newcomer was thrown into the same cell as Katerina, the vendor at the far end of the cells. “Now you can cool off for the night.” The guard said as he slammed the cell shut before Katerina. Her arms crossed as she narrowed her eyes at the guard. She knew no matter what she said it wouldn’t matter.

“Shouldn’t have came up next to us.” Katerina said to the man in the cell with her.

Marthaen allowed himself to be carried along wondering what was happening. He considered stopping them for a moment as it was uncomfortable but the promise that they would all be awarded a dungeon, whatever that was, at the end of the trip left him hopeful. Maybe it was food of some sort. Marthaen was pretty much always hungry though human food was always burnt, "cooked" they called it, and had various plants and minerals added to it. A waste of perfectly good meat in his opinion but humans had odd ways about them and he'd learned to just let them do what they did for the most part.

After the pair were shoved into their cell he was hugely dissapointed. Nothing to eat and the place was at once tiny and the smell… dear Gods the smell! Humans didn't smell very good anyway and when you put many of them in a confined space like this it was almost more than he could bear. The guard telling them they could cool off for the night seemed odd. As far as he could tell the three had been no warmer than the others around them. "How cool are we supposed to get?" He called out but the guard just turned and glared at him before stomping off. Marthaen sighed heavily and sat on the bed, the only thing in the room. One thing for sure he didn't like this place and wasn't sure it was going to be worth the wait.

When Katerina spoke to him he tilted his head at an almost impossible angle and answered, "But if I hadn't come next to you I wouldn't have got a dungeon. It must be very special if it takes them all night to prepare it and they have to keep it locked away from all of us. Is it some sort of food?" He asked hopefully. "I haven't eaten in several days and wouldn't mind a snack. Wait. They're not going to cook it, are they? I certainly hope not."

"By the way, I am known as Marthaen. Ruby of the clan Kharendaen and I'm pleased to meet you. If you don't mind me asking, who and what are you? You *look* human but you smell completely different. An odd sort of smell…" He trailed off and looked up from where he was sitting smiling happily at this whole new experience.