After the birth of her newest addition, Guinevere, the wolf demon didn’t leave the house that often.The reasons for this was that she was nursing every few hours, changing diapers, and washing clothes. She did have help from her brother and nanny, but some things she just needed to do on her own. She just wanted to soak up every moment with her two babies; Guinevere and Evangeline.

Time had flown by since she first became pregnant with Guinevere. In that time, so much had happened. She had got her baby, Evangeline, back from Natsumi. The wolf had her pregnancy accelerated by Adel; Katerina would still be pregnant if it wasn’t for her. “But what a fun time it was…” Katerina thought as she remembered the last months. She even met up with an old friend, whom she had mix feelings about.

Pushing her thoughts away, Katerina looked back at the tail behind her. She didn’t want to leave her daughters, but Amare urged her to get out of the house. The wolf had been kept up for almost a month. The red haired woman reluctantly agreed to get supplies from Adeluna. It would only take a day or so at most. “Let's make it only a day, Athena.” The wolf demon said down to her black horse. With a click of her tongue, the horse began to run down the trail towards the city.

The wind tousled the wolf's red hair back. Katerina forgot how it felt to ride a horse like this; she felt free. While being lost in the feeling of it all, the sudden roar startled her. She automatically knew that roar. “Do you have to scare me like that, Goliath!” The wolf demon called up to the sky. She watched the sky above until the gargoyle appeared from the clouds. Goliath was like no gargoyle she had ever seen; his skin was a dark shade of purple, his hair black as night, and his eyes seemed to glow a pale yellow. His build was large and tall, this creature was nothing but muscle and hit just as hard.

The gargoyle flew down beside the running horse and the wolf. A smile curving on his lips. “Yes.” He answered her question with a smirk. He loved the wolf before him that he vowed to protect. Her beauty was magnificent in his eyes. Goliath had only told her a week ago how he felt. Even if she didn’t feel the same, he still loved her and would always stay by her side.

A howl erupted his thoughts and he grumbled. He had forgotten that Scarlett had came along on the trip. With a sigh, he flew up towards the sky; he just wanted a minute alone with the wolf.

“Goliath?” Katerina called up the the gargoyle as she watched him fly off into the sky. He knew the look in his eyes when he stared at her. He loved her, but she didn’t love him in the same way. She thought of Goliath as a dear friend, even family.

Hearing the howl again, Katerina looked back towards the wolf that came running up behind them. This wolf was different then all the others. She was made of the most strongest steel, instead of flesh. At sundown to sunup, she would become the flesh. A beautiful white hair, fair skinned woman. Scarlette howled once more as she began to keep pace with the horse.

With two of her companions with her, the wolf demon didn’t think anything could go wrong on the trip. That was if, Goliath kept hidden. She hated that people feared him. He wasn’t that beastly.

The white walls that soon appeared before them pushed the wolf demon’s thoughts away. She needed to get her supplies quickly. The wolf demon missed her family, and just wanted to be home.

It took the wolf demon almost all morning to make her way through the gates of the city. Many people were heading in; some with large carts pulled by horses, some pulling their own carts, and many people walking in between them. This city was always a good place to buy supplies, but there was always a crowd.

Finally entering the gates of the city, the wolf demon brought her horse to the stables. “Thanks.” She said to the small boy who would take care of Athena. “Your welcome!” He smiled taking the reigns. Katerina left her horse in the faithful hands of the boy and headed off into the crowd. Her steel wolf at her side.

As the wolf moved closer towards the vendors, a familiar scent hit her nose. “Is that..” Pausing while she grew closer. “Robin?” A bright smile lit her face. Now she knew why the witch wanted her to leave the house. “Amare.” She thought with a small chuckle. Hopefully, Katerina would find Robin within the large crowd.

At the time I was romping around in Iria trying to locate the Purple Star Sapphire, Robin was busy combing the markets of Adeluna hundreds of miles across the sea. She had gone there without my prior knowledge, and for the very same reason I had gone to Iria without hers. See, by this point in our relationship, the two of us had been together as friends for at least four years. We had gone on many adventures outside of Revaliir and had several bonding moments in private, but, as is typical for people with intimacy problems, we still had trouble admitting our true feelings for one another at the end of it all. We just didn't talk openly about things like that, instead vying to drop 'hints' in our sad game of eternal cat and mouse where both players were mice.

With that in mind, you can guess – accurately so – that Robin's trip to Adeluna was yet another gift stop in the story of a hopeless romantic. She wanted to surprise me when I got home from the "solo job" I told her about, so she ducked out of the house with Mushu in tow. The mini-wyvern claimed he would help her; that he knew some merchants in Adeluna with merchandise befitting my taste. At first, Robin believed him out of respect, but even she began to doubt his claims when they brought her to a particularly seedy market in the seat of Qendressa's empire.
 
"Mushu, are we really going to find something for Natsumi here?" The question she asked was an honest one, considering the prostitutes and strumpets that lined the nearby corners of the place Mushu had guided her to. The surrounding buildings were not as pristine as other parts of the city either, and most of the merchants in this "market" wore shady clothes that obscured their faces. Robin had the same reaction I would in a place like that, even if Mushu didn't share her concern.

"Come on, Robin," he exclaimed, "Trust your old friend here!" The wyvern kept an eye out from the red scarf around Robin's neck beyond that point. His initial excuse for being up there was that it made it easier for him to spot good deals; but, in reality, he was behaving much like a child in a candy store. His friend, no matter how naive she was to the world around her, picked up on that giddiness, and it only made her more suspicious with the passage of time. Eventually, she cast aside her polite silence on the matter and asked him directly what had already been on her mind.

"But I thought you said you'd lived in that vault for almost your entire life. How could you know which stores are good in this area if that's true?" Indeed, Mushu had been in Gifre's Vault for almost his entire lifespan. He excluded that detail when saying he could help Robin just because he didn't want to seem useless to her. By the time their pair ended up in the slums, his meager excuses were just his attempt at avoiding responsibility. Rather than own up to the fact that he had gotten them lost, he, instead, kept pointing his friend in random directions, all while hoping he would eventually be vindicated.

But when that strategy fell apart, he could only muster a last ditch effort to save his hide. "Uhh… Hey, Natsumi likes bows! Let's try there," he said in desperation once Robin started catching on. He was pointing at an alleyway labeled "Thorand's Used Wares" while speaking - his final attempt at saving his pride - and, while Robin still regarded him suspiciously for his actions thus far, she humored him one last time. The store had archery supplies on display, anyway, along with a very "enthusiastic" merchant that greeted her upon entry; so it wasn't exactly out of her way to visit.

"Young lady," was how the old, cheaply-dressed clerk of that place greeted her upon entry. "You seem like a warrior of some renown, so perhaps I can interest you in this." Indeed, the merchant wasted no time in his sales pitch. He immediately brought out a case from behind his counter before Robin could even say, 'hello,' and then quickly opened it to reveal a beautiful looking bow. The item was decorated in azure hues with golden tips, and the grip was fabulously soft. It was the spitting image of the rare, ethereal bows from Karith, but something felt off about it as the owner continued his pitch."It's a rare beauty from Endapano, where the elves duplicated Parvpora's Ethereal Bows. Any arrows fired from it will always strike true regardless of weather. Go on: try it! It can be yours for only 500 silver!"

Robin very nearly touched that bow to examine it closer, but, luckily for her, Mushu stopped her hand before it made contact. In a rare redeeming moment, the lizard crawled down my friend's arm, stood on her hand, and got into a shouting match with the conman who had nearly swindled them both.

"Hold up," he exclaimed! "500 silver? 500 silver for this piece of garbage?!" The merchant was stunned by this development, having never encountered a creature like Mushu before. He could only look at Robin with a dumbfounded expression for a while, at least before finally finding the words he was looking for.

"What is this lizard you have brought into my stall," he asked: a question that only intensified Mushu's anger?

"Lizard?! Listen here, monkey boy: I'm a dragon! D-R-A-G-O-N. I don't do that tongue thing!" Mushu had always been sensitive when it came to people questioning his size and calling him a lizard because of it. Comments of that nature always sent him over the edge: something that could be either good or bad depending on the situation. In the case of the conman, it was good, because the outburst distracted him from his act and therefore made him slip up on his lie.

"You're no more a dragon than this bow is sturdy…" He caught himself near the end, though not before Robin's companion verbally leaped on his weakness.

"A-HA! I knew it! You were trying to swindle my friend!" In fact, had Robin touched that bow, it would have snapped in two almost immediately. The merchant could then claim that she had to buy it since she broke it, thereby getting 500 silver off of junk or getting a pretty debtor to collect from for an unspecified amount of time. This original plan failed because of Mushu, but the merchant was far from cornered. Like every snake-oil salesman, he found a way to turn the tables again, and in a way that both Mushu and Robin sweat.

"Such bold accusations," he continued. "One might even call them slander. Perhaps the city guard would like to find out about this? Or even my protection officers in the mob?" Mushu and Robin didn't know what to say now. They both broke out in a sweat, all while the "merchant" was eying Robin's body. "Alternatively, you could just pay me damages. Let's say 5000 silver and I forget about your mouthy reptile next time my pals and I have dinner? If you can't afford that, we can always work out a payment plan. I accept all kinds of labor."

The wolf demon didn’t really want to be separated from her family, but she needed to get out of the house. Katerina wasn’t the type of woman to stay in one place too long; she craved adventure. Months had gone by since the wolf had an adventure or killed anything. The last time she killed anything was her time with Nikolaus; months before that, she was with Robin.

Katerina smiled as she thought of the woman; Robin was much more then she seemed. The woman had taken out more than a handful of orcs with strength, speed and precision; nothing like the wolf had ever seen from a human.

As the wolf searched the crowd for Robin, her thoughts turned towards the night after Adel. “You could become her wife…” Katerina thought as she moved through the mass of people. “I have to make that happen.” This thought made Katerina’s excitement grow and urged her to find Robin. It had been a few months since she had seen the birdie.The wolf demon wanted to find out if anything happened between the two yet.

The wolf started to call Robin birdie since before she found out the woman’s name. Everything she would think of Natsumi and Robin she would call them love birds. Now, that Katerina knew Robin’s name, it fit even more.

As Katerina made her way through the crowd, following Robin’s scent. It wasn’t long till she found the bird; it wasn’t because of her scent. Mushu’s voice rang over the the crowd; he was yelling about money. The wolf demon couldn’t help but laugh at the dragon. The way Mushu got worked up would make anyone laugh.

Reaching Robin and Mushu, Katerina caught what the vendor said. Anger grew within her; no one should talk to Robin that way. “Oh hell no.” Katerina thought as she jumped over the weapons, her hand instantly came up to the man’s throat. He didn’t even have a chance to move. Katerina forced him back up against a table, making his weapons clatter onto the ground. The wolf demon’s swirls on her shoulders and face began to glow, including her eyes. “You won’t do anything…” Her voice was stern as she locked eyes with the frightened man. “You'll be a chard corpse before your “protectors” could reach you.” As she spoke, her hand tighten just a bit more. The palm of her hand growing hotter by the minute.

The man gripped her wrists as he gasped for breath as he tried to speak. “Okay… three….hundred. They can….have..it…” The vendor stared at the wolf with frightened eyes.

“No. They won't take it. It’s a worthless piece of shit just like you. You leave them be and I won't kill you.” A smirk came onto her face as she dropped her hand. The man instantly grabbed his throat and began to cough; Katerina’s red hand print was clear on her throat.

“You are one lucky man.” The wolf started. “If the woman who cared for her were here…. You would be dead already..” She paused in her words as she went to stand beside Robin. “Let’s hope I can keep her at bay, if she finds out. Because she doesn’t give second chances like I do when it comes to, Robin, here….”

The man instantly grew wide eyed while looking over Katerina’s shoulder. “Is everything okay, Katerina?” His voice was thick with anger and deep. “Everything is fine, Goliath. I think he got the message.” Katerina turned and patted the large gargoyle on the shoulder. Her comment made the seven foot tall gargoyle nod, his eyes glaring at the man as they turned away. “Come on, Robin, we’ll find another bow for you.” Katerina said while putting her arm around Robin’s shoulders. Turning, the four of them walked away. The large beast following silently behind her.

Reaching the fountain, the wolf dropped her arm and turned towards her. “It's been awhile, Robin! What are you doing here?” Katerina smiled and wanted to hug the woman but decided it was best to wait.

It goes without saying that the lecherous con-artist that Robin met in Adeluna would have found himself removed of his testicles had I been around during his proposal; but, fortunately for him, I was not. Instead, he got off with a measly chokehold delivered by a rather peeved wolf, and a warning to stay away. Indeed, Katerina interrupted the entire affair, much to the surprise of everyone present, and seemingly struck fear into the elderly merchant's heart. She did this just before whisking Robin away from his alleyway stall, not pausing for a single step to recognize that this man's terror was an act. His wide-eyed stare quickly reverted to a brooding glower after they left him in a pile of his own merchandise. He would be back, definitely, but had been thwarted for the moment.

Meanwhile, Robin and Mushu were safely delivered from his presence to a fountain outside the slums. They arrived in a state of confusion, trying to process what had just happened to them. In fact, even before Katerina had spirited her away, Robin was stumbling over her words, trying to speak up with various combinations of half-started thoughts like, "I… uh… just… I." That clumsiness didn't go away until her reintroduction to Katerina, and, although Mushu regained his senses almost immediately at the sight of Goliath, his ward remained deeply frazzled for several minutes after the lecher's denial.

"I'm starting to see why Natsumi refers to you as a hurricane, Katerina," she would come to say after arriving fountainside. She was, of course, about to say more, but Mushu beat her to the punch just before climbing onto his old, stone buddy.

"She was shopping for a gift for little Miss Ice Queen before you two showed up." In case you couldn't guess, I'm the Ice Queen that Mushu was referring to. The nickname was one he had given me after I froze his tongue to a metal club as punishment for being thoughtless. He knew Robin didn't like him calling me that name too, but, still, he persisted in the face of her protests.

Calling him by name in a tone of disapproval was Robin's typical reaction to such offenses, and that happened almost instinctively after his most recent slipup.

"Mushu," she cried, her tone slightly angrier than usual this time! The additional rage was because she had also asked the pseudo-wyvern to keep her romantic affairs private: a request he was now ignoring. Mushu was no longer paying attention to his friend at all, and was simply pulling the same shit that had gotten his tongue glued to the metal club in the first place. Rather than shape up, he chose to ignore his promises and change the subject instead.

"Hey there, Goliath ol' buddy ol' pal," he began in spite of the pouting Robin right in front of him. "It's good to see you! Any stony babies yet, if y'know what I'm sayin?" He was referring, of course, to Goliath's crush on Katerina: an affair which went totally over Robin's head just like the comment about a "woman who cared for her" had. She thought Mushu was just being rude, and so left him to converse with Katerina.

"What's the saying? Cat's out of the bag," she sighed while facing said wolf? "I came to Adeluna to get Natsumi a gift, but silly me decided to follow Mushu's sense of direction instead of my own when we arrived. We ended up in that merchant's stall because of him." Pausing for a moment, my kitty cat lamented. "It's sad that the bow was a fake. I would have loved to get Natsumi a genuine Ethereal Bow, but I don't think I'll find one in this city, especially with people like that merchant running around. Those bows were rare even back in Nisshoki, and I know that despite not being an archer. Just seeing one outside of combat was considered a badge of honor, let alone owning one."

A smile came to the wolf’s lips as she thought about Amare. If the dark skinned woman didn’t push her to go out, then Kat wouldn’t have found Robin. While looking at the human before her, Katerina thought Robin had matured much in the last six months. The girl still seemed sweet and shy, but there was a strong presence about her. In just a matter of months, the girl had changed; Natsumi was good for her, the wolf hoped.

The comment that Robin made made the wolf laugh. “Yes, I am sometimes,” Katerina agreed. She had her moments where she just reacted out of instinct; due to her wolf side.

Mushu soon spoke, his comment made cleared Kat’s assumption that Robin was looking for a bow for herself. A smile came to the wolf’s face thinking of Robin and Natsumi.

Robin’s face toward Mushu made the wolf laughed. “A bow for Natsumi, huh?” Katerina asked as she leaned in to Robin for a moment with a teasing smile. “Ice queen does fit the fox. Although, I think she is going to thaw out pretty soon, Mushu; due to certain circumstances. So, Ice queen won’t fit for very long.” The wolf demon commented while she straightened and winked at Mushu.

The small dragon was soon on the shoulder of her gargoyle companion. She was happy that the big guy had a friend. That was until Mushu’s comment. “Mushu.” Now it was her turn to give a disapproving glare.

The large man beast looked down to Mushu, his voice was coarse and thick as he spoke. “Mushu. No. My oath to Katerina has far more importance than babies..” He paused for a moment to bring up his opposite hand. “And that wasn’t nice, Mushu.” The gargoyle then flicked the dragon off his shoulder. He didn’t want his feelings to be brought up in front of Katerina. She knew his feelings but didn’t reciprocate. This made it hard to be around the woman he loved, but he still held to his oath.

Ignoring the two beside her, Katerina was listening to Robin. She nodded in response to the human’s words. “I can help you find that bow for her.” The wolf demon offered. “There is a place called Ye Ol' Sword. You can just about buy anything there.” She paused in her words and moved beside Robin, ready to lead her. “Plus, you can tell me how much trouble you and Natsumi have gotten into the last six months.” The wolf demon wanted to know everything. Did they kiss yet? Were they an item? Has Natsumi shared her feelings? These questions ran through her mind; unanswered. Hopefully, Robin would speak of their time together.

If the two haven’t made any more towards each other, it was going to be time for Katerina to step in.

Now, of course, not all misdeeds go unpunished. In Mushu's case, his were promptly answered by a gargoyle finger to the face, though not before he added to his tally of mischief in the city of Adeluna. Katerina's laughter and agreement with him moments before his punishment was rendered, for instance, had done little to alleviate Robin's discomfort. She now visibly squirmed under the scrutiny of the others as they poked and prodded her crush out in the open, and expressed her disappointment in the wolf once she approved the "Ice Queen" nickname.

"Not you too, Katerina," Robin said while nursing an ever growing pout on her face. Her draconic patriarch chimed in afterward with his penultimate offense, making the situation even more uncomfortable by practically calling Katerina delusional through a bout of poorly veiled sarcasm.

"Right. You know, Katerina, that your optimism is the most endearing trait you have? It's so cute." Shortly thereafter, Mushu made his comment about Goliath's attempts to woo Katerina, and that proved to be the final nail in his coffin. The comment ended with his inglorious descent into the nearby fountain; along with a surprised Ataiyan watching from afar.

Being her innocent self, Robin didn't realize at the time that Goliath was punishing Mushu because he had publicly embarrassed him just like he had publicly embarrassed her moments earlier. She simply didn't realize that Mushu was awkwardly referring to Katerina and Goliath as an item without their consent, so she spoke up in his defense after the wolf told her about Ye Ol' Sword.

"That wasn't very nice, Goliath. He just asked if you had started a family. I don't see why you flicked him for that question, especially since you haven't seen each other in so long." She was about to say something more, but then the lizard finally emerged from the water with irritation in his eyes.

"Not nice," he asked his gargoyle friend upon leading a trail of water to him? "Let me tell you what's not nice." Mushu walked straight up to Goliath at that moment and poked him in the shin with a wet claw before continuing. "Not nice is flicking your oldest friend off your shoulder when he hasn't seen you in four years, you big stone oaf! Next time, use your voice instead of your hands: not in addition!"

For better or worse, that was pretty much the breaking point of Mushu's relationship with Goliath. He had expected a warmer greeting than he received, and could barely recognize his "old friend" anymore now that the stone giant had been so effectively "whipped." The time difference between the two didn't help matters either, placing additional strain on their already rocky relationship. Six months in Revaliir for Goliath had been four years for Mushu off world, so the two were practically living in different timelines. That just made the tiniest of their pairing even more irritable, and he maintained that drowned irritation even after he crawled back onto Robin's shoulder with a huff.

A smile appeared on the wolf’s lips; Robin didn’t think Natsumi was an Ice Queen. Memories of the past floated into her mind; the first day she met the fox in the woods. Natsumi wasn’t a fox then, nor was she an ice queen. Katerina was the ice queen back then. So much loss had filled her heart with darkness. She had killed without feeling, lived alone, and didn’t keep anyone close. When Natsumi came into the wolf’s life, everything changed. The once ice heart of the wolf warmed with love. If it wasn’t for the fox, Katerina wouldn’t have a family. “I need to thank her for that one day.” The wolf thought to herself.

Hearing Mushu speak, forced Katerina out of her thoughts. She glanced from the small dragon to Robin a bit confused. It had only been six months. The last few months had been filled with joy for the wolf. She had seen an old friend she hadn’t seen in over a thousand years, and had her daughter a few weeks after. Now, she was seeing Robin again. How could it have been four years? The wolf didn’t miscount the days. Her babies were still….Babies.

If it wasn’t for Mushu’s outburst, the wolf demon would’ve talk to the human about her dragon’s meaning. The wolf’s attention soon turned to Goliath who…smiled? He smiled at his little friend while the dragon continued his retort. “It’s been too long my friend. The Great Dragon has been missed.” The large gargoyle gave a little bow; his hand going over his heart. “I am sorry for the flick.” He closed his eyes as he straightened. His eyes glancing over at the wolf who was looking at him.

“Robin. Mushu said four years?” Katerina turned towards the human. “It’s only been six months. Where have you and Natumi been? Hopefully in a cave far away getting better acquainted?” She smirked at her last words. Maybe that is why it felt like it had been so long for them. Hopefully, the two had gotten closer in their time together.

The wolf’s attention soon was on the men behind Robin. They mingled in the crowd behind them. Her eyes watched as they snaked through the crowd towards them. Her sword appeared in her hand. “We have company.” She whispered. Ready.

Goliath did try to smooth over the situation once he noticed Mushu's anger, but it was too little, too late. The pocket wyvern had historically been amenable toward flattery, but even that had limits. The gargoyle's smile had merely compounded the issue rather than alleviate it, enough that Mushu didn't even respond to his apology. Instead, the pseudo-dragon moped about, not even looking Goliath in the eye as he hid from the world in the warmth of Robin's scarf.

Meanwhile, Katerina tried to "correct" the claim that Mushu had made about the time difference between Revaliir and elsewhere. She didn't understand, just the same as Robin hadn't when we first left Revaliir. That was shortly remedied once the latter spoke up.

"I didn't understand it at first, either, but it has been four years for Mushu and me, Katerina. We were traveling with Natsumi to places outside of Revaliir, and she warned us before we left that time in those places is different from here. Revaliir is slower for some reason, so six months here was four years out there. I even remember looking back at Revaliir's moons from one of those places while meditating and seeing them stuck in the same position in the sky for hours on end, so Mushu speaks truthfully when he says how long we've been gone."

Robin was absent-mindedly petting Mushu during that explanation, subconsciously trying to console his wounded pride as well as her own misgivings. She was not feeling very comfortable in Adeluna despite the presence of a familiar face. This was due entirely to the fact that she had always disliked dealing with the law of foreign lands where the values of the people were not necessarily the same as those she held dear. In fact, Robin's opinion of western culture had thus far been poor. She thought the people of the west were brutish and scheming; dishonorable to their core. That was a typical opinion of Ataiyans, and one that had been vindicated by the shopkeeper's attempts at conning her into slavery.

Of course, that opinion was also why Robin started to relax after said merchant's revenge finally came. She sensed his four goons lurking in the crowd behind her long before Katerina had said anything, and was simply waiting to engage them as she had so many before. You see, Robin was most at home in simplistic combat where the sides of a fight were morally unambiguous. She didn't enjoy seeing the world in shades of gray like I did, so criminals or those of evil intent were the perfect punching bags for her destress under any circumstance. Ultimately, this meant that she practically jumped to attention once the shopkeeper's goons showed up, but she didn't quite leap into action even after they spoke.

"You lot have been naughty," was the first thing she heard from them as they brandished their spiked clubs, something that would have easily signaled a chance to cut loose under normal circumstances. Sadly, though, Robin never got the chance to pounce them in that instant, because, just as soon as she was about to, an equally sized squadron of guardsmen showed up and put a damper on her battlelust with a loud, "Halt!"

The thugs, as well as my lover, were taken aback by this interruption, but not in the typical guard vs. criminal fashion. Nay, the thugs themselves behaved like cats being ordered around by a group of mice; going so far as to physically wave the speaking officer off.

"Stay out of this, sergeant," the foremost highwayman said in a patronizing tone. "Just forget you saw us here and go back to your barracks." He pointed back in the direction of the nearest watchtower with his club to emphasize his point, setting off an immediate retort from the supposed 'sergeant.'

"That's captain now," he replied in righteous indignation. "And the watch in this quarter will no longer be bribed to look the other way by the likes of you or that con-artist who calls himself a merchant." Their conversation would have continued beyond that point, surely, eventually leading to blow; but Robin, sensing an opportunity, decided to get the jump on the captain.

"So, these guys are criminals," she asked him before anyone could say anything further?

"Yes, fair lady," he replied. "Stand back and allow us to-" Unfortunately for the captain, he never got the chance to finish that statement. Now validated in her need for combat, Robin quickly fell on the criminals in front of her without hesitation. She punched the condescending one straight in the jaw, first of all, and then roundhoused the two nearest him into the fountain. Finally, she disarmed the fourth by slamming her heel into his knee and then using it as leverage to slam her own knee into his head.

That entire onslaught was over in 3 seconds flat, and ended with Robin restraining the loud one in a grappling hold. She was sitting on top of his back while twisting his arm, causing him to cry out for help from anyone listening.

"AH!! I yield! Get her off of me before she breaks my arm!" The rest of his cohorts had already been detained by the captain's men, but the captain himself stood star struck. He was smitten, standing there as he admired Robin's work.

"That's one hell of a woman," he said, a comment that finally restored Mushu to his old, non-pouting self.

"That's my baby girl, thank you," he exclaimed, finally poking his head out from the scarf for the world to see!

Robin had spoken before the wolf demon saw the company that joined them. Her eyes grew confused for a moment. The two didn’t lose track of time, they had just been in a different time. “How..”Katerina started to say, trying to wrap her brain around Robin’s words. “And nothing has happened between the two?!” The wolf demon thought as she stared at the woman before her. Something had happened. The red haired woman stared at Robin. She could tell in her way she spoke of Natsumi. Besides, Katerina knew that Robin liked Natsumi when she saw them together. A smirk crossed her lips. The fair woman must have fallen in love with Natumi.

That was the moment the wolf demon saw the men in the crowd around them. Katerina made the comment in that moment. She watched them move towards them, ready. After the man spoke, guards came down on them. “What the hell?!” Katerina gasped out as she stared at the guards that seemed to come out of nowhere. Were they wanted men? Did she cause too much of a ruckus earlier? There had to be a reason they wanted the men around them.

The wolf demon’s sword soon disappeared and then her arms crossed over her chest. She watched the scene before them. “Too bad. I wanted a fight.” Katerina smiled over at one of the guards who returned it.

In that moment with the guard, she was surprised when the criminals attacked. Instead of having the upper hand, the fair lady had laid them out in an instant. Katerina rose her hands in a slow clap, her smile appearing on her lips once more. “That was amazing, Robin! Natsumi sure taught you a thing or two.” She stepped over one of the men making him grunt to step beside Robin.

“Now. Lets leave this rabble and find you a bow. I’m sure these lovely guards can clean up this mess.” With a pat on Robin’s shoulder, Katerina decided to bring Robin to the better vendors.

Goliath had watched the whole scene without moving; he seemed like a solid statue. That was until he moved and walked behind the two women.

The two walked in silence for a moment before Katerina finally spoke. "So, Robin, how is my best friend Natsumi doing?"

During the course of that engagement, Robin felt normal again; because, despite her docile personality, combat was her home. It had always been thus, even when she was just a small girl first entering combat training. Her adoptive family drove her to that point, having not provided the home nor the comfort that she otherwise needed at such a young age. But it was also for this very reason that she learned to take pride in her technique. Like all Ataiyans before her, she considered herself an adept warrior in her own right: certainly enough to take on a few brigands without breaking a sweat. So when Katerina insinuated that her success was due solely to my interference and guidance, Robin actually took offense for the first time in their relationship.

"How rude!" she exclaimed when the wolf carelessly opened her mouth. "I was trained as a warrior before I met her! I can handle brigands like these in my sleep." The knight captain overheard Robin's righteous indignation at this poorly thought out compliment, but he did not initially speak up in her defense. In fact, the only reason he eventually decided to intercede was because he noticed the woman was subconsciously tightening her grip on the man she was restraining during the argument; and the one thing he didn't want to have to do so soon after his promotion was explain to his superiors why one of his prisoners had a broken shoulder already.

"Well, you did good: as expected of an Ataiyan warrior," he said at that moment in an attempt to avoid this situation. Robin responded to his words with surprise, loosening her grip in the same instant and allowing the captain to shackle the man underneath her - much to his relief. "Yeah, I spent some time over in the east; met a few like you,"he promptly explained during that exchange, "They're pretty recognizable, but that's a tale for another time." Standing the prisoner back up, the captain signaled the rest of his men to depart at that moment with some final words. "Anyway, I'm going to let your group go now, but on the condition that I get to talk to you later. I'll need your testimony on this incident eventually, so don't leave town till then, alright?"

The request was more rhetorical than not; for this man of the law had no illusions in terms of his ability to force Robin's group to do anything. He was anticipating a fight with only the muggers earlier that day and was already worried about his odds just with them. He had not anticipated anyone else during the coming raid; and yet Robin had arrived anyway to quickly end the same fight that he had been dreading since the morning. Not only that, she had done so single-handedly while also appearing to be the least intimidating member of her entourage. For this reason, the captain realized he was outmatched, and so, while he still outwardly exerted authority in the closing moments of his interaction with them, he knew he would likely not be seeing Robin, Katerina, Mushu or Goliath ever again.

Regardless, after the two factions parted ways, Katerina's serendipitous meeting with Robin was finally allowed to continue. The two of them moved toward the proper market district; but, along the way, the wolf finally asked the golden question that would eventually set off a chain of romantic events. She wanted to know how I was, and, while she did get an answer, it wasn't the answer Robin would have given.

"Same as Robin here: love struck but too busy dancing around the question to just come out and admit her feelings." Yep, Mushu answered in my friend's stead, and, at the same time, publicly embarrassed her by airing her private feelings. Robin answered this affront by turning beet red in the face, followed by a very audible slap several times harder than Goliath's flick had ever been.

"MUSHU," she shouted in several times magnified irritation! The little dragon was sent flying by the impact of the slap that followed, but, for some reason, he didn't stay down or stop like he had last time. Instead, he got right back up, scurried across the ground like a hyperactive spider, and crawled right back up in Robin's face.

"Wake up girl," he exclaimed while forcing eye contact in that position. "Natsumi's more dense than Goliath's ass after a cold, Glaciem night, and, believe me, that buttocks is stony!" Grabbing Robin's scarf at that point and dragging her head closer to his, the wyvern continued. "And unless you start addressing her directly, ain't nothing going to change that for better or worse!"