Mirannda glanced up when the victim of her accidental fireball spoke up, inquiring to her condition. ”Um.. I think so.” It was so odd, as she stared at her hands, that she would be engulfed in fire. Warm, and comforting, something reminiscent of an embrace. ”No… I think I got this,” she answered back. ”Jaliza? What are you thinking?” Even though it was a mental voice pushing into her mind, the woman still jumped, turning around and scolding the fiery bird perching in the tree behind them.

”Fenedhis, Elata! Don’t scare me like that!” Taking a moment to calm down, she lifted one hand and stared at it, concentrating. There was a whisper surrounding her, something she could barely hear, easily missed. The fire wasn’t magic gone wrong, but was something that was latching onto her affinity for flames, her connection to the Eternal Flame. It just manifested atop her skin.

Slowly, the fire began to recede, condensing itself into her hand until what appeared to be a little fireball with little hands and feet. It blinked at her with a pair of bright eyes and smiled. ”A flame sprite! I’ve read about them once before. I thought they were a myth though?” Mirannda looked over at the stranger with a smile, which instantly fell at the state of his appearance. ”Um… I’m Mirannda, and… You’re missing an arm. Are you alright?”

Finally the last of the three was here, and pulling herself over a piece of the wreckage, she landed back on her feet reuniting with the ground. "Hello? Mira? MIRAAAA? Where'd you go?" Now fully remembering that faraway escapade in Bakulaw's primeval jungle, the arcanist also recalled the nickname she had come up with for the red-headed mercenary. Pouring the powdered crumbles of shortbread into her mouth, she chewed while shading her eyes. Then, she caught a glimpse of that familiar candy-apple red. Good thing she was so easy to spot, or else Myouga would've never found her. And the other guy who'd been there when she called the turkeys was beside her too. Running over to see what was going on, she stopped with a screeching halt and widened her eyes.

Pointing at the mercenary currently engulfed in flame, she said loudly: "Whoaaa! That's so cool~" Now before you jump to conclusions, allow us to explain the train of mental processes that led to such a carefree reaction. As soon as Myouga saw Mirannda, she noted a few things. First, the mercenary was on fire–but there was no smell of smoke. Second, there was no smell of burning flesh or charring of the mercenary's clothing. And last but not least, she looked completely fine. Just peachy, in the oni's personal choice of words. She then looked at the others to see if they shared in her amazement, and discovered something else. "Hey, where's your arm? The sleeve's empty!" She poked at the loose cloth that was supposed to be holding another limb.

Not having met the man in person earlier, she wasn't aware that he had a prosthetic limb. She just assumed that he was supposed to have two arms, since he had a sleeve over it. If he only had one arm, he wouldn't need to have a sleeve–right? That was what she thought and that was what she believed. The surprises kept on coming, and the fire started growing arms and legs! Well, technically it made a head and body first, but it was still a cute fireball. And while everyone seemed to be paying more attention to the man's lack of an arm, Myouga began creeping towards the little fire sprite with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. Slowly, she reached out with a finger fully intending to poke the newly-born flame creature.

Good. She seemed all right - nothing to panic over, then. The flames didn't feel malignant, at any rate, but looks could be deceiving… Ah well. He would leave well enough alone. Nevertheless, his curiosity kept him rooted to the spot. When she jumped Frey, too, inevitably started, and inwardly he scolded himself for his jumpiness of late. Hopefully nothing a bit of actual sleep couldn't fix… provided he were actually blessed with much of it anytime soon.

Time would tell.

As the fire drew back, his brows furrowed in concentration. This could prove a valuable learning experience, whatever the outcome, and he did not wish to miss a single moment. Even when Myouga had arrived, he did not divert his attention. Finally, the flames coalesced and formed a more corporeal image, revealing… "A flame sprite?" he echoed, frowning, before checking himself and relaxing his expression best as he could. He shifted a few steps over, now standing abreast of Mirannda for a better look at the thing's face. "Is it some kind of elemental, then?"

Then, from the corner of his eyes spying the unnatural drop of his company's smile, he tensed subconsciously but merely shrugged, casually looking at the spot where his arm ought to be and lifting his brows in feigned mild surprise. No big deal. Sort of. "Oh, so it would seem… It's fine, though. Not really sure where it's gotten off to, mind you, the explosion might have been a bit much for it… But I'm fairly sure it will be back. Always manages to, somehow." It was one of the greater mysteries he had yet to come across.

He cleared his throat lightly before continuing. "Nice to meet you, Mirannda - even despite the circumstances…" He put on a small smile, hoping to imply that he meant her no ill will for her earlier accidental transgression. "And you as well, O Summoner of the largest fowl I've ever had the, um… pleasure of seeing." Glancing back toward Myouga - and by default the fire sprite given her newfound proximity to it - he could but quirk a brow in wonder. Certainly, he was most curious to see what happened next. "… The name's Frey."

Cool would not have been the word she would use to describe what had just transpired. Yet, she could not come up with any alternative adjectives to use instead. Mirannda nodded to Frey. "Usually, they live in places of high magical concentration. Since it's a fire elemental, I would assume it lived in the volcano." Still, the fact that he was missing a limb, and his casualness of it seemed a tad odd. Thinking back, she did see flashes of white from him, and realized she hadn't paid enough attention to piece together that it was skeletal in nature.

With a decision to not inquire about it, she gave the guy a relatively nice smile. "Pleasure, and I truly am sorry about that fireball. The rabbit, magic out of whack, I can barely contain my fire." Returning her gaze to the mystifying, rare sprite, she continued. "Though, I wonder how much of it was inspired by this little guy. Frey, this is Myouga, a previous employer of mine. Oh, I'm a mercenary." It would explain why Myouga had hired her, she hoped. "Myouga, I wouldn't –!"

The small woman was reaching out to touch the sprite. When her finger made contact, she was naturally singed a bit. Mirannda didn't know if the sprite was spooked, or if it was surprised, but it began to move around her at an impressive speed. "Jaliza… We're not going to keep that thing around are we?" Elata flew down, forcing Mirannda to lift an arm to perch on it with telepathic suggestions. While Elata talked to Mirannda's mind, Mirannda spoke to the bird. "Didn't we talk about the use of that name? And if the sprite wants to stay with us, then that is up to the sprite, not me. Since you're down here, meet everyone else. Frey, Myouga, this is Elata Etney, my cousin." The mercenary winced, realizing she spilled her race quite easily. The more people who knew, didn't that mean the more danger she was in if Sin were to find his way here?

The apple-red haired mercenary's warning was too late–the cheeky arcanist had already plunged her finger tip at the little fireball. Yanking back her hand out of instinct, hand flailing. "OWOWOWOWOWOW!!" Not that waving it around was helping much, but she then pulled out a healing potion and began to chug the contents. "So it really was real fire! Huh, who woulda thought?" When she saw the fire wasn't burning Mirannda she thought it was an illusion. She had no idea that the woman had an innate fire resistance. Or if she did, she likely forgot and lost track of that bit of information in the murky depths of her memory. There was too much in there at once and sometimes finding it was worse than looking for a piece of hay in a needle stack. 

With her finger not screaming in pain, she stared wide-eyed at the phoenix that talked, and the lady introducing the bird as her cousin. Now an ordinary observant individual would deduce that the mercenary must be of a similar race to her firebird cousin, but Myouga was no ordinary individual. As a professor on magic theory and alchemical fusion, she knew better than to jump to conclusions and let conventional bias cloud her thinking. In other words, she thought nothing of it. Cousins were cousins, and sometimes your family had lots of different people in them. Multicultural families were rare but they existed. And a first-cousin relationship didn't guarantee anything. There were other little technicalities like time of birth, marriage of two individuals, the whole workings of when this first cousin relationship became official…

"Hello! I've never seen a talking phoenix before! Mira you're so lucky! All my cousins look the same as me…but taller! And with bigger horns! Did I tell you I have horns? Look, see!" She flipped up her bangs to reveal the little pointed nubs sticking out of her forehead that she was so proud of. The small oni loved seeing people's reactions when she told them she wasn't human. Just like the faces of tavern owners and bartenders when she told them she could legally drink alcohol. Maybe she should try sneaking in with a fake beard and see if that would fool them. She could totally pass as an abnormally tall dwarf or halfling. 

Waving to Frey, they were all acquainted. Remembering that he mentioned the giant turkeys–which had slipped her mind once the burning of her fingertip happened–she rummaged about until she produced the very same horn she had used to summon them. It bore an uncanny resemblance to a cornucopia, which was very fitting. "Ta-daaa! Behold, the great Gobble Horn! With this, you too can call forth your very own cavalry of giant birds of unusual size to fight your enemies! It comes in two settings, five and fifty. So you can either call five big ones or fifty standard birds. If you want one, I can tell you where you can buy it." She gave them a wink, as if revealing to them a great secret.

"I'm telling you this is the right place,Acciona! A boy with dark hair and black clothes walked in with a light blue glowing ball. The two seemed to argue over something before noticing everyone. 

After a minute of silence the boy introduces himself as Leonidas and the ball as Acciona. "Sooo…you guys need help with anything?" 

"Makes sense," he nodded. Her assessment seemed sound enough. It reminded him of the ice elemental he'd befriended - that had been so long ago, it seemed to Frey, it may as well have been in another lifetime altogether. It had deigned serve as a replacement limb for him on other occasions where his skeletal arm had gone missing… occasions that, blessedly, had not happened often at all these past few years. He could only hope this wasn't a new trend a-looming.

"No harm done, truly. As you say, magic in general has been… 'out of whack' awhile now. One can but hope it settles some now that this whole thing is done and over with." Hm. A mercenary with an affinity for flames, huh? That felt reminiscent of a person and a place so far away… but the fiery merc he had in mind was a lot more grizzled and peevish, if memory served. Turning his attention back on Myouga, he couldn't help a chuckle as she hastily withdrew - he felt bad in part for her pain, but it had been her own doing and she seemed no worse off when all was said and done.

Another joined their group soon enough and between the phoenix and the sprite, Frey wasn't sure which he found more interesting. Especially given the phoenix was apparently Mirannda's cousin which… ugh. Looks could never be trusted these days, could they? Well. It wasn't really his business to be prying into a stranger's affairs, he supposed, no matter how nosy he could at times be. He'd let this one go. He had no family of his own, in any case - or none he particularly wished to speak of, at any rate.

Thoughts adrift, Myouga's sales pitch was enough to pique his curiosity - if a moment. Brows lifting, he grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "I think I'll have to pass. Animals and I don't get along very well." In that, for whatever godsforsaken reason, they always seemed to care for him a lot better than he cared for them. And it had a tendency of being utterly aggravating as f-

"Oh." The dragon spectral from earlier had returned, bumping into his leg with no small insistence and then crawling up his clothes onto its perch on his shoulder. "You've a gift for me. How nice of you." He gave it a pat and retrieved from its maw his skeletal arm which, with a shrug and a casual wave of it - as though to say hey, told you it'd probably make its way back sooner than later - he soon reattached it with a subtle pop. Magic was a wondrous thing. Flexing his arm a bit to test it out, he shrugged again and looked up, wondering what he might have missed - and it seemed what he'd missed was perhaps more than he'd bargained for.

Yet another had joined them. He'd just caught the tail end of the introduction. "Well met, Leonidas, Acciona. I can't speak for these ladies, but I'm not in need of anything particular, no. The battle's done and over with. Just relax for now and enjoy the upcoming festivities, why don'tcha?"

Mirannda blushed a bit at Myouga’s reaction to Elata. ”Ya… I kinda, recently, learned how to understand beasts… While inside the temple of that long forgotten god in the desert.” Thinking back to the way all those beetles seemed to crawl around in her mind with their multitude of voices almost instantaneously made her shudder. Yet, the smile she gave Myouga was genuine, if not a bit on the “happy” side.. ”You know, you seemed a bit too chipper to be normal.” Then came a laugh and a soft refusal of the offer of knowledge on where to find the cornucopia.

With the cat out of the bag, she wondered how safe her origins were. The hyper Myouga was not well known enough to be trusted with the knowledge, and could very well be spilled out at the slightest whim. Frey was unknown entirely. ”Relax. Perhaps he would be weakened as you were. You have the advantage of friends, acquaintances, even Celeste and her family. Not to mention time to regain your strength.” After giving the avian a frown, Frey began talking about a gift.

She watched as he took the arm and just popped it back in place. It was quite amazing to see he instantly had control of it. ”That’s an… interesting feature.” Yet two more joined them, and Mirannda began to feel quite out of place. The phoenix never did too well in large groups. ”Nope, can’t think of anything. Anyway, we might as well head back to town, clean up and prepare…” Any chances of her saying anything about her true nature were reduced down to zilch with the random addition. ’You’re lucky Myouga, to have so many in your family. I was born like Elata, but my parents bound me like this. That’s why we look different. She’s only one of two kinsmen I have found.’ Mirannda monologued in her mind to the small woman, staring at her the entire time with a strong yearning look upon her face.

With that, the phoenix turned and started heading back the way the turkeys had trampled through.