On into the Evening, Day 1

Off at the edge of the horizon, the sun had begun to dip beneath the water’s surface. It was a brilliant golden half circle of fire singing the water’s edge. On the ocean’s surface, the two blended into one as the sun’s shimmering reflection became the other half of that golden orb.

An imperfect reflection, distorted and rippling with the tide.

Fuu watched as each passing wave ran through the captured solar image and sent it shuddering in so much chaos. At a glance, if she squinted her eyes, or turned her head past quickly enough, it looked like the sun was whole. One sphere of light, radiant and uncorrupted. But lies born of inattention are still lies.

Halfway gone. Halfway subsumed and twisted.

As much as it might struggle, the world still turned. And though the vanishing orb cast the sky into brilliant shades of violet and sent out orange streaks across the clouds, that beauty couldn’t pull the sun back into the sky. Even as Fuu watched, the sun slipped further and further away. It sank lower and lower into a perverse reflection of what it had once been and she knew that it would soon vanish entirely.

“Sure is pretty, isn’t it?” Robin’s voice snuck up on her out of nowhere, and Fuu turned to see the dark haired girl sitting on the rock beside her.

With her chin tilted upward, the brilliant orange light caught all of her best features, elevating her high cheekbones and wide, pretty eyes in warm illumination. Droplets of water ran down from the still wet braid that framed her head like a princess’s crown, eventually dripping down onto the lightly freckled skin of her shoulders.

Fuu turned back and cast her vision down into the lapping waves.

“It is, I suppose.”

“Well why were you looking, then, if you weren’t thinking about how pretty it is?” Robin asked.

“I… I was just thinking, is all,” Fuu said. Her lips pursed together. Emmaline had fought tooth and nail to get them onto this beach, and had even pulled strings with Kellissendra to make it happen. Perhaps Fuu hadn’t really managed to sort out her own worries yet, or even put them aside long enough to really relax, but…

She turned to look out over the sands of the beach, her eyes following the progress of a wave as it ran upward further and further before tilting forward and crashing against Emmaline and Skye’s sky pointing toes. The two spoke quietly, with Skye wearing something of a blush while Emmaline worked flowers into her hair. Behind them, the rest of the Bravos stood together, dropping the occasional word as they stood together and watched the sunset.

“When someone says ‘I was just thinking!’ that usually means they don’t want to share,” Robin said.

Fuu looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

“Well, even if you weren’t thinking about it… it is pretty, isn’t it?”

Even as they spoke, the sun had continued it’s descent into the sea. Now Fuu could only barely make out the slightest crescent of light that still stood unmolested above the waves. The world was cast slowly into more and more darkness around it, and even that radiant beauty which characterised the start of it’s descent was starting to give way to empty blackness.

“I suppose it is.”

“Miss Teoming,” Kellissendra’s voice spoke in her mind and Fuu turned to see the rest of the Bravos standing in a circle, the blond dragoness looking directly at her.

“Something is going on, Robin,” she said and the pair rose to their feet. Robin hopped down the outcropping of pitted rock with the nimbleness of a mountain goat, then landed on the sand and hurried to join the others--as if she somehow hadn’t felt a single bit of discomfort from her bare feet landing on the rough surface of the stone over and over again. Fuu took a more careful descent, winding her way through footholds smoothed into the thing’s surface by the countless tourists who had shared her viewing perch before her.

“What is it?” Fuu asked as she approached the loose group. Their half circle parted, and it was only then that Fuu noticed the stranger who stood in their midst.

She was a young woman with long dark hair and a deep tan. Her sparse style of dress left no doubt that she was built like a warrior.

On her chest, the woman was wearing only a wrapped length of dark purple fabric, bound tightly over her breasts. Though, even as tightly as she had wrapped it, the cloth wasn’t enough to contain her sizable bossom, which strained against the constraint just as much as the fabric squished into their supple flesh. A pair of shorts clung to her hips while showing off muscular thighs, and they were cut low enough to make sure Fuu got an eyeful of the woman’s well defined abs.

What really sealed her presence as a warrior was the thick iron bat which was strapped to her back. The smooth length of metal was well polished and lacked the spikes of a club or the blade of a sword. While that might have made it less intimidating to the average beach goer, though, it did nothing to put Fuu off guard. That thing was made to snap bones like twigs.

The most odd thing about her, however, was the white suit collar which she wore around her neck--utterly detached from any clothing, and complete with a little black bow tie.

“Koa,” she offered, short and blunt.

“Fuu Teoming,” Fuu responded. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yeah,” Koa said and took out a lavender tinged envelope from where she had tucked it beneath her arm. She offered it to Fuu. “The boss wants to see you. And your crew here.”

“I see,” Fuu said. She peeled away the black wax seal on the envelope, noting the mermaid’s tail singed into the wax, then pulled out the piece of paper.

For all the decoration, the colored paper, the fancy seal, even the slight scent of lavender that wafted out of the opened letter, the words inside were incredibly simple.

It read:

‘To the Bravos Feminine,

An Invitation

Signed,

Narissa of Aranilla’

“I’m supposed to escort you,” Koa explained, her arms crossed. “Make sure you don’t get lost.”

Or wander off, Fuu thought, looking at her weapon and bulk.

She let the request wait a moment in silence as she cast her gaze around the rest of the group. Save for a slight pout on Emmaline’s part, and a feet shifting nervousness from Becky, they seemed generally amenable.

“Very well, then,” Fuu said. “Lead on.”