The naga approaches them anew

"We can resume the search for Becky or the lair of those lizardfolk in the morning," Fuu was saying as Robin approached them. Her naginata rested in the crook of her arm. "For tonight... if the temple will not offer us shelter, then I shall turn to the grace of the goddess. You will need to watch over me as I reach for her power, but in such times, she should offer succor to those she keeps in her watchful eye."

Emmaline nodded, interested and polite enough in Fuu's explanation, but the moment Robin joined the pair, her eyes turned to her.

"Didja get lost?" Emmaline asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"If I did, I found myself again," Robin said.

"Such is the way of the Goddess," Fuu said. Her voice carried a stern solemnity that drew questioning looks from both other women, then her face cracked into a teasing smile. "She must have blessed you, too."

Robin stood awkwardly for a moment, then looked somewhere vaguely upward into the forest canopy. "Um... thanks!"

The other two laughed.

Their merriment was cut short when a hissing noise sounded from behind Robin. The trio turned to see, emerging from the temple, the same creature they had fended off moments prior. His lithe serpentine form swayed back and forth with an almost hypnotic rhythm as he crossed the distance toward them.

In an instant, Fuu had her naginata in hand and Emmaline had conjured a pair of small flames into her palms, ready to swell and explode as soon as they were needed. As the serpent shrunk backward, Robin stepped forward, interposing herself between the Naga and her friends.

"Wait!" Robin cried, determinedly. "He's friendly! ...I think."

"You think?" Emmaline said with a wry smile.

"Yeah, I do! Look at him, he's all small and gentle... He's not puffing up at all and, well..." she hesitated a moment, blushing. "Well, between his legs he's only got one of them right now, right? When he was really angry, there were three."

"It was really something, yeah," Emmaline added wistfully.

Fuu stared on in silence, her lithe body still coiled like a spring about to unwind, but something in her stoic features had shifted, softened subtly.

Gesturing vaguely with it's scaled arms, the Naga hissed something that might have been language. It sounded urgent... or perhaps insistent?

"Times like this make you miss Becky," Emmaline said.

"She's an alchemist, not a linguist," Fuu said, slowly lowering the tip of her blade.

"Yeah, but when she's here, she does so much panicking that it doesn't leave anything for the rest of us," Emmaline said. "Without her it feels like we've gotta shiver and hide to pick up the slack."