Back to work

"Maybe I shouldn't of told her, maybe it was too soon. I knew it wasn't good." Emyri babbled on, with Janette listening to her ramble. Both of them had been left isolated in the dining room, the rest had opted to move somewhere else. They wanted their privacy and a moment to understand this slight revelation that had been dropped. It wasn't easy, but from how Janette saw it, it didn't make too much a difference in what to do next. All this told her was that KuliKuli is familiar with who they are up against, even if she didn't remember then.

Flipping the book open and asking that question, she frowned when once again it gave her an incredibly vague answer. It felt less like a book to provide answers and more like giving hints, which left her with no progress. A hint is helpful of course, but an accurate description would provide so much more. As it was, she tossed the book at the table in frustration.

"No wonder she got me this, lousy thing is never clear. What's two plus two? Uh, it is between five and ten, pfft!"

Crossing her arms, she leaned back in her chair and sighed. "I know this is hard, but we can't just let this stop us in our progress. You brought back a horse, so why are we wasting time and moping about history when someone is needing our help right now?"

Emyri nodded in agreement. "I understand, but she is taking this hard. I can't blame her, I just told her she is the reason we are in this mess."

Janette roughly pushed her chair back, creating a loud screech. "And do you believe that?"

Emyri looked up with wide eyes. "Of course not.-"

"Then why not go out there and tell her?"

"She hates me."

"She hates what she did, not you. Why would she place the blame on you, we were gunna figure out what happened either way."

"Why not ask that book where Dimyri is?"

She huffed. "Already did, it gives hints but nothing clear. She's held captive in a town nearby, I already figured where. The trajectory from where KuliKuli ran leads to a traveler's path, that leads to either the green valley out west or the Kershin Market which is east. Normally I would be optimistic but... that market is quite large in comparison to where my shop is. Oh geez, my shop!" She rubbed her head, forgetting about her workplace.

"You have a shop?"

"Yea, but I'm losing revenue from not opening these past few days. Ugh, this is such shit."

Emyri blinked and tilted her head. "What is keeping you from proceeding to work?" She looked back at her with a crossed look to which Emyri looked down and nodded.

"Thank you, but still. If your shop is important, ple-"

"No. I know the area and you guys don't, no objections."

"Objection, bitch." Reta smirked, flicking Janette's ear to annoy her before sitting down. "I can look after it, but it'll cost ya."

Janette rolled her eyes but smiled. "Considering I let you live rent free, you're earning your keep if anything. But I would have to show you around."

Reta shrugged. "Normal fruit stand yes? Just provide the pricing and it's done. I helped run markets before where I'm from."

"You sure like mentioning it, when will you take us there?"

Reta reached for a banana at the fruit stand on the table before peeling it. "I could, but they would probably kill me on sight. First full moon was when I found out I was cursed."

Janette nodded, first day of being a werewolf leaves you driven by lust and instinct, no second thought or conscious. Due to her exposure, she had forgotten that this woman has done things in her past before. "Shame that the next moon isn't for a few weeks, else you'd be a lot more help."

Reta reached in for the book. "You said this isn't helping you right?" She nods. "I think you don't know how to use it. Scammers have made big profit selling these before, so I wasn't impressed when you brought it. But if I know magic, and I really don't, I heard that there is usually a trick to these sort of things."

"Well, we can't really look for instructions." Janette said.

Emyri looked up. "But you can look for an instructor at a nearby village, like perhaps where you say the hunter is?" Reta smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Okay, so when do we go?"

"Shit, um well when are the others done with their pep talk?"

"Pep talk huh?" Felix responded, standing behind a shocked Reta who nearly choked on her banana. "Whoa, easy there. Told you, you needed practice."

Cough! "Sh-shut up!" Reta shouted amongst the laughter shared by everyone else. It went quiet once Syri and KuliKuli entered the room. Emyri stood up.

"Mother. Thank you for telling me... us, about what happened." KuliKuli took in a deep breath before continuing. "I know it was hard for you, and it's going to be a lot for me to take in. I still love you and I am grateful for you being honest." She looked to her right with Syri nodding and lip syncing for her to hug. Taking cue, KuliKuli stepped forward and hugged her mother awkwardly.

"Oh? Well uh... th-thank you dear." She hugged her back, genuinely enjoying her show of affection. "You know, you almost sounded like my Nityri again."

"She does, doesn't she?" Syri giggled despite being hip bumped by Janette.

KuliKuli smiled before feeling Felix wrap his arm around her waist. "We do need to talk about this later, but we figure we have more important things to handle first."

Janette smiled, that was rather mature of the little kitty. Reta slapped her hand on the table as she rose.

"Alright then, perfect. So what are we waiting for, a fucking orgy? Let's go rescue a yaro!"

"Reta!" Janette scowled.

"What? Yaro is a good thing."

KuliKuli nodded. "Okay, let's go."