I Head towards the settlement.

In mere moments, I continue walking towards the settlement. I have no gear and no actual knowledge of the area or local wildlife, I would have to be a special type of dunce to risk heading into the forest (Author's note: heh). I slowly begin my decent down the other side of the hill and keep trecking towards the town in the distance. Midday comes and goes. The sun, once a comfortable warmth, now pelts down from above, uncomfortably hot against my skin.

It takes me two hours until I am close enough to the town to see the figures patrolling the walls as well as the two figures standing in the shade under the gate. Closer still and I make out the crossbows that the guards on the walls are holding and the crossed spears of the gate guards as they see my approach. The guards get a clear look at me at the same moment that I get a proper look at them, and what I see causes me to miss a step in surprise. The guards are both clad in leathers, an emblem comprising a stylised ram's head in front of a pair of crossed spears embossed into the chest pieces of the armour. The uniform is not what catches me so off guard, however.

The guard on the right is a petite woman, standing at least a head shorter than me (which is saying something, as I’m definitely not the tallest women in the world). She has tanned skin and a wiry build that reminds me of a sprinter, and what muscle I can see that’s not obscured by her armour looks tight and well defined. Poking out under her helmet are tufts of sandy blonde hair, but it’s the two fluffy rounded ears sticking above her head poking out of slits in her helmet obviously made for the purpose that really catches my attention. I see movement behind her and watch as a long tail, covered in fur the same sandy blonde as the woman’s hair but dotted with the occasional black spot, flicks from side to side. Cheetah woman. Neat.

If the cheetah woman was surprising, the literal bear of a man standing watch next to her was another story entirely. Now, when I say "literal bear man" here, I don’t mean something minorly inconvenient happens and its suddenly “literally the worst day ever” kind of literally. This man was a bear. A bear, who was currently smartly dressed up in armour and standing upright on two legs. a bear who, as I grow closer still, I realise is whistling a jaunty tune.

Unlike the cheetah woman who looks like a normal human woman bar the animal ears and tail, this man has all the features of a bear but is bipedal. The parts of his body not covered in the armour are instead covered in a thick brown fur. His face is not flat like that of a Human but extends out in a muzzle, in which I can clearly see large, sharp teeth. The guards see my reaction and their countenance immediately shifts. The whistling stops, and both guards tighten their grips on their spears as their eyes narrow. Shit, I’ve really put my foot in it now.

In a rumbling, deep voice, the bear man bellows, “halt Human, what are your intentions, and why have you wandered into the territory of the Beastkin?” I stop in my tracks at his command. A gap of about ten paces separates us, but I get the feeling that should she wish it, the cheetah woman could cross it in an instant. I caused this tension with my gawping and staring I realise, all I can do is apologies, and hope for the best.

I bend low into a bow, and with as much sincerity as I can muster, I say, “I am very sorry if my staring has caused offence. I am not from around here and have never seen a Beastkin in person, so my curiosity got the better of me. Please forgive my blunder.” Cautiously, I raise my head to gauge their reaction, and my relief is palpable as I see they have relaxed their grips on their weapons and the hard looks on their faces have softened.

I straighten from my bow as the cheetah says, “Its fine. We have had problems with some of your kind in the past, so when we saw how you reacted to us, we jumped to conclusions.” I can only shake my head, saddened at the thought that human supremacists were clearly a thing. put humans in any given situation, a cynical part of me supplies, and some of them will find someone to hate, simply for being different. “You’ll be pleased to hear that I am not like that, I’m only wishing for a place to stay for a while and if possible, a job to earn some coin.” The bear man nods and smiles (at least I think he does, is a little hard to tell with the muzzle), before replying, “Both can be found in within the walls of Kybor’s Rest.” with a flourish, the guards uncross their spears then step aside to allow me to enter.