Allegra and the group she traveled with stopped to rest after hours of running near a creek, where they retook their human forms.
"I'm exhausted," Melsa muttered, sitting down, removing her shoes, and placing her feet into the creek.
"Are you fucking with me?" Iahmi asked as he was catching the water with his hands to drink.
Melsa waved him off, "What, will that really stop you from drinking?"
Iahmi stared into her eyes as he began slurping the water loudly, "No, but I had to make sure."
"Disgusting," Heru muttered.
"Wipe the water droplets from your chin first, before you complain," Melsa giggled as he looked at him.
Allegra, seeing this, ignoring the bickering that started between the three, got to her feet without saying anything and walked upstream, past Melsa, and drank water from the part of the creek that couldn't be contaminated by her feet.
Once she was satisfied, she lay down, back first on the grass below, and watched the sky for a bit before speaking, "Wake me up when we are to leave again."
"Don't fucking tell me you really plan on going to sleep," Melsa sighed.
"What else is there to do? Join you in your bickering?" Allegra asked, closing her eyes.
"Well, you could," Melsa said, as she took her tail and started playing with it, "Or we can just talk like normal people do."
"Oh?" Allegra opened her eyes slightly. "And what would the topic of conversation be? Husbands? Wives? Children? War and Glory?"
"You really hate spending time with anything else besides your bed," Iahmi shook his head.
"Certainly makes for a better company than you do," Heru chuckled, "But really now, Allegra. Tell us a story, or we can talk about the weather for all I care about, but going to sleep now… That's just disrespectful."
Allegra rolled her eyes but stood back up and headed towards the creek to wash the sleep away from her face.
"I don't mind disrespecting anyone for a good sleep," Allegra replied, as she sat back down, "But I'll play your games, let's talk then."
"Now that things have calmed down from yesterday," Melsa grinned, "I have to ask, why did you mention those humans so much? Especially that Blanc."
"I don't remember uttering their names that much, but even if I did, it was in the context of the story and what they've told me," Allegra denied.
"Blanc this, Blanc that, Celine this, Blanc again," Melsa giggled, "That's not a little, little cub."
"Careful how you call me," Allegra stared at Melsa, "I am older than your mother."
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," Melsa raised her hands into the air, "But still, I want an answer."
"Who is this Blanc really?" Iahmi asked all the people around him, his chest puffed slightly, "Besides being the man who defeated Heru, and apparently Allegra, who is he? How does he know so much?"
"Was mentioning that last part really necessary?" Heru clicked his tongue.
"Very," Iahmi nodded, a slight grin on his handsome face.
"I don't really know," Melsa thought for a bit, "But all five of them were weird in some ways. They were strong, yet tried to walk unseen as if hiding from something or someone."
"They are stronger now," Allegra added, "Even the woman, Miyanna, who didn't have Raw Vita harvested before, now has plenty, just days later."
"Meaning they are important enough," Iahmi concluded.
"What do you mean?" Melsa wondered.
"Well, you know how the High-Chief taught us how to harvest Raw Vita?" Iahmi asked.
And once Melsa nodded, he continued, "Although different than how we do it, my mother told me that most of their people don't know how, since it's a secret, and if someone who isn't allowed does it, it's punishable by death."
"Barbarians," Heru muttered, spitting on the ground next to him.
"Yet we lost hundreds to the so-called barbarians," Allegra sighed, "They live in a different world from us, you saw it for yourselves, their rules do not apply to them, and neither ours to them."
"But now it makes sense why we hadn't lost a single person when attacking the villages, but now that we attacked a city, protected by the so-called Noble Bloods, we got our asses kicked," Melsa muttered, "Which, in this case, would probably make Blanc, his wives, and the small kids, the same thing.''
"W-wives?" Iahmi stuttered, his eyes wide.
"Mhm," Melsa grinned, "He has two, and they are beautiful, let me tell you."
"Fucking humans," Iahmi hissed under his breath.
"You are probably right, Melsa," Allegra replied, ignoring the jealousy of a silly cat attempting to be a man.
"That Blanc's wives are beautiful?" Melsa asked, confused.
"Not that," Allegra sighed, annoyed, "That they are Noble Bloods, or something just as important. They knew the layout of the traps outside that damn city, how much manpower we needed to capture it, things about the one who rules the Domain, and also had the strength, the act, and the political might to show for it."
"Political might?" Heru asked, confused.
"They chose to spare not only you but me as well when we acted as threats. They could've killed us and been done with it. Yet, they chose to negotiate, let us go, and don't hold grudges, especially Blanc," Allegra explained.
"See what I mean?" Melsa asked, pointing towards her, "If I hadn't known her for all my life, I would have said she finally found love."
At those last four words, Iahmi's and Heru's eyes narrowed, "Love?" they muttered in unison.
"Stop it," Allegra commanded, "I respect them for what they did for us by telling us how things stand. If they didn't, perhaps I would still be in the Gardens or dead on the fields before Kanat."
"Whatever makes you sleep best," Melsa shrugged.
"Silence makes me sleep best," Allegra added, matter-of-factly, before lying back down on the ground, "We have talked, now let me sleep."
Which made the three Metamorphs stare at her in utter bafflement as they watched her silently drift to sleep, unsure if they should complain again and risk dying because of it.
They chose to let her sleep.
The smart choice.
As Allegra fell to sleep, Melsa stared the longest at her, her mind in a fury towards her old friend.
She tried to shame her all day, yet hasn't succeeded.
Allegra remained oblivious to all that had to do with feelings, hers and others.
Yet it was obvious this time, for some reason, it was different.
For Melsa at least, it was obvious that Allegra held the humans in high regard, to put it lightly.
Melsa did not even remember a time when Allegra spoke so highly of someone.
And she was angry at her, angry for the two men who wanted Allegra, yet did not want her.
Angry for the way she acted and treated others.
Yet here she was, heading together with her towards the High-Chief, even though she wanted to fight, and to kill the humans, as it was told was their destiny.
To carve their own existence and not stay hidden behind mountains.
Yet here she was, as a friend, for her old friend, instead of following her heart yet again.
And for that, she was angry. Not at Allegra, but at herself.
"Wake up, Allegra," Melsa shook her up until Allegra's crystal white eyes opened.
"Already?" she yawned.
"We had enough rest, come on now," Melsa replied before turning back into her beast form.
Heru and Iahmi followed closely behind, both taking their forms without saying another word to Allegra.
She exhaled in visible relief, shifting back into her Spirit Bear form.
She wasn't in the mood for conversation anyway.
Slowly, they resumed their run, and not long after noon, three Eagles screeched overhead, drawing all four of their gazes towards the sky as the birds descended toward them.
Heru answered with a screech of his own, and one of the eagles responded in kind.
It seemed the message had reached the High-Chief, who awaited their arrival not far ahead.
After another ten minutes of running, they came upon a ruined village, one completely burned to the ground, the air thick with the stench of ash and charred flesh.
Corpses, blackened beyond recognition, littered the earth.
Only a single small hut stood intact beyond the devastation.
The three members of the Eagle Clan landed near it, clearly marking it as their destination.
Once the group reached the hut, they shifted back into their human forms, and Allegra stepped forward to knock on the door.
"Come in," said an elderly voice, as the door swung open, shattering on the brick wall.
"Excuse us," Allegra replied, before entering unfazed by the suddenness of it, which made Melsa jump back from the scare it gave her.
But, one by one, they slowly entered through the door and came face to face with the High-Chief of their clans.
"Welcome, Allegra, daughter of the Spirit Bear Clan. What brings you here?" asked the old lady as she rocked on a wooden chair.
The woman looked out a window as she spoke, her eyes a fiery red, her face ancient.
What stood out most were the horns that spiraled behind her ears for half a foot behind her, as well as the small branches that were growing out of the back of her palms.
"I think you know why we are here, High-Chief, Forest Mother," Allegra replied, her expression cold and fixed on the woman in front of her. Or at least the form she wanted to show them at that time.
"I do, child, I do, but…" the High-Chief replied, her voice slowly gaining vitality as she got to her feet, her horns beginning to lengthen slowly as her skin got smoother, her face got younger, and her body taller, fairer.
What stood now tall in front of Allegra was one of the most beautiful beings to have ever touched the earth after the Shattering of the Heavens.
She was the ancient Forest Mother, Beast of True Vita, High-Chief of the Metamorphs.
"But I want to hear you say it," the Forest Mother smiled, lowering her head to stare properly into Allegra's crystal white eyes.