Lana smiled and headed toward the training room the Blade kids hung out in. She opened the door when she got there and realized it was dinner time for them and she smiled brightly seeing them enjoy their meal.
Peter was hanging out inside the door where Lana expected him to be. Winnefred was there as well, having just delivered the food.
"Can I talk to you, Peter?"
"Me? Of course. Who do I need to pound?" He hit his hand with his fist.
Lana chuckled, "I'm trying to decide if I should tell Sam something. I don't know if this will help in the grand scheme of things. You need some of this because if you bring the kids, they will need to stay in shelter."
"What's going on? I'm not the best for advice."
"I know that but you are with the kids right now. So, Sam should hear from the Earthborn there are dalki on my planet soon."
"What? Let's go pound them!" He jumped out of his seat.
Lana chuckled, "Peter, please sit. I'm not done."
"Oh."
"So, I got a team on site before the Earthborn arrived. I have everything on video. At least from the angle my team was situated. The dalki are protecting that settlement. I'm sure you remember how they get attacked by those flora saurs."
He nodded.
"The dalki were recorded killing them. Their backs are to the settlement. When Oscar fell, Ruby, the settlement leader, picked up his demon-tier sword and ordered the dalki, specifically One-Horn, to let them leave and they did. Other news is the dalki took her daughter."
"I still would like to pound them but ask Sam. Quinn asked me to protect the Blade children so I need to listen."
Lana nodded, "just understand, until further notice, if you bring them to the planet for training, they need to stay in shelter."
Peter nodded and they left.
Sam could be found in the exact same spot, like he never moved. Lana told him of her conversation with Peter.
"I have indeed heard from General Innu. I didn't know they were in a protective role nor that there was a child taken away by the dalki. Any thoughts on this situation?"
"Based on what I have available, I believe Arthur engineered this as part of his agreement to work with the dalki. Taking Minny was an insurance policy to make sure Arthur upheld his end of the deal."
"Which is?"
"Take out the vampires based on what little he told Quinn. We really don't have much to go on but that's my two cents."
Sam nodded, "for right now, I think I'll keep your details to myself. Can I have the footage?"
Lana nodded, "I'll have Kattie or someone at the command post send it."
Lana returned home with Shalt posting at the door. With dalki on the planet, he was more concerned than ever. Dobin also decided he'd be staying at his sister's side for now. Lana checked in on the kids who were already asleep. Dawn was dozing off so she just let her sleep and returned to the living room.
Dobin was sitting in a chair looking over his new sword intently. He found strange markings and a button just like on Lana's sword.
"Lana, what do these makings mean?"
She took the sword, "it's more arcane markings. It says Cybil Plantwell. I wonder if mother was a dual sword user."
"Does your sword say that?"
She nodded, "and then some. There are all kinds of symbols I can't identify yet but I'm learning. This trinket, though…" She pulled it out of her pocket looked it over. Is this some kind of animal? Alex's words came back to her. Looking at it closer, she could sort of see wings. Maybe this thing here is a set of gils? It's on both side like the wings… I guess this could be? … Yes, there are 4 but strange-looking legs. She turned it over and brushed her fingers over the symbols on what could be called a beast belly.
As her finger graced the symbols, they lit up which, oddly, made it easier for her to read.
"Come forth my friend," she said dreamily. She felt the trinket start the change and she dropped it to the floor. She watched as the trinket changed from a gold and silver color combination to a tanish-yellow. It started growing and Lana's spacious living room suddenly felt cramped.
Lana and Dobin both stood staring at a beast whose back was taller than they were. It was like looking at Caser when he wasn't transformed into his smaller form. The front half looked like a lion, complete with mane. The back half looked like a tiger, stripes and all. However, the feet… The front half of the feet looked normal for such an animal but the back half of the feet had them scratching their heads. In the front, it looked like the back talon of an eagle was just randomly included in the beast's physique. In the back feet, the back half had hooves. It was as if the beast were crafted by someone to prepare it for various terrains. A deeper inspection would reveal the front of the back feet were webbed.
"Um…" Lana said.
"It's not attacking us…" Dobin said.
"It probably can't move! See how it's ducking its head because the ceiling is too low?" Lana chuckled uneasily. With trembling fingers, she reached out. She was touching the tiger end. Dobin touched the lion end.
"It's really soft!" Lana exclaimed.
"I'm more impressed it doesn't seem angry." Dobin retorted.
"Well," Lana said, "Our mother left these for us so I have to think it won't hurt us. I have Caser and Griddlebone. Do you want this big guy? It looks like you summon him as a companion similar to how I summon Max. Only it's an item instead of being attached to your body."
"What does it eat?" Dobin asked.
Lana chuckled, "Whatever it wants?"
"How do we turn it back to the item?"
Lana chuckled nervously, "not sure…" She thought for a second with her hand on the beast. "Rest My Friend." It shrank back into the item once more.
Lana picked it up and handed it to her brother. "You now have a mount. You can fly up to its back. To summon it, you touch it and say come forth my friend. To put it away, say, rest my friend."
Dobin took the trinket and listened to his sister's instructions. He was feeling pretty good. He had a really nice sword and a pocket-beast.