After two long days and nights of travelling, arguing, and running, they had finally hit the next town, a small settlement surrounded by forest. Cináed, partway through the trip, had been completely exhausted, and as a result had let his magic fade from his appearance, reverting back to Aella’s form. The only difference (other than the enormous attitude jump) to tell it was really him was the shiny metallic color replacing Aella’s blue-grey irises.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26t1U4vqJf
He’d noticed Luna watching him every so often, and she finally said, “Your eyes are strange. Almost like a human’s, only you know, silver… well, I guess it makes sense.” 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dQ3JAaEv5
“Eh? What makes you say that?” The eyes in question flickered to her as he turned to face her in his saddle.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Kz8hDLEcq
“Weeeeeell, you’re a shapeshifter, so you have to take the thing’s form, right? … Do shifters even have their own form? I mean, why humans…?” She trailed off, looking a bit dazed.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUp85DGR1C
He was kind of at a loss at her question, but answered anyway. “Uh, yeah. Shifters do have their own forms, in a way… it’s a bitch to explain. They just learn how to look like humans, because most spend the majority of their lives on Earth with humans, y’know?” He shrugged. “And the color, that’s easy. It matches our magic. There’s a lot concentrated there - we rely on sight a lot. Bright light changes whatever eye color we chose to that, ‘cause it’s reflecting off the magic instead. And it usually glows.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6INFjBJk0L
“Ohhhh…” Luna paused, crossing her arms. “I guess it’s kinda like our world. Everyone is like a human, but Fia says that’s because humans accidentally cross the portals and, you know, breeding happens! So unlike this world, and I guess your world, almost everyone has magic, but they don’t have a choice for human form. Oh! But if you don’t have magic, technically some species can transfer parts of their magic! Like witches… and …and some elementals?” She rambled on about the subject, then finally stopped to breathe. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt0YKPGUQA
“Huh.” Seeing as he had no experience with their world, he was pretty curious. “Don’t get me wrong, though. The shifter’s dimension is completely made of magic. Everything. Even shifters can’t put up with it for long.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxbkRAUagY
"Everything?!" she gasped. "That’s so… uh…" She seemed stuck on the word to use, then just gave up and grinned.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZej6BagTJ
He nodded. “I know.” Redirecting the conversation, he asked, “What’s your world like?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVJoVypwpt
She looked up, eyes glazed in thought. “Well, I guess it depends on where you go! My island was more…” She narrowed her eyes, getting stuck on the word again, then shrugged and gave up. Then she smiled again. “But there was a ton of trees and vines and birds and prey! Neoma’s land is pretty neat too, like, it’s in the middle of all the climates, and it’s huge! Not as huge as Fia’s… but it’s in the center of a ton of climates! So their land is full of elements and elementals!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrp14981u7
”So does their element depend on where they live, or is it random?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmadktjYpG
“Mmhmm!! On the island, anyway!” She paused again. “On Fia’s land its more witches, and fairies, and other things like that… well, fairies are kinda elementals too… Oh!” She continued. “But there’s bigger kinds of creatures, and a few smaller ones!” 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdbCjNTMbU
”So who’s Fia?” 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLXL7mL3u3
“”She’s our friend and the keeper of portals on our island! She sets up portals and where and when they go places - she’s a witch!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjDsrgcHsI
”Huh. You guys need to go see her to get back to your world, then?” he asked, wondering if this witch was at the destination Neoma had been so vague about.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH7D1uL0aY
“No, we know the destination to go to! Neoma’s sister, Ee, was messing with the portals and sent us through…”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFSG7W2UeA
He grinned a bit. “Bet a certain bitch wasn’t so happy about that.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQwEgl6jF6
”Heard that!” Neoma growled.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VSKwdYOGC
“Good.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbuKsT4gIY
She giggled. “She’s going to killlllll her!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKf1UV4xM4
”Hah, sounds fun.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYh8qk7exmC
”I like Ee, though…” Luna pouted a bit. “Her lap is reeeally warm…”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2FQkuO5F2
He was quiet for a few moments, then abruptly changed the subject. “What about you? You’re a familiar, right?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZreRFUfMK
She thought for a second, then nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Well, technically, not everyone in my village is a familiar, but almost anything can be a familiar, so…”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg52wWKsTBG
”What’s your village like?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNR0PlcNgk
Luna kicked her legs off the horse, accidentally hitting it once, and patted its shoulder with a mumbled apology. “Well… it was different than this! I mean, there was conflict between the other clan and us, and a little conflict inside it, but they weren’t really accepting of outsiders… no, that’s a lie. As long as you could hunt, you were good…” She gave a short hum, conflicted in her thoughts. “We had a different ranking system!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmuB3lvmtq
”How?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhuSFauOYb
”Well, there was the head family, but I guess that’s everywhere… There really wasn’t anything under that, though. The normal population, then the prisoners.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxoJtibarJ
”Sounds pretty simple.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIsqqCaKGB
She nodded. “And the prisoners could become part of our village if they worked it off, or they could choose to go home after they worked enough.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypk0Kx67qe
Huh, that was surprising. “You guys would just let them go?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6gMHUTnRU
”Well, the village didn’t like each other, but we weren’t total jackasses - the prisoner could have a family! The amount of work they had to do depended on the crime against the other tribe. If it was something like murder or stealing another tribe’s children, then they probably would be dead when they got back home. Bad leaders were kicked out, too. If they did evil things, then they were evil people, and obviously couldn’t lead correctly. And a corrupted leader makes a corrupted clan.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbW6lgZL85J
Truest statement he’d heard all day. He nodded. “Doesn’t sound like that bad of a way to live.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡja6OwWI9IE
Neoma shifted uncomfortably, glancing over at the two. Luna only nodded happily. “It was!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVpN5KHxaJ
”Was?” The shifter looked over at her.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbm1y3Jlut
She bit her lip and nodded. “Was. What’s your home like?!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLf4bOBLwOl
He blinked at the switched topic, then hesitated. “Eh… like I said earlier, shapeshifters pretty much just live here on Earth, so..” He half-shrugged.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuY1j9bbTWM
“There’s a pretty much to that, though,” she prodded, smiling.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCPOIQaHy5
”Not all shifters do. I do.” He gave her a flat look, much preferring for her to drop it.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuNFNQJwAN
”Oh.” She pouted. “But Earth’s boring!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38zZXCOPGJ
”In your opinion.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡge0WUhMi06
”In a lot of people’s opinions!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pSAYRv4fQ
”Not in mine.” Better than quite a few places he’d seen. (Including the ones by accidental force, but some of those were cool, too.)706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdDtFSrzjn
She pouted again, glaring. “Well, your opinion’s stupid.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxzAdtj78E
He raised an eyebrow at her. “I can say the same for yours.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQ4Xpuf7Wg
”Oh really? If you shapeshifted in front of a lot of people in this world, they’d burn you at the stake! In our world, it’s totally normal and accepted!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEzetwciOe
He started to smirk. “Shapeshifters don’t usually have that problem, though,” he pointed out. “First, we’re practically impossible to corner, and if we are, we can still escape. Second, you can’t burn one of us to death - most wouldn’t burn, period. Hell, I’ve shifted in front of people just for fun. It’s hilarious, they freak out. Sometimes, they pass out.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AvLy8fO5z
She had a blank face, then stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms in defeat. He grinned, and she started to giggle.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqD56gs62HC
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* * * * *706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6F7G68fGqZ
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Just before they’d entered the town, Cináed had shifted back out of Aella’s appearance. Now he was back to his reddish-haired form, although tired-looking.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7hFzU0U17
Neoma had changed her shadow horse to look more normal, which had caused a lot of bucking and protest and had taken a few minutes and calming gestures.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbJoUrzI95
He looked over at the elemental. “So. What’re we even doing here?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYN1cdhXDkG
“Well, we’re heading up to a small town. It’s where one of our portals are located.” She looked down, glaring at the ground.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNo1Xj2mTZ2
”We spending any time in this town?” he sighed.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3fSbbt8vE
“Besides getting more food, no.” She looked down at Luna, who was walking around the horse’s feet, nimble enough to not get stepped on. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUblCroAAbv
“Good.” Luna paused her playing to look behind them, then darted under the horse again. He glanced at her distractedly, then went back to looking around.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzCE8PeMYb
Neoma rolled her eyes, pointing to a store “Stay here okay?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFqkI8RQA1
“Why?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wmApl7ck4
“I’m not talking to you, asshat. I’m talking to Luna.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMhIyfJ9Ps
“Yeah, I know that,” he grumbled, annoyed. “Why’re you leaving her there though?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfxHyT9MPJ
“Because we’re going into the store to get food.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ovtuuygwD
He huffed. “Took her last time. Whatever, let’s just hurry.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb40byVCzBU
“Yeah, yeah.” She jumped off the horse and tied it to the pole, leaving Luna to curl up next to it. He did the same, muttering something under his breath.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTx8w7DmuxY
Neoma walked quietly into the store, looking at all the foods they had set out. Cináed followed a few steps behind, looking a lot less interested and mostly just glaring at either the floor or Neoma’s head. She didn’t seem to notice, as she was looking over the food. “Pick whatever the fuck looks good.” 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnhNWWRA03
He gave her an irritated look. “Can’t you pick yourself?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcilgvbDMfl
“‘Course, but you have to eat sometime.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGPIEsEkdu
“I don’t CARE what I eat,” he complained. “Unlike some people, I’m not picky.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVI4VpBi6j
She scoffed as she began to pick up a few fruits. “Riiiight.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrsBMgIIFU
A short while later, the two had managed to get a decent amount of supply and approached the counter. After showing it all to the shopkeeper, Neoma pushed some shadow money toward him - it was something she had been working on for awhile, and it was finally to her standards. The man didn’t see any difference, at least.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnamQC2UWHJ
Outside, Luna was completely immersed in her thoughts until Neoma spoke. “You okay there?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DU1kiDszN
The familiar jolted up, purring in response, as Cináed quickly untied his horse. Neoma followed suit, and they rode out of the town with Luna trotting ahead.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41tvWDcNIP
Penana
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