"Philia." Walter greeted her with a nod and then waved to the duo behind him. "This is The Lord of Darkness, and his mate, the Lady of Hellfire." He introduced them. "I'm taking them to see the Fatebreaker, before he croaks."

Philia scowled at Walter. "You shouldn't speak of someone so revered by all in such a manner. It is unbecoming." She scolded him. "And get down here so I can beat you."

Walter chuckled and dismounted Copper with such unbothered casualness that it almost seemed insulting to the words that the woman had just spoken. Walter turned and took a step towards her with a smirk. "Been a while, sissy." He told her with a wide grin.

Philia shook her head and they each took another step towards each other and wrapped each other in a tight but quick familial hug. They both pulled back and Philia narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm serious. Why don't you ever stop by to see me?" Her authoritative air had almost completely shattered as she scolded Walter like he was her little brother.

"I've been busy." He told her. "And you know how much I hate the capital. You and the capital are the only reasons I have to come this way."

"Still, you could come and see me at least every decade or so. It's been, what, damned near thirty years since the last time I saw your ugly face." She continued to pick on him.

Walter chuckled and nodded towards Isaac and Lenna. "Well, you can thank them for my visit then."

Philia turned and straightened slightly. Her air of authority was back and she gave them both a nod in greeting. "I am Captain Philia Ash'Walker of the Errantee Guard, Commander of Great Forest Fortress Seventeen, and I welcome you to this military installation. You are welcome to use the guest quarters as well as the mess hall. The smith is a private businessman who set up shop here, as is the armorer who's shop is behind his. They will charge you fair but above average prices for almost anything you need pertaining to their crafts. News of famous people from the human lands rarely reaches out this far, so I am afraid that I do not know of you or your reputations. Please allow that to be rectified over dinner in my office." She eyed Walter. "And make sure to bring this escape artist with you, if you please?"

Isaac couldn't help but crack a smirk. "I think we can manage that." He agreed and then his mirth fell. "But first, is there any way, in this godsforsaken forest, to feel dry?"

Philia gave him an apologetic smile. "Less damp, sure. Dry…" She turned and looked at Walter. "I should've known you were coming when it rained for four days straight here." She then turned back to Isaac. "Everything will remain humid enough to turn a fresh loaf soggy for at least the next three days."

"I said it before, I'll say it again," Isaac began. "I like you Walter, but I never want to go anywhere with you again."

Philia chuckled and smacked Walter on the arm. "Good to know some things never change."

—

Philia's office was twenty feet wide and thirty feet deep. The floors were solid maple as were the walls and ceiling. Her desk wrapped back around both sides of her chair to allow for more than double the available desk space of a conventionally shaped desk. There was a dining table set with six chairs off to one side and a map table off to the other which projected an illusory copy of the forest, including the current weather. All of the furniture was made of ash wood and built thickly enough to handle a century of regular use at least.

Walter led Isaac and Lenna inside without waiting for a reply after his solitary knock on the door. "Break time." Walter told Philia who was nearly finished debriefing one of the returning scouts.

Philia leaned around the scout to peer at Walter and nodded towards the dining table. She then returned her full attention to the scout. "Continue." She told him.

"Yes, ma'am." The scout replied. "As mentioned, we found four destroyed trees but there was nothing left of the animal corpses. Either both sides called it a loss and scattered, or something moved in and took the corpses from the victors."

Philia grabbed a tiny red flag with a small circular base and handed it to the scout. "Show me where." She ordered him and the two approached the map table as Isaac, Lenna, and Walter waited off to the side.

The scout eyed the map for a long moment before he placed the flag. "That's about five miles from the dryads." Walter cut in and walked over to join them.

The scout looked momentarily startled by Walter butting in and looked to his commander for guidance. Philia was already nodding along with what Walter said so the scout turned and faced the newcomer directly. "Yes, sir." He agreed.

"We stopped by to have a chat with them on our way here." Walter explained. "They refused to directly confirm or deny the presence of a lindwyrm."

Stolen novel; please report.

"So there was a real problem that came along with your visit." Philia commented with a flat look. "Where is it?"

Walter shook his head. "Nothing concrete but I think it's using the border with Ruler's domain as a shield." He explained.

"That's over two hundred miles from where the incident occurred." Philia countered. "Lindwyrms aren't exactly known for high travel speeds."

Walter nodded in agreement. "But they are known to continually expand their territory until something scares them or forces them back. It hasn't made any moves up the mountain range as far as I'm aware." He explained.

Philia looked deep in thought for a moment before she turned to regard the scout once more. "Is there anything else to report?" She asked him.

The scout shook his head. "No, ma'am." He replied immediately.

"Then you are dismissed." Philia spoke.

"Thank you, ma'am." The scout said with a nod and was about to turn and leave when Philia stopped him.

"Ven, make sure you and your men actually take the next two days to rest." She told him with some concern. "Expect a long deployment afterwards."

The scout, Ven, nodded again. "Yes, ma'am. I'll see to it that everyone is on light activity until we are next needed." Philia nodded and then he turned to leave. He gave Walter, who was right next to him, a nod in farewell and then gave the duo on the sideline one as well before he left.

"If it can wait until my current job is done…" Walter offered Philia and nodded towards the dining table.

"I know." She replied with a contemplative nod. "I don't know if headquarters will permit such an expense for anything less than an apocalyptic level threat. What do you think its rating is at the moment?" She asked and pulled out her chair which was the cue for everyone to sit.

Walter frowned and took off his hat. A chef entered with a cart full of fresh meats and plenty of berries and leaves of varying kinds. All of it looked to have come from the forest. "The dryad's are scared of it." Walter explained. "I'd put it at thirty to forty years."

Philia paled. "Walter, you think that there is a twenty foot long invisible snake with hands and size duplicating magics prowling about my forest?" She swallowed and the chef paused as he was still in the middle of setting the table. The chef's hands started to tremble slightly as he forced himself to continue to set the food out for the commander and her three guests. "That thing's damned near big enough to eat a woman whole!"

"That's why I offered to take care of it. It won't be cheap though." Walter told her.

Philia leaned back in her chair and nodded. It was at that moment when she seemed to remember that Isaac and Lenna were there. The duo had just been watching the entire scene unfold up until that point. Isaac and Lenna had previously sent some questioning glances to each other around what kind of relationship Walter and Philia actually had. They knew that Walter was not born an elf but simply arrived at the age of one hundred years old. Ash'Walker was also a mildly suspicious elvish surname as it sounded much more human than high elven.

"Oh, pardon my manners." Philia greeted the duo. "Thank you for coming and please forgive us for bringing work to the dining table."

"It's fine." Isaac waved her off. "We've been with Walter throughout most of his contemplation pertaining to the lindwyrm, as well as his meeting with the dryads."

"Have you ever encountered one?" Philia asked with raised eyebrows and then immediately began stuffing her face like she hadn't eaten in at least a full day.

"Slow down." Walter chastised her as he elbowed her arm. Philia, to her credit, slowed down to about the speed of most of the soldiers in the mess hall, which was to say 'impolitely fast' but no longer 'half starved to death'.

"No, we have not." Isaac informed her as Lenna had finally finished removing her helmet which she handed to Isaac. Isaac covered it in shadows and it vanished a second later.

Walter's keen senses and eyes seemed to pick up on something that no one else's ever had as he narrowed his eyes at Isaac. His gaze flicked to where the helmet had been and then back to the dark mage's eyes and back again before he just raised an eyebrow in question. Isaac shook his head almost imperceptibly.

Philia looked over Lenna's now exposed features for a moment before she just nodded to herself and continued eating. The look and nod were just strange, as was her total lack of reaction at having a drow in her midst. In fact, she hadn't even had a reaction to her name previously which brought the question: 'Did she already know?'

"As much fun as talking about the many powerful and awesome beasts and monsters of our world is," Isaac began. "Lenna and I have been wondering," He looked back and forth between Walter and Philia. "Walker, Ash'Walker? If the more human surname wasn't enough, the similarity but distinct lack of identicality, especially considering how Walter called you 'Sissy', seems like an interesting story to say the least."

Philia looked to Walter with a questioning gaze for a moment before he just outright told her: "He's like me. We've already talked about it."

Surprise and irritation in equal measure hit Isaac at the same time. That was not Walter's secret to spill but it was also worth noting that Walter had still been obtuse when referring to said secret. That meant that Philia might not have been given the whole truth or at least the secret was safe enough with her that her knowing shouldn't end up mattering in the end.

"Ah!" Philia brightened. "I have so many questions but, unlike Walter, I will refrain myself. I'm sure he has already pestered you enough." She offered which was honestly quite a relief for Isaac. "Well, when my father first stumbled across this notorious troublemaker, he was stealing food to survive on the streets and building crazy contraptions out of scraps."

Throughout dinner, Philia went on to explain how the young Walter had been gearing himself up to make a living fighting monsters with nothing but ingenuity and scraps, with a belly full of stolen fruits and stale discarded bread. Her father had been called in to deal with the 'troubled youth' making a ruckus. The twentieth level sword dancer had been utterly blindsided when a crossbow fired three bolts simultaneously at him. That started a game of cat and mouse as Walter moved throughout the outskirts of the city, throwing trap and crazy contraption after trap and crazy contraption at the legendary dual swordsman. The entire thing had started because Philia's father had intercepted Walter with a bit too much displayed power and authority which caused the young and alone Walter to spook like a stray cat. Philia's father had let Walter tire himself out and run out of contraptions before they finally came to a stop around where they had started. Philia's father had been nicked a few times and was covered in dust and dirt but otherwise only mildly winded as Walter had collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.

"He just systematically went through everything I threw at him." Walter added. "That was the first time I truly realized that if anything was overwhelming it was truly that, overwhelming." He smirked to himself. "After that, he offered me a place to stay and a mild allowance as long as I trained hard and eventually joined his daughter's hunting group."

Philia nodded along. "I had stagnated and father had told me time and time again that I needed to think outside the box in order to grow."

"It seems to have worked." Lenna commented. Both she and Isaac knew that Philia was at maximum level through and through.

"Actually, working, fighting, and tracking alongside Walter just led me to a conclusion that I had always known: 'I'm only a decent sword dancer.'" She said with a shrug. "I eventually became a druid and now this is my section of the forest."

"Specifically the area of about a mile in each direction." Walter explained. "I could feel the change in the air as soon as we entered her 'garden'."

"An Old Ranger?" Lenna asked.

Philia nodded. "Five, six, nine. Warrior, rogue, druid." She easily agreed and then expanded upon Lenna's comment.

"Old Ranger?" Isaac wondered.

Walter leaned in. "Well, some believe, that long ago, there were only four classes."

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