“What should we do with her?” A man asked.

“Ugh, she’s so disgusting, do all Ardenians come like this?” Another commented, “It’s absolutely disgusting, I knew they were savages, but I thought they at least had hygiene,”

“Enough, we’re here to do a job, let’s not get wrapped up in all this gossip,” A third man interjected, “If you lot won’t do anything, I will,”

“Be our guest,” The first man replied.

There was a shuffling of feet and Auria was left in a small tent with one man, he was dressed in a military uniform, though she didn’t know who he was, certainly not Ardenian, where was she?

“Morning,” The man said, “We found you lost at the border, so we brought you back with us… Mind telling me what such a little girl was doing there?”

Auria, with her limited capabilities in Ikarian, struggled with the question for a little before speaking, “Running…” She replied.

“From what?”

“Bad people… Very bad…”

“I see… Well, I’m Rifleman Senwell, what’s your name?” Senwell asked, “I hear names are important, so I’m curious,”

“Auria…” Auria hesitated for a moment, “Crane… Auria Crane…”

“Auria Crane, huh? Well, isn’t that a neat name, honestly I’m a bit jealous of you,” Senwell snickered, “Anyway, how are you? Can I get you anything?”

Auria shook her head.

“Alright…” Senwell said, “Get some rest, okay? We don’t exactly have any ways to get you washed up, but we’ll be travelling back to Command in the morning, so we’ll bring you along, allow you to get set up, alright?”

Instead of paying any more attention to Senwell, Auria hopped up and drew a transmutation circle into the dirt. She placed a palm onto it and water sprouted from it! With this, she washed the dirt and grime from her face.

Senwell was left in awe, and trotted off to tell the other members of his team, meanwhile Auria just curled up into a sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.