Miasto village brings a familiar air of kindred spirits. As Rhea and Row walked down the center stone pavement of the main street, there was nothing but pleasant behavior and antics as far as the eye could see. Children of different families play and mingle with one another, workers of various shops are plastered with smiles, and an overall soothing atmosphere is bolstered by the background sound of light chatter on a cool, sky-blue morning. 

Because Rhea was a newcomer to this village, she did draw some attention from adults who happened to notice her presence. With no other humans present in this village, it was easy to point her out, especially since Miasto was not a densely populated area. 

A small child runs up and calls to Rhea in his tiny voice. 

“Hi, lady!”

Rhea curiously turns to the boy who looks to be about four years old. 

“What’s your name?” The boy asks.

Rhea scratches her head. 

“Er… my name’s…”

The child’s parents call them from afar. 

“Matthew! Come back here! No talking to strangers!” 

The boy turns his head to his parents and runs in their direction. 

“Coming!”

He complies and returns to their side, all the while the parents are still curiously eyeing the tall woman. 

Rhea turns her head and sees more curious eyes and fingers pointed at her, and she grows rather concerned. She leans her body closer to Row’s, gaining his attention with an anxious whisper. 

“Um… am I allowed to be here? I see some people pointing and looking at me…”

Row smirks. 

“Hm, are you sure they aren’t pointing and looking at me?” 

Row shrugs and poses with his hands extended outward. 

“I? The Great Craftsman? Row Mitsu!”

Rhea does not look impressed. 

“No, I don’t think they are.”

“Er, r-right,” A flustered Row calms himself, setting his arms to his side. “Now that you mention it, I do believe you’re the only one of your kind present in this village. That’s probably why they’re so curious as to what you’re doing here. But don’t worry, you can be scary, but not of bad character whatsoever. Or at least that’s as far as I can tell. If anything comes up, I can stand up for you.” 

Rhea’s face is visibly processing his words before answering.  

“Hmm… okay. Thanks, Row.”

“Anytime. Although that moment will probably come soon considering we’re approaching Lucerna’s destination.”

They continue down the stone path, past wandering eyes and homely shops. Shortly after, they find themselves at the end of the street, making a right down the path.  Row is murmuring to himself.

“She should be… right... over… woah!”

Row stops at the edge of the street, sidling against an adjacent home’s wooden wall. Rhea continues walking as she sees Row’s ears and tail perk up. 

“What’s the big deal?” She asked. 

Row grabs her hand. 

“Get back here!”   

Rhea could barely get a glimpse around the corner before she was thrust and whipped to Row’s side. Her back slams against a wall, lightly winding her. 

“Augh! Hey,” Rhea rubs the back of her head. “What’s wrong?” 

Row puts his index finger to his lips. 

“Shh!” 

He peeks his head past the wall again to confirm what he saw, and pulls back. 

“Okay, that explains why she was held up for so long.” 

“Who?” Rhea asked. “Lucerna? She’s there?” 

“She’s there… and she might be there for the next hour. Or two hours. Or even three hours!” 

Rhea gasps. 

“What?! Why?” 

Row peeks his head again, this time Rhea peeks alongside him, her head above his. 

“She’s talking to the Super Senior.” 

Rhea raised her eyebrow. 

“Super Senior?”  

“A super, super old, dusty Kotka who’s been overseeing this village for who knows how long. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a super nice guy filled with a bunch of wisdom, but he’s a real chatter, that one. A lot of the time he doesn’t know when to stop chatting. You don’t even have to be talking about the topic at hand, whatever’s on his mind, he starts yapping about it. It’s really hard to pry someone away from his conversational clutches.”

Rhea squints her eyes and sees the alleged Super Senior sitting at an outdoor café talking with the supposed Lucerna. All Rhea could see was that Lucerna had dark skin and white hair. Meanwhile, the Super Senior and a thick patch of gray whisker-like eyebrows as well as a whisker-like mustache; his eyes were practically covered by his rugged hair. He was a rather slender man with a long-scruffy ponytail. He wore a dusty emerald green robe with a yellow cravat and brown leggings tucked underneath black dress shoes.

The Super Senior sips on a cup of tea before continuing his chat with Lucerna. His voice was rather deep but carried itself with an air of confidence. 

“Really Lucerna, what a lucky gal you are! You can’t seem to stop finding somethin’ new for the village, huh?”

Lucerna’s hands are gently clasped underneath the table. 

“I guess so…” 

“You might be the luckiest Kotka I’ve ever met, but let me tell ya, don’t go relying on that luck twenty-four-seven, okay? Luck can only carry you so far from all the adventurin’ you’ve been doin’ at the outskirts. You gotta learn to unwind and settle down. Have you been checkin’ out the other boys and girls in the village? I can see some of ‘em got their eyes on you.”

“I didn’t notice… but at the same time, I don’t really care. S-sorry if that came off a bit rude. Erm… can I go now?”

The Super Senior raises his hand. 

“Now hold on, I got a few extra things I needed to mention.”

Lucerna droops her head in defeat while Row and Rhea watch from a far distance. Row pulls back, catching Rhea’s attention. 

“Yyyup. We should probably head back to my spot for a little while, they’re gonna be talking for a good long while.”

Rhea raises her eyebrow. 

“What?”

“Or, we don’t have to go back home. I can always show you around town.”

“Screw that. I don’t care if this guy can talk my ear off, I wanna meet the person who dragged me all the way out here.” 

“And I’m telling you that that’s not a good idea!” 

“Well, you did say you would stick up for me so…” 

Rhea takes herself off of the wall and walks toward the café.  Row lunches for her hand again.  

“Wait!” 

Rhea pulls her hand away in time, causing Row to trip forward, revealing himself. Rhea cups her hands in front of her mouth. 

“Heeeey!” 

All the Kotka at the café turn their heads to the sound of the noise. Row is petrified. Lucerna in particular saw Rhea, and her yellow eyes seemed to get brighter. 

As Rhea walked closer to Lucerna and the Super Senior, she finally caught a glimpse of her savior. A head of snowy white hair and luscious dark skin and a pair of small full lips. Her Kotka ears pointed diagonally upward, but it seemed as though she was lacking in a tail. 

Lucerna wore a white crop top jacket with a black undershirt revealing some of her cleavage and midriff. Her legs were bonded with very short black shorts and black boots. A small yellow earring hung by her right ear. 

Her eyes were glued to the towering human as Rhea walked up to Lucerna and the Super Senior and waved casually. 

“Hey,” Rhea smiles softly, “You’re the lady that saved me earlier, right?” 

Lucerna blinks. 

“Y-yeah…?” 

“Thanks a lot for that. I owe you big time.” 

The Super Senior slowly rises from his seat. 

“This is the woman you were talking about earlier?”

Lucerna whipped her head back at the Super Senior.”

“Yes. I was on my way to the Loot Cavern and I found her down the path lying on a field of Zephyr Lilies.”

Super Senior raises his head to examine Rhea. Other café watchers are mumbling to themselves. 

“That’s not a Kotka… who is that?”

“I’ve never seen that woman before. Can I marry her?” 

“I can see past those threads! She’s hiding a gold mine underneath that dress!”

Super Senior holds his arms out and sets his hands down. 

“At ease, friends, at ease.”  

Super Senior redirects his attention to Rhea. 

“Your name, Miss?”

“Rhea. Rhea Evanthelle.”

Super Senior smiles. 

“Miss Rhea, I know not where you come from, but if it’s Lucerna who’s found you, you’re welcome in our home. She’s quite the lucky Kotka, you know?” 

Rhea puts a hand on her hip and raises a brow. 

“Is she?” 

“Indeed she is! She’s the only cat I’ve seen born after hundreds of years without a tail! That means she must be lucky!”

Rhea is chuckling nervously. 

What kinda silly superstition is this?  

“Or at least, I believe her birth to be a blessed omen,” Super Senior continued. “After she was born, we were receiving miracle upon miracle! We had bountiful crops the following years and the weather has been perfect day in and day out!”

Lucerna’s calm, articulate voice interjects. 

“I think that’s more of a coincidence than anything.”

“Nonsense!” Super Senior laughed. “There ain’t a single other Kotka that has no tail but you! You’re our lucky charm.”

Lucerna is murmuring.

“I think your age is starting to show, Mr. Super Senior.”

“Nonsense! I’m still two hundred fifty-seven years young!” 

Rhea’s face suddenly was awash with shock; the color of her skin desaturating to pale white. 

Tuh-tuh-tuh, two hundred fifty-seven?!

“Y-you’re that old?!” Rhea stammers and points at a smiling Super Senior. “But you look like you’re about sixty!”

Super Senior nods. 

“Indeed I am!”

Rhea jumps back. 

“What?!” 

“We Kotka have a particular way of aging, you see. It takes us far longer to grow into an adult than any other species in this realm. During our first year as a baby, it takes us fifteen years to turn into a one-year-old. Then it takes ten years for us to turn into a two-year-old. After that, every four years we age by one! So I’m two hundred fifty-seven years old! Or by human years, I’m about sixty!” 

Taking care of a baby for over twenty-five years does NOT sound fun! Nuh-uh! No way!

The corner of Rhea’s eye spots a child eating with their parents at the café. The two parents were sharing a meal with their little girl. 

“Th-then that means… the little girl over there…”

Super Senior turns his head. 

“Huh? The Chesterfield family? In Kotka years, I believe the girl’s age is forty-one!”

SHE’S OLDER THAN ME?! 

“We live to be quite old if we take care of ourselves well. Lucerna over here just hit one hundred seventeen. That’s twenty-five in human years.” 

“On top of that, everyone has been in more of a fine mood more often since we’ve seen fewer and fewer visits from Fujiko’s gang!”

Rhea raises her brow and crosses her arms. 

“Fujiko’s gang? Are they people that bother you?” 

Lucerna nods. 

“Yeah, Fujiko’s gang-”

“Heeeeeey!”

Row breaks free from his petrification and hobbles over to the table. 

“Hey! Hey there!” He interrupts loudly and talks swiftly. “Mr.Super Senior,it’ssonicetoseeyoutoday. Lu! You’relookingawesomeperusual! Iwasjustlookingforyou! Caretotakeasmallwalktotheoutskirtswithme?” 

Lucerna gently scratches her cheek. 

“Er…”

Row grabs Lucerna’s hand. 

“Great!”

Row also grabs Rhea’s hand. Rhea is a bit surprised by his speed. 

“H-hey!” 

“We’llbringyourcutefriendtoo! Ihavesomethingreallyimportantforyoutohelpmewith! Let’sgo!” 

Super Senior holds out his hand. 

“Ah, Row!”

Row rushes off with Rhea and Lucerna turning down the blind corner.  

“Can’ttalk! Leavingnow! Bye!”

The trio stops halfway down the block and Row lets go of their hands. Row wipes some sweat from his forehead. 

“Whew… I’m surprised we made it out without spending an hour with him. Talk about lucky!”

Row nudges Lucerna with his elbow. 

“Hey, maybe Mr. Senior has a point after all!”  

“I doubt it.”

Lucerna takes a second look at Rhea. The two lock eyes. A sudden sensation of surprise made her heart skip, yet she kept eye contact with her, Lucerna’s gaze full of thought as she eyed the woman taller than her. 

“Hi.” 

Rhea greets her back, a bit confused. 

“H-hey… thanks again for dragging me back here.”

Lucerna shook her head. 

“It was nothing. Thank you for saving me from Mr. Super Senior. I’ve been talking with him for hours after I dropped you off.”

Woah… Row wasn’t kidding…

Lucerna smiles.  

“It’s not every day we get special visitors. As long as you’re not a part of Fujiko’s gang, you can stay here all you want.” 

“Thanks. Er, who's the Fujiko gang?”

Row interjects, stepping in between them.  

“I don’t wanna think about them or even explain them right now. Lu, do you have what I was asking for earlier today?” 

“No… I just came back with the naked woman, and that’s all. I was planning on going back after I dropped her off, but I got stopped by Mr. Super Senior.”

“Where are you headed?” Rhea asked curiously. 

“Back to the Loot Cavern? Do you wanna come?”

“Sure. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.” 

Lucerna nods. 

“Great. How about you, Row?” 

“Sure. I need that crystal that I asked for asap for a crafting project. Hopefully, I can get it faster by helping in the expedition.” 

Rhea interjects. 

“Um… what’s a Loot Cavern?” 

Lucerna gives a big cheesy smile. 

“It’s filled with loot, silly! We’ll have to stop by the Zephyr lily field on the way there. C’mon! I’ll show you!”

Led by Lucerna, a confident Row, and a curious Rhea, the trio set their paths lower down the hilltops, onward to the Loot Cavern.