"What do you mean 'she feels like a mother'?!" growls Khidell, showing actual emotion on his face. "You barely know her! I don't care how old she is!"

"I feel safer with her than I have ever felt at that damn castle!" Kalan snaps back.

"So, she's trustworthy," Ryuu shrugs, more confused than angry like Khidell. "Why a mother?"

Kuro nods, "A sister, I could maybe understand. A guard? Definitely, but a mother? What's the thought process here?" he crosses his arms. I watch as the other two do the same and Kalan rolls his eyes again. They are all standing near the fire, trying to keep warm.

"I don't know," Kalan sighs, which seems to piss Khidell off even more. "She seems like she genuinely cares about us, and I've never felt that way about anybody else in the castle, not even from Kuro." He points to the silver-haired boy, who seems hurt by this statement, but it doesn't last long. A moment later, he notices my leaning against the wall, in clothes.

"Where the hell did you get those?" he asks and the other three all flip around towards me.

I smirk, "It's about time we get ready to go when the storm lets up." I spin around and they follow me out of the room. They pause when they see the new hole in the wall, before moving on with different looks of resignation. "Take what you need and can use, the rest will be left here." I say over my shoulder as I grab one of the many duffle bags. I start loading it with a polishing and sharpening kit that someone brought and then a first aid kit and various rags, potions and poisons that I've collected. I set that down by the door while the boys browse the swords, and Kuro looks at bows. I grab a belt that has pouches attached for throwing stars, and knives, connect the sheaths for two short swords on the back so they lay on my lower back, and set it with the duffle. I then move towards the spears and go through the various qualities, until I find one that I recognize came with a griffin and two phoenix. That was the first time I lost myself to hunger, and, now I realize, went into heat.

I shake my head clear of the memories, and move on to examining the magic imbued spear. I can feel witch's magic that enhance the already strong spear, that's made of a God's tooth. The whole thing is covered in runes that are only visible to those that can see magic and is practically indestructible. If I remember correctly, the male phoenix told me he bought it at a flea market for a good price and it's never let him down. I grab it and wrap the black blade in a piece of cloth I ripped from some shirt in one of the piles. I lean that on the wall by the duffle and see that the boys are ready as well.

"Bring me your bags," I say and they look at me confused. "You have to blend in and wearing such fine clothes aren't going to cut it." they nod and then jump to go grab their bags. While they do that, I struggle to remember where I threw all the sleeping bags and tents that the hunters brought. It's in another room next to the room the boys are in at the end of the hall, I remove the illusion just as the boys come to bring me their bags. They pause once again, and seem irritated. I grin and take their bags. "Pick out a tent and sleeping bag." I gesture to the room and they sigh, before following my directions. I take their bags back to the other room. I empty them out and roll my eyes when I see silks and jewels. I sigh and start digging through the much larger pile of men's clothes for their sizes. I find three outfits for them, and a cloak as well. I back their bags with two outfits and a small bag of jewels to be sold at a later date, before the boys come back with three sleeping bags and a tent. I pack them into the respective bags, then I place them with mine and see that the boys have already placed their chosen weapons there.

"Alright," Ryuu breaks the silence. "Now we just eat and wait for the storm." I nod and we follow him back to the other room. They still have most of the deer from earlier, so they cook some of it and they tell me stories of the kingdom. I know most of everything, but they make me laugh anyway. We go to bed like that and sleep peacefully through the night.