“Uh, the ones over the ridge in the forest.” the woman answered as Touya landed in front of her, rubble strewing around them.

“Big ones? A lot?” Touya asked excitedly.

“Touya, no!” Basil ordered as he stumbled down the rocks much less gracefully. “We can't just go around killing every bit of wildlife that poses a threat once in a while.”

“Why not?” Touya asked with a rather composed tone of voice as he watched Basil trip. He opened his arms and caught his companion, then held his weight until Basil was able to get his feet underneath himself.

“Because.” Basil coughed. “Her Ladyship has expressly forbidden you to do any needless killing. Not even a wolf on a farm would count.”

“But it's attacking the traders!” Touya pointed out.

“They came after our chickens last night.” the woman nodded. She crossed her arms underneath her breasts as one hand pressed to her cheek as she sighed. “It was a real pain to frighten them off with just our torches.”

“Oooh, what if,” Touya turned to Basil, “we wait until nightfall when they circle again and then clean their clocks?”

Basil shook his head. “You'd be better off being productive, like making a barrier.”

Touya scoffed. “That's no fun.”

The woman's eyes went wide as she looked between the two. Basil's blond hair in his pony tail appeared messy, but his gleaming orange eyes stuck out to her as if his head itself were a pumpkin. As she studied Touya, she noticed what she had thought was brown hair was actually a shade more akin to a purple grape, with his right eye being a vivid royal purple and his left eye the color of a lush grassy plain. “You're Her Majesty's entourage?”

Touya looked at her with a blank face, then gave her a toothy grin. “Nah, more like, her babysitters.”

“Is she nearby?” a man asked, coming over.

Within minutes the two were surrounded by the tradesmen hounding them with questions about how the young Queen was, where she was, and if she knew about the landslide here.

Basil clapped his hands together to make a few loud bursts of sound which made the pestering group fall silent. “Her Majesty sent us to check on the ruins, not to deal with this landslide. The people who are better suited to that will be arriving shortly. We have to leave, now, Touya.”

The young man frowned at the blond, but he did not reluctantly. “We'll set up a barrier to protect you from the wolves tonight. The workers should arrive tomorrow.”

Before the crowd could pester them more, the two scampered up over the boulders and used them as a bridge to climb up onto the grassy ridge above. Touya grabbed some loose plants and roots to use as a rope to pull his weight up. Once he was on stable mossy ground above, he turned around, reached down and helped get Basil up the last few feet.

“Whew.” Touya huffed then chuckled. “I forgot how crazy people can be about her.”

“It's cause you had to bring her up.”

“No, I didn't. You did.” Touya waved his arms wide as Basil stepped around him into the dark of the trees. “You had to go and mention about the barrier magic and that got us caught!”

“They would've never seen through our magic if you hadn't interrupted their conversation about the wolves.” Basil lectured as Touya followed him a few paces behind.

“Give me a break. It's boring hiding in plain sight.”

Basil stopped suddenly, which caused Touya to bump into him. As the blond whipped around to lecture him, Touya took four immediate steps back. With his lecturing hand, Basil swung a strong gust of air that almost cut Touya's chin.