With shock and surprise, Red recognised the voice. That tone hit him like a thousand knives. He slowly turned behind him, to see the person standing there,

“Karla!? What are you doing here? Are you here alone?”,

Suddenly Gália appeared out of nowhere,

“Yo Red",

“Gália?”,

Karla ran to him and hugged him with force. Clearly she missed him dearly. As she did so, Gália walked towards him and went to shake his hand, but Red ignored it and just hugged him with all his strength. After he finished greeting Gália, he turned to Karla and knelt down to her size, he placed his right hand on her head and moved her hair around a little, petting her,

“What in the world are you guys doing here?”,

“Well after…” Gália stopped himself for a second, realizing Red was with company “that thing happened, me and Karla travelled South to safety. It was utter chaos in the city so I wanted to make sure shed be safe",

“That thing…” Red noticed Gália holding his words because of Amelia and Maria “Oh, Gália, don’t worry, they know everything”,

“You what? You always try to keep these thing a secret",

“Yeah well it’s a long story, i’ll explain later. Are you here to get some rooms?”,

“Yeah, were just stopping, were on our way to Savanna" Red responded,

“Savanna huh? Hey Micheal get this man and these two ladies two rooms would you? Put it on my tab" Gália said to the man at the counter,

“Of course",

Red looked towards him but Gália just smiled as if to say don’t worry. Suddenly Maria prayed into sight and Karla noticed her,

“Who’s that?” Karla asked with doubt in her voice,

“Karla, that’s Maria”,

Karla walked over to the girl “Hi, I’m Karla”,

Maria backed up a little due to shyness. Karla looked at her funny before placing a smile on her face and saying,

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Are you shy? Or maybe scared?”,

Maria just grabbed Amelia as if to ask for support. Amelia looked down at Maria and smiled a bit before turning to Karla. She knelt down just like Red did to greet the girl,

“Hello there Karla, I’m Amelia” she told her holding out her hand for a handshake,

Karla looked at her with confusion “An Exile?”,

Amelia jumped up in shock and fear. She had never seen the girl but straight away her biggest secret was just discovered. She looked at Red as if to ask how did she know and Red just scratched his head and smiled,

“Sorry Amelia, I should have told you. Karla was born with Insight",

“Insight?” Amelia asked still in shock,

“Yeah she has the ability to tell a person’s abilities and magical prowess just by looking at their eyes",

Amelia turned to the girl with surprise “Such na amazing ability" she whispered,

Suddenly Red looked to Karla “Karla that’s not how you greet some one" he said with a stern tone",

“Ah sorry" she responded with a smile “Hi Amelia, I’m Karla",

“Amelia this is Gália, the greatest weaponsmith in all the Kingdoms” Red told her,

“A pleasure my lady" Gália said bowing his head,

“Likewise” she said bowing her head as well,

A moment of silence went by before Red clapped his hands together and suggesting that the adults go to the bar and drink while the kids get to know each other. Everyone seemed to agree that was a good idea, but Maria was still shy. Red turned to her and knelt once again. He came close to Maria and whispered something in her ear. Suddenly Maria was ecstatic and cheerful, she started talking with Karla and Karla responded with the same cheerfullness. As the adults watched them talk, they sneakily walked over to the bar for a drink,

“So what will you be drinking? Red? Miss Amelia?” Gália asked as they got to the counter,

“Oh just Amelia please" she said trying to avoid pleasantries “I think I’ll have a glass of wine",

“Hey Fendeal, bring the lady a glass of Brugrian Port",

“Sure thing Gália” the bartender responded,

“What about you Red?”,

“A glass of Fersian Spirit”,

Amelia took notice of what he ordered with attention. She noticed he mentioned Fersia twice now but knew not of what he was talking about. As the drinks came, Amelia took a small sip of the port wine and blushed with amazement,

“This is really good",

“Yeah the Dwarves make the best wine in all the realm" Gália told her while chugging down a pint of Holvien Lager “So Red, I see you found new companions",

“Yes at least we get to Savanna. I want to introduce Amelia to the other Exiles, and I’m taking Maria to Dianna",

“Ah the Alchemist Queen, no better teacher”,

Amelia turned to Gália “Hey Gália, have you known Red long?”,

“Oh yes quite, ever since he came into my shop to have a look at Vermelha" Gália shouted a bit as the booze settled in,

“Wait, did you make Vermelha?”,

“Oh how I wish but no. Not even with all my knowledge, I still wouldn’t know how to place magic into a sword. I don’t even think anyone in Savanna would know how. That’s why we got so close" he explained,

“I see” Amelia said as she drank her wine,

Red hadn’t touched his drink and the other two noticed. Before Amelia could say anything, Gália jumped in,

“Come on, what’s on your mind?”,

Red just looked at his glass, stroking it slowly with his hands. The condensation falling from the outside of the glass, wetting his hands,

“Oblivion said The White Cord had been broken, but I never heard of anything like that happen",

Suddenly Gália spit out his drink from his mouth that he was just drinking in shock, he trembled a bit before stuttering,

“I-its been what!?”,

“I know, it doesn’t make sense”,

Amelia looked at them with confusion “What’s The White Cord?”she asked,

Red turned to Gália and bslightly nodded his head, as if to say that it’s fine to tell her,

“The White Cord is a peace treaty between Savanna and all the other Kingdoms. Since Savanna’s kingdom isn’t like the rest in Rive, a special treaty was made to make sure no military action could be issued with legal issue”,

“Why? Is Savanna that dangerous?”,

Gália gave a small chuckle with sarcasm “Considering almost every single race under the Sun is gathered there, learning and training with each other, with the objective of perfecting themselves to the next meta stage of life, yeah I think it would be considered pretty dangerous",

“I see…”,

“But that’s not the only reason, isn’t that right, Red?” Gália said turning to him,

Red suddenly got an angry tone “Gália, I believe you’ve s enough",

Amelia was surprised at the tone Red spoke, afraid even. Suddenly the girls interrupted them and announced,

“Hey Red, can we duel?” said Karla with a smile,

“Are you sure? You know what happened last time” he asked with a grin,

“Yeah but this time k have back up",

“Oh? And who would that be?”,

Karla suddenly got a cheeky grin, grabbing Maria’s arms and pulling her close,

“Maria",

Suddenly Amelia and Red both had a face of shock come over them,

“Karla, Maria, wai-" Amelia tried to speak before getting interrupted by Red,

“Alright girls",

Amelia looked at Red with worry in her eyes but Red just winked at her, signalling everything was going to be okay,

“We'll duel outside" Red said drawing his sword slightly,

“Agreed" Karla responded with a demonic smile,