She-Wolf

March 19th, Imperial Year 879
A grove in the middle of nowhere

I awoke to the fluttering image of a butterfly.

Soft, delicate, and gentle. Just like Phoebe. Or at least, that's how I always envisioned her.

The sky was beautiful. It was slightly cloudy, but the sun had just begun to peek out of them. To my side, I looked at the grass I was lying on, which had moist, wet dew dripping from it.

That reminds me, I need a bath.

I sat up, and looked at the olive tree I was sitting under. The tree seemed to be quite old...I couldn't tell how old, exactly. It was short and stubby - not exactly as tall as a typical tree - but it seemed to be healthy.

A rustle from the bushes behind me. I turned back, trying to look for my billhook. Crud, where was it? I looked back again, to the side. A seemingly abandoned village house I hadn't noticed last night sat adjacent to the olive tree. Could I flee into there? I turned back, to face my threat. The bushes rustled one more time, and now, I could see a pair of piercing green eyes staring out from it.

She quite literally flew out, a glaive in her hand. I was nearly skewered on it, but I managed to dodge out of the way just in time. I'm still a trained military fighter!

"Wha-"

She was an astonishingly beautiful woman. Not quite as beautiful as Phoebe in my opinion, but I'm sure there are as many people willing to fight me to the death as those that agree. Though she was far from feral, an air of kinetic brutality emanated from her. She stood proudly, glaive planted into the ground like a banner with one hand, and a hand on the hip with another. Though it was hard to see due to it initially looking like her hair, I could see a pair of dog ears on the sides of her head. There was a giant fluffy tail behind her that wagged with excitement.

Beastkin.

I grasped around for my billhook, but found it nowhere. The girl hooked her tail around a stick on the ground, and pulled it up, holding her glaive in one hand, and the billhook in the other.

"Looking for this?" She tossed it to me, and I barely managed to catch it before it impaled my face. A devilish grin appeared on her face as she sized me up and down. "From the look of things, you seem like a noble. What's a pretty boy like you doing out here all alone? Unless that outfit is stolen." She licked her lips. "You a thief? A deserter? Or...?" The girl began to steadily advance towards me. "Are you..." She gazed at me for a second, but frowned. "Hmm, I can't make heads or tails of you."

Heh, tails. Like her tail? It's a cute tail, I will be honest.

"Uh..." I gave her a sheepish grin, trying to come up with something to say.

"What's so funny? You think this is funny?" She smirked back at me. "Fine then. I'll see if you have anything of worth on you."

"Wait, I don't have any mon-"

The girl lunged at me once more, swinging the glaive at me. I blocked it with my own polearm, before parrying yet another blow. Swing, down, block, counterattack...

"Got you now!" The girl put her polearm against my billhook's hook, using my own weapon as a lever against me as she flung it out of my hands and towards the ground. She pounced on me, throwing my body to the ground. "Mmhm..."

The girl stood over me, sniffing my chest. Then, she opened her eyes, her face close to mine.

"H-hey!" I gave her the best smile that I could, feeling a bit embarrassed. "What...what's up with that?"

"You're fighting. It's too mechanical."

"Huh?"

"Not experienced with that type of weapon I see." 

"Well, I don't normally use billhooks-"

"And stop gawking, it makes you look dumb." She held out a hand for me, which I gladly accepted. I took her hand, and stood up. "You're red by the way." The girl said. "Are you single?"

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed as I recoiled away from her. "Did you just ask me-"

"So you are nobility, I'll be damned." She shrugged. "Don't answer that if you don't want to." She turned away from me, looking towards the house. 

"Uh...well..." 

"You think that house has anything good in it?" The girl asked, pointing at it. "Seems abandoned."

"Uh, I don't know. I haven't checked."

"Ah, I see. Thank you." She began to head for the house. I, seeing nothing else to do, decided to tag along. "Why are you following me?" I shrugged.

"Uh, why not, right?" The girl frowned.

"I found that house first, it's mine to plunder."

"What if the original inhabitants decide to come back?"

"Well, too bad for them. If they even are alive." The thought of a gory mess inside of the house flashed in my mind, but I decided to follow her further. "Why are you following me?"

"I...don't know. I don't have anything else to do...or at least, I don't know how to do the things I need to do..."

"So you'll just follow me around like a little lost dog, is that it?"

Aren't you the dog? Uh, dog-human...whatever. No scholar has ever really come up with what beastkin are, other than the fact that they are only attested to following the collapse of the Andorian Empire, which is where our continent gets it's name.

"Uh...my name's Jason." I scratched the back of my head. "Nice to meet you?" The girl gave an exasperated sigh.

"Oh god, I've picked up a really annoying follower, haven't I?" She shook her head and stuck out her hand. "The name's Anya. I'll keep you around because you're handsome, pretty boy, but don't you dare get in my way." I returned the handshake.

"Wonderful." I looked to the house. "Now uh...can I ask you a few questions? They're not about you, I promise."

"I don't care if you ask about me, but go ahead." She raised an eyebrow as we headed into the house. It was fairly dusty, but it seemed like no one was inside.

"Can you tell me what's happened for the uh, last five days? Like, in Galeria. All of Galeria." Anya stopped and turned to me, a look equal parts confused and exasperated on her face. I continued anyways. "Do you know who's on what side of the war, and what the claimants are looking to do?"

Anya shook her head.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."