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"Friendships and Journeys" (Forest Village) As Oulan sat wondering what to do next, a pair of loud voices echoed through the inn. "Hey, you brat, why don't you jus' SHADDAP!" Oulan's eyes snapped around to the front counter, where the young girl who had been haggling over food prices was backed up against the counter by two large trappers who had gotten up from their table and advanced on the girl. Her temper beginning to simmer, Oulan slowly got up and walked over towards the arguing trio. "Hey! I wasn't doing anything wrong! What's the problem, anyway?!" the girl asked loudly. Oulan smiled, and winced inwardly. **Good for you for standing up to them, girl, but either one is twice your weight and both are drunk enough to lose their temper but not their coordination,** she thought ruefully. **I admire your spunk, but I hope you don't get yourself hurt!** As the bodyguard arrived behind the drunks, the girl continued yelling back at them. "I just wanna get as much food as I can! I may be travelling soon to find my sensei, I need to YIPE!" One of the trappers had lost patience and snatched the girl up by the collar of her outfit. "Shaddap and go away, little g'rl. B'fore I skin ya like a deer!" he growled. Oulan growled herself and prepared to move in, but the girl stopped them both, looking straight into the eyes of the trapper holding her and stating flatly, "You'd better put me down or you'll be sorry." **HE'LL be sorry!?** Oulan thought, then saw trouble starting and moved in. The trapper holding her widened his eyes and actually began to lower the girl to the ground, but his friend wasn't so intimidated. "You threatn'ng us, you brat!?" he yelled, drawing a short spear from a loop on his back and bringing it around to point at the girl, whose feet weren't yet touching the ground. She didn't need them to, it seemed. With a cry of "YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!" she kicked out sideways with her right leg nearly a dozen times, hitting the trapper in both knees, both arms, knocking the spear aside, hitting the torso (four times) and the head (twice) as she literally walked her hits up the man's body! **Long-style martial arts!!** Oulan thought, amazed. **I didn't think anyone but that old fool Long-Chan-Chan still used that!!** The trapper holding the girl, however, got angry and surged forward, pinning the girl between his body and the inn counter as his friend collapsed. Oulan saw immediately that the girl was in trouble. **Crushed in like that, there's no room for her to kick and not much to punch, and that fool still has a grip on her throat!** "You bitch, now I *will* skin UKH-" was all the man got out as Oulan gave him a brutal kidney shot just underneath his leather armour. He dropped the girl but kicked backward like a mule, catching Oulan just above the knee, wrenching it and sending her sprawling. He whirled on her, drawing a knife, but she returned his kick with one of her own, putting her foot squarely between his legs. He collapsed in profoundly male agony. As Oulan tried to get up, her knee gave out and she crashed to the ground again. The girl cried, "Oh no! You got hurt helping me!!" and befroe Oulan quite knew what was going on, she'd been picked up, carried to the bedchamber, laid onto a mattress, and the girl was applying Medicine to her knee, which felt better at once. "Thanks, youngster. You're stronger than you look, that's for sure! I'm Oulan, a mercenary and bodyguard. You?" Oulan asked. "I'm Wakaba, first disciple of Master Long-Chan-Chan!" the girl said proudly. "Master told me to look for strong opponents to test my skills, but I keep coming back here to see if he's returned. I don't have much money, though- just the potch I get from fighting monsters and bandits- so I haggle over everything, especially food," she finished. "Well," Oulan said with a grin, "After your display of skill, the least I can do is treat you to dinner! We can talk for a while, get to know each other.." "Dinner!? SUGOI!!(1)" Wakaba cheered. The two young women passed an enjoyable two hours eating in the dining hall, chatting about their lives, skills, and hopes. "You have such grand dreams, Oulan-sama,(2)" Wakaba commented after swallowing the last of her mutton dinner. "Yours aren't so small, either," Oulan replied. "Becoming a master of Long-style could take years, and setting up your own dojo to teach others is going to take money and a whole new set of skills, and it's a good dream to cherish," she continued. To tell the truth, Oulan rather liked this little scrapper. **She's got the same fire and determination as I do,** she thought, **but still has an innocence I lost back when my parents died. I wonder if she'd like to travel with me?** "Wakaba-chan,(3)" Oulan offered, "How would you like to be my partner for a while? It pays well, and you'd get to test your skills for a worthy cause." Wakaba looked both tempted and saddened. "Aaahh.. Oulan-sama.. I need to finish my training with Long-Chan-Chan-sensei.(4) How long would we be gone before we could check here for my master?" Oulan thought for a moment. "Hmm. I usually travel in a big circle around the City-State, looking for jobs.. Say, about four months," she finished. Wakaba's face fell. "Awww! I need to check here every two weeks or so, 'cause that's the longest Sensei ever stays in one place. Could we hang around here instead?" Oulan shook her head sadly. "Not enough jobs around here for a bodyguard, Wakaba-chan," she replied. "The nearest is Greenhill, but Shin already does a good job guarding Lady Teresa, and he's not inclined to share. I think it's sweet," she finished, a rare smile touching her face. "Hmm? Oh, right! I've heard the stories about Shin and Teresa, too. Too bad," Wakaba sighed disappointedly. After a moment, she looked back up again. "Oulan-sama?" "Yes?" "You travel all around the City-state, you said?" "Yes.. why, Wakaba-chan?" Oulan asked, now intrigued. The girl wanted something, that was for sure, from the nervous way she was behaving. "Could you go to South Window for me? I heard these rumours, but I can't get there and back fast enough to go see for myself," Wakaba asked. "Sure I can," Oulan shrugged. "Not a problem. What's the rumour?" "Well, there's supposed to be some gang or monster around Kuskus and North Window that attacks women, and I thought maybe you could.. find out?" the girl asked timidly. "A *what?!" Oulan nearly yelled. Seeing Wakaba's startlement, she calmed down. "Ah, gomen(5), Wakaba-chan. I certainly will see to this," she promised. **And if someone really is preying on women there,** she thought vengefully, **they're going to feel the wrath of an Angry Dragon.**
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