Julie wakes up. Rose is sound asleep in her arms, face buried in her mother's chest. It's slightly chilly in the room. Julie slowly rolls out of bed so as to not wake Rose.The Malenteran covers her daughter up with a thick blanket to keep her warm. She then silently opens her drawers and gets dressed in her usual outfit, this time wearing a red shirt and blue pants. As per usual, the curly haired Malenterian heads for the kitchen to make some coffee. She makes it her usual way, creamer until it's a soft brown and 3 teaspoons of sugar. She sips to taste and smiles, pushing her glasses up onto her face. Sav’akk, the hulking mass of Dragon-like intimidation she is, walks into the kitchen.

"Mornin' Sav'akk." The boss said smiling.

Sav'akk looks at Julie and nods.

"You're all healed up." The turtle mouthed woman said, taking personal note and realization with an empty expression.
"Yeah. Where've ya been?"

Sav'akk opens the fridge, looks inside, then closes it without grabbing anything.

"On a mission. I went out a day early to get the lay of the land and stayed out there." Sav'akk explained.
“How’d it go?”
“Good enough, they weren't really any challenge”
"Good." Julie said before sipping her coffee.

There's a silence between Sav'akk and Julie as she sips her coffee. The yellow scaled woman sits in a nearby chair.

"'Ah've been thinkin' bout what happened at the castle.” Julie admits, looking at her coffee cup.
"What do you mean Boss?" Sav'akk asked.

Julie sips her coffee and sets it down, fixing her glasses after. Julie crosses her left arm under her breast, planting her right elbow on her hand. Her two large assets rest atop her arm.

"The big soldiers."
"Took me a while to kill that one." Sav'akk said looking out of the window.
"They were as strong as you too, which was more scarry."
"There’s a few people I’ve seen that are that big though. Wonder if they are as strong." Sav'akk asked.

Julie thought back to all the times she’s seen a large person like that. The one man in Sorncoliv during Celeste’s first run with her.

"The man in Sorncoliv that was interested in speaking with me that one time. He was huge, at least 7 feet tall."
“You think he's one?” The large reptilian woman asked in her gravelly voice.
“No, my gut says he aint.”

Sav’akk scoffs, finding it silly that Julie puts so much trust into her gut. “Then again she's never steered us wrong before” the reptilian lady thinks. Julie doesn't mind Sav’akk’s scoffing at her. She understands somewhat how it comes off and sounds.

“Its Woman’s Intuition, Sav’akk”
“It sounds stupid, though never has been wrong yet”

Julie sips her coffee to get another hit of that sweet and bitter bean water like the caffeine addict she was. Sav’akk sits in silence, thinking about the fight now. Something definitely felt off about those big soldiers. Even some of the smaller ones. Then something else enters the witch leader's mind.

"If 'Ah remember correctly, the other big'uns walked right through your fire." Julie picked the mug back up and sipped from it.
"Yeah, that's what got me."

Julie thought in silence for a bit. Walking through fire, not afraid of being burned. Julie knew she could do that from her control of fire magic and because she's not afraid of being burned by it. How could the big’un have done so with such confidence too?

"'Ah didn't think the Bastard had a big fuckin' army like that." Julie said annoyed yet curious..
"Why would he even need one?" Sav'akk asked. THough this question was posed more onward herself than it was to Julie.

The large woman sips her coffee and leans her body against the counter behind her, thinking again.

"What do you mean?"
"Something tells me there's way more going on. I was a general for a few years but... I've never seen soldiers like that before. Especially not from Arrintar. Not to mention the sheer numbers he threw at us. The death of one of those big ones must have scared him, and bad. I mean it was hard to even cut one of them, let alone kill one. Something tells me that was only a fraction of his army." Sav'akk analyzed.

Julie sips her coffee. Sav'akk looks at her.

"You don't think he's..."
"Trying to start a war?" Sav'akk finished.

Julie looks at Sav'akk for a bit then away, thinking hard.

"Well, we can't rule it out. He did fake a lot of attacks to start hostility." The Malenterian pointed out.
"Who would he even be trying to war with?" Sav'akk wondered.

Julie remembers Jacklynn's mission in 6 days.

"Jacklynn has that payload mission in a few days. Maybe that has somethin’ ta help his army."

Emarru walks into the kitchen. “Emarru said before she was an Arrintarian soldier for Dollan, didn't she?” Julie thought to herself. The dark skinned boss of the witches turns to her so-called guardian, many questions on her mind.

"Hey, Emarru ya said ya were a soldier for Dolland before right?"

Emarru freezes. She looks at her boss with a somewhat uncomfortable look. He glances at the floor and then at her boss as the tanned woman heads to the sink for a glass of water.

"Yeah, why?" She answered a little uneasy.
"Did Dolland always have big people in his army?" She continued interrogating.

Emarru turns to Julie. Her face showing the expression of what can be described as a visible sigh.

"He didn’t until years ago. But that's not really why I left, before you ask as always.” She explained.
"Care to explain why you did?"

Emarru paused, touching her stomach. Great pain in her eyes as she looked down.

"They… made me infertile."

Julie looks shocked and looks at Sav'akk. The turtle faced woman looks away annoyed, as if to think about something.

"What they did to me is how I became so powerful. Now all I wanted was a glass of water." Emarru finished. Her tone is bothered.

The gray haired Swinovo tribe ninja.gets the water she came for and leaves quickly. “What could they have done to make Emarru stronger and take her ability to have kids?” The night witch boss wondered endlessly, trying to think of something. Julie decided to ask Beatrix about it later. She was a part of GeoTax. Ii her Wonder, Emarru had left the kitchen to go somewhere else.

"Boss, sit down. I think it's time I explain why I'm here." Sav'akk said.

The curly haired leader sits in the seat across from her, looking at Sav'akk curiously. She looks away then back at Julie and sighs. 

"I said before I was a general." Sav’akk said in her raspy voice, though she sounded sad and darker than usual.

Julie nods.

"I was more. I was…” The reptilian woman sighs and hesitates a moment longer before coming out with the truth. “I was a Queen." Sav'akk said.

The Witch leader was taken aback by this. A queen. A Queen!! Sav’akk was the Queen of Marstinan. The motherly Malenterian couldn't believe it really. After a moment of letting it sit, Sav’akk explains what happened.

"One day, a spokesperson from Arrintar marched into my kingdom. They were peaceful. Explained that they had a message from the Bastard King. I let them in. Me and my husband greeted them like family. We treated them nicely. They were talking about their plans for a new trade route with Marshtinan. My husband and I were very excited. This could've brought in so much money for our kingdom. As well as better wears for our people." Sav'akk said.

The former Queen of Marshtinan looks at the table, swallowing pride and grief from this long gone era. Her red eyes staring off into space, staring through the table. She remained silent, ready to continue listening to the Raptereck. After a few more moments of silence, she spoke up.

"I went to make us some drinks to celebrate the new trade route with the spokesperson and the escorts. I was gone for about 10 minutes. When I got back..." Sav'akk stalled again

There's a long pause. Julie sits up, afraid of what she might hear next. Sav'akk's eye twitches. She looks at Julie and takes a deep breath, trying to calm her lightly shaking body.

"The king was dead." She explained, looking as if she had a mental image as if it was only yesterday.

That had flipped the leader's entire perspective on things. Actions that had no explanation before now have one. Her alcoholism. It's a coping mechanism. Julie's whole view on the red mohawk reptilian woman before her was shifted in a way she never expected.

"They blamed it on me, making my people believe that I killed him... for total control over the kingdom. And they believed it. My own subjects believed another King’s spokesperson more than their own Queen." Sav’akk continues,

Sav'akk, for the first time anyone has seen, has tears well up in her eyes. That alone broke the Night witch boss emotionally. Julie removed her glasses and slowly started tearing up as well. 

"I was dethroned, exiled, and cursed. I came here... because I heard of the attack on his castle. I asked around at a recruitment event for you guys and that's when I met Ierra.”

The witch boss now had a better understanding of Sav’akk. Her attitude, the anger, resentment. Everything. It was a result of losing everything she had, everything she wanted, everything she would have in a single moment. Her entire life changed within a small window of 10 minutes. Dread and despair make Julie feel as if she's there with Sav’akk, drowning in sorrow. She puts an arm around the Raptereck’s back and holds her for a moment to console her. The semi draconic woman places her head in her hands and weeps. A broken warrior, a widow, a victimized queen.

“I-I feel ashamed for crying like this, g-go somewhere else, Boss.” Sav’akk stammers through her sobs.

“Even the toughest shed tears, Sav’akk”