V looked at Luna's unconscious body, lying face down in the snow. "Well, you mentioned that the cold does not harm her, but it’s sort of weird just standing here watching her like this." He knelt down and picked Luna up, leaning her against a nearby rock. "At-least this position has some dignity. I guess neither of them would care though..." L and V stood silently for a few moments before L spoke again. "The girl was unclear if the letter she took from the Champion of Vermin was consumed in... whatever this was." V shrugged "I would assume it was. After all, she technically has two letters now. They are just split between two names." L nodded again. "I have something else to report, now that her situation is dealt with for the most part." L explained what she had discovered about the north. The territory of the Ice Orc's, the apparent temperature change within said territory, and their high level of durability and strength." L hesitated for a few moments, V could see the struggle on her face, so he held back his comments on her report. "Also, I... might not be able to perform my duties effectively inside of their territory. I seem to lose control easily. I..." She trailed off for a full minute, but V kept silent, waiting for her to continue. "I leapt upon one of the orcs, tearing at its eyes like some sort of animal. I acted as a beast without reason, driven by nothing but the desire to kill. It is most..."

Internally, V was curious what L looked like when she lost her composure. She was always so rigid and uncompromising. V was not certain he had ever seen her posture relax. Always upright and uptight. He doubted mentioning that would help the situation however. "Well. If we can figure out a way for me and Eika to rebuff the cold, and travel north with you, if you lose control, you still..." V hesitated a moment, unsure if his next sentence would get him stabbed or not. "Well, you still are marked as a Divine Slave. It is probably within my abilities to... uh... force you to control yourself."  Rather than a negative reaction, L's hard expression showed some relief. "Ah, I had forgotten about that feature of our relationship..." A concerned look crept across her face a second time. "However, as a demon or rather, Archdemon, I can subvert at-least some of the God's and Status System's control. Your commands might not be enough to restrain my feral actions." V did not really have an answer to that, but it appeared as if L herself did. Shortly after she uttered her words, she felt that they were false. A voice, her own voice, spoke to her. "The Archdemon of Honor cannot break a true oath. You have sworn to serve your master both with your mind, and with your heart. We will obey." V looked over at L's face, a surprised silence had fallen over her. Her expression was a bit odd, one he had never seen before. He was unsure what exactly it meant. L's facial expressions normally only flickered back and forth from stoic, contemplative, and occasionally surprise.

L nodded to herself and spoke again "It seems as if your commands will be enough, should I fall to my base instincts." L had wished her demonic self had not implied she was a servant of the heart. In her world, that meant something very different than her and V's relationship. If it heard her thoughts, her demonic side did not respond. She reaffirmed in her own mind; she was a servant of station. V shrugged "Well, uh, that's good I guess?" He was not really sure how she came to that conclusion but she did not seem interested in elaborating. He hoped he would not have to put her assumptions to the test, but he doubted L would admit to something like acting "bestial" if it was not a serious concern. "Maybe we should pick her up and go after Eika. There is a small chance that something is wrong with the village still and she needs help." V moved to pick up Luna as L responded. "Perhaps, we do need to return there anyway. It might be possible that warm clothing, suited for the north, might give you just enough resistance to the cold that your constitution rank can carry you the rest of the way. We also need more food. Although, even in her new "normal" class, without your... uh... supercharge that you give her, she is probably better than either of us when it comes to escaping danger. It's not just her speed, it’s her agility and the self-awareness of her own body. If she continues training with me, she will surpass my ability with the blade someday. Her spatial awareness borders on comparable with the Champion of Combat. It is something that cannot be taught, as it seems unnatural in origin. However, I doubt she will ever have the discipline or mental fortitude to be a truly fearsome swordsman." It was rare for L to compliment Eika, and even though the last part was unflattering, it was also probably true. Nonetheless V was pleased to see L giving Eika some praise. The Rabbitkin was honest and earnest. She worked as hard as either of the two of them, sometimes harder. At-least in V's case. He chuckled to himself as he lifted Luna off the ground, carrying her over his shoulder.

"Don't eat me you stinky man!" Luna had suddenly awoken half-way back to the village and was pounding on V's back. "Luna stop, its me." V sat Luna down in the snow. "Oh, I wondered why you did not stink like when we found you before!" V shook his head, Luna's thought process seemed to have returned to normal: Incomprehensible nonsense. "Heeyy... where is Eika?!" Luna looked around, concern in her voice. "Did she get eaten?" V quickly shook his head. "No, she is back in the village, helping the people there." Luna nodded "Oh ya, she would be doing that. Do you think they will reward her with north food? Can I help the village for north food?" V shrugged and continued walking "Maybe, but you better hurry, they might be out of north food by the time we get there." Luna's face turned white. "That's not good!" Luna began to run toward the village with utmost concern, before quickly getting distracted by a particularly soft bit of snow.

"Just scream a-lot and act crazy while you chase them." Eika was instructing a group of eight women, two were Rabbitkin. "If they start biting you, uh... well they should not do that anymore. They seem to be acting like terrified prey now..." Eika looked around the village. Many of the women had been equipped with brooms and large pieces of leather. Even though most of the women in this village appeared to be housewives, rather than warriors or hunters, their enthusiasm at chasing the remaining vermin from their town was, in a word, scary. When Eika arrived back at the town center, much of the vermin horde had dispersed. Although a significant number remained in the town, they were no longer organized, and were acting extremely frightened and were fairly easy to chase off. Some of the vermin still fought back, but not enough to be a real danger. Most of the men had immediately gone to examine the buildings that had been swarmed and partially eaten. One of them explained to Eika that they would need to figure out what buildings could be saved, and what needed to be destroyed as quickly as possible. If a blizzard rolled in from the north, they would have to make sure sleeping arrangements and supplies were well looked after.

Eika secretly watched the Rabbitkin women as they ran around, beating rats and other small animals out of their village. One was considerably taller than Eika, the other only stood a few inches above her. The Rabbitkin they had rescued from the slaver camp had spoken about how the northern rabbit tribes were taller and larger than the southern tribes. Even so, she still felt self-conscious, even the smallest woman here was taller than her! She was also comparing herself in other ways as well. When they were not chasing rats, they moved much more smoothly and elegantly then she did, their hair was nicer, their tails looked fluffier. Eika pulled one of her ears down over her right eye. Maybe she was just ugly? She had never really had the chance to compare herself to other Rabbitkin before. She had thought she was average, but where did she even come up with that idea? She doubted a harsh northern village would be home to the most beautiful Rabbitkin in the land. If these were what normal Rabbitkin looked like, maybe she was the ugliest Rabbitkin around?! Eika's internal struggle was suddenly interrupted by something crashing into her. 

"I thought you had been eaten!" Luna cried out happily. Eika struggled to disentangle herself from Luna. "Why do you sound happy about thinking I was... nevermind. Eika is really glad you are safe!" She examined Luna's fairly severe wounds. "Oh! Oh, you must be in a lot of pain! We should bandage you up. V! I am very glad to see you as well. When you went missing and stuff, I was so worried. Then when I asked the villagers and they did not see anything I wanted to run and tell L we should search for you but then they needed help because they were worried about the vermin and I wanted to help them but I wanted to see if L found you but they needed me right away an-" V rubbed Eika's head, interrupting her escalating manic torrent of words. "Ya everyone is safe. I am still extremely dizzy and exhausted, and Luna is.... fine." Luna nodded happily. As far as L and V could determine, Luna showed no signs of remembering Emilia or the events in the canyon. L wanted to ask Luna directly, but V had stopped her. He at-least wanted to give Luna some time, perhaps her condition would become apparent naturally. They had no idea what asking Luna about Emilia would do, and V figured the less risks they took in this matter the better, given what happened when Emilia forcefully changed her status.

A large humanoid male approached their group. "Sir, Madam! We can never thank you enough for your rescue!" If V had to guess, it was some type of crossbreed across multiple races. His frame was broad like a dwarf; however, he was slightly taller than L, he also had a short animal tail, maybe only three inches long, but V had no idea what animal it belonged to, the man also had no animal ears or other features. Eika quickly spoke up "Ah this is the village leader! I met him when I got back!" V bowed his head, "I am glad we were able to preserve the greater part of your village and its people." For reasons beyond V's understanding, he could feel L bristling next him, but even so she also bowed her head. "Raise your heads! You are below no man or woman in this village! Without you, that monster would have sent his horde to eat the flesh of our children and gnaw the bones of our wives!" Considering the damage that had been done to the village, this man was extremely boisterous and cheerful. V wondered if maybe you just had to be this way no matter what if you lived in the most northern village of a late medieval world. It was probable they often lost people to the cold and other natural disasters.

"While I am glad to have saved most of your people, we did not come here to save you. We are actually travailing northward. We just happened to pass by at the same time as you were attacked. We were actually hoping to buy warm clothing, and stock up on food and other supplies while here. I understand you might need every bit of your supplies to aid the recovery of your village, but we have some valuable items we would be willing to trade." The man's visage darkened for a moment.  "Even further north than us? I will not stop you traveler, but I recommend you reconsider. To the north lies only death and the grey city. As for your request, we have lived in this frozen wasteland for generation after generation, a small tragedy like this is nothing! We will certainly aid the heroes who saved us from that horrible thing." The man leaned in closer to V, and although he was clearly trying to whisper, the man was quite bad at it. "I am sure many of the villagers will try to provide you with free supplies, in thanks for saving their wife, or husband, or child. However, as the one responsible for the prosperity of these people, I would appreciate if you still paid them. We can help you re-supply, but we will need to trade with the southern merchants for replacements for some of the tools and materials that the horde ate, so I would really appreciate it." V nodded, he could feel L's eyes on him, she and Eika obviously overheard the man. "Certainly, we have no need for the golden trinkets we picked up anyway." The man thanked V profusely once again before excusing himself to assist the other villagers.

V and the group retired to a room that they were told they could rest in. V was beyond exhausted, probably because of his assumed blood loss that he took from Eika. "You guys make a list of what we need, we will get it all later. I am going to just take a quick nap. Or like, an extremely long one." L nodded and began to mentally map out what they would require, although Eika was more skilled in the wilderness in general, L had led more than a few expeditions into the bitter cold and snow in her old world. "Uh, V... before you go to sleep, I had a question I wanted to ask you." V opened his eyes and looked over toward Eika. "Humm? If it’s a long question, could you wait till I wake up?" Eika shook her head "No it’s not a long question, do uh... do you think Eika is nice to look at? Or am I... not?" V was not entirely prepared for such a question. L also was taken by surprise, and looked down at V and Eika as he responded. "Uh... Well. Uh. Ya you're fine. You're very cute. You know, like a pet rabbit or something." V thought that Eika looked fine. Her face was cute, her body was toned, her hair and fur were always kempt. Her small stature did not bother him, but it did make it hard to see her as anything but a child in appearance. Not to mention, he would not call her "beautiful" or use any other word that might cause L to try and kill him. She had made it extremely evident when they had first bought Eika that she was on the lookout for him "trying" anything. Eika's face remained neutral "Ah. That’s... good." V closed his eyes again, falling asleep almost instantly.

L looked down at Eika. Her face was "normal." L knew what straining to keep a normal expression looked like. "Would you like to explain what that was about?" L asked as she gestured to the adjoining room. "No not really." Eika's voice was also extremely even and calm. This fact made it extremely obvious that something was wrong with Eika. On top of that, despite her denial, she followed L into the other room. Shutting the heavy wooden door behind them. L sat at the small, but also heavy, wooden table. Eika sat across from her, her face a bastion of normalcy. A minute of silence passed between them. "So...?" L spoke again. Eika shook her head. "Look. I don't know what is wrong with you. If you have romantic feelings for V, you need not be embarrassed. The body and heart sometimes desire stupid things. People often fall in love with the wrong thing. People, ideals, places, foods. It is part of being human. Or... humanoid. I guess. However, I need to know that you will be able to work with us like normal. It would be inconvenient if you became more emotionally volatile than you already are." She hesitated for a split second before continuing. "I do not have much personal experience with such a thing, but I have witnessed love in many forms in my old world. I may be able to give some form of council to you. Although, probably not much."

Eika shook her head, but took a few more moments to respond. "Not... uh not really. I just... uh..." Eika pulled her ears down. "I just thought that maybe V would think I was pretty." L squinted. "I'm not sure I... understand." Eika sniffled "Uh, well. Every Rabbitkin woman Eika has seen has been more beautiful or prettier than me. Even the hunter lady who was missing an ear...." L waited as Eika sniffed a few times. "I just thought maybe V would call me pretty or beautiful if I asked. You know, he has no problems lying to people." Eika started to cry as she continued. "I thought that maybe.... even if he was lying it would be nice to hear him say it! But he could not even lie to me about it!" L was still squinting. "He called you cute, that is a good thing, right? The pet rabbit comment was a little weird, but I think that was more because of his exhaustion and lack of quick thinking." Eika shook her head. "I’m an adult! Cute is something you call children, and like V said, pets. You don't want to be cute, do you?" L shook her head "Uh, no I guess not, but I do not think it is for the same reasons as you." From her experience in the royal court, she knew appearances and beauty were highly prized and valued by many people, and she was aware that others had coveted her beauty, in more ways than one. However, it was never extremely important to her, other than the time she was asked to represent the emperor, or speak as his mouthpiece.

As L considered the situation, she pondered the best method of trying to salvage Eika's feelings. She also realized that she did not understand this situation enough, and that her words might backfire in some unforeseen way, but she doubted it could be worse than just sitting here in silence letting the girl cry. "Well, there are a few things that you should consider." Eika looked at her, but did not say anything. "First, I threatened to kill him should he ever make any sexual moves or indications toward you. Perhaps that played a part in his response. Secondly, perhaps we do not know what age is considered adulthood in his world. Maybe anyone under fifty years old is a child? Perhaps seeing you as a beautiful woman is not possible for him due to his culture? In my world the peasantry was considered to lack the judgment and wisdom needed to choose a marriage partner until the age of twenty-two years. The nobility, being wiser than the peasantry, was considered to gain enough wisdom by sixteen, and the royal family, who was the wisest of all, had no particular limitations of the age of wisdom." Eika sniffed a few times. "But you said you follow V like the emperor now. That means he should not be afraid of you stabbing him if he calls me pretty or beautiful right?" L froze for a moment. "Y... yes. While true, I had uh, not felt the need to inform him of this fact. Along with a few other facts of a similar nature." Eika giggled a little through her sniffles. It was very rare to see L freeze up like that, and it made Eika feel a little better that she had caused it. "I would appreciate you not telling him that information. Although I don't think he will go around hitting on children, I would rather just keep that information to myself. Or in this case, ourselves." They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being Eika's occasional sniffles. Eika wondered if L would want V to call her pretty, but decided it was better not to ask.

"Why did you get angry when V was talking to the village leader?" Eika asked, trying to move the conversation away from her. Now that she had calmed down a little, she felt childish and embarrassed. "Hum? Oh. Ah, I just don't think the one who leads us should bow his head to anyone. In my old world, if the emperor bowed his head, it was either to someone the entire royal family was indebted to..." L trailed off a moment before continuing. "... Or in defeat in war." Eika shrugged, she did not really understand the importance, but it was clearly significant to L. "M... maybe you should tell him? I'm sure he would not do it if you told him what you thought. I know you think he is a bad person but Eika trusts him..." L shook her head. "He is a bad person. However, I will allow for the fact that there is more to him than his wretched nature."