Marik, Sai, and Sara spent a while longer talking with Kiara through the portal before Kiara decided to take over Sara's transformation training so that Sai and Marik could work on their mystic arts.  As evening approached they finally decided to call id a day and Marik gave Kiara her reward before the portal closed, leaving Sara slightly freaked out for a while.  They went back to the inn and decided to just meet at the guild by noon the next day before splitting up to their own rooms.  

The next day they did the job they had reserved and reserved as many as they could for the next two weeks while turning in their paperwork for completing the job, leaving a few days open as break days.  Thanks to Sai's reminding them they made sure to take a day off for their grooming appointment and otherwise spent their break days over the next two weeks going outside town to contact Kiara and work on their respective tasks.  At one point Marik was shooed away so that Sai and Kiara could shave down Sara to get her first beast clothes.  

By the end of the two weeks Sai had finished working on her green flame variant, Marik had finally made an arcanistry that did something, and Sara was practicing her transformation in a hidden area with Sara.  Sai held off on working on her purple variant to work on her other ones since she seemed to be having trouble getting it to do what she wanted in a way she found acceptable.  Marik was also having some trouble with his new arcanistry since he didn't actually have a good idea of what exactly he wanted to make still.  They all decided that their next break day would be a break from training as well so that they could take care of some shopping and chores.  

They did the same thing as the last two weeks for the next two weeks and Marik managed to buy the writing supplies and start copying over the things he thought would be needed or useful from the tomes so that he could give them back to Kiara as well as put some money aside for some custom swords for Sara and all pf their new beast clothes.  He also started teaching Sara what he could about handling and keeping track of their finances.  He pointed out the way he was currently doing things and why such as their pocket money for individual use, group emergency fund for saving in case some necessary and large expense came like a doctor's visit, group needs fund for things they actually needed such as his writing materials or her swords, and group goal fund for, at the moment, getting a suite at Edge Inn.  

At first, Sara was a little miffed when she realized they actually had enough already to move over to Edge Inn, but Marik pointed out that she had to pay attention not only to just how much they had but how much they were getting as well since it had taken over a month to barely have enough to make a first minimum payment that would only last them two weeks of stay.  If they wanted to be able to actually live in Edge Inn without running out of money then they would probably need to rank up and make sure their income exceeded their living expenses which was also why they couldn't just use the rest of the money since that was going to the things to help them rank up or even eat.

That was apparently a strong motivation for Sara as she started to pester the other two more often about trying to get them all higher rank even quicker.  Luckily, The Bear had been on the lookout for jobs they needed and it wasn't long before a convoy guard request came to go to the capital of Evanphur.  Marik double-checked to make sure what kind of convoy it was since he didn't want to have to deal with nobles or highbrowed people for the whole trip.  The Bear assured him that it was a small but fair trading company of sorts and were fairly trusted by the guild.  Marik talked it over briefly with the girls and decided to take it even though it would actually be a small loss on their overall income since it would likely bring Sara to ninth rank if they saw any combat at all and could potentially bring both Marik and Sai up a rank depending on how they handled some problems that could potentially arise.  They spent the next few days trying to make sure they were fully prepared while doing small, quick jobs for pocket money.

It was on the day that they were supposed to meet up with the convoy and leave that Marik and the girls had finished signing the paperwork and were heading out to grab their stuff from their rooms when, upon leaving the guild, they came face to faces with the dragon-something race alchemist woman.  Marik recognized her almost immediately since she had left a bit of an impression in his mind, mostly because he still wasn't sure what her race was.  They all froze for a moment and looked at each other, with Sara being the most confused about what was going on since she had never met the woman before.

"Umm.  Can we help you miss alchemist apprentice?"

Marik decided to be at least slightly polite to her since she had shown the least condescending attitude out of the client group from that time over a month ago.

"Oh.  Um.  No?  I was just kind of curious and was checking on what it was like over here.  That's all."

"I see.  You're not a very good alchemist, are you?"

"Rude much?"

"Really?  I mean, it's an actual rule that to be called a decent alchemist that you have to treat mercs like us as equal to or worse than common criminals.  Since you aren't doing that..."

"Wait," Sai interjected, "that's actually a real rule?"

"Ya.  I told you about it before.  They won't let anyone even call themselves a true apprentice if they don't act like that.  At least not around this area."

"Oh.  So why is she being so nice right now, then?"

"Like I said," spoke the woman in a slightly tired voice, "I was just curious and wanted to see what it's like.  It's not like I care if they call me an alchemist with some fancy title, anyway.  As long as they teach me what I want to know then they call me a trainee or whatever for the rest of my life."

"Well.  That's a unique perspective to have.  It probably won't work but at least it's refreshing while it lasts."

"Why wouldn't it work, huh?"

"Because they won't teach you anything if they find out that you're here and being nice to us..."

"Oh.  Well I won't tell them if you don't."

She gave them a playful grin and Marik had to admit to himself that she was definitely kind of cute in slightly different way from Sai and fell within his strike zone.  If he hadn't already had Sai then he might have started to crush on her then and there.  At this distance, and with the bright light from the morning sun, he could actually make out her features better now.  Her crimson red eyes had slit pupils and almost seemed to glow as if there were a fire behind them and every time her mouth opened a little he could see the tips of the bottom canine as well as the doubled top canines peeking past her thin lips.  Marik took her curiosity into account and saw an opportunity for himself.

"Tell you what.  Let's make a deal.  I'll answer any one question about the guild or mercenaries in question, as long as it's something I can actually answer, and in return you answer one simple little question of mine."

"Uh.  Okay?  What's your question?"

"No no.  You go ahead first."

"Umm.  So, do you guys actually get paid to go after people and kill them?"

"Sometimes, yes.  It's not in the same way as assassins or anything and it's all completely legal, but those kinds of jobs do come in from time to time.  So now it's my turn.  What race are you?"

"Huh?  Isn't it obvious?  I'm a dragonewt!"

"No, it wasn't obvious.  I've heard about dragonewts and dragonkin but I've never met anyone from either race, besides you, so I had no idea which race you were."

"Oh.  Ya, I've heard that some people get confused about that.  Sorry, I forgot.  Umm.  The easiest way to tell us apart for other races is dragonkin horns are more to the sides and point forward and their tails are a lot thicker more dragon-like or something.  I think."

"I see.  Well, thanks for clearing that up.  We have to go now, so bye.  Make sure the wrong people don't see you standing here, okay?"

Marik waved at her lightly and proceeded on his way with the girls to get their stuff.  As soon as he and Sai were alone in their room, though, Sai suddenly cornered him with a mischievous smile on her face.  She brought her face close to his and stared into his eyes for a while and Marik was about to complain that they didn't really have time for even a quickie when she finally backed off a bit and giggled a little.

"You thought she was pretty and cute, didn't you?"

It took a few moments for her words' meaning to fully register that she was talking about dragonewt woman from before.

"Well, ya.  Plus it's not often you get to meet a dragonewt.  Or a dragonkin, really."

"Hmm?  Oh well.  I thought she was nice and cute, too.  I wonder if we could be friends?"

"I doubt it.  At least not while she's working with the alchemists.  Maybe if she ever decided to change jobs?"

"Well that's just not right.  I really don't like alchemists."

"Ya.  I've heard that it's almost as bad in most places around the world.  Don't worry about it too much, though.  It's not like we have any business with them and even if we did then we'd just have to make sure to either get someone else to take care of it for us or find a place where alchemists aren't such assholes."

"Is there a place like that around here?  Why don't we live there instead?"

"No.  I don't think there's a place like that nearby but who said I plan to live the rest of my life here?  A few years, maybe.  I do want to go out and travel around some, though.  All we have to do is work on getting our ranks to a high enough point that we can do that without having to worry about a lot of things."

"Ohhh.  Then someday we'll go on exciting adventures to exciting places while having exciting sex and meeting exciting races and killing exciting people..."

"No, let's not just kill people because they're exciting.  That's a little too far off the path..."

"Oh, right.  I didn't it mean it like that."

"I know.  And that just makes you that much cuter."

He hefted his bag over his shoulder and gave her a light kiss before heading towards the door.  She threw him a cute little pout and quickly grabbed her bag to follow after him.  They went downstairs and waited near the door for Sara to show up then headed off to the town entrance where they were supposed to meet the convoy.  Marik documented their exit with the guard station and walked with the girls towards a small group of three wagons and two carriages surrounded by about seven people, all various beast races.  As they approached the group one of the carriage doors opened and a dark-skinned pantherkin man stepped out to greet them.  He looked to be about middle-aged with no overt signs of aging with a medium build that wasn't too muscled but still looked like he took care of his health.

"Hello.  We're from the mercenary guild.  I take it this is the convoy that send in the guard request, yes?"

"Well, hello there.  Yes, this should be that convoy.  May I check your documents?"

"Certainly.  Here you go.  I'm Marik, that's Sai, and that's Sara."

The man scrutinized the documents for a short time before looking back at them with a poker face.

"I'm Anthony, the leader and owner of this business and convoy.  I know The Bear usually sets me up with decent guards but I didn't think he would send such low ranks when he said he would make it a good deal this time around..."

"Ah.  That.  I'd say he set both of us up with a good deal, actually.  Sara might be a little new but Sai is practically a prodigy and is one of the few to actually beat a veteran with her combat abilities.  I, myself, have actually just been holding off on paperwork for personal reasons to stay low ranked longer than necessary and am finally slated for seventh probably around the time we'll be getting back.  So you got some mercs here with decent rank abilities at low rank prices."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

The man finally let his poker face drop and gave Marik and the girls a proper smile.

"Welcome.  I hope we can count on you to guard us for the next few weeks."

"Of course.  That said, I believe the contract said that we would have a small designated space allotted to us in one of the wagons?  If you don't mind, we'd like to go ahead and check it out.  It's possible that we may not need quite as much space unless an emergency occurs and you'll be able to have some more room to situate your own things."

"Well.  You certainly know how to work an old merchant's heartstrings.  Let me show it to you, then.  I believe it should be this wagon just over here."

He showed them to where they would have their own space on one of the wagons and Marik put his and the girls bags in that spot and shifted them around a bit until they took up the least space possible.  Then he looked over at Sara and told her to try and find the most comfortable position she could while in that space where she felt that she would be able to rest even if everything started to shake around.  Once she had finally found the best place and way to lie down as comfortably as possible, even though she kept a confused look on her face the whole time, Marik turned to Anthony and let him know that he could use the rest of the space freely since they had found all the space they needed with that.  Anthony gave him a smile and went to talk to his employees while Marik turned back to explain his thinking to the girls.

"So, Sai and I can transform and pretty much keep up both in speed and stamina with the convoy.  At night, we'll probably be resting in our own place as well.  So, only one of us should really need to be resting in the wagon at any given time and most often it'll be you, Sara.  This also makes us have a slightly easier time since we've willingly helped out in some small way before we even leave, which will make Anthony happier and possibly more compliant if we need to make some kind of small request in the future."

"Wait.  So you weren't just being nice?"

"There's a bit of that, too.  He's a merchant, though, and he'll understand, if he hasn't already, the angle I'm playing at here.  It also tells him in a merchant sort of way that we're trustworthy and capable to at least some extent, which improves his impression of us even more.  That said, at any time that we can and especially if we're in safe areas then I think you should really try and push yourself, Sara.  This'll be a good time to work on your physical stamina.  Might even build up some lean muscle to help you with your fighting style even more."

"Umm.  If you say so?  I mean, shouldn't we all try and stay pretty rested and ready for whatever as guards?"

"Mostly, yes.  But if we're in a safe area then anything we might need to do guard-like duty with can be handled by us two.  Use the chance you have, sis.  You won't be the strongest if you don't take the chances you can and at least surpass Sai."

"So Sai is the next one I have to beat?  Okay.  How will we know if it's a safe area, though?"

"I'll let you know.  I have the maps and documents for the areas we'll be going through."

Sai started stripping before they had finished talking and Marik noticed that almost everyone around them, including one of the two women employees, had stopped moving to watch the little show she was putting on.  He felt a slight pang of jealousy but quickly brushed it away as he started to remove his own shoes and the outer set of pants he was wearing over his beast clothes set.  When they had both finished a loud cough came from behind all of the employees that had stopped moving, startling them back into action, and Anthony walked up to them while Sara jumped back out of the wagon.

"I take it that you won't be trying to seduce my men like this too often?"

"Oh no.  That was her just being naturally alluring.  If she actually tried then even I wouldn't be able to think for a while.  We'll be in beast form for a good amount of the trip, though."

"Naturally, huh?  Maybe she has some succubus blood in her veins?"

"Maybe.  Wouldn't know.  It would explain a few things, though."

Marik lightly flicked his earring in as natural a way as he could to try to give anyone watching the subtle message that she was already taken.  Anthony seemed to understand the gesture and gave a small nod with a smile.  He glanced into the wagon one more time and then turned around to start giving orders again so that everyone and everything would get loaded up quicker.  Marik glanced over at his wife and sister before transforming and then began to do some light stretches to prepare for the long run.  Sai followed his example while Sara did as well but without the transforming part.  It wasn't long before everyone was ready to move out and Marik and Sai decided to run alongside the center of the convoy where the carriages were for the day on either side of Sara to help push her to keep running even after she grew tired.