The trio of dog beastkin found the confused party of three quite easily thanks to Thistle’s ridiculous height. “Sorry for running off,” he said sheepishly. They had moved to the side of the street so that they were not interrupted by the flowing crowd.

Arivarea stepped towards the two new faces that stood nervously behind Puppy. She had a large smile plastered on her face which did not help the poor mother-daughter duo.

“I’m Arivarea, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Juni, this is my daughter Annan.”

“Do you know each other?” she asked, directing the question at any who could answer.

“We don’t,” replied Juni, boldly. “I can’t explain it. But, I’d like to get to know you. Would you like to come for dinner?”

Arivarea, who was smaller than Juni and even a little shorter than Annan, looked at the beastkin mother incredulously. “That’s very kind of you. Do you perhaps have the need for a band of warriors?”

“I don’t.”

“Your daughter seems unhappy about our butting in,” Arivarea continued.

“Arivarea, I respect your hesitancy. If it truly is too much to ask then we can meet tomorrow.” Juni extended the branch that Arivarea was looking for. The one that signified that she was a reasonable woman.

“I don’t mind troubling you for dinner. Beyond that will need further discussion.”

“I hope I have enough for you all,” chuckled the beautiful matron and the two girls turned to walk back to the house.

The rest shivered. They felt they had just witnessed a clash of titans. Even Roh Ten, who hadn’t understood a word, was cowering behind Thistle. Puppy was the quickest to recover, he quickly caught up to Annan.

“Sorry to intrude.”

“My Mother is never like this,” she said. “What did you do to her?”

“I’m not sure I did anything. Do I smell good to you too?”

“You smell normal!” she said quickly. She took another whiff for good measure. “Maybe a little sweaty.” Puppy suddenly got really self conscious.

“It’s not bad is it?” he asked worriedly.

“No, not at all!” replied Annan, slightly panicked about offending their guests.

“Sorry, we’ve been travelling for a few days.”

“Where from?” she inquired.

“Mardoch.”

“That’s quite far up the coast, you must be tired.”

“A few days' journey is not enough to tire us out,” he bragged.

“You must be so strong,” she said sarcastically.

“No, I just asked Thistle to carry me,” he laughed as he pointed to the big girl behind him. Annan was a little scared of her but could not help but giggle a little too.

“Can I touch your arms?” Annan asked Thistle, entirely enamoured by the enormous woman.

Thistle was incredibly embarrassed by the proposition but one look at the harmless girl and she eased up a little.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Annan grasped her bulky arms and squeezed, only to find that she could barely put a dent in them. Her muscles were as dense as stone. Annan was genuinely taken aback.

“I can see how you carried him all that way.”

“His aren’t bad either,” noted Thistle.

“I will be the judge of that!” announced Annan as she strutted towards Puppy to squeeze his biceps too. He tensed them and sure enough, just as hard. Only smaller due to natural size difference. “Okay, that’s not bad,” she admitted.

“Told you,” said Thistle, proud of her man.

“Why is she touching everyone’s arm?” asked Roh Ten, finally getting curious enough to speak up.

“Just for a bit of fun, I guess,” replied Thistle.

Roh Ten was feeling a little left out.“Well, isn’t she going to check mine?”

“I don’t think so,” said Thistle, hiding a laugh. Roh Ten looked displeased to the point where Thistle wanted to speak up, but the moment had passed as Annan had started talking again.

“Why did you come here?” she asked.

“Why?” Puppy thought for a minute. It was true that technically he was searching for his Master’s lost weapon, and Arivarea was searching for a conquerable forest. But, it did not really feel like their reason for travelling.

“For the experience,” he concluded, not entirely bothered to put in the effort to explain it further.

“How long of an experience are you looking for?” Annan asked.

Puppy shrugged. “As long as we want.”

“How carefree,” said a jealous Annan.

“It’s not being carefree, it’s just being free,” said Thistle suddenly. “There’s a difference.”

Anna thought for a second then nodded. “You’re right, there’s definitely a difference.”

By this time they had arrived at the home. Arivarea was taking her shoes off while happily chatting to Juni. They appeared to have quite the splendorous smiles on their faces. The rest could only guess at what they were talking about.

They all left their shoes just inside the door and entered the cramped abode. It was delicately decorated with a few pictures, a couple of small, carved statues and some decorated cushions to disguise the well-worn sofa. There was a small kitchen in the next room which doubled as the dining room.

That was it for the ground floor, just two small rooms. “Make yourselves at home, I’ll whip something up,” said Juni who quickly scampered into the kitchen leaving Annan to do the socialising.

“I’ll give your mother a hand,” said Puppy to Annan.

She frowned. “Don’t get handsy.” He just laughed and entered the kitchen, leaving the rest of the girls to collapse in the living room. Poor Thistle was far too large for the dainty thing and struggled to find a comfortable position. Meanwhile Arivarea positioned herself next to Annan for a chat.

Puppy watched the lady get the food prepared for a second or two before making himself known. “Can I help?” he asked.

She turned around to see the dog already approaching the small counter. “I’d like that. Here, take this and start chopping.”

Puppy looked at the assorted vegetables layed out in front of him and picked up the small chef’s knife to get going. His Master had taught him nothing about cooking, instead, it was his mother that could take credit for the masterful display of chopping he displayed. Enough for Juni to take note.

“You’ve done this before.”

“This is the only part I’m good at.”

“That’s lucky because that’s the only part you’re going to do.” They both smiled and carried on working. Eventually everything was chopped and ready to be added to the pot that Juni had been tending to. Puppy was told to lay the table instead. Juni and Annan had just eaten but plates were put out for them anyway, just in case they were peckish.

“It’s ready,” said Puppy through the door, getting the attention of the starving warriors and Annan who looked hilariously out of place amongst them. They all shuffled into the kitchen, Arivarea complimenting the smell liberally.

They all sat around the table. Thistle and Roh Ten squeezed on one side, Puppy Annan on the other, then Juni and Arivarea taking the two heads.

“Help yourselves!” said Juni. It triggered a mass invasion as Arivarea spooned a heap onto her own plate then passed it on. Annan noted that when Thistle held the serving spoon it looked like a normal eating spoon. She waited excitedly for when she picked up the normal spoon just to see how small it would look.

They ate happily, barely a word was shared. Juni watched happily on as her food was consumed ravenously. She always took the silence as the highest of compliments. If that weren’t enough, one they were all finished with the meal they took turns praising the food.

“Now now,” said Juni, having heard quite enough of their pampering. “The only thing left is to talk about boarding.”

“I could sleep on this chair,” muttered Puppy, patting his belly.

“That’s one sorted,” said Arivarea. Puppy looked at her in panic just to make sure she was lying. “Maybe I’ll be kind and let you share the sofa with me.”

“Have some pity,” whimpered Puppy.

“I’ll have Annan with me so that leaves Thistle and I believe, Roh Ten, to share Annan’s room.”

“Looks like we’re sharing a bed,” said Thistle to Roh Ten who wasn’t paying attention until Juni said her name.

“Nothing new,” said Roh Ten.

“Without Puppy.”

“Less fun, but still nothing new.”

“You don’t mind?” Thistle asked nervously, aware that because of her frame she’d be taking up most of the undoubtedly humbly sized bed.

Roh Ten shook her head. “As long as you don’t mind if I end up on top of you.”

“I don’t!” Roh Ten looked a little startled at Thistle’s outburst.

“Calm down, you can’t do anything about your size.” Thistle breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile Puppy and Arivarea were arguing which one of them would get the only sofa, both knowing full well that they would share it.

They finished dinner, before Juni could get up, Puppy and Arivarea cleared the table and began washing up. Flirting and bumping their hips together playfully.

“Like a house on fire,” giggled Juni mischievously.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” said Annan to no one in particular.