It all began during a peaceful morning. Although the village of Baska wasn't as large or crowded like say... Oak or Crocus, it did have its own homely charm to it. Perhaps it was for that reason that Kana had chosen to travel there. Even now she was a sight that would draw attention fairly easily, whether it was her unmistakable Joyan fashion, or her childish looks, she really stood out among the crowd. The sheer amount of people that had mistaken her for one of Baska's orphanage children was starting to become ridiculous, and in hindsight it kind of made her want to do a bit of exploring to see if that place was any fun. At least until one could overhear the whispers among the crowd.

"Did you hear about what happened last night?" One of the villagers muttered worriedly, upon which another chimed in. "You mean that caretaker at the orphanage? Terrible-I know..."

The other villager sighed softly, oblivious to the child who was listening in to their conversation. "The rune knights found her at dawn, although there is still some difficulty with the identification process." The villagers frowned noticeably at this. "What do you mean? Was it her? Or was it not?" To which the villager sighed in return. "They can't say for certain, whoever- no whatever got their hands on her, it did something really cruel! Like not only did they kill the poor woman, her face was taken! Some say it was witchcraft, others say some psychopath is going around collecting faces to put on masks like some accessories.."

The crowd mumbled, clearly unsettled by the news while Kana turned her attention toward the station, wondering if anyone new was arriving at Baska soon. However, for a moment as she went out of range of the crowd her lips moved: "Masks? That is an interesting idea, isn't it Koh-chan?"

her lips curving up into a smile she started to hum and skip toward the station, wondering if there would be anyone fun to meet today.

After a long trip Durand finally arrived, a young tall man stood in exit of the station, with no more than a rag as a bag, and his clothes... which were, how to say it? they certainly could be described as weird clothes, but to him they were daily basic clothes, with a hood attached to a corset like shirt that only covered his chest, something similar to jeans as pants, lots of belts and a cold expression was more than enough to be the target of many short glances.

Used to it, the young man walked to the exit thinking about what to do next, this was his first trip outside Stellan, and even though he passed through many places, this was his first stop to buy something to eat and things for the daily life. He learned a bit the Fiore's language before leaving Stellan but it was quite hard to pronounce, even so he was understandable.

-Well, I am lost and I haven't left the station yet-

Notably lost, many people noticed it and avoided him with the hope that the weird tribal scary man wouldn't talk them. well he was used to it as well, he was quite intimidating sometimes.

-Should have I bought a map?- he thought while sitting in a bench.

While at it, Durand started to hear some mumbling, it was about, murders? Mask? And witchcraft? or something along the lines... well it seemed that he arrived in a bad moment. however it wasn't the time to start hearing gossips.

He needed at least to find a grocery store before hearing more about the situation, the last time when he was traveling around Stellan he lost the track of time helping a little girl to find her lost cat and ended staying in the town 3 days, Durand knows himself better than anyone that he is the kind who can't let his honor down or even lost the opportunity to help someone since it was what the tales that he listened in his young have taught him and those tales where the reason why he left his home land.

The werewolf child had been quick to notice the stranger, well it would had been quite difficult for her not to do so! He stuck out like... a nail in a coffin! Wait, that was a macabre comparison even for her standards. She watched with interest how the stranger started to wander around the station, seemingly almost aimless and without anyone seemingly having the courage to approach him. Perhaps it was the current paranoia from the incident he had heard about that was causing them to be wary about approaching him, not that his looks helped in that regard.

Tap~ Tap~ Tap~

The sound of light footsteps were made, the gentle clatter of her sandals rebounding on the floortiles as the werewolf child stopped right in front of Durand. Her eyes gazed with a hint of curiosity at him, not entirely certain why he had decided to sit here of all places. Was he already exhausted? Contemplating the next move of his adventure? Or perhaps...

"Are you lost onii-chan?" A soft girlish voice called out to him, an innocent smile appearing on her lips as she raised a hand, balled it up lightly into a fist, and tapped it against her chest. "If so, then Kana can help! Kana made it all the way from Oak to Baska, ALL by herself." Well she did need to ask directions once and nearly got picked up by a local orphanage, but that was another story. Yet how would the tribal lad react to this cheerful greeting? Her attire clearly suggested she was Joyan, and the name she mentioned fit as well alongside the term she used earlier, although curiously enough she was talking in fluent Fiorian!

"If you're hungry there is a fast-food place at the station~ Not sure why they call it fast..." A hand raised to her cheek as she pondered about the statement for a moment, after which she continued. "There are a lot of other places as well, and plenty of inns for you to stay at if you want to get some sleepy sleeps~"

The child nodded her head lightly as she excitedly pointed at a street further into the village. "Although if you're a stray... the orphanage is that way~ Careful if you're not, the nice ladies there like to snatch you up and take you there, then they scrub you clean, give you a free meal and tell you to go to sleep before it gets dark... But Kana isn't a child! and Kana often gets told it's fine to awooh at night!"

Now that was a confusing introduction. "So~ What is Onii-chan looking for?"

Thinking about what to do next, his thoughts were interrupted by a very talkative child, raising his head from the floor, Durand watched her while she was talking, it seemed that her attire wasn't from the region, not at least what you would call something usual for the place, maybe it was from a place that he haven't visited yet? Probably... or it was some sort of clothes that he haven't seen.

The name had also a different pronunciation at what he was used in the Florian language. This girl talked all what she wanted, what wasn't bad, however it would be disrespectful to not answer to Kana's help proposal and introduction.

" Nice to meet you " Durand says in a stumbling and old Florian making a cold expression usual on him " I am Durand, from the Faerie tribe, actually I was lost, I would thank I bit of help to find a place where to sleep and eat "

Then he stood in front of the little girl, noticing that he was taller at least one and half of a head, it was a ridiculous situation that he was searching help from such girl, however, to his tribe even 14 years old was already an adult as a warrior, so he wasn't bothered by that fact and she was at least at that age or near it.

As it used to be, Durand had to pay respect for people who is helping him, moving his right hand in the space between he and she, Durand put it with the intention to shake her hand, a slight smile was glimpsed in Durand's stiff expression expecting for a hand shake. Maybe it was to much? It was the way that Roland taught him of how people out the tribe pay respect to a person who is helping you. He genuinely don't knew that this was rarely done toward children, so to him it wasn't actually bad to shake hands with Kana as a greeting and way of thank her for her help.

"Faerie... tribe?" The werewolf child tilted her head slightly to the side in a clear showing of confusion. Sniffing a few times she soon continued. "You don't smell like a Fae, nu-uh, much more like a human." Nodding her head as if she was trying to convince herself of the statement the child soon continued speaking. "You think you need a bit of help? Kana is fairly confident that if you're lost, Durand nii-chan is gonna need help for sure!" She turned her gaze toward one of the distant crowds that were too preoccupied with discussing some matter of gossip to take notice of their conversation. "Something scary happened, so the villagers are a bit distrustful right now. Won't get much help if you aren't from Fiore."

A soft hum followed as she bounced on the heels of her feet, the way she moved so nimbly easily suggesting she was quite agile for her age. "But not Kana~ Kana likes foreigners, they carry a lot of interesting stories with them~"

When Durand extended a hand in expectations for a handshake the girl merely smiled sheepishly at him and raised one of her own hands, yet as she shook his head Durand would likely notice the force that came with the shake was unnatural for one of her age, betraying she might had been more than just an ordinary child.

"Hmm, if you got jewels to spend then Kana thinks the tavern near the city plaza is a good option. They don't charge much, and also can offer you a meal if you're hungry. Else you can always visit the orphanage and ask if they have room for a guest. The nice ladies there always allow Kana to stay when Kana visits Baska~ But Durand nii-chan might need to do some chores then to earn a yummy meal."

And with these words she raised both her hands into the air. "So what will it be~ Tavern~" she tilted her head lightly to one side after which she soon continued. "Or orphanage?"

" Oh, I'am not Fae " He answered with a light smile that barely could be seen to the statement that the young lady made " It just means something different in the language of my tribe, don't give to it too many turns "

Uh, it seemed that people around was gossiping something, and Kana just threw the answer to him. something scary was up, it was better to not get involved or he would end taking his time or days in there.

But wow, that child, Kana, had light feeds to her age, maybe she practice some kind of sport? but that wasn't the problem, Durand almost flinched when she shook his hand, it was kind of supernatural or eerie the strength that she put in it. Maybe she wasn't a normal child, Durand thought, since she was traveling alone and even more it wasn't natural outside of the tribe for a child at that age be separated from their parents, at least for human child.

It was probable that she was from another race, however it didn't even was the shadow of a possibility for Durand, why? It was due to the fact that he met some extraordinary people back then, when his tribe had a bad time, there were people who would be strong enough to carry a huge log just with their pinkie finger, those people arrived to his tribe just in order to help, so he wasn't so surprised to it since they needed to be quick and efficient, however it is not like he was so used that he wouldn't get slightly surprised to those events.

Then when thinking about that, Durand noticed two options being placed in front of he.

" Well I wouldn't like to being retained against my will, so I have some jewels to spend at the inn " He told her with a stiff expression, but a slight jokingly tone