All things considered, Joseph was having a strange day. From the moment he'd set foot into the town, people had avoided him. Not that he blamed them. After all, he looked like a foreigner from an enemy country. Who wouldn't be on-guard around somebody like that? Even when he'd stuck to less populated routes and back alleys, the few people he encountered avoided him like the plague.

He decided to stow what few belongings he had in a vacant barn until he could find a place to work and stay. The barn itself seemed as though it hadn't been used in years, and was positioned on the outskirts of the town. This combination of aspects made the boy confident that no one would intrude.

Once his items were safely concealed in some old straw, he ventured back out and tiptoed about town in search of a vendor selling a cloak. When he did finally find one, he realized that he had no money with which to pay for the cloak, and the owner was unwilling to accept payment at a later time. He realized then that this would be harder than he originally thought.

Rather than continue to try to get a cloak, he decided it would be easier to try selling the critter scales first. The trouble with that was that he had no idea what their official name was, or if they even had an official name at all. He took one of the scales and presented it to different merchants, but none of them seemed familiar with it.

One merchant, however, commented that he'd never seen a material so light and hard at the same time, and asked how the boy came across them. Joseph told him that he killed a beast in the mountains and took the scales as a prize, but also made sure to emphasize that it was a baby, and that the adults were practically unkillable. This got the merchant's attention.

The man admitted that he knew next to nothing about the scales or about the creature they had been taken from, but also stated once again that they were tougher than nearly anything he'd ever seen. He told Joseph that he'd be willing to offer three ryngs per scale, an offer which Joseph accepted. He only needed seven ryngs to buy the cloak, and he had ten of the large plates of armor. After retrieving the other scales, he managed to trade them in for a total of twenty-five ryngs (when the man saw that Joseph had more plates than he'd expected, he asked for a slight discount, and Joseph didn't have the willpower to say no).

Once he had the money in hand, he wasted no time exchanging it for a cloak. However, when the seller saw how desperate the seemingly-foreign boy was, the price was doubled from seven to fourteen ryngs. The owner had been keeping an eye on the boy, and was well-aware that he had the money to pay for it. Joseph protested, but was shut down quickly and didn't have it in him to push the matter any further. He begrudgingly handed over the fourteen coins, and draped the cloak over himself to hide his hair and eyes before returning to the barn.

As he made his way back, another figure shoved his way past, vanishing behind a building. Not far away, a couple of men wearing shiny, metallic chest plates frantically moved about, seemingly searching for something. At first, he wondered if they were searching for a theif of some sort. It could fit with the figure that pushed past him, after all. Then a different thought popped into his head. Was it him that they were searching for? Had one of the locals reported a suspicious outsider?

Now uneasy, he hurried back to the barn with every intention of grabbing his things and moving elsewhere until the panic died down. When he entered, however, he was met with an unusual sight. A girl had collapsed in the barn. A girl with purple skin, dragon-like wings, and a tail. He gasped in awe, not quite sure what he was even looking at. Upon moving closer, he noticed that her "purple skin" was not really skin at all, but rather, it was made up of lightly-colored scales.

He moved closer and knelt down to grab the girl by the shoulders, noting the horns that emerged from her long, brown hair. She was unconscious. He shook her multiple times, but she refused to wake up. Though he was both curious and confused, he decided that to further mess with her would be unwise. She would wake up eventually, and he could ask all the questions he had to then.

He began to wonder about what she was. Naya hadn't told him about dragon-human hybrids at all. Was she an anomaly? A magical beast? A new species Naya had been unaware of? Naya had told him of dragons, yes, but they were rare, and nowhere near as human is this girl was. She couldn't be the offspring of a human and dragon together, could she? No, surely it didn't work that way. Whatever she was, Joseph realized that there was a strange sort of beauty about her.

That was when another realization hit him: she was probably the person the men had been hunting for. Obviously, even a strange foreign boy would seem normal compared to a literal dragon-girl. He had learned enough from Naya to know that this was not a normal occurrence. Maybe she had stolen something and was now on the run. Maybe she'd run away from someplace else.

Maybe she's kinda like me, Joseph wondered.

His thoughts were interrupted by the noise of men muttering outside. "She could be in here," one of them said to another. "Let's check, just to be sure."

Joseph felt his heart skip a beat. Before he fully realized what he was doing, he dragged the girl into the corner of the old barn and covered her limp body with straw. He pulled the hood of his new brown cloak over his face, and sat down on the straw pile, praying that the girl didn't wake up.

The doors to the barn swung open, and two of the men Joseph had seen before walked in. They glanced around, but made no aggressive moves. They moved toward him, both carrying non-loaded crossbows.

"Hey, you," one of the men growled. "You seen a weird girl run by here at all? If you have, we'll pay you if you tell us where she went."

The boy shook his hooded head, not giving them a verbal response.

"Ah, figures," the other man complained. "We're going to poke around this barn though. Just to be sure."

He nodded again, and the men rustled around in search of the girl. They tossed up old piles of hay, and left no stone unturned, both figuratively and literally. Once they were done, they moved over to where Joseph sat.

"We'd like to search here, too," they said as they got closer.

Once more, Joseph said nothing. He simply grabbed his large knife and pointed at them, keeping his face low and shadowed. The two men grew visibly uneasy, not sure if he was insane, or some trained assassin of some sort.

"Look, take it easy," one said, backing up slowly. "We didn't mean any trouble."

Joseph stood up, still pointing the blade at the men. He crouched slightly, readying the knife as though he was about to pounce on his prey. The men turned tail and ran immediately, not wanting to engage in combat with what appeared to be a trained killer. Nobody else would be stupid enough to face two armed men like that, after all. The master's fury wasn't worth the possibility of their throats being slit.

Once they vanished, Joseph uncovered the girl once again, and closed the doors. He was trembling all over. I didn't think that bluff would actually work, he screamed mentally. They actually thought I would kill them if they poked the bear!

His eyes turned back to the sleeping girl. He silently commented on the odd choice of outfit. She looked like a maid, or a worker of some sort, but her sleeves had been torn off. Maybe she'd run away from captivity, or servitude somewhere. As he continued to raise questions regarding who she was and where she'd come from, he realized it was getting dark.

The question now is: do I stay awake just in case the men come back, or do I get some sleep? There's no way they'd come back after that though, right? I suppose it would be alright to get some rest, then.

He cast one last glance toward the odd girl. Just who on earth are you, anyway? That was his last thought before sleep overtook his body, understandably weary from the unusual day.

That same night, the guards took word of their failure to Keith. To their surprise, he didn't throw a tantrum. He didn't attack them, or threaten them whatsoever. He simply grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill, and scribbled down a quick letter. Then he carried it out to the balcony of the mansion, where a bird perched in the shadows. Keith slid the letter into a compartment attached to its back, then held up another paper with a strange emblem on it.

"Carry the letter to the first person that wears this emblem," he ordered. With a high-pitched cry, the large bird spread its wings and flew off into the darkness.

The following morning, the mansion was quiet. The maids muttered to each other uneasily, unsure of what would become of them after Railyn escaped the previous day. To no one's surprise, Keith had been irate. Nobody knew what exactly he had done to Cassy after recapturing her, but the pained screams that echoed from the basement the previous night gave rise to some unsettling assumptions.

Every maid in the house twitched or jumped as the doors suddenly flung open. A strange boy strode into the house, walking as though he owned the place. He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, and had murky green eyes, light brown hair, sun-tanned skin, and a sturdy frame measuring six feet tall. He wore a firm expression as he glanced around the room. Walking at his side was a girl about six inches shorter, with dark brown hair that hung midway down her back and eyes identical to those of the boy's. Her face was equally unreadable.

"You," the boy said suddenly, pointing to one of the taller women. "I assume you work here?"

"Y-yes, sir," the light-haired woman stammered, startled at the sudden inquiry.

"Good," the boy said firmly. "I'm here at your master's orders. Take me to see him, will you?"

"O-of course, right away, sir," the woman said, bowing quickly before leading the boy toward a flight of stairs leading to the next floor. "The owner resides on the third floor. If you would be so kind as to follow me, I can lead you there right away."

The boy nodded and began to follow alongside with the girl he arrived with, who promptly slapped him on the shoulder.

"You should've been more polite," the girl hissed.

The boy simply rolled his eyes. "Save it," he groaned. "Unlike you, I don't bother with pleasantries. They waste time."

"And that's why I never let you do the talking," she replied with a sigh.

When they reached Keith's room on the third floor, the maid knocked quickly before moving aside. The boy pushed in, throwing the door open before anyone on the other side could answer. Both the maid and the other girl gasped at this sudden move, but the boy ignored them and strode into the room. It was lavishly furnished with a beautiful table and dining set, a king-sized bed in the far corner, and three velvet couches. A dark, wooden desk sat directly across from the door on the far side of the room, with a large chair behind it. In it was Keith, his chin resting on his hands and his face wearing the deadliest glare known to man.

"You dare barge in when I am in such a mood?" he hissed at the boy, who walked confidently up to the desk and placed his hands down on it. "Did the maids outside not inform you of my current condition?"

The boy noted the figure standing behind him: a smaller girl with short black hair. Her eyes carried a lifeless expression, and bruises were visible just underneath her dress. She glanced at the boy, but shuddered and turned away when their eyes met.

"Yeah, they said something, but I ignored it," the boy said nonchalantly, turning his eyes back to the owner. "Look, I have better things to do than kick back while you throw a hissy-fit over your love life, so can we just get on with it?"

The owner's expression shifted slightly from mere anger to absolute fury. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as the other girl shoved the boy aside and cast the owner an apologetic smile.

"Evan," she hissed, turning to the boy. "I do the talking, remember?"

The boy retaliated by gently pushing the girl back and pointing a finger at her. "No. Usually you do, but I'm taking it this time. I'm in a bad mood today, and I don't feel like taking crap from some prissy rich kid, okay?"

The girl sighed, running a hand through her hair and wearing an expression of obvious annoyance. "Fine," she said, stepping aside. "Have fun."

"Now that we got that cleared," the boy said, turning back to Keith, "I believe you have a job for me?"

"I did," the man growled in his signature, icy tone, "until you showed your absolute lack of respect." The look on his face would have made any of the maids cower. In fact, it would have made most normal men cower as well. But the boy didn't. He simply shrugged.

"Look, you've already wasted enough of my time as is, so just give me the job already. Who are you paying me to hunt?"

"If you weren't the only bounty hunter nearby, I assure you I would have chosen somebody else," the man snapped, looking as though he might strangle the boy at any second.

"For the love of the spirits!" the boy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air before slamming them back down on the desk. "Just stop whining and give me the job already! You act like I took a dump in your favorite golden vase or something! And by the way, I'm considering doing it anyway with the attitude you're giving me."

"Too much information," the girl mumbled from behind him.
"You," the man roared, throwing his chair back and standing abruptly, "need to be taught how to properly behave yourself around those above you!"

Without warning, the boy's hands snapped outward, seizing the owner by the collar of the robes. He pulled the man's face toward his, giving a vicious glare of his own. "Above me?" he hissed dangerously. "There are three things that I wan to make perfectly clear. First: my name is Evan Chlora. I am a bounty hunter. I am the best damn bounty hunter you will find in this country, and as such, I demand some respect of my own. Second: when I'm not working for wealthy pissants like you, I take my orders directly from Second Regional Head Reymond Schorlor. That means I'm a lot higher up than you think. If I give the right word in about you, he could have this whole place dismantled, or could have this region's regional head do the same. Watch how you address me. Again, I demand some respect, and most importantly, I call the shots. Third: you promised a job. If you don't give me details at once, I will bash your sorry head in for every single minute of my time that you just wasted. Have I made myself absolutely clear?"

Everyone in the room aside from Evan's partner looked terrified. Keith himself looked like he was on the verge of wetting himself. He'd been an aristocrat his entire life. A direct threat was something he had never experienced. He nodded, unable to make out adequate words. Evan visibly relaxed, releasing the man and stepping back.

"Perfect," he said, a smirk taking shape on his face. "So, what do you have for us?"

Keith took a moment to compose himself before facing the bounty hunter. "I need you to hunt one of my maids," he said, voice shaking slightly. "It's impossible to miss her. She has light purple skin, and sharp, green eyes. She has a tail, wings, and horns like those of a dragon. Medium-brown hair, average height, and slightly muscular. Her name is Railyn."

"Brilliant," Evan said, not questioning the description whatsoever. "What's her official status here? Employee? Resident? Slave?"

"Slave."

"Perfect. Now, when hunting down people, there is an aspect of legality that has to be examined. For instance, if it was within the law for her to flee. If it's perfectly legal for her to run and capturing her is therefore illegal technically, then the job costs more. I'm sure you understand. Maya here can examine all the nitty-gritty details of the legality."

He gestured to the girl behind him, who let out yet another sigh. "So now you'll let me do something," she groaned.

"Hey, I let you talk all the time, you always do it," Evan reasoned, "but this guy was a different case!"

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Sure." Her flat expression told the others that she was in no better of a mood than Evan was. "Anyway, I'll need to see Railyn's files. I assume you still have them?"

The owner nodded, gesturing to the maid that had led them to the room. "Lucille here can get those for you. In the meantime, shall we discuss payment?"

Evan shook his head. "Maya can run through all that with you. I'll be heading out with the rest of my team now. You seem harmless enough, I'm sure I can trust Maya to stay with you, right?" He glanced over to Cassy, then Lucille, then Keith. There was something else formulating in his mind, but nobody could make it out.

"Of course," Keith said as a small smile formed on his face.

"Then I'll be heading out now. Maya, you got this?"

"Do you even have to ask?" the girl sighed. She watched as the boy left the room, then turned to the owner. "Interesting hobby you have here," she said coolly as her eyes met his.

His smirk grew. "Indeed. Shall I entertain you with the details of this hobby of mine?"

Her eyes had a calculating look. No. Burn in Hell please. "Sure. But..." her voice trailed off as she blushed slightly. "You wouldn't try anything ridiculous, would you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," the man said, his voice sweetening as a spark seemed to ignite in his eyes.

That's right, you worm, Maya thought to herself. Take the bait. I dare you.

Evan was in good spirits as he made his way outside. As he stepped through the grass of the hills, two other figures came alongside him. One was a tall, thin man of about eighteen years, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. The other was a girl of the same hair and eye color, but a bit shorter and with hair that barely even fell past her ears.

A two-foot-tall bird with a long, crimson head crest perched on a leather plate on the boy's shoulder. It was similar in build to an eagle, but it's legs were longer. Dark grey feathers covered its body, and white ones sprouted from its chest and underneath its wings. Fastened to its back was a wooden tube with a leather cap. Letters could be stored inside.

"Did we get the job?" the girl asked in a bright tone.

Evan nodded. "It's a weird one, but it'll do."

"We really should get our own sykorian," the boy said as the bird on his shoulder took off and flew back toward the mansion. The leather shoulder plate where it stood was engraved with the Endralian emblem, a picture of the same type of bird with its wings folded, and with six smaller symbols engraved around it. "It'd be nice if we could send letters instead of just receiving and replying."

"If you wanna feed it out of your own pockets, be my guest," Evan groaned. "Those things freak me out anyway. Long-legged freakbirds..."

"Don't be like that! Besides, they can hunt for their own food!"

"They're stupid expensive to buy though. So hey, if you want to fork over your own cash, fine, but I'm not chipping in."

"Oh, fine, be that way then," the blond boy said playfully. "Aren't you supposed to be the team's mister practical?"

"I am practical, and that's why I'm not buying one of those stupid birds."

"Cheapskate."

"Yeah, yeah, point taken. Now shut it. We have a job."

"What are the details?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Let's head back to the valley now, our target is probably there. Not like there's anywhere else for a maid to run."