Ivo crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.

"The harpy girl told of a force fifty strong, and judging by the stony skin of the orcs, they are of Spikeridge variant," said Ivo.

Li noted that Spikeridge orcs were around level thirty to forty, averaging ten levels above regular orcs and possessing hardened, stone-like skin adapted from living in a harsh, dry environment which in this case would have been the arid and rolling plains of the hinterlands.

"From the hinterlands, then," commented Old Thane with a surprised nod.

Understandable surprise.

The hinterlands were far from the Winterwoods. Essentially an entire country's worth of distance away, separated from the Winterwoods not only by several smaller forest systems, but also by a vast elevated ridge that needed either a dangerous days' worth of climbing to pass or several days of arduous uphill trekking.

There was one flat path that linked the Hinterlands to the western territory of Soleil, but that was a highly visible trading path, and no force of orcs could get through it without raising a ruckus that would bring adventurers and hinterlanders crashing down on them.

Any orcs from the hinterlands that had made it this far would have gone through a long journey, to say the very least.

"Yes, and that means they are far, far from home," said Li. "I initially suspected they were being driven here, but if they had, then we would have heard about their approach. Surely, they would have ransacked at least a few of the many frontier villages that lie between the Winterwoods and the Hinterlands."

"Mighty strange, aye," said Old Thane. "I know me orcs well. A simpler bunch than us, aye, but mighty driven to goals. They set their sights on a raid, and they will eagerly lose limb and even life for it. But these orcs are no raiders – none of the many frontier villages they would have passed between the Hinterlands and the Winterwoods have been ransacked else we would have heard tell."

"That leads me to believe they're here for something. Even now, when they're a mere days march away from the Winterwoods, they move carefully.

Isma, the raven harpy who found them, likes to silently glide over and past the Winterwoods during the night to soothe her nerves, and if it had not been someone as quiet as her, no doubt the orcs would not have been visible. They intentionally traveled in such a way to keep a low profile, likely moving only in night, and actively avoiding human settlements."

"There is the matter of their numbers as well," said Ivo. "Fifty is no moving populace. It is more a large party, and parties move not to survive, but to set their sights on a goal, as Thane says."

"A goal? Hrm." Old Thane put a hand to his beard. "If the brutes had wanted to raid, then they'd have been better off sacking the villages. No adventurer nor knightly guard to fend them off there."

"Instead, they march straight to the Winterwoods, aiming right to the heart of Riviera," said Ivo. "I fear their aim is the city itself."

"Perhaps I can go and, hm, persuade one of these fine fellows into telling us of their plans?" said Ven'thur.

Li's rejection was swift. "No. You stay in the city. You and Sindra absolutely need to hold down our business in Riviera because the rest of us spend so little time there. Even one day without either of you there might mean we miss crucial happenings in the city."

"As you wish, Guildmaster," said Ven'thur, tipping his black bowler hat.

Ivo uncrossed his arms, his expression determined. "Then, Good Seer, I propose this: that I take our order of priests and intercept them as they enter the woods, where the terrain will be vastly to our advantage. With but a little of your assistance, I see no harm falling upon us nor to the good citizens of Riviera."

"A sound idea, but perhaps we can add a few elements to it," said Li. "I know you want to minimize as much harm as you can to anyone that is not us, but that alone will not spread word of the good that you, my priests, can do.

Inform the Adventurer's Guild at first light tomorrow about the incoming orcs. Fifty Spikeridge orcs is enough of a threat that they will dispatch the highest ranked teams currently in Riviera along with a contingent of light priests.

They will serve as witnesses."

"But what if harm comes upon them?" said Ivo, worried.

Li put the priest's mind to ease. "I will minimize that risk. Position yourself and your priests along with the adventurers and light priests further back in the forest.

I will stay out at the edge of the Winterwoods and confront them by myself at first. I will question them of their purpose, and if it is truly one seeking refuge, then I will grant it to them for they have not done any harm so far.

If they are hostile, then I will let them pass in the forest, and I will grant you, my priests, more than enough power to utterly crush them. If needs be, I will send Iona or one of my Justicars to aid you. We do not need to have the adventurers and light priests fight.

They simply have to know and watch of the good the Old Faith brought to Riviera."

"Your word is my will, Good Seer," said Ivo with bowed head.

"Good, now let's get some sleep while we can," said Li. "Tomorrow will be a long day."

=========================

Li retired to his room. The one built by Old Thane and Aine long ago, meant for a child they never had. The single window streamed in bright beams of moonlight, lighting up where a crib likely would have been, comforting the child from the dark.

Li had always thought in some measure that it was symbolic that this was his room, but now that feeling was even more apparent for now there truly was a child here.

Lying wrapped up in a snug cocoon of fur skin blankets was Tia.

She had changed vastly since she was two months ago, to say the very least.

Once Tia had started consuming higher quality food from the high end restaurants, she had started to grow at an alarming pace. When Li consulted Azhar, he had said it was unsurprising, noting that wyrms reached physical maturity to fend for themselves within just one to five years.

But Li had never imagined the growth would be this alarming .Two months ago, at the festival's end, she had already been capable of easily smashing through the cottage wall before, but within a month, Tia had outgrown any reasonable size capable of fitting into the cottage.

Thus, Li had been forced to put her outside, telling her that she had outgrown the cottage. But the first night he had set her outside had been the very last, for she considered space apart from Li to be a threat necessary to evolve to face against, and to do so, she had used her latent magic to forge an alternate form for herself – a human form, as was customary for most dragonkin with magical potential and a need to interact with other species.

Li had to admit it was far more convenient. He sat beside Tia, making sure the blankets were wrapped tight around her little body. Her face poked through the blankets, and it looked just like any other human girl's.

She was asleep, her eyes closed tightly shut with her mouth slightly open, revealing sharp fangs meant to rip and tear. Her lengthy hair lay scattered around her head in a ragged mess, and, illuminated by the moonlight, it was possible to see that though her hair at first seemed black, it was actually a shade of deeply dark green.

Li patted her head, brushing stray curls of hair aside from her eyes and nose and putting them behind her horns. In the moonlight, her horns were truly striking. She had two sets that emerged from her temples, one set a shade of black and another a shade of light, almost shining green.

Tia looked around ten years old, and that was the age that Li had been treating her throughout the past month as he became more and more used to caring for her in her new form.

Li watched with concern as Tia growled a little, her human vocal chords still strangely easily capable of making that deep, monstrous sound. Her brows scrunched up in something resembling a mixture of fear and anger, and she began to struggle under the blankets.

Before she could shred the blankets to pieces with claws still very much present on her human fingers, Li roused her awake with a light shake.

Tia's eyes slowly flickered open. One eye completely black, lacking even a pupil – a solid sphere of darkness – and the other shining green in the same shade as Li's own eyes were. Her expression was groggy, but even then, she still looked a little fierce. Her brows were black and sharply defined, curving at angles that seemed to grant her every look a bit of a scowl.

"Is it the same nightmare?" said Li softly.

Tia nodded as she sat up, drawing the blankets tighter to her before she went closer to Li's side, putting her little head into his chest.

"Yes, papa," she said faintly, and hearing that, Li could not help but feel somewhat strange.

Not in an uncomfortable way, for Li had resolved from the very beginning to raise Tia, but now that she looked so very human and she could utter the words 'papa', it felt odd in that he had never visualized himself as a father to a child, especially not in his past world.

He would never have felt it right to have brought in a child to a world so hopeless, and though there were many orphans to adopt from, he knew his lifestyle was incompatible with giving a child the time and love they deserved.

But now, here he was, embracing a child – an orphan – who clung to him as her father figure, her source of comfort when she felt fear, her source of warmth when she felt cold, her source of support when she felt alone.

Li did not feel any reservations about raising Tia as his own daughter, but it still felt surreal that just half a year ago, he would never have considered himself capable of raising a child. Though, he realized, that was who he had been a world away.

"Cold. Felt cold," said Tia with a shiver. "Water and black things."

"Shadows," corrected Li. Tia, though she grasped the language at an extremely fast rate, still was imperfect in its usage, and one of his jobs through the past month had been sitting her down and teaching her that not everything was hunting and fighting.

Speaking of, Tia was still as bloodthirsty as ever when it came to the fight, easily capable of shifting into her draconic form when she really wanted to indulge herself.

"Shadows," repeated Tia with a nod. "Water and shadows. All around me. Cold and scary. Alone."

"You're not alone. I'd never let you be," said Li as he hugged her. "Come on, I'll show you the happy dream."

Li adjusted himself, sitting cross legged, and Tia smiled, lying down with her head atop his leg as she closed her eyes.

"Where go today?" said Tia.

"Where will we go today," corrected Li. "But where will we go? Well, let's go where the forest leads us this time. More of an adventure that way."

Li put a hand to Tia's forehead and closed his own eyes, entering a state of divine meditation, his consciousness splitting from his human form in an instant, leaving him in the midst of the Winterwoods, at the very heart of his shrine.