"As large as the Elmaiya Empire is, over half of its landmass still remains uninhabited to this day. Where the jungle is thicker, civilization mostly stays away. The people there naturally favored the areas which were easier to develop, rather than muck around with the dense tropical jungles that dominated the uninhabited lands." - Sergey Semlevich, Elmaiyan Pioneer, known for holding the record of fifteen villages established in a ten-year span, circa 659 FP.

The route taken by their three guides led Cal and Kino into a dense tropical jungle, where at times she had to cleave through the thick vines and undergrowth to clear the way for themselves and Lazlo, who rode alongside them.

Azturia and and Zira, both still in their leopard forms, took to the branches instead, as they leapt gracefully from one tree to another. They kept a slow pace, to make sure that those behind did not lose sight of them. Cal thought that those two looked very natural in the jungle, as if they had lived there all their lives.

Often, they ran into local wildlife, but most they ran into either stayed out of their way, or were scared off by a roar from one of the sisters without much issue. The lack of disturbance meant that they actually made a fairly good pace through the jungle.

Only once did the wildlife ignore the warning, when a massive tyrant lizard - one bigger than the one Cal hunted at the goblin lands back then - pushed its way through the trees and made to attack the group.

Cal had just got her halberd out when the lizard came within five meters of them, and its head promptly slid off its thick neck as blood gushed out. Kino had dispatched of it with a single move, without even moving from where she was seated atop her mount.

Both halves of the massive Carcass went into Cal's storage pendant, as they continued their trek and the jungle slowly, but surely began to grow sparser. Eventually they came out of the jungle and found themselves on a vast seaside cliff, the southern ocean right beneath the cliff sides.

Cal saw what looked like a simple thatched cottage in the distance, right by the side of the cliff. She saw that both sisters had shifted back to their normal forms, and had donned their clothing already. They must be very used to changing directly from their storage since they were both skilled shapeshifters, she thought.

To no surprise, the siblings led Cal towards the thatched cottage in the distance, at a slower, more leisurely pace. Kino and Lazlo walked with them, their respective mounts tied to a tree at the edge of the jungle.

It took the group around ten minutes before they reached the vicinity of the thatched cottage. As they approached, Cal suddenly felt a chill in the air, one so intense that even someone born and raised in a cold region felt it deeply.

"Aunt Adelheid, it's us!" yelled Azturia right away. Apparently they all felt the same chill as well, though they at least has some fur to fall back on.

"Oh. It's just you kids," said a voice from inside the cottage. Moments later, they heard steps of hard soles on wood, and the door opened, which gave Cal her first look at the source of the voice - as well as the chill she felt - for the first time.

The woman who came out from the cottage was small - Cal estimated that maybe she was only a little taller than Ying Xiao - and dressed in very formal clothing, of the style favored by Alcidean nobles. Incidentally, the nobility of the current empire also favored that style of clothing.

She wore black trousers with knee-high leather boots, and a white shirt with some frills at the sleeves and collar. A golden brooch with a red gem set on it pinned her collar, and she wore a black sleeveless vest over her shirt. A half-cape covered her left shoulder and half her back.

Cal had some difficulty determining the woman's heritage, though her very light hair, almost white under the rays of the sun, reminded her of the humans amongst the desert nomads she met last year. Her hair was kept in a bun behind her head, and contrasted greatly with her brown skin. The brown was not that of a tanned human, but reminded Cal more of the coloration of some orcs and goblins she saw in the past.

When the woman spoke, Cal noticed her sharp, dagger like teeth, telltale signs of her goblin ancestry, while her pointed ears also hinted of some elvish bloodline somewhere in her ancestry. The woman looked very young, enough that with her small build, she could easily pass for a barely mature teenage child.

Naturally, looks can be deceiving.

"Oh, hey there Kino," said the woman when she noticed Kino with the siblings. "Haven't seen you for a while."

"Nice to meet you too, miss Hænlien," replied Kino with a smile. "I'm mostly just bringing Cal here around to meet the others. You probably remember her from the last conclave?"

"Cal, this is miss Adelheid V. Hænlien. She is the Champion of Ice," introduced Kino. "Is Lucea around too by the way? Or does she happen to be out alone?"

"Lucea's just cooking, come on in if you want to meet her," replied Adelheid as she turned and beckoned them to follow. "And yeah, I remember her. She'll probably be taking over for old Radoth soon, so I kept her in mind."

Cal looked over the cottage as she entered with the rest. The building was simple, but cozy, with the occasional decoration on the walls, like wreaths of wildflowers. It was a rather nice place, and definitely far more comfortable than she expected out there in the middle of nowhere.

She saw the "Lucea" mentioned soon enough. A feathered lizard therian with pure white feathers labored over a pot that looked like stew in the kitchen. She looked over to the visitors and gave a smile that bared a lot of sharp teeth to them.

"Kino! You haven't visited us in a decade! Nice to have you here," she said with obvious joy in her eyes. "And this is… Celeysria I believe? Sorry if I get it wrong."

"You got it in one," Kino said as she turned to Cal and introduced the therian to her. "Cal, this is Lucea. Lucea Miel Tessarii, once the first empress of the third Elmaiya Empire, and the Champion of Life."