It was early afternoon on Friday when I met up with Sten outside their warehouse. To my surprise, there was two Catkin there as well.

“Hi Ruku,” Sten greeted me. “This is Appā and his son Ilaiya. When I said I was going fishing, they also wanted to come. I said it would depend on you, so it is OK if it is too much.”

“Greetings all. You are all welcome, but the cabin is a bit small. Someone might have to sleep on the porch.” I replied. “It is also a bit of a run to get there. Are you Ok with that?” I was particularly concerned for the young lad as he was only a young teen and had no Class yet.

“Thanks Ruku,” Appā said. “Ilaiya and I will bring a couple of our horses.”

The lad made a face at that, but there was no way he was going to last the first two hours otherwise. I wasn’t sure if Appā was riding so that the boy wasn’t the only one or if he wouldn’t run well either. I suspect it was the former, as I thought Catkin preferred using their paws rather than riding. I let Sten set the pace, and he set out at only slightly less than my usual pace. The horses trotted alongside. I wondered where Tāoke was, but I eventually saw him poke out his head from Sten’s shoulder.

We chatted about general things. Sten would often point out plants or animals to the lad and give a brief description. I wondered if he was training the lad. Sten had a pretty fancy bow with him. The lad, Ilaiya, had a couple of knives, and Appā had a sword and a knife. We loaded all the baggage onto the horses, including my backpack, which was nice.

The Catkin chatted about some of their travels. Ilaiya was pretty taken with one of the Orcs travelling with them by the name of Modrica. I got that she was some sort of master at Unarmed Combat and used to fight in what I gathered were illegal fighting pits in Jern. He had a bit of hero worship going on and was quite proud that his Unarmed Combat had just reached Apprentice level. His father was silent during that part of the conversation. I got the impression that almost anything to motivate the teenager to learn would be OK with him. I shared some of the lighter moments of my career as a Commando. That impressed the lad too. I gather it wasn't too hard to impress the lad.

We got into the village after dark. I scored some leftover meat from the evening market, which was just packing up and we went to the cabin, and I lit the fire. Appā offered to cook, which was fine by me. Apparently, he had the highest Cooking Skill out of all of us. However, the Herbalist, Ört, was the best cook in the caravan, and you didn’t want to miss one of his meals.

In the morning, we skipped the training for early morning fishing. I led them to a set of rocks jutting out that usually had a good number of fish. As we were fishing, I mentioned a reef, a short sail out, where we could fish and dive, and I learned something significant. Sten couldn’t swim, and not only that, he had a skill that increased the density of his bones so he wouldn’t naturally float like most humans. He had to actively swim to stay afloat. I put Interrogate Status on the task, and it came back with “Toughened Bones.” I had never heard of that skill. Most people with strengthened bones that I had heard of are ones with an affinity for metal, rock, or the Bone affinity itself. The world is a big place, and there are plenty of skills I haven’t heard of, but he also had a lot of stone-throwing darts in a belt across his chest. The Catkin were not keen on sailing either.

Mid-morning, I showed Sten and Ilaiya where they could hunt small game, and I sat down to fish with Appā.

“It is strange for Catkin to be this far north. How did you end up here, Appā?” I asked.

“We were being shut out of access to enchanting materials, so we heard about a big auction in Jern and made the trip. We were fortunate to meet with the Elemental Traders, and they employed Tāttā as a purchasing agent, and we were able to get resupplied. We decided to stick with them until we get to Kirghiz City.” He replied.

“I heard there was a Goblin Horde in Jern. I hope you were there after it had been dealt with.”

“I wish. It was in full swing when we arrived, and the Army was there as well. Fortunately, we got to Jern safely and stayed in the walls until the Chief was killed. The Canine Queens were in the thick of it, though.” Appā replied.

“Really?” I prompted.

“Yes. Skavt and Oske were hailed as the heroes who killed the Chief.” He was getting enthusiastic in his tone now.

“Sorry, I am not sure who Skavt and Oske are?” I asked. Skavt was in Sione’s dossier, but Oske wasn’t.

“Skavt is the leader of the Canine Queens, and Oske is her Bond. He is this big massive Yak bull. They apparently rode right over the chief.” Appā was a fan of the Canine Queens, it appeared. We had heard that the Army had dealt with the Horde, which happened ten to twelve months ago, but we are a long way away, and the news is sketchy. A caravan between here and Jern would normally be about six months of travel, so they had obviously made longer stops at towns on the way.

“There must be a lot more to that story.” I said, knowing that there always is.

Appā said that the Canine Queens were part of a caravan from Hrothgar and were conscripted to help when the Goblins busted out of the Army Kill Zone and were besieged them in their camp. When the Army broke out of their camp, it lured the Chief out, and he apparently defeated the Army’s charge and affinity users, and the Canine Queens charged from behind and surprised them, killing the chief. That sounded very simplistic to me, and I wasn't sure how much was true.

What gave it a ring of truth were the arguments that followed with the Army. The Canine Queens claimed four monster kills, three Shamans and the Chief, but the Army had taken off with the cores they should have. Apparently, they did get some compensation from the Army, but they were grumpy that it wasn't enough. That did sound like the Army to me. Same with the Navy.

“Three Shamans and the Chief? That sounds like a lot.” I queried.

Appā nodded. “Apparently, Skavt didn’t get the kill for the chief, but Ört the healer, was riding behind her. She was quite annoyed about that. Najprej also killed a Shaman near the Chief, and sometime before the Chief battle, Sten killed two Shamans. I am not clear on those details, and he doesn’t talk about it, but apparently, it was verified by a Sergeant from the Jern Guard.”

“Fascinating.” I thought the Canine Queens must be a cut above the average mercenary. So why are they wandering the backwaters of the Kingdom? There were very lucrative contracts available from the big cities, and the major trading houses would be in a bidding war over them. Yet they are working for a small, little-known trading company? It didn’t make sense.

“Is Sten training Ilaiya in a class?” I asked.

Appā smiled, “Yes, the Hunter Class. He didn’t want to at first but felt guilty after almost getting Ilaiya killed by Empire Bounty Hunters. He said Ilaiya was talented, and it may take less than two years. We are hoping Ilaiya can get the class before we get to Kirghiz City.”

“Bounty Hunters?” I asked.

“I don’t know why they attacked Sten and Tāoke. The Canine Queens wouldn’t talk about it. Sten’s sister was very upset when I asked. Apparently, there were two, one with a hawk bond and one with a Lava affinity. Sten and Tāoke killed them both but were gravely wounded and took weeks to heal.”

The Military regularly updated us on known threats of our neighbours, which especially included everything we could get on their affinity users. There was only one known Lava affinity user anywhere. Derek Collier has extreme damage output and extreme armour defence. Alessia Striker and her bond Aurora were also on the list for perception and extreme ranged attacks. She was known to work with Derek on occasion. If this could be verified, this was major. This also meant Sten and Tāoke were extreme-level threats. Sione needed to verify if this was true ASAP. Well, ASAP after our fishing weekend.

Sten seems nice enough. The Catkin get on with both him and Tāoke. Appā is letting him train Ilaiya. Yet, Sten apparently killed empire mercenaries. We need to get him onside.

I had been silent for too long. “Sorry, that is a little mind-blowing. I have tangled with the empire, obviously, as a commando. Taking out an affinity user is very difficult. Do you know how?”

“No, and I advise not asking either, as everyone gets very grumpy at you.” Appā replied.

“You said Sten has a sister? Is she with the caravan?” I asked.

Appā chuckled. “She is not just with the caravan. She organised the whole thing. His sister is Skygge, owner of the Elemental Traders.”

Right. Well, that explained why the Canine Queens were with the Elemental Traders. I moved the topic back to fishing as I think my mind was a little stunned right now.

We all got back to the village in the late afternoon. We sold out excess fish in the evening market and Sten encouraged Ilaiya to sell his three rabbit pelts. The local leatherworker bought them for a few coins.

The next day we went to another of my better fishing spots. This time I left them on the rocks fishing and took my spear and sack and swam out to collect some shellfish and lobsters. I joined them at lunchtime and we lit a fire on the beach and cooked some seafood for lunch.

Sten noticed my use of Refreshing Mists to keep the catch cool and asked, “What Skill is that? It looks very handy.”

“Refreshing Mists. It came from my affinity for water and I have mostly used it to refresh soldiers.” My water affinity was relatively common knowledge and I was sure I was on our neighbouring countries' watch lists, so I figured there was no point in hiding it.

“What is it like having an affinity?” Sten asked.

“It has been very useful. Obviously, as a Marine Commando, I am in my element,” I indicated the ocean. “Half my abilities are support abilities so it is nice being able to help. I can obviously do harm as well.”

“I have come across Shamans with a Water Affinity. They could almost turn their skin into a water-type shield and then they had a water surge ability, but no other apparent abilities.” he said.

“Water Surge was one of my first Skills,” I said. “It is Ok to throw people off balance, but not a huge amount else.” There were other uses but I wasn’t going to give everything away. “I can do a Whirlpool shield which sounds similar, but not quite the same as it is external to my skin. Are you sure it altered their skin?”

Sten nodded. “It washed away the wound and my knife fell out, but Tāoke’s venom stayed affecting him.”

“Interesting. I wonder how they did that. I might have to experiment.”

“I thought the Kingdom would have a list of affinities and how they are used.” Sten was curious.

“The Marines gave me some basic training, but affinities are quite personal, and while there is some overlap of skills, there will also be differences from person to person. Other water users may have more aggressive applications than me, but it is best if you learn things yourself. I take that approach when I am training others now, giving the best results rather than forcing people into a mould.” I replied.

“Doesn't the military like people in a mould?” Sten asked.

“To a certain extent. The Marines train basic Warrior classes as we then have known specialisations, like Commando. But affinities are more personal and should be treated as such. They are also much rarer, so we are never going to have a squad of Water users, for example.”

Sten nodded and seemed to be satisfied for now. The afternoon went pleasantly. The next morning we would be heading back to Obalno.