Liz “The Leech” Lackadaisical had gotten away with yet another brilliant crime, she thought as she walked through the Northern Border District. The poor part of town, with its mishmash of buildings hastily built and stacked together, was always the first place to go when the Empire invaded from the north. As such, it was the perfect place to put people who were less legitimate than the merchants and citizens who sought to obey the law. This included her usual buyer, who would give her a great deal of money for her pearl. And what a great find! It was very strange to her that someone would choose to dock their boat in the most dangerous park in town instead of in the docks, but she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she would just sell the-wait, where did the pearl go? It was in her bag two seconds ago!

“Young lady, I know this doesn’t belong to you,” an elderly lady told her as she examined the pearl she was holding in her right hand, “why not just get a real job and stop bothering people?” This old lady, despite looking to be in her 60’s, was in great shape. If not for her long gray hair and skin that was starting to sag, one might think she was much younger. Wearing a white sailor’s jacket with matching pants, this woman had no fear of the “Leech” in front of her.

Liz was furious; nobody had [i]ever[/i] stolen from her before! “You hag! I’ll kill you for that!” she screamed as she pulled out two daggers and charged at her target. The old lady just sighed, moved slightly out of the way to dodge, and punched the lizard woman straight in the gut with her left hand. This was enough to knock her out cold; Liz would not be following up on that threat any time soon, if ever.

A black and white pointer dog with a new red ribbon around her neck ran up to the old lady. “Good girl, Ribbon,” Sara said, smiling as she petted the dog who was wagging her tail, “we need to bring this woman to the police, then you can lead the way.”

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As suddenly as Caleb noticed he was gone, Byures popped up from under the pool. He really was quiet when he wanted to be. “I wasn’t gone. Had to check something. There’s an aqueduct in the water. It leads to the water plant; from there you can go to your humans quickly. Hippocampus, can you make air for the boy and bird?”

“Make...air?” Edward asked, “oh, like this?” He blew his breath a bunch. The Hunter just chuckled and smiled in his usual way. “No, not like that. It’s magic. Lets air breathers breath and see in water, like us.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Edward squealed. “Can you teach us that?”

Byures smiled, matter-of-factly stating “you know, you two sure are lucky that I like kids. If any of the other bosses had found you, you’d be dead. And now you want me to teach you magic?”

Caleb knew he was uncomfortable for a reason. Apparently they had landed in some kind of crime forest and their guide was some sort of gang leader. Maybe Edward had inadvertently asked too much of their new friend.

“Weeeeeeell,” the alligatorman continued, “I suppose I can teach you two the spell. I can’t cast magic myself, but I’ve seen other Smugglers do it, so I know how. It’s real easy to learn.”

Caleb was relieved, but if the hippocampus was worried about the first half of what Byures said, it didn’t show. He was as happy as always, saying “cool! Thanks, Hunter!”