After lunch, Anika and Lily met with Leka, Philip, and Epona for another trip into town. As if Lily’s excitement in the morning wasn’t enough, she somehow managed to ramp up the energetic enthusiasm to 12. Every minute or two she ran ahead of the group before looping back around to urge them all to move faster. Anika, on the other hand, strolled forward leisurely, perfectly content with Leka’s normal walking pace, energetic for the smaller Degeta woman but comfortable for Anika’s longer Mizeta legs.

  Philip, however, enabled Lily’s enthusiasm, initially saying that Epona could ‘totally carry them all’ into town faster. That thought was quickly snuffed when, Anika assumed, Epona informed Philip that she was not a pack mule, based on Philip’s immediate turn to apologize to the pegasus.

  As they reached central town avenues, Leka turned to direct them to the artisan’s area. “I had planned to take you to get the identification badges first, but I have a feeling if we don’t go see Master Tikal, Lily might well explode.”

  ”Yes! I want to get my armor!” Lily jumped in excitement, her body flexing like an overenthusiastic dog on an obstacle course, with back legs trying to move faster than her front and feet flailing.

  “Lily, it’s not armor, remember? Master Tikal said he could make you something to help protect you, but he couldn’t make you full armor in one day! I don’t want you to be disappointed when we get there.” Anika did not want to deal with a crestfallen capybara when the item Tikal created didn’t live up to her expectations. She worried that Lily had already built up too much excitement over whatever he made. For all they knew, he could create a simple leather bracelet to hang on one of her legs, nothing flashy or interesting. Anika knew that Lily wanted to be as armored as Epona or the humanoids in the group, and this accessory had to last her for a while. Anika bit her lip, wondering how she would deal with Lily’s imminent disappointment.

  ”I know it isn’t armor! But it’s just for me! And I am the only one that does not have anything to wear. And I want to be like you and have things to wear!” Lily’s excitement finally got the best of her, and she stumbled into Anika’s legs, falling awkwardly on her back in a classic cockroach position. “Oww” she let out a whimper.

  Anika swiftly picked up the chaotic capybara. “Don’t be so silly! If you run around like that you’ll get hurt and then you won’t be able to go into the dungeons with us!”

  Lily whimpered again, this time in disappointment, but Philip beat her to speaking, “Uh, can’t you heal her? You got that water spell!”

  ”Yes! You can heal me!” Lily perked up, looking up at Anika from where she lay cradled to Anika’s chest.

  ”Oh, I suppose I can… but Leka said we need to not use the healing for minor things…” Anika looked at Leka, her eyes pleading for support in finding a way to contain the capybara’s antics.

  ”Oh, I don’t think one time will be too much trouble. But you should be more careful, Lily. I think you will like what Master Tikal makes, however. He enjoys the process of creating for new purposes. I’m sure it will meet your expectations.” Leka reached over to pat Lily while Anika glared at the traitorous trainer.

  ”Yay! Anika, heal me and put me down so I can be ready for my new armor!”

  Anika sighed and called upon her magic, focusing on having the magic flow into Lily’s backside and legs, ensuring that any bruising damage from her fall would heal. She channeled the magic for about 20 seconds while Lily wiggled impatiently, making Anika’s job difficult to focus on. Finally, she identified no other areas that required healing, and put Lily down. All in all, she was getting faster at healing minor damages, but it still took time to direct her magic into an area of the body, identify the area that needed healing, and keep the magic on the area long enough to have an effect.

  Lily immediately jumped up and ran a happy circle around the group. Anika sighed and pressed her fingers to her temple, knowing that her companion would absolutely give her a migraine someday, despite her having never had a migraine before. Leka laughed and turned down the alley that led to Tikal’s shop, Lily close by her side, with the group trailing behind.

  As Leka opened the door to the leather working shop, Lily shot forward, running in a circle looking for Tikal. Anika and the others followed her in, where she saw that a young Pireta man sat behind a desk, looking bored, Tikal nowhere in sight. Anika started to walk towards the desk to inquire after the man, but Lily beat her to it

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  ”Where is Master Tikal? He said he would have something for me today! I want to see him!”

  The Pireta teen looked down at Lily in surprise, the previous boredom falling off his face when faced with a magical talking capybara. “Uhh… he’s in the back… um… I’ll get him?”

  ”Yes, go get him!” Lily demanded, her voice loudly forceful for a creature her size.

  The teenager looked at the rest of the group for confirmation, and Anika saw Leka nod and give him a little wave. He turned to head to the back of the shop, calling for Tikal and announcing the presence of a capybara customer in a confused voice.

  Lily only had enough time to run three circles of anticipation inside the small shop before Tikal walked through the back door, carrying a small, folded, cloth object in his hands. “Lily, Leka, Anika, Philip, good to see you again.” He craned his neck and waved at the pegasus outside, raising his voice a little “And good to see you too, Epona.”

  Lily, upon hearing Tikal’s voice, abruptly spun and ran over, jumping up to him, webbed feet pushing up onto the small Degeta man’s waist to try to reach the unknown object in his hand. “What is it! I want to see!”

  Tikal looked down at Lily, his eyes glinting with inner laughter, “I will show you, impatient one, but you must sit nicely and wait for me to reveal it and explain what it will do.”

  Lily’s bottom hit the floor faster than a dog moved for bacon. “I am sitting!”

  ”Hmm,” Tikal said, and took a step back. He flicked his wrist and the object in his hands unfurled, revealing a relatively skinny strip of magenta fabric, about a meter long. The material fluttered and waved as it fell down towards the ground, and Anika tried to identify what it was intended to be. It looked like a belt or scarf of some kind. She used a similar strip of fabric to tie up her hair, though this material seemed a little different than what she used. The material didn’t appear as light-weight and sheer as a decorative women’s scarf from Earth, but it also wasn’t a heavy-weight winter scarf.

  Lily cocked her head, looking at the bright fabric, momentarily silenced as she clearly had a similar difficulty identifying the intended use of the object. She looked back at Anika, a questioning look on her face, and Anika could tell a disappointed expression would soon follow if Tikal didn’t have a good explanation for the fabric.

  ”This,” Tikal gave the fabric a shake, “is a scarf. It is made from material that was woven with protective runes, priming it for shielding enchantments.”

  He bent down, swiftly wrapping the scarf around Lily’s neck by folding it in half twice and then looping it around again to secure it.

  Watching how Tikal wrapped the scarf, Anika noted that he made it with enough fabric there that it would still fit around her neck when she was full grown, but until then they would have to take extra care when tying it to ensure that nothing would snag on the environment or cause Lily to fall and become tangled in her protection. Anika wondered if she could use extra ribbon to tie and secure the edges to be a bit safer, as she could easily imagine Lily tripping and tumbling in her physical displays of enthusiasm.

  As Tikal secured the second end of the scarf around Lily, Anika noticed that it had some type of embroidery on the end. It looked like it had some other symbols etched on the fabric as well, but without closer examination, which she would absolutely do once Tikal finished with Lily, she couldn’t make them out..

  ”Now,” Tikal patted the scarf around her neck, “The enchantment on this scarf will cause a shield to appear around you if any fast moving projectile or enemy gets within a certain radius of the scarf, and therefore, you. It will also shield if magic that is not your element quickly enters your space. The shield will last for several seconds before deactivating. I believe based on your size, you are unlikely to be a primary target of large monsters at this time, and you are most likely to encounter stray projectiles and magic. The shield enchantment is not perfect, but it will provide an additional level of protection for you until you are full grown.”

  As Tikal spoke, Lily’s initial dismay faded and she regained some of the excitement she had throughout the day. When Tikal turned and walked behind the counter, bringing with him a small mirror to show Lily what the scarf looked like when on, any thought of disappointment left Lily’s body as she squealed with delight upon seeing the magnificent magenta scarf around her neck. Anika had to admit it amplified the cuteness factor of the capybara by a good amount, reminding Anika of adorable anime animal companions from home.

  “I love it!!! I want more things this color!” Lily’s excited noises turned into the chirping laser beam noises that Anika had begun to associate with the capybara’s excitement.

  ”That sounds like a really useful enchantment, Master Tikal. Thank you.” Anika walked forward, thinking she would shake his hand, but he began to speak before she could reach him.

  Philip clapped excitedly “That looks really nice, Lily! Maybe Epona can have a scarf sometime too!”

  ”That is not all!” The master crafter smiled this time, clearly pleased with whatever surprise he was about to share.