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The next morning, Cleo stretched her limbs out and lay on the ground like a starfish. She smacked her lips a few times before opening her eyes. Her brow furrowed as she sat up and looked around. Did Raea get stuck while using the bathroom? She stored the blanket into her space and stumbled out of the cave while clearing the crust from her eyes. Her head turned to the side, and she saw Palan sitting with his back leaning on the cave with Raea sleeping in his embrace. Cleo wrinkled her nose as she stepped closer to them and sniffed a few times.
Palan’s eyes flickered as his body stirred. He let out a yawn before meeting Cleo’s gaze. “You smell funny,” Cleo said and squinted her eyes at him. “Did you two…?” Palan snorted and shook Raea awake before standing up while resting her body on the ground. “You totally did!”
Raea groaned as she sat up. “Did what?” she asked and yawned. “It’s too early.” She shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked at Cleo.
“You,” Cleo said and raised her left hand. She raised her right hand and said, “Palan.” Then she pressed her hands together and wriggled them like a worm. Raea’s face flushed as she glanced at Palan.
“Did you tell her?” Raea asked and pinched Cleo’s cheeks. The lizardman protested to no avail.
“She smelled it,” Palan said and shrugged.
“Hah?” Cleo asked as her eyes widened. “It really happened?” Raea pinched Cleo’s cheeks harder. “I never thought this day would come!” the orange lizardman said, ignoring the pain in her face. “It’s a miracle. Who initiated?”
Cleo yelped as her tail was seized by Palan who held her upside-down. Her limbs flailed around before she gave up and let her body hang limp. Cleo exaggerated a sigh and said, “Fine. I won’t tell anyone. Can you let me down now?”
Palan released her, and she landed on all fours like a cat. Her eyes glittered when she saw Sally brush aside the blanket covering Elrith’s cave. Sally’s eyes widened, and she flapped her wings when she saw Cleo charging at her, shouting, “SallySallySallySallySally! Guess what Palan and Raea did last night!”
Sally stared with her mouth agape as the orange lizardman was promptly tackled and gagged by Raea. Elrith walked outside of the cave, took down the blanket, and frowned at the squirming lizardman. Cleo stopped struggling when she saw the dark bags under Elrith’s eyes. Raea released Cleo’s mouth, but still held onto the tiny lizardman, ready to gag her at a moment’s notice. “It looks like you didn’t get much sleep last night,” Cleo said and smiled at Elrith.
“Really?” Sally asked and turned her head to look at Elrith. “I slept like a baby. Did I bother you?”
“No,” Elrith said. The truth was he was extremely nervous about sharing a bed with Sally and hadn’t been able to fall asleep until ten minutes ago. His body was stiff because he hadn’t moved all night in fear of waking her.
“Did you two have sex?” Cleo asked in a clear voice and blinked, attempting to look as innocent as possible.
“No!” Sally and Elrith yelled at the same time.
“What?” Cleo asked and pouted. “Why not? Rae—“
Raea pinched Cleo’s side before she could say anymore. Sally and Elrith chose to ignore Cleo as Elrith collapsed the caves. “I don’t understand,” Cleo said and shook her head. Her nose wrinkled as she looked at Elrith. She sniffed the air, but she couldn’t detect any odd scent.
“Enough pointless chatter,” Elrith said as his earthen spider came to life. Everyone climbed on top of it, and it headed towards a road that would hopefully bring them to a city.
Cleo pulled Sally aside. “Tell me what happened,” she said and stared at Sally. The harpy seemed to shrink underneath the lizardman’s gaze.
“Nothing,” Sally said and shook her head. “I crawled into his bed, and he held me. Then I fell asleep. I didn’t want to force him and make him uncomfortable.” She nodded. “If you want something, then take it, but at the same time, you should take other people’s feelings into consideration.”
“You’re doing it wrong,” Palan said and snorted, causing Sally to pout.
The harpy furrowed her brow and asked Cleo, “What were you saying earlier this morning?”
Before Raea could tackle Cleo or before Cleo could even speak, the spider ground to a halt and dissolved, tossing its passengers onto the ground. The party turned to look at Elrith who was pale and sweating bullets. “I need some rest,” he said as he dry heaved. “The road isn’t too far away. We could probably disguise ourselves and hitch a ride on a caravan. Or we could wait here until I recover.”
“Hitch a ride!” Cleo said. Her eyes sparkled at the opportunity to steal from a merchant even though the odds of meeting one was slim. They were more likely to find a family traveling to a city instead.
Raea pursed her lips. “Wouldn’t I scare everyone away?” she asked. Cleo pulled out a big, baggy robe and a roll of bandages to use as a blindfold before handing them to Raea. Raea received them and rolled her eyes. “This doesn’t look sketchy at all.”
“It could work,” Elrith said as he sat up and steadied his breathing. “Besides, blending in with another party will make us less conspicuous, although a harpy is really unique.” He furrowed his brow at Sally. “Just a set of robes won’t help.”
“What if they came with arms?” Cleo asked as she reached into her space. Her shoulders wiggled and a robe appeared along with two severed arms. ELrith gagged as Cleo stitched the arms into the sleeves of the robe. The lizardman beamed at her handiwork before helping Sally get dressed.
“I don’t know why I suggested disguises,” Elrith said as his face darkened. Anyone that looked closely enough would realize the two robed and hooded figures had problems.
“What about Palan?” Raea asked as she finished putting on the blindfold. Thankfully she still had her heat vision and her sense of smell. Her nose wrinkled. She really did smell.
“It shouldn’t be necessary,” Elrith said. “Demons aren’t too uncommon around these areas.” He sighed, but he wasn’t too concerned. He was confident in their ability to force themselves out of any situation. With that, the group made it to the road and walked alongside it, hoping for a caravan or carriage to come by.