Kastanika's borders

She leaped up under his feet, resurfacing from the earth and attempting to dig her fangs into his bare soles. Arabella knew her instincts had been right about this one - he felt the pull of the geyser, its guiding influence coarse through his body. He could be one of the vanguard, and she would raise him to hone that sense until it sat as a familiar entwined energy in his body.

She was satisfied.

Romano couldn't help but cry out in pain, feeling the piercing of skin as the spiderling tore through his soles. Despite shifting his feet and anticipating her move, he simply had not reacted fast enough. But he also felt the woman relent, meaning that he had managed to do something to impress her, or she was bored of him. 

Either way, he tried to shake her off, darting backwards and transforming his features back into his usual, thick olive skin covering his feet in order to fend off the injury.

"You can stop now." He said, hoping Fierre would take it as a cue to intervene. "I think you've seen enough."

"Hm." Fierre said aloud, raising a hand to indicate that Arabella could cease. He had been waiting for a natural end to the fight, and he guessed this was it. "Not bad, a bit boring for my tastes though." 

Arabella surfaced, growing back into her human form as she shook the mud off her hands and feet. Apart from that, she completely ignored the pair for a moment as she inspected her injuries. As usual, she barely had a scratch on her, so she bared her fangs at Romano in a smile.

"You don't need to be tested by any other clan, I want you in the Vanguard. You're a bit rusty, but you've got potential. What do you say?" The thickness of her tone implied that she did not expect him to turn her down. 

Fierre was mildly surprised, for he had not seen Arabella warm up so quickly to a stranger before. He hadn't caught it, but Romano must've done something to impress her.

"Sure!" He exclaimed in his excitement, trying not to rock on his heels as he readily accepted her offer. in all honesty, Romano had little choice in the matter anyway as a wanderer. 

"What does being part of the Vanguard mean i'll do? Please don't tell me I'll be doing all the menial jobs for you to work my way up..." Whilst not unused to manual labour, Romano had become a traveller to become his own person, and to diverge from the normal and avoid the burdens of life when they had been laid down upon him. This however - this city and their clans and beings - this was an adventure. He could learn so much from the creatures such as Arabella and Fierre, and he might even become close to them upon the way.

The pang of loneliness could not be ignored forever; the toll of being a carefree spirit would weigh on him eventually.

Fierre snorted, deciding to leave the pair to it now their newest Kastanikan would surely be well looked after by the Harbringer.

Arabella laugh escaped her as more a hiss, clicking her long limbs back into place. "Don't be ridiculous. The Vanguard watch over our side of the wall, channelling the enegy of the geyser into sensing threats. It's something only we have, and I think you have it too." She admitted.

"Tell me, when we fought, did you have an instinct, a gut feeling which told you where I was? Even if it was just a pang, its proof enough."