The Snow Ferrets and the Shinju Necklace (completed)

Chapter 2

"So." Kin says as she pulls out the map that the leaders gave us, showing us where to go, "Ms. Salju said if we go down here..." She traces a line on the map with a finger, "we'll find our guide. She said it's a girl and she's a water elementalist."

"Cool!" Nero exclaims, peering over Kin's shoulder. He backs up a little, "What's her name?"

"Vieni, I believe." Anemos answers for Kin, pushing his glasses up his nose more.

"I like that name." Neve comments in a slightly dreamy voice. She subconsciously starts petting Frost, who had climbed onto her shoulder.

"Yeah....well, we're about twenty minutes away from meeting her. Ms. Salju said Vieni knows where to go but the map is a precaution." Kin informs us, folding up the map and shoving it in her black knapsack, which we all have. Mr. Geni gave them to us, saying we might need it. They have water bottles, apples, granola bars, flashlights, food for our ferrets, and some sandwiches. Neve's has a simple first aid kit just in case.

"I wonder what she's like..." Anemos muses aloud, a curious look in his eyes as he taps his chin.

For the next fifteen minutes we all guess what we think she'll be like as we walk, but none of us come close when we actually meet her.

"Hello! You must be the Snow Ferrets!" A random water girl exclaims, shaking our hands after popping up out of nowhere.

"Whoa!" I exclaim as she vigorously pumps my hand up and down. Ignis and Terro don't shake her hand, instead decide to watch her suspiciously.

"What's your name?" Terro growls at her, hostile.

I frown at him. I mean, we should be careful, not mean.

"Oh! Let me introduce myself! I'm Vieni, and I'm a guide in Mizu City, the best there is. I know exactly where to go!" She exclaims, her eyes sparkling.

I can't really make out much features of the girl as it's dark and she's wearing black, but with my limited vision I can see that she has short blue hair, freckles, and black and dark blue thick-framed glasses.

"Hi Vieni! I'm Kin! This is Blitz, Neve, Terro-"

"It's okay, I know!" Vieni interrupts Kin. She lets out a strange little laugh, "Who doesn't?" She asks rhetorically with a little shrug.

I frown. Everybody knows our names? Well, that's kind of weird.

At the look on all our faces, Vieni laughs a normal laugh, "You mean you didn't know that? You guys won the Harmony Games! Plus, you did it well." She informs us, smiling, "And, as if that wasn't enough, you guys were so funny! You made my sister wet her pants!" She laughs at the memory.

She seems the optimistic type.....I think I'm starting to like her.

Once she stops laughing, she looks at all of us, "Wow, I can't believe I actually get to meet you all!"

Her eyes land on me, "Blitz! I loved your plan to take back the Black Serpents little house! You should have heard the things they said about you behind your back." She scowls, "They were so mean!"

I think I'm starting to like this girl.

Suddenly, I feel fur lightly brush my cheek, sending a soft shock through me and Vieni gasps, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes light up, "Oh my gosh! Is that.....Zap?"

I grin and nod. Yep, definitely starting to like this girl

.   .   .

After Veini squeals and pets all of our ferrets(except for Zap and Ember of course), she explains to us that we were going to have to hike for roughly a week to get to the first city. We are going to have to go through three cities. Asiu City, Kasai City, and, lastly, Kinzoku City, which none of are looking forward too.