"Since when does a man need his wives to talk for him?" asked the tailed woman.
Celine giggled at her words, but answered honestly, "Since there are smart men who recognize that women are better at some things than men are. Or when they know they cannot do it themselves, and instead ask for help. But it seems that Heru of yours does not qualify."
"Careful," said the white-eyed woman.
"Or what?" Miyanna asked, taking a step forward.
"You have no Vita in you," the white-eyed woman added coldly, "I suggest you remove that attitude of yours before you find out."
Miyanna did not let herself get intimidated by the woman's words, "That damn fool touched our husband; if it were after me, I would have skinned him and used his feathers for pillows."
Neither of the women could reply before Celine spoke first, "Calm down, sister. These women are not the ones who attacked Blanc. Let's first find out if it's a misunderstanding."
Miyanna stared at Celine for a moment but gave in to her words.
"Finally, a reasonable person," said the tailed woman.
Celine smiled, but the smile did not reach her sapphire eyes, "My sword is not in that man's throat because of my husband, not because I am reasonable."
At her words, Miyanna smiled, agreeing with her sentiment and realizing what Celine was doing.
"Well then, shall we begin?" Celine asked.
But before one of the women could reply, a fifth person approached.
"Excuse me, sisters," muttered Lune shily as she approached.
"What's wrong, Lune?" Miyanna turned towards her.
"Blanc sent me to grab his weapons, and I…" Lune lost her words as she stared at the ground between the women's feet.
"Ah, I see, you want your chakram back, right?" Celine said, stepping toward the two women and bending to pick up the knife from the ground.
Her boldness stunned them.
They stood frozen, unsure how to react, as if she were a friend rather than an enemy.
Even so, there was nothing they could do with Heru on the ground and a circular blade at his throat.
And Celine knew that as she retrieved the knife and turned back to Lune casually offering her the knife.
"Here you go, Lune dear," Celine smiled.
"Thank you, sister!" Lune showed a smile that, without realizing it, warmed the hearts of all the women present before all of them watched her turn on her heels and run up the hill to grab the rest of the weapons lost in the earlier scramble.
Celine, turning towards the rest, began again, "Now that nothing will disturb us, let's begin."
"We cannot tell you anything about our identities," said the white-eyed woman before Celine even began prying into who they were.
"That's a pity, but neither can we, besides, tell you that we are not from here, and neither plan on staying here for too long," Celine replied.
"Where are you heading?" asked the tailed woman.
"Who knows," shrugged Celine, "But just like we are not from here, neither are you."
"Who knows," the white-eyed woman echoed Celine's words.
It was clear that this was as much a negotiation as it was a battlefield.
And the first one who makes a decisive move has the advantage on that battlefield.
"We are running in circles," Celine sighed, "But seeing that no one plans on fighting over a misunderstanding, I suggest we leave this be. This Heru attacked us and harmed our husband. We demand compensation and to be left alone, and then you can take him and be on your way."
"Compensation? Who do you think you -" the tailed woman began angrily replying, but a hand on her shoulder from the other woman made her go silent.
"Your husband has wounded Heru and will require immediate and difficult procedures to heal," she said to Celine.
"Heru followed and attacked first. What our husband did was self-defense," Celine shrugged, "And in his weakened state, we could easily kill him, and none would judge us for defending ourselves."
"What do you want as compensation?" the white-eyed woman asked.
"Allegra!" shouted the tailed woman, baffled to even consider agreeing with any form of compensation.
However, without even realizing it, she revealed an important piece of information in the heat of it.
"Allegra, is it?" Celine spoke with a grin on her lips, "A pleasure."
"What do you want?" Allegra asked.
"The man has no value for us, so I'll hear your offer first," Celine replied.
"Eight hundred gold coins," said Allegra.
"A thousand," replied Celine the next moment.
Allegra nodded, "Deal. Go bring the money," she said to the tailed woman the next moment.
"But-"
"Do it!" Allegra stared at her, as a wave of light left her crystal white eyes and covered the tailed woman's face for a moment.
"Yes," the woman muttered coldly before turning and running off the way they came.
As she ran, she jumped high into the sky, and in moments, her body began morphing, changing completely into that of a cheetah while mid-air.
It was a gruesome and fascinating sight at the same time for Celine's eyes.
But when the cheetah touched the ground, it ran off at such high speed that not even Celine could track her with her own eyes.
Miyanna, though, was stunned at something else entirely.
Her eyes were wide and still glued to Celine's side profile at the sum of money she and Allegra had just agreed upon.
"A thou- th- thousand gold coins?" Miyanna whispered to herself more than to others.
She could not imagine what that looked like.
Blanc and Celine had gold on them, but she could bet her right hand that all they had on them could not be more than two hundred gold coins.
But before her brain started hurting, Celine spoke again.
"With this, we are to release Heru, whoever he is, for you or your people. But it does not matter. What matters is that he, you two, and anyone else on your side are to leave us alone," she explained.
Allegra nodded, "And with this, you are to leave and not dig deeper into who any of us are, since it seems you have the ability to."
"I am honored to be praised, but worry not, we just want to be as far away from this place," Celine said.
"Good," Allegra replied.
Not even five minutes later, the tailed woman returned, now back in her human form once more.
She found the three women staring at each other as if they were engaged in a battle in another plane of existence.
And in a way, they were.
But all the battles were happening in the three women's heads.
"Did the chief say anything?" Allegra asked, acknowledging her return.
"She wanted to, but did not pray too much," the tailed woman replied, throwing ten coin purses heavy with gold on the ground at Celine and Miyanna's feet.
"Satisfying?" asked Allegra.
"Satisfying," Celine nodded. "Miyanna, dear, go tell Blanc to bring Heru."