Cutting Loose Threads

(I'm just waiting for someone to shout "Just fuck already!" Even though they already did.)
Anika let her head rest against Xana's side, allowing a moment of peace to settle in.

(They can't shout you that if they did already xD)

Xana didn't said a thing, she just sit there with Anika at her side enjoying the peace, after a while Xana oppened her eyes and looked at Anika "I wish this moment would never end."

"Same here..." Her cat ears twitched a bit and she sat up and looked behind them. "But the world's gotta keep spinning." She watched as an Amazon came to the hot springs and politely excused herself, taking a dip in the springs herself, followed by a number of others.

Xana sighs "Aah, you are right, anyway we have to be polite to our hostesess..." She says politely bowing to the amazons.

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Anika didn't bow, but she did nod respectfully. Bowing was far too formal for her tastes and she didn't feel right doing it. It didn't seem like the Amazons minded it too much though. "How's the stew coming along?" she asked them.
One of them told them it wouldn't be too-too long before it was finished up. Another decided to ask them about where they came from. "I'm from a forest not too far off from here, actually."

"Nowhere in particular, if I have to say... I would say a desert frol the southern continent." She explained, she wasn't going to get as excited as Dixi talking about her town.

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"Ooo, I can't imagine living in a desert town," Anika said, thinking about it for a moment before only thinking about how hot it must be.

"It wasn't that hot to be honest, the city isn't deep into the desert so the temperature wasn't that bad." She explained.

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"Oh, okay! Well, I was kind of a menace before I was found by Ferro," she said. "He beat me in a fight and offered me a place to stay if I'd just stop pestering people."

"Good thing he found you, now look at you, you've changed for better."

"Mhm!" she said happily.
"So, a man came to you and bargained a safe haven if you ceased pursuing men?" an Amazon asked her.
"It sounds kinda bad when you say it like that..." she chuckled. "You don't understand. The people of the town wanted me gone in every sense of the word, but I just kept causing mischief! I would've eventually been offed if he hadn't found me..."

"Good thing you stopped... Some people are just narrow-minded... When I was little, like five, a mob of midara haters set fire to my home because of my mother..." She says with a grim look on her face "Luckily it was Ferro who found you so you can live peacefully on the Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary?" one of the Amazons questioned, raising the attention of the others present.
"My friends and I go out and look for Midaras and try to convince them to come to a place free from Midara hating mobs and arrogant mercenaries," Anika explained. "It's safe and comfortable to stay in!"
"That's ridiculous!" she denied.

"You can ask your princess, she's been there, and that woman Tanya was it? She's been there too." She explained.

"Oh has she? Well, perhaps we could ask her right now," the Amazon said, still skeptical. She looked behind Anika and Xana, spotting the Princess approaching the springs in all her naked glory. The moment she took a dip, the Amazon asked her about the Sanctuary.
"Yes, it exists. Tonya and I have seen it. Midara everywhere you look with their own respective spots of residency and all living harmoniously. I've even seen a few humans as well," she said, much to the disbelief of the Amazon. The princess looked to Anika and Xana and said, "It's quite impressive that you fight for such a cause, and with such a proof of progress. I suppose it's not surprising that Allura left our tribe then."

"As someone who's half human and half midara I can say that the Sanctuary is one of the few palces I can call home to be honest, specially since I'm more midara than human unlike my sisters."

"Truly? Well, I'm delighted to hear from you firsthand how comfortable such a place is," the princess replied.
"Princess, is what you said about Allura correct? She's been with them this whole time?" the Amazons asked her.
"Yes, it is true," she said, a bit solemnly.

"I guess this Allura is a friend of yours I assume?" She asked, she was starting to feel a bit dizzy from staying too long on the hot spring.

"She is. Though she's a bit too aggressive sometimes," Anika said.

Xana's face started to get slightly red for staying too long on the hot water "I think I need to get out, the heat is starting to make me feel dizzy..." She says stading up and getting out of the water, she grabs a towel, turns around and nods to say goodbye before heading to the room.

"I'll be right behind you!" Anika called after her.
"Cat!" one of the Amazons called.
"What's up?" she asked, turning back.
"Is she happy there? Allura..."
Anika smiled at the Amazons gathered here and nodded. "Yeah, she's happy where she is." She expected a bittersweet moment, but the Amazons seemed to become sullen and unhappy.
"So she really does hate us..."
"Huh? What!?"
The princess drew the Nekomata's attention and explained things. "Allura had a falling out with the rest of the tribe over how to deal with aggression aimed at us. It didn't take long for her to leave us behind to strike back at the Midara aggressors. From what I've heard about your Sanctuary, it seems one of you managed to best her in battle and convince her to stay there."
The princess looked to her sisters and cleared her throat loud enough to draw their focus. "While I was there, I spoke with Allura. If you asked me what I think about her, I'd say for certain that she's homesick."
"Then why hasn't she returned to us?"
"Possibly because she assumed, correctly, that you would jump to the notion that she hated us," the Princess argued. This brought a cloud of guilt over the rest of them. "I've invited her to come be with us whenever she wishes."

Meanwhile Xana arrived at the room, she used the towel to dry up and then, before summoning her clothes she took a look at herself Ugh... It's so hard to get used to this... she thought and then she got dressed.

"You're all her family," Anika assured them. "I'm sure she'll come see you again someday!" She stepped out of the springs and started walking off, not bothering with a towel. "I'm gonna go back to my room."
"Of course, Anika," the princess said.
She returned to the room not too long after Xana got changed, the neko coming in butt naked with water still dripping off her body and hair. "Hey, Xana!"

"Hey Ani, that water made wonders I feel like new." She says giving a look to Anika "Need a hand drying up?"

"Yes, please!" Anika said with jubilance, holding herself out and ready for drying.