"I want to try on mine!"

"Everyone needs to, Obsidian." Kait told him with a smile, holding out the necklace with one of the gemstones Spark had collected from the road. "It will protect you from fire and give you a little more camouflage. We're almost there and need to get used to them."

They'd traveled for over a week, collecting favors from small territories and homes and enjoying the luxuries that the markers on their hands afforded them. Opal was impressed how many demons seemed practically ecstatic to offer anything at all to a guardian candidate and cohort.

Obsidian snatched it out of her hands and dropped it around his neck. Instantly his features changed subtly, becoming less sharp, eyes no longer brightly colored but curiously hazel. The sharp nails on his fingers disappeared. His freckles remained prominently on his face. He immediately turned to Yue. "How do I look, prince?"

"Ah-" Yue appeared slightly startled. "Quite human."

Obsidian's lower lip stuck out, clearly not the answer he was looking for but before he could try again Kait handed Yue a necklace and then the rest of the cohort. Yue's snowy hair changed into the pale blond it had been before in the camp wearing the iron and his eyes dulled back to human appropriate. Proga's markings turned tan and Kait's hair and eyes returned to brown. Gabbro interestingly didn't appear to change much other than the green of his eyes fading.

"Well made, Kait." Proga stretched out an arm to admire the change. "Once again, I hate how I look." He said with a smile.

Kait sighed and put her hands on her hips as Proga and Yue laughed at her expression.

Spark shrugged and spit a flame into his hand. "As long as I can still do this I don't care how I look."

"Oh come now," Proga threw an arm around Spark. "You're normally a handsome young demon. Don't be so down on yourself."

"Get off of me!" He snarled, trying and failing, to get out of Proga's grip until flames started coming out from between his flattened teeth. Proga jumped back to avoid a burn but continued to grin at him.

Kait clapped her hands. "Yes yes, you all still have your powers accessible but you need to make sure and keep them hidden. The last thing we need is the humans trying to capture us again..."

"Won't happen." Spark grunted. "I'll burn down their city first."

"I believe him." Proga gave Opal a wide-eyed stare.

"Let's focus on staying hidden and try and avoid as much murder as possible." Yue gave an exasperated sigh. "That said- if those are the options I'm also not going to be taken. And I'm not letting it happen to any of you."

"Thank you, prince." Obsidian slipped his hand into Yue's.

"Of... course." He gently tried to extract himself but the other demon tightened his fingers and gave him an admiring smile.

"Obs." Gabbro held out his hand. Obsidian slumped his shoulders but took his brother's hand obediently.

"Yes. Um. Now that we are outside the human 'city' we need to make some rules while we search for Pyrope. First-" he looked directly at Spark "Unless I give express permission or it is for lifesaving reasons- no powers. Second, we stay together at all times. There are some very specific location Pyrope has been known to frequent and we will head to those before anything else. Third, the masking necklaces stay on at all times. Fourth, remember humans have 'money' they use instead of favors. Make sure not to confuse that- it could give us away to a savvy human. Fifth," he looked directly at spark. "Avoid all altercations, physical or verbal."

Spark scowled but averted his eyes.

"Do we think we can do that, or do some of us need to remain outside the barrier while we locate our educator?"

There was a mummer of assent. Spark crossed his arms but the little group was on the way again looking much less impressive than before. Opal was particularly curious about why Gabbro had changed so little. His long dark hair was still a very intense shade of black and he never normally had claws or fangs or even horns. Just a small change in his eyes. She frowned, curious about how much he normally hid. In fact, she realized she didn't even know what kind of demon he or his brother were. Of course she just learned that about herself recently but that wasn't by choice. Opal fell instep beside him, watching Obsidian trot along, occasionally trying to reach for a rock or a stick or dancing a few steps along. He noticed her watching.

"Yes, big sister?"

"I was just wondering. I know what Yue and Kait and Proga are, but you never shared with me what you both are. Or what it was you did back underground to make that demon scream like that, Gabbro."

Obsidian's eyes grew wide and instead of answering he was looking at his brother. For a heartbeat Opal was taken aback by the level of annoyance on Gabbro's face. His lip uncurled and he went back to his vaguely smug expression, looking off in front of them. "Hmmm that might be slightly personal. Until we can show you, our kind is often a little misunderstood..."

To Opal's surprise Spark looked over and nodded at her. "What clan are you from?"

Gabbro gave him a wary look. "So you know. Interesting. I thought we were fairly careful."

"Your names give you away."

Opal looked between them. "So are you going to tell me or-?"

"I think we will wait until we see our educator." Gabbro glanced to Spark. "They're from the same area but considering where we grew up Obsidian and I do not identify with any clan."

"Great." Opal frowned.

"Don't be mad, big sister." Obsidian took her hand now and patted it. "Even among demons we aren't always well liked. Its just habit."

"I thought you'd trust me."

Gabbro cocked his head. "We do. We just prefer to discuss this matter in our own time, in our own way. As for what I did to that demon... lets say I made him experience something unpleasant."

"Well that's not vague." Opal sighed. Obsidian reached over to give her a pat on the head. Although it was condescending coming from him she couldn't help find something endearing in it. "Alright. I am patient. I will wait."

Obsidian grinned and squeezed her arm and Gabbro gave her a small smile and inclined his head.

It continued to nag at her though. Even as they made camp outside of the human barrier she found herself watching Gabbro across from the fire. What kind of demon would be bad enough to scare other demons? Proga had admitted no one was particularly fond of shadow shifters but he was completely upfront with his abilities. He probably wasn't another shifter- he'd shown no indication of that ability. She considered his use of charms and weapons that the others didn't often use. Was that part of it or- Opal squinted at him, considering the camouflage they were all wearing and how a lucid Obsidian had snickered at Gabbro's talon weapon. Was he just using those items to hide his real abilities since they were often frowned upon. Gabbro finally seemed to notice her finally. One eyebrow lifted and she was forced to look away, damning him for that face. He seemed incredibly aware of how he looked. It didn't matter. She turned back to her lackluster meal. She would find out in the next few days. In fact, she was likely to find out a lot about her travel companions in the next few days.

They woke very early, gathering the little they could carry on their backs and began the trek towards the human city. Like before Opal was impressed with how dismal the land around the cities appeared. Centuries old broken buildings and tech lay abandoned, the ground scorched down to the bare earth with almost no plants or other living creatures within miles. Obsidian turned into a considerable menace grabbing odd junks and bits of broken trash as they walked the crumbled streets. After awhile Proga offered him a ride on his shoulders which he accepted enthusiastically however Gabbro's response of appreciation only made the shifter tense and nod curtly. By the time the sun had completely risen they were within sight of the barrier. Opal recognized the shimmering sky which indicated the beginning. Yue passed out strange cards to all of them with names and dates on them. Opal squinted at hers.

"Opal Gladstone. 4/15/3064. 23. F."

"Makes you about 19, which you look close enough to and we picked one of the seaside cities since you mentioned having been there before. And Opal is a normal enough name for a human so you are lucky you get to keep yours."

"This... is interesting."

"Look big sister! I'm a person too."

Opal took Obsidian's card which he was frantically waving. "Nice to meet you, Oliver. I like it, it suites you. 17, huh?" She looked at him riding on Proga's shoulders and tried to keep her expression neutral. She supposed someone might buy that as long as he didn't speak. Or start gathering rocks. Altogether they had come up with Percival, Yohan, Garrett, Kira and Samuel. Spark seemed particularly displeased with his name although according to Gabbro it was a fairly common one. Proga on the other hand noted that he felt fancy.

"Everyone ready?" Yue, newly named Yohan, asked the group as they stood before the markers indicating the gates. "Story is we were hunting in the wastes- everyone have their human trinket?" everyone held up their various items. "excellent. And if they start asking questions..." Yue nodded at Gabbro. "See if you can't convince them they were already satisfied with our answers."

"As you say, Prince." Gabbro noted Opal looking at him again and she turned away. She could be patient.

Yue straightened up, frowning. "Let's go then."

The humans in the walkway were lounging at their table and seemed incredibly surprised to have anyone coming through. They were the same uniform and held long sticks that seemed to glow at the end. They sat up immediately and then fixed them all with suspicious looks.

"Identification." A round older man demanded.

"Of course." Yue held out his hand as the cohorts pretended to fish them out of pockets and cloaks and handed them over.

The other man leaned over to peer at them, just as curious. The first man frowned at Yue. "Reason for being outside the cities?"

"We have a permit for scavenging." Yue told him calmly, handing over a roll of paper.

The men seemed more and more disappointed as they examined the thing.

"You there!" The older man pointed directly at Gabbro. "Come explain what you were doing out there."

Gabbro pointed to himself but Opal could see a gleam of amusement in his eyes. Out of all the options they could have chosen... Yue and Gabbro shared a quick glance and Opal grimaced.

Gabbro rested his elbows on the table. Obsidian joined him with a wicked smirk. "Gentlemen, do you really want to question us further?" Before either man could answer both brothers' learned forward  to stare into their eyes. Opal watched as their expressions of indignation changed quickly to mild horror.

"N-no you've shared plenty." The one that Obsidian watched stammered.

"Free to go." Agreed the man staring at Gabbro and handed him back the cards as he held his hand out to him.

"Appreciated." Gabbro murmured in a low tone that made Opal shudder. He turned and motioned toward the entrance. "Seems we passed the exam. Off we go then." He turned with a swirl of his cloak and offered his free hand to Obsidian who took it with a giggle and the group continued on. They passed through several more sets of doors and chambers but had no more humans to deal with. In two, sharp smelling gasses were sprayed onto them, then blown off with high powered fans.

"Decontamination." Kait explained.

"And anti-demon." Gabbro smirked at the metallic scented one. "Unfortunately for them they've all been tested on demons too weak to speak human language so they are fairly ineffective. They do keep wolf packs out I suppose, if they were to overwhelm the humans at the front."

Obsidian laughed at this and ran to press the final button. He pressed it enthusiastically and moments later a loud beeping could be heard and this with a hiss massive metal doors began to withdraw back into their containers. Opal's jaw dropped.

The city was nothing like what Ermine or Gray had described. Towering buildings spiraled up, nearly blocking out the sun but all adorned with winking white lights. They were mostly made of what looked to be a kind of brick but in all different colors, pink and yellow, red, orange and even in a few cases sparkling white. Windows and balconies decorated them all in abundance. In the bottoms of all of them wound streets peppered with different store fronts, all with their proprietors loudly offering goods off all kinds. It smelled of food and clay and bodies.

"This- this is amazing!" Opal staggered backward a step, pulled by Gabbro as a silver machine nearly crushed her as she stepped into the road.

"It is it is!" Agreed Obsidian, bouncing on his toes beside. "We have to get you some oil food!"

"He means fried." Gabbro explained, although that still meant nothing to Opal. "Pri- Yohan. Do we have time to indulge my brother?"

"As long as Pro- Percy- is able to gather some currency for us."

"Me?" Proga cocked his head. "Oh, you mean this?" He grinned and opened a hand to show he'd already managed to collect some coins. Opal opened her mouth to question when she watched a tendril of smoke slip out from under Proga's foot and curl into a human's bag as he stood looking over wares at a cart. A small pile of coins slid back towards them. Proga flipped her one and winked. "Occasionally I can be useful, if not a little naughty. Yohan approved this power use."

Obsidian covered his mouth and leaned over to whisper. "That's stealing."

Proga grinned wider. "I know- how fun right Oliver?"

Obsidian seemed particularly delighted by this, even more so when Proga dropped a few coins into his hands.

Kait rolled her eyes but didn't argue when Proga offered her a considerable pile for her own.

Once Yue seemed content with the amount of money collected he waved a hand to have them follow him into the bustling city. Opal quickly found herself holding onto the back of Proga's jacket as he easily parted the crowd, whistling to himself. Kait held on to her sleeve as well to complete the train. The one thing she did notice was that the humans certainly had different styles of clothing- but luckily it all seemed to be different from one another as well.

"This is a trade city. Think of it as similar to Lster. It's a good place to visit without leaving much of an impression since just about everyone is passing through." Kait whispered to her as they hurried along to keep up with Proga's long strides despite him seeming to try and shorten them for their benefit. Opal watched a long line of people purchasing a rich smelling black liquid, and just beside that stall what seemed to be a stack of breads and sweets. Brightly colored bags of all shapes were displayed next to that and even further along strange rectangular devices with glowing screens. She certainly hadn't seen any of those in Lster.

Soon enough they found the food Obsidian was coveting and she found he was correct, it was delicious if not a little too hot at first. The dough was crispy and covered with sweet white sugar. Obsidian finished his and was picking off of Gabbro's as they continued their search.

"Are you alright?" Opal went to walk beside Gabbro now that the crowds had thinned.

He gave her a strained look. "I'm not much looking forward to meeting our educator."

"You've met before."

"Yes."

"And it didn't go well?"

"Oh no... it went, fine at that time. But these are different circumstances." He frowned and looked at his hand. "We'll see what they think of working with me again."

"You don't seem that bad."

"I don't, do I?" Gabbro gave her a once over. "Very kind of you to say." His eyes flicked to Proga. "But others will disagree."

Opal wished she knew what to say to put him at ease. He was with Yue now, after all. What was in the past was in the past. Or- she hoped it would be. It had occurred to her if Gabbro had known her previously and he'd known this educator, they might know her. She could only hope that was the case- and whatever activities they'd engaged in together were not problematic enough to cause a rift in the cohort. She gritted her teeth. At this point, she could only hope.

They passed through more little conglomerates of people until they reached a part of the city that was slightly more spread out and less populated. By this time her feet were starting to tire from all of the walking on hard ground. Yue began keeping his head on a swivel. Apparently they were nearing the areas that Pyrope would frequent.

"They usually present more feminine in human form, but they it changes on their whims." Yue explained and Gabbro nodded his agreement. Opal thought that was curious but supposed that might keep things more interesting. The shop starting becoming less bright with smaller, dingy windows and fewer humans scurrying about. Most of them were shuffling or walking unsteadily along. She was reminded of Bloom's immediately. They went into a few of the bars but Yue quickly turned around. Finally they entered one on the dead end of a street with a strange old fashion flag Opal was sure represented a country that no longer existed.

"Oliver." Yue turned to Obsidian seriously. Maybe due to his tone Obs turned his head three times and then blinked up at him clearly.

"Yes, my prince?"

"Don't call me that here."

"I dislike your name." Obsidian sighed and crossed his arms. "What do you need?"

"I need you either to be... like this and remain serious or not speak. They are likely to kick us out if they guess your underage."

"I'm older than most of these humans by a few decades." He scoffed and then narrowed his eyes. "And don't you think if it were up to me I would stay like this?"

Yue looked uncomfortable. "Just do your best."

A smirk as he stepped closer. "For you, I will."

Yue stepped back quickly. "Great. Now, everyone ready?"

Opal held up a hand. "No?"

"Ah, big sister, we are to keep our traps shut!" Obsidian told her with a nasty grin, but a moment later his eyes went vague again.

Yue rubbed his temples. "Right- well, lets try."

The bar was particularly old with dim lighting and a sour smell to many of their customers. Yue waved a hand for the group to disperse slightly as he and Proga made their way to the bar to discuss their questions with the bartender. Spark eyed an abandoned mug and snatched it as they moved to the back.

"What?" He asked as Kait made a noise of disgust after he drained it in seconds and replaced it on another table. "I was thirsty."

"No. Obs." Gabbro grabbed his brother's arm when he attempted the same thing. Opal laughed when Spark stifled a belch and Kait rolled her eyes.

"We have money. We could have bought one." She tutted.

Spark blinked. "But it was going to waste."

Kait groaned and Spark continued to look confused. Gabbro examined the room and shook his head, denying any recognition.

"I only sense humans in here." Kait confirmed quietly, watching Yue and Proga expectantly. They were pleasantly surprised when the pair of them returned with smiles.

"He saw them a few hours ago- thinks he knows where they went with a few other patrons. If we are lucky we might even find them tonight!"

Everyone was smiles as they left. Except for Gabbro.

Opal tried to catch his eye but he was staring straight ahead, holding tight to Obsidian's hand as they moved on to yet another bar. This one looked slightly less run down but still nothing fancy. This educator sure had a preference for establishments. Yue ushered them all to hurry as he headed inside.

The second they were in, Opal understood what they had meant by only sensing humans. Someone inhuman was in here. What appeared to be a woman stopped halfway through her sentence at a table and turned to glare at them. She had short chopped light absorbing black hair and to Opal's complete surprise flame orange eyes. She wasn't even trying to hide her fangs. Her table mate turned as well, bright red eyes under a fringe of his long black and silver hair. He sighed. She glanced around the room, lifted both hands into a clap causing all the humans to look at her. One by one as they made eye contact their faces went slack and they returned to their drinks as if they no longer noticed the group. Gabbro gave a quiet hiss as Yue marched forward and took a knee on the lightly sticky floor. He placed his marked hand on the table.

"Pyrope, guardian educator for the volcanic goddess, I am Yue prince of the ice territories and a confirmed candidate. This is my cohort. I humbly request you teach us to take over the land protected by the goddess Congoe."

The woman took another long gulp from her drink. "Well, prince, you are the second confirmed candidate to request my services."

"You are able to take on three candidates though- correct?"

She sighed. "Yeah, that's right. But now its my discretion. Let me see your cohort and then I will decide."

Yue stood again and motioned to them to come forward. Opal noticed that Gabbro kept his brother to the back with him.

Pyrope looked over each of them carefully. She seemed curious as she looked over Proga, Kait and Spark and then cocked her head when she got to Opal. "What are you?"

"Unsure," Opal told her slowly. "I suffered a head injury- but we know it has to do with water."

"Quite an interesting crew. Interesting potential in all of them and- ah." Her mouth curved into a smile and she quirked a finger at the brothers.

Gabbro stepped forward, tense.

"You brought me some friends to convince me, eh?" She gave them an approving look. "I suppose I can't say no, not when I have the opportunity to train fellow hell hounds. I haven't had many candidates brave enough to do that. Color me impressed." She paused, looking between the brothers. "Why do you look like that?" Pyrope squinted and then snapped her fingers twice. Gabbro's eyes flashed orange briefly, as did both of Obsidian's, and then they both turned to a human hazel.

Obsidian glanced over at Yue giving him a wide eyed stare and then back at Gabbro who had his eyes closed. He shrugged. "Shit."

********************

We are finally running into some of the deeper secrets! I am still having memory issues so please let me know if any of this is redundant or, you know, just absolute nonsense.

Still sticking with interesting facts: Spanish tortilla and Mexican tortillas are very different. The first one being more like an omelet often with potatoes and the other being thin corn or flour wraps.