Kingdom in the fog

after about half a year, and Atalan turning 8, they are at the hidden kingdom where the Kitsune race is, Artemis knew this place as she was one of the goddesses that were in touch with nature the most, and since she knows how endangered this race is, her lips are sealed on where this kingdom is, as well as everyone else in her familiar, heading to this kingdom, they were going to take down a series of dragons, Golems, and Minotaur in the area that would cause problems with their growing numbers, but Rieka took off ahead and singlehandedly took it out, making her get scolded by Artemis again, and also made their trip almost worthless, though they would explore as people hear about Rieka and swarm her, making her popular with her growing reputation.

Rieka:" he he he, I like being famous"

Arethusa:" give it time kid, soon fame will be annoying and you'll want anything but attention"

Rieka:" YES EVERYONE, I'M THE ONE WHO TOOK OUT THOSE MONSTER'S SINGLEHANDEDLY, PRAISE ME ALL YOU LIKE"

Arethusa:"... unless you crave attention I suppose, whatever"

as the Kitsune citizens were praising her, they saw how much she was milking this and left, seeing the kingdom, and while it was suppose to be filled with about 45 percent of the kitsune race, they didn't see many kitsune.

Atalan:" even though this is the Kitsune Kingdom, there are supposed to be many Kitsune here, but I don't see many of them, why's that"

Kallisto:" I'm afraid that's because Kitsune are an endangered race in this world, and even here, they're in low numbers"

Atalan:" really... is that why this place is secret"

Polyphonte:" it is, we're the only one's who know about his place and we all keep our mouths shut about it"

Atalan:"... I'll take this to my grave than"

Antiope:" should we be concerned that Rieka is getting all this attention"

seeing her surrounded, absorbing the attention on her, they decide it's enough and grabbed her to head off, in the royal castle, Antiope got a meeting with the Kitsune King and Queen as they are seeking an opportunity to talk to someone who will be in a high position one day and take advantage of this moment where they could make a good impression on her, however, Zoe, a fellow Kitsune, and Artemis accompanied Antiope.

Fumio:" Hello, I am king Fumio Tengoku, and this is my first wive and the queen of Seishengoku, Nala Tengoku, we hope we make your stay here a welcome one"

Antiope:" I'm sorry, did you say first wive"

Nala:" yes, other than me, he has 3 other wives he married for political reasons"

Zoe:" oh boy, here she goes"

Artemis:" so he doesn't love them like in a good-hearted marriage that is made with 2 consenting adult's ready to spend the rest of their life together"

Nala:" to be fair, our marriage was the same, so I'm not one to throw rock's at other peoples glasshouses with one of my own, why would you care though, as a virgin goddess, isn't something like love something you don't concern yourself about"

Artemis:" contrary to popular belief about my view on romance and such, I do support the marriage of people in pure love, while I don't allow my hunters, in and out my mythology to marry, to marry someone you love is something I support in those outside my familiar and so on, even inside as I'll notice any of my members in love, and while they will have to leave, I will still support them none the less and help them as well, however, all I ask is that it's out of love, not anything like "have to" or "need to" and especially not a political marriage with no feeling's whatsoever"

Fumio:" those come overtime where at first it isn't lovely, but you find what makes them appealing"

Zoe:" making it worse"

Artemis:" THAT'S NOT LOVE, THAT'S MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING TO YOUR SITUATION TO HAVE TO BEING STUCK TOGETHER"

as Artemis said, she isn't against people marrying with their true love, she even supports it wholeheartedly, however, she cannot stand marriages between people where there is no love, she had to be held back when Hippomenes cheated to force Atalanta's hand by a few gods so she didn't kill him then and they're not only for forcing her hand in marriage but also for using a goddesses help to get it instead of his own merits, making her tell Atalanta to run as she played a trick on Hippomenes to get back at him with a cloud made to look like Atalanta as the real one ran off, as such, whenever she sees a marriage made by arrangement rather than earnest feeling's, she can't help but express her anger to it.

Fumio:" nevertheless, we are married and I have children with each, and if not for our marriages, we would have a lot fewer of our race in this kingdom, can you honestly say that would be acceptable in any way, shape, or form"

Zoe:" can't argue with him there, as a Kitsune myself, I can't say they did anything wrong by our races standards"

Artemis hate's political marriages, however, even she would admit it's better than letting people possibly die, so while she still didn't like the idea, she held her tongue for now since she can't undo the past and had their conversation shifted to what they desired to talk about in the first place, and after about an hour, they were done, and their oldest, prince Karna as he asked what was going on.

Karna:" aww, the Artemis familia, they're here again, and with some new member's I see, who's this"

Fumio:" mind your manners, Karna, this is Princess Antiope of the amazons"

Karna:" oh yeah, we heard rumors but didn't believe them since it sounded a bit ridiculous given the age of the princess now, but I guess fact is stranger than fiction sometimes, welcome Artemis, sorry for my messy appearance, I just got out of bed"

Zoe:" oh no, a look of messy hair, droopy eye's, and what I assume are pajamas is clearly everyday ware"

Artemis:" okay Zoe shut up, my prince it's already past noon, how are you still in bed at this time"

Karna:" easy, I stayed up last night fighting off some of the monster's to make sure the kingdom's safe for nearly 48 hour's straight, you stay awake after that"

Artemis:" all by yourself"

Karna:" I'm a level 4, of course, I can handle it, besides, I'm much tougher than my appearance has you to believe, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to some friend's of mine and see what's new"

Artemis:"... even for a 19-year-old, he is kinda... how you say..."

Fumio:" he's a troubling man who doesn't understand just how much influence he has on our race"

Artemis:" there you go"

Nala:" well he's not my birth child, but as his mother, I wish he act more appropriately, like his younger sister born from me, Kame"

Zoe:" is she trying to point out she's the ideal wife in this harem marriage"

Artemis:" I said shut up, whatever reason, we'll stay out of it if we can"

Nala:" actually, Artemis, I have a request, you see, Kame is a nice girl but she is shy around people, however, she does need to travel, and the best way for that to happen is to have her in your familia for a few years, it's the best idea I can think of for both her experience and safety, as well as training"

Zoe:" wait, why would you suggest this"

Nala:" well, with that Rieka's recent achievements first with that army and now with the monster's near here, she's shaping up to be someone to change the future"

Artemis:" I see, you want your daughter to get in good with her as to use her for yourselves, am I right"

Fumio:" I'm afraid yes, but take it from our perspective, say if we are able to have someone like her on our side, we may just increase our races numbers and chances of survival, her strength is already well known and at such a young age, she is bound to draw attention and make anyone who's allied to her benefit greatly, we just ask you give my daughter a chance to be with her, that's all"

Artemis:"... fine, I can't say no to a royal families wishes if they are within reasonable standard's as such anyway due to the agreement between the god's and mortal kings of the 15 races, however, I won't give her any special treatment whatsoever"

Nala:" that is fine, now, she'll be at the gate's at 4, please send someone to pick her up by then, alright"

Zoe:" my time to shine I guess, alright, I'll go get her when it's 4"

Nala:" great, now I hope she does well"

leaving, Artemis was concerned, based on rumor's, Nala is a manipulative and crafty person who will play anyone to get what she wants, she also had 5 previous husband's who all supposedly died from natural causes and accident's, she wondered if she was willing to even use her own daughter as a way to get what she wants something that made her pissed at the thought of it, but Zoe said that they can help the child and make sure she ends up in proper care, after such, Atalan was researching and round that due to kitsune have unique and special magic not even found in elve's, many are hunted down to be slaves for someones use, or killed by some group to make sure their magic isn't known, namely elves since they believe they should have the best magic of all the races despite the elf king's distaste to killing Renard with unique and interesting magic, their race also has a low conception rate which doesn't help them, because of this, the sight of a Renard is a rare and unnatural sight to behold, as such, he wanted to help in some way as is his nature to help those, however, this was different than other situation's.

Atalan:" this race is so small compared to other places, it's sad... but how can I help when the problem is this big"

Rieka:" best to do what you can, if you see a Renard in trouble, help them, that's all you can really do, but hey, remember that slave thing you helped in that freed a million slaves, at least half of them were Renard, so you did help in that sense"

Atalan:" don't talk about that here, remember Artemis said we weren't allowed to talk about that in public areas or unless we're sure no one's around"

Rieka:" why is that, if anything, you making a name for yourself now would be great a reputation like what I'm doing, people will really look at you then, an if you plan to be an adventurer in the future, then it would really help in getting you in a good Familia with a powerful god with lots of power and influance"

Atalan:" but Artemis said to wait until the time was right, and for me to lay low until I can't hide my true power and feats anymore"

Rieka:" why is that though, oh I see Artemis, let me ask her"

Atalan:" hey wait"

Rieka then rushed to Artemis to ask why Atalan has to hide his accomplishment's and Artemis was just silent, walking away and not answering, knowing she could lie to them but didn't, saying something was wrong was an understatement from Reika's side, as they were able to get thing's done, Atalan head's to hunt as he was now wondering why he can't let his achievements be known, questioning Artemis, one of Artemis's teachings was to drought and question the gods and goddesses in the world, including herself since she is a goddess, so Atalan was having dought's to the one person she saw as her mother but hoped he was wrong, and then, he found a lot of magical energy and found a problem, a monster rex was about to be born so close to this kingdom, so making and gathering as many makeshift explosives as possible from the Familias base camp and using some small explosion's from rune spell's to dig the crystal out, he put as many explosives as possible to and as the monster was forming, making it where the explosives were still able to surround part's of it's body around the crystal, he then set them off with a rune spell on one of the explosive's and the explotion was big enough for the kingdom to see as well as blow a crater that blew part of the mountain away as Atalan was bearly able to get away from, but still get his arm injured, but the monster rex was still alive as a part of the crystal was exposed, so with his good arm, he got his bow and drew the one arrow he had and then used his teeth to hold the arrow and string back and fire, hitting it in the spot the crystal was exposed at, and killing it before it can hit him, killing the Monster Rex, but at that moment, he lost consciousness and faided away.