When the Kurori spoke, Serna swung around towards Caliaphy, reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders, "GOTCHA! Ha! Ha! Ha! That was fun!"

"Awww!" Caliaphy squealed with excitement from playing the game with Serna. "Phew! I need to take a break on the beach for a couple of minutes."

Serna opened her eyes and laughed, "YOU need a break?! WOW! I thought you were a ball of energy, Caliaphy, I thought you would never get tired. Okay, let's swim to the shore and rest on the beach."

"Alyson would call me the Energizer Bunny because I was always running circles around her," The kurori flopped down on the sandy beach. "Still a lot has happened in a short amount of time and I usually head back to the Ancient Oak to rest. We have lots of energy but we also have to recharge it, and in the past thirty-six hours I've been going two-forty non stop."

Serna sat on the beach next to her friend and laughed, "What in the Realm is two-forty non stop?"

"It means going non-stop without resting." The kurori said.

"Oh! Okay," Serna smiled, "That makes sense, I guess."

*****

Neven quickly joined her at the opening and took her hand as they walked back to the others.

Seri lead him back along the narrow strip against the alcove base in the lagoon and swam back to shore where her mother and his friends were.

Neven followed Seri eagerly and swam to catch up with her.

Seri made it to the shallows and waded up onto the beach, "That was a nice swim."

Neven waded onto the beach behind Seri, "It was. I really enjoyed it and the company too."

******

The old courtesan closed her eyes remembering her home on the Emerald Isle spoke in gaelic, "Aimsir Bean an tí Éire." She moved over to the shade of the cliff to get out of the rays of suns. Her fair skin was prone to sunburn a lot which is one of the reasons she preferred working in the late afternoon and evening hours. "I'll be heading back into the city soon. The suns beating down on me like this makes me a bit uncomfortable and I could use a strong drink at the Neverending Story tavern."

"I will join you," Willow walked over to Madame Mabel, "Irzen, mayhap you would like to join us? A drink would take your mind off of Ethelion's treachery."

"Yeah! Sure, why not," Irzen replied in a distracted tone of voice.

Madame Mabel whistled to her daughter, "Seri, Aimsir!"

From the alcove, Seri popped into view, "Okay, mum! We're headed back into the city too."

"Caliaphy are you staying 'ere with Serna? Or coming back with us?" Madame Mabel glanced over to the kurori.

"Don't know, let me ask her, Serna want to stay here or go with them?" Caliaphy brushed the sand off herself.

"What would you like to do, Caliaphy?" Serna smiled, "I'm willing to go with them or stay here. It makes no difference to me as long as we can hang out together."

Caliaphy sat up finally now covered in sand, "I'd like to go but the normal people don't really like us kurori much. They say we're nothing but trouble, which is true. I'll just turn into the fairy again and not cause too much trouble."

"Okay," Serna smiled, "Then I guess we'll be going into the city with you, Madame Mabel."

"Right then, I'll wait for Seri and the boy to get here and dry off." The old courtesan remained in the shade of the cliffs. "Everyone's dry we'll head back to the city for a bite to eat and a hearty drink."

"Sounds like a winner to me," Irzen heard a rumble from his stomach, "Besides, I'm getting hungry again."

The teenager walked past Serna and Caliaphy and grabbed her clothes to dry off a bit, "Great swim with some great people and good times. Right Neven?"

"I agree," Neven gathered his own clothing and began to dry off as well.

Serna walked over to Willow and took his hand, "Care to walk with us, Willow?"

"It would be a pleasure," The Ranger replied to The Shield Maiden's request.