"If you won't put me down!" Serna snarled, "Then I'm going to make you put me down! YAAAAHHH!" The Shield Maiden slipped her shield off of her arms and into her two hands. Then she reared back with her weapon and swatted Caliaphy square on her nose with the business end of her shield. The sound of her attack was that of a resounding "GONG" which echoed throughout Caliaphy's ears.

She dropped the shield maiden trying to discern what was moving and what wasn't moving. Caliaphy's entire large form vibrated from the sound of the gong like Wiley Coyote from Loony Tunes. She tried so hard to stand still and fell over as if she was dizzy from spinning around so fast.

"Gotcha! And now I'm going to finish you, you mean, nasty kurori!" Serna ran to the stables, found some rope, ran back to fairy and proceeded to rope and hog-tie the kurori as though she were a cowgirl roping a calf on an Old West ranch.

When she was done capturing Caliaphy, Serna proudly declared as she put her hands on her hips, "War Scribe used to tell me that no human was no match for no drowling. Well, Caliaphy, I'm here to tell you that no kurori is no match for no human! What do you think about that, loser?"

"GRRRRRRR!" Caliaphy growled angrily with her tail flicking back and forth. Suddenly she stopped and stared into the eyes of the girl. The big anime eyes instilled all the cuteness one could imagine and Serna began to feel giddie and sleepy at the same time.

The Shield Maiden looked away and shook her head, "Nice try, Caliaphy, but you can't cute me into letting you go. So forget it!"

Suddenly Caliaphy vanished right before Serna's eyes and the rope she found to tie the kurori up with fell to the ground in a heap. Instead of teleporting the shield maiden and dunking her into the water trough, the water trough appeared directed above the girl. Turning over without making a sound, the entire contents were dumped onto Serna with a thunderous splash. The kurori reappeared laughing hysterically, "AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BEST ME? HAH! YOU'VE GOT A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONGG WAYS TO GO, SERNA!"

Drenched to the bone and covered in mud and slime, Serna looked at Caliaphy with her cold blue eyes and seethed between her teeth, "Of course you realize this means war!" And with that said, the Shield Maiden stomped off to the bathhouse to get completely clean.

"TEEHEEHEE! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Caliaphy fell over from laughing so hard.

Serna disappeared from view as she let Caliaphy's gales of laughter seep into her soul and stoke the embers of her anger.

Without uttering a word Lazheros teleported both of them inside the city walls and came upon a sight of pranks and trickery involving Caliaphy and Serna.

"Oh-no." Alyson shook her head in disbelief.

The loremaster paused to look over and see both Lazheros and Alyson appear in a flash of light. Walking over to them, "The kurori is enamored with Prince Willow and Serna got upset."

The bronze man frowned at the sight of the laughing kurori in large feline form, "You couldn't just keep your shenanigans to yourself, could you?"

The large multi-colored fluff ball of kitten sat up giving him a toothy grin, "Ahhh! Where'd you come from, Bronze Man? Oh, hey Alyson."

"I know what you're doing, Caliaphy. You can no longer prank me so you set your sights on Serna?" The elementalist sighed.

"Well, if you must know, Serna kept pushing me in front of her when it came to explaining things to the ranger, so I took it upon myself to have some fun and vie for the affections of a really handsome High Elf."

Lazheros grumbled, "You're fortunate, you're here and not in Asylum because you would've found yourself banished to the Ancient Oak for a week."

The kurori stuck her feline tongue out in defiance because she could.

Alyson gave Caliaphy a harsh glare remembering all the trouble she got into and was blamed for it, "You're just lucky I didn't use magic to get you back when I was a kid. It would of have been a very different story."

"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever." The kurori finally was able to revert to her small self only to be picked up by the bronze man suddenly, "ULP!"

*wux re lokria ekess wer tween tairais halkvri suturi* Lazheros said in draconic.

Translation:: "You are banished to the tween time until sunrise."

Caliaphy's eyes widen just before she disappeared in a flash of light with a sudden realization that he could actually send her home without any repercussions.

******

Serna was grumbling in a child-like version of Yosemite Sam as she stomped her way towards the bathhouse, "RATSN! FRATSN! RATSN! FRATSN!"

When Serna got to the bathhouse, she disrobed without ceremony and dived into the warm water. Finding a bar of soap nearby, the Shield Maiden began to scrub herself from head to toe until she could smell her stench no more.