Woman of Steel

Belle as Marci looked at the trio and gave them a cursory nod before returning to her carriage to continue reading.

Seeing this the boy looked at her with a frown. He thought she was stuck up and didn't want to interact with common folk. He was about to say something when Mr. Grumble patted him on the shoulder and shook his head. He couldn't quite put his fingers on it but something was strange about that girl.

A few days pass uneventfully nothing happened other than the short breaks the group took to maintain their carriages and check on supplies.

The sounds of bird chirping in the tree line and the distant howls of other animals could be barely recognized. Inside a carriage was a girl peacefully reading a book with nonsensical letters. She however seemed very focused and at times would repeat the syllables and letters to memorize them. It was as if she was in a trance. After about an hour she closed the book and massaged her temple.

Belle who had spent the majority of time reading two pages sighed. She looked out the window and she noticed something new. There were other carriages and the ride seemed to have gotten a lot smoother.

She looked out the window towards the floor and noticed odd shaped bricks which fit together perfectly to make a neat pattern on the road.

She looked at the ingenuity of this craft and wondered who the craftsman was. As she got closer to walls she could tell this was just a small town. Its walls stood tall and were made out of a dark grey cobblestone. The tops of the walls were headed by guards wearing cheaper armor than the guards of the capital but they still bared the crest of the kingdom.

Seeing her caravan enter through the gate unimpeded she sighed with relief. She waited until someone came to her as she did not have any identification that wouldn't expose her. Surely enough a crisp knock was heard after 5 minutes.

She opened the door to find the litter girl Mable in front of her. Mable was immediately mesmerized.

A few minutes before…

'Sighhhhh.Why do I have to do this.' ​Mable grumbled silently to herself. She looked around to see if there were any guards on patrol and slowly walked towards where their VIP cargo was being held.

Mable looked around the town. This was the first time she had actually been in such a place. She stepped on the stone floor with unique patterns and wondered who invented it. They were also other cool things dotted around.

She could occasionally see men holding fancy sticks with many decorations. She also saw animals of bronze. They looked like animals but they were made out of metal. Most were cats.

Mable retracted her wandering thoughts and knocked on the door…With the view infront of her she couldn't say she regretted making the trip here. In front of her was an older teen. Her purple hair draped elegantly behind her shoulders but not a single hair hid her beautiful face. Her silver eyes glowed and the slight signs of sunburn added to her charm making her look more womanly.

Her rosy lips slowly parted but before she could utter anything Mable said something.

"Beautiful".

The only words to exit her mouth before she ran off. Hiding behind a street corner Mable caught her breath. What was this she was feeling? She had tuned 14 not to long ago but didn't feel the romantic attraction to men as her mother said she once felt. Her face turned bright red. She nervously began to walk out the alley but a black hand slowly grabbed her and dragged her into the darkness.

Wondering where she had run off to Belle looked around for a bit but was unable to find the girl. She walked into the alley she saw her run into but found nothing there. She made a note about this but ultimately assumed Mable had run off to do something else.

Belle then made a round through the town.

As she walked her beauty caught the gazes of many onlookers. Some gazed in greed while others admired from a far. Some even tried to approach her but for some reason as they got closer she would mumble something and they would lose all sense of balance and tumble to the floor inviting the laughter of others. Unable to cope with the shame any others with similar ideas immediately gave up.

Belle seeing this smiled. This town was the perfect place to practice her abilities. She looked at the storefronts and saw a lot of different things from clothes stores all the way bakeries and bars. She was relatively uninterested in whatever was happening though.

Around noon belle got tired of walking around and decided to shop for a bit. She wasn't able to procure much money before leaving but she had enough to last her the month in her eyes. She was carrying around 1000 Riman silver. Little did she know that was more money than most people see in years.

She stopped at a peculiar shop. The entrance was completely blocked out by darkness and so were the windows. The sign however clearly read "OPEN"

She felt a strange attraction to the store and just decided to walk in. She pushed to door open and was blinded by the sudden change in lighting. It was even brighter in here than it was outside.

She looked around and saw that this place had a large variety of metallic animals. Mostly cats… She walked around touching the different animals. The ones on the shelves looked 'asleep' but she got the feeling it was only a temporary state.

She walked and viewed the endless selection when a sound startled her. Her eyes began to glow and her tongue ready to say an incantation. However, she saw no one in front of her.

The sound came again but this time from below her. A black tabby cat purred and rubbed its face against her thighs. She bent down slowly and gently began to pet the cats head. The cat purred in ecstasy as she was pet.

Belle took a good glance at the cat, her right hind leg was missing and instead replaced with a metallic one which was crudely painted to seem more realistic. Around her neck was a bell and tag that read "Mrs. Fluppers".

She could tell whoever did that had a terrible naming sense. She got up and before she was able to completely stand up a hand gently pressed down on her shoulders.

She immediately rolled backwards and looked towards her assailant. A regal looking woman stared down at her. Her hair was neatly braided to the sides and held there with two pink hair clips. The color was hard to describe it was as if the yellow and red of flames danced together in harmony but back of her hair fell down like a crashing waterfall of flames. Some loose strands of amber stuck out and hung above her emerald green eyes. Her face was clean and a glass monocle hung from her right eye. Around her neck were a strange pair of goggles.

She wore a short skirted dress with frills that clung tightly to the sides of her body. The sides of the dress also had pockets that held various tools. Her hands were decorated with a few small circular rings which seemed to suffer from slight heat damage. Her wrist adorned a black metallic bracelet. Her right leg seemed to be made from the same material as the cat's. Although her leg was not painted and it looked extremely jarring.

Belle however managed to regain her composure and was just about to speak. Her actions were immediately thwarted by the few words of this woman.

"I wouldn't do that shaman. My critters have been watching you all day. You do have a creative way of using your abilities I'll give you that. But can't you see your clearly outnumbered. Meow".

The eyes of all the creatures on the shelf immediately lit up and stared directly towards her. Belle gave up on attacking and the creatures immediately went back to 'rest'.

She looked up at the girl and said

"Who or what are you?"

She was met with a strange reply.

"Meow… my names Karo" she said before hiding behind her hands.