The sun was getting low as they approached the small rock pillar sheltering a camp. A couple of dozen tents sat in the shadows, surrounding a well. Catfolk children peered out at their approach.

  Once they were close enough the group slipped off the camels. While most of the camp settled for watching from a distance, two women moved up. One wearing a face scarf and the other merely hooded. The leader of their impromptu caravan moved to the women. "Jelih, these travelers helped us break the tyranny of Al Jirtae. Now they need to cross the deserts to the serpent women's home."

  The woman with the face covering bowed to them. "We offer you our hospitality, honored guests. My daughter Fasi will see to your comfort, should that please you."

  Ife and Hafsa gave an elaborate bow, with one hand palm up and the other palm down. Shiina and Delilah did their best to mimic them while Zanya gave a normal bow. "We are happy to accept your hospitality," Ife said. "May the gods bless you for your generosity."

  Fasi lowered her hood, revealing a catgirl with dusty orange hair similar to Hafsa's though streaks of black lined it. "You honor us with your blessing. Please join me at the klau fire."

  She led them to a secondary fire, where several younger woman and kids were sitting about. Shiina could taste hints of a stew boiling over it, but dinner was probably a ways away. As curious children gathered under their elder's watchful eyes, Fasi offered some cushions to sit on, before stepping back. "Would you like to introduce yourselves to the children?"

  Shiina gave an eye to Ife to see if that had some meaning past the obvious, but the fox just had a calm smile. "Of course. I am Ife, priestess of the Gods and traveling mage from distant Nubili."

  "Zanya, magic knight of Tepeta," the snake woman was, as always, more reserved.

  "Delilah, healing mage," The half elf blinked and focused. "Ah I'm from near Highcastle."

  Shiina decided to bring back the energy. She waved to the kids with both arms. "Shiina! Cutest mimic in the land, and from the Empty Tome Dungeon." A lot of excited ear twitching brought a surge of pride.

  Hafsa finally spoke up. "Magic Knight Hafsa," she hesitated a moment before continuing. "Of the Uligat tribe."

  The kids looked a little confused at that, but the older women all looked surprised, then sympathetic. Fasi bowed her head. "My condolences. Though the fact you stand among us means justice has at last been served."

  "Well some of it anyway," Hafsa said with a sharp toothed grin.

  Shiina was curious about that, but she was distracted by the kids moving in closer to her. She turned her face and attention to them. "Heya!"

  A boy who she guessed to be about ten leaned towards her, tail crooked curiously. "You're a real mimic? I didn't think monsters could talk."

  "I am," Shiina replied before flicking the kid's ears causing him to yelp. "And mimics like me are just as smart as you humanoids! Don't you forget it!"

  As the boy massaged his wounded pride and ears, a girl popped up, eyes shining. "What can you change into other than chests and boxes?"

  "Almost anything inanimate," Shiina said. "Watch!" She carefully shifted into the cook pot, then studied one of the smaller tents before swapping to that, before finally settling back into her preferred form. "That's the quick and easy version, but I can do better if I can get a better look at what I'm copying."

  The kids were all staring like cats at a fishbowl now. "Do you have to eat people?" one of the braver kids asked.

  "Nope. I- Boo!" She let her chest grow fangs and loomed over the children. The shivering surprise as they scattered filled her quickly. She shrank down to a smaller size, laughing. "I have to surprise them~!"

  Shiina flinched as Zanya lightly rapped her on the head. "Don't traumatize the kittens. You've eaten plenty."

  "You're no fun," Shiina said with a pout. "Keeping people on their toes is the purpose of my existence."

  Zanya's inner eyelids blinked a few times. "I suppose that's true." A smile then flickered across the woman's lips. "But as payment you'll have to help me with this." She turned towards the children who were slowly approaching again. "Let me show you some of the key ways to notice a mimic. Shiina, can you do the traditional?"

  "Fiiiine," Shiina slipped into treasure chest form. It was a fair trade for the spook she'd done to the kids. And maybe they'd learn to recognize mimics and help out some of her kin in the future!

  After a bit of mimic detection practice the sun had fled, and the kids had shuffled off to the other fire, leaving the young women. Checking around Shiina was getting the idea this was the 'unmarried women' of the tribe. And that suggested there was a lot she was missing, but since no one was being a jerk about it things were fine. She'd see if she could pull the info out of Ife later.

  For now she was enjoying the casserole she'd gotten. It was much more rustic than the lamb stew she'd had back in Al Jirtea. The meat was chewier and there weren't nearly as many spices. But the vegetables were thicker, and it had pearled couscous as a base giving a more varied taste between spoonfuls.

  "So~!" Fasi leaned forward as she looked over their group. "I heard you met with Wassel and the grand leaders of the alliance."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "We did," Ife replied, tail swishing.

  Fasi's ears perked up and the other women edged closer. "Is it true he did all this for his lover?"

  "Hm, I don't know about all of it, but she was there in the background of the meeting," Ife replied with a wide grin.

  Ah romance stuff. Shiina turned her attention to the crowd instead of the conversation. It was something of a storybook tale, and she could see how several of the unmarried women here were living vicariously through the story. Perhaps gossip like this was the common evening chat subject

  Her attention turned to her friend. Ife was enjoying the attention as she gave heavily edited versions of their recent actions, before moving into some stories of her homeland. The woman seemed to be in her element here.

  "Hey, you alright?" Shiina looked over to see Hafsa holding a hand to Delilah's forehead. "Looking a little warm there."

  The half elf looked flushed, but she shook her head. "No, it's fine. I just need to rest. Um, I'll set up my own tent if it's fine." Shiina blinked, then did some mental math. That was right, Delilah had the same problem a month ago.

  Ife started to speak but Hafsa cut everyone off by sweeping Delilah into a princess carry. "Not a chance. There's two tents for our group right? I'll help you to one. We can go from there." Delilah sputtered something but fell quiet as Hafsa carried her off. Shiina suspected the catgirl might know what was going on.

  After a pause Ife stood and dusted off her dress. "I'd better check on her as well. Sorry ladies." The foxgirl headed towards the tent tail wagging.

  Shiina turned her head towards Zanya who shrugged.

  Fasi looked between both of them and towards the tent with wide eyes. "Um, is that common with traveling adventurers?"

  "Depends on what you mean by 'that,'" Zanya replied. "But the answer is probably more common than you'd think."

  Glittering eyes turned curiously to Shiina who held her hands up. "Don't look at me. I don't do your weird humanoid things and I'm new to adventuring."

  That got a mix of sighs and shrugs from the group. Sifa looked over to Zanya. "Speaking of adventure, you're going to see the lamia tomorrow?"

  "If that's when their transports show up," Zanya replied. "We need to get to Bone Mountain, so that's the best way."

  Sifa nodded, ears forwards. "They'll be here tomorrow. They're very consistent about their arrivals. It's excellent for commerce, if a bit annoying for some festivals. So while you're here tell us about the city...."

  After a bit more chatter the others all went to bed. Shiina lingered outside, watching the evening guards before focusing on trying to mimic a bedroll. It was easier than a bed, since there was nothing as hard as the frame, but she still had a hard time getting a pillowy softness along with a firm mattress.

  It was several hours before she thought she had a breakthrough. The pillow was part of the set, but it was separate from the bedroll itself. Like how her chest and body parts were 'seperate' things even if they were both part of her. With that she thought she'd gotten a proper downy softness in the pillow!

  Of course she'd need a humanoid to check. Well it could wait.

  An hour or so later as the cooks woke to start fanning the embers to get pottage going Delilah slipped out of the tent she'd been taken into. The half elf was looking a lot better, if a little embarrassed. Shiina took her usual form and waved. Delilah walked over. "Good morning."

  "Good morning," Delilah said, taking a seat.

  "Sooooo?" Shiina couldn't help but be curious. She hadn't missed neither Hafsa or Ife had left the tent after entering.

  Delilah blushed more and flipped out a book to hide in. "Yeah. I know it's weird but..."

  Silence fell over the two before Shiina pressed a little. "But?" She didn't really care about the gossip side, but she was curious about her friend.

  "It's... nice having beautiful women say you're desirable." Delilah answered with a little smile. "I'll have to figure out more later but..."

  Shiina decided to let it drop at that. It sounded like Delilah was still working things out, and there was no reason to push her.

  Besides, she had an important question to ask. "Right! I need your opinion! I think I figured out the whole hard and soft thing at the same time. Tell me if the pillow is good!" She shifted to the bedroll, taking a few seconds to properly tweak her bits.

  Delilah looked up from the book to hesitantly poke Shiina's pillow, before giving it a close look and a good squeeze. Then she gave a firm press on the bedroll. "Oh that's very good! But the pillow is still connected right?"

  Shiina shifted back. "Yeah. It's still me, so I can't exactly separate."

  "That will probably be your weak point then," Delilah replied. "People like to move their pillows around a good deal. Maybe you could use a tether? Or I suppose bite them if they're too close to finding out the truth."

  "This sort of transformation is more for friends," Shiina replied. "But I'll keep that in mind. At least I got the hard and soft bit down!" She paused before looking over at Delilah. "You said that learning more about mimicking would help me understand my own magic more right?"

  "Yes." Delilah nodded vigorously. "I'm not sure about the details sadly. But I hope you're successful. Magic is wonderful after all. Maybe you can find a special magic for mimics."

  Shiina hummed in thought. That sounded pretty cool actually. "Okay! One day I'll figure it out."

  "Good luck," Delilah said, with a pat on the head.

  The desert tribes around Al Jirtea are a complicated subject. There's pure nomadic groups, groups that have settlements, and groups that swap. There's catfolk, halflings and even some humans. And tribes have all sorts of interrelations that I can't explain, because the info will be out of date by the time I finish writing it down. It's super messy

  So if you do travel through the area the most important thing to remember is they're all super big on territory and hospitality rules.

  Territory is easy to explain. Their camp (as signified by their tents) is what they claim, and if you walk in without permission you've started a fight. Always get permission to enter before doing so. Now if you've been invited in there's nothing more to worry about, and that's what happens with most travelers. Otherwise it's more complicated.

  Traditionally the people arriving offer a gift, and that gift has meaning. If they offer lots of food or money that means they're rich or are sharing a good bounty. If they offer mediocre stuff that means they're poor or starving and are effectively begging for help. Similarly the response shows the status of the tribe being visited and their opinions of you. If there's a feast in your honor it shows close ties and an offer of potential marriages. Being allowed to intermingle with the tribe is an offer given to equals. While a small reception is an indication of distance.

  The weird one is if you have nothing to offer and throw yourself at their mercy. Say a tribe collapsed or you got lost in the desert. A lot of the tribes will ritually take you prisoner, then 'ransom' you to a safe place or bring you into the clan later. I wonder if Al Jirtea started with that, and decided they liked having people doing menial work for them and skipped the part where it was just a ritual....