Bree barely had to wait as Winnie flew from her tower and saw the state of the front door.
"What has happened?" she demanded before noticing Bree and Inky. "Is that young Inky?"
"Yes, he's evolving; go to Minerva and Sheepy. I've already told them all that needs to be done,"
"At once!" Winnie said before flying into the front of the building.
"Well then," Bree said as she held up Inky, who had begun the process of growing legs and had been trying to get into a standing position, "How about you and me go into town and grab a bite to eat while we wait for you momma's and aunty Winnie to finish up?" Bree turned her staff into a ring so she could use both hands to hold Inky. She left him to fumble with the part of her cloak that covered her shoulders as she walked down the bridge to town.
"My Lady," Silver said when he saw her. Upon seeing Inky, he did a double-take so fast that he had to use one of his hands to reposition his head after it started spinning. "Is that Inky!?"
"Why yes," Bree replied. "He's begun his evolution. Soon, he'll begin exhibiting traits of Sheepy and Minerva, but he still has some time before that happens." Bree walked past Silver casually, who shook his head in wonder.
"Wild," Silver muttered, mystified at what he had just heard.
Bree continued walking through town before seeing three familiar faces. Gunter, Vern, and Gale were having lunch at Belin's favorite lunch spot. Upon seeing them, she quickly activated her glamor, much to Inky's amusement. She managed to catch the sound of Gale's voice as she began boasting.
"Seems the elf asked for my Wife personally," Gale said with pride, "You can imagine the absolute pride-filled speech of acceptance that followed that news; she's busy at work with those Axol-might guys building a forge; you know dwarfs, above ground area is for selling, but all of work has to be done beneath ground so there digging out an area near the lake," Bree, now Billie, walked up to them and Vern and Gunter looked at her in shock, Gale turned to see what had gained their attention and her eyes sparkled.
"Oh my stars, that is the cutest thing in the world!" Gale declared when she saw Inky, who turned to her at the sound of her voice; after babbling at her for a moment, he turned back to play with the shawl that now lined Billie's shoulder.
"Billie!" Gunter said in shock, "What a lovely surprise! I do apologize for the whole Slave Trader thing. But seeing as you're not imprisoned, you were cleared of all charges. And thus, we owe you an apology. Feel like lunch?"
"I'm good on lunch, and no hard feelings, I promise," she waved their concerns away without a second thought, "Argit came down and cleared me in no time,"
"Oh, well, that…" Gunter cut off his own words when the name of the Demon lord clicked in his head, "...Hold up, Demon Lor Argit? Do you work for him?" Billie looked at him for a second.
"I work for the Elf you were speaking about," Billie noted, having decided it would be best to keep using her Billie disguise around them, just in case she needed it in the future, "I'm her stand-in for political visits; and issues that require a non-monster to be present, since there aren't a lot of cities, in fact, none that I've heard of as of yet, that bare humans from entering,"
Billie smiled at the look on their faces, "I was supposed to go to Ozama to set up peace between the Demon lord and my Lady, But thanks to you three, Demon Lord Argit also gave us all of the land bordering Irenfell due to some trouble with one of his subordinates," Billie chuckled before adding "And since two of you were planning to come here anyway and I'd sure miss Gale I decided to drop a name or two and mention we required a blacksmith,"
"You fucking legend," Gale said, her shock turning into a smile, "I owe you a drink, but don't tell my wife about this; the fact that she thinks an Elf found her work worthy has put a pep in her step the likes of which I haven't seen since I said yes to her proposal,"
"I won't say a word," Billie promised.
"So, you and Zoey have a baby slime?" Vern asked, momentarily leaving Billies at a loss for wordy.
"Zoey was simply to most human people on staff," Billie repositioned Inky while she spoke. We were unsure how welcoming Ozama would be to monsters since my lady has never been herself, so it was just to be on the safe side," Billie leaned in and added with a grave expression.
"Please don't spread rumors that Zoey and I are a thing; the other staff members are irritated enough as it is that she got to be alone with me for several days. I don't wanna think about what would happen if they thought she was in a relationship with me,"
"Oh, I see how it is," Vern said confidently, "You have a fair number of fruits to pick from, but if you do pick one, you'll break the bush,"
"That made no sense," Billie shook her head, confused at Vern's choice of analogy, "Anyway, this young lad is Inky,"
"Why hello, Inky," Gale said, "Are you going out for a walk with your Auntie Billie?" Gale looked back at Billie with a fair question: "One or both of his parents work for the Elf, I presume."
"Yes, His Mommies Minerva and Sheepy are crafting a jumpsuit to protect little Inky here from the elements. I'm just making sure he doesn't get into too much trouble during his evolution,"
"Oh, I was unaware a slim could evolve," Gunther said in interest. "Is that why he looks so humanoid?"
"Yes, the Elf infused little Inky with Miverva and Sheepy's essence; he is about to become a Minitorian Satyr Slime,"
"So his moms are both Minitorian Satyr's, are they?" Vern asked. That sounds cute, but even that couldn't compare to just one Mary." Vern started swooning over the Minotorian Donkey, which, from Billie's experience, was the only thing that made him happy.
"Well, Minerva is a pure-blooded Minotar, and Sheepy a pure-blooded Satyr,"
"Pure blooded!?" Gale demanded, "The hell did you guys come from with all these dead races? Next, you're going to tell me a Harpy is living in that mansion or something,"
"Well, Winnie lives in the tower, not the mansion," Billie noted nonchalantly; Gale just looked at her in silence.
"I can't deal with this," She decided, "There is too much being thrown at me," Gale turned on the spot and waved. "I'm going to go help my wife build a smithery. Have fun living with your death maids,"
"I will," Billie assured her.
"I suppose we must be off as well," Gunter decided as he judged the position of the sun with his hand, "Else we be late for Olu's training,"
"Oh crap!" Vern turned and ran away. "Bye, Billie, sorry I punched your lights out," Gunter followed suit, and Billie smiled.
"I like those guys," she decided as she looked around. "Now then," she said, paying attention to Inky, "let's try to find something other than crab to eat, shall we? I'm growing weary of their flavor," Just as she was about to start searching for a place to eat, a large amount of movement at Ironfell's border caught her eye, "Oh dear," She noted in a concerned tone upon noticing the small Army marching towards her town.