Rowan flew through the portal into the reception room at a much faster speed than she had anticipated. It was only through the virtue of her wind powers that she did not land on her face. She guided herself to a kneeling position before standing and turning towards her second-in-command, Holly Bell. The redheaded ursine bore an insufferable grin on her face as she looked at her bovine commander.

"You did that on purpose," Rowan said.

Holly held up her paws in front of her chest. "Me? Not hardly. I went through the same portal you did. You just overcompensated is all." The black bear turned to face the swirling vortex behind them. She closed her paw and just as the aperture had appeared, it sealed behind them. Where Rowan mastered the power of wind, Holly was the expert in teleportation. Since their latest excusion had required substantial distance, the bear's ability had manifested as a portal rather than a flash of atmospheric displacement.

Rowan stood, turning towards the bear. "I'm still keeping my eyes on you." The cow tugged at her uniform, both women having worn a version of their clothes suited for harsh environments. "I need to get into my normal clothes."

"Have you heard the latest rumors?" Holly asked.

The cow turned to look at her companion. "What rumors?"

"I hear that the others are coming out of the woodwork. There's a report that even Lauren Rivers has surfaced and that she's headed our way." Holly placed her paws on her hips.

Rowan paused. She had not seen Lauren in years. The zebra had been under the radar since the war had ended. If she was headed here, that likely meant she had found what she was looking for. Rowan nodded. "I haven't. Keep an eye out for her. When and if she comes looking for us, I want her brought to me immediately. Keep someone at the guard post at the bottom of the mountain at all times on my orders." There was no way to scale the mountain where they hid on foot, the only two ways up to their stronghold was by airship or teleportation.

Holly nodded. She gestured towards a technician to keep a teleportation crystal on standby just in case, and followed Rowan away from the focusing ring. "Do you think she'll show?"

"I know she'll show. The question is, who she'll bring with her," Rowan said.

Holly is  redneckfur, conscripted for my own purposes!
Art by  fox-die