The raucous laughter filled the night air as all the town's folk – and I literally mean the whole village – filled the tavern and drank to their heart's content. I would say ate, too, but they soon found out how horrible Meliodas was at cooking.

"Hey, can we getting another round over here?" shouted one of the men, cheeks a rosy red as he swayed on his seat.

"Coming right up!" Meliodas hollered back, before turning to me. "You're up, Estra."

I tugged at the hem of the dress Meliodas had forced me into, before trying to roll the gigantic sleeves up on the black and white ruffled shirt. "Get Elizabeth to do it!" I snapped. 

"No. You have to pay me back somehow," Meliodas replied.

Glowering, I snatched the tray filled with a jug of ale from his hands and strutted towards the table in platformed shoes. If I had ears, they would be flicked back in annoyance.

"Here you are men," I flourished, smiling at them sweetly.

"Thanks, miss!" one shouted, while another tried to grab my butt.

"Hands off or I will gut you," I sang in a shrill voice, still smiling, teeth gritted, before I headed back to the kitchens.

Meliodas, that vile, stupid pervert was making me work to pay off the rent of staying at the Boar's Hat. I could understand where he was coming from, but why did I have to be the one in the ridiculous outfit? Elizabeth got to wear what she's been wearing all day. I glanced over at her, carefully walking towards a table close to her, a tray wobbling in her hands.

Three... Two... One...

CRASH!

Elizabeth's tray went flying, along with all the ale. Sailing through the air and landing on me. As if the day couldn't get any worse, I slipped as I jumped back, heading up head over heels, my empty tray smacking me in the forehead.

"That's it!" I screamed, getting to my feet and stomping back upstairs to the room I was given to sleep in.

I ripped the dress off me, the satisfying sound of fabric being torn at the seams filling my ears, before I dressed in a singlet and long black pants. The ruffled, shredded mess of the dress went out the window and fluttered to the ground, before I slammed the window shut.

A sheet of paper fluttered in the air, before sliding to the ground. I bent down and unfolded it, noting the tattoo design.

Maybe someone would be willing to do it for me in this town?

Highly unlikely, but it was worth a shot. Walking barefoot back down, I came upon another disaster of a scene, where found was splattered on the floor, with Elizabeth being consoled by Hawk.

"There, there," he repeated over and over to the sobbing princess.

I decided to steer clear of the scene, instead opting for the closest table of men who still looked like they were sober enough to stay on topic.

"Excuse me," I interrupted, sitting down beside them. They paused their conversation. "Is anyone in your town capable of doing tattoos?"

"No, sorry," replied a red haired man nursing his tankard. "No one really has that skill in our town."

"Yeah and why would a beautiful girl want ink on their body?" slurred his friend and I scowled.

"Because I'm a grown woman in human years and I can make my own decisions," I retorted, cramming the paper in my pocket and retreating to the safety of a dark corner in the crowded tavern.

The hours were catching up with me as I slumped against the wall, tired eyes closing. The laughter and the talking washed over me, even lulling me to sleep before the door slamming caught my attention.

I opened my eyes to see Hawk trotting over to me. "Hey, Estra. Can you go check on Elizabeth? She's a bit upset with what's been going on," he asked.

"Sure," I yawned, heading outside into the clear, crisp night.

I found her sitting, with knees drawn to her chest, looking out over the village. Folding my knees beneath me, I sat next to her, admiring the stars twinkling in the dark blue sky.

"What a hectic day," I began, looking at her.

"Yeah," she replied softly.

"Must be exciting though, being a princess and all. I'm guessing you didn't have this much adventure back when you were in the castle." No response. "Hell, even I haven't had this much adventure, and I was a fox who was always sticking my nose into places I shouldn't have."

She smiled at me and I grinned back. "See, that wasn't so hard."

"What's it like, being a fox?" she asked.

"Eating what you like, stealing what you like, lazing in the sun, soaking up the afternoon sun and watching your fur catch fire in the sunrise. It was the life, I tell ya," I told her, placing my hands behind my head and falling backwards, grass tickling my cheeks. "A lot easier than this human one, that's for sure. Never have I had so many people try to kill me in a day."

She giggled at that and I closed my eyes, letting all my muscles relax.

"Oh, Sir Meliodas," Elizabeth exclaimed, and I tilted my head slightly towards him, but kept my eyes closed. "I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to be working now, but when I saw Mead and the villagers, it brought up a lot of the memories I have of my father."

"Is that right?" Meliodas replied.

The Gods didn't create this man with any sympathy.

"I just hope he is okay," Elizabeth sighed.

"Around here, maybe?" Meliodas murmured.

"I shouldn't do this. It's no time to mope around feeling homesick," Elizabeth continued on, unable to hear Meliodas.

"A little more to the left?" Meliodas mumbled.

"But I've seen so many good people oppressed by the Holy Knights. I know that they are suffering and with a princess like me, their chances don't seem to be good."

"And that's definitely not true," I groaned, sitting up. "Sure, you might be clumsy and clueless at times, but you are a kind person, who takes care of anyone who enters her life. I'm pretty sure no other princess would travel around the countryside to fetch a group of high risk criminals who are feared by the entire world to save her family and her kingdom from all this suffering."

"Yeah, you found me, didn't you?" Meliodas added to my statement. "If you hadn't been trying everything that you could to help your people and then stumbled into my place, they'd have no chance at all."

"So you're both saying that's there is something I meant to do?" she asked.

"Exactly," Meliodas and I replied. "Although, we might have to work on your cluelessness," I added, which earned me a jab in the ribs from Elizabeth. I laughed it off and she joined in.

"And right now, there's something that I'm meant to do," Meliodas stated, turning to face the sky.

Confused, I opened my mouth to ask him, before a giant, electrified spear came flying out of the sky, heading straight for the village. Meliodas caught it bare- handed, before he was dragged backwards and down off the edge of the cliff.

"Meliodas!" I screamed, scrambling to watch as he hit the ground, forming a giant crater. Elizabeth was screaming beside me as he continued flying along, spear in hand.

The power of the electricity blasted his sleeve from his arm, revealing his brand, and the force of the moving spear sent him smashing through several stone buildings, gaping holes in them. He finally came to a stop, before Meliodas straightened and threw the spear back into the sky. 

It whipped past us, disappearing into the night sky. Awed, shocked and extremely confused, I scrambled after Elizabeth, who was running for Meliodas. We were soon caught up by our pink ally, Hawk.

"I'm so glad we found you," Elizabeth shouted at a crouching Meliodas. "Sir Meliodas! Was that spear from the Holy Knight who had left his sword in the ground?"

Meliodas squeezed his bleeding hand into a fist and I quickly ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of my singlet and handed it to him. He wordlessly took it and wrapped it around his hand, tying a quick knot with his teeth.

"Probably so. I think that's our cue to leave here as soon as we can."

Glancing around, I saw just how much destruction Meliodas had caused by catching the spear and I shuddered thinking of what damage it would have caused had Meliodas hadn't slowed it down.

"But what if Vanya village is attacked again?" Elizabeth asked, worried.

"They're obviously going to be after us now," I answered Elizabeth. "Since Meliodas returned the spear to it's owner, they must now know of his powers. Leaving would ensure this town's safety; staying would mean death for them."

"Estra's right, we'll be putting the town's folk in danger by staying," Meliodas agreed.

"It'd be nice if we had some place to hide out," Hawk confessed.

"Wait a minute..." Elizabeth trailed off, in thought.

"What is it?"

"Earlier tonight, Mead said he would do anything not to be taken to the Forest of White Dreams. In fact, he said even Holy Knights steer clear of the place."

"Really? Sounds good to me," Hawk stated happily, almost relieved.

"Then what are we standing around for? Let's get a move on," I exclaimed, already heading back to the tavern.

"That settles it then," Meliodas grinned, before putting his hands together. "Except that we're not going to be hiding out."

"Aw, but hiding sounds like a perfect idea at the moment," I whined.

"We're going to be doing exactly what we should," Meliodas continued. Guess there goes sleep and good food.

"What do you mean?" Hawk asked.

"You don't think..." Elizabeth had caught on to what Meliodas was getting at.

"Yep. And I bet that one of us living there." That brought a smile to Elizabeth's face. "Okay! Let's find another sin!" Meliodas shouted.

"Yay!" I shouted sarcastically. "Let's continue on this crazy adventure where we're being hunted by Holy Knights while trying to find dangerous criminals." I rolled my eyes. "Why couldn't I have found a group of normal citizens to mingle with?" I groaned, before following them back up the hill, grinning.

Oh well, at least I'll be getting a decent night'ssleep.