Cassandra's eye twitched.
Nothing could be simple with this goddamn island, could it? One thing just led into another after another after another. A sigh passed her lips; truth be told, the amazon wasn't terribly interested in trying to sort out the problems between these bands of cryptids. She would have loved to just slither off right now, tell the weirdos to just not bother her. But even if she did that, and even if she dragged Melody or long... sooner or later, her friend would go get into trouble.
"Fuck me," she whispered under her breath. Her friend looked up, suddenly a bit more excited, only to be disappointed as Cassandra shook her head. "Do you know where this elder is?"
The dark-haired naga nodded. "Oh yes, right down there!" She pointed to the largest of the various huts, something closer to a building in scale. Not exactly the most impressive little palace, but nicer than most of the accomodations. The redhead was making her way over there immediately, hands flexing in and out of fists as Melody slithered behind her.
Slipping past the curtains that formed a doorway, she found a moderately lavish interior. A large room, some kind of court for the elder, better cleaned and maintained than any other structure in this village. The floor was smooth, a shiny, cool stone that felt pleasant against her scales, with tapestries hanging from the ceiling that showed the sigil of a snake wrapped around a spear.
The open area seemed to converge on a throne at the back, in which sat the woman that Cassandra was after. The elder was, as her name implied, at least slightly more mature-looking than most of her kin - not old, certainly, but she had the face of a woman in her 40s, rather than the youthful visages on every guard and servant in the building, framed by silver-colored hair that went down to the green tail curled around her throne. Despite her age, the dark-skinned woman was no less beautiful, radiating a sort of mature attractiveness. The woman's golden eyes landed on Cassandra, and recognition was instant.
She waved for the guards to be at ease before she spoke. "You are... the Protector of the Fountain Temple, yes? I can see it in how you carry yourself." The redhead could have sworn that the woman was purring quietly. "I must say, a tail-"
"-makes me look hot, so you all keep telling me." The way she'd so suddenly interrupted the elder seemed to catch the older woman off guard. "First off, the Protector shit is getting old - just call me Cassandra. Second, you're the one in charge around here, right?"
The silver-haired naga huffed, rising from her seat as she slithered forward. "I am Elder Ahura, the leader of the Tribe of the Naga." Any sultriness had vanished, replaced by a more formal tone. "For what purpose have you entered our lands and approached me?"
"Well, for one thing, I was trying to find my friend-" She jabbbed a thumb towards Melody. "Thanks for giving her the snake tail, by the way. Genuinely, she's into it. And then she mentioned you're, you're heading off to go do some war crimes, or something, and... well I was hoping that you could maybe not do that."
Ahura's indignation was becoming rapidly apparent. "The only crimes have been committed by our enemies!" she shouted, "The winged ones, the aquatics, the equines, they have never respected our territory! They covet our lands, they-"
"Lady, I don't give a shit what stupid fucking watering hole dispute you have!" Tactful as ever. "I just want you to not genocide them! Because quite frankly, I've been really goddamn horny since I got here, and I'd like it if maybe I could get a chance to bang some of those things! Kinda hard when some crazy old bitch wipes them off the face of the fucking earth!"
"How DARE you?!" She slithered right down to Cassandra, standing eye to eye with her. "You storm into my lands unbidden, you barge into my court unannounced, and you have the audacity to demand I cease defending my people?!" Ahura was enraged now, and with all the hormones pumping through her body, Cassandra wasn't far behind. "I should have you skewered and fed to the cattle for your insolence!"