"Ami! Where are you headed so early this morning?"<br/>"To study."<br/>Her mother paused for a moment, frowning, "you're going to the caves today, aren't you?"<br/>Ami shook her head, pale pink hair swaying in its ponytail, "The fields."<br/>"Eh? What fields?"<br/>"There are fields just beyond the caves to the east. I believe another set of chimera's live there; I wish to study them."<br/>Lady DeLaBlanche seemed to wilt, "Why is it always chimeras, Ami? Couldn't you study something more... Appropriate? Like... How to dress like a proper lady? You're getting to that age where young men will take interest, but no one will take interest in you when you dress like a shadow and are never around. Please, my little darling, why don't you stay home today?"<br/><br/>"Sorry, mother, but I already left."<br/>"Wha-? But you're right... here," The older woman sighed in a mix of frustration and admiration as her daughter's decoy timed out and faded into a soft shimmer of lights; the last traces of the arcane skill that had been used to create it. She shook her head, "Good lord. Sometimes I wonder if they ranked that girl properly on her last test."<br/><br/>A few miles away, the real Ami DeLaBlanche crouched under a narrow overhang of rock. Due to her slight frame, she was able to slip comfortably underneath it, hiding herself from the view of her interest.  She frowned slightly: These chimeras seemed far more violent than the ones that lived in the caves near-ish to her home. The fact that they had all coalesced so near a populace boded ill for those living nearby. Ami didn't doubt for a moment that there had already been casualties; after all, this group was moving rather languidly, a trait exhibited by all chimeras (to her knowledge) after a successful hunt. The young academic shook her head and continued to observe. There were people to deal with the chimeras in situations such as this, it wasn't her concern. Her only interest was data. Furrowing her brow, she hunkered down further and continued to observe with the help of her field glasses.