"Not a blister, Tuka. Elves are remarkable." Itami commented while slowly applying pressure on her right sole. Tuka sighed in relief as Itami's hand began to de-stress her worn out foot. Lelei was jealously watching from the side, she wanted to keep Itami for herself. She laid her back on the pillow of her bed and turned her face around.

"It feels great, Dad" Tuka moaned popping her toes as Itami's thumbs were going up and down her arch. Every tendon, every muscle, every joint and every bone in Tuka's foot was popping, but everything seemed to be intact despite the sound. Itami then proceeded towards her ankle, which popped once, but then stopped after Itami exercised and massaged it.

"It never did this before…" Tuka grew a little concerned and curious at what was going on, but Itami assured her that it was because of her long walk. Lelei popped her ankle in response, signaling to Itami that her situation was way worse. Itami ignored it as he put Tuka's right foot down and proceeded working on the left one the same way. Tuka was enjoying it all the way through, until Itami pressed on a point below her pinky toe. "Ugh..." Tuka uttered as she felt a weird pain sting that point. Itami noticed this and asked:

"Does it hurt when I do this?" He applied pressure on that spot again, as Tuka uttered again, this time louder: "Ugh..."

"Does not feel broken, for sure. Let me do it more gently than before, maybe that will work..." Itami suggested as he applied a little less pressure, at first Tuka attempted to reach her foot with her hand, but then backed away, as it did not hurt as much and actually started feeling better again. It took Itami almost half an hour until he could apply more pressure with Tuka not experiencing much pain.

"There we go." Itami was reassured that nothing was wrong, despite the long run Tuka undertook. Itami started exercising her toes, and her ankles, which popped, but stopped soon after. After a few minutes of massage, her feet were good as new, without Itami putting much effort. Still, Tuka enjoyed it so much she asked for more:

"Can you do the arch again?" She asked smiling cheerfully. Itami shook his head and proceeded to slide his thumb up and down her arch. He felt that there were several nods left there, but nothing of concern, still he could understand why Tuka's long slender feet might give her issues sometimes. After moving around her toes again, he found the biggest problems: her shoes were too short.

"I think we need to get better shoes for you, Tuka. Your feet are too long for these ones."

For some reason Itami noticed her toes started to contort. Even the massage did not prevent the series of cramps that followed from miles and miles of walking.

"Hnnng…" Tuka strained her face in pain as Itami popped her toes and rubbed her arches to make the cramps more bearable:

"Okay, Tuka, breathe. You are going to be fine." Itami reassured her and finally the pain and the cramps subsided.

Itami put some bandages on the Elf's feet so they would serve her as shoes until they arrived back to the military camp. Tuka smiled and thanked him, later on falling asleep in the bed where he had slept earlier.

After he was done, Lelei finally turned her face back to Itami, who told her:

"You lay there, Lelei, I think you should try and rest we are going to head back to the base in an hour or so."

"Oh, okay…" She sighed, with no emotion whatsoever. Lelei closed her eyes and fell asleep, relieved from all the stress and pain that she did not realized she carried with her a few days ago.

Itami carried both Tuka and Lelei in to the vehicle and went back to Alnus Base as they were sleeping. He decided that this village where Lelei had dragged him, was although a secluded place, there were more resources available in the base. When they arrived to their destination, Itami decided to take both girls to the shop to get them new shoes.

To be continued…