“Liuyi-chan!” The cry skimmed the pine-dark air like a startled sparrow breaking from a branch.

Yue Liuyi led Dixue back to the place with the iron cage, footsteps threading the green like a quiet stream, and from far off she caught a girl’s voice like wind under bamboo eaves.

The pink-haired girl was pear blossoms in rain, sobbing low inside the cage; her wrists were locked by chains, so even her tears clung like dew she couldn’t brush away.

“Ailuna, are you okay?” Liuyi’s worry rose like a tide under a moonlit shore.

“I—I’m sorry… I couldn’t hold it…” Shame flushed her cheeks like sunset staining clouds.

“Huh?” The word fell like a pebble into a still pond.

Embarrassment hit Liuyi first, hot as steam in winter; she pieced the words together, and her face went red like a peach warmed by spring.

“It… came out right away?” Her voice trembled like rain on silk.

“Mmh…” Ailuna nodded, small and fragile as a fawn; the hem of her skirt was wet, not with tears but with a private storm she couldn’t stop.

The wild trees held a sweet, intimate scent, shy as dew on young blossoms, lingering like mist after dawn.

“Xiaoyue, what are you two talking about?” LittleSnow drifted over with silver hair like frost, eyes bright as river glass, watching the pink-haired girl and the iron cage.

“That! LittleSnow, this is the girl I picked up—her name’s Ailuna. She was captured by poachers, an elf girl locked in a cage, like a bird sealed from sky.”

“But there’s a cage in the jungle. Xiaoyue, don’t you find that strange? How do you know it’s poachers?” Her voice stayed light, yet it pricked like a thorn under a petal.

“Um…” Liuyi’s hesitation trembled like leaves after rain; to explain the whole path would mean revealing the boy’s body she hid behind soft skin, and her strength to haul iron through the woods like a stubborn river stone.

Sensing doubt rippling in Liuyi’s blue gaze, the silver-haired girl lifted a finger and touched Liuyi’s brow, playful as a cat tapping a lantern, and said with a strange lilt, “So, Xiaoyue and this girl did something you can’t tell your Sister Dixue? That’s nice! If she calls you Liuyi-chan, you made a dear friend, like willow meeting spring breeze.”

“N-no, that’s not it…” Denial fluttered like a moth against paper.

“As expected, the one Xiaoyue rushes to help is a cute girl, soft-kneed and gentle as milky rain—the kind your abandoned Sister Dixue can’t be, like fire that won’t turn to water.”

“Uu… LittleSnow, please don’t be mad! It’s my fault…” Her plea swayed like a sapling in wind.

“I’m not mad, okay? Seeing my Xiaoyue pick up girls everywhere, I’m delighted~” LittleSnow’s smile curved like a crescent moon, no storm visible, only light like frost on glass.

“I-I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! Because I was locked up, I caused trouble for Liuyi-chan and the silver-haired lady! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Ailuna bowed again and again, thunk, thunk, thunk, her forehead meeting iron like rain on a bell, the cage too small for grace.

“Ah—hey! No need to apologize! It’s okay!” LittleSnow’s heart was soft as steamed rice; one look at the trembling blossoms of Ailuna’s lashes, and she forgot to tease Xiaoyue, like snow melting under sunlight.

It wasn’t baseless jealousy; in the quiver’s backpack, gifts for Xiaoyue lay like hidden stars, and after finishing her contacts, Dixue had rushed back, wanting to give her moon a surprise like a lantern lit at dusk.

But Xiaoyue hadn’t stayed at the camp, like a fish slipping past a net; even when she ran back anxious as rain, she came because of another girl—how could Dixue not be nettled, a thorn under silk? She knew Liuyi wasn’t one to flirt with every flower, yet nature stirs like spring sap and words spill like a teasing brook.

Jealousy set aside, Dixue knelt by the cage, her figure like a crane beside reeds, and studied the iron chains with a hunter’s focus, eyes cool as jade under shade.

“Hello. Don’t move, please. I’m trying to unlock this.” Her voice held calm like a clear lake.

“Eh? Thank you!” Gratitude shimmered like dawn on rice fields.

“LittleSnow, thanks…” Liuyi’s relief eased like wind through bamboo.

“Xiaoyue, don’t thank me. Tell me where you picked this girl up. The roots look tangled, like vines around a tree.” Her tone steadied, clouds thinning like silk.

Dixue’s face returned to calm, pale as moonlight; emerald eyes fixed on the chain like dew on thorns, silver hair swaying with the breeze like ghost-light grass, thoughtful as an owl at dusk.

“Do I… have to tell the truth?” Liuyi’s guilt pooled like ink in water.

“Huh? Xiaoyue still wants to lie to your big sister?” Her smile pressed like a fan hiding the eyes.

“Uu… A cave. A polluted cave.” The words fell like black rain.

“What!? The cave from that commission? Hmm… Xiaoyue didn’t listen and went to a dangerous place, like a moth toward flame…” Dixue’s gaze pricked like needles, thinking hard, then asked, “I won’t ask the rest. One thing: was there a purple monster in that cave?”

“Huh? A purple monster… yes! A purple lion-tiger beast. But don’t worry, LittleSnow, I destroyed it.” Pride flickered like a lantern under wind.

“You destroyed it?” Shock rang in her voice like a chime in cold air.

“Is that wrong?” Doubt crept like fog along roots.

“This iron cage is called a Beast-Spirit Prison… The lion-tiger beast is its guardian and its only key, like a lock forged with living fang.” Her words were quiet thunder.

“Eh!?!” Ailuna and Yue Liuyi shouted together, astonishment arcing like lightning across a summer sky.

…

So, a strange scene rippled through the adventurer camp like a rumor in rain.

Two elf girls of regal bearing dragged a square thing with all their might, bodies taut like bows; the thing lay beneath a cloth cover like a sleeping mountain, secrecy stitched in folds, and the girls asked everyone to step aside, like fishermen clearing the pier.

“Huh? The elf ladies were gone all day for this?” Voices buzzed like bees over clover.

“Looks like a secret weapon!” Excitement popped like sparks from resin.

“Mm… thanks for today’s work, everyone! Please make way.” Yue Liuyi’s tone stayed calm like a shaded creek.

Ailuna was a caged, pitiful girl, a swallow shut from sky; letting the male adventurers stare would be cruel as frost on tender shoots, so the two girls gathered tattered cloth and covered the cage like clouds over moon.

After a day and night, the camp had grown like bamboo after rain; Emily had raised a few bamboo huts, green bones tied with vines, and with the small cave behind the camp like a sleeping badger, everyone now had a place to rest at night.

The workbench stood ready, wood and ore stacked like slate and bark; they could craft basic tools, the iron singing like morning hammers.

“Eh? Lady Pillow, what’s this?” Lia’s curiosity flitted like a butterfly over daisies.

“If Lia wants to know, no problem… but not here; let’s talk inside.” Liuyi smiled, secret as a plum blossom behind a curtain.

“Mm!” The three girls slipped into the bamboo house, walls catching the wind like flutes, and with shelter wrapped like a cloak, Yue Liuyi lifted the cloth.

“Eh!? Did Lady Pillow and Butterfly Snow President kidnap an elf girl today? Th-that’s a bit too cruel…” Lia’s shock leaped like a frog into a pond.

“Lia, you got it wrong! We rescued her.” Liuyi’s hands opened like petals.

“Mmh…” Ailuna nodded, fragile as a snow rabbit; her eyes half-open, tears pooling like glass beads, the image of a small, trembling bunny: “I’m Ailuna, a useless girl. Sister Dixue and Liuyi-chan brought me back with kind hearts… I’m very, very grateful… If I offend anyone, I—I’m sorry!” Her voice shook like reeds.

“No need to apologize! You’re welcome here! If we didn’t know Butterfly Snow President and Lady Pillow are upright girls, I’d think we were committing a crime, like thieves under starlight!” Lia’s laugh flickered like candle flame.

“That’s that…” Dixue sighed soft as wind, then said, “It’s late. We’ll discuss how to free Ailuna tomorrow. Handing her to the Elven Parliament might be a fine option, like sending a leaf back to its river.”

“El-Elven Parliament?” The name struck Ailuna like a bell in fog; she stood too quick, and forgot the bars, so her head kissed iron with a dull thunk.

“Uu… it hurts…” Pain welled like hot rain.

With wrists bound by chains like iron vines, Ailuna couldn’t reach the bruise; Yue Liuyi extended a hand and stroked her head, gentle as a palm on fur, soothing like warm tea.

(So soft… it feels so good… Huh? Maybe… when Dixue pets me, it’s this feeling too…) The thought bloomed first, sweet as osmanthus, then surprise fluttered as Dixue’s warm hand smoothed Liuyi’s hair like silk over water.

“Huh?” Liuyi blinked like a cat in sun.

“Xiaoyue’s head-patting is wrong… For an injured girl, don’t just touch the bruised spot. Stroke the skin around it too, and weave in thirty percent healing magic, like I’m showing.” Her fingers moved like light rain, warmth pooling under touch.

Under Dixue’s gentle strokes, Liuyi felt a pleasant itch, fingers threading hair like combed clouds; comfort flowed like spring through stone.

“Like this?” Liuyi copied, changing angle and direction like a swallow’s arc, and with LittleSnow’s method, the pain in Ailuna’s face eased, fading like dusk.

“Th-thanks, Liuyi-chan…” Gratitude glowed like fireflies.

“You’re welcome. But thank LittleSnow more.” Liuyi smiled, then brightened like sunrise. “Ailuna-chan, this is Lia, a diviner; this is Yedie Snow, a very capable girl. We’re members of the Azure Front, striving for peace like bridges across storms!”

“Wow, that sounds amazing… not like me. I can’t even remember what I’m supposed to be…” Her voice was rain losing its path.

“Huh? Ailuna-chan, are you missing memories?” Concern hovered like a crane.

“Mm… I can’t remember anything… My head aches, faint and foggy, like thunder behind hills…” She lowered her head, loneliness curling like a cat in cold; the pose begged for Liuyi’s embrace like a vine toward sun, but the iron bars kept them apart like winter glass.

“LittleSnow, do you know why Ailuna lost her memory?” The question lifted like mist.

“If poachers seized her, then the amnesia likely comes from them… To stop captured elf girls from struggling, slavers feed drugs that block memory, like night poured into a lamp. That way, they control better, cold as iron.” Her voice chilled like frost over a stream.

“That’s too much!” Anger flashed like steel.

“Mm… The New Land holds many lawless people, thorns among wheat. But here, it’s fine… Xiaoyue, lead the way; tomorrow we’ll go back to check, like hunters tracing tracks after rain.”

“Mm!” Agreement snapped like a clean twig.

“Guu…” A belly growled, a soft drum like thunder under blankets, and Liuyi realized it was hers, hunger scratching like a fox at the door.

She hadn’t eaten lunch to bring Ailuna back, so emptiness pooled like a dry well.

“Mm… it’s late. Let’s eat together.” Dixue’s tone warmed like soup steam.

“But… eat what?” The question rose like smoke.

“I brought good things from the elves’ settlement. Xiaoyue will see.” LittleSnow smiled bright and secret, like a new moon hiding a star.