But Dixue—how could she wilt like grass in frost!

She was Yue Dier, a name like a banner snapping in storm wind.

President of the Rangers Lodge, a moon-veiled princess of the Night Clan, the peacemaker of the Elf War, the girl-hero who cut down an Evil Deity like lightning felling an old tree. She had walked through blades and seas of fire; how could she retreat here like a tide slipping from shore!

So Dixue gathered her courage in silence, embers fanned into a steady flame.

"Got it. Leave Xiao Yue to me!" she said, her voice a bell ringing through winter air.

"Okay... then I’ll hand you Xiao Dong’s maintenance manual..." Aiqiqi’s words fell soft as snow.

The tall blue‑haired girl drew a booklet from the satchel by her skirt, like a bird lifted gently from its nest.

"A maintenance manual?" The question sent ripples like a pebble tossed into a pond.

"Mhm... It lists the foods Xiao Dong likes, the games she enjoys, the books she reads... If she’s upset, use these to coax her, like sun breaking through cloud."

Watching the slumbering Yue Liuyi, Aiqiqi’s lips curved with a tender smile, soft as moonlight on water.

"You..." The single word trembled like a plucked string.

Staring at Aiqiqi, Yue Dier felt a stray sorrow brush her heart like a cold draft through paper screens. "Why give this to me? Are you going to..."

"I have to leave... If they see me with Xiao Dong, they’ll suspect her true identity, like crows circling a hidden field."

"They... on this planet, are there still enemies lingering for Xiao Yue, like thorns under snow?"

Dixue frowned, and her gaze sharpened like a honed blade.

"Mm. I put a short note on the magic card... Miss Xue didn’t read it?" Her voice was calm as a still lake.

"That... got broken by this little rascal," she said, and with a helpless ache clouding her chest, Dixue ruffled Yue Liuyi’s small head like brushing frost from a bud.

"Uh, that’s on me—no wonder. Let me explain more," Aiqiqi said, the words linked like iron rings of an old chain. "Bound by an ancient pact, I can’t name them, like a tongue tied by oaths. But on this planet, there’s a group with power in their fists who want to use the World Tree Maiden, like gardeners eyeing a sacred bough."

"Do they know anything about Xiao Yue, like scent carried on the wind?"

"They don’t—no whisper in the reeds," the blue‑haired young lady said, her calm like midnight water.

"Until tonight, they even believed Dreamwood Star had no World Tree Maiden left," she went on, nets-casting words over a dark sea. "So in the days ahead, they’ll throw people and resources everywhere, torches combing the forests, to hunt clues about the World Tree Maiden."

"What... do they actually want to do to Xiao Yue, like wolves circling a lone foal?"

"They belong to different factions, with different aims for the World Tree Maiden, like rival hands pulling at one silk. The worst want to seize Xiao Dong and make her the core of the Tree of Enlightenment, like trapping a living bird in amber."

"What?!" The cry snapped like breaking ice.

"As the core, Xiao Dong would lose her sky of freedom, roots turned to chains. That’s too cruel to her. Please promise me, Miss Xue—Xiao Dong’s mate—don’t let this happen, like a gate barred against night."

Aiqiqi fixed Dixue with a steady look, a candle holding its flame against a draft.

"Of course! I will never let Xiao Yue become any core of the Tree of Enlightenment!" Her vow rang like steel across stone.

"Heh... then I can rest easy. If you can, don’t tell Xiao Dong about this, or she might..." Her voice folded the secret like a sealed letter.

"Volunteer to be the core herself, right? Got it. I will never allow that," Dixue said, words slamming shut like a door, resolve set like a mountain.

"Mm... since Miss Xue understands, I’m at ease. While they haven’t moved yet, I’ll leave first," Aiqiqi said, stepping back like a shadow before dawn.

Aiqiqi lingered on Yue Liuyi with reluctant eyes, then shook her head and rose from the bed, like a tide pulling away from shore.

"Wait...!" The call flew like an arrow through mist.

"Miss Xue, anything else?" Her pause hung like a bird alighting on a branch.

"You’re just leaving...?" The question fluttered like a moth near lamplight.

"I’ll come again when needed. Besides... Xiao Dong already has a partner as strong as Miss Xue, like a stone wall at her back."

"Strong? If not for this wound... maybe I still would be," she said, strength frayed like a bowstring in rain.

She glanced at her injured right arm and legs and sighed, a small cloud leaving her chest. "It’ll take a long time to get back to full strength. Until then, could you leave your comms ID? I still have questions," she added, hoping to tie a thread between distant islands.

"Huh? You want to add me to your phone contacts?" Aiqiqi smiled, two lanterns about to share a wick.

"Yeah. After all, our goal... is the same," she said, like two rivers meeting under the same moon.

Yue Dier nodded; in her night-dark heart, the blue‑haired girl before her had become a comrade, a new star pricked into her sky.