“Why do something so pointless?” Alicia asked, her question falling like a dry leaf in a lazy noon.

She cradled Ling at a fork of an old branch, eyes drifting toward far hills—no hidden meaning, just boredom dusting the air.

Ling melted against her, small and warm, cheek to Alicia’s chest like a kitten at a hearth, then offered her answer with a sigh.

“If you work with someone whose core clashes with yours, it skews everything—your job, your habits, your character,” she murmured, a ripple across a quiet pond.

“You’re not wrong,” Alicia said, a smile tugging. “But why do you sound like some thirty-something uncle giving life advice?”

“My outside’s forever twelve,” Ling declared, chin up like a tiny queen, “but inside I’m forever a mature adult.”

“So… that means it’s legal?” Alicia muttered under her breath, like a mosquito buzzing past the ear.

“Sis, what are you even talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t mind me.”

Her palm found Ling’s little head. With practiced grace, Alicia unleashed her treasured Headpat Technique, fingers flowing like a soft rain.

The effect bloomed at once.

Ling’s face turned blissed-out, a smile like sun-warmed syrup, and the recent awkwardness got tossed straight into the Sanzu River, never to be fished back.

“Ling, when are we heading home?” Alicia asked, voice light, like a kite tugging its string.

“Maybe~ probably~ perhaps~ maybe~ I dunno~” Ling sang, head adrift under the headpats, tongue wandering where thought no longer steers.

Alicia eyed her, amused and a little alarmed, watching Ling sink under the spell like a fox cub in fluff, and made a mental note: this skill needs limits—duration, cooldown, something.

She released her hand. Sense snapped back like a stretched rubber band, and Ling’s eyes went wide, bright as startled glass.

Looks like memory stayed even while IQ took a walk, so her own gooey voice was etched in, and even she couldn’t stand how sticky it sounded.

“Ahem.”

Alicia coughed, cheeks flushed like dawn, steering the topic away from odd waters.

“Um… sis, let’s head back now. They’ve probably waited long enough,” Ling said, steadying herself like a reed in wind.

Alicia nodded, no objections, then caught Ling before she stood. Under Ling’s confused, shy glance, Alicia scooped her up in a princess carry, smooth as lifting a moonlit bundle.

“Hold tight. We’re off~”

“Huh?”

Thump!

Alicia pushed off the branch with her toe. The wood cracked under her odd force like thin ice, but that shattered step launched them into clean sky.

Wind sang past their ears, a silver thread pulling through silk.

Ling rarely chased this midair feeling, but the height today tasted new—strange and sweet, like biting into a cool pear.

It wasn’t travel-for-speed; it was travel-for-sky. The difference felt like a driver missing all the roadside flowers while the walker pockets petals.

It didn’t last long. Newton can keep his coffin closed—gravity still rules here. After a heartbeat’s hover, they fell.

Alicia refused the face-first embarrassment. She set her stance in the air, landed in a firm horse posture, body steady as a stone lantern.

A shallow crater spread from her feet, two meters wide like a brown moon, but she didn’t spare it a glance and broke into a run.

They hadn’t strayed far from the Beastfolk settlement, but without full speed, getting back still took some minutes and breath.

Eager to leave, Alicia missed the tiny creature crouched on a leaf, watching her fall-and-run. A glint slid through its eye, like sunlight skimming a mirror’s edge.

——————————————

“You finally came back!” Edmund called, voice tight and bright, like a bowstring pulled too long. They’d only been gone a short while, but he sounded wound up.

“Lady Ling… yes?” the elder asked, stepping forward with a slow, careful calm, like walking through reeds.

Alicia understood his caution—it was for his people—but Ling didn’t feel much warmth toward him. Facts don’t ask feelings.

“What is it?” Ling asked, tone cool as shade.

“This time, I truly owe you an apology,” he said. “Lord Edmund told us your real reason for coming. Our actions angered you. Please forgive our narrow sight. Long years of pressure made us fear outsiders…”

Well… that tracks. And Edmund already told them her name? Guess we’ll need time to meet the in-laws—what a mess.

“Alright, alright. I’m not unreasonable,” Alicia said, voice smoothing like a hand over ripple. “From just now, you seem trustworthy. And if I’m right, you’re the village chief here?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “This is my settlement—also the largest. Nearly ninety percent of the Beastfolk live here. I am the chief. Call me Mars.”

“Then, Mars, how about that plan Edmund mentioned?” Alicia asked, light but steady, like testing a bridge plank.

The Beastfolk elder—Mars—brought his fists together and bowed, head lowered so only his crown showed. It was the shape of apology.

“Allow me to refuse!”