"So, Mars, how’s that plan Edmund mentioned coming along?"

The Beastfolk elder who called himself Mars clasped his fists and bowed. He lowered his head so we saw only his crown, a reed bent in wind.

That was the posture of apology, a willow admitting fault.

"Allow me to refuse."

—Well… we got turned down.

I’d thought, with Edmund here, they’d agree at once. His earlier fervor felt like a storm, pushing hard because persuasion failed, yet he didn’t want to let us down.

Clearly, it wouldn’t be that simple. The sky held its rain.

Is there a special reason?

Ling narrowed her eyes, fox-slit and unreadable, like moonlight crossing water.

"Can you tell me why?"

She stepped back inside herself first, cooling emotion before motion, like snow settling on pine.

"...Shameful to admit it. The last ten percent of our tribe are missing. Most got separated and lost."

"We don’t dare wander. We fear they return and can’t find us. This is the majority’s will. I can’t change it alone."

One sentence slammed the door and barred the path, like a gate of iron.

To most people, besides giving up, there seemed no other road. The horizon felt thin.

But would Ling think that? No way. She was a blade of genius, bright and stubborn.

"What if we find every Beastfolk and bring them home?"

Her words fell like a bell in winter. The room froze. Even Alicia went quiet.

By reason, that would solve the root problem. But searching the whole world for Beastfolk?

That was fishing for a needle in the ocean, a map turned to mist.

"Ling, don’t joke. You can’t promise something like that," Alicia said, rain in her voice.

From the larger view, spending too much time here could skew other plans. Better to seek another path than bleed hours.

"No. No way. We’re using this method."

No one knew what fire took Ling then. She clung to that “foolish” road like frost to stone.

Had she ignored other options? A teleport marker here was a decent plan, a lantern on the path.

But decent wasn’t enough. If the Beastfolk met trouble and we failed to respond, both sides would bleed.

Leaving the Beastfolk far away, not under our protection, would feed big-ambition wolves. They’d use that half-step edge to rise and swell their power.

After that, we all knew where the river runs. No need to spell the flood.

In short, it might sound like control, but Ling refused any instability inside her Mystic Realm. Once decided, do it right.

Find the Beastfolk. Bring them in. Let their tribe join our land. That was the perfect ending, a full moon without cracks.

Sadly, Alicia didn’t meet Ling’s thought in that instant. Yet she saw the steel in Ling’s gaze, a star that wouldn’t dim.

So she chose to let Ling act. Alicia would walk beside her and clear a road without thorns.

No more words. She stepped up and hugged Ling’s small frame, a quiet harbor in a silent sea.

Mars lowered his head as if weighing stones, then jerked it up. His stare locked on Ling’s eyes, flint to flint.

"Are you serious? You’ll help us find our family?"

He dropped the honorifics. Ling didn’t mind at all. “Lady Ling” from a man tasted wrong in her mouth, ink souring on the page.

"If, in the end, you join the Mystic Realm and move your whole territory in, then we can consider helping."

"...Let the Beastfolk join the Mystic Realm? That’ll lower your nation’s standing. Being with Beastfolk and all…"

He trailed off, voice thinning like smoke.

This was the moment for Ling to plant courage like spring seeds.

"No worries! (｡･ω･｡) When you come to the Mystic Realm, you’re not guests—you’re us."

"You’ll have equal standing. Duties and rights alike. What others receive, you receive. Sun and rain, both fair."

"No one will despise you. No one will abuse you. You’re citizens, not slaves. Your names will be clean."

"You can fall in love across races. Our priest will give you the highest blessing, a bell over vows."

"You can speak freely. As long as it isn’t illegal, your words can walk in daylight."

"Here, you are free. Ah… entering the women’s restroom at will? Only I get to do that."

The Mystic Realm she painted sounded like a utopia. No strife, no feud, beauty like mist, solid as mountain.

"Does such a place exist?"

"It does. If you’re willing. If you nod and build this blueprint with us, it exists."

Ling reached out her small hand, a sparrow-light bridge. If Mars clasped it now, the future’s bright world would carry their share.