Fufi and Alex boarded the airboat, heading east through the bog and then north up the river to return to Mignoneville. The non-covered spinning bdes sucking air through the people sitting in front created constant discomfort, a seemingly avoidable design fw.

  Autumn was in full bloom. The temperature had noticeably fallen, trees were losing leaves and turning vibrant shades of gold and red. As the pair rounded the river and neared the docks, Aqua's warning about the approaching winter became more evident. Switching to the arctic outfit was almost tempting, but the cold wasn't quite unbearable yet. By the time they arrived back, darkness had enveloped the surroundings.

  “Fufi, looks like we are almost back. It has been a while now. I wonder how things have changed.” Alex looked at the Fmingo.

  Fufi eyed the approaching dock. “Yeah, I figured we would be gone for about a week and come back and ask Ki what she thought of the baroness that offered her an invitation. Now a month has passed.”

  Once a solitary fishing spot, the waterfront now featured several root-entangled structures, forming docks that jutted into the water. The rgest dock held a tied-off barge, seemingly empty and deserted. Leantos and fences had been erected to facilitate the handling of livestock and goods, resembling the infrastructure of a small trade port. However, the town cked trade partners. From the docks, the dam was visible, with water flowing through its pipes. Bioluminescent pnts lined the road connecting the docks to the town, providing a soft, enchanting glow for nighttime travelers. The most common roofing in the town was vines that grew over buildings, intricately woven to protect against the elements. With a popution of around 2000, the town bore an uncanny resembnce to a mystical elven vilge.

  “A lot can change in a month.” Alex eyed what looked like a human shaped shrub and winced. “I guess not everything is sunshine and rainbows.”

  “Things are tough.” The fmingo clucked sadly. “The nomadic tribes have been losing their humanity for generations and in a different way the kingdom’s citizens have as well. I don’t envy Ki’s responsibilities. Some of the people must see her as a bad girl and act out because of it.”

  “Yeah, I’d never want to be a ruler.” Alex shook her head and walked down the dock to the shore. “I’m too much of an introvert for that.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Fufi sounded overly relieved for some reason. “Magical girls make terrible rulers.”

  “Can’t be worse than Yvne right?” Alex chuckled. “Anyway, let's go set up the carriage some pce. I’m tired and would like to get some sleep. There is a lot to do that I’ve been putting off until we returned to town.. I need to remake the outfits that I gave to Zeke and Trudy. I also need to fix up the carriage and Hiroshi. Also, that airboat needs a cage around the propellers.”

  “That sounds like more than a day’s work. It is nice that you are giving your old clothes to Zeke and Trudy.” Fufi nodded her rge beak. “Don’t forget to meet with Ki.”

  “Some of it is that I bet I can make better clothes.” The magical girl made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. “If I can get a better bonus than they are obsolete. I really struggled making the airboat for Lily. In hindsight, I bet some of that was not equipping the corset that gave a bonus to toymaking. I didn’t have the heart to ask for it back though. Most people don’t have two sets of clothes let alone enough for each day of the week.”

  Alex’s Wardrobe consisted of the following outfits:[Pink robe]

  [Priestess robes]

  [Chef’s outfit +3 cooking]

  [Plumber’s outfit +3 plumbing]

  [Magical girl dress +2 cuteness]

  [Fur dress +2 warmth]

  [Heart-shaped diamond earrings]

  [Wooden sandals]

  [Dancers shoes +1 dancing]

  [Feather duster +1 cleaning]

  [Pink undergarments]

  [Pirate outfit +2 sailing +1 cuteness]

  [Boots of questionable origin]

  [Maid outfit +3 cleaning] (Not Cursed!)

  “You never can have enough clothes.” Fufi sagely stated. “Considering how fast charlotte can weave and sew I bet a lot of people have more garments now than they ever could dream of before.”

  Alex imagined the speed and ease of the spider doll that the nymphs turned into a pnt creature could handle textile projects and nodded. “You are probably right. Given a few months she could clothe a popution of thousands for sure. I wonder how she’s doing.”

  They chatted a bit longer in the carriage about the people of town and what they would find out. Alex and Fufi took a shower in the carriage. It had some damage but the holes in the siding were covered up. So they were not giving anyone lurking in the bushes a peep show. However, it made the sounds outside fairly obvious. It was a little unnerving.

  The next day the pair headed to town and stopped by the adventurer's guild. Though calling it an adventurer’s guild didn’t seem right anymore. It was more of a community center now. The pce was packed. The nymphs set up some outside seating. The st time Alex came here people would cook in the fancy kitchen with plumbing that was set up and some of the appliances but back then the town was hundreds. Now that it was more than 10 times that it looked like they were experiencing some growing pains.

  Alex made her way to the receptionist. “Hey, would it be possible to get an appointment with Ki?”

  The nymph nodded. “Yes, go right up, she cleared her schedule when you headed into town.”

  Feeling a little unnerved, the magical girl nodded and headed up the stairs to Ki’s office. She knocked. “Hello? Fufi and I are here.”

  “Come in, you don’t need to knock.” Ki’s muffled voice could be heard through the door.

  Alex opened the door and the pair walked into the rge room where Ki was sitting behind a desk. Surprisingly, another Fmingo was with her. Though Ki herself looked sleepy.

  “You are looking much more yourself.” Ki gestured to a mirror.

  Alex checked herself out in the mirror. It had been some time since she had been twinned by the priestess but it looked like she was slowly transforming back into the magical girl that went up to that temple in the frozen waste. A younger girl looked back at her. “Weird, it is like I’m aging backwards.”

  “Oh Fumi!” Fufi recognized the other familiar immediately. “How are you doing? How is Sakura?”

  “I’m doing good, all things considered. Magical Girl Sakura is toddling around back in her grove. Some of her responsibilities are a bit too much for her right now so I’m doing rounds, helping her check on the nymphs.” The other fmingo stated, though she too sounded weary.

  “Why do you need to do that?” Alex asked, puzzled.

  “Sakura used to visit everyone before the coming of the winter court.” Fumi stated. “Nymphs are pnts and they take on the characteristics of the trees they are spirits of.”

  “That’s just normal though.” Alex furrowed her brow. “I get that evergreen trees don’t lose their needles when winter comes but I’m not sure what that has to do with nymphs. We don’t have nymphs back on earth.”

  “It is the same.” Fumi looked at Ki. “Without a dryad nymphs can’t go very far from their tree. While that gives them more freedom they need to make sure that they don’t go into hibernation outside of their tree. So Sakura would collect any sleepy nymphs and tree stride back to where they should rest until spring.”

  Fufi was the first to get it. “Oh, so Ki needs to go back to her tree? And you’ve come to collect her?”

  Fumi nodded. “Yeah, though I’m just a familiar so I can’t really take anyone home. I was hoping to get on top of things before anyone passed out. Ki can just treestride back to her tree though she’s being stubborn.”

  Ki yawned. “There is just so much to do. I wanted to at least talk to Alex before the winter court came. Springing a big popution increase on me right before winter wasn’t a very nice thing to do Alex.”

  “I’m sorry.” Alex defted. “It wasn’t my intention to increase your workload at the worst possible time.”

  “It is okay. While you may have poked the sleeping dragon, you definitely saved a lot of people.” Ki sleepily stated. “I used to be human and after talking to Aqua and the other Nereids it is becoming increasingly obvious that they are becoming an endangered species.” She shook her head. “Anyway, not all of the fey will see it that way. Like Sakura, the winter court will see the elimination of humanity as the surest way out of the mess Terre is in.”

  “What do you think they are going to do?” Alex asked, worried.

  “I don’t think they will be willing to btantly scorn Luna’s judgment on Sakura.” Ki pondered. “In the past, it was Sakura who greeted them during the changing of the court. Anyway, maybe one of the eldest nymphs will get stuck with that honor. There are some bristlecone pines far to the north but their nymphs are very solitary.”

  Alex knew that bristlecone pines could live for thousands of years. “You think that’ll go okay?”

  “It’ll go very slowly.” Ki chuckled. “If you lived a thousand years no one is going to be rushing you. Those women just want to sit back, years pass by like days to them. Anyway that is not important right now. What is important is that the winter court will be extra critical of any human slight against nature. So everyone needs to behave. Some will want the humans gone like Sakura did but not want to take that stance because it risks divine wrath. They’ll look for any excuse that isn’t just because they are human.”

  “Should we start making pns to leave?” Alex felt the bad news piling up. “A bunch of people just uprooted their whole lives to come here. I’m not sure where else to go.”

  “We had a town meeting just a couple days ago where I told everyone that if they thought I was harsh then the winter court is going to be much worse so they need to be on their best behavior.” Ki looked out the window. “I’m sure some won’t but hopefully the first few that get made an example of will convince others to be respectful and polite.”

  “Is there any good news?” Alex asked.

  “Demonic incursions haven’t changed. At least for now it doesn’t look like we will be facing an army of demons in the near future.” Ki smiled. “If that happened then the winter court would surely want every single human out of the woods.”

  Fumi coughed a bit. “Cousin, have you talked to your magical girl about specialization?”

  Fufi tilted her head. “Kinda? Though I didn’t really push the subject.”

  Fumi clucked. “Sometimes it is best to be blunt.” She looked at Alex. “You should visit a temple, shrine or holy pce and commune with Luna. Magical girls can’t be generalists. At level 5 they have to pick a theme that defines them. When I made my contract with Sakura that level came fast. We were fighting demons the whole time. The town was crawling with demons after they chased all the humans out but they didn’t dare destroy the temple. A long story short, she snuck in there and picked the nature theme for her magical girl powers.” She also looked out the window. “The old temple is still there but it is a ruin like the rest of this town. It is an odd tradition, attacking pces where people can get a css is almost never done. Instead, they get removed by years of neglect.”

  Alex considered this. “I guess we could go to the grotto. We need to check.”

  “One st thing.” Ki ran a hand through her green hair. “The dungeon has reverted to being inactive.”

  “Oh,” Alex blinked. “I had a bit of a love hate with those dungeons.”

  “I really appreciate the sacrifice you made there for these people.” Fufi spoke with conviction. “You gave up so many dungeon runs to increase your level in favor of giving strangers a chance to better themselves.”

  “Eh?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “Dungeons have limited uses.” Fumi answered, before Fufi could. “So unless someone recharges it with magic regurly it’ll go back to being dormant.”

  It would have been nice to get some useful things but running the dungeons was rough for her. The rewards were worth it but the process was still rough.

  “You probably already know but there was a group of maids that wanted to meet you.” Alex said to the sleepy Nymph. “You might have already run into them. They were wearing cursed maid outfits and only gave ‘maid’ as their names.”

  “Yes,” Ki yawned. “I told them that I can’t give them an answer right now that being cursed with demonic items makes them a bit compromised.”

  “What did they say?” Alex wondered.

  “The one maid that represented the group said that they would fix that if given an opportunity to.” Ki rolled her eyes. “Not thinking, I mentioned the temple of purity and that they would start making preparations for a pilgrimage.”

  “Oh dear.” Alex facepalmed.