After a lot of trial and error, crash nding, and screaming, Alex was finally able to fly. They packed the carriage with some things for the farm and headed out to the west.

  “This flight should take around two hours.” Fufi said.

  “Are you sure? It took us two days before. Will you get tired?” Alex gasped, short of breath.

  “Oh this is nothing, if we had a nice tail wind then our fmboyance could go for hundreds of miles in a day.” Fufi cheerfully chirped.

  Alex boggled at the concept. “What about flying monsters or demons? I’m not confident in my ability to do a dogfight.”

  “Why would you have to fight dogs in the air? Most of them don’t fly. As for monsters and demons I haven’t seen anything bigger than a harpy in these skies. I might have to worry about another harpy, but I don’t think you will for obvious reasons. I’ve ran across a few before but I can fly higher than they can. A raptor can’t swoop down on you if they can’t get above you.The scarier things tend to be territorial. My guess is that anything that isn’t stupid learned long ago not to mess with Sakura’s forest.” Fufi cocked her head towards Alex. Her flying was a lot more smooth and practiced than Alex’s.

  “Yeah, hopefully that stays true. We might have messed up the bance of power by ruining Sakura’s pns. Actually, did we even ruin Sakura’s pns? She wanted to grow the forest and outst her enemies. Other than being more inclusive I don’t think we’ve done much she’d disapprove of.” Alex said quietly.

  “I didn’t quite catch that. You’ll have to speak up if you want people to hear you over the wind.” Fufi yelled.

  “Sorry, it isn’t important. Let's keep going.” Alex yelled back.

  Fufi flew a loop around Alex. “You fly like an albatross. We have to work on your form.”

  “Oh, give me a break. I’m still new at this.” Alex yelled at the looping pink bird.

  The pair of birds squawked jabs back and forth. The trip only took a couple hours. Flying made a two day commute a couple of hours. Alex couldn’t spot the farm from the sky. Fufi had to lead the way. They nded next to an open field filled with vegetables.

  Bob, Martha, Kaide and unsurprisingly Merumeru greeted them upon arrival. Of course that slime girl would be here. She pops up all the time without any expnation.

  “Welcome back Alex and Fufi. Ki swung by earlier and mentioned that you underwent some changes again. I have to say those white and pink feathers are fabulous. How are things?” Kaide beamed.

  “Meru!” Merumeru added cheerfully.

  “Oh hi! I’m back!” Alex said and deployed the carriage from the card. “We delivered some food and brought some things back from town. Sadly, we didn’t find much metal. I am still out of nails too. But the tribe people are grateful for helping get their town started.”

  “That’s not so important right now. You’ve been gone for almost a week now. Come inside and I’ll make us some tea.” Martha led them into the farmhouse.

  Bob stayed behind to unload the carriage.

  After everyone sat down at the kitchen table, Martha poured everyone some tea and retreated into the kitchen. “Here you go, have some tea.”

  “So really Alex, how are things?” Kaide asked again. A touch of concern in her voice.

  “Can we talk about something else? This is a bit embarrassing if you are asking about what I think you are.” Alex said.

  “Okay, maybe we can talk in private for a bit?” Kaide asked carefully. She got up and gestured for Alex to follow.

  The pair of girls went to Kaide’s bedroom. It was small and only had a bed, an end table, and a dresser in it.

  Kaide sat on the bed and gestured for Alex to sit next to her. “Have a seat, let's talk.”

  “Thanks for opening the door. It is a little weird to stand on one leg…er cw… or whatever to get the door knob.” Alex sat down on the bed next to the nymph.

  “Let me say again that I’m sorry for turning you into a nymph. I know you were just trying to get away from danger and none of my cousins cared. I know forest spirits are different from humans and I don’t think the same way as I used to. But being around my parents reminds me about my lost humanity. When you and Fufi talk, it reminds me a lot about how Sakura would treat us. To her the forest is everything. Anything else is secondary. Sorry, I’m not great at this but I just want to try to show a little bit of empathy so how are you feeling?” The nymph asked.

  “I don’t know. I was raised that men should be manly. If they have troubles then they should just force it down and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. When Luna offered to turn me into a girl I just said no by reflex. Then when I went to the outhouse and left a nymph I rejected it on reflex. I didn’t even call Luna and ended up as a girl anyway. It felt like they just skipped the part where I had to accept it. Now I’m a harpy and while it was a shock like becoming a nymph I found there were parts I liked. Now I’m really questioning who I am because there are parts I don’t like as well.” The harpy let it all out.

  “Go on, I’m listening. What don’t you like?” Kaide said softly.

  “Wings are the most troublesome part. I have really mixed emotions about them. When I was in the dancing dungeon I thought I was going to fail and get stuck in there forever. I also thought it was weird that the marionettes decided my role was to be a follow. I never was much into partner dancing back in the old world but it seemed like some kind of a mix up to give me a role that traditionally went to women. But as I danced and learned and we tried different moves I found that I really didn’t mind my role in partner dancing. So I’m a bit afraid about what that means about myself. Now we flew from town to here and shaved off more than a day in the trip and I can’t deny that having wings can be incredibly helpful. But at the same time, not having hands means that if I want to do anything that I can’t do with wings and cws I need to use my animate doll skill. But to do that, I have to dance. Do a little dance to get undressed. Dance to cook. Dance to sew. Dance to tailor outfits. If any of the dolls get damaged I’ll have to dance to fix them. Now I wonder if people are going to see me and think she is some kind of crazy person.” Alex held back tears.

  “I don’t think you are crazy. Sakura and Fumi went crazy when they found out you were a magical girl. They never had a fight until then. That fight is what led to Sakura making that cage to put Fumi in. When she got upset and said she was going to tell Fufi about everything, Sakura wouldn’t tolerate her putting the forest above anything.” Kaide said.

  “I just don’t know anymore. If the dungeon is supposed to be fit for the person who goes into it, what does that say about me? Is it even working properly? It gave me a map and some dance shoes I can’t even wear!”

  Harpy and Nymph chatted a bit more about everything and nothing. It ended in a good cry and they came back to awkwardly join the others at the kitchen table.

  Bob had joined the group drinking tea at the kitchen table. All the cups on the table were made from that cloudy gss that Merumeru could create out of river sand. It was nice that they had better dishes for tea. Wooden cups made everything taste a bit rustic.

  “Welcome back you two.” Martha said with a smile.

  “Thanks Mom,” Kaide said.

  “So what are your pns? How can we help?” Bob asked, gulping some tea.

  “Well, we were pnning on flying northwest up past the edge of the forest.” Fufi chirped.

  “Hmm, how far?” Bob asked, contempting.

  “I don’t know about the terrain but if it is the same as the wooded hills around here it would take about two weeks by carriage I think? What would that be by flying?” Alex tried to do the math.

  “Hmm, maybe 14 hours? We’ll likely have to stop to rest. I think Alex can’t keep up a pace like that.” Fufi stated.

  Kaide considered this. “You say it is northwest past the forest’s edge? Did Ki talk to you about the terrain up there? Can I see the map?”

  Alex nodded.

  “I’ll go get it, I think I saw a scroll case it is still in the carriage.” Bob left and came back with a map, setting it on the table.

  Kaide looked over it and furrowed her brow. “I’m surprised Ki didn’t mention this to you. She must be getting distracted with her new baroness duties.” She pointed between the ‘X’ and the forested area. “The reason the forest ends here is because that is where timberline is. How are you with extreme altitudes and subzero temperatures?”

  Fufi shuddered. “Not great. I can fly above timberline but if there is only frozen water then we’ll have other problems. Also, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a harpy flying above timberline. They are not the lightest of birds.”

  Alex winced. “I guess we need to prepare a whole new outfit and insute the carriage better. Do you want to come with Merumeru? Can you be out in the cold and not freeze?”

  “Meee ruuuu ru ru ru” The slime girl expined.

  Alex wasn’t sure what that meant. If the slime girl wanted to come she could hop on. Alex could carry her.

  “Is it okay if we take some time to prepare? I might say we should just call this whole thing off. But after talking to Kaide I wonder if there is something important there that will really help me.” Alex said.

  “Of course dear, you can stay here as long as you need. Though don’t be surprised if some other nymphs want you to help them with a css ceremony. There have been a few wondering if you’ll come back and help them ask Luna for csses.” Martha said.

  “Oh that’s no problem. I can make some time for them.” Alex waved a wing.

  “I’m guessing you’ll need some furs? I got some tanned hides though I’m not a tanner or leatherworker. There might be some people from that tribe that have a more appropriate css.” Bob considered.

  “Yeah, wearing pelts seemed like the style for that group. I guess maybe if Ki comes by to check on us we can ask her for help. I guess I can start by weaving some wool curtains and bnkets. My doll friends can help me. Is it okay if I use the loom and spinning wheel again?” Alex crossed her feathery wings.

  “Yeah, that won’t be a problem. Do you need help with the carriage? Those barrels mounted on the outside for water might freeze if left out for too long.” Bob asked.

  “Kaide might be able to grow some better covers for them. This might be rough if we have to keep a fire going the whole time the carriage is out in the elements.” Alex said.

  After lunch, Alex grabbed one doll with each wing and Fufi grabbed Rose with her beak. They headed to the workshop and started to dance some bolts of wool into existence.