The group kept chatting about random things at the dining room table.

  “So, you think the humans to the south are cking for nobles?” Alex wondered aloud.

  “I’m not completely sure. Sakura didn’t have us do things to provoke them. Her stance was to bolster defense and resilience. Low level demons would try to sneak in and use their demonic cultivation to drain the wood energy of the trees. So she would alter the trees in a way that they could be toxic to cultivate. The tricky part was that only having pnt magic made that problematic. She would do creative things like making trees that have high fire resistance but at the same time attract fire skilled creatures. The dragonfly is a good example. A lot of the southern border is filled with pnts and an environment that attracts dragonflies.” Ki waved a hand in expnation.

  “Dragonflies? Like the little insects with four wings and a long tail? They are harmless though why would that deter demons?” Alex asked.

  Fufi chimed in. “Dragonflies are different from the ones back on earth, Alex. They look the same but can spit tiny globs that catch fire when exposed to air.”

  “You’d think demons would like fire? What with hell being all fme and brimstone.” Alex sounded confused.

  “Yes, but those are fire cultivators. They can’t be a fire cultivator and a wood cultivator at the same time. If they try to cultivate the wrong element, especially an opposing element it can really mess up their meridians, channels, core, or whatever they like to call it. The point being, a wood cultivator walks in, kills a tree by draining the wood energy from it, but that tree is the home to lots of dragonflies who don’t like their home being destroyed. So they attack the demon with fire. At this point, the demon either has to stop sitting around meditating and fight back, or be even more stupid and suck the fire energy into their core. It forces two bad choices. They can cripple themselves or be forced into a fight where they are at an elemental disadvantage.” Ki patiently expined.

  “Can a fire demon just come in and burn everything though? Do they cultivate fire from burning forests?” Alex pedantically asked.

  “Yes, fire demons are less common here. The winters get very cold. They can’t cultivate unless they are surrounded by fire. This is why the southern border of the forest is kept swampy. It is a lownd where water from the peaks settle. There are even some nereids that make their home down there. Fey culture can be a bit weird. Sakura can’t create water nymphs but they show up anyway. If you want to know more about the nds to the south they might be a good start.” Ki paused and winced. “Actually, no I would suggest not asking them for anything. They like their deals and are very good at tricking mortals. Would it be worth knowing all about the fate of the kingdom if the price was never being able to feel love again? Or if they took your name from you.”

  “Would trading your name away be so bad? You could just get a new one.” Bob asked a question.

  “Yes and no. Deals with the fey don’t really work like mortals would expect. Say Bob traded his name away to a nereid for something. He could go on being Rob or get a new name but all the things tied to Bob the farmer he’d lose. You could go home and it wouldn’t be your home anymore because the part that tied Bob to his ranch would be gone. No one would recognize him. You’d have to start over as a stranger to everyone that knew you before.” Ki coldly expined.

  Bob shuddered.

  “Is this really appropriate talk for the dinner table?” Martha scolded.

  “Sorry!” Ki and Bob contritely replied in unison.

  The table was mostly quiet until everyone finished eating. It left no doubt who held sway at the dinner.

  “Well, are you free for some time at the grotto tomorrow?” Ki asked Alex.

  “I should be. We are working on making some preparations to go into a cold area full of snow.” Alex said.

  “Good good, if you could do another css ritual my cousins would appreciate it.” Ki said with a smile.

  “Yeah, I can do that. How many nymphs want to join in?” Alex wondered.

  “12 nymphs and one nereid.” Ki answered.

  Alex nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Oh, there is one thing that I wanted to ask and it might be awkward.” Ki hesitantly said.

  “What’s that?” Alex asked.

  “Well, there have been a lot more nymphs that come and visit the farm and several of my cousins were asking about your tree. Normally, a nymph’s spirit tree is the most private part of themselves so they don’t get messed with. However, your apple tree is special.” Ki slowly stated, her voice uneasy.

  “What is special about it?” Alex lifted a wing.

  “Lightning, that is what is special.” Ki beamed.

  “Lightning? I don’t get it. You mean how the tree can charge a phone? That’s electricity.” Alex was baffled.

  “So that is what they call it in your world. Anyway, a tree that can grow lightning is a rare find. Also, considering it is an apple tree it might be able to grow lightning fruits. I can understand if you don’t want anyone to touch your tree but we’d like to graft some of the branches on more mature trees and see how they do.” Ki said.

  “Can you not just use pnt magic to get it to mature faster?” Alex asked.

  Ki shook her head. “We don’t do that on spirit trees, also on origin trees it is even worse. It will shorten their lifespan. Rare pnts need to be left to grow naturally.” Ki said with conviction.

  “I suppose I don’t mind, but won’t cutting off a branch for grafting damage it?” Alex asked.

  “Not if you do it right. It is natural for trees to lose branches. Like fir trees for example. They grow lichen on a branch then that branch falls to the forest floor. It acts like a natural fertilizer and keeps the soil from depleting.” Ki expined like an arborist.

  “Okay, that is actually something I knew from my old job. I’m gd that it still applies in this world. Anyway, the sun is down and I’d like to head back to the carriage to get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning? I’d like to see if we can get an axel modified with sleds and maybe some paddle wheels for the back if someone can make them out of wood.” Alex said.

  “Yeah, Kaide and I can help with that.” Ki said.

  Everyone wished each other a good night and went their separate ways.

  When the sun poked through the curtain Alex awoke. The harpy went into the workshop and tried to sketch some ideas with a piece of charcoal. The only problem was that Alex had big cws that were meant for grasping prey and not for drawing. After dropping the charcoal, Alex sighed.

  Fufi fpped down and put a wing around Alex. “What’s wrong Alex?”

  “I miss having hands and arms. I can’t write very well with my cws.” Alex groaned.

  “It’ll be okay. You just need some practice. Some humans that lose both of their arms learn to do everything with their feet.” Fufi offered.

  Alex sighed. “While flying is nice, I’m not sure it is worth the cost of losing all of my limbs. Having bird cws with talons might be better than feet but trading arms for wings. I’m not sure it is worth it.”

  “Hey, it’s okay, don’t be sad. I was just trying to cheer you up.” Fufi backpedaled.

  At that time, Ki and Kaide entered.

  “Good morning Alex and Fufi, ready for some woodcraft?” Ki was all smiles.

  “Um… yeah sure… just things are a bit difficult but we can do this.” Alex stood up and brought up the picture of the snowmobile. “What I’d like to do is to repce the front axle that has sleds like these and make bigger back wheels that have treads that can keep the back end from sinking into the snow.” Ki regarded the photo on the phone then showed it to Kaide.

  “What a weird vehicle I think your carriage is going to be a lot bigger than that thing that just seats two people but we should be able to help.” Kaide said.

  With a wave of her hand, Ki grew roots out of the ground that functioned like a car lift. The two nymphs grew pieces of wood from the roots that they needed and used another set of roots to lift the front axle into pce. With some tools from the carriage they were able to wrench things into pce. The old axle and four sets of wheels were tied to the back of the carriage. The process took a couple of hours.

  Alex thought the pair could make a living for themselves being mechanics easily.

  The next order of business was to do the css ceremony. Ki and Kaide helped Alex get changed into the magical girl outfit. Everyone from the farm along with several nymphs and one woman with light blue skin and hair like water flowing down her back were there.

  The csses awarded were things like:

  Adorable arborist.

  Pretty knight.

  Charming dancer.

  Pleasant cook.

  Cute gardener.

  Sweet maid.

  Delightful attendant.

  Sweet little witch.

  The nereid received a css called Soothing Singer.

  They chatted a bit and split up after a short while.

  After heading back to the workshop, Alex danced some more and created more hides and furs to line the carriage. The dolls danced around while sewing things together. By the end of the day, the carriage looked like a rabbit version of a certain multi-legged cat bus from a well-known movie from Japan. The front even had some big fluffy ears. Alex didn’t pn out to make it look like this but sometimes a dance takes on a bit of a mind of its own. Regardless, it was cute and worthy of a magical girl.

  The next morning, Fufi, Merumeru headed out with some heartfelt goodbyes to everyone at the ranch.

  With the carriage filled with food, supplies and water, Alex turned it back into card form and stored it into a pocket of the warm outfit.

  Merumeru hopped onto the top of Alex’s cw saying,”Meru!”

  “Have a good trip you three.” Martha waved.

  Everyone waved them off.

  Alex and Fufi took to the skies and headed north west.

  “Hey, is there a second big stone pipe in that chicken fortress?” Alex noticed some new plumbing work that the slime girl likely did the previous day.

  “Ruuu” Merumeru nodded. Enjoying the view from Alex’s cw.

  “Oh well, good work on making another stone pipe. Off we go!” Alex fpped.