Bryson, Lottie, and Florence headed towards the edge of the forest. Lottie led the way as she informed them that they were heading to the approximant location of the pixie. Florence silently followed along with Bryson tailing behind, using his magic to blow around the snow to cover their tracks.

“Miss Primrose said that we need to walk about half an hour to forty minutes and we’ll reach the location where the pixie should be.” Lottie said as she practically skipped along.

Bryson noticed how Lottie seemed unbothered by the snow which would normally be up to her ankles. Lottie would barely sneak into the snow and leave an imprint with every step she took.

While both Bryson and Florence both wore enchanted boots that allowed them not to sink into the snow, Lottie did not. Yet she seemed just as unbothered as them. Bryson could see some sort of magic was being used by her, though he wasn’t sure what.

They did say she’s good. Bryson thought as he recalled the time she snuck up on him. Maybe we can track this thing down.

“So how do you even know where this pixie even is?” Bryson asked.

“Miss Primrose was able to find the pixie’s location before they hid themselves.” Lottie said.

“So how are we going to find the exact location?”

“Mister Phillip taught me how to track people down. So after finding the area, I can find the pixie!” She boasted.

Is she that good? Also, why is Philip so good at this thing? Bryson thought, unsure if he wanted to know the answer to it.

“So how are we going to find pixie?” Florence asked.

“Primrose said that it has a specific magic that Bryson could spot. Aside from that I’ll look for any tracks it left and then we use this to catch it.” Lottie said pulling out a small glass bottle with a cork on it.

“Magic?” Bryson said noticing the magic emanating from it.

“Yep! Throw it and it’ll get caught!” She said tossing the bottle in the air and catching it with her other hand.

“Hmph. We’ll still need to get to it before anyone else does.” Bryson grunted.

“Don’t worry, we’ll sneak past them. I do it all the time.”

“What? When?”

“Whenever I come to train. I always sneak into the kitchen for snacks.”

“… How often do you come to train?”

“Almost everyday.” Lottie said with a well-intentioned smile.

Bryson simply stared at Lottie in silence for a moment as they continued to walk. So much for only having the best staff available to serve the Coldwaters. Though I suppose that did stop applying the moment Frost was hired. Bryson mused.

Lottie took this silence as a queue to keep talking, “It’s pretty weird that the pixie is so close to the manor though. I thought that we would need to travel a lot further.”

Bryson and Florence shared a glance. Lottie noticed.

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“What? Am I missing something?” Lottie asked cocking her head in curiosity.

“Someone wants the Coldwaters to find the pixie.” Bryson said after a pause.

“Oh.” Lottie said walking for a few seconds before realizing what Bryson meant, “Wait, anyone from your family? Someone want’s the pixie to get caught and killed.”

Bryson gave a simple shrug.

“Then, we need to find the pixie fast!” Lottie exclaimed as she began to run forward, “Come on!” She called back as she raced ahead.

“She has a lot of energy.” Florence noted, “Motivation is good.” She added as Bryson raised an eyebrow at her.

“Whatever.” Bryson muttered as they hurried after Lottie.

***

As the pixie roamed around the snowy forest, leaving behind her now broken cage, she was completely lost. She had no idea where she was and something was stopping her from being able to properly scan the area. What’s more, was that she lost all communication to the Realm of Gods.

She was scared, lost, confused, and the frigid cold wasn’t helping. Again and again, she tried to send a signal out, to no avail. Something was stopping her from even trying to send a message. It felt like her powers were being sealed.

It wasn’t just her magic that was a problem, for some reason she felt unreasonably tired. She didn’t even have the strength to fly above the trees anymore. It felt as if an unnatural weight was placed upon her wings forcing her to fly low to the ground.

She didn’t know how long she was moving nor was she able to see past the trees to figure out where she was heading. As she was busy swimming in her own thoughts the sound of footsteps on snow interrupted her.

“H-Hello?” She called out looking for the source of the noise.

Upon finding it she was hit by another wave of confusion. It was a human, was she on Strarth, why was she on Strarth? Further internal questions were halted when she noticed what the human was wearing.

The human was wearing armour with the royal emblem of the king, the man was a royal guard. What alarmed her more was the fact that he was adorned in the blue, black and grays of the Coldwaters. Meaning that this was a royal guard that worked for Duke Coldwater. That meant that she was in Wemore.

Once more her train of thought was interrupted when the royal guard heard her call out and trained some sort of weapon at her. Quickly firing it at her, the weapon shot out an electric web at her.

She quickly darted downwards, covering her head and could feel the hairs on the top of her head frizzle from the electricity. As she looked back up towards the royal guard, she saw him talking to a Communicator.

“Found it! Converge on my coordinates.” He said as he fired at her again.

The pixie dodged the shot and urgently tried to fly away. She didn’t get far before she encountered another royal guard. Once more she weaved past an electric blast that aimed to hit her.

She panted in exhaustion as she tried to catch her breath. She felt as if she was submerged in water and trying to fly through it. She needed to escape. Darting away from the two royal guards now firing at her she desperately tried to fly upwards and away.

Only to encounter a third royal guard perched atop a tree pointing a different firearm at her. The loud bang and suddenly the pixie found herself entangled in a net. Her wings stuck in between the weaved ropes. She struggled as she helplessly slammed into the snowy ground.

The hard landing was mercifully cushioned by the snow. She was dazed but awake and she could hear them talking.

“Tell the Duke that we found the pixie.” One of them said.

“Doesn’t seem that special to me. Hopefully, those wings can do something.” Another one said.

Wings? They want my wings? She thought as a chill went down her spine. If they wanted her wings that could only mean that they wanted fairy dust. But why her specifically? Need to escape. She thought as the guards continued to converse with themselves.

She began to concentrate and generate magic. She attempted one last Hail Mary as the guards were distracted. With magic pooling within her one of the men noticed.

“What the- is she casting magic?”

“Impossible! She’s in the net!” The one with the net launcher shouted.

“Take cover!” The third one screamed as the pixie unleashed her attack.

A massive pulse of magic shook the entire area and swept all the snow into the air creating a heavy fog. The three royal guards were left half-buried in the snow that blew at them from the explosion.

As they dug themselves out, they began search for the pixie.

“Where is it?”

“I don’t know, I can’t see anything!”

“Stupid fog, stupid pixie, I can’t wait to tear apart the wings off that little- huh?” The man stopped as he stepped on something. Bending down he picked up what he stepped on. It was the net the pixie was caught in. The pixie was missing.

Giving a frustrated yell, he told the other royal guards, “Tell all units, we’ve encountered the pixie… and we lost it.”