Fen had joined the couple, and liking Maya’s new approach of being less of a babysitter and having more fun on her own made him quite happy. To celebrate the occasion, he suggested exploring the jungle that had grown around their mansion, especially the very core of it that Mira had gifted Sophia, because he felt like there might be a surprise. After all, Mira rarely does anything without a hidden meaning.
“I still think wind magic would’ve been better, but the charred plants, and all that, does add a certain feeling that can’t be compared to anything else.” Sophia lagged a little behind the other two when they were traversing through the swath Maya had burned into the jungle and was curiously looking at the new path. “It’s like a destructive force beyond imagination plowed through this place.”
“I am a destructive force beyond imagination.” The cat-girl turned around to look at her with one of the smuggest expressions she ever had.
“…” The blonde went silent for a moment. “I… you win this round.” There was no point in arguing here.
“Impressive.” Fen, too, had to give it to her.
“Ehehe~.” Maya liked their reactions. “Okay, let’s make the next step of my passage!” She had arrived at the end of the current tunnel and was getting ready to burn down more of the jungle.
“Do you want a tip?” Fen stood right next to her.
“Sure!” The cat-girl gave him a big nod.
"I think you can put some more power into your flames, up the heat, but don't let it burn as long as the last time. Smaller plants and the undergrowth will still be turned into ash, but the thicker trees might be able to deal better with a short bust of heat rather than prolonged exposure to it.”
“Oh, I see!” She smiled at him. “Thanks, I’ll give that a try!”
“You’re also having a good time with this, huh?” Sophia smiled at the wolf, who was enthusiastically giving Maya tips.
“Yes.” He looked back at her. “Sleeping all day and night during the winter, in front of the fireplace in your mansion, was nice and relaxing, but being on the go like this and playing around with magic is much more exciting."
“Fair point.” The tiger could get behind his reasoning. “I regret nothing, though!”
“Oh, no, absolutely not!” Fen also had a big lazy side to his, after all.
“Less talking, more burning!” Getting impatient, the cat-girl lifted her arm again to direct her magic. Immediately after, another ball of fire formed in front of her. This time, the flame was way brighter and hotter than the last time, too. A moment later, Maya sent it forward, and the flames instantly burned its way through the undergrowth. The fire was gone even faster than it appeared and left behind yet another path through the jungle. It seemed to be even longer this time, and the trees had also taken less damage.
“Not bad!” The wolf seemed impressed by her work. “Not bad at all!”
“Thank you very much!” Maya smiled at him. “Your tip helped a lot!”
“Glad to hear.”
“I wonder if I should make it so that magic doesn't cause new overgrowth on the path here, too. Just like around the cottage.” Sophia was in planning mode for her domain again.
“Hmm?” The cat-girl tilted her head. “Why?”
“I don’t know? It might be nice to have a permanent path through the jungle for future use.”
“What kind of future use?”
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“How am I supposed to know?! I just feel like it.” The blonde had no explanation on hand.
“I suppose it could be handy having a path or passage lead away from the cottage in one way or another.” Fen added his own assessment. “To make it a more natural world, I guess. Though, speaking about natural,” He then glanced at Maya’s burned creation. “I have the feeling that that might not be the most fitting word here.”
"That's not really an issue." Saying so, Sophia sent a strong gust of wind through the tunnel, immediately removing the burned and damaged plants. "And we're good on that department."
“Fair enough.” He had to give it to her.
“I think it might be fun to make multiple paths away from the cottage through the jungle and then eventually leading to other biomes!” The tiger was getting into her idea.
“More burning?!” Maya was, too.
“Aren’t you getting bored from setting things on fire?”
“Not at all!” She shook her head while looking at Sophia.
“Yeah, no idea why I even asked.” The fellow fire enthusiast scratched her cheek. "If you make more paths leading away from home like that, you'll have to clean up after yourself once you're done, though! No burnt remains around the cottage!”
“Fine.” She didn’t seem so happy about having to do that, though.
"How does being the responsible girl for a change feel?" Fen sounded rather sarcastic when he glanced at the tiger.
“You have no idea how much I hate it!” Sophia got loud. “I do not approve of it, either!”
“Then just stop caring about it so much~.” Maya reacted with an extra cheeky smirk in her direction. “Be more easygoing and wilder.”
“Exactly!” Fen nodded a few times.
“…” She did not appreciate this, either. A moment later, the tiger turned a little to the side, away from the cat-girl's new path, and lifted both her arms. Glaring at the duo, she then pushed her arms away from each other in the same way as when opening a sliding door with both hands. Following the motion of her hands, the entire jungle also parted. A perfectly straight gap around 5 meters wide went on for as long as the eye could see. It parted all the way to the default all-white nothingness of her domain on the ground. “We’re going this way for a while.” Afterward, Sophia just started walking without saying another word.
“…” Maya and Fen silently looked at each other for a while. "Don't ever challenge the queen, huh?"
“Yes.” Having come to this mutual conclusion, the two followed after her.”
----------------
The group kept walking for around 30 minutes along the path the tiger had cut into the jungle before Sophia returned to her normal playful self again.
“Okay, I think I got my point across!” She turned around and smiled at the other two. “It’s time to make this exploration more fun again!” At the same time, she made a similar motion with her hands as before, and the gap in the jungle closed around them.
“How did you even do that?!” Fen got very interested in the stunt she pulled there.
“My domain, my rules~.” She replied with a cheeky smile. “The more it’s starting to become alive lately, the more control I’m getting about it. Moving stuff is super easy~.”
“Stuff?” The wolf tilted her head. “You rearranged a whole jungle!”
“Don’t worry, I just scooched everything a little to the sides!”
“That doesn’t make it any less impressive.” He just looked at her. “Far from it!”
“Well, you told me to let loose, and I did! I could’ve made the whole jungle disappear in an instant, you know?”
“You really are on another level.” Maya spoke out what the wolf was also thinking.
“And don’t ever forget about that again!” She was still upset about the teasing earlier.
“I won’t!” The cat-girl nodded. “For today, at least.”
“Hey!” Sophia did not like her mumbling towards the end. “Anyway, back to you two! Lead away through the jungle!"
“Fen, would you like to go for a while?” Maya faced the wolf. “I want to see if I can learn something!”
“If you don’t mind, sure!” He nodded at her. “I assume you want to learn more about fire?”
“Absolutely!”
“This will be fun~.” Fen started to sound excited.
“By the way, I can teleport just about anything to anywhere.” Sophia suddenly faced him. “You might end up in the path of your own flames if you overdo it, okay?”
"Y-You're the one who parted this entire jungle just to get the point across!" Visibly nervous-looking, the wolf took a step backward.
"And it took me two seconds to fix it.” She smiled at him. “How long will it take you to replace half a burnt-down jungle?”
“I-I understand.” He retreated a few more steps.
“Have fun~.” Her smile got even brighter.
“Your girlfriend is scary.” Fen looked at Maya instead.
“We knew that already.” She awkwardly scratched her cheek in return.
“Only if I get upset by something~.” Sophia still hasn’t fully gotten over the teasing from earlier. “By the way, the core of the jungle is this way.” She pointed to her left. “The ambient magic feels the strongest around there. I can’t say if there’s anything special, though. It doesn’t have to be of magical origin, after all. We can also go a different way, though. It’s not like we’re in a rush.”
“I see!” Fen was happy that Sophia seemed to be normal again. Luckily, her mood swings are rather extreme in both directions. Quick, too.
Afterward, the wolf got ready to prepare his magic so that the group could continue their impromptu exploration trip.