Sophia was still giving Kira a tour of her domain together with Ellie, and they finally arrived at the blonde’s unbelievable cherry blossom forest. There, the queen slowly started to believe and understand that magic really has limitless potential.

“Calmed down again?” They were still on one of the floating islands above the blonde’s forest when Sophia got closer to Kira, who seemed lost in watching the scenery below them.

“Debatable.” The queen shrugged in return. “You know that Menzor’s head would explode if he’d see this?”

“Good thing you’re here, huh?”

“Again, debatable.” She, too, had sustained some damage from being overwhelmed.

“Hehe!”

“How big is this place?”

“My domain or the cherry forest?” Sophia tilted her head.

“The forest. You said that the flower field was just a side project, and this is your main work, so…”

“Ahh!” The blonde nodded. “The plain is much bigger than this place. The other one was basically just growing grass on a flat surface, after all. The forest, with its dense and colorful trees, together with the actual landscaping and the floating islands, was much more costly. It's still a couple hundred kilometers in each direction, but it's nowhere close to four digits.”

"That, in a way, is kind of reassuring." Kira seemed a little relieved about it.

“With the magic I poured into this forest, the flowery plain from before would've ended up being three times the size of the continent the beastfolk lives on. The cherries easily took ten times more.”

“…” She went silent. “There was no need to tell me that.”

“You’re the one who asked!” Sophia raised her voice.

“True, but a little lie here and there to play things down never hurt anybody.”

“That’s not something a queen of a country should say!”

“That’s like the most queen-like thing I said today!” Kira glared back at her. “The whole life of a royal is based on knowing where to omit some details to keep order and peace amongst the folk.”

“Omitting details and lying are two very different things!” As Sophia’s entire being and way of doing things relied on that differentiation, it was very important to her.

“Sure.” She simply stared at the blonde for a moment. “Anyway, then do whatever is compatible with your moral compass!”

“And when you find out, you’ll complain that I didn’t tell you everything!”

“That would be an issue for a later date, though.”

“There’s no winning with you, is there?” Sophia rolled her eyes.

“Yes, it’s a common trait with tigers.” Kira did the same.

"I did see that one coming." It was more than obvious, after all.

“Anyway, yeah, you do have a point.” The queen scratched her cheek. "Both options, telling me everything in fine detail or omitting things, are either bad for my mental health or bad for other reasons.”

“So, because hitting you with the full force from the get-go is easier for me, I went with that!” The blonde gave her a thumbs-up.

“Thanks…” She didn’t seem overly thankful while saying so. “I lightly threatened you before, but can we request this service for the kingdom?”

“You want a massive cherry blossom forest for the beastfolk?” Sophia looked slightly confused.

“Let’s go!” Ellie liked the plan.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“I’m more thinking about the general idea.” Kira shook her head. “There are many barren places where even the plain from before would be a huge improvement and would turn it into usable land for the kingdom.”

“Ahh, I see!” The blonde nodded. “Well, it would be quite easy, but I’m not sure if that would be a good idea? I mean, terraforming an area the size of a city should be fine, but I have no idea how massive places made by magic behave in the long run. It’s fine contained inside my domain and would even be a little fun to play with, but it could end badly for the kingdom. Also, magical-grown flora can be quite aggressive and try to grow as much and as far as possible. It might spread to places it shouldn’t have.”

“Those are some very concerning arguments!” She slightly raised her voice. “I like the times where you show you have a great head on your shoulders, though.”

“You mean all the time?”

“No.” Kira slowly shook her head while looking right at her.

“How terribly rude!” Sophia started pouting in return.

“I’m not going to apologize.”

“Anyway, I don’t think it’s the best of plans for me to do anything too grand for the kingdom in that regard. I don’t want to be responsible for the results! Some smaller fun things, sure, general terraforming, too, but not messing too much with the flora.”

“That is more than fair.” The queen didn’t blame her.

“It is fairly simple to learn. I would even go as far as calling it one of the easiest uses of magic. You only need a tiny bit of control to produce some great results. Someone with regular powers probably won’t be able to do any harm but could create many wonderful and or helpful things in return. Do you want to learn how to do it?”

“Ellie can teach mama!” The princess joined the conversation again. “Ellie knows how to do it, too!”

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Sophia patted the head of the little tiger next to her while looking at the queen. "She could also show you how diligent she's with magic."

“Ellie’s the diligentest!”

“You sure are~.” The blonde smiled at her before focusing on Kira again. “It seems like a great opportunity, right? It will give her a lot of confidence, as well. Something that is very needed when using magic because confidence is key. It’s proof for you that she’s making progress, too.”

“Progress!” The princess nodded.

“You really know how to force someone into agreeing with your plans.” She lightly shook her head. “There’s no way I could say no now.”

“Yay!” Ellie and Sophia had the same reaction.

“I want Ellie to teach me alone, though.” Kira faced the blonde. “I want to see how she fares without your supervision.”

“Sure thing!” She nodded.

“Ellie will do her best!” The princess did so, too.

----------------

Once they had decided that the princess would try to teach her mother a little, they decided to head back for the time being.

“I’m home!” After returning the two to the capital, Sophia returned to the cottage for the time being. “Kinda empty here, huh? Though we have a rare one, so that makes up for it, I guess?" She entered the living room and addressed the only individual there.

“I would like if you wouldn’t call me a rare one.” Sounding quite unamused, Fey, who was lying on the fluffy rug in the middle of the room, looked back at her while slowly shaking her head.

"Tell me I'm wrong, and I'll apologize." The blonde just reacted with a smile. “You are definitely here the least, are you not?”

“I guess you do have a point putting it that way.” The fox had to give it to her. “I do enjoy myself some tranquil time the most, and that’s a rare commodity in this group. That being said, I very much like the forest Fen and the jaguar made.”

“Tranquil?” She tilted her head. “What’s that? Is it tasty?”

“Exactly.”

“I’m kidding!”

“I know.”

“Where’s Mira, by the way?” She looked around for a moment. “Even rarer than you being here is you being here without her."

“We aren’t always together, you know?” Fey’s voice turned a little stern.

“Had a fight?”

“No.”

“O-Okay.” Something about the way she replied made Sophia rethink her idea of prodding any further. “Anyway, want to do anything together?”

“You and me?” The fox tilted her head.

“Yes!”

“That’s a new one.”

“Exactly!” The blonde nodded a couple of times. “We haven’t done overly much together ever since you and Mira joined us. Okay, I know you only joined because of Chloe, but still!” She raised her voice. “You and Steph do so many things together!”

“Oh, you want to become fireproof?” Fey’s ears perked up. “We can arrange that~.”

“That was not my intention! Not to mention, thanks to Canir’s boost, I’m fairly sure I already am.”

“We should find out and make sure, though.” The fox suddenly felt like playing.

"Please save your tough love for the little sister, okay?”

“There’s plenty of that for both sisters, don’t worry.”

“I mean, I do want to find out what you two do during your usual training sessions, soo… I’m not really into tough stuff, though, so please go easy on me, okay?”

“The older sister is the soft one, huh?”

“She sure is!” Sophia strongly moved her head up and down.

“Well, I guess we can spend the afternoon together.” The fox eventually agreed. “I’m curious about your magic, and Chloe went to Fen earlier, so I’m free.”

“Fenny and Chloe, huh?” The tiger tilted her head. "I look forward to whatever they come up with!”

“Always looking for entertainment, aren’t you?”

“Yes!” She had no intention of hiding it.

"So, do you have anything planned, or did you invite me in the spur of the moment, but you have no idea what to do now?"

“Even you should know the answer to that!” Sophia sounded smug about it for some reason.

“Yes, you are sisters. There's no doubt about that." The fox let out a sigh before standing up from the rug she was lying on until now. "Alright, let's go." She then walked out of the living room.

"Let's go!" The blonde immediately followed after her, and the duo left the cottage together.