Izai drew his jacket closer in as the cold air bit at him. The sky had been a patchwork of grey clouds all morning. A soft drizzle had fallen on him as he left as his apartment, but it had largely subsided for now, but the cold still hung in the air. He rubbed his arms, trying to chase away the cold.

“Cold’s good for you, my friend,” Koralo grinned, unbothered by the temperature. He wore nothing but a simple pair of shorts and a shirt, almost flaunting the fact that while everyone else was bundled up, he was perfectly content.

“Besides. I thought the Folk liked the cold,” Ana, Koralo’s wife, spoke while spreading out the picnic blanket.

“The Porenadi maybe,” Izai replied. “It’s in their blood.”

“True,” Olav, whose cigeratte dangled causally between his lips nodded. “It’s always snowing in Northen Kive. Especially closer to Kara Kara.” Before he could take a drag, Koralo waved a hand, his GaleStone Push yanking the cigeratte from his mouth.

“Not around kids,” Koralo said pointedly.

Olav sighed. “Right, right. Forgot.”

In the distance, Ana’s twin boys, Juli and Silva, launched themselves into the air, easily clearing twenty feet before Ana, with a quick Push, stopped their descent just before they crashed to the ground. She returned, holding both by the wrists like mischievous pups.

“You two keep testing me, and no more Pushing,” Ana scolded. The boys, nearly identical except for their red and black jackets, sat down with crossed arms, sulking.

“Eat up,” Ana smiled at the boys.

Izai was hesitant to try the food. It reminded him too much of the Edo Kin Edo restaurant, where they had been served those funky food and beverages that had kept him up all night on the toilet. But this food was different.

The food, a mixture of rice, fish, and sauces, all wrapped up in a leaf, had given him enough warmth needed in that moment. And the sides were crab-filled dough balls that disappeared from the dish way too quickly. It turned out that to appreciate Libri cuisine, all he had to do was try home-made food.

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After the meal, they sprawled on the grass, staring up at the patchy sky. The clouds were still heavy, but bits of sunlight occasionally broke through. The twins, jittery, began to tug, pull, and whisper in Izai’s ear.

“Can we teach Izzy to do an Air Twirl?” asked Silva, the twin in the red jacket, bouncing with energy. His white bowl-cut hair moved with his every motion.

“Silva, he’s not a GaleStone is he now?” Ana reminded him gently.

Juli, the twin in the black jacket, leaned into Silva’s ear before his mother pulled him away.

“I told you, if you want to say something sweetie, you have to ask for yourself, okay?” she caressed his cheek.

“I know… he’s not a GalesStone,” Silva pouted, “but he can still Push.”

“Please!” Juli begged, tugging at Izai’s sleeve.

“Alright, alright.”

Izai let himself be dragged into the open field by the eager boys.

“Can…” Juli dragged out the word as long as possible, “you Push from the bottom of your feet?” he finished quickly.

“While running,” Silva added.

Izai mulled it over. He knew he could, he certainly had done it before, though it came about in moments of desperation or adrenaline – like when he was being chased.

“Let’s see,” he muttered, readying himself.

Just as he was about to take off, a hand gripped his shirt. He turned to find Gaios, the park’s grumpy Taur caretaker, glaring at him.

“No Pushing in the park,” Gaios grumbled. “You’ll set something on fire.”

“I was going to use Ice.”

“That’s worse! At least I can see fire before it spreads. Ice, though? The damage is invisible until it’s too late.”

Izai sighed. “What if I Push on the pathways?”

“You’ll scorch the bricks,” Gaios huffed.

“They’re not reinforced?”

“This isn’t the north kid,” he smacked him lightly with his tail in the back of his head before stomping back to the shed. “Rules are rules.”

“Sorry, kiddos,” Izai spoke, shrugging at the twins.

Back on the bench, Olav had already lit another cigarette, puffing away like a madman. Koralo raised an eyebrow. “Thought you quit friend?”

“I did,” Olav said with a sheepish grin. Then he erupted into a fit of coughing.

“You’re quitting?” Izai asked.

Olav nodded.

It clicked in Izai’s mind. “Is it because of Laelia?”

His face softened for a moment. “She hates the smell. I try to keep it away from her.”

For a moment it had struck Izai how much things had shifted for both of them in the last few months.

“So, he mind-fuck you?” Kauri’s voice came out of nowhere.

“Yep,” Izai and Olav answered in unison.

Koralo leaned back thoughtfully, rubbing his goose-bumped blue arms. “I’ll give back necklace but bullshit he smell it on you.”

“I don’t know,” Olav said, his tone serious. “Pupa’s made from Puresap, and if you snort enough of it, especially as a Pulser, it heightens your senses permanently.”

Koralo scoffed. “Somebody probably told him. But who?”