"Interesting, it's quite fascinating how you are able to use water mana to a certain extent already," I nodded still impressed by the rate Ayona was improving.
Hearing my praise, she lowered her head as a bashful expression made its way to her face, she slowed down mid-air for a second before she continued following after me. "It's all thanks to master's help, your mana was very..." Ayona didn't finish what she was saying as she further lowered her head and moved her hand to rest right above her stomach.
'Somehow, that expression doesn't look normal,' I unconsciously shivered before I shook my head and calmed myself down.
"En, keep up with the hard work," I encourage her to which she beamed with a wide smile before she moved closer to my face.
'Hmm, weird,' I inwardly noted, her change in attitude was still a bit hard to get used to, nonetheless, I tried not to pay it any heed.
We were currently on our way back to the floating mountain, this entire trip was an unexpected one. It also ended quite abruptly, making me feel a vague sense of unease. 'Ah well, I guess I also deserve a break from time to time right?' I chucked attempting to ease my mind.
With Ayona's appearance, a change to my plans was now necessary. Firstly, with the thread of 'law' power linking us together, I could in a sense borrow her affinity to the earth mana, 'Or is it more appropriate to say rather than borrow, she shares it with me?' I thought.
Anyways, with this my control over the earth mana is significantly boosted. Though it's still way below that of its water and cosmic counterparts, it is nonetheless way better than before. 'Yes, with this I now hold another card in my arsenal,' I inwardly noted with a satisfied grin.
"Hmm, maybe the plans in the mortal realm can be sped up with this?" I muttered as I slowly grew more excited about the future.
'No, i'll just take everything one step at a time, no need to rush anything, even if I miss the mortal realm's leaders meeting this time, I'm sure they would end up gathering once again for another one sometime in the future, besides like grandma said, I'm still young with a lot of room to grow, I won't rush anything and instead i'll take it slow,' Satisfied a smile subconsciously made its way to my face.
With Ayona flying by my side, we leisurely made our way back to the floating mountain. 'Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder how Ynos would react to me bringing a fairy back home,' I inwardly cringed at the upcoming headache.
It didn't take long before home appeared before our eyes. Ayona's eyes widened in surprise as a low exclamation escaped from her mouth. "This is master's home!" She muttered to which I nodded in confirmation.
Although this was her first time seeing it in real life, she was in fact already familiar with it from the memories I shared with her. "Speaking of which, you should already know what sort of dragon Ynos is, so stay close to me, okay?"
"En! I understand master!" She nodded with a serious expression on her face as a slight shudder ran through her body.
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Sure enough, the second we landed near the cave entrance, a large yellow figure suddenly appeared before us. "Oh, you came back already brother?" He said with a smile before his eyes narrowed as he glanced at Ayona who had her head lowered by my side.
"Hmm? I see you brought back one of the little disrespectful bastards as well," A savage grin quickly overtook his smile as a dangerous killing intent leaked from his body.
"This one is off-limit Ynos, she is my servant," I solemnly spoke as I used my mana to shield her from his oppressing aura.
"Oh? So she is indeed one of them! I was a bit hesitant at first since she's much taller and is a bit different, yet still, in the end, she is the same," He growled before tearing his eyes away from her and them locking them with mine.
"What is the meaning of this brother?" He slowly asked, his face turning into a frown.
"Nothing much Ynos, as I said this little one is my servant so I'd appreciate it if you don't lump her together with the rest of the fairies," I slowly replied.
"Brother, you know what they did to me right? Are you trying to mock me by bringing one back home?" He said while taking a deep breath trying to calm himself down.
I lightly shook my head and calmly replied, "No, you are my little brother, there is no way I would do such a thing as mock you. But I wasn't lying when I said this little one is my servant, she isn't quite the same as the other fairies that attacked you, Ayona is smart, right?" I asked as I turned to glance at her.
As if reading my mind, the tiny fairy's body lightly shook before she stepped forward and gave a deep respectful bow towards Ynos, and spoke, "Ayona gives her respect to the great earth dragon Ynos, brother of master Aether. I humbly ask for the great dragon Ynos's forgiveness due to the inconsiderate actions of certain fairies, they were young and foolish and did the unforgivable by insulting your honor," Saying that she further lowered her head.
Faced with her sincere apology, Ynos was taken back for a second, his eyes moved from her to me and then back to her. His overbearing aura slowly receded as a conflicted expression made its way to his face.
"Hmph," Ynos then refrained from adding anything as he turned around and left for the foot of the mountain.
'Phew, that went way better than I expected,' I sighed as I turned to glance at Ayona with an impressed look.
"Not bad," I said to which a bashful expression overtook her face as she lowered her head and began to mutter.
"Not at all, it's all thanks to master Aether..."
With a smile, I turned around to glance at the entrance where Immy and Essie were both looking over with curious expressions on their faces.
"Come on, time to meet the others," I said and walked over to them, Ayona right behind me.
"Brother," Immy greeted me with a respectful expression, while Essie had her eyes glued to the tiny fairy.
"Big brother, this is your servant? She is small like me! And she got wings! Does that mean she can go flying with me big brother?" She asked with shining eyes to which I chuckled and gently patted her head with my tail.
"Yes, yes, now be nice to her okay?"
"Yes!" saying that Essie directly ignored me and rushed towards Ayona and asked.
"What's your name little fairy? Do you like to fly?"
Letting the duo get to know each other, I moved to sit down next to Immy as a yawn escaped my mouth. "Mother and father are still not back?" I asked, to which she shook her head.
"That's strange, Essie didn't pass her rite of passage either, just where are they?" Immy silently nodded in agreement.
"Ah well, I'm sure they are okay, I mean it's father and mother we are talking about-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence as my head subconsciously glanced upwards towards the sky.
Dark clouds that weren't there seconds ago covered the blue sky as red lightning streaked across followed by a loud boom. "What the-"
It all happened so abruptly, that I had no time to react. The dark clouds were suddenly parted as a huge red figure came crashing down a distance away from us causing the land to shake.
"W-Wait, what the fu-"