Maldoa knew better than to be surprised by someone who was a visitor and could eliminate generals. However, such intimacy with a fairy was simply too unbelievable for the drelf, who was a being already very close to nature.

She watched as the feline looked with a certain indifference at the fairy with blue hair and wings, whose color the drelf could never have imagined was due to her friend’s eyes. If she had known, it would have been difficult for her to recover.

“Pikgro… You have transformed,” Goldmi greeted her.

“Yes! I’ve grown up!” she agreed. “Although, now, it’d be better Pikshbxgra.”

The drelf couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she didn’t dare to ask.

“Pikgra?” the elf proposed, since she couldn’t pronounce the name. Even a friend of fairies had some limitations.

The fairy nodded cheerfully, then went over to greet the lynx, who seemed rather resigned. After that, she approached the drelf, whom she looked at curiously.

“She’s my friend Maldoa, a drelf. He… She is Pikgra, a fairy,” Goldmi introduced them.

“It’s an honor,” the drelf bowed, as stunned as she was.

“If you’re friends with Aunt Omi, you’re also friends with Pikshbxgra!” the fairy exclaimed. “You have beautiful eyes. I like your aura.”

Maldoa was speechless. For her, a fairy was a sacred being, an almost divine existence. That she had flattered her eyes had more than moved her. What she felt when the fairy praised her aura was impossible to describe.

She was half dryad. She understood nature. She understood that hybrids were part of it. She understood that she herself was, that she didn’t have to feel inferior about it, that she was an existence in her own right, with her own personality.

However, all her life she had felt somewhat inferior to her cousins, her mother, her aunts. As much as her mother had repeated to her that she should treasure her elf side, she hadn’t achieved it. Until now. Until neither more nor less than a fairy had said that she liked her aura.

Perhaps, all she had ever needed was a bit of recognition to feel totally at peace with herself. Now, that recognition had come from a sacred being, a being whose honesty couldn’t be doubted.

She felt a huge weight had lifted off, despite having never been aware of it. Without knowing why, her eyes shed tears.

The fairy looked at her curiously, not quite understanding those tears. However, she did know why she liked her. The drelf was part dryad, a part that was deeply tied to nature, like fairies are, like herself. Also, she was part elf, so one half of her aura was similar to Aunt Omi’s.

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Goldmi didn’t know what was happening to her friend, but she didn’t hesitate to hug her. Whatever it was, she would support her.

It took her a while to calm down, to resume her journey. Fortunately, they weren’t been followed. It also took her a long time to get used to the curious and cheerful fairy, especially when she spoke to her.

“Now, I can fight alongside Aunt Omi against the bad guys. You too?”, she asked.

“Yes… Sure… I’ll fight alongside Aunt Om… Goldmi.”

“Good!”

After that, she went for a walk. She sat on the elf’s shoulder. On the lynx. She also disappeared for a few minutes, while looking around. Perhaps, she had grown up, but her curiosity hadn’t disappeared because of that. In addition, her perception had changed when she had transformed. So, now everything was new, everything had a new perspective. She could perceive what she could not before.

They sat down to rest and eat next to a stream, in which the elf was surprised to see small birds and insects perching on the drelf from time to time. It looked like they had come there to greet her. Maldoa wasn’t bothered by them, quite the opposite. Meanwhile, the lynx glanced at them askance, partly tempted to hunt some small birds.

“Don’t even think about it!” her sister was alarmed.

The truth was that she wouldn’t have. A little temptation wasn’t enough to make her do such a stupid thing, but it was enough to mock the elf. Besides, she was too busy with some delicious battered bat wings.

“They are really tasty, who would have thought!” Maldoa praised. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Well, I… I find it a little strange… I’ve never…” the elf hesitated, with one of those wings in her hand.

“Try them. They’re delicious,” her friend encouraged her.

“If you don’t want them, I’ll eat them for you,” her sister offered altruistically.

Finally, she took a small bite. The flavor wasn’t bad, and it was crunchy, both the batter and the inside. However, she couldn’t stop recalling its origin, so she could barely take a couple of bites. It goes without saying that the lynx didn’t take long to take advantage of it.

“I didn’t know you were such a picky eater,” the drelf mocked.

“It’s not that, but…” she tried to defend herself, slightly offended.

“You look very cute when you get angry. If your elf saw you, she would not be able to resi... Ow!!”

Goldmi had pulled a cushion out of inventory and tossed it at Maldoa. It only made the drelf laugh hard, and she teased her friend a little more. So, the elf didn’t speak to her when they resumed their journey, at least for the first minute.

The truth was that she wasn’t angry, but ashamed. In fact, she felt lucky that the drelf was with them, although she wasn’t going to recognize it at the moment.

Nothing attacked them on the way. Few beings in that area would dare to assault the group of three, especially when Maldoa let a bit of her aura seep out, so frightening them.

Although they could have arrived before nightfall if they had hurried, they were unable to do so because of the drelf. She insisted on camping in the jungle.

“Amazing! It’s better than you’d said. This tent is the best,” she marveled.

The truth was that Goldmi had hinted that it was more comfortable to sleep outside the fort, and her friend had wanted to check it. So, the three of them ended up sleeping on the bed, two of them while hugging a huge feline.

“It’s so soft,” praised the drelf sleepily.

“Very,” whispered an almost inaudible voice.

Meanwhile, a blue-winged being had flown towards the edge of the jungle. She was staring at the desolation on the other side, the miasma, the corruption.

“I won’t let you do more damage. I’ll protect everyone. Aunt Omi. Aunt Omi’s sister. Aunt Omi’s friend.”