After leaving Orion City, we take our time and simply walk along the road leading to the next city, Mealdrou. I've always liked going slow and appreciating the world around me, and Mama seems to enjoy it as well. And the scenery around here is really just so beautiful!

Surrounding us now are green hills as far as the eye can see. As wind blows through the grass, sending ripples through it, I'm reminded of one time when Eric took me to a similar place. We brought a picnic basket and everything, spending the entire afternoon there, but the most unforgettable part was just before we went home. Eric suddenly laid out straight at the top of the hill and started rolling down it!

Once he got to the bottom of the hill, he convinced me to roll down as well. We of course forgot the basket, so we went back up to retrieve it, but only wound up rolling back down the hill several more times. By the time we finally got back in the car, we were both covered in grass stains and bruises, but we were laughing like idiots anyway.

Wiping a tear from the corner of my eye, I turn back, "Mama, watch this!"

With that, I leave the road and start running up a hill. As soon as I reach the top, I lay myself flat and start rolling.

It turns out that these hills are a lot steeper than the ones I remember rolling down. Halfway down the hill I'm already going so fast that I can hardly differentiate between the sky and the ground, then with a sudden jolt, I'm sent flying through the air by a small bump on the hill. I find myself flying right over the top of Mama, then a couple seconds and a dozen rotations later, I'm on the ground again.

"Lyna...?"

"Ahahaha! That was awesome! I'm going to do it again!"

I stand up and start trying to scale the hill again, but I'm so dizzy that I'm nearly walking in circles. I eventually reach the top of the hill, but as I lie down again, I see Mama Bloodcat lying in front of me.

"That looked fun, I want to try it as well."

And so we both start rolling down the hill. This time I don't hit a bump, and wind up rolling all the way to the other side of the road before I stop. Lying on my belly, I start looking around for Mama, but I can't seem to locate her.

"Oopff?!"

I'm suddenly slammed into by something. To the side, I see Mama roll off of me, and then she keeps rolling a few more times due to her momentum. After she stops rolling, we look at each other, eyes still spinning, and start laughing. After waiting a few seconds, we both stand up and walk up the hill again in a zigzag pattern.

Eventually, it somehow turns into a game where we roll down opposing hills and try to ram each other. We lose track of time, and before long, the sun starts setting.

We decide it's time to set up camp, but just as we're about to look for a place, we start hearing clanking noises in the distance. Coming towards us is a familiar looking caravan, with steeg-like creatures pulling carts and carriages. It seems a bit smaller than the last time I saw it, but it's definitely the same caravan.

As the caravan nears us, it slows down again, and out steps Miina, along with her ever straight-faced guard.

"Hey! You guys ever get those kids home?" she shouts.

"Yes, we have returned them to their home safely!" Mama shouts back.

"C'mere, let's talk!"

We walk over to where Miina is, and she invites us into the carriage again.

"So, ya headed to Mealdrou?"

"Yes, that is our destination." Mama nods her head.

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"Would you care to travel with us again and keep this old woman company?"

"Of course, we would love to." Mama smiles.

While Mama and Miina talk, I find myself staring at Mister Straight-Face. I didn't really intend to stare, but as I glanced at him earlier, he happened to be looking my direction as well. We wound up staring at each other, and somehow, it feels like I would lose if I look away first. As we continue our staring contest, I start losing track of time, and Mama and Miina's voices eventually fade out.

"Kale, why're ya staring at Lyna?"

"Because she's staring at me."

I'm awoken from my trance as Miina scolds Mister Straight-Face. Or should I call him Kale? Anyway, whatever his name is, it occurs to me that this is the first time I've heard him talk.

Miina seems to notice something as well, as she nudges him and tells him to introduce himself.

"My name is Kale, I'm Miina's husband."

Our shock must have shown on our faces, as Miina laughs, "Don't judge him based on his young looks, he's actually older than I am!"

I look at Kale, who looks about 40 years old and doesn't have a single white hair on him. Then I look at Miina, who looks easily 70, and has a head of gray hair. It's really hard to believe that he's older than she is.

"You see, he's a cultivator, been one since he was young. He used ta go to one of those cultivator schools, where they'd call him a genius and a prodigy. But then he met me." she sighs as she droops her head a little.

Kale pats her on the back, "I would marry you all over again if I was given the chance. It's not your fault."

"I know you would, but if I could go back, I'd try ta never meet you. You wasted so much of your life..."

Kale hugs her and gives her a kiss on the forehead, "I did waste it, but only because I was away for so long. I'm just sorry that I was never there for you."

Miina smiles and pushes him away, "What're you doin'? Ya always act all shy around strangers, and now you're huggin' and kissin' on me right in front of them?"

Kale finally seems to notice us, as he sits up and resumes his straight-faced behavior. I can see a blush spreading across his cheeks, though.

"Sorry, I'm sure you guys don't wanna hear some downer story 'bout stupid kids."

Mama nods her head, "I wanna hear."

I start nodding my head as well.

Miina laughs and shakes her head, "Guess I'll make it quick. We were pretty young back then, an we really hit it off, so we decided to get married. Simple, right?"

We nod our heads.

"Well, after we got married, Kale started realizin' that he'd far outlive me, since cultivators have longer lifespans. So to remedy the problem, he started tryin' to teach me cultivation. I got the Body Tempering thing down," she flexes her arms, revealing some impressive biceps, "but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't absorb any qi."

"Why not?" asks Mama.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Seems I was born with junk blocking my meridians. Means I can't absorb qi unless they get un-blocked. It's not a completely unheard of condition, but supposedly there's still no cure. Even so, Kale started searchin' the continent for ways ta cure me. He'd sometimes leave for years at a time, and eventually the same people who used to call him things like 'genius' and 'prodigy' started callin' him things like 'trash' and 'waste'."

Mama furrows her brows, "Fickle people."

"I didn't care what they thought about me, and I still don't. All I cared about was being able to spend more time with her. But it took so long, over half of her life, for me to realize just how much of her life I had missed. The thing I regret most is leaving her for so long."

Miina jabs him in the side with her elbow, "So you know how long ya made me wait?"

I feel tears welling up in my eyes and, as I look at Mama Bloodcat, I see that tears are already streaming down her cheeks. Suddenly her face seems to brighten up as she wipes her tears away and looks at me, smiling.

She leans over and whispers, "Lyna, maybe tonic could help her?"

"Ah! That's a good idea!"

"But what if they do not trust us..."

"I guess we could always kidnap her."

Mama replies very seriously, "Yes, that is true."

I'm about to reply that I was joking, when an idea pops into my head. I immediately start channeling my soul out of my body, and send it towards Miina.

Picturing the charts showing the location of the dantian, which I've seen in those cultivation manuals, in my mind, I quickly find Miina's dantian, but it doesn't look at all like what it's supposed to. All of the qi passageways leading to it are clogged by some crusty black substance, while the dantian itself is shriveled and unhealthy looking.

I approach one of the qi passageways and try touching the crusty black substance, but my soul just goes right through it.

'Ah, right.'

I've found that, depending on my intentions, my soul has different effects. For instance, if I want it to go through something, it will, but otherwise it tends to collide with things.

I concentrate on trying to remove the black crusty substance, and touch it again. All of the black substance I touch turns to dust and falls down.

'Hahaha! I'm a genius!'

First I split up my soul and start mapping her qi passageways, then I destroy all of the black stuff clogging them. The whole process is extremely tiring, and I feel a huge headache start creeping up on me. But my exhaustion only makes me work faster, as I want to get it done quickly so that I can rest. Soon I clean the last of her qi passageways, and then slump on Mama Bloodcat's lap.

"Hehe, Mama, ask Miina to try absorbing qi."