Fluffy held a tiny little fox-sized baggy in her mouth and jumped up from one illusory blue platform to the next. At the topmost platform, she gave the air a big sniff and then hopped down into the Fillow cart.
Addie and Christena were already in the cart, packing up some of their last items. Nettal hadn’t left the mansion yet, she was still getting her bags ready with Auntie helping her. The Fillow were already attached to the reins, and now Christena was just doing some last few checks on the floating cart before they left.
Swinging her feet from the seat, Addie nervously thought about seeing her dad again. She still didn’t know how to talk to him after everything. Auntie had taught Addie a new word, ‘trauma’. Apparently, what her dad did to Addie with the whole bond initialization plan had been traumatizing, and when Auntie heard about it, she said she would, ‘tear my brother a new one.’— whatever that meant. Addie felt like she shouldn’t ask.
She was excited to be traveling again though! She had packed up first thing in the morning and rushed to get straight onto the cart. Christena had even given her permission to do some ‘exploring’ when they set up for camp at night, so long as Nettal came with her.
And most of all, Addie was looking forward to being home again.
Addie brushed some of her long red hair out of her face as it started tickling her nose. Looking to her left, Squishy rested on the edge of the cart with his front paws dangling into the air and his head facing toward the ground. That position reminded Addie of something. She couldn’t put her finger on it, though. It seemed almost like he was watching over the ground protectively, or at least it reminded her of something like that.
A bit of movement in the distance drew Addie’s attention, and she watched just as Nettal and Auntie left the mansion and closed the door behind them. Something didn’t seem right, though. Nettal still hadn’t changed out of her pajamas! And, she didn’t have any luggage with her
Addie almost called out to them to tell them to hurry up and finish getting ready so everyone could leave, but the sorry expression on Nettal’s face instead made Addie’s heart drop.
“Nettal said she was coming, right?” Addie turned her head to Christena.
“That’s right, why?” Christena stopped hunching over the control panel and stretched her back. Then, she looked in the direction of the mansion. “Oh.”
“Addie!” Nettal shouted from a distance while waving.
Auntie quickly whispered something in Nettal’s ear though, and Nettal stopped shouting
Addie watched in trepidation as the pair got closer to the cart. It didn’t take long for them to get almost right underneath.
“Christena, do you want me to herd the Fillow over now?” Auntie asked, ignoring Addie’s dismayed expression.
“What about Nettal?” Addie called down to the ground.
Nettal shifted her feet nervously and looked away.
“Addie and I are ready for the Fillow, yes.”
Christena might have been about to say something else, but Addie tugged on her sleeve and asked her, “But what about Nettal?”
“I think,” Christena trailed off, and then she turned her head back to the ground. “Have you changed your mind, Nettal?”
“I don’t know,” Nettal said with guilt all over her features. “I just got my powers! And, I need to practice them. Mr. Owlcharge’s town has a clinic, and Mom said Uncle Lomain’s doesn’t.”
Addie wanted to call down, to say she could practice anywhere she wanted to! Addie wanted to beg Nettal to come with them so she could keep playing with her friend.
But instead, Addie swallowed the growing lump in her throat. If Nettal didn’t want to go anymore... Could Addie really ask her to come anyway? She couldn’t imagine herself doing it.
“The villagers in our community would greatly appreciate Nettal’s help! They get hurt all the time, and our single healer never has enough manpower all by himself. He might be a great teacher for Nettal, too!” Christena hollered back down.
Nettal’s eyes perked up, and Addie saw her straighten her shoulders. Nettal whispered something into her mom’s ear.
Hope blossomed in Addie’s chest, and she looked over to Christena to thank her. Christena winked at Addie before she could even say ‘thank you’.
“It’s fine if I send Mom messages while I’m there, right?” Nettal hollered back up to the cart.
“Of course,” Christena replied, “You can send Ms. Lomain messages whenever you want.” As always, Christena spoke about Auntie in a deferential way.
Nettal didn’t bother talking to Auntie, she turned around, quick as a rabbit, and sprinted through the swamp mud back to the mansion. Auntie watched her daughter go with a somewhat sad smile.
“Will you be lonely?” Addie called down to Auntie.
“Of course I will. But I’m also glad she’s getting this opportunity to explore more of the world, even if it is just my brother’s tiny slice of land.” Auntie replied.
It didn’t take long before Addie saw Nettal hurrying back out the door, this time in some proper clothes and a big backpack. The backpack towered over her head, looking like it might topple over if she bent down the wrong way. She also wore her favorite exploration pants covered in pockets and a familiar green tunic. Lotty trotted through the mud directly behind her, impossibly keeping his hooves clean much like Addie remembered his mother could do, too.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Will that be enough for you?” Auntie asked as Nettal came into talking distance.
“Yep! It’s got all my favorite pants.”
“You didn’t forget to bring underwear, did you?” Auntie asked.
“Wuh! Mom!” Nettal’s face and the tips of her ears turned red.
“Well, it’s just that I remember that time—” Auntie started to say.
“I’m not a kid anymore! Geez.” Nettal rolled her eyes.
Nettal switched her focus to the floating cart, “I’m ready! How am I supposed to get up?”
“I’ll take care of that,” Auntie said.
The mud around Nettal’s feet started sloughing off to the sides as a rising platform began to appear, pushing Nettal up into the air. Once enough mud had fallen off, Addie started to make out a flat wooden platform growing upward from the ground. The amazingly stable living platform creaked, and some parts even sounded like they were snapping, yet it remained solid all the way to the top— reminding Addie of a giant flat-topped tree stump.
“Thanks, Mom!” Nettal called down. Then, she stepped off of the impromptu platform and walked onto the cart, which jostled for just a moment as the magic adjusted to the added weight. No longer being used, the stump shrunk back down into the mud.
After that, Auntie ushered the Fillow back over to the cart with her control over the plant-life. It was a matter of minutes until the reins were tied on properly to the Fillow, with Fluffy helping to latch on everything nice and secure.
Nettal leaned over the edge and waved down to her mom, “Bye Mom! I love you!” she called out.
“I love you, too! Make sure to listen to Christena, ok? The wilderness outside of an Area can be dangerous!”
“I know that already.” Nettal blew a raspberry.
“Bye Auntie!” Addie waved.
“Bye-bye!”
With a lurch, the cart began to move, pulled away and into the treeline by the harnessed Fillow.
“Any last things either of you girls forgot to bring? This is your last chance to grab anything.” Christena said.
Addie thought about it for a moment, but she had everything she needed. Sitting back against the seat, she felt the wind gently tug on her hair as it lifted the loose strands up into the breeze. Her thoughts moved back to Christena’s question, something about the wind made Addie feel like she was forgetting something. After a few moments of nothing coming to mind, she dropped the thought. If she couldn’t remember, it must not be important anyway. She just wanted to get on the road already!
The swamp flora drifted past as the Fillow’s smooth gait carried them across the forest. It always fascinated Addie to watch them walk across the land, trampling everything in their path. Despite only walking, the massive house-sized Fillow covered a great distance with each meandering step, easily walking faster than Addie could possibly run. Based on the mesmerized look on Nettal’s face as she leaned forward to observe them, she must have been interested, too.
“Addie, what do you think would happen if I tried to bond to a Fillow? Would I become huge too?” Nettal suddenly asked.
The cart continued forward through the swampy underbrush.
Addie’s first instinct was to tell Nettal off, no sane person would want to grow as big as a Fillow! She opened her mouth to say just that when Christena cut into the conversation.
“That’s an interesting idea! But, I’m afraid not. The Fillow only have body strengthening and weight-reducing magics, that’s what allows them to grow so huge. But their actual size is just how they are naturally, no magic involved with their growth directly.”
Christena’s explanation made Addie nod her head. That made sense to her, at least. “Besides, who would want to be as huge as the Fillow! Then you wouldn’t even fit in your room, silly.”
“I think it would be cool!” Nettal started, “Then I could just make a really big house. And, I would be taller than everyone. I could pick the trees up out of the ground and eat them like a broccoli!”
“You can’t eat trees!” Addie exclaimed, “They don’t taste anything like broccoli.”
“How do you know? You’ve never even eaten a tree before.”
“Neither have you!” Addie retorted.
“Nettal’s right, Addie. Broccolis are just mini-trees, you know?” Christena added in with a sly smile.
Addie looked at Christena in bafflement.
“See! Even Christena thinks so.” Nettal said smugly.
“You’re teasing me!” Addie accused while scrunching her eyebrows and frowning.
“We’re not teasing you at all,” Christena said while Nettal started giggling. “See how happy these Fillow are to eat the underbrush?”
Addie looked down to see how the Fillow occasionally grabbed a small swampy snack in passing.
“So? Trees still don’t taste like broccoli.”
Now, Christena was laughing along with Nettal. Even Fluffy seemed to be chittering now, and Squishy also was making his weird chortling sound. What a traitor.
“See! You’re all laughing! That means you’re lying.” Addie said.
Over time, the laughter slowly died down, leaving the cart in the after-effects of the amusing mood. Even Addie had a small smile in the corner of her mouth at some point. But it all came to an end eventually, and Christena let out a long exhale as the cart continued through the swamp.
It would be a long cart ride, but Addie felt glad that she got to spend the road trip with her cousin.
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“Addie, can you help me set up the tent?” Christena called from down below, “Or would everyone rather sleep up in the cart tonight?”
Addie took a moment to glance over at Nettal. Nettal looked back at her with uncertain eyes.
“Do you want to sleep up in the cart or down on the ground? The cart gets really cold up here in the air, so I usually sleep in the tent.”
“We can sleep in the tent, then.” Nettal decided.
“Ok!” Addie turned her head back to the ground and shouted down, “We’ll sleep in the tent, too! I’ll come help.”
Without fear, Addie quickly hopped off of the multi-story high cart and started plummeting down to the ground. Squishy jumped down after her, and together they entered into Realmspace. They used that transition between realms to slow their momentum upon re-entering reality, and landed gently in the soft forest loam, absorbing the rest of the impact with their knees.
Addie ran over to the campsite and helped set up the tent with Christena’s careful instructions.
When they got close to finishing, Addie asked, “Can we have a fire tonight?”
It was starting to get dark, but not completely black outside yet. Christena looked up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.
“Not tonight, it looks like it might rain. I’m seeing some low-hanging clouds coming in.”
It was so dark Addie couldn’t see anything, but she believed Christena.
It didn’t take long for everyone to bundle up into the tent. The tent had enough space for four people, so with just Addie, Nettal, and Christena there was plenty of room left. Squishy took up a bit more room by sleeping on Addie’s feet, and Fluffy took up some space sleeping near the tent door. Lotty decided he wanted to sleep outside, though.
Just as she was finally starting to drift off, Addie heard rustling in the bushes, and the sound instantly made her alert and fully awake. She scanned the outside of the tent with her spatial sense, but nothing was out there.
“Squishy, wake up,” Addie said telepathically. “I’m hearing that rustling again.” Addie idly noticed that her heart was racing.
Squishy perked his ears up and did a big yawn before he started concentrating on his spatial sense. “I do not detect anything either. Perhaps it is just the wind?”
Her heart started calming down, and Addie gently rested her head back down on her mini camping pillow. The longer time went on without hearing that rustling, the more Addie was able to drift off, uneasily into the dark.