The sisters had cut their exploration of the capital a little short and left it after having had a nice, primarily meat-based, lunch together. Steph wanted to see more of the nature around them because she found it more interesting. It had nothing to do with her not trusting herself to stay sane around all the fluffy beastpeople. Outside, the dog-girl got the urge to get rid of some excess energy, and she dared her sister to a race. Naturally, she had no chance against the tiger and got destroyed by her in the end. Sophia was so fast that she broke her sister’s understanding of the laws of physics and biology.

“Alright, this should work.” As the blonde wanted to show Steph that magic doesn’t care about such puny laws, the two used her portals to go to a place with no one around so she could let loose. Because it was nice to look at and completely devoid of any onlookers, they ended up near the lake Fen and the tiger had created a little while ago. It also was an excellent demonstration in itself, as the place was the result of magic happening.

“What a nice lake!” She seemed to like it. “Unbelievably massive, too!”

“Yeah, I kinda overdid it a little.” Sophia scratched her cheek in return.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The dog-girl looked confused.

"A friend of mine and I caused the crater that later turned into this lake.”

“…” Steph’s eyes wandered between the lake and her sister a couple of times. “Come again?”

“We did a small magic experiment that went a little wrong. The result was a bit of an explosion.”

“Eh…?” She looked at the lake again. “Magic did that?!”

“Yup.” The tiger nodded a few times. “And you have significantly more of it than I do.”

“Uhh…” The violet-haired girl needed a moment. "A-As if magic has that much power…”

“It’s even more powerful if you put in some work.” Afterward, Sophia lifted her right arm and pointed the palm of her hand toward the sky. A moment later, a gigantic pillar of fire shot upwards, starting from her palm. It quickly reached multiple hundreds of meters in height and brightened up the entire area even though it still was noon.

“W-Whoa!” Feeling the immense heat, Steph put her arms in front of her face and turned her head to the side. "A-Are you serious?!” She was in awe.

“That was merely a warmup~.” The blonde smiled at her. "It was a fraction of my power and would be even less for you.”

“I seriously hate you for having been able to do all that for the past year... All while I had to stay behind in that joke of a world where we came from!" She was shocked by the fire her sister had created, but her eyes were still sparkling. "Couldn't you have come and gotten me earlier? I will never forgive you!"

“I-I didn’t think I would be able to… I also didn’t want you having to give up on your current life, as well…”

“Who would choose our old world over this?!” Steph gestured all around her. “Sure, electronics and technology as a whole are nice, but seriously… Magic?! Also, I’m sure we can recreate some of them, just like that Canir guy said. He’s pretty important, right? He should know, then!”

“Yeah, his role is kinda big.”

“See!” She smiled at her. “Also, if there’s something we really want, we can always use the portal things to get back!”

“I forgot about that already… Sooner or later, we have to do something about that portal, though. The apartment is a rental, after all. If the rent eventually stops because there is no money, all sorts of problems will happen.” The tiger awkwardly scratched her cheek. “Hmm, we could sell some of the gold coins every now and then, but… It’s still pretty suspicious. Also, while I don’t mind going back every now and then, I don’t want it to become a habit…”

“You do have a point there…” Steph tilted her head. "There's still mom and dad's house… It's theirs, so… We would need to tell them, though.”

“…” Sophia wasn’t sure how to feel about the plan. “It is an option… Now that you found out, I’m a bit more okay with telling her, especially because else it would mean she lost two daughters, but… but…”

"Yeah, it will be a weird conversation. It’s not like I fully understand it, either… Well, they said they'll be gone for quite a while, so we will likely have many months to decide on a course of action. Keeping the apartment for that long shouldn’t be an issue.”

“True.”

“Great!” The dog-girl clapped her hands once. “Alright, back to magic!” There were more important matters for her right now.

“Gladly!” The blonde also was happy to change the topic. “Also, back to earlier, you mentioned that running so fast shouldn’t be biologically or physically possible, no matter how powerful magic is… Who changed her complete biology just a little while using nothing but magic again?”

"A-Ah.” Steph hadn’t thought about that. “Magic is amazing!”

“Sure is~.” She smiled at her little sister. "It's a lot of fun. I can't wait for you to get a better understanding of it so we can play around a lot together!"

“Neither can I!”

"It might be best for you to learn the basics first, though. Afterward, Chloe and I will continue with the more unhinged… err, creative side!”

“I like the sound of that!”

“Aura and Fennyfenny might be really helpful for the basics. They’re probably sleeping out their hangover from drinking with Alex and the others…? Steph, want to see a nature-themed village in the middle of a forest built by elves?”

"I don't really get it, but it sounds like an adventure, and I'm definitely into that!"

“That’s the spirit!” Sophia smiled at her. “Should we go?”

“Yes!”

Once Steph had grabbed the tiger’s hand, the two went back to the portal and returned to the extra dimension. From there, the sisters then went to the elven village where the blonde suspected the wolves to be.

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“And here we are! Welcome to my elven treehouse summer home!” Still holding hands with her, Sophia gestured around them while smiling at her sister.

“I thought it’s winter?”

“D-Don’t sweat the small details!”

“Ahaha~.” Steph liked her reaction. “Wait, elves…? I didn't pay attention to it earlier, but… Aren't elves those mythical creatures with pointy ears and strongly connected to nature as pictured in fiction?”

“Those very elves.” She nodded a few times. “They're a thing in this world, and they built the village we're in right now. There are none of them around this place anymore.”

“Aww… They sounded interesting…”

“Chloe met some elves, though. She promised to bring me to them eventually.”

“Let’s go!” The dog-girl liked the sound of that.

“We sure will~. Once it gets warmer, I want to add.” The tiger smiled at her before she started dragging her out of the room the portal was in. “First, there are two other very important individuals I want you to meet. From what I can feel, they’re napping in the living room of this place.”

“Oh?” Arriving there, Steph immediately noticed the two in question lying on a carpet in the middle of the room. “Actual wolves! So awesome! They look pretty domesticated, though. Perfectly groomed and way fluffier fur than wild wolves!”

“Aura, the lighter one, is quite fussy about her fur, so she puts a lot of work into it. Fen, the darker one, always gets caught up in the grooming, as well.”

“Nice! So, they actually can talk…? I saw some of the beastfolk that leaned more towards their animal side in the city, but there were no… fulls…?”

“They're a little rarer. You do see them a lot during the evening hours, though. For some reason, I don't know why yet, most of them really love to drink. You won’t see a bar without a group of them. They're a really fun bunch to drink with, too."

“Oho!”

“Alright! Fennyfenny! Aura!” The tiger raised her voice quite a bit. “You’ve slept enough! Get up! There’s stuff to do and news to be heard!” She was in a good mood.

“The loud one’s back…” The male wolf was the first to react and sluggishly lifted his head to look at the blonde while replying to her in a tired voice. “Welcome back, I guess? It was very peaceful without you.”

“That almost sounds like you’re happy about that!” Peaceful was over. “I want more regret in your voice!”

“Aura, you deal with that…” He already gave up and rested his head on his paws again.

"A good day to you.” Aura also woke up and looked at Sophia. “I missed you a lot. I’m glad you’re back again. You gave Chloe quite the fright. I hope you apologized to her.”

“I missed you, too! Glad to see my favorite wolf again!” She smiled at her.

“H-Hey!” Fen didn’t like that.

“W-Whoa!” Steph’s eyes were sparkling again. “They can actually talk! This is amazing!”

“It’s great, huh?”

“Very!” The sisters were in perfect sync when it came to their likes.

“Hmm…?” Aura then focused her attention on the new girl. “Who’s this?”

“Steph! Short for Stephanie!”

“I see…” She sounded a little confused. "Also, why are you two holding hands…?" The female wolf only now noticed that specific detail. "Wait, Sophia, what about Maya? Don't tell me you found a new one…? Our cat will kill you, you know? Eh?! Why has this dog so much magic?! Maya will still end you with ease, but… You have almost as much as I do?! What?!” There was too much at once for the female wolf to take in. She still acknowledged that it would end up in a disaster if the hidden boss of the group found out about the situation of what she thought was going on, though.

“Calm down, Aura.” The tiger smiled at her. “It’s fully endorsed by Maya.”

“That doesn’t sound like the rightfully monopolizing and very jealous cat-girl I know.”

“Steph’s my sister. It doesn’t count when I cuddle with her.”

“Yep!” Said sister used the chance to rub her head against the blonde’s shoulder. “Only familial love here~. We’re not interested in any other kind. It’s the duty and birthright of the little sister to be clingy!”

“Oh, I see! Makes sense that Maya wouldn’t mind that.” The female wolf nodded a few times in understanding. “Wait, what…?”

“Your sister…?” Fen also tilted his head in confusion.

Afterward, the sister needed about an hour to explain the last two days and everything that happened there to the wolves, who had a hard time believing everything they were hearing.

 

 

 

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