I made my way towards the carriage that I had fleeced my mother, rather the guild grandmaster, to let me borrow a few days before.

Weaving my way through the crowded merchant’s area, my mind went back to the…dealings that went into her lending it to me.

Being her personal means of transportation, the vehicle was multitudes more luxurious than the one I ‘commandeered’ for me and Maua’s abrupt trip to my sister and sister-in-law’s mansion.

It was gilded in gold and equipt with cushions that could rival the fluffiness of a kitsune’s tail. The groupers were much larger and faster. They were more intelligent than the normal ones, being able to completely guide the ride to a location without anything but the name of the destination.

As such, as soon as returning to the guild headquarters I made my way to my mother’s office.

At first the hag- I mean my mother was against it, thinking that I wanted to ride in the golden carriage to appease the dragon in me.

“You just want to ride in it because it's gold and shiny.” she waved off, not looking up from her stacks of paperwork.

An accusation that I couldn’t entirely deny…the shinies are precious, and I’m an admirer of precious things. 

As such, the chance of me acquiring the vehicle dropped dramatically. Or at least it seemed that way until I remembered I had a trump card. The most precious thing…Maua herself.

Quickly explaining the discovery of Maua’s past, and her current relationship with the rest of us had the hagfish woman’s stance completely flip. 

Having always been a softie to her granddaughters she practically threw the permission at me, once she realized that she had gained another granddaughter and had a prime opportunity to spoil her.

Having arrived at the carriage, I shoo my thoughts away as well as the smile that accompanied them.

I turned back to face my two companions. One of course was the adorable little Maua. The other was none other than my lovely girlfriend.

VeVe would have ripped me limb from limb if I went to explore uncharted territory in one of the most mysterious locations in all of Fanalaau.

So as sagely took the initiative to invite her before she got word from a  certain loose-mouth hag.

Regardless of my attempt at survival, bringing her along probably be a boon regardless. She gets along swimmingly with both Maua and the other two.

“Alright! In you go!” I interjected as I opened the door to the carriage.

Maua quickly boarded the vehicle, taking a seat. 

VeVe followed right behind the little girl, sitting on the bench across from the one Maua sat down.

I made my way to the front, informing the two massive groupers hauling the ride of our intended destination.

With our course set, I went inside, seating myself right next to my two-headed girlfriend.

As the door closed behind me, the groupers disembarked, starting our journey. 

A silence finds its way into the cabin as we make our way down the main road of the guild town.

The silence is short-lived as we pass the gates of the town, which were immediately granted clearance from the guards, a certain girl hops up from her seat to take a look out the window.

“Whooa!” she exclaimed as she stuck her head out. “It's so pretty!”

The abrupt movement cause the hood that had been concealing her features to fall down.

I find myself fighting back a warm smile as I look at the blonde girl in front of me, and out of my peripheral, I see Kna’Ve having a similar struggle. 

“Ah!” Maua shouted, fumbling to put the hood back on top of her head. 

As she adjusted it, she turned and bowed her head toward me, an apology seconds from leaving her lips.

I quickly wave off the unsaid words with a chuckle.

“It’s fine. We were already out of the city, I seriously doubt that anyone saw you… as a matter of fact, take it down…there’s no need for you to be uncomfortable.”

She responds with a nod, removing the hood and gracefully taking her seat once.

I felt my smile widen as I looked at the uncovered face of my adorable little niece.

The standard of attractiveness on Fanalaau is leagues above that of Earth. The difference probably is that the bodies of this world are built to contain the soul which they support.

Regardless of what world one bases their standard on, Maua’s beauty crushes them all. She looked like the masterpiece of the universe’s best artist. 

A doll in which each feature was painstakingly sculpted to perfection.

While I had apprehension against vocalizing it, I found myself liking this spirit form over her tree form.

I couldn’t help but felt a bit of pride whenever I saw the pairs of horns jutting out of her head, which looked very similar to my own.

My sister had a similar pair compared to the two on my niece’s forehead.

In addition to a better-than-perfect appearance, there were some difference’s in my little pupil’s demeanor as well.

After gaining this form, as well as finding out the identities of the three of us, the little girl seem to have reverted back to her old self for the most part.

At least, the old her I was aware of. A bundle of energy, excited for any and everything.

As opposed to the girl before, who seemed to comply with everything out of fear. I didn’t like that Maua at all.

The trip proceeded rather smoothly.

No cliche ambushes or annoying breakdowns.

The only ‘issue’ was me. I had planned to take the time during our travel to reveal a couple of things that we were leaving Maua in the dark about.

Or in the case of the main topic, cracking an egg or two.

I was…nervous. I heard her reaction to seeing herself in the reflection for the first time from Mayari…and it scared me. From what the airheaded yet sharp starfish could tell, along with the usual surprise, she sensed a bit of resentment emanating from Maua.

While a complete long shot, I couldn’t help but think of the girl being suppressed by the toxicity of that world, deluding her to deny and quite possibly hating herself.

It would break my heart if she didn’t accept herself for who she truly was…and for that matter, it would’ve crushed me if she rejected me as well.

With the absolute worst-case scenario swirling around in my cranium, it took me until the end of the voyage to muster up the courage to initiate the conversation.

“Hey Maua,” I gently shook the girl who was nodding off. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay…” she replied, rubbing her eyes.

“I w-” I halted, my gaze held by her ruby eyes. “Nevermind. We’ll talk about it later.”

“Huh? Okay.” She affirmed confused, quickly dozing back to sleep afterward.

I had stopped the conversation after taking a look into her eyes. 

Having just woken up, her thoughts were laid bare. No covering or hiding anything.

Through those sleepy eyes, I saw turmoil that made me question all the observations that I had made before.

So in an attempt to not possibly add to that turmoil, I again put off the ‘cracking’ while mentally noting to gently interrogate the girl the first good chance I got.

Lulla

Howdy folks. Hope everyone is well! And I also hope you're still enjoying the story. Favorites and such have dropped a little bit lately...and I know most of that is from my upload schedule being anything consistent. But I'm working on changing that. Next chapter will be out the day after tomorrow, around the same time as this one is posted! So see you then? Thanks for reading<3!