"I think that will be enough for today," Emilia spoke up as she opened her eyes.

 

She groggily started doing some stretches, removing herself from her previous lotus position.

 

Jean also stopped meditating raising her arms above her as she stretched her spine like a cat.

 

"I think we are making good progress," Emilia assessed.

 

It's been four months since they started travelling, their last stop being Bucharest in Romania.

 

Now they decided to go hiking in the Carpathian mountains and do their daily meditation session midway through.

 

"My mind feels so much cleared, " Jean was delighted, " I didn't know telepathy could do such things too."

 

"I wasn't sure either until we tried it out, I just wish it works as protection too," Emilia remarked, with today's session they have finished getting their mindscapes in order and setting up some basic defences.

 

Her mind felt quicker and clearer too, more efficient. Her memories were sorted too, she wouldn't ever forget anything she didn't want to and finding specific memories would be easy too.

 

This also made their psychic powers more efficient and quicker to use.

 

If their mind was a software running on the hardware that was the brain now they finished optimizing it to the best of their current abilities. They would need to constantly do this as their powers grew, and additional defences would also have to be set up.

 

Right now they only surrounded their mindscapes with mental walls and set up sentries on said walls. Emilia had so much more in mind for them but it would have to do for now.

 

This, along with their training in what Emilia dubbed Occlumency also greatly helped Jean stay calm and collected. Occlumency was the practice of controlling oneself and protecting one's mind, so even mindscape reconstruction could be considered part of it.

 

The more important part was controlling the person's thoughts and emotions, it didn't seal the emotions, instead, it made the person clearheaded despite them. Even if Jean felt the most fiery, earth-shattering anger, she could still think calmly and not be overwhelmed by it.

Well, that was easy to say and harder to execute but they were getting there.

 

Jean softly levitated herself, landing gracefully on her feet once she was upright.

 

"So downward we go," she mused as she took in the breathtaking landscape before them.

 

They were on a relatively small mountain but from where they were it gave a picturesque view of the flowing valleys and hills as they spread towards Transylvania.

 

Emilia checked for any other hikers near them before suggesting, "Race to the bottom?" she asked.

 

As she finished she floated a bit above the ground, she only managed to fly a week before and it was quickly becoming one of the favourite parts of her abilities.

 

"Oh, you are on!" Jean accepted, kicking herself away from the ground and floating beside Emilia.

 

Jean wasn't any less fond of flying, who wouldn't love to fly?

 

Emilia looked at the steep mountainside, littered with dense forest.

 

"To that field?" she pointed at the bottom of the mountain where the treeline ended.

 

"Ready to taste dust?" Jean asked after nodding in affirmation.

 

Emilia just snorted in amusement. While Jean was faster than her she wasn't slow either. Plus she still had the advantage of quick manoeuvring, which would come in handy while flying through a forest.

 

"When it lands we start," Emilia said pulling a pebble into her hand telekinetically.

 

When Jean nodded she threw it into the air, launching herself forward the moment it hit the ground.

 

Flying was just using telekinesis on the body, but you had to have a technique to not rip yourself apart.

 

Splashing yourself onto a trunk wasn't fun either so both girls used psychic shields around themselves.

 

Emilia also trickily parted air in front of the shield, decreasing air resistance.

 

She tried to decrease gravity on herself, but manipulating natural forces like that seemed to be out of her league still. Not that she didn't see the possibility in the future. After all, Psionics was bending reality to your will.

 

She slalomed between the tree trunks on the mountainside, parting bushes and canopy before her.

 

She watched as nature passed her by as her sub-mind dedicated to flight took over, she still provided direction but this let her enjoy the experience.

 

She felt Jean soar through the air above a trail travelling down the mountainside, she took a longer route but an open one.

 

With a thought Emilia sped up, flying now at about 200 km/h. With the dense foliage, this was her maximum for now.

 

She took swift, planned turns as she made an effort to not give herself a concussion.

 

She couldn't deny the thrill she felt as she soared through the air faster than some cars could go. She didn't take herself for an adrenaline junkie but she was loving this. The freedom and control she felt in that moment felt like she was in heaven.

 

A swift turn to dodge an oak tree dazed her a bit but her control remained stable as she continued her flight.

 

In only a few minutes Emilia saw the trees becoming more airy, signaling the end of the forest.

 

She came to a stop after she left the treeline, noticing an extremely smug-looking Jean with her hands on her hips in front of her.

 

"Seems like I finally won a round," she announced, very pleased with the result.

 

"Congratulations," Emilia smiled, not a bit unhappy over the results.

 

Jean preened under her praise.

 

Emilia couldn't help herself as she wrapped her arms around Jean's waist. She glanced up at the redhead's face.

 

"What would you want for your prize I wonder?" she asked meaningfully.

 

"I already have the greatest prize there is," Jean smirked down at Emilia as she buried her face in the crook of Emilia's neck.

 

"Awww so smooth, you're always so smooth," Emilia complained, she tried acting bolder and more assertive with Jean over the months, it would be quite shameful if her only role in the relationship was blushing when Jean flirted with her.

 

As revenge she pulled the ginger down to the ground as she fell backwards, delighting in the yelp Jean released. She carefully cushioned their fall with her powers tough, it wouldn't do to ruin the moment.

 

Emilia giggled as they lay in the grass staring at the sky she cuddled up to Jean, placing her cheek on the other girl's shoulder and hugging her over the stomach, while Jean softly caressed her hair.

 

Emilia let herself enjoy the moment, not thinking about anything.

 

When she felt sufficiently recharged she decided to talk over their plans with Jean.

 

"I plan on getting back to the USA in 2 years at most," she said.

 

"I thought we had more time to travel around this freely?" Jean asked, whinny.

 

"If we want to go to college before aliens start falling from the sky in New York that's all we have," Emilia shrugged.

 

"The buff green ones from Mars?" Jean asked seriously, making Emilia giggle.

 

"No," she said, "I said those probably weren't real."

 

"How are you sure these will be?" Jean looked at her.

 

"I'm not but it's more likely," she shrugged again.

 

"Why are the not green aliens coming here then?" Jean asked again.

 

"To conquer earth for the Norse God that mind-controls them with a magical sceptre," Emilia nodded.

 

"Obviously," Jean also nodded as if that was the most natural thing in the world.

 

"We will see if I'm right," Emilia shrugged again, "Superheroes should also start turning up by next year."

 

"Mhm, and Captain America will come back to life to heroically bet up the evil Norse God," Jean said with the straightest face she could manage.

 

Emilia just looked at her weirdly, causing Jean to also look at her weirdly.

 

"What?" the redhead questioned.

 

"Well..." Emilia rolled her eyes, "you were close enough."

 

"Eh?" Jean was stumped.

 

"Did you know Logan was in his Howling Commando?" Emilia asked rhetorically, obviously, she wouldn't know.

 

"Is that why you recommended the memorial to him?" Jean asked, remembering their last talk with the gruff man.

 

"Yeah," Emilia nodded, "even reading his previous name should make him remember his past, I think."

 

"You weren't kidding when you said this world is comical," Jean said sarcastically.

 

"It is until it isn't," Emilia said glumly, "it won't be as comic once superheroes and villains start razing cities to the ground in their fights."

 

"Hmmm," Jean said, "why don't we stay in hiding then?"

 

"We could," Emilia sighed heavily, breathing in the scent of the forest and grass mixed with Jean's perfume and sweat from the long hike.

 

"But as the saying goes, 'Chaos is a ladder' and chaos will be abundant in America in the following years," Emilia said.

 

"Who said that?" Jean raised an incredulous eyebrow, apparently hearing the saying for the first time.

 

"A character in one of my favourite books," Emilia admitted with a blush.

 

This caused Jean to give her crimson cheek a swift kiss before giggling.

 

"Let's go then," Jean floated them upright and let Emilia stand on her own while landing herself, "I don't think we are quite on an equal level with a God."