After an early, sleepy night of kissing we woke up the next morning and continued our journey. I found a cloak in my pack, carefully stuffed into the bottom and forgotten about, and I put that on. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything Grace could wear over her armour. My cloak certainly wasn’t big enough.

I was however, now that I had seen the region, starting to get a few ideas for what I could sell. Any types of wood that were hard to come by in this massive broken land would probably be very sought after, especially if what people said about the Obrec was true. They really didn’t like cutting down the trees from their forests if they could avoid it.

There were really a whole host of options to make money if you could custom grow your plants to people’s exact specifications like I could. Anything from herbs and spices to medicinal plants to like, bonsai trees or something. Any resource that had its origins in plant life could be ready made.

All of this was precluded by us actually finding Millowhall of course, which was beginning to seem like a distant dream at this point. We’d been walking for hours already with no change except that the canyon was slowly curving away from where the ring was pointed, which was now behind us. I had a feeling that this place was a maze.

That is, until Grace realised something. “Ryn, what if we’re not at the right elevation?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, slowing to a stop as she nerd sniped me right in the noggin.

“What if we’ve been walking along this shitty fucking ledge for almost a day and a half, while there’s a perfectly good road above or below us?” she explained, walking tentatively over to the cliffside and peering down.

“Oh my god, that’s.. you’re right, we could have so easily missed a road if we were below it. Hell, we might have even missed an offshoot of the canyon that started out at a higher elevation,” I realised, slapping my forehead. “Damn, Grace.. you’re amazing!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she blushed, shaking her head as she came back from the ledge.

Taking her face in both hands, I forced her to look at me, then leaned gently forward and told her, “You. Are. Amazing,” punctuating each word with a kiss.

She was very flushed now, a beautiful red that lit her face up like the sunset. “Thanks,” she said, a bashful little smile shining through her blush. “Where have you been all my life?”

“Duelling my assigned gender to the death,” I remarked, giving her a cheeky grin. Then, adding a wink, I leaned forward and whispered, “I won.”

Her response was to gather me up with a laugh and nuzzle her face into my hair. I leaned in against her, enjoying her warmth, although the metal of her armour was kinda frigid. Still, that wasn’t going to stop me from snuggling up against my beautiful, strong Grace. We both smelled faintly of flowers now, her of lilies and me of.. well I wasn’t sure what, but it was definitely a floral scent. I was a little confused as to why a tree girl would smell like a flower that floated on water, but whatever. Who was I to judge a work of art?

“So which way?” I asked after a few moments, still within the embrace. “Did you see a road down there?”

“Didn’t see shit but more snow and trees,” she grumbled. “Which means it’s probably above us. I just wish we could see up there before we climbed up.”

“Yeah..” I agreed, and then a wild, ridiculous, stupid and quite possibly incredibly dangerous idea slammed into my skull. “But I think I have a way to see up there..”

“How?” she asked, stepping back to get a look at me.

I cringed. “You’re going to hate it.”

“Why..?” she asked suspiciously.

“I have one free-stupid-idea card now, right?” I asked tentatively. “After the whole, yeeting yourself into a flower without any critical thought?”

She was frowning at me now in that way that people do when they know something is about to happen that they will get very upset about. “Two stupids doesn’t make a smart, Ryn.”

“Okay, just.. let me try?” I pleaded, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

“You haven’t told me what it is,” she told me, her suspicious expression not wavering an inch.

“I’m going to walk on thin air, sort of,” I said quickly, pointing out into the chasm. “I’ll run out there and then look up and see if I can see anything.”

“How?” she asked, confusion being added to her suspicion.

“With a spell I made while you were in the flower,” I lied. It was one I’d made earlier, but that was details.

“Fine, but if you fall, I’m jumping down after you so that we die together,” she told me, her tone allowing no argument.

“Uh, that’s excessive, but okay,” I winced. I had better not fuck this up then.

Without waiting for her to second guess this, and because if I thought about it too hard I’d fuck it up, I rushed the edge. As my foot fell into empty air, I summoned my hard light blades, one under each foot as I ran. They weren’t able to hold my weight for very long, barely a second before they broke, but that was all I needed. So long as I kept running, I could create new ones to stand on.

It was incredibly dangerous, and I should definitely have practiced first, but if there was one thing that I had going for me, it was my mind. I’d always been able to think my way out of problems, and this was no different.. I just had to think faster.

Like I was running across a pond at high speed, relying on surface tension to keep me aloft, I rushed for the other side with the crack of my blades breaking under each footfall. When I reached a small outcropping of rock on the opposite wall, I stepped down onto the solid ground with relief, my heart pounding in my chest even as I felt a wild grin spreading across my face.

“Fuck yeah!” I hollered into the chasm, waving back at Grace. That had been a rush! She looked to be clutching a tree for support as she stared over at me incredulously. Oops, I hope she wasn’t freaking out too hard.

Anyway, time to look up and see what I could see. Which was.. not a whole lot. No! Wait! There was something! High above, at least three or four ledges up, or sixty yards, was a bridge spanning the gap where an ancient rock slide had taken out a section of a ledge. It looked to be a reasonably wide one too, which would be perfect for a road. We had a road! Civilization!

My trip back was just as intense as my trip over, but I did make it back in one piece, despite one tiny moment where I misstepped and almost plummeted into the abyss. Only through summoning the larger, single blade was I able to course correct and continue. That one broke a little slower, which had me thinking about improvements to the spell.

I stumbled into Grace’s arms as a giddy, adrenaline fuelled mess, laughing and wild eyed. I felt almost dizzy with the rush that my stunt had given me.

“You’re right, I fucking hated that,” she said seriously, giving me a serious glare. “Let’s never do that again.”

“I need a better way of doing that, yeah,” I giggled. Apparently I was an adrenaline junkie, who knew? “I did see a road though! It’s like three ledges up.”

“How the hell do we get up there?” she asked with a groan.

“Good point, maybe.. Oh, duh, I’m dumb!” I exclaimed, letting my head fall onto her pauldron with a clonk. “I can just grow some vines up the wall.”

“Oh, that’s.. yeah. Give them nice, safe handholds while you’re at it, please?” she asked, clearly still a little worried that I’d plummet to my death. I’d have to kiss her extra tenderly tonight.

“I will,” I nodded, then began to dream up a vine that would work. It was a fairly standard one that I came up with, although it had one important distinction. I made it want to grow branches out away from the rock face every foot or so, for handholds as she’d said. Once that was done, I planted the seeds and poured growth energy into them.

They launched up the craggy face of the cliff with alarming speed, until suddenly my growth magic ran out, causing me to sway slightly. I’d only managed to get them like five yards high, which meant.. I needed to top up.

“Grace?” I asked, holding onto her for support. “Can you let down the barrier that’s keeping your magic contained? I need you to refill me.”

“Oh, wait, do you think I can do that?” she asked, looking surprised. “I figured I’d only be able to use it in the new way that Ollinfer made for me.”

“Give it a try?”

“Okay, let me just..” she said, closing her eyes. They snapped open with a laugh when her maginetic field fell away and her magic was accessible to me once again. “That was a lot easier than I thought it would be!” she exclaimed.

An idea came over me then, fuelled in part by the rush that running on nothing but my magic had given me. I’d wanted to try transferring magic like this back when I’d been constantly draining her, but I hadn’t been able to.. except now I could.

So I didn’t reply, instead closing in for a kiss that I knew, and sort of hoped, was going to cause a.. reaction in me. We were together now after all, I was allowed to kiss her, and I’m sure she’d enjoy watching me fall apart.

The instant our lips met, she was pouring into me in a rush, every drop of which was pure erotic pleasure. I moaned into the kiss and went boneless and limp in her arms, shuddering at the cascade of energy that burned hot and wet within me. I was distantly aware of Grace holding me up even as she teased me with her tongue, seeking entry with gentle flicks. Oh crap.

She was definitely enjoying this new power over me, now that she knew my affection for her was very real. So much so, in fact, that her hands had slipped past the waistband of my pants and were now gently caressing and massaging at my ass. This sent my mind tumbling end over end with yet more arousal until all there was in my world was her hands, her lips and her magic.

I shuddered as my magical reserves hit full, like an old steam train arriving at its platform, successive waves of rippling sensation still pulsing lazily through me until I was squirming jelly in my lover’s arms. A few more seconds of that and I’d have actually come. It was quick and dirty and the hottest thing that had ever happened to me, which wasn’t really saying much, but like.. Holy moly. Now I wanted the real thing so badly.

It took several minutes for me to come down off that wild high, as even though she seemed to have shut off the source of energy, it was still bouncing around inside me. Every so often some slight movement between us would spark little bursts of sensation that had me shaking all over again.

“Oh-kay,” Grace breathed, after what felt like hours. “I.. that was.. wow.”

“Yeah,” I giggled, still soaring and dancing in the clouds. “That was nice, we should do it in a proper bed next time.”

“Oh shit! You.. I.. that was your..” she squeaked, beginning to panic.

I clutched at her harder and shook my head emphatically. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t.. you know, actually come, but I liked it, a lot.”

“Oh, really? Okay... But I still feel really—“ she began, but I cut her off with another kiss.

“Please, don’t freak out,” I pleaded, gently running my fingers through her hair. “You’re amazing Grace, and shit, if there’s one way to lose it, it’s standing on the side of a cliff having just walked on air, in the arms of my.. um, you. I didn’t though so even then it’s fine.. although, I want the real thing so much more now too, wow.”

“Okay.. if you say so..” she said dubiously, and it was obvious she was still internally beating herself up over it.

“Grace,” I grumbled, squinting at her now. Then I grinned my cheekiest grin ever, “Stop, it was.. magical.”

“Oh my goodness,” she guffawed, her worried expression being replaced by a grin.

“Yup,” I laughed, snuggling in against her again. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. Well, apart from the transformation, but they’re kinda linked. I’m serious though.. we can do it properly tonight if you want..”

“Tonight..” she mumbled and I could hear her embarrassment in her voice. Then she nodded, her tone shifting into nervous happiness, “Okay, yes.. um, we’ll see if, I uh.. if you.. okay, we’ll.. crap. Also I’m starting to think that you’re also the best thing to happen to me. You’re like.. yeah. I don’t know, I don’t have words for these emotions.”

She was so cute when she was flustered, it melted my heart even further.

“Then let’s not use words?” I suggested, pulling my plant form to the fore and allowing it to take over.

She silently did the same, and with my head nestled into the crook of her neck, I felt her emotions begin to wash over me. Oh, this was.. yes. We stood together there on the cliff, swaying in the cold breeze as we basked in each other’s overwhelming affection. I loved this girl so much, and I could feel just how much she reciprocated.

QuietValerie