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“What kind of food do you think we should pick up for Bailu?” Yue asked, looking over the varied options at the food stall. “She would probably tell us to grab like one of everything, but I know her well enough to know that there would be at least some leftovers.” Her tail flicked back and forth absentmindedly, and Dan Heng sighed a little before gesturing at a few different snacks.
“Well,” he started, “I know she enjoys tuskpir wraps, and she hasn’t stopped talking about berrypheasant skewers. She has also mentioned that she misses yellow boulder cheese fries.” He crossed his arms. “But I think she’d be content with just about anything that we bring her. I doubt the Preceptors just let her snack on stuff that they would consider ‘junk food.’” She was surprised to see his mouth quirk upwards into a half grin. “But what are they going to do when we show up? I mean, we are good friends with General Jing Yuan, we saved them all from Phantylia, and you are technically still Caelorum Venti, even if your apprentice is acting in your stead for the time being.”
Yue elbowed him a little and smiled cheekily. “I like how you think. Let’s get enough for all three of us and then head over to the Alchemy Commission.” With that, she turned her attention back to the generously patient foxian woman standing behind the counter. “I’m so sorry for the wait. Can we get six tuskpir wraps, six berrypheasant skewers, and then three orders of the yellow boulder cheese fries?”
The foxian woman gave a smile and nodded. “Of course.” She grabbed the food that had been requested and handed it over to Yue. Dan Heng dug out his wallet and grabbed enough Strale to pay for the order. After thanking the foxian woman, the two Vidyadhara began to head in the direction of the Alchemy Commission. Yue put about half of the food in Dan Heng’s hands. “You can carry some of that too, mister,” she said.
“We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t try to steal our food,” Yue remarked. “So keep an eye on her.” The remark was made with a slight laugh. “You know how she is.” There had definitely been no shortage of times when Yue had visited Bailu and turned her attention away for only a few seconds, to find at least half of whatever she had been eating completely gone. In such circumstances, usually Bailu had suspicious traces of crumbs or sauce or something else on her face.
That earned her a chuckle from Dan Heng, though he didn’t say anything else right away, as his attention was largely on his phone. “Bailu just sent me a message,” he said. “She said, and I quote, ‘Please get here soon, I’m so bored. These Preceptors are no fun--I barely managed to get away.’” He put his phone away. “She’ll be happy to know we’re almost there.”
After five minutes or so, the two had reached the Alchemy Commission and headed towards the healer’s market, where Bailu was sitting on a bench, legs dangling and swinging back and forth absently. Her eyes lit up when she saw the two, and she immediately hopped down from the bench before running over to them. “Hi, Yue! Hi, Dan Heng!” She looked like she wanted to hug them both, but thought better of it, puffing up her cheeks for a moment. “Good to see you guys again! It feels like it’s been forever.”
Yue gave Bailu a pat on the head, and the young Vidyadhara giggled. “So you brought me some snacks?” She was laser focused on the food in Dan Heng’s hands, and she grinned up at him. “You’ve gotta tell me all about what you guys have been doing.” She gestured over to a different bench under one of the maple trees. “We can go over there.”
She turned around and led them over to the bench. Yue and Dan Heng sat on either side while Bailu sat in the middle. Dan Heng handed Bailu two of the tuskpir wraps. “Here you go. Start with those.” He gestured with one hand to the rest of the food he was holding. “So what kind of story do you want to hear?” he asked, absentmindedly chewing on one of his berrypheasant skewers.
Bailu leaned backwards against the bench, swinging her legs a little. She looked up at him and then at Yue. “Well, I think you guys had mentioned you had visited a place called Amphoreus. What was that like?” Her eyes narrowed a little. “And I saw a picture of Dan Heng looking super tall! What was that about? Why are you shorter again?”
Yue snorted, and Dan Heng glared at her. “Well, for starters, we needed to go there to get some fuel for the Express,” she said. “It gains fuel when we travel to different locations. It…well…it’s hard to explain exactly the kinds of things that happened there.” How would one even begin to explain the experience of being in Amphoreus to someone that hadn’t been there?
“We met lots of different people called Chrysos Heirs. They were part of a prophecy that said they would help save the world by becoming demigods. They had to fight their own gods, called Titans, and take their divinity, which was in the form of something called Coreflames.” She gestured at Dan Heng. “He was actually one of the Chrysos Heirs--he took on the Coreflame of Earth. It made him get just a little bit taller. And, well…he’s shorter now because he changed his form back to his usual. But he can switch back if he wants to.”
Bailu was glaring daggers at Dan Heng. “You found a way to get taller and you didn’t tell me?!” She looked incensed, but Dan Heng just laughed. It certainly was nice to see Dan Heng acting much more relaxed. Though they had both gone through a lot in Amphoreus, it had made her brother figure much more open with his emotions. “Can you give me the Coreflame so I can get taller too?” she asked through a mouthful of food as she took another bite of one of the tuskpir wraps.
Dan Heng shook his head. “Unfortunately not. You might not believe me, but Amphoreus was a simulation that we were stuck in so I don’t have the Coreflame.” He finished the skewer and then began to eat one of his wraps. “It was a simulation that almost led to the birth of a new Lord Ravager named Irontomb. We managed to defeat Irontomb, and Amphoreus is on its way to maybe someday becoming a real planet. The Coreflames were part of the simulation, so…well, I don’t think they’ll be needed once Amphoreus is truly born.” He ruffled Bailu’s hair and smiled softly down at her. “Don’t worry, though. You’ll get taller someday.”
“Aww, come onnnnnn,” Bailu groaned. “That’s…that’s so long!”
Yue began eating some of her fries. “We did get to see lots of interesting things,” she said. “They had a big holy city they called Okhema that had lots of public baths in it. There were so many different options for baths to stop by. They even had a private bath for the Chrysos Heirs. We got to visit that a couple of times.”
Bailu grimaced. “Were the baths hot? Or did they have any cooling baths? Since we Vidyadhara don’t like hot baths and all.”
Yue grinned. “Yeah, there were different temperature options. Dan Heng and I definitely stayed out of the super hot baths. There were a couple of the Chrysos Heirs that had a competition to see who could stay in one of those the longest. It was…well…quite the sight.” She chuckled upon recalling how they had stumbled upon Phainon passed out on the floor of the bathhouse while Mydei had stared down at him in mild disappointment.
Bailu finished one of her tuskpir wraps and then moved onto the other. “That sounds fun. Where are you guys heading to next?”
Dan Heng shrugged. “We still have yet to figure that out. We’re taking a bit of a break. Amphoreus was hard on all of us, especially Marina,” he said with a sigh. “I spent a thousand years in Amphoreus time just looking for her after she was kidnapped.”
Bailu’s eyes widened. “Oh no, Miss Marina was kidnapped?” she asked. “It sounds like you found her, though.”
Yue nodded. “He used some of the abilities he’d gotten through taking on the Coreflame to find her. It was honestly pretty impressive.” She finished off the fries and moved onto eating one of her wraps. “I think we’re doing all right on fuel. And unless Pom-Pom says something about us needing to refuel, I think we’re just taking it easy.”
The three Vidyadhara sat on the bench for a few more hours together; Bailu grilled both of them on their time in Amphoreus with questions about the food, the culture, the people, and anything else that she could think of. Before long, the sky over the Luofu had begun to darken as night fell. Bailu had dozed off without realizing, and her head was leaning against Dan Heng’s arm. He looked down at her. “I think we should get her back to the Preceptors, as much as she might hate that.”
Yue stood up from the bench as Dan Heng lifted Bailu up into a piggyback ride position. “She’s out cold,” she observed with a small laugh. “I wish I could fall asleep that fast.” She picked up the remainder of the trash from the leftover food. “I think she missed us.”
Dan Heng smiled softly as Bailu snored loudly from where her head lolled over on his shoulder. “I’d say that’s a good guess. We’ll have to visit her more, when we have some time. I am glad to be back, all things considered. Amphoreus took a lot out of all of us.” With that, the two began walking back in the direction of the Medicine Bureau, the starry sky glimmering above them.
“You know,” Yue murmured, “Sometimes I envy Bailu. She’s still young, and while she definitely has a lot more responsibility to handle than your average Vidyadhara child, she still finds the opportunities to be carefree and have her fun and escape from authority.” She looked at Bailu fondly, if a little sadly.
Dan Heng sighed. “She’ll eventually be stuck dealing with the real burdens of being a High Elder, but for now, she’s got time to just enjoy being a kid. Even if she hates being short,” he added with a quiet laugh.
The two walked together in relative silence until they reached the Medicine Bureau. Yue gently shook Bailu awake, who wiped at her eyes as she yawned. “Where are we?” she asked sleepily. “Did I fall asleep?”
Dan Heng nodded and set Bailu down. “Yeah, you did. I carried you back.” He chuckled. “You must have been pretty tired, huh?”
She yawned again even though she shook her head. “Nuh-uh…” She glanced back at Yue. “Anyway…thanks for spending some time with me today. I missed seeing you guys. Please come back and visit me again soon.” Bailu hugged both of them and then sighed. “I have to go back inside now or the Preceptors are going to get upset with me. Bye!” She waved and then headed inside, leaving Dan Heng and Yue to their own devices.
Yue waved back, before lowering her hand once Bailu was out of sight. “We’ll have to keep an eye on her. And those Preceptors. I’m not about to let them mess with her for their own devices.” She slung an arm around Dan Heng’s shoulders. “But for now, let’s get back to the Express. We’ve still got lots of trails left to blaze.”