"Is this good enough for you?" I slapped a piece of paper onto Devina's desk.
Her fingers crawled towards the piece of paper and scooped it up with two fingers.
She unraveled it and stared at it for a while.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, concerned that we might have wished for the wrong thing.
She slid the paper onto the table, and it was just green.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I picked the map up and stared blankly at it.
"Is this supposed to be our map?"
Devina snatched the paper back and compared it to a normal map. Putting them side by side made no difference, but then Devina took out a pen and began counting the individual coordinates on the normal map. She pointed at the forest north of Fukviyu and said that the green color somewhat matched that of the map I had provided. Though the issue was the scaling of it. She had to calculate how much the map was either scaled down or up. I just left the room at that point because I couldn't even comprehend what she was trying to achieve with merely that green piece of paper.
I headed back to our club room and, as per usual, Fiviana and Aylin were playing games with each other.
"Oh hey, Vivshi!" Fiviana called out upon seeing me.
Aylin stood up and immediately asked me if the map she had provided me worked.
"Devina is currently figuring that out."
"Oh... at least it wasn't an instant rejection at least," she said, smiling.
"I wonder, in their culture, is it taboo to have children with humans?" I pondered out loud.
"There's nothing in the records of them mingling with humans. It has been thousands of years since we saw any appearances, well, up until now at least," Fiviana said.
"They haven't been active around humans ever since the Aeonic Wars," Aylin followed up.
They honestly have my sympathy. For them, living in a place full of humans must feel suffocating. You don't know who to trust and don't know anything about the lands.
Later that night, as I was outside to get some fresh air, I saw Celia sitting by the pond with Eris under the moonlight. They were talking, and I decided to walk up to them.
At first, they were startled, but after realizing who I was, they quickly regained their composure. They probably thought anyone the Aeon of Desire deems trustworthy is undoubtedly trustworthy. They asked me if they could help me with anything. Remembering the questions from earlier, I blurted out if mingling with humans was taboo. They stared at me before shaking their heads in synchronization while waving their hands.
"It's not inherently taboo to mingle with humans. It is just important to have the blessings of the Moon Goddess to do so. Even with a Lusian, you would need them," Celia responded.
"Are you feeling better now, Celia?"
She was taken aback by my question and nodded, saying that everything was good and that she was feeling quite decent.
"That's good to hear. Are you guys simply absorbing the moonlight tonight?"
"Mostly, yeah. We could either normally eat food or absorb moonlight to sustain ourselves. Most of the Lusians in our village prefer both. Wait, how did you know about us liking to bathe in moonlight?"
"Ahah... you know Aylin? She likes to do this quite often too. So I just assumed you guys were just like her."
"It's only natural for the Moon Goddess to witness her own beauty," Eris said smugly.
"Though Celia, what would the villagers of your village think of that human child inside of you?"
"Oh well... I will just say that Celestia herself gave me her blessings. I think they would be overjoyed."
"Is it a normal thing to have children for Lusians?"
"No, we rarely give birth. Most of us are hundreds of years old. We don't really die of natural causes due to our anatomy. We can practically live forever, so we don't really see the need for reproduction. That means whenever a child is born, there is a giant celebration, but also vice versa. If someone succumbs, there is a massive gathering for grieving. For us Lusians, life itself is precious due to it being a gift from our Mother."
"So how old are the both of you?"
Celia pointed at Eris.
"She's 47 and I'm 48. I'm a bit older than her, heh."
"It's not even that big of a difference!" Eris tried chomping down on the finger Celia used to point at her.
Celia dodged and picked up the kitten that was in her lap the entire time.
"The youngest of all the Lusians in our village is the Princess! She's only 15 months old!"
"Nyaaa!" The kitten meowed menacingly.
"If she's the Princess, who is the Queen?"
"The Queen, she kinda left a year ago for political duties, she said," Eris chimed in.
"The Queen is a fox with 9 tails, and it is said she is a master in bargaining and strategic tactics."
"So basically a war general?"
"Not that barbaric. She likes to move and pull the strings in the shadows."
"Is she strong?"
"She is really strong." Eris crossed her arms and looked up into the sky.
"Even if Lucieno and I teamed up on her, she would beat us. Even if there were 20 of us, she would beat us. She is a master of Lukini!"
"What Aeon affiliation did she have?"
"It was white, if I remember correctly," Eris said.
"Yeah, definitely white." She nodded her head.
With white, did she refer to the Aeon of Serenity? The flower of Serenity is silver-white.
"So Vivshi, have you found any leads to get us back home?"
"The Head Principal is working on it currently. It might take some time."
"I suppose it wouldn't be that easy."
Eris then suddenly grabbed Celia's collar and shook her violently with a terrified, grim expression.
"Calm down, what is it, Eris?"
"How do we explain to Azure what happened to the Princess and us?"
"...."
Celia's usual calm and collected expression turned into ice.
"We are so fucking screwed."
Meanwhile, somewhere in a Lusian village.
"I'm so fucking screwed!!!" A blue-haired girl slammed her desk so hard that bottles filled with herbs and medicine started to fall down onto the floor.
"No! No! No...!" She desperately tried to catch them before they fell onto the floor.
"If Madame finds out I lost her daughter, I'm so fucking dead... Where the hell are you, CELIA?! ERIS?! LUCIENO?! AUGHHHH, WHY CAN'T I JUST TAKE MY EYES OFF OF THEM FOR ONE DAY? LIKE JUST LET ME HAVE ONE DAY OFF!"
She threw on a bag around her shoulder with straps and hurriedly stepped out of the door. After walking a bit through the dense forest, she saw the lox domain. She stuck her arm out and phased straight through the lox domain.
"Time to find these rascals before I get slimed... gotta hurry up..."