With the two of them completely talking past each other while earnestly declaring their own resolve, something in Lucy finally relaxed. She returned to her usual cheerful, lively self.
She invited the two of them to tour the ranch, showing them the cattle, sheep, and ponies being raised there. On the grassland she taught them how to ride and gallop freely.
She watched with open envy as Kabe soared and wheeled across the clear blue sky, and could not help begging excitedly to fly together with him.
She carefully asked Sorano about Celestial Spirit Magic and, learning from this senior who was both "enemy" and "friend," picked up many useful little tricks.
Finally, all three of them went to a small stream far from the estate for a picnic.
Sitting sideways on a luxurious silk woven picnic cloth, savoring this rare, willful freedom, Lucy's restless heart started to stir again.
"Hey, Kabe, if I wanted to join Fairy Tail… would you be willing to take me away?"
Kabe was holding a bacon sandwich in each hand, eating with both at once. Hearing that question, he almost choked to death.
Coughing and thumping his chest, he grabbed the juice Sorano handed over, forced the food down, then immediately rolled his eyes at Lucy.
"Idiot. Who said the two of us have to elope or something.
If you want to come to our guild, then just come. Don't worry about your dad, I will talk to him. The two of us hit it off at first sight. Our relationship is way better than you think."
"That is impossible. That stubborn old man is not that easy to deal with."
Lucy pouted and grumbled quietly about her own father.
Even so, Kabe's answer still made her a little deflate. Right now she did not have the courage to defy Jude.
"Forget it, I will pretend I just said it in the moment. I am still young, and the world of mages is dangerous.
I will wait a couple of years and only think about this once I have mastered my Celestial Spirit Magic a bit more."
"Heh. So in the end you are just scared.
Well, you are a rich young lady, after all. It is normal for you to cherish your life more than poor mages like us."
Ever since her talk with Kabe the night before, Sorano had stopped suppressing her nature. Her words had grown a little sharper and more sarcastic.
Lucy did not think too hard about it. She just assumed Sorano was sniping at her as a rival in love and immediately straightened her face and snapped back crisply.
"That has nothing to do with it. This is called building up power and making a stunning move later.
Look at the protagonists in those stories. Which one of them did not stay in their hometown training for a long time, then leave after reaching adulthood and shock the world?"
"Pfft…"
Hearing such a naive argument, Sorano could not hold back a disdainful laugh.
Kabe had just finished off an entire basket of food and sighed mockingly.
"In those stories the protagonist always has some hidden master in their hometown teaching them.
What do you have? That shaky old man who can barely walk and only knows how to teach you magic history.
What, was he a former Wizard Saint or something?"
"Do not look down on Master Graham. He used to be an S Class mage of a magic guild!"
Lucy's voice rose sharply as she refuted him, but under the skeptical gaze of Kabe, a current S Class mage of Fiore's top guild, her momentum faltered and she had to tack on a few weak lines.
"Even if it was only a small guild, Master's magical knowledge is very solid.
Besides, I have Aquarius. Every Celestial Spirit has lived for hundreds or thousands of years. If you really compare, they are way more awesome than some Wizard Saints."
As she spoke, Lucy suddenly remembered that she had not yet introduced Aquarius to Kabe.
The two of them had at least crossed paths in the past, and with a stream right in front of her, this was the perfect opportunity.
So she happily took out the Aquarius key and ran toward the creek barefoot.
Seeing what she was doing, Kabe instantly had a bad feeling.
Before Sorano could even react, he wrapped an arm around her, grabbed the picnic blanket along with the food and utensils, and shot into the air.
The moment they lifted off, the gate connecting to the Celestial Spirit World opened.
Aquarius's furious roar rose with the sudden surge of a massive wave that exploded up and swallowed the patch of grass where the three of them had just been sitting.
"You stupid girl, did you forget what day of the month it is?!"
"Eeeek!"
Lucy was swept away by the towering wave in an instant, her scream cut off as she vanished into the water.
Watching her get engulfed so tragically, Kabe could only shake his head in regret and land with Sorano on the other side of the stream where the water had not reached.
Sorano did not recover from the shock until her feet were firmly on the ground again.
Her fingers trembled as she pointed at Aquarius, who was floating above the stream with her hands on her hips, ranting and raving. Sorano's voice was unsteady as she stammered,
"T that… that woman is really a Celestial Spirit? Since when do spirits attack their own master? I have never heard of such a thing!"
Kabe opened his mouth, just about to explain, when Aquarius's ears twitched.
She turned, glaring, and snapped first.
"Hah? What kind of nonsense are you spouting, little girl?
You really think that flat chested, no hips, dumb blonde is qualified to be my master? Do not make me laugh."
As she spoke, she even spat disdainfully into the stream.
Sorano was completely stunned.
Everything she had ever been taught told her that Celestial Spirit Mages held absolute authority over their spirits and that spirits could not disobey a contractor's orders.
Yet Aquarius had just torn that belief to pieces and crushed it underfoot.
With one brutal example, she showed that Celestial Spirits also had tempers. Contract or not, if they were unhappy, they would refuse to obey and might even flip things around and stomp all over their "master."
While Sorano's world view collapsed and she stood frozen in place, Aquarius had already flown over to the two of them.