As expected, the children are slowing us down. We're moving at a much slower pace than we could have, leaving aside flying all the way. And walking in a straight line in the desert is easier said than done, since dunes can pile up to a hundred meters at times. The slope leading down from them are not as problematic, but climbing up with the legs of my reduced size is proving an arduous process. In other words, it's as hard, or even harder for the two kids.

Or so I thought, but after all, they grew up in this desert, so I don't see them showing any signs of tiredness as they follow into our footsteps, a few paces behind us. By the way, we introduced ourselves with lots of gesturing, and now I know that the boy's name is Hanif and the girl's is Fayza. Their names sound completely different from the ones in the Kingdom of Lares, and it drives home once again that we're far from it now.

The two children don't need any help climbing or descending, but while Hestia oftentimes motions to help me, I can see that she is actually the one growing the most exhausted in our group. I think the main reason might be dehydration and the scorching sun that's moved to the zenith of its path by now. I think at the rate we're going we won't be reaching the city within the day.

"Inebriat." I chant and form a ball of water above my head. It's much smaller than when I cast it at the academy. When I think about it, it's highly likely that my magic uses what's available around me as the catalyst, similar to light magic in general. In other words, because there's little water in the desert, what I can create from the air is also much more limited.

I turned my hair into a single sheet earlier, like I did the first time I arrived in the Kingdom of Lares, to shield myself from rain, but this time to counteract the rays of the sun. While it seems that my body isn't as easily affected by environmental effects, my mind still is to a certain extent. The water comes down on me and drenches my entire body, cooling it off. I suck the water inside me through the skin and am completely dry within a few seconds.

When I look at the kids, they stare at me with round eyes and mouths, speechless at what I just did. Guess they've never seen magic before, and least of all being able to summon water out of thin air. In a desert, a water magic affinity would most likely be considered a godlike gift.

"Inebriat." I mutter once again and keep the resulting bucket-sized ball of water afloat in the air. "Water." I point at it and speak to the children. They look up at it and then at me again. Hanif seems to understand what I mean.

"Resav." He answers. Apparently that's the word for water in their language. But there's not the hint of trying to pronounce the language I'm using coming from his side. Not that I'm trying to teach him, though.

"Drink." With one hand I gesture towards the ball of water and a cup-sized amount separates from it, which I bring to my lips and suck out of the air. It's a strange feeling, but I've seen videos of astronauts drink like that in space.

"Neknirt." Hanif says and from within the folds of his robe brings out a leather bag. From it I can hear the sound of liquid splashing, so it must be a container to hold water. I'm actually quite curious about how someone thought of using leather like this, but of course there's no plastic in this world and wood or metal would be too heavy to carry around all the time. He pulls off the cork cap and brings it to his lips to drink from it. Guess he doesn't need my magic yet. I watch as he holds it to his sister's mouth and feeds her.

I pour the remaining water over my body and let it soak in, before turning around to continue our journey. However, my eyes catch onto Hestia looking at me with an expression of desire. Oh, she did say her affinities are wind and light, and most likely dark, now that she's fully corrupted, so she can't cast any water magic to quench her thirst. She should have brought it up sooner.

"Come here." I wave her over and her face brightens. How to best make this fun? Ah, I know. And I would make Senka frown at this idea. "Kneel."

"... Onee-sama?" She looks at me in wonder but does as told, kneeling in the sand before me. I hold her face with both my hands and kiss her on the mouth. Her eyes go big in surprise, but I immediately follow up by parting her lips with my tongue. Then I feed her the water I just ingested. I've been feeling the sexual frustration building inside me since seeing Vitalis' ahegao last night, without actually doing anything, so this is a little bit of an outlet. For a long time water flows from me into her and I hear her gulping it down greedily.

When we finally separate, Hestia gasps for air and her face looks like she reached a little climax. I lick my lips and revel in that expression of hers. I turn to the kids and Hanif is holding his sister's eyes closed while looking at us with a blush. He must be interested, and I give him a suggestive smile. Of course, I have no interest in boys, so it's just light teasing. He blinks and a defiant look fills his face as he shakes his head. My, that is quite cute though.

This should do to suppress my urges for now; I won't be going all the way as long as we're on the journey to get Kamii back. But when we do, I'll be taking my sweet time with both of them. After I punish the humans for taking her hostage, that is. Senka is with her, and even though I haven't seen her combat capabilities, I somehow believe that she's really dependable. At least dependable enough to protect Kamii until my return. A part of me is thinking that this is pretty wishful thinking, but there's no point worrying myself sick while I'm unable to do anything.

"Onee-sama..." Hestia breathes hotly and her wings tremble. I guess her knees are weak from our exchange of bodily fluids just now, so she can't stand up. Wait... why didn't I think of this earlier? I remember that she carried me out of my room that fateful night on the library rooftop, and I carried her back without any problem. So she should be able to fly with Hanif in her arms, while I take the smaller Fayza. It's not like my mass has been diminished to my current stature, and I could still take on Hestia's size if I wanted to - although it does feel like I'd be hollowing myself out a bit to achieve it.

"Hestia, how are your eyes?" I ask her after she calms down a little.

"I think they may be better now." Of course, since all that surrounds us are dunes of the same color, it's hard to test out one's eyes to determine the acuity of distant objects compared to closer ones.

"Do you think you have enough energy to fly for half a day?" I'm not sure I have enough myself, but I'll feed on my own body's mass if I have to. In a city I can surely find a market and just steal all the food I need - or maybe a shady alleyway with people who're looking to mug us. Either of these options are fine with me.

"Yes, I use very little energy when I am flying, since I can glide for long distances." Hestia responds with a confident expression. For some reason I feel like she might be thinking that we're finally leaving the two kids behind, but she should understand me by now.

"Then carry Hanif. I'll take Fayza." Without awaiting her answer, I transform into a full copy of her, including the black wings. I walk towards the two kids, who look at me in awe and fear. It must be clear to them that I'm a demon, but suddenly Hanif begins to speak for the longest time since I met him.

"Nenez ri id elif-tednirgeg niteg?" He sounds excited. I have no idea what he's saying, but he doesn't look like he's cursing me or trying to tell me to keep away. His eyes are sparkling and I feel like he's coming to a strange misunderstanding about me. Maybe there's a local legend about a shape-shifting being or something.

I squat down in front of them and stretch out my arms towards Fayza, as if to ask for a hug. Her innocent expression of awe at being given attention from what she may think to be a mystic existence is really endearing, and she leaves the safety of her brother's back.

"Fayza!" He tries to hold her back, but I gaze at him firmly, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. She stumbles into my embrace and I pick her up from the ground, hugging her to my bare chest - not enough matter to copy the heavy robes, and I don't really care about it. Nestling into it, Fayza seems really calm and I feel my motherly instincts awaken. "Sav utsliv nhut?"

"Don't worry." I say, knowing that he doesn't understand. But words have power - as seen in magic - and the reassuring tone I deliver it in should serve to calm him down a bit. I jump up, spread my wings and mutter "Ventus", causing a gust under my wings to carry me upwards. Of course, I forgot that it's going to blow up a lot of sand, and it causes Hanif to get a face-full of it. Sorry...

I soar up into the sky and look back at the path we've taken so far. Apparently we actually went in a really straight line. While I can't see farther than where we have been around maybe ten minutes ago, since the winds have already erased our tracks, I think we've been on the right path. I look down and align myself to keep going in the right direction, before nodding to Hestia, who's picked up Hanif and is spreading her wings to follow after me.

Thus we begin to fly. Damn, we should have done that much earlier, why didn't I ever consider the possibility to carry them, rather than take them inside my body? Is it because I've become too reliant on the special feature of mine that I'm starting to forget the basics? I only started using my body to its fullest - within my knowledge - in the past few days, so that shouldn't be the case. Maybe it has something to do with a shift in mentality because of realizing the potential applications of this convenient body.

I understand what Hestia meant: I instinctively know that with the large surface area of my wings I can glide for a long time without needing to beat them. She has caught up and is now gliding next to me while making sure that Hanif is in no danger of falling. Fayza is clinging to my neck and looking down at the scenery in speechless awe. Indeed, for a human living in the medieval-seeming times, seeing the ground from so high above is most likely the stuff of legends.

"Onee-sama, I see something." Hestia calls out to me after a while and points into the distance. She's holding onto her load with one arm and I'm a little worried about the boy's safety, but I nonetheless look forward. I should have expected it: My eyesight is as good as a Fata's in this form, since my body is practically a perfect copy of Hestia's based on her genes. I immediately see what she means.

There's a walled-off city. From afar I can only make out the fact that it's smaller than Hovsgaerden, and that its walls are sand-colored. It looks like one of those old Middle-Eastern towns that I've seen on photos before. So the boy really knew the way to the nearest human settlement, but consciously decided to stay in that rotting camp with his little sister. Maybe he saw no means of survival for two little orphans, even if they did find shelter in a city. No, I won't think too much. I can't keep taking care of them on our journey, I'm not a moving orphanage...

When we approach the town I can see that behind it is a river and that there are fields next to it. Then it makes sense for a human settlement to be here - it would have been strange if there were no sources of water nearby. We set down not far from the gate, since at this point I don't care about onlookers seeing us. There's no keeping our identities hidden with Hestia around; unlike me, she can't hide her wings after all. I transform back into my loli version and put Fayza down on the ground, upon which she looks up to me with a radiant smile. Hng, this is bad for my heart!

"Knada!" She says with a slight lisp before turning around and running into her brother's arms. I guess that means something like thanks.

"There's no point in trying to keep a low profile with you around, Hestia, so let's go all out. We find the marketplace first, if there is one." I need to stock up on mass before I can take proper actions. "If there isn't, we'll go to the next step and sell you to slave traders." Since I'm really feeling like they exist in this nation.

"Huh?" She makes as if she didn't understand what I said. "... sell me?" Her expression changes to one of disbelief.

"... I mean to use you to find this nation's slave trade ring. They will surely be able to speak our language, and give us information." I don't like that she actually needs an explanation for that. Do I look like I'd actually sell you into slavery? At this point I'll just take what I need, no point in hiding myself. "And if they don't comply, I'll have some extra food."

"I-I see."

I don't say any more and walk through the unguarded gates. I guess this nation is quite peaceful if they think they can get away with leaving their wide-open entrance unguarded. But when I step into the town I realize why there's no need for guards to be posted at the gates. While the streets aren't necessarily bustling, there are people walking around. And every single one of them has a weapon at their hip, ranging from curved swords to maces, axes and daggers.

As we proceed through the streets, closely followed by the two children, all eyes are on us. Most specifically on Hestia and her wings, although I can feel some on me, too. Everyone is wearing flowing robes of light colors, which cover almost all the skin on their bodies. It's protection against the harmful effects of the sun, so someone walking around with little clothes already makes a big impact. But I'm looking like a naked child right now. I could actually be taken in for questioning by the authorities at any moment, I feel.

There is a marketplace, although it's already in the process of packing up. The sun is moving towards the horizon and the store owners must be about to go home to prepare and have their own dinners. It's actually a blessing in disguise, since some of them are moving palettes and not paying attention to their storefront. I turn to Hestia. "Keep these two occupied and stay here." She nods in understanding.

I begin my work: I walk through the small alleys between the stands and sweep the displayed goods into my body whenever the storeowner turns away. Voices behind me grow louder, as they notice that something is wrong and their goods have been stolen. "Venag!" is the common word I hear from them, so I guess it must mean thief.

One of them comes after me and grabs my shoulder. I turn around and show him not only that I'm naked, but also that I don't have anything in my hands. He scratches his head in confusion and looks around again. There is nobody else in the vicinity, though. Ohhh, spooky~

But I continue this in another alley, resulting in the same reaction from several stand owners and peddlers. None of them find any proof and all they can do is look at the spot their goods disappeared from in confusion. Two of them even start accusing each other of theft and are arguing loudly. That's the perfect cover for me to make my escape, and I return to the street where I left Hestia with the kids. I've stocked up on food of an amount about the mass of a single Vularen, so it's still a long ways off before I'll get back to my full strength.

Now, for the next step.

"Hestia-tan, come here~" I signal for her to come over while holding up a chain and leather belt I swiped along the way. A blush appears on her face as if she's expecting some kinky play, and it now makes me think that I want to test it out on her eventually. But for now, there's work to be done. "Time to make you my slave."

"Onee-sama, I am already your slave." Yeah, I should have expected that response...

Although, what to do about the children?