The palace lacked a proper takeoff area for the hornets and as such, Rei and Nana now had to guide their hornets through the early morning Choukishi streets. To be slightly more exact, Rei was leading them and Nana was walking well ahead of her even though she needed Rei to guide her to the market square they’d use to take off.

Nana was staring at the stars as she walked, grumbling about the stable boys taking too long and calculating what time it was. She held her fingers to the two moons, estimating it was the hour of the firefly.

“Noon,” she said, guessing when they’d be home, “If we make good time…”

“Could have slept,” Rei said, mostly to herself, but still drew an annoyed look from Nana for her efforts.

“Just,” Nana sighed, shaking her head, “Just move.”

They were about to cross one of the boulevards to the market square, when Nana stopped dead in her tracks.

“What’s that smell?” she asked herself, clamping her nose shut with her fingers.

Rei shrugged, making a face, but, guiding the two hornets, she wasn’t able to hold her nose as Nana did.

“Probably latrine collection,” she called over, taking a few steps back when the hornets tugged on the reins, trying to get away from the scent of feces.

The source came in sight a few moments later, when a giant ball of excrement, thrice Nana’s height in diameter, crossed their path. It was flanked by four handlers, who were easily identifiable as sukeeru, the untouchables of society, by their clipped short hair and drab clothing. Each carried a stick, which they were using to keep the giant ball on route, while a fifth spurred on the power behind the ball, an enormous dung beetle. The beast, only half the size of the ball, was using all the power in its legs, kicking ferociously to push the poop down the road.

One of the sukeeru noticed the two Giya, pretended not to see them so he wouldn’t have to stop his work to bow for them, and continued fighting the ball in the right direction.

“Well,” Nana said when they had passed and only a little of the stench lingered, “Glad that’s over.”

“The farmers will be happy with it,” Rei pointed out reasonably, “No manure, no crops.”

“And that’s why,” Nana smirked, “I’m glad that I’m not a farmer.”

Rei rolled her eyes, then nodded her head to the market square, “There it is.”

She pulled the hornets, that had stopped struggling, along by their reins. One of them responded by snapping its mandibles in protest. Rei hushed it by whispering to it, stroking its face between the eyes, then smiled when it calmed down.

“Your ride is waiting, Lady Hoshitentou,” Rei said, giggling when she saw Nana’s distaste at being addressed formally.

Some farmers, already bringing their crops in for the weekly market, stared in wonder at the royal mounts. Most had seen an army ant at best in their life. The hornets were a rare sight to anyone this far from the capital.

Nana inclined their heads to them when she noticed they were there, waited for them to bow, then took a long way around the hornets, approaching it from the side so she wouldn’t have to deal with either its sting or mandibles.

After making sure none of the farmers had seen her cowardice, she climbed on the hornet and took the reins from Rei.

Rei gave her a knowing smile, lightly mounted her own, then made it scuttle slightly away from her companion’s.

“Might want to stand back!” she yelled to the farmers, “It’s about to get windy!”

When the two hornets beat their wings to take off, a small hurricane knocked several of the farmers to the floor, scattering one’s load of cabbages.

It was gone as fast as it had started. The hornets rose to the sky, turning Choukishi in the simple rectangle that it had been named for.

Near the palace, they could see the long line of soldiers, mounted and infantry, criers, carriers and standing out in the middle, the three giant snails. Gi’s procession had started to move.

“Can I sweep over her head!” Rei called. Nana, not in the habit of replying to questions people knew the answer to, studied the horizon.

Rei frowned when she didn’t even get a negative response.

“What’s wrong!”

Nana pointed to two thick blankets of black clouds that were slowly drifting towards each other, stealing the dawn away form their sight. She shook her head in concern, then pushed her knees to the flank of the hornet.

Dubiously, Rei sped after her.

The concern had been justified. The clouds had only gotten darker and rolled together. They were shedding the first of the promised rain towards the two flying women. Soft drops that slammed against the creatures’ wings, cascading into small rainbows from the little sunlight that struggled to penetrate the clouds.

“We should land!” Rei yelled.

Nana looked at the sky, frowned when a drop spattered into her eye, then shook her head.

“We can outfly it!” she called back, leaned down across her hornet and pressed hard against its flanks.

“Nana!” Rei screeched after her, already descending when she noticed the rains picking up, “Get down!”

Nana was about to throw back a stubborn reply over her shoulder. She opened her mouth, then only got a barely audible noise out, paling at the sight of lighting. The purple bolt streaked across the black sky, mercifully past Rei, who just stared in confusion at the natural violence.

Gesturing now for Rei to land, Nana started her own descent and felt the rain pick up. The soft drops that had daintily caressed her face now turned to hard, almost sharp, needles the size of her fingers. They beat against her, as if the sky was telling her she had no business being at that height.

She cursed, pushing the hornet as far down as she dared. Below her, the shadowed green of the jungles waited for her. One of the largest trees looked utterly horrifying to her. Its crawling black branches rose above the rest, clawing for the sky, seeming to invite the two riders to its hug of death deep below them.

Nana was relieved when she was only a stone’s throw from the canopy and dared to look over her shoulder to see how Rei’s landing was going. She screamed when another purple bolt of lighting seemed to reach for her. Instinctively, she dodged, even though the lightning was nowhere near her. She toppled from the saddle as she did, having only her foot stuck in the stirrup and the reins in her hands to keep her airborne.

The hornet bucked at its rider, the scent of freedom on its antennae. It plunged down faster, trying to shake Nana from its side.

Nana simply screamed.

The hornet cut through the canopy of leaves and slammed its rider against the nearest tree it could find. Groaning, Nana grabbed a nearby vine. With her foot still stuck in the stirrup, she kicked at it, hoping to tame the creature’s murderous intentions.

Twisted in an attempt to get away from the human, the hornet jabbed its sting at her in the hope that would get her to back off.

Tears of fear in her eyes, Nana reached for the shorter of her blades and with a quick draw, cut through the stirrup. The hornet shot away, landing quickly, then crawling away into the dense undergrowth.

Nana regretted her decision a moment later. Between the vine and the mount, it could keep her weight. The vine itself was too weak. Right after she dropped her sword and grabbed it with both hands, it gave up under the strain, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Screaming, she hit something surprisingly soft that covered her in a bright blue cloud of pollen. Half panicked, Nana tried to remember which of the enormous flowers in the jungles had blue pollen, then simply decided to stay put. The flower’s scent hugged her. It was nice. The rain that occasionally penetrated the leaves to splash onto her face was nice too.

In fact, everything was simply… Nice.

Something stroked her face softly. It felt like her mother’s hand, waking her up for a day of school in the temple.

Vaguely, as if on the other side of a waterfall, she heard Rei scream a challenge, then a loud thud. Another dull sound of something heavy smashing against the floor followed.

A sharp pain against her face, then a hand tightly around her wrist, pulling her from her soft bed. A dull pain of hitting the floor followed, then a strike against the back of her head.

“Nana,” Rei screamed in her ear, “Wake up!”

Nana blinked a few times, then let out a soft yelp when Rei slapped her in her face again.

“You fell in a joyflower,” Rei said matter-of-factly. Nana blinked, then heard the odd sound of combat. Chitin striking chitin.

Years of drilled instinct took over from the plant’s sedating pollen. She blinked a few times until Rei was in focus in front of her. She looked to the sound of combat and saw the Hornet dance in the air around a mantis, even bigger than it was.

It took a moment to figure out what happened, but Rei must have forced her hornet to engage the mantis, jumped off before the impact and pulled her from the flower, which lazily danced in the breeze above them.

“Maybe not hang around here?” Rei suggested and, without waiting for an answer, pulled her away from the violent insects, heading into the dark jungle.