Caroline strolled by the lakes in Cindersap forest at a leisure she has never felt before meeting the Wizard. Something has changed. It used to be her secret trips because Pierre forbade her to come on her own. It used to be this time of day that gave her a secret thrill, an exciting terrifying tension she balanced on that made her feel normal and free. But that has changed. The feeling of forbidden thrill wasn’t there anymore. Instead, it was replaced by an inner peace coming from the fact that at the end of the road, the Wizard will be there wearing a friendly smile.

As though the wizard had been summoned by her mere thoughts, he appeared. Next to him he was walking arm in arm with a woman whose black hair went down to her ankles, a carefree laugh bubbling out of her as though she had all the time in the world. She must be Esmeralda, his wife. Suddenly, her guts turned into a thousand knots and she tamped it down with a hard swallow, looking away to the beautiful lakes staring at it with a wistful stare. She had accepted long ago what kind of life she was going to live with, and it’s going to be a kind of life with Pierre. She had come to peace with it. So why does she feel like her chest was drawn inside out by a heaviness made out of lead?

“Caroline!” came the wizard’s voice, he and his wife moving towards her. Their friendly faces giving her a huge challenge to match but with great effort, she pushed hard to muster up her usual cheeriness. A kind of cheeriness she reserved for Pelican townspeople.

“Magi Rasmodius, how do you do? And you must be Esmeralda, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Caroline. I feel like I already know you. We have just been talking about you.”

“Oh.” she laughed nervously, “I hope all good things.”

In excitement, Esmeralda stepped forward eyes widening “Surrogacy is such a fascinating concept.”

The wizard shifted his basket of sleeping pumpkaboos he was holding to another arm and snaked his other arm around Esmeralda’s hips. “My wife likes to keep up with human inventions. She finds it fascinating.”

“It is fascinating.” his wife said, she wore a floral dress made out of thin wispy fabric, vibrant and delicate. “I especially like the recent one about indoor plumbing. I mean outhouses already solved the deal but indoors changes the game. I never knew.”

“Wow,” she said, clutching a fist against her chest. Instantly growing conscious of her basket of mushrooms, it must seem so primitive to them. “That sounds like a million years away. We humans have definitely made milestone inventions since then. Hundreds of them.”

“Truly?” she took her arm in hers “You must tell me all about them. Can she come with us, Magi?”

“If she isn’t busy?”

Expectant faces both stared at her. “Where are you going?” Caroline said.

Esmeralda practically bounced in her place, “To Calico desert. Me and Magi are going hunting for void serpents.”

“Isn’t that extremely dangerous?”

“With friends, not so much.”

“Friends?” her gaze roamed around them, “Where?”

“Right behind you.”

She turned around to face the Cindersap lake, there were new monsters dotting the sides of it.

Esmeralda pointed at them with a hand filled with sparkling jewelry, “Those are my little pawniards polishing their blades with river stones, and that big girl over there is their alpha. A bisharp, her name Xynthos. Mama Xynth.” She dipped her mouth close to Caroline’s ear, whispering “She won’t let us name her little pawniards. She gets strict about hierarchy. It’s a touchy subject.”

The afternoon sun glinted off the monsters’ heavy armor, newly polished and washed. “They won’t hurt us?”

She reared back, seeming offended. “Dear no, they don’t think humans are fair game. Too easy, you know? Xynthos and her little pups are more interested in the hunting game. They help us reduce the growing population of deadly monsters in the Crimson Badlands.”

“Void serpents, skeletons, iridium bats and all those old monsters” Magi listed. “The ones that attack with no discrimination.”

Esmeralda swung her head at him in a snap, slapping a palm on his chest. “Oh but they do!” she frowned, visibly chastened by her thoughts. “Though that’s a conversation for another day. Caroline why don’t you join us? My friends and I will make sure no harm comes to you.”

Unsure, she stared for a moment and gauged her new friends’ expressions “If it’s no trouble..”

“Perfect.” Esmeralda exclaimed.

Magi muttered, taking Caroline’s arm to his. “We won’t be long.”