Farewells didn’t take the three girls very long, not after establishing the purpose of their journey. Ayzherie would make sure things were taken care of in their absence, the three girls just needed to devote themselves to dealing with Liyuzhe.

Hardly a moment later, the three girls arrived at the mall. Sryine had an illusion over her arm, hiding its glow, but she didn’t bother with any further illusions. Everyone there knew who they were, and that did cause a bit of a comotion, but keeping up with girls that just kept teleporting everywhere proved effectively impossible for the crowds. Instead, stores were earnest to provide optimum service at considerable discount, especially after Sryine personally stepped in for the same objective. Sryine however was completely uncertain what she should bother picking up, but Vwyx didn’t have anything close to the same problems. Instrumentation, and all of its wonder, any of the greatness it could provide to their daily lives. Vwyx even lent Sryine a hand in picking out some instruments of her own. Vwyx had also ensured that the new result of the music box had been brought along with them, along with pieces to easily convert it to any of its previous iterations. An immersive visual entertainment, or a personal life-like simulation, she was prepared to have her original creation offer either experience.

Still, the village was mostly practically minded people, they wouldn’t be as interested in such measures of distraction. Instead, she picked practical tools that did practical things with practical results.. that were way more efficient than the regular process. Cooking instruments, even a tiny grain mill, would go a long way for both having a good breakfast and providing her family with improved meals of their own. Some of the mechanical instruments she had obtained would alone make her family’s woodcrafting business progress far more efficiently, with special handheld instruments for carving and shaping wood, measurements, and the like. Walking into a store for office supplies offered an obvious lineup of instruments that would help organize any professional leader of people into effectively managing resources such as time and people, while collecting and calculating performance records so as to find ways to optimize the community’s workflow.

Filling two separate bags with further samples of small instruments that projected the vision of both families this efficiently, they found that at some point Riyxia had managed to slip away and obtain all of their food without anyone noticing.. even while every single person in the mall was on the search for her. Sryine was amazed at how Riyxia could have possibly pulled that off with neither teleportation nor illusions, it seemed impossible to her. But with some spectral sleuthing and a few well placed alterations using her gift, the crowd had always remained unable to keep up with her shadow. It also helped having the other two stand out a bit more in the process, an effective cover for her own individual efforts.

Just as suddenly as their arrival at the mall, the three girls suddenly arrived once again at their first ever restaurant experience. The staff present instantly recognized them, but not as any previous patron, they were instead recognized with the same merit as they had at the mall. This place might be out of the city, but they still got all of the city’s news. Even despite this, their waitress was still the same girl as before, just so obviously less composed since she was suddenly serving celebrities. Vwyx and Riyxia split another Aquarius Flambe, just the same as they had before, with all three of them getting their own mintberry smoothie. The entire meal was worth 35 Qeld, they only paid 20.. and that was after the tip that the waitress was ever eager to keep low. Sryine meanwhile had discovered that most of the path from here was a straight line, she was thus generally certain she could keep her bearings straight. No map reported where the clearing they sought would be, but with a path large enough for a vehicle to a clearing that stood out as much as it had, it was safe enough to assume that Sryine would not miss it. Vwyx however had quickly discovered that the restaurant seats weren’t designed to accommodate backpacks, which brought her a degree of discomfort during their stay.

Riyxia had herself discovered that she really didn’t care all that much for mintberries anymore. She wasn’t however certain if that impression was left because such was more a Khyzae thing or if it was because of being an Ersatz, so she made sure to at least appreciate the nostalgia of the experience just in case there was a part of her that actually really wanted it. By the end, she realized that the truth was that a woody/watery mixture just didn’t appeal as much to her after having adjusted more to the flame, and honestly any attachment she might have had was then lost. Sryine and Vwyx weren't even finding the cool drink to be the greatest thing in the world, though the fried fish tasted much better than either Vwyx or Riyxia remembered. Sryine even had started to regret being left on the wrong side of the deal, but convinced herself that her lunch made up for the difference, being flame broiled cutlets served in a thick warm sauce she couldn’t quite place. In review, it really seemed like dining on flame was going to become an important part of the quality of their future diets.

Sryine actually managed to then find the clearing again without any difficulty, the night still distant enough that none of them were yet tired, not even Sryine. She was certain the extra flame within her arm was providing her with the fuel she needed to keep going, this trip was effectively nothing to her. The three of them still decided to setup camp, intent on getting themselves comfortable and relaxed, since they really had nothing better to do. All of the camping supplies they brought were designed to be exceptionally flame resistant, to even contain any flame so that it wouldn’t spread around them. They also had to make sure they were safe from any wildlife.. and that any wildlife was safe from them. Creatures around here didn’t even compare to beasts, anything that even thought of threatening them wouldn’t even have a measure of a chance. Sryine also took the opportunity to discard her illusion at last, providing even more clarity for any wildlife in the area that this was not a good place to hang out. As a result, even the bugs in the area fled. The fish swimming around were especially distressed, they didn’t have as good of a place to hide.. they had to depend on the water around them to keep them safe.

With their camp ready, the three girls had run out of things to occupy themselves with, so it was time for all of them to simply take it easy. Sryine wandered closer to the pond, terrifying the fish with her close presence in the process. The fish weren’t really part of her interest right now though, she was just genuinely interested in the pond. It was a collection of water, small, generally harmless. Even so, she could still feel that part of her that saw the pond as a kind of threat. She really didn’t understand that, but she was prepared to accept it. Just like the fish, she really had no interest in scaring herself either, but she did understand that she would need to learn how to work with those fears so that she could achieve something practical with water. This then proved even more challenging than working with fire had been, she was fully aware of the terms of those fears in the past, and even then had managed to avoid a lot of flame usage until she had been suddenly faced with the reality of herself. Now she would have to not avoid water usage, be fully aware of the reality of herself and how water applies to it.. and actually hardly grasp the terms of her own aquatic fears. To that end, she started conjuring small samples of water around the pond, measuring what little she could grasp of her own comfort to gauge how she should be practicing with water, and thus making very little progress as a result.

Vwyx started off her calm reprieve visiting the trees she had hardly gotten to see in all the lunar cycles since. The confrontation was actually slightly awkward, she wasn’t certain how safe it was for her to work with wood that she could very easily burn. Sure, Sryine probably had the worst of it right now, but Vwyx was still carrying the fragment with her. In a way, the state of her very existence was a betrayal for the wood she had grown up with. It was nostalgic.. but nothing more. She really had no future as a wood crafter anymore, even metal or stone was much more suitable for her at this point. She stepped back from the tree and took a seat on the hill, looking over the trees from a distance. With this perspective, and a keen knowledge of exactly what she should be seeing, Vwyx noticed a slight subtle difference. Very faintly, the blue trees were faintly.. Shimmering. It was almost unnoticeable, but it was there. It was at this that she regretted not having thought of packing any of the comsets, having some proper diagnosis gear would have really helped with this sort of thing.

Riyxia noticed Vwyx’s posture, and somehow recognized the motions of a phantom comset that wasn’t there. She reached into her own stash of supplies and pulled out one of the three comsets she had thought of packing earlier. After all, they needed a way to track down exactly where the astral vent was, it would be far easier to achieve this with precise equipment rather than trying to figure out the flow of aerial shimmers. She passed the comset over to Vwyx before finding her own seat on the hill to relax, turning her own attention to the sky above blankly. Vwyx was very thankful for Riyxia’s foresight on the matter as she got the comset ready and on her head. After taking some quick measures, she discovered that there really was faint bits of the astral flame around here, soaking into the trees, but it was really weak. With the long term exposure and possibly a bit of adaptation, it actually seemed as if the trees had brought to bear their own control over water affinity by reducing their effect of the wood element. Was that then why these trees were so.. blue?

However, that also had an impact of weakening the very nature of the trees, mitigating the very existence of the trees, a trait that might prolong the survival of the trees, but presented an additional weakness for them as a bit of a cost. In its own way, it was similar to a partial approach in how a void crystal was created, meaning the trees lost a bit of the meaning behind their own existence and found themselves easily influenced by outside control. That was probably why it was so easy to make things from such wood, the trees themself were all too willing to adopt whatever was needed of them simply by the desperation of their own existence. A long time ago, Sryine had considered that the azure of the trees should not exist, that it was wrong for them to be so blue.. and she was totally correct with that assumption.

Wasting time for a while more with such reflection, the three girls found that a decent enough opportunity for sleep had finally arrived. The three girls collected themselves for bed, with Vwyx propping herself against the bag in a seated position as recommended. Sryine hid her arm as she had before, dimming the light so as to provide a better arrangement for sleep. Riyxia curled up for her own sleep, lying down among the rest of their supplies as her spectre found a good place on the hill to spend the night in continued reflection. Very soon, sleep arrived, but only took one of them with it. Riyxia was quickly asleep, but the other two found sleep to be rather elusive.

Sryine’s mind was troubled with conjecture involving water, like a nightmare she simply couldn’t form or realize, and this disambiguation left her mind very troubled. She glanced occasionally in the direction of the pond, it’s presence worrying her in ways she couldn’t hope to understand. It wasn’t even the pond itself, only the meaning of it, of water. This whole water thing was leaving her mind spinning, and it really didn’t help that she already had stamina for days.. simply contained within her arm. Vwyx meanwhile was discovering that sleeping from a sitting position was a lot harder than she had been first faced with realizing, she had no way to actually get very comfortable. The bag was very soft, that wasn’t the problem.. technically her posture wasn’t the biggest problem either. Something was removing all sense of comfort she could have gained from her arrangement, and she wasn’t exactly certain what it was. At a loss, she simply sat there huddled in some sheets, still shivering softly.

The night had arrived in full with no change to anyone’s sleep. Riyxia has been careful to spend the night without focusing on much of anything, just calmly enjoying the presence of the stars above her, trying to mitigate any stress she might be feeling in the process. In truth, she felt so calm and relaxed, she was certain her spectre would have fallen asleep too, had it been capable of sleeping in the same way that people were. Sryine meanwhile had taken to desperation in trying to silently console herself that she would keep herself safe from water with the proper use of her gift, and with her great capabilities in the gift, it would take some serious water presence for her capabilities with the gift to be overwhelmed. She had this, she could do this, there was no reason to be afraid… Her silent support remained unheard by anyone, including herself.

Vwyx however wasn’t having much more luck either. She had even taken to tipping the whole setup on its side and resting lying down, but she still remained too uncomfortable. Rendering the bag almost weightless and sleeping on her chest didn’t have any improvements either, even though she could barely feel its physical presence at all by that point. In fact, the only sign it was even there at all was by the subtle chill of its proximity. Her shivering had even intensified slightly, the night growing even colder, and her heat being rapidly transferred through the bag.

Realizing that small detail, Vwyx sprung upright again. The chill of the night, magnified by the design of the bag that was then drawing her heat away from her.. was that the problem here? That was really strange, she could never recall being especially bothered by the cold before. Sure, her sheets had been pretty good at keeping her warm, even while in the wild. Her bed at the hunters was especially warm. She thought back, trying to determine the last time she had actually felt cold. The only thing she could think of was nights spent in the workshop at the village, surrounded by cold metal tools, especially on nights where her family kept her at a distance.. leaving her to endure by will and dreams alone. Through everything they’ve done, she’s not actually felt such a cold ever since in any measure of comfort. Such a distinction was not meaningless.. it might actually mean everything. She had handled the cold while she was still a normal human, and not had to have really tried to relax in a circumstance as chilling since becoming such a flame.

The worst part of the feeling was the part about feeling like the flame was being taken from her, that she was being drained. The cold left her feeling numb, and having grown so bad at the cold of the night, she realized she could barely actually feel anything. That didn’t make much sense either, it wasn’t actually all that cold.. But maybe she just wasn’t so good with the cold because of her new nature. Her flame probably kept her extra warm, and having it taken from her was probably.. painful. It was a pain she couldn’t herself feel, but instead she was left without a feeling of comfort and a growing feeling that something was wrong. She recalled Sryine talking about her water fears earlier, and Riyxia explaining why they needed to be ready to accept such subtle sides of them. Pain brought tension, she had learned that herself from her own augmentation.. and that was exactly why she couldn’t sleep at all, because there was a part of her that remained tense due to its pain. It really was interesting.. in turn Vwyx felt no pain at all, an absolute clarity akin to a tranquil bliss. Such feelings weren’t the same as the lack of feelings while augmented, her emotions remained completely her own, it was only her physical senses that remained so.. Tranquil. She felt that extra sense of control with a subtle urgency of the situation, almost like a cry for help.

She wasn’t about to ignore such needs any longer, not after having become aware of them. Her flame had needs, and those needs were something she would have to be prepared to offer. Flame was opposed by frost, and maybe that was why she wasn’t doing so well right now. Riyxia had estimated that the flame had little to worry about when it came to something as pitiful as frost, but maybe she hadn’t completely accounted for just how bad some frost could actually get. It was definitely something she would have to explore later, but first she needed to address the problem related to it. She needed the bag to stop draining away her heat. Most likely, the only way to sufficiently achieve that in her current situation would be to provide some additional blankets for the bag, trapping all of the heat inside that small space, so that it wouldn’t constantly be taken from her.

Her idea started to work quickly, but it wasn’t a perfect solution, the bag still made the night a bit chilly and uncomfortable. It was still a huge improvement, so she knew she had found the right answer, there just wasn’t much more she could do about it that night. Half drifting to sleep, but not completely making it, Vwyx started to consider a solution to this new problem, so that the metal bag wouldn’t drain away any more heat like this. It probably needed some kind of warm fireproof mesh, to insulate the back with. Actually, maybe it would be better to insulate everything except the back, so that the flame inside could easily escape into the wearer’s back, but any heat within couldn’t escape anywhere else. That would be very complicated to achieve.. but it was probably her only answer.

This same process continued through the night, leaving both Sryine and Vwyx generally sleep deprived. Riyxia was the only one to get a good night’s sleep, and to find a stress-free calm by morning.