The girls all got together to visit the hot springs in the fox village. Naturally, as they are who they are, things got a little horny for a while because there was much to see. Once everyone got a good look at everyone, some comparisons were made, and contests had, the girls eventually calmed down, to some degree, at least, and enjoyed the relaxing bath, the lovely scenery, and each other's company.

“Can I start a pretty uncharacteristic conversation…?” While still in the hot springs with everyone, Sophia sounded unusually serious.

“Sure…?” Everyone looked slightly confused.

"It's a pretty dry topic based on common sense, though."

“…” They all went silent.

“I know that you’re not good with hot water, but that’s too much.” Maya put a hand on the blonde’s forehead to check her temperature. “Even for you…”

“I guess I earned that.” Sophia couldn’t really blame anyone for their reactions.

"So, what's up?" Ari eventually gave her the benefit of the doubt.

“Anna, how much do you know about farming or general agriculture of the kingdom?”

“…” The jaguar went silent. “Maya, what does her temperature say?”

“It seems normal, but…”

“Yeah, there’s no way she’s okay!”

“Oi!” Sophia started it herself, but she felt the two leaned into it a bit too much.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Anna decided to ignore their sassy girlfriends and faced her fellow tiger. “As the princess, I have a rough understanding of what is going on and how the capital especially is fed, but I’m no expert on the matter.”

“Good enough! Do you know if magic plays any role in it?”

“Sure, it does!” Anna nodded a few times. “Mostly water magic during the hotter summer months. I've also heard that some alternatives are being researched that involve earth magic when it comes to sowing crops, though."

“Oh, so there’s no one using magic directly on it to make crops grow faster and or bigger?”

“That’s possible?!”

“You grew a tree out of a tiny sapling in the academy not too long ago, right?”

“Right!” The princess raised her voice. “Do you think it would work on crops, too?”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”

“I guess that’s true. Plants are plants, huh? I wonder if it would be sustainable, though…”

“Hmm?” Sophia tilted her head.

"I mean, it had cost surprisingly little to grow this small tree, but…"

"SMALL TREE?!" The jaguar immediately got loud.

"Not now, Ari. We're having a serious talk here." The duo didn’t have time for her.

“…” She didn’t know how to react to that and faced Maya. “Is it okay to hate them a bit?”

“That’s fair.” The cat-girl nodded. “Not that I can take them seriously in the first place… I mean, basically the only time those two being serious obviously has to be when both of them are naked in a hot spring…”

“Yeah, that’s a little reassuring.”

"I think otherwise!" Steph disagreed with them. "The best conversations are made naked! There’s nothing you can hide, after all!”

“Err…” Chloe looked at her girlfriend. “I don’t think this and that are overly related…”

“Don’t care!”

“Anyway!” The princess decided to continue. “It did cost surprisingly little magic, but I also have considerably more of it at my disposal than most. Even more so after you increased it by so much for me!” She smiled at Sophia during the last part. “Accelerating the growth of a whole field the farmers own might be challenging for the average. Not to mention, isn’t it chantless magic…?”

“Fair, a whole field really might be difficult.” The blonde could see the issue. "Though, I'm pretty sure it could also be used with chants. Is it even chantless…? It’s not like you do anything? Chloe, explanation, please!”

“Why me?” The fox-girl looked confused.

“Because you know the most about magic!”

“I do? Well, sure, I can take a guess…?” She wasn’t sure how to take it. “It’s kinda hard to define what it is? You do use your internal power, but you don’t actually use it to activate magic. The plants seemingly use the raw form for nourishment to grow…? Basically, it’s based on the step before what we call magic? Like, it hasn’t changed form into a ball of fire, for example. I would say that with some training, it should be possible for everyone to use it like that. I agree that it would be extremely taxing and or impossible to do it with an entire field's worth of crops on your own.”

“That is pretty interesting and amazing.” Anna nodded a few times. “It’s most definitely something that needs further testing and research, though. Just to have a way to deal with unexpected crop loss at the very least!"

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that part yet! That’s a princess for you, huh?” The blonde sounded impressed. “Wait, I think it would also be great for out-of-season things like certain fruits and stuff! Low-volume products, as well!”

“Interesting idea!” The princess liked it.

“Peaches!” Chloe suddenly raised her voice. "I could get them all year round!"

“Why peaches…?” Ari couldn’t follow her.

“I love peaches!”

“Ahh…” She wasn’t sure what she had expected.

“We should tell father about the idea!” The princess got back to the topic. "Obviously, he knows more about all that, and he, together with the experts on the field, could also assess just how much it would really benefit all of us.”

“That’s a good idea!” Sophia nodded in agreement. “I also planned to finally tell them about the portals. Might as well do that together and be over with it.”

“Is it really such a good idea to tell him both at the same time…?” Ari didn’t seem to approve of the plan.

“Why not?”

“Explosive headache.” Maya was the one who replied.

“He’ll be fine~.” The tigers showed no mercy for him in that regard.

“Poor king…” Everyone else felt a little sorry for him.

After the topic was exhausted, the girls enjoyed the hot springs for a little longer, but it wasn’t like they could stay in there forever. Much to the disapproval of Maya and Steph, they eventually left the water, got dressed again, and returned to Sophia’s treehouse.

----------------

“Well, that was fun~.” In the treehouse's living room, the dog-girl sat down with a pretty satisfied expression.

“Absolutely!” The cat-girl nodded a few times. “We really didn’t need to leave already, though…”

“You got enough staring for one day.” Sophia just rolled her eyes while bonking her girlfriend with her tail. “I mean, it was great, but… Wait… Y-Yeah, calm down.”

“Very convincing.” Ari slowly shook her head. “Alright, before this escalates to who was looking and who wasn’t and where they did or did not focus on, let’s just keep going.”

“EVERYONE was looking at everyone.” Maya wasn't letting her have the moral high ground here. "Extensively.”

“…” The jaguar chose not to reply.

“By the way,” Anna took over. “Why were you all here today? Just because of the hot springs?"

“We’ve been told that Chloe’s mom is returning today or tomorrow, and as she will come here, we decided to wait for her. To sweeten the waiting, the idea of the hot springs came up.” Steph answered her.

“Ohh! Happy she’ll be back soon!” The princess smiled at the fox-girl.

“Me, too!” She had an even bigger smile.

“Someone told you?” Ari tilted her head. "Who? Who and how would anyone know that, and be here when her mom is not…?"

“…” Sophia looked incredibly awkward and immediately put her hands on Steph’s lips as they were next to each other because it seemed like the little sister wanted to answer her. "Look, alright… Trust me on this, okay? You don't… You seriously do not want to know. Alright?”

“Err…?” The jaguar looked at Maya for help.

“You positively do NOT want to know.” She shook her head a couple of times.

“We'll probably… maybe tell you two once we're traveling together, but right now… It’s probably for the better.” The blonde didn’t want to overload them.

“I really don’t like the sound of this!” Ari raised her voice. “What kind of special person does it have to be for you to be like that?!”

“I’m super curious!” It had the opposite effect on the princess.

“It’s an amazing person!” After all, Chloe was a big fan of Mira. “It’s true, though. It’s a lot to take in meeting them.”

“Ehh…?” The royal couple had the same reaction. Though, their expressions couldn’t be further apart.

“Anyway!” Sophia let go of Steph and clapped her hands. “Yeah, we’re waiting for Fey's return. Once she's back, and we explain what is going on… I mean, she's expecting Chloe and not a whole group, we’ll introduce her to you, as well. The plan is for her to become a part of our group, as well, after all.”

“I can’t wait for Feyanis…” Maya let out a small sigh. “She’s our last hope to keep this group somewhat in check… I’m tired…”

“Feyanis…” The jaguar seemed to be lost in thoughts for a moment. “I keep thinking that I’ve heard the name somewhere before… Anna, do we know someone with that name?”

“Not that I can remember.” The princess shook her head. "I'm not sure if it rings a bell with me in the first place… It doesn’t feel familiar, but also not unfamiliar…?”

“Hmm…”

“I doubt either of you ever met her, though.” Chloe looked at them. "I've been with her basically my entire life, and aside from seeing you in the capital a few times from afar, we never met, either.”

“That’s true…” Ari only got more confused.

“Well, you can always ask her about it once she’s back.”

“True!”

The group kept chatting for a little while longer, but as it didn’t seem like Fey would return anytime soon, Sophia had yet to even notice her with the detection magic, Anna and Ari decided to head back to the capital again while the others stayed behind. Eventually, they got a bit bored and headed to the village's bar, where they also met up with the wolves and spent the rest of the evening there before eventually going to bed.