Cultivation

Sara and her friends emerged after that terrible storm to find no traces of the road. Worse, another storm already brewed on to the east!

“It is not easy to reach Izu,” Ishikawa consoled the girl.

“The Pole of Fire is active this year,” Tia noted. “Probably going to be non-stop storms for another season. Why not head west with me?”

“And where would you be headed, Senbonzakura?” Fang wondered.

“Seln Alora, of course.”

“Of course,” agreed Ishikawa.

With no better option, Sara accepted.

They abandoned the foothills, walked west a day, and caught a Whistler caravan headed for Bern. Tia paid for a ride on a wagon for both girls, though Sara wondered why the runaway schoolgirl had enough to pay for a wagon.

Ishikawa and Fang declined the girl’s money; they paid their way as guards.

Together, they rode to the west to Whistler flutes. The feather-haired wanderers entertained them with stories near and far, and Sara marveled at the distant places of Seln.

Somewhere on this vast land, there must be a way home!

A few days later, the caravan stopped at a Wehran village, and Tia paid for new outfits. Sara exchanged her increasingly ragged school uniform for a Rhin cotton tunic. She was going native!

Tia did the same, buying a tunic long enough to cover her tail.

Sara thought that a little odd; Tia did not seem particularly ashamed of her dragon markings. Why hide them?

Days rolled by on the open plain, and Tia took it upon herself to educate Sara in the Kingdom, its history, and its Graces.

“Alora isn’t like Wehran lands,” the dragon-scaled girl warned. “Manners and refinement are essential. If you don’t want to be seen as a child or a fool, you need to know your manners. Don’t worry. We’ll start with the seventeen basic forms…”

Sara learned how to curtsy in the back of a wobbly wagon. She rehearsed titles, memorized dates, and even started practicing the sharp letters of the Aloran alphabet!

“You learn fast,” Tia soon complemented. “I bet with a year or two we could really bring you up to shape. Maybe even take you to a gala!”

A gala? Sara snorted at the mere notion!

“You’re passable enough for now. Even most Alorans don’t know anything above First Spring Lily. There’s instructors in Seln Alora who do rush classes for people expecting to attend royal functions!”

As usual, Fang popped from nowhere. “And do you attend a lot of royal functions, takoyaki girl?”

Tia shrieked in surprise, and Sara giggled.

Offering a languid wink to Sara, Fang pointed out to the prairie horizon. “Hostel is there. And the green smudge beyond? That’s the beginning of the Scalewood. Forest from there to the western coast, a thousand miles of good hunting!”

“Till a pixie turns your fur pink!” Tia snickered.

“Pixies know better than to play with the big bad wolf. Sara, don’t let her fill your head with too much of this nonsense. You’ll end up a puffed-up brat like her!”

Tia tossed a pebble at him, but the Wolf danced away.

Sara fought a grin.

On the back of a wagon in summer, surrounded by friends, she relaxed for the first time since she woke in this strange land.

Everything could be okay.

The Spirit Refined

Paths and Graces