Down below, the mouths of many of the workers were agape in shock. They had just witnessed a man leap off a building without a single display of caution. All the men and women below were competent warriors in their own right, but none dared to make such a leap. And though they had witnessed their ancestors flying around freely constantly, they had never seen any of their leaders take such a daring leap; they had never witnessed a man playing with – no, taunting – fate.
"Did he just jump down?" Lam was the person in charge here. Lily was stationed elsewhere, dealing with the mess at the North of Amalgamation. It just happened that Mane had picked Lam's spot to review the damage he himself had wrought.
"That guy is always showing off," Lam smiled bitterly as he slowly walked towards the area he estimated his friend would land in.
"You really have gotten cocky," Hildegarde was flying next to Mane and was moving just as swiftly as the gravity-aided Supreme. The furious wind pressure meant nothing to the two, and they easily held a conversation as they descended.
"We are here," Mane replied, ignoring his fairy's earlier mockery. Showing that gravity was now nonexistent to him, he landed stably on the ground without bringing up even a small cloud of dust.
"Mane, what are you doing here?" Lam approached his friend with a large smile on his face. He slapped Mane's shoulder enthusiastically and pulled him along.
"I want to help in any way that I can," Mane answered, allowing Lam to drag him along, under the shifty gazes of the warriors around them.
"You just woke up. We cannot have you doing anything strenuous." Lam immediately denied Mane's offer without giving it a second thought. Of course the Elemental Prince had ignored something very crucial. If Mane could easily jump down a tower and be as fine as he was before jumping, then he was in no shape to be pampered.
"I am fine Lam. I need to help. All this is my mess after all." Mane was obviously not going to back down after the first rejection. He had to ease his guilt somehow. And helping was the way to do it.
"The others will kill me if they found out that I made you help me out," Lam smiled bitterly and confessed, revealing that the real reason he was hesitant in allowing Mane to help was because he was afraid of the women who would come after him when they discovered his actions.
"They wouldn't dare to touch the Prince of the Elementals," Mane smirked playfully and said. And then without waiting for Lam to say anything he added, "Besides, they would only get mad at you if something were to happen to me. And nothing would happen to me."
"Alright," Lam hesitated slightly before finally agreeing.
"Great," Mane clapped his friend's shoulders enthusiastically, causing the young prince to grimace in slight discomfort. Mane ignored that and asked happily,
"So what can I do?"
"You can control the earth beneath our feet, can't you?" Lam asked after giving himself a brief period to think.
"What did you have in mind?" Mane asked curiously. Lam knew that he was a capable Earth Wielder. So certainly, the young Prince's interest wasn't in whether or not Mane could manipulate earth. It was a rhetorical question.
"I need an excavator," Lam smiled widely and said. And Mane smiled bitterly as he was forced to take on the job of a machine.
Back at Ancestor Pier's mansion, Rose was engrossed in deep conversation with Sunflower. And the topic of their conversation was of course, the young man who was helping with the reconstruction right this moment.
"So, is it official now?" Rose asked with a sly smile on her face. Sunflower who was seated in front of her couldn't help but blush at the blunt nature of her sister's questioning. With her face as red as the flower her sister was named after, she nodded her head meekly.
"Look at you!" Rose laughed gleefully, relishing Sunflower's current state. For her sister was usually so brazen and bold that it was difficult to see this side of her. So now that this side of her sister had been pulled out, Rose was going to make sure that she teased her sister to the maximum. And though it wasn't in Rose's nature to be this nosy – even when it had to do with her sisters – she was enjoying this.
"I wish Daisy was here to see this," Rose snickered, suddenly missing the sister who was a master in the art of teasing.
"So, what happens now?" Rose asked. And without waiting for Sunflower to respond she went ahead and presented her own ideas.
"Master has been complaining that the tower has always been missing some lively riff-raffs running around. I think the first step should be having a few kids. I think having four in the first decade should be reasonable."
Rose had suddenly become an enthusiastic counselor who couldn't wait for Sunflower to have kids. She went on and on for several minutes, talking about how kids could be raised efficiently and what kind of tactics could be used to train brilliant yet humble kids. Initially, Sunflower was too shy to say anything. But as her sister went on and on, her facial expression indicated that she was getting fed up with her sister's comments. So she hastily stepped in and stopped her sister before anything more could be said.
"I think you have said more than enough Rose," Sunflower rubbed her head tiredly and said. "The relationship has barely began and here you are talking about children and grandchildren."
"Sorry about that. I got a tad bit too excited. None of us has had love for a very long time. It's nice that you finally have someone." Rose smiled as she apologized. This was the reason why she was so excited. The three sisters had stayed with Ashera most of their lives. And none of them had actually experienced love before. So it was a cause for joyous celebration that one of them had found someone she loved. And even more joyous was that this person felt the same way about her as well. For unrequited love was more painful than never experiencing love in the first place.
"Where are your pets?" It was only now that Rose noticed that neither Sasha nor Silver was around. The two beasts had been around since she came and rarely had a day gone by with the two not appearing before her at least once. It was strange that now that Mane had appeared, the two beasts were missing.
"Sasha left last night to check out something outside the city. What exactly she left to confirm, I do not know. As for Silver, he left with Sasha." Sunflower was a bit at a loss concerning the two beasts. They had been cooperative and obedient until now. As for why they had suddenly become vagabond right before Mane woke up, she had no idea.
"But I am sure that they would be back soon"