"Let's not strike first." Uncle Fern responded, "Wait. Right now, we must let the princess recover. Her mind and heart is very weary and is still hurt. There is a small clearing in our village full of roses and chrysanthumum. Wild flowers bloom in the clearing and it is full mana. It would be good for her highness to recovery her mental state. Moreover..."
Uncle Fern hesitated with a sighed, "I don't believe that the princess would be happy to hear that we took away her chance for vengeance. Have you not noticed? All of her experience and decisions are all pointing to one thing."
Hearing this, it finally dawned on Aunt Ripple as she grimaced, "You mean, the princess plans to return to her world and exact vengeance."
"I had the messenger bird send the king a swift message as quickly as it could." Uncle Fern sighed, "I asked the king the princess's purpose for returning to her world. Turns out, she really is after vengeance. However, she is rushing..."
"The princess does not return kindness with schemes." Aunt Ripple shook her head, "Those people are not so foolish as to play this old theatre play for everyone. So, if they want to live, they'd better keep their noses out of her business and their hands to themselves. However, those we cannot control could only fall within the princess's grasps. To protect us, the princess is trying to hurry to grow stronger and return to her world, is she not?"
That was right. Uncle Fern and Aunt Ripple haven't been cheiftains simply due to heritage and bloodlines. They are also politicians of their own right and of the few who are strong enough to stand tall amongst the officials as Chieftains. Unbudging and solid as stone. However before the princess, they could not help but crumble into a doting mess over the child. How could Chieftain Ripple not know what the princess is very likely trying to do from connecting with outside nations and her rapid growth of strength and knowledge of days old.
The princess wants to return as quickly as possible.
"She fears that the pursuit of her cruel family will put the entire kingdom in grave danger as it had for those in the prison of Briar Valley." Aunt Ripple sighed, "To make up for it, the donations, volunteer and charity she does for each nations must be out of guilt for the dead and love for the living."
"As expected..." Uncle Fern sighed, "That child has not changed for many moons. All of her worries stems from the love and kindness that still exists within her."
Aunt Ripple finally sat on a rock and continued, "She fears that her very existence could put those around her in jeopardy, but, rather than choosing to take her own life, she decides to fight them on her own. A noble, yet foolish thought."
"To live in the face of guilt and anger, she chose to continue living. I just hope that one day, she will discover that there should always be more to life and death than there is in the eyes of others." Uncle Fern looked up to the skies in deep thoughts, "I pray that the princess discovers this before it is too late... At such a young age, she is already battling against the hardest battles of her life physically and mentally, while others are struggling with discovering their own self and how to adapt to their situation."
Aunt Ripple nodded, "Let us gather some more flowers and pray that the princess will come back to us alive and in one piece alongside the prayers for the safety of the village."
"Let's." Uncle Fern nodded with a heavy sigh.
After all, aside from them, the princess would never pray for her own safe return with her current mindset.
.....
"Lotus!"
She looked up in surprise and saw that the other guys had already returned while she was struggling to slice open the giant catfish.
"Oh! Riddle, Sebek! You're finally back." She raised a brow in bewilderment.
"Forget about that!" Sebek scowled angrily, "Do you not value your life, human?!"
"Huh?"
Riddle scowled, "Did you forget that you can't be in then cold?! And, you dare go into the lake?! At least, you were aware enough to bring along a person with you, but who told you to go divind into the lake for a catfish? Isn't fishing out one more than enough? Why did you have to go back down there for a second one?"
Coming from behind them, Silver sighed and explained with a frown, "We were on our way back from the mines when we heard what happened from those in the woods. They ran back without hearing everything. Apparently, the prefect and everyone jumped in after you and he got on your case immediately?"
"Huh? Who told you guys that part?" Lotus pouted in irritation, "Sounds like someone enjoys my misery..."
"Don't you dare avoid the topic!" Sebek bellowed angrily.
However, a quick glance by her immediately shut him down with a shiver down his spine. Silver looked to her in surprise! Sebek was never one to back down from a challenge from others aside from his father and Malleus. So, why was it that he quickly backed out now?
"Lotus..." Silver whispered softly to her and frowned.
Hearing his call, Lotus raised a brow and teased with a smirk, "Why so quiet, Sebek? Don't tell me that you're actually scared of me?"
The guy suddenly flinched to which Lotus snickered, "Who would've thought that this guy actually got scared since the last time I taught you a small lesson last night?!"
"W-Who's scared of you?!" Sebek scowled angrily, "You shouldn't be giving Malleus-sama unnecessary worries in the first place!"
"Even though, he's probably worried since I'm a guest and he was asked by Yuu to allow me to stay in Diasomnia? Well, what I do is still my own decision and responsibilities. Moreover, Yuu and Grim are both here today too. As for troubling others, I've already compensated them for the trouble." Lotus shrugged.
"Compensated?" Riddle looked to her in confusion.
"That's right." Lotus nodded.
"What did you do?" Silver questioned curiously.
"I gave them the first cat fish we caught to the basketball club and the location of the herbs for the magift club."
"You did what?!" Sebek hollered in disbelief upon hearing this.
"What?" Lotus raised a brow.
"How dare you-!"
"Besides, it's not like I needed to speak with you be it plans for splitting up the teams or what needs to be done, right?" Lotus shrugged.
"Huh?"
They looked to her in confusion as it dawned upon Silver who hesitated, "Now that you said it... We were all in a hurry that we just left without actually leaving too many people with Lotus to procure our food."
"Ah."
Finally, the two shut their mouth as they realized what had happened. Riddle sighed in frustration, "It was our mistake by leaving Lotus with so few people. We were so focused on the search for the Luminous flower because it was so rare that I completely forgot that catching a catfish might not be easy either. But, how were you able to catch such a big fish?"
He asked them staring over to the large bundle of banana leaves ready to be used to wrap around the fish.
"Large fish are more stealthy than other smaller fishes who lack experience. Rather than going outside and taking risks. The larger fish knows how to conserve energy, hide from predators, and notice movements in the waters with their whiskers. So, their hunting time varies according to the time of day. So, during that time, they would be hiding in their dens which is located in the muddy parts of the water. Since other creatures also live in the muddy waters, I needed another person to watch out in case something were to happen. That was why I had one of our sophmore out with me today. Who would've thought that the first fish turned out to be not as big as I was expecting. So, I had to go into the waters to grab it out of the den. As expected, the guy put up a difficult fight in the waters. Either way, tonight's meal should keep everyone fed tonight." She explained bluntly as she struggled to cut the catfish open in half across the belly.
"Let me help as apology." Silver walked over taking the small knife from her hand and slicing the fish in half.
"Leave the flesh and skin near the top fin connected. Also, continue cutting the head in half too." She instructed without hesitation as she noticed how he was able to make such clean and easy cuts.
Seeing them working with ease, Riddle spoke up, "Let me help too."
"I left some bottles in my tent. Go get those bottles." She pointed out.
"Lotus!" One of the freshmen returned hurriedly with an armful of herbs followed by Yuu and Grim carrying green fruits, "We're back with the herbs, but these oranges... They're still raw. Do you still want it?"
"Of course." She nodded and took them from the students.
Riddle soon returned with the spices she had brought or prepped a yesterday morning. She continued as she started each step, "Some people are not familiar with the gamey taste of catfish. We can lessen the strength of the scent using wine. If you look carefully in some of the tree hollows, there are fermented wine created by fermenting fruits. Those fruits are harvested by the animals of these regions. If you prepare some fruits or veggies for them, it'd give them less reason to come after you. However, the creatures who makes these love these things, so you have to make sure that the amount is enough. I prepped some walnuts I found in the forest yesterday and took some."
"I've read about that from somewhere..." Riddle hummed in deep thought.
"These creatures are primates, so meat won't work on them unless they're of a particular species." Lotus continued, "Then, grab the scallions and ginger. Don't try to skip this step or use too much of either of these ingredients. A handful is enough or it'll either be too bitter or you won't be able to taste anything but the spices."
They watched her each step with a look of surprise. They had heard from Yuu and the others that she was a pretty good cook, but it turns out that she was actually very talented in this field!
When she was done, she went on to bring out a bird much to their surprise!
"Ah, it's a quail!" Silver looked to her rather stunned.
"How did you-?!" Riddle looked to her in bewilderment.
"What? Never heard of a sling shot before?" Lotus glared at them with a scowl.
"N-no!"
Seeing her focus on cleaning the bloody quail, the three huddled in a corner as Riddle whispered, "It would seem that we made him very, very upset at us."
The two silently nodded their head nervously. What a big mistake!