Bia and Alek barely made it in time. Alek's hair was styled by her sister into a fashionable braid in just a few minutes while she brushed her teeth and cleaned herself.
"Finally." Panacea and the rest of the family were waiting down the stairs. The next head of Minazuki also rolled down if it wasn't for her sister holding her arms and avoiding it from happening.
"Thanks." Alek thanked her sister and held up her bag so that it wouldn't touch the ground. It wasn't that big as of the time when she first packed it poorly. Now, it was as it came here: fitting everything perfectly.
"You are clumsy, Alek. Be careful. Stop relying on your sister." Their mother told them as the group began moving to exit the first hill.
"I'm trying to be careful, mum!" Right at the moment when Alek complained, she tripped on a flat surface and bumped into her cousin in front of her. "Sorry!"
"It's okay. Are you alright?" Jin put his bag on the ground while he gave his brother his sister's.
"See." Panacea told her daughter and helped her steady up.
"I'll be careful..." Alek rubbed her nose and picked up Jin's bag and her bag from the ground. This was the least she could do.
"Thank you but, I'll carry my own bag. It's quite heavy." Castor took his bag from his small cousin and held it in his hands. He saw her struggle to walk and see the front.
"Let me!" Alek took back the bag and held it in her hand. It was indeed heavy. What was in here? She soon got tired but didn't allow her cousin to take it back.
"Alek, let me carry half. You are going to drive, right? Conserve your energy." Jin just couldn't continue his cousin struggling so, he offered a deal and forcefully held one of the two handles of the bag and carried most of the weight.
Alek was happy that she got help but, at the same time, she felt bad for making him hold it. She said she would carry it but, it ended up with him holding most of the weight.
"Thank you." Alek told him.
"Your welcome." He smiled back. He even walked slowly so that they could walk together. "But I'm taking it from here."
"Why?" Alek tried to recover it and saw that they were at the sand place. The group was separated into two by Minakis group and Yukari's group. Minaki, Iris, Astraea, Lake, Kai, Robin were already on the other side, waiting for them.
"Come closer." Yukari spoke softly and, her group walked closer to her.
"Sharks don't have scales. How are you going to activate it?" Alek asked as she remembered this woman n front of them and her husband were sharks. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching Minaki take half of the group to the other side, hence got curious.
"We, the leading clan member, don't need to give the ground to indicate that we are one of the fish-shifters." Yukari spoke as she bent down. She didn't need to speak out loud to everyone to hear as they were all ears.
The former head's wife grabbed a hand full of dust in her hand and, that was enough. The sand moved off the ground, carrying the six people and safely transporting them to the rest.
"I see." Alek looked around herself.
Yukari smiled and walked to her husband. Together, they lead to the forest.
The forest wasn't like when Jin, Rin and Alek travelled yesterday. It actually opened up a way for the former head. The trees and bushes moved aside to let them pass and, as soon as the group walked past it, they went back to the original spot. The plants in here must know who is the boss here.
Because the forest made the way, it didn't take long before seeing the beach. At the beach, Junto and Izumi were waiting with him waving his hands at the group.
"Morning." Minaki greeted and, so did his wife and the whole group behind them.
"Morning, everyone." Junto smiled. He was wearing the same looking clothes as his father, but he looked more modern.
"Good morning." Izumi greeted next. She no longer glared at Alek and averted her gaze when their eyes met even for a second.
Alek tilted her head in confusion because just when they met, Izumi was really mad at her and had a wrong idea about everything.
"They are here to help us get up." Minaki looked back and told the group while pointing up to the sky river.
"How?" Astraea asked. She also didn't know how. She knew how to get here but not the other way round.
"Last night, Kiryuu flew up to the river and we had no problem getting out." Alek answered from behind.
"You do realise, none of us here can fly, right?" Bia looked at her sister.
"Nevermind." Alek quickly shut up.
"You are not wrong. We are going up. We are not going to fly but, we are getting into the river." Minaki replied after a smile.
"How?" Kai asked.
Minaki smiled but didn't say anything. He tapped on his left shoulder and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He opened his eyes back and told the group to move away from the spot and brace themselves.
"Why-"
Lake asked but, his words were cut off by a large explosion at where they were standing before. Husbands embraced their wives while siblings protected each other, apart from the lovers of Nagatsuki.
Sand blew everywhere but surprisingly didn't get into their eyes, nose or ears.
When they looked up, they saw a straight water beam from the river above them. It was about the width of Alek's height and was clear. There were a few fishes that were brought down with the water and, they looked confused.
Jun told the fish to go back up through the mind link and, they did as they were told. Now the water was fully clear and had no animals in it, it was safe to get in and go up.
"Wow." Apart from the lovers of Nagatsuki, Jin, Rin and, Alek were stunned. The three of them knew that it must be fae's doing, specifically, the tribe of Sibhruion. Minaki was contacting them when he closed his eyes before all of this happened.
Yukari, Kai and Iris saw the reactions of the three old ones in the young generation but didn't say or do anything to it.
"Let's get in." Minaki told them and stepped into the water.
"I am not a water-shifter, Minaki." Lake told him when he looked like there was no problem.
"No need to worry about that, my friend. There would be air coating you the whole time. You would be completely safe." With that, Minaki fully entered the water body. Because he was a water-shifter, he needn't air around him. He waited for the group to enter.
"Mum, it's safe." Rin told his mother and walked past her with his brother right beside him. They entered it without hesitating. Around Jin, there was a thin sheet of air, while around Rin, there was none.
"What should I do with the bags?" Alek asked before getting into the water.
"We've got that covered." Junto quickly came to her side and got the bags. "Is there any important things in here? Like electronics or something breakable?"
"No. Not in my bag." Alek answered and looked at her cousin. "How about yours?"
"Only my phone." Jin answered.
"Okay." Junto replied with a smile before throwing them to the sky to the river.
"W-weh." Alek dropped her jaw, watching the bags fly up, one by one.
When those bags reached the highest and closest to the river, people came out from the river to pick them up.
"Who are those?" Iris asked. Her bag was also in the air. She was holding a plate of food and that occupied both her hands and, that was the reason she couldn't carry her own bag and, her brothers were holding it.
"They are our people. They are in charge of taking care of visitors. They are also the ones that brought you into this place." Junto answered with a smile. "Iris, I am taking this. I will deliver this up with me." He then took the food from Iris and walked away. He couldn't take this by the water tunnel so, he had to take the long old route.
"Please, get in. We can't keep this forever." Izumi urged everyone to get in and, they did. The water was like the same as the entrance of the gate of the Sibhruion castle. The water didn't exactly touch their skin as if they were wearing gloves. But felt as if they were touching it without getting wet.
Once the fae received a signal and saw that all the people were in, they retreated the water tunnel at a perfect speed that was both entertaining and safe.
The group didn't swim but just stayed there, so the currents took them to wherever it was leading.
Jin, Rin, Alek noticed a light from a certain part of the forest as they were going high. The light disappeared and, within the next second, it rained heavily for a few seconds. They knew it was Pari's doing.
They felt nostalgic. They haven't said bye to her or Lee. They knew the boy would be with his friends around this time and waved at where the light came from.
"What are you waving at?" Robin asked the three of them. He was right behind them and saw that they were all waving in the same direction.
"The forest and the new friend." Alek answered her father and looked up at where they were going.