The unique double-layered voice that sounded like two people speaking at once in harmony was difficult to confuse, and they all instantly knew who was the one approaching.
The girls turned around and, as they expected, they saw a golden and silvery empyrean female spirit with a Sun as a pupil in her right eye and a Crescent Moon in her left eye flying toward them with a large smile.
Her flaming hair, composed of both golden and silver flames, created a strange hot and cold aura around her that permeated her surroundings. While it wasn't deadly for mortals, it would be bothersome to be by her side, as you would feel like sweating while your skin felt cold and stiff.
Her "clothes" were also simple, made from the same silvery and gold flames. Her skin was milky white, looking human-like, but if one looked closer, it was actually made of something like energy.
Yasenia saw that she was running at her quite quickly, but she didn't stop her. She felt zero hostility from her.
Soluna arrived and dove face-first into Yasenia's breasts, making Yasenia chuckle. "Yasenia! Yasenia! Yasenia! I missed you!"
Soluna was on the small side height-wise. Compared to our tall dragoness, she reached around her breast area with her 160 centimeters in height. Her height was between Angel's and Evelyn's heights.
The dragoness laughed softly and placed her hand on her head. Soluna pushed against her hand with a smile like a cat. "Soluna, right?"
Soluna's exotic pupils shone beautifully as she looked up with a large smile. "Yes!"
The dragoness's hand intertwined with Soluna's flaming locks, not feeling uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, she felt a comforting sensation as her fingers moved through Soluna's hair.
Curious, Yasenia asked. "Why did you miss me so much? Didn't we meet for nothing more than a few minutes?"
Soluna squinted her eyes in comfort at the feeling of Yasenia's hand caressing her. "I don't mind. I just wanted to be with Yasenia again~. I really like you petting me."
Yasenia saw that Soluna's spirit companions were approaching, but since she didn't feel hostility from them either, she refocused on Soluna. 'Hm. What to do with this cutie?'
Looking at her closely, she realized that Soluna had perfect facial features. They strangely harmonized between cold features like thin lips, a straight nose, and straight eyebrows with large and soft eyes and a rounded face. A combination of cuteness and beauty that landed her looks in the top-notch category.
Yasenia smiled at her and asked with a teasing tone. "Really? You were so eager to see me that you managed to find me the first time I went out? I don't believe it. You probably have evil intentions~."
Soluna's exotic eyes widened, and she cutely stuttered. "No, no, no! H-How could it be!? I just wanted to be with Yasenia."
Yasenia stifled her laughter. 'A spirit stuttering? How does that even work? So cute. Haha.'
Soluna put on a sad face and hugged her tighter, looking up directly into Yasenia's golden eyes. "But Yasenia, you haven't come out for a lot of days, so I have not been able to meet you until now. So, um, when you came out and I sensed you, I came to find you right away." She then added solemnly. "I won't hurt you, ever!"
The dragoness was amused as she played with one of her silvery, fiery locks. 'Making such heavy promises so easily? She is a bit naive but on the cute side.'
She found one thing a bit confusing, so she asked. "Then… Why didn't you come to our residency?"
Soluna blinked her exotic eyes. "I somehow felt that I wouldn't be able to meet you there."
Yasenia lifted her eyebrow in surprise and looked into her deep blue irises. "How did you even feel that?"
'She knew that I was occupied out of instincts? How does that even work?'
While she was thinking about that, Soluna's spirit companions arrived. A female voice was heard from the side as that same person carried heat with just their presence. A few mortals who were roaming around had to scurry away, as being nearby would likely create a burn in their skin.
"Soluna, why did you charge over here!? Didn't we tell you that you can't leave our side because it is too dangerous?"
A flaming magma spirit, accompanied by five spirits of different attributes—Water, Earth, Nature, Light, and Darkness—arrived in front of them.
Soluna turned to look at them and spoke while tilting her head, her harmonic voice echoing. "I sensed Yasenia, so I came here."
Embera, the flaming spirit, sighed. "Soluna, remember that we are your escorts. If something happens to you…"
Soluna snorted, hugging Yasenia tightly. "With Yasenia here, nothing bad can happen. She will protect me!"
Embera looked at her with a twitching eyebrow. 'Why does she believe in her so much?'
While restraining her thoughts, Embera explained. "I understand you are excited after meeting her, but you must be careful. What if something happens to you in the way, and you can't see Yasenia anymore?"
Soluna froze as her eyes widened, quite literally, as her silver flames solidified in silver ice.
Yasenia felt one of her fingers getting stuck in Soluna's hair, making her feel even more amused and forcing a laugh out of her. 'Oh? Interesting. Did she freeze in shock in a literal way?'
Our girls also looked on with fascination, and Evelyn asked the spirits. "What happened to her?"
Embera stopped her lecture and looked at the person who asked her. "Hm? She is shocked. Don't you solidify when you feel shocked? I've seen a few humans stopping when that happens to them."
Evelyn's lips twitched. 'If that happened, I would die, no?'
Valeria, who had been silently looking from the side, spoke. "Some spirits, actually, most of them in the mortal realms, show their emotions physically."
Evelyn looked at Valeria and nodded with a smile. "I see- Huh?"
When she looked back, she saw that all spirits, Soluna included, "froze" in shock with their respective attributes while looking at Valeria with wide eyes.
For example, Soluna's golden side became solid like gold, the fire spirit became solid magma, the earth spirit became solid stone, and the light spirit became a yellowish and translucent solid substance, etc.
The girls wanted to laugh. 'So cute.'
Valeria smiled softly, waving her hand to send a calming aura at them. This was not a rare sight for her. "No need to be so nervous, children."
When the soft breeze hit them, all the spirits felt a refreshing aura around their bodies, making their bodies sing with joy as their strength increased by a very small amount.
When their "freeze" shattered, Soluna's included, all of them answered with a stuttering voice. "Y-Yes, Senior!"
The spirits felt natural respect for Soluna because of her birth, so they followed her and took her as a princess of their race. It was a common practice between spirits.
However, when their eyes landed on the three-meter-tall green woman wearing a floral dress, it wasn't a "feeling" but something more akin to an instinct that made them know that the creature in front of them was someone who needed to be highly respected by all spiritkind.
Soluna blinked her eyes repeatedly, looking up with a respectful expression. It was the first time in her life that she felt reverence for another spirit. Even the seniors in her home world who were much stronger than her lacked an aura that triggered her racial respect.
While Soluna appreciated them because of their strength, in terms of existence as a spirit, Soluna knew that she was above them. As soon as her strength caught up, Soluna would be their leader, not the other way around.
However, the three-meter-tall woman was an entirely different matter. While her current realm seemed lower than her own, she was a being superior in any other way to her. A real being that was superior on an existence level.
Soluna carefully asked. "Who might you be, respected senior?"
Valeria smiled and reached out her hand, patting Soluna's head without any problems. "Don't worry, little one. I'm just a follower of this person."
Soluna caught fire this time, as her golden and silvery hair began burning brightly, even though the temperature around her didn't change.
Her two voices sounded shy and embarrassed as she hugged Yasenia tightly. "O-Okay, umm…"
Valeria laughed, ignoring the flames. "Valeria. That's my name."
Soluna called respectfully. "Lady Valeria!"
The other five spirits bent to their knees and bowed in respect. "Lady Valeria!"
Yasenia blinked as she thoughtfully looked at Valeria's hand.
Mirrory saw through her thoughts and smiled. "Did you really expect the Nature Spirit Queen, one of the first spirits, not to be able to touch a spirit much weaker than her?"
Yasenia shook her head with a smile. "Valeria could even touch a Natural Treasure with her bare hands and make it friendly, so I didn't think as such. I was thinking that maybe Soluna will become less attached to me after this, haha."
Mirrory nodded and looked at Soluna. "Well?"
Soluna turned her head and hugged Yasenia tightly, burying her body as much as possible in Yasenia's soft flesh. "No! I like Yasenia the most-!" She paused, looking at Valeria with a guilty expression. "Um…"
Valeria straightened her back and smiled as she commented. "Don't worry, I also like Yasenia a lot. We are the same in that regard, fufu~."
Soluna's eyes shone, literally, and she smiled in happiness, her flaming body dancing with joy. "Nice!"
The girls couldn't help a chuckle from escaping, and Kaleina, who was coiled around Andrea, exclaimed. "Mama Andrea, that spirit girl is really pretty!"
Andrea nodded her head. "She is."
While they all felt a bit reluctant about Yasenia becoming so close to Soluna so fast, they didn't stop it. They weren't so jealous that they would limit Yasenia's interactions with another creature because that creature liked Yasenia. The reason for that lack of unhealthy jealousy was none other than the trust that Yasenia had gained in their hearts.
Yasenia looked at Embera and commented softly. "I don't know if you can go underwater, but we were about to go there."
A woman with voluptuous curves and a water-blue body smiled, looking at Yasenia respectfully. If the powerful senior liked Yasenia, then Yasenia could be considered the friend of all spirits who had common sense. "Don't worry, Lady Yasenia. With me here, there are no problems."
Yasenia shook her head and smiled. "I'm a junior, and you are a senior in both strength and age. You can call me comfortably."
The water spirit smiled gently, her jewel-like blue eyes gaining a touch of appreciation. "Sure. We'll do so, Yasenia."
The other spirits also nodded with smiles, looking at Yasenia clearly more favorably.
Embera was about to respond to Yasenia as well, but she looked sideways, feeling a gaze on her, and saw a young phoenix woman looking at her with shiny eyes. Now that they could be considered basically friends thanks to Valeria's influence, Embera smiled gently and asked. "What's wrong, little one?"
Flame blushed and shook her head, hugging Cecile's side as her red phoenix wings flapped shyly. "N-Nothing, your fire is so pretty."
Embera blinked and scratched her cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed at the honest compliment. Praising the element they were formed out of was like telling a human that they were beautiful in and out, quite a blunt and somewhat embarrassing compliment.
"Thank you, little one."
Yasenia took Embera as the leader of the group, so she spoke while looking at her. "Lady Embera, since there are no problems, let's go together. After all of this, we can consider each other allies." Yasenia smiled. "I'm also very curious about the Spirit Race, so it would be fantastic to learn from each other."
Embera nodded with a smile. "Sure. Soluna would be delighted to come as well, so we have no problems."