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The discussion with Bodeir had continued long into the evening. The sun had set before the elf had finished squeezing every bit of information he could out of Kat and she was exhausted mentally, but too wound up to sleep. Meditation was possible… but Kat just wasn''t feeling it. So she grabbed Lily and went for a run. Kat sped away from the sect for quite some time before finally stopping at a soft enough looking dune. Kat flopped down on the sand and let her wings sink into the shifting ground. "Sorry I couldn''t take you on a proper date in the snow," said Kat.
Lily nced fearfully around at all the sand, but the night was calm, there was no hint of wind at all so the Memphis decided she was willing to risk it… mostly. Lily summoned up four walls of paper to catch any sand that came flying and then transformed toy herself across Kat. "It''s fine. I might have been looking forward to it… but this is just as nice, if not better. What I wanted most was to spend some time with you," said Lily truthfully as she snuggled into Kat.
"Are you sure there isn''t anything you''d rather do? I know I just sort of grabbed you because I wanted you to stay with me, but I can let you sleep, or we can do something other than just look at the stars if you want," said Kat.
Lily gave out a soft giggle and Kat felt her mind unwind massively just from that joyful sound. "Oh Kat, you can be so silly sometimes. A moonlight date under the stars, far enough away from cities that the lights don''t interfere? People would pay a lot of money for a chance like this, and I have an excellent set of pillows toy on as well," Lily decided to be a little bold and rub the back of her head against Kat''s boobs. Even something rtively harmless was enough for Lily to start blushing but she didn''t regret it.
"Oh? Pillows are they? I''m d you find my pillowsfortable you''re highness," said Kat with a smile. Mouth twitching as she held in the desire to sit up and kiss Lily and disturbing her girlfriend''sfort.
"Indeed, as a cat, I deserve to be worshipped," said Lily with her best smug smile. It wasn''t particrly smug.
So Kat had to return with, "You do realise I to, am technically a Kat,"
"Of course, and you deserve to be worshipped," said Lily, turning bright red in the process.
Which meant she missed Kat also turning red, feeling embarrassed by Lily''s teasing for possibly the first time. *Smooth Lily. Very smooth. I can''t believe you got me with that. It''s adorable, ttering, and just all around lovely. If you keep saying things like that, I won''t be able to keep from kissing you.* "O-of course," said Kat, trying and failing to keep her voice steady.
Lily was much too embarrassed to notice the slip though and simply nodded her head a bit with a smile, which of course, rubbed against Kat''s boobs, making Lily even more embarrassed and unlikely to notice Kat''s own embarrassment. The pair simply basked in the emotions, both in each other and through the link. Their feelings so simr they found it hard to pick out where each ended, and began, making them both more pleased with the interaction.
Eventually, the pair calmed down a bit, and Kat decided to ask, "Do you think we made the right call?"
"It''s hard to say. I think so. Everyone we care about is happy with the decision, even if Bodeir Senior is still debating over HOW happy is happens to be about it. So… with that in mind is there anything toin about? Meng will probably kill a lot less people now that her kids know what she does, and she''ll have other things to do. Sure so people might argue that someone like her doesn''t deserve happiness… but fuck those people," said Lily.
"I agree, I suppose I just wanted to hear it. Big decision and all. It does make me wonder where I''d draw the line though. How much past evil is too much? It might be hypocritical of me… but the answer might just be ''literally any amount until they hurt someone I like'' except myself of course, because I regenerate… but still, I''m not sure if I''mfortable having such loose criteria for redemption," said Kat.
"Perhaps, but I can''t say I disagree with you Kat. It''s all just… too abstract to really feel the impact of things like that. It''s whyws exist I suppose, but they''re all very different across dimensions. Still, it''s probably best if we never end up in charge of other people. We''d be much toox with them, unless it started to be a real problem," said Lily.
"Yeah probably," said Kat with a sigh. "Do you think we should leave behind a beacon? I… I''m not sure. Bing has be a decent enough friend… but I don''t know when I''ll get more beacons, and I''m not sure I care enough to leave one behind… they''re supposed to be quite rare…"<novelsnext></novelsnext>
"Sue has a good chance of leaving one behind, so I''d say that if she does, we shouldn''t bother. If not… then maybe we can think about leaving one. It might not be the end though, despite Xiang not having a beacon we''ve seen him twice," pointed out Lily.
"That''s true… twice is enough for me, but I guess if we see him again I wouldn''t be surprised. What''s that saying? Once is normal, twice is coincidence three times is enemy action?" said Kat.
"Are you saying Xiang is an enemy in this saying?" asked Lily. Kat just shrugged back. "Well… yeah I don''t know. I wouldn''t necessarily mind seeing these guys again… but they''re going to be on the run for quite a while. That''s not the most interesting thing to be involved with. I''d also hate to be used as a throw away attack, like ''Kat, I choose you''"
Kat chuckled at the image, which caused Lily to bounce a bit on Kat''s stomach. "As amusing as that would be… I agree that I wouldn''t really like to be summoned for something like that. I suppose we''re in agreement then, that we''ll just leave the beacon offering to Sue. Do you think Bodeir is going to offer us anything good?"
"I think I might be able to scam a copy of a shadow spellbook. Not sure if it''ll have anything good in it, because cultivation is clearly the main form of power here even though mana is present. I can''t see Bodeir having anything better then Rank 2, maybe 3 books, but that would be enough to get me started," said Lily.
"Oh? Can you feel your shadow affinity?" asked Kat.
"Maybe?" said Lily with a ''so-so'' gesture. "I think I might be able to feel something, perhaps it appeared after I cast my first Rank 2 spell… but I might just be imagining things. I''ll have to meditate on it or something. I don''t want to risk trying out a spell circle without any spells to do. I''m pretty sure that would end horribly,"
"You know I''ll always advocate for you doing things the safer way, and I''m fine with asking for shadow magic stuff… but is that what you think we should ask for?" asked Kat to double check.
"I mean, if you want something we can always get that," said Lily.
"No no, I don''t have anything I want for myself, and nothing at alles to mind… I just wasn''t sure if you wanted to get any shadow magic stuff from here at all when we''re likely to be called in for the next round of the Tournament soon, and we can likely get a better spellbook from Thyme," said Kat.
"Oh… hmm… that''s an intriguing point… and a very valid one. It is about time we were called in for that… hmm…. hmm… I''m not too sure. Part of me wants to get both? See what the different realms have learnt about early shadow magic… but that''s probably a bit greedy," said Lily awkwardly.
"Lily, I love you, and I know you love research, if you want to ask for books on shadow magic, I''ll do everything in my power to get you books on shadow magic. So do you want them?" asked Kat.
"You know what?" asked Lily to the stars, "I think that right now, I don''t really care about shadow magic, or space magic, or any other kind of magic. Right now, I have a wonderful girlfriend and we''re looking at the stars together. I think, the magic books? They can be tomorrow''s problem,"
Kat smiled. She didn''t necessarily want to put things off. A decision did have to be made… but well, Kat was easily swayed by her girlfriend, and enjoying the night sky was not a difficult task.