Lily hugged herself tighter. Ame was always so cheerful, and her magic was so beautiful, and powerful. Lily had been in awe of it since that day when they were little and Ame had made it snow on a crisp spring day. The black-haired girl had inherited both of her parents' talents, and truth be told, Lily felt . . . small standing next to her, even though she was of average height, like her dad, and built like the Titania. It didn't make her attractive, by any means, and her strong shoulders looked even stranger when she hunched them over with shyness, her pink hair pulled back in a childish half-ponytail. She thought she looked like a shy elephant, or something else just as awkward. Every day she wished she would grow out of it an turn into a beautiful woman like Erza, but even her hair, pink as it was, seemed like a watered-down, girlish version of her idol's wine-red hair.

"Um, um, I'm sorry, Growl," the cat was fierce, and almost as bad-tempered as Mr. Fullbuster. Except where Mr. Fullbuster had a soft heart and cared for his friends even when he was fighting them (as he did almost daily against' Lily's father), Growl seemed to be mean through and through. Worse, he seemed to be personally offended by Lily's existence, which didn't help her already dismal self-esteem. In fact, his comment almost made her apologize and leave, but she remembered the pained look on her mother's face and knew she couldn't very well back out now. She swallowed, gathering her courage, and looked up at Ame.

"A-are you sure it's OK? I mean, I'd love to," she tried to smile, but it went sour, and she looked down at her toes again. What was she thinking? Of course it was a joke. She'd only be dead weight on this trip, or a luggage-watcher. And one million jewels? Well, she glanced up at Ame's expectant face, maybe Ame could do a job like that, but it would be unfair to split the reward like that.

"You don't have to, you know," she went on, her voice getting quieter, "You know I'm not really . . . " She didn't need to say it. She was the elephant in the room and everyone already knew.