The walk out of the crystalline palace had been almost tear-jerking. The marvellous stones bejeweling the walls as well as the breathtakingly beautiful garden had left Xiaoli awfully awestruck, and now she was sad to leave. The four had spent a few hours getting to know each other. Some more awkward situations involving some more burnt fingers, seeing as Hermes never really knew when not to touch her cup with her delicate, soft, cute hands-... No! No, stop it, head! Tranquil mind, controlled heart. Ahem, regardless, it was evident that the tea was well received, and Xiaoli was relieved beyond words to know that everyone found it palatable. However, after the tea was drunk and conversations quieted down, the team of two - backed, of course, by the fizzy little cloudling - eventually decided that the time had come to leave. They had bid the encaptivating lady of vines farewell and left the gardens through the same way they came in, putting them squarely above the clouds back on the pinnacle of Asceal’s island. 

	Xiaoli surveyed the cloudscape around them. Come to think of it, since they were alone up here, no one else was looking at them. Maybe she could try to hold her ha-... No! Silly thoughts. Tranquil mind, controlled heart. Besides, Poppler would of course see them. She sighed softly before turning to Hermes. “So, where do we go now?” she asked with a smile.

	Hermes face took a serious turn, as if taking her question to be of the utmost important. As she thought, her cloudling companion took it about himself to hum with electricity atop her head, as if he himself was thinking along. Finally a bright smile broke across Hermes’ face, “Want to see my home?”

	Xiaoli blushed. So soon! To think that she would take her home already! She struggled for a moment to avoiding blurting out a deafening “YES!” and managed strenuously to bottle up her excitement. This was a cordial invitation - [i]nothing more[/i], Xiaoli concluded rather somberly. She tried to hide her blush with her sleeve as discreetly as possible, failing utterly, and nodded. “Yes, that would be very nice,” she said, choking a giddy giggle.

	Against all odds, Hermes smile seemed to grow even wider as she took a few steps towards Xiaoli. Knowingly, Poppler zipped into her knotted hair right as she wrapped her arms around Xiaoli, her spear and club clinking off each other as she did. Xiaoli herself blushed to the point that small vents of docile steam floated up from underneath her black hair. It only took a second, but with a crash of sound and a sudden blur, the trio was rocketed off the peaks and above the clouds.

	The great cloudy plains zipped by underneath, and in time that eventually gave way to an endless blue ocean. Their time spent over the ocean was the longest of the journey, and due to the immense speeds it was spent in silence, Hermes focusing hard on her positioning only now and again looking at her catch with a reassuring twinkle in her eye. Xiaoli felt that she never could get quite used to this sight, an entire sea soaring by underneath at speeds neither she nor her master could achieve, even in water. She would occasionally look up at the Dreamer’s chalk-white face and her awe would morph into a warming sensation of safety. In the moment, the girl could not help but tighten her grip around Hermes just a little tighter.

	All at once an amazing landmass broke the horizon, glittering red coasts waved at them, and blue mountains could be seen in the far distance. Hermes seemed to ignore the rocky coastline, zipping by and over it. It was only once she flew over the first set of strangely moving mountains did she land. Very softly did she settle onto a great expanse of red grass, little water potholes and stampeding trees. Behind the group the distant sound of grinding crumbled in their ears, the mountains ever swapping in place. Hermes seemed to pay the oddities no mind, and simply squatted down to wave her hand through the strange grass, her cloudling companion resurfacing to zip off to one of the many puddles, joining the swathes of other cloudlings that fogged the landscape. Xiaoli savoured the moment and walked a short distance, feeling her heart bounce with wonder and her mind weep in confusion. She had not even conceived of the possibility of seeing a pack of trees trot across a red savannah before. In the distance, the mountains zoomed back and forth like clouds on the sky. It was all quite surreal, she reckoned, scratching her temple in bewilderment. She turned back to Hermes and Poppler and gestured to the dreamlike landscape.

	“Do you actually live here?” she asked in a perplexed manner.

Hermes’ hand turned into a fist as she snatched a handful of the grass and plucked the blades. The Dreamer stood up and nodded, “Yes, well. I live closer to the center, but the whole place is my home.”

	As if brushing off the surreal nature and deeper meaning of the question, Hermes extended her grassy catch to Xiaoli, a candy sweet aroma leaking from the freshly harvested grass, “Chew on this! I like it.”

Xiaoli eyed the grass and took in the smells. She felt her mouth water a little and put a blade in her mouth. She chewed for a moment, grinning and giggling at the flavour - such a delicious little snack! Much sweeter than the fruits she was used to, yet it was not as filling - in fact, it was not at all filling. The perfect snack! The red plant matter tinted her already colourful teeth. Xiaoli hummed happily at the flavour and put a hand on her cheek.

“That was delicious! May I have another one, please?” she asked. 

“Uh huh!” Hermes happily nodded, quickly snatching another blade of the sugar grass for Xiaoli. While she handed it over, her enthusiastic mind and body wandered along with her words as she explained the various different things to see, “... If you start seeing white little blotches floating around you, those are flowers on the tripvine, so go slow… There are so many butterflies in the mountains, and some of them you can only see if you sit down and wait… Those are called Bilbies, they hop around and are furry, but not much else… And I call those Crunchers on account of their big mouth and the sound they make when they eat a tree.” Xiaoli skipped along dreamingly, chewing sweetgrass and taking in most of the explanations and sights with half-hearted attentiveness and wholehearted enthusiasm, occasionally dropping an “oh” or an “uh-huh”, depending what she could manage in her joyous daze.

	Her finger pointed  to one of the large rhino like herbivores with a hippo wide mouth chasing down the herd of trees, “They only eat the running trees, not the trees of the Limbo forest where I was born. OH! There are some neat fruits on the way there, they jangle in the wind like music.”

Xiaoli’s eyes widened. “Oooh! Is that so? I would love to see them, if we could!”

“Of course,” Hermes smiled wide, “I know they were made before me, but sometimes I like to think they were made [i]for[/i] me.” The Dreamer laughed at her own joke, taking Xiaoli’s hand and leading her through the rest of the flatlands. Xiaoli, still stuck in her daze, was pulled along like a doll. She did not mind in the slightest, though. Eventually the group found the foothills of a mountain and after a short trek upwards, they were cutting through a strange forest of mushrooms the size of trees, fit with strange little possums sucking on nectar flowers and strange clumps of mosses flying around. A certain magic seemed to hang in the mushroom forests, and whenever the wind cut through, as promised, there was a small melody of jingling fruit.

Finding a particular spot between four stout mushrooms, Hermes hopped onto a mossy rock. Reaching as high as she could, her fingers managed to graze the hanging fruit from the cap of the shortest fungi. The fruit let out a soft jingle as she did, and then with a tiny hop she managed to grab it, her short fall back to the rock snapping it free from the mushroom with a loud bell like sound. 

Hermes huffed and handed the cylindrical color blotted fruit to Xiaoli, “The ends are kinda hard, but if you snap it in half, the center tastes really good. It’s not very sweet, though.”

Xiaoli accepted the fruit and did as instructed: She snapped it in half to reveal the beige, mushy middle interior. Using her index finger, she dug out a small clump and put it in her mouth. Hermes had been correct in her assessment that it was not particularly sweet, not as sweet as the grass had been, anyway. The texture was mushy and a little grainy, with a rather bland flavour that leaned towards sour. It would probably be really nice with some side dishes, though. Perhaps with some nuts and jam or perhaps with some tea. Not wanting to be brutally honest, however, she smiled at the flavour, perhaps a little wider than necessary.

“I like it!” she said, “it would be wonderful with some nuts and berries in a fruit salad, though. We should make that some time!”

The smile started in Hermes’ eyes as she beamed at Xiaoli, “You know, I never got to show anyone this stuff before. It means a lot to me that you like it all.” Xiaoli giggled sheepishly.

“It-... It means a lot to me that you wanted to bring me here, too…” she whispered, steam drifting gently up from her hair. She looked down at her feet, shuffling them in place. The wind brushed through the mushroom trees, rustling the fruits on the caps into song. The orchestra of the dreamland made Xiaoli cast her eyes up to the fungi to observe. Her cheeks flushed and she let out a joyous laughter, neatly skipping a little around in circles. 

Hermes sat on her mossy stone and watched Xiaoli, a sleeping Poppler in her hair. Time slowly leaked by and in a moment, Hermes suddenly perked up, “Want to see where I was born?”
Xiaoli ceased her hopping, turning to Hermes with blinking eyes. What would such a place look like? Don’t tell me-! She wasn’t bringing her to her master’s sphere, was she?! Xiaoli took the liberty of giving her dress a runover with her eyes. Just as she had feared, the time since leaving the Jiangzhou had made it weary with travel, and the fabric around her ankles showed signs of tears and rips - not to mention the overall presence of dirt and mud all across the skirt. She couldn’t possibly meet a -god- like this! 

She blinked. Then again, she did really want to see the place where such a beautiful, soft, se-NO! Stop it, head! Tranquil mind, sweetroll heart. No, wait… Rank and file, controlled farts. Bah! Silly, silly, silly! If this entailed her meeting a god, she could not agree to come along - that was that!

“Yes,” Xiaoli answered eagerly. What was that?! She was supposed to decline! Yet she felt herself almost desperately drawn to follow Hermes wherever she suggested they go. Xiaoli supported her answer with a grin. Very well, she thought, she was created with all manners of improvisational skills and eloquent mannerisms. She could naturally handle this… She hoped.

Once again Hermes seemed to break emotional law and somehow appear even happier, as if she was expecting a no. The Dreamer could barely contain herself, her fast walk turning into a strange skip as she led the way down the other side of the mountain. Xiaoli giggled at her skipping and soon joined in the merry gait. As they made way into the valley, the mushroom forest slowly gave way to a forest of trees -- the still kind. 

The trees were old and sturdy, with gnarled roots that wove in and out of the ground as well as crooked branches. Here and there a cloudling could be seen dashing behind the dark leaves, their tiny bodies reflecting the evening heliopolis above the canopy. The further the trio walked on, the more the ground flattened and the more a strange sense of nostalgia leeched into Xiaoli's mind, despite never setting foot here in her entire life. Xiaoli looked around with crooked eyebrows and a pinch of concern in her soul - did the woods remind her of the Nanhe jungle, perhaps?

The forest seemed to thicken for a while, forcing the duo to walk single file in silence. At last the forest once more began to open up into root dominated patches of groves and ancient trees. As if the scene was beginning to be too mundane, small glowing orbs suddenly appeared. Their light shedding only slightly in the dim atmosphere, their bodies hovering lazily and only slowly moving when necessary. As the group walked by them, a few decided to follow; some turned a passionate pink as they followed Xiaoli, a few others a sunny yellow as they floated by Hermes. Such beautiful colours, Xiaoli thought - pink like blushing cheeks. She giggled to herself and noticed the sunny orbs around Hermes. They were pretty, too, but… Why were they yellow? Did the orbs go by personality or emotions or… She swallowed - or feelings for one another?! For a second, it felt as though someone pickled her heart in strong brine. Did the different colours denote different interests?

She shook her head hastily. No, that couldn’t be it! It was by personality, of course! Yellow connotes, uh, strength and joy, yes! Pink connotes beauty and, uh… Uhm… L-love? Her cheeks flushed, but her heart still ached. Hah! It likely based itself on the stronger personalities within, of course! That-... That had to be it, right? 

The Dreamer seemed to pay them no mind as the group finally spilled out into a massive grove ringed by the most ancient of trees. The small orbs floated en masse around a great stone pedestal easily a cottage in width, with a large arch of stone connecting two ends; its large entirety was made of a single, dark primordial stone, and it had a surface that looked impossibly smooth. With a skip and a bounce, Hermes suddenly planted herself in front of Xiaoli, facing the river lady with her tell tale cheshire smile, “Here we are!” Xiaoli wiped all the concern off her face and returned the smile with one of her own, not even bothering to hide all her river pebble teeth. She had a look around the group’s immediate position, noted the pedestal and the general layout of the clearing. 

“Majestic,” she whispered loudly. Naturally, she thought, it would take a place of such divine presence to create a mortal being so divine as Hermes. She let out an almost shivering sigh. Tranquil mind, controlled heart now, Xiaoli. Remember, your lord gave you the gift of reason - but also the gift of the heart! Can’t I be allowed a little leeway? No! You aren’t even sure if she likes you in that way! That-... That doesn’t mean I cannot try! You are the spawn of a divine being- So is she! I wasn’t finished! You are the spawn of a divine being and she is a mortal - it would never work! We are literally the first to ever (potentially) try - you have nothing to back that up! Look! Look… Just… 

“Just take it slow and find out of she likes you back, okay?” she said and formed a box-like gesture with her hands, as if laying a strategy.

“What?” Hermes cocked her head, her eyes staring at the little air box.

Xiaoli froze and recoiled a little. “N-nothing! Did you hear something?! I didn’t! Hehehehe!” Her sheepish laughter continued a little longer than necessary. “I, uh, I didn’t say anything else, right?”

Hermes smiled wide at Xiaoli’s speech, unsure if it was amused or confused, but before she could answer a great flash dominated the grove accompanied by a loud whisper of power. Negatives flashed in Xiaoli’s eyes as they slowly readjusted, and a soft hum faded from her ears. When her senses slowly drifted back to intelligible, a figure stood on the pedestal, underneath the archway. 

The figure was dressed like a gentleman, and had skin as colorless as Hermes. A large cheshire grin was planted on his face that reminded Xiaoli of Hermes’ if not much bigger and longer. Two spiral eyes stared hard at the Avatar, but before any interaction could happen, Hermes let out an excited squeak and rushed the pedestal with such speed, a sonic boom erupted from where she was standing. In an instant she was clasping K’nell’s right hand with both of hers, a giddy twinkle in her eye. Xiaoli was uncertain of whether she had fallen to her knees as a result of the the god’s appearance or the sonic boom, but she did not waste any time forming the position into a kowtow, pressing her palms and forehead to the ground in prostration before K’nell. 

“Your Holiness - it is an immeasurably great honour to meet Your blessed self. This servant is named Xiaoli, advisor to Shengshi.” She held her pose as she spoke. “This servant hopes she is not intruding upon Your sacred grounds.”

“I know exactly who you are,” a grainy voice swirled next to her right ear, as if K’nell was standing immediately next to her, making Xiaoli shiver, “and I know exactly what you have done-”

	The voice hung long enough to garner a speck of anxiety, “-you have shown Hermes a great kindness, and have befriended her in a way of which I approve. She speaks of you in her sleep, and has honey’d my ear with your exploits together.”

	Hermes seemed to shift with a slight embarrassment but K’nell continued, “You are welcome here, and welcome to stand and face me.” 

Xiaoli held her pose for an additional second before slowly rising back up to sit on her ankles. She discreetly brushed off the dirt on her forehead and slowly looked upwards until her eyes fell on the smartly dressed figure. She dared crack a small smile.

“This servant is beyond grateful for Your hospitality, as well as for Hermes. She is a dear friend to me and I-...” She paused. This was likely not the best time to spill all the details. “... And I hope she is as happy with me as I am with her.” She sent Hermes a wink. 

“Of course, Xiaoli!” Hermes smiled back at her friend. K’nell stood silent for a while, leaving the two to simply look at each other, before suddenly pulling his left hand from behind his back, palm up. Suddenly a box materialized on top of it. It was small, perhaps an inch thick and maybe seven long, with a depth no more than the thickness. It was made of a wood that reminded Xiaoli of the color of the trees about her right now, and was hinged in a silver pattern that reminded her of a dream she never had. 

“Come,” K’nell’s voice sounded behind Xiaoli, “take your prize.”

Xiaoli pondered for a second. A prize for what? For being Hermes’ friend? She smiled, rose up and made her way towards the god. It was nice to see that the world had other hosts as hospitable as her master. A thought stabbed through her conscience, leaving an open wound. Her master! She had been gone for so long! Was he alright? The warm colours in her cheeks dimmed even as she approached the two on the pedestal. She stopped in front of the god and bowed, extending two hands which she cupped together to accept the gift.

The box was gently placed on her hands, the gift weighing slightly more than she might have expected. K’nell’s voice hung between the group, “A seed that the field of the world may need in the coming days. Open it.”

Xiaoli straightened herself back up and looked pensively at the box. She looked up to K’nell as if seeking reassurance before slowly lifting off the lid. There sitting on a cushion of black velvet was a small flute made out of a white metal, it had seven holes to control the flow of wind through the tiny mouthpiece. Something about it calmed Xiaoli’s heart as she looked at it. The calming warmth spread throughout her body and the colours returned to her skin; her shoulders relaxed; her pupils swelled ever so slightly. She carefully took the flute in her hand and let her eyes drink in its every detail. She eventually looked back to the god and gave him a smile complemented by misty eyes.

“Th-... Thank You, Your Holiness. May this servant.. May this servant try it out?”

Like a conductor K’nell raised an allowing hand, his eyes intent on Xiaoli, paired with Hermes’ own eager gaze, her lips slightly parted in suspense. Xiaoli put the box carefully down on the ground and then placed her fingers on the flute’s slim, metallic body, testing the distance between the holes. Finally, she laid the mouthpiece between her lips and blew.

A stream of water shot out the front of the pipe, as well as through four of the seven holes. Xiaoli’s normally white skin turned pink and she hid her face behind her sleeve. “S-sorry! Allow me to try again!”

K’nell stood silent, keeping his conductor’s hand raised in permission. Hermes’ on the other hand, zipped back down to her friend and investigated closely, before nodding, “try again.”

With Hermes next to her, Xiaoli felt her heartbeat with renewed vigor. The colour in her face remained, but not due to embarrassment this time. She concentrated and put the flute to her lips again. Alright, how do I do this, she thought. To blow air in a concentrated manner without the water, too… She first blew very carefully, producing some quiet notes. This encouraged her, so she added some more vigor, the tones growing louder and more colourful. As she concentrated on keeping the water in her mouth from flushing out again, she painted the air around them with calm, blue notes that seemed to swim around them like fish in a stream. As she tested the instrument, the blues became purple skips and red crescendos, brushing across the fictive canvas like a brush across paper. 

As Hermes stood admiring the beautiful sound, suddenly Poppler tumbled out of her hair and landed on the ground with not as much as a pop. The Dreamer spun to look at her cloudling friend, kneeling down to poke. The Cloudling only stirred slightly and Hermes looked up at Xiaoli, “He is asleep.”

	“Beasts of anger, beasts of violence, and beasts of destruction and wroth; The world will see all of these, but as I said: here is a much needed seed in the field of the world,” K’nell’s voice whispered about the trio, “a gift unto you, to be shared. See the hearts of these beasts pacified when they come too much, pass the flute to those who need it most, and never stop showing kindness.”

Xiaoli fell to her knees and clutched the flute tightly to her chest. “Yes, Your Holiness. This servant swears upon her existence to always show her kindest self to others and to share Your sacred gift with all those that may need it.” Her eyes spawned small tears and she inclined her head. “Thank You, Your Holiness, thank You so much.”

K’nell held out a palm then the little cloudling stirred to, lazily hovering back up to Hermes’ hair, “you all have my blessing.”

	There was another bright clap of light, and as the buzzing and the pinkish hue of eyes shocked by light faded, K’nell was gone. 

Xiaoli blinked and looked back down at the flute. The first gift she had ever received from another deity - it was beautiful. She would treasure it dearly. She looked at Hermes and grinned.

“So… Where to now?”


[hider=Girls Just Wanna Have Fun]
Xiaoli and Hermes leave the Lustrous Garden, then zoom off over to Tendlepog. 

There, Hermes shows Xiaoli all the LSD-level shit going on in the dreamland. Xiaoli loves it wholeheartedly. She has intense thirsty thoughts about that Hermes, too. Poppler likely knows and is plotting Xiaoli’s disappearance.

The two share some tender moments until Hermes gets the idea to show Xiaoli her birthplace, which they then go see. There, they enjoy another sweet moment before K’nell shows up. Being the gentleman he is, K’nell gives Xiaoli a gift, a nice flute, which when played puts Poppler to sleep. K’nell then promptly disappears. 

Cameo by Cyndi Lauper
[/hider]
[hider=Might Summary]

The Fairy flute: Able to bring the angriest and most violent beasts to sleep: 1 MP, discounted by Sleep to 0.

A neat box, no might spent

Bringing Poppler back to the waking world, no might spent

[/hider]