“So what exactly are we looking for?” Cire asked. She khe name of the ingredient but not what it looked like.

  “The Tyr flower, found natively only on this mountain. It has a blood red color, bit darker than your hair and a noxious smell. Not a good flower fift, but its roots are used to fight viral illnesses.” Jasmine expined. “ It’s normally grown every spring by alchemists, but around here, its harvesting is a very good starting quest for adventurers.”

  “Ohhhh, I remember Lily has those!” Cire excimed. She remembered getting sick when she was younger and the local alchemist bringing her herbal tea. The taste was so bad, she physically ged thinking about it.

  Jasmine ughed, ”Yup! Looks like you remember the taste as well.”

  “Its flower also be used to treat wounds. Grinding it to a paste and coating the bandages fight off iion.” Ana spoke up. “The ar is also used in some alcoholic beverages. When boiled, it has a bittersweet taste to it.”

  Jasmine frowned and started thinking. ”I didn’t know that, maybe we grab the whole flower then. Maybe have your mom make us some drinks whe back.”

  “M-maybe…. Not too good with alcohol.” Ana replied meekly. Her moment of fidence as she spoke about facts passing quickly.

  The two women smiled at the shy girl, her face starting to redden as they stared. Two pairs of eyes ogled her as she tried not to meet them. Cire licked her lips and the thought of Aing tipsy aing loose for oered her mind. Would she be more versational or louder when drunk? Cire would like to see that.

  “I bet you’re a talkative drunk.” Jasmine added. Her smile widened as she spoke. ”The shy ones always are.”

  “I see that. She’d probably ramble on about something she found iing or her sister. I hope she’s a touchy drunk too.” Cire joined in. “Maybe she’d be less embarrassed when drunk.”

  “Hopefully, would like to see a more…. active Ana at some point” Jasmine mused.

  “C- we focus on the flower?” Ana said, her voice tapering off. She looked at the ground, not being able to look at either of them. She wasn’t good with the attention she was getting.

  Cire got that urge to tease her. Her chest began to burn as she closed the gap with the girl. She gently lifted the girl’s faeet hers. A move she learned from a romanovel. ”Aww, but it’s so gross. Much rather talk about something appealing…” She semi-whispered to the girl, letting the st word hang in the air.

  After a pause as Cire tried to get Ana to look at her, she felt Jasmine her arms around her waist aed her on Cire’s shoulder. Her warmth fed the fire burning in her chest right now. Her breath caught as Jasmine spoke. ”Trueee, it’s s talking about the flower whe somethier right here.”

  A silence fell over the trio as Ana started to tremble. Her knees gave out as she fell into Cire’s arms, she couldn’t take it anymore. She felt Cire’s arms around her, a feeling of heat and safety enveloped her. Her eyes were closed and her heart beat rapidly in her chest.

  They stood there for a while, no one saying anything. Their breath being the only sounds as their bodies embraced each other. Slowly the sounds of the mountain filtered in, birds chirping, wind hitting the branches. All the sounds of nature she had subsciously ignored, now filtering in. Ana opened her eyes and finally took in the sight before her.

  Before her was the nd they traveled, filled with fields and forests. She could see the road they took and how it snaked with the nd. She saw how the sky met the earth to make the horizon and it took her breath away. It was a view she’d read about and even seen paintings of, but the real thing was so much better. The blue sky met the greeh and she could only imagine how the su would look from here.

  She took in the sight, fetting the predit she was in. Her eyes followed the road back towards the mountain rahe forest they passed with a sea of trees and the ke nearby. Everything looked so small from up here. Finally, she refocused on the embrace she was in.

  She looked up to her embracer, her greearing down at her. A smile burned into her face as she looked at Ana. It made Ana’s heart beat faster and she could feel her face burn. She looked at the other woman, her gray eyes watg her. A cool half-smile on her face.

  “There she is,” Cire whispered. “Finally looking at us.”

  “Mmhmm” Jasmine added. Her hands moved from Cire to Ana as she pulled the two closer to herself. “Seems she finally noticed how beautiful it is up here.”

  They slowly shifted to the ground, parting for now, as they turowards the horizon. They took in the sery in silence, both Ana and Jasmied their heads on Cire’s shoulders. A differe filled Cire’s chest, simir to before, but more f than passionate.

  Jasmine finally broke from them, ”Gotta start looking, I don’t trust Elsie to stay with the cart for too long.”

  They trekked up the mah they were on, taking in the sights as they walked. Birds came a, rabbits occasionally passed by, and the varied pnt life added to their walk. Cire was so caught up in the walk, she fot what they came here for as she picked flowers t back to her mothers.

  Jasmine spoke up, reminding her. “The flower should be around here. You see how the trail splits off in all dires. Keep a”

  They both nodded as they kept walking, their eyes wahe enviro. It didn’t take long for them to find the flower, its fragrance was the first thing Cire noticed. It smelled slightly rotten and she wondered how ahought to add it to alcohol. They barely had to leave the main path before seeing the blood red flower patches.

  It looked simir to a daisy, but the white petals were a dark crimson. Its ar also oozed from its petals making it look like it was bleeding. How ahought to e this pnt was a mystery.

  They quickly started harvesting the flowers, pulling the flowers up from the bottom of the stem. It didn’t take long and the whole process was uful, but they got a pretty good haul of the flowers. About 30 of them were pced in the bag that Cire had. Overall, the whole thing was uful.

  Even the walk back was calm and peaceful. No signs of monsters or predators. The only problem being Ana’s stitution. She was gging behind and panting heavily. Cire noticed and decided to help her out. She had noticed Ana’s g her and how she reacted when she offered to carry her. She nudged Jasmine and poio the tired girl.

  Jasmine nodded and stopped. Cire walked up to the girl and offered her arm. “You doing okay?” She asked. Ana grabbed her arm and took a deep breath.

  “N-not really. Haven’t walked…. This far… ever” She said between heavy breaths.

  “Wao carry you?” Cire asked

  She perked up at that and she nodded. Cire slowly lifted the girl into a princess carry. Cire was used to carrying feed and armor for hours, this dainty girl would be no issue. Cire caught up to Jasmine and they tio walk towards the carriage.

  Ana slowly caught her breath as she took in her situation. She was being held by Cire right now. Her teenage fantasies were slowly ing true. That dream she had after disc Cire training so long ago was ing true. Cire noticed her staring i her and she smiled.

  “You doing okay? Your breath has slowed.” Cire whispered.

  Ana nodded and tightened her grip around Cire. “Yeah…. Sorry I’m not used to this much walking”

  “All good, you’ll get used to it.” Cire mused. ”I could help you with your endurance.”

  Cire meant with training but Ana’s brai in the opposite dire. Her thoughts went to lewder ideas of enduraraining. Her face reddened deeply as Cire realized how it was taken and giggled. “I meant training, but we could do that too.”

  Jasmine also ughed, eavesdropping on their versation, ”To be fair to Ana, I would have taken it that way too. Goddamhings truly ruined our minds.”

  Cire nodded, ”Yup, so many things have a new meaning. And I gotta be scious of this bulge in my pants whenever I think that way.”

  All three ughed in agreement. Their neendages created so many new issues they weren’t used to. Having to be careful about innuendos and cheg to see if anything was stig out was entirely hey silently decided to e up with solutions for the group.

  They finally made it back to the carriage where a bored Elsie was ying in the driver seat. “Finally! Thought you guys got lost.” She said with irritation.