Maple’s sister was not making it easy for her to leave.

  It was the day of her departure and Willow was currently clinging to the pants leg of the travel outfit Aunt Sarah had made for her and was crying for her not to go. Frankly this felt out of character for her sister, but Maple supposed this was the first time that the two of them would be properly separated since the girl's birth. The thought made her want to tear up a bit herself, but she clamped down hard on that emotion. She had to be strong and do her part to deal with the demon threatening them all.

  “Please don’t go sissy, I don’t know how to cook yet, and Da and Yew’s food is never good.”

  It seems that the cause for her sister’s concern was different from what she thought. Ah well.

  “It’ll be alright little gnome, Aunt Jieun will be staying at our home for as long as her family and I are gone, and I’m sure she’ll be cooking up all kinds of tasty treats.”

  Every other time she uses that nickname for her sister she is reminded of the cute little critters that inspired it. The gnomes around her family's old home were always trying to help, constantly underfoot, and covered in dirt just like Willow.

  A part of her still hopes they survived the fire.

  Maple mussed up her sister's hair and tried to gently pry her off. The girl was actually getting surprisingly strong for a child her age and size so it was far more difficult than she thought it’d be. With that task done she knelt down to her sister’s eye level and looked into her puffy red eyes.

  Oh, she had really been crying then which either meant her sister was that scared of their father’s cooking, or was going to miss her for more than her culinary capabilities.

  “Hey now, no need to cry. We’ll be back before you know it.” She gave her sister a reassuring smile at the lie.

  In truth she had no idea how long this would take. While the trip to Darabaile was supposed to only be about a week's journey with her help, the time to get a response and actual assistance with the demonic beast king near them could be weeks if not months.

  And all the while her, Bai, and Uncle Lin will be staying in the city out of harm's way.

  Honestly she hated that fact more than anything, but her father made clear the reasons why, and made it equally clear that she was not to tell her siblings. That job would go to him.

  She pulled her still sniffling sister into a tight hug and started rubbing her back in small circles.

  “Promise me you’ll stay safe Willow. No more attempted heroics until you grow big and strong alright?” Maple was still frustrated that it was her baby sister that had discovered the demon in their midsts and not one of the adults.

  “I promise to stay safe.” Came the muffled reply.

  Which only caused Maple to sigh, her sister was clearly still planning something.

  “Can you bring out Change and Harmony for a moment?”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Sure?” Willow questioned, obviously unsure why her big sister wanted to speak with her spirits.

  Suddenly the twin spirits were floating above their heads. Frankly speaking their childlike forms gave Maple the creeps, but she didn’t want to insult her sister’s friends in front of the girl so she hadn’t brought it up. She was also unsure how sincere they were being in regards to their friendship with Willow, but considering how insulted they were after Yew brought up the idea of switching to him she supposed they were at least somewhat committed to her sister.

  “Whaddya wanna talk to us about?” Change, the loud white one with the creepy black eye, asked.

  She gave them both as serious of a look as she could muster.

  “Can you two please promise me that you’ll keep my sister out of trouble.”

  Maple heard a muffled squawk coming from the girl still trapped in her embrace.

  “We will try our best, as we always do, but you know how willful the girl can be.” Harmony, the quiet and more reasonable one, half promised.

  Maple wanted to argue and get a more concrete promise from the two of them, but she knew they were right as much as it frustrated her. Willow seemed to view punishments as the cost of bad behavior, rather than an incentive not to do the behavior again. It didn’t come up too often because she was a generally sweet child, but the recent mud ball incident with Yew over his attempted “theft” of her friends highlighted some of her more negative attributes.

  Also, Maple still wondered how the girl kept stealing the sweets she made.

  “Fine.” She said with a sigh. “At least I know there’s one level head among the three of you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Change huffed.

  She arched her brow. “I know about the well incident remember?”

  “And as I said before she’s blowing it way out of proportion.” The spirit grumbled. “Still don’t know what compelled her to bring it up.”

  “I wanted her to know what we’ve been up to.” Willow piped up as she finally broke free from Maple's grasp. She also seemed much less prone to crying now which was good.

  “And I appreciate that little gnome, but now it’s time for us to go.” The girl immediately looked upset at the news, but slowly nodded her head.

  “Okay… Stay safe sissy.”

  “I will.” She said as she finished moving over to the rest of her travel group. One of the members of said group was currently being bothered by her other sibling.

  “And are you sure you have everything you need?” Yew asked Bai for probably the twentieth time, and while the girl seemed content to accept Maple’s brother’s worrying, the girl's father was quickly growing tired of it.

  “Yes, boy, she has everything. She’s said as much five times now.” Uncle Lin then noticed Maple’s arrival. “Oh good you managed to pry Willow off of you. Can you get rid of your other sibling so we can head off?”

  The young teen pouted with a slight blush in his cheeks. “I’m just worried about my friend going off into the wilderness. Nothing wrong with making sure she’s prepared, is there?”

  It was normally quite cute seeing how obvious her brother's feelings for Bai were, but with the coming travel now looming imminent Maple couldn’t enjoy it as much. So instead she decided to bully him a little in front of his crush.

  “Her father’s literal job is going into the wilderness by himself, and he’s even coming with us. Of course he made sure his daughter has everything she needs.” She dealt the finishing blow by tousling his hair a little bit and adding. “It’s cute you care so much about her though.”

  She didn’t know her brother’s face could turn that color. Neat.

  After almost a full minute of sputtering and half denials he eventually stammered out a goodbye for everyone and fled from any further psychological torment.

  Uncle Lin looked impressed at how quickly Maple dealt with Yew, while Bai just tittered at her brother’s antics. With the final obstacle to their departure out of the way, Meteoros was summoned and the group set off through the air in a ball of light.

  Maple just hoped she could land without issue this time.