Fufi and Alex traveled through the portal pipe and arrived in the pipe nexus that Merumeru created on Bob and Martha’s farm. The number of upward facing pipes in the wall off area hadn’t increased. Two known destinations were the town, and the swamp. According to Aqua, one of these other pipes should lead to where Merumeru was. Clucking chickens stood on the wall, some with helmets. A young apple tree yellowed and was dropping leaves in the area. Other than the pipes, the only exit was a metal gate made from pipes that looks kinda steampunk.

  Alex inspected the tree. Without the trees some cutoff branches showed signs that the tree had been used for grafting. Where the trees that the nymphs used to graft the branches on was, she didn’t know. Alex touched the odd intent in the trunk that functioned as a charge port for a phone. On a whim, Alex put her phone on the wooden docking port and saw the icon for charging changed to a little lightning bolt. With Luna’s altering of the phone it always stayed at 100% but it was still useful to see that the tree still could be used as a charging station for electronics.

  “Neat!” Fufi craned her head around Alex. “It still works.”

  “It has lightning in it.” Alex repeated what a certain nymph said months ago. “I suppose there could be some use for this but the tree dies said that letting the original one grow naturally is the best choice. At least it isn’t dropping apples all over the pce. Anyway, let's go see Bob and Martha.”

  Alex opened the gate and regarded the cows and sheep hanging around. Not wanting to let them in the walled off area, she closed and secured the gate then headed to knock on the farmhouse door.

  “Hello?” Alex knocked. “Is anyone home?”

  “Maybe they are out in the fields. It is harvest time after all.” Fufi took to the skies and looked around. “Yep, come this way!”

  Alex followed the flying fmingo to Bob pulling a log back from the tree line. “Hello Bob, nice day.” The day was overcast.

  “Yeah it is starting to get colder.” Bob kept talking and pulling the log with a rope. “I’m getting wood set aside for next year. This is too green to use for firewood.”

  Alex nodded. She knew that in most cases wood had to season before it could be used for stuff. “Are you Martha and Kaide doing okay?”

  Bob pulled the log over to a pile of other logs and rolled it into pce. “Yeah, though Kaide had to go to sleep until spring.”

  “That’s right. She’s an aspen nymph.” For some reason Alex expected to see her here with her parents.

  “Yep, me and the misses are settling in for the coming winter.” Bob untied the robe from the log and coiled it back up. “How about you? What are your pns for when it gets too cold to travel?”

  Alex eyed the felled lumber, feeling a sense of nostalgia. “I’m not quite sure. My pn was to go find Merumeru and see what trouble she’s been up to for the past month.”

  “She’s popped in here a few times.” Bob pointed back to the walled off area in the distance. “Though not for very long, that girl is always buzzing about busily with some scheme or another.”

  Alex shrugged. “Aqua said she’s building a castle. I’m a little worried that she’s gotten a bit over her head if that is her pn. Don’t castles take decades to make?”

  “I guess it could take that long. But with enough high level masons and a quarry nearby I don’t think it would take even a year for a small one.” Bob scratched his beard.

  “Wow, csses are crazy convenient.” Alex balked at thousands of tons of rock going up in months. “Are things staying safe here? Some of the tribespeople have been taking to heading into the woods. No chieftains coming up and demanding things?”

  “There have been a few horsemen but when they saw Kaide they decided to be on their best behavior.” Bob chuckled. “A couple travelers have started rebuilding some of the farmsteads out here but if anyone got any bright ideas they’ve discarded them so far. Other than scavenging abandoned pces I don’t think they are doing much.”

  “Let me know if something happens that I can help with.” Alex spoke without thinking much.

  “If you are around I will, you’ve been off gavanting around for weeks at a time.” Bob chuckled.

  “I guess so.” Alex gave a guilty-looking smile. “Have to do magical girl stuff you know?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” The farmer gruffly stated. “Martha and I were prepared to spend our final years alone after we lost our st neighbor within a day’s travel. Getting our Kaide back was more than we could ever have hoped for. As far as Martha and I are concerned you are doing good work and should keep it up.”

  “Thank you.” Alex said.

  “We will!” Fufi added.

  “One st thing,” Bob turned to look towards the gorge. “There is someone at the grotto said she was looking for you a few days ago. I said you were out but you swing by here from time to time. She said she’d wait.”

  “Is it someone I know?” Alex thought maybe it was Aqua. “Might be? Do you know anyone that looks like a cross between a fish and a person?”

  “Full fishtail?” Alex considered Marina, but she was back in town.

  Bob shook his head. “No, she has legs, well one leg, the other one is a peg leg. One of those gemed fmingos was with her too.”

  “OH!” Fufi got excited. “Another magical girl! We should go meet her.”

  “Off you go.” Bob chuckled. “You can swing by the house for dinner if you’d like. No pressure though. I know you are busy. Nice outfit by the way.”

  Fufi grinned. “Yeah, it lets us use Merumeru’s portals.”

  “You want one?” Alex offered. “I made some extras. One of the pipes go to town, the other goes to a swamp.”

  “Um sure. Nothing wrong with an extra set of clothes.” Bob absently replied.

  Alex summoned the carriage. “Lets see here.” She entered and ruffled through the wardrobe bringing out a couple sets of outfits with red shirts, blue overalls and a matching cap. “You’ll have to get some bck boots to complete the outfit. I’m not much of a cobbler.”

  Bob accepted the bundle of cloth. “Thanks, most boots come bck so that should be hard.”

  The farmer tucked the clothes under his arm and bit them good day.

  The pair headed back the way they came, passing the workshop, the well and the dam before heading down the steps to the gorge where the grotto y.

  “Hello,” Alex called into the damp cave. “Is anyone in there?”

  Some spshing and fpping followed.

  “Who goes there?” A female voice called out from inside the grotto.

  “We asked first!” Fufi excimed in her high pitched voice.

  “Cousin!” A fpping followed and a fmingo with a gem in her forehead flew out into the open. “Fancy meeting you here!”

  “Funi!” Fufi jumped up and down, fpping her wings.

  “Fufi!” The other fmingo repeated the motion.

  “Meet my contractor.” She gestured a wing at Alex. “How have you been?”

  “Oh we’ve been fighting the good fight.” Funi craned her neck so it was facing behind her. “Come out here Ariel. Looks like you can complete your side quest.”

  “Ah, so you are Alex.” What could only be described as a sea elf stepped out of the temple. Though she dressed more like someone who stepped out of a pirate movie. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  The magical girl had finned ears, gills on her throat and skin a very light blue. She wore a bicorn hat, a fmboyant jacket, puffy pantaloons, stockings and buckled shoes. One of her legs was a peg leg. She even had an eyepatch.

  “Wow, you look like you’ve been through some rough times.” Alex said.

  “Yeah, me and my crew were fighting the good fight on the high seas.” She chortled. “But in between ships right now. Luna gave me a quest to come here and help with a specialization ceremony.”

  “I told you right?” Fufi talked fast. “When a magical girl turns level 5 she’s got to pick a theme for the kind of magical girl she wants to be. What did you decide? I know you probably don’t want maid or nature themed. But there has to be things that you like that synergize well with being a magical girl.”

  Alex hadn’t actually put much thought into it. Fufi gushing about different kinds of magical girls and the things they did just came across as her familiar being pushy. She really should have put a bit more thought into it.

  “I picked privateering.” Ariel puffed up her chest. “Protecting the high seas from demonic cultivators has been my game for a couple years now.”

  “So you are a pirate?” Alex gaped.

  “The term is privateer.” She corrected Alex.

  “That’s not important right now.” Funi led everyone inside. “You have to go to a pce of worship for your goddess to specialize. Luckily we found this nice grotto someone built.”

  “Yeah they even built it on a waterway. I would have never traveled this far innd if there wasn’t water nearby.” The sea elf hobbled around gesturing at all the fancy decorations in the grotto. “Whoever made this did a good job. It is lovely.”

  “It was a group effort.” Fufi proudly strutted around. “Alex helped excavate the rock, the nymphs and Nereids pnted mushrooms and flowers and Merumeru made the statues with Edelweiss’s help.”

  “Hats off to the excellent craftsmanship” Ariel removed her hat and did a curtsey. It was cute.

  “How’s being a pira… er privateer magical girl work?” Alex asked.

  “Most of my powers are tied to a ship.” The sea elf expined. “I can manipute wind and water.”

  “So it is like being a captain?” Alex thought the girl looked like a captain.

  Ariel shook her head. “No, that is a leader css. Magical girls make terrible leaders. Didn’t Fufi teach you that?”

  Fufi crossed her wings. “I did, Alex is just being stubborn.”

  “Shouldn’t a ship have a captain?” Alex sounded defensive. “I mean, who is in charge if there is no captain?”

  “Most of the ships are made by humans. And most humans that have leadership csses are fully in control of demons. Trying to get someone like that alive is really difficult.” Ariel talked slowly, like she was expining something to a child.

  “Oh.” Alex got it. Yvne had a noble css for example, but she was demon possessed so getting rid of the demon without killing her might take some special methods she didn’t know anything about.

  “Anyway, you should ask Luna for a specialization. What did you decide?” Funi sounded surprisingly like Fufi.

  Alex gave it some thought. “Fufi’s right. I don’t see myself being a magical maid or a nature magical girl. Being a harpy was kinda fun but it wasn’t really me. Let me think here a moment.” Alex thought about what she enjoyed the most. She liked tailoring and cooking. But she thought that her greatest accomplishment using magical girl powers was creating Rose, Lily and Edelweiss.

  “So what did you decide?” Fufi prodded.

  “If I had to make a decision right now. It would be a toymaker magical girl.” Alex spoke with uncertainty.

  Alex’s phone rang out.

  *Ding* [Css Evolution: Magical girl has become: Magical girl Toymaker]

  A fanfare pyed from seemingly nowhere and little pink fireworks sparked across the grotto to Luna.