The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Shake On It (Beyond A Dragon 2/7)

II.

Sometimes people don't want to let go of the things that make them sad, because they're the only thing that made them happy once upon a time.

The thought-shard splashed on the maid's garb as she moved, like water or a delicate piece of glass shattering. The thought hit her in places where she kept hidden. The girl's own thoughts, intertwining with her servant's own. Now that is true magic, though the phrase the Princess held in that particular shard was oddly melancholic, even if she did not know its true meaning. Did she make the Princess sad? Or was she sad because she felt like she let Madoka down somehow? They were both true, yet here she was in the thick of foreign woods with her on her back.

Madoka did not know where to go, or how Audrey knew where she was, but she simply followed the girl's instructions under the winding trees. That was, again, Her Highness's magic at work. She was strangely quiet and unusually cold to the touch. It was not unpleasant, but there she missed the heat the annoying girl gave her and she never thought she'd think that.

"You're cold," Madoka accidentally mused allowed.

"Mm?" Audrey's fingers were also cold. "Wouldn't know. Feel fine."

Her voice had a lot more energy in it compared to a few hours ago, at least. Madoka trudged in silence, wondering what the girl was thinking about that kept her so silent. The Knotting Strands short circuited in the rain, racing back into her as they crossed onto the Petal's ridgeway trail. She stopped with a sigh. The sun was beating down on them with its shine, despite the rain peppering her skin. Being up in the sky looking down upon the tall cliffsides made the distance between them and the Leyline seem short, but it's taken half the day to get back here.

"Limestone, gneisses, and weirdly pronounced schistosity. They're hexagonal shaped and full of silicate, plus there's probably some other rare metals inside its framework. Kind of reminds me of construction work of my own world, but... These types of sediments, rocks and gradients are typically found where faults are... And mesas. Weird that there's a forest here at all. The Petals I observed from above seemed indicative of something large impacting the surface of this world. What, with the central peaks, walls and split sections wrecking everything around there. Then again, I was never good at geography... Not that one... Uh, topology. Geology? Ehh..."

Perhaps the kind gods grew this forest here, the maid thought, though it did seem like the further away from the center Petals the more spacious they were from each other. She did not get a good look at the center Petal, but that was apparently the source of all the tremors and the shadow beast. Madoka pursed her lips, and instead noted the hexagonal rock formations forming under the piles of brown stone like white metal bones beneath stony flesh.

She chose not to speak on the kind gods's actions or anything at all, instead she absentmindedly kicked a loose rock at a particular spot instead of asking her what she meant. Instead of harmlessly bouncing off the peak's tall cliffside a thunderous crash tore into her ear as the rock punched through the hexagonal shell, shattering it to pieces. Rumbling shook her boots as big rocks slid down in a furious uproar, barely giving her enough time to space herself and her princess away from the new pile of destroyed rocks.

"Eh?! S-Sorry, Madoka, I was trying to sound smart — I didn't know you didn't like geology rants! Don't throw me in there!"

"It's not that," Madoka sighed, peering at the hole in the pile of devastated rubble she created. It was pitch black inside and too small for even the princess. "I didn't think it would do that... Besides, you wouldn't fit in there anyways."

"Wha—" Audrey squeaked, but settled down. "Maybe the Six Armed Goddess's strength buff is still affecting you."

"Audrey, I have no idea what you're talking about," Madoka adjusted her grip on the girl and took a step on the rocky path. "I merely kicked a rock, like your strange talks can do."