"You know," Faral said casually, "to better conceal their energy, you can have them morph into tattoos."
Zhu's eyes flew open. Excitement shot through her like lightning.
"Wait, really? That's amazing!"
"Indeed."
"Quick," she demanded, grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. "Tell me how."
If she'd been standing, she absolutely would've done a little jig.
"Very well," Faral said, indulgent. "In your mind, imagine the form you want them to take. Be as detailed as possible. Then decide where you want them to settle on your skin."
This time, Zhu complied eagerly.
The air around her stirred, the indigo sparks lifting higher, shadows stretching and curling like smoke caught in water.
"Very good," Faral praised. "Now, while they are in this phase, you must relax and keep the image clear. If your focus wavers, the process will fail."
Zhu nodded and obeyed to the letter.
She fixed the image firmly in her mind.
Minutes passed. The cubs' light intensified, glowing a deep, radiant indigo. Their shadow-forms separated, drifting toward her arms. When they touched her skin, she sucked in a breath as a strange sensation washed over her like ants skittering gently across her flesh. She twitched instinctively.
"Do not move," Faral warned. "Concentrate."
She froze.
One shadow settled on her left arm, shaping itself into a familiar symbol a diamond blooming from the heart of a rose. Tears welled in her eyes as she recognised it, the mark taken from the only possession she had ever truly owned: her tattered old baby blanket.
Ms. Nanny had once told her she'd been found wrapped in it as an infant, abandoned near the Hollowvail Forest. The one regret that lingered since this ordeal began was leaving it behind in that nasty man's car.
Now the symbol lived on her arm. With it there, she felt steadier, anchored somehow. Empowered.
The second flowed onto her right arm, forming a circular crest of thorned rose vines, leaves curling outward, sharp and elegant. Together, the designs aligned perfectly, like two halves of the same sigil stem, bloom, and diamond rising from its centre.
Zhu stared, awestruck.
"Oh my gosh," she breathed. "This is so awesome."
Warmth spread through her chest, fierce and bright. For the first time in her life, something truly belonged to her, beautiful, alive, and chosen.
"Well done, girl," Faral said.
"Thanks for your help, Faral."
"As a proper show of gratitude," he replied smoothly, "you could consider ceasing to call me that name."
Zhu laughed, pure and unrestrained.
"Nope. Never."
Zhu could swear she felt the voice pout. She laughed as she got onto her feet. "Listen, I am a girl of my word. I said I would call you that forever, and I wi-"
Before Zhu could finish, she started to giggle as the cubs had gotten used to their new way of being and started moving on her body. Zhu found this to be very unsettling, especially because their movements were very ticklish to her.
"Hey, hey, you stop in or else…" Zhu said in her sternest voice. One she picked up from her interactions with the younger ones at the orphanage.
Afraid she would carry out the nonexistent threat, the cubs stop moving.
"Good babies," Zhu praised now how do I make them unmata?
"You mean re-matabolize?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I said, feral." Zhu was impatient with his know-it-allness.
"Use your thoughts to direct them to change back."
"Alright, Zhu thought about what she wanted them to do, then gave them a direct request just in case. Change into cubs."
The markings on Lin Zhu's skin began to stir.
At first, it was only a warmth like embers waking beneath her flesh. The twin tattoos curled along her forearm, their ink like lines rippling as if disturbed by an unseen current. What had once been still, elegant patterns on her arms now pulsed with life.
Zhu didn't dare move.
Mana gathered, thick and heavy, drawing the air inward. The tattoos brightened, their edges glowing as the lines peeled away from her skin, lifting like smoke caught in reverse. The sensation was strange but not painful, more like something precious being gently returned.
The first cub emerged in a cascade of light from her left arm.
Ink became fur. Lines became limbs. The tattoo stretched outward, swelling into form as the cub's small body knit itself together midair, paw, tail, and ears. Until it landed softly on the ground before her. Its eyes opened with a familiar gleam, mana still crackling faintly along its whiskers.
A heartbeat later, the second followed.
Its sigil unfurled from her upper arm, spiralling outward like a blooming crest. The air shimmered as the dematerialised mana condensed, folding in on itself until a second cub tumbled free, rolling once before righting itself with a tiny, indignant huff.
The cave fell silent.
Two living, breathing cubs stood where moments ago there had only been an empty cave.
They shook themselves, excess energy shedding in sparks that vanished before touching the stone. Their forms were solid now, warm, real, unmistakably alive. One padded toward Zhu immediately, pressing its head against her leg with a soft, rumbling sound. The other circled her once, tail flicking, eyes bright with pride.
"So that's rematerialize…" Zhu murmured, awe threading her voice.
The cubs looked up at her in unison.
She bent down to pet them "You two are super awesome"
They responded by nuzzling her hand with their heads. Zhu thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, cuties. I think I'll name you Rose—"
"May I interject?" Faral interrupted.
Zhu rolled her eyes. "You already did."
"I merely wished to inform you that one is a male Nyxari."
"And your point?" she asked flatly.
"Perhaps," Faral continued carefully, "you might prefer to name the one on your left arm Rose, since she is female."
Zhu frowned. "I still don't see your point. Roses aren't male or female, they're just flowers. I'm naming him Rose because he represents the symbol on my arm. And I'm naming the other Thorn, because she completes the tattoo on my left arm."
"I understand," Faral said, offering no further argument.
"Good." As she ambled over to the pool to wash her face. Her whole body was still caked with mud. It was dry and creaking now, though falling from her dress in flakes.
Then she packed up her stuff, meaning her dew shells, leftover purple beyleaf sunflower leaves, ginseng and the medical paste. Stuffing her pockets.
Zhu took a step and then looked down at her bare feet. She was slightly stunned. In the back of her mind, she always knew she was shoeless, but with everything that was happening, she never stopped to remedy the situation. She was too busy trying to survive one life-threatening thing after another.
And besides, which shoes would be able to withstand her vigorous 'adventures.'
"Faral, we have a problem." Zhu reached out to the only one who could help. "We need shoes"
Zhu wiggled her toes and tapped her feet together. "I would prefer something that wouldn't drift off my feet if I say…jumped in a river or break apart if I had to run for my life or get attacked by monsters…"
"Very logical considerations for footwear." The voice responded.
"Right, I think so too," Zhu laughed proudly.
"I know just the helper we need." Half an hour later, Faral was guiding her through the forest once again.
She'd packed her belongings, including the crutch, which she no longer needed but refused to get rid of. Who knows when she will need a sturdy weapon to beat somebody u- or rather, defend herself…. Zhu smirked evilly as she imagined beating up…ah, defending herself against a certain stinky voice.
"He he he," she laughed out loud, feeling satisfied by the image.
She was so distracted that she didn't see what was in front of her until she walked into it and got a face full of the thread-like things.
She screeched in shock and stuttered as she tried to get the thing out of her mouth and hair.
"We have arrived", the voice completed belatedly.
Zhu stopped walking, looking around in utter distress.
"No." She whispered. Faral stated firmly in her head. "Yes."