Chapter 85 part 2 – Jessica and Lunamarie

The two girls step outside wearing pristine and gorgeous robes that highlight their body curves in the right way. Their hair almost translucent in the red-glow of the moon between the trees, Jessica's strawberry blonde hair and Lunamarie's silvery hair twinkle in the moonlight as Jack is left speechless as the two maidens or maybe temptresses approach him.

Each one adorned in their own colour, Jessica with a light pink coloured robe and Lunamarie with her own silver robe, each adorned with colourful flowers and patterns. The young man cannot help to stare agape as they come closer.

Jack gulps, "H-How was it? Did you freshen up ok?" as he can feel his face heat up, afraid to blink.

Jessica smiles while Lunamarie blushes, "Can the naughty boy not control himself before these two fair maidens?" Jessica asks. Jack's eyes dart up and down the girls taking everything in when a noise coming from above draws their attention.

The sound of something jumping through the trees forces them to raise their guard, but when they hear a giggling, everyone relaxes except for the newcomer Lunamarie.

"Big brother!"

Mai comes into view on the branches above them, she's covered in mud but she's smiling and giggling as she comes into the light.

"Mai, come down and tell us what's so funny?"

The little girl lands on the ground softly before running up to Jack and pulling on his robes, "Big brother, your blood was sooo much more yummy than before. Why was it so much better? It had no yucky bits in it. I even have some left over but all the plants need to rest for now."

"Well, a lot happened today but you remember this girl don't you?" Jack points to Lunamarie who still has her guard raised.

"The bunny from the cart? What about her, isn't she just some soldier?"

"Mai, she came from the Jade Palace, which is up on the moon right now. She'll be staying with us here for a while so be nice."

"Oh hello, I'm Mai and my elder sister isn't here right now. Do you know Sovereign Leah? She's my elder sister and she's so strong, she's a sable and she's so so cute that I'm jealous I think. Hey, can you turn into a bunny again since you have those bunny ears? Are you cuter than my elder sister?"

Lunamarie blinks at the little girl a few times, not knowing how to respond.

"Mai, I found these seeds up on the Jade Palace. Do you think they're interesting?"

Jack takes out one of the many seeds collected during the event. The little girl takes it without even a glance.

The little girl looks at the seed for a moment, then gathers green energy into her hand toward the seed. It seems to just endlessly absorb the green glow, this lasts a breath of time yet Mai looks completely worn out by the time she is done as the seed drops to the ground.

"That seed is weird. It wants to grow and sucks up all the nutrients, but it likes nothing but pure stuff and that's too hard. I have to sleep now that used up all the energy, night night" she falls asleep quickly.

Jack grabs the little girl before she collapses on the ground while also reaching down to pick up the seed that she did something to.

The golden seed doesn't look any different, so he throws it to Lunamarie saying "Catch!".

"What did you do, how did you contaminate this seed? How did you do this? There's no way that little girl could do this. Nothing can get through the exterior barrier."

"Never mind how. What happened to it? Is it ruined?" Jack cradles Mai as she flops around in his arms. The girl is almost asleep, nodding off while blinking.

"No, but what did you do ever since you took the seed? What did you do when I couldn't see you?

"Shh, Mai needs to go to bed, then you two can talk about what happened to the seed. You also need to tell me what happened up there." Jack announces.

Lunamarie inspects the seed while Jack takes Mai to bed. The tent is a mess with all the various clothes strewn about, but somehow it feels nice to have the signs of life here. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts and exits the tent, heading over to where he left but finds the girls aren't there.

It doesn't take long for him to catch sight of the two girls, as they're illuminated by the strange moon. Jessica makes eye contact with him as he comes back, nearly causing him to trip over his own feet, much to the amusement of them.

"So I was explaining to Lunamarie about the plants in the garden and how they're all grown by Mai."

"Ah, yeah they're grown by her so perhaps she'll show you in the morning how she does it but for now, is there anything wrong with the seed?"

"I won't know unless it grows which, of course needs moon qi. I need my qi for alchemy tomorrow, Do you feel like growing it yourself?"

"Can I do that?"

"Well give it a go, maybe it'll leech the qi coming from you" Lunamarie tosses the seed to Jack who catches it and submerges it into the moon qi appearing on his hand.

Jessica speaks while stroking the little phoenix chick in her lap, as Jack is floating the seed around his body in qi control exercises, "What happened up there?"

Jack then spends the next while explaining the experiences up there, glossing over a few of the inner parts lest it cause an argument as the seed floats around his body. This control exercise is using the non standard qi pathways to emit moon qi as it travels down his arm, over his shoulder and down the other arm.

The strange tube, the free fall through the clouds and the murky darkness, the creatures that weren't visible but were a constant source of danger before finding the barrier to the Jade Palace.

Briefly explaining his way into the palace then onto meeting Lunamarie who then narrates what she saw happening on the various screens prior to the ceremony. Jessica is enthralled by the dance as Lunamarie vividly describes it.

Jack briefly talks about his experiences but sticks to the experiences in the field with the annoying guys and the older people. The talk continues on but Jessica asks questions about the dancing, the ceremony and what it all meant while Jack cultivates listening to the two girls talk and become closer to one another.

Jack saves the strange face, the little kid that attacked him and the couple of fights for another time as right now isn't the time.

The night passes by quickly as the three people are talking in the garden, Jessica is the first to show signs of tiredness as she yawns while slowly blinking her eyes as Lunamarie continues to narrate her experiences inside the Jade Palace and within her training school. Jack is cultivating with the seed still travelling around his body when he can notice Jessica's head nodding up and down.

The little phoenix chick on Jessica's lap is happily sleeping away as Lunamarie can't help look at it time and time again.

"It's so rare to see a baby Phoenix outside the nest... You guys also have a little baby dragon, why do you have those two things?"

"It's something that you're going to have to find out. We all have secrets, don't we?"

"So is it a secret or something you don't know?"

Jack smiles at her without confirming or denying anything as he reaches forward to support Jessica.

She's just about to fall over but as his hand inches closer the phoenix chick asleep on her lap wakes up suddenly and sends a zap of phoenix qi towards Jack.

The bolt of phoenix fire qi flies toward him in an instant, but as it does, the phoenix qi hits the layer of moon qi supporting the seed floating around Jack's body.

The phoenix qi gathers in a ball, submerging the contaminated seed in a white glow.

A moment passes when a foul smelling black cloud is ejected out of the moon qi disappearing into the air.

The phoenix qi disappears revealing an almost translucent seed.

It's tiny, about 1/10th the size of the original, but it radiates an aura of life. A powerful aura of life energy.

Jack is stunned and nearly drops Jessica while Lunamarie gasps in shock, then leans in to inspect the seed hovering by his chest.

He repositions the sleepy Jessica against his shoulder where she nuzzles her head into it. Jessica doesn't open her eyes up from all this commotion. Jack transfers the seed to his free hand, allowing Lunamarie to look at it closely.

The bunny girl frowns as she leans in but neglects to notice her long bunny ears rubbing in Jack's face.

"What happened?" he asks, trying not to bite an ear as it brushes past his lips and almost into his mouth.

"I don't know, where can we plant it? These seeds don't grow naturally. They need a certain growing method and a loooot more nutrients than usual. How did that work?"

"Mai says that the best spot is within the garden bed by the Jaycinth Tree." Jessica points out lazily while resting against Jack. The tree she points to is the purple one that looks like a Jacaranda.

Jessica collects the little phoenix chick on her lap then the trio walk over to the Jaycinth tree, the tall tree with bright purple leaves looks beautiful even at night time. A small hole is dug where the tiny insignificant speck that is the seed is placed in the hole, burying it deep enough to ensure it can absorb the nutrients needed.

"Is there anything more we can do? Mai said that you had energy similar to her at one point, why don't you use that?" Jessica asks between yawns.

"It's best to just leave it alone." Jack replies, wondering when he ever had energy like Mai.

"What energy?" Lunamarie asks.

"It's best if you see it yourself." Jessica responds while yawning.

"I'll have someone watch over it. I think we're all rather tired, so why don't we rest up?" Jack asks the two girls, Jessica yawns in response causing him to yawn too, Lunamarie struggles for a moment and succumbs to yawning too.

"Sure, Lunamarie do you want somewhere to stay or will you join us, I know you're tired and it'll be the only chance you'll have to catch Mai as she wakes up. She's quick and only does it once in the morning."

Lunamarie stammers, "I'm not... not interrupting anything, am I? You two are adults..."

Jessica softly sighs while smiling at Lunamarie, "It's no problem. You'll probably feel safe staying with us than being by yourself, right?"

Lunamarie breaks eye contact with Jessica and looks at Jack, who simply shrugs in response.

There isn't more that Jack can say to add to the situation, the bed is big enough to fit a few more people and while he'd feel better being able to keep an eye on her; it doesn't mean that he will force her to do anything that she isn't comfortable with, including restricting where she will live... within reason.

"I'm really not interrupting anything? I won't get in the way?"

Jessica grins as she steps forward to whisper in Lunamarie's ear, Jack strains to hear the words shared between the two girls, "Don't worry about his naughty hands. I felt comfortable enough to stay with him just as we first met. If he does anything wrong, then you will have my support but nothing will happen, I guarantee it."

"Really?" the bunny girl asks.

Jessica nods while stepping away, smiling at Jack as he asks, "What did you two whisper about?"

"Nothing important, now let's head back!" Jessica grabs both Lunamarie and Jack's hands and pulls them along with her. Lunamarie nearly trips as she's dragged along by Jessica, Jack plays along but doesn't forget to inform one of the guards close by to monitor the freshly planted seed, where unknown to everyone has caused massive changes to happen underground as earthly energy gathers from the surroundings to the seed that was just planted.

The group makes their way back to the tent where Jessica helps Lunamarie get changed, then settled into bed. Mai doesn't even acknowledge the new intruders in the bed as she's happily sleeping away without a care, adjusting her position to accommodate the newcomers after being prodded a few times. The group fall into silence as Mai's snoring fills the room again.

Jessica nuzzles into Jack's side while Lunamarie is on her other side staring at the ceiling.

"Just think of this place as your new home. Remember, we are stuck together through life or death and I want nothing to happen to my brand new slave."

Jessica hits Jack on the chest, "Dragon - Phoenix village lead alchemist!"

"Yeah that can't have anything happen to my new lead alchemist slave."

Jessica hits his chest again, but Lunamarie giggles and closes her eyes, "Thanks for letting me stay here".

"No problem." Jack responds while his mind doesn't stop working through all the recent experiences. Combat patterns fill his mind while he goes over all the scenarios that might come up tomorrow. The room turns quiet and at some point Jack too falls asleep.