It was a beautiful birthday bash and she was a horrible child. Dala had received a letter from a ferret and knew instantly what to do. Whenever there were parties, there were free stuff. Either it was food, party favors, or something else. The important thing was that these items could be re-sold. That is why Dala brought with her a purple bag of infinite space so she could shove whatever she found into it. Her outfit was a pretty puffy pink dress with a big bow tied in the back. If she wore a normal tunic and pants, she feared people wouldn't let her into the stained glass structure. She had also asked her mom to help put up her hair. Dala's hair was a half bun and half down style with wavy hair. The child ran through the doorway, pushing past people in the rush of her excitement.

Her brown eyes grew wide as she took in the incredibly tall cake and the massive staircase leading to the first floor. After staring for a moment with her mouth hanging open wide, she decided to climb up those stairs and explore the place. The first floor had a railing that overlooked the cake. Dala glanced there for a moment before running to the garden. The place looked realistic but she could smell all sorts of treats. Walking over to a tree, she ripped off a piece of bark and shoved it into her mouth. Then she began snatching flowers in the garden and throwing it into her purple bag to give to her friends later.

However, it was the fountains of wine that caught the little girl's attention. Dala didn't like wine, since it tasted too bitter but a lot of adults did. With a mischievous grin, she grabbed several empty wine bottles from her bag and a metal funnel. The girl jammed a the funnel into the bottle then held it underneath the fountain. One by one, her bottles started to fill up. She went to different fountains and gathered wines of different flavors. Each wine went into its own bottle. Finally she had filled bottles of wine and put it all in her infinite purple bag.

"Free stuff is amazing." Dala said with a grin before continuing to the next floor.

The girl ran up the stairs to the next floor.

Dala wasn't the only horrible guest today, and by a stroke of luck Myouga happened to be coming down from the second floor for another round at the wine fountains. Sure enough, like many adults the small oni was planning on enjoying the food and hospitality to the fullest. It was getting a little too chilly for her tastes, so she descended down to warmer pastures. And who could she have run into but a familiar face she had met from a while ago? A blond girl who she had spent only a few hours with in the frosty fields of Itjivut with big dreams and even bigger plans–Dala Asher Nesca. Grinning from ear to ear, the little arcanist immediately began flailing her arms to get the child's attention. "DALA!!!! HEEEEY~" Her jackalope familiar Patchouli was hovering behind with a muffin in its paws. Greedily taking bites, it watched as its owner began flying above the crowds to get closer to the person she had spotted. From above, the high-pitched voice of a figure in white grew steadily nearer as Myouga made a beeline for Dala.

A cloud of cotton candy smacked her in the face, but she licked her way through and sucked in the remaining pink wisps where they melted. Making a U-turn mid-flight, she veered back when her winged armor had overshot her route. Once she had sufficiently gotten the girl's attention, she landed, brushing off the remaining bits of candy floss stuck to her clothes. "It's been like forever since I last saw you! I still gotta return the stuff you lent me! But that can wait til later, first thing's first. How have you been holding up since our little mission in the tundra? Still bossing Garelu around?" She joked playfully, remembering how they had pulled a fast one over the young dragon. In the end, she didn't know what had happened after Dala got an earful from her mentor. If she and the dragon had interacted following the incident, Myouga wouldn't have known. Either way, she was just happy to see a familiar face here. 

As Dala ran up the stairs, she could smell the scent of delicious chocolate from trees and statues. She could hear the tweets of the mechanical birds while she drew closer to the trees. Then she spotted the ferrets in vests. The child's eyes widened and her arms reached out towards one of the ferrets. The ferret had been watching the cake and didn't notice the pair of hands until it was too late. She scooped the creature up and held it out in front of her. Dala appeared to be dazzled by the mere presence of this long creature. It was the first time the child had ever seen a ferret.

"I love you." She said to it with almost teary eyes.

Out of her many weaknesses, cute animals was one of them. Anything cute really but the animals really sealed the deal. Dala held the ferret like it was a doll then was about to go check out another part of the party with her new kidnapped friend. Suddenly she heard someone shrieking out her name then flying past her into a cloud of cotton candy. The surprise of the sudden shout loosened her grip and the ferret scampered off. Disappointed by her lost friend but interested by the shout, she looked around to find the source. It didn't take long for her to see Myouga. It had been a long time since they had last seen each other. Dala's life had changed so much and there was so much more to do in the future.

"Nice to see you again Myouga! And don't worry about the stuff. At this rate I have plenty of other winter clothes." Dala explained, "I've been doing great! I arranged for Garelu to have training in exchange for working ten years for me. He wanted to be a tougher dragon so now I've got him training under some of the toughest. And he needs it! Oh and I also figured out how to stab jackasses without actually using knives. I've learned how to place traps!"

She had a mischievous grin on her face like she was up to no good. There had been a lot more to her recent education with Raith and the court but the thing she was most excited about was the traps. So much of her time and energy had been spent avoiding conflict due to her weak state. But now she could actually cause some damage by leading the jerkfaces into a bunch of traps.

"What about you? Whatcha been up to?" She asked.

With a mind full of mischief to match the blonde girl's, Myouga was happy to hear things turned out well for Dala. "Oooh, neat! Glad you and Garelu could work something out! And learning how to hit things before they hit you is always a good thing to have. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. You can show me some of them when you're not busy!" Without magic, there wasn't much Myouga could do to protect herself either. But that was what made it so amazing, being able to achieve things you couldn't otherwise. When she was asked about what she'd been doing since their icy little escapade, the small oni slumped a bit and pretended to wilt.

"Weell~ Nothing super fun really. Ever since that weird magical island showed up near Abed, I've been busy working with the other professors from Iria. I mean I don't mind working at a job I love, but it's hard to do anything when there isn't much to work with. Getting info out of there was a challenge since the risk of people not coming back was sky-high. And before we could start salvaging any items of historical value, the whole thing vanished into thin air. Turns out it was just a mirage–a really, really realistic one at that. So all we have about this 'lost kingdom' is whatever the people who were rescued found out." Talking about subjects in academia was the only time when the little arcanist showed seriousness or actually acted like an adult. But that didn't last long, as her cheery attitude bounced right back. 

Two ferrets in different coat colors suddenly dashed past them, dragging a candied apple along. There were multiple bite marks dotting the fruit's glossy red exterior, revealing the pale crisp flesh within. In the end, they couldn't resist their nature as cute, thieving bandits. Grinning at Dala, the small oni had an idea. "Heading up to the next floor? You should try the tea–the cups and spoons are even edible! They're pretty and crunchy too! Not to mention tons and tons of chocolate at the buffet table!" Taking in a deep breath, she could smell the cinnamon and brown sugar drifting downwind. "This place really went all-out for this birthday bash! Isn't that right, Patchy?" Her jackalope familiar crawled out from behind her shoulder with crumbs all over its face, warbling. Licking its paws, it was ready for more.

Although Dala was delighted at Myouga's enthusiasm over her traps, when she asked what she'd been up to, Myouga almost deflated. Work had been what Myouga was doing. Working with professors, which sounded like the most boring thing in the world to Dala, and some old research. In comparison to Dala's hunting monsters and discovering things to sell, her work sounded dull. The part that interested the girl the most since she'd heard about the disappearing island. It was a giant clam thing that created an illusion of a city on top of itself.

"Oh I heard about that! I didn't go there myself cause I really didn't want to be caught." Dala said, "I figured if adult's were being kept there then I'd have no chance of survival."

Dala wouldn't try to start a conversation over research and historical knowledge. It was a topic she knew little about. She knew about some kingdoms but that was to research their political failures. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to keep up in a conversation. Before Dala could think up of what else to talk about, Myouga perked up immediately. Dala's eyes glanced towards the floor and spotted the ferrets stealing a candied apple. They were so cute she just wanted to squeeze them as hard as she could. Before she could grab one, Myouga suggested to drink the tea upstairs.

"Wait, you can eat the cups?" She questioned before looking at the stairs, "I wonder how much money they used on all of this…Guess its why I don't mind taking extra stuff."

Her eyes glanced back at her friend before she began to climb up the steps. The child could feel the air grow colder and the ferrets were wearing heavy winter gear. Dala rubbed her arms to warm them and took an edible teacup with warm tea in it. Using the tea to warm herself back up she went over to Myouga. She was careful to stay by her friends side in case the two got separated in the large crowd. There was something sad about attending a party on ones own.

"So why'd you decide to go to this party?" Dala asked curiously, "Did you come to see the sights or something?"

The child herself came to see what the heck was going on and to take some stuff for later. But Myouga was a powerful individual who probably saw magical stuff like this all the time. Dala, forgetting that her cup was full of hot tea, dipped her head back and chugged the liquid. Her mouth was on fire and little tears started to form in her eyes.

"Ack hot hot!" She shouted trying to fan her tongue.

"Same here. I mean I'd probably go if I could, but the risk wasn't worth trying this time around. Good call on your part. Luckily everybody who went missing was found and brought back, but things could've easily went the other way." When they got to the second floor, the layers of the cake modeled after Canelux were in view. Their first stop was the snack buffet, and they both tried the famous edible teacups together. "Yep, pretty much! I mean, it's a big party. Parties as big as these always have amazing stuff. Like the big ball that they hold in Zets'Ki every year."

Carefully sipping her drink while blowing on the surface of the liquid, Myouga was impatient to finish it so she could take a bite out of the cup itself. Standing around and drinking tea wasn't very exciting, so Dala broke the silence with some small talk. As she was about to answer, the little arcanist's eyes went wide when the blonde girl tried to down the steaming hot tea in one go. She winced as she remembered many a time she had greedily tried to slurp freshly-made hot chocolate to get at the marshmallows on the surface. Not one of her best moments. 

Burning your tongue is never fun, so she quickly began to fumble in her bag for something to help put the fire out. Using telekinesis to pull a new tea cup over, she dumped the contents and poured some of a healing potion in. "Quick, drink this!" Even if it didn't stop the burning, it would at least help with the pain. She didn't have anything to quickly cool things off. There was her tin of mints, but that just gave temporary relief. Not even a single nevermelting icicle was in her bag today. "Feel better?" The small oni asked. "If it still burns, we can try to look for something that's cold. I think I saw some people with coconut drinks walking around. Coconut water is really good at cooling things down."  It was a good thing this place had everything. And if they needed to know where something was, they could ask the ferrets. 

Her tongue felt like it was on fire and she was waving her hands over it like that was supposed to help. Luckily, Myouga was actually doing something productive and had created a potion to help. The little girl snatched the potion and drank every last drop. The sharp pain of her tongue faded away but left a slight soreness behind. Once she finished drinking, she looked at the small oni and nodded. One of the dryads, who'd notice their ruckus, brought over some coconut drinks for both Myouga and Dala. The child took the cup, thanked the woman then glanced back at Myouga.

"Thanks Myouga….Do you always keep potion ingredients in your bag?" Dala asked with curiosity.

Then again Dala usually had tons of stuff in her bag, including a recently acquired winery. The girl looked at one of the chocolate statues of Angela and broke off a finger and ate it. She never really met Angela before and wondered why the she'd never heard of birthday parties for the goddess before. Maybe it was a new thing? Regardless, Dala was glad Myouga was with her. Parties always felt hollow when the child attended alone.

"Myouga, what's it like for you? On a normal day?" Dala questioned.

Questioning what was normal or not rarely led to happy realizations. A part of the child wanted to know more about Myouga while the other part of her wanted to figure out what was supposed to be typical. Attending parties, visiting people, or just walking down the street on a nice day in a comfortable place led these questions to the surface of her mind. Dala walked over to the railing and put her arms on it, looking down on the cake.

"Do you ever wonder if we're missing out on something?" She said, "Like there's something everybody else here has that we don't?"

The child didn't mean to bring a somber atmosphere yet a part of her was feeling deeply saddened by the party. She didn't understand it.

The panic dance of an emergency was over, and the fire was quenched. The potion worked like a charm! And with the coconut drink from the dryad, what the potion didn't fix was smoothed over. Myouga smiled in relief, glad she had that potion in advance. Normally it was a backup in case she needed it, but she could always buy more. Having recovered from the burn, Dala asked her if she always kept potion ingredients on her. The little arcanist waved her hand, shaking her head. "Naaaah. Potion ingredients are for making stuff in a lab or back home. When you're outside, you don't have time to mix things when you're on the go. Plus, it's more convenient for me. Sometimes you can't wait. And if I need something, I just use my handy magic portal-mirror to take stuff from my house that's close to it. It's connected to my snack stash." When Dala sampled a piece of one of the statues of Lady Angela here, she had this mischievous grin on her face when she saw what it was made of. "Ohohoho~ Now that's what I call fine art! Pretty and delicious–mmm!"

Eating into her empty teacup, she was crunching away on the rim when the blonde girl asked her a question she hadn't been asked in a while. "On a normal day? Let'sh shee…" She mumbled as she talked with her mouth full. "Well–that depends if I'm at home or traveling abroad. I'm working most of the time, even if I do a little sightseeing on the side. If I'm at home, I'm in the Mage Academy handling research or writing up reports. I used to teach classes, but after getting suspended from my upper division lecture courses, there's not much for me to do. Nowadays I haunt the staff department since there's been a lot of new discoveries and findings in recent years. Even though I teach courses on magical theory and alchemy, I also specialize in linguistics–which means I come in when they need to decode or analyze historical artifacts. Learning languages is something that's easier for me than some people."

As her teacup was slowly being reduced to a mere handle, she continued. "If I'm abroad, then I'm typically visiting new places recording whatever I see. I was dispatched along with a handful other researchers from the Academy when Onnen was first discovered and the insectoid invasion was put to rest. But since I'm not assigned to a group, I can work independently. Basically I've been observing and writing down details of the plants and animals that live there. Occasionally I even catch a few live specimens for my colleagues to look at. They don't really like it when that happens though~" She was holding back a laugh as she remembered the chaos that ensued in the staff lounge when she sent a couple skyfish from Namibia through a portal. "Aaaaanyway, that's a day in the life of little ol' me. New sights, new people to meet and new food to explore!"

There was a moment of silence as the two took a break from the small talk and sat in their thoughts. The teacup was now gone, and there was loud crunching noises that could be heard from the small oni's mouth. Dala broke that silence with a few serious questions: "Do you ever wonder if we're missing out on something? Like there's something everybody else here has that we don't?"

She thought for a moment, then Myouga answered. "Yeah. That's probably true. No–I'm positive it's true. Everybody's missing something that other people have. Money, a big family, good parents, close friends, a place to sleep. For me, it's health." The usual whimsical tone in her voice was gone, and the childish behavior fell away like a mask. Turning to the girl, the arcanist spoke. "Do you know why I love magic so much? It's not just because it's mysterious and amazing. If it weren't for magic, I wouldn't have anything. I wasn't born healthy. Ever since I was a kid, my parents were always worried that I'd get sick. I can't run more than a few minutes or else it'll be hard for me to breathe. While the other kids my age could climb trees and play tag, I was sitting inside watching them. Even though I look like it, I'm not a kid, but this is as much as I'll ever grow."

"I want to show you something, Dala. It's something that has always reminded me of how hard I had to work just to be where I am today." The oni then lifted up her bangs, revealing two small, underdeveloped nubs protruding from her forehead. "These are my horns. They're so small that if they were covered up, you wouldn't even see them. One day you'll be taller, faster, and stronger than I could ever be. That's a fact. I can't even carry half my weight without feeling like my arms are going to fall off. But because I can use magic, I can get by. I can live a normal life. Magic doesn't have to be outrageous or bombastic to be great. Sometimes it just has to be 'good enough'. And for as long as I live, physical strength and stamina will always be the two things that I will never, ever have."

She paused, letting her words sink in. "Y'know, I had every reason to hate my parents. I could've blamed them for not giving me a stronger body. I could've blamed them for giving birth to me. Every day I tried hard to build up enough strength so I didn't have to be bedridden for the rest of my life. Every time I got injured, every time I laid in bed while being sick I had to watch my parents' hopes that I'd get well get dashed to pieces. I had every right to give up on living. But I didn't want to. I wasn't born with a lot of things; like my mom's talent for embroidery or my dad's skill with weaving. I wasn't skilled enough to take over the family business. So I studied hard; I studied so I could get a job that required me to use my head more than my body. I couldn't expect my parents to support me forever. And so, I became a professor. The rest is history."

Myouga mentioned the mage academy and how she worked there. With her clearly curious personality, it wasn't a huge surprise she worked for a place of knowledge. Her wide array of knowledge would be useful to ask about in the future. It appeared that Myouga always was off to the next place, like herself. Neither of them seemed to stay in one place for long. After a long pause, Myouga began to answer the child's second question. Dala silently listened as Myouga began to tell her tale. The childish fun behavior that Dala was familiar with flew away and revealed a more serious side. Her friend began describing her health as a kid and how it affected her life.

Dala turned and looked towards the oni's horns as she continued her story. The way she spoke, made Dala realize how difficult her life must have been. To have a body that couldn't function. The idea of being trapped within one's own body was terrifying. Guilt sank into her gut as she continued listening. Myouga chose not to hate her parents and how she worked hard to overcome this issue. Strength might never return to Dala's friend but she no longer needed it. Magic had turned into her strength.  Dala thought for a few moments, not speaking and keeping her face calm.

"Thats….why you're so strong." Dala said awkwardly.

The child didn't know how to respond to the story. Just expressing pity seemed like a waste of time and there wasn't anything she could do to show she understood her particular situation. A compliment seemed like the best reaction. Myouga had gone through so much and faced adversary that would cause others to give up. And through it all, she still kept that smile on her face.

"Do you feel like you have to be happy all the time?" The child asked directly, "You're always smiling."

Fate had dealt her friend a bad hand and yet she was always smiling. Was it strength of will or was it an expectation? The little girl knew of expectations, though she was young she knew the desire of people for everything to be happy and calm, even when there were things wrong. She didn't want Myouga to feel like she had to be a perfect happy person. Trying to be that was exhausting.

"I wouldn't ask you to smile." Dala explained.

"Yup." Myouga didn't normally talk about her childhood or personal life, it always sort of dampened the mood. She'd come to terms with it years ago, but it was an awkward thing for other people. While the small oni no longer felt bad, it was probably a big shock that for somebody who was so lively, once upon a time she had been struggling. "Do you feel like you have to be happy all the time? You're always smiling." Putting her hands on her hips, she shook her head. "Nah. I used to smile so my parents would be happy, but I realized that wasn't what they really wanted. Now I smile when I feel like it. If I'm happy, I'm happy. If I'm not, then I'm not." Putting her hat back on, she puffed it back up. "Sure there's times when I feel sad, but I don't let myself feel that way forever. The way I see it, life's too short to be spend it being mad or unhappy. The world is full of amazing things–and I wanna see as much of it as I can before I'm done!" 

For the little arcanist, she was old enough to know there wasn't any point in pretending when it came to how she felt. Even if people thought she was weird, annoying, irresponsible, or childish–she wouldn't stop being herself. Since she couldn't be like everyone else, then why not be the best version of herself that she could be? It wasn't like she was throwing caution to the wind; but if you never took any risks, you'd never get anywhere. "Aaaanyway~ Don't worry too much about stuff you can't do anything about. If you can't do it today, then do it tomorrow. That's what I always do. Remember what I said back in the inn on Itjivut? Carpe diem: Seize the day. Every day's a brand new day for new surprises." Instead of trying to keep a sense of normalcy through a facade, Myouga chose to live life to the fullest. While others were making their bucket list of things they would do before they died, she was living it. 

"And speaking of surprises–there's one last floor we have left before we've seen and eaten everything!" She wiggled her eyebrows mischievously at Dala. Her jackalope familiar crawled onto her shoulder and began to warble, its tail moving excitedly. "See? Even Patchy's excited to look! I heard there's an ice castle up there and everything's made outta ice!"