Monk Hushu chuckled softly upon hearing the muscular woman's words. "That's the point of beauty, Miss Cattaleya. It is meant to be admired, not owned."
She rolled her eyes. "Spoken like a monk who never had to spend ten months trekking through snow while his hair froze solid." She then took a pause and smacked her head. "Wait a minute, you have no hair! Sorry."
The others laughed lightly.
Even Lin Mu, seated near the front, allowed himself a small smile. The air around them was peaceful, the tension of the past days melting away as they passed over mountain ranges and glittering lakes. It felt, for a moment, like the world had paused to give them a moment of calm before whatever awaited them in the frozen south.
Meng Bai, however, couldn't shake a strange thought. "It feels odd," he said after a moment. "We're flying through all this color and life… only to head straight into the cold white lands of the Ice Drakes. It's like going from one world to another."
