It was the morning of the next day, bright, warm, and shimmering with the reflected light of the lake. The air was thick with the smell of water lilies and the hum of insects that hovered lazily over the surface.
Julie, Aisha, and Skadi were waiting a little distance outside the village, near the shoreline in a clearing the locals rarely visited. It was quiet, isolated, and perfect for whatever strange plan Cassius had promised to unveil.
Julie and Aisha stood side by side, both in light traveling armor that caught the sunlight. Aisha's hands rested on her hips, her expression caught somewhere between irritation and curiosity.
Julie, meanwhile, looked calm, patient, even, but her eyes betrayed the same question that lingered in everyone's mind: what in the world was Cassius up to?
Not that Skadi seemed to care.
The wolf girl was having the time of her life a few meters away, chasing a bright yellow butterfly in dizzy circles.
"Come here, come here! I just wanna see you!"
