The group continued through the rough mountain pass, now far quieter than they had been travelling previously.

  The adults in the group had relearned a lesson they had forgotten, travel in these lands could be dangerous, and powerful spirits lurked in the untamed lands. Just because they had a powerful wanderer with them didn’t mean they could let down their guards.

  Willow also became an object of fascination for those in the group who had not seen her other spirits before. Though thankfully their questions were put on hold due to the pact made with the Echo spirit to remain quiet in its domain. Since no one knew how large its domain was, and how loud was too loud, the group had largely refused to speak to one another following the incident.

  Though the others' actions were loud enough for the girl to understand.

  Because one of the handcarts was quite thoroughly smashed during one of the rock slides, what could be salvaged of its load had to be redistributed across the rest of the group. Meaning her big brother and aunt Jieun now joined them in the bigger cart while her aunt Sarah joined her husband and elder son in walking behind them.

  Sadly she took Remy with her when she departed, and the looks she shot Willow’s way were filled with more fear and distrust than the girl would’ve expected. Those looks were shared by her uncle Lucius, Remy’s brother Rom, and even Mister Joaquin.

  She desperately hoped that she was misreading everyone. The idea of so many people disliking her for keeping a secret filled her heart with dread.

  Maybe she should have revealed her friends to the rest of her family sooner? There had always been reasons to not do so, but were those reasons good enough?

  But what’s done was done and her inaction seemed to have alienated her from a good third of their little community.

  Whether their feelings were justified, Willow had little to no idea. She really wanted her spiritual senses back so she could at least confirm everyone hated her instead of being left in the dark like she currently was.

  Jieun rubbed her back in little circles, likely noticing the despondent mood her niece was in.

  At least she didn’t hate her.

  Since they couldn’t speak, and Willow was feeling worse than ever, she decided to try visiting her friends in their various spaces.

  Harmony and Change would be the last of her visits because of how tired they likely were from their lovely performance just now. It was the same reason she wasn’t gathering everyone together in the yang spirit’s domain despite it being their little group's go-to gathering place.

  They deserved a break for all their hard work.

  So the girl sent her projection to Andrea’s space, located in her throat.

  Like most of her friend’s homes it was a small void with very little in it. Though since the cycling of elemental energies had begun there was a constant trickle of water going into the tiny poppies' space and Andrea stayed under it the majority of the time, basking in the nourishing flow of power.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  They were excited to see Willow’s projection when she arrived, dancing around the girl in excitement, and their bright petals letting loose a spray of moisture as they went.

  “Hiya, Andrea!” She greeted her friend with only slightly false cheer. Making sure to give the little flower a big hug. Since Andrea was her newest friend she liked to make sure they knew how much she enjoyed their company.

  The two danced and played together in the somewhat cramped space, and for a few moments Willow forgot her aching body and communal woes.

  Eventually she felt she had spent enough time with the tiny flower and felt comfortable moving on to the next of her friends.

  Deciding on a whim to go in the opposite order she had bound her spirits, the girl's projection then went to the space by her core.

  Calypso was staring in wonder at the rainbow of light refracting through their body due to the metallic strand of reflection flowing through their tiny space. Every time Willow came to the tiny raindrop’s home they had been like this, and while a part of her was concerned, the rest was happy that the small spirit had something to marvel at most of the time.

  She sent a quiet but happy greeting to her wonderstruck friend and sat her projection down next to them, quietly watching the shifting rainbow of colors refract through the void. The patterns of red shifted and whorled across their surface, causing the light to refract in different ways, and almost all of them mesmerizing to both child and spirit.

  She silently said her goodbye to Calypso and moved on to Xandra’s home at the root of her spine.

  There she found Xandra contemplating the strangely solid strand of energy in the center of their void. When they saw their friend they reflected a smiling face that Willow quickly had her projection match. The two then spent some time making increasingly silly faces at one another until the girl grew tired of the game.

  Willow still occasionally wondered if she was doing enough for the reflection spirit. Their nature made it difficult for the girl to get a good read on their emotional state, but she was still trying her best and she had to hope that was enough.

  Like dealing with most people in her life right now.

  Shaking her head to clear that morose thought, she gave a quick hug to her reflection, sending a burst of love to them that was reflected back to her. She then moved on to her favorite pebble Phoebe in their home by her collar bone.

  They were content and warm in the center of their small space, basking in the warmth of the fiery energy running through them, and contemplating the mysteries of existence.

  Or at least that’s what Willow liked to imagine her thoughtful stone was doing. More likely they were content to just be until something new happened to them. Which was perfectly fine.

  “Hiya Phoebe!” She called as her projection entered their space, and Phoebe silently greeted them back with a burst of qi. The two played the small stones favorite game of Throw, though the cramped space did diminish the overall quality of the experience a tad.

  Willow even managed to move her projection fast enough to catch the flying pebble a couple of times which was pretty neat to finally figure out, though Phoebe seemed almost disappointed to not be clattering against the ground.

  Finally it was time to visit her first friend in the space next to her heart.

  Eos, as always, was happy to see her, their flame flaring up in delight as Willow entered their space. She gave her fiery friend a big hug as was tradition at this point whenever she visited them.

  They then spent time catching the flower petals slowly drifting around the void, with the vague goal of catching the “most” despite neither of them properly keeping count.

  Eventually Willow was as mentally exhausted as she was physically, and despite wanting to visit the twins, she fell asleep with her projection’s arms wrapped around her first friend.

  For now her woes are forgotten, and her worries soothed.