Lily placed her last pot down on the counter, resisting the urge to wipe at her forehead. That’d just get soap in her hair, and her eyes, and… ugh, she very much did not want to repeat the last time she’d tried that after washing the dishes. Chores were the worst, and even being the only elite student in the entire orphanage didn’t exempt her from them entirely. Though, she was pretty sure the Matron had caught wind of her… escapades, and the whole fighting at Foundation Establishment cultivator as a mortal, and had assigned the chores half as punishment for reckless behavior.

  She’d have liked to say that she’d been perfectly reckful, but she couldn’t lie to herself that much. She was very, very glad that Ruqian hadn’t had access to any truly damning techniques— if he’d come up and fought them on more even footing, then… well, things wouldn’t have ended well for them. It was funny that it was the exacting preparation that’d gone into shooting them from afar that had been his undoing— and still, they’d only barely escaped…

  “Whatcha thinking of?” Mimi leaned against her, earning herself a glare and a shove for getting her soapy arms all over her shirt. “C’mon, spill. You’ve gotta say… or, actually, let me guess. You’re caught up in thought about Avyr’s big, dreamy eyes…”

  “Ew, no!” She grimaced, then splashed some water at the other girl. “Why are you so obsessed with that? We’re not even the same species?”

  “Well, when a boy and a girl…”

  “Shut up.” Mimi laughed, but shut up. She was just needling her, anyways. “I’m just thinking a little bit about some things, and stuff…” she rolled her eyes at Mimi’s expectant gaze. “Yes, about the adventure. Is it really that interesting?”

  “It’s like something out of a TV show! You just— got up, went to the Dragonspine Mountains, and came back with an awesome treasure and having won a bunch of cool battles against super powerful cultivators…”

  “Having barely not lost against a single super powerful cultivator, entirely because he decided to show mercy. It was a misunderstanding from the start, anyways.”

  Mimi waved a hand. “Same difference, same difference— you haven’t even shown me the treasure yet! Do you really hate me that much?”

  “Stop being so dramatic. I told you, I’m keeping it in its box to prevent degradation, until I figure out how I’m going to get it made into a pill.”

  “Oooh, Lily’s taking drugs!”

  Lily fixed her with a disappointed glare. “It’s for Avyr.”

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  “Oooh, Avyr’s taking drugs!”

  “Get back to washing the dishes already, won’t you?” Mimi just laughed and grabbed the next cookie sheet to scrub down, leaving her with blissful silence for a short while. But only for a short while— the moment she finished, she leaned on her again, getting her even more soapy and wet.

  Typical.

  “So… not that I doubt you’re capable or anything, but how are you going to turn your mysterious heavenly treasure into a pill?”

  “Not a heavenly treasure.” Maybe if she’d managed to take that egg… but no, from the sheer… not just power, but presence of it, it’d been more a part of the landscape than anything. In retrospect, the idea of taking it had been laughable from the start. “And I’ll… figure it out.”

  Mimi cocked her head. “Mingtian can’t do it?”

  “No.”

  “Really?”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “What did I say the first time? He says that he has no skill with alchemy—” and she was pretty sure you had to be a cultivator to practice any real sort of alchemy. “So I’m going to have to find an alchemist, which…” wryly, she made an all-encompassing gesture, capturing for a moment the precinct around them in its sweeping motion— “where am I going to find an alchemist here?”

  “Good point… the University might have one?”

  “For the students.” She shook her head. “I’m not a student there yet.”

  “Yet.” Mimi snickered— then stumbled as Lily pushed her back over to her sink, where she really should have been working on her own dishes. She’d barely even finished half of them in the time it’d taken Lily to finish all hers. “Hey, hey, I’m not doubting you. I think the university would be dumber than a boulder if they rejected a student who could fight Foundation Establishment cultivators as a mortal. You sure they wouldn’t help you?”

  “No, but…” she shrugged. “They’d be sect members, and the sect follows rules. They’d more likely turn me away from principal than even hear me out. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard on the networks.” Mimi could only nod at that— not like she’d done her own research, after all. “No, I think that I’m going to have to try and get in contact with one of the civilian alchemists in Old Saffron…” which left actually getting there. “I’d rather not think about it, at the moment.” It was all very stressful.

  “Fair enough. Can you help me with—”

  “They’re your half of the dishes!” Then, for good measure, Lily splashed her again, eliciting a squeak and a glare and a—

  It was all so very normal. Despite the rollercoaster that had become of her… everything, it was normal. With Mingtian dodging all her questions about alchemy, and…

  Maybe soon…

  Maybe.

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