The group of five, or six if you counted a sleeping Lily, were sitting on the outskirts of town at a small pier and looking around confused. "This… this is where we’re supposed to be right?" asked Kat.

"I’m almost certain…" said Nixilei confused. After a moment of looking around, Nixilei pulled out a thick card that had the town’s name on it and then a glowing arrow that was currently spinning around wildly. "I double checked this was the correct place before summoning you and watch…"

Nixilei backed up a few paces and as soon as her feet left the pier the arrow stopped pinning and started to point straight ahead. Nixilei put one foot on the pier and it kept pointing forward. Nixilei finished her forward step and once again the arrow was spinning wildly. "Unless this pier is heavily enchanted by someone surpassing time in power this has to be the right place," said Nixilei firmly.

Thank you for reading at BidNovel.com

"I wouldn’t worry too much, we still have ten minutes before the deadline. I’m sure Thyme has something up his sleeve. I mean, we’ve been led to the middle of nowhere twice before. Just because this is inside of a city this time doesn’t mean Thyme will be any less weird," said Kress.

Green looked at Kress like he’d just grown a second head. Green hadn’t been paying attention to Kress since his… accident… with cloud powder, both the day off and this morning. So she was surprised by the exceptionally calm response. Gareth, seeing that his friend was staying positive, decided it was his turn to be the killjoy, "While that is a lovely sentiment…

"We can’t be late for the round. I don’t think we could ever remove the label of cowards if we were disqualified from the tournament if we just didn’t show up. Or magic forbid, jokes about sleeping through important events. I already here enough of those because of Green. What I need to know is, are we in the correct spot? Or do we need to move?"

Nixilei frowned and examined the pier a bit more, even going so far as to crouch by the edge and lean over so she could see the underside of the structure. "It looks fine to me. As far as I can tell it’s just a normal pier. I’m not sensing much extra magic from it, if any, and there’s no obvious enchantment carved into anywhere I can see," explained Nixilei as she stood up. Once she was back on her feet, Nixilei kicked the pier and listened to the sound it made. "It feels and sounds like normal wood as well. I bet I could destroy the whole pier without much trouble… but that seems like a big risk,"

Gareth frowned as he looked down at the wood. "I don’t like it… but perhaps I’m just being overly paranoid now that Kress isn’t going to point out everything that could possibly go wrong,"

"Ok, Gareth my man? I might be chill for now but that doesn’t mean my memory is broken, or that I’m just going to take that lying down. I was, and possibly still am, a massive ass. I pick fights I really shouldn’t and I like to tear people down… but I am not overly paranoid. In fact, considering I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, I’m probably not paranoid enough," stated Kress.

"He’s got a point," added Nixilei.

"Whose side are you on?" asked Gareth with a comedically overdone glare.

"I’d love to say Green’s… and I suppose that’s technically true. Though oftentimes I have to go against her for her own good," said Nixilei proudly.

Kat smiled at the antics between the other four while running her hands through Lily’s fur. It kept Kat calm, and hopefully gave Lily good dreams. It all seems so light-hearted now. I hope that even after all the cloud powder works its way through Kress’ system he stays somewhat chill. It’s nice to see them all like this.

What I want to know… how worried should we be? Personally, I suspect that Thyme has something planned. They wouldn’t give a faulty invitation out, and while it could be a counterfeit I trust our spy more than enough to not worry about that part. I suppose it’s just a question of when-

Kat’s thoughts were cut off when a giant ship just appeared in front of them. The gangplank was already lowering down, and Thyme stepped down the gangplank as it moved. They was dressed as a weird mixture of butler, maid, and pirate. They had a maids frock, a pirate hat, and butler jacket. With a hand ’missing’ and converted into a mop but guns on their hips. Kat… really didn’t know what to make of the outfit.

"Huh… guess I should check more carefully for illusions…" mumbled Nixilei.

"Do remember I have True Sight," said Kat after stepping just behind Nixilei.

"Shit… that… that means that cheeky tree teleported the whole ship here… without disturbing the water, or the air. Shit, Thyme’s gotten good at teleporting," said Nixilei.

Thank you for reading at BidNovel.com

"Indeed. I’ve kept up my practice after Kat challenged me on my teleportation technique all these months ago. It’s been a great challenge to keep my mind busy when I’m not working on other things. So? Does it pass muster?" asked Thyme with a grin.

Kat glared at Thyme and said they only thing should could, "I’d have to be teleported myself to find out. It certainly looks impressive though,"

Thyme smiled and clicked their fingers. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Kat was up in the sky. Lily was instantly awake when she felt Kat’s momentary panic, and looked around wildly as they fell through the sky. [What’s happening?]

*Thyme’s just showing off. You can go back to sleep if you want… though was it the teleportation that woke you or my moment of panic?*

[Um… the panic? I think? I’m not overly sure… I sort of just… woke up. I don’t feel too groggy or anything, and I don’t remember the teleport… but I don’t know how much that matters.] _{Please visit ƒre𝐞𝘸𝑒𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍 𝐜𝑜m}

*Eh, I’ll handle it. You can sleep.*

Lily trusted Kat enough to just nod and curl back up. Kat deposited her girlfriend her backpack, and then took to watching the sky pass by. She was falling pretty fast, likely at or near terminal velocity and the city could be scene below. *Ride won’t be long now.* Kat simply let herself fall, closer and closer to the ground until she flared her wings and gently glided down.

Everyone was waiting for her, and to Kat’s chagrin despite the wind, and the fact that she’d flared her wings long before the ground, Kat found herself back in the exact spot she had been standing before without any correction on her part. "Ok now that’s just showing off," said Kat with a huff.

Thyme grinned back, "I’ve been working on it for a while so I really wanted to show off. So, how was it?"

Kat sighed and reluctantly admitted, "It was great. I didn’t feel the transition at all, it was fast, though that might just be because of how close I was teleported, relatively speaking. The fact you managed to have me land exactly where I left is an almost freaky level of calculation and knowledge. Both of the world, and my own habits. Oh, but you lose points for waking Lily up. Sure, that might’ve just been my panic, but she still woke up, so I’m taking points for that,"

Thyme shrunk down, taking off their hat in the process and looking up at Kat with oversized eyes that shined slightly, "I’m sowwy,"

"Don’t do that," said Kat with a wave, "It looks really weird. Maybe if I hadn’t seen you transform down to that it would be kinda cute… but yeah… just no,"

Thyme stepped back and popped to full size. "Yeah, I was mostly trying it out on the fly. Not like the Timmys. Those things were the work of many sessions to get right…"

"Not that this isn’t a fascinating look into the psyche of someone so powerful…" said Nixilei carefully, "but where exactly are the other teams, and what’s going on?"

Thyme just waved off Nixilei’s concern, "Oh don’t worry about that. I’m using copies of myself to grab the other teams and we’ll be sailing around for a bit before we get to the venue. I won’t spoil things too much, but because I’m also the boat you see behind me, I can ensure that each team gets there at the same time,"

"Wait… you’re the boat?" asked Green.

Thyme nodded, "Yup. I just had to ensure that the type of wood used in the construction was one of the few that can filter salt water to drink and then I could partially merge with the finished product. I might be able to make a boat just with magic… but the upkeep would be annoying. Much worse than my usual humanoid forms for some reason,"

Nixilei pursed her lips for a few moments before shaking her head and saying. "Let’s just get on the boat,"

Thank you for reading at BidNovel.com