There isn't a single sign of the alligator gar underneath the water. Wilona assumed that the little guy must have left some time ago, so she praised her luck and cast her line. She leaned back, satisfied. "Actually, isn't Mossheart perfect for this?" she asked herself. The ent is pretty strong, and the fish in the swamp are no match for her—that should be obvious. "Why don't I just get Mossheart to fish for me? Or maybe that's too much..."

  She didn't want to overwork the ent because, in a way, Mossheart was Wilona's daughter. A weird thing to consider, but that's the truth. The ent technically got birthed by her system, and even though there's a good chance her seed came from the Goddess of Fertility, it's still a known fact that Wilona is the one who spawned Mossheart.

  So Mossheart is her daughter. Shocking how she has a kid at such a young age, but she's lived in a swamp and talked to mushrooms these past few days, so is it really that weird in the grand scheme of things? It feels like it's part of the magical world package that was given to her, really.

  "Oh, and a fish that can understand human language, because why not?" Wilona waved to the passing Garry. The fish definitely didn't know what she was calling it internally, and Wilona wasn't willing to reveal it. "Heya, I'll give you more fish guts later, so like, wait around."

  Garry didn't reply; he simply sank back beneath the water's surface and disappeared. Is the fish an introvert? Wilona wondered as she placed a finger on the side of her lips. "Or maybe he can't stay in the same spot for too long?"

  That's a thing, isn't it? Some sharks can't breathe unless they keep moving. It's kind of messed up, but also pretty metal. Like, imagine living your whole life without sleeping because if you do, you die. It's pretty badass.

  She's met crust punks before—the type of punk who'd live in the gutters and yet somehow buy tickets for concerts—and those guys are nothing compared to Garry. Assuming the alligator gar needs to move to breathe or whatever.

  A bite made Wilona break into a panicked sprint. She held onto the rope with both hands and started to tug. She used her binding spell quickly this time, and because of it, the fish stopped struggling, allowing her to pull it out of the water with ease.

  "Okay! One more!" Wilona grinned, proud that she had managed to catch this thing so easily. She looked up at the skies; smoke was still rising, so her pottery wasn't even hot yet, let alone hardened enough for her to use.

  She had time.

  Time to catch three more fish! Fuck yeah!

  Four giant goldfish? Cod? She wasn't sure what species of fish she caught, but what she was sure of was their size—literally the length of her arm and as thick as her torso. These were some huge-ass fish.

  "You're gonna eat a lot tonight, Garry!" Wilona waved to the head peeking out of the water. She had turned around at this point, so she didn't catch the fish blink sideways when it processed the fact that 'Garry' was what the human called him.

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  "Fuzz, we're gonna eat very nicely tonight!" Wilona's excitement waned when she realized that the mushroom didn't actually have any taste buds. She caught herself and huffed. "I mean, I'm gonna eat nicely!"

  "That's good to know." Fuzz searched the air and confirmed that, yep, Wilona was carrying four large fish over her shoulder. Wilona herself might not have noticed this—probably because of her excitement, but the girl can be airheaded at times—but she was carrying the fish without effort. The world was taking its effect on her. "Happy eating."

  "Thank you," Wilona grinned. "I wish we had oil, though. I'm craving fish sticks for some reason." She hummed. There was a good chance she could make oil, but that would probably take a while. "What about beans? Are there, like, beans I can crush for their milk around here?"

  "There should be some, yes." Fuzz's voice went into a low murmur. "I know there are some in this area, but I kind of forgot what they looked like. They grow on trees, though, and are red. Look for those, maybe?"

  "You mean that?" Wilona pointed to a large pod of red-colored fruits hanging from the branch of a tree. They looked kind of glossy and had a smooth texture to them. Were those really beans? "You know I meant actual beans, right? Not whatever those are?"

  "They are beans." Fuzz pushed. What was this mushroom on about? Beans grew out of the ground! "Just... if you want raw plant syrup, then those fruits are what you need."

  "Raw plant syrup?" Wilona paused. What did Fuzz mean by that? "You can make syrup out of those things?"

  "You can make a lot of things from plant syrup, yes." Fuzz somehow sounded tired. "What, did you think they were only used for food?"

  "...Yes," Wilona admitted. Did Canada make her think that plant syrup was different from what it actually was, or was this world weird? Both? Both.

  "Well, regardless. Those fruits are what you're looking for, so you can harvest them and then squeeze them into a pot using your spare clothes."

  That did sound like almond milk! Wilona got up. "Seriously? Well, whatever." She was excited to finally have access to milk, even if it was vegan, and that excitement made her disregard her hesitation about Mossheart. She asked the ent for help.

  Mossheart agreed, of course. The ent had only done that so far whenever Wilona requested something. But okay, seriously—for context, right? Mossheart is tall. Like, really tall. But just how tall had never registered in Wilona's mind until she saw the ent stand on her tiptoes and reach out with the maximum length of her arm to effortlessly grab a tree branch! Like, holy shit!

  Wilona took the fruit given to her by Mossheart with widened eyes. "Thank you, uhm..." She looked at the glowing green eyes of the ent. They were behind the wooden mask that Mossheart called a face, bright and so full of intelligence. "I'm sorry for... everything. How about I make it up to you?"

  Mossheart tilted her head, then pointed at her wooden self.

  "Yes, you. I want to apologize, so, uhm, you should come with me." Wilona felt a little bit guilty that the ent followed her command without question. "First, thank you. Again." She let out a nervous giggle. "I've been repeating that, haven't I?"

  No answer. Right. Mossheart can't talk.

  "Okay, so how has the world been treating you?" Wilona turned back to an emotionless mask of a face that held no expression. She looked away. "I can tell you stories, like when I was still living on Earth, and then maybe everything I've done after coming to this world? Catch you up, yeah?"

  Wilona didn't bother to check Mossheart's expression. She yapped as they made their way back. "And, like, schools are these large-ass buildings. Like, very large. I think they could swallow a quarter of this swamp—oh yeah, uhm, I heard one of our schools needed an entire, like, football field, right? It's kinda neat."

  She had a feeling that Mossheart didn't understand what she was talking about but nodded to her words regardless.

  "And what we do in these schools is that we basically need to, like, do mandatory education, right? And that's because society expects us to learn enough stuff so we can do jobs or whatever, but jobs are boring, so I'm not gonna talk about them." Wilona opened the lid of her pot and inhaled. It wasn't almond milk, but the syrup was definitely just as creamy. Fuzz was right about this!

  "Because we went to a private school made for girls, me and my friends basically got strict parents, right? Something about expensive payments or whatever, and like, an opportunity that no other people had, yadda yadda yadda. It was pretty boring and all about responsibility."

  Putting poison root juice into the almond milk somehow caused it to become creamier, and Wilona needed to add water to liquefy it at some point—that was how viscous the soup had become.

  "Anyway, like, can you believe it? We had being a ballerina as an optional lesson! Obviously, I had to take it because my mum was one, but, like, why? You know?"

  As Wilona went on, Mossheart only nodded. Her mask did not say anything about how she felt, but the fact that she chose to stay said a lot.

  Fuzz honestly couldn't take the constant talking of the noble-born woman, but what could she do? She couldn't move!