Chapter 293: Spiritual Rewards
The heron spirit continued to harass them through the window until well after sundown, when - thanks to Stella running point on distracting the night watch - they were able to steal off of the ship, with Kir flying Kordia across the waters of the lake as he followed the heron, which glowed light blue to his manasight.
Not wanting to repeat his experience of trying to walk through the spirit’s domain, Kir overflew the forest until he spotted the familiar, shallow lake, and the giant mink staring up at him with golden, glowing eyes.
He landed in the water about ten meters away from her, and discovered the "shallow" lake came up to his waist, but as soon as he let Kordia free, she was able to walk on the surface like it was no more than a centimeter deep...
Or was permitted to.
Looking around, Kir realized that subtle layers of mana were spread out into the waters, giving the lake spirit control over its surface tension, at the very least. It was clear that even a few weeks time hadn’t made her any fonder of Kir’s presence.
It was like she was telling him "If you’re going to be here, stay still."
"Child of Silver... you waited some time to answer my call. I was about to freeze your ship in place." A wave of amusement spread into the thought-speech, the lake spirit finding the notion immensely funny.
"I came as soon as I could, great spirit. I apologize that it had to be after dark."
"In dark times we met, in darkness we meet again. There is a rightness to this pattern, perhaps..." The lake spirit’s words came with a sense of flow. Returning to health seemed to have put her in a poetic mood. "... Silver does enjoy her nights."
The mink’s eyes narrowed at Kir for a moment, before returning to Kordia.
"Is everything alright, Great Spirit? Do your wounds still trouble you?"